Some people ARE worth melting for ….. 40 Disney days – the trip of a lifetime updated October 10

[Flossbolna]

You are moving through your days at WDW in lightening speed!! I am really not sure when I last commented. Loved the Kidani pictures! AKL is still one of my favourites. All the animals just add something so special to the place. And the decor is quite spectacular, too!

I love the kids breakfast with Mickey waffles. This has always been a staple of mine. Does it still come with a side of fruit and a small drink?

 

[franandaj]

The room at Kidani looks great and how lovely that it was ready at 11AM!

I can't wait to hear about the Wanyama Safari. We did it six years ago, I'd love to do it again!

 

[kid-at-heart]

You are staying at one of my favorite resorts, AKL. I always have a hard time deciding between AKL and OKW. Looking forward to reading more about your tour. It is on our "someday" list.

Kate

 

[Pinkocto]

Your Wanyama Safari is starting off differently than ours, we didn't have any snacks before, just dinner afterwards. It was such a special experience though, I'd love to do it again some day.

Yummy 5 Guys lunch. Their fries are so good!

 

[monorailsilver]

Five Guys-the first time my DH and I ate there we did not know...we each ordered a hamburger and fries. Little did we know the hamburger was a double and the fries were way too much!

So now we just order the single and one small fry.

 

[dizneeat]

You are moving through your days at WDW in lightening speed!!

I am trying ...... (and then it took me two days to reply to you )

I love the kids breakfast with Mickey waffles. This has always been a staple of mine. Does it still come with a side of fruit and a small drink?

Somehow it never really sank in that I could just order a kids meal. Just the right light breakfast size.
Tom's came with some granola/yogurt and grapes. I don't think I got fruit with the waffles and we never thought about picking up any drinks as we usually have those in the room. Sorry.

The room at Kidani looks great and how lovely that it was ready at 11AM!

We had not been to AKL in a long time and had not been to Kidani at all, but we really liked the room and even more liked the fact that it was ready before 11am.

I can't wait to hear about the Wanyama Safari. We did it six years ago, I'd love to do it again!

It was an awesome experience. I would happily do it again should we stay at Kidani again.

You are staying at one of my favorite resorts, AKL. I always have a hard time deciding between AKL and OKW. Looking forward to reading more about your tour. It is on our "someday" list.

Kate

I do understand that it is one of your favourite resorts. We fell in love with it too. If only it wasn't so far away from all the other parks. But it was so worth it. And since we had a long visit this time we had enough time to experience several resorts. OKW is still our favourite though, you just cannot beat the space there.

 

[dizneeat]

Your Wanyama Safari is starting off differently than ours, we didn't have any snacks before, just dinner afterwards. It was such a special experience though, I'd love to do it again some day.

Wow! All the reports I had read had started with the snack buffet. I wonder why yours didn't. But it was really something special.

Yummy 5 Guys lunch. Their fries are so good!

Five Guys-the first time my DH and I ate there we did not know...we each ordered a hamburger and fries. Little did we know the hamburger was a double and the fries were way too much![/QUOTE

Sounds like our first experience at Five Guys. I had seen photos, then when we got there we had no idea what to expect and ordered way too much. But this time we did well.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 6, August 08

Welcome to Kidani - Part 3

We criss crossed the Savannahs, always seeing the Lodge or Kidani in the background and there were so many animals out there, you sometimes didn’t know where to look first.

Then, we stopped and our guide told us that we would now be part of a little training. A man volunteered and he was told to honk a horn. It wasn’t very loud and we were told to look in a certain direction.

He honked again and suddenly we saw some animals coming towards us.

We soon realized that there were wild pigs, one really running and the other one leisurely trotting behind it.

They ran to an open gate and were then behind a fence with two different “signs”. We all burst into laughter when we saw one of the guides going to the “signs” where the pigs were already waiting for their treats.

We had heard earlier that the animals were trained to follow certain “commands” and this was the command for the pigs. They knew they would get a treat if they heard the tone and one was obviously really looking forward to an afternoon snack. It didn’t seem that long, but soon enough we had been out on the Savannahs for close to two hours

and we needed to go back. A few minutes later we arrived back at the Lodge, where we climbed off our Safari vehicle right at the front entrance and our wildlife guide led us into the lobby.

To be continued ....​

 

[dizneeat]

Day 6, August 08

Welcome to Kidani - Part 4

A few minutes later we arrived back at the Lodge, where we climbed off our Safari vehicle

right at the front entrance and our wildlife guide led us into the lobby. We were on our way to the elevator, when I heard someone calling my name. I wasn’t quite sure, so I turned around and there was a small group of people calling out to me, asking if I was who I am. Yes, that is me. One of them then explained that she was following my trip reports on the DISboards and introduced her sister. Would I be willing to pose for a photo with them? Sure!!!

(look at the people behind us ......)

So I got into the group, some photos were taken and Jenn promised to PM me on the DIS as our Safari group had moved on and were now looking at us while waiting for the elevator. It was just a short meet, but it made our day extra special.
Thank you for stopping us, Jenn.
It was awesome to meet you all at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
And after waving goodbye we then quickly made our way over to the elevator where we were asked if that had been friends or relatives that had stopped us and the guide was quite surprised when we told him that I write about our trips and Jenn and her sister were some of our readers. Once we got off the elevator we were led into Jiko and taken to a long marble table in the middle of the restaurant. We found our seats and soon we were served a drink. There were non-alcoholic ones, but we went for the

Sunriser, Parrot Bay Rum and Banana Liqueur blended with Orange, Pineapple and Cranberry Juice. It was nice and refreshing, even though you could definitely taste the alcohol. And while we waited for our food we got to know each other a bit better. There was a couple from Britain, who was travelling with family and this was their “night off”, another couple from the North East and a family consisting of three generations. It was fun to hear about their vacation while enjoying the surroundings. And soon we were served an

Amuse Bouche, a piece of white fish served on some African spiced sauce. It was an explosion of flavour in your mouth and we were really looking forward to the things that were about to come. The

Taste of Africe Bread Service was served family style, African inspired Dips and traditional papadum, roosterkoek and house-made flax seed naan. The plates went round the table and everyone took some samples. Next came individual appetizer plates.

There was

Inguday Tibs in Brik, berbere-spiced mushrooms, spinach, cheese in crispy Tunisian filo with green apples and curry vinaigrette, the

Crispy "Bobotie" Roll, beef, boar, buffalo, cucumber raita, green mango atjar, honey-roasted peanuts and some

Jiko Salad, crisp green leaves with heirloom apples, cape gooseberries, Point Reyes Bay blue, candied walnuts, maple-cider vinaigrette. They served wine with it for everyone who wanted to try the perfect wine pairing and since it was white wine, we both happily tried it. Once we all had enjoyed our starters the main course was served.
Not to get ahead of myself, but the mains were the only let down of the Safari, not that they would not have been tasty, but since they were served in larger bowls, which had not been warmed beforehand and then put on the marble table top, the food was cold when it finally landed on the plate after being “sent” around the table. There was Botswana-Style Seswaa Beef Short Rib, Cassava-potato puree, sambal, mushrooms and tamarind demi-glace, Maize-crusted Halibut, vegetables of the moment and tomato-butter sauce and Harissa Chicken, oven roasted chicken, Cinnamon Couscous, and Saffron Broth and Jiko’s Braai Macaroni & Cheese, Chakalaka, house-made Boerewors sausage, Provolone, Fontina, Gruyere, Asiag . I wish they had just asked what everyone wanted or plated it like the starter, as it lost lots of its originality by being served family style.

Again, wine was served with the main course. Dessert was served individually plated again.

We all got samplers, there were

Ghanaian Chocolate and Kenyan Coffee Pot de Crème, almond creme with almond crunch and raspberries,

Granadilla Melktart, passion fruit, orange-cardamom custard, coconut cremeux, and bubble sugar and the

Malva Pudding, amarula creme, wild amarena cherries and toasted meringue. They served some dessert wine with it, but since we cannot bring ourselves to drink those sweet wines we declined. Dessert was really yummy again, but we all were pretty full and quite a bit of it was left over. And while we were still working on dessert everyone was given a small giftbox.

There was some

African chocolate, which had a lot of dried fruit and nuts mixed in and a Wanyama Safari pin in it.

As some of the safari guests had to leave the next day, nobody stayed for much longer after dinner was done and we said our goodbyes as well. On the way out of the resort we stopped at the gift shop and had a look at their merchandise, before we finally headed back to the car. In the meantime it had gotten dark and we were tired anyway, so we drove back the short way to the Pumba parking lot, which by now was pretty full and we needed some time to find a spot to park our car, but then we found ourselves in the elevator going back up to our floor and our room. We sat out on the balcony for a while, talking about our day, but we were tired and soon ended up on the bed, watching a little TV before drifting off to dreamland.

To be continued ....​

 

[rteetz]

Well turns out that I forgot to hit the watch thread button on your TR and I fell way behind. I am caught up now! I can't wait to hear what you do next!

 

[dizneeat]

Well turns out that I forgot to hit the watch thread button on your TR and I fell way behind. I am caught up now! I can't wait to hear what you do next!

Glad you found it again and an update is coming right now.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 7, August 09

Lazy day gone busy - Part 1

We slept in.
By 9am we were up and roaming about, looking out onto the Savannah and watching the animals.
Thankfully we had done some shopping the day before, so we had some in room breakfast before we finally got out the door at around 10.30. Got into the car and drove over to Animal Kingdom. When we arrived we joked about how we would start a new row charging by the cars ahead of us and guess what. We did start a new row, right at the VERY end of the parking lot.
Oh fun, start your day with a hike across the parking lot.
There was the short moment when we thought of going around, but knowing our luck we would have just ended up right around the same area. So we parked, got all our things out of the car and started the long walk to the tram. Needless to say, right when we got to the end of our walk they called for no further boarding and pulled the stop for the tram even further up. We sighed, took a photo of the row we were parked in and walked to the new tram stop. It didn’t take long for a new tram to arrive, but it took quite some time until we pulled away again. But luckily we quickly found ourselves at the entrance of Animal Kingdom with short lines at security and the turnstiles.

It was pretty hot, so we slowly walked up the hill and then the Tree of Life came into view. We had Fastpasses for Everest and we still had a little time to spare, so we walked through the stores and then finally made our way over to Expedition Everest. The standby line was pretty long and we were so happy to see that the FP line was moving nicely. We soon found ourselves in the museum

and then while in the last room before going out onto the platform we were stopped in front of some posters, which we then realized spelled out the names of the explorers in line. I was too slow to catch a photo but it definitely was a fun surprise. Once we were out on the platform Tom peeked how many people were in line for front row and since there was only one couple, he asked for front row, we went to the right and were next in line. The people in front of us walked out, the next train was filled and it was our turn to take those front row seats. Soon we were on our way and as always we enjoyed the view from those seats,

as at the broken track point you can see so much of Walt Disney World.

And then the train went backwards, turned around and off we went.

All too soon we had to get off, but if we took our time we could right get in line for our second FP of the day. So we slowly strolled over to Kilimanjaro Safaris, but not without a little detour over to Kali River Rapids. There was a path we had either missed earlier, or it was something new, but it just walked you over towards Kali and then we had to go back all the way. But a few minutes later we had made it to Harambe, explored the village shops and then it was time to head to the Fastpass entrance of Kilimanjaro Safaris. And while there was quite the standby line, the Fastpass one really walked all the way up to where the lines combine and then we were stuck a little bit. Thankfully for us as this gave me a little time to pick a Fastpass for lateron in the day at Epcot. Needless to say that Frozen ever after and Soarin were a no go, but at least we were able to pick up one for Mission Space. In the meantime at Kilimanjaro Safaris they had a bit of a struggle with one of the cars, people had to get off again and then were walked back to our car. But we were already organized into rows and we soon got on the next safari vehicle and off we went.

There were a lot of animals out and about and we got some really good photos.

The driver then pointed out that the island in the flamingo pond looked just like his boss and only then we realized that even though we had gone by that island so many times, we had never realized it.

And a few minutes later we found ourselves getting off the ride and we decided to just leave the park and go back to Kidani.

To be continued ....​

 

[rteetz]

Ah Animal Kingdom my favorite park!

EE is always a lot of fun and I love that view!

So many great animal pictures!

 

[cinderaimee]

Great pictures! I love that view from the top of Everest - you really can see everything!

What a hassle with the parking, I wonder if the bus would have got you there faster

 

[Gilland18]

I love Animal Kingdom! We were there in March and the white rhino and her baby were standing in the road so we got to sit and watch them for an extended time.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Sorry your park time seems to have put a damper on your day. It started out nice, with relaxing at the resorts, though.

 

[Pinkocto]

I loved the pictures from the Wanyama safari. What a magical experience to be out there so close to the animals. Too cute about the red river hogs running for their treats!!

Dinner looks delicious. Too bad about the cold entrees though. We didn't get a gift box at the end either. We did ours in 2011.

Cute the girls recognized you and wanted a picture

Great day at AK so far. That happened to me with the end of the row parking too. Most unpleasant.

Great pictures on the safari. I love the rhinos!

 

[dizneeat]

Ah Animal Kingdom my favorite park!

EE is always a lot of fun and I love that view!

We love coasters, and a coaster with a story around it and this kind of view is just sublime.

Great pictures! I love that view from the top of Everest - you really can see everything!

The view is just incredible - sometimes I wish they would stop a bit longer at the broken tracks, but the I really love the drop that comes a little later.

What a hassle with the parking, I wonder if the bus would have got you there faster

I know I moan a lot about parking, but to be honest I really do not like the buses and they take a lot longer than driving. Given that you have to wait for the bus to arrive at your pick up point, then it takes some time to load, doesn't drive any faster than a car and you still have to hike to the entrance - no thanks.
We did try the buses a few times this trip and were quite lucky with short times for pick up, but every time we were sure, we would have been faster using a car and we really like to drive in the US - part of the vacation fun.

I love Animal Kingdom! We were there in March and the white rhino and her baby were standing in the road so we got to sit and watch them for an extended time.

These are some of the best moments, when the animals decide to stay in the "road". One time we were "stuck" behind a giraffe, that decided to snack on a tree. There was such a long line of safari vehicles behind us.

Sorry your park time seems to have put a damper on your day.

Ups, seems like I worded something wrong. We had a fun time at AK.

It started out nice, with relaxing at the resorts, though.

Getting up and having the savannah to look out onto always starts your day out right.

 

[dizneeat]

I loved the pictures from the Wanyama safari. What a magical experience to be out there so close to the animals. Too cute about the red river hogs running for their treats!!

It was worth every penny. Such a fun afternoon and evening and thank you for pointing out the red river hogs. I forgot what they were, but it was too funny seeing them running to their "treat point".

Dinner looks delicious. Too bad about the cold entrees though. We didn't get a gift box at the end either. We did ours in 2011.

It was really good apart from the entrees. I really wish they would find a way to serve them already plated and on HOT plates. What a shame you did not get a gift box. Did you at least get a pin? They usually always give out a pin on such occasions.

Cute the girls recognized you and wanted a picture

We felt famous - and guess what, when we left San Diego on the Wonder a mother and daughter team recognized us as well. We even became friends with them and had the best time during the cruise with them.

Great day at AK so far. That happened to me with the end of the row parking too. Most unpleasant

Ah, we seem to always be the ones at the end of the row at AK and DHS. Funnily enough it hasn't happened at the MK or Epcot. YET!!!

Great pictures on the safari. I love the rhinos!

We were SO lucky that day as there were so many animals along the Safari route. We had some times when it was a bit different.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 7, August 09

Lazy day gone busy - Part 2

And a few minutes later we found ourselves getting off the ride and we decided to just leave the park and go back to Kidani.
On the way to the exit

we came across a sweets shop which really was interesting

and then we hit Starbucks for the “usual” drinks, the

Iced Caramel Macchiato and the Iced Black Tea Lemonade. We sipped our drinks while heading towards the exit, where we got on the next tram out to the parking lot and then we took the long hike back to our car. It was boiling inside the car and while we stood beside it we decided that we wanted to get a treat that we had not had yet, even though we had been at Walt Disney World for about a week. We needed to get some Krispy Kreme doughnuts. So off we went to Krispy Kreme and on the way there we passed a KFC and since there is none in our area we decided that we would pick up some for our late lunch. Once we had made it to Krispy Kreme we decided to get a few glazed doughnuts and to get a few of their speciality ones as well.

We did not stop to have some on the spot, but brought it back to the car to have after lunch. Then we turned around, went back to KFC and got ourselves some lunch, which went into the boot of the car as well and back we went to Kidani. During the day it was pretty easy to find parking close to the elevator and we grabbed our lunch and went up to our room. There we got some potato salad and coleslaw out of the fridge, opened a Ceasar salad kit and then put our KFC goodies on the table.

We had bought the Tenders and Wedges for 2,

6 Tenders,

Large Wedges, and two sauces and it was just the perfect amount of food for the two of us. Once we had finished our main course, Tom made some coffee and we shared some of the speciality doughnuts.

While we were having lunch a Florida rain shower had started and we just took a break, downloading our photos and relaxing in front of the telly. At around 5pm we went back down to the car to drive over to the Beach Club for a sweet afternoon treat. The rain had stopped and after a nice short drive we arrived at the resort, parked the car and headed inside and over to Beaches and Cream. We signed in and were told that it would be a short 15 minute wait and we were handed a buzzer and told to roam anywhere within the Beach and Yacht Club. We decided not to walk away too far, so we just walked inside the Yacht Club and found a seat. It did not take too long and our buzzer went off and we went back to Beaches and Cream and were led into the restaurant and seated at one of the small center tables.

Menu in hand we tried to figure out what we wanted to try. The server put some ice-water on the table and we placed our order and pretty soon our treats were delivered.

Tom had decided on trying the

Grilled Banana Bread and Peanut Butter, with Caramelized Bananas, Whipped Cream, and a Scoop of Ice Cream while I wanted to try the

Brownie a la Mode, A gooey, chewy Brownie, Hot Fudge, and Vanilla Ice Cream topped with Whipped Cream, Chocolate Sprinkles, and a Cherry on top. Both dishes were really good, but then they were really sweet as well and we both did our best to make a dent into them, but we failed miserably. We both had to leave around half of our desserts behind. We should have just shared one. Once we were had paid our bill we walked out to Cresent Lake

and enjoyed the stroll along its shore over to the International Gateway. There were Extra Magic Hours at Epcot that day and we still had two and half hours of regular park time. So, when we had entered the park we went to the left and strolled through England and then over to Canada.

There was a geocache to find there and we looked around the gardens,

enjoying it, then went back to the waterfall

and left towards the Chateau Frontenac,

going through the shops and looking at merchandise. Canada discovered we walked toward the front of the park, but we could not walk by the stand that sells the Canadian beer. Tom got himself a

Moosehead and we found a bench nearby to just sit down and people watch while he enjoyed his drink. When we got to Showcase Plaza we stopped by the shops and there were some really fun posters in there, that caught our eye.

To be continued ....​