Cruising the Dream on our 1st cruise ever!!! (5 Night Double Dip)

[Leshaface]

You got some great shots of the giraffes.

Okay, so when I was looking at the map of AKV, there were different areas saying giraffe, zebra, pelican, and hog. Does this mean if we request a room in the 'Giraffe' section, we'll only be seeing giraffes?

I'm pretty sure i'm going to regret not going to Jiko. I love that place so much.

I can fall asleep easily to Wall-e. It just doesn't have enough dialogue to keep me awake and paying attention. The music is what I think gets to me and I always fall asleep to it. That's so cute that your mom was still up watching it!

 

[Pinkocto]

You got some great shots of the giraffes.

Okay, so when I was looking at the map of AKV, there were different areas saying giraffe, zebra, pelican, and hog. Does this mean if we request a room in the 'Giraffe' section, we'll only be seeing giraffes?

I'm pretty sure i'm going to regret not going to Jiko. I love that place so much.

I can fall asleep easily to Wall-e. It just doesn't have enough dialogue to keep me awake and paying attention. The music is what I think gets to me and I always fall asleep to it. That's so cute that your mom was still up watching it!

Oh no, I think labeled the 'trails' to be able to easily reference the areas of the resort. Much nicer than saying west wing or north wing, that kind of thing. There will be many different animals on each trail. Some trails actually have animals that others don't. There's one area at Kidani that has a savannah just with birds.

You can't squeeze in a dinner when you're at Kidani? I know you won't have deluxe dining on that part of the trip, but it might be worth it. When will you be at WDW next?

She was so cute still awake that late. Usually it's the other way around and I look over and she's the one out.

 

[Leshaface]

Oh no, I think labeled the 'trails' to be able to easily reference the areas of the resort. Much nicer than saying west wing or north wing, that kind of thing. There will be many different animals on each trail. Some trails actually have animals that others don't. There's one area at Kidani that has a savannah just with birds.

You can't squeeze in a dinner when you're at Kidani? I know you won't have deluxe dining on that part of the trip, but it might be worth it. When will you be at WDW next?

She was so cute still awake that late. Usually it's the other way around and I look over and she's the one out.

Oh good, i'm glad we'll be able to see different animals while in our savannah studio.

I'm REALLY hoping to squeeze it in. I want to. DH was looking at the prices (since we'd be paying OOP for it) and was like, No! There is still some time for convincing though!

 

[hellocactus]

i just read through your whole trip report (so far) in a couple of hours! it was so much fun reading about your cruise- we have the same double-dip itinerary booked for our belated honeymoon/anniversary in july and i can't wait! although i tried to show some of the pictures to my husband and he refused to look because he doesn't want spoilers, lol. meanwhile, i can't get enough!

also your pictures of the view with animals at AKL makes me really wanna stay there on a future trip… it looks so cool. plus i love boma but hate waking up early so staying at AKL might be the only way i make it there for breakfast, hah.

anyway, i can't wait to read the rest! it looks like you had such a fun vacation.

 

[MEK]

After the fabulous safari we went on the Pangani Forest Trail.

This picture is hilarious. What a pose! OMG! Love it!

This big guy was swimming like a mad man under the water. Mary Ellen, MEK, had brought it to my attention in her TR so I purposefully stayed and watched trying to see if I would witness the same feat, and I did, but couldn't catch a photo of it.

So glad you got to see the underwater hippo. He is a hoot, isn't he (or she)?

Wow - you had some really yummy meals. I love flatbreads!!!! Isn't Jiko wonderful? and the Cali grill?

Can't believe you are almost to the last day of your trip. What a fabulous trip and I can't wait to do a combined cruise/park trip. You really did have a perfect trip!

 

[DizMare]

Just have to say that Ryan is the best server ever! I am not surprised at all that he jumped in to help you! (We always request him when we go to Jiko!)

 

[franandaj]

Oh good, i'm glad we'll be able to see different animals while in our savannah studio.

You might want to put in a request depending on the animals you want to see. The Pembe Savannah doesn't have giraffe, they have Okapi. The Ankole Cattle tend to stay on the side of the Sunset Savannah farthest from Jambo. We stayed in the wing closer to Jambo and we had Zebra and a couple of other types of critters, but I can't remember their names.

The ostriches tend to get around, while the other birds tend to stay close to where Sanaa is located. The animals are sort of territorial, so they like "their" area.

One way you might be able to sneak in Jiko is with the Sunset Safari. It's really pricey, but you get to ride on a truck through the savannah with a guide. It's every afternoon from 4-6PM followed by a family style dinner at Jiko afterwards. I think it runs around $180-200pp, but it's a totally unique experience and you get RIGHT up there feet away from tne animals. The guides give you all kinds of neat information too.

 

[Pinkocto]

i just read through your whole trip report (so far) in a couple of hours! it was so much fun reading about your cruise- we have the same double-dip itinerary booked for our belated honeymoon/anniversary in july and i can't wait! although i tried to show some of the pictures to my husband and he refused to look because he doesn't want spoilers, lol. meanwhile, i can't get enough!

also your pictures of the view with animals at AKL makes me really wanna stay there on a future trip… it looks so cool. plus i love boma but hate waking up early so staying at AKL might be the only way i make it there for breakfast, hah.

anyway, i can't wait to read the rest! it looks like you had such a fun vacation.

Thanks! I'm so glad you enjoyed it I'm honored you read it in one go. Every time I post a link I'm surprised how many there are. Happy honeymoon/anniversary! I can't say how much we enjoyed the cruise, it was totally amazing, and I loved going to CC twice. I hope you have an absolutely fabulous trip!

Jambo House is so fantastic, definitely worth staying at at least once to experience the place. I fell so totally in love I bought DVC.

I seem to be dragging out finishing this because I don't want it to end. Will probably get an update in soon though.

 

[Pinkocto]

This picture is hilarious. What a pose! OMG! Love it!

So glad you got to see the underwater hippo. He is a hoot, isn't he (or she)?

Wow - you had some really yummy meals. I love flatbreads!!!! Isn't Jiko wonderful? and the Cali grill?

Can't believe you are almost to the last day of your trip. What a fabulous trip and I can't wait to do a combined cruise/park trip. You really did have a perfect trip!

That gorilla was too cute

I was so glad the hippo was in a swimming mood. I really was hoping to see them, and I would never have known to stay if you hadn't written about it. Thanks for the tip

Those flatbreads are so tasty! They had one at Jiko the first time I went there that had kalamata olives and feta cheese which is my ultimate favorite. I hope they bring it back one of these days.

I don't like that I only have one more day to write about. It's been so much fun reliving the trip. It really was perfect.

 

[Pinkocto]

Just have to say that Ryan is the best server ever! I am not surprised at all that he jumped in to help you! (We always request him when we go to Jiko!)

I was very impressed that he went out of his way to help us. And with a big smile too! I'm not surprised at all you request him when you go.

 

[jennyjinx3]

I don't want it to end either! You have done a great job!

 

[franandaj]

I seem to be dragging out finishing this because I don't want it to end. Will probably get an update in soon though.

That's the hardest part of a TR is admitting it is over. The best remedy is starting a PTR. Just make sure you can take the trip!

 

[dgbg100106]

I second and third the great job....

I really enjoyed your TR..

 

[Shell54]

I'll third/fourth that. What a great TR I loved all your pics. When I was on our cruise a few weeks ago your great foliage pics on CC had me looking closer at the flowering plants.

 

[Pinkocto]

Thank you all so much, you warmed my heart I promise I'll get a move in this post haste. I'm completely undecided if I'll do one for my next trip, I'm taking my DB and SIL who havnt been to the World in over ten years. I'm just hoping I'll still enjoy myself.

 

[Pinkocto]

I'll third/fourth that. What a great TR I loved all your pics. When I was on our cruise a few weeks ago your great foliage pics on CC had me looking closer at the flowering plants.

How did you like the Magic? I was thinking about you the other week and forgot to ask. I hope it was fabulous

 

[Shell54]

How did you like the Magic? I was thinking about you the other week and forgot to ask. I hope it was fabulous

We really enjoyed the Magic & thought she looked great. It was so nice not to have to fly..we're only an hour or so from NYC. It was a great itinerary and we loved our sea days. Like you, we had fabulous tablemates and it made our dinners and character breakfast so much fun. FYI I DID chicken out of para sailing on CC Oh well LOL.

 

[Pinkocto]

We really enjoyed the Magic & thought she looked great. It was so nice not to have to fly..we're only an hour or so from NYC. It was a great itinerary and we loved our sea days. Like you, we had fabulous tablemates and it made our dinners and character breakfast so much fun. FYI I DID chicken out of para sailing on CC Oh well LOL.

I'm so glad to hear you had a great trip!

Oh no!!! You MUST try again, it was so fabulous

I see you have another ticker, very exciting

 

[Pinkocto]

Thank you everyone for your patience, I guess I didn't want to get to the last day of the trip just like in real time. The last day is always bittersweet. We had such a fabulous trip and of course didn't want it to end. But I suppose you always have to go home eventually....

First, a few pictures I forgot to post that I took the evening before while heading back to the room after dinner.

I so love the decor at the Lodge, it's unlike any other place I've ever been and I'm getting homesick seeing these pictures again. Can't wait to be back in September.

The Donalds had a pretty good perch in the room.

I woke up on the last morning with a tiny scratchy feeling in the back of my throat. I tried to ignore it but I knew what that feeling meant. Mom had been coughing and sniffling since day three or four of the cruise and of course I blamed her for not going to the health center. In reality I could have caught the germs anywhere. We were out of the room by exactly 11am, but not before housekeeping knocked on the door three times to see if we were gone. I know they need to start cleaning but I have that room until 11:00! Yes I was a bit annoyed.

Right down to the wonderful airport check-in. I love that they have this at the resort, it makes for such a smooth last day. We had to move some things around because one bag was five pounds over and another three pounds. Thank goodness we had brought the snorkle gear in a third bag that we were able to put the extra poundage in. I have no idea how we ended up with so much extra stuff

Mom took the movies back and I left our carry-ons with Bell Services and we headed off to Hollywood Studios. Our flight didn't leave until 9:30 that evening so we really had a whole day left to enjoy.

We headed right to Toy Story Mania but all the FPs were already gone and it was a 90 minute wait so we did not get to battle for the highest score this trip. The seemingly ever ominous dark clouds made their appearance

It did start to sprinkle and people started running like liquid fire was falling from the sky. I'm not sure if it's a FL thing, but this seems to happen when people get wet at Disney...

We made our way to Starring Rolls since I really wanted to stop by there on our December trip but it was closed when we got there. Thankfully it was open and with lots of delicious treats to choose from.

I had a fabulous cheese danish

and got a blueberry muffin for later

and mom had a cinnamon roll

she thought it was a bit dry so will probably get something else next time. I will definitely get that cheese danish again, it was scrumptuous! I took some Advil in advance to avoid a headache. This might sound wrong, but sometimes I really want to have a delicious treat!

We headed to Star Tours and since it had only a ten minute wait we just decided to do the stand by line. For one of the only times in the whole trip I did not have my camera in my hand and Darth Vadar and two Storm Troopers walked right past, probably heading to the Jedi Training they do. I was so upset at myself for missing such a perfect photo opportunity! Now on our December trip we did Star Tours two times in a row and I got quite nauseous so I was not looking forward to going again. I did however really want to see the underwater scenario at Jar-Jar Binks' home so subjected myself to it again. As I buckled my seatbelt I said outloud which one I'd like it to be, and would you believe it, it was the one I wanted!!! What are the odds, 45 to 1? I was so excited, and it was just as cool as I expected it to be Mom of course wanted to go again right away but I was not going to get nauseous again so said I'd go again if we Tower of Terror first, so that's where we headed.

 

[Pinkocto]

On our way there we came across this fun spot.

DO pull the rope

it's just close enough to the fence to reach...

I love the theming of HS

it was really a walk on which was perfect, this is one of my favorite rides.

I can not decide which one of these I like better. One was with flash and the other without.

We did ToT two times back to back and it was such fun. The second ride there was a father/daughter duo that was doing the ride for the first time and it was fun to see how much they enjoyed it.

We didn't do Rock 'n' Roller Coaster because it was a 60 minute wait and no FPs left. I didn't even think about the single rider line because I completely forgot they had one.

The rest of our day consisted of browsing all the shops we encountered which was great fun. We had to stop at the candy counter in the Villains store because mom had been dreaming of the pecan caramel roll she had gotten last year. I think there were still 3 of the DVC FPs left and I gave them to a family we were waiting in line with. I'd much rather they be used than wasting them since I knew we wouldn't be going on any more rides.

I got a strawberry muffin which went in my save for later bag.

It was about 3:00 and we decided to make our way back to the resort. We stopped in the art shop for the first time which is full of signed pictures and movie memorabilia. We stayed in there a good long while looking at everything, it was almost like a little museum. Very worth the time.

We made it to the bus stop before the torrential downpour occurred, but the rain was going sideways so I still got quite wet and it was a cold rain which was quite uncomfortable. The wait seemed like an eternity since the rain did not let up but one finally came and by the time we made it back to Jambo House the rain had stopped.