Firsts: Kilimanjaro Club and Festival of the Arts

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OOPS! Accidentally posted prematurely. It was getting long anyhow so I'll finish in subsequent posts.

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In late October of last year my wife and I both got a notice saying that someone had reserved AKL Club level for the weekend of 1/13. Thinking we'd been hacked we dropped everything and began investigating. After some panicked moments, I realized I had it in waitlist, which was not only a huge relief but a delightful surprise and, coincidentally, an unexpected anniversary present:

First time at the Kilimanjaro Club! Just me and DW!

As the date drew near, we also learned that the Festival of the Arts at Epcot would open on Friday, which we had never been to, so we squeezed in two firsts!

FRIDAY - FOTA

Plane was taking off right at 7am. It was very close, but I managed to land Cosmic Rewind virtual queue with an with estimated time of 3PM. Everything seemed to be coming up Milhouse. We land on time at 9:30 and a taxi gets us to AKL a little after 10a.

However, missed text messages start coming in. My son, sophomore at University of San Francisco (that's right, USF) had to go to the ER. The situation was pretty serious and so we had to take some time to make sure he was ok. A few hours later we got assurance from his aunt, who had taken him to the ER, that he was doing well and that they were headed back to her place.

Shaken, but relieved, we headed out to EPCOT. The place is so much more attractive now than I had seen it in years, even with the constructing going on. Although we had lunch reservations at Garden Grill we wound up not eating anything for breakfast, so by the time we got there we were hungry and still a couple hours from our lunch rez. But before we could grab some grub we came upon a trio of photo ops. Honestly cash remember what the other two were because we zeroed in on the Mary Poppins stage, where a couple was taking turns each individually photographing each other. We offered to try a shot of them together, and they offered to return the favor:

 

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More FRIDAY FOTA

Now that we've really worked up an appetite we checked out the food studios up at the front of World Showcase. But once again we were thwarted by the festival's visual offerings, like this beautiful painting from the Haunted Mansion:



Apologies for not getting a better shot.

And how back to getting a bite to eat. Unfortunately, all the food studios in that area has beef, pork, or sweets. DW doesn't eat those meats and neither of us were in the mood for sugar. Luckily we finally found PopEats, which had a couple of grilled cheese & tomato soup combos. One was just plain grilled cheese and soup, while the other had fried green tomato, pimento cheese spread, and...bacon. DW tried to get the latter with no bacon, but it wasn't possible so she had to settle for the regular kind. I did enjoy the more adventurous one, and though disappointed she couldn't get a fancier option, DW liked hers as well. Neither of us were fans of the soup though. Thin and salty.

Now off to the land. We still had a lot of some time to kill and besides we had just eaten, so we saw Awesome Planet (shrug, one and done for us) and then rode one of our faves Living With the Land, which was the prefect last in to Garden Grill.

Before we had even gotten our skillet, we were visited by Chip, Dale, Pluto and Mickey.



We normally love character dining, but it dawned on us you really have to be in the right mood, and we just weren't there given that our son was on our minds. It also felt like a more rushed atmosphere (and certainly more confined) than, say, Crystal Palace or Topolinos, and when characters started coming arond for a second time it got be a little much. So although the food was tasty (especially the zucchini and mashed potatoes) and the characters were enthusiastic, it was difficult to truly enjoy it all. This was another first. Might have to try another time under different circumstances. Still, the meal was satisfying and we got our Broadway tickets (we did the package).

Soon after, we received more assurances that our son was doing well, so we allowed ourselves to get more into it, and did a little drinking arond the world. Started in Canada, where I had a caramel apple whiskey thing and she got some wine. Her wine was good but the cocktail was GREAT! Complimented the flavor of apple pie still lingering from Garden Grill.

Over the next few hours, we were immersed in the Festival. Now having done all 4 I can say I enjoy this one the best. The experience was so immersive, and the conversation with the artists and presenting cast members were so engaging, that by the time we got our call to Cosmic Rewind we decided to skip it. We've done it a few times before, and it is currently my favorite ride in WDW, but there's no telling when we're going to be able to return to this festival, which has such a small window during a time when we generally aren't able to travel.

Our showing for Broadway was at 6:45p. We had great seats and the performers were great, especially the actress who plays Anna in Frozen, but once again we just weren't in the right mood to enjoy it, so we wound up leaving a little early so we could see a little more art before dinner.

Which brings us to Shiki Sai - yet another first! Having been to Tokyo Dining, the restaurant Shiki Sai replaced, I was initially puzzled by how similar it felt. But then we got the menu. And then we ate the adegashi tofu, tempura fish, and this:



The Tomato Garden Salad. YUM!

But then, we ordered the Temaki Sushi Set - and what an experience! Accompanied by a saki sampler, we really enjoyed this. It certainly wasn't the best tasting sushi I've ever had - after all I've never rolled sushi in my life. But this was fun, and unique, and really complimented the festival.



Between the delicious small plates and the awesome experience, count me as a huge fan of Shiki-Sai. On top of that, the bill came out better than it ever would when it was Tokyo Dining.

As we were wrapping up dinner, Luminous began. We stepped out to the deck which has IMO the best view of fireworks in the park:

 

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And on the way back in, one more shot of the fireworks



And that's how we wrapped up a spectacular day at EPCOT's Festival of the Arts. We got home and crashed in our Kidani standard room that we'd gotten to bridge us to our reservation. I'll be back on a little later to report Kilimanjaro Club.

 

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Kilimanjaro Club

We checked out of Kidani before 10a and got to the concierge desk at about 10:15. Turns out breakfast was almost over! The took our magic bands so we could be sure to enjoy a meal while they programmed the bands. They then returned our bands with two mimosas which were delicious. Breakfast is the best meal at the club imo. We both ate a lot of turkey boboti. I ate some of the chorizo and prosciutto which were both tasty and she had oatmeal. We tried a cinnamon bun and it was delicious but maybe overly indulgent for breakfast.

A word about the concierge staff: they were incredibly helpful. I find that a concierge nowadays doesn't really offer much that you can't easily do online, but these folks did go above and beyond. I feel like this is probably an overlooked perk here.

We were soon assigned a room, and unfortunately it was a pool view. I knew it'd be a possibility but it was still a huge bummer. Once we were settled in, we decided to go out to the arusha overlook. The weather wasn't great, and there weren't many animals in view. As guests who nearly always stay in Savanah View this was really difficult to adjust to. If there were a way to book at a higher point level and ensure a Savanah View I'd certainly do it, but as is I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend the extra points and roll the dice in the future.

But we did eventually adjust and the weekend wound up being very enjoyable, if different from how we normally enjoy the resort. For starters, getting out of the room more meant more interaction with the cast, especially the cultural ambassadors. On Sunday morning, I spent a good amount of time talking to Mdugulu (I may be spelling his name wrong) about his home country, Tanzania. Later in the day, I saw him again in the Uzima Springs Overlook (which I hadn't been to before - more on that below). There, he told us about an exchange program he participated in to Romania, and the insane amount of snow he encountered in his first few weeks there. On Monday, two ambassadors led the art tour through the lobby. We walked and talked for almost two hours. Nicky, from Namibia, was really funny, yet also very passionate about the traditions she shared with us. At the end, they showed us a toy car that had been made with wire. The car could be steered with a long handle, pushed like a broom. During the demonstration children flocked to the car to play with it. It was pretty great.

Several African ambassadors shared perspectives on conflicts and exploitation going on throughout the continent, and in particular the Congo. It was very insightful, and certainly a departure from the typical interactions in the bubble, but never felt out of place given the authenticity of the interactions. Overall it was really beautiful to experience Disney's cultural program back and better than ever.

We also talked to a staffer, named Alec, who used to work at the Halcyon. He noticed our magic bands from the voyage and started sharing a bunch of great info on the experience of working on the starcruiser.

Throughout, we enjoyed the offerings of level. I'm not a pb&j person at all but we loved the little pbj bites. Dessert was scrumptious, complimented with bronze Russians we poured ourselves using the Kailua and corvossier they made available in the evening. The wine was all satisfactory, that is until we visited Lo at Jiko, where she introduced to a delicious cab that spoiled our palette. At that point figured it best to go to Victoria Falls for night caps. The bar was surprisingly lively, easily the best time we've ever had there.

Before we left, we returned to Kidani, to try and view our beloved Ankole friends on the Sunset Savanah. We were saddened to learn that the two sisters who had been together for many years were recently split, with one moving to the small Pembe yard fenced off from the Okapi. This tends to be an isolation pen, so hopefully it's temporary and not too serious. The other sister, still in the Sunset, has a new friend, one with wider horns that resemble those of Max, a male ankole who lived in Sunset for awhile and is now in Animal Kingdom.

It really was a nice weekend. Though the room was disappointing, the rest of the experience was stellar, and a great reminder of how much AKL has to offer when in full swing.