Are you Push?? Our sister trip around the World - COMPLETED 6/13!

[lvcourtneyy]

Aw what a cute doggy! Let me know how learning about the DSLR goes. I want to look into getting one but I'm scared I won't be able to use it properly that it'll be a waste.

How exciting about both vacations: DR and another Disney trip! Especially at BCV and AKL! So awesome.

You guys did an awesome job with the tie-dyed Mickey shirts! We never ate at CHH but it looks yummy!

I can't believe you hadn't done Carousel of Progress before. I really enjoy it as one of those classic Disney attractions.

Can't wait to hear about Chefs de France. We were supposed to eat there last trip but at the last minute, we decided to skip the sit down dinner and just snack around the world.

 

[teekathepony]

Your dog is adorable!
What slr did you get?? I'm just nosy and love camera talk.

I love HM's new queue line, it's so fun it's like an attraction all on its own!

We got into the stretching room and then the mad crush of people waiting to board the doom buggies..I really wish they would change this - I hate getting pushed all around and I really feel like it's dangerous.

I also hate the bottle neck/cattle round-up style queue here. Plus it's dark. I'm always afraid of losing DH and we're both adults, I think I'd take an anxiety attack if I had kids!

That PP pic is super cute!

 

[deedee86]

love your TR i've just got back from a 2 week trip to orlando with my sister arent they the best travel buddy for a disney trip

also your dog is adorable ive got a goldie aged 7 called jasper thats the saddest part about a disney trip is leaving him but cuddles help with the post disney depression hehe.

 

[cfw213]

Sorry I posted between your updates, LOL! I didn't realize you were posting two!

Okay, so now about this one...
I have always wanted to try tie-dying the Mickey Head shirts for my whole family, but I've always been too scared I'd mess it up. Then I was going to order some from a lady on Etsy, and her shop was shut down due to copyright crap. Ugh! Maybe it's just not meant to be for us . Yours turned out GREAT! Maybe I should hire you!!

CHH is our favorite quick service. It was our first, after all! I'm like you--I always want to try something different, then don't. For me, it's the fish. And for Brandon, it's the shrimp. Gah, that place is yummy!

I agree about Space sitting in the back. BIG no-no. And I also agree that once per trip is enough. I may even be okay with skipping it altogether .

I would never skip Peoplemover, though! Love it!

I'm ready to hear all about your dinner! I haven't booked it yet for our next trip, but I am really considering it. It would be something new and different.

The tie-dye shirts are actually REALLY easy! Jess actually did kind of mess hers up and she had half a mickey head on the back by accident. I'll have to see if I can find the link for the one I used. If Jess wasn't obsessed with Space I would probably just do it once and be done. I don't love it! It's actually painful, haha!

Aw what a cute doggy! Let me know how learning about the DSLR goes. I want to look into getting one but I'm scared I won't be able to use it properly that it'll be a waste.

How exciting about both vacations: DR and another Disney trip! Especially at BCV and AKL! So awesome.

You guys did an awesome job with the tie-dyed Mickey shirts! We never ate at CHH but it looks yummy!

I can't believe you hadn't done Carousel of Progress before. I really enjoy it as one of those classic Disney attractions.

Can't wait to hear about Chefs de France. We were supposed to eat there last trip but at the last minute, we decided to skip the sit down dinner and just snack around the world.

Thank you, we think he's pretty darn cute! I bought a "Dslr for dummies" book and I'm taking a class in May so hopefully I'll learn alot!

I can't believe I missed COP until now either. We'll definitely do it again.

Chefs de France was really good! I'm hoping to post my review shortly!

Your dog is adorable!
What slr did you get?? I'm just nosy and love camera talk.

I love HM's new queue line, it's so fun it's like an attraction all on its own!

I also hate the bottle neck/cattle round-up style queue here. Plus it's dark. I'm always afraid of losing DH and we're both adults, I think I'd take an anxiety attack if I had kids!

That PP pic is super cute!

Thank you! I got a Canon T3!

love your TR i've just got back from a 2 week trip to orlando with my sister arent they the best travel buddy for a disney trip

also your dog is adorable ive got a goldie aged 7 called jasper thats the saddest part about a disney trip is leaving him but cuddles help with the post disney depression hehe.

Thanks for following! My sister is definitely the best travel buddy. Aren't golden's the best?? I REALLY miss him when I go to Disney too. On our summer vacation we bring him with us so Disney is really the only time I'm away from him. It's super sad!

 

[cfw213]

Dining review - Les Chefs de France

We had changed to this ADR last minute because we had switched up our plans to be able to participate in FP+. We had made an early ADR hoping to catch Remy!! We had a 4:55 ADR and we were seated promptly. I asked both the server and the waiter if Remy would be making an appearance and neither would answer! Ha. We ordered our drinks and browsed the menu for a few minutes. We both ended up getting the prix fix offerings (I love when they do that- free app!) since what I had been planning on getting was on the menu anyway.

First, they brought out some delicious fresh baked french bread! I love me some bread so this was great...

I started with the lobster bisque

and Jess got the salad.

My soup was fantastic, but very rich! Our server here was great - he had a cute french accent and he was very attentive (it was very quiet though). I ordered the gratin de macaroni - basically fancy mac and cheese with gruyere and Jess got the 1/2 roasted chicken. While we were waiting for our food, Belle and the Beast came walking up the path right beside us and gave us a nice wave!

Our food came out very quickly and it was REALLY yummy!

Jess' chicken - it was also very tasty!

Shortly after we were served, we saw Remy start to make his rounds!

We were one of the tables towards the end. If you ever get a chance to see Remy, DO IT! He's so cute and I could see how kids would be really impressed by him. I asked him why the ratatoille wasn't on the menu and he said he ate it all - silly Remy!

After we were done our meals, it was time for dessert! I changed it up and instead of the melting cake, I ended up with the chocolate profiteroles. They were their "specialty" and they were just okay for me.

Jess got the chocolate mousse and pound cake, which I wish I had! But I was pretty stuffed from dinner so it worked out okay.

This meal ended up being one of our favorites - we rank it number 2 out of our 7 meals, only behind Le Cellier. At first I wasn't too jazzed about french food but I ended up loving it and would gladly return!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Your meal from Chefs looks very tasty - especially your lobster bisque! I'm sorry the profiteroles didn't live up to your expectations, but I think it would be hard to pull me away from the chocolate mousse!

Meeting Remy would be pretty fun! I love that he "communicates" with the diners. It was such a good idea to add him to the restaurant!

 

[teekathepony]

Awww how cute that you got to see Remy! Your meal looks really good. I had the profiteroles there two years ago and was also a little unimpressed.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

That looks SO GOOD! I could live off pasta, and that looks spectacular!

Is there a certain time that Remy comes out usually? And would you say this is a good place for kids, or is it too quiet?

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Ah that food looks amazing! Love macaroni and cheese.

aw Remy's so cute. I'm so sad we had ADRs here last trip and canceled them DBF thought it sounded too fancy! I wish we had gone!

 

[cfw213]

Hi everyone! Yet again I dropped off the face of the earth!! The last week of tax season was crazy and I just got back yesterday from the Dominican I'm going to spend some time this morning catching up on everyone else's TRs and I hope to update mine this afternoon, thanks for sticking around

 

[cfw213]

Your meal from Chefs looks very tasty - especially your lobster bisque! I'm sorry the profiteroles didn't live up to your expectations, but I think it would be hard to pull me away from the chocolate mousse!

Meeting Remy would be pretty fun! I love that he "communicates" with the diners. It was such a good idea to add him to the restaurant!

Yep, I should have went with the chocolate mousse! I always regret when I go against my instincts, ha

Awww how cute that you got to see Remy! Your meal looks really good. I had the profiteroles there two years ago and was also a little unimpressed.

Yeah, Remy was awesome!

That looks SO GOOD! I could live off pasta, and that looks spectacular!

Is there a certain time that Remy comes out usually? And would you say this is a good place for kids, or is it too quiet?

Yes there are certain times he comes out...I can't remember specifically but I booked this ADR early to catch him on his last round. It was good for kids, there were tons of kids there!

Ah that food looks amazing! Love macaroni and cheese.

aw Remy's so cute. I'm so sad we had ADRs here last trip and canceled them DBF thought it sounded too fancy! I wish we had gone!

It definitely wasn't too fancy! I don't have a sophisticated palette and we really enjoyed it!

 

[cfw213]

After dinner, we decided that tonight would be our World Showcase evening. I know so many people looooveee the World Showcase, but it's just okay for us. I guess we're more into attractions/characters than just walking or browsing so we feel that a thorough tour of the World Showcase is enough every other year or so. On our way out, there was a photopass photographer in front of the fountain in France and these ended up being some of my favorite pictures!





Then it got cheesy-


We browsed the store in France...



then walked over to the UK and walked through the garden.



But before that, we found another PP photographer along the way! It's so pretty right here.



I didn't know alot of the pavilions went as far back as they did! We popped into the store and had a visit with Pooh and Tigger. I love how they're in Christopher Robin's room - so cute!







I also browsed and bought some cool coasters for my DH, since he's a beer lover!

We browsed Canada briefly, but we were there the other day so nothing major over there!



Our Soarin' fastpasses were about to come due so we head over to the Land to ride. Once again, top row, woohoo! We then head over to ride Nemo one more time and we saw a dolphin during the scenes at the end! Really neat, I'd never seen that before. After we were done with the land and sea, we head back to the World Showcase.



We had wanted to ride Maelstrom again but it was down, boo! We browsed the stores in Norway and then head to China where we promptly decided that we were exhausted! We had spent the whole morning in the MK so we were pooped out. There was a really good bench right in front of China open so at 7:45, we decided to wait for Illuminations!



It was super early but we didn't want to go home and miss it so we just relaxed and messed around. We took turns heading to Germany to get some snacks at Karamel Kuche (my favorite in WS!!). I ended up with some caramel popcorn and Jess had a caramel square. No pictures, I guess!

We hung around until 9:00 when Illuminations started! This is my least favorite nighttime show but it's still very cool and impressive. I was into the show so I only got one picture!



We started our departure about a minute before the end and hung around at the beginning of WS until it was over, then head out to the busses! The crowds for the busses weren't terrible this night but right before we were about to get on one, it started POURING torrentially. Luckily we were covered, and on a bus in a few minutes. We were back to Art of Animation by 9:45 and the ground was completely dry - no rain there! We head back up to the room and relaxed a little while we packed our clothes for our big move the next morning!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

You guys got great pictures from the Photopass photographers!

I really need to try Karamel Kuche next time... I don't know why we bypassed it last time?

What great timing with the rain!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I love the photopass pictures in the WS. I agree with you on the WS. It just isn't my favorite part of WDW.

Glad you were able to miss the rain!

 

[cfw213]

You guys got great pictures from the Photopass photographers!

I really need to try Karamel Kuche next time... I don't know why we bypassed it last time?

What great timing with the rain!

Thanks! Karamel Kuche is our favorite WS snack place

I love the photopass pictures in the WS. I agree with you on the WS. It just isn't my favorite part of WDW.

Glad you were able to miss the rain!

We really lucked out on the rain a couple times!

 

[cfw213]

Happy Saturday everyone! I'm finally not working weekends anymore so hopefully I can finish up these last few days so I can start on my October PTR!

Friday was another early morning since we had some moves to make before we made it to any parks! We got up around 7:00am and had breakfast in the room. We packed up all our luggage and sadly said goodbye to our lovely room at Art of Animation. We took this silly picture with the Octopus because we loved this thing!



I've said it before but we LOVED this place and would love to stay again someday (even though I have DVC, I'm in a perpetual state of borrowing so some time I'm going to have to pay for a cash room!). We went downstairs to the front desk and told them we were checking out and moving resorts. They were very helpful and directed us out front to the luggage services who tagged our bags and put our cold groceries in the fridge. We also inquired upfront about receiving the additional meals on our DDP for the second part of our stay (since we wanted to have lunch at AK), but were told we had to check in first to AK Lodge- BOO!

Once that was handled, we hopped on a bus for Animal Kingdom! They opened at 8am on this day for EMH but since we didn't get on the bus until 8:15, we ended up missing most of it. When we arrived around 8:40, we had to get this picture since we didn't get one the first day, and of course we had to stop for a Photopass picture that we didn't get yet!





Hello tree of life!


Someone asked us to take their picture and then reciprocated the favor - this ended up being our favorite picture of the trip! Also, notice some more tanks we made - there were our favorite!! Jess had a white tiger pattern and I had a leopard pattern.



I love all the small details of AK...but it was time for some rides!


It was still dead so we head over to Asia walked right on Everest!


It's always great to conquer the Yeti first thing in the morning. We then walked over to the ride I'd been dreading all week...



Dinosaur!! Jess loves this ride but I really do not enjoy when things pop out at me and it terrifies me. I'm getting better now that I'm more familiar with the ride and know when things are going to come out, mainly the big scary one at the end. We didn't wait long and soon we were cruising around, trying to steal a dino! I will admit it was actually quite fun this time, when I'm not worried about what is going to pop out. I had never really walked around Dinoland before so we took a few minutes to do just that.





After that, we need some relaxing so we did the Majarjah jungle trek. We skipped this last year and I really enjoyed it this time, it was very peaceful back there! For some reason I didn't take one picture here so...sorry!

We only had a few more things we skipped, and one of them was another show I dislike...


It's Tough to Be a Bug!

It also scares me because of the things popping out and all that, but now that I know the cue's from the buggies, I know what to expect! We checked out the wait for the Safari, but it was too long we decided to head out, but first we did the Pangani forest trail - this was also a nice peaceful walk! Again, no pictures - not sure what I was thinking. We had finished up everything in AK that we wanted to and it was about 10:30, so we decided to head over to AKL to check in!

 

[cfw213]

We decided to head over to AKL to check in and get our meal credits, even though we knew the room probably wouldn't be ready yet. AK Lodge is suuuuuper close to Animal Kingdom and we were there in only a few minutes, hopping off at the bus at Jambo House!!!



This was my first stay on DVC points and my first deluxe resort so to say I was excited was an understatement. I love when they welcomed us "home" and the lobby was beyond amazing and beautiful.





We were staying at Kidani but assumed (wrongly) that we had to check in at Jambo. We had requested Sunset Savannah to be able to see the zebras and we were assigned a room on that savannah, but really far from the lobby. I'd heard that the hallways were ridiculously long, and even though that room was already ready, I requested a room closer to the lobby. She had one and it was ready too! We were happy with our pixie dust and decided to walk over to Kidani to check out our room.

First we walked around outside Jambo House a bit too before walking to our room.



It was maybe a 10 minute walk from the main building, not bad at all. But walking in front of us were two teenage girls (maybe 13? They seemed like cousins or sisters) and this one girl was just AWFUL. She was complaining about being in Disney and how much she hated her grandmother and she had some seriously foul language. I will admit I don't have the cleanest mouth but she was saying "F$!# that b*^%$!" and just saying terrible things about her grandmom. Then she happened to see Granny ride by on a bus and was like "Oh hiiiiiiii Grammy!". It was just really strange. They were also walking really slowly but we just followed behind them because it was entertaining and we had nowhere to be!

Anyway, back on topic, in a few minutes we were at Kidani village, the DVC-only portion of AK Lodge and it was beautiful! There were some rooms that had a crappy view of the parking lot though, so I'm glad I wasn't there. We walked to our room, so now time for some pictures!! Our luggage hadn't been delivered yet so we just stopped by for a few minutes to check it out.


Welcome Mickey!

Jess, enjoying the "living room" portion of the studio. This couch pulled out to a double bed, which is where she slept so we could have separate beds.


My big bed!


From the living room to the front door. To the right is the kitchenette and to the left is the bathroom


Crappy bathroom shot, but the granite vanity was HUGE!


Shower area, to the right was a toilet behind a closed door


Little kitchen area that we didn't use, except for the fridge


OUR SAVANNAH VIEW!


Hello animals!


Enjoying the view




After we had sufficiently checked out the room and view, and the giraffes had wandered away, we decided to hit up another park! Any guesses on where-to?

ETA: We loved our stay at AKL (obviously, since we're staying there again in October!) but we did have a few complaints. First, our room was extremely HOT! I would have complained if it was a longer stay, but we were only there for two nights. I had actually packed a fan with me because I'm weird, so we just left that running and closed the shades to cool down the room a little bit. Also, the bathroom was very dark. It was hard to do hair/makeup, not that I did much of that, but it could use an uptick in lighting! Third, there was NOWHERE to hang anything, like wet towels, bathing suits, etc. It was really, really annoying and probably my biggest complaint. Coming from the AOA, where they had tons of hooks, etc. to hang things, it was frustrating as we were laying our wet towels over our suitcases and draping them over the couch. I WILL be packing an over the door hook rack next time!

 

[Karabee]

I love reading your report! My sister and I have taken 2 trips together and were trying to plan this years. There were a number of places and things in your trip report that reminded me of our trip Last December we stayed at SSR and it was amazing so you'll love it when you stay there!

 

[katt789]

Ah! Your AK morning was the morning that we saw you but I wasn't sure so I didn't say hi! I'm pretty sure we were on the same bus! We went to AK then hopped over to teh GF for breakfast!

Looks like a nice relaxing morning there! Man, I wish I would've known about Disney being able to move luggage, I would've had them do that for me going from AKL to AoA!

I'm excited to read about AKL!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Your tank tops are totally adorable! How did you make them?!

Ah the photos of AKL look fantastic! It's definitely up there on my list of places I want to stay! I appreciate the honest comments about it though- those are important things to know.