Just got back from a short trip to WDW for DGD’s 9th birthday. We initially planned our trip to be the 16th to 18th, staying at Wilderness Lodge (a first) and not planning anything too intense.
Then the SWGE AP previews were announced and I was able to get a slot for the 18th. So, we extended our trip by a day and decided to do a split stay at AKL (another first) for one night. My FP+ window opened and it was an utter fail. With such a short trip, I couldn’t get anything decent. So, then I started looking at the Ultimate VIP tours. And booked two of them (gulp). But, I was loving the idea of getting so much done with no lines and with the August heat, hoping it wouldn’t be too bad.
So, this is a short trip report that will focus primarily on the two tours for anyone looking to do them.
Who: Me, DH, and DGD9
When: August 16-19th
Where: Wilderness Lodge for 2 nights and Animal Kingdom Lodge for 1 night
Background: DGD9 flew into our main airport the night before. She lives in Nebraska, we are in Ohio. There are no direct flights so we spent a small fortune on her airfare and the extra cost for the unaccompanied minor program. I will say that Delta was amazing. She had a connection through Atlanta and a few flight delays and rebookings but they stayed with her the entire time. The attendant on her last leg found out she was going to WDW to celebrate her birthday and gave her $5! I thought that was the nicest thing. I have no kids (DGD9 is my DH’s from his prior marriage) so I was a little nervous about this trip. I will say, things went really really well but man, I am glad I never had kids 
Day 1
We had an early morning with a 4 am alarm to get to the airport for our 7 am flight. DGD9 woke up with very little trouble and she wanted to help with the luggage, so cute.
We landed right on time (9 am) and made it onto DME and off to Wilderness Lodge by 9:30!
We had planned on spending the late morning/early afternoon at the pool relaxing before we had to head to AK. I didn’t think our room would be ready so we had packed our suits in our carry on. This was my first epic fail - I forgot to put mine and DH’s suits in there. I was also wearing flip flops and forgot to pack my tennis shoes in the carryon. The tour we were doing later in the day required closed toe shoes. I was stressing. Would our luggage arrive in time for me to change? I started searching for options to take a lyft to go buy shoes somewhere, checking out what shoes they sold in the gift shop (none) and worrying. While beating myself up for making such a huge miscalculation. Luckily, the front desk was able to track our bags and saw that they had already been loaded and headed to WL. They said they should be there by 2 or 3.
So, we headed to the pool so DGD9 could swim even though DH and I had to just sit and watch. Fun pool. Great resort, I was so happy to be there.
This is the first trip we have taken in August and I was a little anxious about the hot weather. Thankfully, today was overcast and it didn’t feel too bad at all.
After a few hours in the pool (and a lovely drink), we walked around the pool area a little and then headed to Roaring Fork for some lunch. They had a PB&J cupcake. This was on my food list because I had one when we were at Epcot last year and loved it. It did not disappoint!
We checked at the front desk again and our bags were here! I was so relieved and changed into my tennis shoes. Now, every trip that I have done to WDW starts with MK as our first park. That was not the plan for today but, since our room still wasn’t ready, I promised DGD9 a Dole Whip if we headed there first just so I could say ‘Hi’ to the castle 
So, we headed to the boat launch to catch the boat over. We waited for a pretty long time and it started to rain. We needed to be to AK no later than 4 and it was already 1:45 but the boat pulled up and we were off.
This is one of my favorite pictures of DH and DGD9
I get so emotional seeing the Magic Kingdom and walking through the tunnel. This is my favorite park with all of the nostalgia and childhood memories it evokes. I also love seeing it decorated for Halloween (although mid-August is a tad early in my book)!
We placed our mobile order for Dole Whips and headed to Aloha Isle (with the obligatory stop for a castle pic!)
We were making great time and had Dole Whips in hand by 2:30
We did a quick ride on the flying carpets because there wasn’t much of a wait and then headed back to the front of the park to go to AK. We got stuck in the parade but it was nice to catch a glimpse of the end of it and walked with the crush of humanity to the exit.
We initially were going to hop the bus to AK but, we were getting really short on time so, Minnie Van it is ($45.96 for the 6.8 mile trip from MK to AK, ouch).
Despite the cost, the Minnie Vans really are great. I love the phone chargers to top off batteries and the conversation was good. We arrived at AK and had about 30 min to spend on the Discovery Island trails before meeting for the Ultimate Night of Adventure VIP tour.
Kevin totally photobombed this family’s photo and it was awesome!
It was pretty hot and humid, despite the cloudiness (as you can tell from my bright red face!)
We got a call that our meeting place for the tour had been moved to Pizzafari (originally it was at an outside location near the Tree of Life) so we got a chance to see the otters, grab some water and headed over to check-in.
Ultimate Night of Adventure VIP Tour
I was pretty bad about taking pictures during this tour mainly because it is really fast-paced. The tour started at 4:00 with check-in at this point you got to pick a drink and dessert that would be provided in addition to a “heavy snack” later in the tour. It was probably close to 4:30 or 4:45 by the time we got started. There were close to 20 people on the tour and 3 tour guides. We were each given a VIP tour laynard with a color-coded ID tag, there was really no significance of the colors other than splitting us into smaller groups for some of the rides. These pre-organized VIP tours do not get front of line access but do utilize the FP+ lane and generally speaking, most of the time, we had very little wait. Because we were such a big group, they would hold back the FP+ line and let us all go in together.
Not a great photo but our guides were Kyler, Holly and Bert.
Up first, we headed to the Safari. We got really lucky and saw a ton of animals, including the lions, the baby hippo, and baby giraffe! I’ll spare everyone all of the photos (I did take a lot on the Safari, as always) but here are a few of my favorites:
After the Safari, we headed to EE. We were supposed to do Dinosaur but it was down all evening. After EE, we headed to FOP. All but one person had ridden FOP before but this ride just doesn’t disappoint. Every time I ride, I see something new and listening to the constant giggles of DGD9 was even more special.
By this time, DGD9 had befriended a couple of the other girls in the group and they became fast friends. Holly, one of the guides, was just awesome with the three girls, they loved walking up front with her and honestly, DH and I didn’t really see a lot of DGD9 since she was sitting with her new friends on the ride. It was great seeing her have so much fun!
You would never guess these two just met on the tour! 
Next up was our snack - this turned out to be So.Much.Food!! We ate at Satulli and they had a little bit of everything for us to try. It was all amazing. We did have assigned seats here so we had to sit where our names were.
After we ate, it was time for Navi River Journey. It was a nice relaxing ride after our meal.
When we got off the ride, the guides asked if anyone wanted to ride FOP again and we got a second ride! This was such a great surprise. Both times we rode FOP, the stand by wait was 150 min. We enjoyed the second ride, this time we were on the upper row and I paid a lot more attention to the ride vehicle, which was kind of cool.
Dinosaur was still down so we got one more ride on EE! I sat this one out, the first ride did a number on me (I have neck issues) so one of the guides headed over to the ROL seating area with me and we just chatted. It was really great learning his background, all of the years he has spent with Disney and all of the other ‘Ultimate’ tours that are offered.
I simply love Asia at night with the lights and the colors of EE lit up.
When everyone was done with EE, we headed over to the reserved seating for ROL. It is in the same section as the dessert party (but we couldn’t eat the desserts), we had the first couple of rows on the stone benches. I happen to love ROL, I saw it for the first time on our trip in May but it was before the Lion King changes.
I have to say, I didn’t like this version as much. Way too much Disney movie focus when there are so many other things you could do without being hit over the head with IP.
At this point, our tour guides said good-bye and we were each given a commemorative pin (there is a different pin for each Ultimate Tour and this one has the Tree of Life on it).
It was late, we had been up since 4 am so we were exhausted. The lines for the busses were crazy and we opted for a Minnie Van. We waited about 30 min for it to come which was about 15 min longer than the app originally showed. We got back to the hotel around 10 pm. We had gotten a room ready text earlier in the evening and I was really hoping we got the room we requested so that we could see some of the new Halloween fireworks. But, we were on the other side of the hall with a pool view.
We had ordered a birthday cake for DGD9 and it was waiting for us in the room when we got back. She was really surprised!
It was late by the time we got showers, baths and into bed. We had another early morning the next day because we were doing the Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP Tour.
My overall impression of the Ultimate Night of Adventure - is it worth it? YES! I know it is expensive but if you are pressed for time and want to do the headliners, it is the way to go. It has also spoiled me for all future touring 
How could that be? He had left over an hour ago.
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