Wilderness Lodge
Day 1 - August 10, 2002
July 12, 2003

Fly to WDW
Enjoy the day at VWL
Dinner with Chef Mickey!

Chef Mickey
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The day started out great, and just got better and better.  We had a 6am flight so everyone was awake by 4am.  Maddy was out of bed in a flash, and spouting off all the rides she was going to go on.  Even Tower of Terror made it onto the list until she realized what she had just said!  :-)  Their was a quick change of direction, and she continued to deny the ToT buy in!  We'll see....  :-)

Off to the airport, and arrived in plenty of time.  Checked the bags smoothly and made it through baggage check without having to submit to any full body searches.  :-)   The flights to Cincinatti and on to Orlando were pretty much perfect.  We even arrived a bit early on both flights.  

WLWent directly to baggage claim and found our bags in no time.  Walked out to the National Emerald Aisle and grabbed a Buick Century with plenty of luggage space to hold our tons of luggage.  :-)  This was a real problem last year!  We couldn't get everything in the car and keep the kids in there too!  MUCH better with the Buick!  Took 417 to WDW, and there was almost no traffic.  Tolls added up to $2.25.  We touched down at 11:00am and were checking in at the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge before noon!  I thought that was outstanding!  :-)

We had Ernest check us in, and he recognized our home town right away.  He was orginally from a town about 5 miles away!  We reminised for a bit, and enjoyed a walk down memory lane!  Very friendly, and made us very glad to be 'home'!   To top it all off our 1 bedroom Disney Vacation Club room was ready!  Kristen ran off to have Bell Services deliver our luggage while I completed the checkin.  We headed up to the room to get settled before going out to enjoy the pool.

VWL LivingroomThe room turned out to be on the Fifth floor, and VERY close to the elevators.  It looks directly across the way at the WL, with a side view of Bay Lake.  VERY pretty view.  With the 5th floor rooms you get enclosed balconies (which are actually great with kids) but you do have to stand up to see the view very well.  We don't mind at all and this room has a balcony off the livingroom and masterbedroom.  VERY nice.

VWL Master BedroomWhile I zipped around and tooks a bunch of pictures, Kristen got the girls ready to head down to the pool.  We grabbed our WL mugs and headed to Roaring Forks for a snack  hold us over until a 6:30 pm dinner at Chef Mickey's.  Chili (very good - I love it here!), two nachos, a bag of Cheetoos and a fruit cup was $15.  Love those refillable mugs.  Enjoyed them with the snack and filled them again before heading to the pool. 



WL PoolThe pool was pretty busy, and the clouds looked just a bit threatening.  Maddy put on her water wings, and we al proceeded to thouroughly enjoy the pool.  Maddy is MUCH more confident with the 'wings' and even agreed to try the slide with Mommy.  It was a BIG hit, and she and Brinn rode it again and again.  She even went up by herself, which we NEVER thought she would do.  The girls enjoyed jumping in and swimming all over the pool.  Mom and Dad got a few minutes to enjoy laying in the sun while the girls played in the kiddie pool, and we even took a soak in the Jacuzzi.Maddy  Makes hat Florida heat feel much nicer when you get out of that hot water! :-)  Speaking of heat, it wasn't TOO bad today.  We are used to being here in August, and this seemed pretty tolerable.  Even pleasant at times.  Very humid, but we've felt much worse!   I started Brinn on slidetaking a few pictures (gotta have SOMETHING to insert in the trip report!  :-)  )  and we headed over to get the girls on the slide.  NOW Maddy chickens out (too crowded she said), but I caught Brinn enjoying a ride down the slide.





Lined up for Duck racesThis was right at 3pm, and a lifeguard started telling everyone about the upcoming Duck Races.  We're intrigued and tagged along.  Brinn's duckWe all proceeded up the hill toward the lodge to where they lined the kids up and had them pick rubber ducks.  Then they all watched as the lifeguards let them escape down the stream, and we all watched them race toward the finish line.  Maddy's DuckThe Winner was said to win a prize, but alas the girl's ducks didn't even place!  :-)  It was still fun, and they really enjoyed it.  here they come!













OK, 3:30pm - time for a nap before Chef Mickey's.  They were both very tired after that early wakeup call, and only a short nap on the plane.  Just as we got bak to the building the skies opened up for the typical Florida afternoon thunder boomer.  More great timing! 

Surprise!When we got back to the room there was a wonderful surprise!  There on the diningroom table was a wonderful Disney basket, containing fruit, crackers, cheese, cookies and best of all (especially to a 6 and 4 year old!) two Minnie dolls!  Just want to give a public thanks to two of the bestest moderators around!  Sandi and Moley - thank you so much for the wonderful basket full of Disney Magic!  I immediately had to remove the minnies and give them to the girls as new bed buddies.

Snoozin with MinnieWith their new best friends, the girls crashed in almost no time, and even mommy caught a few winks.  Sleepless Daddy started putting things away, and had the dubious honor of waking them up 90 minutes later.   They were NOT quite ready to get moving again, but livened up a bit when they remembered they had a date with Chef Mickey!  It was still raining a bit, but not too bad.  We walked out to the boat dock and the first boat to arrive was headed directly to the Contemporary.  That good luck continues! :-) 

Chef Mickey'sWe are at the Contemporary in almost no time and head up to check in for dinner.  Even with a PS, it was about a 30 minute wait.  That was OK, it just gave us some shopping time.  We love the shops in the Contemporary.  After our 'buzzer' called us back we were quickly seated and were all pretty hungry.  The buffet seemed much better this year than in the past couple years.  Pretty much the same fair as we have seen previously, but everything was hot and very tasty tonight.  MinnieWe saw Goofy in the lobby, and Chip, Dale, Minnie, Donald and Chef Mickey at the table.  The girls had insisted on brining their new Minnies, and Minnie Mouse was quite taken with them.  :-)  ickey gave them each a kiss!  They loved he extra attention.  Dinner for 4 was about $75 + tip.  Our waitress was very attentive and friendly.  The drinks were always full, and the empty plates quickly cleared away.  MickeyTwo thumbs up for Chef Mickey's this year.  The desserts were wonderful as always, but the make your own cupcake was gone.  :-(  Not that we NEEDED it, but the girls had always loved doing that.   But to make up for it, on the way out RABBIT was in the lobby for autographs and pictures!!!  We had never seen Rabbit except in the Christmas Parade, so the girls were very excited to meet him!Rabbit 

After dinner it was time for a Monorail ride.  We jumped on and rode to the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) and them hoped he monorail to Epcot.  (Both monorails were waiting for us as we arrived!  I sure hope this timing thing holds out for the whole trip!)  It was too busy to get a front car seat, but we did get a car all to ourselves in the back.  The girls sang all the way to Epcot!  Must have been those two big bowls of ice cream! 

As we passed through Epcot I noticed (after craning my neck to see) that Mission Space was indeed open (8pm).  I talked Kristen into heading back with the girls while I ran for Mission Space!  (They were tired, and we have Early Entry tommorrow morning)  She was a bit apprehensive about getting back alone, but said she thought she would do fine.  I grabbed the chance ad bee lined for Mission Space.  Walked right in, right to the front and was on the ride in about 10 minutes!  What a GREAT ride.  It all felt perfectly real, and I didn't even realize I were spinning around to create the various effects.  Not a bit of dizziness or sickness (and I was MIGHTY full after Chef Mickey's!).  The secret is to keep your eyes focused on the screen and your head back on the headrest.  The effects were wonderful, and it was fun to be pulled into the attraction with the controls instruction and use.  Mucho Fun!  If both girls are tall enough, we hope to try it as a family next time.  I was the guinea pig to see if it was too much for them.  I think they would do fine! 

Caught the monorail back to the TTC and then rode the Bus to Wilderness Lodge.  Back in the room a little after 9pm.  Grabbed the laptop, headed to the lobby with a full refillable mug of Diet Coke and the rest is now trip report history.  :-)  A remarkable and fun filled first day at Disney! 

Tomorrow the Magic Kingdom for Early Entry and Breakfast with the Princesses!  And tomorrow night the big meet at the Boardwalk!  Sounds like anouther wonderful day in the making!

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