I know your dates are better than mine crowd wise. I thought about moving up the trip to avoid the Spring Break crowds but that would mean missing a lot of school and work. I thought it wouldn't be too bad since Easter is the end of April in 2011.
I know that the spring break afternoon park crowds are really bad. My plan is to get to the park at RD, stay until around 12 and then I have a lunch ADR or we have plans outside of the park and then we'll come back around 4 for dinner and night time fun.
During our NJ trip every summer we always take the bus to NYC a few times so maybe we can plan a meet for the new interactive
Disney Store or something.
I love your Animal Kingdom pictures. I need to get back to Rafiki's. We haven't had nice AK weather in a while now. I'm always hiding the camera or going through puddles quickly that I never notice all the little details.
I bet your plan will work just great for the crowds. We never make RD, we just don't move that fast in the morning.
So we'd be in the midst of the giant crowds and annoyed. I know eventually Henry will be in school and we'll have to deal with that, but hopefully we'll all just bite the bullet and get up earlier!
That would be FANTASTIC about having a DIS meet here in NYC!! Keep me posted!
I sure hope you get good weather this time for AK. It's such a beautiful park and fun to soak in the details.
Great update. Looking forward to the boneyard and the Flights of Wonder, because we have never done either of those.
15 days, I'm so jealous. But excited too because you are going to be there when we might be there. That is if I can twist my DH's arm into another trip so close to our November one. It would be cool though if we were there at the same time and could meet up.
Keep me posted on the possible trip! It isn't that close together, November - March is four months!
Ideally we would go every 4 months - last year we went 3 times.
But this coming year will probably be just once - the giant March trip.
Cute!
This shop does have some unique things. I might be able to use some of my classroom money there in a few weeks.
We love Rafiki's place.
Whichever - bring on the pictures! You are in one of my very favorite parks.
Yes, you need to know the scoop on
poop.
Remember my bestest one ever? The tiger!
We try to get there early and hope to catch more good viewings in the future. Such a rare opportunity for children and adults to see things like that! Very cool.
Rafiki's is lots of fun, we will be making the trek out there in March. Just the train ride alone for Henry was fun.
And next time I won't skip the bathrooms! I had thought about it, but just didn't go in there. I'll be sure to take pics and get some education all at the same time.
I do remember the tiger! I would love to see something like that.
I can't wait to see Animal Kingdom from Henry's view. I have debated on letting Brooklynn take her camera. I might take it in October.
Joe complained that the camera was too heavy in the stroller bag and was annoying when he had to fold up the stroller, but I think the pics are worth it!
I gotta try to figure out something more handy for March so Henry can keep it the whole trip.
I'll try to get his camera downloaded this week and post all the pics. I know he has at least one of Joe and I with that tiger cut out in Planet Watch! It is really fun to see what they take pictures of - not sure if you ever saw the pictures on my Facebook, but we let him take pictures all during the move to NYC, they are great.
A big congrats for 15 days!!! I will be so looking forward to that TR!! great AK pics. We also really liked going out there. Plan to spend more time there in Dec.
I wonder how long that TR will take me to write?
Good thing we probably won't be going again for a year!
So much fun in AK!
I can't believe that Henry put Squirt back, most little ones just want it now and can't even think about what could be coming later....
As for swimming in Feb/March, it could have so much to do with sun and wind. I would think especially when you are at Boardwalk if you have lots of sun and not really cold temps you would be fine!
I really wanted to try out the slide on our March trip so I went for it. Brrrrr until I hit the pool, the water was nice and warm. Getting out, another story!
I was VERY surprised about him putting Squirt back! He's always been pretty good about putting stuff back when we say no, but this wasn't even a no...it was for him to make a decision. I was a proud Momma.
Thank you for the info on swimming in March! I sure hope we get an unseasonably warm time. The BW pool does get lots of sun though, so that will be helpful. Joe will be enjoying the hot tubs!
Well, thanks to your wonderful links, I have just read through your TR! So much to say....
First, what a magical first day you had at Disney!
Your room at BW looked really pretty, and you can't beat the location. Love that Henry was tall enough for Soarin' and what's with a five minute wait? Crazy---I'd been right in that line too!
I love that you planned three things for each day. No rushing around, just relaxing and taking it easy. After that NYE trip, it's nice to relax, isn't it?
I am extremely jealous of 15 days for your March trip.
Can you believe that wait time?! It was really incredible. I still think about it in awe! I doubt we'll ever see it again.
YES, after the NYE trip I was burned out! It was nice to just be us and do our own thing. Love the family, but it's exhausting! With that said, I can't wait to bring more friends and family!
15 days!!! Goodness gracious! That sounds a-maz-ing! And such great resort choices too!
I love your day at AK so far. Taking it easy and enjoying the sights. I know Doug would love Rafiki's. I have a feeling if we went in, he would not want to ever leave! His two favorite things are learning and animals!
We are very excited about staying at the BWV again and trying BLT! I've been doing lots of research on BLT. We toured it this past trip (last day of the trip) and I really loved it. It's a beautiful resort.
Oh ya, Doug would be able to stay there for hours!!!! It really is very neat - I bet he would enjoy watching the animal care they have going on in the morning there.
We've only been out to Planet Watch once & it was a long time ago... probably 2002?? It looks pretty much the same from your pictures.
I'm impressed that Henry did so well with the goats. My boys (especially DS9) are scared of them. Henry looks like he lives on a farm and sees goats every day.
Henry has been to a few petting zoos in the past, and just recently the one for his birthday, right before the trip, he could pet and feed a few animals. So I think that helps. Plus, being from small town MN it wasn't all that uncommon to end up on a farm, or somewhere, with a few animals about! He's got good practice.
What a fun morning! Being able to get ready while sweet Henry was sleeping, Henry eating muffins while watching Mickey's Clubhouse, and heading off to Animal Kingdom are all wonderful!
I took a million pictures of the train station and train in Africa, too! I adored the theming there!
I am in love with the picture of Henry taking the picture of the goats in the petting zoo! So cute!!!
The train station was very neat. The music struck me right away and just enveloped me in a happy place. I had to video just to get the music!
I gotta download those and see if that picture Henry took came out! I cannot recall if I looked at it on his camera or not after he took it...it might actually be a really good one being the goats were just his height!
Oh my goodness, I'm sooo late to this TR! I just saw the link in your sig on my TR!!
Only at arrival but I have to say, your little boy is just so adorable! And your view from your room is gorgeous! I would have totally cried too!
Glad you found me Nikki! I have a video I took of my first reaction to the room and view, but it's blurry b/c my phone was doing something weird and I get all choked up at the end.
I was SO happy to be there!
Ok, I'm caught up! I didn't miss too much after all!
I love Animal Kingdom and all your pictures of the little details in that park are just beautiful! I don't think many people "get it" but you really have to slow down and look around to truly enjoy AK!
I have never seen that plaque either! Where is it!!
I must find it next time.
I agree! AK is such a beautiful park, those details make it incredibly unique and just a joy to walk through and experience. Out of any of the parks I think it truly transports you to another world.
The plaque is straight in the middle as you walk in - off to the left are the lockers (I think) and off to the right is the start of the Oasis/stroller/wheel chair rental. It's on the ground and easy to miss since it just looks like a rock!