The Florida Project! 12 Days @ WDW for our 10th Anniversary! UPDATED 9/23

AAshleySEG

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 16, 2012
Hello Everyone and :welcome:

It has been quite a little while since I had a chance to write a Trip Report for Disney World! We had a lot of stuff go on with our dog children where we weren't able to go anywhere for a while, but we finally made it back to Walt Disney World for our 10th Wedding Anniversary!! If you have never read one of my trip reports before, let me introduce ourselves!

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We are Jeremy and Andrea, long time Disney fans, DVC Members, Disney Cruisers, Dog Lovers, World Travelers, Foodies, and pretty much all of our lives together have been complemented with different Disney experiences.

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(Disney Magic Back 2 Back Cruises 2015)

We got engaged back in 2006 on a 9-day trip to Walt Disney World where we stayed at Pop Century Resort, on the last night of the trip during Wishes! We have been making trips before and after then every year almost!

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(Engagement Trip, Jeremy's First Dinner at 'Ohana)

On our Honeymoon in 2007 we decided to go out to California for the first time! We are big Dodger fans so we took a trip out there to see a game, and also, of course visit Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure!!

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(Waiting on the Electrical Parade at Disney's California Adventure on our Honeymoon)

On our first Anniversary, we went back to Walt Disney World and stayed a few nights at the Polynesian Resort! By 2009, we decided that we were making so many trips to Disney World that it was time to become DVC members, and it has been going 8 years strong so far! Our first trip with DVC was using our points to go to Disneyland Paris!

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(Jeremy being silly outside the Walt Disney Studios Park in France 2010)

In 2012, we decided it was time to take our first cruise for our 5th Wedding Anniversary! Jeremy had always wanted to go to Alaska, and since Disney started going there the previous year, we though it would be a great time to try out Disney Cruises for the first time! Since then we have taken a Disney Dream Cruise with a Double Dip at Castaway Cay, 2-7 Night Cruises on the Disney Magic Back to Back in 2015, and then our 5th Disney Cruise was on the Dream again on a 3-Night in October of 2016!

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(Disney Dream Cruise August 2012)

If you can't already tell, we absolutely love Disney! We always have such a great time going, we thought about spending our 10th Anniversary in other places, but ultimately decided that it had to be at Walt Disney World!

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So on to this trip!! Let me tell you a little about it, if you want to read the Pre-Trip Report for it, you can click on the link right there and be sent right over!

We stayed from June 7-18, 2017 at 4 Different Walt Disney World Resorts!
Disney's Wilderness Lodge
Disney's Beach Club Resort
Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and
Disney's Grand Floridian Resort

We spent a bunch of time checking out new restaurants, and things to do outside of the parks, but also made some time for the theme parks as well (un-planned time that is). We originally had different plans, but the weather had plans of its own and a lot of them didn't work out but we still had a fantastic time!!

So if you want to join along, I would love to have you!! I love writing trip reports and journaling on vacation! I always have such a fun time reading over what we did and sharing it with everyone too! I also love to make videos, so you might see a few of those pop up along the way, we did a little bit of vlogging this time around! So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!! AAAAaaaaLLLLLLL ABOARD!
 
Wednesday, June 7, 2017 - That's The Biggest Tire I've Ever Seen!

Today is the day! We have been planning this trip since August, and with all of the bumps and hiccups along the way, a lot of changes, I mean...a LOT of changes, it was finally time to go! Just last night we had to rearrange the trip. We have been keeping tabs on the weather, originally we had a planned road trip to the Florida Keys, and with the thunderstorms in the forecast, we didn't want to chance wasting our days down there and not being able to do any of our planned activities, so we made the really difficult decision to cancel that part of the trip and stay at Disney World those extra four nights. So first, we had to check on DVC rooms, and we were really lucky to be able to find 4 Nights at Saratoga Springs during the middle of the trip! Our room situation was really strange at the moment. Our original plans had us staying at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian, each for 5 nights! When we booked the keys portion, the Poly got dropped, we added one night on the way down at Beach Club and then kept the GFL portion. Well then we decided to add an extra day at the beginning and that is where Wilderness Lodge came into the picture, then finally Saratoga got added last night at the last minute when everything changed again! So crazy!! Now that story is finished for now, let's get to it!

I rolled over at like 6:10 am and checked my phone. I couldn't sleep anymore with the anticipation and decided to go ahead, get out of bed and get showered and ready! By the time I was out, Jeremy was up and getting ready as well. He is a night-shower person and I am a morning-shower person so it works out really well for us. We had put almost everything in the car last night, and so by 7:02 am, we were headed to Port City Java to grab some muffins for breakfast and start the drive!

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This morning we ended up getting 2 Fresh our of the oven Blueberry Muffins, and 10 minutes later we were on the way to Walt Disney World! We live on the NC coast in a little town called Southport, NC. If you have seen the movie Safe Haven, you have pretty much seen all of Southport...haha! We live really close to the NC/SC line so in less than an hour we were crossing it on this cloudy dreary day!

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I think at around 8:30 am we were making our first gasoline stop, we always try to stop in South Carolina since it is less expensive there. We stopped at the Kroger in Conway, SC, right outside of the Myrtle Beach area, and even though it was rainy, Jeremy was still in a great mood!

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Now that we had a full tank of gas, we were headed toward the long and tree-lined corridor of I-95! This time on the drive we decided to listen to Audible. We have really been into the new Star Wars books lately, and watching Star Wars Rebels, so we decided to listen to the book "Thrawn" Since Star Wars is a Disney property it is still totally relevant!! That makes me happy! Around 10:30 am we finally started hitting some heavier rain.

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The forecast for the trip was looking very wet, every single day had the little thunderstorm clouds on it, so we were really anxious to see how the weather actually turned out.

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While we were driving along, minding our own business, we saw probably the largest tire we have ever seen in our lives. We still are not really sure what it would even go on?? But literally, the tire was larger/taller than the truck that was carrying it!! It was GIGANTIC!

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A little while later and we had made it through SC and into Georgia! We decided to stop at the new Georgia Visitor Center Rest Area and man are we glad we did! They have tons of cool photo ops inside, TONS of information, fantastic bathrooms, charging stations, and it is really fantastic if you happen to be on I-95 South. Highly recommended and especially if you are planning on visiting Georgia, stop by there!

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Since we had gotten up earlier than we planned, and left about an hour earlier as well, we totally missed our favorite lunch stop in Mt Pleasant, SC, Pickled Palate. If you have read one of the previous TRs you will have seen it! We love that place but it doesn't open until 11:00 am, so this time it wasn't in the cards, we were way past SC and into Georgia around lunch, so we decided to stop at another old favorite of ours! The Panera Bread in Pooler, GA! We got our favorite Mediterranean Veggie Sandwiches with Chips and Tea and Water. Instead of eating inside, we just decided to go through the drive-thru to keep making good time on the way to Disney!

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We each ended up eating half of our respective sandwiches and saved the other halves for later in case we got hungry before we arrived. In retrospect, we should have probably just gotten one sandwich and split it, but oh well, I had budgeted for it, so it wasn't too big of a deal. Tonight we were staying at a One-Bedroom Villas at the Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge. The Copper Creek ones had not opened quite yet, but we were excited to see them when they did open! I had already done online check-in so I was wondering if we would get our room assignment before we got there! It was now about 1:30 pm and we were crossing the state line into Florida! It was cool too, because they had finally update the sign on the Interstate and it looked great!

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By this point, we should be around 3 hours away, which is great! Our second fuel stop of the trip came just after we passed Jacksonville, FL. We have been using a really cool app called Gas Buddy to find the least expensive gas in the area where we are. It doesn't look like you save a lot initially, but it definitely adds up.

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This should be the last fuel stop we have to make before we get there! At 2:30 pm my phone dinged and we had gotten the text for our room number! I absolutely love not having to go by the front desk anymore. Some people that have never been to Disney World might not like it and I can totally understand why it might not be for everyone, but for us, it is perfect! It is so nice to just grab our stuff and be able to head to the room once we arrive! Once we got right outside of Orlando, about 20 minutes away, traffic started backing up and it ended up being a wreck that kept us in traffic for a bit.

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We were so close we can almost smell that Disney Magic!

 
I'm in! We live in SC and make that trip down 95 frequently. Pooler GA is our stop for meals and gas! Looking forward to your review of Beach Club. We are staying there for the first time in September.
 


I enjoyed several of your previous trip reports. Looking forward to reading about this one, too!
 
I'm in! We live in SC and make that trip down 95 frequently. Pooler GA is our stop for meals and gas! Looking forward to your review of Beach Club. We are staying there for the first time in September.

Oh cool!! :welcome: Pooler is such a great place, there are so many choices that we can always find something we want, and if we get antsy we can walk around in Walmart haha! I really hope you enjoy Beach Club! We didn't get to spend nearly enough time there, someday we hope we get a chance to spend more than one night there! Thanks for reading along!!
 


I enjoyed several of your previous trip reports. Looking forward to reading about this one, too!

:cheer2::cheer2: Hi!!!!! Welcome back!! Thank you so much for coming back again to read along!! I hope this one stands up to the others...lol!!
 
Hey! Just joining in on your magical TR. I love when I know that I am getting closer to Disney when I start seeing the road signs for it. Can't wait to read about how your trip went. Kwaherini!
 
Hey! Just joining in on your magical TR. I love when I know that I am getting closer to Disney when I start seeing the road signs for it. Can't wait to read about how your trip went. Kwaherini!

:welcome: Thank you so much for joining in!! Isn't it awesome when you have been driving for so long and finally see those signs!! We always get so excited!
 
:welcome: Thank you so much for joining in!! Isn't it awesome when you have been driving for so long and finally see those signs!! We always get so excited!

100% true. Even though it only takes me 3 hours to get there the journey seems to take forever :-) but totally worth it.
 
Wednesday, June 7, 2017 (Part Two) - Pardon Our Pixie Dust!

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By 4:45 pm we were passing this sign. We did have a little discussion about with everything else being updated and changing in the parks and area that they have yet to update these entry signs that seem a tad 90's. They are pretty classic though, and I remember them from every trip we take...and of course always try to take photos of them! Shortly after we were passing Disney Springs and turning right heading towards the resort. We can't wait to spend some time there with all of the new shops and restaurants having been opened since the last time we had been down!

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It was now right around 5:00 pm and we had made it to Disney's Wilderness Lodge!! We had already gotten our room number and checked in online so we could just park and head straight for the room instead of going by the front desk, so we grabbed our bags and headed in that direction! I had stayed at the regular resort part of Wilderness Lodge before with my mom and niece a few years back. Jeremy and myself had been to Wilderness Lodge together a few times for dinners and things but he had never stayed there overnight, so he was really looking forward to it! I was excited to see the older DVC portion so when the time came we could compare it to the new Copper Creek Villas portion! But for tonight, we were in the Boulder Ridge Villas!

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When we got into the room we saw this little welcome thing on the table, we knew they were doing construction around the property but we definitely did not expect this!

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When we opened it up! We found that they had given us a little gift of construction pins! They are so freakin' adorable. It is always so cool to me that Disney does all of these little extra things for their guests that are so unexpected. A few years ago I sold most of my pin collection online, it was literally hundreds of pins before, now I still do have a smaller collection of pins, mostly some exclusive and limited edition ones, as well as one from all of the resorts we have stayed at. These would definitely be a fun addition to that collection!

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So we were staying in a 1-Bedroom Villa, the decor was great and I love the size you get in the one-bedrooms versus the studios, even though we mostly stay in studios, every once in a while we get a chance to stay in the larger rooms. I can really tell how valuable the space would be for families. Or even if you happened to be cooking meals in them. This room was really nice, and Jeremy liked it a lot!

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(Living Room)

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(Kitchen)

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(Bedroom)

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(Tub Portion of the Bathroom)

For some strange reason, I did not take a photo of the other side of the bathroom. So anyways, we put our bags down and found a change of clothes and started getting ready for dinner. I had budgeted our entire trip and tonight, we had a 15% off coupon plus a gift card for Outback Steakhouse, and there actually was one pretty close by. All of the other days and nights of the trip we were going to be eating on Disney property and this was just an easy way for the first night to have a little dinner that would be less expensive than the others. So after we were ready we headed down the hallway and out!

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For dinner, we ended up eating at the bar so we didn't have to wait and watching some basketball on the tv, we don't really watch basketball but it was playing so what the heck. For our appetizer we had some Bloom Petals, and then for entrees I had the Grilled Salmon with vegetables and Jeremy had Fried Shrimp with Volcano Sauce and fries. After we finished up with dinner we headed back towards the resort to snap a few photos and head over to the Territory Lounge to see one of our friends there.

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I absolutely love the landscaping here, the flowers and scents are amazing! It really feels like you have stumbled upon some secret lodge in the Northwest, well except for the heat, but it really is gorgeous! The lobby is stunning too with the huge expanse in the center and then the fireplace and bubbling stream inside!

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We walked through the lobby and made it to the Territory Lounge, it was still a little early so not too many people in there just yet. We found a table and Jeremy ordered a Kona Longboard and I had a Magical Star Cocktail, and it was really good!! We asked our server to let Vivianna know we were there and she came and we got to catch up and talk with her four a really nice chat! It was very relaxing in there, later on in the vacation we were going to be coming back to have dinner at Artist Point to see her again, so it was great to be able to see her now too!

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We finally left there around 11:00 pm and started walking around just a bit, she told us to go and see the newest addition Geyser Point at night, since it sat right on the lake! It looked awesome, and we were planning on having breakfast there in the morning, so to see it at night was really cool!

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After that, we slowly made our way back toward the room. We stopped in the lounge area at the villas and checked out a lot of the train memorabilia in there as well as sat by the fireplace for a few minutes to talk about the day. It was quiet and cozy, and at this time of time, completely empty, well except for us!

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We finally started heading upstairs to go to bed. At the time we were still unsure of what we were going to do tomorrow, originally we had planned to go to Tampa for an RV show, but we had pretty much already decided on which RV we wanted, so we were thinking about going somewhere or trying something we have never done before since tomorrow was a bonus day we added on to the trip last minute!

Here is our VLOG from Day One if you are interested!
 
The WL is extremely beautiful. I would love to stay there someday and even check out the new Copper Creek Villas.
 
The WL is extremely beautiful. I would love to stay there someday and even check out the new Copper Creek Villas.

It definitely is! The new villas that are almost finished, as well as the new pool area and oh my goodness those cabins on the lake! It is easily becoming one of prettiest resorts at WDW! We would love to stay there for more than one night!
 
Last Trip Report I did a budget post so we could see how we did in relation to how much I budgeted for our trip. We got a lot of positive feedback on it, so I am going to do the same thing this time, only a tad differently. Instead of doing a budget post at the end of each post, I am going to do one for an entire day once I am finished with it. That way, with it being in a separate post, if someone wants to read it they can, and if not they can just skip over it!

Our total budget we have saved for this vacation is $3500.00 in the savings account, the day we left we transferred that to checking and kept all of our receipts along the way, we also tallied everything up for each day at the end. Anytime we would have additional cash from other sources we would add that to a vacation envelope and we also always toss all change into a jar and so the change was converted into cash too, we were thinking we would use the cash for anything not budgeted for, souvenirs, snacks, things of that nature, in total we ended up with $578.00 in our cash envelope to take with us! So the totals at the bottom represent how we are doing as far as budgeted vs actual, and then below that, the cash is what we have left of the original $578.00. If you have any questions about how we budgeted for the trip or anything, just let me know!

This first post is going to be for Wednesday, June 7, 2017! Our first day on vacation! So let the budget posting commence!

Budgeted Amounts
Gas Fill-Up #1 - $35.00
Breakfast - $10 - Port City Java
Lunch - $30.00 - Pickled Palate
Gas Fill-Up #2 - $35.00
Dinner - $25.00 - Outback Steakhouse
Territory Lounge - $20.00
Total: $155.00

Actual Spent
Breakfast at Port City Java - $4.47
Gasoline at the Kroger in Conway - $27.00
Lunch at Panera Bread - $17.47
Gasoline at Mobil in Jacksonville - $32.00
Dinner at Outback Steakhouse - $25.00
Drinks at Territory Lounge - $28.00


Budget Status
$21.06 Under Budget :banana:
($578.00) Remaining In Saved Up Cash for Extras
 
Love the budgetting info!! Totally onboard for this trip report! WL is definitely a bucket list hotel for me-but one that I want to do with my neice and nephew, not when we go just DH and I.
 
Following along! I also love the budgeting info. Thanks for sharing. I hope to stay at WL when we go in 2018.
 

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