"DIS meets galore!" - Oct 15-23, 2016 -Link to New TR added - March 2nd

[rteetz]

Looks like an awesome end to the day!

That chocolate pudding looks great!

I've never done Impressions de France....

With the fireworks being so close to AK there were concerns about the animals at AK and AKL.

 

[skier_pete]

I love spanakopita too, but I remember on a previous time that I had the kiosk version but ended up liking to one at Cat Cora's better. So we skipped Greece. We have some great Greek restaurants at home, so no biggie.

We did like the steak and cheese soup. Ours wasn't salty at all, so I bet it just depended on the day and luck of the draw.

I've heard a few people say that their soup wasn't too salty. Perhaps we got a bad batch. DW uses low salt a lot, but I am not that salt-adverse, so somethings usually has to be pretty salty to bother me. Agree with all your Greek comments too.

The only complaints I've heard (so far) was that the food was too salty. But I'd have to agree, even the stuff I didn't care for much was still great in that it was well though out and I'm sure some people liked it. I've had a bunch of folks say how much they loved the hummus fries. But I don't want to get ahead of you!

Ick! The hummus Fries!

We had the same experience but I couldn't last until 2 or 3 most days. While it wasn't humid for an East Coast person, it was humid for us desert dwellers!

Very true. One our friends that was there was from Tennesse / North Carolina and they were complaining about the humidity as well. I guess I just kept thinking to when we came August 2015 - it was 100 times more pleasant this trip. I still would've preferred it a few degrees cooler, but we've done worse. Easy enough to take mid-day breaks - we only felt frazzled a few times.

Looks like an awesome end to the day!

That chocolate pudding looks great!

I've never done Impressions de France....

With the fireworks being so close to AK there were concerns about the animals at AK and AKL.

Not chocolate pudding - it's a chocolate drink. I am not sure how they make it, but not much different from if you pictured drinking melted chocolate.

Impressions De France is my favorite of the 3 movies - but only because it has seats. I like the China one a lot too, but not often in the mood to stand for 15 minutes for it.

 

[skier_pete]

Hope everyone (at least in the US) had a good Turkey day....back to the grind of Trip Reporting...

Day 4 – Tuesday

Another beautiful day dawned, and we were ready to head for MK. The last trip we took, because of our split stay between Beach Club and Poly, we ended up not going to MK until the 7th day of our trip, and that was WAY too long. MK is still my favorite park because of all the childhood memories it evokes. DW I think likes Epcot better, and DD will tell you DAK is her favorite, but my heart lies in MK.

The day started out poorly with some BAD bus karma. I was pushing us to be out to the bus at 8 AM, I didn’t want to miss rope drop. Well, wouldn’t you know, we got to the bus at like 8:03 AM, and literally missed a bus pulling away as we walked out. So of course we had to wait 20 minutes for another one to show up, and then the longish (20 minute) drive to MK it was not 8:45 as we are getting off the bus, and the opening ceremony is going on as we are trying to go through the massive security line. ARGH!

Still time for a quick selfie!



DW got all mad about something I said. (I don’t remember what but I’m sure it was horrible.) And she wouldn’t walk with us, but we were planning to head to Adventureland.



DD stuck with me…





Does DW look happy?



First ride – JUNGLE CRUISE!



Our skipper!



Let me quickly point out to you some of my favorite plants:



Excuse me – I’ve been inspired to go….


…deeper and deeper into the jungle. Oh no, where’s our welcome party?


Watch out, he’ll develop a crush on you.


Better call triple-Ape.


Hey, we must be in Africa!


Awww, a sleeping zebra. He must be dead tired.


Hippo sneeze


My 2nd least favorite bush – an Ambush! (My least favorite bush – George W.)


Can’t not show the backside of water!


I closed my eyes for this part.


You think that’s water –but it’snot.


Trader Sam’s – we’ll be at your place later today.


2nd up was Pirates – there was no wait at all. Our boat wasn’t even full.




DD had heard from someone at church about the stalemated chess match – so we had to track it down in the queue. Light was terrible.


My camera couldn’t really get many clear shots on the ride – but I tried:








I can never get a clear shot of Captain Jack at the end.



Found a photopass photographer at the exit:



Look, a rare shot of a 13-year old smiling.



We heard about the refillable popcorn buckets for only $1.50 on the DIS. Didn’t need them at Epcot with F&W, but now….



Next time - always room for one more!!!

 

[rteetz]

I always hate when you just miss a bus. That sucks that you didn't get there in time for the welcome show.

I'm sorry but I kind of had to laugh at the mad look on your wife's face. It looks like you weren't in the dog house for too long though. Jungle cruise is always fun, it's been a while since I've experienced it since it's been Jingle cruise the last two times I've been to WDW.

Great pictures of all three of you!

I think the refillable popcorn buckets were a great idea. I'm a sucker for the fancy ones though. The tie fighter bucket sits atop my desk at home.

 

[franandaj]

I'm glad you made it to MK earlier on in this trip. Missing busses by moments was practically a theme on our spring trip.

Glad you got one photo with DD smiling! Sounds like a lot of the standard jokes on the Jungle Cruise...like the least favorite bush one! I've found the WDW POTC is easier to photograph than DL. It seems darker in there. Nice pics on the ones you got!

 

[skier_pete]

I always hate when you just miss a bus. That sucks that you didn't get there in time for the welcome show.

I'm sorry but I kind of had to laugh at the mad look on your wife's face. It looks like you weren't in the dog house for too long though. Jungle cruise is always fun, it's been a while since I've experienced it since it's been Jingle cruise the last two times I've been to WDW.

Great pictures of all three of you!

I think the refillable popcorn buckets were a great idea. I'm a sucker for the fancy ones though. The tie fighter bucket sits atop my desk at home.

Yeah - don't tell my wife I posted that picture. She was rather on edge this day - it was easy to push her into "mad" mode. (Usually she's not that bad.)

We had pretty darn good bus karma throughout the trip. This morning was the ONE exception to that. There was one other day we waited maybe 15 minutes for a bus, but it wasn't that big a deal.

I'm glad you made it to MK earlier on in this trip. Missing busses by moments was practically a theme on our spring trip.

Glad you got one photo with DD smiling! Sounds like a lot of the standard jokes on the Jungle Cruise...like the least favorite bush one! I've found the WDW POTC is easier to photograph than DL. It seems darker in there. Nice pics on the ones you got!

Our 2013 we had terrible bus waits every morning, since then we've done pretty well. Our good bus karma held through 3 trips now.

I just threw those jokes in myself - I can't even say for sure if those are the ones they told. I never get tired of Jungle Cruise jokes - we tell them to each other on other rides - like Living with the Land and Kilimanjaro Safaris.

 

[skier_pete]

So - before I get into our latest update - I was able to book us in a VALUE room for next November! If you remember early in the TR I talked about our 2017/2018 plans - which included a getaway weekend for DW and I. I actually have booked Nov 1st - 4th, and need to "walk" the reservation to Nov 4th- 8th, which I will do over the weekend ("Walk" is a DVC booking term that I won't go into here - but it's a technique used to ensure booking a hard-to-get room at your home resort.)

Bring to the TR - lot's of pictures this post! We had a 10:05 AM Haunted Mansion FP. This is another family favorite!




The stretching room


Afterwards, DW had decided we would all get lenticular HM pictures, which are available at Momento Mori. These are pictures of yourself that when looked at a certain angle more into a ghoulish photo. The photo room:

After this, we were able to catch the Muppets new show. We saw the Ride Of Paul Revere.

This was a total blast. I am so glad there are more muppets around. The TV show didn’t quite work, but I really believe there is a place in this world for more muppets. Putting them in Liberty Square hopefully will keep them going for a while.
We were having a late lunch, so we stopped for a snack. I love these not-Nutella brand Nutella waffles at Sleepy Hollow Snacks. Extra points to Disney for putting red, white, and blue fruit on it!

Next up was our FP for 7DMT.

I really think they hit a solid triple with this ride. Sure it’s a little on the short side, but the coaster is a great size for kids and non-coaster lovers like DW and DD, and the interior dark ride portion is simply wonderful. I wish the wait wasn’t so darn long, but there are worse ways to use a fastpass.







Sixth up is Ariel. No need for a FP, but boy the queue for this ride is stupid long to walk through:

Not a good shot of Ariel:


My Poor Little Poopsie!



Off to Storybook Circus – the decision of the group was to do a ride on Dumbo. Wait times were showing about 25 minutes – but it was actually probably about 15 minutes. DD got to ride by herself.



DD wanted a treat – and here’s what she got. It was almost too sweet to eat.

It was starting to get warm, but DD wanted to stop and watch the marching band. These guys are really a lot of fun, so I have no real complaints. I think part of the reason DD keeps playing Trombone is she wants to join this band someday.

Final FP of the morning for attraction #8 – Peter Pan! I always think back to the trip we rode this ride SEVEN times. (Back in the days of paper FP this was quite doable.) Now DD doesn’t seem to care if we ride it anymore, but I love this ride and it’s always worth a FP to do it.


Camera really couldn’t handle this one.


It was about 1 PM at this point, so I think we did OK hitting 8 attractions in the first 4 hours in the park with some of them being quite long ones. It was getting quite warm by this point, and we had our first big reunion event of the trip in an hour or so, so we headed out of the park. However, I couldn’t help taking a picture of a couple of newer characters.


Next week - a tour of the Poly Bungalows, Kona Cafe, and Trader Sams.

 

[khertz]

That sounds like a successful morning at MK! We always seem to find ourselves heading to Fantasyland at rope drop for obvious reasons, but it's so nice diverting to Adventureland sometimes and enjoying the peace & quiet in the park for awhile.

Our days just never seemed to line up with seeing the new Muppets show in Liberty Square in October, which was a real disappointment. We were looking forward to checking it out! Hopefully it's around for awhile.

 

[rteetz]

Congrats on the value room!

I wanted to do the HM photo last time but didn't know if it was worth it. Maybe I will do it this trip.

The last three TR's I have read have all had that nutella waffle in them. I have never had nutella. Looks like I might be trying this waffle...

Mine train is a solid ride. I wish it was a bit longer but definitely a solid ride. No way I would wait the 60+ min. waits for it though.

I can't wait to see the muppets show in Liberty Square!

Looks like a great day so far!

 

[franandaj]

You definitely got a lot done on that day!

I really want to try one of the waffles, except I don't like nutella, so I'm not sure how that would work out.

Nice score on the value room! I am sooooo going through trip planning withdrawal. I am helping another DISer plan a trip to DL in the absence of being able to plan trips of my own!

 

[skier_pete]

That sounds like a successful morning at MK! We always seem to find ourselves heading to Fantasyland at rope drop for obvious reasons, but it's so nice diverting to Adventureland sometimes and enjoying the peace & quiet in the park for awhile.

Our days just never seemed to line up with seeing the new Muppets show in Liberty Square in October, which was a real disappointment. We were looking forward to checking it out! Hopefully it's around for awhile.

I was sort of amazed it ever got installed - but now that it's there I doubt it will leave anytime soon. It must be a fairly inexpensive production to run. 3 puppeteers at most, and every time we saw it running, there were a few hundred people there watching.

We went through the Fantasyland Rope Drop stage. Past that. Bet you can't wait for the "Disney again?" stage.

Congrats on the value room!

I wanted to do the HM photo last time but didn't know if it was worth it. Maybe I will do it this trip.

The last three TR's I have read have all had that nutella waffle in them. I have never had nutella. Looks like I might be trying this waffle...

Mine train is a solid ride. I wish it was a bit longer but definitely a solid ride. No way I would wait the 60+ min. waits for it though.

I can't wait to see the muppets show in Liberty Square!

Looks like a great day so far!

The HM photo isn't really bad for $20. The only complaint I have about them is the "ghost" versions kind of look all the same when you do the whole family. However, it makes for a neat halloween decoration around the house - replacing family pictures on the walls with the "Ghostly" versions!

Never had Nutella? What are they teaching you young people these days. DD doesn't want jelly or peanut butter on her toast, she wants nutella. (I blame the wife for this.)

Agree that the 7DMT should be about 60 seconds longer. What's funny though if you think about it part of the reason it's so short is that there is no initial lift hill. Had they put in a lift hill at the beginning, it probably would feel the right length. Of course, then there would also be more drops, so yes it would've been better. I still think in the end it will eventually settle down to a more reasonable wait time similar to BTMRR and Splash.

You definitely got a lot done on that day!

I really want to try one of the waffles, except I don't like nutella, so I'm not sure how that would work out.

Nice score on the value room! I am sooooo going through trip planning withdrawal. I am helping another DISer plan a trip to DL in the absence of being able to plan trips of my own!

Well - they have other waffle sandwhiches there besides the nutella one. That's the best, but if you don't like nutella probably not so much.

I know - I miss not being able to plan out a trip. Everyone in a while I sit down and run through plans for that short one. Since it's mostly about Food and Wine though there really isn't much long-range planning to do. I am thinking if ROL is open by next year maybe we will try a Tiffins dining package, but otherwise I think we are going to skip most of the TS. I do want to do some of the F&W sessions though.

So is your "banned from trip planning" policy helping you get your projects done? Seems to me like it would be a pretty good motivation!

 

[skier_pete]

So when I last left off, we were leaving MK and headed to the Poly for our first group meet up of the trip. We let DD pick between boat or monorail over to the Polynesian.



Any water Pokemon out there?




The Tiki god of shopping: Howmuchagonnacosta!





So – our “reunion” group is made up of 6 different families. We only had one event that all 6 were able to attend, but this one came close – late lunch at the Kona Café. (I am not going to share names on here, but I got the OK from everyone to share pictures.)

One of the group actually works for Disney as part of DVC. He was able to get us a tour of one of the Poly bungalows. He indicated that the tours are about to end, as the sample bungalow is going to be reclaimed by DVC for occupation. It was pretty cool to see it, as we will never, ever be able to stay here.

For those that don’t pay attention to DVC things – a typical studio room at a DVC accommodation runs anywhere from 10 to maybe 25 points per night. We own 160 points, which SHOULD be enough for 8-12 nights a year, depending on location and time of year. This trip, we stayed “cheap” and only spent 96 points for 8 nights.

The Poly bungalows are 2-bedroom units, and run anywhere from a low season mid-week rate of 115 points per night to 227 a night at peak weekend season. Using my previous $8.42 per point calculation – that would cost us $968 to $1,911 per NIGHT. For Non-DVC, they start at around $2000 a night and go up from there.

Suffice it to say we won’t be staying in these bungalows anytime soon. That doesn't change the fact that they are very nice accommodations.

2nd bedroom:


Main bedroom:


Main bathroom:


Dining area;


Living area with Trundle down:




Kitchen




View from the veranda


Plunge Pool (this thing seems really weird to me):


The kids loved these chairs:


And these chairs:


It was very cool to see – but truthfully I am not at all envious of the idea of staying here. To me, Disney trips are about being out and about. If I ever stayed here, I don’t think I’d want to ever leave my room. We were perfectly happy in a standard studio at the Poly last year for 1/7th the cost.

When this was done – we headed to Kona for lunch. There were I think 12 of us there total.



Here’s a really not great photo of the group. The damn window prevented the flash from going off.



It was great seeing everyone again, though the environment made it somewhat hard to talk too much. This was actually our first time ever eating here – so another restaurant to check off. DD wanted to get an order of Pot Stickers, so we let her.



For the meal – she got a noodle bowl. It was of course too much food with the pot stickers, so she only really ate about half of it. (I nibbled on the rest.)



DW had a steak salad. She said this was very good.



I had the Polynesian Plate Lunch, which was a grilled chicken with Mango /Coconut sauces over rice and noodle salad. I thought the chicken was delicious, but the noodle salad was just OK.



Overall – I would rate this as very good, but not quite great. The food was all quite tasty, but nothing super memorable about it. Basically, I would go back there if someone wanted to go there, but I don’t think I would go out of my way for it.

Continued in next post...

 

[skier_pete]

After lunch, a few of us went down to check out Trader Sam’s. I think there were 6 of us total that stayed around for a drink.





Trader Sam’s has several specialty drink that get responses throughout the restaurant. Someone ordered the Zombie drink, which I think set off the black lights. I liked this “Family Tree: East Coast Bunch”.



Some of the drink glasses behind the bar.



Mount Krakatoa.



I ordered the Uh-OA because it is my favorite show. They bring out your drink with a flaming ice cube while everyone chance “Uh-OA! Uh-OA! Uh-OA-OA-OA!” This awakens the tiki goddess, which has to be appeased by throwing the cinnamon into the fire.



After a little while – we headed back to the park. We had gotten a 4th FP for Buzz Lightyear, so wanted to be sure to go in and catch it. The park was only open until 7 PM for the Halloween party – so we wanted to get as much use out of the park as we could. DD wanted to take the boat back, but then we got to the dock and it wasn’t there, so she decided she wanted to do the monorail. DW got all pissed AGAIN, this time because I was doing what DD wanted to do. (Which actually what I wanted to do in the first place.) So again she stomped off through the park. (Don’t tell her I said all this!) Eventually she calmed down and we went to Tomorrowland after refilling our popcorn bucket and watching about half of the new castle show.











Not sure why only the one photopass came out:



Next in Tomorrowland was Carousel of Progress. DD loves this attraction for some reason. While I think it’s a classic, it’s to me one of those “every other trip” type attractions. But hey – It’s a great big beautiful tomorrow!





TTA was up next – everyone looks thrilled, right!



I was though!



Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor was the fourth thing we hit this evening – I STILL didn’t get to be THAT GUY!



At this point it was approaching “kick the non-partiers out of the park” time. But, we decided to try and sneak one more ride in – so we headed over to Fantasyland and picked the longest ride we could find – Small World!





By the time we got off the ride – it was like 7:15 PM, and it was now time for us to get the heck out. I am always amazed at the LINES at these parties. We saw Jack Skellington and Sally coming out to meet, and there were literally HUNDREDS of people in line to meet them. There were people all over the hub and Main Street waiting for the parade – which didn’t start for another hour. YIKES!

We did a little bit of shopping on the way out of the park, and got out to the bus stop at 7:45 PM, and I am also amazed at all the people streaming into the party this late. $90-$100, and you miss the first 20% of it? We did get to enjoy the best part of the party though – seeing other folks in awesome costumes. Not sure why I didn’t take any pictures though.

The best part was because we were so late leaving the park we got a bus completely to ourselves!



Day 4 Summary:
# rides/attractions: 13 (JC, PotC, HM, Muppets, 7DMT, Mermaid, Dumbo, PPF, Buzz, CoP, TTA, MLF, IaSW)
Total through trip: 29
Waits in excess of 20 minutes: 0

 

[rteetz]

The bungalows look really nice and it would be a great place to watch the fireworks from but no way would I pay $2000 a night for it.

I've never done Kona but it looks like you had a nice meal with great people.

I love the trader sams theming! I probably will save that place until I'm 21 though.

I don't remember the last time I did CoP. I do enjoy the song though. The new paint job and sign look good too.

I have never done a party but I would definitely be taking full advantage of it and not arrive late. Looks like a great day overall!

 

[skier_pete]

Sorry for the long wait between posts - I've been very busy with the holidays, and then they just decided to BLOCK photobucket at work. Since all my pictures are on there, I can't write/edit my posts so easily during my lunch break, which is normally when I work on them. I am not sure if I am going to switch yet. I looked at Flikr, but with all Yahoo's problems that doesn't seem like a great choice. Any advice where you store your photos for easy feed to Trip Reports??

For now - I'll move on with Day 5 - the halfway point of our trip.
Today was our room change day. We were actually really happy with the value room, but were looking forward to checking out Kidani. Though it wasn’t a “sleep in” morning, it was more a matter of “pack up to get out of the room by 10 AM” morning. We certainly don’t travel light at Disney – and so needed to put all our bags together. We called for bell services and checked everything to go over to Kidani. While we were moving out of the room, I went down to the front desk to do official check-out. I don’t know if most people know this, and this at least goes for DVC but I think it also goes for regular rooms: If you do a room switch, you really SHOULD manually check out of your first resort, because it will make getting your second resort room ready faster. If you just let the check-out go automatically – then the Disney computer system won’t set you up in the new room until the automatic check-out goes through, which might not be until mid-afternoon. By checking out at the desk, you are now eligible to “check-in” to your next room – so it will likely happen faster this way.

The other thing I did while at the front desk was ask about the Kidani room. There’s not much I dislike about AKL, but the massively long hallways are one of them. I really wanted over any other preference a room close to the lobby. We did not have a savannah view room so I didn’t care so much about that, but I didn’t want that long walk. The CM at the desk was basically able to get me a room near the lobby on the main floor at Kidani. But before we go, a couple last shots of the Jambo lobby.




Once this was done – we were off to Epcot for the third time in four days. Yes, it was another Food and Wine day! We still had a half dozen or so booths we hadn’t yet hit.

But first, we had a little time before food and wine opened….we had a FP for the Character Spot. DD is very ANTI-character, but we make her do this one every time.










We did a quick hop over to Test Track to get a ride in on single rider. The wait time was only listed at 20 minutes while Standby was 55 minutes, so we gave it a whirl. It was really less than the stated 20 minutes. Here’s my picture – it’s the only one that came out. (It seemed like my band was the only one scanning FP+. We will have to watch this closer in the future.)



Our second (but last) FastPass of the morning:



This time we were on the far RIGHT of the lower level. I don’t remember the old movie being so distorted when you were off to the side.



HI PATRICK!

I decided to do something somewhat radical, and take some pictures on the ride. Here’s how they came out:







Off to World Showcase and another DISmeet!

 

[skier_pete]

After Soarin, back to the Food and Wine – and another Strawberry Torte!



We had planned on meeting one of our DIS friends that wasn’t part of the reunion. The time it was @franandaj, or Alison. Alison had helped me out with some of the plans for our Disneyland trip, especially telling us to not get discouraged from the waitlist at the Grand Californian. We had met her out in Disneyland, but this is the first time we got to meet her wife Fran as well. They had just arrived in Florida the day before, so this was the first day of their trip. They were coming in from staying at Beach Club, so we met them in France as we had not gotten that portion of the park yet.



We tried the French Onion Soup, the Beef Bourguignon, and the Grey Goose slush, which you just KNOW was good. The soup and the Beef we only rated a 3, but I gave the Grey Goose a 5.



DW also tried a Frozen Daiquiri Ice Pop which she liked the taste of, but was very messy on such a hot day.



We were surprised to see Princess Aurora greeting nearby and there was no wait at all. So we popped over for a greet and a picture.




They’ve so improved on that ugly pink dress from a few years back!
As we made our way onward – we stopped at Brazil. Fran and Alison had already tried the food here earlier, so we were the only ones to stop and get the Escondidinho De Carne – a Layered meat pie with mashed yucca.




You would’ve thought with the mased Yucca it would’ve been sort of gross – but it was actually quite tasty. DW and I both rated it a 4.
Next stop was Belgium. DD had a waffle here before, and she wanted a second one now. We decided the berry one was preferred, so we got one of each.




We found a photopass photographer walking by, and decided we better get a record of the meetup while we could.





Where’s DD you might ask? Well, she wasn’t taking part in the picture, but our Photopass guy captured her standing off to the side.



Belly dancers were entertaining outside Morocco.



In Morocco we tried the Spicy Hummus Fries with Tzatziki and the Chocolate Baklava.



We didn’t really like the Hummus fries. They had a decent flavor, but it wasn’t a pleasant texture in my book – and I usually like hummus just fine. The chocolate baklava was good – but again nothing above ordinary. We gave the Hummus fries a 3, and the Baklava just squeaked in with a 4.

We actually moved along to the American Pavillion to find a place to sit in the shade and talk for a while. DW had stopped in Japan however, for the Garlic Shrimp with rice. Again, this one wasn’t that great – so it only rated a 3. (I didn’t really eat much of it because I wasn’t impressed.)



At Hops and Barley, I went and picked up a lobster roll. Then I also had completely forgotten that we had previously tried the Beef Brisket. This was not very good, way too salty, and only rated a 2. The lobster roll, though expensive, always rates high with us, and received a 4 vote from both of us.



While sitting with Alison and Fran, Alison delivered us the Trader Sam’s special Halloween “Hitchhiking Ghosts” mug. When I had seen on-line that this mug was available, I had immediately written to Alison because I KNEW they were big fans of both Trader Sam’s and the Haunted Mansion. I had said at the time, I would be happy if they were able to pick me up an extra mug, as it is a very cool style. Fortunately, they were kind enough to pick up that extra one, AND transport it across the country for us. We paid them for the cost of the mug, and now have bragging rights that we got one of the 3,500 that were sold between the two coasts. Thanks Alison! (And Fran for not selling it on ebay!)



At this point we split up. We had gotten a text that our new room was ready, and it had gotten quite hot again. (The temperatures were mostly bearable, but between 2 pm and 5 pm it was still unpleasantly hot out.) Once we passed by Germany we HAD to get some more Shinkennudle.



This time one for each of us.



DD wanted pot stickers in China…but I didn’t get a photo. I did take a picture at the last booth we hadn’t yet attended. Mexico…



We got the Shrimp Taco and the Chocolate Flan (Abuelita)



I was too full at this stage for the food, but did take a bite of the flan, which was quite good. Way better than the crème brulee.
We made our way out of epcot back to the bus stop.



The fountain show was going off as we left.



We got really lucky with an almost immediate bus, and got off at Kidani. Now, if you remember from early in the trip report, I said that this stay was sort of an experiment. We tried the “value” room at Jambo house for 4 nights, and now switched to a “standard” room at Kidani. The “standard” rooms are non-Savannah view rooms, meaning they can look out onto pretty much anything. Well, I had talked earlier in the morning and asked for a room near the lobby and also on the main (2nd) floor. This is what we got, and the location was wonderful. We were maybe only 200 feet down the hall from the lobby – if you’ve ever been to Kidani, you know that you can have a walk to your room that seems like a mile, and is probably longer. The view, well, the less said about the view the better, since it was very near the lobby, it is essentially was “ground” floor with bushes outside the hid the fact it was looking out at the front turnaround of the resort. This was fine though – we rarely take advantage of the balconies, and I didn’t find any noise issues at all with the room.
The décor though – well here’s some pictures:





You can see our “view” pretty well in this picture.


So, for one thing, we didn’t like the décor very much. I think this room has not yet seen the resort refurb which is currently in progress, whereas the room at Jambo house did. I liked both styles, but admit that the style in the value room was much brighter, and made the room feel more open.
However, what I was rather unimpressed with is the extra 50 square feet. It looked to us like the extra 50 square feet was comprised of bathroom space. The bathroom in Jambo was smallish, with the toilet in the same room as the tub, and the sinks outside. Here, the toilet had it’s own private and rather unnecessarily large space. The tub was in the same area as the sinks, which I also liked the other way better I guess. There was a lot of space wasted here, and so the living area felt like it was almost smaller than the value rooms. So, while I wouldn’t call this room “worse” per se since the décor will be changing shortly, I would put the room quality as equal between this standard room and the value room, and the value room actually won on view. We have definitely decided that we are “all in” on the idea of using the value rooms, especially when it’s just the two of us. (I’ll talk a little more on comparing Kidani and Jambo later in the TR.)

That's it for now - hopefully another update early next week!

 

[rteetz]

I just love the lobbies at AKL. Even Kidani has a nice lobby.

I have heard a lot about the distortion for the new Soarin film. Like you said I don't think that was a problem with the old film. I know there is more CGI in this new film but I wonder if thats the reason why its more distorted.

That is an awesome mug and thats great they brought it to you.

 

[skier_pete]

I just love the lobbies at AKL. Even Kidani has a nice lobby.

I have heard a lot about the distortion for the new Soarin film. Like you said I don't think that was a problem with the old film. I know there is more CGI in this new film but I wonder if thats the reason why its more distorted.

That is an awesome mug and thats great they brought it to you.

We are very lucky to have some great DIS friends!

I don't really think the CGI is the reason for the distortion. I think it's the images they chose to use. Things like the Eiffel tower are very linear, and as the film scrolls up above them, if you are off to the side, it starts to appear to roll to the side. Twice we sat off to one side then the other, I hope next time to try the middle. Seems to me like poor design on the film.

Kidani has a nice lobby as well. Much more intimate than Jambo, but still wonderful. I just really like that place and am so happy we chose to "own" there.

 

[franandaj]

So is your "banned from trip planning" policy helping you get your projects done? Seems to me like it would be a pretty good motivation!

Well, no. I am the one suffering from not planning trips, but Fran is our rate determining factor in packing up. I don't seem to know how to do it on my own so she needs to supervise. Although we have made some good progress in the last week, but with going up to my parents later this week, nothing is going to get done in the next two days.

The Poly bungalows are 2-bedroom units, and run anywhere from a low season mid-week rate of 115 points per night to 227 a night at peak weekend season. Using my previous $8.42 per point calculation – that would cost us $968 to $1,911 per NIGHT. For Non-DVC, they start at around $2000 a night and go up from there.

Our server at the Grand Floridian seemed to think that they go for around $3500 per night, but that could be when they are 227 points per night. We paid merely 135 per night.

It was very cool to see – but truthfully I am not at all envious of the idea of staying here. To me, Disney trips are about being out and about. If I ever stayed here, I don’t think I’d want to ever leave my room.

I was a little like that. We spent our first night cooking in the room and the second night we had dinner at O'hana and came back to the room for the fireworks. It was definitely a few days that we enjoyed our time in the room. Fran got cabin fever and insisted we leave while we stayed there.

DD wanted to get an order of Pot Stickers, so we let her.

She sure likes her potstickers, doesn't she!

(Don’t tell her I said all this!)

Next in Tomorrowland was Carousel of Progress. DD loves this attraction for some reason. While I think it’s a classic, it’s to me one of those “every other trip” type attractions. But hey – It’s a great big beautiful tomorrow!

I really like it too, it's such a classic attraction and since it's only at MK, I like to see it when I can.

Sorry for the long wait between posts - I've been very busy with the holidays,

Ugh, I'm lucky to be squeezing in this reply! I had one all quoted and everything a couple days ago and the DIS deleted it.

If you just let the check-out go automatically – then the Disney computer system won’t set you up in the new room until the automatic check-out goes through, which might not be until mid-afternoon. By checking out at the desk, you are now eligible to “check-in” to your next room – so it will likely happen faster this way.

Interesting. Six years ago we were transferring from the THV to Kidani and I went over first thing in the morning to check in. I suppose if I had known that I should check out of the THV, maybe our room would have been ready sooner.

I don’t remember the old movie being so distorted when you were off to the side.

Thanks for the pictures. I've only seen it from the middle row and only heard about the distortion, I can totally see it in your pictures.

We found a photopass photographer walking by, and decided we better get a record of the meetup while we could.

That was a great idea! We ended up doing the same for several more of our meets!

Thanks Alison! (And Fran for not selling it on ebay!)

You're welcome and I also felt a special sort of thanks to you for letting me know about it in advance with enough time that we could plan on going out to get them. The mugs went on sale at noon and were gone by 8 or 9PM. We were in Trader Sams and our server brought us the mugs before we were even done eating because she didn't want them to sell out.

DD wanted pot stickers in China…but I didn’t get a photo.

She really does like her potstickers!

There was a lot of space wasted here, and so the living area felt like it was almost smaller than the value rooms. So, while I wouldn’t call this room “worse” per se since the décor will be changing shortly, I would put the room quality as equal between this standard room and the value room, and the value room actually won on view. We have definitely decided that we are “all in” on the idea of using the value rooms, especially when it’s just the two of us. (I’ll talk a little more on comparing Kidani and Jambo later in the TR.)

We rarely stay in studios, in fact we have only done so at the VGC and the one night at the Poly, and I have not stayed in a value room, but I thought that the one and two bedrooms at Kidani were incredibly roomy. The Master bath was a huge probably waste of space, but I didn't mind, especially since our Master Bath at home is similar in size. You folks are much more mobile and spend a lot more time in the parks than we do. I like my relax in the room time since at home I'm rarely relaxing, even though I have such a great house for such things. We really need to slow down!

 

[skier_pete]

Our server at the Grand Floridian seemed to think that they go for around $3500 per night, but that could be when they are 227 points per night. We paid merely 135 per night.

Well - I just went to the Disney website - and it lists the bungalows for a CASH reservation as "Starting at $3,659 a night." So yeah, your 135 points is actually really, really, really cheap - ignoring the buy-in, that's around $800 a night in MF.

She sure likes her potstickers, doesn't she!

Oh yeah!

Interesting. Six years ago we were transferring from the THV to Kidani and I went over first thing in the morning to check in. I suppose if I had known that I should check out of the THV, maybe our room would have been ready sooner.

I don't think this is common knowledge - even here on the DIS. It may only be a matter of a few hours, but if you just leave your room, "the system" has to check you out first, and it won't check you in on the new room until that is processed. I forgot where we found out about this, I think one of the CM told us one time that this is the best way to transfer rooms to get your second room ready.

That was a great idea! We ended up doing the same for several more of our meets!

Yeah - we are not consistent with remembering to get pictures when we have meet-ups - at least WE remembered, right!

You're welcome and I also felt a special sort of thanks to you for letting me know about it in advance with enough time that we could plan on going out to get them. The mugs went on sale at noon and were gone by 8 or 9PM. We were in Trader Sams and our server brought us the mugs before we were even done eating because she didn't want them to sell out.

Well, I do think I've said this before, but I will admit that I had hoped that you could get us one as a secondary motive, but really I would've been fine if you hadn't been able to. I am not nearly the collector of Disneyana that you are, and unless it involves the Adventurers Club or the Tiki Room I usually am not that interested. So mostly I thought from the perspective that you and Fran would really like it, and I could get one too would be just a cool bonus.

We rarely stay in studios, in fact we have only done so at the VGC and the one night at the Poly, and I have not stayed in a value room, but I thought that the one and two bedrooms at Kidani were incredibly roomy. The Master bath was a huge probably waste of space, but I didn't mind, especially since our Master Bath at home is similar in size. You folks are much more mobile and spend a lot more time in the parks than we do. I like my relax in the room time since at home I'm rarely relaxing, even though I have such a great house for such things. We really need to slow down!

We have gotten better at relaxing on Disney trips. You are right that at home relaxation is barely ever fit into the schedule.