A New Trip Full of New Memories...Hopefully It Happens! - July 2020 PTR (Completed)

[BrerMama]

What Are We Going to Do Now?


So, back to the story...after I finished laying like this for about six hours after Disney’s announcement:

So we decided to go for this:

​

That top picture was so me last week. Thankfully I didn't have DVC points on the line, but months of planning and thousands of dollars to just watch my plans go poof. And then Disney made it worse by sending me multiple emails as they poof-ed my plans. Glad you're going to be able to enjoy your resort and then Universal and can't wait to read about the trip!

 

[cstorm65]

Well, Disney keeps making be want to crawl in the fetal position. First they aren't opening until after our original trip dates so we rescheduled and were happy with how we are going to use our remaining DVC points and now it appears as though Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House will not be reopening with all of the other DVC resorts. I just want to scream! I'm sure they will move us to Kidani, but we don't want Kidani. It makes no sense to me to do a resort only stay at a place where there is no quick service restaurant, especially if Jambo House isn't even open for us to walk/bus to The Mara. Am I crazy for thinking that.

Add to that the fact that the rumor is going out that all of this is due to the NBA...ummm, this better not be the case Disney! Ok, before I get to mad at that let's move on in the PTR. Thanks everyone for reading!

I hope you get your WCC breakfast! I feel like that one is a possibility as it's a family platter or individual meals rather than a buffet. I will cross my fingers for you!

Yes, agreed. They did call back workers for that restaurant, so we are holding out hope they open and that we can get over there!

Another reason I hope they open some dining ADRs is I so HIGHLY recommend both Boma and Sanaa. (I really loved Jiko too, but I don't know if that's something you'd like with two young kids.) Boma's breakfast is WONDERFUL and one of my favorite resort breakfasts. There are so many tasty things and they have the POG juice - delicious! I finally tried their dinner on my 2016 visit and it absoluely lived up to the hype. There are tons of options, including kid-friendly fare like chicken nuggets and mac and cheese if you have less adventuorous eaters. They'd also have multiple salad options for your older son! I think Boma is a bigger question mark as all they have is buffet, but if it's open I highly recommend it for both meals. Sanaa is also excellent - their bread service is a must-do and you could share a plate or two for the rest of your meal. The close view of the animals while dining is wonderful, too!

We were really looking forward to trying Boma, but at this point I'm not holding out much hope since it is a buffet. I think I would love the menu and the rest of us would have plenty to enjoy. At this point, after yesterday's AKL news, I'm just hoping Jambo House does indeed open at this point.

As for the Mara, I had an excellent chicken pita sandwich there... which is no longer on the menu. Looking at the current menu, I bet their current chicken flatbread is good and the BLT looks tasty, too. If you like a slighly spicy breakfast their version of the bounty platter may be right up your alley. I wasn't a big fan (I have nearly zero ability to handle spice), but for someone who loves zestier food the tomato dish and spicy sausage (assuming they still give that instead of regular sausage) are probably pretty great. It's certainly unique. Also, YES to the Zebra Domes!

All good to hear. I can't wait for the Zebra Domes, hopefully that's on this trip!

That top picture was so me last week. Thankfully I didn't have DVC points on the line, but months of planning and thousands of dollars to just watch my plans go poof. And then Disney made it worse by sending me multiple emails as they poof-ed my plans. Glad you're going to be able to enjoy your resort and then Universal and can't wait to read about the trip!

Thanks for coming over. I know...those emails last week were just like them twisting the knife they'd stuck in my back the week before! We are excited about Universal though!

 

[BrerMama]

Aw. The fact that they aren't opening the resort you reserved is awful. And due to NBA? That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Before I cancelled Disney, I hung out a long on the rumors board and the rumor was that Disney wasn't going to go forward with any plans until they figured out NBA. I thought that was crazy. Disney could of course be making lots of plans depending on lots of things. When my daughter was sent home from DCP, I thought surely there was a core team of Disney management sitting in a Zoom meeting drawing up flow charts. If this happens, we open on this date, and we do it this way.... so that when it was time to move forward, they just had to pluck the correct flow chart from the bin and follow it.

In retrospect, it looks like that's what Universal was doing. Disney literally didn't do anything during the entire lockdown until forced to do something (by Universal) and then they did the minimum required to present to the task force. It also seems like their main goal since then is to make the vacation experience so stripped down and clinical that people willingly cancel their trips. Which... goal achieved.

But this isn't about my various feelings about the Walt Disney Company (although it really felt good to type all that out). I really hope you do have a great experience with using your DVC points and look forward to the Universal part!

 

[Rxdr2013]

Car seat we just bring with us when we fly. Usually we bring it on plane since it keeps my wild one contained. But when he was little we would just throw it in there with our other checked luggage.

You should check out sanaa while you are staying at the animal kingdom lodge.

Your boys are going to love the animals! We are renting dvc points for a 2 bedroom villa at kidani for my sister and her families first trip.

So happy you are able to make alternate plans for your trip. It's going to be great!

 

[cstorm65]

Aw. The fact that they aren't opening the resort you reserved is awful. And due to NBA? That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Before I cancelled Disney, I hung out a long on the rumors board and the rumor was that Disney wasn't going to go forward with any plans until they figured out NBA. I thought that was crazy. Disney could of course be making lots of plans depending on lots of things. When my daughter was sent home from DCP, I thought surely there was a core team of Disney management sitting in a Zoom meeting drawing up flow charts. If this happens, we open on this date, and we do it this way.... so that when it was time to move forward, they just had to pluck the correct flow chart from the bin and follow it.

In retrospect, it looks like that's what Universal was doing. Disney literally didn't do anything during the entire lockdown until forced to do something (by Universal) and then they did the minimum required to present to the task force. It also seems like their main goal since then is to make the vacation experience so stripped down and clinical that people willingly cancel their trips. Which... goal achieved.

But this isn't about my various feelings about the Walt Disney Company (although it really felt good to type all that out). I really hope you do have a great experience with using your DVC points and look forward to the Universal part!

I really hate bad mouthing Disney because we love it so much, but they have just been a complete cluster from the start. Everyone says they are a different thing than Universal with more parks, more hotels, transportation, etc. I understand that, but they also have that many more people working to bring them out of that. I mean it's not like they only have the same number of people as Universal in administrative positions. They have infinitely more people that can work to get things ready so they should be able to open just as fast.

I just hope...and I really hope...that it doesn't end up being that this whole thing was about the NBA/MLS coming instead of the health and safety of guests. As a DVC owner, who it looks like my reservation will not happen due to NBA/MLS at Jambo House I wouldn't be very happy if it turns out they are not opening due to those sporting events when in fact they just blamed it on health and safety. I mean...I'm all for health and safety, but I really hope that wasn't just a scape goat for Disney. Unfortunately I have a bad feeling about it.

Car seat we just bring with us when we fly. Usually we bring it on plane since it keeps my wild one contained. But when he was little we would just throw it in there with our other checked luggage.

I had never thought about checking it with our baggage. I just knew I didn't want to lug both a car seat and stroller through the airport for a gate check. I'm not sure why I was thinking I'd have to do that though. That changes things! Thanks!!

You should check out sanaa while you are staying at the animal kingdom lodge.

We have done Sanaa before and loved it, but it's been about four years. We will definitely check it out, especially since chances are good now we will get moved to Kidani Village.

Your boys are going to love the animals! We are renting dvc points for a 2 bedroom villa at kidani for my sister and her families first trip.

That's awesome! That is exactly why we are staying there. The perfect place for a trip with no park time!

So happy you are able to make alternate plans for your trip. It's going to be great!

We are just going with the flow. My personality is not very good at that, but we'll make it work. Thanks for reading along!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 3 Plans: Take 2

Well, I’m sure everyone has probably heard the news by now, we may have to change resorts again since it looks like Jambo House will either not be opening at all when the parks re-open or if so they will just be using it for the NBA and/or MLS. You can read through my previous comments to people if you want to hear my thoughts on this, but needless to say we are expecting to get moved to Kidani Village, although I’m not as happy about that. I hate the thought of a resort with no quick service location, but maybe they have a plan for that.

Anyways, we will wait for word on that, but continue on with some of our plans. We are on to day three and on this day we are actually planning on driving over and using our first park ticket day here:

We will have five days of Universal tickets, but we want to plan one day for only the resort while we are at Cabana Bay. the pool area there is so awesome we want to make sure we have a good chance to enjoy that I think and so this will allow us to do that later in the trip. Also, it will spread our park days out a little bit so we can rest more effectively. We may end up changing our mind on this, but for now this is our plan.

I think we will take today and try to just do a lot of the stuff we can all do together. Later in the trip we will have the Express Pass so we can worry about some other things then, but for now we will just enjoy being back in a park and do the things we can all do together.

First order of business will be Spiderman. What’s everyone’s thoughts on that for a four year old? He is tall enough, just don’t want it to be too scary for him. He has watched the Youtube video and says he wants to do it, he loves Spiderman by the way, but I’m wondering if it’s too intense.

After Spiderman we will probably head back around and do some things here:

On our trip last year DW and I didn’t spend much time here since the kids weren’t with us, but DS4 will love this area!

After some time with Dr. Seuss we will had back to take the kids to Hogsmeade for the first time. Hopefully they love it! As soon as we are on property that day we will try and get a virtual line pass for Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure.

We got to do it in August and it was awesome!!! DS8 will love it and he will get to do it twice as this will be our first chance to use the Child Swap system.

After this we will probably take the train over to Universal Studios to do a few things.

DS4 will love the train ride I think, so we are looking forward to taking him on that. We were also going to try and get a virtual line for Gringott’s and use the child swap again, so we will just wait and see if we can get a virtual line for it once we get there. DS8 will like that one too!

After spending a little time exploring Diagon Alley we will head out and try some other rides. On the agenda for today we will try Men in Black, ET, Woody Woodpecker’s Coaster, and Minions for sure. We should haven’t much trouble getting on those rides I don’t think and this will give the kids some exposure to all of those Universal rides before we get back later in the trip.

We will probably plan on staying until about 3:00-4:00 so we can get a good use out of our tickets before heading back to Animal Kingdom Lodge where the boys will certainly want to swim by that point!

That’s it for day three!

Up Next: Day 4 Plans​

 

[NancyLuvsMickey]

We enjoy Kadani Village... The pool is smaller than Jamba House but it's still a nice pool... And since we always have a car, we just drive the 5 minutes to Chick-fil-a or one of the other many food places on W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy when we're hungry... And I think technically, Jamba house isn't a DVC resort, it just happens to have some DVC rooms in it... Where Kadani is all DVC rooms... The thing I like better about Kadani is the parking is the first floor of the resort, so it's covered and you're car won't be hot when you get in it... The parking at Jamba is one huge giant parking lot and the majority of the time, we had to park in the back and walk 5 minutes to get to Jamba House... Not fun when you're carrying a bunch of stuff or raining...

The animals at both Kadani and Jamba are amazing and that's what it's all about anyway... Here, have another glass of lemonade!!! LOL!!!

 

[Dizney73]

We were booked for BCV and were so excited for our resort only stay to use Storm Along Bay but since SAB won't be open we have switched our resort to Saratoga Springs.

We own at AKV and have stayed mostly at Jambo so I can see that it is disappointing that you may be moved to Kidani. But we have also stayed at Kidani a handful of times and really love it there too! My kids really love the Kidani pool and you can get food at the pool too. Sitting on your Savannah balcony will be just as great!

 

[vamassey1]

I image the NBA will effect a lot of peoples plans. I hope things work out for the best for you.

Your Universal day sounds like a lot of fun. The crowds should be low for you.

 

[cstorm65]

We enjoy Kadani Village... The pool is smaller than Jamba House but it's still a nice pool... And since we always have a car, we just drive the 5 minutes to Chick-fil-a or one of the other many food places on W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy when we're hungry... And I think technically, Jamba house isn't a DVC resort, it just happens to have some DVC rooms in it... Where Kadani is all DVC rooms... The thing I like better about Kadani is the parking is the first floor of the resort, so it's covered and you're car won't be hot when you get in it... The parking at Jamba is one huge giant parking lot and the majority of the time, we had to park in the back and walk 5 minutes to get to Jamba House... Not fun when you're carrying a bunch of stuff or raining...

The animals at both Kadani and Jamba are amazing and that's what it's all about anyway... Here, have another glass of lemonade!!! LOL!!!

Well, that helps us a bunch to know there are some quick food options without driving too far! We love us some Chick-fil-a! Also, I hadn't thought about the covered parking, but that is nice! I would also tend to think if Jambo doesn't open surely they would do some sort of quick service stuff for people. Whether that is expanding the pool bar or something like that.

We were booked for BCV and were so excited for our resort only stay to use Storm Along Bay but since SAB won't be open we have switched our resort to Saratoga Springs.

We own at AKV and have stayed mostly at Jambo so I can see that it is disappointing that you may be moved to Kidani. But we have also stayed at Kidani a handful of times and really love it there too! My kids really love the Kidani pool and you can get food at the pool too. Sitting on your Savannah balcony will be just as great!

That's good. The more I hear the less disappointed I get if we get moved to Kidani. Of course, rumors today say Jambo might open after all. You guys on here are making me think Kidani would be better now! haha

I image the NBA will effect a lot of peoples plans. I hope things work out for the best for you.

Your Universal day sounds like a lot of fun. The crowds should be low for you.

We are really looking forward to Universal for sure! I just hope DS4 can put on one inch before the trip. That would open him up to several things I think he would like, such as Men in Black, Popeye's Blige Rat Barges, and maybe one or two of the other rides at Volcano Bay. Of course he is going to be devastated he can't ride Ripsaw Falls, which is 44"...he loves a good log ride! But he has no chance of getting to 44". He is just not very tall! haha

 

[cstorm65]

Day 4 Plans

We are back with a look at our plans for Day 4 of our upcoming trip, although this is a pretty easy day to plan as we are just planning on relaxing and enjoying the pool at our resort. As I said in the last update we are unsure if we are still going to be at Jambo House or if we will get moved to Kidani, but either way we will just spend some time at the pool. I think I’ve gotten over my disappointment in maybe getting moved to Kidani with the encouragement from some of you great people here on the Dis. The pool at Kidani does look pretty cool:

Again, we don’t have many plans today as our boys love spending time in the pool, so this will be the main goal. If Jambo House is open we might look into a breakfast reservation at Boma as we have heard so many good things about it.

Other than that I have also toyed with the idea of a dinner at Trails End as that is a meal both DW and I were really looking forward to before all the plans to this trip changed. So, we have no idea if either of those restaurants will be open, but if they are we may try and fit one of them into this day.

Like I said, that’s it. Just a bunch of pool time on this day. We actually just got back into town yesterday from a family vacation with my parents, grandparents, and sister’s family. We rented an AirBnB in San Antonio and the place was super nice and had a great private pool. That was our main goal and our boys definitely got our money's worth out of the pool! They swam and swam and swam for five days. It was really nice to see DS4 swim with some confidence too as he is a bit timid sometimes, but he really enjoyed it and was jumping in from the side of the pool by about the 2nd day!

Anyways, that will do it...I told you this would be a short update, but get ready because on Day 5 of the trip things really start to speed up!!

Up Next: Day 5 Plans​

 

[SimplyGoofy]

It's tough that you can't confirm your Disney accommodations - traveling right now is such an onslaught of question marks! I have not stayed at Kidani Village, but I have been there to eat at Sanaa (which is EXCELLENT and I highly recommend it!). It was a lovely resort and had many of the same touches. Also, even if you can't stay at Jambo House, you can travel there quite easily if the resort itself is open to look around and enjoy meals. You can take one of the Disney buses (either a park bus or Disney Springs bus, depending on which direction you're going - it will be clearly marked at the bus stop) or you could also take the ~10 minute walking trail between the resorts. I would guess you'll visit both resorts no matter which one you end up getting accommodations!

 

[BrerMama]

I used to love pool days when my kids were those ages. Have fun!

 

[cstorm65]

It's tough that you can't confirm your Disney accommodations - traveling right now is such an onslaught of question marks! I have not stayed at Kidani Village, but I have been there to eat at Sanaa (which is EXCELLENT and I highly recommend it!). It was a lovely resort and had many of the same touches. Also, even if you can't stay at Jambo House, you can travel there quite easily if the resort itself is open to look around and enjoy meals. You can take one of the Disney buses (either a park bus or Disney Springs bus, depending on which direction you're going - it will be clearly marked at the bus stop) or you could also take the ~10 minute walking trail between the resorts. I would guess you'll visit both resorts no matter which one you end up getting accommodations!

Hopefully all of Animal Kingdom Lodge is open!! We were really looking forward to maybe trying Boma for the first time and of course the Zebra Domes!

I used to love pool days when my kids were those ages. Have fun!

I know...our kids are at the age where that is one of their favorite things!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 5 Plans

Welcome back everyone! Does anyone just feel beat up over all of the vacation planning happening this summer? I mean I normally love the vacation planning aspect and now I wake up every morning thinking...“What new stuff is going to affect our trip today?” The word on the street now is that Jambo House may indeed open back up, but again no one knows or will say for sure. So, I guess we’ll wait and see!

We are on to our plans for Day 5 of our trip which is an exciting day because we will be moving from Disney to Universal!

We plan to make the move over to Cabana Bay Beach Resort pretty early because our plan is to spend the day at Volcano Bay and utilize that back entrance to that park you get when staying at Cabana Bay.

Volcano Bay isn’t opening until 10 AM right now, but currently we would get to go in at 9:30, but hopefully they will move that to a more normal 8:30 opening in July. We are holding out hope they modify the park calendars a bit. We are also hoping our room might be ready early. Universal has said they are trying to let rooms sit empty for 24-48 hours so maybe that means they will be ready for early check in...we shall see!

We think our kids will really love Volcano Bay, especially DS8. DS4 has really loved swimming recently, but he is about 41” right now, which basically rules out any slides for him. I think he will be plenty happy in the kids area though with those smaller slides. I think we want to try the Koholo Reef restaurant for lunch. I’ve been looking at food options because, what else do I have to do? Well, this coconut crusted fried chicken looks great along with some other food there:

I don’t know if we will stay in the park all day or take a break in the resort before coming back. Right now the hours are only until 5 PM due to the re-opening. If they extend those though we may go back to the room for a short break and nap for DS4 and then come back to Volcano Bay at about 4:00. DW and I did that last summer and VB was not crowded at all that late in the day.

Now, if VB closes at 5:00 we will probably just stay all day before going back to the room and then DW and I have been dreaming of going back for dinner at a place we loved last summer:

We liked it so much last summer we went a second time later in the trip. The burger there was amazing...like I think the best I’ve had on an Orlando vacation ever!

They have some other great stuff too, but I think I may do a Trip Report over our Universal trip from last year and so I’ll include all of that.

Anyways, if VB does close early that would give us a chance to get in bed a little earlier to this evening, which would be good since we probably got up a little early to make the resort change. That will do it for Day 5. Stay tuned for more plans!

Up Next: Day 6 Plans​

 

[BrerMama]

We are water park people and I was just saying that we may want to add Volcano Bay to our to do list. Some of my best vacation memories are watching my youngest play in the kids area of various water parks. Hope you have a great time!

 

[cstorm65]

We are water park people and I was just saying that we may want to add Volcano Bay to our to do list. Some of my best vacation memories are watching my youngest play in the kids area of various water parks. Hope you have a great time!

We have never really been big water park people as our kids were younger, but they are getting to the age now that they are enjoying them more and more. DW and I really enjoyed VB last summer and can't wait to do it again!

 

[vamassey1]

Sounds like a real fun and busy day. I beginning to think you're a burger connoisseur. When we're on vacation we have to make plans for DH and DD to get at least one burger.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

A day at Volcano Bay sounds absolutely delightful! I know you're aware of how great it is due to your recent trip - it was truly the best waterpark I've ever been to. I hope your kids love it!

Goodness, that burger looks AMAZING!

 

[cstorm65]

Sounds like a real fun and busy day. I beginning to think you're a burger connoisseur. When we're on vacation we have to make plans for DH and DD to get at least one burger.

I do love a good burger, especially one like this! I will also say though that DW was actually the one who loved this burger maybe even more than me. She didn't stop talking about it our entire trip!

A day at Volcano Bay sounds absolutely delightful! I know you're aware of how great it is due to your recent trip - it was truly the best waterpark I've ever been to. I hope your kids love it!

Goodness, that burger looks AMAZING!

Totally agree on Volcano Bay...it is amazing! And yes, that was one of the best burgers we've had at either Disney or Universal! Thanks for reading along!