1st Trip (of many!) as Mr. & Mrs.--the TR-- UPDATE 9/9: Life Update--We're Moving!!

[stacikristine]

Ahh..I love the excitement of checking in and just getting there.

I love walking across that bridge in the AKL lobby. Such a beautiful Resort. Your room was nice too! What a great view!

Isn't it the greatest?! You just feel like you're going to explode! That bridge is so awesome...we only walked across it a few times though, since our room was on the other side of the lobby. Thanks--we loved our view!!

I'm so happy to see all the pictures of your hotel and room. Sadly, we never once made it over to Jambo house to see the lobby I've been curious about the differences in Jambo and Kidani. I love your guys' headboard/wall decor - very romantic Still very intrigued and can't wait for more

You have to visit Jambo house next time. We were really surprised when we visited Kidani--they're very different! I'll post more about that later, though. Isn't the decor great?! We loved it!!

I love your trip report - you did so good with pictures and details. Great job!!! I hope to be able to remember to grab the camera for all those details. You've inspired me! I'm anxiously awaiting more!!!

Thanks so much! It's been fun writing it so far! Yes--you'll be happy you took tons of pics! I'll hopefully write more in the next few days!

 

[haleofafamily]

Thanks so much! I just couldn't be happier with AKL. We loved the atmosphere! YES!!! Do a TR--and let me know what the link is! I really don't know how we're going to top this trip... I know! Me too! I ran into 3 DISers, but there were so many more I wanted to run into! I'm glad yall had such a great trip though. Oh, wow! Where is your family from? (If you don't want to tell the city, just what part) I love it here. It's so friendly and laid-back. Granted, I would like to move back to the OKC area. The small town thing isn't really my favorite.

I have family all over OK. I grew up in Harrah (very small town) then OKC. Now my parents live in Norman, my sister and her family in Del City and a brother in Del City. My dad, brother and brother-in-law teach and coach at a Christian school in Del City. My other brother just started as youth pastor at a church near Tulsa. My grandparents (well my grandpa) live in a small town in the panhandle called Beaver.

We live in the Kansas City area and I must say I love it here. I would just like to live closer to all my family.

 

[Roxychica7]

OH MY GOSH!! Check out the awesome luck you two had! Awesome view AND your room was ready right away! So incredibly beautiful...I hope you two saw lots of animals. I would totally sip my coffee in the morning on that balcony (love the details on the chair too!) and unwind. The lobby, yes...beautiful, you should see it in december with the GIGANTIC Christmas tree! Oooh, can't wait to read about your 1st day in the parks!!

 

[pipermae]

Just joined in! Your room looks awesome! I can't wait to read more!

 

[jenny105]

Wow! AKL looks absolutely beautiful! I've never seen a DME bus like that!! Can't wait to read more.

 

[stacikristine]

OH MY GOSH!! Check out the awesome luck you two had! Awesome view AND your room was ready right away! So incredibly beautiful...I hope you two saw lots of animals. I would totally sip my coffee in the morning on that balcony (love the details on the chair too!) and unwind. The lobby, yes...beautiful, you should see it in december with the GIGANTIC Christmas tree! Oooh, can't wait to read about your 1st day in the parks!!

I KNOW! Wasn't it incredible luck?! We did see a lot. Yeah, that's what we thought too...you'll have to see how the morning balcony worked out! Oh my goodness, I would LOVE to see it in December! I bet it's just incredible. I'll hopefully update again soon!

Just joined in! Your room looks awesome! I can't wait to read more!

Hi! Thanks so much for reading! It was fantastic!

Wow! AKL looks absolutely beautiful! I've never seen a DME bus like that!! Can't wait to read more.

It was SOOO great! We loved it. Yeah, I'd never seen one like that either. But that's what we got!

 

[jenjolt]

WOW Staci!! What a great trip report so far!! You guys just look like you were having a blast!! I have to say I love the look of AKL!!! I would love to eventually buy DVC and this last trip really settled it for me that is the way to go!! I'm not sure what resort I want to buy in but I definitely need to check out AKL a little bit more!!!!! Love your pictures of the room!! I'm glad you were able to get such a great deal!!!

Savannah view...score for you guys!! I'm so excited I can't wait to hear about your two's adventures when you actually get into the parks!!!

 

[bballdiva]

What a beautiful room, I had no idea they were so nice

 

[stacikristine]

WOW Staci!! What a great trip report so far!! You guys just look like you were having a blast!! I have to say I love the look of AKL!!! I would love to eventually buy DVC and this last trip really settled it for me that is the way to go!! I'm not sure what resort I want to buy in but I definitely need to check out AKL a little bit more!!!!! Love your pictures of the room!! I'm glad you were able to get such a great deal!!!

Savannah view...score for you guys!! I'm so excited I can't wait to hear about your two's adventures when you actually get into the parks!!!

Thanks Jen! Oh my goodness, we had such a great time! You really need to go visit there. I was our favorite of all the places we visited by far. It's just so different--you can't experience that outside Disney World! Congrats on deciding to buy DVC!!! That is incredible! I'm sure you'll take full advantage of it living that close! I'm soooo thankful for the great deal we got! I'm about to post about our fun time exploring right now, and then hopefully we'll get into the parks before too long!

What a beautiful room, I had no idea they were so nice

Thank you! Yes, it was a really, really nice room. I don't know what a regular room looked like, but this was a studio...

 

[stacikristine]

Last time, I had just finished showing you all our incredible room and the view from our balcony.


Aaahh. Love it.



After we relaxed in our room for .78 seconds, we realized we were too excited and we wanted to explore the resort and grab some lunch.


Since we were on the 5th floor, we had a really good view of the lobby:

YAY! We love our resort!!

This little sitting area is at the opposite hall’s entrance

Oh, my. I could look at these light fixtures all day! Be honest, do you think they’d be too much for my house?

We went on a little walk across the bridge (there’s a bridge on the 5th floor that goes across the lobby)

And took some pictures of the huge window

We hopped on the elevator and headed down to the 1st floor to find some food to fill our hungry belly. When we got to the 1st floor, we saw Boma to our left and Jiko to our right. But where was the Mara? We finally asked someone and they told us it was outside and to the left.


On our way we had to stop and take a couple of pictures

We found the Mara without a problem and chose our meals. I love how they have the pictures of all of the meals featured on the screens so you can actually see what you’re ordering. Our initial plan was to split a meal here, but we were both really hungry. We decided we could either pay OOP sometime later for a meal or split one that night at DTD.


I ended up getting the Turkey Ciabatta with fries, a Water, and Apples and Caramel for dessert.

Michael got the Chicken Pita with fries, a Root Beer, and Cheesecake for dessert.

YUM! We both loved our meals! I decided to save some of my apples and caramel for later since I was stuffed.


Oh, and before I forget, we saw “the airport family” at lunch! It seems like we weren’t the only ones who were hungry after our plane ride from Dallas.


These murals lined all of the Mara’s walls. I wish I would have gotten a shot of the huge “tree” in the middle of the room. We really liked the murals, though.

Continued

 

[stacikristine]

Continued from Previous



When we left the Mara, we decided to look around outside some more.


Here’s the little walkway to the pool area

The main building from the poolside—doesn’t it just look like you’re in a different place entirely?! We loved that it was such a get-away!

Near the pool was a flamingo area. These were really pretty (I’ve always been so fascinated by flamingos!) but the area smelled like a zoo.


We wandered a little farther and saw the cute kids playground. The kids that were there looked like they were having a lot of fun! Oh—and we saw “the airport family” again! But this time we walked away quickly so it didn’t look like we were stalking them or something.

Here’s what the balconies look like from the outside looking in

We went back upstairs to drop off my apples, and look what was waiting for us

Our luggage!! That was quick.


We took a couple of balcony shots (I don’t know if you can see the birds and animals or not. I should have zoomed in more)

Then we headed back to the lobby for some more pictures


From the savanna/porch entrance looking back up at the lobby

Aren’t these gorgeous?!

This African fun statue is in the lobby as well. I must admit it’s a little faded from being so close to the big window. It was still really neat, though!

They have a little fireplace inside (off of the lobby) that looks very cozy (even though we never tried it out)

After we took some more lobby pictures, we headed outside to the fire pit area on the porch.

The flowers were GORGEOUS!

Since it was a very, very chilly day , we decided to warm ourselves by the fire

This is one of the pillars outside the lobby. I wish this picture did it justice. It’s truly magnificent!

Continued

 

[stacikristine]

Continued from Previous




Next, we headed to the savanna observation areas (still outside the back of the lobby)


See the animals?

There was a CM visiting with a man when we got there, so we looked around for a while and then visited with him after the man left. His name is Jason, and he’s from Zimbabwe. Let me tell you, meeting Jason was one of the highlights of our trip! This guy is awesome. We talked about all kinds of things, and loved learning about his culture and how he likes Disney and all kinds of things. The most awesome thing for us, though, was that we had a special connection with him because of our beliefs. It was awesome knowing that things like that bind people together—even over continents!


Jason took this pic of us

And then I took this of Michael and him (they had a guitar connection!)

After saying goodbye to our new friend, we headed to the gift shop.

The hats were great!! But I think people were probably wondering if we were complete nuts. (No pun intended)

Here’s his little boy face

I’m ready for the safari!

Shy little tot

Ok. The next time I make this face, please stop me!

Ooohhh… Tough guy!

These mixed media artworks were gorgeous! If only we had an extra few hundred dollars lying around…

We ended up just buying some postcards to send to friends and family and decided we’d come back for souvenirs later.


I loved this lion/Simba behind the check-out counter!

On our way out, we saw these incredible rocks. Oh, my word. They were gorgeous!

On our way back to our room, we decided to look down some of the other hallways. These were taken from two different look-outs.


Savanna view

And Pool view

Even though they’re both gorgeous, we’re really glad we had a Savanna view. It just seemed much more peaceful.



When we got back to our room, look who were waiting for us!

There were FIVE giraffes outside our balcony! I think I could have photographed them all day long! Giraffes are such beautiful creatures. I love how each one is different. They’re just stunning.


After we finished watching the giraffes and calling our parents/siblings, we left our little African Studio and headed downstairs to catch the bus to DownTown Disney. And let me say here that I don’t think we ever entered the lobby or walked down the 5th floor from the elevators to our room without gawking at how gorgeous everything is!




Up Next:
DownTown Disney & The Best Counter Service in Disney World

 

[BippityBoo]

OH MY!! Your TR has definately done AKL justice

The pictures are just beautiful. How special to have giraffes outside of your room!? The kids would love to stay there. I think we may have to re-think not staying there while they are young. How did you find the location? Too far from the parks? That was the only negative I had heard. Everything else looks fabulous.

Your pics of the hats cracked me up! Too funny!

Can't wait to see where the best CS is in Disney (especially since we got Quick Service Dining!) Is it Earl or WGP....hummm??

 

[jenny105]

Wow! Gorgeous pictures! AKL looks amazing. I'll have to stay there sometime. Almost on this past trip but changed to BCV at last minute. Considering I liked WL more than BCV, I would have probably LOVED AKL. I hope I'm making sense with all these abbreviations.

I love the pictures of you guys in all the different hats!

 

[tinkgurl]

Did you know that there's a hidden Mickey on the other pillar? It's hard to find though, but once you do..it's hard to miss it!

We loved The Mara! B/F and I are definately going back there in March.

The Resort is seriously breathtaking.

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Oh my goodness! I so wanna stay at AKL now! It's absolutely GORGEOUS!

Mmm, your meals from the Mara look and sound delicious! I'll have to give it a try on our trip coming up!

So cool that yall got to meet Jason! He seems awesome!

 

[jenjolt]

Okay Staci, I'm totally sold!! Yes Ma'am I am so going to have to look into purchasing at AKL...what gorgeous pictures!!! You and Michael must have had the best time every staying there!! The food at the Mara just looks amazing!!! I'm so sad that I forgot to get Zebra Domes, but no worries I am making up for that in January!!!!

Love the giraffe pictures!!!

Can't wait for more!!

 

[heaven2dc]

I absolutely LOVE giraffes! They are such gentle elegant creatures Your pics are awesome - loved the hats

 

[Roxychica7]

Look at that dedication to the TR! Loving these updates! We explored outside the AKL although it was pretty cold in december, I really liked the giraffee drawings on the wall, kinda looks like cave drawings. And the lights! Ah, love the lights on the lower floor that are kind of metal looking, it's a box shape with moons and stars on it? Can't remember if it's by Jiko or Boma. And then the orange glass looking light by the elevator. It's just SO amazing how many details there are to look at! Dbf and I LOVE the Lion King.

And the food pics! Good start! I love the pictures too, although they make Dbf want to change his mind back and forth and I just end up ordering on my own trying to wait for his decision

I'll tell you what though, you had some awesome timing so far! Quick bus ride, quick check in, rooms ready and the luggage is waiting! I'll have to go back and see when you landed, although I think you two just had some awesome luck...hope it continues!

 

[LilAnn]

I can't say enough how awesome your updates are with all the pictures! It really makes me want to either visit AKL again or stay there one day. It must have been amazing to look out the window and just see giraffes hanging out. Sigh. By the way, super cute outfit! Loving the jewelry too!

You guys are too cute with you faces and the hats! Such the newlyweds!