Embarrassing My Children ..Just Another Service I Provide! Update post #50!

[Applemomma]

Embarrassing My Children…..Just Another Service I Provide! 3 Generations Take On Mickey’s World!

It happened…it’s done….it was fabulous. Oh. I suppose you want details?

Well, as it says in the title we were a three generation trip! We left the men at home to fend for themselves so there was myself (Dawn), my two daughters, Rae (RaeC1234),and my youngest, Lindsay. We took my mom, Bonnie (TheFairyGrandmother) along with us, and though she had been to Disney before it was under rather stressful conditions so we considered this her first time, or as I told her, you’re “doing Disney Dawn’s way” now! It’s been a rough year and a half for our family and we all needed a break from reality, especially my mom.

Let me just start out by saying that the girls and I had been to Disney three years ago and this was actually my fourth time there but nothing compared with taking my mom with us this time. It was so worth it! The look on her face so many times was just the best. Don’t let anyone ever say Disney is just for kids. The special attention Mom got from castmembers and characters was wonderful. I tease her that she got called Princess more then the three of us!

And as for the “Embarrassing My Children” part of the trip report title? Well, I’m not sure that happened. Walt Disney World is probably the one place on earth you can act silly and noone bats an eye….even you’re offspring!

To set this all up I can’t thank the DisBoards enough as once again a trip has been planned entirely based on info from these boards. Plus, the Dis Podcast made this trip extra special and figures prominently in Saturday’s portion of the report! I also used Dreams Unlimited Travel and with only one hiccup, which I’m not sure was DU’s fault, it went great. I’ll explain the hiccup more as we come to it; it was more funny then anything else. Some of my report might be a little more detailed in some of the mundane things but one of the things I found useful about the boards was getting a first hand account of what happened when, especially in airports, so if it helps you…great! And if it bores you, well…..move along!

So, it’s Tuesday, November 9 and we’re on our way!

Our trip starts off at supper time the night before as our flight out is at 6:30 and I’m not going to rely on getting myself to the airport for 4:30 am. It’s an hour an a half drive to the airport from home which means at least a 3am start and if you build in time for flat tired, engine failure, alien abduction you might just as well forget it and leave 12 hours early….so we did. Plus vacation officially starts when your wheels leave the driveway so the sooner the better! It had been raining for a solid week here so fortunately we were leaving for warmer, drier climates but unfortunately for us Mother Nature wanted to give us one more crack at the rain barrel and it was a torrential, scary downpour all the way into the city. I was relieved to get the most dangerous part of our trip over with right off the bat!

We used the park ’n fly option at the Quality Inn at the Halifax airport. I’ve used them before and their shuttle is quick and efficient, rooms are clean and, when you figure in how much it would cost to park at the airport, pretty reasonable. My kids are so easy to please they were thrilled with the Quality Inn and I couldn’t help but smile thinking “they ain’t seen nothing yet!”.

We were booked for a split stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for 4 nights and then the Wilderness Lodge for 3 . I was one of those blessed folks that got one of those handy 20/30/40% off resort pin codes last year and instead of actually saving myself money I just used the fuzzy Disney math function on my calendar and upgraded myself instead

I’d checked in to Continental online but since it was a US bound flight we couldn’t print out boarding passes (or I’m presuming that was the reason) but I discovered at the airport that it did save me time. Before entering the checked baggage line we had to go to the automated kiosk and do the whole thing there and print our boarding passes from it. If I hadn’t done anything online I would have had to take the time then and there to input our addresses, passport numbers, hotel address, etc , so I’m glad I’d sat in the comfort of my computer chair (which isn’t so comfy by the way…I need a new one) and will definitely do that again. Plus it apparently automatically checked me in for the return flight…a bonus!

One of the things I was concerned about (obsessing) was what time the Continental check in and US preclearance would open. I wanted to be at the airport the required two hours before, even though I was pretty sure customs wouldn’t be open until 5:00. I was right, it wasn’t but by the time we printed our boarding passes we were third in line at the desk and the room was filling fast so I was glad for the extra time. Check in was a breeze, bags were tagged (with the Magical Express yellow tags as well!) and we headed into security. They do have one of those “what’s under those clothes” machines here in Halifax at the international departures (not sure about the Canadian destination departures) but they had one of us stand on a mat, which triggered a green arrow, and that apparently meant we didn’t get chosen for it. So much for talking to the girls and mom about THAT procedure lol. We did the regular security routine of no shoes, liquids in the bin etc and they didn’t require, when I asked, to have my netbook and gps in a bin. It’s worth noting here that MCO did want both out, though both the TSA agent and I forgot about the liquids in MCO. The customs line was a little longer wait but you would expect that. Met a lovely couple from Pictou in line in front of us who are snowbirds and actually knew my uncle…..shades of “it’s a small world after all”! The customs agent (in truth I don’t know if it was a man or woman ….think Pat from SNL) wasn’t overly friendly but certainly not overly authoritative so that was a breeze too. The first thing I was asked though was for the letter of consent from the girls father for traveling alone with them so score one for the DisBoards for cluing me into needing that! In short, I was amazed that at 5 am everyone in uniform seemed to be in a good mood! I can’t say I’d have been as cheery at that hour if it wasn’t for vacation!

Finally we leave the rain behind…..

When a rainbow follows you’re plane how can you NOT have a good vacation!

Our first leg of the flight took us into Newark airport. Is that the Empire State building in the distance? Someone let me know if it’s not!

Newark is a huge airport and you have to switch from Terminal A to Terminal C to continue on to Orlando but there’s a handy bus to take you over and you don’t have to go back out and then in through security again. There’s a food court, and most importantly a Dunkin’ Donuts, but there’s also some smaller food kiosks along the halls. This is also where we started people watching and picking up our “daily catch phrases”. Rae and I decided that when we grow up and hit the age of 65 plus we want the job driving the courtesy carts up and down the terminal honking the horn and shouting “Watch your back! Watch your back!” That line came up more then a few times through the week when Mom would lay on the horn on her scooter!

The second leg had us on the lovely Continental planes with the individual tv screens in the seat backs! Makes for a much faster flight when you can watch CSI, Big Bang Theory and play Bejeweled all the way there. Made it a little tough for Rae to get her homework done on the plane as planned though.

Finally we arrive, whip out or Disney Magical Express booklet, march ourselves past all the sad people waiting for their luggage, grab the airport monorail and spot this wonderful sign at the bottom of the escalator.

I just love the greeters there! It’s as though they’re waving those big mickey hands for only you and they’ve been expecting you!

There’s no worry about getting in the wrong line as they are all really well marked and someone doubles checks and you follow a cast member right out to your bus so you can’t get mixed up there either.

I just loved the movie on board! Especially all the characters jumping around the bus and then checking in. What a blast that must have been to film! And I love that they show Donald’s Vacation. Mom and I kept looking at each other as though to say “Can you believe we’re here!!”

Our bus was pretty full but it turned out most folks were getting off at Caribbean Beach Resort.

Next up was Pop Century, where we stayed last time and the bus cleared out even more. Turned our there was only about eight of us heading to Animal Kingdom Lodge.

And we’re here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[A&Bmama]

Hi from a fellow Nova Scotian.

I'm loving your TR so far! I can't believe we have one of those machines in the Halifax airport already. I thought for sure that it would take us longer to get one here. I sure hope we done have to use it on our trip.

We are also taking off early in the morning and I am thinking I should look into the Quality Inn park and fly deal. We only live in Halifax so the airport is only a half hour or so from our house but last time I looked it seemed like I could stay the night with the park and fly deal and still not pay anymore than it would cost to leave my car at the regular park and fly. We are going away for 13 days so I don't know if Quality Inn has a limit to the amount of time that you can leave your car with them.

Looking forward to reading more and seeing the details on your check-in at AKL!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Ooooh, this looks interesting!

And yes, that is the Empire State Building!

 

[Applemomma]

Hi from a fellow Nova Scotian.

I'm loving your TR so far! I can't believe we have one of those machines in the Halifax airport already. I thought for sure that it would take us longer to get one here. I sure hope we done have to use it on our trip.

We are also taking off early in the morning and I am thinking I should look into the Quality Inn park and fly deal. We only live in Halifax so the airport is only a half hour or so from our house but last time I looked it seemed like I could stay the night with the park and fly deal and still not pay anymore than it would cost to leave my car at the regular park and fly. We are going away for 13 days so I don't know if Quality Inn has a limit to the amount of time that you can leave your car with them.

Looking forward to reading more and seeing the details on your check-in at AKL!

I believe you can leave your car there for up to 2 weeks on the one night stay. Just be forewarned....during the "off season" they use a gated and locked parking lot beside the hotel but during the busy season when everyone is flying south they use the lot across the street which isn't locked off, though apparently patrolled regularly. I've used the unlocked lot twice now with no problems though! Thanks for reading!

Ooooh, this looks interesting!

And yes, that is the Empire State Building!

Oh good! I was hoping I wasn't lying to my kids!

Thanks for joining me!

 

[MinnieMommy]

I'm here!

We really enjoyed the pre-clearance at YHZ also. You never know when you may encounter delays in Toronto or Montreal.

Our Continental flight was late afternoon. We did not have to switch terminals in Newark on our way to MCO, only on our way home. Asked a Continental rep about it and they said only some of the flights from YHZ arrive at the smaller terminal.

Can't wait for more.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hello from Kingston, ON! I followed you over from your post on the CDN TR thread. I was born in Halifax but have no memory of living there (Dad was in the Navy, we moved around every couple years).

I totally agree with you, Disney is not just for kids! My brothers and I still love vacationing at WDW with our Mom even though we are "all grown up" now.

 

[Applemomma]

I'm here!

We really enjoyed the pre-clearance at YHZ also. You never know when you may encounter delays in Toronto or Montreal.

Our Continental flight was late afternoon. We did not have to switch terminals in Newark on our way to MCO, only on our way home. Asked a Continental rep about it and they said only some of the flights from YHZ arrive at the smaller terminal.

Can't wait for more.

I HATE slepping across Toronto airport for connections and the customs area is like a holding pen.....Halifax is such a nicer setup.

I suspect the reason for us arriving at Terminal A was that it was a smaller plane. Most likely in the height of a busy season they can sell more tickets and fill the bigger planes.

Another update coming in a minute! Thanks for reading!

Hello from Kingston, ON! I followed you over from your post on the CDN TR thread. I was born in Halifax but have no memory of living there (Dad was in the Navy, we moved around every couple years).

I totally agree with you, Disney is not just for kids! My brothers and I still love vacationing at WDW with our Mom even though we are "all grown up" now.

I'm the same way with Summerside, PEI My dad was in the airforce and I was born and lived there for 6 months but can't really lay claim to it as a hometown!

Thanks for following me over!

 

[Applemomma]

I had shown my mom pictures of the Animal Kingdom Lodge prior to the trip but there’s only so much of an impression you can get from a picture. Plus the majority of hotel stays in our family have always been in spots like HoJo’s, Holiday Inn, Best Western or if we’re feeling really fancy, The Sheraton or a Delta. Nothing wrong with those places but let’s face it….they ain’t deluxes. And certainly not Disney deluxes.

It’s amazing my kneck didn’t have a severe kink in it by the end of the week because I was constantly turning my head to check the look on my mom’s face. This was one of those times…..

And so begins the smile that doesn’t get wiped off all week!

We’re drummed in and I just love how they all say “Welcome home!”

I had done the online check in for the resort the week earlier so I just walked right up to the online check in desk and was received immediately. In fairness there was only a few people in the regular check in line but I still felt pretty special! I was given a packet with our room keys, maps and animal information. The cast member did the usual circle on the resort map of where our room but I only noted the room number itself and marveled that it was only 3:00 on the dot and we had a room….I’d still kind of expected to have to wait for a room for a bit.

We still hung around the lobby for a few minutes to soak in the atmosphere and start burning up the memory cards. My eldest was in charge of the camera this trip and at last count she took more then 3000 pictures, a couple dozen movies and went through 2 memory cards!

Pics of the Lodge Lobby and Outlook (animal viewing) areas…..

The main savannah is accessible from the lobby and is a pretty area just on it’s own. It gives youan idea of how big the area is when you can’t really see the animals at the far end but this fellow was right up close to great us.

The kids were excited to get to see the room so we started off on our trek…..and a trek it was. This is one of only a few drawbacks to this resort. Because it is completely surrounded by the animals there’s no cutting through or find a short cut that gets you to your room sooner like in a resort like Pop Century. In fact we had to ask for directions to the elevator because I was sure we’d missed it! The elevator we needed was waaaaaayyyyyy down the hallway, then up one floor and continue wayyyyyyyyyyyy down another hallway. The great thing about this was there are places to see the animals all the way along.

As we’re trekking crosscountry to our room I kept thinking “boy, we seem to be getting a long way from the parking lot”, not because I was concerned about getting to our soon to be rental car but because I’d paid for a parking lot view! You guessed it! We’d been upgraded! Still a standard room but it was a ‘standard savannah” view! So instead of vehicles we got to look at this!

And this…..

And this….

And this!

Now there was a few trees in our way and we had to learn around to see a few things but it was our own piece of the savannah and it was sweet!

This was waiting for us on our bed…..

And this little guy was in the bathroom….

A shot of the balcony chairs. I sat in them with my coffee every morning and watched the goings’on.

Service from the cast members here was great. In fact two “mousekeepers” happened to be in the hallway when we arrived and literally followed us into our room to double check it. Apparently there had been some issue with the sink and they took one look at the sink, muttered “yes, there are water spots” and apologized saying maintenance would be right up. They had barely closed the door behind them when there was another knock and the first of our bags had arrived from Magic Express!! We hadn’t even been in the hotel a half hour yet! He apologized that he didn’t have the others, explaining that the luggage truck goes on a half hour schedule. Basically they grab every yellow tag they see until a designated time, pack them in the bins and head for the airport while someone else continues loading the next bin, even if luggage is still coming down the shoot. And sure enough…a half hour later there were the other two.

I kid you not that the door had barely shut on the ME fellow when maintenance was at our door for the sink (good looking guy too….love a man in uniform). Turned out all that was wrong was a slow drain…..you would have thought with all the fuss that the faucets were apt to explode!

After all the special attention we headed down to the bell desk to get Bonnie her wheels.

We rented a scooter from Walker Mobility for the week. It was half the price of renting one in the park and this way Mom would have it in the resort as well, which was a good thing given how far we were trekking too and from our room. This was her first time using one but my mom has fibromyalgia and we both new that no matter how much she wanted to her legs just wouldn’t do all the walking she would need to do in order to keep up with us. Her agreeing to use this was the best decision she could have made! There was no mention of anyone going on without someone and no one staying back in the room in favour of walking around the park. In fact she was doing circles around us and there was more then once that the girls used her chair to get off their feet when she left it to head into a washroom or store!

A few words about Walkers….there scooters are advertised as being able to fit into a full size car trunk. A bit of a stretch…..we had a Camry which had a big trunk but there was no way we could make all the parts fit. The whole week we had to put the seat on the back seat, which got interesting when we were parked between two cars and I was paranoid about scratching the paint on the rental car.

TIP! If you get grease on upholstery from, say, something like the post on the bottom of a scooter seat, whip out your hand sanitizer! It worked like magic!

The scooter was very easy to break down after we got it all figured out but it was HEAVY! Had Rae been any younger or not as strong we never could have gotten it in and out of the car. The other problem, and the fault is partly mine, we discovered on day two that the light didn’t work. Unfortunatly, I would forget during the day to call about it so didn’t let them know about it until the end of the week. Fortunatly we had already decided to deck out the basket at night so Mom always had glow braclets or battery operated Christmas lights on the front to alert people to her front. Plus in the end I’m not sure I’d wanted to have taken the time away from our days in the park to have them come switch it. We saw several Walker rentals in the park and ours looked like a bit of an older model (the basket was pretty banged up and rusty) so that might have had something to do with it.

On the plus side, it was easy to operate, held a charge great and when it came to making the difference in Mom’s vacation…..worth its weight in gold!

If we did it again though I think I’d try Apple Scooters.

Momma’s wheels…..HONK! HONK! WATCH YOUR BACK!!

One last thing to tie up our arrival day…..the aforementioned rental car. Since this was my moms first time renting a scooter I had decided to rent a car. Plus on our last trip we had done the buses for part of the week and then had a rental car for the rest of the week (DH at a conference …. He had dibs on the transportation that week) and we really liked having both options.

After countless hours of research on the topic I had finally decided to let Disney Magic Express take us to an from the airport so I didn’t have to worry about navigating the roads in and around the airport or have all of us stand in yet another line. Budget Rental car at the DoubleTree Resort near Downtown Disney had a great rate, again through a link on the Dis, of $187 US, and in the end we only used $16 of gas for the whole week!

Rae and I took the bus to Downtown Disney but made the mistake of going into the Marketplace instead of heading straight down the road.

TIP! If you want to know where anything is ON Disney property ask a cleaner…..we never went wrong asking them for something ON property…..same thing doesn’t apply if you need to get somewhere off property…..they had no idea how to get to the DoubleTree.

Fortunately I’d programmed the Budget office number into my cell phone so the gal in the office, Tracey, gave us walking directions to it. It really is less then a ten minute walk from the bus stop. It turned out that Tracey was hoping to get to the bank by 6:00 to do her deposit, as the next day was Veteran’s Day, so we ended up doing most of the “paperwork” on the phone on the walk there. Zero upselling…..”do you need insurance? No”….”will you bring it back full? Yes”. Walked through the door, grabbed the keys and off we went. Tracey was extremely personable, the car was brand new and drop off was dead easy at the end of the week. Budget will be getting my money next time too.

TIP! You can get Budget to come pick you up at your resort but they stop pickups at 1:00 so that will only work if you have a morning arrival.

Traffic was not bad at all. The only area that there was any amount was around DownTown Disney. And I’m not sure if it was because the speed limit around Disney property is less then I’m used to driving around home but there were no scary moments for us the whole week! Rae navigated for me the whole week by reading the signs since we left the GPS in the glove compartment. The only reason I had brought it was to get me to the big Super Target near Disney but I dropped the planning ball there and didn’t download new maps for the area. Apparently that particular Super Target is new and the gps wouldn’t recognize the address. Oh well, we found one, bought our supplies for the week, socks for Lindsay and most importantly vodka coolers…….back to the resort for a quick bite in the Mara Quick service restaurant and then fell into bed.

TIP! If the Disney sign says something like “Animal Kingdom Lodge – Next Exit” they don’t mean “next” they mean “THIS ONE!”

Tomorrow is another day….MAGIC KINGDOM HERE WE COME!

 

[Applemomma]

My apologies for the hugeness of that one picture in the last post! I could NOT get photobucket to reduce it!

Okey dokey.....the photobucket gremlins seemed to get that worked out! Morning all!

 

[Googelibear]

okey dokey, I am here and ready to read

 

[Applemomma]

okey dokey, I am here and ready to read

Welcome!

 

[dblr]

Great trip report always love anything that can embarress the kids,we went over Christmas and made my boys(then17 &13) get their picture taken with the PhotoPass people wherever we saw them, told them it was their Christmas present fo mom. Turned out we got some of the best pictures of them.
Anyway looking forward to more of your report

 

[Applemomma]

Great trip report always love anything that can embarress the kids,we went over Christmas and made my boys(then17 &13) get their picture taken with the PhotoPass people wherever we saw them, told them it was their Christmas present fo mom. Turned out we got some of the best pictures of them.
Anyway looking forward to more of your report

It turns out it's hard to embarrass my kids! Even went to the mailbox this morning in my jammies while they were waiting for the bus and nada....nothin'

I'll add more to the report tonight...loading pictures into photobucket now!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

How lucky to get a savanna view rather than a parking lot.

My family swears by the rental car as well. It makes it so much easier to get around and you are not tied to the resort.

 

[KGGJT]

Funny title, great report.
Thanks

 

[Applemomma]

Next morning…

TIP! If you like the Mickey and Stitch wakeup call and it doesn’t start out with “NO SLEEPING!” let it run….I think it’s on a continuous loop and if there’s a lot of wakeups set for that time you get it cutting in at the middle or end. I figured this out……our last morning.

Anyway, Stitch did indeed wake us up, or Mom and I at least; the girls took a bit more coaxing. We fired up our coffee pot with our OWN coffee. Sorry to anyone who actually liked that stuff but UGH. In the end Mom did like it as she’s often an instant coffee drinker but I just can’t stomach it, which is saying a lot since I’m a coffee addict. I had to drink a whole lot of Coke this week to keep my caffine level up in the parks.

A shot of our coffee stash with good old Tim Horton’s coffee….

Then we dug into our stash of food we got at Target the night before……

We actually bought was too much and found that the trail mix and pretzels did us great in the parks between meals. We never did eat those muffins, the bananas froze in the fridge and the apples were….well, let’s just say for an apple grower, such as myself, the apples were an insult to our industry….

The vodka coolers and coffee cream were good ideas though!

I’m such a coffee addict that I can’t even face such a great thing as Magic Kingdom day without my first cup of caffine so I ended up in pretty short order on the balcony, with my hands wrapped around a cup, watching these guys in the early morning fog….

If anyone is reading this that is interested in the logistics of scooters at Disney, here’s a shot of how we parked Mom’s in the room. She didn’t have too much trouble getting it in here (in fact at one point she got really good at going back and forth, back and forth but for your sake, Mom, I won’t tell that story…..cough, bag on head, cough) but it was a bit tighter when we got over to the Wilderness Lodge on Sunday. If she wasn’t done for the day she’s just parked it outside the room with no issues.

Finally we were all up and moving and heading for the car. I’m sure it took us at least ten minutes that first morning trying to figure out how to shove that scooter in the trunk but by the end of the week we had it down pat. At one point Mom timed us from trunk pop to full set up and it was 43 seconds!

The sign we were really waiting to see……

We never had any trouble parking close to the entrance with the scooter. When we hit each parking toll we simply said we had a scooter and could we possibly park up close. No one ever asked us for a “handicap tag”, which we didn’t have or even blinked an eye. Some parks they simply said to follow the blue line to the accessible parking ( in fact at one park they stopped traffic for us to cut across the lot!), other parks the actual cast member directing traffic told us to try certain rows and come back to him if we couldn’t find something but we never had an issue actually finding a spot. In at least one park (I believe it was Epcot) there were specific spots for the wheel chair vans so we of course were respectful of those. I was really pleased with how well it went, though I was certainly prepared to do a hike if necessary.

In this shot you can see how close the accessible parking is to the Ticket and Transportation Center.

Hmmmmm …. decisions, decisions….should we take the ferry or the monorail?

This being Mom’s first time on wheels and having read that the ferry is a kinder, gentler way of getting over to the magic Kingdom I voted for the ferry …. Well there wasn’t really a vote….I just said “Over here….get on”

Thought the Tron monorail did look really cool!

It was Veteran’s Day so I thought this chalk drawing was very appropriate……they must hand out chalk to pass the time between boat rides!

Very shortly we were boarding the Admiral Joe Fowler…..

Knowing that Disney doesn’t just make up names I wondered who was behind this one so when I got home I looked it up. Here’s what I found on Wikipedia…..

Admiral Joe Fowler Riverboat was named for a retired Naval Admiral who played an important part in the building of Walt Disney World. Admiral Fowler had run the San Francisco naval shipyard during WW II, when Walt Disney was looking for a naval expert to help with the building of the Mark Twain Steamship in 1954 for the then under-construction Disneyland. He found the retired Admiral supervising the construction of tract homes in the San Francisco region, and hired him as the construction boss for the whole Disneyland project. After Disneyland was completed, Fowler stayed on as General Manager of the park for its first 10 years, and assisted with the construction of Walt Disney World. He retired from the Disney organization in 1978, though he continued as a consultant.
When a second steamship was added to the Rivers of America in 1973, it was named for imagineer Richard F. Irvine. The original Fowler was damaged during a refurbishment in 1980. The Disney company decided that having two steamships in the Magic Kingdom was not necessary so the Fowler was scrapped.[1]
In 1999, one of the ferries that crosses the Seven Seas Lagoon taking guests from the Ticket and Transportation Center to the Magic Kingdom was renamed in his honor; it was originally known as the Magic Kingdom I, and is the one with the green side panels.

Pretty cool…..

 

[PixieTl]

Great report!! i'm really enjoying it!! thanks for sharing!

i totally agree on the apples, my grandma took my brother and I to an orchard when we were visiting upstate NY, oh those were fantastic apples!! I even picked one up off of the ground and ate it! I'm not a raw apple eater but that was the best apples i've ever had!!

 

[visitingapril09]

Subbing, can't wait to read more. Hi from the other coast of Canada~

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Subbing in and loving your TR. Thanks for the Admiral Joe Fowler bit of trivia, very interesting!!!

 

[stich626]

Subbing. loving your photos of AKL! I would love to stay there.