3 nights at AKV- No Kids, No Parks, No Problem

[TenThousandVolts]

I also posted this report on a different Disney Vacation Club board- but here it is edited for a general audience. Enjoy.

Back in May we decided to plan a 3 night trip for just DH and me, to celebrate his 40th birthday. We called reservations at Disney Vacation Club and booked Saratoga Springs- the only DVC with studios available for our dates. I waitlisted for any studio at Animal Kingdom Villas or Villas at Wilderness Lodge. About a month later we had our AKV standard view studio. I was pleased to discover that at Jambo House- standard view always means a view of the pool. We even saved a few DVC points by switching resorts.

We had a nice early flight and used Magical Express- which I really like- even though we had to wait a while for a bus. It was still probably just as quick as renting a car (and definitely cheaper ). We got to AKV around 11:30 and the minute we stepped into the lobby we knew we were in store for a wonderful visit. The lobby is a full on sensory experience. Everything looks so organic and exotic. There is African music and a spicy sweet aroma that I can’t really describe but it is kind of like cinnamon and curry and firewood. The CM at check-in was a really nice woman from Puerto Rico- she gave us our keys even though our room wasn’t ready. We headed to the Mara for a nice lunch, then off to DTD. We caught a movie and had a few beers at Raglan Road. Then returned to AKV to settle into our room and get ready for dinner.

Our room was gorgeous. I think these are the prettiest rooms in DVC. Nice pool view, comfy bed, very clean… 100% satisfied. We had reservations for Kona but started talking about the new restaurant at the Contemporary, The Wave. We called dining and switched our reservation- I was pleasantly surprised with the last minute availability.

Showered and dressed for dinner and headed out to the elevator. As we approached the railing that over looks the lobby we could hear a frenzy of activity in the lobby- driven by a low and loud drum beat. We looked over the rail to see a parade of about 40 people parading through the lobby each with a percussion instrument. There were lots of kids but some grown-ups, including one notable Grandpa having the time of his life- with a cane in one hand and an African rattle of some kind in another. The parade was led by a woman in full African garb keeping the rythym for her group with a large bongo drum. It was such a festive sight. As we headed out we saw they were putting all the instruments back in the gift shop. I thought it was funny- they borrowed the instruments from the gift shop for the parade.

Up next - The Wave

 

[properlywarnedyebe]

I'm reading!

 

[perriwinkleblue]

Subscribed. Looking forward to more.
A vacation w/o kids...what's THAT like???

 

[TenThousandVolts]

It is like therapy!
Ok- here is a little resort video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0LBfqrSfe8

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Entry 2 - The Wave
We showered and dressed for dinner and headed out to the elevator. As we approached the railing that over looks the lobby we could hear a frenzy of activity in the lobby- driven by a low and loud drum beat. We looked over the rail to see a parade of about 40 people parading through the lobby each with a percussion instrument. There were lots of kids but some grown-ups, including one notable Grandpa having the time of his life- with a cane in one hand and an African rattle of some kind in another. The parade was led by a woman in full African garb keeping the rythym for her group with a large bongo drum. It was such a festive sight. As we headed out we saw they were putting all the instruments back in the gift shop. I thought it was funny- they borrowed the instruments from the gift shop for the parade.

We hopped a bus to the Magic Kingdom- and then monorail to the Contemporary. We got a good look at the new building attached to the Contemporary- it is looking good and is smaller than I realized. I hope it will be DVC! I love the Contemporary. I stayed there as a child and it still smells the same. Such a happy place for me. We got to the Wave and had a drink at the bar while we waited for our table. The Wave is very modern, and the entryway and bar are lit up in a way that reminds me a little bit of the disco era. Not my favorite. I was a little worried. But as we were seated I could see that the dining area, while modern, is upscale, tasteful, and warm.

I was happy to see they still had the beef tenderloin on the menu and we both ordered that. It was delicious. The menu is interesting but doesn't really hit my hot buttons. For example, we would have ordered an appetizer but nothing sounded good. Also the dessert concept is really cool. They have trios of small desserts (like a tasting) but the flavors were not so interesting to me. They also had tasting trios of beer on the menu, which DH enjoyed. Service was great.

After dinner we considered staying for Wishes but were tired from a long day of travel so headed back for some rest. Hit the bus stop at MK and for the 3rd time in a row, waited less than 5 minutes. We noted that we were on a lucky bus streak. Seemed like there was always one waiting or pulling up for us, just when we needed one. We grabbed a bottle of South African Shiraz from the gift shop and headed up to the room.

Before bed we drank our wine and watched a little TV- news about the Olympics... and of course, reports that tropical storm Fay was picking up strength and moving toward central Florida. Drifted off to sleep thinking that getting stuck at AKV due to a storm wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. We slept great and had no plans for day 2 so we pulled the curtains tight and slept in.

Coming up next: Day 2

 

[julezdisney]

Oh I love this TR! I have this sick little fantasy about going to WDW just to stay at a resort & do shopping w/o the parks & w/o kids! People look at you strange when you suggest such a thing.

 

[TenThousandVolts]

This portion of the trip report will probably be the most boring to read, but it was the most lovely to experience. We woke up late and hit Boma for brunch. Very yummy, great atmosphere but of course I ate too much. I should not be trusted around buffets. Then we sat at the pool and read our books for hours. This was heavenly.

At this point I will digress. Skip this paragraph if you like.
If you have kids and have a chance to get away for a few days- DO IT! I can’t tell you the last time I sat and relaxed like I did on this day. It was absolutely therapeutic. My kids are 12, 11, and 5. The 12 and 11 year old were totally sweet and happy for us that we were going to Disney World. The 5 year old is a little different- we didn’t tell him we were going to Disney- just that we were taking a trip to “Florida”. My parents are saints for taking them as they can be a handful- the 2 oldest have ADHD and the youngest has many issues I won’t go into here, but the point is I needed a break and my parents are my heroes for giving it to me.

Back to the report.
The pool at AKV is nice, I think it is themed to look like a watering hole on the Savanna. A part of one of the Savannas backs right up to the pool area and there are a bunch of flamingos that hang out there. They are pretty entertaining. The slide is very tame. I went down the slide and my husband said I went down so slowly that I looked like a piece of luggage on the baggage carousel at the airport. Older kids would definitely get bored with this slide quickly. But it would be wonderful for little ones. Hopefully the new pool at Kidani will offer a more extreme slide.

It was a beautiful day, sunny and 90. Anyway, we decided to get as much sun as possible since the rest of our trip was likely to be a washout. As DH and I were sunning and sipping our drinks, DH said something like, “You know, everybody thinks it is so weird that we came to Disney without the kids but look around. This resort is great- we have our drinks and this awesome pool, great bars & restaurants everywhere, golf courses... We could be anywhere- Miami, Vegas, Cancun… if went to those places people wouldn’t think it was weird. But this is just as good a place to relax as any of those places. There isn't much difference really." Just as he spoke those words- the lifeguard announced that there has been a little accident in the pool and they need to perform an unscheduled cleaning. DH said- “OK, that probably wouldn’t have happened in Cancun or Vegas.”

Up next- dinner at Turf Club, evening at Downtown Disney.

 

[perriwinkleblue]

Ahhh, R&R... Living vicariously through you. It's been 6 years since I've been able read or -close my eyes- by a pool...

 

[TenThousandVolts]

OMG- perriwinkle- I know what you mean. For the first half hour of lying by the pool I kept startling- like I had to check the kids.

and on with the report...
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We had a 6:45 dinner reservation for Turf Club but as the clock ticked past 4:30, 5:00... we realized we were not going to be hungry because of our late breakfast at Boma. So I called dining and changed our reservation to 8:00pm. It is worth noting that we changed all of our reservations once we arrived onsite and didn't really have a problem.

So now that we had some extra time we decided to catch another movie. So off to DTD we went, again waiting less than 5 minutes for a bus. DH and I LOVE movies and rarely get a chance to go in real life, so we really took advantage of the megaplex at DTD. We saw 3 movies in 4 days! Now I will complain about my pet peeve. What is the deal with people who take LITTLE kids into rated R movies??? Ugh, we saw 3 movies and they were all rated R- and in every one there were young kids around ages 5-9- multiple families dragging children into these movies. The movies I saw were Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, and Tropic Thunder. They were all really good but very vulgar and Pineapple and Tropic were VIOLENT to the extreme. Tropic Thunder was more like over-the-top comic violence- but I don't think a young child could distinguish that. I wouldn't let my 13 year old see any of those- much less my 5 year old. I hate to sound so judgemental but really- it is just nuts to take a kid to any of these films. Sorry for the rant- back to the report.

Got out of the movie just in time for our 8:00 Turf Club reservation. We thought about taking the ferry, but we would have to go to Markeplace 1st and wait for another boat- afraid that would take too long we decided just to walk (we ended up running) over to SSR via the West Side pathway. We were a little late for our reservation but they had a table waiting. Very nice atmosphere in the entry/waiting area for Turf Club. Pool table, sports on the TV, cocktails and beers. Very much the country club feel the were going for. Dh got the lamb and I got the tuna (ordered it extra rare and it came out perfectly seared and red and all the way through- just how I like it. DH got the apple pie - yummy. Exceptional service also.

Next we headed back to DTD via the SSR Congress Park walkway. This is a much nicer walk than the West Side path, IMO. Definately seems shorter, and even though you do walk along the busy road, it is only for like 30 seconds. Walking along the water at Congress Park is really pretty.

We hit Raglan Road for the second time on our trip but the was 1st time we had been there at night. The live music is great. Those musicians are SO talented. They play a great mix of Irish music and some more familiar folk/pop with an Irish twist. The dancer, Alex, was amazing. We hung out here for a while and really loved it. We are looking forward to bringing the kids back here next year.

The next installment will cover day 3. This is where the 2 dolphins and the 1 hurricane come into play. I am going to try to get this report done while it is still fresh in my memory.

Thanks for reading!

 

[perriwinkleblue]

Great report. I agree about the movies. I won't be on my soapbox for long but boo to anyone putting their desire to see a movie above the negative impact the movie may have on their child. We can't control everything influencing a kid's world but we should care how they feel and what they may think when they see stuff like that.
Sorry to offend anyone, just MHO.

 

[MomsOf2boys]

Great report! I am glad you got some well deserved R&R! We are heading to the AKL in a few weeks and I planned one day to just enjoy the lounge and relax a bit. My kids are 17 & 12 and will actually go to a park for a few hours without us.

 

[TenThousandVolts]

Day 3: Dolphins in Depth...
Since we were supposed to be at Epcot’s main entrance at 9:30 for Dolphins in Depth, we had an early wake-up call. Whatever happened to the Mickey Mouse wake-up call? They need to get rid of the Stitch recording. That is truly a RUDE awakening.
Anyway we got to Epcot and we gathered along with the other 6 people on our tour. Two nice instructors greeted us and led us through to the backstage area, that leads to the back door of Living Seas. They took us through a few of the public areas and talked about the manatees and some of the attractions. Then we got to see the dolphins. They are beautiful. One of the coolest things we got to see was a research activity where the dolphin would try to pick out a specific shape from a group. They are so smart. After a video about safety and conservation, it was time for the main event. We suited up and waded into the water and under the direction of 2 trainers we approached and petted the dolphins. It was amazing. Then we did some hand signal behaviors with the dolphins. They are very respectful of the dolphins and the dolphins' participation is not required. They want to participate for the touching and the fish they know they will get if they cooperate. This was a really fun and informative tour and I would recommend it for those interested inlearning more about dolphins. If you really want to swim with the dolphins- go to Discovery Cove. After the event they led us back outside to the Epcot entrance- as this tour does not require a ticket to the park, but also doesn’t include park entry. You get a 20% discount if you have Disney Visa- It was about $120 with the discount I think.

After the tour we hopped on the monorail and headed to the Polynesian for lunch at Captain Cooks. Lunch was very good and we both had our very first Dole Whips! We both chose pineapple vanilla swirl- very scrumptious. We considered swimming there also- even though it was drizzly and overcast there were lots of swimmers enjoying the pool. But we decided just to walk around the beach. We watched as staff piled sandbags along the beach and pool deck and for the first time we started to feel nerves about the storm. We decided to head back to AKV and check the weather and get packed for the next day’s departure.

We got back around 4pm and immediately checked the weather which predicted that Fay would start to pickup strength in the early evening and they would likely change Fay’s label from Tropical Storm to Category One Hurricane by sunrise. Also they showed that by morning the eye would likely be due east of Orlando- on the coast. When I went to Southwest.com to check us into Wednesday’s flight my heart sunk when they had a notice on the website that said all Orlando flights had been cancelled for Tuesday due to Fay. Our flight was scheduled for Wednesday, which was supposed to be a lot worse than Tuesday. Next I started to get emails from concerned friends and relatives, and I even got a thoughtful PM from a fellow M.O. friend from the boards. Now I was starting to get a little nervous, as it seemed this storm was big news. It just didn’t seem that bad to me. I went to the balcony to survey the sky and saw that there were tons of people swimming in the pool. Having a ball. It was a happy sight and made me less anxious. It seemed the harder the rain poured down, the more people embraced the storm and defied it to spoil a moment of their vacation. Several kids were swimming in a torrential downpour while their laughing mother took photos from the safe shelter of Mara’s canopy. It was kind of fun.

Well considering the weather we decided not to trek out for dinner so we called to see if we could get into Boma for dinner. Nothing until 9:55, not ideal but we took it. We used the extra time to sit in the hot tub. It’s kind of fun hot-tubbing in a Hurricane, if you have never tried it. We had a snack- Kalamata hummus and chips from the Mara- we used 2 snack credits- 1 for the chips, 1 for the dip- and it was very good. We also enjoyed a little wine and then dressed for dinner. Boma was really good. Much better for dinner than breakfast. That has to be the best buffet on site. My favorite things were the coconut seafood soup, the cousecous and black-eyed peas, curried pasta salad, and the greens with cilantro chile dressing. Oh and the dessert, of course. Zebra domes are good, pineapple upside down cake is great, and the flourless chocolate cake is INSANE. Especially if you drizzle vanilla sauce (meant to go with the bread pudding) on top.
YUM. Again, I should not be let loose at a buffet. I ate WAY too much of everything.

It was nice to be right at the resort after dinner, we headed back for our last night of that peaceful, peaceful sleep. So sad that when we got back to our room, the Magical Express envelope hung on the doorknob like a most unwelcome eviction notice.

up next: departure

 

[angeleigh]

We saw 3 movies in 4 days!



I thought my dd 16 and her friend were the only people who left AKL to go to DTD to watch 3 movies. I was so surprised but they enjoyed it. Too funny. They saw different movies than you though.

 

[TenThousandVolts]

If the last 2 days weren't so rainy we wouldn't have seen so many movies- but we really enjoyed it. I LOVE going to the movies but usually only get to go to childrens flicks.

 

[tammy]

This is so cool. I am going to do this on my next vacation to WDW, maybe this November.

 

[TenThousandVolts]

By the end of Day 3- Tuesday- the storm was really starting to kick-in. We saw on the news that Orlando was getting something like 12 inches of rain in 48 hours. The harder it rained- the more entertaining our pool view became. There were lots of people absolutely reveling in the pool. Kids playing Marco Polo- grown-ups acting like nuts. It was really funny. I said, "I bet this is better than a Savanna View right now." I am sure the animals were hiding under cover somewhere. Only on vacation would people party like it's 1999 in the middle of a hurricane- and the animals, after all, are not on vacation.

The last day we awoke to rain, but got the good news that things at the airport were running normally. We packed up and headed to DTD to buy gifts for the kids and to use our last QS credits.

We chose Puck's Express for lunch and it was the best QS value. Very delicious food. We got a few things for the kids at World of Disney- using our Disney Visa for a discount was nice. Before we knew it - it was time to head back to the resort for Magical Express. One last stop at the Mara to buy some Zebra Domes (using my last snack credit) for DS11 as that was his 1 and only request- and then off to MCO.

Flight went smoothly and we were so glad to get home and get and give hugs to the kids. The cherry on top of the trip was when my parents told us that the kids were perfect angels the whole time.

Here are a few final thoughts/things I learned
What AKV lacks in location it makes up 10 fold in everything else
While I am a firm believer the good bus service is 50% luck- Disney is definately doing something right- we never waited more than 5 minutes
I should not be allowed to visit buffet restaurants
Raglan Road Rocks
I am actually glad that they are re-doing the whole Pleasure Island area. The whole thing just seems really lame.
Best dessert or snack credit: Self-serve Dole Whips at the POLY
Best QS credit use (IMO) Puck Express
Pool View Rooms may provide a different kind of entertaining animal behavior
The Turf Club is my new favorite restaurant
SSR will be my 1st choice resort for my next no-park trip
The Disney Dining Plan can still be a good value
It is a little disappointing I get better discounts with my Disney Visa, than with my DVC membership.
Maybe I got lucky - but the August heat isn't as bad as I expected. (The first 2 days were sunny and 90ish)
Zebra Domes DO NOT travel well

Fay turned out to be pretty inconsequential for the tourists. Unfortunately, I am sure that some locals experienced some flooding and water damage to their homes. Here's wishing a safe storm season to all you Floridians.