Animal Kingdom Lodge & The Entire Crazy Disney Trip Report! (Sept 4-9, 2011)

[BillyBuff]

Index:

• Day One
• Day Two
• Day Three
• Day Four
• Day Five
• Day Six

Videos:

• Disney's Hollywood Studios Backlot Tour (Devastation Canyon)
• Disney's Spirit of Aloha

I've been contemplating for quite a while on where to go for Labor Day weekend.

Then I saw a reaaaaally nice deal for a Walt Disney trip at the Animal Kingdom Lodge so I went for it! I have heard some good stories about this resort so why not right? I have stayed at the Polynesian & Coronado Springs so a Disney resort isn't something new to me.

So my entire stay was September 4 - 9 and the weather was still a bit hot and humid. I got a bit cooler like in the 80s on the last 2 days but it was because it rained hard. But enough of the blabbing and on with the reporting!

Day One - Animal Kingdom Lodge/Magic Kingdom

Upon arriving at the Animal Kingdom Lodge we were greeted by someone who has a list of guests arriving on that day. We were escorted to the Online Check-in line and got our room keys/passes. Everyone was pretty friendly/

Also noticed it was really crowded too! A lot of people checking in and checking out. I guess this is a popular resort?

We had booked a savanna view because our price went down after booking the "memories.free dining" package. We originally was going to book a "pool" view but had a better price after the new deal!

Also the lobby was HUGE! Very nice.

Our room


The view from the "Zebra Trail" room


Since we wanted to relax on the first day so we headed out to the pool….WOW it was so crowded! Unfortunately I can't find the pic because I think I had accidentally deleted it from my iPhone :-(

The beds had a special Mickey on it


Also tried the Zebra Domes for the very first time! A bit too sweet for my taste. Maybe it could have been better with a cup of coffee or something.


The rest of the night was at the Magic Kingdom with dinner at Tony's Town Square. Food was okay. Service was a bit slow due to an overbooked restaurant and the server waiting on many large tables (about 6-8 people each).

We just walked around the Magic Kingdom and enjoyed the fireworks from behind the castle…which was way different than the front



Wanted to go on the Pirates of the Caribbean but was closed due to technical difficulties.

So we decided to call it a night and went back to our resort.

For some reason the bus line for the Animal Kingdom Lodge seems the longest than the other resorts. And OMG…it was stroller city! Strollers everywhere! Eeek!

Just wanted to vent a bit….PLEASE FOLD YOUR STROLLER PRIOR TO STEPPING ONTO THE BUS LINE AND NOT WHEN YOU GET UP TO THE BUS:

End of venting.

Stay tuned for Day Two!!

 

[BillyBuff]

Day Two - Hollywood Studios

Holy Hotcakes! It was so hot & humid!

I am glad I had packed some sunblock for this trip because it was definitely needed!

Nothing really special today but wanted to see a few attractions before the closings for refurbishments.

• Checked out Toy Story Mania…was extremely crowded. I scored a 149,500. Bleah.
• Went on the Backlot Tour and the truck at the Devastation Canyon wasn't working.
• Finally caught the Lights, Motor ACTION! Extreme Stunt Show with Lightning McQueen in it
• Went on Star Tours twice and gotten 2 different endings.

Didn't really take much photos with my DSLR. It was definitely too hot to carry all that gear so it'll be mostly iPhone photos for me.





Dinner was at 50's Prime Time Cafe. People were turned away because it was overbooked. We had a 8:15 PM reservation but got in at 8:45 PM because of that.



After that we decided to head to Downtown Disney for some shopping.

Stay tuned for Day Three!

 

[BillyBuff]

Day Three - EPCOT/Spirit of Aloha

EPCOT was our pick for today but we didn't bother with the morning EMH. We decided to head over there around 10:00 AM instead and grab a quick bite.

Upon getting there by resort bus, it was pretty quiet. We were surprised how quiet it was on this day. Maybe everyone went back to school?

Well, there was a line for Spaceship Earth but that was it. After heading to Test Track then we noticed that's where everyone is! I guess everyone is waiting at these popular attractions.

Soarin' was pretty crowded too with a 30 minute wait.

The World Showcase was pretty much dead right now around 11:00 AM.

We just strolled around and had a quick lunch at the Electric Umbrella.



Walked around the World Showcase and decided to leave since we wanted to go back to freshen up and head out to our Spirit of Aloha Dinner.

This is when we ran into problems with the resort bus around 5:45 PM. We waited and waited for the bus to MK but haven't seen anything for over 45 mins! Then finally it came. Off to MK for the resort monorail to Polynesian! We wanted to get to the Polynesian early to check out the store. Oh well.



We made it to the cove and what a long line to check-in. People were standing in line but the line wasn't moving so I asked if anyone were in line.....they replied no, they already checked in. GRRRRRR! The why are u loitering on the line for?? Sheesh!

So it was my turn to check in and overhead a couple complaining and trying to add 6 more people to their party. So the person who was helping me had to go help them out with the seating chart. Then she finally came over and gave us our seat assignment.

People were already being led to their seats so we vamoosed it out there so we can start munching on some of that bread & salad!

Whoa! Why are we sitting in the front level?? I'm on the dining plan and was told by reservations that I would get a Category 3. But now we were placed about a table away from the stage. Awesome!

Food was okay though. I'm not used to the hard rice. The chicken was pretty juicy & tender though. The ribs were a bit dry for my taste. It was a LOT of food for just 2 people though.

I've seen the show before except for my DW so I was there for her. She wasn't impressed with the food either. The show was okay for her except when the half nekkid guys came out then it grabbed her attention

Overall it was an okay experience for her. She wouldn't do it again.

Took a stroll to the Grand Floridian. Walked around then took a bus to DTD to connect with the bus back to AKL...whew. We're pooped out.









Stay tuned for Day Four!