SuAnne
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 9, 1999
- Messages
- 415
Ughhhh
4am on Monday, Aug 23 and I think I must have just dozed off at about 3:30 after being way too excited too sleep.
We woke up to a nice instrumental version of the Spectromagic music from our Music From the Parks CD and with that we were up and on our way. Our flight was departing at 7:00am from London, Ontario connecting through Toronto, but since we were meeting my niece in Toronto, I wanted to try to get on the 6:00am flight out of London to give us some extra time to meet up.
Well, good thing we were able to get on that 6:00 flight, as the wait to go through U.S. Customs was an hour and a half!!! I guess Mondays are really bad with all the business travelers going to the U.S. But we managed to find Alli and made it to the flight as it was boarding. They ended up delaying the flight for almost half an hour due to the Customs back up.
I shipped the girls back to their seats in Economy (Hospitality Class as Air Canada calls it) and I settled into my seat up in Business Class, which I had booked with Aeroplan points. Now thats the way to travel! We had a wonderful hot breakfast and I chatted to a very nice gentleman going to Orlando on business. I went back a couple of times to check on the girls and they were having a very nutritious breakfast of fruit gummies and chocolate bars while they watched the Haunted Mansion on our portable DVD player. It seemed no time we were landing and right on schedule at 11:30 am!
As we were landing we could see lots of trees which had been uprooted by Hurricane Charley and the terminal we arrived at had windows which had been blown out and a lot of water damage with lots of big fans drying everything out.
I had booked our transportation to AKL with Jim from Golden Limo. What a nice, nice man. I booked him based on the excellent reviews over on the Transportation Board. We only needed a town car, but when I called him he wasnt sure if he would have a town car available and said if he didnt have one that he would give us a limo for the cost of the town car! He even called a couple of days before we left to confirm our flight times. He was such a pleasure to deal with and I would highly recommend him.
We met up with Jim after we picked up our luggage and he went off to get the car. At this point I still didnt know if we had the town car or the limo. Well low and behold if he doesnt pull up in a long white stretch limo! I thought the girls eyes would pop out of their heads, and being the two budding superstars that they believe they are , they were in heaven. Geez come to think of it, that was probably the highlight of their trip!
In no time at all we pull up to the gate at AKL and Jim announces our names to the guard. Boy do we feel important! The CMs at Bell Services all seem to know Jim, so there are warm, friendly greetings all around as we unload our luggage and we head into the Lodge and get our first breath of that wonderful AKL smell.
There was no line to check in and our room was ready. I could tell as soon as the CM handed me the map with our room number that we had been upgraded to a savanna view room but I didnt want to say anything to the girls until we got to the room so I could see their reaction.
We walked into the room and I opened the curtains and there were a couple of giraffes and ankole cattle right outside the balcony to greet us. The girls (and I!) were jumping up and down with joy. Our room was in a great location. It was Room 3506 on the Uzima Savanna and it was only three doors down from the elevator to the pool and Mara. It also had bunkbeds which worked out great so we would have our own bed. Better still, being there for 8 nights, the girls could each have 4 nights on the top bunk!
Since we had 5-day hopper passes this time, we just planned to spend the day exploring the hotel and swimming. That plan worked out great. On all our other trips weve rushed to the Parks as soon as we arrive and never seem to recover, but this was a great way to start the trip.
We grabbed some lunch at Mara where the kids had their standard Disney fare Chicken Strips and Cheese Pizza. After lunch the girls went for a swim while I called for our luggage and refrigerator to be delivered. It was great having the refrigerator in the room and there was no charge for it.
Since the girls were at the pool, I took the opportunity to sneak to the gift shop and buy some pillow gifts to leave for the girls each night. For tonight I bought a carved giraffe and zebra to put out for them.
I then just strolled around the hotel, taking in all the sights, sounds and smells enjoying a Hakuna Matata moment to myself. Being a single mom and the only game in town for Hayley,I dont get many of those moments!
I then joined the girls for a swim and then went back to the room to get ready for our 7:00 PS at Chef Mickeys.
We took the bus to EPCOT and then the monorail to the TTC and then on to the Contemporary. We experienced our first ride up front on the monorail between EPCOT and the TTC. Wow!! What a great view and the driver took a picture of the three of us, which turned out great.
We were early for our PS so we looked around the shops a bit, checked in at Chef Mickeys and went to the Outer Rim until we were called. We had a nice table overlooking Bay Lake and I enjoyed a nice glass of red wine while we waited. I think the 4:00 am wake up and the wine were taking its toll as my eyes were starting to get very heavy!
Dinner at Chef Mickeys was okay. Maybe it was because the girls are older and, the whole character thing isnt the same for them anymore (you know being 11 and 15, they just too cool for the characters ) or maybe it was because I was so tired from the long day, but I found it to be just okay and we probably wont go there again.
We finished eating just in time to go out onto the observation deck on the opposite end from Chef Mickeys to watch Wishes. We couldnt hear the music, but it was so beautiful and a wonderful way to end our first day.
After Wishes we jumped on the monorail to the TTC, then the monorail to EPCOT and were able to get the bus from EPCOT to AKL before Illuminations ended so there were no crowds. It was on this bus ride we encountered our first of many wonderful bus drivers on our trip. This driver told the funniest jokes and had us all singing Happy Birthday to anyone with a birthday the whole ride back. The time flew by.
Back in our room, we sat out on the balcony for a bit enjoying the Tommies and the Bongos who were all snuggled down sleeping in the grass below our balcony. And with that we were off to bed ourselves leaving the curtains open so we could see our new friends out on the savanna.
We woke up to a nice instrumental version of the Spectromagic music from our Music From the Parks CD and with that we were up and on our way. Our flight was departing at 7:00am from London, Ontario connecting through Toronto, but since we were meeting my niece in Toronto, I wanted to try to get on the 6:00am flight out of London to give us some extra time to meet up.
Well, good thing we were able to get on that 6:00 flight, as the wait to go through U.S. Customs was an hour and a half!!! I guess Mondays are really bad with all the business travelers going to the U.S. But we managed to find Alli and made it to the flight as it was boarding. They ended up delaying the flight for almost half an hour due to the Customs back up.
I shipped the girls back to their seats in Economy (Hospitality Class as Air Canada calls it) and I settled into my seat up in Business Class, which I had booked with Aeroplan points. Now thats the way to travel! We had a wonderful hot breakfast and I chatted to a very nice gentleman going to Orlando on business. I went back a couple of times to check on the girls and they were having a very nutritious breakfast of fruit gummies and chocolate bars while they watched the Haunted Mansion on our portable DVD player. It seemed no time we were landing and right on schedule at 11:30 am!
As we were landing we could see lots of trees which had been uprooted by Hurricane Charley and the terminal we arrived at had windows which had been blown out and a lot of water damage with lots of big fans drying everything out.
I had booked our transportation to AKL with Jim from Golden Limo. What a nice, nice man. I booked him based on the excellent reviews over on the Transportation Board. We only needed a town car, but when I called him he wasnt sure if he would have a town car available and said if he didnt have one that he would give us a limo for the cost of the town car! He even called a couple of days before we left to confirm our flight times. He was such a pleasure to deal with and I would highly recommend him.
We met up with Jim after we picked up our luggage and he went off to get the car. At this point I still didnt know if we had the town car or the limo. Well low and behold if he doesnt pull up in a long white stretch limo! I thought the girls eyes would pop out of their heads, and being the two budding superstars that they believe they are , they were in heaven. Geez come to think of it, that was probably the highlight of their trip!
In no time at all we pull up to the gate at AKL and Jim announces our names to the guard. Boy do we feel important! The CMs at Bell Services all seem to know Jim, so there are warm, friendly greetings all around as we unload our luggage and we head into the Lodge and get our first breath of that wonderful AKL smell.
There was no line to check in and our room was ready. I could tell as soon as the CM handed me the map with our room number that we had been upgraded to a savanna view room but I didnt want to say anything to the girls until we got to the room so I could see their reaction.
We walked into the room and I opened the curtains and there were a couple of giraffes and ankole cattle right outside the balcony to greet us. The girls (and I!) were jumping up and down with joy. Our room was in a great location. It was Room 3506 on the Uzima Savanna and it was only three doors down from the elevator to the pool and Mara. It also had bunkbeds which worked out great so we would have our own bed. Better still, being there for 8 nights, the girls could each have 4 nights on the top bunk!
Since we had 5-day hopper passes this time, we just planned to spend the day exploring the hotel and swimming. That plan worked out great. On all our other trips weve rushed to the Parks as soon as we arrive and never seem to recover, but this was a great way to start the trip.
We grabbed some lunch at Mara where the kids had their standard Disney fare Chicken Strips and Cheese Pizza. After lunch the girls went for a swim while I called for our luggage and refrigerator to be delivered. It was great having the refrigerator in the room and there was no charge for it.
Since the girls were at the pool, I took the opportunity to sneak to the gift shop and buy some pillow gifts to leave for the girls each night. For tonight I bought a carved giraffe and zebra to put out for them.
I then just strolled around the hotel, taking in all the sights, sounds and smells enjoying a Hakuna Matata moment to myself. Being a single mom and the only game in town for Hayley,I dont get many of those moments!
I then joined the girls for a swim and then went back to the room to get ready for our 7:00 PS at Chef Mickeys.
We took the bus to EPCOT and then the monorail to the TTC and then on to the Contemporary. We experienced our first ride up front on the monorail between EPCOT and the TTC. Wow!! What a great view and the driver took a picture of the three of us, which turned out great.
We were early for our PS so we looked around the shops a bit, checked in at Chef Mickeys and went to the Outer Rim until we were called. We had a nice table overlooking Bay Lake and I enjoyed a nice glass of red wine while we waited. I think the 4:00 am wake up and the wine were taking its toll as my eyes were starting to get very heavy!
Dinner at Chef Mickeys was okay. Maybe it was because the girls are older and, the whole character thing isnt the same for them anymore (you know being 11 and 15, they just too cool for the characters ) or maybe it was because I was so tired from the long day, but I found it to be just okay and we probably wont go there again.
We finished eating just in time to go out onto the observation deck on the opposite end from Chef Mickeys to watch Wishes. We couldnt hear the music, but it was so beautiful and a wonderful way to end our first day.
After Wishes we jumped on the monorail to the TTC, then the monorail to EPCOT and were able to get the bus from EPCOT to AKL before Illuminations ended so there were no crowds. It was on this bus ride we encountered our first of many wonderful bus drivers on our trip. This driver told the funniest jokes and had us all singing Happy Birthday to anyone with a birthday the whole ride back. The time flew by.
Back in our room, we sat out on the balcony for a bit enjoying the Tommies and the Bongos who were all snuggled down sleeping in the grass below our balcony. And with that we were off to bed ourselves leaving the curtains open so we could see our new friends out on the savanna.
