Bunch of Brooks Bounce Back.... Third time's the charm! An August Trip Report for a Family of 13!

[canuckgirl]

Hello Everyone!

This is a PTR for our trip to the world from August 19th-30th. We have travelled to Disney twice previously and are thrilled to be heading back again! Our first trip was in 2014 and we stayed club level at the Grand Floridian (way to ruin expectations for subsequent trips! ) that trip was our immediate family along with my MIL & SIL) we were bitten by the Disney bug and booked our second trip 4 years later again for August in 2018. We stayed at the Polynesian (not my fav monorail resort.. I know! ) and while there, booked a bounce back offer for August of 2019 at the Contemporary..... if you can't tell yet, MK is our favourite park and we adore staying at monorail resorts! We got pregnant shortly after that trip and cancelled when we learned we were due with baby #10 in August of 2019 We then decided to book the Contemporary again for August of 2020 to celebrate his very first birthday at Disney World! We were so thrilled for this trip and had even gotten the dining plan and had ADRs for Cinderella's Royal Table for his first birthday dinner! Sadly, we know how this ends, as C happened and all travel stopped While stuck in lockdown for years, we watched countless Disney videos and dreamed about our next trip! We decided in October of last year to finally book our long-awaited bounce back and decided on Wilderness Lodge!!!

When we had stayed at The Grand Floridian in 2014, we had shared a bus with WL and when we saw it, we loved it instantly and knew we wanted to stay there one day! Also, in full disclosure, Contemporary was booked! We still hope to stay there one day!

So, a little bit about us! We are a LARGE family with myself Cheryl, my husband Ryan and our *11* children Alicia (25), Ethan (23), Charlie (17), Lily (15), Juliet (14), Eloise (11), Maisie (8), Mabel (6), Gus (4), Teddy (2) and Winnie 11 months).

Here's some answers to our most asked questions!

No, we aren't religious
Yes, they were all planned
Yes, they are all ours together
Yes, we "know how it happens"
Yes, our grocery bill is huge
Yes, we eat the same food as everyone else, just insanely large quantities
No, none of them are twins..... but I'd love a set!

On this trip it's going to be Teddy's 3rd birthday on the 26th, and Winnies first birthday on the 23rd - a big celebration trip for our return! We have a habit (I'm sure like a lot of others!) of booking a cheaper "gateway" hotel and then switching to a more expensive resort somewhere along the way! Haha! This trip we had originally booked Wilderness Lodge back on Halloween of 2021, with the intention of only keeping the reservation *if* we could get free dining or a really good discount on the room! When the summer/fall discounts came out and we saw that Wilderness was only 10% and not 25% like the other deluxe resorts, we were bummed and decided to save money and switch to Animal Kingdom! It was short lived though, since our absolute favourite park is MK and we spend half of our vacation there! We had also grown used to the ease of the monorail for transportation and didn't want to have to use the buses everyday. So back to Wilderness Lodge it was!

Since we are a family of 13, air travel was just completely out of the question... it would have been over $7000! We had driven down on our previous trip and really loved the family road trip, even though it was incredibly stressful at times, we have really wonderful family memories of the drive! So, of course driving down again was the only choice.... except our van doesn't fit all of us! So, unfortunately our oldest daughter is missing out on the fun and is flying down separately on the same day! It's about a 24 hour drive total and we plan on leaving around midnight of the 19th and arriving at Wilderness Lodge around midnight of the 20th, getting a few hours of sleep and heading straight to MK for an open to close park day! Totally reasonable, right?!??! Because our daughter is arriving before us, she will be able to get the rooms organized and grab us a late dinner if we need etc. We have 10 park days booked plus MNSSHP! We had attended MNSSHP for the first time in 2018 and loved it so much. Our youngest son also *ADORES* Halloween, so we booked it for his 3rd Birthday!

We made our park reservations as follows:
Day 1, 20th: MK
Day 2, 21st: EPCOT
Day 3, 22nd: EPCOT
Day 4, 23rd: MK (Winnie's birthday! )
Day 5, 24th: MK
Day 6, 25th: HS
Day 7, 26th: MK & MNSSHP (Teddy's birthday! )
Day 8, 27th: AK
Day 9, 28th: EPCOT
Day 10, 29th: MK

We had used the dining plan previously and really enjoyed it, but obviously its not back yet, so that wasn't an option. We only have 2 TS meals planned, O'Hana for dinner on Winnie's 1st Birthday and Beaches & Cream on our last EPCOT day! We went to Beach & Cream on our last trip and got the Kitchen Sink and the kids still talk about it! So fun, so we're excited to do it again this trip! Other than that, we are doing QS and TONS of snacks! When we've gone to Disney at the end of August previously, F&W was never up and running. We are super thrilled to get the chance to see it for ourselves, and we're going with a list a mile long of all the snacks we want to try!

 

[canuckgirl]

Countdown is at... 15!!!!!

We called Disney earlier this week to be able to sort out our rooms - we put in the requests to have two kids rooms connected, and in the room adjacent, will be me, DH, and the babies. This way, the little ones will be able to get to sleep earlier, and the kids can party all night long if they want!

(just kidding, they'll be wiped after rope drop to park close!)

We were also SO excited about the Magicband+ drop, and we all woke up early on the 27th to pick our bands.

The little ones all got Magicband- because even though they're not necessary for us (no Genie+ for us!), it's just not a Disney trip without them!



Speaking of the Genie... After months of research and discussion, we have decided against purchasing it. First of all, the cost: 150$ a day is just ridiculous!!! Plus all of us riding together when possible is SUPER important, and from what we've heard, coordinating times to overlap is basically impossible. Also, when we did use FastPass+ on our previous trips, we would often ride attractions several times in one day, *especially* quiet rides (IASW, Dumbo, BS) so being able to ride each attraction only once per day is really upsetting, especially considering the total cost for our length of stay .

This trip is going to be very different for us, because we're used to FP+ and DDP, so planning out every day basically down to the minute is what we're used to. We're actually looking forward to having a more chill experience, and that it might be nice to get up in the day and just do what we're feeling like, rather than running to and from various reservations.

With only two weeks left to go, we're getting our packing lists finalized and buying our last minute items! We are also *still* waiting to receive all the kids passports which is such a stress for me right now! We applied in person in May and were told we would have *no issue* receiving them in time Come on Canadian government!!

 

[canuckgirl]

Hey everyone! Long time no see

We haven't forgotten about this, it's just that the last few weeks have been SO busy, with coming back and getting back to real life, and then school starting up again!

We are super excited to do our trip report, because we get to relive literally the *BEST* Disney trip EVER!!!

Let's go back in time to departure day....

DAY ONE: TRAVEL DAY

So on our previous trip, we had gotten up the day of really early, and had put the kids to bed really early in their clothes, in the hope that when we left at midnight, they would keep sleeping when we transferred them to the car. BAD IDEA!!!!!!! No one slept AT ALL and were all just cranky. So this trip, we decided to switch it up and keep them up until we left at midnight, and DH and I went to bed at about 7 to get a few hours of sleep in. SURPRISE, this was ALSO a bad idea... we're full of them apparently

We were too wired and excited to get much sleep, and so that's how we left on our 24 hour road trip: with only 90 minutes of sleep in 24 hours!

We had packed the car that afternoon, and it was FULL to the brim with everything and the kitchen sink. But we were *FINALLY* on our way!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!


Alicia was catching her flight in a few hours, so she stayed home. She also had had only 2 hours of sleep in the past 24 hours, but her drive to the airport was much shorter. Her flight was at 7am, and she got to the airport at about 4am. The wait was not bad at all, and security was only taking a few flights at a time to keep the lines short. The flight was fine, and she got to Orlando just before 10am, and was at the Wilderness before noon!

For us, it was a *much* longer travel day! We had purposefully left around midnight, because we found it was a generally good time to leave, traffic wise. We got through the border around 2am, and were just getting out of PA when the sun came up. DH and I started the drive together, but then I got exhausted around 3am and napped for a couple of hours. I took over driving as we were hitting WV. One thing that drives me *nuts* about driving in the US, is the lack of ONroutes. They are these magical places, where on the side of the major highway, it has gas, bathrooms, and a ~variety~ of food and coffee. ALL. IN. ONE!!!!!!!! I missed them so much on the drive. The kids were all doing SO well and had slept for the first 7ish hours of the trip. We pushed hard and stopped for lunch at Shake Shack just outside of Charlotte. We got out of the car and sat down to eat to let the kids have a break and stretch their legs. They were all super excited about burgers and chocolate milkshakes! But I wasn't excited about the 175$ USD price tag

The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful, and we got *amazing* gas mileage on the NV! We had stopped for the night on our last trip, and had decided not to do that this time around. It just made it harder in the morning to get the kids back in the car. Not to mention the added cost of the hotel rooms!

It only got really hard for the last four hours of the trip, when Gus(4), was crying that he didn't want to go to Disney World anymore, and just wanted to go back home instead. Even I started to question whether or not the road trip was a good idea with all the kids crying! But, our first sighting of a sign with "DISNEY WORLD" written on it made us forget about all the hardship, and I cried when I saw the EPCOT ball!!!

 

[Canadiandisnerd96]

Hi everyone!

I'm Alicia and I'm writing the trip report with my mom, but I'm going to post a separate update here with my photos of my travel day, where I flew down from YYZ and spent the afternoon at Disney Springs.


So the family left at about 11:30/12 and I stayed back. My flight was at 7am, so I left the house around 2:30. My drive was really easy, obviously since the highways were basically dead! I got to the airport just after 3am, and was too early to go into the line for security. They had a "lounge area" (just the open space with chairs) set up for Air Canada passengers waiting to be called. They called four my flight to get in the security line at 4:30am. Security wasn't too long, and moved steadily. I got out in about 45 minutes. Grabbed some Tims and waited for my flight to board!

Once I landed at MCO at about 9:50, I got out and headed to the Mears busses. I got a shuttle van, and after a few stops at other hotels, I finally pulled into the Wilderness Lodge at 11am! This resort is absolutely *GORGEOUS* and I love it SO MUCH!!!!!!

I only packed a carry-on, terrified of the horror stories of late with people loosing all their checked luggage. So I dropped my backpack with bell services and I walked around and explored. Then I headed for the bus right to Disney Springs!!






I did some exploring of the shops, the lego displays are always my favourite to see - I love lego, and these are literally insane!!!!!

For a late lunch/early dinner I ended up going to Chef Art's and sat at the bar. I got the chicken biscuit sandwiches which were SO YUMMY!!!!! And so filling - definitely a great choice for a first Disney meal!!! To drink I just got an iced tea - which being from Canada, thought it was just okay. I got it sweetened but it's just not like iced tea I'm used to/like!



Around 4/5pm a MASSIVE storm rolled in and I stood under some cover for a while but eventually bit the bullet and just ran into the rain.


It wasn't stopping and I wanted some Gideons!!!! The bad news was that I was soaked, but the good news was that I got to walk right into the store! The smell in there is absolutely incredible, like fresh-baked cookies on steroids. I got a slice of the peanut butter cake, and 6 cookies - one of each standard flavour, with an extra original. You'll see we ate the cake and cookies the next day. I also tried the peanut butter cold brew which was SO GOOD!! I love peanut butter, and it was a strong flavour with a good coffee taste still.

The rest of my evening was uneventful - I was exhausted and spent the rest of the time sitting in the lobby waiting for the rest of the family to get there.

 

[ralphie]

Loving big families, waiting for more report, thanks!!

 

[footballmouse]

can't wait to hear about this trip!

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[rdkeim]

Following!

 

[gopherdame]

Looking forward to hearing more.

 

[nascargirl]

Jumping in and enjoying the report.

 

[Woth2982]

Joining in! This already sounds like a great adventure!

 

[Jeepdisney]

Following!

 

[disneymouse16]

Awesome trip report! I'm following!

 

[canuckgirl]

Loving big families, waiting for more report, thanks!!

Thanks so much for following along! We are excited to keep sharing!

 

[canuckgirl]

can't wait to hear about this trip!

Thank-you! It was such an incredible trip!

 

[canuckgirl]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

Thank-you so much!!!

 

[canuckgirl]

Following!

 

[canuckgirl]

Awesome trip report! I'm following!

Thanks! I am so excited to share!!

 

[canuckgirl]

Hello Everyone!

So, last we left off, we had just driven onto Disney property and were making our way over to Wilderness Lodge! We had a slight hiccup with a wrong turn near MK, but it was 11 o'clock at night after driving 24 hours straight, so, not too awful! We drove up to the security station that leads into the Lodge and when the guard said "Welcome Home", that when I lost it and started sobbing! I'm not the only one, right?!? Driving up to the Lodge with the beautiful craftsman style lights and the gorgeous building all lit up was an absolute dream!!



The best part was finally seeing Alicia again, after missing her during our road trip! The reunion at such a beautiful resort was the best!! We parked the car in front of the building and got everyone out to all check in together. Since it was so late, it was so quiet and we got to walk into an almost empty lobby! We had never been inside Wilderness Lodge before, only driven past the outside, so seeing it in person for the first time was absolutely incredible!!!! We had 3 separate rooms, and so, we all went to different cast members to check in. I had called Disney ahead of time and asked for 2 of our rooms (the ones with our adult kids) to be adjoining and our 3rd room to be as close by as possible. We got 2 adjoining rooms, but they ended up being our room and one of the kids rooms. At the time, it was so late and we were so tired that we just decided to keep the rooms as is, and would get key cards in the morning. This proved to be a VERY BAD IDEA! it was *such* a hassle during our trip for people not to be able to open their rooms with their MB and also, it was annoying for room charges throughout the trip. In hindsight, I would have taken the time to fix the rooms at check-in as it would have saved a lot of headaches!

The cast members who checked us in were so sweet and even took some great pictures of our family for our arrival in the lobby!

Our rooms ended up all being together and overlooking the lobby! I know for some people, they might think that that was too busy or noisy, but we absolutely LOVED it!! being able to open your door and see the incredible lobby and and grandness of the Lodge was the best! We even had a "secret" fireplace with seating just outside of our door! We had coffee there in the morning and it was so wonderful! When stay here again, our one request would be to have a lobby room!!!

 

[canuckgirl]

DAY TWO: MAGIC KINGDOM

Our day started bright and early at 6:30am, after getting to bed at 1am..... you will see that this is a trend for us throughout the trip! We headed down to grab drinks and some food at Roaring Fork before we left for Magic Kingdom. We also all grabbed our reusable resort mugs. We went up and grabbed cups for each of our rooms, so Alicia, Ethan, and I all got in line. I got mine, Ethan got his, but when Alicia went up, her MB wasn't working, and she hasn't brought her phone. Before she was able to grab Ethan to pay, the cast member was SO sweet, and said not to worry, that Mickey bought them for her. The Pixie dust had already started! Even though buying refillable cups for all of us was expensive, with the length of our trip and the fact that we would be having a lot of resort time, they ended up being a great deal for us, for how much we used them! I miss that sweet iced tea so much!!!



After breakfast, some *MUCH* needed coffee, and getting ready, we were on the Mermaid I by 8:30am! We had never used the boats at Wilderness Lodge and we ended up LOVING them - they're so convenient and quick going back and forth between MK!!!

We made it just in time for the EMH, and made it to SDMT just before it ended. It was the best first rid of the trip! Although for Teddy(2), it was very much *NOT*, and quickly realised that rollercoasters were not his thing. After SDMT, we went over to IASW. We love this ride so much, despite everyone teasing it for the song. It's just so cute! By now, we were all ready for a snack, and it's obviously tradition to have a Dole Whip for breakfast when you're in MK!!! Then we rode POTC, then decided to head back to the resort for an afternoon break.