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

[Terra Nova guy]

Hello again, Katie! I think this is my first post to this TR. Looking forward to it, of course.

As much as I enjoy my boyfriend being at a festival where people are routinely stabbed and attacked, I was keen for him to get home so that we can go to DISNEY!

Of those two options, I definitely think Disney is the better one.

I messaged Jamie on Monday morning bugging him to come home.
…and again at lunchtime…
…and again mid afternoon…
…and again late afternoon…
…and again in the evening…

Pfft...men....

As we were settling in Jamie said “this room is really nice!” and I replied “shall we just stay here for 3 weeks?”

I have to say, for an airport hotel, it does seem nice. Looks like it was recently updated.

We were cracking up at the end of this video:

I never knew such a show existed! Although my palette expands farther than cheesy potatoes, I have to admit those two things together are pretty awesome. I had to laugh at the end too. I'm not quite that bad when I have a green thing on my plate, but I can relate.

The hotel restaurant was very posh.
I had a fillet steak with peppercorn sauce, and Jamie had the sirloin with garlic butter.
We also got some sweet potato fries to share which were amazing.
And the whole meal was great.

Wow, again that hotel seems good, considering it's in an airport.

We watched Location Location Location, and 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown (that must sound like a strange show if you’re not familiar!)

Ah yes, British TV. I do remember coming across some interesting shows when I lived in Aberdeen.

I actually slept very well, which is unusual for me the night before Disney.
Maybe part of my “too-excited-to-sleep” thing comes from being anxious about getting to the airport on time. I was feeling relaxed this evening.
I fell asleep at around midnight!

I can never sleep the night before I travel, anywhere, even when I'm flying to go work.

IT’S DISNEY DAY!
Here’s a travel morning selfie to show how excited both of us were!

Um, BOTH of you were excited? The dude buried under the bed sheets doesn't seem quite as chipper.

Then we got some breakfast at Frankie and Benny’s.
We both got the New England Breakfast.

I guess it's better than the old England breakfast. (I'm hoping that dad joke has not been used yet, I didn't read all the comments )

I got settled in the window seat, and Jamie fell asleep before the plane had even moved again!

Coming from someone who cannot sleep on planes at all, no matter how long the flight, I always envy people who sit down and doze off the second they hit the runway.

Here’s where I lived for 8 hours. I’m not complaining though because I really enjoy flying for the most part.

It actually seems pretty impressive. The food is particularly good, for an airplane.

Just a general comment on AKL. It looks so awesome. I would love to try it sometime. I have to convince my wife that the animals aren't roaming around peeking in the windows. She's convinced there will be lions climbing on the balcony and the place will smell like manure.

 

[Raeven]

Yes Portofino was our favorite!

 

[vrajewski10513]

You can't tell me this and not share your first favourite..

The Poly would be on top for me!

it wants you to make the brioche buns from scratch too

Well since I've already mentioned it to a couple of others - we stayed at Portofino! Have you stayed there? We looooved it, it felt so classy

I haven't! We've only stayed at Cabana Bay, but Portofino Bay looks lovely

Oh no is it a "high school smell" in America?! It's a rarity here as I think they only sell it at the single Abercrombie store in London, so it's very uncommon. I discovered it in New York a few years ago and absolutely looove it

Haha only because the height of Abercrombie's popularity was my junior/senior year of high school so ALL my friends wore it. It's not as common anymore, but it's still a pleasant smell when I do come across it!

 

[ceeceegee]

Hi Katie! I've been reading your TRs forever so I'm definitely following along!

I'm staying at AKL *just realizes* NEXT WEEK! It's almost here! Maybe if I were good about doing a pre-trip report I'd be more on top of my dates. Anyway, can't wait to read about your adventures!

 

[Sailormoon2]

Hurray for a new Katie trip report!!! AND at Jambo house, which is my dream resort, that we will be staying at NEXT August!!! So this is going to get me sooo punped!

 

[beckyx3]

You started a new report! Looks like our trips overlapped a little. Animal Kingdom Lodge is SO beautiful. Can't wait to read more!

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

@TheLittleKatie & @BibbitybobityLu I know you'll both be shocked but I also started my TR! You've both inspired me!
Link is in my signature

 

[tinawv]

I have read all of your trip reports and have enjoyed every single one of them. It is a dream of mine to stay three weeks or longer at WDW. Who am I kidding; I could live there - lol. We stayed at AKL at Jambo House in 2015. We enjoyed our stay there, but also had some trouble with their bus transportation. Can't wait to read more about your trip.

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Looking forward to reading it all, still so jealous you got 3 weeks there. It was very sad knowing we only had a couple of days left and you guys had 3 weeks! We're staying in Old Key West again with our parents but me and Karen have a couple of days in AKL We were going to try somewhere new of the few days but it felt weird not going to AKL so we ended up booking there. We go for the Halloween/Christmas changeover so planning to do both parties and the wine and dine run. Just booked our ADRs last week so the countdown has begun That's so good to hear I'm so excited to do it, I've wanted to for so long but we never had time to fit it in.. plus I was a little worried it might ruin some of the magic but it sounds like it didn't for you! It was so nice meeting you, I hope Cogsworth is doing well and made it back in one piece

That's so cool I would love to do the Halloween/Christmas crossover and go to both parties yaaay what ADRs have you got? ADR planning is one of my favourite things to do I guess Keys to the Kingdom does have the potential to ruin some magic, but as long as you're prepared for what you're going to be doing I think it would be fine? I'll have to post a spoiler alert before I write about it And Cogsworth made it back perfectly, thank you!! I moved recently and boxed up all of my belongings and piled them into our cars, but Cogsworth was one of a few items thats rode up front with me!

Hah! I can beat that! I was there for four!!!!



Wait.... mine was four days.




nevermind.

Visit for longer plz

Looks oddly familiar. Is that pulley-ed pork?

Holy smokes!

Now you know that we're not actually generous people for getting those pulleyed pork sliders

What are you holding????

Errrrm a bowl and a bag I think!

You look way too chipper for 6am.

IT'S DISNEY DAY

You're not human, are you?

BUT IT'S DISNEY DAY

Had to look at that for a while to figure out what I was seeing.
"Is Jamie sitting backwards with his feet up??"

Hahaha he has his hood up and his face is down into the pillow, and that's his hand in the picture

Always chuckle when people see those flight paths and think the plane isn't flying in a straight line.

Huh I'd never really thought about it! Is it just the curve of the earth?!

What is tiffin?
(Look... I've got "pulley"... one thing at a time.)

Tiffin is a chocolatey biscuity cookie-y brownie-y GREATNESS.

Gotta love any TR that includes the word "boop".

BOOP

OMG.... I do the exact same thing.

The exact. Same. Thing.

Was he surprised? Did he like it?

Yes and yes!

Calories don't count when you're on vacation.

...apparently I'm still on vacation

Just poor it in, get a long straw and voila!

Like a fishbowl! Classy!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Hi Katie!!!

Just popping in to say a quick hello!! We are staying at AKL in September so I'm really intrigued to see what you think about it! Still can't believe you spent three weeks in Disney, you lucky lucky girl So excited to read along!! If it's anything like your last 2 TRs, I'm gonna be like this...

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Hello again, Katie! I think this is my first post to this TR. Looking forward to it, of course.

Well hello and

I never knew such a show existed! Although my palette expands farther than cheesy potatoes, I have to admit those two things together are pretty awesome. I had to laugh at the end too. I'm not quite that bad when I have a green thing on my plate, but I can relate.

I wondered if maybe I just had a really sick sense of humour people gagging is one of my favourite things do you have the show I'm a Celebrity - Get Me Out of Here?! It's where people go to the jungle and have to do tasks for meals, and the most famous task is where they're made to eat.. VERY undesirable things... it is hilarrrrious and always ends in:

...so funny!!

Ah yes, British TV. I do remember coming across some interesting shows when I lived in Aberdeen.

I love that you lived in Aberdeen! My dad is from northern Scotland - Inverness

Um, BOTH of you were excited? The dude buried under the bed sheets doesn't seem quite as chipper.

I enjoy the word "chipper". We don't use it here but maybe I should.

I guess it's better than the old England breakfast. (I'm hoping that dad joke has not been used yet, I didn't read all the comments )

Haaaaa no I think you're the first!!

Coming from someone who cannot sleep on planes at all, no matter how long the flight, I always envy people who sit down and doze off the second they hit the runway.

Me too! Jamie sleeps through anything and even he ends up just drifting in and out of naps planes should provide more free alcohol!

Just a general comment on AKL. It looks so awesome. I would love to try it sometime. I have to convince my wife that the animals aren't roaming around peeking in the windows. She's convinced there will be lions climbing on the balcony and the place will smell like manure.

Hahaha well I had the manure worry too and I never noticed a bad smell! I loooved the resort so much, there were bus issues though which is a real shame. If it wasn't for that it would be up in my favourite resorts maybe I'll have to rent a car if we stay there again

Yes Portofino was our favorite!

I loved it!

The Poly would be on top for me!

Great choice!!

Hi Katie! I've been reading your TRs forever so I'm definitely following along!

I'm staying at AKL *just realizes* NEXT WEEK! It's almost here! Maybe if I were good about doing a pre-trip report I'd be more on top of my dates. Anyway, can't wait to read about your adventures!

Woo thanks for reading, and I'm glad you're here! OMG have fun at the lodge!!!! I'm jealous Have you stayed before? It's so cool Have a great time!

Hurray for a new Katie trip report!!! AND at Jambo house, which is my dream resort, that we will be staying at NEXT August!!! So this is going to get me sooo punped!

WOO glad you're here And so cool that you're booked into Jambo House next August! I would recommend.. EVERY restaurant at the resort have you done any before? Boma breakfast, Boma dinner, Sanaa and Jiko are some of my favourite meals in the whole of Disney now

You started a new report! Looks like our trips overlapped a little. Animal Kingdom Lodge is SO beautiful. Can't wait to read more!

I did glad you're here!I love AKL so much, before I'd ever visited in person I was pretty "meh" about it, and now it's one of my favourites

@TheLittleKatie & @BibbitybobityLu I know you'll both be shocked but I also started my TR! You've both inspired me!
Link is in my signature

WOOO

I have read all of your trip reports and have enjoyed every single one of them. It is a dream of mine to stay three weeks or longer at WDW. Who am I kidding; I could live there - lol. We stayed at AKL at Jambo House in 2015. We enjoyed our stay there, but also had some trouble with their bus transportation. Can't wait to read more about your trip.

Aw thank you, I'm so glad you've enjoyed them Haha you can never spend too much time at Disney, especially when it's a year between trips ah we had the exact same experience.. LOVED the lodge but the buses were very hit and miss. I would love to stay there again but I would have to rent a car I think - which is a scary prospect to a brit..! (here I drive on the right of the car, on the left of the road, using a stick shift)

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 2
Thursday 1st September 2016
Part 1 – Good morning, good morrrrning!

Good morning!
Good morrrrninggg!

After falling asleep at 8pm I woke up with an adrenaline rush ready to go go go!
…
At 2am.

Fail!

I plugged in my phone and camera, brushed my teeth and washed my face, then I managed to get back to sleep at about 3am.

I woke up again at 6am and showered.
Then Jamie got up, we both got ready, and we left the room at 7:30am!
This was 12:30pm back home.
Disney mornings are easy when you're still on UK time

We went to the lounge to get breakfast and it was carbolicious.

Jamie had hard-boiled eggs, a croissant and a chocolate milk, and I had a bagel with cream cheese and two muffins!

I was really impressed with this club lounge!
They recently extended the counter area so there was room for more food.
Clearly they knew we were coming.

After breakfast we went to The Mara to fill our mugs with water.
Jamie tested the lid by tipping his mug completely upside down,
And obviously water just flooded out all over the floor.
So yeah, that happened.

We grabbed some napkins, mopped up, and went to find the buses!

Our bus came at about 8am.
Guess where we’re going…
There’s only one option on day 1...!

At 8:20am, we arrived at the Magic Kingdom!

It was quite overcast this morning, but still very warm.
And it was quiet!
We stood near the front on the left hand side and waited for the Welcome Show, which I love!

It started at about 8:40am!

Good morning! Good morrrninggg!

The citizens of Main Street were still in their summer outfits!
I’ve only ever seen them in their autumn-wear before
I wondered if this meant the summer version of the trolley show would still be running today...
I don't know but I'm excited!

Casey Junior’s coming down the track!

Jamie was happy that his fiance Drizella came to see him on his first day
(Last year Drizella and Jamie got engaged at 1900 Park Fare )

5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

WELCOME TO THE MAGIC KINGDOM!
Me at the Welcome Show like:

In we go!

We entered at 8:45am, and Jamie high-fived all of the CMs down Main Street

I was pleased to see that there was no crane up on our first day!
Some of the blue parts of the castle were white, which was strange!
Still, it's a beautiful sight!

We headed towards Liberty Square first.

I love the rope drop music and apparently I got this video clip…
It just looks like I’m flailing my arms around with excitement
You can see that we were following right behind the rope though!

We decided to do Seven Dwarfs Mine Train first thing, so we took a right past Sleepy Hollow and into Fantasyland.

The line was posted at 30 minutes but it was actually more like 10!
We spun some barrels on the way in, but we couldn’t get all of them going at once for the surprise

YAY MINE TRAIN.

The girl in the very front of this photo is a pro

We finished the ride at 9:10am, how productive!
We figured we should get another busy ride done while it was still very early.
So we headed to Peter Pan!

I love seeing the parks empty

Peter Pan was posted at a 25-minute wait, but like Mine Train it was only about 10!
Even 25 minutes would've been fine, particularly with the new-ish interactive queue.

Jamie has found a new talent... playing the shadow bells with his big head.

We had a lovely journey through Neverland.
How do people get good pictures on Peter Pan though?
I come out with a blurry one every single time.

I mean, errr… enjoy this artistic photo of Peter Pan.

We've done two big rides and it’s only 9:25am!
Woooo.

You’ll be sad to hear that It’s a Small World was closed for refurbishment during this time

Don’t worry though, it reopened later in the trip


Click for Day 2 - Part 2!
​

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 2
Thursday 1st September 2016
Part 2 – Things are gonna hum this summer!


After Peter Pan we wandered over to the Tangled bathrooms where we stopped to try to spot some Pascals!

Here are the ones we found!

Then we proceeded to a brand new attraction that you might not have heard of.
THE HAUNTED TARP.

What a scary tarp.
In fact, it’s such a scary tarp, no one wanted to go near it, so it was a walk on!

We were reading the gravestones while we waited to go in.

Jamie found it amusing that everyone had died in a way that rhymed, and we started wondering how we would die here.

Mine would obviously be by something in a quantity of 80 (80 HAUNTED TARPS), and Jamie… maybe by our friend Amy?!
Or maybe Hymie killed by something slimy
We even got a few other people around us discussing what theirs would be

A woman in line also showed us how Madame Leota’s face moves!
I’ve never seen it before, but sometimes she opens her eyes and moves her head!

Tarp time.

I love the easter egg of this - for a brief moment in Hercules!

We made it out alive, thank goodness.

Next we headed to Adventureland.
As we walked past Splash Mountain, we saw BR’ER RABBIT!

So cool!!!
And then this guy…

I wonder where they were going!?

It was now 10am, and Adventureland was still super quiet.

We walked straight onto Pirates, woo!

When we sat down in the boat a Scottish family were seated behind us.
Jamie being
1) A master of many accents
and
2) Wildly inappropriate,
heard the family talking and started speaking in a really strong Scottish accent.
Like, kinda loud.
I had to kick him to make him stop.
I was embarrassed in case they heard, but Jamie’s just like,

(He actually does do this all the time )

After Pirates we walked out to the hub to watch the brand new castle show.
But first, we saw that the trolley show was out, and they were doing the summer version!
We just caught the ending so we followed them up Main Street to watch the next one!
(The things Jamie does for me.. )

Things are gonna hum this summer!

I’ve only ever seen the autumn show and I looove it.
I love the citizens of Main Street.
I’m so happy we caught (what I assume was) the last day of the summer show!

YAY.

The trolley show ended at about 10:20am, so we walked back down towards the castle and waited for the 10:30 showing of Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire.

Click for Day 2 - Part 3!
​

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 2
Thursday 1st September 2016
Part 3 – Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire!


We waited up by the Partners statue for the new Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire show.
It had only debuted a couple of months ago, so this was our first time seeing it!
The show started at 10:30am!

I was really excited because The Princess and the Frog is one of my favourite films and soundtracks!

“Though I do like breaking femurs you can count me with the dreamers!”

Donald’s little hat kept falling off, which was adorable!
He handled it very well though!

“And Vladimir collects ceramic unicorrrrns!”

I loved this show!
Is that an unpopular opinion around here? I’m not sure.
I really enjoyed it though.
I like the new main song a lot.
I love the Princess and the Frog section, and the Tangled section.
And the costumes are great!
I’m also glad they didn’t try to shoehorn some villains in there just for the sake of it.
I’ll miss Dream Along With Mickey, but it will always be available to watch on YouTube.
Good job with this Disney!

After the show we went to use our first fastpass at Space Mountain!
I did a pretty good job of looking at the camera!
I think this is the only time I’ve ever half-managed it

Space Mountain knocked me around a lot, but Jamie was fine.
He thinks I lack core strength so I just flop around
He’s kind of right.

After Space we went on the Peoplemover!
And we were in the front so that was pretty great.

When we got off the moving walkway to exit the PeopleMover, a lady called Kara (Cara?) recognized us from the DIS!!
So we stopped for a chat!
It was so nice to meet you Kara!

Then we headed over to ride Buzz!

I didn’t do very well at all, but Jamie maxed out his score!
First time woo!

On the way out Jamie really wanted to get a picture in Zurg’s cage…
Unfortunately I had read prior to our trip that they’d added more bars!
But I didn’t tell him that right away…

I can only imagine they did this because someone had gotten stuck in there

It was now 12pm, so it was time for lunch!
We had a 12:10 ADR at Be Our Guest!

We got a table at the end of the ballroom, right by the window.
This was close to where we’d sat on our first ever visit to Be Our Guest in 2014

You will never guess what we had…

We both had the turkey sandwich, one with fries and one with beans.
Shocking!
(We have this every single time. We love this sandwich )
And since we’re on the dining plan, we also got a master’s cupcake each.

Today we made a major Be Our Guest breakthrough and figured out how to eat the cupcake.
Usually we try to either remove the wrapper, or cut the cake in half to share, but the wrapper is INDESTRUCTABLE and we always end up making a big mess.
But this time we used our forks to simply dig the cake out of the wrapper a bite at a time.
It was much more elegant than two adults hunched over a pile of cake mush
Why are we so dumb.

Lunch was so yummy.
I think this is such a good use of a quick service credit.
Thanks Be Our Guest!
We’ll definitely be back, multiple times

Click for Day 2 - Part 4!
​

 

[pixidustmom]

Really enjoying your report. Thank you for sharing.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Yay for updates!

This was 12:30pm back home, Disney mornings are easy when you're still on UK time

Even just coming from eastern Canada we get an extra hour, and it's GLORIOUS on those rope drop mornings!

The first day excitement was so real today!

GAH I live for the first day excitement! Best feeling!

Jamie’s learnt a new talent – playing the shadow bells with his big head.

Ahahaha

THE HAUNTED TARP.

OMG Terrifying.

Jamie found it amusing that everyone had died in a way that rhymed, and we started wondering how we would die here.

Mine would obviously be by something in a quantity of 80 (80 HAUNTED TARPS), and Jamie… maybe by our friend Amy?!
Or maybe Hymie killed by something slimy
We even got a few other people around us discussing what theirs would be
(Tell me yours!)

Hmmm...likely run down by a wagon? (Not much rhymes with Meghan...you kinda have to fudge it a little...)

And on the way, as I was gazing at my favourite mountain, we saw BR’ER RABBIT!

Oh my Lanta.

So cool!!!
And then… this guy…

I wonder where they were going!?​

No way! I had no idea they were friends! Huh! Small World... oh, wait, no, that's Fantasyland. Heh heh.

I didn’t do well at all, but Jamie maxed out his score!
First time woo!

Woooh congrats! I did it for the first time on our last trip and felt like a legend!!

We both had the turkey sandwich, one with fries and one with beans.
Shocking!
(We have this every single time. We love this sandwich )

I'm shocked!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I'm joining in, I have really enjoyed your reports, I was glad to see you came back to continue your fun trip reporting. We stayed at AKL in February and really loved it. What a great quiet morning in MK. I love the turkey sandwich at BOG also yummy! I will try a fork with my next cupcake, good idea. Those wrappers really are indestructible!

 

[kpearl]

​

​

I see you Mad Hatter, throwing up the deuces, actin' all cool and stuff..

I agree BOG for lunch is probably one of the best QS credits to date because that turkey sammie is deeeeeelicious and the grey stuff doesn't disappoint. We ate lunch here twice and dinner once (which I'll never do again, bleh..) during our trip last Sept.
​

 

[Sailormoon2]

What a super-fantastic start! You got quite a lot done by Noon!! The turkey sandwich and master's cupcake are the absolute best things at BOG! I get them everytime too!!! I really have no idea how one maxes out on Buzz (so congrats), I can barely get points in the 1,000s-I am sooo useless at this game. LOL!

 

[kaymil]

HOLY COW!!! YOU'RE BACK!!! HOORAY!!!

Just one of my random trip-report checking days, and I happen upon this beauty. Just in time, too, so I have something to entertain myself with will my students are taking their final And we're staying at AKL in September, so even better! So excited to read!