The solo(ish) trip - Day 1

[bearandbuzz]

Please see yesterday's report here

Just like many a traveller before us, we found ourselves awake at silly o'clock the next morning. We gave up trying to pretend we were asleep by 5am and quietly ( I said quietly... SHHHHH.. QUIET...) got ready, read up about the resort's hidden Mickeys in our book and by about 6.15 we were desperate to leave the room. We had a reservation at Chef Mickeys at 7.30 and were planning on taking the boat over to the Contemporary, but were a little worried as at check in we had asked what time the boats started running and were told the "hopefully" wed make it on time, if not we could take a taxi.

We hung out in the room until 6.30 and then wandered around the resort, taking a few piccies as we went.

We wandered over to the dock just as the sun rose in the sky (I know - only in Disney )

and our luck was in as a boat was crossing over as we arrived! This was at about 6.45, just in case anyone was worried about this you will have plenty of time to get to the resort if you have any early reservation at Chef Mickeys.

as we boarded I mentioned that we had a reservation to see Mickey (still excited you see!) and we sat down, a few moments later the cm said that we should have gone to Fort Wilderness as that was their route - but he'd phoned ahead and the other boat was going there so they could take us straight to the contemporary - more disney magic!

a few more photos of that sunrise -

and then after bidding farewell to the Captain we made our way through the Contemporary resort to Chef Mickeys. Its worth noting that as we made our way over the lake we could see rain clouds in the distance. We were told it was highly likely that it would rain in the next 10 minutes - sure enough it did, but fortunately we were already inside when it arrived and by the time we came out it had blown over.

After checking in at Chef Mickeys we had quite a long wait for the buzzer to go - we were a little early though so this probably was the reason why we seemed to wait longer than we were used to.

We really enjoyed the breakfast at Chef Mickeys - although we have previously had ddp, we didn't feel we had made the best use of it. It was only after scouring the dib for tips I found out about how convenient it was to spend the first morning having breakfast here as it enabled us to make the most of our early morning wake up and we were also hoping to get to MK in time for rope drop. I had a little moment with an old friend ...

and we walked over to MK, making it in time for rope drop at 8.45am. As id said previously, there had been a bit of a rain storm while we were in Chef Mickeys, which had unfortunately meant the train didn't arrive at the platform as it usually does. It was still a magical moment, but I was a little disappointed for Alistair as he is train crazy. Fortunately I hadn't told him what to expect so he wasn't disappointed at all. I must admit I was a little teary eyed watching rope drop.

After rope drop we made our way up a fairly empty main street - we had purchased memory maker so we took every opportunity possible for photos throughout the holiday - in my opinion it was worth every single penny spent, we have some wonderful photos that captured our holiday so well.

We mad our way of to POC - a favourite with Ethan and Steve. Not so much for Alistair as last year we broke down on it and he is afraid of the dark, but we wanted to get him on some of these rides at least once, as he was becoming a bit of a problem for riding and Id bagged fast passes for 7DMT later, so wanted to ease him in to it. He went on without any tears - this may have had something to do with the fact Steve bribed him with a gun from the pirates shop afterwards, but I could be wrong

After this we saw a sign for the Pirates adventure. We didn't really know what this was, but there was no queue and we had a fast pass for thunder mountain booked for 9.40 so knew we had some time. It turns out this was a hidden gem! It is an interactive game involving clues on a pirates map. There are a few different maps, which you can come back and collect at any time - you just scan your magic band and it knows where you have got to. It was perfect for us as we spent some time exploring Frontierland and did this several times during the holiday. Even when the park is at its busiest you can do this at your own pace - I thoroughly recommend it.

We used our fastpass for thunder mountain. It really helped us with Alistair by using the fast passes as he had a habit previously of getting worked up before rides and talking himself out of going on them. As I said previously, we were trying to get him more 'in' to the rides and, although we would ever push him to do bigger rides, this was a great way for us to do it. Although he had a little wobble, the fact that TM was a train helped immensly as he came off smiling (yay progress!)

After this we made our way over to Tom Sawyer Island so the boys could play in the fort with their new guns. This was another little gem that we love. We came across to MK on a few occasions as a last minute thing, as WL was just a short boat ride away, and Tom Sawyer Island was a great place to go - no queues, shade and the boys could run around while we sat and recharged our batteries.

After this we went to 7DMT and used our fastpass there. Again we had a wobble from Alistair - we would never have got on if wed had to wait in the queue as I'm sure he would have talked himself out of it, fortunately he didn't get much chance to get into this mind set as we only had a 5 minute wait ad we were on. Once again he came off saying he loved it - if only he could calm himself down beforehand, we've always promised him wed never push him to go on anything he was too young for, but I guess its just something that will come with age.

On Alistair's insistence, we had a little nosey at the train and took the obligatory photo of him by it

before making our way to our final fasts of the day at 11.40 - we had already decided to pace ourselves this holidays, it was our first time going during August and (again after reading the dibb) was very aware of the heat at this time and the need to take it easy. This was a plan hat worked very well for us all holiday. We got up early and made our way to the park. All fats passes were booked for the morning and usually we were back at the hotel by 2pm. This is definitely how we will play any future trips as it worked so well for us.

After the speedway we went over to BOG - where id previously made reservations for lunch. Unfortunately I can't remember what we had, but I do know we loved the thumbing and we took some photos. Id managed to get a dinner ADR for later in the holiday, so it was nice to see the difference between CS and TS here.

As we were all very full (probably still full from Chef Mickeys earlier) we decided that was our lot, so caught the boat back to Wilderness Lodge, and had a little look around the lodge in daylight - along with the villas before having a quick change and going down to the pool.

When we went to our room we found this guy waiting for us

he managed to make his way all the way home and currently guards my toiletries in the bathroom

Although we hadn't made an ADR, we decided to see if Whispering Canyon could fit us in for a bite to eat. As it was still relatively early (5pm), they had no problems and we were soon seated. Now I must say, I don't do well when Im tired and I was really tired by this point, after two nights of very little sleep I was feeling it a bit. This is probably why I didn't really enjoy the experience. We turned our card over to show we didn't want interaction from the staff, but I still found them quite irritating I know I probably would have enjoyed it if we did this later on in the holiday, but it put me off somewhat. With hindsight we should have used a cs credit, instead we had something to share from the menu (I can't remember what Im afraid), I do know the boys enjoyed their milkshakes

After dinner we all decided to quit while we were ahead and make our way to the room. after lazing around watching some TV we all fell asleep by 9 (a common theme on our holiday!), so we would be ready for our next day.

Next day 2

[collybird]

Great first day, I loved seeing all your pictures of Wilderness Lodge as we're staying for a night this year.

I know what you mean about an ADR on the first night. I've made that mistake twice now and I won't ever do it again. Whenever I think pick on those meals all I can think about is how I wished they were over so I could go to bed!

[TinkerMLSH]

Magic Kingdom on the first full day is always so magical, definitely a good idea to start the day early and retire back to the pool for the afternoon especially on the first day, this is something I'm definitely going to do next year! A great first day 😀

[Jockey]

Great report

[PrincessRebex]

Just going through your Trippy now! Fab first day, I love those early morning shots... So dreamy! can't wait for Be our Guest!

[abiknox]

Great day, love the sunset pictures. So pretty!

[TC Devon]

Thanks for pointing me towards your report.

Great report, love the photos from your first morning.
Your son sounds just like my daughter (5) nervous about the rides. Did he get better?
What's Bog?
Going to keep reading 😀

[bearandbuzz]

Bog is Be Our Guest.
We made some progress, but he's never going to be a thrill seeker! What I love about Disney is that you can still have an amazing time without having to do the thrill rides.

Thanks for reading x