H
hallie
Guest
Cast- me, my husband and 2 children ages 5 and 18 months.
Hotels- Doubletree castle, Renaissance World gate and Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Dates March 30th-April 13th.
We left at 8pm and drove all night from NJ-yuk! lol. We arrived in Orlando at our first hotel the Doubletree castle on International Drive for 2 nights. The hotel was really cute and in a nice location within walking distance to the Pointe and in the Mercado area. The pool was pretty small but we never went in it anyway. The staff was very nice and the room very clean with a fridge, a music selection(5 different kinds) that was pipped in the room. Side note the shower here was incredibe-lol. While we were there we went to Universals City walk, the Pointe and Downtown Disney to get our AP's. We would definitely go back if we decided to go a few days early again.
Next stop the Renaissance World gate for 1 night, we got the room through Priceline for 45.00. We will NEVER EVER go back. The room was nasty, very ugly, and not clean. We asked for crib at check-in and they said *no problem, they'd send one up* When we returned that night, after going to Epcot, there was no crib. We called down to the desk they said that they'd check about it, 20 minutes later no call back. DH went down to the desk and they said sorry but we're out. We were very upset. The next day thankfully we checked out and will never ever return even if it was for a free stay.
On to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for 11 nights. I can't say enough wonderful things about this place!!! It was incredible. Everyone was SO nice, it was just the most wonderful place. The rooms were great, the hand craved furniture was so pretty and our savannah view was so cool!! We were on the Arusha rock savannah on Zebra Trail room 2427 on the second floor. We saw Zebra, Ankole, Kudu and Giraffe. The Lobby was breath taking, I just fell in love with this place. The pool was wonderful, my DD(5) loved it, they also have 2 hot tubs which were great. The Mara(the food court) was wonderful we ate there numerous times for lunch. You order your food at the counter and then they bring it out to your table, either inside or outside. Before this our favorite resort was the Wilderness Lodge but after staying at the AKL, I think it blows the WL away. We even went back to the WL to compare-lol.
The first week we were there(the week after Easter) it was so increbilbly crowded. At one point there 4 parks were closed at the same time due to being at capacity, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, MGM and Blizzard Beach. We tried getting up early one time we went to Epcot at the opening and the Fast passes were already for after 4pm for Test Track-lol. Other days they were out of passes for the major rides by 2 hours after opening. So basically we gave up and just went out at night when it was more tolerable. It was just so crowded, you couldn't even walk, we'll never go back that week again. We saw a manager type cast member and asked if the next week would be better and she said it will be like day and night-she was right! Don't get me wrong we still had a wonderful time that week it was just very difficult to navigate and fast passes were hard to come by unless you got up at the crack of dawn-which isn't vacation to us-lol
The next week was wonderul, after Saturday(april 6)the crowds were gone. It was crazy we couldn't believe the difference in the 2 weeks. We heard some people complaining about the crowds the second week and we just giggled thinking what they'd say if they were there the week before. Even one of our bus drivers told someone that complained about how crowded it was about the previous week and they were shocked, they didn't even believe him till we confirmed it-lol.
The only 2 sit-down meals we did were Chef Mickeys and the Crystal palace. Both were great and well worth the money spent. Other then that we toured the food courts of a few resorts and ate at the Mara(AKL) and counter service places. Which was fine with us cause we've done all the restaurants before and since we were there for 2 weeks we needed to save money somewhere. Having the 2 weeks was well worth not doing the sit down restaurants all the time. Oh, we also ate at Beaches and Cream for lunch, it was good but really expensive 42.00 for lunch and all we had was 2 burgers, a kids meal, 2 single scoop ice creams and drinks.
We just had the most wonderful time and are already planning our next trip! Having the AP's just makes me want to go all the time-lol
Hallie
Hotels- Doubletree castle, Renaissance World gate and Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Dates March 30th-April 13th.
We left at 8pm and drove all night from NJ-yuk! lol. We arrived in Orlando at our first hotel the Doubletree castle on International Drive for 2 nights. The hotel was really cute and in a nice location within walking distance to the Pointe and in the Mercado area. The pool was pretty small but we never went in it anyway. The staff was very nice and the room very clean with a fridge, a music selection(5 different kinds) that was pipped in the room. Side note the shower here was incredibe-lol. While we were there we went to Universals City walk, the Pointe and Downtown Disney to get our AP's. We would definitely go back if we decided to go a few days early again.
Next stop the Renaissance World gate for 1 night, we got the room through Priceline for 45.00. We will NEVER EVER go back. The room was nasty, very ugly, and not clean. We asked for crib at check-in and they said *no problem, they'd send one up* When we returned that night, after going to Epcot, there was no crib. We called down to the desk they said that they'd check about it, 20 minutes later no call back. DH went down to the desk and they said sorry but we're out. We were very upset. The next day thankfully we checked out and will never ever return even if it was for a free stay.
On to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for 11 nights. I can't say enough wonderful things about this place!!! It was incredible. Everyone was SO nice, it was just the most wonderful place. The rooms were great, the hand craved furniture was so pretty and our savannah view was so cool!! We were on the Arusha rock savannah on Zebra Trail room 2427 on the second floor. We saw Zebra, Ankole, Kudu and Giraffe. The Lobby was breath taking, I just fell in love with this place. The pool was wonderful, my DD(5) loved it, they also have 2 hot tubs which were great. The Mara(the food court) was wonderful we ate there numerous times for lunch. You order your food at the counter and then they bring it out to your table, either inside or outside. Before this our favorite resort was the Wilderness Lodge but after staying at the AKL, I think it blows the WL away. We even went back to the WL to compare-lol.
The first week we were there(the week after Easter) it was so increbilbly crowded. At one point there 4 parks were closed at the same time due to being at capacity, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, MGM and Blizzard Beach. We tried getting up early one time we went to Epcot at the opening and the Fast passes were already for after 4pm for Test Track-lol. Other days they were out of passes for the major rides by 2 hours after opening. So basically we gave up and just went out at night when it was more tolerable. It was just so crowded, you couldn't even walk, we'll never go back that week again. We saw a manager type cast member and asked if the next week would be better and she said it will be like day and night-she was right! Don't get me wrong we still had a wonderful time that week it was just very difficult to navigate and fast passes were hard to come by unless you got up at the crack of dawn-which isn't vacation to us-lol
The next week was wonderul, after Saturday(april 6)the crowds were gone. It was crazy we couldn't believe the difference in the 2 weeks. We heard some people complaining about the crowds the second week and we just giggled thinking what they'd say if they were there the week before. Even one of our bus drivers told someone that complained about how crowded it was about the previous week and they were shocked, they didn't even believe him till we confirmed it-lol.
The only 2 sit-down meals we did were Chef Mickeys and the Crystal palace. Both were great and well worth the money spent. Other then that we toured the food courts of a few resorts and ate at the Mara(AKL) and counter service places. Which was fine with us cause we've done all the restaurants before and since we were there for 2 weeks we needed to save money somewhere. Having the 2 weeks was well worth not doing the sit down restaurants all the time. Oh, we also ate at Beaches and Cream for lunch, it was good but really expensive 42.00 for lunch and all we had was 2 burgers, a kids meal, 2 single scoop ice creams and drinks.
We just had the most wonderful time and are already planning our next trip! Having the AP's just makes me want to go all the time-lol
Hallie
