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

[pkondz]

I woke up naturally at 7am today!

Normally you wake up unnaturally?

It was raining but the animals were still out

Disney should not allow rain.
I mean, geez. Put the dome up. Control the weather. Something...

That's not a muffin! That's a tiny blob!

That big dinner at The Diamond Horseshoe must’ve stretched my stomach or something.
I had ANOTHER bagel with cream cheese, and TWO MORE blueberry muffins

Holy cow!

I had three breakfasts holy cow.

I just said that!


Wait... did you eat a whole cow too???

But we had no ADRs booked today so I may as well make the most of the club food.
(Now I’m engaging in some serious mental gymnastics to justify eating three breakfasts.)

Perfectly legit. Totally get it. Makes absolute sense.

Whatever, all those plates of food were clearly for me and my husband and my two children, DON’T JUDGE.

Look how proud I was of myself LOL.
No regrets.

If it was a tattoo it'd be "No regerts"

Rainy.

Tragic

Here’s my cute Cath Kidston backpack I brought on this trip.

Is it really a backpack? Straps on the other side?

…and Hymie’s poncho.

He looks very comfortable in it.

We rode the ride and joined the manatee show!

I’ve managed to document their weight gain over the past few years!

Sept 2014: 1423 / 1515
Sept 2015: 1492 / 1600
Sept 2016: 1520 / 1617

I was told they were going to release Little Joe... back in '15.

That's a lot of romaine lettuce.

Almost as heavy as we were after 3 weeks of club level and dining plan.

FLAMBOYANT CUTTLEFISH (that’s their real name!)

Nah. Chosing to not believe you.

I was kinda sad because I couldn’t find my favourite ugly fish anywhere.

Jamie asked what it was called and I said
“I don’t know but it’s really ugly and miserable”
And he said,
“No wonder it’s your favourite.”

Then we came across something I’ve never seen before, and I don’t think I even knew it was a thing!

They're using it again! I remember seeing it in use in 87 or 92.

Then we headed out of the Seas, throwing some shade back at condescending seahorse on the way.

Nothing more rude than a snarky seahorse.

Unfortunately he doesn’t think my 90s yellow ponchos are very stylish

He's wrong. 90s yellow ponchos never go out of style.

Why does that tiny astronaut stand on that poor guy's shoulder?

I’ve been to the Sistine Chapel at The Vatican where Michelangelo painted this IRL!

Bucket list item.

Jamie won reaction time and hand eye coordination, and I won memory evaluation.

But he didn't beat his time of... 0.0.

Epcot was absolutely DESERTED today.
This was 1pm on the Friday of Labor Day weekend!

Where is everyone?
Wait... Did you jump over a rope by any chance?

I really like the indoor queuing area of this ride, even though I didn’t get any good photos of it.

Tough one to get.

I think it’s cute and I bet kids love it.
I wouldn’t wait a long time for it though.

I liked it well enough. But I would never stand in line for it.

My only gripe is that I’m not really a fan of the new half-animatronic, half-projection thing.
One of my favourite things about new attractions is watching how impressive and advanced animatronics are becoming.
Projecting the faces on like this just feels like cheating a bit.. like taking the “easier option” rather than really pushing themselves.
Not saying I hate them by any means, I think it’s an innovative idea, it’s just not the direction I hoped animatronics would go..

Interesting. I have very mixed feelings.
In some respects I agree with you... and yet... you get much better facial expressions.
But they sure don't photograph well!

I don’t think I’d like the famous school bread because I don’t like coconut

We can be friends.

We headed to a fastpass kiosk and somehow found one for the new Soarin’ Around the World in about 45 minutes time!!!

You did not! That's not possible!

The wait time for Living with the Land was posted at 0 minutes!

I wonder if they've ever had to change that sign?

I was careful to not photograph anyone’s children, but just to the side of this, kids were just running around in circles going bananas and having SO much fun.

That's true! That place always has kids running around having fun!

The picture quality is great, it’s amazingly high definition, particularly the Eiffel Tower scene.

Er... you know the entire thing is CGI, right?
And the quality is great.... as long as you're sitting in the center. If you're on the sides.... it's horrible.

We both agreed we would rather there weren’t any CGI animals (the elepants in particular),

For me it was the polar bears right at the beginning. I was really excited to see the show and..... wait.... polar bears don't move like that!

Me after a midnight shift.

Cute shot!

It was delicious! It has ham, turkey, bacon, jarlsberg and muenster cheese, tomatoes and mayo on multigrain bread!

Yum! Must remember this.

We sat in the outdoor seating area in the back corner, and spotted these two Vikings while we were eating.
They were just pointing at people and going ”AHH!”


LOL what a funny job.

I could do that.


Nah. I'd probably mess it up and say "HA!"

I don’t have much to say in this update, I just love this resort and want to share some photos!

If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

chocolate brownies topped with peanut butter!

Hello!!

Also notice that we were sat as close to the food as possible

#priorities

We sat out on the balcony, OBV.

Natch.

This giraffe got so close to this truck!

Newsflash! Giraffe attacks tourist laden truck!

Amendment... "Headless giraffe attacks tourist laden truck."

Hmmm this one isn’t on the animal viewing guide.

Obviously a small dog of some sort.

I snapchatted this.
After posting the American flag on snapchat yesterday, people were so confused about where I actually was!

I can see that.

They can do that?!?!?!?

We also watched Harry Potter.

I didn't know he was kept there too.

Also here’s our combined magic band collection!
We have every colour of magic band v1.0!

Everyone needs a hobby!

I went back on the balcony and there were so many animals right outside.

Holy crap! Where'd they all come from??

We were heading to Animal Kingdom tonight!

So weird! I still have trouble wrapping my head around that.
After the whole "We can't have AK open late so we don't disturb the animals."

I guess they decided $$ was more important.

We waited almost an hour for a bus

This is possible???

It was also hard to be annoyed because there was a really energetic family there too – mum and dad and a daughter who was around 17.
They were cheering for buses as they came around the corner, then laughing hysterically in disbelief when it wasn’t for Animal Kingdom… AGAIN!

I like that! Making the best of a bad situation. I like them.

While we were watching, a toddler in the stroller next to us dropped his shoe on the floor. It was basically touching the wheel of the stroller, it wasn’t like he’d kicked it into the middle of the path or anything.
Then a large family were walking through in front of us all, and the kid at the front of the group, probably about 10 years old, saw it, picked it up, said,
“Someone’s shoe!”
THEN DROP KICKED IT ACROSS THE PATH.
It flew a few feet ahead of them, and they all just continued walking..!!!
The family of the shoe looked at each other in disbelief and were like,
“…was that the baby’s shoe…?!??!”

What?????

Then we headed to Everest!
It was our first time in the dark.

Cool! I have to try that!

We could see the Jungle Book show from the climb

The Jungle Book show? Never heard of this.

“There doesn’t seem to be any track!”

Did you all died?

I had a beef gyro flatbread and Jamie had chicken skewers (but ended up eating some of mine too, of course).

You chose wisely. The sausage was... meh... at best.

The beef flatbread was very tasty, it’s my favourite thing that I’ve tried at Harambe Market.

Now you tell me!

I didn’t enjoy the tart because it was coconutty

Yuck. Gross.

After our meal we rode Kilimanjaro Safari AT NIGHT.
How cool.

They do that?!?!?!?

They really aren't too worried about disturbing the animals any more.

Moment of silence.

Cute couple in front.

Perfect!

When we got to the bus stop, the enthusiastic family who had been waiting almost an hour with us earlier were at the front again!
They saw us and shouted down the line,
“DON’T JYNX US!!!”

A few minutes later a bus looked like it was pulling into our stop, but it veered off at the last minute, and the family yelled at us,
“LEAVE! GET OUT OF THE LINE!!!”

It was so funny, we were all laughing so much.

I really like this family.
Wonder if they'd adopt?

 

[WonderWoman28]

Following along! I've read your other trip reports and am so excited to read this one. Your expertly placed GIFs are my fav.

I'm planning a trip for fall of 2018, school starts for us just after Labor Day weekend. How were the crowds the week you went? Epcot looked empty

 

[TheLittleKatie]

We went to Alaska, our best cruise yet!!! I'm currently working on our trip report, Seattle, Alaska and eventually Disney!!!

That sounds fun! I've never been on a cruise before. It sounds like you've done a few??!

The club level food looks really good!

Wow, Epcot was really quiet that day, we will be at WDW that same time this year so I hope it is less crowded.
I enjoy FEA as well, however I would never wait more than 15-20 minutes.

AK at dark looks fun, we have not been at night in ages, since they stopped the EMH at night. We use to go and ride Dinosaur over and over because nothing else was really open lol!

We stayed at AKL in February and the bus transportation did irritate me at times but overall the atmosphere there is so worth it.

Wooo I hope the crowds are good for you too! I don't have much of a frame of reference as I always travel in September, but from what I hear it's basically always the least crowded time to go (and that's why we choose it)

I completely agree about AKL, I love the atmosphere, and really love the restaurants, but the bus transportation (and distance from the parks) is all that makes it probably my 4th or 5th favourite resort rather than 2nd or 3rd

THIS!!!
What a perfectly Disney, amazing exchange!! I love when people can actually accept that they are on vacation and just go with the flow, and laugh at sh*tty situations!

Also, since Epcot was "empty" how long did you wait for Frozen?

Yeah I loved them it's definitely the outlook to have at Disney, and in life!

We used a fastpass at Frozen Ever After so we only waited 5 minutes but I believe the standby line was 55 minutes. Bearing in mind this was labour day friday and the ride had only opened in late June I don't think that's too bad

Bahaha That's how we felt doing the deluxe dining plan for sure.

LOL deluxe dining sounds outrageous did you ever eat 3 table service meals in one day..?!?

Excellent ride. Obviously one of your faves. You'd be crazy otherwise.

I actually do enjoy Living With The Land and I really don't know why

Apparently the Tanzanians have got it right! Good combo!

Best combo!

Soo true. As a Gryffindor myself, (according to Pottermore, etc.) I totally think Dumbledore is being a major jerk here. Hymie's reaction is priceless though

Hahah right??! It's not ok to do that to children.

So pretty with the lights and EE behind you!!

I can't believe we've never been to Animal Kingdom when it was dark before! It's so pretty

But it's vacation so it's okay!

Right?! I just wont tell anyone that I've basically carried on eating like this since we got home

I totally agree (and not just because I'm Slytherin). I think that scene is so mean! It's so true after all they were all only children then, you think you'd want to be nice to them so they don't turn into dark wizards

I know, it's horrifying/amusing although I guess it's a good lesson that life's not fair

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

Loving your TR, as usual! Your updates had me literally laughing out loud!

 

[MeghanEmily]

LOL deluxe dining sounds outrageous did you ever eat 3 table service meals in one day..?!?

We did. More than once. It was wild. We'd usually do a really early breakfast, lunch at noon, and a late supper. But it was SO much food. I couldn't handle it. And we did some signatures, but it would have been cheaper to just do them out of pocket.

I actually do enjoy Living With The Land and I really don't know why

Honestly, me too. Not sure why, but I never miss it. It's a fave

 

[TheLittleKatie]

So cute

Thanks!

Ugh why do you guys get the best views!

I knowww we've had such great experiences

HA the kid behind you looks like he is so done with everything

When people look funny/ridiculous I like to guess whether they know there's a camera there or not. In this case I'm guessing yes

I feel like the Kilimanjaro Safari we did while it was raining had the most active animals I've seen!

YES me too!! Some of them must like to come out of the shadows and cool down

Hey, as long as you can still button your pants its a win!

Life motto right there

I hate the 2 tier system at Epcot

I just don't understand it. Why is it a thing? I mean why does it exist at Epcot / DHS but not Magic Kingdom / Animal Kingdom??

Awe, bummer! Being able to see our swiss cheese heads is a highlight of Spaceship Earth.

Lol!! Swiss cheese head is a lot more of a family friendly way of putting it than my previous "bullet holes" phrasing

AHH, that's so exciting! We too have never been able to see AK after dark. We attempted to on our last trip but hurricane Matthew ruined that plan. Hopefully this year!!

I hope you get to see it, it's very pretty

So many great updates. I totally agree that riding Everest at night is the best. It feels like a different ride and seems to make it more intense.

So sorry you waited so long for a bus to Animal Kingdom. Especially staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you're so close you could walk and beat the buses.

Thank you! That's why we were so confused about the delayed bus to Animal Kingdom... do they not just come back and forth between AK and AKL like every 10 minutes?! Where were they all?!?!?

I loved the Mean Girls gifs you were using in your intro so I decided to catch up and found more throughout. Any TR that has an affinity for the Plastics is a good TR in my book, whatever the case. Also, you and Jamie are quite the entertaining and adorable pair (hope that doesn't sound mega weird lol). Excited to read about more of your adventures!

Hi Timmy!! I'm so glad you left me a comment, I've totally read through your 2014 trip report before! (although I was late to the party so I just binged on the whole thing) thanks for saying hi! I've just subbed to your new report - hope you're having / had a great time doing the college program?!

I'm glad you appreciate the Mean Girls gifs. 13 years after it came out and and I still quote it basically every day

Thanks for stopping by!

Can't believe how empty Epcot was that day!! And you didn't miss a thing by not seeing Jungle Book...it was pretty awful.

That's what I heard about the Jungle Book show so I avoided it! It didn't look very interesting at all...

Just read through the whole thing and I am loving your trip report! Can't wait for your next update.

Woo thank you! and glad you've enjoyed it so far

 

[TheLittleKatie]

I am so far behind so I just decided to like all your updates and comment on all of them in one go! So there!

Giirrrrrl so fine! I am so behind too!

I never saw it! And now it's gone!

SHHHHH we do not speak of this.

Okay here are mine:

Here lies Lu,
She fell in the fondue.

Here lies Lu,
Brought down by a bad tattoo.


Here lies Lu,
Impaled on some bamboo.


Here lies Lu,
Shame she didn’t know kung-fu.


Here lies Lu,
Remember don’t drink shampoo.

Here lies Lu,
Who played the Kazoo.
Her lungs she did outdo,
And died a nice shade of blue!

Ah! So, so bad!

I vote for the first one!

You are a poet and you were unaware of it!

I'm a poet and I didn't know that I was one of those.

But seriously who doesn't do this?! I find it really hard not to do a Essex accent when I hear one!

Correct! Essex and Liverpool are my most quoted accents I think

Okay now I'm just picturing you on Space Mountain like this :

Omg hahahha hilar yes that is exactly what I'm like on Space Mountain I wish I'd used that

But it's down FOR LIKE THREE MONTHS THIS YEAR!!!!

I'm so glad I'm going next September and not this September or I would be major P.O'd!

Insanity!!! I hope they're doing something worthwhile with all of that time!

Thank you Tom I love you

But on the plus side how sweet he sent that to you!

So now we need a Fuller House Club trip to the Full House house! Right @TheLittleKatie @Leshaface and @HomeSweetDisney

Definitely! And a trip to Disneyland while we're at it??

WHAT.

ON EARTH.

IS THIS.

RIP crazy fish gutting kid.

He will always have a special place in our hearts.

I want this dress SO bad.

https://www.redbubble.com/people/ho...ids-fishing?p=a-line-dress&style=a-line-dress

Love that you felt the need to circle the giraffe

Snapchats are brief you need to know what you're looking at!!!!!

Okay well I just totally cluttered up your TR!

I love it will definitely catch up on yours soon!!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

I'm loving your report so far. I would love to know how you felt about AKL. We really were thinking of staying there or Beach Club on our next visit, but the bus has me worried.

Thank you! I absolutely LOVE AKL, the buses / distance from the parks was literally the only down side for me. If I can build up the confidence to rent a car (never driven automatic left-hand drive, right side of the road etc!) then I would jump at the chance to stay again! Great theming and atmosphere and AMAZING food! Boma, Sanaa and Jiko are now three of my favourite restaurants in the whole of WDW But the Beach Club is also a favourite of mine! Did you make a decision yet?!

This made me LOL. The system IS RIGGED! Proud Slytherin over here

Right!! You should write a strongly worded letter to the Ministry of Magic

Hi Katie! Loving your new report so far! So glad I finally logged back into the DIS so I can catch up on your adventures. Love, love, love, AKL! It is our favorite and the one we call "home" for DVC. Club level there is very sought after, and now I know why. That spread! YUM AND WOW!

Hey Dawn! Thank you! So glad you're enjoying it I'm so jealous of AKL being your home resort, we ventured around to Kidani a couple of times and I looooved it. It smells so good! And YUM AND WOW indeed, the whole of AKL has some of the greatest food on Disney property in my opinion!!!

Coming out of lurkdom to finally comment on your trip report. I've read a couple of your trip reports, and they're always so fun to read! Love all the pictures of AKL. I would love to be able to stay there one day.

Hello, thanks so much! Really glad you've been enjoying them all AKL is so great ugh I love it so much. We spent the whole next day at the Lodge so there are a lot more pictures coming right up!

I absolutely LOVE AK after dark! The atmosphere is amazing. I can't wait to see Pandora this fall at night too!
And I agree Everest is way more intense at night. I am pretty sure I was the slightest bit nervous when we were climbing the "hill" on my first ride in the dark.

OMGGG I cannot wait to see Pandora! And I haven't even seen the film the whole way through (although I will before I next go). It looks amazing

Hi Katie!!! I'm Kara! The crazy lady who stopped you while you were getting off the Peoplemover. I saw your new report come up on the boards and remembered how much I enjoyed your last one, so I started reading along. Imagine my surprise when I saw myself mentioned in your trip report! It was great to meet you & Jaime, thanks for the chat that day!

Hi Kara!!!!! It was great meeting you too! Hope the rest of your trip was magical, and you didn't get too caught up in the storm that night!

Jambo! Just joining in on the magical fun. AKL is one of my favorite hotels besides the Polynesian and Contemporary. I always get the Savannah view because the view is priceless. On my last trip with my mom we actually got a Savannah view + the top of Expedition Everest. Can't wait to read more about your trip! Kwaherini.

Jambo! We had originally booked a standard view at AKL but of course we had to upgrade, the thought of getting a parking lot view and missing out on the savannah was too much to handle!!! Wow that's cool, I didn't know you could see Expedition Everest from the resort! Glad you seem to appreciate AKL as much as I do

Great Report. Our family loves AKL (stayed there the last 3 trips). Have not experienced Animal Kingdom at night - looking forward to it next August (although that is over a year away).

Keep up the great work.

Everyone here seems to love AKL it's such a great resort. Glad you've been loving it too! Thanks for reading

Joining in! Loving your trip report so far!

YAY thanks for reading!

 

[wdwfan]

So glad I found your trip report!! I love reading them!!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

That solo trip was the TR you are in, silly!

But I will be starting another TR soon.
Just have to finish the current one.
Have a couple of chapters about Vegas to toss on there.

OMG. I'm so out of the loop. Sorry!

That's west coast, dear.
And that was in March.

WOW. I do know where California is. Embarrassingly, I get my West and East mixed up sometimes. I'm 5 years old.

Normally you wake up unnaturally?

YES to what feels like this:

Holy cow!

I just said that!


Wait... did you eat a whole cow too???

I felt like I did!

If it was a tattoo it'd be "No regerts"

Have you seen We're The Millers?!

Is it really a backpack? Straps on the other side?

Yep! I'm wearing it in the mirror selfie that morning if you don't believe me I agree it doesn't look like one though.
Kinda related - in England we also call a backpack a rucksack - and when we said "rucksack" to a CM one time he had NO idea what we were talking about. Do you use that word in Canada?!

Nah. Chosing to not believe you.

I don't really believe myself about that if I'm honest

They're using it again! I remember seeing it in use in 87 or 92.

Yeah I've never even noticed it before, let alone seen it being used. Pretty cool!

I wonder if they've ever had to change that sign?

Errrrm I'll have you know that Living With The Land is a very high demand attraction. I've seen the line get up to an entire 10 minutes before.

Er... you know the entire thing is CGI, right?
And the quality is great.... as long as you're sitting in the center. If you're on the sides.... it's horrible.

The WHOLE thing??!! I knew some of it was. I thought I saw a video clip of the helicopter flying over whilst filming

Obviously a small dog of some sort.

for sure

They can do that?!?!?!?

Apparently so! Unless all the animals they put out there are animatronics

The Jungle Book show? Never heard of this.

Really?! It was a placeholder show when Rivers of Light was delayed, it looked like it was kind of rushed and nothing very entertaining

Did you all died?

We all did died

Following along! I've read your other trip reports and am so excited to read this one. Your expertly placed GIFs are my fav.

I'm planning a trip for fall of 2018, school starts for us just after Labor Day weekend. How were the crowds the week you went? Epcot looked empty

Yay thanks for reading them all!!

The crowds were fine on this trip, and relative to how it looks throughout the rest of the year it was GREAT. I think it will always be one of the quietest times to go

Loving your TR, as usual! Your updates had me literally laughing out loud!

Haha thank you! I'm very glad to hear it

We did. More than once. It was wild. We'd usually do a really early breakfast, lunch at noon, and a late supper. But it was SO much food. I couldn't handle it. And we did some signatures, but it would have been cheaper to just do them out of pocket.

That sounds great but I don't think I'd be able to handle it IRL!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 4
Saturday 3rd September 2016
Part 1 – Boma breakfast!


Good morning!
It’s Animal Kingdom Lodge appreciation day!

Today was the Saturday of Labor day weekend, so we thought we’d avoid the potential crowds and spend the day at this wonderful resort.

I woke up at 7am, and began AKL appreciation day where I love to begin all of my Disney days.
Out on the balcony!

At 9:50am we had a breakfast reservation at Boma!
We had dinner there last year and loved it.
Unfortunately we ended up cancelling our Boma dinner this year, but I’m glad we got to try breakfast for the first time!

We arrived at 9:40am and there were loads of people waiting to check in and be seated.
If this was a reflection of today's park crowds, I was glad we were avoiding them!

We waited a while to check in, but once we got our pager we were called fairly quickly.
Here’s where we were seated:

We got some jungle juice and coffee, then we went up for our first plate!
I had sausage, bacon, eggs, and special eggs (as we called them) which also contained chive and goats cheese.
(They were indeed, very special eggs.)
Jamie had the same but also with corned beef.

I have missed you, Disney bacon!!
I posted this on Snapchat:

Then Jamie got some more of the same kind of thing, and I got M&M pancakes, regular pancakes, a Mickey waffle, syrup and banana bread with hazelnut/praline spread!

The banana bread in particular was delicious!
Although I'm biased because this is one of my favourites anyway.
I only ate about half of all of this because it was too sugary for me first thing in the morning.

At this point we both started to get some serious food envy of each other.

I had to get some more bacon and very special eggs for myself, while Jamie got some pancakes and waffles.
I also got sausage and smoked salmon!
I have no self-control when it comes to Disney breakfast buffets.

Again, my eyes were bigger than my belly and I only ate half of this plate too.

Overall this was a delicious breakfast!
I probably prefer dinner at Boma because it’s a very unique food experience.
But this was also great for that classic Disney breakfast experience, plus a few specialty items!

We left Boma at 10:45am and had a look in the Zawadi Marketplace.
We played some tic tac toe, or as we Brits call it, noughts and crosses!

At 11:20am we went back to the room and chilled on the balcony for an hour.
This bird became amusing to us.

He looked like he was squaring up to the other animals

At midday it started pouring rain, right as we were heading out to the pool!

This guy sums up exactly how we felt…
Not impressed.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was on TV so we watched some of that for a while and got excited for our trip to Universal!

It felt like it was raining for aaages but it was actually only about an hour.
However I was getting very restless, so I made Jamie come with me for a walk down to the Mara to fill up our mugs with water, even though this was completely unnecessary as we could just fill them up at the club lounge.

As we walked to and from the Mara the weather looked like it was clearing up, YAY.
We got back to the room and sat outside and waited for it to clear up completely.

Our balcony was getting swarmed with these guys!
Ew I hate them.

Jamie was going to go to the gym, but I decided to go down to the pool, and he couldn’t resist!
He loves being at the pool.
We left the room at about 1:15pm!


Click for Day 4 - Part 2!
​

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 4
Saturday 3rd September 2016
Part 2 – Uzima Pool


It's time to explore the Uzima Pool!

The back of the Animal Kingdom Lodge might be my favourite view of it

We found the pool and took a right, but we ended up doing a full loop of the area looking for pool towels.
(I think we walked right past them at the entrance! Doh!)

Eventually we found some towels and settled at the side of the pool bar.
This turned out to be right next to the kids recreation and the speakers and stereo system

We found some loungers on the back row at the end under the trees.
The fabric loungers were soaked from the rain, which made our towels damp, but it was scorching hot now so it was actually quite pleasant.
Also there was a giant leaf above my chair that dripped on me a couple of times and kept making me jump because I thought it was a bug

Soon after sitting down we made a lizard friend.

We called him Harry because Jamie dramatically told him,
“…You’re a lizard Harry…”

He kept coming over to say hi to us

Then I turned to the side…

They were everywhere!

Then this weird snake-looking lizard appeared, and Harry got all defensive, arching his back and protracting his red throat thingy, and they had a little standoff.
I said that clearly this one was called Voldemort, and Jamie recoiled in horror and said
“DON’T SAY THAT NAME.”

I was getting a bit freaked out by my unexpected visit to lizarding school
I was worried that one was about to jump on my face.

So we went in the pool!
We had a swim and cooled down before returning back to our loungers.

I sat down and dried off for five minutes, before noticing something in my peripheral vision…

ALRIGHT.
I’m done.
We need to move.

We moved to a lovely quiet spot by the flamingos!

This was the view in front of us, nice and quiet!

And the view behind us:

I got up a couple of times to look at the flamingos because I think they’re cute.

We relaxed in the sun for a while, then headed in at about 3pm.
We filled up our water at The Mara and went back to the room.

I had to go get some cough sweets from Zawadi Marketplace because my throat was starting to feel a bit scratchy.
On my way down I noticed bunch of characters were out in the lobby again!
I saw Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Max, Stitch, Smee, Hook, Chip and Dale!!
And see this blurry figure?

That’s GIDEON from Pinocchio!!
As in this guy:

How very obscure!

I was loving this daily character palooza in our hotel lobby!!!

When I got back to the room Jamie decided to go to the gym and I got into bed and watched some more of the Harry Potter marathon on TV.
My scratchy throat had developed very suddenly and I’d started to feel pretty rubbish so I wanted to rest.
I think I was feeling worse than I actually was, because something felt swollen in the back of my throat and was making me a bit gaggy.
So I napped it out for a while.

I got up at 5pm and showered in preparation for our big evening right here at the Lodge!

This is not what it looks like

I still felt a bit ill and Jamie was being very sweet asking what he could do for me.
But I started thinking about that really funny, positive girl at the bus stop the night before (when we waitied almost an hour for an Animal Kingdom bus).
We had named her Sally – that’s probably not her name, she just seemed like a Sally.
So when I got out of the shower I told Jamie,
“RIGHT! No more feeling sorry for me! I need to channel my inner Sally! Sally would be positive in this situation!”

(Then he started calling me Sally whenever he needed to tell/ask me something that would potentially annoy me. About 10 minutes later he said, “When are you going to iron my shirt Sally??” )

And that was THAT!
We’re feeling good people.
Let’s get back to Animal Kingdom Lodge appreciation day

It’s dinner time!

Click for Day 4 - Part 3!
​

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 4
Saturday 3rd September 2016
Part 3 – Jiko and Starlight Safari!


Tonight we had a 7:15pm ADR at Jiko!
We'd never eaten here before so I was super excited!
Even though I still look a bit fragile in this picture

We checked in with a really charismatic guy who showed us to our table.
He was South African and told us some cool things.
For example, Jiko is Swahili for the cooking place, and throughout the restaurant they have these canoe birds flying above, which in Africa are a sign of a long and prosperous life, which is what they wish for all of their patrons!

Then the seater guy brought us hot, scented towels!
How fancy.

Our server then introduced himself.
He was really knowledgeable.
I didn’t catch his name but I know he was from Egypt.
So that will be his name.

First Egypt brought us some African bread with salted butter.

Mmmm Disney bread.

Then Jamie ordered a Chiraz, and I had a blended white wine.
Still to this day, Jamie claims this was the best red wine he's ever tasted

At this point in time, Jiko had recently changed the menu so that the filet came with some kind of mash potato thing.
Jamie was looking forward to this, but I really wanted it with the old mac and cheese I’d heard so much about!
I was trying to decide the best way to ask for mac and cheese at a signature restaurant without sounding like a child.
But when we placed our order we said we both wanted the filet mignon, and Egypt was like,
“Oh, what with? Because everyone sees it on the internet and wants mac and cheese!”
Errm, that is exactly what I want please!
(And I believe that now, this is back on the standard menu! YAY!)

Here it is!

OMG, what a perfect combination this was.
Clearly this made me feel a bit better!

I posted this on Snapchat for any Disney people who cared!!

This was magnificent.
It was so tasty and the steak was cooked nice and lightly so that the meal wasn’t too stodgy and overwhelming.
Perfect!
And Jamie loved his regular boring version too. WOO.

For dessert, Jamie chose the Malva Pudding:

And I had the Ghanaian chocolate and Kenyan Coffee Pot de Crème:

This was really nice and beautifully presented.
Plus I’m a big fan of the raspberry-chocolate combo so that was an unexpected bonus.
Jamie enjoyed his too, but said it was a bit much after a large meal.

Yum and wow, what a fantastic meal.
This is definitely one of my favourite signature restaurants now!

When we were finishing up, our waiter and the restaurant’s manager came over and apologised that there’d been some confusion with the restaurant’s computer system, because there were 3 different people with Jamie’s surname in the restaurant right now!
This is really crazy because Jamie definitely doesn’t have a common surname; it’s Indian but originates from Korea.
Neither of us have ever heard of anyone else with this surname outside of his family!
So that was interesting!

We left the restaurant at about 8:30pm and headed back to the room.

This was when we discovered that we could see the Star Wars fireworks at Hollywood Studios from our balcony!
They were very distant, but it was still cool to see them.

Pretty, huh?!
After 45 minutes of chilling in the room, we walked over to Kidani Village at 9:15pm.
We wanted to have a look around before our Starlight Safari at 10pm!

I had booked the safari as a surprise for Jamie because he is a big animal lover.
Unfortunately the woman checking us in on Day 1 had gone through our itinerary and pointed it out, spoiling the surprise!
Of course, he was still super excited and grateful.
Just a little less surprised that I had hoped

This was our first visit to Kidani Village ever!
It's beautiful and it smells GREAT!
I wish Jambo smelled more like this, and less like food.

We wandered around the lobby and the shop, then went outside to the fire-pit.

A cast member outside gave me some night vision goggles!

At around 9:45pm we went to Sanaa to check in for the Starlight Safari!
We departed at 10pm, and there were just 9 of us in the group.
Here’s the truck we were sat/stood on:

This truck took us into the grounds of the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and we each got night vision goggles to spot the animals!
It was hard to get any good (non-flash) photos.
I tried taking them through the night vision goggles and out in the dark but it didn't work out great.
But you get the idea!

I’m not sure you can tell, but we got SO close to these giraffes!
They were right on the roadside!

This safari was so much fun!
We had two very upbeat young women giving our tour and they were really funny.
We drove past one animal and one of them was like,
“These were discovered in 1901, the year Walt Disney was born… COINCIDENCE???”


We also geeked it up on the tour and got a couple of questions right!
We drove past some fencing and the guides asked if anyone knew what kind of animals they kept in there, and I answered “humans!”
I know a people pen when I see one.
And Jamie answered the number of vertebrae a giraffe has in its neck correctly!
(Seven, the same as humans.)


The tour lasted about an hour in total, and we arrived back at Jambo House just after 11pm.
This used to only be available to AKL guests, but I think they’ve opened it up to everybody now.
It’s not cheap (around $75 per adult), but I think it’s a really cool thing to do if you’re an animal lover who’s avoiding park crowds one evening.
Plus we got a glow-in-the-dark pin each, yay!

I truly loved this day we spent at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
It made me completely fall in love with the resort.
Whilst feeling a bit ill, I felt totally comfortable and at home.
It was just lovely!

Back to the parks tomorrow though YAY!


Click for Day 5 - Part 1!
​

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

I didn't know about the nighttime safari at AKL- very cool!! I think we are trying Jiko this January. It will be my first, and I'm so excited!

 

[Sailormoon2]

and I got regular pancakes, M&M pancakes, a Mickey waffle, syrup and banana bread with hazelnut/praline spread!

Carb-a-palooza!!! I love it!

I would love to get a sweater from every resort

This is such an awesome, albeit expensive, idea!

I was LIVING for this random daily characterpalooza in my hotel lobby!!!

OMG!! I hope this stays as a regular occurence, we are going in August. Random character meets are the best!!

They were very distant, but still cool.

Unexpected fireworks views ROCK!!! That was one sensational balcony you guys scored.

 

[Born 2B a Princess]

It sounds like a lovely way to spend a non-park day, although I'm so sorry you weren't feeling well. It's not fun to be sick on vacation and away from home. The Starlight Safari looks fabulous - what a fun evening!

 

[Neverland_Girl]

We called him Harry because Jamie dramatically told him,
“…You’re a lizard Harry…”

ALRIGHT.
I’m done.
We need to move.

Lizards freak me out. I would have bailed way before that haha.

For example, Jiko is Swahili for the cooking place, and throughout the restaurant they have these canoe birds flying above, that in Africa are a sign of a long and prosperous life, which is what they wish for all of their patrons!

These are the little touches that Disney includes that I love!

At this point in time, Jiko had changed the menu so that the filet came with some kind of mash potato thing.
Jamie was looking forward to this, but I really wanted it with the old mac and cheese I’d heard so much about!
I was trying to decide the best way to ask for mac and cheese at a signature restaurant without sounding like a child.
But when we were placing our order we said we were both going to have the filet mignon and Egypt was like,
“OH, what with? Because everyone sees it on the internet and wants mac and cheese!”
Errrrrm, that is exactly what I want please!

Egypt is the real MVP

That looks AMAAAZING! Mac & Cheese is definitely the way to go.

The tour lasted about an hour in total, and we arrived back at Jambo House just after 11pm.
This used to only be available to AKL guests, but I think they’ve now opened it up to everybody.
It’s not cheap (around $75 per adult), but I think it’s a really cool thing to do if you’re an animal lover who’s avoiding park crowds one evening.

This sounds like so much fun! Were the animals more active than the safari at AK?

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Hi Timmy!! I'm so glad you left me a comment, I've totally read through your 2014 trip report before! (although I was late to the party so I just binged on the whole thing) thanks for saying hi! I've just subbed to your new report - hope you're having / had a great time doing the college program?!

I'm glad you appreciate the Mean Girls gifs. 13 years after it came out and and I still quote it basically every day

Thanks for stopping by!

Haha, well I'm glad you enjoyed that TR enough to binge it lol Hope you actually get to say hi on my new one. My CP did end about a week and a half after that "staycation" happened (beginning of January), but thank you! It was absolutely amazing. I was actually working daily in MK when you visited. I'll probably talk about it because PDCPD

Lol I just watched it for the first time in awhile last night. It's still perfection and I totally am hearing Lindsay's voice in that gif, exactly how she says it as well as Damian's reaction.

What a fun day for staying in at the resort! I think I was in training/playing in MK that day and I don't remember it being too too bad, but for a non-CM, it might've been.

The food at Jiko and Boma all looks sooooo good. That filet mignon with the mac n cheese is my new NEED. Hopefully I'll be back before they take it off the regular menu.

Ugh, I hate when those lizards do the thing with their necks. I'd see it all the time and... just EWWWWWW I'm dying at Jamie's HP references tho

I do the getting a pin for every resort I stay at as well as a pin AND shirt for every YEAR I'm in Disney. Both are difficult so I say proceed with caution when trying to embark upon those endeavors.

Omg these characterpaloozas inside of AKL look fab! Character hunting is my thing and Max & Hook are at the top of my list so I'm high key jealous you were nearly able to meet them. If only I knew about AKL having surprise M&Gs, I actually would've gone back to visit (Kidani Village was the first Disney resort I ever stayed at and it was the newest at the time).

What a great way to end with the Starlight Safari, the whole night-vision thing looked super neat and having fun guides ALWAYS makes for a really good experience!

 

[Dentam]

We love the AKL - I especially love how their pool area is designed with so many nice seating areas tucked away in little nooks here and there. Though the lizards would have started freaking me out a bit too!

I've only been to Jiko once and it was years ago so I don't really remember the food that well. Glad to hear you really enjoyed it! We always go to Boma during every trip, even when we aren't staying at AKL. I think dinner is also my favorite, but the breakfast is so good too!

Sorry to hear that you started feeling under the weather. I hope that didn't get worse for you during the trip. I have gotten very sick the past two times we went to WDW. Once with about two days to go of our trip and the second time it was two days after I got home. Even so, I can't wait to go back!

 

[Raeven]

We created a little story for him about how he’d been working on his strength and was finally ready to take on his childhood bully - THE GIRAFFE.
“Come at me bro!”

I said that clearly this one was called Voldemort, and Jamie recoiled in horror and said
“DON’T SAY THAT NAME.”

You two are so funny

Alright, I was now getting a bit freaked out by my unexpected visit to lizarding school, I definitely got the feeling that one was about to jump on my face.

Ahh! I have never seen that many lizards gathered together I would've moved too.

A bunch of characters were out in the lobby again!
I saw Mickey, Donald, Goofy, MAX (!) Stitch, Smee, Hook, Chip and Dale!!
And see this blurry figure?

That’s GIDEON from Pinocchio!!

Wow! I still have never seen this at AKL! Maybe we aren't in the lobby at the right time? Although we spent A LOT of time in the lobby on our last day and the day we checked in and still didn't see anything.

My scratchy throat had developed very suddenly today and I’d started to feel pretty crappy so I wanted to rest.

Aw I hope you felt better. I got a terrible cold/flu type thing last September during our trip, and was sick pretty much the whole time and for 2 weeks after too yikes.

I was trying to decide the best way to ask for mac and cheese at a signature restaurant without sounding like a child.
But when we were placing our order we said we were both going to have the filet mignon and Egypt was like,
“OH, what with? Because everyone sees it on the internet and wants mac and cheese!”
Errrrrm, that is exactly what I want please!
(And I believe that now, this is back on the standard menu! YAY!)

It is back I had it in May!

For dessert, Jamie chose the Malva Pudding:

That looks so good! I had the Malava pudding too (well they brought it to me as a birthday treat) but it's something different now? Mine looked totally different and was made with different things and when I google it pictures of both this and that version show up but the one I had is on the Disney site now. Anyway this version looks way more delicious. Since I got a free dessert though I didn't bother to look at the dessert menu and order anything else.