PTR/TR: He Can Call Me Flower If He Wants To... May 2016 (TR - Completed 7/1)

[mindylee847]

I'm so excited to be staring my trip report!! Although it's sad because it means I'm back to reality. The first update is pretty text heavy so I apologize, but I'll try to make it a little interesting!



Travel - On the Open Road

Today was the day! I set my alarm the night before for a 3 AM wake up time. Unfortunately, I didn't get all the sleep I wanted since I needed to see the finale of Dancing with the Stars. (YAY NYLE!)

We were all packed up except for the final morning necessities. We made sure to shower at night so there would be no delay and I also hoped that it would help relax me a little since I was way too excited.

3 AM rolled around and we packed up the rest, had some waffles, and were out the door by 3:40 AM. Mike was hoping to hit the road by 3:20 but I was hoping for a realistic 3:30. We were distracted by our adorable cats though and ya know, eating... ah well, in no time we were on the open road!

We always play this song from A Goofy Movie first on our way out to Disney World to get us pumped up!

It was a pretty uneventful experience for most of the drive. We had purchased some Jimmy John's subs for the ride down so that there would be no delay in stopping to our first destination. Our goal was to get to the Sleep Inn in Valdosta, GA from a little North of Milwaukee, WI. That was about a 15 hour drive without stops or hitting traffic. We hit a lot of traffic in Atlanta and that was pretty much the only rough patch of our ride. Chicago was fine so early in the morning and no issues were in the mountains. We did stop to have a sub in the Smokies which was pretty cool.

We made it to the Sleep Inn by 9:15 PM ET. I'd recommend this stop. The room was nice and large. We were given a King size bed and the shower was pretty nice for a hotel. They did have a breakfast offered in the morning - but don't expect to eat it unless you are okay with just some cereal. We grabbed tea and some bananas but when we tried to eat the bananas in the car, they were all brown on the inside. Meh - it was only about $55 for the night and I didn't expect much.

We were up and back on the road by 6 AM ET as we had about a 3 hour drive to go to get to Animal Kingdom Lodge!!

This last leg was pretty uneventful too. But we did make a stop at the gas station that's on the freeway along the Turnpike. I can't remember the name of it... but it's really weird and I'm not sure how to even pronounce it. We stopped here to pick up our Sun Pass!! We figured that since we are driving down in October and March again in the next year that it's worth the investment.

We saw some of our first palm trees and I tried to take an artsy shot through my sunglasses.

Soon after, we started to see some signs leading us to Disney World!

We did go under the arches, but for some reasons I only did a Snapchat video and forgot to save it. Know this though - I put it in fast forward mode and we both yelled "WOOO!" the entire time and we sounded like chipmunks. So just picture that.

We went through the security gate and went to park our car.

We took everything with us out of the car as I had received a text message from Disney World at 8:58 AM ET telling us that our room was ready! We were in room 4004 on the 4th floor along the Giraffe trail. I looked at the map and was a little sad since I realized I wouldn't have a view of animals - not that I paid for that anyways. So I expected we would be looking out over the buses. For those of you that know the resort inside and out, you may know our view... but I'm going to leave this here for now as our travel is done!

Did our Magic Bands work and let us in our room right away? What kind of view did we get? You'll have to wait to find out!

​

 

[missangelalexis]

Yay welcome back and glad you've started!

Sounds like the drive went as smoothly as possible! OoOh can't wait to hear what kind of view you got!

 

[mindylee847]

Day 1 - Part 1: Animal Kingdom Lodge
We parked our car out in the lot and grabbed everything. We didn't want to make a second trip out since we wanted to get some food and get to the park! We made our way into the resort, hands full of things and then I realized I wasn't exactly sure which hall was the "Giraffe Trail". I asked a CM who was passing by and it was, of course, the trail right in front of us. We walked down the hall to the elevator and went up one floor. The room numbers on the main floor are actually in the 3000's.

Then we had to back track to our room almost the entire distance of the hall and we quickly realized that it'll be best for us to use the stairs for the weekend. They were almost right outside our door and it was just one flight down to the bus transportation and the lobby!

Our magic bands worked and we were in!! I immediately noticed the smell of sandalwood... ya know, the stuff they use to cover puke smell. Mike thought maybe that was just the smell they pump into the rooms... but it didn't sit right in my nose. Does anyone know??

We decided not to complain about it because our location was actually perfect and when we opened the balcony doors it helped to aerate the smell.

Anyways - here are some pictures of our fabulous room!!

Do you see the hidden Mickeys on the shower curtain?!?

We were thrilled!! But most importantly - look at our view!!!

We had been upgraded from standard to pool!! Or maybe this was still considered standard since to the left we had a great view of the rooftops. I'm not sure, but I thought it was fabulous!

I thought the balcony chairs were adorable.

We put on our magic bands and texted our moms and Mike's dad to let everyone know we arrived safely. We also sent them a picture of our view to brag just a bit.

We were ravenous at this point since we had only bad bananas and some of the snacks we brought with us in the car for breakfast, so we made our way to get some grub!

But first - look at this lobby!

Above the stairs was a painted picture of a giraffe.

We stopped by the front desk really quick to get a map and Mike a birthday button. We also needed to update our pin since we did not remember what it was at all. We planned to charge most everything to the room this trip so that we could pay it off with our Disney gift cards that we purchased from Target for 5% off.

After that, it was time for food!

The process here is a bit different than what I was used to. Mike placed our order with a woman and she went over to have them make it fresh. You ordered everything except baked goods and anything else you grab from a case with her. I went looking for some specific cupcakes for our desserts.

They weren't in the bakery case where I expected, but they were actually in the fridge. We grabbed drinks as well and were given a buzzer for when our food was ready. This was nice since that meant that everything was made fresh!

Mike and I both ordered the Falafel Pita - mine with couscous and his with fries. He wanted to get the couscous but I reminded him that he didn't like it. I was right. He much preferred the fries.

Falafel Pita - with sun-dried tomato hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes, mixed greens, and a mint yogurt sauce with choice of couscous or french fries

This was delicious! The falafel was cooked perfectly and the sauces and extras really complimented it well. I enjoyed my couscous. I guess warning for those that don't know - couscous is a cold pasta type dish. So don't be surprised that it's not warm. That's one of the things Mike doesn't like about it. His fries were done really well though. I was impressed with them. But to be fair, we barely ever treat ourselves to anything fried anymore. So maybe they were just normal fries.

Next up was dessert!! Now I know - don't kill me zebra dome fans!! I wanted to try something new so I went for cupcakes. For those that don't know, you can grab the infamous zebra domes here from the fridge - the same ones that can be found at Boma. I had them last time and I just am not as obsessed with them as I am cupcakes!

We decided to try both the "Giraffe" and "Zebra" cupcakes. First up, was the giraffe.

The Giraffe cupcake was actually flavored as Spiced Pina Colada. This was light and delicious! Probably one of my favorite cupcakes I've ever had. The little balls on top were crispy and not hard. The frosting was perfect and the cake was moist. We liked it much more than the second one we grabbed...

The second one was the "Zebra" cupcake which is essentially a combination of chocolate and vanilla. This frosting was more of a whipped texture which I'm not so much a fan of. I love buttery frosting so that was really lacking for me in this cupcake. I may have liked this more had I tried it first before the Giraffe one. The giraffe one really... took the cake!

Maybe I'm just not as big of a chocolate fan as I used to be. I think that has to be it. That and the frosting just weren't my favorites. It was good, for sure. But just not so much my style.

After we finished eating up, it was time to head to our first park of our long weekend - Animal Kingdom!

Hope I didn't leave you too hungry with this post.
​

 

[missangelalexis]

Your room looks fabulous, as does your view!

Those cupcakes look delish. Glad you started off the trip with good food! And you have definitely left me a little hungry..wishing for some zebra domes right now!

 

[Jenn504]

Hi,
Following your trip report. I did read your trip report from Disneyland. We went to Disneyland at end of April as a first timer.
I lived in Wisconsin when I was kid and still consider it home even through I have lived in Alaska a lot longer. We plan to move back next summer. I hope to move somewhere outside Green Bay. I don't like flying much either. I really dread the long flights out of Alaska. I look forward to being able to drive to Disney world. It was nice to read a little about your drive down.
I have yet to stay at Animal kingdom. I think it would be a great resort to stay in when I want a more relaxing trip. I could see taking a whole day to explore and enjoy the pool.
Looking forward to seeing more pics.

 

[mindylee847]

Your room looks fabulous, as does your view!

Those cupcakes look delish. Glad you started off the trip with good food! And you have definitely left me a little hungry..wishing for some zebra domes right now!

I was seriously so obsessed with this resort. It's absolutely gorgeous!

I was so happy with the food at The Mara! I knew I loved eating at Jiko, Boma, and Sanaa but with it being a quick service I didn't have super high expectations. It really was delicious though. Loved the Giraffe cupcake so much. I'm craving one right now!

Hi,
Following your trip report. I did read your trip report from Disneyland. We went to Disneyland at end of April as a first timer.
I lived in Wisconsin when I was kid and still consider it home even through I have lived in Alaska a lot longer. We plan to move back next summer. I hope to move somewhere outside Green Bay. I don't like flying much either. I really dread the long flights out of Alaska. I look forward to being able to drive to Disney world. It was nice to read a little about your drive down.
I have yet to stay at Animal kingdom. I think it would be a great resort to stay in when I want a more relaxing trip. I could see taking a whole day to explore and enjoy the pool.
Looking forward to seeing more pics.

Thank you for following along!! And thanks for reading my Disneyland trip report, too.

Part of me loves living in Wisconsin, but the other part yearns to live in Florida. Seeing the weather reports though about the bad storms this week, I'm kind of glad I'm here instead! I've always wanted to visit Alaska, but I am right on board there with you about those long flights. I couldn't imagine having to fly from AK to FL. I know people sometimes think I'm crazy for driving down from WI to FL, but it's worth it to me to not have that added stress on vacation. It'll be great for you to be back here so that you can make the drive too! I do love going through the mountains. It's so pretty! (Plus my husband drives that part so I'm not all stressed and white knuckling the wheel! lol)

I wish I was staying longer at AKL. I did have some extra time which I'll write about to explore more of the resort. It's so absolutely stunning.

 

[mindylee847]

Day 1 - Part 2: Becoming Annual Passholders

After having checked in and eaten a fantastic lunch, it was time to get our butts to Animal Kingdom! It was a really big day for us as we were going to be upgrading our tickets to Annual Passes!!!



With two additional trips coming up (one in October and one in March), it only made sense for us. After our Disneyland trip, I decided that this was the year of our happiness. With everything that had gone on with losing my dad and my own mental barriers coming out, I needed to do what was right for Mike and I and that was to focus on us and our happiness. Lots of people I know have started to think I'm losing it with all the trips to Disney. My husband and I have had some deep discussions because we want to make sure I'm not just trying to escape the reality that my dad had left us, but that I am actually living my life in a way that I want to that makes me genuinely happy and helps me move forward. I feel confident in the decisions I'm making and while this means I'm putting a house and kids on hold, I think I need to do that in order to know who I am.

Anyways, enough of that deep stuff.

We headed over to the bus stops and saw that our bus would be coming in about 7 minutes.

I really love these displays. It did update a few times as we waited and I think we actually boarded closer to 12:10. It was really nice to know the wait time here because waiting for a bus can feel like the longest thing in the world.

This was our first time staying at a deluxe resort. We've stayed at a moderate once and before that it was always value. Let me tell you how incredibly worth it is to upgrade for the bus queues alone. Having some benches and SHADE in the Florida sun while you wait for your bus is AMAZING.

Mike was ready for his birthday celebration to start!

Obligatory Disney bus selfie.

The ride was really short - of course. Having our resort being located right outside Animal Kingdom's gates was really awesome!

I had read that it's best to use your ticket before upgrading to an Annual Pass. I'm not sure how much truth there is to this but it seemed to work out in our favor.

Here's a fun light they have as we were walking into the park.

I love that the logo for Animal Kingdom is on these lights!!

And I took this fun shot to showcase the construction in the park.

We used our tickets to get in and immediately went to Guest Services inside the gate. The CM that helped us was absolutely amazing. She was able to use the current day prices for our tickets to lower the cost of our upgrade. I'm not sure if that's because we used the tickets to get in or if they can do that anywhere. Either way, going through the gates there was a shorter line to get help so even if that's the only benefit... I recommend it!

In person at Guest Services, you're able to use as many Disney gift cards as you want as this is considered one form of payment. Online or over the phone, they can only accept up to three gift cards as they only accept three types of payment. So of course we had purchased a bunch of gift cards through Target with our Red Card to save 5% off our AP upgrade! We also used this method to purchase the Tables in Wonderland card here.

The CM was absolutely fabulous! She was excited and thrilled for us. She was engaging and so helpful. It was a really fun experience for us. We took down her name and information and I plan to write an email about her and another CM that I'll talk about later!

We received some Lion Guard buttons and the Passholder Monthly booklet they send out that we just missed. This CM ALSO gave us an extra fastpass on our account! She noticed that I hadn't booked the safari and suggested I do that... but we'll see what we do with it!

Then we headed on into the park!

Our first stop was to see a Photopass Photographer!

She was absolutely wonderful and wanted to make the most of our new Photopasses so she took some great Magic Shots for us too!

Our fastpasses for the day were:

Dinosaur 1:05 PM - 2:05 PM
Festival of the Lion King 2:30 PM - 2:50 PM
Expedition Everest 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM

It was already time to head over to Dinosaur for our first fastpass of the trip. I'm going to end it here for the day since I've got a lot to catch up on at work! I do love that it's already Wednesday, but it only feels like Tuesday. Long weekends are great!
​

 

[missangelalexis]

I think it's a great thing that you are focusing on your happiness

Congrats on becoming APs, that's very exciting!

I love the PP pics you got, so cute!

 

[cptmemo]

what a fun trip so far! I can't wait to hear all about it And Mike shares a birthday with my son. Great day for a birthday

 

[mindylee847]

I think it's a great thing that you are focusing on your happiness

Congrats on becoming APs, that's very exciting!

I love the PP pics you got, so cute!

Thank you!! I forgot to mention that I had a "First time staying deluxe" and an "I'm an APH now" dance which I showed BOTH of those to the wonderful CM that helped us upgrade our tickets. Mike was pretty embarrassed but I couldn't help it.

what a fun trip so far! I can't wait to hear all about it And Mike shares a birthday with my son. Great day for a birthday

Thank you! Mike's birthday is technically the 30th (which was one of our travel days home) but May and June birthdays are some of the best in my opinion!! (My birthday is in June, lol.)

 

[mindylee847]

Day 1 - Part 3: Dinosaurs and Drinks and Lions - Oh My!

After our photo shoot, it was time to head over to Dinoland USA for the first ride of the trip!

I hadn't been on Dinosaur since July 2013 and having to wait almost three years for one of my favorite rides is torture I tell you!!

But wait! A photopass photographer!

Now Dinosaur? Nope - I had to use the facilities... but where are they in this area?? My husband thought he knew... he didn't. We ended up going all the way out back into the carnival area of Dinoland to find the bathrooms.

Okay - NOW I can go on Dinosaur. After the large group of people standing in front of the Fastpass lane figures out what the heck they are doing... hahaha.

One of my pet peeves when it comes to Fastpass in general are the people who are there for their ride... but are always a few minutes too early... and instead of taking the time to walk around the area or just MOVE OUT OF THE WAY, they decide to stand directly in the way of the line to get on. lol

Alright, I'm not really super bothered by it. A lot of stuff doesn't bother me anymore. I mean, my room at AKL smelled like puke most of our stay and I didn't even bother to bring that up to anyone. I'm just saying though... you don't have to be there right on the dot to get on the ride - you've got a full hour! Enjoy your time in Disney, guys. The whole point of the Fastpass is so that you aren't standing around waiting unnecessarily!

I believe the wait was posted as a 30 minute wait when we went on.

My husband looked at me after the ride and asked if we could go again. Of course I wanted to! He suggested we use the Fastpass we got from earlier to hop on quick and be on our way. I hemmed and hawed a bit as the wait time was still posted at 30 minutes and decided that we should just do it. I didn't need to go on the safari anyways.

Turned out the ride was actually a walk on at this point. I was disappointed that the wait time was off at the front and that we "wasted" our free pass. We could have used it on...... Nothing. We would have used it on Dinosaur no matter where we were. It's our favorite ride in AK and in both of our top fives.

Ah well!

Afterwards, I was on the search for a special magic band since I knew we'd be back again a few more times. The last two times I'd been to Disney World I had always told myself no since I didn't think I'd be back. And now, here I am with an AP and no special band!

I tried to look in the shop after Dinosaur but it was so incredibly crowded and there was a man right in front of the bands who was hemming and hawing for far too long. Hey, I would be doing the same thing! But I was killing precious Disney time waiting for him to scooch over so we went on our way.

We ended up back in front of the tree at this point. I'm not even sure where we were headed.

But we came across a CM holding up a sign that said "Tiffins Serving Lunch". Actually, Mike pointed it out after we passed a few feet and so we back tracked... like basically moon walked to her and asked if the lounge was also open. This was the day before Tiffins officially was opening.

Guess what?? The Nomad Lounge was open!

This was the emptiest place in all of Animal Kingdom. And I was KICKING myself for having eaten at The Mara just a little while ago. How was I to know, though? Always room for a drink though!

The lounge is gorgeous! The cards hanging from the ceiling are actually donation tags. You can make a donation to WWF and put your travel story on it and they hang it up in the lounge. Sooooo cool!!

We were too stuffed to try any of the foods.

Mike ordered the first black lager he found - the Xingu Black Lager from Brazil. He described it as tasting like soy sauce without the salt. I tried it and I could taste exactly what he said. But he enjoyed it. He's a weirdo.

Xingu Black Lager - Brazil

I was torn between a few options, but eventually decided on Jenn's Tattoo.

Jenn's Tattoo - Ketel One Vodka, Watermelon, Hibiscus, and Lime Juice

This was good and refreshing. But you know what I was obsessing about the most?? The glasses here!! I absolutely loved the different styles. Even the water cups are fancy!

This place was really gorgeous... and we had it all to ourselves!

They also have an outdoor area that is going to be looking onto the walkway into Pandora.

We really enjoyed our experience here. But, it was time to head over to our next Fastpass experience - The Festival of the Lion King.

On our way...

I believe this is where I noticed that Pocahontas now meets where Pooh & Friends used to in Animal Kingdom. Her line was very long and we didn't have the time to stop. Mike didn't remember the show at all and I honestly don't think I remember ever going with him to see it. I always choose Nemo over FotLK.

Mike was really hoping to be sat in the giraffe section in honor of the trail we were on at AKL, but we were put into the lions. I was really excited about this because now I've been in all four sections!

It was a great show, as always. I thought everyone did a wonderful job!

We headed outside and found... another Photopass photographer!

Here are a few pictures of Mike not being able to deal with the brightness of the Florida sun.

Alright, alright... time for something different since you can't open your eyes!

I love this picture with Stitch! We were hitting all the magic shots I was hoping for in just the first few hours of our trip!!

Next, I was on the hunt for something refreshing...

Any guesses??? You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what it is... but it is found in Africa and it's fruity and delicious!!

I've also hit my photo limit for the post! That's the first time that's happened to me!​

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm glad you got to go on Dinosaur twice!

Wow, how awesome that the Nomad Lounge was open! All the pictures I've seen, including yours, make me really want to go there!

Love that Stitch magic shot- never gotten that one!

Hmmm is your snack a dole whip??

 

[mindylee847]

I'm glad you got to go on Dinosaur twice!

Wow, how awesome that the Nomad Lounge was open! All the pictures I've seen, including yours, make me really want to go there!

Love that Stitch magic shot- never gotten that one!

Hmmm is your snack a dole whip??

Dinosaur is the best!! Well, one of the best.

Nomad Lounge was really fantastic and I'm glad we got to just be in there without a crazy amount of people. Now that the restaurant is open, I'm sure it's a happening place. It was nice to take a break out of the sun and crowds and just relax with a drink (even though we had only been there a few short hours, lol.)

I'm obsessed with this Stitch shot!! He's so freaking adorable! He's definitely one of my absolute favorite characters.

Hmmm... a dole whip...................

 

[mindylee847]

Day 1 - Part 4: Trekking through Asia

I was on the hunt for something refreshing but definitely not filling since we were still stuffed from The Mara and I wanted plenty of room in my stomach for dinner that night. So we headed on our way through Africa to the queue where we would find our delicious snack!

We were in line at Tamu Tamu Refreshments. Hmm, what looks good?

We ordered the Pineapple Dole Whip Cup with Coconut Rum!

Pineapple Dole Whip Cup with Coconut Rum

We found a shady spot and watched some African dancers and a group of Disney goers join in a fun dance as we had our snack. I don't know how they were all dancing in the 90 degree weather. It wasn't actually all that humid today - which I found really unusual being in Animal Kingdom especially. The dole whip was delicious as always. We should have mixed in the rum a bit more once we got into the cup... because there was a huge hit of rum at the bottom - duh.

After our snack, we made our way to our next destination.

We were now in Asia headed toward Expedition Everest for our last Fastpass.

It was such a beautiful day!

There was an unusually long line in the Fastpass queue. I think we waited about 10 minutes to get on. Apparently, everyone was using their Fastpasses right now!

It was a blast as always but here's my pet peeve number two. When you're on a ride and you know there's a photo (maybe she didn't know), try to not cover up people's faces. That's why you'll always see Mike and I with our hands only so high in photos. I just never want to ruin someone else's shot, especially if there's a kid behind me and it's their first ride on something. I think those can be really important memories that someone may want to actually purchase. I know, I know - not everyone knows there are photos and where they are. But I'm just throwing that out there as a PSA. Okay, that's it!

Everest is one of my least favorite exits. Where they have the photos set up it's basically impossible to get past people taking pictures of their pictures. We walked out of the shop fairly quickly onto our next destination.

Mike has become obsessed with Flying Foxes. He actually never went into the room before because he was always too nervous. But now that he knows they are fruit eating and he thinks they look like our Binx (black cat), he needed to see them.

Obligatory funny pose!

I make this pose every time I go on this trek. It is tradition!

After our walk, we checked out some gift shops and said goodbye to Animal Kingdom.

We got back to our room fairly quickly and relaxed for a while on our balcony. I asked Mike what he had brought to wear to Jiko and then he went into freak out mode. He had never packed his collared shirt. He thought I had.

We ran downstairs to the gift shop to find if they had a polo. We even enlisted the help of the manager there who said they didn't carry them anymore. He tried calling a few places and scouring the back for one for us. While they were looking and it wasn't seeming as if we were going to find one, I decided to head down to Jiko to talk to the front desk about dress code.

I was told as long as there were sleeves and no rips that we would be fine. I let Mike know. He was still upset. He wanted to look nice for his big birthday dinner.

We decided to check out the animals since we had some time to kill before getting ready.

I feel like I'm coming up close to the photo limit, so I'll leave you with that for now. Coming up - some pictures of the animals at the lodge and dinner at Jiko!​

 

[missangelalexis]

Yay dole whip! I love that you can get them at AK!

Loved all the pics in this update. That park is so photogenic

Sounds like it was a great time at Animal Kingdom!

Aww I'm sorry Mike forgot his shirt! But I'm sure whatever he ended up wearing was fine!

 

[mindylee847]

Yay dole whip! I love that you can get them at AK!

Loved all the pics in this update. That park is so photogenic

Sounds like it was a great time at Animal Kingdom!

Aww I'm sorry Mike forgot his shirt! But I'm sure whatever he ended up wearing was fine!

I'm so glad that they have the dole whip with rum at AK too! I was planning to get it at Flower and Garden, but this way I saved space in my stomach and got it the day before!

And I totally love taking pictures of this park. It was such a beautiful, bright, and blue day out too. It really was perfect. Mike actually suggested I take more time around the parks in October to work on my photography. I'm really excited that he's okay with going at a more relaxed pace so that I can try to snap better pics!

This short day at AK definitely reminded me why I love this park. I was kicking myself for not having gone for almost three years. I love how green it is and the unique things you can see here. We'll definitely have to make time to go in October or March! I want to do the Animal Trek tour thing where you walk over the scary bridges and stuff!

I don't have pictures of Mike's shirt, but he ended up just wearing a plain gray GAP one that we had brought that he usually likes to sleep in since it's so soft. He was just upset because he had higher expectations for himself, lol.

 

[cptmemo]

Thank you!! I forgot to mention that I had a "First time staying deluxe" and an "I'm an APH now" dance which I showed BOTH of those to the wonderful CM that helped us upgrade our tickets. Mike was pretty embarrassed but I couldn't help it.



Thank you! Mike's birthday is technically the 30th (which was one of our travel days home) but May and June birthdays are some of the best in my opinion!! (My birthday is in June, lol.)

The true memorial day (my sons birthday which he shared with his great grandpa ) And having to spend it as a travel day is fine, especially if that trip is to/from WDW!

 

[mindylee847]

Day 1 - Part 5: Jiko Must Mean "Delicious" in Swahili

After finding out that Mike was cleared to wear a plain shirt, we explored the savanna for a while. Animal Kingdom Lodge is absolutely gorgeous. It has to be in my top three favorite resorts.

I still can't believe that I got to stay here. It's so beautiful! And having these magnificent creatures right outside... that's something that people only dream of. I guess that's why it's possible here in Disney!

We went upstairs to change out of our park clothes and headed down to check in. We were about 20 minutes early. I knew we would be... I always am. I was hoping to get in early since we were both pretty hungry at this point.

We waited til our reservation time. There isn't really a good place to wait here. They have a few tables but only one chair at each table. It was a very odd set up. As we sat, we watched people come in with shorts, tank tops, park attire, less than park attire... you name it. I told Mike not to feel bad but he still wanted to look better than just his gray shirt and jeans.

We were seated more in the middle of the restaurant so we didn't really have too much of a view of the river outside. We had dined here once before for Thanksgiving last year.

We were given the regular bread service to start.

Jiko Complimentary Bread Service

I'm sorry but I don't remember what type of bread this was... it wasn't anything spectacular but the sea salt on the butter really enhanced the flavor.

Before we ordered dinner, I was looking for a wine. Last time I had mistakenly ordered a cocktail which just did not compliment the meal well. Mike said he would also drink wine so figured we should look into getting a bottle this time. After all, we would be saving 20% off food and alcohol with our new Tables in Wonderland card.

We chose one of the signature wines, the Thelema "The Mint" Cabernet Savignon.

Thelema "The Mint" Cabernet Savignon

Mike is a big "cab sav" fan so I figured it would be perfect for his birthday dinner. I actually prefer a Merlot, but if it's a good cab then I'm usually fine. If I sound like a snob, I swear I barely know anything about wine.

This wine was delicious! We had two glasses each with dinner and still had enough to take home with us to have one glass each during The Bachelorette.

For my appetizer, I ordered the pepper soup. I had their winter squash soup for Thanksgiving so I had pretty high hopes for this soup.

Mozambique-style Roasted Poblano Pepper Soup

Sorry about the bit of soup that spilled over the side. The server accidentally did that when placing it down... and it's not like I can send it back to make my picture better.

The soup was AMAZING! It had a bit of kick to it that for some reason, I didn't expect. I should have. It literally says poblano pepper in the name. I liked it more than the winter squash soup. I gave Mike a tiny taste but basically licked this bowl completely clean.

Mike ordered the other appetizer that I love. We had this at the Thanksgiving feast and I was dreaming about having another bite.

Inguday Tibs in Brik- Mushroom, Spinach, and Cheese in crispy Tunisian Filo with Apples and Curry Vinaigrette

Mike actually gave me one full one to eat after I finished off my soup. These were as magical as I remember. My mouth is watering right now. I probably shouldn't be writing up this part of the trip report when I'm hungry!! The apples perfectly compliment this dish. It's flaky and delicious. I'm not all that good at describing food, haha. But seriously - if you go here, please get this!

Mike ordered the entree that I had for Thanksgiving.

Vegetable and Tofu Sambusas - Mint-Coconut Chutney, Coriander-Tarmarind Yogurt, and Saffron-Cashew Rice

He enjoyed this. I find it too sweet for an entree but he ate almost all of it. He had left behind some rice, though.

For my entree, I ordered a salad.

Jiko Salad - Heirloom Apples, Cape Gooseberries, Pomegranate, Point Reyes Bay Blue, Candied Walnuts, and Maple-Cider Vinaigrette

I wasn't too sure about this dish, but I actually really loved it. At first I didn't really care for it, but the more I ate it the more the tastes mixed together. This was so fresh and probably the best salad I've ever had.

We decided to pass on dessert as we were too full. Our server put the cork back into our bottle nice and secure and gave us these tasty complimentary desserts.

Mike swiped one before I took a picture. They were passion fruit macaroons, I believe. They were also delicious.

Overall we absolutely loved Jiko again. Probably more so this time as we were able to decide what we wanted rather than be provided an entire feast like we were on Thanksgiving. I also very much preferred having wine with this meal. I won't make the mistake of ordering something else next time to drink. Our server was wonderful and friendly. He gave us plenty of time to eat and made sure everything was just as we wanted. His attention to detail was on point. I will absolutely come here again... I'm just not sure when since there are so many places that I'd like to try. It's definitely in my top three restaurants though.

After that we walked around the savanna a little at night. They close off the trails some and have a fire pit outside. Unfortunately, all the chairs were taken up by other so we weren't able to join and relax for a while. We made our way over to the pool to check that area out as well since we hadn't had the chance to earlier in the day. There were two hot tubs and the pool is absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, we didn't take the time to swim at all this trip. I'm going to make it a priority in October.

Coming up - we have breakfast and I attend my first Flower and Garden Festival!! ​

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm so glad you had a wonderful dinner and that the food was up to par! Everything looks delicious!

 

[disneyguy4life]

Awesome TR so far. You lucky couple!! I find it interesting how they have these dress codes but rarely enforce them. I guess they are more guidelines than rules. Still Jiko looks pretty awesome. I stayed at AKL once, years ago. I loved it there. I'll have to try it again and maybe rent some DVC points to stay there.