imbe@aol.com
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 22, 2001
- Messages
- 371
This is the day the "cast" of characters (and believe me, we WERE characters at times! LOL) got larger, by three people! Flying in this morning to join us at AKL were my SIL Debbi, her older daughter Amanda (20) (Melissa's sister) and James (22) Amanda's fiance. We're really close with them, have taken many trips with them, and we all truly get along well. Their flight arrived at 9:21 am and they were *supposed* to be at AKL by about 10:15 or so .. at least, that's what we thought ..
I was again the first up this morning at about 7 am, and was dressed, and had brought some food/drinks down from concierge for everyone by 7:30! LOL I didn't want excuses for moving slow this morning! <g> I wanted to be there at AKL and have the room assignment and be settled by the time the others arrived. So while they got ready, I enjoyed the solitude of my balcony one last time for this trip, just catching up on my journal and reflecting on the trip thus far.
When they were just about finished, I went out to the concierge desks and spoke with a lovely cm named .. Meya (sp??) She was a face I hadn't seen before, but she was extremely nice and very friendly - I'd spoken with her several times throughout the trip. I wasn't quite sure how we were going to get over to the AKL this time. In the past, we've been on the Grand plan, and transportation was just "handled" for us automatically. Meya was extremely generous and as it turned out, offered to have us driven over in one of the Grand's cars! Sure did make it easier than dragging our carryons, and the BIG floral arrangement I'd gotten for my birthday on the bus or a taxi! LOL The flowers were still in perfect shape, and .. well I didn't wanna leave them! LOL
By 9:15, we were sipping latte in the AKL concierge lounge!
Melissa was SO thrilled and impressed with AKL, as she'd not seen it before now -- I knew she'd like it!
Neither Juanita or Beau was around this morning at the concierge desk(s) (in fact, again, I never saw Beau the entire trip!) but a nice gal named Wendi was.
We'd booked a 2 BR suite, like last year, but I was also asking her about the Royal Assante (Presidential) and Royal Kuba (vice presidential) suites as well. They were doing some sort of repair to the floor (at least, that's what they *said* at the time ..... ) in Kuba, so that wasn't available, but the Assante was. We wouldn't have been able to have it the whole time is what she told us at first, but she *did* see it available (or so she thought) for a few nights. Soooo ... I figured 'what the heck!" can't hurt to look! <g> OMG ... WHAT a knockout of a suite!!!!! It's magnificent!!!!!!!!!!!! However ... Wendi had JUST finished telling me, as we were walking out of it, that she thought she could get it for us for just a tiny bit more than we were paying for the regular 2 BR suite when she got a call from the GM of the hotel (she'd called and asked about doing this for us earlier apparently, w/o me knowing) and was told .. nope - there was some "VIP" coming in and it was someone who COULD NOT be 'bumped out' of there, and the person was actually here NOW earlier than originally expected. (I later found out through another source there at the hotel that the Kuba was also reserved for a VIP .. Drew Carey was in one and Daman Wayans in the other!) C'est la vie - our suite was still great too! LOL It accomdates 7, which is the # of people we had for this part of the trip. BUT ... I WAS disappointed once we were in it to find that since it was on the 4th floor, and not the 5th floor, we didn't have that huge semi-circular balcony with the thatched roof that we had last year. The suite was identical in every other way though.
Another mix up, and a greater disappointment, was when I discovered that the Family Magic Tour I booked MONTHS ago, through AKL's conciere, ended up never having been booked after all!
I have NO clue how this mistake happened, but I sure wasn't happy about it!! Just before I left home in fact, I'd written a email to them, reconfirming several things - Mouse Ears in the room for James (he hasn't been there since he was 5), a little birthday celebration for Evan, since we would be there for that, Hoop De Doo and the Family Magic Tour!! AND I got a confirmation back from them, assuring me that ALL of these things were taken care of. Well .. someone, somewhere along the line, didn't take care of booking it for me! Unfortunately, since I delete all mails after I receive them, I couldn't even go back into my laptop and show them the proof And upon checking that morning, they found that there was NO availability for the tour for 7 people for another day either Very disappointing, as I thought it would be great fun with all of us together. This wasn't the only mistake that would crop up either ...
Right after we got our keys and got to the room (it was ready early) we headed downstairs to wait outside for Debbi and the rest. A half hour or so after they landed, she called Dave's cell and ... it turns out that the limo company that AKL hired to pick them up at the airport never showed up! They'd searched all over for the driver with the sign, did not find him, could not reach his cell number .. so they finally just got another town car service who WAS available for standby at the aiport to bring them out. And yes, we did let the concierge there know about this. I will say that the limo co was fairly gracious about it, and sort of made up for it with something else the next evening <G>
Once we got them settled in, everyone decided they wanted to go swimming for a bit and have a casual lunch, so everyone suited up and headed to the pool. We all grabbed some lunch from Mara and brought it outside. The pool was relatively crowded though, it's so big, you don't really feel that jam packed in.
After lunch, a tropical frozen libation or two <g> and some swimming, we all just came back up and threw on some clothes, us girlies put hats on so we didn't have to do our hair just yet, and we took the bus ride over to AK. We hadn't yet seen the new parade there, and everyone wanted to. Evan was anxious to get to DinoLand USA and check that out first, so we all just went along with it. My opionion of that area? Sorry, but I am not thrilled with it at all. I'm sure everyone's got their own opinion of it, and I won't try to change anyone else's if they don't try to change mine! LOL ;O but .. somehow, I just don't think it's the sort of thing Walt would have liked too much, ya know? Primeval Whirl .. that was a bit nauseating to me! LOL I'd do it again, but .. it sure is jerky!! )(movement wise I mean) It is absolutely NOT something I would recommend for anyone who's prone to motion sickness!! :O
We'd picked up FP's for Dinosaur! earlier, so we headed over there after looking around Dinoland for a bit. I love this ride!! By the time we got off, it was just about when the parade was beginning, so we snagged some spots and watched. VERY very cute -- I like this one a lot!
After the parade, we did some shopping -- I think AK's got some of the best stores in WDW! Then we headed down to Festival of the Lion King to catch that show -- MY fav. show in all the World! Oh, I mentioned that we were AP holders to the CM directing the traffic flow back by the theatre, and we were able to go in through the exit, and got great seats! I thought I remembered reading about someone else doing this before I left, so I figured I'd give it a try too .. and it worked! LOL We didn't get the chance to go to the AP lounge here (nor at Epcot either now that I think of it! Darn!) because we were on the way out after the show. We had dinner ressies at Jiko for their first night, and everyone was so miserably hot and itchy and drained from the relentless heat that we HAD to shower up and change first, or they may well have put us out onto the savannah with the animals! LOL ;O
After dinner at Jiko, we just hung out at the hotel, walked around, checked out what's new in the gift shop there, and relaxed. They'd been up since about 3 am too, as we were on our first day here, so Debbi, Mandy and James were pretty tired. I think we all got to bed around midnight, after sitting and chatting a while.
I was again the first up this morning at about 7 am, and was dressed, and had brought some food/drinks down from concierge for everyone by 7:30! LOL I didn't want excuses for moving slow this morning! <g> I wanted to be there at AKL and have the room assignment and be settled by the time the others arrived. So while they got ready, I enjoyed the solitude of my balcony one last time for this trip, just catching up on my journal and reflecting on the trip thus far.
When they were just about finished, I went out to the concierge desks and spoke with a lovely cm named .. Meya (sp??) She was a face I hadn't seen before, but she was extremely nice and very friendly - I'd spoken with her several times throughout the trip. I wasn't quite sure how we were going to get over to the AKL this time. In the past, we've been on the Grand plan, and transportation was just "handled" for us automatically. Meya was extremely generous and as it turned out, offered to have us driven over in one of the Grand's cars! Sure did make it easier than dragging our carryons, and the BIG floral arrangement I'd gotten for my birthday on the bus or a taxi! LOL The flowers were still in perfect shape, and .. well I didn't wanna leave them! LOL
By 9:15, we were sipping latte in the AKL concierge lounge!
Melissa was SO thrilled and impressed with AKL, as she'd not seen it before now -- I knew she'd like it! Neither Juanita or Beau was around this morning at the concierge desk(s) (in fact, again, I never saw Beau the entire trip!) but a nice gal named Wendi was.
We'd booked a 2 BR suite, like last year, but I was also asking her about the Royal Assante (Presidential) and Royal Kuba (vice presidential) suites as well. They were doing some sort of repair to the floor (at least, that's what they *said* at the time ..... ) in Kuba, so that wasn't available, but the Assante was. We wouldn't have been able to have it the whole time is what she told us at first, but she *did* see it available (or so she thought) for a few nights. Soooo ... I figured 'what the heck!" can't hurt to look! <g> OMG ... WHAT a knockout of a suite!!!!! It's magnificent!!!!!!!!!!!! However ... Wendi had JUST finished telling me, as we were walking out of it, that she thought she could get it for us for just a tiny bit more than we were paying for the regular 2 BR suite when she got a call from the GM of the hotel (she'd called and asked about doing this for us earlier apparently, w/o me knowing) and was told .. nope - there was some "VIP" coming in and it was someone who COULD NOT be 'bumped out' of there, and the person was actually here NOW earlier than originally expected. (I later found out through another source there at the hotel that the Kuba was also reserved for a VIP .. Drew Carey was in one and Daman Wayans in the other!) C'est la vie - our suite was still great too! LOL It accomdates 7, which is the # of people we had for this part of the trip. BUT ... I WAS disappointed once we were in it to find that since it was on the 4th floor, and not the 5th floor, we didn't have that huge semi-circular balcony with the thatched roof that we had last year. The suite was identical in every other way though.
Another mix up, and a greater disappointment, was when I discovered that the Family Magic Tour I booked MONTHS ago, through AKL's conciere, ended up never having been booked after all!
I have NO clue how this mistake happened, but I sure wasn't happy about it!! Just before I left home in fact, I'd written a email to them, reconfirming several things - Mouse Ears in the room for James (he hasn't been there since he was 5), a little birthday celebration for Evan, since we would be there for that, Hoop De Doo and the Family Magic Tour!! AND I got a confirmation back from them, assuring me that ALL of these things were taken care of. Well .. someone, somewhere along the line, didn't take care of booking it for me! Unfortunately, since I delete all mails after I receive them, I couldn't even go back into my laptop and show them the proof And upon checking that morning, they found that there was NO availability for the tour for 7 people for another day either Very disappointing, as I thought it would be great fun with all of us together. This wasn't the only mistake that would crop up either ... Right after we got our keys and got to the room (it was ready early) we headed downstairs to wait outside for Debbi and the rest. A half hour or so after they landed, she called Dave's cell and ... it turns out that the limo company that AKL hired to pick them up at the airport never showed up! They'd searched all over for the driver with the sign, did not find him, could not reach his cell number .. so they finally just got another town car service who WAS available for standby at the aiport to bring them out. And yes, we did let the concierge there know about this. I will say that the limo co was fairly gracious about it, and sort of made up for it with something else the next evening <G>
Once we got them settled in, everyone decided they wanted to go swimming for a bit and have a casual lunch, so everyone suited up and headed to the pool. We all grabbed some lunch from Mara and brought it outside. The pool was relatively crowded though, it's so big, you don't really feel that jam packed in.
After lunch, a tropical frozen libation or two <g> and some swimming, we all just came back up and threw on some clothes, us girlies put hats on so we didn't have to do our hair just yet, and we took the bus ride over to AK. We hadn't yet seen the new parade there, and everyone wanted to. Evan was anxious to get to DinoLand USA and check that out first, so we all just went along with it. My opionion of that area? Sorry, but I am not thrilled with it at all. I'm sure everyone's got their own opinion of it, and I won't try to change anyone else's if they don't try to change mine! LOL ;O but .. somehow, I just don't think it's the sort of thing Walt would have liked too much, ya know? Primeval Whirl .. that was a bit nauseating to me! LOL I'd do it again, but .. it sure is jerky!! )(movement wise I mean) It is absolutely NOT something I would recommend for anyone who's prone to motion sickness!! :O
We'd picked up FP's for Dinosaur! earlier, so we headed over there after looking around Dinoland for a bit. I love this ride!! By the time we got off, it was just about when the parade was beginning, so we snagged some spots and watched. VERY very cute -- I like this one a lot!
After the parade, we did some shopping -- I think AK's got some of the best stores in WDW! Then we headed down to Festival of the Lion King to catch that show -- MY fav. show in all the World! Oh, I mentioned that we were AP holders to the CM directing the traffic flow back by the theatre, and we were able to go in through the exit, and got great seats! I thought I remembered reading about someone else doing this before I left, so I figured I'd give it a try too .. and it worked! LOL We didn't get the chance to go to the AP lounge here (nor at Epcot either now that I think of it! Darn!) because we were on the way out after the show. We had dinner ressies at Jiko for their first night, and everyone was so miserably hot and itchy and drained from the relentless heat that we HAD to shower up and change first, or they may well have put us out onto the savannah with the animals! LOL ;O
After dinner at Jiko, we just hung out at the hotel, walked around, checked out what's new in the gift shop there, and relaxed. They'd been up since about 3 am too, as we were on our first day here, so Debbi, Mandy and James were pretty tired. I think we all got to bed around midnight, after sitting and chatting a while.
