She's On Top of the World, a September 2018 TR at Copper Creek Villas and Cabins (Completed 12/20)

[joules12]

We can’t wait to try Garden Grill in November — I haven’t been there since long before it became a character meal.

Love the early morning photos. What a cool experience. SOMEday I’ll get up earlier than usual and wander a quiet resort (it’s one of those things that seems great until I’m actually laying in a WDW bed early in the morning).

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Sounds like a great breakfast. We have never done Garden Grill. I always have it on my list to start but I always end up cutting it at some point.

We have often done it at dinner, and this was our first lunch there. We always enjoy the food, which is great for a character meal with Mickey. We’re not sure t will make the cut for next trip, but it is a strong contender.

Garden Grill is definitely a great character meal!!!

We love it, the food is really good. Farmer Mickey is pretty darn cute too.

Great pictures! DW usually sleeps while I explore the resorts in the morning. Love being in an empty lobby before the chaos begins. Looks like the walk in shower is like the one at PVB. We loved that shower!

Thanks! There is just something neat about enjoying the tranquility before the chaos of the parks. The shower was very nice, and just as nice as the one in the cabin.

We can’t wait to try Garden Grill in November — I haven’t been there since long before it became a character meal.

Love the early morning photos. What a cool experience. SOMEday I’ll get up earlier than usual and wander a quiet resort (it’s one of those things that seems great until I’m actually laying in a WDW bed early in the morning).

We highly recommend Garden grill. It will be worth a visit during your next trip.
The early morning resort time can be addicting. I set an alarm to get up and go out a few trips ago, and I had so much fun that I am excited to get up and go out, which makes getting out of bed easier. The mug refills help too.

 

[cinderaimee]

I love all your early morning pictures! I had a question about something maybe you noticed when you were there - I know there is a mug refill station at Geyser Point, is it just a soda machine or do they have coffee there too? Coffee is an important part of my day

Garden Grill looks like so much fun!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I love all your early morning pictures! I had a question about something maybe you noticed when you were there - I know there is a mug refill station at Geyser Point, is it just a soda machine or do they have coffee there too? Coffee is an important part of my day

Garden Grill looks like so much fun!

They do have coffee at Geyser Point, but unfortunately now they open quite late. They don't start serving food until 11 AM, and I never saw the drink station open before 9 AM. It made it worth the extra walk over to Roaring Fork when it was at all early in the morning.

Garden Grill was fun, and we got to see each of the characters twice, so it was nice that it wasn't very crowded.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I really love the food here and my favorite was probably the potroast. The strawberry shortcake was great too. You can't get good shortcake like that in California.

I'm excited to hear you enjoyed the lunch. Everyone raves about their breakfast, but lunch fits much better for our upcoming trip.

 

[storey13]

I don’t hear much about Garden Grill lunch, but that strawberry shortcake makes me a believer. How come you can’t find good shortcake in CA?

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I'm excited to hear you enjoyed the lunch. Everyone raves about their breakfast, but lunch fits much better for our upcoming trip.

Yeah, we had previously only been here for dinner, but were very happy with the lunch. Next trip, we may try the breakfast to complete the comparison.

I don’t hear much about Garden Grill lunch, but that strawberry shortcake makes me a believer. How come you can’t find good shortcake in CA?

From the low crowds it seems many people aren't thinking of Garden Grill for lunch, but it worked out nicely. We must not be going to the right places for shortcake in CA, but it just isn't as big of a thing out here.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

When we left off, I took the kids for our third boat ride of the morning around the Land while others rode Soarin'. Then we all met up to head to Spaceship Earth afterward. The line was so short that they weren't even using the Fastpass entrances. Allie hung out with Melissa and Marshall rode with me.



This was a big difference for us over August. All of our favorites were walk ons again. Marshall koncked out on Spaceship Earth. I can hardly blame him, it was cool and dark and so sleep inducing.

We finished up Spaceship Earth at 2:45, then headed to the art store to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa. It started to sprinkle as we got there, but it was pretty light. We all looked around, and Brandy found a couple of things to have shipped to the resort.

I didn't find anything I couldn't live without although I now remember a dish towel that I really liked I never went back for. Also there was a cute print with Disney food that I think would be super cute in our newly remodeled kitchen. I think I'll be visiting the Shop Disney Parks app later today.

We then made our way over to Figment, which was only a 5 minute wait when we got there at 3:25.




I remember figment from when I was younger than Allie, and he's still one of our favorites.


Marshall seemed to enjoy it but the blasts of air scared him a little bit.

After the ride we let the kids run around the play area for a bit, which they enjoyed. Then we had the main reason we were here, visiting the DVC member lounge. We checked in and headed upstairs, and it was really neat.




They had the free Coke freestyle machines, and were handing out snacks. Because it was raining when we first got there it was a little crowded, but wasn't too bad.


The kids enjoyed watching cartoons which is so funny when we're at a theme park but hey down time is good.


When I went to sit down with them in the kids area I fell backwards off one of the little foam chair things and bruised my backside and hurt my wrist. Nothing too severe but enough to be sore for a couple days. Word to the wise, be super careful if you're going to sit on the blue paisley shaped cushion it's not as firm as the other ones.

I missed your trip to the floor as I was getting Cokes, but it is good that you survived and it didn't affect the trip too much. Jon and Brandy met a nice couple from Florida who are DVC members at the Poly, and we had fun talking about all things Disney.


After the snack cart came around twice we decided it was time to venture back outside.


That meant we had been there about an hour. They don't have restrooms in there, and one CM said that's how they get people to leave. After a potty stop, it was time for Food and Wine.

We had been smelling something smoking all morning so our first stop had to be the Flavors from Fire booth for some smoked meat.

And it did not disappoint. We tried the "piggy wings" and they were great Korean BBQ flavored pork ribs, kind of like chicken wings. They were meaty and delicious.


Then we took the kids to the Light Lab, where I wanted to find something in an Erlenmeyer flask, but instead we got the flight, which included three different flavors of slushy each with a glowing ice cube.


The kids really loved having special drinks and the glowing cubes were a hit. As we were leaving Light Lab a CM was giving out bags of cotton candy. The kids were in sugar heaven.

On our way by Club Cool Melissa and Brandy went in for some Beverly, since they are two of the only people in the world who enjoy it.


I actually hung out with the stroller outside because it’s just big and Brandy loves me so he brought me out a cup of Beverly. I would seriously buy it if I could.

From there we worked our way counter-clockwise through world showcase, stopping for lots of different treats. We had a delicious pulled pork slider from Hawaii, which was another contender for the top food item for me.


Jon and Brandy got the Spam hash and omg, I now have a reason to buy Spam. It was delicious.

After Hawaii we got some Spinach Artichoke dip at the Almond booth with almond crisps and while I would have preferred tortilla chips they weren’t bad, and the dip was great.

The dip was very good with chunks of chicken and sliced almonds.

Grandma and Grandpa got the steak from Canada, since they were not sharing our LeCellier reservation later in the trip.


Eventually we got to France, where I fulfilled my challenge to myself to try the escargot croissant.


This was the first Food and Wine item that was actually gross. The bread was fine, but the escargot was slimy an had an unpleasant aftertaste.


Allie didn't like it either, but at least we tried it.

Allie has been obsessed with France lately and everything French so she may have been pressured into trying it. She didn’t like it much either.

Jon got a creme brûlée and tried to hide behind the silverware dispenser so he didn’t have to share.


Oh well, we didn’t have to go far to find something to cleanse the palette. Melissa and Jon had been talking about wanting sushi, so we stopped in Japan.


Both Jon and I got a spicy roll. We shared but no one else was super excited about it. It’s decent sushi, nothing to write home about but enough to satisfy a craving.

Actually I thought it was pretty tasty. We even got Brandy to try it, and he agreed it wasn’t bad. Neither of us liked the taste of the seaweed paper wrapping, but everything else was yummy.

I was proud of them both for trying it. I think we need a sushi date.

After we bought the Sushi Allie said she really wanted to try the teriyaki chicken bun, since she had seen it on a Disney Food Blog video. We went back through the line and got it for her, and it was great. I saw it as another serious contender for the top food and wine food item.


I love that we can introduce the kids to different foods at Food and Wine. Allie really got into it this year.

We were getting pretty full, but wanted something to drink so we stopped in Germany for large Diet Cokes and pretzels.


Both are Epcot traditions and were nice. We sat outside and watched the large cuckoo clocks, and Brandy told us about how the fountains were like ones they saw in Germany.


Marshall really liked the soft pretzel.

Smart boy. They’re among the best anywhere. As we continued on around the loop we got to Norway, and Allie wanted to do the Frozen ride. The sign said 45 min, but it was one we couldn’t get a Fastpass for, so we decided to wait it out.


The full line queue was pretty neat, and it was our first time seeing it.


The ride was nice too, and was a great example of Disney re-themeing a ride very well.

It really is a cute ride and way less terrifying for the kiddos without the trolls.

After Frozen we were ready to head out, so we made our way to the buses.


The bus came at 8:21, and after loading a couple of ECVs left at 8:31, and arrived at WL at 8:41. This is a noticeably faster trip now that they have the overpass to bypass the MK parking booths. We noticed this many times this trip, and were happy with the short transit time.

Marshall was pretty tired on the bus and told Melissa that she was the best person he’s ever seen, because she wears clothes and glasses. Oh the tired ramblings of a two year old.

When we got to the room Allie really wanted to go swimming, so I took her while Melissa stayed in the room with Marshall. We met Grandpa at the Villas pool and enjoyed it and the hot tub, then headed back to the room at 9:45.

Marshall was pretty sticky after all the snacking in Epcot so he needed a bath. I didn’t feel like chasing him around the giant tub so I put him in the kitchen sink just like at home. It worked perfectly.


After showers it was bedtime. And our first day was in the record books.

I wasn’t quite ready to give up yet, and after getting Allie to bed I went back down to Roaring Fork for a drink refill and some soft serve ice cream. I have never done this here before but it always sounds good and tonight was the night.


I sat and enjoyed it for a minute before going back upstairs. I finally called it a night and went to bed at 11 pm.

 

[cinderaimee]

They do have coffee at Geyser Point, but unfortunately now they open quite late. They don't start serving food until 11 AM, and I never saw the drink station open before 9 AM. It made it worth the extra walk over to Roaring Fork when it was at all early in the morning.

Garden Grill was fun, and we got to see each of the characters twice, so it was nice that it wasn't very crowded.

Thanks for the information, that is super helpful!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Following along!

For us, Disneyland is home, and somewhere we can go after work or on a weekend, but we really love the longer term Disney immersion that we get at WDW.

It’s an actual vacation!

As another Disneyland local who loves WDW now too, I totally agree! Disneyland is familiar and great to decompress after a bit. WDW is vacation!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

What a successful day! I can't wait to hear more...Those Piggy Wings are definitely on my list!!! They look amazing!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Thanks for the information, that is super helpful!

Any time! Feel free to jump in if you have any questions while waiting for your trip. We love talking about WL.

Following along!


As another Disneyland local who loves WDW now too, I totally agree! Disneyland is familiar and great to decompress after a bit. WDW is vacation!

Welcome and thanks for joining in. You get how it is, WDW is definitely something special for an immersive vacation. Being over 2000 miles from home helps too!

What a successful day! I can't wait to hear more...Those Piggy Wings are definitely on my list!!! They look amazing!

It was a great first day, with a little of everything and we didn’t have to rush to squeeze in a park hop to MK, which was good since it was a MNSSHP night.
Oh the Piggy Wings are great. They were the only food and wine item that we repeated during the trip, so they should win some sort of title just for that.

 

[tiggerpals]

Love your report so far! Also we're going to Wilderness Lodge for the first time at the end of November so I'm loving hearing about your experience there (even though we'll be in the regular hotel, not the DVC part). Can't wait to hear about the cabin part of your trip!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

I'm a little behind with my comments but if I don't start now I'll never catch up. You have a really long travel day with the distance and time change. Now wonder you need nine days to really enjoy your trip.

After a quick hello, we ran over to the front desk to find our room number. I watched in what seemed like slow motion as he wrote 7108 on the map. This was the room that I figured was most likely based on our room requests.

I knew that you had a room on the 7th floor that was close to the elevator when you posted your pictures. It must have been nice to be so close to the main elevator.

Really, the view from the 7th floor is terrifying for me, beautiful but terrifying.

We spent a lot of time on the 7th floor since we had club level, but the view from the 4th floor is much nicer. Our room was on the 4th floor so we did walk past the lobby from that floor as often as possible.

it has a very large bathroom sink area, with a larger shower and toilet room and a large walk in closet next to it.

That is a huge bathroom area. I like the way they set that up and added the barn doors to close it off. It looks like a better set up than some of the older DVC 2nd bedrooms.

The new mug design for Halloween was adorable, I was excited to have a new mug design too.

The Halloween mug was adorable. Normally we always buy a refillable mug but didn't need to do it this time, unfortunately.

 

[Leesha.Monster]

I wasn’t quite ready to give up yet, and after getting Allie to bed I went back down to Roaring Fork for a drink refill and some soft serve ice cream. I have never done this here before but it always sounds good and tonight was the night.

That soft serve looks amazing!! Another thing I can look forward to for my stay next year.

I went back and read some of your old reports. I loved them! Plus it gave me a ton of info on WL since we’ve never stepped foot inside before. I’m even more excited now!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Love your report so far! Also we're going to Wilderness Lodge for the first time at the end of November so I'm loving hearing about your experience there (even though we'll be in the regular hotel, not the DVC part). Can't wait to hear about the cabin part of your trip!!

Thanks for joining in and following along. That's great that you'll be staying at WL! This was our first trip to the DVC side of WL, and we are happy to report that it shares the many wonderful things we love about the lodge. It is all one big beautiful resort. That should be a neat time to visit. One of my goals is to stay at WL when it is decorated for the holidays.

I'm a little behind with my comments but if I don't start now I'll never catch up. You have a really long travel day with the distance and time change. Now wonder you need nine days to really enjoy your trip.

Well we're glad you're here. You should have plenty of time to catch up since we're busy with stuff at home, but I bet you'll be all caught up by the time we meet you during the trip. We don't mind the long travel too much, it helps us feel like we are getting away. The nonstop flights help a bunch though, but we may go back to having a layover next time depending on what we can get for cheap airfare. The plane tickets cost the same regardless of the length of the trip, so we might as well stay as long as we can.

I knew that you had a room on the 7th floor that was close to the elevator when you posted your pictures. It must have been nice to be so close to the main elevator.

I can't believe that we ended up with the actual room that I predicted was most likely based on our room requests. We wanted to be near the lobby and we were. It was a great location, and we don't mind the enclosed balconies at all. I have more pictures from them coming up over the next couple of days in the report.

We spent a lot of time on the 7th floor since we had club level, but the view from the 4th floor is much nicer. Our room was on the 4th floor so we did walk past the lobby from that floor as often as possible.

Yeah, I like all the views of the lobby. We didn't walk by it as much as I thought we would with this room, because from the elevators we just turned and went toward the room. I would take the trip over though and get pics looking down into the lobby near the CL gate.

That is a huge bathroom area. I like the way they set that up and added the barn doors to close it off. It looks like a better set up than some of the older DVC 2nd bedrooms.

It was a great layout, and we fell in love with the dedicated two bedroom. We had thought we'd try a lockoff next time for variety and the chance of getting a Bear Face room, but we loved it so much that we want the dedicated two bedroom for the whole trip next time.

The Halloween mug was adorable. Normally we always buy a refillable mug but didn't need to do it this time, unfortunately.

We always get mugs, and definitely get our use out of them. It was fun to have the new design, and mine looked extra neat because I brought my green lid from prior years. People would ask me where I got the green one, and I'd explain that I was weird enough to have saved the lid from a prior visit...

That soft serve looks amazing!! Another thing I can look forward to for my stay next year.

I went back and read some of your old reports. I loved them! Plus it gave me a ton of info on WL since we’ve never stepped foot inside before. I’m even more excited now!

That's great. I have seen the soft serve machine in the corner at Roaring Fork for years and just never done it, but I am glad I did. I'm glad that you are enjoying our reports, and if you have any questions about WL be sure to ask. It is a wonderful resort, and probably our favorite place in the world. They made a lot of changes to it by adding the cabins and Geyser Point in the last few years, but we love how it worked out and how everything fits so nicely with the theme of the resort. There will be plenty more WL pics coming too, I just love taking pictures of that resort.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

That meant we had been there about an hour. They don't have restrooms in there, and one CM said that's how they get people to leave. After a potty stop, it was time for Food and Wine.

Sneaky! Of course that would probably be an issue for us... my little one goes to the bathroom all the time.

The kids really loved having special drinks and the glowing cubes were a hit. As we were leaving Light Lab a CM was giving out bags of cotton candy. The kids were in sugar heaven.

This picture looks like Disney Food Magic for kids alright!

Jon got a creme brûlée and tried to hide behind the silverware dispenser so he didn’t have to share.

Ha!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Sneaky! Of course that would probably be an issue for us... my little one goes to the bathroom all the time.

Isn't that the truth. Potty breaks are the number one time demand for us, and they are always needed RIGHT NOW!

This picture looks like Disney Food Magic for kids alright!

They were loving it!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

On Saturday, I got up at 6:00, got dressed, and went down to Roaring Fork for some mug refills. We had plans to get to Animal Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours, so everyone would be getting up early today.
I still took some pics on my way through the lobby and down to Roaring Fork.





Having an early morning on day two of our trip was challenging for sure.

It happened that way because of when the extra magic hours were at AK, and we had other stuff planned for when they would happen again, so we made the best of it. It actually went very well, and we had all the kids up and dressed by 7:00, so we got to spend a little time sitting in the living room before we headed out.


I don't know how we got everyone up and ready so easily this trip but it didn't seem like we had our normal morning struggles. Maybe it's because the kids are getting older and Marshall is more of a morning person than his sister.

We had planned on eating breakfast in the park so the kids just had snacks and I had a granola bar.


Once we were all ready we made our way downstairs at a leisurely pace and still got to the bus stop at 7:25, and it showed a bus was due at 7:27. This would have been perfect, except Grandma and Grandpa weren't there yet. I texted them and they were on their way.

I can't remember if we waited for them or what

This was one of those stressful group leader moments. The bus was coming, and so were they, but the bus beat them there and we missed loading the ECV. That meant that Grandma would have to wait for the next bus. Fortunately she was fine with waiting, and sent us on to try to get in early and ride Flights of Passage. So the rest of us hopped on the bus and left by 7:33, arriving at AK at 7:48 without making any additional stops.

Once we got to Animal Kingdom we headed over to Flights of Passage.... With everyone else. The line was already at an hour wait, we contemplated waiting but ultimately decided we didn't want to spend our whole extra hour standing in line.


We had done such a great job getting there early that we didn't want to waste it all in a very long line. We decided to head to the Safari ride, but they wouldn't let us through so we had to go back around the other way all through Pandora and out the main entrance to Pandora, then over the bridge into Africa. It was our morning workout, but the Safari was still a walk on when we got there.


The line was gloriously short and we literally walked right on the truck from the line.


So here you have the obligatory safari animal pictures. It was a good ride, the only odd thing was that the giraffes weren't down on the savanna yet, they were up in the trees. We've never seen them on top of the hill like that before.









We also spied a keeper out checking on the hippos.


As a car guy, I was excited to see that the ride vehicle was based on a different platform than they used to be. While they used to be Medium Duty GM trucks, it is now based on a Ford F-550, and they went to some decent effort to conceal that fact, like by adding a plate on the dash to cover up the "Super Duty" logo.

Marshall loved riding in the truck and seeing all the animals. I don't think Paul was exactly watching animals as I saw some pictures of the truck itself.


After the safari ride we met back up with Grandma, then Allie did her very first pin trading. We bought her some pins online before the trip, and she had fun trading them, although she only did it with Cast Members and trading boards they have set up, but that's ok, she had fun.


She did have lots of fun when she did do some trading, I have a feeling she'll get more into that as she gets older.

We then headed back to Pandora for breakfast. We wanted Lumpias from Pongu Pongu. On the way though Brandy, Jon, and Melissa stopped for some Starbucks.


It was a needed caffination break. With the early morning I was in need of some extra help. We got to really enjoy Pandora as we strolled back through. Disney really did a great job on this part of the park. It is visually stunning.



I figured I would get a Coke when we got food, but appearently they do not have Diet Coke in the land of Pandora. I settled for a water, but the caffeine kick definitely wasn't there.

We hung out at the outdoor seating for Satuli Canteen and enjoyed our pineapple lumpias. They got mixed reviews from our crew.

I really liked them, but Brandy wasn't so much of a fan. Allie didn't finish hers either, but that meant more for me.

I thought they were just ok, I ate mine all gone but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to get them next time.

Next on the agenda was Allie's long awaited adoption of a Banshee. She saw these puppet toys last year, but we talked her out of it due to the high cost. Well she spent the year wanting one, and for her birthday her Great Grandma gave her enough Disney gift cards to buy one, so she was really excited.

It was the one of the highlights of her trip.

She named her banshee Baby, and she accompanied her for a lot of the rest of the trip. I found it interesting that we didn't get the DVC merchandise discount on her, because it is an "adoption fee" and not merchandise, but we did get the discount on the perch and carrying bag that we bought as well.


She loves her new banshee and really had fun with it on the trip. I'm glad we made her wait for it though, she really appreciated getting it this year.

Next up we had fastpasses to visit Baby's homeland by riding Navii River Journey. It was a nice ride that everybody was able to enjoy together.



This ride has so much going on to see and I feel like you could ride it many times and still miss details.

I particularly enjoyed trying to take good pictures in the dark from a moving boat. After the ride we headed back to Africa, this time via the direct path that was closed earlier.


Next was a potty break and a stop for a Diet Coke for you.



Ahh yes, my long awaited caffeine. Then we had enough time to do the Gorilla Falls trail before lunch.

Read about it in our next update...

 

[GrandCalifornian]

When we left off, we were headed to the Gorilla Falls trail...



On the trail Brandy, Jon, and I learned some new things about Colobus Monkeys. I can't remember any of the new things I learned but look how captivated we were.


We also checked out the naked mole rats. They were where we could really see them this time.


Yeah they were just all napping in a giant mole rat lump. The Okapi was also out. Much to the outrage of the CM that was informing everyone about the Okapi Brandy suggested a petition to change the name from Okapi to Zebra butt. She insisted that their butts looked nothing like each other. We'd have to investigate that one ourselves later.
We headed in the aviary and I found a new use for the bird spotting guide, they make a great fan! I'm going to pick it up everytime now.


We cut the end of our trail trip short as it was almost time for our 11:30 ADR at Yak and Yeti. We headed over to Asia, and timed it perfectly arriving there at 11:27. I went and checked in, and we were able to get seats to wait in the lobby.


It took us about 20 min to be seated, but it was worth it because we got a table for 8 upstairs.


We haven't spent a ton of time in this lobby, normally we wait outside. I was looking at some of the artifacts and really they are kinda disturbing.


For this reservation Paul actually had to call the restaurant. I don't know if that got us the bigger table all together or what but in the past we've had to be seated at two different tables.

I ordered my favorite dish from last time, the Korean Beef.


Yeah, I think it might have been luck of the draw, but at least it worked out. After trying the burger last time I decided to go for the ribs this time. They were great, and have such a unique flavor.


Marshall slept through much of lunch which was actually really nice.

For dessert we had to order two items because we are torn between the mango pie and the cream cheese wontons. We each have our favorite, and shared some of the other one.



I LOVE the Mango Pie and Marshall woke up just in time to share it.

Fortunately we were full enough to be willing to share a little bit of our desserts. Allie had a couple of the wontons. Our server was really nice, and in talking to her we found out that she works at Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge as well. We had other ADRs that kept us from dropping by to see her, but she was great. She even brought us Diet Cokes to go.

Grandma headed back to the hotel after lunch, and we went over to Adventure Outpost for our Fastpass to see Mickey and Minnie. This is one of the few places where you can see the two of them together, could be the only place actually.
The kids enjoyed saying hi and getting pictures.





Next we decided to head to the tiger trail after meeting the mice. On the way we stopped to get Marshall an Uncrustable for lunch, since he decided he was hungry.

The sky opened up and it started to pour when Paul got in line to get a sandwich. We huddled under the awning of one of the shops and watched the kids play in the rain and get soaked.


I had a hard time finding them when I got the food, but I should have looked for the kids out playing in the middle of the walkway in the rain.


Because of lightning everything was pretty much closed including the tiger trail and Kali river rapids which was the next thing on our to do list.

We hung out for quite a while thinking it would stop, but the rain kept falling. Melissa told some bystanders that the kids were from California and didn’t know what rain was.

They were quite concerned that they had gotten so wet. Once the rain let up some Brandy and Jon decided to head directly back to the lodge. We opted to try the tiger trail again but found it still closed.
So we headed over toward the hottest place in Disneyworld. Dino Land.

On the way we stopped by the Everest dump shop, and even though the ride was closed we found our Expedition Leader shirts we had wanted for two years (hence the title of the trip report from 2016) Since they had our sizes we picked up two of them, and Grandpa Jim bought one to show his appreciation of our tour guide services.

I just wore mine the other day to work. It felt like a good Monday shirt.

We didn't ride anything in DinoLand, but the rain cooled it down a little bit. We walked through the store and got Marshall some toy dinosaurs that glow in the dark. At this point Grandpa decided to head back, so we were left to meander through shops on our own.


We didn't find anything else we really wanted and just headed out of the park and back to the resort.

On the way out we walked through all the shops in the entrance plaza, and watched the Babirusa for a bit. We walked out of the park at 4:00 and walked straight to a waiting bus that left at 4:10. It was totally full, and we had to stand with Marshall, but it was a pretty quick trip, arriving at WL at 4:24. On the way Marshall said he wanted to go back to our living room, and we all agreed.


When we got off the bus at the Lodge they were just setting up to do Tie Dye. We wanted to do this last year with the kids so we were excited we actually made it back to the resort in time to do it this time.

We all wanted to get out of our wet clothes, so we ran up to the room and changed first, since the CMs said they would be doing the shirts until 6:00.

We changed into clothes that I wouldn't cry if they got dye on and headed down to dye some shirts. They have child's size small through adult Large.


At first Marshall didn't want to put on gloves or an apron, but after some coaxing from the CM he decided it would be OK. Both kids really enjoyed picking the order for the colors, and there wasn't any crowd so they were not rushed at all.


They provide the gloves and plastic aprons to help contain the mess.



The mess containment worked, and I don't think either kid (or us) got any dye on us. They give you the shirts all wrapped up and sealed in bags, and tell you to wash them in 4-5 days. We were excited that we'd still be there then.

On the way back up to the room when we were done we stopped by the mercantile. We wanted to get some eggs for breakfast in the morning. Marshall also had something on his list he was ready to look at.


When we went to Disneyland for our Anniversary in June he saw the large Mickey train and decided he needed it. We talked him out of it at the time, but he talked about it for a long time. We knew it would be on his list for the trip. I had enough on my Disney Visa rewards card to get it, we got our DVC 20% discount, and I wanted to play with it too, so we got the train.

We knew we were most likely going to get it so we even looked up and brought batteries with us. We took it up to the room and started unpacking it. Marshall was beside himself he was so excited


That showed an amazing amount of forethought, and saved us another $15, so it worked out well. We set up the train in the living room and hung out for a while in the room. We texted with everybody and decided to head for Disney Springs at 6:30. Melissa had been considering just staying at the resort instead of making the planned shopping trip, but I had D-Luxe Burger on my mind so I was quite motivated.

I was feeling lazy and Disney Springs is always such a trek.

That it was. When we got to the bus stop it said a bus would come at 6:43, but it was late and two buses came at 6:47. Both had to load ECVs, so we got on one at 6:52. It got to Fort Wilderness at 7:00, but had to wait for the bus stop to clear until 7:03. Then we got to Disney Springs at 7:18.

Bus service was actually pretty darned good getting there and we headed to dinner first thing when we got there.

We went straight to D-Luxe burger and the line was out the front, but not too bad.


With the large group and multiple checks and technology issues we decided not to do mobile ordering, but it would have been slick. We waited in the line and were able to get the round table right up front.


I had wanted the Blue Cheese Burger from the secret menu on mobile ordering and was assured that I could order it from the register so that's what I ordered.

I went with the BBQ Bacon burger and was quite happy. This time we also took advantage of the different dipping sauces they offer. Last time we totally missed them.


The garlic ranch was amazing and by far my favorite. When we got our burgers I realized I didn't infact get the Blue Cheese Burger but I had gotten the special Apple Harvest burger. It was still great and I was really hungry so I didn't exchange it.

It was a great meal, and I think everybody loved it. Disney really did well with this restaurant. At the end of the meal Allie knocked one of the sauces on the floor, spilling it all over Brandy's shoes. He was great about it, but sometimes we do wonder why they put up with us.


We can be kinda like a traveling circus with a splash zone.

After dinner we set out to look around and do some shopping. We found it works best to split up somewhat, because not everybody wants to look at the same things for the same amount of time. We walked by Boathouse and saw the Amphicars, and were looking forward to eating here later in the trip.


When we got to the World of Disney store we were surprised that most of it was still closed for refurbishment. The part that was open was nice though, and we like the new feel.


I know this is going to be a controversial statement but I really like the retheming. It fits with the story of Disney Springs and just feels more open and modern.

I was disappointed that so much of it was closed, but it should be great once it is back to full size. After that we wondered over to the Co-Op, one of our favorites. We checked out the DVC merchandise, and Melissa saw a sweatshirt she wanted and I wanted a license plate frame.

They didn't have my size in stock here but I was able to find it using the Shop Disney Parks App over at Beach Club Marketplace. I knew we'd be over there later in the trip so we left without buying anything here either.

By now we were getting tired, so we headed to the bus stop. We met up with Grandma and Grandpa there, followed soon after by Jon and Brandy. The bus came at 10:13, and left at 10:20 after loading and a driver change. It got to the Contemporary at 10:43, followed by WL at 10:51. It does take some time.

We got to the room at 10:59, and I went down for a mug refill. Melissa made Marshall some Mac and Cheese since he had slept through dinner.


When I got back, she got to take a bath, and got to enjoy the big tub.


I thoroughly enjoyed the bathtub. I haven't felt that small in a tub in a long time, lol. It was super relaxing.

I enjoyed playing online and Marshall watched the Timon and Pumba "Safety" channel for quite a while, then we all went to bed just after midnight.