Finally got here so here's the live trip report!

[disneyholic family]

funny - in all the years we've been going to WDW, we've never been to beaches and cream - we always say we will and then somehow never get there..

 

[Cyrano]

Just caught up with your trip.
Sounds like you are having a great time...makes me very jealous

 

[karentan]

Today started off a bit iffy but got better in the afternoon
We met some friends at MK this morning, ended up being late as we took a wrong turn and ten minutes after leaving the hotel we ended up driving past it again. Was running late at this point so parked at the poly and got the monorail over.
Met up with our friends but ended up having trouble with tickets so took about twenty mins to sort that out. They went into MK, and we headed back to the car, stopped off at the contemporary and had brekkie at the contempo cafe, their mickey waffles with banana and syrup is soooo good!
Got back to the car and headed over to animal kingdom. Got there about 11.30 so it was getting pretty busy at that time. Rode everest in the single rider queue, primieval whirl, dinosaur, watched finding memo, rode everest again, and rode Kilimanjaro safari. Thats pretty much all we tend to do at AK, we've done it so many times that we just stick to the main attractions. Plus it was getting soooo hot by then so we decided to call it a day.
We drove to Orlando premium outlets because Gary broke his trainers so wanted a new pair. He found what he wanted in Nike, and we had a quick look in the Disney outlet.
Stopped off at publix on the way back for a few supplies, then got back to the hotel.
Decided to walk to DTD again and try our luck at getting a walk up ressie for T Rex. Never eaten here but we just fancied giving it a go. Checked in and were seated within 5 minutes, we got a good table in the middle of the meteor shower area. Gary had a steak, shrimp skewer, and scallop combo, it had the best garlic mashed potatoes ever. I had a shrimp linguine in tomato sauce, and got a side of waffle fries. It was good. Will deffo eat here again in the future. We're too stuffed to try the extinction dessert but will have to try that next time.....
Headed over to the margarita bar, stopped off at arribas on the way and ended up with $105 of stuff.... Think this shop will be bad for my bank balance in the future
Had a drink at the margarita bar, then headed back to the turf club at Saratoga, had a drink here and Gary kicked my butt at pool.
Back at the room, I've just packed all the souvies into my case as we move out on Wednesday.

 

[wen-tom]

Karen, we ate the exact same thing on saturday at T-Rex
I had the shrimp with the pasta and steve had the combo. The food was good and we'll definitely go back. No room for desert either though

 

[starrysky]

This one is a bit different than the normal backstage ones, this one is a lot more in depth, it's about $400 and includes 7 days admission to seaworld.

Yes I maned to find it on the us sea world site. It really does sound amazing.

 

[karentan]

Yes I maned to find it on the us sea world site. It really does sound amazing.

If you ever get the chance to do it, jump at it, it's an amazing day

 

[karentan]

Well today has been a bit of a wash out
Today was Busch gardens day, got to the park about 9.40, parked and got the tram to the front of the park. Got in at ten and headed to cheetah run, rode that and montu within about half hour. I bought a poncho as the sky looked really dark, within about two minutes of buying it, it threw it down, absolutely torrential rain. Between ten and two all we managed to do was cheetah, montu, sheikra and had lunch while the first of the bad rain spells started. The rides were on and off all morning due to really bad lightning storms, sheikra was closed for ages, it opened, we got in the queue, one car went round (we were next), it stopped again because of more lightning, we got on it eventually, our car went round then it stopped again. We gave up about quarter past two because all the rides were closed, a staff member told us the forecast was for storms all afternoon and whenever it rained heavily all the animals ran for cover too, so couldn't even see them
We headed home but couldn't get over 40mph the whole time due to really bad visibility from the rain.
Stopped at DTD so Gary could go to the Lego store. Had dinner offsite at logans roadhouse on the 192, Gary had a sirloin steak, I just stuck to chicken wings, had garlic and Parmesan, they were yummy. The buttered rolls they serve are yummy!
This evening we've done one last round of laundry before we move resorts tomorrow, and had a drink at the turf club bar
Bell services are picking our stuff up at 8.15 tomorrow and transferring it to wilderness lodge, and we're off to universal studios.
We originally had an ADR for chefs des France but Gary doesn't like the look of the menu so we've changed to whispering canyon cafe.

 

[starrysky]

Well today has been a bit of a wash out
Today was Busch gardens day, got to the park about 9.40, parked and got the tram to the front of the park. Got in at ten and headed to cheetah run, rode that and montu within about half hour. I bought a poncho as the sky looked really dark, within about two minutes of buying it, it threw it down, absolutely torrential rain. Between ten and two all we managed to do was cheetah, montu, sheikra and had lunch while the first of the bad rain spells started. The rides were on and off all morning due to really bad lightning storms, sheikra was closed for ages, it opened, we got in the queue, one car went round (we were next), it stopped again because of more lightning, we got on it eventually, our car went round then it stopped again. We gave up about quarter past two because all the rides were closed, a staff member told us the forecast was for storms all afternoon and whenever it rained heavily all the animals ran for cover too, so couldn't even see them
We headed home but couldn't get over 40mph the whole time due to really bad visibility from the rain.
Stopped at DTD so Gary could go to the Lego store. Had dinner offsite at logans roadhouse on the 192, Gary had a sirloin steak, I just stuck to chicken wings, had garlic and Parmesan, they were yummy. The buttered rolls they serve are yummy!
This evening we've done one last round of laundry before we move resorts tomorrow, and had a drink at the turf club bar
Bell services are picking our stuff up at 8.15 tomorrow and transferring it to wilderness lodge, and we're off to universal studios.
We originally had an ADR for chefs des France but Gary doesn't like the look of the menu so we've changed to whispering canyon cafe.

Sucks That the weather has not been good. Hope it brightens up for the rest of your trip

 

[stoneyloon]

Looking forward to hearing what you think of WL.......

 

[karentan]

Today's been a nice day, it's resort swapping day
We arranged last night for bell services to come by at 8.15 and pick up our luggage and transfer it to WL. It was so much easier than us trying to transfer it all over.
By 9am we were at universal studios, we rode the mummy, FINALLY managed to get gary on rip ride rockit, he's spent ages vowing he'd never go on it because you go up the lift hill on your back. Well I finally got him on it and he only goes and moans that it's ok but a bit slow! Man you can't please some people!
Went on minion mayhem, it's a cute ride but was totally lost on gary because he's never seen the film.
Went on men in black, Simpsons, mummy and RRR again, then left at 12 as that's all we wanted to do
Went and checked into WL, have visited here before but never stayed, it really is a lovely resort. We're in room 7056 and have a perfect view of the castle, couldn't ask for a better room. Club lounge is nice too. Good choice of food and snacks from what we've seen so far
Headed over to MK about 2 and got absolutely soaked on the boat ride over as we were in an open sided boat. Hid under the canopy until it eased off enough for us to run to the entrance!
Did all of tomorrowland then got the boat back as we had a 5.05 reservation at whispering canyon cafe. Stopped off for a drink at the pool bar and watched the geyser go off, it's really impressive to watch
Today is the first day of WCC's new menu, they still have the skillet but you get to choose what you want on it now, but there are NO separate entrees. If I'd have known this I'd have changed the reservation as it wasn't that good. Plus we got stuck out the back again so missed most of the action
The food was ok, but I really wanted the steak for entree, plus you used to be able to get dessert to go if you were too full. Now it comes as part of the all you can eat, so no takeaways
Gary wasn't feeling great after dinner and wanted a nap, so I left him to sleep in the room and I headed out to magic kingdom. Didn't fancy sitting in the room all evening so decided to go and go on all the cheesy stuff that Gary doesn't like. Rode jungle cruise, had the funniest skipper ever, rode pirates, haunted mansion, and saw philharmagic.
Had a look round the shops then snagged a good spot at the bottom of the train station for wishes. It was awesome as ever, then legged it for the boat dock after it finished. The boat got stuck behind the electrical water pageant so we had to go really slow following it through the water bridge.
Got back to the hotel just in time to grab some amarula and brownies from the club lounge and now sat watching big bang theory, a good day

 

[catherine]

Just caught up again! It sounds like you're having an amazing time. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us. I'm loving it!

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Still keeping up - enjoying your posts

 

[karentan]

Today was the first day we haven't set the alarm, but were up at 8 anyway. We got ready then wandered down to the club lounge, got a cinnamon bun each and I had a bagel, we're getting the point now where we've eaten too much over the past couple of weeks and aren't hungry for most of the day.
Headed over to MK and got there just after 9, rode splash mountain and actually came off relatively unscathed which was a nice surprise. Infact Gary got wetter from the boats waiting to unload and him being stuck next to the last big waterfall, than he did on the entire ride. After that we went on big thunder and haunted mansion. We had a look through fantasyland, and had a look at what we could see over the construction walls which unfortunately wasn't much.
Original plan was to head to Epcot so we got the monorail over to the TTC and waited on the epcot monorail, then Gary decided he didn't fancy going after all (it was getting HOT by this point), so we got the monorail back to MK then got the boat back to the WL.
He was absolutely knackered by that point (think he's probably got another cold coming on), so he headed back to the room. I've got friends from home over here at the mo, they arrived yesterday so I left Gary in the room and drove to Epcot to go meet them.
Caught up with them in the land pavilion, then we headed over to journey into imagination. That ride seems to change every time I go on it, which admittedly isn't very often, but it never seems to be for the better. I prefer the old dream finder version of that ride.
We then wandered over to world showcase and ended up with a first for me. We never stop in the UK pavilion because to me it just isn't the UK if you know what I mean? It's what America thinks the UK looks like. But we stopped for fish and chips, I used a counter service credit and was pleasantly surprised, it was good! We went round the back to the little walled garden maze bit (didn't even know that was there!), then went into the shop and met tigger and pooh (again no idea there was even a meet and greet there, judging by the short queue I wasn't the only one who didn't know!).
After that we rode maelstrom, and grand fiesta tour, then went to mousegear for some shopping.
I had to leave that that point as it was nearly four and I had to get back to WL, pick Gary up, then drive back to Epcot for a 5.20 ADR at coral reef.
Surprised that the drive back only took ten minutes, got Gary then headed back out.
Before dinner we went to turtle talk with crush as we missed this last time, as usual was a great show. Turned up at coral reef at 5.15 and were seated within five minutes.
Dinner was awesome, a lot lot better than the disappointing meal we had last night. We both got the strip steak, it was awesome and came with potatoes and a really nice sauce. Gary had crime brûlée for dessert and I had the jack Daniels and baileys mousse. Neither of us could move after that, we were stuffed! Eventually made it back to the car and are now back at the hotel.
The original plan for tonight was to go see fantasmic, but neither of us fancied rushing over to HS after such a big meal, so we're going to have leisurely evening in the hotel and watch wishes from our balcony instead

 

[thestevied]

Sounds like an absolutely perfect end to a great day

 

[karentan]

We definately made the right choice, we haven't had any rain all day, then just about 30 seconds after wishes started, a torrential rain storm started. So we've just watched wishes from our nice dry balcony, instead of being soaked to the bone watching it from MK, or trying to get out of HS

 

[karentan]

Today has been a nice relaxing last day, apart from the early start
I was playing around with the iPod dock next to the bed last night, playing some music through it while waiting for wishes to start, and think I must have accidentally turned the alarm back on, because off it went at 5.45am, and typical, it woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep
I gave up trying at 6.30 and went out and sat on the balcony, played around on the net, and played a bit of plants vs zombies. Got hungry about 7.30 so managed to get dressed and out the door without waking Gary up, so wandered down to the lounge, got brekkie and just sat and watched the world go by.
Gave up around 8.30 and decided to go back to the room, Gary was up and repacking his suitcase (we've bought a lot of big ish stuff and needed a serious rearranging before we head off to the airport tomorrow)
We were going to rent a boat for a while then head to Epcot, but the marina was closed til eleven so we headed over to Epcot. We've been wanting to do the behind the seeds tour but hadnt managed it yet, so we headed over to the land and snagged two spots on the 10.30 tour. Turns out there were only six of us on the tour, this is one that Definately doesn't book up!
Tour was good and really informative, it took us though the two greenhouses and the aquaculture area, we got to release some ladybirds to help keep the bugs at bay, then fed the fish. We got a discount on the tour, but even at full price it's only $18 for an hours tour. Bargain!
We got fast passes for soarin before we went on the tour so after we finished we went on that, then got lunch at sunshine seasons. At this point in the holiday we're both really full, so we're badly lagging behind on our counter services. Think we're going to end up treating some stranger to lunch tomorrow just to use up the last credits!
We headed back to the resort after that, dumped some stuff in the room, then headed down to the marina. We got a sun tracker pontoon boat (the ones they use for the fireworks cruises) and drove round bay lake and seven seas lagoon for an hour. It was good fun, and we got to drive really close to river country, discovery island (you can still see all the infrastructure on both, its something I remember from the first couple of times I came as a child, so kinda cool to see again), then we headed over to seven seas, drove past MK, grand floridian, stopped behind the wedding pavilion for a bit of reminiscing, past the poly, then back to bay lake. We've had one of those boats before but it was from POR, so it was cool to see the MK area too.
We stopped at the pool bar on the way past, only for me to remember when I got there that I couldn't have a proper drink because I have to drive to yacht club later for dinner, so ended up with a virgin piña colava.
Repacked the suitcases again, as we have a smaller big fig that we were originally hoping to take as hand luggage, but as the week's gone on we've decided that there's no way they'll take it as hand luggage and will probably charge us $100 for the privilege of checking another bag, so Gary has managed to wedge it into his suitcase just about.
Off out in a mo to head to the yacht club, we've got a 5.40 reservation at captains grille, but will probably have a look round the resort and the boardwalk before dinner.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

What a lovely day - hope you enjoyed your meal

 

[karentan]

Dinner was good on the last night, we had a really nice server and the food was great too. We got to the yacht club a bit early so were going to get the boat over to the boardwalk, but it was really hot and Gary was starting to burn so we decided to go look round the yacht club, and have a drink in the bar.
We got into captains grille right on time, I ordered the set menu, so had clam chowder for starter, the rosemary pork for main, it was yummy, and bananas foster cheesecake for dessert. The cheesecake itself was ok but the sauce was to die for! Gary had the crabs legs, and the cheesecake.
Same as the last few nights, it started raining during dinner, but luckily had eased off a bit by the time we finished so didn't get too wet on the way back to the car. We had originally debated going to watch hallowishes on the poly beach but decided against it because of the rain. We headed back to the WL and had a quick drink there before heading up to the club lounge at 8. We sat looking over the balcony and people watched, then headed back to the room about 9 ish.
Hallowishes started at 9.30, shame we couldn't get the audio but the perimeter fireworks are just stunning. The electric light parade started just after the fireworks so we had a slightly alternative soundtrack!
Due to my early start that morning I fell asleep not much after that.....

 

[karentan]

Saturday morning means our last morning
We got up, sorted out the luggage one last time, and called bell services to come pick up the luggage, we decided it was worth tipping the bellman just so we don't have to try and take all the luggage downstairs. Plus we wanted them to store it while we went to MK.
We headed to the lounge about 8.30, and had a really light brekkie, as we still had three counter service credits to use yet, and neither of us were particularly hungry anyway. We got the boat over to MK, and headed for tomorrowland. We rode space mountain again and stitch's great escape, then headed over to big thunder mountain. Splash mountain was closed as we walked past, then got to big thunder to find that was closed too
So we ended up riding pirates of the Caribbean for some reason, no idea why considering neither of us like it, then headed back to main street as it was getting insanely hot and quite busy by that point. Mum had asked me to get some rocky road fudge for her, was going to get three, but the cast member said that if we buy four we get two free, well it'd be silly not to buy more then would it!
We headed back over to the WL, and picked up the car and the luggage from bell services. Gary wanted one last rum runner from DTD plus we needed to get lunch before we left, so we parked at pleasure island (car park was heaving!) and headed over to wolfgang puck express. Gary got the salmon and the cheesecake, and I got the spaghetti and meatballs and crime brûlée. We were running low on time after that, so Gary headed to the margarita bar and I headed over to goofys candy company, as we also had two snack credits left. Left there with two ginormous mickey crispy treats, and headed back over to where Gary was. We ended up not using one counter service credit, I had intended to get a sandwich to take out from earl of sandwich, but the queues at EoS and WPE were crazy at that point. Think everyone seemed to be at downtown that day.
Unfortunately every good thing must come to an end, so we headed back to the airport about 12.30, we dropped the car back at dollar, and ended up getting one of the skycaps as we decided there was no way we could take 6 bags up without killing ourselves. When we checked in I found a pair of glasses sitting in the top of my reusable shopper, presumably they belonged to the skycap, so we handed them in to lost and found and headed in.
Check in and security were relatively ok, and the flights to charlotte and then home left on time which is a huge improvement on the flight out!

 

[karentan]

So all in all we had a great time, weather in orlando was good on the most part, first week was nice and sunny and dry, last few days had some horrific rain, and shame our Busch gardens day was a total washout due to the lightning storms all day.
Crowds were probably the same as usual for that time of year, but we both agreed it seemed busier than previous years
Staying onsite definately seems the way to go for us, we think the buses are great, never had more than 15 mins for a bus, plus it's great for me, I'm usually the designated driver, but with the buses I can have a drink if I want
Saratoga was as great as it was last time, this resort never seems busy when we're there, it was great to be able to walk to DTD from congress park, and it's such a relaxing resort. Shame we didn't discover the community hall til the second to last night, found out they do paint your own ceramics and we'd have had a go if we knew it was there
Wilderness lodge is such a stunning resort. We've visited there before for dinner, but this was our first time staying there. The club level is awesome, cast members are so friendly, and it's so nice being able to wander to the lounge for snacks or drinks. We walked over to the villas and that building is lovely too, so may end up there at some point.
FINALLY managed to get Gary on rip ride rockit, and he also went on all the other coasters, so think he's finally over his coaster fear!
Marine mammal keeper experience at seaworld is the most amazing tour ever. It's sooooo much fun and would recommend it to anyone
And not Orlando related, but we had such a great time at our friends house in north Carolina shame it was cut short by a day due to the flight delay coming out.

We weren't supposed to be coming back for at least a few years, but due to the ridiculous 27 hour delay on the way out, we now have two $600 flight vouchers, so we'll probably be back next year! Yay!

Thanks to everyone who's kept up with this TR, I can never remember what we do on holiday unless I do this, so it's been a pleasure writing this. Now back to the real world