Who we are:
Me (Fiona) 41 – Commando and Food Planner and Holiday Booker.
DH (Steve) 41 – He really does not like the cheese of Disney! Has got rather keen on golf since our last visit.
DD1 (Kate) 17 – I am ashamed to say that she wants to know if there is a hairdryer everywhere we are staying…shame on her!!
DD2 (Laura) 14 – The Fantasmic Laura of old.
DD3 (Sally) 10 – she will out park the lot of us…… and needs the least sleep.
Pre Trip Report Saturday 16th December 2006 - Monday 1st January 2007
Day 1 Sat 16th Dec Are we nearly there?
Day 2 Sunday 17th December 2006
Considering we were all awake at 5am, it was pathetic only just making rope drop at AK for 9am. I am on a mission to not antagonise the troops. Either Sally or Laura was dispatched to fill our two refillable mugs with tea and coffee, and buy milk. Sad I know but we took cereal with us as we wouldn’t be seeing a supermarket for a fair few days, and it fills the suitcase nicely. As the next 6 days are Disney Dining Plan (DDP) days breakfasts were planned to be snacks in room, with a very early Counter Service (CS) lunch and our main Table Service (TS) meal in the evening, and a snack for each person to “spend” as they wished each day.
I strolled along the Sassagoula riverbank back to the check in desk, and re checked us. I gave up 5 room key cards and obtained 5 more which were all room keys, had our dining plan credits on threm, and also our 10 day Magic Your Way Base tickets, but only Steve and I could charge to our room. Very important little credit cards these were too. I think we even did a bit of unpacking.
Soon we were on the lovely Disney bus, we love Disney buses. We only had one awful journey the 6 days we were there. Weather was just perfect, and the Christmas Tree outside AK was all rustic and tribal, which I love.
Through the bag checks and turnstiles and onto the bridge for rope drop. Through Discovery Island and Asia, and turn right for Expedition Everest, picked up some Fast Passes and onto Dino Land where we ride Dinosaur with no wait, the ride seemed much better than I remembered, far less jerky and very dark and spooky! Next was Primeval Whirl, a new one for us as it was being built in 2002. Not very impressed, but fun. Sally desperately wanted to ride TriceraTop Spin. Kate nobly kept her company. There seemed to be some delay on their exit, Sally was asking a question. A bit worried that something was wrong but then they both ran out grinning with Dream Fastpass lanyards round their necks. Sally claimed the “magical moment” as hers as no one would have got them without her influence, and the pair of them were very smug all day. They didn’t know about the “Year of a Million Dreams” as usually we don’t get lucky. What a pain we weren’t all there! They only used two of them though, crowds were very manageable.
We are now carefully placed for our first ever Everest Expedition, I think the Fastpass times had expired but I had read that almost never was the end time enforced, and it wasn’t. Still a twenty minute queue, which was our whole holiday philosophy, we only joined queues of 20-30 minutes maximum, fastpassed to the max and “smelt the roses”, but I got laughed at for that last phrase. I was accused of being a soft commando. Everest was tremendous, and deserved it’s “best of the best” for thrills and scenery combined, a great addition to the park.
Everyone was extremely hungry by now, so we got 2 more Fastpasses for Everest (with lanyard ones 4 out of 5 of us could ride a second time later, time around 3pm) and onto the Flame Tree BBQ in Discovery Island. The girls and I sorted food out whilst Steve went for 3 Kilimanjaro Safari FPs for after lunch (and use the 2 Dream ones!!) Steve was our noble Fast Pass Dasher the whole holiday, he does have his uses.
We used four CS credits for lunch at 11.30am 2 x Ribs, 1 x ½ a rotisserie chicken and 1 x pulled beef sandwich (all came with sides of baked beans and corn on the cob), 2 x Key Lime Pie, 2 x chocolate Cake and a snack credit was used for onion rings. Drinks were usually 1 x Diet Coke, 1 X Coke, 1 X Pink Lemonade and 1 x Tea and always 1 x Bud at lunch, and extra waters, so I won’t bore you with drinks again! Pink lemonade does become a feature of the holiday though…this was a first try and Laura was hooked. Food was superb, eating area was lovely, temperature just right and the birds not too peckish. I’m ashamed to say we scoffed the lot. I loved the “home made” beans, and probably ate two portions as no one else was that fussed, I was popular the next day!
We went on Safari with full stomachs, and saw lots of animals, very enjoyable. We walked lunch off round the Pangini Trail and Sally took lots of photos of gorilla’s bottoms (butts, bums!) Next was the Lion King show, we had to abandon seeing Minnie as we may have missed the show, but rest assured Sally did get to see Mickey and Minnie later that week. The Lion King was tremendous, those monkeys get cheekier I’m sure. “It’s Tough to be a Bug” cannot be missed, convinced Sally she would enjoy this, she hated it when she was 5. I’m glad my memory isn’t too brilliant, or perhaps subtle changes are made over the years to fool me, but many rides seemed better or slightly different than before.
Kali River Rapids was a walk on, and we all managed to only get partially soaked!! Then back up for the remaining Everest FP use, I was so saintlike and offered to sit it out as we only had the four FPs, bother, never did get to ride again so I don't feel so noble now!! My knee has to hold me up for the next two weeks, and was very sore by now, even though I was taking double painkiller medication. I hasten to add I wasn’t ODing, I take anti inflamatories every day but try and keep the dose as low as possible at home, a Disney holiday is worth taking more for! I also used a TENS machine on park days, so what with the odd Margarita I was buzzing!
We walk out of the park slowly at 3.45, we will be back to see parades later in the holiday. The children, for their snacks, picked up ice creams, the Toll House Cookie ones were firm favourites. They enjoyed agonising over their snack credit “spend” each day more than the meals I think.
Bus back to POR. We had had a towel made into a swan as a toothbrush holder in our room. Swimming costumes and over to Ol’ Man Island, we all love the pools at Disney, a very good reason to stay on site as there is so much to see all over the resort/s. Lovely swimming and hot tub weather, I think I was in a hot tub most days…the relief on my old knackered knee was bliss, and it kept going surprisingly well. I nearly got evicted for sipping my cup of tea in the refillable mug whilst in the hot tub, for goodness sake there was no open glass or alcohol involved!! Something to do with hot tubs, warm weather, no work, a combination of exercise and rest and very flat terrain. Just what the doctor ordered.
We roused ourselves and changed and found the car to get to Animal Kingdom Lodge for our 7pm reservation at Boma. We visited here on the last day of our holiday in 2002 and loved it. Unfortunately, we had a half hour wait as we checked in 5 minutes late as we had missed the AKL turn and had to do a huge loop to get back. We couldn’t remember the roads very well! By the time we were seated, Sally was feeling very tired and quite ill. She managed to eat some soup and salad and perked up a bit. The food was delicious, but as soon as we had had a couple of mouthfuls we all felt very full, and didn’t do the feast justice. Obviously we had to use 5 TS credits here, as we all count as adults it wasn’t great value, but we are not worrying about that on the dining plan….Steve was starting to go down with Disney/Man flu. a guy in a white chef's outfit stops by the table and is worried about Sally fast asleep on the table, he asked if our meal was OK, we reassured him it was and that it was jet lag causing her tiredness. Next thing we know, about ten minutes later, the same guy reappears with a huge bowl of profiterole type dessert, with lashings of melted drizzled chocolate all over. It turns out this guy was head chef, we were highly honoured and Sally has yet another "magical moment". She perked up enough to try the desert, we just manage to finish it all between us, we had already partaken of Boma's luscious desserts. It was gorgeous. Boma is still great, just not advisable first night when you have arrived very very late the night before!! We didn’t stop for a drink or to look round, a great shame as AKL is beautiful.
Back “home” to bed around 9.30pm, POR is so peaceful, but those air con units are so noisy…..the only thing I don’t like about POR!!
Tomorrow: EPCOT and Le Cellier.
Day 3 Mon 18th Dec EPCOT and Le Cellier
Edited to add, I have now remembered the orders of FP use for Everest and totally missed out Kali River Rapids, so the report has changed a bit from yesterday!!
Me (Fiona) 41 – Commando and Food Planner and Holiday Booker.
DH (Steve) 41 – He really does not like the cheese of Disney! Has got rather keen on golf since our last visit.
DD1 (Kate) 17 – I am ashamed to say that she wants to know if there is a hairdryer everywhere we are staying…shame on her!!
DD2 (Laura) 14 – The Fantasmic Laura of old.
DD3 (Sally) 10 – she will out park the lot of us…… and needs the least sleep.
Pre Trip Report Saturday 16th December 2006 - Monday 1st January 2007
Day 1 Sat 16th Dec Are we nearly there?
Day 2 Sunday 17th December 2006
Considering we were all awake at 5am, it was pathetic only just making rope drop at AK for 9am. I am on a mission to not antagonise the troops. Either Sally or Laura was dispatched to fill our two refillable mugs with tea and coffee, and buy milk. Sad I know but we took cereal with us as we wouldn’t be seeing a supermarket for a fair few days, and it fills the suitcase nicely. As the next 6 days are Disney Dining Plan (DDP) days breakfasts were planned to be snacks in room, with a very early Counter Service (CS) lunch and our main Table Service (TS) meal in the evening, and a snack for each person to “spend” as they wished each day.
I strolled along the Sassagoula riverbank back to the check in desk, and re checked us. I gave up 5 room key cards and obtained 5 more which were all room keys, had our dining plan credits on threm, and also our 10 day Magic Your Way Base tickets, but only Steve and I could charge to our room. Very important little credit cards these were too. I think we even did a bit of unpacking.
Soon we were on the lovely Disney bus, we love Disney buses. We only had one awful journey the 6 days we were there. Weather was just perfect, and the Christmas Tree outside AK was all rustic and tribal, which I love.
Through the bag checks and turnstiles and onto the bridge for rope drop. Through Discovery Island and Asia, and turn right for Expedition Everest, picked up some Fast Passes and onto Dino Land where we ride Dinosaur with no wait, the ride seemed much better than I remembered, far less jerky and very dark and spooky! Next was Primeval Whirl, a new one for us as it was being built in 2002. Not very impressed, but fun. Sally desperately wanted to ride TriceraTop Spin. Kate nobly kept her company. There seemed to be some delay on their exit, Sally was asking a question. A bit worried that something was wrong but then they both ran out grinning with Dream Fastpass lanyards round their necks. Sally claimed the “magical moment” as hers as no one would have got them without her influence, and the pair of them were very smug all day. They didn’t know about the “Year of a Million Dreams” as usually we don’t get lucky. What a pain we weren’t all there! They only used two of them though, crowds were very manageable.
We are now carefully placed for our first ever Everest Expedition, I think the Fastpass times had expired but I had read that almost never was the end time enforced, and it wasn’t. Still a twenty minute queue, which was our whole holiday philosophy, we only joined queues of 20-30 minutes maximum, fastpassed to the max and “smelt the roses”, but I got laughed at for that last phrase. I was accused of being a soft commando. Everest was tremendous, and deserved it’s “best of the best” for thrills and scenery combined, a great addition to the park.
Everyone was extremely hungry by now, so we got 2 more Fastpasses for Everest (with lanyard ones 4 out of 5 of us could ride a second time later, time around 3pm) and onto the Flame Tree BBQ in Discovery Island. The girls and I sorted food out whilst Steve went for 3 Kilimanjaro Safari FPs for after lunch (and use the 2 Dream ones!!) Steve was our noble Fast Pass Dasher the whole holiday, he does have his uses.
We used four CS credits for lunch at 11.30am 2 x Ribs, 1 x ½ a rotisserie chicken and 1 x pulled beef sandwich (all came with sides of baked beans and corn on the cob), 2 x Key Lime Pie, 2 x chocolate Cake and a snack credit was used for onion rings. Drinks were usually 1 x Diet Coke, 1 X Coke, 1 X Pink Lemonade and 1 x Tea and always 1 x Bud at lunch, and extra waters, so I won’t bore you with drinks again! Pink lemonade does become a feature of the holiday though…this was a first try and Laura was hooked. Food was superb, eating area was lovely, temperature just right and the birds not too peckish. I’m ashamed to say we scoffed the lot. I loved the “home made” beans, and probably ate two portions as no one else was that fussed, I was popular the next day!
We went on Safari with full stomachs, and saw lots of animals, very enjoyable. We walked lunch off round the Pangini Trail and Sally took lots of photos of gorilla’s bottoms (butts, bums!) Next was the Lion King show, we had to abandon seeing Minnie as we may have missed the show, but rest assured Sally did get to see Mickey and Minnie later that week. The Lion King was tremendous, those monkeys get cheekier I’m sure. “It’s Tough to be a Bug” cannot be missed, convinced Sally she would enjoy this, she hated it when she was 5. I’m glad my memory isn’t too brilliant, or perhaps subtle changes are made over the years to fool me, but many rides seemed better or slightly different than before.
Kali River Rapids was a walk on, and we all managed to only get partially soaked!! Then back up for the remaining Everest FP use, I was so saintlike and offered to sit it out as we only had the four FPs, bother, never did get to ride again so I don't feel so noble now!! My knee has to hold me up for the next two weeks, and was very sore by now, even though I was taking double painkiller medication. I hasten to add I wasn’t ODing, I take anti inflamatories every day but try and keep the dose as low as possible at home, a Disney holiday is worth taking more for! I also used a TENS machine on park days, so what with the odd Margarita I was buzzing!
We walk out of the park slowly at 3.45, we will be back to see parades later in the holiday. The children, for their snacks, picked up ice creams, the Toll House Cookie ones were firm favourites. They enjoyed agonising over their snack credit “spend” each day more than the meals I think.
Bus back to POR. We had had a towel made into a swan as a toothbrush holder in our room. Swimming costumes and over to Ol’ Man Island, we all love the pools at Disney, a very good reason to stay on site as there is so much to see all over the resort/s. Lovely swimming and hot tub weather, I think I was in a hot tub most days…the relief on my old knackered knee was bliss, and it kept going surprisingly well. I nearly got evicted for sipping my cup of tea in the refillable mug whilst in the hot tub, for goodness sake there was no open glass or alcohol involved!! Something to do with hot tubs, warm weather, no work, a combination of exercise and rest and very flat terrain. Just what the doctor ordered.
We roused ourselves and changed and found the car to get to Animal Kingdom Lodge for our 7pm reservation at Boma. We visited here on the last day of our holiday in 2002 and loved it. Unfortunately, we had a half hour wait as we checked in 5 minutes late as we had missed the AKL turn and had to do a huge loop to get back. We couldn’t remember the roads very well! By the time we were seated, Sally was feeling very tired and quite ill. She managed to eat some soup and salad and perked up a bit. The food was delicious, but as soon as we had had a couple of mouthfuls we all felt very full, and didn’t do the feast justice. Obviously we had to use 5 TS credits here, as we all count as adults it wasn’t great value, but we are not worrying about that on the dining plan….Steve was starting to go down with Disney/Man flu. a guy in a white chef's outfit stops by the table and is worried about Sally fast asleep on the table, he asked if our meal was OK, we reassured him it was and that it was jet lag causing her tiredness. Next thing we know, about ten minutes later, the same guy reappears with a huge bowl of profiterole type dessert, with lashings of melted drizzled chocolate all over. It turns out this guy was head chef, we were highly honoured and Sally has yet another "magical moment". She perked up enough to try the desert, we just manage to finish it all between us, we had already partaken of Boma's luscious desserts. It was gorgeous. Boma is still great, just not advisable first night when you have arrived very very late the night before!! We didn’t stop for a drink or to look round, a great shame as AKL is beautiful.
Back “home” to bed around 9.30pm, POR is so peaceful, but those air con units are so noisy…..the only thing I don’t like about POR!!
Tomorrow: EPCOT and Le Cellier.
Day 3 Mon 18th Dec EPCOT and Le Cellier
Edited to add, I have now remembered the orders of FP use for Everest and totally missed out Kali River Rapids, so the report has changed a bit from yesterday!!
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