Day 1 “Kicked out of the AKL for saying WOW too much!”

[yepod]

Wed Oct 23rd (Our trip was from October 23rd to November 1st)
Cast of characters: DD Emily, 3 ½ yo, ‘strop throwing princess’
DW Jody, 40, ‘always has to be EARLY’
Me John, 50, ‘the master planner (who am I kidding?)’

Headed for the airport at 5:45AM for an 8:15 flight (DW feels you can never be too early for a flight!) Security was even more strict than last year in that they had installed new x-ray machines for check-in luggage

so you first had to weigh luggage then get back out of line & put them on the belt for x-ray yourself! I sounded like DixieAmos when I said “why didn’t you just throw them on the belt for us?” We found out why when they wanted to open our 2 big ones. They made me give them my combination (weird security “what about the security of my possessions?”) It just took a few extra minutes though, so the rest of the wait was uneventful. My new AE card with the smart chip set off the metal detector so I got the ‘personal touch’ through security!
We arrived at Orlando MCO around 1PM, grabbed our car & headed for the ‘World’!

I had booked our airline & car through AAA who farmed it out to Northwest Travel. I’ll never do this again because not only did Northwest screw up the flight times but messed up our seating! You’d think when you book in advance they’d leave your seating assignments alone! They also denied me National Emerald Aisle since it was booked as a package. Live & learn! Checked in at POR with no wait by 2:30. CM put us in Oak Manor second floor (they just didn’t believe me when I said we both have bad knees!) Fortunately my DD loves to play elevator operator, unfortunately the elevator was in the middle of the building & we were not! When checking in, we found they had forgotten our refrigerator & bed rails we had pre-requested.
Decided to burn a day of DDs hopper pass (we have APs) to view the 4 PM Jammin’ Jungle Parade

at AK since we had a 6PM PS at Boma & could fit the parade in before dinner! I had driven over to minimize the time to get to AK & AKL. We had never seen this parade before & really enjoyed it, although Jody felt they didn’t have the audience interaction we love with ToD & we thought it was a bit short.
I had vowed not to get into the pin-trading thing as we got really burned on Disney Beanies a few years ago. It can wind up being a very ‘dear’ hobby! (As our Brit friend Poohshoney would say!) But with the cheap TDS pins & the cool WDW pins on the CM’s lanyards, I caved. I did my very first pin trade with a CM at AK! She wasn’t half as thrilled as I was!

It started to cloud up as the parade started, so I bought ponchos (just in case) as we headed for the parking lot. Hopped on the tram with no wait & made it to the car without the rain actually starting! (It really let loose much later that night!)

Drove to the AKL & we were overwhelmed by the view as we entered the lobby! WOW!!!
They let us in just after 5 PM for our 6 PM PS. All 3 of us loved the food at Boma!

WOW!!! They had salad, prime rib, chicken, & some different vegetables for the traditional in the crowd & several exotic delicious South African dishes that I can’t even remember their names! They were fixed with some unusual but delightful spices. PM Poohshoney, if you want a better description. Just don’t ask her about the pap (she’s a big fan!) as it’s just a finer ground version of grits. Don’t get me wrong, I like grits, but when I tried to pawn them off on Emily as mashed potatoes, she was wise to this old dog! “No dad, These are NOT mashtatoes!” Though she did love the chicken wings & did NOT throw a strop over dinner! (A strop is Brit for tantrum. There’s a certain tripaholic who’s known for throwing them on the monorail!)

Emily & Jody gave 2 thumbs up to the desserts also! We then visited Arusha Rock for some great views of the animals! Saw all kinds of hummingbirds! WOW!!! We got some great pictures of the lobby & headed back to POR for the night. When we got back, the refrigerator was there, but we did have to call twice more to get the bed rails delivered! We had a problem with the toilet not flushing, but after a call to maintenance they came & fixed it within 20 minutes! Great job! Us old folks (as well as the princess) needed our beauty sleep, so we were in bed by 9:15!
A word about driving in the ‘World’. National gave us directions to get to POR & from the moment we were on WDW property, it was real easy to find our way anywhere on property using the Disney sign system. Not so with the rest of off property signage! More on this later.Day 2 You've just started!

 

[Poohshoney]

At last - great start!!!
I LOVE pap! Sounds like I'd like grits too, I'll put them on my `next time´ list
Off to read the next one!

 

[pumba]

anxious to get to the world too.......thanks so much for your report.......

 

[Marla Hellwig]

Off to a great start - going to hit Boma next week - thanks for posting!

 

[vald1977]

What a great start to your trip! Glad to hear you arrived safe and sound. Can't wait to read the rest!

 

[Pinnie]

Yikes on the NWA flight change. I guess the new terminal has the luggage scanner in place already! Double ICK on the Emerald Aisle thing, too! I flew into Chicago and met a friend there in August and he used the Emerald Aisle and it was sure sweeeeet!

Rick and I have flights out of DTW on Dec 12 and they better NOT change anything because we are on the last flight out that night. We have tickets for the MVMCP on Friday and return on Sunday night.

I am going to finish reading the rest of your trip reports

Pin
remember the magic
DVC/BCV 2002

 

[nativetxn]

Awww, you mean my little Emily occasionally has a teeny little tantrum?

Great beginning. They will feed you at Boma until you die, I swear they will and it's so hard not to overeat, too many yummy and different dishes to sample.

I enjoyed reading this, John, thanks for taking the time to post.

Katholyn

 

[dianeschlicht]

Good start, John! We spent one night at AKL in January and LOVED the lobby, the animals, Bomas, etc. We had a first floor room, Savannah view, and it was wonderful!

 

[TimNDansMom]

I really enjoyed reading your trip report, John and I like all the little animations! We stayed at AKL for 3 nights and I agree ~ WOW!!! Now we always plan a dinner at Boma's as an excuse to go back to this beautiful resort.

 

[Trekker]

John -

 

[kathymc]

great start - we also loved visiting AKL and loved our meal at Bomas - definately on our list for our next trip.

off to read more, thanks for posting

 

[oldkicker]

Wow!