1st Trip (of many!) as Mr. & Mrs.--the TR-- UPDATE 9/9: Life Update--We're Moving!!

Thanks for additional AKL pics!!! Reminding me again how much I love it there!!! We are going in two weeks. We are only staying at POP this trip as it's my 2nd trip this year ;) The trip is a surprise for DD's bday. My DH is NOT happy about POP. AKL totally turned him into a Deluxe snob :rotfl2:
 
I love your update!! I got so excited for you when I went there!! So glad you were able to rent DVC and stay there! :goodvibes It's so gorgeous! I love all your guy's hat pictures! Too cute! I wish I had giraffes outside my balcony! That's so awesome. I love them too! They're so gorgeous!

Mara was so good! Did you end up going back there a lot? I enjoyed it when I went! Did you ever try the zebra domes? I LOVED those!! (I guess I could try being patient and waiting for the rest of your tr! lol!)

Can't wait for more!!
 
You take amazing photos! I'm enjoying your trippie.
Oh, and just FYI, the 'rock' you thought was gorgeous in the gift shop is actually something my husband has always wanted to buy but I'm too nervous to take it home - they are actually painted ostrich eggs!!! Amazing, I know!
 


OH MY!! Your TR has definately done AKL justice :thumbsup2

The pictures are just beautiful. How special to have giraffes outside of your room!? The kids would love to stay there. I think we may have to re-think not staying there while they are young. How did you find the location? Too far from the parks? That was the only negative I had heard. Everything else looks fabulous.

Your pics of the hats cracked me up! Too funny!

Can't wait to see where the best CS is in Disney (especially since we got Quick Service Dining!) Is it Earl or WGP....hummm??

Yay! I'm glad you're liking the AKL photos--we loved it! :thumbsup2 Yes, I think they would like it! There are TONS of little kids' activities throughout the day and at night, too. I think you all would really like it.

We didn't think the location was too terrible. It took about 5 mins to get to AK, 10 for DHS, 13 for E, and 15 for MK. We rarely had to wait more than 5 mins for a bus too. The DTD trip was the longest--almost 30 mins! It also was a little longer for some because AKL is still picking up Kidani village people. I don't know if this will continue like this or not. For us, it wasn't a big deal. But there was one family that said it was too hard for them--they had a baby and 2 little ones. I guess it really depends on your preferences. I'll include the wait times and bus ride times in my report, so you can get a feel for it.

Haha--thanks. These aren't the only hat pics you'll find! :laughing:

Ooohh--good guesses! You'll have to wait and see! ;)


Wow! Gorgeous pictures! AKL looks amazing. I'll have to stay there sometime. Almost on this past trip but changed to BCV at last minute. Considering I liked WL more than BCV, I would have probably LOVED AKL. I hope I'm making sense with all these abbreviations. :rotfl:

I love the pictures of you guys in all the different hats!

Thanks! It was amazing. We loved it so much! Yeah, I hear if you like WL, you'll like AK. I'm anxious to hear your thoughts on BCV and WL! Haha--yes--you made perfect sense! :upsidedow


Did you know that there's a hidden Mickey on the other pillar? It's hard to find though, but once you do..it's hard to miss it!

We loved The Mara! B/F and I are definately going back there in March.

The Resort is seriously breathtaking. :cloud9:

Oh my goodness--I didn't know that! We'll have to look for it next time. We loved it too! Yall are going to have such a good trip! I know...we never quite got our chins off the ground! :lovestruc


Oh my goodness! I so wanna stay at AKL now! It's absolutely GORGEOUS! :love:

Mmm, your meals from the Mara look and sound delicious! I'll have to give it a try on our trip coming up!

So cool that yall got to meet Jason! He seems awesome!

You need to!!! It's incredible! :goodvibes Yes--then you can visit the AKL! And the food at the Mara is good too. Jason was very cool. We actually talked about him last night!


Okay Staci, I'm totally sold!! Yes Ma'am I am so going to have to look into purchasing at AKL...what gorgeous pictures!!! You and Michael must have had the best time every staying there!! The food at the Mara just looks amazing!!! I'm so sad that I forgot to get Zebra Domes, but no worries I am making up for that in January!!!!

Love the giraffe pictures!!!

Can't wait for more!!

Yay! I think you would LOVE it, Jen! :goodvibes And another good thing about purchasing AKL is that it's a longer contract (or whatever the correct term is). Have you looked at http://dvcbyresale.com/index.php? It seems like a great way to buy--you still get the normal benefits for a fraction of the price! If we're going to buy, we'll probably go this route. They have some great AKL ones right now. We had a FABULOUS time!! :goodvibes Haha--I tried Zebra Domes, but I liked some of the other desserts at Boma a lot better! Thanks--they're such gorgeous animals!
 
I absolutely LOVE giraffes! They are such gentle elegant creatures :love: Your pics are awesome - loved the hats ;)

I completely agree--elegant fits them perfectly! :goodvibes Thank you--we had fun with those!


Look at that dedication to the TR! Loving these updates! We explored outside the AKL although it was pretty cold in december, I really liked the giraffee drawings on the wall, kinda looks like cave drawings. And the lights! Ah, love the lights on the lower floor that are kind of metal looking, it's a box shape with moons and stars on it? Can't remember if it's by Jiko or Boma. And then the orange glass looking light by the elevator. It's just SO amazing how many details there are to look at! Dbf and I LOVE the Lion King.

And the food pics! Good start! I love the pictures too, although they make Dbf want to change his mind back and forth and I just end up ordering on my own trying to wait for his decision:rotfl:

I'll tell you what though, you had some awesome timing so far! Quick bus ride, quick check in, rooms ready and the luggage is waiting! I'll have to go back and see when you landed, although I think you two just had some awesome luck...hope it continues! :thumbsup2

Thanks! It's been fun writing it so far... :goodvibes Isn't it just so gorgeous?! We're big time detail people, and so we were just in awe of all of the details in AKL and all over Walt Disney World! But, yes--the details even in the lights are incredible! I remembered to take almost all of our food pics. Haha--I think the food pics helped us make better decisions! :upsidedow I know!! We had such great luck with timing! We were definitely experiencing some major pixie dust! ;)


I can't say enough how awesome your updates are with all the pictures! It really makes me want to either visit AKL again or stay there one day. It must have been amazing to look out the window and just see giraffes hanging out. Sigh. By the way, super cute outfit! Loving the jewelry too!:thumbsup2

You guys are too cute with you faces and the hats! Such the newlyweds!

Thanks so much! That means a lot :flower3: Oh my goodness--you have to at least visit. Next time you're at WDW, go to AKL when you visit AK! You won't be disappointed! It was sooo neat to see the animals! Oh, thanks! That dress is super comfy. :thumbsup2 Haha--thanks! Yeah, we're living this newlywed thing up! :laughing:


Thanks for additional AKL pics!!! Reminding me again how much I love it there!!! We are going in two weeks. We are only staying at POP this trip as it's my 2nd trip this year ;) The trip is a surprise for DD's bday. My DH is NOT happy about POP. AKL totally turned him into a Deluxe snob :rotfl2:

You're welcome! I love looking at them! Haha--I think it's turned us into Deluxe snobs too! :snooty: Wow--that's so great that this is your second trip this year...I'm sure you'll have SO much fun! :thumbsup2 And POP is really great--we stayed there in 06.


I love your update!! I got so excited for you when I went there!! So glad you were able to rent DVC and stay there! :goodvibes It's so gorgeous! I love all your guy's hat pictures! Too cute! I wish I had giraffes outside my balcony! That's so awesome. I love them too! They're so gorgeous!

Mara was so good! Did you end up going back there a lot? I enjoyed it when I went! Did you ever try the zebra domes? I LOVED those!! (I guess I could try being patient and waiting for the rest of your tr! lol!)

Can't wait for more!!

Thanks Kimmy! We were SO thankful that we were able to rent those points. Who would have thought?! :goodvibes Thanks--we're goofs! :rotfl: I wish we had them outside our room NOW! But then we wouldn't live in Oklahoma...so it probably wouldn't work out. But if they ever need someone to be a permanent resident of AKL, we're signing up! :thumbsup2 Haha--yeah, you'll have to wait and see about all those food questions! ;)


wow the resort is gorgeous!!! I can't wait to head over there and explore.

It is incredible!! You will love exploring--but be warned--you'll explore longer than you were planning on! ;)


You take amazing photos! I'm enjoying your trippie.
Oh, and just FYI, the 'rock' you thought was gorgeous in the gift shop is actually something my husband has always wanted to buy but I'm too nervous to take it home - they are actually painted ostrich eggs!!! Amazing, I know!

Thanks so much! I really like taking pictures :goodvibes Really?! That is incredible!!! We thought they looked like painted ostrich eggs, but we thought that would be impossible--they're so detailed! :eek: They are just GORGEOUS!! Maybe you could have it shipped home?
 
You're welcome! I love looking at them! Haha--I think it's turned us into Deluxe snobs too! :snooty: Wow--that's so great that this is your second trip this year...I'm sure you'll have SO much fun! :thumbsup2 And POP is really great--we stayed there in 06.


:rotfl: Happens to the best of us!!!

I've stayed at POP 4-5 times now and I actually do like the hotel. It's really fun for kids. After my DD got over the excitement of giraffes out the window on our first AKL stay (we didn't tell where we were staying until we got there), she'd tell you that she's just as soon stay at POP. Difference means nothing to her!
 


Giraffes are my FAVORITE animal!!! Whenever I see them, I take a million pictures of them. They are just so cool! I love all of your AKL pics. Amazing!!!
 
:rotfl: Happens to the best of us!!!

I've stayed at POP 4-5 times now and I actually do like the hotel. It's really fun for kids. After my DD got over the excitement of giraffes out the window on our first AKL stay (we didn't tell where we were staying until we got there), she'd tell you that she's just as soon stay at POP. Difference means nothing to her!

That's awesome that your DD doesn't mind where she's staying--as long as it's at DISNEY WORLD!! :thumbsup2 Now all you have to worry about is pleasing the grown-ups! :upsidedow We'll have no problem staying in a value, but I think we'll probably try to at least squeeze in a few days at a Deluxe from now on. We just loved it!



Giraffes are my FAVORITE animal!!! Whenever I see them, I take a million pictures of them. They are just so cool! I love all of your AKL pics. Amazing!!!

Aren't they just the greatest?! They're gorgeous! :goodvibes Thanks so much--it was so fun exploring!
 
Wow, I just caught up. Haven't been on the dis lately, so missed the change over to the actual TR! AKL is soooo nice, never thought it would be my choice, but your photos are great... and with that good of a deal it'd be hard to say no.

Can't wait to hear about the rest, making sure I subscribe to this one!
 
OMGGGG after seeing all your pics I can't wait to get to AKV in Jan!!

You will LOVE it! :thumbsup2


Wow, I just caught up. Haven't been on the dis lately, so missed the change over to the actual TR! AKL is soooo nice, never thought it would be my choice, but your photos are great... and with that good of a deal it'd be hard to say no.

Can't wait to hear about the rest, making sure I subscribe to this one!

Isn't it funny how different resorts are for different people? Just like wedding dresses... ;) Thanks--it was so fun taking pictures of such a gorgeous resort!! You should try it--even if it's just for a few nights of a split stay! And thanks for subbing!! :goodvibes
 
Hi Staci!
I just caught up and am loving your TR!! The resort is gorgeous! One of the main attractions to that area for me would be the animals! Those giraffe were so beautiful, I almost started crying ('course it could be the pregnancy hormones, ha!). Can't wait to read more!!
 
HA! I laughed out loud thinking about someone having those light fixtures in their house. You should definitely try and recreate them. A nice touch, I think. :)

Isn't it nice how our faith connects us in the most unlikely of places? I always find meetings like that to be a little pat on the back from God, reminding us he's there in our excitement, as well. Good stuff.

Cant wait to read more!
 
Hi Staci!
I just caught up and am loving your TR!! The resort is gorgeous! One of the main attractions to that area for me would be the animals! Those giraffe were so beautiful, I almost started crying ('course it could be the pregnancy hormones, ha!). Can't wait to read more!!

Hi Amanda! Thanks so much :goodvibes Oh my goodness--it was soooo neat to have animals outside. It didn't even feel like we were in the USA! Aw--I'm glad you almost cried. They're gorgeous. I'll post more right after this!



HA! I laughed out loud thinking about someone having those light fixtures in their house. You should definitely try and recreate them. A nice touch, I think. :)

Isn't it nice how our faith connects us in the most unlikely of places? I always find meetings like that to be a little pat on the back from God, reminding us he's there in our excitement, as well. Good stuff.

Cant wait to read more!

Wouldn't that be ridiculous?! :rotfl: I would like them though!! Yes--it was SO neat to experience that. :goodvibes I agree. And they make me smile really big. It's like I leave with my heart a little fuller. I'm posting more right after this!
 
When I last left you, we were heading downstairs to catch a bus to DownTown Disney.




When we got to the bus station (which isn’t a bad walk at all!), we waited 8 minutes before our DTD bus showed up. We pulled out of the AKL bus stop at 4:35, and headed to Kidani Village to pick up our AKV friends. (Note: If you want to get TO Kidani Village, you board the DTD bus, if they want to get TO Jambo house, they board any park bus.)



Yay! We’re on our first Disney Transportation Bus!! :woohoo:

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At 5:00, we pulled up to DTD, and in no time we were walking under this

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Our first stop was the Christmas scene outside Disney’s Days of Christmas. I thought about tinkgurl’s family since they always take pics there… I wish I had someone to take the picture for us, but there was no one around. I ended up having to put it on a rock or something.

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Next, we went inside and took a ton of time walking through the entire store and looking at all of the ornaments. We already knew we wanted to buy an ornament, but we didn’t know what kind. Even though we saw a lot that we liked, we both loved this one from the start:

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I don’t know if you can see it or not, but it has 2009 engraved in the middle.

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With our ornament in Michael’s backpack, we walked across the street to Design-A-Tee. We knew we didn’t want to make a T, but we designed one anyway just for fun:

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It was so neat inside there!

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We walked through the store and found ourselves in the Create Your Own Ear Hat store.

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We stood and watched them work for a while. How fun will it be to bring our kids here one day?! :thumbsup2

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Our next stop was The Art of Disney. Oh my goodness—this place is SO GREAT! We just loved walking through and looking at all of the gorgeous artwork. :goodvibes


Here are a few of our favorites:

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We got so excited when we saw Once Upon A Toy! We’re both just little kids at heart, and we couldn’t wait to see all of the old and new toys! :yay:

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“You have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful!”

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“I’ve found my movin’ buddy!”

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“Don’t touch that!”

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Needless to say, we had to stop and create a Mr. Potato Head (or few)

We laughed SO hard while we were making one on the computer. :rotfl2:

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After we made an electronic Potato Head, we made a quick “real” one with pieces that were close to us. I must say, Mr. Potato Head has seen some better days!

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How fun is this?! I loved the Star Wars Potatoes!

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“What the heck kind of a Mickey Mouse is this?!” :rotfl: Michael still talks about how he wished he bought this just so he could look at it and laugh!

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The Mouse and the Miss

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When I was little, I wanted an Ewok SO badly!

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This train was super cool. If I was a little boy, I would have stayed in this room forever

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My Little Ponies! These have such a special place in my heart. :lovestruc When I was little I had a whole backpack full of My Little Ponies. Well, when I got too old to play with them, my mom let me sell them in a garage sale. I know that she was just letting me get rid of what I wanted to get rid of, but I REALLY wish she would have made me keep them!! I’d absolutely love to have all of my original My Little Ponies back!


Anyway, it made me happy to see all of these

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And if I was a little girl, you’d never get me to leave this room:

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After we finished looking at everything in Once Upon A Toy, we decided we were pretty hungry. Since we’d both had our own lunches, we just wanted to split a counter service for dinner.


I’d heard such great things about this restaurant, and I couldn’t wait to try it!


We went in and immediately our tummies started growling because it smelled so great in there. Everything that we saw looked so delicious, but we decided to split the Rigatoni with Chicken Alfredo and a Cesar Salad.

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This was fantastic!! It tasted every bit as good as something you’d buy at a sit-down Italian restaurant.


For dessert, we split a Crème Brule.

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We loved every bite of this meal—and it was so big that even though we were splitting it, we couldn’t finish everything! :cloud9:


So what is the best counter service in all of Disney World?? Wolfgang Puck Express!!!




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After our incredible dinner, we walked over to the mother of all Disney Stores—World of Disney!


Since we were not really looking to buy a lot of souvenirs, this store was a little overwhelming for us. We did love all of the details in the decorations, though. People probably thought we were crazy because we both stopped, looked up at the ceiling, and had a whole conversation about Disney, theming, and details.


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When we left World of Disney, we went to another store we were really excited about: The LEGO Imagination Center!


It just blows my mind that people can actually create things like this! And in the water…WOW!

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If you haven’t noticed, Michael likes to imitate the statues! :upsidedow

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What incredible detail!

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Hi LEGO family!

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When we made it inside, it was very cool, but somehow not what I was expecting. I don’t really know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t quite like this.


I loved this, and I had to take a picture for my dad and brother

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Wow!

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This part was VERY cool, but we agreed that it’d be too overwhelming for us to pick out what pieces we wanted—they had SOOO many options!

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After we looked in the store, we went back outside and had some more fun with the LEGO statues


See the squirrel??

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Now THAT is a transformer!

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No! Don’t eat my husband’s arm!!! :scared1:

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Or my head!!

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Sorry. We’re goofs.



I was really excited to go in and look at the T-Rex gift shop. I’d heard that it was really, really neat inside!

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My brother would have loved this place!

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We walked all the way through Pleasure Island and DTD West Side, but we ended up not going into any of the stores. We really liked the atmosphere of the live music on the West Side!


Now, I apologize for this next picture, but I just have to know if anyone else saw what we did. :eek: We had to do about 3 double-takes before we saw what the sign was supposed to say…bad choice of lettering!

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As we walked around and glanced in different stores, we saw the marina. Even though it was closed, we went down to see what the prices for different things were. See, we were given a few money gifts before we left to use “on something fun” at Disney World. As soon as Michael saw the marina, he knew exactly what he wanted to spend the money on! When he was little and came with his family, they all rented Sea Raycers. Well, he was the only one that was too young to drive, and had to ride with his brother or dad. Every since then, he’s wanted to rent one at Disney World. Well, that’s what we would be doing with part of the money!! :thumbsup2


While we were down at the marina, this was our gorgeous view:

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About this time, we were ready to make one last stop and then head back to our resort. Let me say that this one stop was something we’d been looking forward to for months! I’d heard so much about people’s yummy creations, and we couldn’t wait to pick out our fantastic creations of sweet-tooth yumminess at Goofy’s Candy Co.!!!! :dance3:


Oh my. It was wall to wall goodness in there!

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I told Michael to make a face about how this place made him feel. This is the result:

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I love how this is made of Jelly Beans!

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After we walked around a little bit, we headed right to the counter to accomplish what we came for!

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Michael ordered Marshmallows—dipped in dark chocolate—with multi-chocolate chips—and drizzled with dark chocolate.

I ordered a Rice Krispie Treat—dipped in milk chocolate—soaked in pecans—and drizzled with dark chocolate.



Here they are working on our creations:

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We amused ourselves by playing at the mirror while we were waiting for them to cool in the fridge.

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When I got to the register to pay, I was a little surprised. My treat wasn’t covered on the DDP. Oops. Oh well. Michael’s was, so we used a snack credit on his, and then we paid OOP for mine.



With yummy treats in hand (literally), we headed back to the DTD bus stop. A bus was waiting for us when we got there. I can’t tell you how hard it was to not bite into them on the way home! Our bus departed at 8:03 and arrived at Jambo House at 8:30-ish.



We went back up to our room and unpacked all of our suitcases (we stored the empty ones under the sink, which worked really well) and got everything ready for the next day—our first day in the parks!!!


Before we hit the hay, we tried our Goofy’s treats


Michael’s

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Mine

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They were SOOO yummy! :thumbsup2 Michael ate one of his mallows, but I could only eat 2 or 3 bites of mine. I was still stuffed from dinner! We put them in ziplock baggies, and left them on the counter to snack on throughout the trip.



We were in bed and ready for our first Disney Night’s Sleep by 10:30.


It had been SUCH a fantastic day! Everything went so smoothly, and we were so thankful to be at Animal Kingdom Lodge at Disney World!!! Our vacation was actually here!





Up Next:

Day 1 in the Parks!
Do we make rope drop?
What is the first attraction at WDW?
Do we stick with my super detailed plan?



 
Wow, I never thought about how people would get to and from the main building and AKL Villas building. Thanks for that info!

AW...you thought about me at the Christmas statues. :goodvibes I feel special! :laughing: It's almost time for Christmas...which means I finally get to hang my new Tink ornament up!

DTD is such a nice, fun relaxing way to spend the day. It looks like you guys had a blast.
 

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