GrandCalifornian
Can't Wait To Go Back
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2012
When we left off, we were headed back to the resort on our "off day" to hang out and relax.
After leaving the park at 2:50, the Fair Winds mid-size boat arrived at 2:57, and headed out at 3:01 after a driver change. We arrived back at WL at 3:12.
There was only one thing on the kids agenda when we got back to the resort, they both wanted to swim!
It was finally warm enough, and it was something they had been asking to do all trip.
We made it to the pool at 3:30 and swam for almost an hour.
Marshall is so brave and is able to go down the slide on his own, we just hang out at the bottom to pull him to the side but he takes care of the rest
That was really neat, and he enjoyed it, probably even more than the splash area, which he got to play in as well.
We actually pushed back our dinner ADR to give the kids more time to swim before we headed over to Fort Wilderness.
I'm glad the weather warmed up enough to make swimming comfortable for us Californians. You won't find us in the pool if it's colder than about 75.
Yeah, the image of the lifeguards in parkas from earlier in the trip was stuck in our heads. The weather was much more pleasant this time, and we had a good swim.
Afterwards,we went back to the room and got dressed for dinner. We got to the boat dock at 5:15 just as the Fort Wilderness boat left but was very full.
So we waited for the next boat which was heading over to the Contemporary first.
We left the dock at 5:25, and arrived at the CR at 5:28. We stayed on the boat, and left there at 5:35.
There was a training boat driver, and as we got to Fort Wilderness she hit the dock a little hard, so the supervising captain had her back up and do it again. We got off the boat right at 5:45 and made the short walk up to the porch at Trail's End.
I felt a little bad for her, it's hard to learn a new job with 30 people watching you.
We checked in at Trail's End and had just sat down outside when our pager went off. We got a table right in the middle upstairs. We love how easy it is to get in to this spot, which is one of our favorites.
We were super close to the buffet which made things easy with the kids.
I was happy with the Ribs, which are my favorite here. I also enjoyed the beans and potatoes.
We were disappointed that they didn't have the pizza that they usually do, and the carved beef wasn't that great.
The pasta was pretty good too and as always desert was on point.
Yes, the desserts were great as always. I went with cobbler and a brownie covered in soft serve ice cream. Mmmmm!
While we ate we chatted with a family next to us from Louisville Ky, who were there for their daughter's twirling competition and have come at this same time for many years in a row.
Oh that's right, they were so sweet.
After we were stuffed full, we migrated outside to the new playground. The kids always want to go outside and play after dinner, so we sat on the benches and let them play, while overhearing the friendly conversation between campers sitting at the other tables.
A regular old playground is great for kids brains. They really need time for open ended active play especially on a long trip. When we talk to them when we get home often they say that's their favorite part of the trip.
That's part of why we were so happy to see that they put in this playground. We love coming over here to play. While the kids played I walked over and checked out the settlement gift shop. They always have unique things, and I love Mickey camping stuff, but we didn't wind up buying anything.
After about 40 minutes at the playground, we all walked through the store. We saw some bunnies on the grass outside.
The bunnies were really cute in the mist eating the grass.
Then we headed back to the boat dock at 7:45.
We didn’t have to wait long for a boat, and the first one to arrive had WL as the next stop. Even better it was piloted by Marty, the singing boat captain.
We’ve been on a boat with him before and he’s a great singer. We could hardly contain the giggles though when he started singing Brandy.
It was great, and we all got a kick out of it. When we got off the boat Brandy told him his name and they all laughed.
The MK fireworks started right as we got to the dock, and we watched them a bit from the dock before heading towards the room.
There’s a decent view of the fireworks from the end of the dock. The kids were restless and I had work to do so I headed up to the room.
We all walked together to the end of the South Wing, then I went with Jon and Brandy towards Geyser Point. They ordered drinks and I watched the end of the fireworks from there.
I felt that the view was definitely better than from the transportation boat dock, and you could hear the piped in music.
I went back to the room after they finished and helped get the kids ready for bed. Marshall asked to watch the Duffy story channel which was really cute.
They watched a couple stories an I was proud to get them in bed so early.
Yeah they were in bed happily by 9:00, and I headed up to the Mercantile to get a DVC sweatshirt while Melissa finished her work. Unfortunately the only one they had didn’t fit well, so I didn’t get it. Then I went down to Roaring Fork for a mug refill and took some long exposure shots in the courtyard.
I didn’t wait for him to go to bed. I was so tired.
I got back to the room about 10:00 as she went to bed, and I had my leftover birthday cupcake from Artist Point. It was really good, way better than the apple cupcake we had at Roaring Fork a couple of years ago.
I went to bed by 10:40, ending a nice relaxing day.
Stay tuned for a special Valentines Day episode!
After leaving the park at 2:50, the Fair Winds mid-size boat arrived at 2:57, and headed out at 3:01 after a driver change. We arrived back at WL at 3:12.
There was only one thing on the kids agenda when we got back to the resort, they both wanted to swim!
It was finally warm enough, and it was something they had been asking to do all trip.
We made it to the pool at 3:30 and swam for almost an hour.
Marshall is so brave and is able to go down the slide on his own, we just hang out at the bottom to pull him to the side but he takes care of the rest
That was really neat, and he enjoyed it, probably even more than the splash area, which he got to play in as well.
We actually pushed back our dinner ADR to give the kids more time to swim before we headed over to Fort Wilderness.
I'm glad the weather warmed up enough to make swimming comfortable for us Californians. You won't find us in the pool if it's colder than about 75.
Yeah, the image of the lifeguards in parkas from earlier in the trip was stuck in our heads. The weather was much more pleasant this time, and we had a good swim.
Afterwards,we went back to the room and got dressed for dinner. We got to the boat dock at 5:15 just as the Fort Wilderness boat left but was very full.
So we waited for the next boat which was heading over to the Contemporary first.
We left the dock at 5:25, and arrived at the CR at 5:28. We stayed on the boat, and left there at 5:35.
There was a training boat driver, and as we got to Fort Wilderness she hit the dock a little hard, so the supervising captain had her back up and do it again. We got off the boat right at 5:45 and made the short walk up to the porch at Trail's End.
I felt a little bad for her, it's hard to learn a new job with 30 people watching you.
We checked in at Trail's End and had just sat down outside when our pager went off. We got a table right in the middle upstairs. We love how easy it is to get in to this spot, which is one of our favorites.
We were super close to the buffet which made things easy with the kids.
I was happy with the Ribs, which are my favorite here. I also enjoyed the beans and potatoes.
We were disappointed that they didn't have the pizza that they usually do, and the carved beef wasn't that great.
The pasta was pretty good too and as always desert was on point.
Yes, the desserts were great as always. I went with cobbler and a brownie covered in soft serve ice cream. Mmmmm!
While we ate we chatted with a family next to us from Louisville Ky, who were there for their daughter's twirling competition and have come at this same time for many years in a row.
Oh that's right, they were so sweet.
After we were stuffed full, we migrated outside to the new playground. The kids always want to go outside and play after dinner, so we sat on the benches and let them play, while overhearing the friendly conversation between campers sitting at the other tables.
A regular old playground is great for kids brains. They really need time for open ended active play especially on a long trip. When we talk to them when we get home often they say that's their favorite part of the trip.
That's part of why we were so happy to see that they put in this playground. We love coming over here to play. While the kids played I walked over and checked out the settlement gift shop. They always have unique things, and I love Mickey camping stuff, but we didn't wind up buying anything.
After about 40 minutes at the playground, we all walked through the store. We saw some bunnies on the grass outside.
The bunnies were really cute in the mist eating the grass.
Then we headed back to the boat dock at 7:45.
We didn’t have to wait long for a boat, and the first one to arrive had WL as the next stop. Even better it was piloted by Marty, the singing boat captain.
We’ve been on a boat with him before and he’s a great singer. We could hardly contain the giggles though when he started singing Brandy.
It was great, and we all got a kick out of it. When we got off the boat Brandy told him his name and they all laughed.
The MK fireworks started right as we got to the dock, and we watched them a bit from the dock before heading towards the room.
There’s a decent view of the fireworks from the end of the dock. The kids were restless and I had work to do so I headed up to the room.
We all walked together to the end of the South Wing, then I went with Jon and Brandy towards Geyser Point. They ordered drinks and I watched the end of the fireworks from there.
I felt that the view was definitely better than from the transportation boat dock, and you could hear the piped in music.
I went back to the room after they finished and helped get the kids ready for bed. Marshall asked to watch the Duffy story channel which was really cute.
They watched a couple stories an I was proud to get them in bed so early.
Yeah they were in bed happily by 9:00, and I headed up to the Mercantile to get a DVC sweatshirt while Melissa finished her work. Unfortunately the only one they had didn’t fit well, so I didn’t get it. Then I went down to Roaring Fork for a mug refill and took some long exposure shots in the courtyard.
I didn’t wait for him to go to bed. I was so tired.
I got back to the room about 10:00 as she went to bed, and I had my leftover birthday cupcake from Artist Point. It was really good, way better than the apple cupcake we had at Roaring Fork a couple of years ago.
I went to bed by 10:40, ending a nice relaxing day.
Stay tuned for a special Valentines Day episode!