2016 August Trip Report - 30th Anniversary

[jans2kids]

Day 1 Travel Day / Horseback Riding / Archery / Disney Springs
Our travel party this time only consists of DW Janice and myself. We did a family trip back in May but I put together a quickie 5 day trip to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. We did not honeymoon in WDW but if we had known then about WDW what we know now we probably would have. Since we were just here in May and did all 4 parks plus US & IOA, this trip was going to be relaxing, no parks, just things we normally wouldn't do. Well we almost kept to the plan, in the end we decided one day at AK since it was open until 11pm & we heard the current nighttime shows and entertainment were going to go away come September and wanted to experience them.
The day started with a 3:45am wakeup call as our flight was to depart at 6:45. We were flying SW & wanted to get there a little early since in May check in & security at 4:15 was already backed up. Of course this time nobody was there and we checked in & was through security in under 10 minutes. The flight was full but uneventful & went according to schedule.
We decided to stop in the food court for a quick breakfast and then headed down to Magical Express, a quick scan of the Magic Bands & we were on the bus. We saw other people who were on our flight so the 30 minutes to stop & eat saved us from sitting on the bus waiting for 30 minutes. This trip we were staying at Art of Animation (never stayed here before) & we were the first stop of the 3 hotels ME was dropping off at.
There was nobody checking in the very bright lobby so we were taken care of right away. We were told our room in the Little Mermaid section was not ready yet (we were hoping for an upgrade, but that's ok) & that they would text us the room number when it was assigned. We went into the food court to purchase a refillable mug (since we would be visiting many hotels & figured it would come in use) & reorganize our carryon's to leave at bell services when we get the text that the room is ready, wasn't even 10 minutes since we checked in. No complaints & off we headed to find our room, Little Mermaid, building 9 first floor with a nice view of the lake.
As you will read over the next few days, we spent a lot of time using all types of Disney transportation, & it may sound like a lot of wasted time, but just taking that time to relax & see some sights you may not have never seen whether it be on a bus, boat, monorail or even a golf cart.
We had 2 activities scheduled this afternoon & both were at Fort Wilderness. I figured we had left more than enough time to get to FW to check in for the 1PM Horseback Trail Ride ($46/person) so we took the bus to MK & then the boat to WL to see the geyser & take the walking path over to FW. With the construction at WL the path along the lake is no longer there so we had to take the boat to FW via the Contemporary. Once there we were not sure if we were in walking distance to the stables & figured we had to get the internal bus there. It came within 5 minutes but then we sat for a while & once on the way stopped at every stop possible before arriving at the settlement depot at 12:58PM. As we ran towards the check in area the Disney employees told us to relax, everything was good and they were not going to leave without us.
We checked & were assigned our horses Bonanza & Blaze. Our group consisted of 4 riders and 2 trail hands & lasted about 45 minutes through the woods of FW. It's a very relaxing slow paced ride, good for novices (only my second time on a horse). You may be holding the reins but the horses pretty much know where they are going and just follow the horse in front of them. Most of the trail is shaded so even though the temp was 95 it did not feel to bad. We did see a few deer along the way. My only problem was near the end when they had the horses stop for a potty break (yes they all knew it was time to go at this spot) my horse tried to bite my foot.
Unfortunately they don't allow you to take pictures when your riding so unless you have someone that is a not riding you won't have any pictures of your adventure. Our next adventure was to do the FW Archery Experience ($45) which takes place at the Bike Barn next to the main pool, it was only a 5 minute ride on the yellow bus.
Archery is only offered once a day from 2:45 to 4:15 & they only take 10 participants. Our instructor Forrest was vey serious at first as you are dealing with a dangerous weapon and there were 4 children in the group, but as things progressed he became more friendly. Your using a compound bow based on your size & they teach you rules of the range, how to shoot, & retrieve your arrows. You start at a close distance, shoot & retrieve your 4 arrows five times before you move back, do it another 5 times & then move further back and do it 5 more times. Just a note if your thinking about doing this with kids, it does last 90 minutes and 3 of the 4 kids in our group lost interest after 30 minutes.
By this time we were getting hungry as we never ate lunch, so we took the internal bus to the main bus, & hopped on the bus to Disney Springs to try out the new Blaze Fast-Fire'd Pizza. Finally after 2 years of road construction it was great to see it finished and now that they have a bus only lane in and out makes it so much better and its the first time we arrived at the new bus stops, what an improvement.
We arrived around 5:30 & only had to wait for 1 other party to order. Think of it as Subway for Pizza, you choose your crust, sauce, cheese and then as all the toppings you want for $10 and they are served in less than 5 minutes. We sat down & by the time we filled our drinks the pizza was there. Before we had a chance to start eating a manager walked by and looked and saw that there was maybe a 2 inch area of the crust that had broken off and she told us she was going to have a new pizza made for us, so just as we had finished eating the first one she brought another one and also gave us a coupon for a free pizza that is good till next year. Besides the normal fountain drinks they have a few different selections. Be sure to try the blood orange lemonade and the Blue Sky Black Cherry or Root Beer soda.
We spent the remainder of the evening browsing the shops but especially wanted to see the new Coca Cola Store, 2 floors of Coke items and the third floor was a patio area you could order many different flavors of coke. Sort of like Club Cool but not free. The other new store that was impressive was the UNIQLO, mainly a clothing store but the prices were very reasonable. If your looking for Disney themed T-Shirts stop in here, there are many different ones that you don't see in the Disney stores and most priced around $15.
We finished the night off with a stop at Sprinkles for dessert. They sell cupcakes & ice cream, but we were not impressed with them. The prices were a little on the high side and the servings sizes were small.
We were getting tired so we headed back to AoA, unpacked and then headed down to the Flippin Fins pool for a quick swim. Tomorrow we head back to FW to take the Back Trail Segway adventure.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

Great start to your trip! We love archery too! And I agree, getting anywhere at Fort Wilderness takes twice as long as you think it will.

[faline]

Very nice, relaxed day!!

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

sounds fun

[JanetMegan]

Wow what a neat (but long day!) I didn't know about the archery thing, I need to add that to our to-do list!