D1 Part 2 New Adventures

If you've been following along, you've got to be on the edge of your seat wondering where we were able to acquire a same day ADR at. (Ok, maybe not quite that excited, but I'd like to think so.) After all, everyone knows you book your ADR's 180 days before your trip to get your times and restaurants! And what crazy fool books one a couple of HOURS before? Can you even DO that? Well, heck ya! But, you might not want to set your heart on a certain restaurant. This is highly unusual for me to fly by the seat of my pants at Disney. I'm a huge planner. But, tonight all I was looking for was a restaurant we had never been to and it needed to be outside one of the parks.

What did I find? Trails End at Fort Wilderness! We had never been to the campgrounds ever, so that also meant we had never eaten there. 

To get to Fort Wilderness, we had to take a bus to Wilderness Lodge which then went to Fort Wilderness. At the bus stop, we needed to wait for an internal bus to take us to the "Settlement" which is where the action is. 

We checked in at the podium and were given a buzzer. The waiting area outside of Trails End is a covered front porch with chairs, and a walk up window to Crockett's Tavern if you are so inclined. (We were.) Soon enough, our time had come and our buzzer went off.

One of my favorite things about a buffet is there something for everyone. Then there's the all you can eat factor...After we placed our drink orders, we were turned loose on the buffet.

Apple Pie Moonshine


Warning! Food Porn Alert!

Some of the cold salad selections

Veggies!

Mmmmm! Chicken!

More yum-ness!

My plate-chicken, mac n cheese, pasta salad, cole slaw, peel n eat shrimp, and a cold salad with tomatos.


And then it was dessert time!

I wish I would have taken a better pic of my dessert plate. I think I just too excited and couldn't contain myself. (This means-nothing but a blurry pic of my dessert.) However, I will tell you do not miss the strawberry shortcake!

After dinner, we headed over to their gift shop and then hopped on the boat to the Magic Kingdom. I cannot even begin ot tell you how hard it was to not take a right to head to the Happiest Place on Earth. Instead, I headed for the monorail to take me to the Contemporary. I was going to check out yet another new thing!!!

A perk for being a DVC member allows you to go to the Top of the World Lounge at Bay Lake Towers. After showing our credentials, we were told how to get to the lounge. (It almost felt like being in a spy movie with a secret entrance.)

I'm shocked I didn't take more pics of the inside, but I did capture a pic of a cool light fixture in there! The lounge has a big city feel to it (at least for this small town girl) and I found it quite nice.

The cool light fixture

After getting a couple of cocktails, we headed out to the viewing area. From here you have a great view of the Contemporary. We could see people at the Contemporary claiming their spots to iew the fireworks from; and it's always fun to watch the monorail go through the hotel!

Seeing the fireworks from this angle gives it a whole new look! It's truly hard to realize how big a production the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom are when you're in the park.

Once the fireworks were over, we headed back in, grabbed a table and finished our drinks. 

While I can say I was hesitant about not spending time in a park the day of our arrival, I can say it CAN be done! There's Disney Magic to be had all over the property.:) And with that, we called it a night.

Day One: Full of Firsts

Some families have a First Day at Disney tradition. Like ride their favorite ride first, eat at a certain restaurant, or kick back at the resort to recharge. My first day at Disney has always included a day at one of the parks. It didn't matter which one. I just needed to go to one of them. Until this trip. Our flight didn't arrive until around 4pm so by the time we got to the resort and checked in it was after 5pm. DH had a non-expiring ticket that needed to be added to his Magic Band, and I had to go to one of the parks to pick up my travel agent ticket. The parks would all be closed by 9pm, so I couldn't justify using one day of our tickets for a few hours in the parks.

I'm not gonna lie. I had to give myself a serious pep talk to tell myself it would be okay if I didn't go to the parks. Because really, torturing me would be taking me to Orlando and saying "You can do anything you want to do EXCEPT go to Disney." It would be clear right then and there that whoever told me that would be severed from my life and real quick like.

Soooo, while we were on the Magical Express, I whipped out my plans to see what I could move around. What I decided to do was see what non-park restaurants I could get an ADR at. If the timing was right, we would then head to the Magic Kingdom to pick up my agent ticket, and go to Top of the World Lounge.

Before we knew it, the Magical Express was at the Boardwalk Inn and Villas and it was our turn to start our vacation!

The Boardwalk Inn and Villas are the same building.  One side has DVC (Disney Vacation Club) units, and the other side has resort rooms. I don't want to call them "regular rooms", because Disney is far from regular. The biggest difference between the DVC rooms and resort rooms are the room configurations, and the majority of the rooms on the Villas side are booked by DVC members; although there are a certain number of them that can be booked as cash reservations. DVC units come in a studio, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, and Grand Villa. We were booked in a boardwalk view studio unit.

The Boardwalk is a beautiful resort. When you walk through the lobby doors, it's like being transported to a different time and place. The Boardwalk is designed like the Atlantic City would have been at the turn of the century. The backside of the hotel opens up to a boardwalk that overlooks Crescent Lake. You can dine, shop, play carnival games, and rent a surrey bike right there on the boardwalk. It's also close in proximity to both Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios which are both a short walk or boat ride away.

Our room was located on the third floor and had a beautiful view. The layout was the same as most DVC studios are. King bed, pull out sofa, kitchenette, vanity separate from the shower area, table and chairs, and dresser. There was also a bench beside the dresser. The best part of the room was the view.

There's something to be said about being able to wake up then open your balcony door and watch the area come alive. In the morning, it's quiet. The birds are up and ready to take on the day, people are out on their morning run, and early park goers waiting for the boat. Gazing farther down the boardwalk, you can see people outside of the Boardwalk Bakery having breakfast. In the afternoon you will see families and couples enjoying a ride on the surrey bikes. At night, the boardwalk comes alive and is all lit up. You can see Spaceship Earth from the Boardwalk and even part of Illuminations at night. The boardwalk area truly is magical. I look forward to my next stay there. 

Vanity area outside the bathroom.

Kitchenette area opposite of vanity. 

Just outside of our room were some of the games that open up at night on the Boardwalk from 7-10pm.

We were all settled in and ready for the next adventure. What restaurant did we end up getting a same day ADR to? And where do you suppose we went after that? Stay tuned...

Let The Vacation Begin!

Yesterday as I rode the Tragic Express (aka the Magical Express-but let me tell ya, there's nothing Magical on the bus ride back to reality.) back to the Orlando International Airport, I couldn't help but think of how each one of my trips to Walt Disney World has been different. Sure, every time I do some of the same things, but there are so many things I haven't done yet. This trip was filled with many firsts-which I will be blogging about for quite awhile! 

Here's a list of some of my firsts:

1. Just my husband and I went 

2. Keys to the Kingdom Tour

3. Ballyhoo Tour

4. Resort hopping (Boardwalk Villas, Saratoga Springs, and Beach Club Villas)

5. Car rental from the Dolphin

6. First time Magic Band user

7. Went off site

8. 1900 Park Fare

9. Made an ADR 90 minutes before we needed to be there! (Trail's End)

10. Hollywood Brown Derby

11. Top of the World Lounge

12. ESPN Zone

13. Boardwalk Bakery

14. Big River Grille

15. ABC Commissary

16. Biergarten

17. Not going to the parks every day-the first day being one of them!

18. Freezing while in Florida

And...who knows what else I'll remember. The days all start to blur together after awhile. ;-)

 

For now I'll leave you with what I always consider the first part of a Disney Vacation. Being in line for the Magical Express. (And it IS the Magical Express-when you arrive!)

Snowpocalypse!

I couldn't help but think of a tropical escape when the winds were howling and Mother Nature was busy throwing white fluffy hate at us for over 12 hours yesterday. There's nothing quite like winter in the Midwest to get one thinking of a getaway.

But what happens if you're on your way to your way to palm trees, blue waters, and umbrella drinks and Mother Nature gets all crazy? You bags are packed and you're ready to go. Except...flights are starting to be cancelled and you're not sure what to do.

First off, if you haven't left your house yet (lucky you because who wants to spend extra time at the airport?), keep checking on your flight. You can check your flight status online or by calling the airline. Most airlines also have apps that will keep you up to date on things. If you're already at the airport, get in line at the ticket counter and see what can be done. While you're waiting in line, you can call the airlines and see if you get through that way quicker. With so many people needing to reschedule a flight and only so many spots available, you'll want to get rescheduled as soon as you can.

If you're like me, you purchased travel insurance. I don't like tempting fate, so I always purchase it. I like to think of it as purchasing insurance so I don't need to use insurance. I know as soon as I don't, Mother Nature is going to bust out a freak snowstorm on MY travel day, and I don't want that happening.

So, where was I?

Oh! Your travel insurance. Call the company your policy is with and have them help you out as much as they can. That's what you bought it for, right? Right. They can advise you on what your coverage is and how much they'll pay out based on your policy and circumstances. Insurance can help make a bad situation a little less stressful.

And no matter what, remind yourself that everyone wants to be on their way as fast as possible. There's bound to be cranky people around you. Don't let them pull you in to that world of grumpiness. Even Mother Nature has to sleep, and eventually everything will pass and you'll be on your way.

Now, let's all hope that Mother Nature feels like making it nice and sunny for my departure next week. My groovy suitcase is ready to head to my HappyPlace! I have lots of firsts coming up on this trip!

Stay tuned!