Jingle Bells....AKL....Disney for 10 Whole Days! ** Updated June 2015: Videos Added**

[thornton0511]

Checking In and What the Heck is a Kudu?
So when I left off we had just gotten off primeval whirl for the third time in one day and were headed to Flame Tree for some much needed lunch. Now since our bands had been working to get us into the park and for our FP+, I assumed that they would be ready to use for our DDP.
In planning for this trip, along with Disney Movie Nights (which you can find on my PTR), I had a whole family meeting to discuss the DDP so that my in laws would have an idea of what to do. Yes this is how I roll and I do feel that anyone who is going to be on a dining plan should have some kind of understanding beforehand right? These are the people who are in line ahead of you for an eternity asking a bazillion questions about what they can get and how does this work…yada yada. Bless their hearts they are so clueless. No one in my family was going to be that person lol!
So we got in the extremely long line (it was around 12:45pm and prime time for lunch after all) and waited our turn. Finally we were up and DH put our order in. We told him we were on the DDP and proceeded to touch Mickey to Mickey. Then the CM pointed to a keypad and asked us to punch our PIN number in…..Ruh-roh!
DH looked at me and I had no idea what this guy was talking about. PIN number? The CM explained that we have to have a PIN to use our credit and this should have been something we got when we checked into our resort….but we had not checked in yet. Seriously? So we stepped out of the line to regroup. We knew that we wanted to have lunch and so obviously we would have to go to the resort before that can happen so we headed to the front of the park and hopped on a bus to AKL. Now was as good as any time to check in I suppose.

Since our plans had changed a bit while we were on the bus I had to once again get on MDE to try and change some FP+ times. Most people may like the change and being able to just "hop online" at any given time but I found this pre scheduling the whole day to leave no wiggle room for when life happens. And life happens everyday people. You never can tell . And MDE moves at sloth speed lol. It took almost the entire bus ride to push back our safari ride time but I was successful!

At approximately 1:30pm we had arrived at our new home for the next 8 nights.

This place was breathtaking! Oh my goodness pictures do not do this resort justice. We all just kind of stood there for a moment in the lobby with our jaws dropped open!

When we regained our composure the men headed to the check in desk, the kids to watch TV and DMIL and myself went on a little photo shoot.


After taking pictures of everything I possibly could we decided to go check and see how things were going at the registration desk.

Apparently when the men gave the CM our names for the reservations she stepped away from the desk and came back with two magic band boxes. Huh? Then they explained that we already had our MB's and showed her the pretty colored ones on their wrists. This caused some confusion and that was about the time I walked up. I explained that I had checked us in online (with the wonderful MDE) at 60 days out and had already linked our tickets, and customized our bands that we received in the mail. Not sure how we ended up with two sets of bands but anyways. No worries though and we just went on with our check in. We told her about our mishap in the park and the need for a pin that we did not have. She then said that when we went online to check in and customize we should have been prompted to add in a four digit code for the bands. Four digit code….online check in…..customized……crap. Whoops. I then remembered a four digit code that I made for us….sorry guys! Since I had entered the same code for all 6 of us the in laws went ahead and got a new one and we just kept the one that I had forgotten we had.
We were now through the tough part and nearing the end where we get our room numbers. Being that we were staying on rented DVC points in a standard studio I really had no expectations on what room we would get. I did know that all of the DVC rooms were on the 5th floor so that was a plus! The nice CM lady informed us that our rooms would be right next door (woohoo!) and we were on the kudu trail. What the heck does that mean lol? We grabbed the kids and headed up…..to find out the mystery of the kudu.
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[thornton0511]

The Long Trek….To Our Room

We found the elevator on the lobby level and proceed up to the 5th floor. From there we walked across the bride
(yay bridge!) and turned right…..down the longest hallway of my life! Seriously I think by the time we got there I was literally IN Africa. DS commented that "Kudu trail" must be Animal Kingdom talk for "room furthest away from civilization" lol. We found our group of rooms and turned left….and walked all the way down. I kid you not. You just have to laugh at this point. Finally we made it to our room.

We parted ways with the in laws (who were right next door of course) and checked out our new pad. All I can say is WOW! Long trek or not this room was worth it! I immediately put down my backpack and started to take pictures while DH phoned down to see if our luggage had been delivered from POP.

After making my way to the other side of the room we noticed this on the table.

What would someone need a list of animals for? A view maybe? Could it be that we have a balcony that is not facing a wall or parking lot?! Only one way to find out….

JINGLE BAM! We have giraffes people! I did not even care if it was the left over animal spot and not a savannah we had animals! Kudu trail….okay now I get it. FYI we did soon learn exactly what a kudu is.

We waited around in our new super cool room for our luggage to arrive and once it did we met the in laws in the lobby to finally eat lunch….at the Mara.
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[thornton0511]

Lunch….FINALLY

So to get to the Mara from the lobby first we had to go outside and past Jiko.

Then we passed the pool….

And finally we had made it. There was a rumbly in my tumbly and I was ready for some Mara grub!

We headed inside and made our selections with a CM who wrote our orders on a pad of paper. We then grabbed our drinks and dessert while we waited for the food to arrive in the pickup area and proceed to find a table. Oh and we also grabbed our refillable mugs since it was included with the plan.
Last year we stayed at CBR on the DDP and paid for the kids to have a pirate room, which are as far from the refillable mug station as you can get on that property. So needless to say we did not fully enjoy endless soda last year. So even though we were not right by the Mara it was still close enough for us to just "go downstairs" to fill our mugs. Staying deluxe was going to spoil us I was afraid.
So since we were on the DDP each of our meals included 1 drink, 1 entrée, and 1 dessert. Since we already had our mugs for a beverage we chose drinks that we could essentially take back to the room and put in the fridge for later.

DD had the kids meal cheese pizza with yogurt and a cookie as her 2 sides and milk as her beverage.

DS, DH, and DFIL all had the same which was the Angus Bacon Cheeseburger with fries, some kind of brownie for dessert and a breakfast drink for their beverage.

DMIL had the Falafel Pita with Couscous, the brownie thing, and a breakfast beverage.

Finally I also had the Angus Bacon Cheeseburger with a Fuze for my beverage, but for my dessert…

ZEBRA DOMES! I have been wanting to see what all of the fuss was with these things for like a year now and finally got my chance. Verdict? Nom Nom Nom….duh!
We used 5 adult CS credits and 1 child CS credit for this meal.
Now it was time for us to head back to AK. We had some unfinished business and some FP+ to use!

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[thornton0511]

Aww that's too funny and quite sweet too. You are most welcome to visit or move to Canada anytime you like. What's really funny is I went to Disney twice last year alone, yet I haven't been to Prince Edward Island in YEARS, even though it would only take a couple of hours to drive. But it is as gorgeous as it looks and I actually do hope to get over this summer. It's been far too long.

It's definitely on my bucket list for sure

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

As the person who is usually behind those people asking a million and one questions... THANK YOU!!

Haha, no matter how prepared you are, there's always something like a missing pin #. But oh no, you already DID have a pin. See that's what happens with the allowed 60 day in advance thing. Who can remember these things????

Isn't AKL beautiful? I almost stayed there, but have visited, and it is really something. It seems those who stay there, keep staying there. I can see why.

 

[thornton0511]

The One Where I Make A Wrong Turn
After lunch we hopped on a bus back to Animal Kingdom. We had a Kilomanjaro Safari FP+ to use and so we headed towards Africa. As we got closer I noticed quite a number of people lined up on the curbs and realized that the Jingle Jungle Parade was going to start soon. I had wanted to try and see this sometime this week but it would be cutting close to our end time for our FP+. Decisions….decisions….

We decided to stop for the parade. Glad we did too. It was really neat and something new for us too.

As soon as the last float and cast walked by we booked it to Africa. Running seemed to becoming a normal thing on this trip. We made it in time to the safari, and soon enough we were on a two week trip through the Harambe.

We have only been on the safari in the mornings so an afternoon safari ride was a first for us. We really did not see an abundance of animals and I am not sure if this was because of the time of day or just the luck of the draw. We still enjoyed our ride and before too long we had made it safely back.
At this point I know that we had one more FP+ scheduled for FOLK show at 5:30. My DH really wanted to ride Primeval Whirl again (yea for trying new things right? Lol) and was not too keen on checking in for the show this early. I knew I had things planned for us at certain times but also I did not want anyone to feel "trapped" in a scheduled vacation too much. We had just about an hour until our show started so we headed through Asia to get to Dinoland.

Once we reached our destination we decided to split up, since DD was still not ready to ride, DH, DS and I rode while DMIL, DFIL, and DD took to Triceratop Spin again. They met us at the exit and I just remember it being really close to our FP+ return time for FOLK and we were on the opposite side of the park from where we needed to be. Somehow we were still in a window for making a change so I quickly took to my phone to try and change our FP+ to another ride, since there was no way we could make it there in time, and was able to get a EE ride time for later. I still thought that we could maybe make it to Camp MM in time for standby. We took to "fast pace walking" (since running is not allowed at Disney)and bobbing and weaving through people to get to FOLK. We came to a crossroad where you need to kind of go right toward Camp Minnie Mickey and I stopped for a second to make sure all of us were still together. Once everyone was accounted for I continued with our fast pace. But I kind went more left at this point instead of hanging a right on accident. It was not until I saw a sign pointing straight with the words "park exit" that I realized we were not even close to Camp Minnie Mickey. Sigh.
It was now right at 5:30 and I had to admit defeat on this one. Dang. So with us now on the other side of the park we had to decide what to do since FOLK was out. There was one more show at 6:30 but since we had an ADR for Boma at 7:20 that was not going to be an option. We did have a new FP+ for Expedition Everest but that would be back tracking once again. Ugh what to do, what to do?!
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[thornton0511]

Braving Expedition Everest

EE was something we had never done before and I was not going to go one more year without riding it and so we headed back from where we had started to brave a ride on EE.
We knew that Sydney would definitely not want to ride this (she barely is able to be talked into BTMRR at this point) so we decided that four of us would ride first while someone sat out with DD, someone would ride twice with Syd's MB with the person who sat out the first round. DMIL decided to sit with her so the remaining 4 in our party proceeded through the FP+ line. We scanned our MB's and got clearance with green Mickey's. I have to be honest my heart was pounding while we were waiting in line. I have seen the you tube video of this ride a thousand times and it looks easy. But every year we get to the actual ride and the pure size of the mountain is so overwhelming…..nope. Maybe next time. We are not a heights loving family and the idea of being stopped on the way up just suspended on that incline is horrifying. Plus I do realize that you go backward inside the mountain and I did not know quite how to explain what that would feel like to myself or the rest of my family who chose to get in this line with me. I tried to stay brave for my DS and kept him distracted with things in the queue while we made our way to the front. DH was equally unsure of this whole thing but there was no turning back at this point. The sun had set and I was hoping the darkness would help us "not see things".
Our train pulled up and we made sure to ask to sit in the middle. Always more safe in the middle. DH and I sat in together and DS and DFIL right behind us. My heart was beating so fast at this point that I don’t know how anyone could not hear it. No turning back….we were moving. I actually enjoyed the beginning of the ride because its fast but you are still on the ground for the most part. It kind of helped ease my anxiety of the upcoming hill a bit. But then came the hill. I didn't want to look down at my feet because I would see how high we were going out of the corner of my eyes. So I instead stared as hard as I could at the back of the seat in front of me, not getting distracted by anything that would make me look elsewhere. I kept thinking "please don’t stop, please don't stop" as my ears were now ringing with the constant thumping of my fast beating heart….(so dramatic know?)
After what seemed like an eternity of chugging uphill we had made it….with no stopping! Thank goodness!!! I now felt some relief and safe being enclosed in the mountain. The rest of the ride was incredible although I was still shaking from all of the anxiety and excitement from the ride. As soon as the ride was over I turned to see how the other two behind us were doing. They seemed okay. DS was happy that he had finally rode EE but was not necessarily ready to hop back on quite yet. I was so proud of him for being so brave. We hopped off and made our way out to meet with the other two. That's when DFIL started to feel a little uneasy. We stopped for a while for him to rest. The ride had apparently done a number on him and he was not feeling well. He rested for a bit and once he had gotten his sea legs back we decided to just call it a day and head back to the resort. After seeing DFIL's reaction DMIL was not too worried about missing her turn on the ride lol.

We made our way back to the park entrance and hopped on a bus back to AKL. It was now just before 7pm and we had dinner plans for Boma!
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[thornton0511]

Dinner at Boma
We made it back to the resort right at 7pm. Our dinner ADR for Boma was a 7:20. The in laws took the kids and made their way over to the restaurant to check in while DH and I headed over to the front desk. We had some business to take care of first, and assumed that we might have to wait a bit to be seated for dinner.
I had purchased our park tickets through Disney in early April after stalking the dissboards and trying to time my buying them before the price increase. At the time I was not sure if we were going to buy tickets to MVMCP or not, and if we did end up going to the party we were not going to park hop on this trip to make up the difference in the cost. Several weeks after I received our tickets in the mail it had been decided to not do the party and park hop instead. I then had an online chat with a CM about upgrading my tickets to PH. Since I already had the tickets there was no way to do the upgrade until we arrived in December. I confirmed this on the dissboards, of course, and was told by both parties that it would be no biggie and something we could take care of at the resort with the concierge. Easy enough.
So here we were standing in the concierge line waiting to get our upgrade taken care of. We had everyone's magic bands and also the park tickets that were linked to the bands just in case. We would be park hopping for dinner the next day so it was essential that we get this done.
We did not have to wait too long and soon enough we were greeting by a very friendly CM. We told her what we were trying to accomplish and that we were told that this is where we needed to get it done. She confirmed what we were told and began the process of adding the PH option to our bands/tickets. She started with DD's first. Now at this point in my trip report most of you should realize that things do not usually go according to plan. Something was not working right. At first it just would not let her do the upgrade at all. Then it would but it wanted to charge us over $80 to upgrade per person and we knew that was not right. At this time DS came running up to inform us that our table was ready so the CM advised us to try at the park we were going to tomorrow to see if they could have any luck. If not we could try again here at the front desk. We needed to get to dinner so we agreed and parted ways.

We made our way over to Boma and to our table. I was really excited about having dinner here. I had heard so many wonderful things about the food, and the atmosphere was amazing!

Fyi I took this picture later in the week during the day so that is the reason for the sunlight coming through the windows. Just use your Disney imagination to pretend that its 7:30 at night lol!

We were seated near the entrance but that also meant that we were within eyesight of the buffet so I figured that was a good seat. I want to warn you that when it came to taking pics at buffets I did a pretty poor job. I did however manage a few of my favorites!

Butternut squash soup. Tasted like liquid pumpkin pie and that was a good thing as far as I was concerned. Yum yum!

This plate consisted of Durban Roasted Chicken, salmon, some kind of pork with a BBQ sauce, and what I believe was Pap and Fufu with some kind of cornbread. Sure that sounds right I think lol!

Carbs plate lol!

And lastly an array of desserts with, of course, Zebra Domes. We used a total of 6TS credits for this meal.
Overall I thought that Boma was good. It was neat to try new foods that you would not otherwise have the opportunity to try. I think it was a good one time experience but we probably would not go out of our way to eat here again unless staying at AKL in which we would probably try the breakfast buffet instead.

We did get to end our evening with a little entertainment which really made a great ending to a very special second first day at Disney!
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[thornton0511]

An Early Morning with EMH Fun
Today was Saturday, Dec 7th and Hollywood Studios was opening at 8am for EMH. Rope Drop was our plan. We had another wonderful breakfast consisting cereal bars again and the drinks that we had saved from our lunch at the Mara the day before.

Our view for breakfast on this particular morning consisted of several animals including giraffes. We had managed to finish breakfast, hop on a bus, and be in line at TSM by 8:05am. We were having a wonderful start today. On a side note we still realized that at some point today we would have to make upgrading our tickets to PH a priority or else we would not be having dinner at another park. Since our FP+ choices were also scheduled for our evening park however it was essential that we take advantage of our morning not standing in line at guest relations. Bleh. As we stood in line waiting for TSM to get going this was the view ahead and behind us. Crazyness.

By 8:10 we had made our way inside the standby line and were working our way around. I love the queue for TSM!

Before too long we had made it to the loading area and it was time to board. The kids each picked a grandparent to compete with and DH and I got to ride together

Here we go!

I really do stink and this ride….always a beaver. Apparently I wasn't too far off from the DH though lol!
We were off the ride by 8:35am. Not too shabby. I noticed as we walked by a lot of people standing in a roped off area waiting for the 9am regular park opening so they could grab regular FP. Hmmmmm not so much for us.

We then headed over to Star Tours. It was obviously a walk on this early in the morning. This is a favorite for my family and they will ride it until they get every combination if you let them. We rode it once and then DFIL started to not feel so well again. We sat for a minute so he could regain his strength. DH thought it might do him some good to head over to the first aid area to have someone take a look at him. So that is where the family headed while I went alone back to TSM to try to get a FP for us for later since it was now close to 9am. We were all going to meet back at Great Movie Ride.There was a really really long line now for TSM FP and after standing in it for several minutes I found a CM and asked if they knew what the return time was for the passes now. I could not believe it when she told me 5:30pm! It was just now right at 9am…..good grief! I felt kind of sorry for people staying off site who were now just getting there. EMH people really did have the advantage. The return time would not have worked for us so I stepped out of line and headed to our meeting place and texted DH to get an update.

Apparently DFIL has high blood pressure and on medication for it so the simulation from Star Tours was no bueno for him. He was still being looked at and so DH and the kids were going to make their way back to me.

I passed the time following around my new furry little friend. I want to pet a Disney squirrel so bad! I know that sounds kind of crazy but they let you get so close to them and they are so cute. Unfortunately this little guy would have nothing to do with that…..someday. Sigh.
At no time at all I was reunited with DH and our kids. We were not sure how long DFIL would be and we did not want them to miss anything seeing how this was their first time at HS. So what could we do to pass the time…..

We made our way down the streets of America.
To be continued….
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[thornton0511]

Revisiting Some Old Favorites and Making Some New Memories

When I left off we were headed down the Streets of America looking for something to do while we waited for the in laws to finish up with First Aid. So where is the best place to kill a little time and let the kids burn off a little morning steam?

Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Play Area of course! We had skipped this on our last trip because we had made it a priority on our first one and did not see the need for a revisit. But being that we wanted to kill some time and it had been two years it seemed ideal now. The kids had a blast running around a bit and as they played I looked at my planner and noticed that Phines and Ferb were starting meet and greets at 9:30am and we were pretty close to that. We searched for our kids (they really should have tracking devices put on them in here) and told them our plans. Even though they were sad to leave meeting P&F was a must for this trip for them.

Being that it was a few minutes before 9:30 and the meet and greet for these two is kind of at the back of the park that made us one of the first ones in line. Awesome. While we were waiting for P&F to arrive we received at text from the in laws that DFIL was feeling better and they were ready to meet up with us. We knew that they were not familiar with the park at all so I left DH with the kids and went to meet the in laws at the Ear Hat, because that seemed like an easy spot to meet. So while I was gone the kids had their meet and greet which they said was awesome.

The time was 9:45am when we all met up again. Since we were on that neck of the woods we decided that Muppet Vision 3-D would be a good safe choice for something we could all do together, especially with DFIL still recouping.

The best part of this show is Statler & Waldorf who sit up in the balcony and make fun of everyone. "Hey, hey look! Look at the guy in the Goofy mask! ….that's not a mask. Oh; sorry lady!" Bahahahaha….never gets old ever!
So anyways after the show we stopped for a few family pics….

And then we had just enough time to do one more thing before our early lunch ADR at 11:05am.

The Great Movie Ride!

I have heard that they have special dinners for people in each of the themed movie set rooms. I bet that would be a lot of fun! The wizard of Oz scene might be a little creepy though lol.
After our ride through the movies it was about time for us to head over and check in for our lunch ADR…but where?
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[thornton0511]

Lunch at Sci-Fi
It was now 11:00 and we had a very important lunch scheduled at….

Sci Fi Dine In. We had eaten here last year on the dining plan and I really did not want to repeat since we were on the dining plan again but DH insisted and really wanted his parents to have this experience. Pick you battles people. I really do like the Sci Fi. The atmosphere is really awesome and the food is pretty good, it's just not my choice for a repeat if you are on the DDP. That's all. But he was right and his parents would really enjoy it so here we were. We checked in and were promptly seated at a car.

Our server took our drink order while everyone looked the menu over. I had informed the server ahead of time that we were on the DDP but that DS and I would be splitting a meal. I was determined to come out of this meal ahead with my credits lol.

While we waited for her to return with our drinks we watched the reel of shows on the screen.

She returned with our beverages and since DS and I were splitting and I knew that you can get a milkshake for your beverage I ordered an oreo milkshake for mine and also water for both of us.
We passed the time waiting for our food by taking more pictures….

And just acting silly……

Soon enough the food had arrived.

Sydney had the kids chicken nugget meal with fries

DH had the ribs with beans and slaw

Cory and I split a hamburger and fries

DMIL had some sort of sandwich with cucumber salad….lol I can't tell what this is sorry

And DFIL had the steak with mash potatoes. But the fun did not stop there. We had dessert coming too…

Sydney had the ice cream sundae

And everyone else went with the turtle cheesecake. Since I had had the milkshake already I let Cory picked out and have his choice for the dessert. This ended up working out great, the portion sizes were great for splitting, and I did not leave feeling miserably stuffed from an early lunch. We used a total of 5 adult TS and 1 child TS for this meal…..with one 1 adult credit pocketed for another time!
Continued in next post

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[Rosco1]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us! Lucky getting an extra day.

My family drives--6 hours--and most trips I can talk my hubby into driving half way down so we can start early----and half way down turns into checking into Pop at the last minute!

Your kids are super cute!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Ahhh Everest. I just love it so much!!! So glad you finally got to experience the glory that is Everest.

Holy cow look at all those people around TSMM. So glad I stayed away from DHS that day.

I have never heard of the special dinners before on the Movie Ride. Interesting.

 

[thornton0511]

As the person who is usually behind those people asking a million and one questions... THANK YOU!!

Haha, no matter how prepared you are, there's always something like a missing pin #. But oh no, you already DID have a pin. See that's what happens with the allowed 60 day in advance thing. Who can remember these things????

Isn't AKL beautiful? I almost stayed there, but have visited, and it is really something. It seems those who stay there, keep staying there. I can see why.

Lol...no problem

Yes I will admit my head was spinning a lot on this trip. I think all of the new stuff just made me plan too much and I tried to research so much that it all ended up jumbled up in my head by the time we got there. Next trip will be way more relaxed for sure

Yes oh my goodness AKL was, IMO, maybe the best looking resort on the inside. We did love it and would stay there again but.....it really is so far away from everything else and I did not plan accordingly for that so it put us behind a lot. That was the ONLY negative thing I found with the resort though...absolutely breathtaking!

 

[thornton0511]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us! Lucky getting an extra day.

My family drives--6 hours--and most trips I can talk my hubby into driving half way down so we can start early----and half way down turns into checking into Pop at the last minute!

Your kids are super cute!

Thank you for reading! Having people who take an interest in your vacations and want to follow along in a story makes doing this so much fun

Wow 6 hours?! So jealous! We decided to "drive it" last May and it took us 18 hours that was tough lol. My husband and I joke around about how we could move closer to WDW.....just a dream
That is funny how you make leaving early turn into a Disney night at the Pop lol! I was really surprised to see how cost efficient a one night stay there was. We would have spent at least that anywhere else and plus it's Disney for goodness sake!

My kids really know how to ham it up for the camera sometimes and bless their hearts we make them pose for probably like a million pictures. Sometimes I wonder what a Disney vacation would be like with no pictures or video...but when you get back home those are the things that allow you to hold on to the good times so I will always have a digital camera in one hand and a video camera in the other!

 

[thornton0511]

Ahhh Everest. I just love it so much!!! So glad you finally got to experience the glory that is Everest.

Holy cow look at all those people around TSMM. So glad I stayed away from DHS that day.

I have never heard of the special dinners before on the Movie Ride. Interesting.

Rob I seriously almost had an anxiety attack on Everest no joke! Scary freakin ride lol I loved it though!

Ha! Oh come on you totally should have gone to HS for EMH that morning with EVERYONE ELSE ONSITE....clearly. The only reason we went during that madness was I had moved our ADR's around so much at that point this was the only day I could then get a ressie for Sci Fi, thus the 11:05 ADR time.

I believe the dinner at the movie ride was a tables in wonderland special event last year that I read about on the disney food blog I think.

 

[jewels1916]

I just got all caught up on your adventure so far, it's a great read! That epic (well, epic for Dallas anyway) ice storm that we had turned out to be a bonus for y'all, and I'm glad to hear it! It actually has me a little worried, since we are going next year...just hoping that we don't have a repeat! The first, and only, time I've been to WDW over Christmas time we stayed at AKL, and it was just so wonderful! I even added a night to my trip this coming December so I could have one night there! Looking forward to reading more, so I'm subbing!

Courtney

 

[scottny]

I would have taken DHS bus. Just walk over or take the boat. Oh you did. LOL.
I thought Beaches & Cream just started taking reservations. I didn’t know they were back then. I do love the place.
One of my favorite boat rides at Disney.
YIKES! an hour. That is bad. If it is there and leaving we walk it usually.
MMM. Love those No Way Jose’s.
Fun times at AK.
Gorgeous resort. I love Jambo House.
Nice you got to see the parade.
That is great you all did EE. Too bad he didn’t feel well after.
I have never done emh in the morning. Maybe one day. I like sleeping. LOL.
The food looked good at Sci-fi.
I am caught up again. Great updates and pics.

 

[thornton0511]

I just got all caught up on your adventure so far, it's a great read! That epic (well, epic for Dallas anyway) ice storm that we had turned out to be a bonus for y'all, and I'm glad to hear it! It actually has me a little worried, since we are going next year...just hoping that we don't have a repeat! The first, and only, time I've been to WDW over Christmas time we stayed at AKL, and it was just so wonderful! I even added a night to my trip this coming December so I could have one night there! Looking forward to reading more, so I'm subbing!

Courtney

Hi there Texas neighbor thank you for joining in! Yes that storm was something alright....we kept checking back home and could not believe the weather we were having! I think the timing of our flight with the storm was like one in a million kind of thing (our kind of luck to)! That is so exciting about your upcoming trip in December! We loved the weather the week we were there, not sweating at 8am and having the humidity take your breath away when you walk outside lol.

 

[thornton0511]

I would have taken DHS bus. Just walk over or take the boat. Oh you did. LOL.
I thought Beaches & Cream just started taking reservations. I didn’t know they were back then. I do love the place.
One of my favorite boat rides at Disney.
YIKES! an hour. That is bad. If it is there and leaving we walk it usually.
MMM. Love those No Way Jose’s.
Fun times at AK.
Gorgeous resort. I love Jambo House.
Nice you got to see the parade.
That is great you all did EE. Too bad he didn’t feel well after.
I have never done emh in the morning. Maybe one day. I like sleeping. LOL.
The food looked good at Sci-fi.
I am caught up again. Great updates and pics.

Hey Scott! You have got to try morning EMH sometime lol you can get so much done. I hear ya though sometimes its nice to just sleep in and after all it is supposed to be a vacation right? This trip was a little different but USUALLY we will get up for EMH or atleast rope drop and then take a nap in the afternoon and go somewhere in the evening.

Yeah I believe that Beaches and Cream does ADR's now but when we were there in December it was still first come first serve kind of deal, I had just run into a CM who swore up and down that you could make ADR's always....no way he was misinformed unfortunately.

Yes the No Way Jose definitely lived up to the hype! The peanut butter in it was AMAZING!!!!!

Hope to get more updates soon....