Pudge Controls the Weather-A Land and Sea TR Apr 6-Apr 15 ( Last Day new 5/26)

[MeLaNie9]

Subbing!!
Taking my first cruise ever in August without DH, just me and the boys (DS7 and DS5)!!! 5 night cruise and then 4 nights at POR afterwards.
Very excited to hear all about the Dream, especially since it would seem from your dates that it might have been crowded (spring breaks)? And I expect early Aug to be crowded on board and in the parks.

 

[jecskc]

What a beautiful view!!!

I love all the photos of all the little room/lobby details. We always take the time to observe all these little things too, it makes the experience so much better!

I love all of the little details as well and tried to document them with photos. It really does make a difference.

I love AKL. It's such a beautiful resort. The room is beautiful. I actually haven't seen the rooms in Kidani yet.

We loved our room and the shower was amazing. So much room in there. It felt so luxurious. Everything about it was so comfortable.

Subbing!!
Taking my first cruise ever in August without DH, just me and the boys (DS7 and DS5)!!! 5 night cruise and then 4 nights at POR afterwards.
Very excited to hear all about the Dream, especially since it would seem from your dates that it might have been crowded (spring breaks)? And I expect early Aug to be crowded on board and in the parks.

It was pretty crowded but the crowds never bothered us. We felt like we got to do most everything we wanted. With wise use of fast pass, we didn't have to wait longer than 20 minutes for anything, really.

The Dream was amazing !! You will love it !! This was our first cruise ever as well and it won't be our last. Bummer that your DH can't go with you. My DH and I really enjoyed our time together while the kids were in their clubs. I didn't feel like the boat was super crowded. I mean there are things you have to wait for, but I didn't feel like we had to wait very long. If you go in expecting it to be crowded, then you will be fine.

The difference between April and August is the weather. It was beautiful weather when we went. August in Florida can be pretty brutal. Make rope drop a priority and head back to the resort after lunch to swim and you will be fine.

 

[Pixie Princess]

I LOVE this "Lion King" tile. I love that you took pics of the light fixtures too! I'm obsessed with light fixtures. I took several pictures of the ones in La Hacienda de San Angel (or whatever the long form name is..we just call it La Ha) when we went there for dinner. Which by the way was FABULOUS! Highly recommend. The food was so much better than San Angel Inn.

Didn't you love the light fixtures at Boma? In typing this, I realize the light fixtures are so not the point at these places, so I'll lay off. Can't wait to read how y'all fared at Boma!! On the last trip we were in line at KS, and got to talking about TS places to with some lovely gentlemen from MA. Boma was brought up in the conversation, and oh man! I just about used my hand dandy Mobile Magic to make a reservation for the night before we left. Mmmmm...I'm drooling as I write this. Better stop before I short out my computer.

 

[jecskc]

I LOVE this "Lion King" tile. I love that you took pics of the light fixtures too! I'm obsessed with light fixtures. I took several pictures of the ones in La Hacienda de San Angel (or whatever the long form name is..we just call it La Ha) when we went there for dinner. Which by the way was FABULOUS! Highly recommend. The food was so much better than San Angel Inn.

Didn't you love the light fixtures at Boma? In typing this, I realize the light fixtures are so not the point at these places, so I'll lay off. Can't wait to read how y'all fared at Boma!! On the last trip we were in line at KS, and got to talking about TS places to with some lovely gentlemen from MA. Boma was brought up in the conversation, and oh man! I just about used my hand dandy Mobile Magic to make a reservation for the night before we left. Mmmmm...I'm drooling as I write this. Better stop before I short out my computer.

We loved that tile, too, and the kids noticed the curtains as well. I will post pics of that later. Yes all of the light fixtures are awesome. I am not sure I get the giant egg in the lamp idea, though. It seems so Jurassic Park to me. But overall the detail was amazing down to the fossil imprints in the pavement.

La Ha ..... is that the new one on the water ?? Is it TS or CS ?? I know there was one of them I wanted to go to, but I wasn't sure the kids would eat much there. That pretty much determines where we eat.

Yeah ..... Boma ..... you will read about that later. Let's just say, we don't get the hype. Isn't it funny how there are places some people LOVE that you want to love right back, but don't? I think it really comes down to your mood at the time and what you are really hungry for. I do love that WDW gives you so many choices. On our Thanksgiving trip, we plan to revisit our favorites. In two more days we find out of we snagged the BLT room that we want so bad. Fingers crossed !!

 

[kyirish25]

The room and view are beautiful!

 

[jecskc]

The room and view are beautiful!

We loved it. It wasn't a view of the awesome turquoise Caribbean waters, but it was a good view and lots of animals when we returned from the parks.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

subscribing, we looked at Kidani village last October while at Jambo house and it looked beautiful. Can't wait for the rest of your TR. A 6.5 hour drive sounds a nightmare IMHO but at least I suppose you don't have a flight to contend with :

 

[jecskc]

subscribing, we looked at Kidani village last October while at Jambo house and it looked beautiful. Can't wait for the rest of your TR. A 6.5 hour drive sounds a nightmare IMHO but at least I suppose you don't have a flight to contend with :

It really was beautiful. Of course all of the DVC villas are awesome. We have stayed at 4 DVC resorts and haven't been disappointed a bit in any of them.

6.5 hours is nothing when you have a DVD player and a stack of Disney movies. Also, saving $800 or more in flight costs is a huge motivator.

Thanks for stopping by !! More updates coming up !!

 

[jecskc]

Day 1 – Part Four

We got all of our things unpacked and headed over the The Mara at Jambo House for lunch.

The amazing Jambo House lobby.

DH and I are big on splitting meals. I feel like you can get ONE more day out of your dining plan if you split meals. They give you way too much food anyway and the kids can never eat all of their food, so we all have plenty to eat.

DH and I shared the chicken pita

We really liked this. It was really good. For dessert we had zebra domes

I had heard great things about these. People say they are heavenly. I have been wanting to try them to see if they were as good as everyone says they are. And I just have to say that they just weren’t that great. At least to me anyway. I was kinda sad about it, but they just weren’t my thing. I had one, DH had the rest.

The kids had chicken nuggets and french fries.

And a Mickey bar for dessert

Both of these were good and the kids enjoyed them.

After that, we were off to Animal Kingdom for the rest of the day !!

Some more photos on the way out to the car.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Your lunch at Mara looks great! That's a smart idea about splitting meals, Disney really does give you a lot of food!

 

[jecskc]

Day 1 – Part Five

Animal Kingdom !!

Loved this vine growing on everything. I am pretty sure it is bougainvillea.

The weather was in the 80’s but it was breezy so it felt great to us. Of course since we got to the park about 2:30 PM, on a weekend day during Spring Break, the park was packed. But we didn’t care. We headed straight to the safari for fast passes. Photos along the way ….

Then we headed over to Expedition Everest.

When we got there, it was down and DS got all pouty about it. I told that they would get it going, we would just do something else while we waited. So we went over to Dinoland.

DS and I decided to wait in line for Primeval Whirl. We waited about 20 minutes, so not too bad.

 

[jecskc]

Your lunch at Mara looks great! That's a smart idea about splitting meals, Disney really does give you a lot of food!

We do it for both Table Service and Counter service and we find that we get plenty to eat, plus you add extra meals at the end of the week because you have credits left over. Sometimes we are scrambling to use up credits at the end of the trip. We would waste so much food if we didn't split meals. Plus, I am fat enough already. Only one restaurant told us we couldn't do it and I was not happy. But I will tell you about that later.

 

[jecskc]

Day 1 – Part 5 (con’t)

DD got her face painted

She rode Triceratop Spin

After that we headed back over to Expedition Everest to see if it was up and running. And it was !! The wait was about an hour, so DS and I hopped in the single rider line.

We were happy that it was fixed.

I don’t mind riding single rider. You meet the nicest people in the single rider line. I rode with a guy from Australia who was very interesting and friendly. Plus, we only waited about 10-15 minutes as opposed to the hour wait.

While we rode EE, DH and DD went to get FP’s for Kali River Rapids. We met up with them and headed over to find a spot for the parade. I just love the Animal Kingdom parade and its arty floats. I feel like it is really original and imaginative.

 

[Pixie Princess]

We loved that tile, too, and the kids noticed the curtains as well. I will post pics of that later. Yes all of the light fixtures are awesome. I am not sure I get the giant egg in the lamp idea, though. It seems so Jurassic Park to me. But overall the detail was amazing down to the fossil imprints in the pavement.

La Ha ..... is that the new one on the water ?? Is it TS or CS ?? I know there was one of them I wanted to go to, but I wasn't sure the kids would eat much there. That pretty much determines where we eat.

Yeah ..... Boma ..... you will read about that later. Let's just say, we don't get the hype. Isn't it funny how there are places some people LOVE that you want to love right back, but don't? I think it really comes down to your mood at the time and what you are really hungry for. I do love that WDW gives you so many choices. On our Thanksgiving trip, we plan to revisit our favorites. In two more days we find out of we snagged the BLT room that we want so bad. Fingers crossed !!

Yes. La Ha is the new one on the water. We got a seafood dish to share, and it was soooo good. My pickypants liked it.

I totally understand the "not getting the hype" thing. I feel that way about a couple of places myself; Columbia Harbor House and 50s Prime Time. Really don't get the love affair with the latter. At least CHH can be a quiet retreat.

Got my fingers crossed for you for BLT!!!

 

[jecskc]

Yes. La Ha is the new one on the water. We got a seafood dish to share, and it was soooo good. My pickypants liked it.

I totally understand the "not getting the hype" thing. I feel that way about a couple of places myself; Columbia Harbor House and 50s Prime Time. Really don't get the love affair with the latter. At least CHH can be a quiet retreat.

Got my fingers crossed for you for BLT!!!

CHH is a nice quiet retreat if you snag a spot upstairs. We didn't get over there this trip, but we did eat at 50's Prime Time and LOVED it. I can't wait to start making reservations for our Thanksgiving trip. Are you guys going during that time? We would so love to see you.

I know you have your June trip coming up. Who is going on that one ??

Also, is you SIL feeling better ?? I hope so !!

 

[LissaW16]

Hey Y'all !!

I will post an update later. But here's a little video clip for you that explains the name of the trip report.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNj1XTnXc_M

The kids watched this movie in the car on the way to WDW and we all laughed out loud at this clip. The weather on our trip was so amazing and beautiful that it was a topic of conversation a good bit. Every time the subject came up and was discussed, one of the kids would say ... "Pudge controls the weather".

Pudge was good to us on our trip for sure

The weather WAS amazing - although Pudge gave us a scare on that last Saturday, trying to blow the Dream away from the dock at CC. Good thing Captain Gus was so awesome, even Pudge couldn't keep us from our last day at the beach! Can't wait to read more! ~Melissa

 

[jecskc]

The weather WAS amazing - although Pudge gave us a scare on that last Saturday, trying to blow the Dream away from the dock at CC. Good thing Captain Gus was so awesome, even Pudge couldn't keep us from our last day at the beach! Can't wait to read more! ~Melissa

He did do an awesome job getting us in there. Even though it was windy that last day, it was still beautiful. For a 10 day vacation (for us) we had incredible weather. Pudge was our friend.

 

[jecskc]

Day 1 – Part Six

After the parade, it was time for our safari.

Rhino

Hippo

Alligators

Baobab tree

Giraffes !!

Elephant

More Rhinos

Waterfall

Afterwards we cruised some gift shops because the kids had gift cards they were dying to spend. Oh, and I have to tell you that I got this Disney Gift Card app on my iPhone. Coolest app ever !! You just put in your card number and it tells you how much is on it, how much you have spent and when. We had four gift cards with us so it was great having it to keep track of all of our gift card money. It updated almost instantly. I was totally geeked out by it.

And DH found a good use for a pirate hook.

Ew ….. honey !!

DS saw some Kangaroos.

I didn’t know they had those. You couldn’t really see them very well and it was a shame they were tucked away. Maybe there was a reason for that.

We headed back towards Dinoland to see what the wait for Dinosaur was.

Earlier in the day it was over an hour. Just two hours later, after the parade, it was walk-on.

 

[jecskc]

Day 1 – Part Seven

After riding Dinosaur we trekked back over to Asia and along the way, we saw this sign.

Lovely Beer. Hahahaha.

So we had one.

And it was lovely.

We wasted time in the gift shop over by Kali River Rapids because it wasn’t quite time for our Kali River Rapids fast passes.

DS got a necklace which he really likes.

And DD got one, too.

Then it was time to ride Kali and since we had a dinner reservation, I didn’t want to ride because I always get SOAKING wet.

DS didn’t want to ride it either and we had decided this earlier in the day, so I brought a change of clothes for DH and DD. And of course they got soaked and of course they had to change. And then we headed over to

for dinner. I have always wanted to eat here. It always smelled so good when we would walk by, so I was really excited to try it.

We got seated right away.

And right away we ordered a drink

I had a Yak Attack - Mango Daiquiri, Bacardi Light Rum, and Wildberry Flavors

It was fruity and yummy.

DH ordered a Bonzai Blast. And I can’t find anywhere on the internet what was in it, but it tasted like a really good lemonade.

In comparing the two, I liked DH’S drink better because it was more tangy and less sweet than mine. But mine was very enjoyable, too.

For an appetizer, we ordered the

Wok-Fried Green Beans - Battered green beans with sweet Thai chili sauce. And here is a photo I remembered to take halfway through eating them.

We all chowed down on these things. They were soooo good !!! And the dipping sauce was kinda sweet with a little bit of a kick to it. They didn’t last long.

DS ordered the

Lo Mein - Lo mein noodles, carrots, cabbage, green onions and bean sprouts. Served with chicken or with Shrimp. He asked the waiter if he could get it with beef and the waiter said no problem.

I wasn’t sure he would like this, but he really did. It was a huge portion and we all had some and it really was very good.

DD had gotten some pressed pennies in the lobby so according to her, I had to get a photo.

She ordered Chicken Fingers and French Fries.

And ate every bit. She said the fries were super good.

DH and I decided to split the

Crispy Mahi Mahi - Filet of mahi mahi, Japanese bread crumbs, Cantonese sweet and sour sauce, jasmine rice and stir-fried veggies.

It come out all split up for us on separate plates, so this is HALF a portion. And it was very good. And we ate every bit.

For dessert, DS ordered the

Sorbet - Enjoy a taste of each flavor: mango, lemon and raspberry.

He liked the mango best, but I liked the lemon. DH liked the raspberry. This was a lite dessert, not heavy at all.

DH and I shared

Fried Wontons - Skewers of fresh pineapple and cream cheese wontons with vanilla ice cream and honey vanilla drizzle.

Oh my goodness, these were soooo good. Everyone has raved about them on the DIS and I am right there with everyone. Absolutley heavenly.

DD got a Kid’s sundae. Just ice cream and chocolate syrup. I didn’t get a photo.

We really enjoyed our dinner at Yak and Yeti and would definitely go back. Very enjoyable meal.

After dinner we headed out of he park which was open until 8 PM that night. At this point it was about 7:40 PM and it was still pretty crowded. On the way out of the park, we stopped at one of the gift shops and the kids traded some vinylmations.

And DD got a Pluto pillow pet. I’m not sure I got a photo.

After our super early morning, we were really tired and were ready to get to bed. We headed back to get a shower and the kids were out by 9:30 PM. DH and I weren’t far behind.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Sounds like you guys had a great AK day!!! I never knew they had kangaroos there either! (But I'm far from an AK expert! )

That Disney gift card app sounds so cool!!! I wish I knew about that in January!!

Your meal at Y&Y looks great!