Travel dates[/B]: May 18th-May 25th
Travel method: Air from Los Angeles, CA
Resort: Wilderness Lodge w/ Deluxe Dining plan
Accommodations:Woodview, but was upgraded to Courtyard view :)
Ages Represented in Group:22 months, 9, 17, 28, 29, and 50
Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: First time to WDW.
Comments:What an experience
Cast of characters: Carol (myself), husband, my son 22 months, my brothers (9 & 17), and my mother.

Day 0
Here it goes. I will post day by day starting on departure. Our flight was on the Saturday the 17th at 10:20pm. Yes, we flew a red eye to Orlando (4.5hr flight). We figured it would be best for the baby to sleep through it.
We live about 30 minutes from LAX, but we left at 6:30pm since we were leaving our car at one of their lots and taking the shuttle in. Everything went smooth at the airport. It wasn't crowded at all. My son did have a hard time going to sleep at first and cried and cried, but an hour into the flight he fell asleep. Since we had him in our lap, it was uncomfortable. I really thought that we would be able to sleep on the way there, but there was alot of turbulance, (scary). Once we arrive it was about 5am- Orlando time, MCO was empty. It took us a second to figure out that we had to get on the shuttle/train to were Magic Express was. Once we found it, the reps were outstanding. We were literally walked to our motor coach. There were three reps making sure we knew where to go. Since it was so early we had the motor coach to ourselves and it went straight to the resort.

We arrived about 6:30am or so. The front desk lady wasn't as charming as I was hoping, but she did upgrade us from a Woodsview to a Courtyard view. We were too early to get the room, but gave us a number to call and check at around 10am to see if our rooms were available. We went to freshen up and headed to the Whispering Canyon for breakfast. We all loved it. We had a great experience and the food was great. We got the all you can enjoy skillet. Yummy-highly recommend it
Watch out for flying napkins and straws.
As long as you're checked in you can use your Key to the World, especially if the dining plan is attached.
We were able to get our room at 10:30am. YAY! We were so tired and my son needed to sleep. Our room had a great view. My mom and the boys coudn't get into their rooms until 2:30pm, so they hung out with us until then. If you can request rooms 6127 or 6129 you will love it.
We took a nap for a few hours. We had reservations at Artist Point at 5:40pm. My husband and brother ordered the salmon (they liked it), my mother got the beef tendoloin (she liked it) and I ordered the buffalo steak. I thought it was OK. I asked for it medium and it looked and tasted medium well. Would I go there again? No, but my husband will for the salmon and the Artist Point Cobbler. That cobbler was very very good.
Be advised that if you choose the deluxe dining and you decide to eat at fancy restaurants, ordering appetizers, drinks, meal, and dessert will increase your 18%-20% tip. We paid over $45 in tip.

After our meal we decided to go into Magic Kingdom since they had extra magic hours that night. My mom didn't want to go and she offered to watch the baby :)

We got on the boat and arrived at MK about 9pm right on time for Spectro Magic. I was excited to see it, but was dissapointed. I guess I expected something like the Electrical Parade at Disneyland (now at California Adventures) Can someone tell me what were those creatures that looked like aliens were?
My husband, two brothers and I decided to ditch the parade and we headed straight to Space Mountain.Space Mountain at Disneyland has two seats per row vs the one seater at MK. Either way the ride was cool. We headed to Pirates and I love the Disneyland version alot better. Next was Thunder Mountain railroad (loved it) much better than Disneyland. Finally Splash Mountain. I have mixed feelings about this one. I liked that there were more drops at the MK version, but I felt it was too long. We went to get a Dole Whip and headed back home. We got back about 11:45pm. Tomorrow is Epcot. We needed to sleep since we had reservations at Chef Mickey's at 9:30am (6:30 pacific time).

By the way did I mention how beautiful the Wilderness Lodge is. I'm in love.

Love your report so far! We are going in Septmeber. My son will be 22 months at the time of the trip and we are staying at the Wilderness so I am anxious to read your reports on the hotel as well as how your son did. (This will be his second trip to WDW, but he was only 3 months old the first time.)

Was the tip automatically applied to the bill?

Tips are only applied if you were a party of 6 or more. There were five dining plans and one infant (who can eat off our plate). The only time that tip was included was at one buffet (Chef Mickey's to be exact) I made it a point to mention that there were only five dining plans and the server told me that they had to add it (the first time I heard of this) We are used to tiping 15% or more, but since the 18% and 20% were conveniently printed out for us we stuck with the 18%. We never tipped below that since I wasn't sure if Florida's norm is 18%. In California it's 15%-18%.

Day two coming next:

Day Two- Epcot

Reservations: Chef Mickey's @ Contemporary 9:30am
Yachtman's Steakhouse @ Yacht Resort 5:35pm

We decided to only do half of Epcot and do World Showcase on another day. We felt less overwhelmed this way.

We left Wilderness Lodge about 8:30am and took the boat that goes to Contemporary for our breakfast at Chef Mickey's. There were very few people that morning at the dock. Please make sure that you notice that there are two boats, one that goes to MK and one to the Contemporary.
We got there fairly quickly. We checked in at Chef Mickey's and was given a pager. With such a popular place you will still wait. We did not take the picture that they gave you an option to take. There was no character there, just a prop you stand on. No thanks!
The Contemporary is an OK resort with nothing spectacular that stands out. It was nice to see all the characters and take pictures with them. For some reason all came to us except Mickey, he never made it to our table. he stopped three tables before us. They do have a little celebration where they have us gave around napkins and sing. The brought my husband a little birthday cupcake since he was wearing his b-day pin (highly recommended if you are celebrating something). The food was OK. We loved the Mickey waffles (yummy). My son behaved- thankfully, but at his age he will no longer sit in his high chair for long.
We headed towards Epcot via Monorail, but if I rememeber correctly we had to get off and board another monorail to get to Epcot.
Tip: You are able to board your child in his stroller on the monorail (loved it)
Once we got to Epcot we headed staight to get fastpasses for Test Track. After that we got on the Nemo ride- that was cute- We got off right on time to watch Turtle talk with Crush. My son was running around everywhere while we waiting. He's not the calm type. It was a cool show, but the 22 month old was not entertained at all.
After that we went back to Test Track- the ending was the coolest part. We headed towards Mission Space- My husband and I chose the green version, my brothers the red. We liked it, but it got us dizzy. After that we hung out at Innovations.
It was time to head back to the hotel to change for our reservations at Yachtman's. It was a long trek to get back. We had to take the Monorail back to Contemporary, boat ride back to Wilderness, change clothes, and bus to the Beach and Yacht resort. Give yourself at least an hour to get there from Wilderness.

We made it about 5:25 (ten minutes early)
The hostess was vey nice who checked us in, but for some reason we were not sat until 6pm. When we asked why were still waiting - it turned out that they gave our table to another group. Not sure how that happened. We were sitting right in front of the hostess and the beeper never went off. We were hungy and our son was anxious.
Finally we order. Mom and brother (17) ordered the porterhouse. Mom- medium well and bro medium. My husband and I ordered the ribeye both medium- please keep in mind we are steak lovers and know a good steak when we eat it. My younger brother got child's chicken.
Well this is were it gets ugly. My brothers steak was so bloody it looked rare on the inside and so did mine. My steak was bloody in the inside and charcoled on the outside with a third of fat stuck on it. It didn't make sense since they are known for a good steak with no fat. I can handle some red, so I didn't complain, but felt cheated. My brother sent his back. They cooked it some, but it still was not to his liking- he was so angry that his food was still not the way it should be for $44 bucks a pop that he got up and left. It's not like my brother, but he was already upset that we waiting so long and our table had been given away.
It was really really cold in the restaurant (actually the entire hotel) when we asked of they could adjust it since we were sitting right under a vent they said that it would take twenty minutes for the cooling to adjust, but it would affect the whole restaurant. The temperature never changed. At this point we just wanted to leave. The server was very unattentative and never asked how the food was. I think that she knew we were unhappy. At least my husbands and moms food was OK. My son was so grumpy and tired by then that my husband had to take him out while my mom and I waited to pay the bill. We literally didn't leave until almost 9pm. We had been there since 5:25. I do not recommend this restaurant at all. You can find a better steak elsewhere. We all got sick from the food and hated the experience. Not worth the travel to that resort or the two points on the dining plan.

We got home just in time to watch the electrical parade on the lake. Very cool. Nice way to end the day.

Magic Kingdom tomorrow.

Enjoying your report so far. So sorry about your experience at the Yachtman:( I can't stand it when they get my steak wrong.
Hope your dining experiences improve:)

3rd day: Magic Kingdom.
Breakfast at Kona Cafe: Loved it and highly recommend
Dinner at Ohana: Loved it too

Our reservations were at Kona @ 8am. It was early, but I wanted to make the most of our day at MK.
The food was great. I had macadamia and pinapple pancakes, husband had Tonga toast, the banana nut bread was soooo good. If you are a strong coffee drinker try there 100% Kona presses coffee. My husband really liked it. My mom and I got the Kona blend. The service was great. two thumbs up!! Great way to start the day.

We headed off to MK via monorail and it started to sprinkle. It wasn't too bad since it was warm. We got on Small World. My husband really liked the set up of Fantasyland vs. Disneyland. We liked that most of the lines were under shade. We got on Splash Mountain again-very fun
Please don't miss the Voyage of the Little Mermaid-It was so cute and worth watching.
The Haunted Mansion is scarier that the one at DL since the DL version was converted to Nightmare before Christmas. I was actually scared-it was fun though. It reminded me of when I experienced it the first time when I was a kid at DL.
We really enjoyed the Pooh ride and Mickey's Philharmagic.
Since it kept raining on and off we spent alot of time in stores being silly. That was fun in itself.
I forgot to mention that we had lunch at Casey's Corner. Hotdogs, fries, sodas, dessert. We sat inside on the bleachers and watched old Mickey cartoons. It was very relaxing.

We headed back to the Poly (beautiful resort) and since we were about 40 minutes early for our reservations I took my son for a dip in their pool. I had brought his trunks with me. He had so much fun.
After we checked in for our reservations we had a few cocktails. Please try their Captain's Mai Tai-very yum. My mom and husband had the Mojito and they enjoyed it as well.

We had an awesome server-very friendly, funny, and accomodating. Lots of food. We loved the bread, chicken, pork wontons, brocoli and the shrimp. We thought that the turkey, pork pieces, and steak were very dry. We kept askig for shrimp-they were so good. I was so full I didn't each much of the dessert.
My son acted up the whole time and luckly once I took him out of the highchair and sat him in a chair next to me he calmed down a little bit.

After dinner we went back to the Lodge and my brothers, husband and baby got back in the pool.
It was a great day.

Tomorrow: Epcot- World Showcase

Epcot- World Showcase
Dinner: Coral Reef @ 5:45pm

We started the day pretty late today. We woke up at 9:45 and got to Whispering Canyon at 11:15. breakfast was great - again-
By the time we got to Epcot it was almost 2pm. We thought it we would have plenty of time to tour World Showcase, but it was so hot that it slowed us done a bit. Today had been the hottest day so far. We only had 3.5 hours until our reservation for Coral. We enjoyed World Showcase, but at the end didn't have time to visit Mexico or UK. I loved Italy and Morocco. I loved the details of everything. In Japan I felt I could be there all day shopping.
Did you know that all the people that work there are on a one year sponsored visa while they go to school. They are also given housing-awesome for Disney to do that.
My husband enjoyed trying beer from each country.
Please make sure to take your reservation numbers with you. It turned out that ours was cancelled when we made a change in reservations for that day, but we were given a spot anyways. Thankfully. No matter where you sit you will be able to enjoy the view. The food was good. My mom really liked the steak, I had the crab legs (yummy). My husband had the mahi mahi and everyone enjoyed their food. By the time we got out my brothers went to Soaring and then it was time for Illuminations. Everyone loved it and it was off to battle with the masses towards the exit.
I loved coming back to the Lodge. It was so calm and relaxing. It is the best resort to come home to after a long day.
Tomorrow- Hollywood Studios

3rd day: Magic Kingdom.
Breakfast at Kona Cafe: Loved it and highly recommend
Dinner at Ohana: Loved it too

Our reservations were at Kona @ 8am. It was early, but I wanted to make the most of our day at MK.
The food was great. I had macadamia and pinapple pancakes, husband had Tonga toast, the banana nut bread was soooo good. If you are a strong coffee drinker try there 100% Kona presses coffee. My husband really liked it. My mom and I got the Kona blend. The service was great. two thumbs up!! Great way to start the day.

We headed off to MK via monorail and it started to sprinkle. It wasn't too bad since it was warm. We got on Small World. My husband really liked the set up of Fantasyland vs. Disneyland. We liked that most of the lines were under shade. We got on Splash Mountain again-very fun
Please don't miss the Voyage of the Little Mermaid-It was so cute and worth watching.
The Haunted Mansion is scarier that the one at DL since the DL version was converted to Nightmare before Christmas. I was actually scared-it was fun though. It reminded me of when I experienced it the first time when I was a kid at DL.
We really enjoyed the Pooh ride and Mickey's Philharmagic.
Since it kept raining on and off we spent alot of time in stores being silly. That was fun in itself.
I forgot to mention that we had lunch at Casey's Corner. Hotdogs, fries, sodas, dessert. We sat inside on the bleachers and watched old Mickey cartoons. It was very relaxing.

We headed back to the Poly (beautiful resort) and since we were about 40 minutes early for our reservations I took my son for a dip in their pool. I had brought his trunks with me. He had so much fun.
After we checked in for our reservations we had a few cocktails. Please try their Captain's Mai Tai-very yum. My mom and husband had the Mojito and they enjoyed it as well.

We had an awesome server-very friendly, funny, and accomodating. Lots of food. We loved the bread, chicken, pork wontons, brocoli and the shrimp. We thought that the turkey, pork pieces, and steak were very dry. We kept askig for shrimp-they were so good. I was so full I didn't each much of the dessert.
My son acted up the whole time and luckly once I took him out of the highchair and sat him in a chair next to me he calmed down a little bit.

After dinner we went back to the Lodge and my brothers, husband and baby got back in the pool.
It was a great day.

Tomorrow: Epcot- World Showcase

I feel your pain (22 month old...had the same issues):(

Hollywood Studios

50's Primetime @ 11:05am-Early lunch
Mama's Melrose with fantasmic- very early dinner (only slot open for Fantasmic)

We got there about 9:30am. Headed straight to grab fast passes to ToT. We also got in line since there was no wait. The day was muggy, but I prefer it that way. This version seemed scarier than DL. It was awesome
We went into Sounds Dangerous- it was empty. We scheduled what time we were going to Indiana and Light. Motors, Action.
Once it was time we got our fast passes for Rock N Roller Coaster. We love Aerosmith so this was a must.

We headed for 50's Primetime. I really liked the decor and atmosphere. Our waitress "sister" was OK. She really wasn't in character. The reason I wanted to go there was for the 50's feel. I took tons of pictures. My mom and I had the fried chicked (ok) We ordered onion rings (very very good) my husband ordered a chicken sandwich (ok). By this time my younger brother was really getting tired with the kids menu. They're pretty much all the same at most restaurants. I only recommend it for the atmosphere and not really so much for the food, except the onion rings.

After lunch we headed to Light, Motors, Action. We got a workout going up all those stairs. It was a good show. After that we did Indiana. It was OK, the baby started acting up and my husband had to step out with him.

The baby took a nap and we rode ToT again and Rock N Roller Coaster. My mom stayed behind with the baby. She's not the thrill ride type.

After that it was time to eat again. We headed towards Mama Melrose. When we told them that the baby was asleep in the stroller, they let us bring him in with the stroller. I though that was very nice. We had tons of appetizers. All very good and full meals with dessert. We never thought we were going to be this hungry after eating at 11am. The only thing I recommend you watch out for is servers adding the wrong tip.
When we gave him our card we told him to add the 18% and split it between our dining plan and my moms. We didn't notice until we left that he charged 20%. We felt very weird after this, but didn't want to waste time going back and complaining.

We walked around bought some new pins for my collection. It drizzled a little bit, but not enought disturb our visit.

We were able to get our seats for Fantasmic at 8pm. Our son was actually pretty good while we waited, but once it started he was unbeareable. I guess he doesn't like when the attention goes off of him. AHHHHHH
I thought that the DL version was better. I was very surprised to see that Cinderela wasn’t in it. Once it was over we rushed-literally ran towards the stroller parking. We were able to dodge most of the crowds and get on the bus back to the Lodge.
We enjoyed Hollywood Studios, even though we didn’t go into some of the most popular attractions. My son wouldn’t sit for most of them anyway.

Tomorrow- Animal Kingdom :0) Breakfast at Tuskars 8am early!!

Thanks so much for the trip report! The dining reviews are great- me and my family are now looking into dinner at Ohana's now. :)

Can't wait to read the rest!

Friday: Animal Kingdom
Reservations: Breakfast Tuskars w/Donald @ 8am
Dinner @ Ohana (again) yes we loved it there

We arrived very early, but a little late to our reservations. We didn't know that the restaurant was in the back in the park. Please give yourself time for that.

We arrived and was greated wonderfully, we took a picture before going in taken by the Disney photographers.

We were then seated and our server came to introduce himself. ( he was great- the best server we encountered. super funny).
The food was good, the setting was African style, and the characters where all there and willing to take several pose shoots with you. We had a great time. We didn't buy the Disney pic $30 is way to much for a few pics with no Disney Character.

First stop: Kilimanjaro Safari- the line went fairly quickly and we were on safari in less than ten minutes. Be aware that it's a bit bumpy, so if you get car sick- watch out. It was all we expected. Great ride.
We took the walking tours (Flights of Wonder, Pangani exploration Trail and Moharaj Jungle Trek)- very interesting. We got fast passes for Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids.
It was a hot day, so again we took alot of breaks. Be prepared to walk alot. My son slept for most of the time and when he was awake, we had him do some water play by the Kali River Rapid entrance. There's a cool fountain that kids go and play in.

We didn't do any shows even though we wanted to our son would of not behaved. My husband and I really wanted to see the Nemo Musical. Oh well maybe next time.

Animal Kingdom is very detailed- look at the floors, the walls, everything has a design in place- very creative. We also got to see a tree lady. She was on stilts and dressed as a tree. She walked around and camaflouged herself inside the other tree life. It was sooooo cool to see.
We enjoyed Animal Kingdom alot.

It was time for our reservation for Ohana. we cancelled Hoop De Doo to go back to Ohana. We figured my son wouldn't sit through a 2 hour show.

This meal at Ohana was OK. The server can really make a difference. Our food reviews were the same as the first time, but our server was better the first time we went.

We headed back to the Lodge to relax. It had been a long day.

Tomorrow: MK and Downtown Disney

Your report sounds wonderful. My son and I stayed at the Wilderness Lodge last summer and we are heading back there this August, we can't wait. Keep the report coming.

Hey there:)
Wish we could have met up..maybe next time.
sounds like you had a blast. I took sooo many pic's it was hard to fine a few favs to post and put in an album. Want to go back already miss it.

Reading your report with great interest!!!

We'll be taking our son (28 months at the time) this summer. We're staying at WL and have been debating whether or not to thrust him upon Artist's Point. How did yours behave there? Our son is very hit or miss for restaurant behavior...

Libby97,

It really depends on the time that your reservation is and if he had his nap or not.
When we went to Artist he has just woke up from nap and hour before and our resrvation was at 5:45. He was Ok for most of this dinner.

MK and Downtown Disney today.

Reservations: 6:30pm-Whispering Canyon

There was a thunderstorm and my family was scared to get on the bus. it was raining hard and there was lighting and thunder. I kept telling them that it would clear up. Once I convinced them, I got them on the bus towards Downtown Disney.
It was still raining once we got there, but like I told them- it cleared up. I loved, loved, loved Downtown Disney. The Downtown Disney here in California is nothing compared to Florida's. I was in shopping heaven. I bought tons of pins and then I saw the Gharadelli store- Those ice cream sundays looked so good. There is no way that we could of finished all of Downtown Disney in one day, and we only had half to do it. Please make sure you take your walking shoes.
We left only because we really wanted to have dinner at Whispering Canyon. Which we highly recommend to get the skillet. SOOO Goood. Once we finished dinner we took the boat to MK. It started to rain again and we were so tired. We got on Dumbo, Peter Pan's Flight and watched fireworks. Afer that we headed back to the Lodge to pack. I was sad. I didn't want to leave. I could spend a whole week just at the Lodge.

Tomorrow: Finish packing, boat ride and back home to LA

Once the morning came, we were brought our tags for our luggage and our itemized statement for our hotel charges. We probably spend a good $350 in gratuities with the Deluxe Dining plan, so pelase take that in consideration if you decide to go with that option. Keep in mind that we did have alot of sit down dinners and some signature restaurants.

My husband and two brothers rented a speedboat while my mom and I packed. Once we took our luggage down. We ate at the Roaring Fork. We had so many snack credits and some meal credits we started to buy people in line their food. We still had 13 snacks credits left. We decided to get some snacks for the flight back. We were picked up by Magical Express by 3:15 and our flight wasn't until 6pm.

We really like MCO, there's lots to do while you wait. All in all it was a good trip. I loved where we stayed. We want to come back during Christmas and once my son is older.

I hope this trip report was helpful and please feel free to comment or ask me questions.

Thanks for a great report. It sounds like you had a really good time. Thanks for sharing your report, it makes me want to leave tonight for Orlando.-

Thank you very much for a wonderful report. I loved all of your details on the resturants and meals.

Thanks again.

Ellen

Great report. In reference to your table being given away, this happened to us at Whispering Canyon. There they were just calling out names and I wasn't paying attention until my daughter said, "Mom, those people just took our table." I put a curse on them and hoped they would get the runs from their dinner.LOL!