Oops... last one posted twice, not sure how I did that.
Day 6 was our day off from the Parks.
We were going to play mini golf but the kids wanted to sleep in and take it easy so they did that and we missed the mini golf part.
The rest of the plans were Disney Quest and Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.
The guys spent 5 hours at Disney Quest and DD had her hair done and we did purchase an outfit but not a full costume. We purchased a tink "dance" dress and flip flops. DD looked beautiful and truly felt like and believed she was a princess.
A ton of people shopping in the World of Disney where BBB is.
The plan was to meet at the Boardwalk Bus stop at 4:30 pm. The four of us hopped on to the boardwalk bus and went to ESPN Zone for dinner. We loved the atmosphere at the Boardwalk. What a beautiful place. The board walk was fun to walk along as well.
It was very busy at ESPN Zone and we opted to sit in the lounge part which was just fine for us. I could not get over this one woman though... she wanted to sit in the lounge and before we were done our dinner she stood at the foot of our table all by herself and was waiting for our table and she just stood there. She stood there the whole time the kids has their dessert. Is it just me or this rude? Is this normal procedure? Anyways, we were off and went for a walk down the boardwalk and "IT" happened.
We walked into the sample suite for DVC. We scheduled an appointment for the Saturday.
We always leave days open so the kids can plan their own days. That was the plan for the next day.
Day 7 - Dec. 29 - Free Day/ kids choose what parks etc
This is the day we checked out of All Star Sports and were transferring to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We needed to call the day prior to arrange the luggage transfer and give the time we were leaving our room which was 6:30 am so we had to be all packed and organized.
We went off and did the rides the kids wanted to do. DH and DS went and did the thrill rides and DD and myself did the simpler rides.
DD kept her Fairytale Princess hairdo from BBB from the day before. We touched it up a bit and she wore the same outfit from the day before.
When we arrived at the park we rode Peter Pan and it didn't break down this time and we rode It's A small world... no problems, Winnie the Pooh and it only broke down at the very end and then we went to Philharmagic. It stated there was a 10 minute wait and by the time we left the show it was an hour. It broke down once while we were waiting and once while watching. Anyways, after that we headed to Epcot for our lunch with the Princesses at Askerhaus in Norway but I thought we would be smart to get a FP for Soarin however they had all been distributed for that day.
We went for lunch and as we were waiting to get the picture taken there was a very friendly CM at the door who was asking where we were from and how our trip was. I mentioned to him, it had been great but I was struck by how miserable the people who worked for Disney seemed to be and asked if it wasn't a nice place to work. He said he was embarassed to hear that and that he thought it was a great place to work. I said that maybe it was because people were just hard on the staff and it reflected but that I had been to Disneyland at Peak times and didn't have the same experience. He told me the staff at Disneyland are all auditioned but that they needed way more staff at Disneyworld and couldn't be so selective. Whether it was true or not I am not sure but he was very friendly and I appreciated his enthusiasm.
LUNCH: Was great... very enjoyable. We saw Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Ariel and to our surprise Cinderella. I thought I had read that she didn't go to this meal but she was there. Great fun!!!!
Then DD and I head to Animal Kingdome to check in as we were very excited...excited...excited!
We arrive and I step into the check in line and give our name and that our room was already paid for but that we were concierge guests and were we in the right place. She said that we needed to go to the bell desk.
I was a little disappointed and maybe my expectations were too high because I expected the staff to say, "Hi, welcome to Animal Kingdom Lodge" but nothing, not a smile, nothing. The guy at the bell desk said, "Yes?" I explained to him that we were checking in and he said, "Concierege?" I said yes and he said he would get someone. The next guy that came out didn't even acknowledge us, he just picked up a piece of paper, entered information into the computer and said, "Your bags haven't arrived yet, I will have someone take you to your room" Then Tom came and took us to our room. He was nice though and seemed happy to be there, gave us a brief run down of our room and the facilities and said he was surprised that our bags weren't there yet".
Day 8 - Sat. Dec. 30 - Day off from the Parks
We didn't plan anything this day because we wanted to enjoy the resort however, we did make the appt. to speak to someone about DVC.
This is very well organized. Someone was there to pick us up right on time and the kids went into the kids club and we spoke with the DVC rep. The DVC rep was great and sold us on DVC.
After this the guys went to the Wide World of Sports and DD and I went and enjoyed the pool and the animals and had a nice time.
When the guys got back both of the kids enjoyed the pool. It was a nice relaxing day.
The kids took part in some of the activities and in the Storytelling.
Day 9 - Sunrise Safari - Sun. Dec.31st.
This was a really great experience. Seeing the behind the scenes stuff and all of the time they take while going through the Safari made us feel as though we had great value for the dollar. The breakfast was fantastic. I loved the Tusker house feeling. Really enjoyed this but again more grumpy people. Not CM's this time, just some of the people on the ride, like they were forced to be there rather than signed up. I stepped on the back of one ladies shoe by accident and apologized and she didn't even acknowledge the fact that I spoke. Just seems weird to me that you go through all of that effort to plan a vacation of this type and then to be so miserable. This woman was with a large group and they seemed to have quite a few troubles later on and were barking at each other so maybe there was other stuff going on and it was such a magical gathering for them. Not sure but I have to admit I did find it affecting me that I would walk on a walk way and smile at people passing by and say hello to them and they would look at you like you were growing 12 horns from your head. Strange, sad really... anyways... we loved the Safari and continued on to some other rides in Animal Kingdom.
Then we chose to go to Magic Kingdom but on the way there, saw a sign that said it was closed due to capacity restrictions so we went to EPCOT.
Because we had our Disney Vacation Club Fast passes that they give you for attending the tour, we thought we would use those at Soarin. We entered the building at THE LAND and oh my goodness.... is that a zoo! You could only take two steps at a time because of the herds of people trying to get FP or use their FP. That is an area that should be fixed because I can't imagine that is safe. Anyways, we shuffled through and rode Soarin right away and then the other major rides that we were interested in closed the FP so we couldn't use the DVC FP there and headed to Magic Kingdom via the Monorail. EXCEPT there were Security Guards only letting certain people onto the Monorail. Because we were resort guests we were allowed to get on and go into Magic Kingdom.
When we entered Magic Kingdom there were not very many people and we thought this was great on New Years Eve. PERFECT! We planned on staying for the parades and fireworks. We were mistaken though because many of the guests were watching the Dream with Mickey show and when you got into FL is when you saw the mass crowds. DS and DH rode a ride or two and we rode the carousel and watched the Enchanted Tiki Room and then we all left and went back to the resort.
When we arrived back at the resort we were surprised to find Timon and Rafiki on one side and Mickey Mouse on the other side. We got our pictures taken with them.
DEPARTURE:
We arranged for Happy Limo to pick us up at 5 am and knew it wouldn't be Robert because he had Mondays off.
We were called by the bell desk that our ride was there. We came downstairs and there was ROBERT - AGAIN! He was so great! He said, "I could have you leave town with out saying good bye." What a class act that man was, one of our favourite experiences, that is for sure.
We arrived home around dinner last night and know that we will be back at Disney World.
Negatives:-
Disappointed that people were so miserable but you can't change others behaviours.
Although I liked Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Sunrise Safari, I would not stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge again at Concierge level as I didn't feel it was good value for the dollar. I don't regret it because I wouldn't have known and always wondered but I wouldn't do it again.
Positives:
The planning ahead of time really helped
Hiring Happy Limo was great.
Splitting our stay was neat
The All Star Sports is excellent value for the money
DVC tour
The trip in general was a good experience and really enjoyed by all.
Please if you have any questions, I would be happy to help out.