I am so excited to tell everyone about the wonderful time we had on our Walt Disney World vacation this past month. Where to start, where to start? How about at the beginning. I had been spending some time in South Florida visiting family the week before. While there, my kids got sick. Not just a cough mind you, but one had pink eye and an ear infection and the other had pink eye and a red throat. Ugh. Then to top it off; one by one, every adult in the house got the sore throat as well. I don't get sick that often, I try not to. When mommy goes down the ship falls apart. But I was sick. The doctor at the walk in clinic I had taken the kids to gave them some antibiotics because I had mentioned our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World. But when I showed up a couple of days later... nothing.
My husband was arriving from home the same day we were checking in at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort, later that night. So here I was, with two small kids, checking into the resort myself, and let's not leave out that my sore throat had now turned into laryngitis. Fabulous. Here's a general question that I'm going to put out there to anyone reading this blog... what was I thinking?!
I don't often write about my kids on this blog, I consider myself a pretty private person. But I can't write this story without telling you that I have soon-to-be 3 year old boy/girl twins. So.... what was I thinking? :) The first part went pretty smoothly! I drove up to the resort, the valets helped me get all our luggage out of the car, and they loaded up on the baggage cart and held it for me while I parked the car.
My kids were so excited! We walked through the "magic" doors of the resort (which they kept telling to "open please" and "thank you" every time they automatically opened), and they happily sat over in the TV area for young kids watching Donald Duck cartoons while mommy checked into the resort.
The cast member checking us it was very nice, she gave the kids some goodie bags with crayons and coloring pages, and I received all my check in materials. We proceeded to our room which was on the 6th floor of the main building. When we opened the door to the outside of our room, we were overlooking the entire lobby area and Whispering Canyon Cafe from the 6th floor of the resort. Every evening that we happened to be in the room around 5 pm we could here them ring the dinner triangle for Whispering Canyon and yell "cooooome and get ittttt.....!"
The room itself was nice, two queen size beds, a bathroom, vanity area with two sinks, flat panel LCD TV, two bureaus, a table and chairs, ceiling fan, and balcony with a table and chairs outside as well. Our luggage was promptly delivered to our room and I began to unpack because I didn't want to be digging through suitcases for the next five days. My kids happily explored the room, played with their toys we had brought, and colored with their goodie bags.
We were on the regular dining plan, which includes one table service meal, one counter service meal, and one snack for each night that we were staying at the resort. Both myself and my husband received 4 table service meals, 4 counter service meals, and 4 snacks for the duration of our stay. I just figured that since his plane didn't get in that night until about 8:30 pm, that I would use one of my counter service meals at Downtown Disney and share with the kids. They are still two years old, and as far as children are concerned on the dining plan; if they're under 3 they are more than welcome to share with their parents. If I wanted to get them a kids meal to share, I could've paid out of pocket.
My dad ended up calling me and asking if the kids and I wanted to go to dinner with him. That he had called and gotten reservations at Trails End Restaurant at Ft. Wilderness Resort and Campground. We had reservations at that dining location the next night, and I asked him if he would just like to come to the Wilderness Lodge and I would see if we could get into Whispering Canyon. My father had tried to get a reservation there, but unfortunately nothing was available. Well, this is proof right here that restaurants at Walt Disney World do take walk ups if they can. Mind you, it is better to have reservations, but we walked up exactly at 5 pm and would've been seated immediately, but they wouldn't seat us until my dad arrived. So I think we waited a total of 20 minutes.
Now before I tell you this next part let me explain something first. I love my kids. There is nothing I wouldn't do for them and they have been the greatest joy that I have ever had in my
life. I am so proud to see them grow and learn everyday. I think they are beyond a blessing and can't wait to see what the coming years have in store for us all. Having said that, they are 3 years old right now. You've heard of terrible two's? I'm sorry...they've got nothing on three.
This is when the "3 year old gene" kicked into full force. I should've done a counter service meal. I am not the type of parent who takes the attitude of "they're kids so you as the other patron of the restaurant have to deal". I was mortified. My daughter did not want to sit in her seat for 1 minute, she was trying to play with the utensils, the salt and pepper, the menus, my son saw what he was doing and then he didn't want to sit still. And through all this, our server felt it necessary to give me a run down of the menu after I had said that we had dined there before. Do you not see my kids going bananas? The only time they looked like they were doing what they were supposed to was when one server lead the entire restaurant in the chicken dance. LOL.
We ended up getting the food to go and immediately returning to the room where I finished my dinner. Now I understand that they're 3, I understand that sometimes these things happen, but that was the shortest (and the longest) dinner out ever. Never a dull moment.
We waited a little while, went to pick up my husband at the airport where I managed to squeak out to him in my raspy voice... "your turn". Overall, they had a big day and a lot went on, so in general I think they handled all of the excitement pretty well.
Above are the pictures I took of our room. Tomorrow look forward to day two, including restaurant reviews. :)
