iheartbelle87
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2010
- Messages
- 895
This is quite possibly the shortest best vacation ever! So let's get down to it! I am still trying to figure out how to post pictures and once I do, I will for sure add them (I used to know how, I have an abandoned shutterfly account out there somewhere...)
ME! I'm 24 years old and have been to Disneyworld, oh, say, 23482 times. Okay, not really- more like 18 times. But who's counting. I work as a nurse in case management. Although my first trip to The World was in 1990, I say that my addiction started in 2000 when I was 12 years old and we could afford to take a real vacation, my mom booked a girls trip for a week. I always knew that I had been to Disney but didn't remember much since I was 2, 3, and 4 years old my last trips. Anyway, long story short my mom and I fell in love with Disney all over again (her family had always gone to WDW on their vacations). So, every year (except 2007) since 2000, I've been to Disney World is what I'm trying to say.
enough about me...
HIM! My husband is 26 years old, scientist, and a now aspiring Disney addict!!
(more about this later). Before our honeymoon in June 2011, he had only been to WDW once with his family as a child. He tolerates my addiction, its all in good fun for him. Frequently likes to joke (or not) "I want to see all the characters...except Goofy. Something is wrong with him. Not Goofy. We aren't going to see Goofy are we?!"
HOW DID THIS TRIP COME ABOUT?
Funny you should ask! Long story short, we decided to go on a cruise with another couple for a vacation this year. I knew that my husband was a great sport during our 2011 Honeymoon at WDW and figured I need to be open to other vacation locations. So, for $800 we booked a 5 day cruise to the Bahamas out of Port Canaveral for May 12th- May 17th. Now you see, we live in New England. So the plan is to fly in/out of Orlando. When this trip first was booked there was no talk of Disney World, although it was always in the back (or front) of my head. I warned DH that I cannot visit MCO and not go into the Disney Store- he agreed we could stop there. Okay, not exactly that same as an actual stay there, but you see where this is going.
About two months before the cruise I had been searching and searching for a good deal a night or two at Disney for us post cruise. I mean, we're in town anyway! I got a pin in my email, although I don't remember exactly what it was. I came up with figures and presented my idea to DH- our cruise ends on a Thursday, and therefore we should spent one night at Disney sans park tickets to get my fix and forgo booking excursions on the cruise for monetary purposes. He agreed- I called and booked CBR for $156. It was a done deal.
Of course, I cannot be satisfied easily. I began thinking how in the world am I going to be able to go to CBR and NOT go to a park?! It would kill me! We could do DD, or the Boardwalk but what a tease!! So, I began to crunch more numbers and talked to DH about it again- $96 for one night at All Star Sports and $180 for two one-day base tickets. Essentially, we need to be willing to come up with another $120 but with no excursions booked, DH agreed! I was bummed since I'm a bit of a hotel/resort snob. BUT it meant we could go to a park!
BUT the shenanigans didn't stop there. The next week I kept thinking about how sad I was to not be staying at least a moderate resort- you'd think I'd be happy just to be going! But no. Then, I got a great idea! Our one year anniversary is less then a month away and we have nothing planned- what if I surprise my husband with one night at AKL!
YES! I called and changed my reservation AGAIN. An extra $140, and we're in! I told myself to just be happy and not push park tickets once we got there and see how it goes. We planned on getting tickets at concierge in case we didn't get off the ship til late. So it was settled, I changed the reservation and would surprise DH as my anniversary gift to him the day we get there.
APPROACHING WDW/CHECK IN
DH knew I had a surprise for him at WDW- he didn't know what it was though. He kept going on about "I'm not meeting Goofy am I?" and "It's not a character meal is it?". No honey, it's not. (We don't have kids, FYI). So after getting off the ship and going through the most laxed customs ever (Customs worker: Do you have any fruit or alcohol in your bag? Me: "Nope, we're boring" Customs worker: "Welcome back to the U.S.") we made our way to the Enterprise rental car thing at Cocoa Beach with our friends and they rented a car and drove us to AKL! I had secretly looked up the address on my iphone and plugged it into the GPS already so DH had no idea what was going on- he's all set to go "one of those value ones, All Starts, right?" We talked about which park we wanted to go to which I played along with and said either Epcot or AK knowing that I didn't want to spend anymore money and we could hang in the resort for the day/night.
As we get closer and keep following the signs for Animal Kingdom and Animal Kingdom Lodge he gets more and more suspicious. I may have given a hint at breakfast, when I was wearing my purple "SAVE ME" shirt with the giraffe on it I got a AK in the fall of 2011 and stated that it was a hint for the surprise.
Finally, DH announces he knows what the surprise is and we all laugh. We get to the security hut at AKL and they ask for a photo ID from me and congratulate us on our anniversary.
We get out of the car and bell services takes our luggage for us incase our room isn't ready; I'm bursting at the seams with excitement since neither of us have stayed here and DH is happy about his surprise! We make our way into the lobby while our friends park their car, they wanted to come in and check out the hotel before they left us. DH heads to the bathroom and we agree I'll check us in. I look over while I'm in line, and he is in awe of the lodge. Like a little kid, mouth open, staring at all the details. Life is good.
When I was called to check in, a cast member named Rachelle from Boston, MA assists me. I proceed to tell her we're from the north shore and it turns out she is too. Small world! We make small talk and she confirms we booked one night in a standard view- I say yes, but was wondering if we could be upgraded to a savannah view if at all available. After about 10 minutes of conversing with her manager, Rachelle tells me our request has been granted! SCORE!
AND it's only 10am and our room is READY!
Once we get to our room we immediately check out our balcony, ask our friends for some pictures of us. Everyone is in awe of our view of the zebras and wilder beast (?). DH is still on board with getting a one day ticket to any park so I'm eating this up! I immediately called bell service for our bag, which was pointless for them to take it to begin with but I'm not complaining...they say to stay in the room they'd be right there. Quick trip to the bathroom and explaining to our friends we aren't being rude but the clock is ticking and our flight leaves at 9am the next morning and we have a whole park to cover! It's about 10:20am.
EPCOT!
After debating which park to go to, DH let me decide and I chose Epcot. We bought our tickets quickly at concierge and off we went. Said goodbye to our cruise buddies and headed for the bus stops. Applied sunscreen and 5 minutes later, we were off to Epcot! It felt like 3pm already since I was up at 4:15am to get off that darn ship!
Since it was Flower & Garden Festival and DH has never been during that time, I pointed out all the topiaries along our travels. Plan is to get fastpasses for Soarin right off- we sprint to The Land and literally have to wait in line to get a FP! A woman with eight boys in a school group cut in front of us very slyly- and had to put in eight different tickets. *sigh* Our turn was up finally and we got return between 2pm and 3pm- it wasn't even 11am yet!
It was extremely crowded in The Land so we left and made our way to Club Cool since we didn't do that last year, for what ever reason. Has special meaning since DH's father works as a Coca Cola salesman and Coca Cola employed DH during his college years. We tried a few and had some good laughs- DH was disappointed when he realized each station had the same flavors. CRAZY GUY! Isn't 8 enough?!
Next up we made our way to the Fairy Gardens which was beautiful, I particularly loved the Winter theme where it smelled just like a Christmas tree! BEST SMELL EVER!
Another bathroom stop and we headed for "the ball" (aka, Spaceship Earth). Wait time said 20 minutes, but the line was way out...I was nervous but we went with it. Turns out the line even swirled around the other side of the building but it moved fairly quickly and we were on the ride. Such a good classic ride.
Getting a little hungry at this point we made our way towards the Mexican pavilion, looking at the Captain Hook exhibit as we went. I noticed they were selling "Grow Your Own Lei Flowers" at a stand, need to check this out! Anyway getting a little hot and hungry we walked on to the boat ride in Mexico and reminisced about how on our honeymoon we ate at the San Angel Inn and DH somehow ended up ordering fish tacos by accident, good laughs! We ate at the quick service across the street and split the nachos and a coke. It was so good and slightly romantic.
Next on my to do list was Norway- mostly Maelstrom. DH claims he doesn't remember this ride, although I clearly remember us going on it together! 15 min wait time, DH started to get sick of waiting in lines and wanted to go to the room soon. We agreed that we would leave after Soarin'.
After Norway we quickly glanced at the countries around World Showcase and made our our way to France! Probably my favorite at WS! I asked how long until the next show (my fav) and the CM said 2 min! We sat on the floor in there where the AC was nice and waited for literally 2 minutes. As we got into the theatre, I feel like the seats used to be red and plush but now they're brown and more movie theater-esque. Anyone else notice this? Or am I making things up?
It was 2pm when we got out of the France film and asked a CM to take a photo of us at the fountain with a view of the fake Eiffel Tower- she did and we went on our merry way only to notice later that my eyes are closed! darn!
We saw Mary Poppins in the UK as we strolled by on our way Soarin. It was 2:18 as we entered the Soarin FP return and only waited maybe 10 minutes total. We got row 3, I wanted row 1! But DH said he was okay with Row 3 so we went with it. As we left the ride, I realized I forgot my sunglasses and immediately turned right around since the doors were still open but the CM said no we could not enter we asked if he could just go get them for us, he said we had to wait for the next ride to be over. DH was tired and we were both hot, and decided since they were $8 wet seal glasses to let them go.
BACK AT THE LODGE (ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE THAT IS!)
We came back to the lodge right after Soarin, had some confusion because the bus stops at Kidani Village first and for some reason despite being a Disney Addict I confused myself if we were staying at Jambo House or Kidani Village. I decided we were staying at Jambo House and that was the next stop- phew, glad I got it right!
We filled our mugs up and headed back to the room. DH needed time to shower, etc and I was in awe on our balcony. Once I realized there were TWO GIRAFFES coming over! I freaked and kept yelling to DH to get out here NOW! But he was in the shower and kept saying he had shampoo in his hair, etc. What an excuse.
I took lots of videos and photos and was AHMAZED! Finally DH joined me and was also so excited. By 4:30pm DH said he wanted to nap until 6pm and then would get up and explore the hotel with me and we would grab dinner. There is no way I could sleep at a time like this, I told DH I was taking my Vanity Fair magazine and going to explore the lodge and would return at 6pm to wake him up.
I went to the front desk to get our boarding passes printed for our flight the next morning and our voucher for ME, checked out all the animal viewing areas, watched the giraffes for a good hour, and then proceeded to check out the gift shop. By 6pm I was SO ready for DH to wake up and join me.
6:30pm we were ready to head out to Mara for dinner. DH ordered chicken tenders and french fries and I got the vegetable flat bread, both very tasty! We ate outside and then explored the resort for a while. We got to see the two viewing areas on the Savannah, sat by the campfire in the wooden rocking chairs. Asked a woman take our photo in front of where a giraffe was eating- turns out she spoke French only but she got the job done, thanks lady! The whole time DH kept saying how great it was, and "next time we come..." and how one night at WDW beat our whole cruise experience, etc. He's hooked!! Even on the cruise he kept saying, "I miss Disney..."
By 9pm we put on our bathing suits and headed to the hot tub, then the pool, then back to the hot tub which we had to ourselves!
I could hear and saw some of the movie they were showing-Wall E I think. I wanted to catch the night vision of the animals but missed it due to too much time in the hot tub. oh well... NEXT TIME!
On the way back to the room about 10pm I mislead us and we ended up in Zebra Trail part of the lodge and we were staying at the Kidu Trail part. After a few circles and wrong turns we made it back to the right room. Luckily we were able to see the giraffes sleeping it was awesome! We saw them on a balcony where there are also rocking chairs.
After packing us up and one last check to make sure we weren't missing any animal viewings from our balcony, I reluctantly went to bed. DH was watching some TV show about men in the wilderness or something manly, I was exhausted but didn't want my time here to end.
We had a 5am wake up call for a 6:05am pick up for Magical Express. One last check of the room for anything left behind be packed our bags and said goodbye. DH put his arm around me in the hall and said, "We'll come back, maybe for a long weekend next year. We'll be back". I checked with the front desk and we were all checked in and waited for ME. The only ones from the lodge. We stopped at Pop Century, and more people boarding and we were off.
That's it for now, hopefully will have another TR for 2013! Hope you enjoyed our journey!
ME! I'm 24 years old and have been to Disneyworld, oh, say, 23482 times. Okay, not really- more like 18 times. But who's counting. I work as a nurse in case management. Although my first trip to The World was in 1990, I say that my addiction started in 2000 when I was 12 years old and we could afford to take a real vacation, my mom booked a girls trip for a week. I always knew that I had been to Disney but didn't remember much since I was 2, 3, and 4 years old my last trips. Anyway, long story short my mom and I fell in love with Disney all over again (her family had always gone to WDW on their vacations). So, every year (except 2007) since 2000, I've been to Disney World is what I'm trying to say.
enough about me...
HIM! My husband is 26 years old, scientist, and a now aspiring Disney addict!!
(more about this later). Before our honeymoon in June 2011, he had only been to WDW once with his family as a child. He tolerates my addiction, its all in good fun for him. Frequently likes to joke (or not) "I want to see all the characters...except Goofy. Something is wrong with him. Not Goofy. We aren't going to see Goofy are we?!"HOW DID THIS TRIP COME ABOUT?
Funny you should ask! Long story short, we decided to go on a cruise with another couple for a vacation this year. I knew that my husband was a great sport during our 2011 Honeymoon at WDW and figured I need to be open to other vacation locations. So, for $800 we booked a 5 day cruise to the Bahamas out of Port Canaveral for May 12th- May 17th. Now you see, we live in New England. So the plan is to fly in/out of Orlando. When this trip first was booked there was no talk of Disney World, although it was always in the back (or front) of my head. I warned DH that I cannot visit MCO and not go into the Disney Store- he agreed we could stop there. Okay, not exactly that same as an actual stay there, but you see where this is going.
About two months before the cruise I had been searching and searching for a good deal a night or two at Disney for us post cruise. I mean, we're in town anyway! I got a pin in my email, although I don't remember exactly what it was. I came up with figures and presented my idea to DH- our cruise ends on a Thursday, and therefore we should spent one night at Disney sans park tickets to get my fix and forgo booking excursions on the cruise for monetary purposes. He agreed- I called and booked CBR for $156. It was a done deal.
Of course, I cannot be satisfied easily. I began thinking how in the world am I going to be able to go to CBR and NOT go to a park?! It would kill me! We could do DD, or the Boardwalk but what a tease!! So, I began to crunch more numbers and talked to DH about it again- $96 for one night at All Star Sports and $180 for two one-day base tickets. Essentially, we need to be willing to come up with another $120 but with no excursions booked, DH agreed! I was bummed since I'm a bit of a hotel/resort snob. BUT it meant we could go to a park!
BUT the shenanigans didn't stop there. The next week I kept thinking about how sad I was to not be staying at least a moderate resort- you'd think I'd be happy just to be going! But no. Then, I got a great idea! Our one year anniversary is less then a month away and we have nothing planned- what if I surprise my husband with one night at AKL!
YES! I called and changed my reservation AGAIN. An extra $140, and we're in! I told myself to just be happy and not push park tickets once we got there and see how it goes. We planned on getting tickets at concierge in case we didn't get off the ship til late. So it was settled, I changed the reservation and would surprise DH as my anniversary gift to him the day we get there.APPROACHING WDW/CHECK IN
DH knew I had a surprise for him at WDW- he didn't know what it was though. He kept going on about "I'm not meeting Goofy am I?" and "It's not a character meal is it?". No honey, it's not. (We don't have kids, FYI). So after getting off the ship and going through the most laxed customs ever (Customs worker: Do you have any fruit or alcohol in your bag? Me: "Nope, we're boring" Customs worker: "Welcome back to the U.S.") we made our way to the Enterprise rental car thing at Cocoa Beach with our friends and they rented a car and drove us to AKL! I had secretly looked up the address on my iphone and plugged it into the GPS already so DH had no idea what was going on- he's all set to go "one of those value ones, All Starts, right?" We talked about which park we wanted to go to which I played along with and said either Epcot or AK knowing that I didn't want to spend anymore money and we could hang in the resort for the day/night.
As we get closer and keep following the signs for Animal Kingdom and Animal Kingdom Lodge he gets more and more suspicious. I may have given a hint at breakfast, when I was wearing my purple "SAVE ME" shirt with the giraffe on it I got a AK in the fall of 2011 and stated that it was a hint for the surprise.
Finally, DH announces he knows what the surprise is and we all laugh. We get to the security hut at AKL and they ask for a photo ID from me and congratulate us on our anniversary.
We get out of the car and bell services takes our luggage for us incase our room isn't ready; I'm bursting at the seams with excitement since neither of us have stayed here and DH is happy about his surprise! We make our way into the lobby while our friends park their car, they wanted to come in and check out the hotel before they left us. DH heads to the bathroom and we agree I'll check us in. I look over while I'm in line, and he is in awe of the lodge. Like a little kid, mouth open, staring at all the details. Life is good.
When I was called to check in, a cast member named Rachelle from Boston, MA assists me. I proceed to tell her we're from the north shore and it turns out she is too. Small world! We make small talk and she confirms we booked one night in a standard view- I say yes, but was wondering if we could be upgraded to a savannah view if at all available. After about 10 minutes of conversing with her manager, Rachelle tells me our request has been granted! SCORE!
AND it's only 10am and our room is READY!Once we get to our room we immediately check out our balcony, ask our friends for some pictures of us. Everyone is in awe of our view of the zebras and wilder beast (?). DH is still on board with getting a one day ticket to any park so I'm eating this up! I immediately called bell service for our bag, which was pointless for them to take it to begin with but I'm not complaining...they say to stay in the room they'd be right there. Quick trip to the bathroom and explaining to our friends we aren't being rude but the clock is ticking and our flight leaves at 9am the next morning and we have a whole park to cover! It's about 10:20am.
EPCOT!
After debating which park to go to, DH let me decide and I chose Epcot. We bought our tickets quickly at concierge and off we went. Said goodbye to our cruise buddies and headed for the bus stops. Applied sunscreen and 5 minutes later, we were off to Epcot! It felt like 3pm already since I was up at 4:15am to get off that darn ship!
Since it was Flower & Garden Festival and DH has never been during that time, I pointed out all the topiaries along our travels. Plan is to get fastpasses for Soarin right off- we sprint to The Land and literally have to wait in line to get a FP! A woman with eight boys in a school group cut in front of us very slyly- and had to put in eight different tickets. *sigh* Our turn was up finally and we got return between 2pm and 3pm- it wasn't even 11am yet!
It was extremely crowded in The Land so we left and made our way to Club Cool since we didn't do that last year, for what ever reason. Has special meaning since DH's father works as a Coca Cola salesman and Coca Cola employed DH during his college years. We tried a few and had some good laughs- DH was disappointed when he realized each station had the same flavors. CRAZY GUY! Isn't 8 enough?!
Next up we made our way to the Fairy Gardens which was beautiful, I particularly loved the Winter theme where it smelled just like a Christmas tree! BEST SMELL EVER!
Another bathroom stop and we headed for "the ball" (aka, Spaceship Earth). Wait time said 20 minutes, but the line was way out...I was nervous but we went with it. Turns out the line even swirled around the other side of the building but it moved fairly quickly and we were on the ride. Such a good classic ride.
Getting a little hungry at this point we made our way towards the Mexican pavilion, looking at the Captain Hook exhibit as we went. I noticed they were selling "Grow Your Own Lei Flowers" at a stand, need to check this out! Anyway getting a little hot and hungry we walked on to the boat ride in Mexico and reminisced about how on our honeymoon we ate at the San Angel Inn and DH somehow ended up ordering fish tacos by accident, good laughs! We ate at the quick service across the street and split the nachos and a coke. It was so good and slightly romantic.
Next on my to do list was Norway- mostly Maelstrom. DH claims he doesn't remember this ride, although I clearly remember us going on it together! 15 min wait time, DH started to get sick of waiting in lines and wanted to go to the room soon. We agreed that we would leave after Soarin'.
After Norway we quickly glanced at the countries around World Showcase and made our our way to France! Probably my favorite at WS! I asked how long until the next show (my fav) and the CM said 2 min!
We sat on the floor in there where the AC was nice and waited for literally 2 minutes. As we got into the theatre, I feel like the seats used to be red and plush but now they're brown and more movie theater-esque. Anyone else notice this? Or am I making things up?It was 2pm when we got out of the France film and asked a CM to take a photo of us at the fountain with a view of the fake Eiffel Tower- she did and we went on our merry way only to notice later that my eyes are closed! darn!
We saw Mary Poppins in the UK as we strolled by on our way Soarin. It was 2:18 as we entered the Soarin FP return and only waited maybe 10 minutes total. We got row 3, I wanted row 1! But DH said he was okay with Row 3 so we went with it. As we left the ride, I realized I forgot my sunglasses and immediately turned right around since the doors were still open but the CM said no we could not enter we asked if he could just go get them for us, he said we had to wait for the next ride to be over. DH was tired and we were both hot, and decided since they were $8 wet seal glasses to let them go.
BACK AT THE LODGE (ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE THAT IS!)
We came back to the lodge right after Soarin, had some confusion because the bus stops at Kidani Village first and for some reason despite being a Disney Addict I confused myself if we were staying at Jambo House or Kidani Village. I decided we were staying at Jambo House and that was the next stop- phew, glad I got it right!
We filled our mugs up and headed back to the room. DH needed time to shower, etc and I was in awe on our balcony. Once I realized there were TWO GIRAFFES coming over! I freaked and kept yelling to DH to get out here NOW! But he was in the shower and kept saying he had shampoo in his hair, etc. What an excuse.
I took lots of videos and photos and was AHMAZED! Finally DH joined me and was also so excited. By 4:30pm DH said he wanted to nap until 6pm and then would get up and explore the hotel with me and we would grab dinner. There is no way I could sleep at a time like this, I told DH I was taking my Vanity Fair magazine and going to explore the lodge and would return at 6pm to wake him up.I went to the front desk to get our boarding passes printed for our flight the next morning and our voucher for ME, checked out all the animal viewing areas, watched the giraffes for a good hour, and then proceeded to check out the gift shop. By 6pm I was SO ready for DH to wake up and join me.
6:30pm we were ready to head out to Mara for dinner. DH ordered chicken tenders and french fries and I got the vegetable flat bread, both very tasty! We ate outside and then explored the resort for a while. We got to see the two viewing areas on the Savannah, sat by the campfire in the wooden rocking chairs. Asked a woman take our photo in front of where a giraffe was eating- turns out she spoke French only but she got the job done, thanks lady! The whole time DH kept saying how great it was, and "next time we come..." and how one night at WDW beat our whole cruise experience, etc. He's hooked!! Even on the cruise he kept saying, "I miss Disney..."
By 9pm we put on our bathing suits and headed to the hot tub, then the pool, then back to the hot tub which we had to ourselves!
I could hear and saw some of the movie they were showing-Wall E I think. I wanted to catch the night vision of the animals but missed it due to too much time in the hot tub. oh well... NEXT TIME!On the way back to the room about 10pm I mislead us and we ended up in Zebra Trail part of the lodge and we were staying at the Kidu Trail part. After a few circles and wrong turns we made it back to the right room. Luckily we were able to see the giraffes sleeping it was awesome! We saw them on a balcony where there are also rocking chairs.
After packing us up and one last check to make sure we weren't missing any animal viewings from our balcony, I reluctantly went to bed. DH was watching some TV show about men in the wilderness or something manly, I was exhausted but didn't want my time here to end.
We had a 5am wake up call for a 6:05am pick up for Magical Express. One last check of the room for anything left behind be packed our bags and said goodbye. DH put his arm around me in the hall and said, "We'll come back, maybe for a long weekend next year. We'll be back". I checked with the front desk and we were all checked in and waited for ME. The only ones from the lodge. We stopped at Pop Century, and more people boarding and we were off.
That's it for now, hopefully will have another TR for 2013! Hope you enjoyed our journey!
