Wilderness Lodge Explorers - October / November 2017: Day 11: Parks and Recreation

[bambikate]

Day Eleven - Hollywood Studios and a hotel day! - Sunday 5 November 2017

Index

After a relaxing evening and a relatively early night, we were able to get up nice and early without feeling tired today. To make the most of it we thought we would make the most of extra magic hours at Hollywood Studios and we had a plan…

- It’s a bold move but step one was cancel out fast pass for TSMM (bear with me)
- Get a fast pass for Rock N Roller Coaster instead (the girls wanted to ride it again and it’s on the same tier)
- Get there super early and attempt a walk on TSMM (pre breakfast!)
- Eat breakfast
- Ride Tower of Terror
- Ride RnR
- Go home

We caught the earliest bus we could but despite the best will in the world we were at the mercy of the Disney world buses and it took over twenty minutes waiting at the bus stop. Very frustrating.

We eventually got to HS and fast walked all the way to TSMM. We joined the queue at 8:26am, a little later than planned but not terrible.



The queue wasn’t too bad and took about 15 minutes to get on the ride start to finish.





I got 177,700 and I beat Andy - YESSSSSSS! Izzy got 59,100 which I thought was really good! Andy wasn’t quick enough to snap pics but his and Imogen’s were slightly lower than the champs



The sore loser, Imogen, Izzy and I were now really hungry and the Joffrey’s hut was just outside but had a bit of a wait. We wanted coffee and pastries so we joined the queue anyway.

Andy and I got iced coffees, the girls got apple juice and we got cakes and pastries and ate them as we walked down Sunset Boulevard towards our first fast pass - Tower of Terror!







I loved this window display on the way: it danced too!





Tower of Terror time!





We timed the fast passes pretty well and went straight down onto RnR!

Re-attempting our poses



The girls absolutely LOVED the ride again.

That was quite enough park for one day! This was to effectively be a 'lazy hotel day' but that seemed like a waste of EMH and Fast passes so we thought why not get in early, get out, then chill.

We loved these Nightmare Before Christmas / Haunted Mansion crossover pins we saw on the way out in the shop.



We left the park and walked to the bus stop. It had been about ten minutes and a Disney van pulled up and asked where we were going. He had two other guests in the van and basically was driving round picking up the stragglers as it wasn’t worth running buses from the park back to the resorts that early! We hopped in and said hi to the other couple. They were on their way to Fort Wilderness and we stopped there first.

It was lovely to get a direct(ish) private(ish) lift back to the resort!









The girls attempting a magic shot with my phone



Back at our beautiful resort, it was time to make the most of it!



We checked the info on P&J’s Southern Takeout at Fort Wilderness on MDE in the lobby at WL to check what time they opened and then caught the bus over to FW from WL

In hindsight we should've probably just got off the van at FW!

We arrived at FW a few minutes later and decided to look in the shop first, We had a little browse and did some pin trading with the CM.

Outside we saw they had some checkers boards and we weren’t in a rush so stopped for a couple of games. I had a little browse around the area and saw the boat hire area which looked really nice.





We were getting hungry by now and had watched a DIS blog about P&J’s Southern takeout, which looked so good! Proper southern fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cornbread and mac and cheese. Oh yeah!

We went in (it’s inside Trail’s End via a different entrance)

We decided on three Lone Rider meals to go which consisted of two pieces of Fried Chicken served with Cornbread and your choice of two Sides: Coleslaw, Macaroni and Cheese or Mashed Potatoes to share between us as we were really hungry. We chose a mixture of sides and grabbed some drinks in our refillable resort mugs. It also came with drinks so we got some waters for the parks.

We found a bench outside and tucked in!







The chicken was moist and crispy and delicious and the sides were really good too.

Big thumbs up from us and only 3QS credits

The girls needed to burn off some energy and luckily there was a park right there!











There were a few other kids there and there was a little toddler trying to get up a big step on the climbing frame. She was struggling to get up and Imogen said to her “Do you want me to help you get up?” The little girl nodded and Imogen lifted her up and she was able to slide down the slide. It was so cute

For a split second I thought Imogen would make a really good big sister(!) but then I came to my senses

We wanted to look around the Tri Circle D Ranch and maybe let the girls have a pony ride so walked over that way passed Pioneer Hall.







Unfortunatley the pony rides were only for children under 48 inches so the girls were too tall







There were some beautiful horses and ponies here and it was nice to look around.

We wanted to get back to WL to get in the pool as it was another scorcher so we walked over to the bus depot. IT took around ten minutes and as we drove back we noticed some tennis courts! You could have also done a wagon ride, a walk or a horse and carriage ride at FW. Loads to do!

A quick change et voila! Pool time!

[bambikate]

After lots of swimming, slides, joining in with poolside games with the CMs and hot tub, we got dressed again and took the girls to the arcade.















Smashed it!









Outside the arcade we saw the CMs from the pool had set up a stall to make your own tie dye t-shirts. It was a reasonable price and something we had talked about doing one day so we went for it. We could charge it to our magic band, which was handy.

The girls had a blast making their own t shirts and even wore them on their first mufti day back at school, they came out great!















The CMs were so nice and the girls really enjoyed creating their own colour patterns.

We went for a nice little look around Boulder Ridge



The pool here looked nice and any WL guest could use it but we just preferred the main pool.









As the sun started to set it looked gorgeous at WL. We were hoping to hire a Surrey bike but they didn’t do them here anymore.



Instead, we spotted the corn hole games and went up to the hire desk to see how much it would be to hire some bean bags for it and for a couple of games of American Pool; it was free! We just needed to scan our magic band to prove we were resort guests and he gave us bean bags, balls and cues.

We started with some Amercian pool which was in a brand new sheltered area called Reunion Station next to Geyser Point. It wasn’t fully open yet but the outside bits were.



It was so nice there right by the lake.





John Virgo


It was good fun but I think they rushed to get the table up and ready without using a spirit level as all the balls kept all rolling to one side

The girls moved on to some Giant Connect 4



We returned the cues and balls to the hire hut and started our game of corn hole (bean bag toss!)





It was great fun and I was the overall victor We returned the bean bags to the hire hut. It’s the same place you could've hired a boat or a bike from.

As we walked round towards Geyser Point we noticed the fire pit was lit and some CMs were getting ready to start the marshmallow toasting.











It was so nice and the marshmallows were super tasty. We decided not to get a s’mores kit this time but they were available there.

The only annoyance was the abundance of little gnats buzzing around all the lights by the lake. Yuck.

After the fire pit we went back in to the lobby. There are lots of cosy nooks and fireplaces at WL and there was one on the third or fourth floor we spotted was free so we nabbed it.







We played a few games of “Go Fish”. It was so cosy and relaxing

We were getting really hungry by now and do you know what we hadn’t had much of on the holiday so far? PIZZA!

This time those flat breads just wouldn't do… a big in room pizza was in order!

We walked back to our room and gave the number on our in room phone a call. We ordered a giant meat feast pizza with pepperoni, onions and mushrooms on it





They even brought knives and forks (which remained unused…) plates and napkins which was nice.

We paid cash as it’s terrible value for DDP credits if you ask me!

We ate pizza in bed together snuggled watching storm programs on TV and chilling. We had some of the girls’ rice krispie treat afterwards.

A perfect, relaxing day.

Tomorrow: Epcot F&W and Illuminations!

[i love jack]

I’m loving all these posts in one day
Some great park time and then nice chill out at the hotel, seems like there’s so much to do, sounds great

[princess allie]

Just caught up and saw another one! Another lovely day.

[florida girl]

What a lovely day enjoying the hotel.

[Mel49]

Fantastic chill out day with some rides thrown in and great that you took time to explore the resorts as so much to do and see.

[LauraE]

Just catching up on your report, looks like a brilliant few days. I am loving reading about the resort, I’ll definitely need to plan a resort day I think - would be a shame not to make the most of staying there! Your Artist Point meal the other day also looked amazing. X

[Beth_Disney]

I love reading your trip reports and you always have such wonderful Disney holidays. It's lovely seeing your beautiful girls growing up in your photos and your eldest looks just like you! These trippies will be great reminders for the girls to look back on as they get older

[Minnie Mum]

Lovely day. WL is such a lovely resort so great that you made sone time to enjoy it. 😊

[disneydaft83]

I'm really enjoying your trip report, what a beautiful family you have! We're off to Wilderness Lodge in September and reading your trip report has got me all excited! Definitely making an ADR for Artists' Point now.