bajanswife
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2004
- Messages
- 1,084
Cast and intro:
D, K, M and I are old friends (women) in our mid-30s. We were all born and raised in Barbados, but M moved to Altamonte Springs (north of Orlando) several years ago.
Prior to this trip, M had been to all the parks a few times, I had been to all the parks just once with DH (before kids), D had only been to Epcot for half a day with M a few years ago, and K had never been at all (in fact, she had never been to the U.S. shes always stuck to Europe!!!).
D, K and M are unmarried and childless, but I have a DH and 3 kids under age 5 at home, so this was a real break for me! I was sad at times that my kids couldnt be with me to see certain things, but I know Ill be taking them in a few years when theyre old enough to really appreciate and remember the trip. I was happy to have this chance to get to know the parks better too, so that when I finally take the kids I wont be a newbie!
Because D and K were newbies, and not likely to return in a hurry (if ever), we geared the trip more towards them. We only wanted to devote 3 days to Disney, and since D, K and M werent too bothered about going to MGM, we skipped that park entirely.
Day 1: Oct 12, arrival day
I was flying in from DC, having been visiting with other friends there for the weekend. I met up with D and K in Miami, and we all flew to Orlando together. M picked us up and we hit Walmart right away to stock up on a few park provisions! M had several ponchos from previous trips her family had made, so we only needed sunscreen, bug repellent, and various other little things that are more expensive to buy in Barbados (and less available in terms of variety).
We arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge around 6 p.m., where we were to spend our first night (the room for a night was my treat). We had a savanna view room overlooking the Uzima (I think) giraffes, zebras and various horned animals such as antelope were on our savanna. Our room was fine - dark, yes, but not overly so. The view was fabulous! (for reference, we were in 2509 not too near the elevators, but not all the way to the end either).
Dinner at Boma was wonderful! Some of the foods were a little too exotic for me to try, but there was enough that was only mildly exotic, and I ended up eating way too much! There was a chicken and corn soup that was just amazing I would have gone back for more if I hadnt wanted to try so many other things! The prime rib was tender and very yummy better than the steak or chicken. The others had salmon and pronounced it good. The dessert well, what can I say? I put about 6 things on my plate, and tried valiantly to eat all, but just couldnt do it! My fave was the chocolate mousse cup better than the zebra dome, which was also good.
We loved the resort, no complaints. Well . we did find it a bit confusing at times, and we got lost trying to find Boma, but part of that was because we were running late for our PS and didnt slow down to figure out the map in enough detail! After dinner we had a nice chat with a CM from Africa, who was explaining what the savannas are like there. He said he feels quite at home at AKL. Another CM came by and handed us some night vision glasses to view the animals. K and I attempted to swim, but just as we got to the pool there was a downpour! K went swimming anyway, but the downpour made it all too cold for my liking, and as I felt like I was getting a cold anyway, I ran back inside.
Back in our rooms we discussed strategy for the next day at AK, and fell into bed.
Day 2: Oct 13, Animal Kingdom
We woke to 2 giraffes, 2 zebras and a cluster of antelope-like animals right in front of our balcony lovely! This was our early morning view (sorry it's so dark - not much light at that hour):
We took our time getting ready we were on vacation after all! Grabbed a quick bite at Mara - bit overpriced, but the food was fine. We checked out and stored our suitcases (not wanting to leave them all day in Ms car at AK). We finally arrived at AK around 9.20 or so.
M needed to go to Guest Services to exchange her Play 4 Days voucher for the actual pass. Something wasnt working right and it took 10 15 minutes to process. We were getting impatient, but then the CM made it all worthwhile by giving us 3 immediate fastpasses that could be used by all 4 of us each time! This saved us a lot of time getting on the safari (since by the time we got down there the wait time was 25 mins), and got us on Kali twice in a row at the end of the day. Below is K (red) and D (yellow) all decked out and prepared for Kali:
We spent a lot of time walking the trails, checking out the animals and just enjoying the scenery. We did ride PW and Dinosaur wait times 5 mins. We also saw FOTLK and ITTBAB both good shows, FOTLK in particular because I just love that movie and sang along to all the songs! We also saw Tarzan cute show, but not quite as fun as the other 2. We found Kali fun but too short, and would have been disappointed if wed had to wait too long to get on. We took ponchos, and were glad we did M and I especially, cause both times we rode it we got drenched! We had stored our backpacks in a locker at the main gate before heading to Asia at the end of the day, and only had our cameras and a couple of small things in a plastic bag to carry on Kali.
We left the park a little after 5 and headed back to AKL for our luggage and valuables (passports etc., which we had put in a safe deposit box at the front desk). We changed clothes in the bathrooms by the pool. We had planned to go to DTD this evening, but we had run out of energy and still needed to eat, pass through Publix and drive 40 mins up the road to Ms apt. So we stopped at Fridays at Crossroads for a light dinner, and headed home.
D, K, M and I are old friends (women) in our mid-30s. We were all born and raised in Barbados, but M moved to Altamonte Springs (north of Orlando) several years ago.
Prior to this trip, M had been to all the parks a few times, I had been to all the parks just once with DH (before kids), D had only been to Epcot for half a day with M a few years ago, and K had never been at all (in fact, she had never been to the U.S. shes always stuck to Europe!!!).
D, K and M are unmarried and childless, but I have a DH and 3 kids under age 5 at home, so this was a real break for me! I was sad at times that my kids couldnt be with me to see certain things, but I know Ill be taking them in a few years when theyre old enough to really appreciate and remember the trip. I was happy to have this chance to get to know the parks better too, so that when I finally take the kids I wont be a newbie!
Because D and K were newbies, and not likely to return in a hurry (if ever), we geared the trip more towards them. We only wanted to devote 3 days to Disney, and since D, K and M werent too bothered about going to MGM, we skipped that park entirely.
Day 1: Oct 12, arrival day
I was flying in from DC, having been visiting with other friends there for the weekend. I met up with D and K in Miami, and we all flew to Orlando together. M picked us up and we hit Walmart right away to stock up on a few park provisions! M had several ponchos from previous trips her family had made, so we only needed sunscreen, bug repellent, and various other little things that are more expensive to buy in Barbados (and less available in terms of variety).
We arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge around 6 p.m., where we were to spend our first night (the room for a night was my treat). We had a savanna view room overlooking the Uzima (I think) giraffes, zebras and various horned animals such as antelope were on our savanna. Our room was fine - dark, yes, but not overly so. The view was fabulous! (for reference, we were in 2509 not too near the elevators, but not all the way to the end either).
Dinner at Boma was wonderful! Some of the foods were a little too exotic for me to try, but there was enough that was only mildly exotic, and I ended up eating way too much! There was a chicken and corn soup that was just amazing I would have gone back for more if I hadnt wanted to try so many other things! The prime rib was tender and very yummy better than the steak or chicken. The others had salmon and pronounced it good. The dessert well, what can I say? I put about 6 things on my plate, and tried valiantly to eat all, but just couldnt do it! My fave was the chocolate mousse cup better than the zebra dome, which was also good.
We loved the resort, no complaints. Well . we did find it a bit confusing at times, and we got lost trying to find Boma, but part of that was because we were running late for our PS and didnt slow down to figure out the map in enough detail! After dinner we had a nice chat with a CM from Africa, who was explaining what the savannas are like there. He said he feels quite at home at AKL. Another CM came by and handed us some night vision glasses to view the animals. K and I attempted to swim, but just as we got to the pool there was a downpour! K went swimming anyway, but the downpour made it all too cold for my liking, and as I felt like I was getting a cold anyway, I ran back inside.
Back in our rooms we discussed strategy for the next day at AK, and fell into bed.
Day 2: Oct 13, Animal Kingdom
We woke to 2 giraffes, 2 zebras and a cluster of antelope-like animals right in front of our balcony lovely! This was our early morning view (sorry it's so dark - not much light at that hour):
We took our time getting ready we were on vacation after all! Grabbed a quick bite at Mara - bit overpriced, but the food was fine. We checked out and stored our suitcases (not wanting to leave them all day in Ms car at AK). We finally arrived at AK around 9.20 or so.
M needed to go to Guest Services to exchange her Play 4 Days voucher for the actual pass. Something wasnt working right and it took 10 15 minutes to process. We were getting impatient, but then the CM made it all worthwhile by giving us 3 immediate fastpasses that could be used by all 4 of us each time! This saved us a lot of time getting on the safari (since by the time we got down there the wait time was 25 mins), and got us on Kali twice in a row at the end of the day. Below is K (red) and D (yellow) all decked out and prepared for Kali:
We spent a lot of time walking the trails, checking out the animals and just enjoying the scenery. We did ride PW and Dinosaur wait times 5 mins. We also saw FOTLK and ITTBAB both good shows, FOTLK in particular because I just love that movie and sang along to all the songs! We also saw Tarzan cute show, but not quite as fun as the other 2. We found Kali fun but too short, and would have been disappointed if wed had to wait too long to get on. We took ponchos, and were glad we did M and I especially, cause both times we rode it we got drenched! We had stored our backpacks in a locker at the main gate before heading to Asia at the end of the day, and only had our cameras and a couple of small things in a plastic bag to carry on Kali.
We left the park a little after 5 and headed back to AKL for our luggage and valuables (passports etc., which we had put in a safe deposit box at the front desk). We changed clothes in the bathrooms by the pool. We had planned to go to DTD this evening, but we had run out of energy and still needed to eat, pass through Publix and drive 40 mins up the road to Ms apt. So we stopped at Fridays at Crossroads for a light dinner, and headed home.
