Day One: Walt Disney World January 2011 Trip

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: It has been almost three years since our last trip to Disney and now that our son is old enough to ride most of the attractions, we figured it was time to go again. We began planning the trip a few weeks ago, nothing fancy, just a long weekend trip. We booked a room at the Caribbean Beach Resort and invited my parents to join us. They agreed and booked a room at the All-Star Movies Resort. The more thought we put into the trip, the more things changed and the more complicated the planning got. By one week out, we had dinner reservations and tickets picked out. Then two days before we left, I changed the hotel and really put a spin on things, moving our stay to the Wilderness Lodge, a resort my wife had always wanted to stay at.

So with the car packed and everyone ready, we hit the highway and headed north to Walt Disney World. We arrived at the Wilderness Lodge just before seven. The resort sat on top of a hill and with the brisk weather, made you feel like you really were in the Northwest United States As we entered the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge, you are quickly immersed with the size of the building. The eight story fireplace in the corner seems to go on forever and the bubbling spring on the other side of the lobby really made you feel like you stepped out of Florida and into Yosemite.

Check-in was a breeze. We completed the on-line check-in program prior to leaving the house and were able to bypass the regular check-in/out line and use the express line. This simplified everything and to our amazement, a room was already available for us.

The room we were assigned was 6022. It was a woods-view room and was on the top floor of this portion of the hotel. The room had two queen beds, a large flat panel TV and a shower/tub combo in the bathroom to name a view of the amenities. The best one of all was the balcony with two chairs facing the Magic Kingdom, Contemporary Resort and Bay Lake which provided a spectacular view. The trees outside the resort are well mature and do not provide an unobstructed view, but the view that was available was great. We were so close to the park, you could hear the Walt Disney World Railroad train whistle and the music from the special events right from our balcony.

After moving our stuff into the room, I called my parents and headed over to their hotel for breakfast. They stayed at the All-Star Movies Resort and we were going to meet them for breakfast at their hotel since the All-Star cafes are great for grab and go meals. However the time it took us to get over there, we started running late so we cancelled plans on meeting at their hotel and hit the drive-thru at McDonalds and ate while driving back to catch a bus to the Magic Kingdom.

What better way to start a Disney vacation then a trip to the Magic Kingdom. We took the bus from the hotel to the park and arrived in time to watch the park opening ceremony. Mickey, Minnie and all of their friends arrived to the Main Street USA train station via the train and opened the park for all the guests. When the rope dropped we headed towards Tomorrowland to begin our day.

Our first ride of the day was Space Mountain, one of my personal favorites and our sons first time riding. We walked right on the ride with no line. The coaster was great as always but when we got off, our son was speechless. Not a word to say, was he scared or in awe, not really sure. After we left the ride, I took him on Astro Orbiter. We got their early enough that there was not much of a line; however this is a very slow loading ride. So despite being in the front of the line, we still had a decent wait.

By the time we returned from our flight on Astro Orbiter, my parents and sister arrived to the park and we took trip two on Space Mountain. Well now I knew for sure, my son loved Space Mountain because he was eager to ride it again. This time when we finished, he wanted to go again but the line was beginning to form and there many new experiences for him to enjoy.

Next on the journey through Tomorrowland was Carousel of Progress. Call it lame or I may just be getting older, but I enjoy this attraction. I think it is a great look back at how our culture evolved and gets the mind going with where we might be in a few decades...I guess that might be a journey for tomorrow's trip to Epcot. When we finished, we went to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin for a trip to help Buzz rid the universe of the evil emperor Zurg. The laser shooting attraction is a hit with everyone in the party.

We then headed across the park to ride two more of our favorite attractions before the lines got long. First was the Haunted Mansion. Then it was time for Thunder Mountain Railroad, which we rode twice. Thunder Mountain seemed to be our son's favorite ride, as each time we got off the ride, he wanted to go again. But after the second time through, the line had grown to over thirty minutes.

Then we began touring the park back to where we started. We began in Adventureland, riding Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise.

Then we moved to Liberty Square where we had lunch at Columbia Harbor House. The New England themed quick service restaurant features fish and chicken. My wife had fish and chips, I had shrimp and our son had chicken. The restaurant had always been one of our favorite; however it was not that good this time. Not sure if they changed their food or just because it was really busy at the time, it was not as good. Lunch was also site of our son losing his second tooth.

After lunch was over, we went over to Hall of Presidents. We watched the presentation on the history of the United States which was recently revamped to add the audio animatronics of President Obama. We then browsed the gift shops and continued our tour back to Fantasyland.

By the time we circled back to Fantasyland, the park crowd continued to grow and so did the lines here in Fantasyland. We started with Mickey's PhilharMagic. The 4-D show features all the characters in a musical performance. It was fun to watch our son try and reach out to grab the items that appeared to be floating in front of his face. Next up was Peter Pan's Flight and then the cruise on It's a Small World.

By then the lines were getting longer and we were running short on time since we had an early dinner reservation, we headed to ride the People Mover in Tomorrowland. The monorail type ride rarely has a line and it is a nice relaxing ride through the Tomorrowland attractions.

We ran out of time and were not able to finish the rest of the attractions we had hoped to. It was time to make our way to the park exit and hop on the boat to Fort Wilderness for dinner. We accomplished most of what we planned to do at the park; however there was still more we would have liked to do had we had more time. We could not ride Splash Mountain due to refurbishment, Enchanted Tiki Room due to a recent fire and Snow White due to a break-down. We missed the Railroad, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh and Barnstormer due to time constraints.

We boarded the boat from the resort launch at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom and took the leisurely journey to Fort Wilderness. On the way over there, we got a view of our hotel from Bay Lake. Once we arrived at Fort Wilderness, we headed straight to dinner.

The Trails End is a buffet style restaurant located in Pioneer Hall. The buffet contains a carved meat, salmon, pizza, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, rice, pasta, salad bar and much more. After the main course, there is a dessert bar with cookies, brownies, ice cream and more sugary sweets. This was our second time eating here and we will definitely come again in the future. It is great food at a decent price.

It was time to head back to our hotel after dinner. We hopped back aboard the boat which took us back to the Wilderness Lodge after a brief stop at the Contemporary Resort.

When we arrived back at the Wilderness Lodge, we headed back up to our room and made it back in time to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks show from our balcony. We were close enough to hear the music and see most of the aerial show right from the comforts of our room. Since it was winter and the trees were rather bare, we were able to see 90% of the show, including the smaller fireworks near Cinderella’s Castle. However during the summer I would be willing to bet the view is rather obstructed, but still visible.

After the show was over, it was time to hit the bed for some much needed rest as we prepared for another big day tomorrow.

Check back later for a review of day two of the trip. Meanwhile, enjoy the slideshow of photos from today’s adventure in the Magic Kingdom.