imbe@aol.com
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 22, 2001
- Messages
- 371
Well, this morning was SUPPOSED to be another set of golf lessons .. however, that got cancelled yesterday due the numerous times I had to really give the boys FIRM 'talking to's" (read, chewed them out! LOL) for various things. I warned enough, and told them if they didn't stop, that we were NOT going to Golf .. well, they didn't .. so we didn't! May seem harsh, but trust me, at this point, Alec's whining about assorted things and Ev's being a clown were grating on my nerves big time! And when they put those lobster heads on THEIR head .. that was it! LOL
So it was one last 'farewell room service at the Grand' breakfasts ensuite for us today. I repeated my birthday breakfast with the Steak and Eggs, and Evan had a cheese omelet. Dave & Alec weren't that hungry, so they just had things from the concierge area this morning.
Then it was time to get packed up .. ugh!!!!!!! LOL Not fun! Too bad they don't pack & unpack and do your laundry for you too, on the Grand Plan! <g>
But we got through it, and afterwards, I went off to make my last rounds at the gift shops there. There was a really cool silver metal laptop case I'd been eyeing at Commander Porters ... so I went to purchase it. (though it turned out later that MY laptop doesn't even fit in it - it's too big!
so now .. Dave has it) I also stopped and got a framed print of the Grand I've been wanting, and a throw too.
After some hassling with Dave about who was supposed to be doing what concerning our transportation over to AKL (I guess he "didn't hear me!!" when I TOLD him I had already taken care of it with Jamie, a concierge and she WAS driving us over there in the Grand Cadillac!! They'll do this from time to time . in fact, they also did it for our Spoodles morning ressie early on in the trip. I didn't even ask for this .. I'd actually asked for them to call me cabs both times)
we were on our way!
It's amazing, but as soon as you make the turn and are on the approach to AKL .. you all of a sudden feel as if you're in a totally different, separate world, and not really on Disney property at all! The landscape design is GORGEOUS!! So very well done. Which is pretty amazing too, considering that the hotels only been open a few months and already, the plants have grown in so perfectly.
As soon as we stepped out of the car, there were 3 people waiting to assist us. I figure Jamie must have called on ahead to AKL and told them we were coming. Our room was ready, our luggage was whisked (well .. as much as you can "whisk" 11 bags!! <G>) onto the cart and we took our first steps into the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Oooooooooohhhh .. ahhhhhhhhhhh and a GREAT BIG WOW!!! WHAT an impressive lobby!! I'd say it has the same impact as the Grand's, but just a completely different feel. But you still get that "GASP" when you enter it.
The bellhop gave us a mini tour, pointing out spots of interest, things we should know, and then it was off to our room. We'd booked a one bedroom suite, and were assigned to 5285 (on the 5th floor) first.
This honestly was a VERY NICE suite. (I've got pics, and will have them up later in the week) However .. <g> ... having seen Debbie's suite pics of the TWO bedroom suite .. I think these were 'burned into' Dave's mind (wink, wink .. thanks Debbie!!! LOL <BEG>) ... and w/n 5 min of the bellman leaving, he was saying "let's go down to the concierge area and talk to someone and see if the 2 br is available"!! LOL Hey .. FINE by me!! So we did.
As fate and luck would have it, Juanita was working that day. She was .. strictly in MY opinion .. the best concierge from the Poly last year! And she remembered me right as I remembered her - it was one of those .. looking at the person, and at the same time saying .. don't I know you?? LOL
I told her what we wanted, and .. with a bit of pixie dust and Disney magic, along with an additonal charge! LOL, we got the larger suite. She did discount it for us though, which was nice. There were a few other things to take care of as well, and once done, we were off to collect the boys and head to our new "home" for the next 4 nights.
The new room number was 5591, down the looooooooooooong halls, at the VERY end of the Sunset Savannah. WHEW what a walk! LOL Debbie, you were SOOO right about that part! But .. it was absolutely worth it for the views!! INCREDIBLE!! Over the course of our stay, we saw every animal every day, multiple times. I honestly expected to get tired of looking at this .. but I truly didn't.
Once we got in, we decided to hit the pool. I think their pool area was VERY nice, and we really used it a lot over our time there. Nice little pool bar too, with friendly bartenders. In fact, ALMOST all of the employees there were extremely outgoing and nice!
After sunning and sipping [a tropical drink
] for a little while, everyone was suddenly starved, so it was off to Mara to get some lunch and bring it back outside.
I was surprised that we were able to find a table so readily when we came back with our food; the pool was surprisingly uncrowded today, even though the sun was shining away!
Unfortunately ... the sunshine wasn't alone .. there were a bunch of dark clouds beginning to roll in too. And apparently, somewhere on property there were a number of lightning strikes starting too .. and with that, they closed the pool & the pool deck. That was fine, as we needed to come back up & unpack anyway.
When that was all done, it was now time to head down and try out the AKL's spa!
This is NOT on the Grand Plan (at least, not for this year) but I was only getting a massage, and I love spa's and wanted to try theirs! LOL so I figured .. what the heck! and went for it.
I wouldn't call it a true spa in the sense of the DI's, or the Grand's. At this time, it's more of a fitness center, equipment in there, that does massages and a basic facial. During my massage I was talking to the girl and she said they DO intend to expand their services in the near future, which was nice to know. What treatment areas are there are nice, very pleasant! And my massuese was terrific!!! I came out sooooooooo relaxed and feeling great!
Came back to the room, stopping at the concierge area to check out the food, and just relaxed out on my balcony, animal watching. The MBR balcony was quite large, a half round, and the kids room had it own's separate, rectangular balcony that had a totally different view, so we were running back & forth between the two to catch different views! LOL I swear, every time I stepped out on my balcony .. and it was just me & the animals out there, I had the overwhelming urge to stand in the center of the it, throw my chest out and my arms out and sing/yell out that "ahhhhhhhhhhhhwhateveritis" that opening line from "Circle of Life" song! LOLOL!!! And what's funny is that when Evan stepped onto my balcony for the first time, and I hadn't told him that I thought of doing that either .. HE DID THAT! LOLOL I'll say right now that Evan and Alec fell totally in LOVE with AKL, right from the start!!
One thing I DID NOT love at ALL about that balcony were the GROSS, HUGE, literally FURRY spiders out there!! Those suckers looked like tarantulas I swear! Bodies about as big as a nickel the first time (and I saw larger too, but more later on that!) and TREMENDOUS webs! EWWWW!!! LOL
Everyone got ready for dinner, which was to be Jiko for this first night. I'd purposely planned a "down" day, just to give us time to explore the resort. We were dressed & ready, and so went down strolling around the hotel for a bit, looking at the artwork scattered all around, just craning our necks to check out all the amazing light fixtures and the whole construction of the hotel.
After dinner, we stopped and shopped a while, dropped off some film to be developed, at Zawadi marketplace. WHAT a big, and very cool!!, store!! I didn't buy anything that first time though .. I needed to narrow down my choices a LITTLE bit first! LOL
A short while later, back at the room, after saying goodnight to the animals from the balcony, everyone turned in.
Day 9 shortly!
Judi
So it was one last 'farewell room service at the Grand' breakfasts ensuite for us today. I repeated my birthday breakfast with the Steak and Eggs, and Evan had a cheese omelet. Dave & Alec weren't that hungry, so they just had things from the concierge area this morning.
Then it was time to get packed up .. ugh!!!!!!! LOL Not fun! Too bad they don't pack & unpack and do your laundry for you too, on the Grand Plan! <g>
But we got through it, and afterwards, I went off to make my last rounds at the gift shops there. There was a really cool silver metal laptop case I'd been eyeing at Commander Porters ... so I went to purchase it. (though it turned out later that MY laptop doesn't even fit in it - it's too big!
so now .. Dave has it) I also stopped and got a framed print of the Grand I've been wanting, and a throw too.After some hassling with Dave about who was supposed to be doing what concerning our transportation over to AKL (I guess he "didn't hear me!!" when I TOLD him I had already taken care of it with Jamie, a concierge and she WAS driving us over there in the Grand Cadillac!! They'll do this from time to time . in fact, they also did it for our Spoodles morning ressie early on in the trip. I didn't even ask for this .. I'd actually asked for them to call me cabs both times)
we were on our way!
It's amazing, but as soon as you make the turn and are on the approach to AKL .. you all of a sudden feel as if you're in a totally different, separate world, and not really on Disney property at all! The landscape design is GORGEOUS!! So very well done. Which is pretty amazing too, considering that the hotels only been open a few months and already, the plants have grown in so perfectly.
As soon as we stepped out of the car, there were 3 people waiting to assist us. I figure Jamie must have called on ahead to AKL and told them we were coming. Our room was ready, our luggage was whisked (well .. as much as you can "whisk" 11 bags!! <G>) onto the cart and we took our first steps into the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Oooooooooohhhh .. ahhhhhhhhhhh and a GREAT BIG WOW!!! WHAT an impressive lobby!! I'd say it has the same impact as the Grand's, but just a completely different feel. But you still get that "GASP" when you enter it.
The bellhop gave us a mini tour, pointing out spots of interest, things we should know, and then it was off to our room. We'd booked a one bedroom suite, and were assigned to 5285 (on the 5th floor) first.
This honestly was a VERY NICE suite. (I've got pics, and will have them up later in the week) However .. <g> ... having seen Debbie's suite pics of the TWO bedroom suite .. I think these were 'burned into' Dave's mind (wink, wink .. thanks Debbie!!! LOL <BEG>) ... and w/n 5 min of the bellman leaving, he was saying "let's go down to the concierge area and talk to someone and see if the 2 br is available"!! LOL Hey .. FINE by me!! So we did.
As fate and luck would have it, Juanita was working that day. She was .. strictly in MY opinion .. the best concierge from the Poly last year! And she remembered me right as I remembered her - it was one of those .. looking at the person, and at the same time saying .. don't I know you?? LOL
I told her what we wanted, and .. with a bit of pixie dust and Disney magic, along with an additonal charge! LOL, we got the larger suite. She did discount it for us though, which was nice. There were a few other things to take care of as well, and once done, we were off to collect the boys and head to our new "home" for the next 4 nights.
The new room number was 5591, down the looooooooooooong halls, at the VERY end of the Sunset Savannah. WHEW what a walk! LOL Debbie, you were SOOO right about that part! But .. it was absolutely worth it for the views!! INCREDIBLE!! Over the course of our stay, we saw every animal every day, multiple times. I honestly expected to get tired of looking at this .. but I truly didn't.
Once we got in, we decided to hit the pool. I think their pool area was VERY nice, and we really used it a lot over our time there. Nice little pool bar too, with friendly bartenders. In fact, ALMOST all of the employees there were extremely outgoing and nice!
After sunning and sipping [a tropical drink
] for a little while, everyone was suddenly starved, so it was off to Mara to get some lunch and bring it back outside. I was surprised that we were able to find a table so readily when we came back with our food; the pool was surprisingly uncrowded today, even though the sun was shining away!
Unfortunately ... the sunshine wasn't alone .. there were a bunch of dark clouds beginning to roll in too. And apparently, somewhere on property there were a number of lightning strikes starting too .. and with that, they closed the pool & the pool deck. That was fine, as we needed to come back up & unpack anyway.
When that was all done, it was now time to head down and try out the AKL's spa!
This is NOT on the Grand Plan (at least, not for this year) but I was only getting a massage, and I love spa's and wanted to try theirs! LOL so I figured .. what the heck! and went for it.
I wouldn't call it a true spa in the sense of the DI's, or the Grand's. At this time, it's more of a fitness center, equipment in there, that does massages and a basic facial. During my massage I was talking to the girl and she said they DO intend to expand their services in the near future, which was nice to know. What treatment areas are there are nice, very pleasant! And my massuese was terrific!!! I came out sooooooooo relaxed and feeling great!
Came back to the room, stopping at the concierge area to check out the food, and just relaxed out on my balcony, animal watching. The MBR balcony was quite large, a half round, and the kids room had it own's separate, rectangular balcony that had a totally different view, so we were running back & forth between the two to catch different views! LOL I swear, every time I stepped out on my balcony .. and it was just me & the animals out there, I had the overwhelming urge to stand in the center of the it, throw my chest out and my arms out and sing/yell out that "ahhhhhhhhhhhhwhateveritis" that opening line from "Circle of Life" song! LOLOL!!! And what's funny is that when Evan stepped onto my balcony for the first time, and I hadn't told him that I thought of doing that either .. HE DID THAT! LOLOL I'll say right now that Evan and Alec fell totally in LOVE with AKL, right from the start!!
One thing I DID NOT love at ALL about that balcony were the GROSS, HUGE, literally FURRY spiders out there!! Those suckers looked like tarantulas I swear! Bodies about as big as a nickel the first time (and I saw larger too, but more later on that!) and TREMENDOUS webs! EWWWW!!! LOL
Everyone got ready for dinner, which was to be Jiko for this first night. I'd purposely planned a "down" day, just to give us time to explore the resort. We were dressed & ready, and so went down strolling around the hotel for a bit, looking at the artwork scattered all around, just craning our necks to check out all the amazing light fixtures and the whole construction of the hotel.
After dinner, we stopped and shopped a while, dropped off some film to be developed, at Zawadi marketplace. WHAT a big, and very cool!!, store!! I didn't buy anything that first time though .. I needed to narrow down my choices a LITTLE bit first! LOL
A short while later, back at the room, after saying goodnight to the animals from the balcony, everyone turned in.
Day 9 shortly!
Judi
That is one of those moments that makes mom crazy and people reading it laugh. I'm with you though...if ya cant behave, then ya dont play! Sounds like you had a nice time at AKL. One day I'll stay there.
