Travel dates: Tuesday July 24th to Wednesday August 1st

Travel method: Shuttle, plane, Magical Express

Resort: Wilderness Lodge

Cast and Ages Represented in Group:
DH - Jake, 25
DW - Shaundra (Me), 22

WDW Experience Represented in Group: First trip to WDW, our honeymoon!

Comments: We are so excited to be going to Disney World, both of us having been countless times to Disneyland.

Planning:
There has been a lot of planning for this trip. I'm even starting my trip report 2 weeks before going because I know that everything will be crazy that week!

Wednesday July 24th
Woohoo! We’re married! YAY!!

We were married on the 23rd at the Disneyland Hotel, and we had both been awake since 6 am yesterday, and we are about to get on the shuttle to LAX at 4:15am! We were exhausted!

MIL paid for the Super Shuttle to pick us up and take us to LAX for our 7:05am flight. But anyone who is reading this, BEWARE! Our driver was HORRIBLE! I was so exhausted from the previous day that I was falling asleep on the way there, but our driver almost rolled the van countless times to where DH was considering asking him to pull over and us take a cab! And, one of the other passengers accidentally locked him out of the van (we were still in it) and he went ballistic! We will never use this service again.

We got to the airport (neither one of us had ever flown as adults, so we were really nervous and unsure of what to do) and went to check in and get our tickets. At the Delta counters at LAX, they have self-check in, and needed our e-ticket number to get our boarding passes. We did everything through WDW and had none. Long story short, it took us 45 minutes to get checked in! Luckily, we were there 2 ½ hours early for our flight.

DH had to use the restroom before we took off, and we didn’t have a chance to get anything to eat before we had to board the plane, so we planned to wait until our connection in Cincinnati to get food. DH was so glad he decided to get some granola bars before we left home.

Landed in Cincinnati, grabbed some sandwiches, and boarded the plane. We had the last seats in the row, so there wasn’t anyone sitting next to us! Yay, more legroom! As we were eating, DH thought that he was going to throw up because the sandwich was! And it didn’t help that we had a lot of turbulence the last half hour of the flight. Poor guy!

Landed without incident in Orlando, and got off the plane and scrambled to figure out where the heck the ME desk was! We spotted some CMs hiding behind a pillar and asked them where to go.

Got on the bus, had an awesome driver who gave us several suggestions on where to eat, and his opinions on the World as a whole. We were the second stop, and when we reached the WL, we were in awe; it was gorgeous! It was prettier than we imagined and it would be perfect.

We get to the front desk at about 6:30, and they let us know that the luggage was on its way and we should go get settled in the room until it gets there. Also, they gave us Just Married buttons and First Visit buttons. The CM at the desk said that we would get special treatment if the other CMs saw it was our first visit. We walked around the pool, figured out where the dinning areas were, and found our room. It was a great size for the two of us, however we had a handicap accessible room. The bed was only a couple feet off the ground and the bathroom, while huge, resembled more of a locker room than an actual bathroom. DH was a little uncomfortable taking a shower and he missed not having a tub to soak in. But I told him that we should wait and see what happens.

We had ADRs at the Whispering Canyon Café at 8:05, and our luggage hadn’t arrived yet so we went to check in at 7:55 and were seated within 15 minutes. Our server, Patrick, was wonderful, he had a lot of information for us and we had a great time. I would suggest this restaurant to everyone if they can get to the WL. DH had the skillet that had a little bit of everything (ribs, chicken, shrimp) and I had the roasted chicken, all of it was so yummy! We ordered our dessert to go, and the total was $85.63. Thank God for the dinning plan, we wouldn’t have eaten most of the stuff we did while we were there.

We finished dinner at about 9:30, and our luggage still hadn’t showed up yet. We went the front desk to inquire, and they confirmed that it was coming, but it would take only another half hour or so since the van had left the airport about 25 minutes before. We had only been back to our room for 15 minutes, and here came our luggage! We turned in a little early since we wanted to get to MK at the opening ceremony the next day.

Day 1 thoughts: We shouldn’t have stayed up the whole night. I think that we should have gotten maybe a couple of hours, and I think that we would’ve been better off. WL is GORGEOUS! Our room would not be so cool after a whole day, but I’ll get to that later. The CMs were wonderful at the Resort; I can’t imagine the ones that actually work in the parks!


I'll post more maybe later today, but probably tomorrow, that is if I can get internet at home!

Shaundra,

Congratulations on your wedding! Great date choice, by the way (July 23rd is my birthday) :D.

Great report so far, looking forward to the rest!

Jennifer

Congratulations!!! Love to read reports from first timers. And a honeymoon trip is an added bonus. Waiting for more.

Yay! More, more!

(I wish I could've done this earlier, but we don't have internet at home, and I've had to do this on my lunches! There is more to come, but I didn't want to keep you hanging too much longer. If this is too much to read, be thankful that I've forgotten some stuff! I should've taken better notes...)

Thursday July 25th
We woke up at 6:30 so we could get to the Magic Kingdom (MK) at the park opening. The room was still awkward to be in, the only nice part was I could get ready at the sink while DH used the facilities. However, neither one of us could get ourselves to use the shower. It was too, to overuse the same word, awkward.

We chose to ride the bus to MK this morning. The driver chatted the entire time, asking Disney trivia to the group on the bus instead of the recorded message that all of the buses are supposed to play.

Once we got to MK, I could hardly contain myself! We were here, after 2 years of planning out the details, we made it. But it looked so familiar, like we were home in California at DL.

The opening ceremony started with the train pulling up and a ton of familiar characters coming off, Alice and the Mad Hatter, Pinocchio, Gheppeto, Foul Fellow and Gideon. And then, finally, the Big Cheese himself! A family from Ohio got to open the park with Pixie Dust, and we were off (entering the park on the right side). It was so beautiful, with enough differences from DL that we knew that we weren’t in Cali any more.

Walking up to Main Street (MS), an older CM, who drove the double-decker bus, saw our buttons and offered the best seats on the bus, the front on top! He said that we couldn’t get better pictures from anywhere else on the bus, and he was right! (I don’t know how to post pictures, so I am going to set up a link to an online host when I can upload them.) Turning onto the straight part of MS, we had the perfect view of the castle (My Castle! Oh- to be chosen to spend the night in my castle, yet it was not to be on this trip). Once we got to the castle, we started to look for the CMs that take your picture, but we couldn’t find any. So we had a random person take it for us.

It was still early enough that the other parts of the park weren’t open yet, and we walked to the entrance of Liberty Square (LS). This was so neat! DH didn’t remember me telling him that there was this part of MK instead of our New Orleans Square, but can you expect them to remember everything? We had our picture taken in front of the Liberty Bell and walked to the Hall of Presidents. I had heard a lot of information about this on MousePad, and wanted to make sure that we didn’t miss it. We came in so close to starting that we were escorted in the exit. There were only a couple other people in there (which wasn’t surprising since it was only 8:30. Our take – wonderful, everyone should sit through it at least once. We made a game to see how many Presidents we knew before they introduced them. But we weren’t very good; I think we only had 6 or 7 correct.

After the show, we explored the area between LS and Frontierland, getting our bearings, when we stumbled on Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain (TMRR). DH didn’t want to ride Splash yet, because we had made special t-shirts and we didn’t want them ruined, so we continued to walk around until we got to Pirates of the Caribbean. Our take – we like the queue for this one, but we enjoy the ride at DL more. While we were on the ride, DH’s shirt got wet, and ended up ruining the print anyway, so we went to the PoC store and found him a sleeveless shirt with a skull and cross bones on it. I didn’t want wear a shirt that said “Just Married” and be with someone else who wasn’t wearing it! I don’t think that would look too good, so I just wore the tank top that I had on under. (Got a little bit of a tan!)

DH was starting to get hungry (it was 10:30 by this time) and we walked around to see what was open. We took his shirt and the bag up to the front to put in a locker. None of the stuff in Frontierland looked good, and so we walked through Adventureland, noting where Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse (SWRT), Tiki Room, and Jungle Cruise were. Landing next to Main Street, we saw Casey’s and decided to come back and wait for it to open at 11.

The CM that took our order helped us figure out the details with the DDP, and asked us if we’d rather have cracker jacks or a brownie with our meal. Both of us chose the brownies, and she giggled.

“Usually, for honeymooners, I would give them the brownies for free cause they’re more expensive than the cracker jacks, but here are the cracker jack to go with your brownies!” YAY, a magical moment, on our first day!)

That CM made us feel real special, and we went out to the patio to eat. Another CM came by and started to play music on the piano that turned out to be a Mary Poppins medley with a ragtime feel. It was really good; DH and I decided that the CM reminded us of Wayne Szalinski from Honey I Shrunk The Kids. You could tell that he was getting a kick out of playing, which made everyone appreciate what he was doing even more so. Great Pianist, DH went up and thanked him for the music.

We walked into the MS shops to see if I could find a shirt that I liked, maybe one that we could match with a shirt the DH could get, but there wasn’t anything that looked fun. So we headed to Tomorrowland, despite it being the least favorable one in DL (except for Space Mountain), it’s our favorite one. We were disappointed to see that Star Tours wasn’t there, so we walked over to Stitch’s Great Escape to try it out. DH is a huge 626 fan, so there was no question that we would experience this. Our take – I thought that it was cute, and we totally weren’t expecting Stitch to share his food (;) to everyone who has gone on this), but I wouldn’t wait longer than 10 minutes for it.

After Stitch, we walked around figuring out where we were, and found the Indy Speedway. I think that DH was in heaven having Stitch and Racing in one section of the park. Riding together, we liked this attraction. I kind of wish the cars would’ve gone a little faster, but what can you do?

When you exit the ride, there is a stationary Indy car where you can get in a take your picture. When we got there, a family was taking pictures, and I told DH that I needed a pic of him in it. We waited, and this other family with a young boy came up next to us. The boy, who could’ve been 6 years old, walked right up in front of the first family taking the pictures, without any scolding from his parents. Once the other family was done, he got in the car and his parents walked right past us and started taking pictures! DH was so mad, not because he couldn’t get his picture with the car, but because of how rude this family was. We walked away, and as we passed the family, he loudly said, “It was so nice of them to cut in front of us and teach their child the idea of waiting his turn.”

It wasn’t good, once DH is in a mood, it can be rough to get him out, even at MK. So I told him that we were going to see Goofy. (DH really likes Stitch, but he was a sticker on his precious car of Goofy. The big Goof is his most favorite character, even over Mickey!) And by going to see Goofy, I meant that we were going on Goofy’s Barnstormer! He started to get out of his mood, and when he spotted the trousers flying like a flag, he actually started to smile! (Thank you Imagineers!) The queue for this ride is wonderful! DH pointed out the details on the model plane and throughout the house. Our take – Loved it! The wait was about 15 minutes, which wasn’t bad since they had the fans going, but it was still kind of sticky.

We kind of walked around Toon Town Fair, but we weren’t interested in seeing any of the characters, so we headed back towards Fantasyland (FL). We saw Winnie-the-Pooh (WTP), and I joked with DH that I wanted to ride it! After the look he gave me, I knew that he was over the ride family. Instead of riding WTP, we walked to Mickey’s Philharmagic. I have wanted to see this show since it was announced a few years ago, and started to tell DH what it was about.

Our take – Way too great! It is probably one of the best 3-D shows that Disney has! I’m not a fan of HISTA (Honey I Shrunk the Audience), and while ITTBAB (It’s Tough to be a Bug) is cute, the music was perfectly matched with the chosen animation. Also, the store/exit with the Don hanging out is a great ending to a great show.

We went window-shopping, and I kept teasing DH that I was going to buy some Mickey crocs, and went outside to see what else they had. When we were in between Peter Pan and Small World (IASW), DH said that he would ride IASW the next day if he didn’t have to sit through it right now. So off to Neverland it was! I didn’t really notice any major differences between the two Peter Pan rides, except that this one had a more shaded queue!

Back to Liberty Square, we looked around the shops some more. I wanted to see where The Liberty Tree Tavern was so that we’d be able to find it the next evening, and we walked into the Americana shop. I think that this has to be one of the best shops in WDW just because of the toys! All the old fashioned whistles and trains, and the President dolls. I thought those were a hoot, and almost bought one of George W for my very Republican uncle, but we couldn’t afford to buy everyone something.

Cool! Thanks for the new posting; looking forward to more!

So enjoying your posts! Thanks and looking forward to the next day!

:)Great report and congrats on your wedding

Day One, Part 2:

By this point, I really wanted to ride Splash Mountain, so we went to see how the line was. We saw that Splash had a 20 minute wait, and BTMRR had a 10 minute wait. (This was around the evening parade time, so there weren’t as many people in this part of the park.) But before we could do anything, DH had to use the little boys room.

Side Note: DH has a hard time using any bathrooms that aren’t his. Not because of the germs, but because he is a very private person. If he can’t use a stall, he won’t go. On this trip, I had told him how far it was back to the hotel, and that I didn’t want to waste the time traveling back and forth. I would if it was an emergency, but I was mean! He did very, VERY well though. I was proud of him. (You’d think I was talking about my kid instead of my husband!)

When DH was ready, we headed to Splash. While I was waiting, I saw a bunch of kids go under the rope in front of me, and there was no CM to say anything. Once DH got there, we walked over to do the same thing, and here came the CM saying, “Hold on. Don’t go under.” So DH and I walked back around to the opening of the line, grumbling. When we passed by the CM, he said, “I was going to open the rope for you,” and smiled. Ooops.

Our Take – Splash Mountain has always been one of my absolute favorite attractions, and I was excited to see this new version. I’m glad to say that we weren’t disappointed, and we even like the WDW better! Mainly because of the side-by-side seating, but also the ride itself seemed longer and went into more detail of the story. Great Ride!

The wait time for BTMRR had gotten a little longer (the wait went up to 20 minutes) but we got in line anyway. There weren’t too many people waiting, and we got on quickly. Our Take – We can’t choose one over the other. It’s a great ride, no matter where it is…

I’ve cut the times out of all of this, and when we rode Splash and BTMRR it was about 9:30 in the evening. It had been a long and exhausting day, so we took the bus back to the resort. It was about 10 by the time we got into the room, and we realized that we hadn’t eaten dinner yet, so we hurried to the Roaring Forks to get some food. Both DH and I tried their flatbread pizza and sodas. Total was 21.18, and it wasn’t bad!

After we ate, we relaxed in the room until we fell asleep. We had another long day planned, so we went to bed about 11:30.

Thoughts on the day:
For us, spending the first day in MK was perfect. I think that it eased us into being in WDW, but was familiar enough to feel like home (DL).

Tomorrow: Another day in MK…Characters everywhere!

thanks for the update! SOOOO fun to read!

Enjoying your trip report!! Congrats on your wedding. DH and I went to WDW for our honeymoon 16 years ago.

Hey cool! So did we! 16 years ago this Friday!

I am really enjoying your report, so far! Can't wait to hear more!

Hey cool! So did we! 16 years ago this Friday!

:)

16 years ago last May.

Wednesday July 26th
We had set our alarm to go off at 6:30 so that DH and I could both shower before heading to MK for our breakfast at the Crystal Palace, but that didn’t happen! We were both too uncomfortable with the handicapped shower to use it, so we decided that we would talk to the front desk when we came back later in the day to see if we could get switched.

Made it to MK for the early admission at 8, and our breakfast at 8:10. There were characters at the gates; Gheppeto, Pinnochio, Foul Fellow and Gideon. All the kids around us went crazy and tried to be with them, but a lot of adults wouldn’t let them through. I guess they didn’t want to loose their place in line…Whatever!

When the CMs let us through, we walked to the Crystal Palace for our breakfast with Winnie-the-Pooh and his Hundred Acre friends. DH wasn’t too thrilled about this breakfast (WTP kind of gets on his nerves), but we both wanted to get pictures with characters and we didn’t want to wait in line.

Our take – Totally cute! I love the character interaction; they were so patient. It was a buffet, so the server only took care of our drinks, but I think that he wasn’t in a good mood. And I’m not a big breakfast person, but DH loved the scrambled eggs and bacon.

About 30 minutes after we sat down, a CM got on a microphone and invited the children to take part in the Hundred Acre Wood Parade. All of the kids went to the center of the room, and the adults at the table had to hold their napkins up and re-create the Hundred Acre Wood. All in all, we had a great time, great food and wonderful characters. We will definitely do this one again.

We walked around to the Treehouse in Adventureland. DH never went on this before it became Tarzan’s Treehouse at DL and has never watched the whole movie. Me, on the other hand, I loved this attraction, and couldn’t stop watching the movie! I was really bummed when they changed it at DL, so we made this a must-do!

Our take – Totally perfect! I liked how much more it resembled the Treehouse that was built in the movie. It brought back memories, and DH didn’t think it was too bad either! Great way to exercise the fatty breakfast! J

I had, for some reason, brought our video camera with us to breakfast. It went unused the entire breakfast, and I had forgotten to bring our sunscreen, so it was back to WL. That way DH could get some icky out of his system, and I could ask about our room, and get some lunch at Roarin’ Forks.

When we got to the hotel, I went to the front desk. It was about 11, and there were a couple families that were checking in. Once I got to the desk, I asked about possibly switching rooms. The CM was very nice and looked for about 10 minutes on her computer. She said that she found one, but that it wouldn’t be available until the next day. Did we mind waiting one more night in our room?

I made the executive decision that we wouldn’t mind. Yay! A real shower! We’d have to wait another day, but that was ok. The CM said that we would be upgraded, and to check back tomorrow around 3 to see if the room was ready for us.

Again, we got the flatbread pizza, but instead of getting the bottled sodas, I remembered something I read about on these boards. The refillable mugs that are good for the entire length of the stay. DH and I had talked about them, but hadn’t gotten them yet. So I thought to surprise him, and went back to the room with 2 pizzas, 2 cookies, 2 waters, and 2 refillable mugs. This was all about $50, but I only had to pay for the mugs at 25.15 because of the DP! Total Savings!!

After we ate and relaxed in the room a bit, it was about three o’clock and we headed back out to MK via Ferry Boat! This was wonderful, it wasn’t crowded and it helped cool us off in the warm day. It is a total bonus for anyone who is a boat ride away from MK.

Once we got back inside MK, we walked around to the LS/Fantasyland walkway, and we stopped to take some pics of my castle, DH even had me pose for a few…

Continued through to Fantasyland, it was time for me to cash in on my IASW promise from the day before. It was a really good time to go in because there wasn’t anyone in line, and we got on the first boat. Our take – the ride itself is pretty much the same, however, we missed coming out of the ride into the fresh air, especially at night when it is all lit up. I know that having the queue inside is better, but it just didn’t feel right.

Coming up: Dinner with Goofy and Friends at the Liberty Tree Tavern!

Thanks everyone for reading our trip. I just hope you can endure 5 more days of WDW from us.

I think everyone whould go to WDW for their honeymoon. It has everything for couples, young and old. DH and I wouldn't have traded that week for a trip around the world! Especially when we got a taste of that in EPCOT without the horrendous time changes! :)

I think everyone whould go to WDW for their honeymoon.

Oooh, I agree! If I'd only been a disney nut way back then... :D
Thanks for the ongoing report and CONGRATULATIONS!

Thanks everyone for reading our trip. I just hope you can endure 5 more days of WDW from us.

I think everyone whould go to WDW for their honeymoon. It has everything for couples, young and old. DH and I wouldn't have traded that week for a trip around the world! Especially when we got a taste of that in EPCOT without the horrendous time changes! :)

Oh, yeah, we can endure it. It'll be tough, though:p. Just kidding. Thoroughly enjoying your trip!

Enjoyed your latest update. I have never been to DL so I am curious to see IASW there. So, you come out and you can see the whole park? That would be beautiful. I also am a huge fan of the treehouse and would hate it if they changed it. I will have to take lots of pictures next time I am there!

waiting................. :p

I have never been to DL so I am curious to see IASW there. So, you come out and you can see the whole park? That would be beautiful. :p

At DL you enter and exit IASW outside the facade of the building, in IASW plaza. The end of the queue has you walking down a slope to the waters edge, and the end of the ride has you in the boats wending your way down the 'stream' in front of the building until you reach the same place you got on. So you can see the lovely shaped trees and the lights on the front of the building etc, but not the park itself which is on higher ground.

We looked around Fantasyland a little more, and decided to walk over to LS. It was around 4:30, and we decided to try and catch the Presidents again, and we got to see it again, this time we went through the front doors! Again, loved it.

The show ended right on time for our reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern. We checked in and they asked where we were from and if we were celebrating anything special, so we answered that we were from California on our honeymoon and they had us sit in the lobby. We only had to wait for about 15 minutes, and we were announced.

When we got to the table, the staff had left a confetti heart on the table next to our menus! (Again, I will make a link to show off all of the pictures) Our waitress, Lynn, was very helpful, explaining how the dinner worked, and told us to make sure we got a picture of our confetti heart (I think she did it J).

While we were sitting, we waited for characters, but the only one that had showed up was Pluto. A neighboring family was kind enough to take our picture with him, even though the first time they missed! We were still hanging out, and DH really had to use the facilities, but he didn’t want to miss Goofy. (DH really like Stitch, but Goofy has always been his all-time favorite. We had to see Goofy on this trip.) Finally, he got up and left to find the potties. Luckily, no one came by while he was gone. Well, no one except for Dale, who had seen me by myself, and sat down in DH’s chair. When DH came back, Dale tried to fight for me, but he gave up once he saw that DH wasn’t going to back down. But he did kiss my hand, and gave it to DH. What a great character!

Dinner came, and anyone who has eaten there before knows that it is Thanksgiving all year round, yummy mashed taters, ham, turkey, corn, and all the fixin’s. It was so yummy, even picky DH couldn’t get enough!

While we were eating, here came Goofy! And right behind him was Chip, who used a towel to snap at Goofy! Goofy started to chase him, but Chip was too quick. So he came back to us, and noticed that we were on our honeymoon. He gave DH a nod and a-thumbs up! What a guy! Then Chip came back and took pictures, and Miss Minnie was waiting while these boys took so long with her hands on her hips and shaking her head.

We had the dessert, but neither one of us liked the cobbler and just ate the ice cream. Our take – Wonderful. We will definitely do this dinner again. The character interaction was the second best (you’ll hear about the best one on the second to last day). Especially if you have little ones, it’s a step back into American history with some of the best characters around.

After dinner, we headed back to Splash Mountain and BTMR for another night ride, and then headed home to the Resort. Only one more night and then we get a more comfy room! Yay!

Tomorrow: EPCOT (Finally!)

disney is such a MAGICAL place 9/6-9/9-9/07 12 th wedding aniv. you guessed it 12 years ago MAGIC KINGDOM I AM IN THE ZONE . PAM BRODY , BRITISH INVASION & THE GREAT BOB JACKSON

Terrific! Can hardly wait for the pics!

Day 3 – EPCOT

Today we get a new room, so we had to pack everything up to give to the bellman at 8 am. We had decided to take the ferry to MK and then take the monorail to EPCOT. We had done this the day before during relaxing time as well as figuring out how to get to EPCOT.

We got to EPCOT at about 9. The first thing I wanted to do was see if Spaceship Earth was open, but when we saw the walls up, we knew that we’d be out of luck. But it did look weird to see the wand halfway gone.

This has got to be our favorite park! My sister, who has been to WDW several times, said that we wouldn’t e able to spend more than an afternoon in EPCOT, but she was so wrong! There was so much we wanted to do, and we just kind of walked around figuring out where everything was for the first couple of hours.

We found our way to the World Showcase at about 10:30 and started on the Mexico side. I had made a noon reservation at Nine Dragons in China, so we took our time looking inside of Mexico. There was no wait for the Three Caballeros boat ride, so why not? Our take – Very cute. A little reminiscent of IASW, but I liked the clips with Don and the boys (DH had never seen the movie, but enjoyed it anyway).

We left Mexico and walked to Norway right next door. DH had had too much water already and left me to take some pictures. Got some great views of the Viking ship when DH walked back out. He really was looking forward to Norway because of his family heritage, and I got him to ride Maelstrom. Our take – Awesome! We didn’t expect the ship to turn, and I wish that the other pavilions would have similar experiences for the other countries.

It was 11:30, so we headed to China. Ooops! They don’t open until noon, so we’d have to look around. On our way to the China shops, we saw something jumping at our feet, mini frogs! They were about the size of a penny or smaller and there were tons of them! Of course, I took pictures of them, and we made sure to keep our eyes open to not squish them.

My grandmother was fascinated with the Asian culture, and it was somewhere they always wanted to visit. I know that if she had had a chance to go to EPCOT, the store in China would’ve been where she would’ve gotten all of her souvenirs! It was full of so many real Chinese works of art, totally beautiful. DH and I contemplated on getting me a kimono, but decided against it. I wouldn’t be able to pull it off.

I was, however, on two shopping missions while in WDW. One was to find my mom an Asian doll that looked like the one she already has (it’s her favorite one in her collection), and two, to find my husband the best wedding gift (we wanted to get each other a souvenir from WDW that we wouldn’t be willing to buy ourselves).

Wait, what time is it? Noon you say? Yay, time for lunch. We checked into Nine Dragons right on time, and were seated right away. Our server was Vue from Beijing. He was wonderful and answered our silly white American questions about the pictures of the Emperors of China we saw on the walls. DH ordered a beef dish with rice and asparagus that had XO sauce on it, and he loved it. I had a chicken bowl with rice, and it was way too big to finish! Thanks again for the DP, because with the appetizer it was $48! We will definitely visit here on our next visit.

After lunch, we headed back to Norway to look at the church museum. There were some rambunctious kids without any parentals around to discipline them, so we cut our visit a little short.

Following the road around, we would stop every couple pavilions. Unfortunately, we didn’t stop at the American Pavilion, and I am kicking myself for it now. We stopped in Germany to look at some more shops for gift ideas, but nothing really caught our attention. We got around to Japan, in search of the perfect doll, and found some wonderful ones, but I decided I should wait until we came back. Just in case I found it somewhere else. We ended near The Land, and decided to check it out for Soarin’. It’s one of our favorites at DL, but we weren’t willing to wait 120 minutes to ride it! And the FPs weren’t good until The Land closed for Fantasmic! at 9pm. Oh well, we’ll get FPs. It was about 5, and people were filling up the food court, so we decided to check out the Lands Boat Ride (I forgot the name). Our Take – really cool! It was a great look into what technology is doing for the environment to help us Earthlings survive. Plus, the Mickey veggies were awesome!

DH started getting grumpy, and I knew that we’d have to eat soon. We weren’t sure about the food court’s choices, I thought that it would be vegetarian or something. But when DH saw their sandwich choices, he went straight over! I got the grilled chicken; total for dinner was about $30 with drinks and desserts.

After dinner, we headed back to the Resort to get our new room, and it was ready! The CM at the front desk said that we had been upgraded and gave us our room key. He gave us quick directions on how to get to our room and we went. But we couldn’t follow his directions! We were lost, and it took us about 25 minutes to find where we needed to go! Once we got there, we saw that we had a pool view on the first floor, and could walk from our porch to the pool! Too bad we weren’t going to use it at all that trip (again, lessons learned).

Once DH emptied his bladder, and I got us re-settled, we headed back out to EPCOT. Once there, we decided to check out the other half of Future World, and saw Mission: Space. DH has two loves, all things space and cars. But, I had heard that MS spins. I don’t do spinning rides. So DH was willing to ride the Green Team with me, plus the line was more than half the wait. When we went to get our Team cards, we asked for the Green Team. The cast member looked at us, asked why, and I replied, “Because the wait for Orange is 40 minutes.” He smiled and said, “Not for you guys. Congratulations!” handed us FPs and Orange Team cards! I think we just had a magical moment! Our take – I cannot ride this! It was great to experience it, but I thought I was going to throw up a couple of times during the ride. Afterwards was worse! DH apologized for wanting to ride (how sweet), but I told him that I needed to try it. Next time, we’ll ride the Green Team!

After sitting on the bench inside the Space Station, I was ok enough to walk. We headed left and saw Test Track. I had heard about it, but didn’t know what it was, and was a little nervous about my stomach. But when DH saw it, you’d think he was a kid in a candy store! He loves cars, works on them for a living, and eventually wants to open a customization shop where he can do installations, and help people do their cars right. I knew that we had to ride this one, so we waited the 40-minute wait. Our Take – Awesome! The queue was perfect and the pre-show suited everything perfectly. The ride was very interesting and fun. My only negative is how you exit the pre-show. Very disorganized, and we had some little girls (age 12, I believe) push in front of us, and then have their parents join them. What do people teach their kids these days, that if you’re not first, you’re not cool? Whatever, we didn’t ride with them, so it was cool.

Now it was closer to our FP time at Soarin’, so we headed back to The Land. Our Take – nothing is different except the building. However, we sat next to this Hispanic family who insisted on taking photos the entire ride, even though throughout the pre-show they say that there is no flash photography. DH was upset and it totally ruined the ride with the constant flashes.

As we exited, we mentioned it to the CMs. They thanked us and apologized, but let us know that there was nothing that they could do about it. They can’t take the cameras from the guests and have to rely on good faith. Good luck on that when the family didn’t seem to speak English. Maybe if they had the warnings in several languages, it would help. I mean, WDW is a worldwide destination; people visit from all over, especially EPCOT Center. It would make sense to have all warnings in the top languages.

Ok, I’ll get down from my little soapbox.

We left EPCOT then, about 9:30, during Illuminations. I know, you all are going to kick my buttocks, but we didn’t get to see any nighttime show except Fantasmic! or any of the parades, except for part of High School Musical Pep Rally. I wish we had an extra day, or a more motivated DH, to see all of these, and I know that they’ll be different when we go back in 2011. Lessons learned, I guess.

We got back to the Resort, and had another late night dinner of flatbread pizza and filled up our cups.

Worth saying again: Our favorite park, hands down!

Tomorrow: What to do? No ADRs + no schedule = whatever we want!!

When I first entered the Wilderness Lodge 8 years ago, I was overwhelmed by the magnificense of the entrance and the lobby. I have never forgotten the feeling I had. I still have the same "teary eye feeling" walking down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom. The Wilderness is just a great place to stay and the grounds/pools/everything are so serene and lovely. Since then, I have become a member of the Disney Vacation Club with my home resort at the Wilderness Lodge Villas. One great place to stay. Convenient to the Magic Kingdom, the Monorail Resorts. I just love it.