YES, touring Cinderella’s Dream Suite was Amazing!+14 Other Magical Days* Dismeet & Wrap

[DisneyKid4Life]

Are you telling me with all your trips you haven't invested in self packing bags yet?

Gahhhh I would so love to wake up, look outside, and see a giraffe. Just wonderful!! So I guess now you'll wake up, look outside, and see a yacht?

Wow I just learned something new. I didn't know there was a trainee bus! I guess it makes sense, I just never knew. Does the bus look any different?

I've only ridden Sum once and I just didn't find it thrilling. But then again, simulators don't generally do it for me anyway. I much prefer the real deal. However, I did enjoy the little video screens to watch the other rider. We definitely had fun with those. They should really sell those videos!!

 

[maddiebee]

Man, it must of been so hard to leave AKL! What a gorgeous gorgeous place! Do the animals make much noise?

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Love the photos from your balcony. We bought into the AKL several years ago and have had many great stays there. I love taking my coffee out there in the morning and just relax and enjoy the great view.

 

[Kathy Z]

Oh, I can never get enough of seeing all those animals at AKL. They were what drove me back there for a second stay at AKL before venturing on to discover other WDW accommodations.

Here's a taste of what you'll be missing if you don't make it over to AKL to see their Christmas decorations. I found them to be a close second to WL and GF.

 

[katt789]

Sigh...AKL is so beautiful!! I'm so sad I never got in that pool! Ah well, one of these days I'll do another stay there!

Boma looks great! We loved dinner there, breakfast could be fun too!! I'm excited to see all the yacht club pics!!

Man, I wish I had known that Bell services would transfer your luggage from one resort to another, would've made last Sept a heck of a lot easier, lol! Oh well

Excited to read more!

 

[disneycruiser22]

LOVE your TR!! so detailed and interesting. Looks like you had a great time

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Ahhhh, seeing your pictures out of your balcony at AKL is getting me in the right frame of mind for our family outing in January! I can't wait!

So even after an attempt to try a lot of new things during this past trip, I still haven't tried Sum of All Thrills. I really think I need to put that on my list of things to do.

 

[emmysmommy]

congrats on thread of the month I love reading your threads. And the dinning ones too! Great pics of the AKL

Thanks Trish! Love to eat and love those animals so they're bound to be part of my reports!!

Headed to yacht club eh? I'll miss all those beautiful animal and AKL pictures! Oh wait... 3 more days and I'll have the live view! In that case I'm looking forward to yacht club very much.
I love breakfast at Boma!
Adorable pic of you guys at the Epcot entrance.
DH loves the Sum of all Thrills. I have never tried it because gwarsh those pods are tiny! Just seeing you sitting in an open one makes my claustrophobia flare up!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Say hi to those savanna critters THREE DAYS from now!!

Sum of all Thrills definitely isn't for everyone. Dark small spaces and all.

I wish you and Johnny all the best for your trip Wendy!

Time for another resort switch huh? You're an expert at it I'm sure!

I tried Sum of All Thrills in May. It was cool but not something I feel the need to do again. I guess I just prefer the real thing!!

You bet! We have this down.

I do prefer the real thing but I appreciate the a/c and the shorter lines as an alternative.

Such a bummer about having to leave AKL... But I am sure that YC is just as nice!

I had to sneak over and read your dining review of Boma breakfast. We have eaten there for dinner and enjoyed it - but never breakfast. I have heard great things about it. We almost always do Tusker House breakfast twice during our trips - and I have heard that their offerings are similar... If that's the case, not sure I could do 3 of the "same" breakfasts in one trip? Anyways - thanks for the tons of great food pictures - and making me so hungry this early in the morning. LOL

I don't think I could do sum of all thrills - incredibly claustrophobic here... But I am glad you had a great time!

Looking forward to hearing about your YC experience and seeing that room - so far you've made me have an extreme desire to stay at WL and AKL... LOL

Thanks for the great update Brenda!

D~

I have too many favorite resorts that I just keep splitting stays. At least this trip it was 3 nites at AKL since our first trip was far too short with 1 nite! It truly is such a lovely resort.

I saw on your PTR that TH is a non-negotiable breakfast before park open. Now that I've experienced it, I agree with you. I love pre-park open ADRs!

Yeah, SoaT isn't for those that wouldn't want to be tossed around in a small enclosed place.

Ha ha! Hang on the YC room is coming up.

I know you have an extreme following on the Trip Reports boards D~ but I have to make honorable mention of your PTR due to your fabulous bag creations. Anyone wanting to be amazed at your creativity, please see here.

Wow, I am so behind on everyone's threads. Congrats on being Thread of the Month!

Love the AKL pictures. I love that place. Did you see there was a baby zebra born there the other day? So cute!

Hi Sarah! No worries, it's hard to juggle a class of 1st graders, planning your next Disney trip, and keeping up here!!

I didn't know about the baby zebra. My FB AKL cast member buddy posted a bunch of photos that I didn't really see so perhaps that birth announcement was buried in there. Thanks for sharing!

Are you telling me with all your trips you haven't invested in self packing bags yet?

Gahhhh I would so love to wake up, look outside, and see a giraffe. Just wonderful!! So I guess now you'll wake up, look outside, and see a yacht?

Wow I just learned something new. I didn't know there was a trainee bus! I guess it makes sense, I just never knew. Does the bus look any different?

I've only ridden Sum once and I just didn't find it thrilling. But then again, simulators don't generally do it for me anyway. I much prefer the real deal. However, I did enjoy the little video screens to watch the other rider. We definitely had fun with those. They should really sell those videos!!

Rob - I'm too much of a control freak to delegate packing to anyone! Truly!

I know, those giraffe's were pretty cool. If we don't see a yacht outside our window we'll at least see a Friendship boat or two.

Same bus just a "trained" driver standing behind the trainee and supervising. No "student driver" sign on the bus or anything. I suppose it is hard to learn how to use the brakes on those buses. I shouldn't criticize until I've tried it myself.

I must be easy to entertain since I don't mind the simulator. Would I rather be on a real coaster - heck ya!

Man, it must of been so hard to leave AKL! What a gorgeous gorgeous place! Do the animals make much noise?

It was so lovely there!

You ask a really good question.... the birds made noise sometimes - I don't recall their names. Otherwise, no, the animals didn't make any noise that I heard.

Love the photos from your balcony. We bought into the AKL several years ago and have had many great stays there. I love taking my coffee out there in the morning and just relax and enjoy the great view.

Thank you Ron. What a great resort to own DVC! I think most free time in the room was spent on the balcony. How can you resist that view?

Oh, I can never get enough of seeing all those animals at AKL. They were what drove me back there for a second stay at AKL before venturing on to discover other WDW accommodations.

Here's a taste of what you'll be missing if you don't make it over to AKL to see their Christmas decorations. I found them to be a close second to WL and GF.

Thank you so much for sharing those photos Kathy! That's a huge tree. I love the animal inspired ornaments. I'm trying to see if we can swing a meal at AKL so we can see the decorations.

Sigh...AKL is so beautiful!! I'm so sad I never got in that pool! Ah well, one of these days I'll do another stay there!

Boma looks great! We loved dinner there, breakfast could be fun too!! I'm excited to see all the yacht club pics!!

Man, I wish I had known that Bell services would transfer your luggage from one resort to another, would've made last Sept a heck of a lot easier, lol! Oh well

Excited to read more!

Hi Katt! I'm with you. Two trips and zero pool time. I'll have to return for sure!

And I want to try dinner at Boma. Breakfast is wonderful.

We use luggage transfer every trip now. Our first trip we took a taxi and took our own bags.

LOVE your TR!! so detailed and interesting. Looks like you had a great time

Hi disneycruiser. Thank you and welcome! I'm so glad that you are reading along.

Ahhhh, seeing your pictures out of your balcony at AKL is getting me in the right frame of mind for our family outing in January! I can't wait!

So even after an attempt to try a lot of new things during this past trip, I still haven't tried Sum of All Thrills. I really think I need to put that on my list of things to do.

Ahhh you will love that view Dave. And the kids will enjoy the kid activities if you opt for that. One thing we didn't do that I really regret is the night vision goggle experience.

If you love math and engineering you will like this! Plus your design is given a "score" for how well you designed it benchmarked against the perfectly engineered design. Not sure if that makes sense but the more competitive people may gravitate to this attraction in the hopes of getting a perfect design at some point. The nerd in me likes that!

 

[courtneybelle]

Hi Brenda! Great pics in this one, the AKL pool is beautiful!

I have the conflict of loving Sum of All Thrills, but not loving small enclosed spaces. I usually just suck it up and enjoy it, but seeing the hood close in on you is not the fun part. I do love naming the coaster, though!

 

[khaleesi]

Yay for Christmas photos and SUPER YAY for your pretty gold badge!!

Thank you for posting the 'Sum of All Thrills' pics... it's on My List of Things to Do and I was having trouble picturing what it actually looked like.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Great shots of the animals! Loved sitting out on our balcony in the early morning watching them wander around! It really is a priceless view!

Love resort-changing-day! We've only done it twice, but I loved the anticipation of staying at a new resort!

 

[IheartDDuck]

6am alarm? That's some oops. At that point I'd be like "OOPS!" while throwing the alarm across the room.

I'm going out on a limb here and saying that we could call the trainee driver zone the "lookout so this newbie doesn't hit things" zone.

 

[peachmermaid]

Oh man, I need to visit AKL. It looks so gorgeous.

Some bus drivers can be a bit scary, even after training, most are good though. Cute shots in the sum of all thrills. You guys put Vanna to shame.

 

[scottny]

We will definitely meet. I can travel anywhere with an annual pass. LOL.
Glad I am not the only one with problems for mb’s and fp+.
Disneyland looks nice decorated. How lucky for you to see both parks decorated.
The Mara is a good place to eat. I love sitting outside and eating. Next time I am sure you will.
I feel like I would be claustrophobic in Sum of All Fears but would love to try it one day.

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi Brenda! Great pics in this one, the AKL pool is beautiful!

I have the conflict of loving Sum of All Thrills, but not loving small enclosed spaces. I usually just suck it up and enjoy it, but seeing the hood close in on you is not the fun part. I do love naming the coaster, though!

Thanks Courtney. I wish I had a photo of the slide at the pool. It looked fun.

The first time we went on SoAT I had to ask a few questions of the CM before I was comfortable - mainly, how long was the ride. I wanted to know how long it was in case hysteria set in from claustrophobia! The answer - 90 seconds. Ok, I could hold it together that long. It wasn't bad though so all was well.

Yay for Christmas photos and SUPER YAY for your pretty gold badge!!

Thank you for posting the 'Sum of All Thrills' pics... it's on My List of Things to Do and I was having trouble picturing what it actually looked like.

Thanks khaleesi! I usually have an opportunity to take the photos since I leave the design to Em. It's basically an interactive display that gives you pointers on building your roller coaster. Test Track appears to have used a similar concept/technology. Glad this helped give a visual.

Great shots of the animals! Loved sitting out on our balcony in the early morning watching them wander around! It really is a priceless view!

Love resort-changing-day! We've only done it twice, but I loved the anticipation of staying at a new resort!

Thanks Jacquie! Relaxation on a balcony is great but throw in a few animals and even better!

We like the resort change as well... kinda like a new vacation within a vacation.

6am alarm? That's some oops. At that point I'd be like "OOPS!" while throwing the alarm across the room.

I'm going out on a limb here and saying that we could call the trainee driver zone the "lookout so this newbie doesn't hit things" zone.

Yeah.... good thing I'm so pleasant and easy going and things like that don't bother me at all.

Exactly! They put that bus stop in the south 40 so we didn't hit anything.

Oh man, I need to visit AKL. It looks so gorgeous.

Some bus drivers can be a bit scary, even after training, most are good though. Cute shots in the sum of all thrills. You guys put Vanna to shame.

Have you not been to AKL Jennifer? If not, run there next trip! You'll be awed and amazed by the beautiful décor and the animals.

We've had a few drivers that were heavy on the brakes. An especially difficult thing if you are standing on the bus.

Thanks!!

We will definitely meet. I can travel anywhere with an annual pass. LOL.
Glad I am not the only one with problems for mb’s and fp+.
Disneyland looks nice decorated. How lucky for you to see both parks decorated.
The Mara is a good place to eat. I love sitting outside and eating. Next time I am sure you will.
I feel like I would be claustrophobic in Sum of All Fears but would love to try it one day.

I've got your digits Scott so we'll make it work.

Argh! I got one set of MBs, still awaiting the other but now I can't get FP+ for the first full day of our trip since it says that I already have maxed out my FP selections... how is zero maxed out? More calls to tech support are in my future.

I noticed the patio dining at the Mara and I wouldn't mind doing that any time other than the middle of summer. It definitely looks like a great place. Plus a nice selection of South African wines... hmmm maybe I need some of that too.

I usually have a moment where I'm a little unsure once they pull the hood down for SoaT but when the ride starts I forget the enclosed space and it's fun. They do have an emergency stop and they monitor you while the ride is going so if there are any panic moments they will stop the ride. Not that that helps.

 

[emmysmommy]

Tues. August 20, 2013: Day 5, Part 2 ​

Once we finished our faux thrill ride we moved on to Test Track to see about getting fast passes. They were not giving out any for the day; however, a nice man gave me two that were good right then. Thank you Mister!

The list of things that I like about this ride is far shorter than the things that annoy me. On the not so great side of the list is the queue. I'm not a fan. But you just designed a roller coaster you are saying so what's up with not liking this one? That's just it, we designed our own roller coaster, this "design" for our concept car didn't take us through the track. Perhaps I'm just stubborn and loyal to the older theming concept which made more sense to me. I prefer the first Darren in Bewitched if that tells you anything!

Once we were inside the design studio we realized that we were the only ones that were not given an RFID design card. Uhhh what to do?? Quick, let's see if these Magic Bands are good for anything? I place my MB on the start icon and viola! Hey, these things are magic!! It engaged the design sequence and we were given our minute and a half or whatever the time was to design our car. I left the task to Em but since we didnt have a card to load the design to I'm not sure the objective. Obviously I didn't pay too much attention.

You mean the card that we weren't given?

Moving on to the next queue to actually get in our ride vehicle, the lines from the design studio were overwhelming the line to get into the ride loading area. There was a little confusion to find the end of the line since it was a mass of people but everyone seemed to politely allow other guests in front of them so it worked out ok.

Heres some ride photos:

And yes, going 50+ mph is pretty cool.

While we were in line and it was taking longer and longer to get on the actual ride I had been texting Kathy (KatMark) since they were finished with their lunch and able to meet up with us briefly before our lunch reservation in Mexico.

We booked it to Mexico where we were meeting Kathy and Mark by San Angel Inn restaurant. I have to hand it to them to trek all the way from their lunch in France to Mexico in this heat. Maybe they really wanted to try on sombreros and we just happened to be where those hats were located.

We were able to chat briefly and of course foist our camera off on Mark to take our photo. Comparing notes we found out that we were dining at the same restaurant within 30 minutes of each other tonight. You know what that means... We're not done running into each other. We said our goodbyes and were checked in for lunch.

We were seated at table for 2 right on the water. It was the perfect spot with a great view of the faux volcano and pyramid.

Photo of us: Uhhh the flash didnt go off.

You will have to trust me on this one, we were in the photo. If we had timed this better you would have seen Kathy and Mark sailing by in the background since they took a ride on the Gran Fiesta Tour. Good thing we were seated by the water since we could wave back.

There's a flash!

To read my Dining Review for SAI, please proceed here.

Sunlight!

What to do next? We decided to leave Epcot so we could check into YC. But not so fast since we had all of WS to circumnavigate to get to the International Gateway. We stopped at the American Pavilion and caught the end of the Voices of Liberty performance - specifically, their rendition of the National Anthem. Then we headed upstairs for the American Adventure show. No matter how many times I see this I still shed a tear or two.

Inside theater:

Continued Next Post

​

 

[spiritsim]

Ok am I mistaken or did you say you are not a DVC member? Do you rent points from some one in particular that you trust or what?? Really curious about staying at the villas

 

[emmysmommy]

Ok am I mistaken or did you say you are not a DVC member? Do you rent points from some one in particular that you trust or what?? Really curious about staying at the villas

Hi Trish! No, you're not mistaken, we don't own DVC. We use the discounts and usually travel during the non-peak times of the year. The obvious savings with renting points isn't lost on me. Gee, just think of additional trips we would take if it was cheaper!

 

[spiritsim]

do you recommend any particular site to rent dvc points at I know you seem to stay in the villas a lot.....curious if this would save us money compared to getting 2 rooms at CSR BC

 

[emmysmommy]

do you recommend any particular site to rent dvc points at I know you seem to stay in the villas a lot.....curious if this would save us money compared to getting 2 rooms at CSR BC

You may want to try reading the DVC page here since there is a wealth of information. Dave's DVC is the predominant site for which I'm familiar with renting DVC points. There's also a lot of DVC owners that subscribe to this thread and they may offer more information on that topic.