Club Level annnnnd No Kids; An August 2018 10th Anniversary Trip Report-Completed 12/28

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I am following along!

We love Sanaa and the bread service!

 

[tbholc81]

We are trying Sanaa for the first time in November. Your review sounds great! My husband loves Naan.

It was worth the wait. We will definitely eat there again!

 

[tbholc81]

Welcome back! I finally have a few minutes to get another post or 2 done.​

We left off with us arriving at MK for the night. Our plan is to start hitting up some rides in Tomorrowland and use some fast passes. We want to be behind the castle for fireworks to keep away from the crowds and then start DAH in Adventureland so we can work our way all the way back around. Let's See how we did!

Fast Passes:
- Space Mountain 7:40-8:40
- SDMT 915-10:00

We head up main street, and it's fairly crowded, but that's expected I guess.

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We have some time before our first FP, and there is always stopping off at the purple wall for a picture.

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We head from their to the Laugh Floor. The posted wait is 20 minutes. We are in line at 7:20 and it seems to move pretty quickly. We are sitting in the theater at 7:35, so only actually only a 15 minute wait. The show is pretty funny as usual, some of the audience participants weren't as cooperative as they could have been. Once we get out we head straight for Space Mountain to use our FP.

I get this beauty of Deb!

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A fun ride as always, but I feel like it keeps getting bumpier. Maybe I'm just getting older. We got off at about 8:25 and decided that we need caffeine or sugar or something. So we hit up the Joffery's in Tomorrowland. Deb got a frozen mocha and I got a large peach iced tea. The tea was suuuuupppper sweet, but refreshing. Sun was going down which makes for a nice picture of the castle.

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We walked over to Fantasyland where I grab a seat and Deb visits a couple princesses.

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Deb is done quickly and it's getting close to 9:00. So we decide to hang out for a few minutes and see if we can get on Minetrain during HEA. We figure this will take some luck and good timing. We scanned our FPs at 9:12 and they start while we are in line. This did work out for us though, we tried to get some pictures. Most are pretty blurry, but I'll put a few of the best ones here.

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This was actually really awesome and well worth trying to do someday. The people behind us must have always wanted to do this because they were screaming and crying at the same time.

Once we got off we watched the rest of the show from Liberty Square. The we were off to Adventureland. More about that in the next post!

 

[Mickey.MAC]

congrats on your 10th! We also do kids free trips once a year, and we did one to Disney for New Years 2017. Totally a different feel without kids, and we missed them a lot

 

[tbholc81]

congrats on your 10th! We also do kids free trips once a year, and we did one to Disney for New Years 2017. Totally a different feel without kids, and we missed them a lot

Thanks! yes it felt very different, and Deb kept pointing out all of the things the kids loved. But we would have never been able to do DAH or some of the other stuff with them. When they are older though we will!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Joining! Great start! I can't wait to hear more!!!

 

[tbholc81]

Once we got to Adventureland the park was starting the park was still open to everybody for about a half hour. So we start with Aladdin's Magic carpets at 9:30, which was a walk on. We quickly finished that and then decided to head into the Tiki Room. We haven't ever done that together and there is no line so in we go. We had to wait a few minutes for the show to start. There are maybe 10 people in the theater with us.

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After the show is over Disney After Hours has officially started! Well even though the park was closed people didn't actually leave. We started with The Jungle Cruise at 10:05, which was funny as always. Then we went over to POTC at 10:20.

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From there we continued around to Frontierland. Deb jumped on Splash Mountain which I don't like (I hate drops) and it's 10:33. She walked right on but of course it's a long ride.

At this point I'm amazed at how many people are still in the park. We've been to the Halloween party before and they do a much better job if getting people without tickets out of the park by lining up at certain spots and pointing people without tickets towards the exits. For this though they were just telling people without lanyards and wristbands they couldn't get on rides. So at 10:30 it almost looked like the park hadn't closed.

Once we met back up it was time for BTMRR at 10:54. Then over to Haunted Mansion at 11:12 and It's a Small World at 11:26. All rides were walk on, but the lines for the free popcorn and icecream were super long. We decided to try the one in the Hub because I read was usually short. At this point we really needed some water. The crowds finally thinned way out so we slowed down for some pictures.

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We were the only ones in the castle tunnel.

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Deb got a Mickey Bar and a water. I got 2 waters and a Coke. I was still stuffed from dinner.

From there we got on Buzz at 11:53

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I won, which I never do. Then People Mover at Midnight.



Then back to Winnie the Pooh at 12:14. Once we were done with that we were really started to hit a wall. We decided to wait in line for SDMT which was about a 10-15 minute wait. As we expected it was the longest wait of the night. Then over to Peter Pan at 12:36.

I took this picture of Fantasyland because I saw other pictures of DAH where this part of the park was completely empty.

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You can see there are quite a few people there, so it's not deserted but lower than it would be at any other time.

After PP we were exhausted and we didn't want to wait forever for a bus to get back to AK Lodge. So we decided to make our way to the exit.

I have a couple photos on our way our which I'll put in the next post.

 

[tbholc81]

On our way out we were able to get a few pictures in front of the castle without many people.

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The next 2 were the best, no people at all in them just us.

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We went out of the exit right at 1:00 as the event was ending. This was a super smart move, we got to the bus and were on our way back at 1:07. After the 15 minute bus ride and the walk to our room it's a little after 1:30. Exhausted but a great first day!

 

[suse66]

Joining in! Happy Anniversary to you!

First we decided that we wanted to try the brunch at California Grill so we added the extra night at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Then Deb decided that we should try Sanaa while we were there so we added that on Saturday night (mostly for the bread service), then finally they announced the MK After Hours dates, and we HAD to go to that. It was our arrival day, but oh well, we'd make it work.

Sounds like you have wonderful plans!

Then we pull into AKL!

Love this resort!

After our long walk we don't want to get anything to huge with our dinner reservation only a couple hours away. So we decide on the falafel platter and I get a beer.

The Mara has some awesome choices!

They hung a basket off the left side of our balcony for the giraffes so they kept coming and going from that tree.

I love watching the giraffes, they are so graceful!

Both were thoroughly enjoyed. Taking our time we ordered the bread service next. It lived up to the hype for us, one of the best things we ate all week!

It is ridiculously good!

Sun was going down which makes for a nice picture of the castle.

Nice shot!

We quickly finished that and then decided to head into the Tiki Room. We haven't ever done that together and there is no line so in we go. We had to wait a few minutes for the show to start. There are maybe 10 people in the theater with us.

I love the Tiki room!

We were the only ones in the castle tunnel.

Another great picture!

The next 2 were the best, no people at all in them just us.

Beautiful!

 

[tiggerpals]

What a great first day! We’re staying at Wilderness Lodge for the first time in November and I’m super excited. Also eating at Sanaa and I can’t wait to try the bread service!

 

[tbholc81]

What a great first day! We’re staying at Wilderness Lodge for the first time in November and I’m super excited. Also eating at Sanaa and I can’t wait to try the bread service!

Awesome! We loved WL, and I have lots of pictures to add on here eventually.

 

[tbholc81]

Chapter 2: Brunch at the Top, Club Level Begins!​

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Sunday Morning was a day to SLEEP IN. Which we did, with great success. We got up at about 9, and when you are in your late 30s with little kids sleeping till 9am is unheard of. We did get woken up at about 6am by the elephants that were upstairs from us. I know we were in AK Lodge but I thought they kept the big animals outside!

So what's on tap for today. First up is Brunch at the Top at California Grill. We were really looking forward to this with all of the great reviews we had read. Then over to WL lodge to check in and the afternoon and evening at EPCOT. We love Illuminations so that's our plan for fireworks. Let's see how we did.

Fastpasses:
- Spaceship Earth; 3:00pm-4:00pm
- Living With the Land; 4:15pm-5:15pm
- Test Track; 5:45pm-6:45pm

The zebras are out and about nice and early.

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We shower, pack up and are out of our room at 9:45. After a quick stop to drop off our bags and have them sent to WL we get to the buses. It was our plan to take a bus to MK and then walk to the Contemporary. Our ADR isn't until 11:15 so we have plenty of time. We get there fairly early and check in at 10:35. They immediately take us up the elevator and we are seated right away.

We had never been to CG before, it was fantastic up there with great views. Our seats weren't really near windows but that was ok still able to enjoy the atmosphere. They have a a couple musicians.

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and bottomless mimosas!

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The table was nicely set for us!

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The menu

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The waitress explained to us that we take as many trips as we want to the self serve selections, and that we can order our breakfast entree and she will put it in when we were done with our first plate. It was nice to not feel rushed at all. There are plenty of open tables so we don't feel rushed.

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Here's on last picture for this post of the view!

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Small I know but you get the idea. Next post will be all of the awesome looking and tasting food.

 

[tbholc81]

The first thing we ordered was coffee. Like everything else at this meal, it's extremely good coffee. It was a press pot, which we got to press ourselves when we were ready. I didn't really even need cream of sugar for it.

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Then we head up to see what they have at the self selections. There is a full bar including some huge Bloody Marys, but the drinks are extra.

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After that there was the Charcuterie, which had cheese and some meat, pickles etc.....

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Then the Sushi

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Then salads, for some reason I only took a picture of the peach salad, but there was a bacon and egg salad there too.

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and some yogurt

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Then off to the side was this guy!

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serving Bourbon Baba, not sure what it was but it was amazing (we got one at the end of the meal.

So we filled our plates

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We both agreed that the peach salad was the best thing up there. It was also the first time either of us tried sushi. We thought it was ok, nothing special. The waitress kept checking in on us, so we got more mimosas and ordered our main course.

Next up another plate of self selections and more food!

 

[tbholc81]

On to another plate of food. Some of the same stuff and a couple different things.

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We both had more of the peach salad, we couldn't get enough of that. Shortly after our main course came out.

I got the blueberry pancakes.

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and Deb go the lobster eggs benedict

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Both were excellent! We took our time, ordered more coffee and I'm sure another mimosa. Deb got the Bourbon Baba thing.

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It was amazing, I wish I remembered more about it. Then the last dessert platter came out with an assortment of macaroons, muffins, chocolates etc....

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Now that we were sufficiently stuffed there wasn't a lot of room for this. We walked outside and took some pictures.

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Man it was sunny and getting HOT! Oh well, we finished up and paid. This was definitely well worth every penny it cost and a great experience. So good Deb has us going with friends after the Wine and Dine half. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is thinking about it.

Now it was time to head to WL and check in. We take a boat right over from the Contemporary.

More on the rest of the day in my next post!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

This brunch always sounds amazing. Maybe one day I will get to try it.

 

[DisneyPups]

Joining in for the ride. Props to the BCBA (I'm a school psych, so I can very much appreciate what you do!). I have vacation envy, b/c I have never left my kids (DD6 and DD3) for the night (grandma and grandpa have JUST started taking DD6 for sleepovers, but haven't had DD3 yet) ... a solo vacay sounds lovely. California Grill looks great. We're DVC owners at BLT, so we'll definitely have to check that out. Love the pics so far. You and your DW look like you're having a blast.

 

[tbholc81]

This brunch always sounds amazing. Maybe one day I will get to try it.

It was well worth the price, don't know if I'd take my kids quite yet, but when they are older We'll take them for sure.

Joining in for the ride. Props to the BCBA (I'm a school psych, so I can very much appreciate what you do!). I have vacation envy, b/c I have never left my kids (DD6 and DD3) for the night (grandma and grandpa have JUST started taking DD6 for sleepovers, but haven't had DD3 yet) ... a solo vacay sounds lovely. California Grill looks great. We're DVC owners at BLT, so we'll definitely have to check that out. Love the pics so far. You and your DW look like you're having a blast.

Thanks! it was quite the journey to get the BCBA, but I love the work. Hopefully your adults only trip can happen soon!

 

[tbholc81]

Happy Weekend! I hope to get a few more posts done over the next two days and at least get through a day or two of the trip.

Leaving off we finished off our brunch and were off to check in at WL. I did forget to mention that the waitress talked to us about coming back to see Happily Ever After from CG. So we are leaving CR thinking that we would for sure come back at night. We'll see what happens.

So at 12:30pm we are on our way to WL (we really took our time at brunch, we were there from almost 2 hours). We took a boat from CR to WL which was super easy. When we go to the lobby we knew that since were staying club level someone should be there to meet us and take us upstairs. Club Level at WL is on the 7th floor which is the top floor. When you get off DME there is a concierge usually waiting for you, but since we were essentially unannounced we had to search for someone. We asked at the desk, and within minutes someone came down from the lounge. He apologized several times for making us wait, which was crazy because it's not like they knew we were coming. On up we went to the lounge to check in.

There is a door on the 7th floor that only club level clients can scan through with their Magic Bands. The view from up there was awesome!

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We sat down, and they took us through everything about staying club level. Showed us the food and how the lounge works. The food looked amazing, and there was beer on tap available at any time. For now though we are stuffed and want to get to our room. On our short walk there the CM tells us that we have MK views and would be able to see HEA from either the lounge where they have the music playing, or from our room! We thought it was really weird that we booked a standard view and could see MK. I'll explain the twist in a few pictures. For now we were excited about the room!

We requested a King size bed, but that didn't happen. Oh Well.

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Everything looked great, and this was on the foot of the bed.

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We know that we would get the chocolate but everything else was a nice surprise. There was a welcome letter letting us know who to call if we needed anything. Our itinerary for the day, plus the hours of all the parks and when nighttime shows were. A schedule for the events at WL, information about the restaurants at WL and their hours. It was a really nice touch.

Now time to see the view of MK.

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Not bad! The catch was that right below our room was the loading and unloading for the trucks and deliveries for WL. So that's why it was still a standard view. You could see the MK, but I could also tell you when the uniforms for CM were delivered... 5am by the way. The smokehouse for Whispering Canyon was also back there, which smelled fantastic.

Our first FP for Epcot isn't till later in the afternoon so we decided to hang out for a while and relax. Deb can't find the key to the safe so we were going to ask about that before we left. Shocking, I put on the PGA Championship to see who might win.

Then it got a little weird, the head of Mousekeeping knocked on the door because the party that checked out this morning left their passports in the safe. Ahh now it makes sense, guess what they had the key also. She apologized about 50 times for coming in but she can't get the safe open so she has to go get a new lock for it and change it out. She came back like 15 minutes later. She was very nice and it wasn't a huge inconvenience. So then she tells us she can get us some FPs for when we go to the park today. Meh, we don't need anything for EPCOT so we ask for some for the next couple days. She says she will take care of it but of course she can't get us Slinky Dog or FOP. Bummer we need Slinky Dog... but already have FOP. We picked a couple things for later in the trip and she says she will put them on there.

at 3:00 we decide to get moving. A little tired but we are excited to have an evening at EPCOT.

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We are on the bus at 3:14 and in the park at 3:45. We head right over to our first FP which is Spaceship Earth. Amazing, to us is that sometimes this is a walk on and other times like a 45 min wait. Right now the wait was pretty long so a good use of a Tier 2 FP. Then we decided to walk around before our LWTL FP. We past the Character spot and it was only posted a 15 minute wait. there is literally one family in line so we stop. Wait was more like only 10 minutes which was perfect to meet these guys.

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Goofy is still the best!

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Then Mickey and Minnie!

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From there it was over to LWTL for our FP. We are on that at 4:34, by 4:55 debating whether we want to do Soarin. It's not the same for me since they changed it and I hate being to the side so I can see the Eiffel Tower look like Merida's bow. The wait says 25 min and Deb says we can request row B1 or something and just wait. So that's what we did. When we got to the front of the line we asked and the CM sent us to where the next show boards. There was a private tour there as well, and he was sharing some fun info with them we got to eavesdrop on. Front row center was the way to go, it's a much better show from there. We boarded at 5:30 and are off at 5:39. We headed over to Mouse Gears to shop and it started to rain I think. We have a FP for Test Track but it's closed so we shopped for a while and then couldn't decide what to do. I suggest eating at QS in a country Deb is really tired and wants to head back. I reluctantly agree, plus we both think now we can use the lounge to eat. Plus the weather is looking like it's going to get worse through the evening.

At 6:35 we had back to WL.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

All caught up! Comments in somewhat random order. I totally agree with you on Soarin'. The distortions are SO annoying. I really don't know what they were thinking knowing that the majority of guests would not have a good view. Makes no sense to me. I'd be thrilled if they just brought back the old movie -- or at least offer it in one theater. Ugh on 5am uniform delivery - that doesn't sound fun. But club level sure does! We are doing the California Grill brunch for the first time in a few weeks and I am so excited. How fun you'll be going back next month for Wine & Dine! I'm also going to try to make it to Sanaa one day as well.

 

[tbholc81]

All caught up! Comments in somewhat random order. I totally agree with you on Soarin'. The distortions are SO annoying. I really don't know what they were thinking knowing that the majority of guests would not have a good view. Makes no sense to me. I'd be thrilled if they just brought back the old movie -- or at least offer it in one theater. Ugh on 5am uniform delivery - that doesn't sound fun. But club level sure does! We are doing the California Grill brunch for the first time in a few weeks and I am so excited. How fun you'll be going back next month for Wine & Dine! I'm also going to try to make it to Sanaa one day as well.

Thanks for reading, you'll love the brunch!