ADP Live From Universal & Disney World

[DisneyKevin]

Lobster chowder? Wow, that's something I'd love. I'm a lobster junkie.

Question, in the tavern pic it looks like there's residential housing above the restaurant. Were those apartments? offices? I'd love to get over to Celebration to see the area one day. I've always been curious about it.

Yup....there are residential units above most of the business buildings in the small downtown area of Celebration.

It's a fun place to explore.

Had an great time last night..

Just a note to all....downtown Celebration is a cell phone "black hole" for just every carrier except ATT. Most folks find reception pretty poor. Nextel users can just about forget it.

 

[disneyholic family]

thanks for that explanation Aaron - i hadn't realized kidani village is so far away from AKL...
so i guess that means it's much more self-contained than the other DVC resorts that are together with regular resorts (like boardwalk/beach club)...
interesting..

which do you think is the nicer place to stay then? jambo house or kidani village? or are they both nice in their own way?

thanks for the pictures of celebration...
i can't believe that in all the times we've been to WDW, we've never made it there...each time we're there we say this time we'll go, but then we never do....

maybe in september we will...it looks so cute...

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Our prob with going is that we don't rent a car. I guess they dont want a lot of tourists that way being that it's residential and won't provide a shuttle.

 

[jcb]

Am I the only one who reads this thinking, "I want to vacation like Aaron"?

 

[alaskanmommy]

Thanks for the fantastic trip report Aaron. I always look forward to your pics and descriptions!! It always looks like you guys have so much fun!! Keep up the good work; I'm looking forward to some more of your Disney crack!!!

 

[belle8306]

I am all caught up on your trip report! It sounds like you guys are having a wonderful time. I have never been to Universal but your pictures make me want to go.

 

[ADP]

Hi Aaron!

Loving your live trip report! I am glad Kevin plugged it in a recent podcast, that is how I found out about it.

See you in Indy!

I know...I heard. Kevin and the whole crew are so kind.

Celebrations is just beautiful, isn't it?! When Matt and I go on our adults-only trip, we may just have to venture back out there for some food! Thanks for sharing.

Celebration is a very romantic retreat. A great escape if you want to get away from Disney property.

I love CTT!

Have a great day Aaron, Anna and finally Kim!!!!

Thanks Kathy!

thanks for that explanation Aaron - i hadn't realized kidani village is so far away from AKL...
so i guess that means it's much more self-contained than the other DVC resorts that are together with regular resorts (like boardwalk/beach club)...
interesting..

which do you think is the nicer place to stay then? jambo house or kidani village? or are they both nice in their own way?

thanks for the pictures of celebration...
i can't believe that in all the times we've been to WDW, we've never made it there...each time we're there we say this time we'll go, but then we never do....

maybe in september we will...it looks so cute...

We like Jambo more right now because of the available amenities. Kidani is nice, but there are certain elements of Jambo we like more.

Our prob with going is that we don't rent a car. I guess they dont want a lot of tourists that way being that it's residential and won't provide a shuttle.

I don't think catching a cab in both directions would be overly expensive. It's not terribly far away.

 

[crazydisneyman]

Alright, Mr. Club level.

We want pics of the ammenities!

What is food like???

Do you feel special???

Are you taking advantage of the special safari tour with your club level access???

Are you being pampered???

Have they offered you a VIP guide to take you through the parks as an added bonus for being such a great member of DVC???

Give us the juicy details!!!

BTW, have a great time and tell Anna and Kim hello!

 

[ADP]

Saturday, August 1st

Hi Everyone,

We are back from our morning/afternoon at the Magic Kingdom. We had a great time. The park was not overly crowded at all. I like going on Saturday's to the Magic Kingdom. For some reason crowds don't seem to heavy on Saturdays. I think because a lot of families are transitioning vacations; who's leaving and who's coming. Saturday seems like a day a lot of people depart and come to Disney World. Also, I believe last night was Magic Kindgom EMH. Many families opt not to come back the next day after spending the night at the Magic Kingdom.

We checked into the club level at the lodge. It was really nice to grab a quick breakfast this morning before heading to the Magic Kingdom.

Our day started heading right down Main St. U.S.A. and a look at Cinderella Castle.

And of course the Main St. U.S.A. singers and dancers. I love seeing them; especially when arriving at the park. They bring a smile to everyone's face.

We decided to get fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain. We cut through Adventureland and I couldn't help to snap a picture of one of our favorite signs.

Also on our way to get fastpasses we ran into some characters and one of Jack Sparrow's assistants.

After we got our fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain we headed for the Hall of Presidents. I wanted to see the newly refurbished attraction with President Obama. It didn't disappoint. We really enjoyed it. I was a little surprised how short it was. It seemed to go by very quick. I'm a big fan of Morgan Friedman so I knew I was going to love the narration. For those who've never seen the Hall of Presidents definately plan to make a stop.

After the Hall of presidents we stopped over at the Haunted Mansion. As usual it was a great and spooky ride. We stopped for lunch over at Columbia Harbour House. We needed a rest so I told Kim and Anna we should go upstairs away from the crowd. The upstairs at Columbia Harbour House is rarely crowded because most people don't know its there. A nice secret spot to get away from the crowds.

After lunch we decided to head over to Toon Town because Anna wanted to see the new Pixie Hollow area with Tinker Bell and the fairies. When we arrived to the character tent the posted wait time was 30 minutes; however, it felt like we waited about 45 minutes. A little longer than I wanted to wait.
Here are a couple shots I took at Pixie Hollow

At about 2:30 we decided it was time to leave the Magic Kingdom and head back to AKL. Our room was ready so we needed to get our luggage. On our way out of the park we caught the Celebrate Dreams Come True parade

We made it back to AKL and went to our room. We had a chocolate surprise waiting for us from the club level staff.

And here is the view from our room looking at some ostriches

We are headed down to the Jambo House pool to catch some sun and fun. Later we may take in some night vision of the animals. The resort provides night vision goggles between 9:00 and 11:00PM so you can view the animals at night.

More to come!

 

[georgemoe]

Thanks for the updates Aaron. Sounds like you had a wonderful time last night with friends.

Enjoy the rest of your day. Kim, Anna

 

[ADP]

Hi Everyone,

We are back from the pool and we took another trip to Downtown Disney. We also got to enjoy some of the hot foods served in the club level. Tonights hot foods included BBQ pork ribs, African meatballs, assortmants of cheese and crackers, PB&J, assortmants of beers and wines.

The pool was rather crowded late this afternoon. The water was very warm, probably in the upper 80 degree temperature. It felt great and the weather was wonderful; all day for that matter.

Here are a couple photos of the AKL pool slide at Jambo House

After we left the pool we headed up to the club lounge where we enjoyed some hot foods, beer, wine and other foods. There were also olive and vegetable assortmants as well tonight. I'll post more photos of the club offerings later in the week.

After we enjoyed our food we took the bus to Downtown Disney to specifically check out the Christmas store. We always try and purchase an ornament or two whenever we visit Walt Disney World. 150 more days until Christams; better start making out your list now.

Tomorrow we are planning on visiting Hollywood Studios in the morning. In the early afternoon we have plans or lunch at Backlot Express with some friends, and then later in the afternoon we have dinner plans with other friends. We have quite an action packed day planned tomorrow.

More to come!

Up Next:
Hollywood Studios
Lunch at Backlot Express
Dinner at Boma

 

[Sooze]

Only 150 days til Christmas?!?! I'd better get going!
Thanks for the updates, Aaron! It's fun to know what you are doing while we are stuck at home!

 

[disneyholic family]

i'm loving your pictures and report Aaron!!!

thanks for taking us along on your vacation!!

 

[bettyann29]

great pictures and great report.. Thank you for sharing your trip with us

 

[ADP]

Good Morning Everyone,

We are headed out the door to Hollywood Studios after we have breakfast in the club lounge. We're hopeful to get to ride Toy Story Mania as soon as the park opens.

We're also meeting some friends for lunch at the Backlot Express.

We're looking forward to checking out some of the Streetmosphere characters that roam around Hollywood Blvd.

I got a great run in this morning from Jambo House to Kidani Village. I ran the path that connects the two resorts twice. That is a approximate total of 2 miles. It wasn't terribly humid this morning so it was a pretty good run.

I'll have more later.

 

[Ciavobella]

We love dining in Celebration. When I saw the picture below I thought you ate at Cafe D'Antonio which is excellent and our favorite. Thanks for sharing your trip, I love live reports.

Hi Everyone,
We had a great time at Celebration last night. We got to dine with Kathy, Kevin, John, Kevin's mom Anna, and Shelly. It was great to see all of them again. We dined at Celebration Town Tavern. It was a fabulous meal.

Here are a couple of photos I took while we were in Celebration.

 

[exwdwcm]

still loving the trip report Aaron, thanks for all the great details.

let me know how the FP goes at TSM- we are hoping for our first ride in December and will only have one morning at HS (plus 2 nights)- so i am nervous about getting our fastpasses or being able to ride more than once without huge waits. do you guys recommend getting a FP first and then riding? or the other way around?

Good Morning Everyone,

We are headed out the door to Hollywood Studios after we have breakfast in the club lounge. We're hopeful to get to ride Toy Story Mania as soon as the park opens.

We're also meeting some friends for lunch at the Backlot Express.

We're looking forward to checking out some of the Streetmosphere characters that roam around Hollywood Blvd.

I got a great run in this morning from Jambo House to Kidani Village. I ran the path that connects the two resorts twice. That is a approximate total of 2 miles. It wasn't terribly humid this morning so it was a pretty good run.

I'll have more later.

 

[ADP]

Hi Everyone,

We are back from our morning/afternoon from Hollywood Studios. We had a great time. We arrived at the park around 9:15 and headed immediately to get fastpasses for Toy Story Mania. The wait at the fastpass machines was about 10 minutes. Our return time was 11:20.

The crowd wasn't to bad when we arrived, it just seemed everyone wanted to get over to Pixar Place and get fastpasses or ride TSM.

The crowd on Hollywood Blvd this morning

Here was the line to get a fastpass at Toy Story Mania

We were able to experience Muppets 3-D, we saw the UP characters in the animation courtyard, Star Tours, Anna got her hair wrapped, we rode Toy Story Mania, and we had lunch at the Backlot Express.

It was kind of funny, but the rest of the park was really empty this morning. Here's proof of it. Hardly anyone was in the Streets of America around 10:00AM this morning. We felt like we had the park to ourselves.

While we were at the Animation area I found some hidden Mickey's on the floor while waiting for us to see the UP characters.

We eventually made it through the line and saw the UP characters.

Afterwards we had lunch at the Backlot Express. I had a very good chicken salad. It was pretty large and had more chicken in it the last time I remember having it.

While we entered the Muppets 3-D attraction I snapped this photo of the ticket booth. The Muppets attraction has a ton of detail to it

Here's a shot of one of the robots inside the Star Tours attraction. Another great queue for details.

On our way out of the Studios we stopped at Sid's. If you answer the 5 questions on the chalk board you get a certificate.

We also caught a glimpse of some of the streetmosphere. Next time we visit the Studios I'm making it a point to see more streetmosphere.

Tonight we are headed downstairs to eat at Boma. I'll have more later on our meal.

 

[dpuck1998]

Did you check under the mat?

 

[Cyrano]

Sounds like a great DHS day How was your scores on TSM ?