A Halloween Adventure in Autism (11/7) Prayer Request for Catie (p.129)

[mousescrapper]

Hi Kathy...

I just noticed your dreaming ticker is gone.... sorry to hear no trips are in the immeditate future...but you know you will be back, and I know someday we'll be there togehter...


Margaret also saw your sad little Minnie and she said

"awww poor Minnie"



J~

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

I'll second what Margaret said "awwww poor Minnie"...she really does look sad...

Happy New Year Kathy to you and your family!... I'm glad to see you're posting again...

That, however, did not diminish the little thrill I felt passing through those doors for the first time, knowing that we had an entire week of Disney fun ahead of us.

I love this line...it gave me tingles...I know that feeling too...

I think your photos are absolutely lovely and it is your perogative as the author to take the artistic license to insert whatever photos you feel represent the moment you are describing whenever you'd like...

That bed looks amazing...I can just imagine snuggling into it...

Billy's looking pretty happy at the moment...I hope he doesn't get too sick too soon....

 

[jordanyosh]

Peep fest June 2012........just throwing a date out there....

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

Hon, you won't have long to wait! The party was the very next night!

Hey, congrats on your weight loss!! Wow!!


Kathy

Thank you for the congratulations. I haven't made it to 50 pounds yet, that is my *wish* (not sure if I am using that image correctly)

I have lost 30 pounds and am staying on track I even lost 2 pounds over Christmas. I highly recommend Weight Watchers their program is wonderful and it is a life style change which is really what I needed!

Can't wait for the next update.

 

[moparop]

Sounds like a great first night to me! That room really is amazing!!

 

[ireland_nicole]

WooHoo an update!! I love Kidani, holy cow, it just looks amazing; I wonder if I could (ahem) entice DH into DVC next trip...

 

[kate_wdw]

Kathy, your last installment really captures the feeling of excitement that comes with the start of vacation I'm really looking forward to future installments.

 

[thegreggersmom]

I KNOW there's a way to subscribe without posting a lame message like this one, but darned if I can't find it this morning. Anyway, loving your TR as always, Kathy. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Ah! What a very nice way to start the trip. Isn't that bed at Kidani awesome?! Loved it.

I like your idea of a lazy day on the first day too.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I'm joining in too if you don't mind! Our adopted son is newly diagnosed with Autism so I'm really interested in reading along about your vacation if you don't mind. Sounds like a hectic start but at least you made it!!!

 

[KathyRN137]

Hello all! I've read all your comments and I started to respond to some of them the other day and then got side-tracked.

I'm going to post the next chapter and then I've got to get the kids to bed... I'll be back later to respond!


Kathy

 

[jordanyosh]

Hello all! I've read all your comments and I started to respond to some of them the other day and then got side-tracked.

I'm going to post the next chapter and then I've got to get the kids to bed... I'll be back later to respond!


Kathy

okie dokie

 

[DisMomAmy]

Sounds good to me!

 

[KathyRN137]

Chapter Six: A Little Bit ‘O Lazy and a Little Bit ‘O Crazy!


Saturday Morning
October 31, 2009
Animal Kingdom Lodge/Kidani Village





Is there anything sweeter than waking up in a Disney resort on the first morning of your vacation and realizing that you have an entire week of family fun ahead of you? Well, perhaps there are some things sweeter, but it definitely ranks way, way up there on the list of “Things That Give You the Warm Fuzzies!” Especially when you wake up in Disney to the sound of a child’s laughter.


That magical sound was coming from the next room and it was coming from our youngest. I know that I’ve talked about Billy’s laugh before, but it’s just about the jolliest laugh I’ve ever heard. All of his teachers have commented on it, as well as the aides, the bus driver, and just about anyone who interacts with him throughout the day. You just cannot hear his chuckles and chortles without breaking into a great big smile of your own!


We had left the door between the master bedroom and the living room where the three children were sleeping just in case someone (Billy) woke during the night and got scared. We had also brought several nightlights from home and had placed them in the bathrooms, the kitchen area, and by his sleeper-chair. (I highly recommend bringing nightlights if you have kids; resort rooms are quite dark at night when the drapes are closed.) I called to Billy and he came sauntering into the bedroom buck-naked! Again, I had to laugh.

“Billy, where are your pajamas?” I asked

“He’s wet!” was the gleeful reply.

Ugh… it was Day One of vacation and I already had laundry to do! Despite wearing his pull-up, he had wet himself through to his pajamas. Oh well… not his fault, really. He did drink an entire bottle of water just before bed. Fortunately, I had anticipated the possibility of “leaks” and had padded his mattress with waterproof pads that we had brought from home. How convenient it was to simply strip his bed and toss the sheets and pads into the washer right there in the villa! I sometimes think that alone made it well worth our investment in DVC.


While Ed and the girls continued to snore, I hustled my little naked boy into the master bathroom and into the enormous walk-in shower. He chuckled as I adjusted the water temperature and set him up with his washcloth and soap. He can wash himself, but needs me to “prompt” him from time to time, otherwise he’d wash his chest and tummy and nothing else! While he finished I brushed my teeth and washed my face. We had decided the night before that we would go to the pool right after our Boma breakfast, so we would just do a quick wash-up and take our showers after we were done swimming.


I can’t believe that out of all the pictures I took there is none of that amazing master bathroom. Both bathrooms in my house could fit inside it! You walk in and there is a large Jacuzzi tub to your left and a closet to your right. As you continue on there is a huge glass-walled shower beyond the Jacuzzi and the door to a private commode on your right. The vanity with double sinks and a huge mirror take up the far wall. To say that we had plenty of elbowroom would be a gross understatement. In fact, it felt almost a little too big! The bathroom walls were decorated with some fun accent tiles that depict characters from the Lion King parading across the savanna at sunset.


After I helped Billy to dress, we climbed up onto the big bed and snuggled with Ed. Billy was raring to go to the Magic Kingdom for the Halloween party and kept wishing us “Happy Halloween!” over and over and talking about dressing up like a pirate. Our Boma ADR was for 10:05 and it was already close to 9:30, so even though we were enjoying our morning snuggle I got up to try and wake the girls. It was not an easy task. Remember, both Tricia and her cousin are thirteen now… getting up early was not going to be fun for them, especially after being up so late the night before. I pulled open the drapes and as the daylight poured into the room they both groaned and covered their heads. I turned and pulled open the sliding glass door that lead to the balcony overlooking the Sunset Savanna. Perhaps the thought of seeing some wildlife would be an enticement for them. Unfortunately, the majority of animals did not seem to be out just yet. There was a small herd of angoli cattle lying under some trees, but they weren’t doing too much. We did seem, however, to be positioned with a lovely view.


Again, kindly disregard the incorrect dates from the camera!

The balcony isn't very deep, but it stretches the length of both the master BR and the living room.

(If you look hard, you can see the cattle to the left in the photo.)​

The air felt warm already; it would be a good day for the pool. I went back inside and made another attempt to roust the girls, but received only muttered promises that they would get up in “just a minute.” Boy, was I ever glad that I had planned a relaxed morning… we sure were going to have one whether I wanted it or not! I moved into the bedroom and reported our status to Ed.

He replied with, “Aw, let them sleep a little more. We had a long day yesterday.”

It was true. The girls had been up early, put in a full day at school, been stuck in traffic for a couple of hours with no dinner and had then endured a three-hour flight to Orlando that was excessively noisy and smelly. No wonder they were wiped out.

“See if you can push the Boma breakfast back a little,” Ed suggested, stretching out across the pillows and flicking on the television with the remote.

Hmmm. Seems the girls weren’t the only ones who didn’t feel like moving! I called Disney Dining and was able to change our ressie from 10:05 to 10:55, which helped but we still had to catch the internal bus over to Jambo House from Kidani and I didn’t want to get stuck if it turned out that we had a long wait at the bus stop. I finished getting dressed and went into the kitchen to put water on for tea. I could wait another hour for food, but not for my caffeine.


Oh drat! I had remembered the sugar packets but forgot to pack some teabags! I made a mental note to stop at the gift shop on the way back from breakfast and proceeded to wake the girls more forcibly. They began to argue (in fun) about who would get up first to wash up and who would get to stay in bed for a few more minutes. They hit upon an arrangement that they would use for the rest of the trip: they would take turns each morning and whichever of them stayed in bed longer would have to make up the sleeper sofa. That settled, Catie got up and ambled into the girls’ bathroom while Tricia rolled over sleepily. Suddenly, she remembered the animals.


“Mom,” she called out, “are there any animals out there? I told her about the cattle and she quickly got up and went out on the balcony to see. She called to Catie and the two of them strained to see whatever it was they were doing… which wasn’t a whole lot of anything!

Eventually I had to move the girls along in the getting ready process, assuring them that there would most likely be more animals to see when we returned from breakfast. That Boma buffet was waiting! Tricia reluctantly made up the sleeper sofa and went into the bathroom to wash her face and get dressed.

Unlike me, the girls did have the foresight to take a couple of pix of their bathroom.

After we were all “neat and pretty” we left the villa and walked down the hallway to the elevator. I took some pictures of the art displays and, of course, the lovely light fixtures we encountered along the way:

Wall:

Wall:

Ceiling:

Little display alcoves filled with artwork were everywhere:

The artwork was amazing... it was like we were staying in some sort of exclusive African art museum!


There were few guests in the lobby so Ed took the opportunity to stop at the concierge desk. You see a box of teabags wasn’t the only thing I forgot to pack. I forgot to pack my phone charger. That little factoid had been discovered as we were preparing for bed the night before. “No problem!” I said. “I’ll just borrow Tricia’s, her charger fits my phone, too.” Well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, it seems. My daughter had also neglected to pack her phone charger! I pointedly ignored my husband’s mutterings about “ditsy blondes” and remarked that we couldn’t have been the first people to forget a phone charger and we would probably be able to borrow one from concierge. Ed spoke to the CM at the desk and he disappeared momentarily.


Billy gravitated toward the little TV area to watch cartoons and the girls I really wanted to check out the lobby, but resisted the urge and put off exploring until later. Ed returned with bad news: they did have chargers, but none fit my phone. (It’s an older, low-tech model.) The CM suggested that we try the desk at Jambo House. Disappointed, I followed Ed and the kids out the front door and to the temporary bus stop located immediately outside.


Several workers were busy constructing what would be the larger, permanent bus stop off to the right of the main entrance. We plopped ourselves down on benches and waited for the first bus to come along. All buses stop first at Kidani Village and then go on to Jambo House with the exception of the Downtown Disney bus, which travels in a reverse pattern. That’s the bus we would need to take on the way back. Another family came out to the bus stop dressed in their Halloween costumes. The kids were very young… I wondered if they were going to the Magic Kingdom for the party or to Downtown Disney for trick-or-treating. I never got the chance to find out; the first bus that came along was for Epcot. We got on board and it was a quick trip to Jambo House.


Along the way I fiddled with the digital voice recorder that I had bought along so I could begin making notes for my report. Unfortunately, as I discovered later on, I did not turn it on correctly and was not recording as I had thought. The first notes that did record were the ones that I recorded after breakfast. Oh well… I should’ve practiced with the thing a bit more before the trip! Between the cell phone and the voice recorder, I was not doing very well with my techno gadgets. I hadn’t practiced a whole lot with my new digital camera, either, so please forgive some of my blurry pix!

The kids were in a great mood and even Ed seemed relaxed and ready for fun. I will definitely plan to “ease into” our Disney vacations from now on.


We arrived at Jambo House and had a moderate walk (I thought) to the front door. It was really getting warm now as we approached the eleven o’clock hour and I found myself feeling quite thirsty for a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Ed, on the other hand, was longing for coffee. Lucky for him they served pressed pots of “real” coffee at Boma!


We walked in the front doors and were greeted with a welcome swoosh of conditioned air. Upon seeing the lobby the girls both experienced what Disney Imagineers love to call the “eyes up, jaws down” effect. It really was stunning.

We found the stairs that led to the lower level where the restaurant was located. Ed told us to go on ahead while he looked into borrowing a phone charger. The staircase practically dumps you right into the restaurant when you reach the bottom.

I checked us in and got our buzzer-thingy. (Ah! The first buzzer-thingy of the trip!) There were three hostess/greeter/seater CMs at the podium who were from Africa. They were very friendly and all-smiles. One brought out a drum and began to play while the other two danced and sang. Billy loves music… he jumped up and began to dance with them! The CMs loved it and we all loved watching him have fun.

Presently, Ed came along with the same bad news: the concierge at Jambo House did not have a charger to fit my phone, either. He had stopped by the gift shop to look for a replacement battery and came up empty there, as well. We really needed to have more than one phone that week… what would we do if we needed to split up? Ed decided to call his brother and have him stop by our house to pick up my charger and then mail it to us at the resort. Until then, I would do my best to conserve my battery.


My phone wasn’t the only thing that needed charging. It was 11:00 and we were all pretty hungry! Our buzzer lit up and the CMs finished their dance. One of them led us to our table… the very same table where we had been seated for our breakfast the first time we visited Boma in 2005! What a coincidence for such a large restaurant!


Our server came over and we ordered our beverages: coffee, tea, O.J., and milk. Then we took turns going to the buffet.


From AllEars.net:


Boma is a family restaurant serving breakfast and dinner. It will capture the essence of vibrant life in the African marketplace. This family-fun buffet restaurant provides guests the ability to savor the African experience, which has multicultural influences. The restaurant showcases an exhibit kitchen, wood-burning grill and rotisserie.

This is an all you can eat experience, but unlike traditional buffet lines, where you start at one end and work your way across...Boma offers "pods". Each pod has a selection of food and generally a chef nearby to answer questions.

Morning offerings may include fresh fruit, African pastries, omelets, pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausage, breakfast potatoes, cereal, quinoa, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, pap and wors, and corn beef bobotie.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Breakfast features over 45 different items!

Menu Items Always Subject to Change

Your Choice of Orange Juice or West African Frunch (a combination of lemonade, pineapple juice, guava juice, orange juice, and papaya juice).

Pastries - muffins, breads, almond bear claw, scones, assortment of cream cheeses including sundried tomato, bagels, Danish, and zebra bread

Seasonal Fresh Fruits - cantaloupe, honeydew, mango, papaya, grapes, strawberries, and pineapple.

Dried Fruits including mango, papaya, coconut

Cereals - granola, rice crispies, fruit loops, and raisin bran


Pancakes and Waffles

Omelets made to order with a selection of ingredients.

Sausage and Biscuit Skillet

Bacon and Sausage and Ham

Potatoes with red and green pepper and paprika

Scrambled Eggs

Brioche (like French toast, yummmy! with raisins)

Pap (white corn meal), oatmeal, quinoa porridge; toppings included fruits, brown sugar and cinnamon

Bobotie - corn beef, eggs, cream, potato and onion

Vegetable and Meat Lovers Breakfast Pizza

Cured pork loin

Carved Breakfast Ham


Pressed Pot of Kenyan Coffee - Extra

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *​

​

(To Be Continued in the Next Post!)


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

Chapter Six, Continued:



Breakfast was delicious and, being so late, the restaurant was not very crowded. We took our time and savored our first meal, enjoying both the food and the lovely atmosphere.

Sometime during our meal Ed and our server, Carlos, had begun talking about baseball. Ed is a big Yankees fan and of course, the Yankees were playing in the World Series at the time. Carlos thought it would be funny if he sent over one of the other servers, a young man from the Philadelphia area, to talk with Ed. “This guy is one of the biggest Phillies fans I’ve ever met,” he joked. Sure enough, C.J. was more than happy to come over and “talk some trash” with Ed about the Yankees and the Phillies. It was all in good fun and I think Ed enjoyed it a lot. I was sure that he was planning to figure out a way to watch some of, if not all, the remaining games in the Series while we were on vacation and I hoped it wouldn’t cause too much friction between us.


(Sorry Derek, Alex, Johnny… I love you guys, but if it’s a choice between you and Mickey, the Mouse wins!)


After we had finished eating Billy began to get a bit restless, so Ed decided to take the kids upstairs to look at the lobby while I waited for the check. It took about five minutes or so before the check arrived and then a few more minutes for Carlos to process our Dining Plan credits. Then I meandered out of the restaurant, snapping a few more pictures as I went.

I walked up the stairs one level to the immense lobby and did not see the rest of the family right away, so I began to walk around. I was admiring the scenery but kept an eye out for Ed and the kids as I went along. In honor of Halloween, the AKL cast members had participated in a pumpkin-carving contest and the winners were on display. They were so creative! It was fun looking at the crazy pumpkin artwork the CMs had come up with.

​

I continued along, expecting to bump into the rest of my family at any moment. I did not. “Didn’t they say they were going up to the lobby to look around?” I wondered to myself. I walked around the entire lobby and did not find them. I cruised through the gift shop and found no Ed, no kids. “Where the heck are they?” I thought, beginning to get a bit annoyed. This was beginning to cut into our pool time, which had already been reduced when we decided to eat a later breakfast. I turned on my phone and used some of the precious battery time to send Ed a text message, “Where R U?”


Several minutes later I heard Ed calling me. They had been outside at one of the viewing areas, Arusha Rock, looking at the ostriches and giraffe. The girls were very excited about seeing the animals and I felt myself relaxing, knowing that they had been having a good time. Still, I thought of how difficult it would be if we did not have a second phone the next time we split up.



(Continued, next post)

Just too many pictures!!



Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

Chapter Six: continued


I asked if they had a chance to look at the pumpkin carvings and they said that they hadn’t, so we went over to the display so the kids could see them. Then I took a few pictures of them and of the lobby.

​

It was now one o’clock. Time was slipping by so quickly, as it always seems to do when you’re at Disney. Billy was clamoring for the pool so we herded the kids out to the bus stop and waited for the Downtown Disney bus that would take us back to Kidani. We definitely had to wait a bit longer than we had for the ride over… perhaps about 15 minutes… but soon we were on our way. I was anxious to get to the pool but took some time to take a few pictures of the entrance since it had been too dark when we arrived the night before.

Inside, there was a display of even more Halloween pumpkins carved by the CMs at Kidani:

​

Ooops! I almost forgot to get those teabags! While I stood on line to get them, the kids explored the gift shop, Johari Treasures. The girls went straight for the clothes, pins and jewelry. Billy was particularly interested in the little African drums and other musical instruments:

​

When we had finished at the gift shop, Ed went on ahead with the kids to get changed into bathing suits. I stopped at the desk to check on our Garden Grocer order and found that it had been delivered. I made arrangements to have Bell Services send it up and proceeded to follow the rest of them upstairs to our villa, pausing just briefly to read about some more of the art displays:

Next up: Swimming at Samawati Springs and a Tipsy Tangerine Dream

 

[jordanyosh]

trifecta of updates!

what a great way to start vacation--sleeping in a bit. easing into vacation!

boma sounds good. I'm doing a dinner there and maybe a breakfast....

It sounds like the decor of AKV is awesome. I'm glad I'm trying it at least.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

A hat trick of trip report fun!


We haven't experienced Boma yet. It's on our short list for next trip.

 

[All7OfUs]

Both Jambo and Kidani look stunning! I am looking forward to getting to see both when I end up going!! Just the art alone would draw me there.

So great to see everyone in such gleeful moods, and ready to enjoy their stay. Easing into it was definitely a wise choice.

Glad you had the washer and dryer to take care of laundry as you needed to.

But you know what the neatest thing for me to read about was? The African hostesses dancing!! I would have been right up there with Billy trying out my moves.

 

[MEK]

Excellent update Kathy! What a lovely, relaxing morning at AKL. I just love it there. I agree that the art work at Kidani is fascinating. It is like a mini museum.

Your morning pics of the savannah are lovely. And those cool punkin carvings! Wow! What a neat idea!

Glad everyone enjoyed breakfast. I hope your cell phone charger arrives soon. That is the worst feeling.

Can't wait to see your pool pics and hear about the rest of your day!