It's The Magic That Can Happen When It's Autumn! - Animal Kingdom Lodge - Club Level

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 9
Thursday 8th September 2016
Part 3 – Sanaa!


We got home at about 1:45pm.

We planned on going down to the pool for a couple of hours, but as soon as we got back to the room I fell asleep!

I woke up feeling refreshed at around 4:15, we got ready, and walked over to Kidani for our 5:20pm reservation at Sanaa!

THE LOBBY SMELLS SO GOOD.

We checked in at Sanaa and took a seat briefly.

Then we were shown to one of the best tables in the house…!
We had a great view.
I had purposely booked this on the early side so that it would still be bright enough to see some animals.
That, combined with the window seat made for some good animal viewing

We had the bread service to start, and OH WOW!
It was a fantastic choice!

Jamie’s favourite dip was the pesto and mine was the chickpea hummus

For our main course we both got the Potje.
Jamie got the butter chicken, spicy Durban shrimp and pilaf rice:

And I got the butter chicken, braised beef and basmati rice.

Omg, this was incredible.
It was so tasty and well-cooked. The beef was so tender my knife just slipped right through it!

For dessert Jamie got the cheesecake:

And I got a beautiful chocolate mousse dessert!

Yum and wow, Sanaa nailed every single course of this meal!
My dessert was so pretty I didn’t want to eat it, but when I eventually did it was amazing.
It was very light and perfect after a big meal.
Jamie preferred my dessert too, so he ate half of it

Sanaa was fantastic and I would even say it’s now one of my favourite restaurants at Walt Disney World!
Imagine that, our worst, and one of our best dining experiences is one day!
This more than made up for our breakfast at Tusker House.

Thanks Sanaa!

Click for Day 9 - Part 4!

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[TheLittleKatie]

Day 9
Thursday 8th September 2016
Part 4 – Relaxing at the Lodge

After our wonderful meal we walked back to Jambo House.
It was a very treacherous walk as there were lizards EVERYWHERE on the walkway.

When we got back we realised the evening snacks would be out in the club lounge so we went to see what they were!

The mini hot dishes were chowder and pork, but I didn’t get a photo of them for some reason.
But here’s the rest of the layout. It’s pretty spectacular.

As I was taking some pictures a man beside me said, “it’s a sight isn’t it”

I must look crazy taking pictures of uncrustables
I replied “yeah, I don’t want to forget this moment!”


OBVIOUSLY I got some uncrustables for the fridge!

We got a coffee each and took it back to the room and sat on the balcony.
It was nearing 7pm and it was a lovely evening.
How perfect!

We went through our ADRs and cancelled a couple because we just had TOO MUCH FOOD!
We cancelled lunch at the Boathouse as there was football on that afternoon that Jamie wanted to watch
We also cancelled Boma dinner because we had a Be Our Guest lunch on the same day, and between the two, Jamie chose Be Our Guest
I would not have made that decision, but he is such a good sport at Disney, I have to give him something, you know?!
He just loves those Be Our Guest sandwiches

While we were going through we realised that the Sanaa receipt said that we had 18 credits left, which meant we were 4 credits short…
We tried to figure it out, but we were lost, so we went down to reception.
The CM pulled up our reservation, and immediately she asked us if we had Hoop-Dee-Doo booked in the next few days…
Yep! We were going on Sunday!
She explained that they take your credits a few days in advance.
Errrm they could’ve told us by email or something
I said, “I bet you get that a lot huh!” and she said “yep! All the time!”
So yeah, they do that.

After that ordeal we went back to the room.
Nothing was open past 9pm tonight, so we were looking forward to having a chill around the hotel

We watched The Mummy for a bit!
Is the constant stream of Universal-owned movies a ploy to get Disney guests to visit their park?!

We went to the lounge and each got a little chocolate mousse dessert and some amarula!

Then I was making a cup of tea to take out with me, and a little boy with a plate of every dessert under the sun came up and asked me how to make tea!
He was so cute.
We made some tea together.

Then Jamie and I went down to the arcade!

We played $5 worth of basketball and I nailed it (obviously).
Jamie CAN’T STAND when I win, so he absolutely HAD to put more money on our arcade card.
However he didn’t have any small money on him, so he ended up just using a $20 bill hahaha.
What a degenerate!

​

He won a few games, then I managed to pull it back with a top score of 121

After we’d spent $25 in arcade games we went back to the room and just watched some TV and YouTube and stuff.

I really enjoyed our evening at AKL, and discovering our new favourite restaurant, Sanaa!

Goodnight!

Click for Day 10 - Part 1!

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[TheLittleKatie]

Day 10
Friday 9th September 2016
Part 1 – Karamell-Kuche!


Good morning!
We got up at 10am today and went to eat breakfast in the club lounge.

I had TWO CROISSANTS with butter and jam, and a bowl of melon.
It was a good start to the day.

Afterwards we got our swim gear on, went to the Mara to fill up our mugs and set up camp at the pool.
However there were love-bugs EVERYWHERE.
Oh my goodness.
They bother me so much when they land on me, after a short while I just RAGE QUIT the pool and went back to the room to shower and tidy up while Jamie stayed out in the sun for a bit.

I ate my uncrustables that were in the fridge from last night (clearly two croissants weren’t enough carbs for me this morning), and when Jamie got back at around 2pm we went to Hollywood Studios!

However while we were on the bus to Hollywood Studios, we both agreed we really wanted to get a treat from Karamel Kuche!
So when we got off the bus at Hollywood Studios we went straight to get a friendship boat to Epcot!
When you’re here for 3 weeks you can do whatever you want, whenever you want!

I loved getting this boat again, I just love being at the Epcot Resorts area.
It was REALLY hot and clammy on the boat though.
And I’m sure they always play a soundtrack that is just a baby screaming, because I hear that noise every single time I’m on these boats

When we got off the boat at International Gateway we saw Mickey, Eeyore and Tiana meeting and greeting

We made a beeline straight to Germany!

This was our first time getting a treat from Karamell-Kuche!
It smells amazing in here.

Jamie got the milk chocolate and sea salt caramel square.

And I got the chocolate smore!

These were the first two snack credits we’d used this trip, and they were very well spent if you ask me.
Both of these were so good, but SO rich and sickly!
We ate on a bench looking out at the lagoon, occasionally being stalked by this guy.

We wolfed down our snacks before they were melted victims of the sun, then we headed back to International Gateway.

Click for Day 10 - Part 2!

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[TheLittleKatie]

Day 10
Friday 9th September 2016
Part 2 – Hollywood Studios and 50s Prime Time!


We got on a boat at International Gateway, and arrived back at Hollywood Studios at around 4:30pm!

Our fastpass for Toy Story Mania was about to end so we hurried over there.
Well, we got a few meters down the street before I made Jamie stop for a photopass

For one of the photos I popped my leg out and the photographer said,
“I like that, are you friends with the princesses by any chance?!”
Haaa!!
The ultimate Disney compliment!!
(Not that I think I’m anywhere near that league )
I was flattered!

We arrived at Toy Story Mania about 10 minutes late, but the Magic Band scanner still lit up green, so they do allow a little leeway.

We were directed to the brand new track that was just built!
It was a fun setting.
Here’s Jamie coming out of the closet

While we were waiting in line Jamie tried to tell me that the last time we played he got 280,000.
Sure you did pal.

I told him that that was a very high score for this game but he was adamant, so I had to go back through last year’s photos to prove it

Jamie did win this game, but didn’t quite get 280,000

Then we rode Star Tours!

We got the new sequence again.
There’s only one new sequence and they want everyoneee to see it so I think it’s all they show now.
It was still enjoyable though EVEN THOUGH I WAS STILL NOT THE REBEL SPY.
Seriously it's absurd.

In the store after the ride I made an adorable droid with a sombrero.
I considered buying him for my desk but I think they’re quite expensive.

Then we used our fastpass at Tower of Terror!

“What goes up, must come down!”

After the ride we had half an hour until our dinner reservation, so we took a slow stroll towards the restaurant.

Our ADR was at 50s Prime Time Café!

There was a photographer outside the restaurant so we got a couple of cute pictures first.

We checked into 50’s Prime Time and took a seat at the bar.

Soon our funny server took us to our table.
I got in trouble a couple of times for having my “walkie talkie” on the table

The group of tables we were at were very close together, which I usually don’t like, however we got talking to the people next to us and they were so sweet!
We basically “had dinner with them”

They were two women from Seattle Washington, one was celebrating her 50th birthday, and they told us that a few years ago they became the first same-sex couple to get engaged at Epcot!
And the story was VERY impressive…
One of them had secretly arranged for their friends to do the scuba diving at The Seas, while the couple were having dinner at Coral Reef.
The friends then took a banner up to the tank window where the couple were sitting, which said “will you marry me?”
!!!

Our food came out really quickly.
Jamie had the fried chicken (which I didn’t get a picture of), and I got the chicken pot pie!
Yum!

They show footage of opening day at Disneyland throughout the restaurant!
The best of the 50’s

For dessert Jamie had this abomination
The Dad’s Sundae:

And I had the Peanut Butter and Jelly milkshake!

It was absolutely ginormous and I hardly made a dent in it, but it was fantastic!
Jamie didn’t enjoy his sundae though…
I don’t think…

OK maybe I’m wrong.

We settled the bill, said goodbye to our new friends and left the restaurant.

Click for Day 10 - Part 3!​

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 10
Friday 9th September 2016
Part 3 – Hollywood Studios


I’d managed to get a Rock N Roller Coaster fastpass on my phone but we didn’t want to do it right after dinner, so we wandered around and had a look at what shows were on…
There was one show starting right now so we decided to see it…
The Frozen Sing Along!!
I hadn't planned on seeing this at all, but we thought we’d just go for a sit down while our dinner settled.

OH
My Goodness.
It was SO funny.
Actually hilarious.
We both enjoyed it so much!!!
The two Arendelle village people were fantastic and had such great chemistry.
You could tell they were improvising a lot because they occasionally broke character and started laughing, which made it even funnier.
I definitely recommend it!

After the Frozen Sing Along we went to ride Rock n Roller!

I’d told Jamie about the recent changes to the preshow, where they’ve CGIed A FINGER onto Steven Tyler’s hand

Jamie and I are not the types to get offended easily, so after having a giggle about the whole situation during the preshow we thought we’d be edgy and do the original pose for the ride photo.
But the Disney overlords blacked it out!
This is how the picture showed up on my account!

LOL!
They sure showed us!!

After the ride we went to catch the Star Wars fireworks, and oh wow, it was so busy.
We walked around in a big loop looking for a spot but it was packed.
We ended up with an OK view, even though a GIANT came and stood in front of Jamie at the last minute.
But it all worked out fine in the end.

This was fun!
I’d recently sat down and properly watched (the original three) Star Wars films so I did appreciate it.
The soundtrack is so iconic, I doubt there’s anyone who would really hate this.

The show finished at 9pm and it was extra magic hours!
So we went to play Toy Story Mania again.
The line was posted at 20 minutes, but there was nobody there at all!

I emerged victorious this round

And I got best in vehicle!

After the ride I asked Jamie what he wanted to do now and he said “FROZEN SING ALONG.”

We really enjoyed that show.
Unfortunately Frozen wasn’t on again tonight, so instead we went to the Star Wars launch bay.

This is kinda fun, but I do still feel bitter about losing the Animation Academy
I loved those drawing classes!

We watched the movie, which was about 10 minutes long.
It showed things like behind the scenes footage, the making of Star Wars, the future of Star Wars…
That kinda thing.

Then we were let out into the old Animation building, holy cow I didn’t realise how huge this building was!
There were lots of exhibits with costumes and models and artwork, which Jamie enjoyed.

We also saw some Storm Troopers strutting around intimidating people.

Then we went to ride Tower of Terror!

There was the tiniest most precious little boy in front of us, he was 3 years old and only JUST hit the height limit.
I’ve never seen anyone so tiny on Tower of Terror before!
After the video in the library he was like,
“That was really scary, but I’m not scared!”


We were in the same elevator as him and he sat right in front of me.
He was clinging to the side but he was a little champ.
When it ended he turned to his dad and asked,
“Are we all done??”
Still clinging to the side

After Tower we rode Rock n Rollercoaster again!

And then we went back to Tower!

We got the front row wooo.
When we were all buckled in and the doors were closing the CM came right up to the closing doors and said deadpan,
“You really should’ve taken the stairs…”

I love when Tower CMs do that kind of thing.

After Tower it was almost 11pm so we got the bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge.

When we got back to the room My Best Friend’s Wedding was on TV!
So we watched that for a bit.
I’ve always loved the scene in the restaurant

Goodnight!


Click for Day 11 - Part 1!
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[VAtink]

Yay, updates! I missed catching up on this TR!

Oh my goodness, the food at Sanaa looks AMAZING! Never considered eating there, but think I'll have to plan a trip now!

 

[desamnik]

Well welcome back Katie! I have read all of your trip reports, and love every one of them! I have checked periodically hoping you would come back, and your timing is perfect! We leave on Saturday for a week at our happy place and this report is just the thing to get me even more excited! I loved your video of the elephant on the safari, adorable that you caught that!

 

[Raeven]

Now, I try to be as positive and understanding as possible when it comes to Disney, but I’m going to give my controversial opinion right off the bat.

We had a terrible experience at Tusker House.
Probably the worst dining experience we’ve ever had

First of all, after checking in, we waited for ages, outside, in the scorching heat.
Bearing in mind our reservation was for 10:10, we were eventually called in at 10:40am, i.e. half an hour late, and just 20 minutes until the restaurant switched over to lunch food.

Yeah, that's enough to completely ruin a meal. We had something like that happen at Trail's End (waited 40 mins past the ADR, plus bad service and meh food), and even though a lot of people like it, it was definitely our worst dining experience at Disney.

Next time I’m looking for a Disney breakfast buffet I would MUCH rather go to Boma and miss out on the character experience.
Boma is SO much better than Tusker House, in my opinion.

Boma is amazing, I agree.

Why do people do this? I wonder how this trend?!

I wonder too because this isn't the only place I've seen it. We have a local theme park that has a ski lift type ride where you go over the park, and when you get to the part where it switches sides and you start to go back to the starting area there's an area where people throw hair ties.

I find them so fascinating.
They’re so clever, and so similar to us, yet they will rip your face off no problem.
Just fascinating.

That gorilla looks so grumpy! And the baby one is so cute.

Omg, this was incredible.
It was so tasty and well-cooked. The beef was so tender my knife just slipped right through it!

Yum, that's what I plan to get at Sanaa too and yours looks and sounds so good.

As I was taking some pictures a man beside me said, “it’s a sight isn’t it”

I must look crazy taking pictures of uncrustables
I replied “yeah, I don’t want to forget this moment!”

Never forget the moment when you had unlimited Uncrustables.

He was so cute.
We made some tea together.

Aww this is so sweet.

When you’re here for 3 weeks you can do whatever you want, whenever you want!

Love the gif and true if I was there for 3 weeks we'd do a lot of whatever, whenever too.

OH
My Goodness.
It was SO funny.
Actually hilarious.
We both enjoyed it so much!!!
The two Arendel village people were fantastic and had such great chemistry.
You could tell they were improvising a lot because they occasionally broke character and started laughing, which made it even funnier.

I love this show our narrators in Dec were hilarious too.

LOL!
They sure showed us!!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 11
Saturday 10th September 2016
Part 1 – Disney Springs and Saratoga Springs...again!


Good Morning!
Jamie had Saturday football to watch this morning so I slept in, which was nice.
Jamie was almost as excited for this football game as I was to come to Disney.
Literally.
He said he woke up a in the night with excitement
We originally had the Boathouse booked for lunch this afternoon so it’s a good thing I cancelled!
He’s come to Disney with me for 3 weeks, I can let him watch his football one afternoon

After the football at 2:30pm we went to the Mara for lunch.
Jamie got an exotic looking chicken pita:

And I was a bit more boring and got the pepperoni flatbread.
HEY sometimes you just need Disney pizza.

Jamie also got a cookie which we shared.
Plus he got big chocolate milk and I got ZEBRA DOMES, which both ended up back in our fridge in the room for now.

At 4:30pm we left for Epcot!

When we got to the bus stop I realised Jamie was sounding croaky, and he said he had a sore throat.
We talked about it and decided he should stay at the hotel today so that he can recover as quickly as possible.
I would much rather that than dragging him around causing him to stay ill for a long time.

After he’d gone back to the room I told him he absolutely MUST be better by tomorrow as we were going to HOOP-DEE-DOO!
I was a bit worried, but he reassured me with this message:

Since I was going solo now, I changed my plans from Epcot to Disney Springs.
I got off the bus at Harley Davidson and called in to get @pkondz a poker chip!
He had told me that he collects poker chips from Harley Davidson stores, and when I asked if he had one from Downtown Disney, he said he never gets time to go there, plus he didn’t even know there was a store there!
Pkondz was going to be at Disney during my trip, and we’d made some plans to meet up, so this seemed like a good little gift!

I bought him a bright pink one so that he would always remember it was from me

Then I went to get the boat to Port Orleans to have a stroll around, but I accidentally got the boat to Saratoga Springs
That wasn’t too bad though, because I’d never been inside Saratoga before, so I took the opportunity to have a quick look around.

If I was Disney Vacation Clubber I would buy this throw…
I love Disney hotels

I looked in the gift shop and Artist’s Palette and found registration, but I didn’t stay too long because I had no idea how to navigate this huge resort, and I wanted to get to Port Orleans!

I had to get the boat back to The Landing at Disney Springs and walk over to Marketplace to get another boat to Riverside.
At least it was a lovely day!

Amphicar!

The boat back to Disney Springs was playing Replay by Sean Kingston, and Party in the USA!
These boats have being playing these songs for YEARS.
Now when I hear them back home it takes me back to these Disney boats

THIS is where you actually get the boat to Port Orleans!
Duhh.

Click for Day 11 - Part 2!
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[TheLittleKatie]

Day 11
Saturday 10th September 2016
Part 2 – Port Orleans French Quarter!


Goin down the bayou!
Goin down the bayouuu!

I decided to get off at French Quarter, then walk over to Riverside.
I always stayed at Riverside as a kid, and Jamie and I stayed there on our first trip together in 2012, but I’d never been to French Quarter before!
So I went for a little stroll to find the lobby.

They have a lovely gift shop here.
I'm a Disney resorts fangirl so I love seeing resort-specific items in the gift shops.

I went to the bathroom and they were beautiful!
I hate to be that person who takes a photo in a bathroom, but ya know.

It's so pretty here.

After the lobby I went over to the pool, and just walked around the grounds for a bit.
It’s so beautiful I would definitely consider staying here some day.

CAKE WALK.

Soon I started to walk up to Riverside!

Click for Day 11 - Part 3!
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[TheLittleKatie]

Day 11
Saturday 10th September 2016
Part 3 – Port Orleans Riverside and Epcot


Ahh my old stomping grounds!
I have so many fun childhood memories of Riverside.

The tree!

When Jamie and I stayed here in 2012 we stayed in Oak Manor, in the room there on the middle floor, closest to the steps on the right!

The building has a lovely river view (that we didn't pay for!)

This was our view every morning as we headed out!

I was feeling so nostalgic I even went and found the Oak Manor ice machine and vending machine

I had a quick walk up to Alligator Bayou:

Then I went over to the lobby and the food court.

That Riverside Mill smell hasn't changed over the years!!

I love going back to Riverside so much!
Some day I need to see Yehaa Bob again

After my Port Orleans exploration I got the bus over to Epcot.

There was no wait at Spaceship Earth so I hopped on there!
I had a very accurate avatar

Then I walked over to the UK pavilion and watched the “British band”

Then I did a loop of the whooole of World Showcase.
I’m a naturally fast walker and I usually wish people would WALK WITH INTENT.
This evening however, I did not walk with intent
I took a slow stroll.

CHRISTMAS SHOP.

PICKLE TREE.

The pickle tree is like:

Click for Day 11 - Part 4!​

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 11
Saturday 10th September 2016
Part 4 – Magic Kingdom with Disney friends!


After walking a complete loop of World Showcase I carried on around again, but this time I veered off to International Gateway.
It was just as the Star Wars fireworks were going off!

I headed over to The Beach Club as I had an ADR at Beaches and Cream!

I sat in the lobby for a short while and waited for my ADR time to roll around.

I wasn’t able to cancel the ADR as it was less than 24 hours since Jamie decided to stay home.
But it was all good because when I was up at the podium I explained the situation, and they allowed me to just grab a huge ice cream from the to-go counter with no cancellation penalty

I ordered at the counter, and the girl who took my order told me I smelled good.
We then had a really quick but really sad conversation about she always smells of ice cream and now she doesn’t like ice cream
How tragic.

I got a classic chocolate waffle cone, which was amazing, although it started to melt the second I stepped outside with it of course.
It was like a cartoon.

I managed to eat quite a lot of it but had to throw some away because it dripped everywhere and quickly descended into chaos.

Then I got the bus from the Beach Club to the Magic Kingdom!
Oh my goodness, it was SO busy on Main Street.





I have never seen the ground like this before!
Ick!






First I rode the People Mover!
I messaged Jamie a bit and caught up with some Snapchat.










After the People Mover I went to Sleepy Hollow and met up with some Disney Instagram people who live in Florida!
We all got Nutella waffles and sat outside at the tables overlooking the castle.
Because when you’ve only eaten a chocolate ice cream for dinner, the next logical thing to eat is a Nutella waffle.



After our waffles we all walked over to the Tangled bathrooms and waited for them to clear so that Chris could take some empty photos.




Here’s Mily and Amelia dancing in Chris’ shot




Later on we walked through the castle and got a couple of cute photos together.








Then we went to meet Chris’ friend Dani, who we found lying on the floor looking up at the castle


We all sat on the floor together in a circle and talked for ages until the park was totally empty.




We talked about some crazy things!
The main topics of conversation were Peppa Pig and conspiracy theories
Amelia told us some theories about how Denver airport is supposedly a den for the elite when the sun explodes, and how we’ve somehow shifted universes because Jiffy peanut butter doesn’t actually exist, and the Bernstein bears that everyone knows where actually always called the BernSTAIN bears

It was deep stuff.

Then we watched a Peppa Pig video where Peppa doesn’t know how to whistle and everyone was just cracking up, we must’ve looked absolutely crazy

It got to 1am and the park was definitely closed, and we were definitely the only ones left.
So Mickey played the Kiss Goodnight at the castle for a second time, which I’m pretty sure was just a strong hint for us to leave

Chris and Dani stayed, and Mily, Amelia and I headed out down Main Street.






Mily and Amelia were parked at the Contemporary so we said Goodbye and I got the bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Even with Jamie getting sick, I still had a pretty successful day!
I missed him so it was nice to have some people to hang out with!
Disney people are the best



Goodnight!


Click for Day 12 - Part 1!​

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 12
Sunday 11th September 2016
Part 1 – Be Our Guest


Bonjour!
After a very lazy morning we went to get the bus to Magic Kingdom at around midday.
Jamie was feeling better today, thank goodness.

Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed

We arrived at 12:30pm, and after battling past the Move It Shake It crowd, we headed over to Be Our Guest!

My face when the line takes AGES, even though we pre-ordered…

Today we sat in the gallery for the first time, and honestly I liked it a lot!
It was much more spacious and relaxed than the crazy ballroom.

We both got our usual turkey sandwich, both with green beans and bottles of water.

Once Jamie finished his sandwich he kept pointing to “pictures he liked” behind me so that I turned around to look, then he’d pull pieces of turkey out of my sandwich
I caught him the first time, but he kept doing it, and I didn’t really mind so I just humoured him and turned around.
I was basically left with just bread.
But I like bread so that’s fine.

We also had a Master’s cupcake each!

YAY BOG.

As we left I asked Jamie if he wanted to do Space Mountain, but he said,
“No… MINE TRAIN!”
Ha, I think he secretly loves 7DMT.
The app said the wait time was 30 minutes which was GREAT, however when we got there it was posted at 60 minutes!

So we decided to do Journey of the Little Mermaid instead.

Even though this is obviously a little kiddie ride, it’s one of my favourites to get some air conditioning and chill out on.

Jamie asked if I thought he could fit through this hole, and when I said “no”, he was seriously considering trying to prove me wrong…

We also bicker over whether these little blue crabs are interactive or not…

Jamie says they aren’t, but I’m sure I read that they are!
I just don’t remember how so I struggled to prove it…

YAY ARIEL.

It's A Small World was still down!

It was closed for most of the trip!
So sad, so sad.

Next we headed over to use our fastpass at Splash Mountain!

We were in the front row!

When we loaded Jamie insisted that he get into the log first, because I always push my way on first so that I’m away from the waterfall at the end of the ride!
Now he’s definitely caught on to that trick!

Click for Day 12 - Part 2!

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[TheLittleKatie]

Day 12
Sunday 11th September 2016
Part 2 – Awayyy we goooo!


After Splash Mountain we went to get a spot for Festival of Fantasy!
Look at these two guests we spotted on the way!

We sat down in a GREAT parade spot at about 2:45pm.
We had a perfect view of the castle, and of the parade heading over the Liberty Square bridge.

There was a really cute little girl on the other side of Jamie, we made some space for her to come in next to us to get a good view.
While we were waiting she accidentally touched Jamie’s hand for a good few seconds, then turned around to her mum and quietly said,
“…I touched the man…”

I don’t know why that tickled us but it did.
It was precious.

ANYWAY.

Prepare to welcome!
The wonderous and wonderful!
DISNEY!
FESTIVAL OF FANTASY PARADE!

MY MAN
No no, BEHIND Naveen…

Remember the costumes I saw the two guests wearing before the parade?
These are the originals below!

Sorry for the unflattering photo, Ariel!

She's still beautiful.

I like this shot I got!
It looks like a huge dragon is attacking Cinderella Castle!

JIMINY!
My other love

DALE

OH GOD.
I love it so much.
It was outrageously hot while we watched this, Jamie had a big sweat mark on his back!
But it can be passed off as Splash Mountain damage so IT’S FINE.
The kids around us were so precious shouting “HI” and waving at every character.
It was emotional!
What a great show.


Click for Day 12 - Part 3!

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[TheLittleKatie]

Day 12
Sunday 11th September 2016
Part 3 – More Magic Kingdom fun


Next we headed over to the Haunted Mansion, but the line was quite long and the cast members started asking us to “move all the way forward”.
We didn’t want to be packed in like sardines in this heat, so we left and went to ride Pirates instead, which was air conditioned and glorious!

Then we did the Tiki Room, for the first time ever!
Well I did it as a kid, but it was my first time that I could remember, and Jamie’s first time ever.

We only really liked the first song (and we REALLY liked it )

The rest of the show is just… ODD.

As we were leaving, a kid grabbed on to Jamie’s arm for a good 10 seconds thinking he was his dad
Did that ever happen to you as a child?!
I did it once and was so embarrassed

Next we headed over to Space Mountain!

A rare “before and after” shot of the Tomorrowland rocks!
RIP orange rocks!
I like the new metallic look a lot, I think they look much better.

We rode Space Mountain, and the guy behind us was by himself and having the time of his life, and it was GREAT.
11/10, very entertaining.

Then we rode the PeopleMover four times in a row

The last time we rode it around, it stopped for like 15 minutes which was GREAT.

Jamie loves to regurgitate facts that I originally told him but he pretends that I didn’t, so he took the opportunity of being broken down to teach me all about Walt Disney World.
I acted like I was just humouring him, but secretly I was quite impressed, and happy that he actually listens to my Disney ramblings!

After our fourth grand circle tour of Tomorrowland we rode Space Mountain with a 10-minute standby wait!

Then when we were done it was about 6pm and we realised the Halloween Party had started!
We started seeing some fun costumes.

We headed back to the hub and got some cute Photopass pictures on the Tomorrowland bridge.

Then I had a little “golden hour” photoshoot

Click for Day 12 - Part 4!

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[TheLittleKatie]

Day 12
Sunday 11th September 2016
Part 4 – Fort Wilderness!


We left the Magic Kingdom at around 6:30pm and got the boat to Fort Wilderness, for our first ever visit!
And our first ever HOOP-DEE-DOO!

Here’s how the Copper Creek Cabins at the Wilderness Lodge were looking:

We arrived at Fort Wilderness at 6:50pm!

We had some time to explore Fort Wilderness before our 8:30pm Hoop-Dee-Doo show.
First we got our bearings and found Pioneer Hall.

Then we headed towards the farm and saw some deer and ponies!

We went into the stables and said hi to the big horses, and looked at some sweet photos of Walt.

Then we headed over to the bus stop and got on the first internal bus that came along

We got off the bus where everyone else got off, which luckily was at the cabins that I had wanted to see!

I used to stay in something similar in Italy with my family so I think these are really cool.

It was nice to just walk and explore the wilderness.

Jamie got me a present.

I promised I’d keep it forever, but it kept spiking me so I threw it away after approximately 90 seconds.

We walked around in a big loop and got back on the orange bus heading up to the settlement.

Crockett’s Tavern next to Pioneer Hall and Trail’s End looks like a really nice place to hang out.
There were people drinking beer on rocking chairs on the porch and it looked so peaceful.

Then we looked in the trading post.

I really like the design on the poster below, they do it in a throw also.
I would buy it but I think I need to stay at Fort Wilderness first.

Jamie bought some Advil for his scratchy throat and we walked up to the beach to see the sun setting.

Pretty

Click for Day 12 - Part 5!
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[TheLittleKatie]

Day 12
Sunday 11th September 2016
Part 5 – Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue!


At 8pm we went to check in at Pioneer Hall for Hoop-Dee-Doo!

Soon the doors opened, and we were shown to table 13.
i.e. the most ridiculous table in the room.

YES the table is touching the stage.
And YES that is the piano on the right.

How did we end up here.

The salad and dinner-cake was already on the table when we arrived.
I didn’t have any dinner-cake, but the salad was tasty!
I like red onion a lot.

A great thing about this show is that there is unlimited alcohol included in the price (and included in the two dining plan credits if you’re on the dining plan, which we were!)
We both asked for beer, so we were brought two mason jars, and a PITCHER OF BEER.

This is how close we were to the piano and banjo player!

Soon the doors started rattling, and the show began!
We’ll have a good time tonighttt!

I've watched this video so many times, I love remembering how close we were!

Here's the great food!
It’s just good quality comfort food.
All you can eat fried chicken, pork ribs, mash, beans and corn.
So good!

For dessert, it’s…

Strawberry Shortcake!

So tasty!
And nice and light after stuffing your face with chicken.

OMG.

How have I gone so long without ever seeing this??
This was definitely one of my favourite meals in Walt Disney World EVER.
It was so funny, and being on the front row meant we got a lot of attention and jokes directed at us.

I don’t have a frame of reference because this was my first Hoop-Dee-Doo, but we had a fantastic cast tonight too.
Dolly Drew (in the red costume) and Clare de Lune (in the dark/purple costume) were my favourites I think.
They were so hilarious.
The whole thing was hilarious.

I had been a bit apprehensive about whether Jamie would enjoy it, but as soon as the show was over he turned to me and said,
“I LOVED that!!”

It was so much fun, and a great use of two dining credits if you ask me.

We left Fort Wilderness, taking the boat back to Magic Kingdom, then the bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge.

I had a really fun day!


Click for Day 13 - Part 1

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[MeghanEmily]

Wow!! What a wonderful surprise it was to see this! Great to hear from you, Katie! And man...when you update, you UPDATE.

Uggh I love seeing this. Beautiful skies, beautiful place. I want to be here right now.

The woman working at the front of Spider-Man said I was allowed to come in as a Hufflepuff, but no Slytherins were allowed
Unlucky Hymie.

Poor Hymie!

I’d thought about giving it another chance, until I saw the video of the ride getting stuck vertically, and NOPED right out of that idea

Yeah. No.

I wanted Jamie to buy this shirt below.
Doesn’t it look great on him??!!

I love this! Totally his style!

OF COURSE

What a funny coat of arms.

Now we were just waiting on the 12:15pm showing of Animal Actors!
Some people would say we were saving the best thing until last.
And I am one of those people.

Agreed!

Jamie was Universal-bounding as the ET walls!

You're both smiling the same smile!

Cool shot!

Jamie adopted a thick German accent and, referring to Britain’s emergency service number, said
“We should call NEIN NEIN NEIN!”

Ooohhh pretty

I love these! I, like you, like the Up one best. Also a fan of the Monster's Inc one beside it.

After a bit of complaining, the woman we’d been talking to said,
“You have to question how many people actually need an ECV at Disney…”
Then we noticed that the guy in the ECV clearly had a broken foot with a big boot on it, and the woman was like, “OK, I’m going to hell.”

Oh my gosh!!

Now, I try to be as positive and understanding as possible when it comes to Disney, but I’m going to give my controversial opinion right off the bat.

We had a terrible experience at Tusker House.
Probably the worst dining experience we’ve ever had

I'm so sorry to hear about this! Really disappointing!

We had assumed it was really busy and they were operating a “one family out, one family in” procedure.
However I was baffled to see that the restaurant was almost completely empty!
I am not kidding!

Woah! That's wild! It seems that almost everywhere we eat at WDW lately they're chronically understaffed. I understand not wanting to hire people that you have to let go when it's a slow time, but this seems to be a problem a lot of the time, so I don't think that's an excuse. So many times I've waited past my ADR time, just to walk into a nearly-empty restaurant because they couldn't open any more sections without servers to cover them.

Next time I’m looking for a Disney breakfast buffet I would MUCH rather go to Boma and miss out on the character experience.
Boma is SO much better than Tusker House, in my opinion.

Agree 100%! We've had good experiences with Tusker House, and typically our only complaint has been that it's been too crowded and rowdy with families and lots of little ones, but your experience was much worse. And either way, Boma all the way. Much better buffet, and a bit less expensive, too.

There's something about those elephants that just look really unappetizing to me. For some reason, it really puts me off to think about eating such grey food.

"Wait, I wasn't ready for that shot!"

Yum and wow, Sanaa nailed every single course of this meal!

YAS! Such a fan. Sanaa for the win.

Then I was making a cup of tea to take out with me, and a little boy with a plate of every dessert under the sun came up and asked me how to make tea!
He was so cute.
We made some tea together.

This is adorable! He was lucky he had an expert like you to assist. We're just not quite as skilled in the art of tea-making on this side of the Atlantic.

And I’m sure they always play a soundtrack that is just a baby screaming, because I hear that noise every single time I’m on these boats

They were two women from Seattle Washington, one was celebrating her 50th birthday, and they told us that a few years ago they became the first same-sex couple to get engaged at Epcot!
And the story was VERY impressive…
One of them had secretly arranged for their friends to do the scuba diving at The Seas, while the couple were having dinner at Coral Reef.
The friends then took a banner up to the tank window where the couple were sitting, which said “will you marry me?”
!!!

Oh my goodness! What an awesome love story!

I’d told Jamie about the recent changes to the preshow, where they’ve CGIed A FINGER onto Steven Tyler’s hand

Woah. I hadn't hear about this so I had to google it. Who knew!?

But the Disney overlords blacked it out!
This is how the picture showed up on my account!

There was the tiniest most precious little boy in front of us, he was 3 years old and only JUST hit the height limit.
I’ve never seen anyone so tiny on Tower of Terror before!
After the video in the library he was like,
“That was really scary, but I’m not scared!”

This is adorable!!

There was no wait at Spaceship Earth so I hopped on there!
I had a very accurate avatar

Looks just like you.

I usually wish people would WALK WITH INTENT.

Agreed.

I have never seen the ground like this before!
Ick!

Uh...ew. How un-Disney. I usually struggle to find any rubbish out of place at WDW. Walt was, like, the world's biggest trash can fan!

Nice shot!

When we loaded Jamie had got into the log first, because I always push my way on first so that I’m away from the waterfall at the end of the ride!
Now he’s definitely caught on to that trick!

I do this, too!! My hubby is finally noticing.

I acted like I was just humouring him, but secretly I was quite impressed, and happy that he actually listens to my Disney ramblings!

This is definitely a win.

 

[Raeven]

The boat back to Disney Springs was playing Replay by Sean Kingston, and Party in the USA!

They do play Party in the USA a lot at Disney now that I think about it

It was much more spacious and relaxed than the crazy ballroom.

I really liked the rose gallery when we ate there it was so nice and we didn't fell rushed.

“…I touched the man…”

I don’t know why that tickled us but it did.
It was precious.

Sorry for the unflattering photo, Ariel!

Ariel looks drunk

The salad and dinner-cake was already on the table when we arrived.

I don't think I've said it before but I love that you call cornbread "dinner cake" because that's exactly how I think of it too. It's not common in NY (at least not where I live) so going to FL is probably the first time I've ever had it as a bread service at restaurants. I always tell Josh I think it's too sweet (although he doesn't mind cornbread), and it feels like eating cake before dinner which I don't really like

I had been a bit apprehensive about whether Jamie would enjoy it, but as soon as the show was over he turned to me and said,
“I LOVED that!!”

Yay I'm so glad. I wasn't sure if Josh would like it either and we did it way back on our first trip. He had a lot of fun (and had a nonstop supply of ribs) so he was very happy, and he's been asking if we could do it again this year.

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 13
Monday 12th September 2016
Part 1 – Dinner at Artist Point

Hello!
We had a very lazy morning again today, and only emerged from the room at 1:30pm to go to The Mara for some food.

I got the tasty chicken pita:

And Jamie got a turkey sandwich, which he was a bit underwhelmed by.
I didn't try it but it doesn't look like anything special.

Oh well, my pita was good!

I also got some banana nut bread, which is usually my FAVOURITE but it was a bit dry and not very banana-y unfortunately, so I didn’t eat much of it.

Jamie also got a brownie that he wanted to save for later.
So instead of our two dining plan desserts, we had a zebra dome each from the fridge!
YUM!

Then Jamie went to the gym and I hung out in the room and wrote trip some notes.

At about 5:30pm we got the bus to Magic Kingdom, and the boat to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner!
We had the same boat captain as yesterday and he recognised us!

Copper Creek Cabin progress:

We soon arrived at the Wilderness Lodge!

This area in front of the waterfall isn’t fenced off at all?!

I wonder if any small children will ever fall in…?!
I feel like this is a lawsuit waiting to happen

Here is me.
(I did not fall into the waterfall)

At 7:15pm it was time to check in at Artist Point!

It was quite quiet (and empty) inside, but it's a large restaurant so maybe that’s normal.
We got a nice table by the window.

Our server was called Donald and he was very enthusiastic, and quite the character.
We enjoyed him.
He brought us some nice brown bread.
Brown bread is all I eat at home so I appreciated this.

We ordered Diet Coke as our dining plan drink, and a glass of wine each, and also a water each…
Our table was covered in glasses!

Having dinner like:

Jamie ordered the filet mignon.
Donald sold it to him by telling him it’s 8oz but every other signature restaurant’s filet mignon is only 6oz.
Jamie couldn’t resist an extra large filet!

I got the salmon with sweet potatoes!
It was good, although I usually like my salmon really really lightly cooked to the point where it’s probably poisonous, so it was slightly too well done for me.
But normal people would probably love it!

For dessert I had crème brûlée and Jamie had the cobbler.

We got the giggles during dessert, because Jamie pulled a gross face, and I looked away with a disgusted look, and we were saying if there’s any single exchange that sums up our relationship then that is it

Anyway, this was an enjoyable meal, although not on my list of favourite signatures.

We left the restaurant and looked around the Wilderness Lodge lobby.

Then we went back outside to the boat dock to go to Magic Kingdom.
It was open until 11pm woooo
Wishes was on as we were waiting and they were playing the music on the dock

Click for Day 13 - Part 2!

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