"Look at those Chompers!!" A January 2010 AKL DxDP TR...FINAL Update: 6/12 Day 8!

[stayhomemom77]

Sorry to hear about Jack-Jack. Hope he gets better soon so you can avoid the doctor.

Looking forward to another update when you are able to get to it.

Julie

 

[weswife]

Great report so far! The pics. are great! Your boys are sweet! Hope Jack feels better soon!

 

[goofy's_gurl]

Great Report so far. Gotta love the no lines. Hopefully it will stay just like that.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Sorry to hear your little man is not feeling well! I hope he gets better soon.

 

[gellybean]

Awwww, I'm sorry Jack-Jack isn't feeling well! Hope he gets better soon!

Thanks!! He does seem to be feeling better! I think it is just allergies. The cedar pollen is through the roof down here. Cold front coming through this weekend should take care of the pollen for a little bit!

Sorry to hear about Jack-Jack. Hope he gets better soon so you can avoid the doctor.

Looking forward to another update when you are able to get to it.

Julie

Thanks Julie!!! So far, no doctor! Am about to write out an update right this second!

Great report so far! The pics. are great! Your boys are sweet! Hope Jack feels better soon!

Thanks!!! and

They can be turkeys, but are sweet most of the time!

Great Report so far. Gotta love the no lines. Hopefully it will stay just like that.

The no lines were FABULOUS!! Course the only line we're talking about is ME....

Sorry to hear your little man is not feeling well! I hope he gets better soon.

Thanks Brook!! I hope Henry got to feeling better while you guys were in Disney!! Do y'all have another trip in the works yet? Hmmm??

 

[Lady Lallie]

I hadn't realized you had started this! Oy!

Well I'm here now.

Jack Jack is just the cutest! I love the pic with him sitting on the luggage.

I like the monkey harness too, I saw A LOT of those down in Disney and they intrigue me.

 

[Kimmy]

Subbing! Great start, your boys are so cute.

 

[MinnieNurse]

Joining in!!

 

[gellybean]

I believe the last picture I left you with was actually of Dash standing in the check in area of AKL. We had pushed our way over to the left side of the lodge, avoiding really looking at anything yet. I'm weird like that. Always want to make check-in official before the exploring commences. There was no one in the online check-in line and the gentleman there was very friendly. I stood there for all of 3 secs before he handed me the folder with all our buttons in it, and the little envelope thingie with our KTTW cards and room number circled on it. I literally didn't have time to even ponder where our room might be, it was that fast. Before I knew it, he was pointing me to a room directly above the check-in desk. I had called and requested the Ostrich Trail, near the lobby. I was given 'near the lobby' and it was even better than down the Ostrich Trail wing. I knew as we headed across the lobby to the main elevator that there was a savannah in the direction that our balcony should be. Soon enough we were sliding our KTTW card in the door and were green lit to find out just what kinda view we had.

We did not get an upgrade, per se.


But we did have what I have been told is a partial savannah view.

Our view

Mr. I was pretty happy with our room view, too.

As was Dash! You can see the roof area in this picture.

We were on top of a roof, so our railing was a solid wall and there was about another 5 feet of roof before the savannah started. We couldn't look straight down to the savannah but we could definitely see the animals. Mr. Incredible being so tall had the least amount of trouble seeing them. Dash and I had to step up onto a chair and Jack-Jack just had to be held up by Mr. I to see the giraffes and ostriches. It was great. At that moment is was an upgrade to us.

The very first thing I did was .....



take pictures??







Nope!



Turn on Stacy!!!!!

There's nothing that says you're at WDW like Stacy. She was talking about AK and was pointing out a big skeleton of a dinosaur and said "Look at those chompers!!" It made me giggle, the way she said it, but I didn't exactly give it a second thought. Yet.

I did eventually take a ton of pictures of the room:

Loved that cushy chair in the corner!

The backpack on top of the stroller had all our winter-esque clothing in it we'd need for the park that night.

I could decorate an entire room around that mirror.

Love the bathroom wall paper!!

One of Mickey's cousins was waiting for us.

The shower with the fabulous tile! Loved the rain style head in the shower! Nice perk!

Really cool artwork above the handy 'extra' chest of drawers in the hallway nook.

Hidden Mickey towel animal.

View of the bed from the other side of the room.


Then we decided we were hungry! I asked Mr. I if he thought we could make it til MK to eat and he said no. So we decided we'd check out Mara, get our mugs since we had upgraded to DxDP 72 hrs before leaving on our trip , and just soak up the resort for a bit.

Dash in front of the railing, right in front of our door. Room 4205. Am I the only one that sees the hidden mickey above his head?

Views of the lobby, from outside our door.

Love the bridge!!!


I sighed. And I sighed. I was so crazy happy. I think my vacation could have just stayed at that moment and I would have been on . I remember standing in the hallway, overlooking the lobby from the fourth floor and just closing my eyes. I loved that lodge. It's just me. I guess we all have one place at Disney that speaks to us more than any others, and don't get me wrong, I still want to stay at other places through the years. But at that moment, I was definitely in my happy resort place.

We made the short walk to Mara, glad for our jackets as it was getting chilly in the shade. The guy that took our order was super friendly. Mr. I didn't know what he wanted to order and the CM offered a sample of the African Stew so Mr. I could see if he liked it. The ordering system there is a little confusing, with the ordering and the pager, but I appreciate the system because of the fact that I have kids. It allowed us to go ahead and find a table and get everything set up while the food was cooking, instead of the other way around.
I remember sitting there at the table in Mara, just so happy we were finally there, that the vacation was all in front of us and wanting to freeze that moment in time.

I made a comment to Mr. I that this was the moment of any vacation that I loved the most. We were here, that feeling of magic had hit, and we had our whole trip ahead of us. The possiblities were endless and the magic palpable but yet we still had that anticipation of great things around the corner. That moment, I told Mr. I, was a moment I wish I could record on the great Tivo of life and come back to on a bad day. Not that there weren't many other moments of our trip that were great. Not that I don't love the vacation itself. I do. But for me, the beginning of a trip, AFTER you've arrived and have that feeling of it's really finally happening, is one of the best parts of vacations. And no vacation gives you that feeling better than a Disney vacation.



Continued in next post....

 

[gellybean]

Continued from previous post!


We ordered a kids pizza for Dash, a Chicken and Corn flatbread for me, and Mr. I had the African Stew afterall. He liked the sample. I got to try his after he ordered it, and I'll admit, he out ordered me here. His stew was far better than my flatbread. I apparently am not a huge fan of cilantro pesto or whatever the green drizzle was. I had my first zebra domes of the trip....

YUM!! DROOL!

Mr. I had carrot cake and the boys had grapes. We all shared with Jack-Jack
and got bottled water and bottled oj for our drinks with our meals since we had our handy dandy mugs.

Drinks, and desserts! Love the new mugs! I got a maroon one for me-which was hard for me as a Longhorn fan- a yellow one for Dash and a black one for Mr. I. Made it easier telling them apart, germ and drink choice wise!

Jack-Jack had some of the juice and shared the french fries, pizza and the meat out of the African stew.


The boys watched some tv and just enjoyed being free for a bit.

Since it was so empty, I didn't have a problem with letting them stand in front of the tv!


The place was empty. I think one other family was in there for a few minutes and that was it. I again was cautiously optimistic as to what this meant for the crowd levels but knew it wasn't exactly peak eating time either.

We finished at the Mara around 4pm after boarding the ME at 2pm so not bad really. We ran the mugs and bottled waters up to the room -- that about the AKL, especially easy with our room off the lobby, and especially after staying at Pop the last two trips, with such a trek to the room -- and were on a bus for MK at 4:30pm.

We were the only family waiting for an MK bus and I think we had a 10 mins wait for the bus.

Dash waiting for a bus!

Jack sat on my lap and was OUT in about 30 secs. He was exhausted.

The look on my face cracks me up! That's my why is this not working? face. This was the 5th attempt at a self-picture to show Jack-Jack passed out.

Dash has been messing with a loose tooth for a month, I swear. It was so lose it hurt when he would eat. I was scared he was gonna swallow it. So he was wiggling it on the bus and I was like JUST PULL IT ALREADY!

Well he did.




What a memory, right? I thought it was just awesome. He'll always get to tell his kids and grandkids that he lost his first front tooth on top, on a bus to Magic Kingdom, where he was there celebrating his 7th birthday.

We had a talk about the tooth fairy and Dash asked me if I thought Tinkerbell might be the resident tooth fairy on Disney property. I told him that very well could the case but we'd probably never know.


As soon as we got off the bus, we laid a sleeping Jack-Jack down in his stroller. Covered him up because the sun was going down and it was cold!.

I have a very similar picture to this one from last year.

I stopped and took a picture of Dash's new grin....

You can kinda see the missing teeth! He already was missing two on the bottom, now one on the top, also.


and suddenly Stacy's voice was in my head.

So every single time I saw his new toothless grin for the rest of the trip. I would say " Look at those chompers!!"












Might not be as funny to everyone else. But I thought it was hilarious.


As we came around the bend, I noticed there was something hanging from the railing at the train station.....

Train station with.... something hanging from the railing!

Could it be?!!!!



Up next....

Would we survive the freezing temperatures?

Would Jack-Jack sleep through our traditional first ride of the trip?

Would I finally get to see Wishes after striking out 4 times on seeing it last trip!?



STAY TUNED!!!!

 

[gellybean]

I hadn't realized you had started this! Oy!

Well I'm here now.

Jack Jack is just the cutest! I love the pic with him sitting on the luggage.

I like the monkey harness too, I saw A LOT of those down in Disney and they intrigue me.

LL is here!!! No worries about not realizing I had started. I was 8 pages late to yours!!

Thanks!! I think he's pretty stinkin' cute myself !

The monkey harness was awesome! Best 10 bucks I ever spent!! I took him to the vet's office the other day and had him on the harness. But I was carrying the dog. Pretty funny, that I leash my kid and carry my dog. But my kid outweighs my dog by 32 lbs!!

One of the vet techs in there said she was gonna get her dog a monkey harness!

Thanks for reading LL!

Subbing! Great start, your boys are so cute.

Thank you!!! and

Joining in!!

Thanks for reading!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Love the pics of your room! I just told Don as I was looking through them that we really needed to stay at AKL someday - he ignored me

Mmmmmm, zebra domes!

How funny that Dash lost his tooth on the bus! What did you put it in to make sure you didn't lose it before you got back to your room?!

 

[faerieprincess]

Yay, what an awesome start to your stay at AKL! i know what you mean about "that" moment - i felt the same way right after Paul had proposed and we were just holding hands in the sunshine. Those few private minutes when we were in our own little world with this huge thing to share That's what i'm gonna go back to every time we fight! hehe.

So cute that Dash pulled his tooth on the bus! And i love that picture of Jack sleeping on you, so adorable (and even making that face, you look like me!)

Yay for lingering Christmas decorations!!!

 

[gellybean]

Love the pics of your room! I just told Don as I was looking through them that we really needed to stay at AKL someday - he ignored me

Mmmmmm, zebra domes!

How funny that Dash lost his tooth on the bus! What did you put it in to make sure you didn't lose it before you got back to your room?!

@ Don ignoring you. It's definitely one of the man's man resorts, ya know? I think Mr. I would kill me if I tried to get him to have tea with me at the Grand Floridian! He loved AKL nearly as much as I did!

Funny thing about the tooth. I had a ziploc bag that I had wet wipes in. I was trying to use the last of those before opening one of the travel packs. So I stuck the tooth down in the bottom of the ziploc with the last remaining 2 wet wipes, after giving Dash a few to wipe up with. Glad the bus was mostly empty. I could see someone fainting at the sight of a little blood. And yes, I tossed the remaining 2 wet wipes once we got back to the room. Stay tuned to find out what else happened to the tooth.

Yay, what an awesome start to your stay at AKL! i know what you mean about "that" moment - i felt the same way right after Paul had proposed and we were just holding hands in the sunshine. Those few private minutes when we were in our own little world with this huge thing to share That's what i'm gonna go back to every time we fight! hehe.

So cute that Dash pulled his tooth on the bus! And i love that picture of Jack sleeping on you, so adorable (and even making that face, you look like me!)

Yay for lingering Christmas decorations!!!

Awww!! Ya know we really need to talk. I've yet to hear how he popped the question, just that he did. Glad you have a happy moment to go back to. Mr. I and I had that when we were still long distance dating. We were sitting on a pier overlooking the Atlantic, in St. Augustine, Florida and just happened to time it right with the sunset. Just he and I sitting on a bench on a pier. And me deathly afraid of the water. But I felt safe with him and I think that's when I *knew* he was it for me. So we would kinda talked and reminded ourselves about that moment when we were both fed up with the long distance thing too. Hang in there twinnie! October will be here before you know it!!

Dash pulling the tooth I think is an awesome memory to have. He may not even care! But I thought it was wicked cool!

for Christmas decoration!!!!

Wait.... is that what that is hanging on the railing!?

 

[Dugette]

Great start to your trip report! Glad to hear things went well and you had a great trip!

That ME line looks like the one we had on the 16th. Nice, huh?

I just have to add to the monkey backpack thing: I was seeing SO many of them during our trip that whenever the Disney busses played the part of their announcement saying to "take small children by the hand", I always heard (in my head) "or the monkey tail." I wish they would add that to the announcement

We got over to AKL one night during our trip and wandered around. Pretty cool place! Beautiful room you had, by the way. We have exactly the same Zebra Dome picture that you have, I believe. Yummy!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

AKL never really appealed to me until lately. But all of these gorgeous room pictures makes me really want to stay there perhaps! I'm so glad you got a great room location. That can make such a huge difference sometimes.

Yay for Dash on the tooth! I also think Tink might fill in for the tooth fairy while at WDW. I could definitely see that!

 

[MinnieNurse]

Longhorns fan????

Well, I am still going to read your report.

But I just have one thing to say:

Wreck em' Tech!!! We will be back next year. Guns Up!!!!

 

[Jasperann]

I read your last TR and seen this one. I just had to comment about Dash loosing his tooth on the bus. My daughter (who is six) lets her teeth get that loose before they come out too. That is a really great memory for him too.

So glad you didn't trip over any luggage this time. Sounds like a great start to your trip. Can't wait to read more.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Thanks Brook!! I hope Henry got to feeling better while you guys were in Disney!! Do y'all have another trip in the works yet? Hmmm??

We are actually BOOKED for the Podcast Cruise 2.0 in December.

However...not sure it's gonna happen yet.

Many reasons why, and why not - so nothing is SET yet...! But 2010 WILL HAVE A TRIP!!!!



Loved your update! You booked an AKL Standard room and got that? AWESOME! I would consider that an upgrade! How very cool for your boys (and you guys!) to be able to see the animals. And that location is superb. I've always wanted a lobby facing room for some reason. We came close at the WL, we were just hardly down a hallway. Did you notice if you could hear anything from the lobby during your trip at all?

I love the African Stew. Our very first Disney day, first day after landing in October 2006, the start of our honeymoon I had the African Stew and a Mickey Bar, ate outside the Mara while gazing at my new DH and the pool.

And Zebra Domes. Hello! Drool.

Very cute about Dash loosing his first top tooth on a bus to the MK to celebrate his birthday! I'm sure that is one he'll never forget. I'm looking forward to see what becomes of the tooth...the pic of his "chompers" is adorable! Love the one of Jack-Jack too all bundled under the blanket.

I haven't watched the "new Stacy". I like the old one. So I've missed the chompers bit...now I must watch when we return and I'm sure I'll think of you and laugh!

Looks like lingering Christmas decorations to me...did you get to see MK all decked out? It's beautiful!

 

[gellybean]

Great start to your trip report! Glad to hear things went well and you had a great trip!

That ME line looks like the one we had on the 16th. Nice, huh?

I just have to add to the monkey backpack thing: I was seeing SO many of them during our trip that whenever the Disney busses played the part of their announcement saying to "take small children by the hand", I always heard (in my head) "or the monkey tail." I wish they would add that to the announcement

We got over to AKL one night during our trip and wandered around. Pretty cool place! Beautiful room you had, by the way. We have exactly the same Zebra Dome picture that you have, I believe. Yummy!

Can't wait to hear more!

Hey Dugette!!

That monkey backpack rocked! I could ask Jack-Jack to hand me his tail and he would! So I totally get what you mean about the announcer. Glad you guys got over to AKL! I can't wait to hear about y'all's tri-split stay!! Are you guys gonna do a TR?

I kept looking for you, looking for me! If that makes any sense!!

Glad you found me!

AKL never really appealed to me until lately. But all of these gorgeous room pictures makes me really want to stay there perhaps! I'm so glad you got a great room location. That can make such a huge difference sometimes.

Yay for Dash on the tooth! I also think Tink might fill in for the tooth fairy while at WDW. I could definitely see that!

AKL NEVER appealed to me either, until we went over their for dinner last year. Fell in love. And honestly, after staying there, it hasn't lost any appeal. Some places give you the been there, done that vibe, ya know? Didn't feel that way about AKL. The room location was awesome! Truly! And yes it does make an immense difference.

I thought his connecting the fairy thing to Tink was cute! lol

Longhorns fan????

Well, I am still going to read your report.

But I just have one thing to say:

Wreck em' Tech!!! We will be back next year. Guns Up!!!!

Ooooooooooooooooo NO!!! Say it ain't so?!!!


Tech!?








At least you have some hope for next year. We're toast for the next couple of year.

Course.... at least we still have our coach. YIKES ! All that Leach stuff was nuts.

I read your last TR and seen this one. I just had to comment about Dash loosing his tooth on the bus. My daughter (who is six) lets her teeth get that loose before they come out too. That is a really great memory for him too.

So glad you didn't trip over any luggage this time. Sounds like a great start to your trip. Can't wait to read more.

Glad you found this one! Thanks for reading!!

Dash actually has the other front tooth dangling by a corner right now. I keep bugging him to pull it. KIDS!

I'm sooooo glad I didn't trip over the luggage this time too!

We are actually BOOKED for the Podcast Cruise 2.0 in December.

However...not sure it's gonna happen yet.

Many reasons why, and why not - so nothing is SET yet...! But 2010 WILL HAVE A TRIP!!!!

for being booked... I totally understand the not set yet booked and planning thing. Totally get that!

Loved your update! You booked an AKL Standard room and got that? AWESOME! I would consider that an upgrade! How very cool for your boys (and you guys!) to be able to see the animals. And that location is superb. I've always wanted a lobby facing room for some reason. We came close at the WL, we were just hardly down a hallway. Did you notice if you could hear anything from the lobby during your trip at all?


I was super happy with our pseudo upgrade. To me it was an upgrade after being prepared to look at mini vans all week. It definitely made us use the balcony more than we would have, had we had a true standard view. The lobby location was awesome. I had been worried about noise, too, when looking up at those rooms above the lobby. BUT I never heard lobby noise. I did hear a baby crying one night in the room next door but I think that could have happened anywhere and had nothing to do with the location. And the lodge was completely booked the last few nights we were there. So the lack of noise wasn't just because of the lack of crowds.

I love the African Stew. Our very first Disney day, first day after landing in October 2006, the start of our honeymoon I had the African Stew and a Mickey Bar, ate outside the Mara while gazing at my new DH and the pool.


Awwwwwwwwwwwwww!! What a great memory! Love little moments like that! The stew was really good! Even better since it was so cold!

And Zebra Domes. Hello! Drool.

Very cute about Dash loosing his first top tooth on a bus to the MK to celebrate his birthday! I'm sure that is one he'll never forget. I'm looking forward to see what becomes of the tooth...the pic of his "chompers" is adorable! Love the one of Jack-Jack too all bundled under the blanket.

Thanks!!!

I haven't watched the "new Stacy". I like the old one. So I've missed the chompers bit...now I must watch when we return and I'm sure I'll think of you and laugh!


I kept hearing her say that all week. I swear everytime we turned it on it was on the AK part. I did kinda miss the old Stacy but the new one had some cute lines too.

Looks like lingering Christmas decorations to me...did you get to see MK all decked out? It's beautiful!

You'll have to wait and see how decked out it was!!