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Another 4th of July trip report...but at Wilderness Lodge


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Hey everybody!

I know there have been a lot of trip reports from the Fourth of July but I want to add mine since it’s a little different.

First a little history, the Camping Princess and I live in Naples, FL it’s about three hours from WDW. This year we have been debating back and forth about whether to get an Annual Pass or not. As the Fourth was getting closer we decided that we didn't want to be disappointed by the local fireworks again and we wanted to get away, and who has the best fireworks? WDW of course! So we did the math and figured out how many trips we would take this year and before you know it we bought APs with a plan to go to WDW for the Fourth.

To save money this trip we decided we would only go for one night, we would wake up early on Sunday July 3rd and drive up then drive back late on Monday July 4th. Since it was one night I wanted to stay in a resort we haven’t stayed in before, which is all the Deluxes. After a couple days of searching online I was able to get a pretty good rate for the Wilderness Lodge! I have always wanted to stay there and same for CP, so I did like any good Fiancée and kept it a surprise, instead I told her we were staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort, hehe.

This report is going to have:

Wilderness Lodge

All 4 parks

A shocking discovery at Magic Kingdom (to me anyway)

3am in Magic Kingdom

Fort Golf Cart Parade

I met a Fort celebrity!

Ok enough talking, I’m ready to start the report.

We woke up real early on Sunday morning, 4:30am and we were on the road by 5:00am.

After a three hour uneventful drive we saw this:

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When we saw the gates I told a little lie and said we were going to the Transportation center to get our Annual Passes, but when I turned right into the Wilderness Lodge she figured it out. :)

Check-in was a different process for me, we didn’t valet park but when we walked up a manager in a suit escorted us to the check-in counter, where he introduced us to the cast member that would be taking care of us. They don’t do that at the Value resorts, haha, then again it was 8am so no line.

Luckily our room was ready, we got a standard view room with a door that opened up on to the main lobby, I think it was the 6th floor. The view was of the woods and parking lot, looking over the roof. Not to bad, I don’t see a reason to pay for a view at the WL. Here's some pics of the room:

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Check out this detail in the headboard:

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After looking around our room we basically ran down to the bus stop, where we hopped one to Hollywood Studios. CP has never ridden Toy Story Mania so that was our goal. Here we are at the bus stop:

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Here's a lamp post by the bust stop. (I love the attention to detail everywhere at Disney)

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Once at HS we got our APs and did the quick walk to TSM, where we found a huge line to get Fast Passes! I couldn’t believe it! It didn’t take long though and we got a fast pass for 11am.

From there we rode the new Star Tours! It was great!

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There was no line so we rode it twice in a row! We visited the wookie planet on both trips but the rest was different, I really liked the updated ride.

After that we took it easy, rode Rockin Rolling coaster, Backlot tour, walked through One Man’s Dream and a few other things, here’s some pictures:

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More pictures to follow shortly.

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Lookin' good so far.

I love that head board at the Lodge. Bring one home for me next visit!

I agree that headboard is great!

I'll see what I can do next time.

Oh boy!

Another trip report!

You are off to a great start!

I hope that there's a 3 am MK photo.

And I can't wait to hear about the celebrity you met at the Fort!

TCD

There are definitely some 3am MK pictures.

The celebrity meet isn't until day two, but its worth the wait! haha

Wilderness Lodge is one of the resorts I've always wanted to at too. Great start :popcorn:

Thanks

I have to say it was great!

I alway spent a lot of time in the lobby before but staying there was pretty nice!

WBI

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We're still at Hollywood studios.

We ran into these guys while walking around:

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Then we stopped inside One Man's Dream:

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Could you imagine if they had built the real EPCOT, that would have been one big air conditioned area!

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Next is the Backlot Tour:

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Then we finally got to ride Toy Story Mania, there was zero Fast Pass line so that was good.

After TSM we we hopped a boat to Epcot:

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I guess I didnt take a single picture in Epcot, but we walked straight to Mexico. CP had never been to San Angel Inn, and would you belive they had no wait. I hadn't been there in 5 years but turned out they had just updated the menu that week. They added a few appetizers and we both got one, they were great!

After lunch we both got a margarita from the cantina and slowly worked our way out of Epcot to a bus back to the WL.

Next up more Lodge pictures then Magic Kingdom.

WBI

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Great start! :banana: Love the pics of you guys with the toy soldiers!!

Thanks! The Toy Soldiers were funny and no line for pictures.

Wow, that is alot packed into a day already. Enjoying the report, thanks for sharing.

:popcorn:

Thanks, yeah it was a long day and night!

:popcorn:

I'm about to post more!

Way too much smiling going on in these pics. I can't tell if you guys are happy to be there or not. :rofl2:

Haha yeah we weren't having fun at all. ;)

I'm enjoying your TR so far. Y'all are an adorable couple!

Thank you there is more to come!

:popcorn: Great pics!

Thanks I've got plenty more!

more please...... i need a fix. looks like it was a great time--so far. :) can't wait to see some more pics.

It was a great time, more pics coming up!

Love this TR. I wouldn't be able to keep up with you but I love it none the less :banana:

I think you could handle it, we were tired but being at Disney we were able to push ourselves because it was so much fun.

:suspense:

Next round of pictures is coming up!

Very cool report WBI!

I gotta say though, for all that running you did, you really didn't get a chance to take in WL much did you?

Those types of road trips are really fun. We used to go like that pre-kiddies.

Can't wait for more!

Thanks anolefan!

We didn't get to spend as much time as we would of liked at the resort, but we still got quite a bit in there for a one night trip.

You'll see in my next post that we went back for a while to relax!

Thanks for following along! I have some WL pictures coming up.

WBI

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Thanks for following along everyone!

When I left off we had got on a bus at Epcot heading back to the lodge, and I have to admit, we were tired!

After getting up so early, the parks and the margarita I was ready for a nap so that's what we did, I think we got to the room around 1 or 2pm.

The plan was to rest up for awhile and enjoy the room, then tour the resort for a while.

Magic Kingdom had extra magic hours till 3am so we weren't in a big hurry to get there.

After about an hour nap we got up and walked around the resort. I love the detail and little Disney touches everywhere.

The Camping Princess took all these pictures:

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I wasn't lucky enough to get "let in" to the conceirge level like someone else, but we could see it from across the way and it looked pretty nice, but we didn't get a picture.

This one is of the rocking chairs anyone can go sit on above the entrance:

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Here we are looking out on Bay Lake:

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And back across the lobby:

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I like this elk head!

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We didn't take any pictures but we walked over to the Wilderness Villas.

If you haven't been in there I suggest it, they have a lot of great details and decor.

Plus a lot of train stuff on display.

It was my first time inside and I really enjoyed it!

Here we are out by the main pool. For some reason part of the creek wasn't running into the pool.

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This is the entrance by Roaring Forks.

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We thought about eating at Artist Point but instead we sat and had a drink at Territory Lounge.

Thats when I decided I should of moved out west! I loved the way that place looked. I've always liked the old west, mountains, hunting, cowboying, I was meant to be out there...Oh well maybe when I retire. Ok back to the story.

Here's our drinks:

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After that we hopped a boat to MK!

I'll post those pictures tomorrow.

What do you think did we make it to 3am after getting up at 4:30am and only an hour nap???

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How cool! A Wilderness Lodge TR! :banana: Looks like the two of you were having a great time! :) You possibly crossed paths with another FW celebrity... KFM. That's kampfiremom. She gained a little notoriety on the other board for her now famous memorabelia collection. She was at the Wilderness Lodge along with KFDad and KFBro.

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