Jerren's Big Adventure (lots of pics)

[Jerren]

Ok I know it's been a week since I have gotten back from WDW but it's taking a while to sort though all the thousands of photos and hours of video we shot hopefully it'll prove worth the wait.

My Wife and I wanted to combine our anniversary (Bless her the poor woman has put up with me for over 11 years now...) and our daughter's 9th Birthday and go back to WDW. With all the school holidays and all we figured we could do a nice 9 day trip and only have our daughter miss 3 days of school. We love the food and wine festival at Epcot and all as well as MNSSHP so we where leaning twards it even though we where not sure we could do it.... Then the Adventure's club closing announcement came and well we just had to do it!

DAY1: Travel to WDW, MK and Adventure's club second to last night.

Well we hopped one of the first flights out of BWI that first Day on southwest, the scheduled 2-1/4 hour flight took just under 2 hours gate to gate so you can't complain there. We made our way down to the Magical Express desk since we figured we'd give it another try since all the kinks are supposed to be out of the service now. We where sorted and on the bus in about 20 minutes start to finish, but then had to wait another 15-20 minutes on the bus until it was full, I dunno if that's only due to it being early in the morning but based on past experience we could of had our luggage and been in a town car or rental car by the time we actually started moving. Also I'm not sure if it's all the buses or just the one we where on but there where those auto pine tree air fresheners all over the place, literally every row on either side of the isle... Kinda makes you wonder...

Well about an hour and a half later we arrived at the Wilderness Lodge, we had to stop at all the other Hotels in the MK area before we got to ours. We where kinda anxious and annoyed by this point since we would be arriving right at checkout time which was exactly what we wanted to avoid by taking an early flight out, plus it takes twice as long as driving or hiring a car and no grocery stop... (At least they didn't loose our bags this time around) Magical Express works and is free, but you get what you paid for.

We where able to check in and while our assigned room was not ready we asked nicely and where upgraded (for free) to a nice courtyard room overlooking Silvercreek Falls (4127) Which has a great view of the pool area and bay lake.

After changing into shorts and cooling off for a bit in the room we headed over to the Magic Kingdom for a bit. Along the way we noticed some of Donald's friends where playing with the kids in the pool...

Also a cute bunny alongside the sidewalk, that's one of the things I love about the WL is the wildlife, we often see Deer, rabbits, Great Blue herons etc right on the resort grounds in the morning, but at noontime it was a bit of a surprise.



Off to the boat...



We were getting excited as soon as we saw the castle and railroad station from the boat...



I love taking the boats, it builds the excitement more than by any other mode of transport to the MK... And this year they changed the transport to the WL so that you now have a dedicated boat from the lodge and don't share with the Campgrounds, seems to be much less waiting around on the docs this way so I like it.

The usual advertisements for the Haloween party where up.



After we cleared security and entered though the turnstiles we saw the following sign...



Glad we didn't plan to stay here tonight but I would be pretty upset if I didn't have a park hopper and came in and saw that not only is the park closing early for the party there was no fireworks or parade... You would think this would be posted outside of the turnstiles... So you folks going down for the Gumball rally be forewarned!

Ahh Mainstreet USA, all decked out for Halloween...



We browsed a little in the Emporium and decided to head over to Pecos Bills for Lunch... Along the way we saw these guys playing outside of Bear hall.



Good music, but we where starving so we wandered down the street a bit to Pecos bills.



A couple double cheeseburgers later and we where good to go, on to Splash Mountain... only a 10 Min wait! wow that's odd...



We decided not to risk BTM so soon after lunch and headed over to Adventureland to ride Pirates... Only to notice hey where is everyone?



Practically a ghost town, maybe it's because the fry wagon is being removed ... well dismissing that we headed over to Adventureland.



A few people mulling about but not at all as crowded as normal... Then we got to pirates and the real shock hit us!



Wow, 0 mins for Pirates!?! we rode it twice to be sure but yup you can walk right on... After pinching ourselves we realized the time and headed back to the room to change for dinner...



Next post... Day 1 - Ragalin Road and The Adventure's club!

[mikeland]

Yey ... another TR! Can't wait for more. Thanks for sharing!

[Jerren]

Day 1 - Evening at Pleasure Island, Raglan Road and the Adventures club second to last night.

Ok we had dinner reservations at 6pm at Raglan road, so we hopped the bus over to Pleasure Island.



I have to say the TREX signage from the parking lot is not as bad as I thought it would be, last time we where downtown it was just the usual bland walls blocking the construction but as the get closer to finished it seems to blend in rather well...



We walked up to the front podium and where seated almost immediately, now for those who have not been to RR before it's basically an Irish Pub and restaurant but the food is some of the best you'll find around downtown Disney IMHO. One word of warning, if you love your Guinness you'll love it here with the 6 bars inside but plan ahead they pour it properly and it will take at least 6 minutes to do it properly before they will serve it to you!

We shared the Dakley duo (spicy small sausages fried in a puff pastry served with hot mustard sauce for dipping) which was fantastic as always. I kninda miss that it's only an appetizer now I thought it used to be a meal when they first opened.. My wife and I both had the Serious Sirloin Steak which was served in a whiskey sauce and was utterly fantastic!



My daughter had the fried shrimp which was done in the same beer batter dough they used for fish and chips. I tried it and it was amazing, as where the deserts! My daughter had the children's chocolate sundae concoction which was very rich.



My wife had a berry cobbler:



And I had this delightful concoction (sorry name escapes me) which consisted of a sponge cake with butterscotch liquor and a hard toffee candy layer (the best part IMHO shame I could not each much of it) and vanilla ice cream on top.



But by this time PhoneDave had called to let us know he was inside the AC so we decided to head on over before it got crowded....

We where still able to just walk right in at 7pm, although there was security and a queue area set up outside already as if they where expecting a large crowd (more on that part later). We headed in to see the club was pretty crowded even though the Balderdash cup was in progress...



But it wasn't too bad yet, they had removed the tables and chairs from most of the main hall to make room, we where able to see some old friends while we waited for the next show including Colonel Critchlow Suchbench...



And later on Babylonia who was reminiscing with one of the maids about past adventures...



Then a funny thing happened while we where waiting on Phonedave to navigate through the crowd, one Adventuress decided to save the club she would chain herself to the "God with the rod"...



Between that and the guy hitting on me with a feather duster he obtained as a souvenir it was a rather interesting time as we laughed and enjoyed all that was happening around us. Only problem was the mass of people in the room prevented Dave from getting over to us as we where on opposite sides of Zeus and well everyone wanted to see the girl with the hot pink eyelashes chained to his naked body... But hey who can blame them? It was entertaining and even got the Yak-moose's attention!



Then things went a bit south, when the doors opened for the Halloween Hoopla! (Hoopla!) the mass of people formed a crushing surge pushing us against the doors, several people pushed past us as I was trying to keep my daughter from getting crushed to death by all the bodies trying to muscle their way into the library. She screeched once and the CM at the door stopped everyone and started shouting at folks to settle down and we eventually made it in and saved a seat for PhoneDave.

Well they closed the doors right as he got up to them and I went to the usher to tell him Dave was out there, and pointed him out to and he was able to do his best Indiana Jones imitation (in his blue Hawaiian shirt no less told him he should have worn the orange one...) and he managed to slip in before the door closed right as the natives started eying him with murderous intent... (It wasn't that bad but to hear Dave tell it.... )

We enjoyed hoopla with Dave, it consisted of several "Halloween Songs" that where stolen by other holidays, including one sing along.



We taped the whole event which I will post as soon as it's up on YouTube.

Afterwords we made our escape upstairs to a quiet corner to keep Dave from being lynched by the mob downstairs...

We talked for a while mostly about how dead the parks seemed that day, work, a few of the more interesting sights at the AC that night, and interacted a bit with the cast and characters. We had a great time, then our Favorite Jr Adventurer friend all the way from Sanduski Ohio showed up and we had to take a photo of my wife and daughter with him!



We enjoyed a few drinks (a Nice CM kept bringing around the beer so we didn't have to go to the bar... Thanks for the drink Dave!) There was an appearance from Slappy!



No one really wanted to talk to him but everyone wanted to get close to the Colonel!



Then "geeky" graves announced a prize for the woman showing the most cleavage, followed by a couple women in the main salon going Mardy Gras on him, a result he was not prepared for as he stiffened and fell sideways to the floor.. Things where getting a bit crazy in the old club that night. Unfortunately after being up for 20 hours straight my daughter and wife where spent so we said our goodbyes to PhoneDave and made our way back to the WL only to be shocked by the crowd lined up outside!



Honestly folks none of us inside had any idea you all where out there! Someone shouted a sarcastic thanks for leaving so we can come in and we really felt bad that there was so many folks standing in line to get in. Take comfort in the fact that you had a better view with the TV monitor and less wait at the bar than most of the folks inside though!

We wandered though PI one last time enjoying the live band and light shows, this really was a fun place...

Next Post will be Day 2 - Full day at the Magic Kingdom


Note: No Phonedaves where harmed in the writing of this trip report.

[SummerInFL]

Woohoo! Can't wait to see the rest!

[Stitchy]

LOL!!!!! The god with the rod. HAHAHAHAHA

[Jerren]

Originally Posted by Stitchy

LOL!!!!! The god with the rod. HAHAHAHAHA

That's what they called him, funny that's also my old nickname from college...

[tasman]

Great report, thanks...

One suggestion...please consider compressing the photos before posting...it used up all my virtual memory and my computer gave me a warning

[aznshrek88]

hahha I don't think the pictures are big enough...but great TR HAHAAHA

[Jerren]

Originally Posted by tasman

Great report, thanks...

One suggestion...please consider compressing the photos before posting...it used up all my virtual memory and my computer gave me a warning

Sounds like a great excuse to buy a new PC!

Originally Posted by aznshrek88

hahha I don't think the pictures are big enough...but great TR HAHAAHA

Found a great free batch resizing tool which also adds custom watermarks and copies to a new directory with the same file name... All the pics are now much smaller and compressed for your enjoyment!

[Stitchy]

Originally Posted by Jerren

That's what they called him, funny that's also my old nickname from college...

it's nice to see that after 11 years of marriage, you still have that sense of humor. haha


Wheres the rest???????

[Coheteboy]

Awww, that's a great little report about Adventurer's Club. I'm so sad that it's gone.

[BigPigletFan]

Great photos so far Brad. Please keep them coming as I know you took a lot and don't say you didn't because according to your offspring "There he goes again..."

[Phonedave]

Then things went a bit south, when the doors opened for the Halloween Hoopla! (Hoopla!) the mass of people formed a crushing surge pushing us against the doors, several people pushed past us as I was trying to keep my daughter from getting crushed to death by all the bodies trying to muscle their way into the library. She screeched once and the CM at the door stopped everyone and started shouting at folks to settle down and we eventually made it in and saved a seat for PhoneDave.

Well they closed the doors right as he got up to them and I went to the usher to tell him Dave was out there, and pointed him out to and he was able to do his best Indiana Jones imitation (in his blue Hawaiian shirt no less told him he should have worn the orange one...) and he managed to slip in before the door closed right as the natives started eying him with murderous intent... (It wasn't that bad but to hear Dave tell it.... )

Now that the AC is gone, I have to pick my moments to remember

And what did not help is that the doors closed, then they opened and the usher yells my name and yells "we have a seat for you" and then lets me in. Oh dont get me wrong, I was loving it the whole time.

-dave

[aashee]

Very cool pictures. Nice job Jerren, I'll be following it along.

[Micoofy Duck]

Thanks for the trip report, it was a fun one