[Cheryl]

Here goes....

Day One - Sat. 1/24 - we got to the Wilderness Lodge around 3:00 - made our way to our awesome 1 bdrm. villa and lounged around with the parents & in-laws until dinner at Chef Mickeys (ok, so we had Happy Hour in our room! LOL) Had Jack's first Birthday celebration at Chef Mickeys - he loved the attention from the characters - the older two had a great time too. After a leisurely dinner, we made our way back to our rooms & conked out for the night!

Day Two - Sunday 1/25 - Guys met early to play golf. The grandmas, myself & kids had a quick breakfast at the Roaring Fork (love those stickey buns) and caught the boat to the MK - to find an awesomely, amazing EMPTY park! William (3) got to pick the first ride of the day which was the Pirates of the Caribbean. Made our way through Adventureland & then over to Splash Mountain. My mil, myself & Charlotte (5) and Will go on - my mom stayed with sleeping Jack - well poor William got sooooo scared & was literally shaking & crying by the end of the ride Poor little guy got himself into more than he could handle! Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Snow White, Small World & Philharmagic - all before lunch! Had lunch & then the kids really wanted a swim so we met the boys back at the hotel for the afternoon. The pool was packed - kids had a ball - Charlotte really enjoyed the slide and we all sat around drinking margaritas poolside! Had a 6:00 PS at MGM @ the 50's Primetime Cafe & then the 8:00 showing of Fantasmic! We had a GREAT dinner - love that place! Everyone really enjoyed their meals, drinks & our "mom" and "cousins" for the evening! Kids loved the make your own sundaes too. Got in line for Fantasmic - had excellent seats in the middle section (they didn't have anyone sitting in either side section) Ahhhh - bed! We were pooped!

Dinner at Chef Mickeys:




And Jack's birthday cupcake!

[goofygal1975]

Wow, sounds like you had a great trip!! What a cute picture with jack and his birthday cupcake!!!!

[Cheryl]

Continued.....

Day 3 - Monday 1/26.... The grandmas, myself & Charlotte had a 9 am PS at CRT. Breezed over on the boat & were there in plenty of time. Poor Charlotte had a bad belly ache though & really wasn't too into the whole thing. We did chat with Fairy Godmother & saw Cinderella, Aurora, Belle & Wendy Darling at breakfast. Like I said in another thread - we weren't impressed at all with the food or the atmosphere - maybe an off day for everyone. Anyway....met the boys at the Haunted Mansion for another ride. Again - another day of ZERO waiting at MK...it was so great. We would ride something, get right off and walk right on it again! The kids had a blast - we did a ton of rides & had lunch at Cosmic Rays. Has anyone noticed the insane seagulls all over the parks?? Holy cow, they were dive bombing us eating lunch outside - it was crazy! Went to Frontier Land & got a spot for the parade. One really special moment - when Fairy Godmother floated by - she motioned to my dd that she remembered her from earlier! She was touched to say the least. After a pretty full day at the MK - headed back for some pool time and then dinner at Ohana - YUM! Thanks to everyone for the heads up - it was delicious and we saw the Wishes fireworks from our table - it was wondeful.

Day 4 - Tuesday 1/27....my mom & dad had to leave this morning so we had breakfast with them before they headed to the airport, then went over to Epcot. Another totally empty park! We had the characters on holiday to ourselves - more than once! The kids loved all the interaction with the characters. We scoped out Jasmine & Genie and also Belle & Beast so that was neat too. Waltzed through each country...stopped for fish and chips for lunch, rode Test Track 3 or 4 times (no wait!) and dh did Mission Space - after seeing him the rest of the day, I'm glad I opted out!
We were leaving Epcot around 3:00 with the intention of dropping my in-laws at MGM & taking the kids swimming (and napping) for the rest of the afternoon. Got to the MGM parking lot & it was literally nearly empty so we parked right in front & decided to just spend the rest of the day there. I got my ToT fix in - it's still my favorite ride! - did Playhouse Disney - a few other things and had a quick dinner at the ABC Commissary.

With Mickey @ Epcot:




Meeting Princess Jasmine:

[Cheryl]

Are you getting bored yet? LOL

Day 5 - Wed. 1/28.....9 am PS at Donalds Breakfastsauras....oh, and it was FREEZING this morning! Literally. Like 34 degrees when we got up! So we were bundled up & headed to AK. Had a great breakfast & breezed through Dinoland....Tough to be a Bug, Kilamanjaro Safari & then my fil & dh left to play golf. We stayed for the Festival of the Lion King - love that show - the kids were really into it as well. Had lunch at Pizzafari & made our way back to the hotel. Jack really needed a nap so my mil took Charlotte & Will on a boat ride to the Poly & then a monorail ride to MK - they had a blast just riding around the park on the train & doing a little shopping. We had dinner at Whispering Canyon - great as usual except we were seated in the back corner - sort of behind a little partition so we were out of the loop. My son was horrified when we had him ask for ketchup. We were brought about 20 bottles!! The kids had so much fun bringing it to the next table though - they kept coming back for more. It was really cute.

Day 6 - last day - my inlaws left right after breakfast & we packed up our stuff & then headed back to MK for our last hurrah. Holy crowded batman! Compared to all our earlier days...it was really packed! We did Toontown, Pirates, Space Ranger Spin, Indy Speedway....lunch. Did all our shopping on the way down Main Street. Back to the WL to get our car....I have to say I had a little tear in my eye, as did my dd when we left. All the planning & excitement and it's over sooooo quickly! Sigh. To the airport & the trip home from you know where. Three tired kids & a late flight = disaster!!

Now I've settled into my PDD.

[tinkerbell]

I am so green with envy about the parks being uncrowded!!

I have never seen sea gulls at WDW ..I know there are some birds that you do have to fight over food at times .. we call them *begger birds* but I am not sure what kind of bird they really are..nothing native to this part of texas any way... actually saw one swoop down and snag a hotdog right out of the bun from a child that was just about to take a bite at the Electric Umbrella once!

[MickeyRon]

Awesome trip report!!! Aghhhh... I want to go back!!!!!

Thanks for sharing... loved the pictures!!

[Willbegone]

Great report and pics! You really helped deal with blues today. I know I'm close to going but time sure is moving slowly! I too am green about the no crowds. We can only hope for that!

[LAURENGOLD]

Cheryl-
Great report! I love the pictures too!! Your kids look like they had the greatest time. Isn't it awful-how long you plan, and how quickly it passes? Well, time to look foward to "next time"

Thanks for sharing!

Lauren

[ilvminnie]

Ooooh, I want to go NOW!!!!! Great report Cheryl! Although I can't say they were gulls we have had some interesting experiences with very bold birds. Guess they get used to people feeding them so they figure they can have just about anything they want. Rafikiman had to chase one away from our fries at Flaming Tree Barbque in Oct!

We have found that Sunday mornings are generally really slow in the parks, but glad to hear that your trip was completely crowd free. Hope it's like that for us in December.

[iluvwdw]

Cheryl, what a great trip report!!!!! Boy, have you got me excited for my trip in 7 days! WHOO HOOO!!!!!! And it sounds like you loved the Wilderness Lodge...I am contemplating on the POLY or WL for my December 2004 trip. Thank you so much for sharing the pics too...I loved the one of Jack and his bday cupcake!!! What better place is there to be for your first birthday?!? AWESOME!

Ilvminnie, you mentioned that you were hoping for low crowds for your December trip...we went in December and there were hardly ANY lines whatsoever!!!! It was by far our favorite Disney trip of all, especially with all of the festivities. We are already planning our 8 day December trip. Now just trying to decide which hotel...WILDERNESS LODGE or POLY....hmmmm....love that monorail, but.........who knows?!?:whistle:

[tiggerlover1971]

Cheryl great trip report now I cant wait to go to disney next week

[preidel24]

Cheryl,

Your children are totally adorable. I really enjoyed your trip report I've always thought about going in January my DS birthday is Jan 26. I've alwasy been afraid of the weather in WDW and here at home messing up my flight out. Sounds like a good time to go except for the 34 degree morn. Thanks for sharing with us.

[Fantasy]

What a great trip! Your kids obviously had a blast.

[ilvminnie]

Originally posted by iluvwdw
Ilvminnie, you mentioned that you were hoping for low crowds for your December trip...we went in December and there were hardly ANY lines whatsoever!!!! It was by far our favorite Disney trip of all, especially with all of the festivities. We are already planning our 8 day December trip. Now just trying to decide which hotel...WILDERNESS LODGE or POLY....hmmmm....love that monorail, but.........who knows?!?:whistle:

Right now we're at BCV for the 11th thru the 19th. Hoping to be able to switch to BWV, but we love WL, too!!! Monorail is nice, but.....

[DisneyTeacher]

Cheryl, thank you for the wonderful trip report. It sounds like a wonderful trip, the smaller crowds sound like a dream. Some day.........


Kim, two words for you---Wilderness Lodge!!!;)