Kick'n It at Kidani (aka Am I Becoming a Resort Snob?)Final Update 8/20 p.54

[BigDogHU75]

Great updates. There is always something new to try. I realize that reading so many different TRs. I have barely scratched the surface of what Disney has to offer. Added to my to do list is Fantasmic.

 

[KathyRN137]

I took this picture just to give you an idea of what the crowd watching AI from outside looked like:

I'm glad we sat down when we did because as soon as the show started there were people everywhere!

Wow! That's some crowd!

I'll have to keep my eyes on the Times Guide to see when the AI finales are scheduled. I am shocked that DD(13) has no interest in it... she loves the show!

Hope "your" winner does make it as a contestant!! You can say, "I knew her when...!"


Kathy

 

[jenjolt]

Another great update from MEK...oh do I love me some HM oh yes I do!!! That is really my happy place!!!

Glad you guys enjoyed the morning at Frontierland...I do enjoy me some BTMRR!!!

I'm with your DS on this one I am not the world's biggest fan of IASW of course mine adversion to the ride comes from the music that is played and I can't get out of my head for what seems like DAYS and DAYS!!!!

Can't wait for more...LOL!

 

[KathyRN137]

But not before DH tried again for a posterior view:

Thanks LJ. Good block!

I would've said the same thing!!

Don't feel too bad. My HM pix don't come out, either. I think I need to do a camera upgrade!

So many guests have voiced disappointment in the lack of counter service and snack options at Kidani. Hey, not all of us DVCers like to cook in the kitchens!! I'm hoping Disney will do something to correct it soon.


Kathy

 

[wdwnomad]

Hi MEK,

Another great trip report you have going. I have been one of your loyal readers but haven't posted yet. I do have a question. Where did your son get that Mickey shirt? It is pretty nice.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Cracking up over LJ foiling your DH's plans for his picture!

Connor and I talk about going to the Frontierland Shooting Arcade every single trip -- we have yet to make it there.

I never even knew there was food on IASW until I saw your DS's pictures.

For some reason, I can't seem to get the song out of my head now.

 

[eandesmom]

What a lovely morning! The shooting arcade was a ton of fun for our crew, nice to see some daytime pictures of it lol!

Nice backside pics

I might have to kill my DH. LOL

 

[torsie24]

Another great update - glad you were feeling better by the morning.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

What a fun morning in Frontierland before the crowds! Sounds like heaven!!

As CP said, your DS captured a few things I've never noticed on IASW.

Your hubby likes those back shots!

Heat stroke next??

 

[dawnbu40]

Looks like you had a fun morning!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

So, I missed a couple updates here somehow! Oh well, it's a nice way to wake up in the morning, coffee, silence (kiddos still in bed) and good TR's!!!

I'm glad your Fantasmic experience was so great! I've never seen it! We did dinner and fantasmic in 08 but DS6 was so sick I had to take him back to the room! Poor baby! Then this past January we were supposed to see it but the kiddos chose to go back to the hotel and swim instead. Can't blame them, they were tired and you can't swim in Jan in NY!

I can't believe you got so sick!! That must have been terrible! I also get som IBS from changes in my diet, I think that's why I got so sick after breakfast at Crystal Palace in Jan! Luckily for me that only happened once! But I still felt like CRAP!

The breakfast options at Kidani are sooo terrible! Thanks for letting me know! I'm planning a nice big Garden Grocer order for our trip in January. With LOTS of breakfast stuff! I figure I'll get everyone up, shove a donut down their throat and get out the door!

It sounds like you had a good morning at MK! Please tell you you guys really didn't get heat stroke!!! That's why I won't go to WDW much past the end of March - the beginning of Oct! I can't stand being hot and the kiddos turn bright red and start to kinda wilt when they get hot! Even with lots of water etc it's not a good thing!

 

[MEK]

Great updates. There is always something new to try. I realize that reading so many different TRs. I have barely scratched the surface of what Disney has to offer. Added to my to do list is Fantasmic.

Hey BigDog:

I feel the same way. It is always so interesting to look at things through other people's eyes. I get a lot of great ideas from reading the boards, then I goback and try to see/do those things. Fantasmic is really a good show. Although, I probably would have enjoyed it more not being behind the camera!

Wow! That's some crowd!

I'll have to keep my eyes on the Times Guide to see when the AI finales are scheduled. I am shocked that DD(13) has no interest in it... she loves the show!

Hope "your" winner does make it as a contestant!! You can say, "I knew her when...!"


Kathy

I think the finale is pretty much always at 7pm. And the finale was definately good. Those folks could sing. If my winner does not make it into the real show its because she decides not to do it or she is ineligible for some reason. Seriously, she had a great voice and a killer body. She definately has the "look".

Your DD might want to see the show once you are there. The stage and format are so similar. It's definately worth an hour of your time to see the finale!

Another great update from MEK...oh do I love me some HM oh yes I do!!! That is really my happy place!!!

Glad you guys enjoyed the morning at Frontierland...I do enjoy me some BTMRR!!!

I'm with your DS on this one I am not the world's biggest fan of IASW of course mine adversion to the ride comes from the music that is played and I can't get out of my head for what seems like DAYS and DAYS!!!!

Can't wait for more...LOL!

Everytime I ride HM I think about you. I actually wish I could ride HM once with you as my "tour guide". Then I would like to slow the ride down by about 30% so I can really concentrate on everything!

IASW is not one of my favs either. But I really wanted LJ to see it since it is a classic and it's easy to get on (No waits)!

I would've said the same thing!!

Don't feel too bad. My HM pix don't come out, either. I think I need to do a camera upgrade!

So many guests have voiced disappointment in the lack of counter service and snack options at Kidani. Hey, not all of us DVCers like to cook in the kitchens!! I'm hoping Disney will do something to correct it soon.


Kathy

I need a camera upgrade, too. But I just got a video camera, which I barely used during my trip cause I was afraid I would damage it! I sort of wish I had gotten a new camera instead.

I hope Kidani does something about the CS, too. It's going to be too big of a resort do not have CS.

Hi MEK,

Another great trip report you have going. I have been one of your loyal readers but haven't posted yet. I do have a question. Where did your son get that Mickey shirt? It is pretty nice.

Hey wdwnomad:

Welcome I'm so gald you are enjoying my TR. I actually got that shirt for my son in December. My DH and I took a quick solo trip and stopped in the gift shop while touring CSR. I found it in there. That's when all the shirts were 40% off. My DS 14 will not hesistate to wear a Disney shirt. He even wears it at home!

Cracking up over LJ foiling your DH's plans for his picture!

Connor and I talk about going to the Frontierland Shooting Arcade every single trip -- we have yet to make it there.

I never even knew there was food on IASW until I saw your DS's pictures.

For some reason, I can't seem to get the song out of my head now.

I don't know what it is my my DH and backside shots. He took most of the pictures when we went to Niagara Falls. Half are posterior shots. He even had the nerve to take one of me bending over petting a cat! Needless to say, I am on a diet until we leave again in September!

The Arcade was fun. It was nice to be there without a ton of people around.

I didn't know there was food on IASW either. If I ever do a post - Where in the world is this? - I will be sure to include it.

 

[MEK]

What a lovely morning! The shooting arcade was a ton of fun for our crew, nice to see some daytime pictures of it lol!

Nice backside pics

I might have to kill my DH. LOL

Oh - that's right - you guys only went to the MK at night! It was lovely during the daytime. You'll have to try it sometime!

Another great update - glad you were feeling better by the morning.

Hey Torsie:

Thanks. I was feeling much better! I see you have a trip coming up in late September/October. Where are you staying? I have to go back and look at your siggie to see if you have a PTR!

Oh - just looked - AKL! A big to you!

What a fun morning in Frontierland before the crowds! Sounds like heaven!!

As CP said, your DS captured a few things I've never noticed on IASW.

Your hubby likes those back shots!

Heat stroke next??

Hey C:

It was a brief moment of heaven until the crowds rolled in. I even thought to myself, "Why haven't I ever come back here in the early morning before?" Oh yeah - SPACE MTN -which I miss so dearly!

My DS might be showing some budding talent with that camera. What do you think?

I'll see if I can find a few most backside shots to post before this TR is over!

Looks like you had a fun morning!

Great morning! It would have been nice to get there right after park opening, but hey....I'm not complaining!

So, I missed a couple updates here somehow! Oh well, it's a nice way to wake up in the morning, coffee, silence (kiddos still in bed) and good TR's!!!

Oh. I know what you're saying. I love reading TR's in the morning, but then I always end up having to rush to get ready for work! Still, I can't resist!

I'm glad your Fantasmic experience was so great! I've never seen it! We did dinner and fantasmic in 08 but DS6 was so sick I had to take him back to the room! Poor baby! Then this past January we were supposed to see it but the kiddos chose to go back to the hotel and swim instead. Can't blame them, they were tired and you can't swim in Jan in NY!
Well, you know what they say......Third time is a charm. You should try to see it this January. But, I do agree that swimming in January when its 30 degrees at home is pretty special.


I can't believe you got so sick!! That must have been terrible! I also get som IBS from changes in my diet, I think that's why I got so sick after breakfast at Crystal Palace in Jan! Luckily for me that only happened once! But I still felt like CRAP!
Yeah - I had a rough hour or so there. The worst was I wanted to go to sleep, but I didn't want to be woken up with cramps so I stayed up and read.

The breakfast options at Kidani are sooo terrible! Thanks for letting me know! I'm planning a nice big Garden Grocer order for our trip in January. With LOTS of breakfast stuff! I figure I'll get everyone up, shove a donut down their throat and get out the door!
Good idea! I liked that Albertsons that we stopped at. Prices were reasonable and things were easy to find. But my kids weren't feeling the cereal after a few day!

It sounds like you had a good morning at MK! Please tell you you guys really didn't get heat stroke!!! That's why I won't go to WDW much past the end of March - the beginning of Oct! I can't stand being hot and the kiddos turn bright red and start to kinda wilt when they get hot! Even with lots of water etc it's not a good thing!

Nah - We didn't get heatstroke, but the heat definately started getting to me in the next installment. Somebody may have gotten heatstroke though, as you will see in my next update. But it will have to wait until I get home tonight!

 

[Queenofallthings]

I just found your trip report!! This is one of the best I have ever read. Can't wait for more.

 

[eandesmom]

The only thing I felt bad about was the LJ really wanted to go to a water park. Typhoon Lagoon, to be exact. He had read about it before the trip and asked about it several times. Even his parents were cool with him going to a water park, which surprised me because I think the water parks require ALOT more supervision than the regular parks. I'm curious to see if anyone with kids agrees with me on this. I think a 9 year old has to be watched really, really closely. That means either myself or my DS14 would have to watch him every second in the wave pool. Honestly, I really didn't feel up to it. I love the water parks, but I wasn't sure if I had the energy to keep up with a 9 year old. So, I felt bad.....but hey.....if the rash hadn't struck, I would have taken him today.

LJ is such a cool kid that he just took it in stride. His mom seemed more disappointed them him, but Typhoon Lagoon is a far cry from the water slides at the YMCA!

So.....next up....... A Magical (and very hot) Day at the MK. And pictures....lots of pictures!

I couldn't agree more. I find water parks draining! When we go DS10 has to be with one of us at all times and since he can (and wants to do) the bigger things, it usually goes like this.

• DH and DSS16 take off for the REALLY big things
• DS10 and DSD12 stick together
• I'm with DS8 and have to do everything he does, plus try to keep track of DS10 and DSD12.

Generally that means 4 of us are in the same area and meet at a general location after each slide/ride. But timings are different and there is a lot of wet waiting involved. ugh!

A "real" water park is SOOOOOO big, but for some reason the opportunity and desire to split up is heightened versus a regular park and it's just draining keeping track of kids!

 

[eandesmom]

Oh - that's right - you guys only went to the MK at night! It was lovely during the daytime. You'll have to try it sometime!

Now now....we DID get there during the day. Several times. Just didn't get on hardly any rides during the daylight hours! I hope to change that next trip.

 

[MEK]

I just found your trip report!! This is one of the best I have ever read. Can't wait for more.

Welcome Queenofallthings! Welcome to my TR! Glad you are enjoying it! I will keep trying to update everyday. But now I'm getting sad because I'm already 1/2 way through the trip!

I couldn't agree more. I find water parks draining! When we go DS10 has to be with one of us at all times and since he can (and wants to do) the bigger things, it usually goes like this.

• DH and DSS16 take off for the REALLY big things
• DS10 and DSD12 stick together
• I'm with DS8 and have to do everything he does, plus try to keep track of DS10 and DSD12.

Generally that means 4 of us are in the same area and meet at a general location after each slide/ride. But timings are different and there is a lot of wet waiting involved. ugh!

A "real" water park is SOOOOOO big, but for some reason the opportunity and desire to split up is heightened versus a regular park and it's just draining keeping track of kids!

Oh yeah - I think you really got the short end of the stick on that water park deal. One mom - 3 kids. One dad - 1 kid. So unfair! I'm glad you agree that supervising kids at a water park is a lot of work. It seems that is the general consensus, so now I don't feel as bad for not doing it.

Now now....we DID get there during the day. Several times. Just didn't get on hardly any rides during the daylight hours! I hope to change that next trip.

That's what I meant......You were there during the day, but you couldn't get on any of those darn rides thanks to the crowds. Some of your crowds sounded ridiculous!

 

[manntra]

Love your HM pictures. Madame Leota's head is quite interesting with her flowing hair inside that ball!! One of my favorite rides.
Thanks for the information on Kidani's lack of counter service. I had read before that it was not so great so good to know!
Tracy

 

[MEK]

Love your HM pictures. Madame Leota's head is quite interesting with her flowing hair inside that ball!! One of my favorite rides.
Thanks for the information on Kidani's lack of counter service. I had read before that it was not so great so good to know!
Tracy

Hi Manntra!

I do love Madame Leota's head. To me, it looks nothing like that during the ride. Then you end up with a picture that is totally different. I guess that's the spirits at work.

I'm trying to spread the word about the lack of CS at Kidani so people will be aware. Had a not had a car or minded walking, I probably would have been irritated.

 

[MEK]

So when I left off my DS14 had just finished taking a bagillion pictures in IASW. When we got off the ride it was about 11:10am. I asked LJ the same question I asked him around this time yesterday, "Are you hungry?" And what do you think the anser was. "YES". I didn't really mind that we had gotten into the habit of eating early. I can ALWAYS eat. It's never a problem.

I always eat at Pecos Bill and I really didn't want to have lunch there today. Plus LJ doesn't like burgers. He does not like burgers, mac n cheese, spaghetti, grilled cheese. There are a lot of foods he just doesn't like or has never tried. I also knew he wouldn't eat fish, but I figured they Columbia Harbor house (CHH) would have chicken nuggets. And they did. I like this place. I like the atmosphere. I like the upstairts. I like the young lady in Colonial garb who greets customers when they come it. I've eaten here only twice before - once for lunch with the family and once during the KTTK tour. I enjoyed it both times. Since it was still early we easily scored a table on the 2nd floor with a view of HM.

Here was our window:

And here was our view:

That is one long line for HM.

In case you need a closer look:

I didn't take any food pictures, but I do remember what we had. I had the tuna which was on a multigrain toast. It was yummy although I think that tuna is a weird sandwich to eat at disneyworld. LJ and DS had the chicken nuggets (no surprise there) and DH has the fish. I think we all shared. We were learning now that we had to fill LJ up on fries because his portions were just too small. I honestly forget what type of cake/baked good we had for desert.

While we were there I discovered that I could add to my collections of boats. Check this out:

When we were done eating it was time to ride Splash mtn. Better yet, it was time to pick up another FP. So we grabbed another FP for Splash and LJ took his first ride on splash. It was fun because he really didn't know where the big drop was, so everytime we went down a hill he said, "Is this it? Is this it?" Splash need not fail to please. Somehow I managed to get pretty wet on this ride. I think I needed Wigd's shower camp! With the heat it didn't matter. I was dry in 5 minutes.

I'm not sure where I was when I took this picture, but I like it:

So let's see how our ride pics turned out, shall we:

After Splash, DS suggested we take the train over to Toon Town. I was OK with this since it was hot and I didn't real feel like walking. So....All aboard to Toon Town.

I am embarrased to say that I have only been in Mickey's house once before. I thought LJ might like it, but I forgot that he is a 9 year old boy so Toon Town was only mildly interesting for him. But I got some nice shots.

I love the Mickey shaped tomatoes and pumpkins:

To be continued: