Here goes! My FIRST ever Trip Report! Family vacation to AKL - Apr. 24 - May 2!!!

[Carlyzmom]

I have never done a trip report before. So, here goes. Hope I get this right! Here are the details:

Dates: April 24 - May 2

Who's going: Me 37, DH 41, DD 8, DS 5, my sister 25, our mom 60, our dad 59

Stayed: 1st night at Carribean Beach Resort and then 7 nights at AKL - Savannah View

Friday, April 24 - we anxiously awoke at 5 am to make the LONG haul from Southeast Texas to Orlando! It was me, DH, DD, DS, and my sister. My folks were flying from Houston to Orlando to meet us.

We talked about spending the night on the way, but made such good time, we decided to make the WHOLE 15 hour drive in one day. We were too excited to stop!

OK. I have to run for now. I will have to do this in bits and pieces. More to come.....

 

[Carlyzmom]

OK. A little background about us. My husband's first and my third trip was our honeymoon almost 17 years ago. We went again 5 years later with friends. So, this vacation was our kids' first trip. They were so excited!!!

Like I said, we made the 15 hour drive in one day. We arrived at Disney World at approx. 9:30 pm. We drove straight to the Grand Floridian and walked around to the grassy area by Narcoossee's and waited for the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. We wanted to start the trip with something magical for the kids!

They were very impressed with the fireworks show! What a way to start our stay! I had called earlier on the road - when we decided to go all the way - and made a reservation at the Carribean Beach Resort. All the others were booked and we knew we would only be there a few hours. We checked in about 10:30 pm, showered, and hit the hay! My son, an AVID Nemo fan, loved the Nemo decor in the rooms.

The next day, Saturday April 25, we woke up at 6:30 to pack up and head to the AKL to check in! It was gorgeous!! Since it was early, our room wasn't ready yet. We gave them a few items to hold for us (including refrigerated items) and headed out to the Magic Kingdom!! My folks were flying in and we were going to meet up with them later.

Walking into the MK was awesome. Our kids were so excited! They immediately had the chance to meet Pinocchio.

I had underestimated how excited my son would be to meet the characters. He loved them all!!

The MK was NOT crowded and we were able to walk onto several rides. We then made our 12:45 lunch res. at Liberty Tree Tavern. I had the Colony Salad - it was wonderful!!

DH had the Tri corner Sandwich - he loved it too. My sister had a burger that she said was great.

DD had the pizza - which was good to her!

We also got them the drinks with the clip on Lightning McQueen and Tinkerbelle lights.


After lunch, we met up with my folks and rode tons more rides!

For dinner, we had a res. at Crystal Palace. The buffet was good, nothing exceptional, but it filled us up. The kids had a blast meeting the Pooh characters.

My only complaint was that Pooh must have been in a bad mood. You weren't allowed to walk up to the characters. You had to wait for them to come to your table. That was fine. BUT, Pooh skipped over us. We had to get our waitress to go and get him. He ran up to the table, didn't sign their books and before I could snap a picture, he was gone! All I got was this...

Other than that, it was great. We ended the night with Wishes! A great first day! We were pooped!!!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

YAY! Great start! 15 hrs???? WOW! The most we've ever done in one shot is 12! Lovin' it so far! Keep going! Please?

 

[DsnyTrvlr]

Great pics.

 

[meanmom121]

How cool to arrive for the fireworks!!!! Bet the kids thought that was exciting. Great way to get the magic started

 

[ashleyrm]

Loved your picture of Pooh!!!!

 

[Carlyzmom]

Loved your picture of Pooh!!!!

Yeah! Great, huh? Guess even pooh can have bad days!

 

[Carlyzmom]

Alright, back to my trip report. Hang in there. Looks like this is going to take me a while!

Day two was Animal Kingdom. My DS 5 is an animal freak, so I knew this would be a good day. My last visit to the AK was in 1998 - right after it opened, so there wasn't much to do there yet. This trip was GREAT!

Before we went to AK, we had breakfast at Boma at our hotel. It was WONDERFUL!

I had NO idea that my DD 8 was such a dare-devil! She wanted to ride Everest. I was a little concerned, but she LOVED it!! She ended up riding it 3 times that day! She wasn't too crazy about Dinosaur though.

Finding Nemo the Musical was a must for us because DS 5 is a Nemo FREAK! Even his bedroom is done in Nemo! We loved it. It was well done and very cute!

The kids really enjoyed the Safari. We also took DS on a walking safari while DD rode Everest again. He loved it! Saw all kind of neat things. Again, he is a BIG fish fan!

Thought this was a sweet shot!

Also, we saw a cool hippo under water:

Had lunch at Pizzafari. We liked the pizza. I know some people don't, but we did. Also, the caesar salad was pretty good.

We saw the Jammin Jungle parade. It was cute, but not a show-stopper. That might be a good time to do something else. We LOVED It's Tough to be a Bug! The kids got a big thrill out of that.

Overall, a great day at AK.

That night, we had dinner reservations at Teppan Edo at EPCOT. Worked out well since AK closes early. Teppan Edo was great. The kids loved the hibachi cooking. We had an awesome chef that really played it up for the kids. We got the chicken and shrimp. It was yummy!!

We had a FUN and BUSY 2nd day!!

 

[noahdove]

Wow!!! I am in for the rest of the report

 

[mickeystoontown]

Signing on for more. I often say that trip reports and pictures are what keep me sane until our next WDW vacation.

 

[slarm]

AWESOME REPORT and photos are great.

We are staying at the AKL August 1-August 8.

 

[luckytobeme88]

No way this is your first TR! It is so well done. Good job!

 

[tinytreasures]

great start I can't wait to hear more