Day 143

Day 143...

Another beautiful and warm day again today.

This time last year we were in a very warm and very busy Disneyland Paris...I suspect that while the weather may be the same the crowds will definitely not!

A very busy entrance to Disneyland Paris, 8th August 2019

But starting the day with lovely sunny and warm weather got us reminiscing about our last trip to Walt Disney World back in 2013 when we were lucky enough to be staying at the Wilderness Lodge Resort as a result of a free upgrade from the Coronado Resort.

We loved being able to grab a breakfast from Roaring Forks and eat it outside soaking up the sunshine and the atmosphere. Nothing better than eating Mickey waffles off paper plates, with plastic cutlery, enjoying the crispy bacon and fruit compote with plenty of syrup...so not the food we eat nowadays but we would love to be able to eat breakfast there right now! Been too long since we were able to get to Walt Disney World and I fear it will be a while yet before we are able to get there again :(

Breakfast outside, waffles, bacon, syrup and more!

Enjoying pancakes with fruit and maple syrup!!

And talk of Disney food meant we couldn't mention breakfast without mentioning Tonga Toast from over at the Polynesian Resort - sourdough bread, bananas and cinnamon...mmmm....

Tonga Toast

Still I really enjoyed my breakfast this morning, my usual of sausage, bacon (with a little brie) and two poached eggs.

But once we got ourselves moving today we had some paperwork to sort for our other house which meant messing about online and a couple of phone calls. I had laundry to sort thanks to Molls return home last night and Simon had the new box/cover construction to lightly sand in a few places followed by another coat of varnish.

We had another visit to our 'other house' this afternoon to paint over a few holes in walls that had been filled where we had taken down some pictures and things. We also boxed up some of the items that we have decided to sell and brought them home so that we can start getting that process underway.

Once back home and fueled by coffee we had a new plant to put in the garden along with the removal of a couple of very old plants that had seen better days. I also decided to cut back a few off our larger plants to give them a bit more room to grow. While I was doing that Simon had some work to complete on his R2D2 build; a little sanding and then primer painting.

We had a treat tonight and had our first take-out meal since lockdown began from our local kebab shop; this is great for us and our low carb way of life as we eat just the meat (chicken and steak - yummy) and salad but discard the pitta bread.

We have been chatting today about the impact of Coronavirus and what we should or should not be doing. How it affects us on a day to day basis and what to do with the information that we are receiving from governments and scientific bodies - it is all very confusing, open to interpretation and all we can try and do is what we think is the right thing to do.

We have tried to do as much as we can to limit our risk and therefore we hope the risk to others. We will continue to 'risk assess' anything that we want or need to do and only move forward when we are happy to do so. To have a take-out meal tonight was lovely and was a treat as it would have been prior to lockdown. We have not been out to a restaurant for a meal yet but we didn't eat out that much before the lockdown...I am sure we will have a meal out at some point but we are in no rush to do so. We have shopped online as much as possible but have ventured out when we have needed to but taken all the precautions that we can; face masks, distancing and hand sanitiser!

We are taking things slow and steady and will do our part, as much as we can, to help keep this virus under control but it can be very frustrating when seeing reports that imply there are those who appear to not be taking as much care and consideration as us.

So whatever you are up to please take care, keep your distance, wash your hands and wear a mask.

xx

WDW Day 2

Let's get this trip report well and truly underway with the happenings on our first full day at WDW!

One advantage of travelling 4500 miles and numerous time zones means that with our bodies still being on UK time we all awoke early Orlando time.  This meant we were able to make the most of our first full day...

We started off with breakfast at Roaring Forks...and what else could I have but Mickey waffles...a staple of any good WDW vacation.  So by 7.30am we were sat outside eating our breakfast.

Views whilst eating our breakfast :)












We then headed, as is both a tradition and a must-do, to the Magic Kingdom; our first day park of choice. One of the great things about staying at the Wilderness Lodge, as we soon discovered, is it's proximity to the Magic Kingdom and what better way to start the day than with a boat ride...

So over Bay Lake and then Seven Seas Lagoon we went to get to our destination.  We arrived just after 8.30am and headed to the entrance via the 'bag check'.  Now all of us except Ethan (our eldest) had bags that needed to be checked, so we dutifully took the bags off our shoulders, opened all zipper compartments (we know the drill) and with a smile said 'good morning' to the security guard.  He checked our bags and as he was finishing Simon's bag he looked up at Ethan and said 'Are you with these people?'  Ethan looked nervous and mumbled (as teenagers do) 'yeah'..'how old are you?' asked the security guard..'15..' mumbled Ethan.  At this point the guard refused to give Simon his bag back instead passing it over to Ethan saying 'well then you better have this then as it's your job to carry it!'...we all laughed except Ethan who wasn't too sure if the guard was being serious or not, suffice to say Ethan didn't carry the bag!!

We then headed over to the new RFID Mickey 'turnstiles' just as the 'Welcome Show' was starting, which was a great way to start our first full day in the magic.  We then proceeded through using our 'Key to the World' cards and our trusty fingerprint; this was so much easier than the old turnstiles and made the whole getting into the park much smoother.

Now, the plan had been to get our Photopass+ sorted and then follow the Touring Plans guide for the day...but we got a little sidetracked.  Simon saw the signage for 'Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom' and we promptly went over to the Firehouse and signed up - I shall do a separate blog post all about playing this game as it really deserves a post all to itself.  Consequently we ended up playing the first few parts of the Sorcerer's game and sorting out our Photopass+ before heading off into the park.  I shall talk more about Photopass+ in a later post.

Without going into a lot of detail 'Touring Plans' allows you to plan the most effective way to get around a park and do all the rides that you want to do; so with a bit of thought before getting to the parks you can plan your day to make the most of your time.  So over the course of the day we managed to ride all of the following before late afternoon;

Pirates of the Caribbean
Splash Mountain
Haunted Mansion
It's a Small World
Peter Pan's Flight
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Space Mountain
Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid
Mickey's PhilharMagic
Mad Tea Party

We even had time to catch the 'Celebrate a Dream Come True' parade, with a quick dash for cover at the end as the heavens opened!

A bit of rain didn't stop the parade :)

We also managed to squeeze in our first bit of shopping; some earrings for me and pins, lanyard, t-shirt and a bandana for our daughter.

During the late afternoon we decided to explore the new Storybook Circus area of New Fantasyland, and after a fun filled ride on Dumbo in the rain (I think we got wetter than when we went on Splash Mountain!) we wandered over to Big Top Souvenirs and in particular Big Top Treats...

Just some of the tasty treats on offer...so much choice!!

The smell was amazing the minute you walked into this fantastically themed shop, so much so that our two kids couldn't resist and had to buy something sticky and sweet and sickly!  Whilst the kids were buying their treats Simon had got talking to a couple of cast members working in the shop; they were so lovely wanting to know all about our vacation so far and chatting about working at the Magic Kingdom.  Then McKenna asked if we all liked marshmallows...well 'yes?'...she then said 'wait here I have something for you'.  A couple of minutes later she re-appeared saying 'only a minute or so they're being made fresh for you'..well the next thing we knew was McKenna and Morgan coming towards us holding four marshmallows on sticks; dipped in white chocolate and covered in red sugar sprinkles!

They were amazing and such a lovely surprise and so unexpected...yet another bit of Disney Magic at work.

Me with aforementioned marshmallow!!

We rounded the day off with dinner at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe...because as everyone knows you just can't beat the fixin's bar here!  And as we strolled around the park as dusk fell we decided to have another ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover, one of our all time favourite rides.

Early evening on the TTA

We then took a leisurely boat ride back to the Wilderness Lodge, chatting to a lovely family from Toronto.  When we got back to the Lodge around 9.30pm our youngest decided that she'd like to take a dip in the pool.  So Simon and I grabbed a hot drink, sat by the pool surrounded by ducks whilst Molly splashed about and we listened to the sound of the Electrical Water Pageant passing by...perfect :)

WDW Day 1....Part 2...

So you may have noticed that my WDW Day 1 post didn't actually cover all that happened that day, so here is the second part.

Story so far...we have made it from the UK to Orlando...we have checked in at Coronado Springs Resort only to be told we have been upgraded to the Wilderness Lodge...

The staff at Coronado Springs were lovely, especially Devon & Toni who helped organise a taxi to take us and our luggage to the Wilderness Lodge and who stayed with us until we were safely on our way.

The taxi ride gave us all chance to breathe and reaffirm that what we thought was happening was actually happening.  Even the kids knew this was a big deal.

In the taxi from Coronado Springs to Wilderness Lodge - still in a state of shock!

We drove up to the Wilderness Lodge, under the sign that spans the driveway, past the 'Welcome Home' sign and everything felt just right.  We were greeted as we got out of the taxi by yet another happy, friendly cast member who checked our name on his 'i-pad' and then escorted us through to the check-in desk.  He seemed genuinely thrilled by our story and spoke to us about his wife who had worked at Coronado Springs but how Wilderness Lodge was so much better!

The fantastic service continued with the lady at check-in who sorted everything for us in a blink of an eye, and also commented 'oh you've got an upgrade to a courtyard room'. What? Another upgrade? What's a courtyard room?  Everything was happening so fast!

Checking in, still pinching ourselves!

But despite all the excitement we couldn't fail to be blown away by the awesome lobby at the Wilderness Lodge.  Now Simon and I had been here once before, way back in 2008 when we had lunch at the Whispering Canyon Cafe as part of the 'Backstage Magic' tour, but this was the kids first time here.  They were a little taken aback to say the least!

We then headed off to our fifth floor courtyard room...well how lovely was our room!!  We had the traditional towels in the shape of a tri-circle Mickey on one of the beds, a beautifully decorated room, stunning bathroom/vanity area and to top it all we had our own balcony that looked out over the stunning courtyard.  We were all once again speechless...but very, very happy.

View from the balcony of our courtyard room

Now we had had plans of perhaps visiting Downtown Disney for some food but as we had been awake for over 18 hours and were now really quite hungry we decided to stay at our new resort and find out just what was on offer.  So we headed downstairs and paid our first visit to 'Roaring Forks', the counter service eatery at the resort, and had a mix of salads, BBQ pork sandwiches, cookies and massive cup cakes.

Tired but hungry

Full of food we had a little walk around the resort to get our bearings and then it was off to bed in search of much needed sleep ready to refuel us for our first proper full day in WDW :)

But when we got to our room there was another surprise in store for us...some music...which Simon and I instantly recognised as the Electrical Water Pageant.  I went out onto our balcony and looked to my right and sure enough I could see out onto Bay Lake and catch sight of most of the pageant.  The water pageant was on our list of 'must do's' for this trip as it had been a fair few years since we had last seen it so it was amazing to see it on our first night and know that we would be able to see it as many nights as we liked.

A perfect ending to an amazing first day :)