Canadians Go Wild at AKL! An Aug 2011 PTR - **TR Complete - Feb 12th**

[Disney9.9.10]

Day 5 - Thursday, August 25th, 2011

So I am pretty much writing this for myself at this point lol but I want to finish it anyway! It feels like this trip was so long ago - I really need to hurry up and finish this TR!

So on day 5 we woke up and got ready in time to be on the 8:00am bus for DHS! We were there with time to spare for rope drop - along with TONS of other people.

Once the park opened, there was a mad rush for TSM. I have read about how crazy this can be, but I have never experienced it until this trip! In the rope drop ceremony, they told people not to run or they wouldn't open TSM! lol But that didn't stop people! A little boy had to stop to tie his shoes and almost got trampled. By the time we got there, the line was already at 30 minutes and the fast pass line was HUGEEEE. We didn't end up waiting the full 30 minutes before we rode. This was my moms first time riding, and she was nervous because she gets motion sickness, but she ended up really liking the ride! I ended up with the highest score!

From there, we went to One Man's Dream. I love this attraction, and it was closed last year when I was there, so it was nice to be able to go in. Walt is such an inspirational man, and it is great to see everything that he accomplished in one place.

We also went on The Great Movie Ride (which we ran to, in order to get out of the rain!), and we did the Magic of Disney Animation. Matt had been waiting to ride ToT and RnR all week - and finally it was time! The wait times were really minimal for both, so he rode them both. We then walked around some of the shops before heading back to AKL. As you can see, this is a recurring theme of this trip! Doing some rides, mainly taking in scenery, walking through the shops, and swimming in the afternoon!

We had a relaxing end to our day around the fire at AKL!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Day 6 - Friday, August 26th, 2011

This morning we had another thing planned that was new for all of us - playing mini golf at Blizzard Beach!

We got there around 9 (which was an hour too early because we forgot to check opening time - oops!) so we walked around and took pictures until 10. When we first arrived there were CM's at the entrance, and they let us know that BB was closed that day because of the weather. They told us that many of the attractions cannot run with winds over 20mph and it was fairly windy because of the pending hurricane. It was such a beautiful day though! There were people who kept arriving and were told the same thing - some of them got quite upset! And the bus driver from our resort didn't tell us when we got off of the bus (which was alright for us because we were playing mini golf and not going to the park) but some people got off of the bus and had to sit and wait for the next bus back to AKL.

We got a really good deal on the mini golf, with discounts from our travel agent and from my annual pass.

Here are some pictures! It was a lot of fun, and we would recommend it if you haven't tried it!

He is an ice hockey goalie, so we had to have some fun with this one lol

Since it was such a beautiful day, we spent the afternoon by the pool. A few trips ago we stayed at Pop and they had poolside BINGO - this was Matt's favourite!! We won a ton of prizes, and it was really fun. Today, they had poolside BINGO at AKL, so we decided to play! It was a little different from the last time we played, and none of us won any of the games O) but we had a good time anyway!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Day 6 - Part 2

We left AKL, and went to MK at around 5. Since we had already been to MK (a few times that trip!) we walked around and picked what we wanted to ride when we saw it. We got a fast pass for Peter Pan and then headed towards our dinner reservation.

We had dinner reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern for 7:30. It was pretty busy tonight!

I really love the simple vegetables and potatoes dinner here. We eat here on almost every trip.

When we were finished dinner they were setting up for MSEP - we decided to stay and watch! I really love this parade and haven't done much parade watching on my last couple of trips, so I made a point of seeing at least 1.

After the parade we went over and used our FP's for Peter Pan and watched Wishes from Fantasyland. I can't get enough of that show!

After the fireworks, since it was EMH night, we walked around some more, grandma bought a Christmas present for someone, and then we headed back to AKL. We were really not thinking and ended up leaving the park at a really busy time, and the bus stops were packed! There was this amazing CM at our bus stop named Kyle. He was really friendly and made sure that everyone was respectful and waited their turn. There were bunches of people who tried to walk up to the front of the line (despite the whole bus stop being full - not sure what they were thinking) and one guy in an ECV got really angry because he was not immediately let onto a bus. Other than that, the line moved really quickly, they had a lot of buses running, so we didn't have to wait in line for very long.

Then it was back to AKL and off to bed!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Day 7 - Saturday, August 27th, 2011

It has been forever since I have updated, and I am almost finished with this TR! The holidays were super busy, and my husband and I just got a puppy!! So I haven't had much time for the boards. I hope that everyone had a great holiday as well!

Now, on with the rest of my pictures!

Today was Animal Kingdom day!

When we first walked in, they had these adorable dwarf deer (I can't remember what the actual name is)

One of the first things we did was watch It's Tough to be a Bug. There was no line and we walked right in! It's a great little show!

Since Matt loves the big rides now, we also had to ride Everest! 4 of us went on the first time, and the longest part of the line was the actual walking! I am not a big fan of roller coasters, so I only went on once, but Matt and Jim went on a couple of times since the line was so short. I browsed the store at the end of the ride while I waited. We always seem to pick the hottest day to go to Animal Kingdom, so it was nice to be in the air conditioning!

We spent a lot of this day doing shows. We watched the Festival of the Lion King, which I have seen a bunch of times before, but it is a great show! At this point in our day, it was raining a little, so the show was packed!

We also went to see the Finding Nemo Musical. I had not seen this one before, and I love Finding Nemo! This show wasn't as busy, so we had lots of space in the theatre. It is a really cute show, and if you haven't seen it before, I would recommend it!!

Here are a few pictures from the show.

I was feeling really tired this afternoon, so I decided to go back to AKL after we ate lunch. I went back by myself for a little quiet time. By the time I arrived back in the room, it was pouring rain!! I managed to get back to the room dry, but I wondered whether my family would be as lucky…




They got back to the room and they were all dripping wet! Soaked right to the bone! I guess I knew what I was doing by leaving earlier lol




I spent the rest of my day quietly around AKL. Wall-e was the movie of the night by the pool, so we went down and watched some of it.

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Day 8 - Sunday, August 29th, 2011

Our last day at AKL was already here The week flew by so quickly.

I got up early this morning and went down to the pool by myself. There was pretty much nobody there, so I took the opportunity to take a bunch of poolside pictures (surprise, surprise lol) and relax in peace and quiet. Here are some of the shots that I got.

AKL has an absolutely gorgeous pool area. If you haven't gone, it is definitely worth going, even just to look around. I was so relaxed, it was a really great vacation.

Here are a few more pictures that Matt and I took around the grounds before we headed to MK that night.

and one of my favourites

That night we went to Magic Kingdom for EMH.

A lady was kind enough to take a picture of us at the bus stop before we went.

I am working on compiling pictures from all over WDW, so I wanted to get some shots of the buildings on Main Street.

We went on a bunch of our favourite rides that we wanted to get done before we left, and then we shared a funnel cake while we watched Wishes. It was the perfect last night on a great trip! I can never get enough of the atmosphere at MK!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Departure Day - Monday, August 30th, 2011

Our stay at AKL was already over We were up and in the lobby super early for our ME bus. It came a little later than we were told it would, so we got a bit worried - seeing as we had such an early flight! But we got to the airport on time, and the driver was great for such an early morning ride!

Before we knew it, we were on the plane, heading back home

We got home around noon I believe, and I only had a few short hours before I had to be at work I was starting a new job that day, so I was a bit nervous, but everything went well!

So I hope that you enjoyed my pictures and what I call a TR. Hopefully I will have another trip coming up soon!

 

[jdd]

Just wanted to let you know I found, read and really enjoyed your trip report! We'll be at Kidani in August, and can't wait Loved your pictures of the pool - do you have any more of the room? I can't get enough

I did my first ever trip report a couple of years ago, had about 2 followers, and ended up never even finishing it! Great job getting yours done - I really wish now I had finished. As you said, it's really just for yourself

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Just wanted to let you know I found, read and really enjoyed your trip report! We'll be at Kidani in August, and can't wait Loved your pictures of the pool - do you have any more of the room? I can't get enough

I did my first ever trip report a couple of years ago, had about 2 followers, and ended up never even finishing it! Great job getting yours done - I really wish now I had finished. As you said, it's really just for yourself

I don't know if I should comment and bring up an old report, but I just saw your response now! Thanks for coming by and commenting - we loved Kidani! I will check and see if I have more pictures of the room for you.

I don't even remember which ones I posted, so I will just post what I have.