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

MEK --

Thanks for the TR, it's been lots of fun to follow along with you so far. We're staying at Kindani in November and I'm LOVIN' the pictures. Keep posting them please!!! :goodvibes Can't wait to keep reading your report!
 
MEK!! I'm so sorry I'm late!! However what a great trip report so far!! You had an amazing view of the savannah, what gorgeous pictures!! Sounds like a great AK adventure at night, that is something I'm definitely doing in Sept!!! Can't wait to read more!
 
Wow! I have honestly got to say that I've never seen pictures of AK at night!! The lights look so different when lit against the dark! Very cool!!

Speaking of cool, I think LJ is pretty "cool" and "awesome" himself!!

And you're right... that bed in the MBR sure does look comfy... :cloud9:


Kathy
 
Oh, goody another update!!! :goodvibes

Animal Kingdom is a lot of fun at night, isn't it? We did it for our first visit there in 2007! Love all your pics of Dinoland! And I love that LJ became a thrill ride junky! :lmao: We love Dinosaur at my house, too! :goodvibes
 

Ok! All caught up! I'm loving you TR!!!!! All your pictures are beautiful!! Especially the Kindani pictures! I'm having a hard time not calling the kids over to tell them to look at where we're staying in Jan!! LOL!!

I'm interested to know if you got in trouble with your brother and SIL for keeping the little one up past his bedtime and letting him ride thrill rides! BTW, what were they thinking getting the passes and coming past security at the airport?! I get the whole nervous parent, your kids going away without you thing but really! Not only wass it complete torture for the other 2 but they probably made LJ nervous! I'm glad he, and his brothers, made it through!!

Can't wait to read more!

Glad you are all caught up. You will love Kidani in January! Your kids will love it. :love:

I did not get in trouble for pushing the boundaries with LJ. In the middle of the week I got on the phone with brother and told him, "whatever anxieties and phobias you have about rides and enclosed spaces, you son inherited NONE of them".

Yeah - the whole airport thing was weird. I know it was torture for DN, 7. The two youngers ones were just crazy running around. It looked like we were a bunch of gypsies camping out at the airport! :laughing: Good thing we had a huge gate area with plenty of room for the kids to run around. You know how some gates areas are - there is barely enough room for passengers to sit.

MEK --

Thanks for the TR, it's been lots of fun to follow along with you so far. We're staying at Kindani in November and I'm LOVIN' the pictures. Keep posting them please!!! :goodvibes Can't wait to keep reading your report!

Welcome Baloosgirl! Glad you are enjoying the TR. You will love Kidani. :love: I have plenty more pics to post and plenty more tales to tell! Thanks for following along.

MEK!! I'm so sorry I'm late!! However what a great trip report so far!! You had an amazing view of the savannah, what gorgeous pictures!! Sounds like a great AK adventure at night, that is something I'm definitely doing in Sept!!! Can't wait to read more!

Jenjolt! Yeah! I'm so glad you found your way over to my TR! That actually wasn't the view of the savannah from our room. I took those pics from the general viewing area and from the window across the hall from our room. That's why I didn't mind having a standard view room. I still got plenty of animal viewing time in!

AK at night is really cool. I really want to do it again! In fact, seeing the few pictures I took makes me want to go back for a night time visit ASAP!


Wow! I have honestly got to say that I've never seen pictures of AK at night!! The lights look so different when lit against the dark! Very cool!!

Speaking of cool, I think LJ is pretty "cool" and "awesome" himself!!

And you're right... that bed in the MBR sure does look comfy... :cloud9:


Kathy

AK was definately cool at night. I just wish I had more time there. And EE....what a sight, all lit up like that. I think they need to keep AK open late TWO nights a week. Anyone want to second that?

LJ is pretty awesome and he has a few hidden talents that I have not revealed yet. Plus he got all the good "first born" traits and none of the bad!

Oh, goody another update!!! :goodvibes

Animal Kingdom is a lot of fun at night, isn't it? We did it for our first visit there in 2007! Love all your pics of Dinoland! And I love that LJ became a thrill ride junky! :lmao: We love Dinosaur at my house, too! :goodvibes

I almost started another update tonight, but knew I wouldn't do it justice. It will just have to wait until tomorrow. Unfortunately, I have to do music for two masses at church tomorrow and then I am going to see my mom and dad for the afternoon. They live an hour away. It was so nice having three works off from doing any music, except I play the guitar and I lost all my callouses. My fingers hurt already just from practicing! :headache:

AK is the best at night and Dinosaur is my favorite ride, second to EE. I can ride Dinosaur for ever, but EE makes me a tad dizzy after a couple of rides )so irritating), so Dinosaur definately gets more ride time in my book.
 
You are quite popular, MEK!

I love that LJ seems the complete opposite of all that his parents told you. I am also a firm believer that kids act completely different for everyone then they do their parents. :lmao:

I will get to AK at night soon! It looks so cool at night!
 
Hi!

It seems my family and yours were in the World for the EXACT same dates. June 8-15. We stayed at Coronado Springs!

I really wanted to go to Animal Kingdom that Monday for EMH, but got out-voted for Magic Kingdom, as it was our first night. Oh well!

I certainly hope you get the chance to ride EE at night, it's SO much better. My first ride was at night, and the darkness is so much more encompassing, it's a lot scarier. I actually thought we were going to go upside down! Plus, the light of the Animal Kingdom are beautiful for the split second you see them coming out of the mountain for the photo.

I agree about the weather and crowds, however.


You're a nurse practitioner? I'm about to start college in hopes of becoming a nurse!

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I'm a big advocate of EE at night.
 
I love parks at night. I think AK closed at 7 when we went. But in December night comes early so I can see what its like at night also.
 
I'm all caught up and love the report so far. Thanks for the photos of Kidani. My DW and I will be staying at AKL Jambo House in October and you helped me decide to make the walk during our stay and check out Kidani.

Who knows? There might be an AKV ownership in our future.
 
We'll be there Sept. 20-29th and I can't wait!! Our first trip "home"!! Looking forward to more !!
 
Katie - It really was beautiful. The whole place is beautiful. That's why I think I could turn into a resort snob after that experience. It's hard for me to picture a nicer room, (although I am sure they exist). Oh yeah....I think I am pretty high up on LJ's list....right behind uncle Denny (my DH) and his two cousins!

Want to become my aunt? OK, you aren't old enough for that...how about the big sister I never had?
 
I'm a little late but have to say- your room is FANTASTIC! And that tub :cloud9:
We are going at Christmas time and DH desperately wants to stay at the Bay Lake Tower... I may have to convince him that Kidani is the way to go :thumbsup2
 
Heyy joining in and loving it!! It was so nice of you to bring ur nephew and it is looking like u are going to have a lot of time showing him around! :woohoo:
 
You are quite popular, MEK!

I love that LJ seems the complete opposite of all that his parents told you. I am also a firm believer that kids act completely different for everyone then they do their parents. :lmao:

I will get to AK at night soon! It looks so cool at night!

LL.... you are very correct. Kids do act differently when they are not around their parents. I just think LJ's parents never really tested his adventurous side. Yes, you must get to AK at now and now you will during your September trip! :thumbsup2

Hi!

It seems my family and yours were in the World for the EXACT same dates. June 8-15. We stayed at Coronado Springs!

I really wanted to go to Animal Kingdom that Monday for EMH, but got out-voted for Magic Kingdom, as it was our first night. Oh well!

I certainly hope you get the chance to ride EE at night, it's SO much better. My first ride was at night, and the darkness is so much more encompassing, it's a lot scarier. I actually thought we were going to go upside down! Plus, the light of the Animal Kingdom are beautiful for the split second you see them coming out of the mountain for the photo.

I agree about the weather and crowds, however.


You're a nurse practitioner? I'm about to start college in hopes of becoming a nurse!

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I'm a big advocate of EE at night.

Welcome to my TR Vegetablegirl and WELCOME to the DIS! We were at CSR our last two nights! Did you like it there? I got some great photos of CSR. I would definately go back. Your description of EE at night sounds like sooooooo much fun. Ugggghhhhhh! I really need to ride EE at night!

Good luck with nursing school! It's a lot of work, but there are so many things you can do with a nursing degree.

I've got too many windows open right now, so I'll be back in a few to add more comments!
 
I don't know how I got so far behind! :confused3 Great pics of the rooms and AK at night! :thumbsup2 I am crossing my fingers that you get to ride EE in the dark at some point! I think that would be really cool!
 
I love parks at night. I think AK closed at 7 when we went. But in December night comes early so I can see what its like at night also.

Welcome akayek! I have to agree that night time is the best time in all the parks. The temperature is so perfect in the summer. I have to tell you that I LOVE the title of your TR and I really need to hop over there and start reading!

I'm all caught up and love the report so far. Thanks for the photos of Kidani. My DW and I will be staying at AKL Jambo House in October and you helped me decide to make the walk during our stay and check out Kidani.

Who knows? There might be an AKV ownership in our future.

Welcome descamilla! Another AKL fan! :thumbsup2 When you see some of the cool artwork that's over there you will agree that's its worth the walk. I also have some cool pics of Saana that I took early one morning (but I can't post them until I get to day 3 :rotfl:) AKV ownership - sounds promising!

We'll be there Sept. 20-29th and I can't wait!! Our first trip "home"!! Looking forward to more !!

That's a nice long trip! Lucky you. DH and I will be there Sept 20 - 24th for a quickie free dining trip, so we aren't staying DVC. We are actually staying at POP because we are trying to keep the expenses as low as possible. No flames please, but POP is going to be a huge downgrade from our Kidani villa. I still love POP, though and we will still have a great time!

Want to become my aunt? OK, you aren't old enough for that...how about the big sister I never had?

You bet! :thumbsup2Cause I don't have a sister either! :hug:

I'm a little late but have to say- your room is FANTASTIC! And that tub :cloud9:
We are going at Christmas time and DH desperately wants to stay at the Bay Lake Tower... I may have to convince him that Kidani is the way to go :thumbsup2

HI Travelbug! Welcome! :thumbsup2 Bay Lake Tower - nice! I would love to stay there too if it didn't use so many freak'n points. But the room at Kidani really was heaven and that African music. I need the soundtrack for my car whenever I am feeling stressed!

Heyy joining in and loving it!! It was so nice of you to bring ur nephew and it is looking like u are going to have a lot of time showing him around! :woohoo:

Welcome ibedancin! Glad you are enjoying the TR so far. Looks like you have a trip that's just around the corner. Lucky you! :thumbsup2 thanks for stopping by!
 
I don't know how I got so far behind! :confused3 Great pics of the rooms and AK at night! :thumbsup2 I am crossing my fingers that you get to ride EE in the dark at some point! I think that would be really cool!


All this talk about EE and night is really making me want to change my September dates by a day. That, and I can get the exact flight times I want at the right price if I leave on a Monday. :confused3 What's a girl to do????? I should really check to see exactly when my coworker is leaving for Africa. We can't overlap days off by more than a day or two, so I have to watch it!
 
Wow....where did the day go???? I was really hoping to get a nice long update in tonight, but that might not happen. At least I am going to start. I had a pretty long day today - church, picking up DS16, visiting my mom and dad, dropping a present off at my cat sitter's house, ect., ect.

So when we left off, DH, LJ, and I were leaving the AK so I could get him into bed by 10pm. I think he practically fell asleep in the car on the way back to Kidani, which was all of 2 minutes. No.... wait..... actually we got lost leaving AK, if you can believe that. Maybe we turned Ellie off, maybe we didn't listen, but we ended up on Rt. 192 (or is it 194). Oh...that's right, we left Ellie off thinking that we didn't need her to get to AKL. Silly us!

Once we realized we were LOST :scared1:we turned her on. She seriously took us a great way back to Kidani. I never would have figured out her route. If the navigating had been left to me, we may have ended up at Universal Studios! :laughing:Not so much because I am directionally challenged, more because I just wanted to get home and I was tired. That combination affects my brain power.

Now you may be wondering whatever happened to those three handsome teens who we brought to the world???? Well, ummmmmmm....We sold them for more DVC points. :laughing: Seriously, all kidding aside....they ended up at DTD. They ate at the Earl of Sandwich and walked around scoping out "hotties". I'm not sure what time they got back. Once they texted me that they were on the return bus, I went to sleep.....in 3 seconds flat!

I go up around 6:30am on Day 2! Hey, that's late for me. I have to get up at 5am during the work week. :eek: For those of you who will be staying at Kidani in the future.....Remember this.......IT IS PITCH BLACK IN THERE IN THE MORNING. The room darkening drapes really do their job well. Why am I telling you this???? Only to prepare those of you who will be first up and don't want to wake anyone. Clear a path, lay out your clothes, get the coffee pot ready the night before. Do whatever you need to do or else you will be covered in briuses like I was! :rotfl:

So, making that coffee in the dark was a challenge. I really didn't want to wake up LJ, so I worked by the light of the refrigerator door. Another thing to remember about the villas is the cups are SMALL, REALLY small! If you like coffee you will need three refills.

After coffee DH and I went for a run. I will say that it is alot easier to run at SSR and the moderate resorts. Kidani had only one sidewalk path to Jambo. DH and I did find a road the went back past the tennis courts and basket ball court. The road ended at some type of contruction site. Worried that we probably weren't supposed to be there, DH and I turned around and ran over to Jambo House. We stayed there just long enough to walk into the AC, then we headed back to Kidani. When we arrived LJ was just waking up.

After breakfast (fruit and croissants) DH, LJ, and I headed back to AK. I did make a half hearted attempt to wake the teens, but I knew they had probably gone to the pool when they got back from DTD. No one was budging in the room, so off we went. But first we had to find our car which ended up being a pretty far walk from our room. That's OK.....at least we found it!

We did not make it to AK at rope drop. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was all that walking around in the dark. Maybe it was my half-hearted attempt at waking teenagers, maybe it was LJ's phone call home. Whatever the reason, I don't think we were parked until about 9:15am.

We scooted past the tree of life in such a hurry I forgot to take my camera out. I was on a mission to get EE FP's. I had talked to LJ about what was involved in the ride and I was pretty convinced that he was ready for it.

After we got our EE FP's LJ and I went on Kali River Rapids. DH declined saying he was planning to get pictures. Here is a short video clip he took of us. Yes - I am the only one with a plastic rain coat pulled up over my head. No wet hair for this girl.



In case you are not interested in watching 4 seconds of video, here are a few more shots:

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I've said this before and I'll say it again....Kali is just too short. I love theming, but I hate the let down when the ride ends so abruptly.

After Kali we got to watch some monkeys. They were very entertaining:

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We still had time to kill before our EE FP's came due. So where do you think we went after the monkeys???????

Anyone guess Dinosaur? Yup, that's were LJ wanted to go. I hand no objections to that! ;) As we were leaving asia I got to photograph my first real boat of the trip:

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We crossed the bridge and said Good Bye to this:

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Over in Dinoland we said Hello to these critters:

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Entering Dinosaur I had one of those really annoying crowd moments. Apparently we entered the line right after two people, who were part of a MUCH larger party. Well, the stragglers of that party decided they could not be separated from their fearless leaders for more the 60 seconds, so one by one they all pushed by us in line. I don't know how many people there were. I tried to count them on several occasions, but I kept miscounting. It doesn't bother me too much that they squeezed by us, what bothers me is that not one of the 8 - 10 people stomping on our toes said "excuse me". I tried not to let this incident bother me more than a few seconds because, before long, we were in our Rover going to the crustaceous period.

Up next.......Does LJ conquer Everest?

but first... a few more pics......

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Now you may be wondering whatever happened to those three handsome teens who we brought to the world???? Well, ummmmmmm....We sold them for more DVC points. :laughing:

I bet there are some moments when you wish you could...:laughing:

Do whatever you need to do or else you will be covered in briuses like I was! :rotfl:

Yikes! I noticed the same thing in our regular room -- I would turn the bathroom light on to be able to see -- of course my family sleeps so soundly I probably could have turned on every light and they never would have noticed.

I've said this before and I'll say it again....Kali is just too short. I love theming, but I hate the let down when the ride ends so abruptly.

I agree -- we love it, but it is over much too soon.

Entering Dinosaur I had one of those really annoying crowd moments. Apparently we entered the line right after two people who were part of a MUCH larger party. Wel,l the stragglers of that party decided they could not be separated from their fearless leaders for more the 60 seconds, so one by one they all pushed by us in line. I don't know how many people there were. I tried to count them on several occasions, but I kept miscounting. It doesn't bother me too much that they squeezed by us, what bothers me most is that not one of the 8 - 10 people stopping on our toes said "excuse me". I tried not to let this incident bother me more than a few seconds because, before long, we were in our Rover going to the crustaceous period.

Rude people get all over me -- and this not being separated from their fearless leader (:rotfl: I loved Rocky and Bullwinkle growing up so I laughed out loud when I read that) really annoys me. Wait until you hear my Wildlife Express story. :headache:

You have some great photos from Animal Kingdom! :goodvibes
 
We were at AK that day, as well! Maybe we caught each other in our pictures.We could have even been at the EE fastpass machines at the same time! Wow, that's so cool.


About CS, did you get a redone room? They're so much prettier than the previous rooms.
 












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