Sounds like an awesome trip, I'm looking forward to reading more
We are doing a big 'Graduation Vacation' for our eldest daughter in November (we are in Australia) and can't wait!!!
Short night.
I'm fine with that. Food
In my opinion, it is worth it to get to sit together. I mean, why sit next to a stranger when your sister is on the plane with you somewhere else, right?
That's probably going to work against that idea of getting a little bit of extra sleep.
Cool!!!
Don't you feel sorry for them? They're going the wrong way!
Yeah... and that's what matters. You're there. We've all seen the sign!
I'm coming around to it too. I mean, we did online check in and still got an upgrade.
That was before they started texting the room numbers though so I'm not sure how that would play out now.
Well, if that's all you forgot in a late night scramble, I don't think you did too bad.
What?!?!?!?
Yay!!!!
two hours of sleep will do that to you.
Paranoid much?
But you know... you know that if you only check 451 times that you'll forget them.
I wonder what he would've done if you hadn't gone out and waved him down?
Given up and driven away?
Waited somewhere and hoped?
On the way to Disney? Yes.
Coming back? Not so much.
Was it bigger than a bread basket?
Whoa! What was in that coffee???
Good name for a bakery. I like it.
Don't do it! If you split the window, the air will escape and you'll get sucked out!!!
Oh. Window seat.
Nevermind.
Nice! I've never done that in... umm.... four flights.
I do too, but I seldom get the chance.
I'm usually travelling with DW or one or more DDs, so they get the window seats.
How does that work, exactly, when I'm paying for it??
Who?
I assume that means they're on their way home...
Suckahs!
I wish. But being a foreigner, I have to wait until I get to the resort.
Oh, man! Why didn't you warn me ahead of time about the spoiler?
Now the whole TR is ruined.
Hah! I beat you with my zero minutes wait.
Stop! Stop!!!!
Did you not see the R2D2 carry on that boy has??????
Want.
I hear ya.
Try it without sound.
Nice.
I wonder if online check in serves any purpose for me?
Even if I had a phone that worked in the States (I don't), I'd still have to go to the desk to get my Magic Band.
Hey! That's where we were!
Oooh, Florida wildlife in it's natural habitat?
Wow! Nice!
Whoops! Bet she won't make that mistake again.
Joining in. What a wonderful graduation surprise! I look forward to reading along.
Following!
Sounds like a great arrival day so far!
Great view you got from your room! I love that AoA and Pop are so close. We have stayed at AoA and walked over to the Pop food court. The theming there is so cute.
I'm the type that loves to look out the plane window to see if I can spot stuff too! So cool you got to see DW from the air!!
I'm here and excited to read along. We actually overlapped some. I too was there for my graduation celebration from May 29-June 6. We also had 4 hotels if you count the Hampton inn on the way.
It's okay, it's only the airport so we'll forgive you.
Disney Departure Day Excitement! There's nothing like it!!!!!
Wow! I never have! How did you find it?!
I would too if I was headed where you were headed
It's so bad
Yay!!! I love that feeling!
You got a great view! Awesome!
I loved the video. You could tell that she was not liking the idea of the reveal's getting doled-out one-by-one! Hehehehe.
I'm sure it was tough waking up that early, but it paid off by getting to Disney with still a lot of the day left!
I don't think I could be cheery at that hour no matter how much sleep I'd gotten. I'd probably do better just to stay up until then.
Isn't it handy to just get the room number and go straight there? I really liked that too (well, when it worked ).
Awesome! One of the coveted standard/lake view rooms! Very nice!
I'm back from my vacation to WDW and tuned in!
Yes, well... it was a necessary evil.
We look pretty chipper, don't we?
As I mentioned to Andy, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep on the first flight but I wanted my darn neck pillow anyway!
Tell me about it!
Oh, just some random stranger I photographed on the mini-monorail...
It's really too bad that they don't ship outside the US - it was nice to have them in advance!
I don't think the sound made much of an improvement.
Yeah, I would imagine it doesn't have quite as many perks for those out of the U.S. Perhaps it creates shorter lines for you?
Wasn't it a great location?!
Just thirty minutes after boarding we had a view of this beautiful site:
I was never an online check-in person for prior trips, but I ended up doing early check-in for all three of our Disney resorts and I LOVED it.
Oh, okay. As long as it isn't necessarily a weevil.
you do!
Man, you're odd....
To paraphrase one of my favourite people, Tell me about it!
Good point.
Only if it's open. So far... nope.
It really was!
Joining in! What a great sister you are! I can't wait to see her open the next envelopes.
Woohoo!!!!! What a great start!!! I LOVE reading about arrivals... so much excitement in the air, your whole vacation ahead. And, seeing as how so many of us know of some of the surprises that awaited Anika, it's even more exciting!!! Can't wait to read all about it, Jenny And yes, I already knew what a great room location you had
I love reading about departure days. It's always so much fun to hear about people's travels and their excitement to get to WDW. Little things like reading about what people ate for breakfast at an airport or what they drank on a plane get me excited about upcoming trips. Love the detail!
What a lovely view from your room. Can't wait to see what you thought of our resort, AoA!!
More please More please!!!!!
How awesome!! I'm so excited about the ME...Have never ridden it before and I can't wait to let someone else do the driving!!
This just seems weird...being able to walk right to a hotel room without talking to someone at the desk first...hmmmm weird in an awesome way though...
Following! Loving it so far, we will be in AoA for our next trip in a couple of months!
I was so impressed with Art of Animation!
I was also really impressed with the food court
As in the bug? (Or is there some other reference I'm totally missing?!)
I'm impressed enough that we were smiling. Nothing but vacation excitement could do that!
You're just figuring that out now?!
I was SUPER excited about exploring the Art of Animation Resort!
There’s Anika in the pink shirt – as usual, walking far ahead of me as I take pictures!
it was like you were looking at the ocean (with all its swimming fish!):
There’s no way you can walk in the Finding Nemo area without saying hello to everyone’s favorite dude, Crush:
The splash pad with all of Nemo’s school friends looks like lots of fun for little ones:
Then there’s the pool itself – impressive!
The place was hopping! Or swimming, if you will.
Similar to the Pop food court (and probably the All-Stars as well?) the food court is divided into different stations depending on what you wanted to eat.
I used my magic band for my first food purchase of the vacation – that was pretty exciting! Not to mention, oh so easy!
We also had to get our first cupcake of the vacation:
we were already SO HOT.
They were running low when I got in line so I received fresh, hot potato chips – they make them AT THE FOOD COURT!
Not only was the food tasty, but the surrounding were pretty neat, too. I thought they did a great job creating Landscape of Flavors:
Of course, I had to take a picture of the multi-colored check-in area:
It was so fun to wander down the hall and look at all the drawings! They start out as black and white or color-free pictures near the front entrance of the lobby:
And as you walk further into the lobby, they have color!
I really loved this light fixture in a skylight near the entrance of the Ink and Paint Shop:
I was excited to see that they included the seagulls! Mine! Mine! MINE!
I just love those guys!
Does this make anyone else want to break into “Hakuna Matata”?
The elephant skeleton playground was fun – and it came with hyenas!
Next up was the Little Mermaid section. I love that included a dinglehopper!
Of course, I had to get a picture of Ariel with her favorite friend, Flounder:
There's Anika walking in front of the statue - you can see how HUGE it is!
The plants and other landscaping in the Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo sections look like they came from the bottom of the ocean. If you look back at the pictures of the Lion King, the plants are very different!
Nonetheless, I had no desire to deal with a grumpy person on the first day
Honestly, I was pretty impressed by the Generation Gap Bridge. If it wasn’t so hot, it would be a neat place to sit and enjoy a snack or beverage!
Up Next: Resort #2 Reveal and a DISmeet!
It really is a great pool and a beautiful area. They really nailed it on this one!The Big Blue Pool looked AWESOME (and busy!). The splash pad with all of Nemo’s school friends looks like lots of fun for little ones:
I had one. I agree 100% with your opinion of it.The biggest downside of the food was the cupcake, as it was a basic vanilla cupcake and honestly, a little boring. It was fine, but nothing special.
Does this make anyone else want to break into “Hakuna Matata”?
Look at Little Mermaid and then look at Cars... They really did an awesome job.What’s so impressive about each section of Art of Animation is their attention to detail, all the way down to the plant life:
NOOOOOOOO!!!!! You missed the best part!!!!Nonetheless, I had no desire to deal with a grumpy person on the first day, so back to the resort we went! I look forward to checking out the Cars section of the resort next time.
I remember in 2008 when we stayed at Pop, DW, my sisters and I all sat out there one evening for a couple of hours just having a few drinks and talking. It was one of those random, seemingly non-memorable things that I always look back on as a great memory.Honestly, I was pretty impressed by the Generation Gap Bridge. If it wasn’t so hot, it would be a neat place to sit and enjoy a snack or beverage!