May 12, 2006 - LIVE from the Animal Kingdom Lodge!!

[SeaSpray]

Hi everyone!!


This is the first time I've ever posted live from a Disney resort. DH had to bring his laptop because of work...so, here I am while he's in the shower. LOL

We arrived yesterday and so far I love the resort. I haven't had a chance to explore yet, though. We have a pool view room, I won't say which room until I'm home, but we're on the second floor in the giraffe trail wing.

We had dinner last night at Jiko and everything was so good. I took pictures of all the food. lol

If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Hopefully I'll be posting once a day on this thread.

 

[ENSOCK]

Can't wait to read more!! Have a great trip!

 

[luvfigment]

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip. Have a great time.

 

[kimmar067]

Terry ~

So glad to hear that your are enjoying AKL...AND, you got a great location - Giraffe Trail! Can't wait to hear the latest details! Woohoo, a live post EVERY DAY - cool beans..... !!

 

[Vickie46]

can't wait to hear more!!! How are the crowds? Weather?? ETc..... tell us more!! Have fun on your magical vacation!

 

[SeaSpray]

Hi! We just got back from the Magic Kingdom. When we landed at MCO yesterday afternoon it was close to 90 and quite humid. It rained hard last night, around 11pm and it was SO nice to sit out on the balcony and just listen to it coming down, and watch it hit the pool. It really cooled things down, too. Today it was in the mid 80s and not humid at all.

Lines were rather short today at MK, walked right onto Everest last night, too.

We're having dinner at Boma at 7pm tonight, and in a minute we're going to the pool for a quick swim and perhaps a drink from the pool bar. I'll be bringing the camera so I can get pictures of the pool area.

Did I mention that our room is in excellent shape? Looks practically brand new, no wear at all. The mini fridge is keeping our spring water, and DH's insulin, ice cold! I had to turn up the dial inside the fridge when we first got there though, someone had moved it to the warmest temp. The A/C is working great too, I'm happy to report.

I'll probably post again tonight before bed, probably late since we'll be going to Epcot for EMH, I believe it closes at midnight tonight.

 

[jjohnson]

Hi Terry
I'm glad to hear you love AKL. Now aren't you happy you switched from POR?
IMHO It's worth it for the private balcony.

Check out the resort board too. We were still debating the size of the BWI beds after you left LOL

Enjoy BOMA!

Joyce

 

[tinknme]

I love live trip reports! Sounds like you are having a wonderful time, I can't wait to go back. Look forward to reading your updates & seeing some pictures Enjoy Boma tonight & remember to have a zebra dome for us all

 

[ktink]

Hi Terry Glad to hear you're having a wonderful time. Thanks for the live report. Can't wait to hear more about AKL.

 

[John's Mom]

Terry, don't forget to check out the Lodge--inside and out. Stop by the pool bar and have a Nahtazu. You'll love it.

 

[SeaSpray]

We are having a great time. Weather is perfect today. Warm but no humidity at all. Spent the morning at Animal Kingdom park. Had breakfast at Boma, the made-to-order omelette was wonderful. Oh, had dinner at Boma last night, LOVED the desserts!! Especially something called "Mount Everest", a small, rather dense, mountain shaped piece of pastry, reminiscent in appearance of a dense spice cake, but had a different flavor. LOVED THE ZEBRA DOMES!! LOL I took pictures of all of the food that I ate, but the pictures of the food at the pods themselves did not turn out very well because I couldn't get the lighting right with my camera.

We're heading out the pool in a few minutes. We had a couple of pool drinks yesterday; something called a Nyumi Nyumi, and the Victoria Falls Mist. I didn't see "Nahtazu" on the drink menu but I will go and ask about it now.

I love this resort, I think its in my #2 spot, behind the Polynesian, but moved up ahead of the Grand Floridian and the Wilderness Lodge. (Although I still love those resorts too. lol). I think this resort is beautifully themed and decorated, and has a bit of an elegent feel to it.

I have to see that I was surprised at how small the Arusha Rock area was. It's adequate, but looked bigger in the pictures I'd seen.

I'm very happy with our pool view room. I've been in a savannah view room (another friend of ours arrived last night and got upgraded from a standard room to a savannah view, but it's got a very poor view of the savannah, I'll explain more when I get home). ANyway, I feel that the pool view room was the right choice for DH and I, and I don't regret not having a savannah view room (I asked for an upgrade at check-in {an upgrade that I wanted to pay for}, but none were availabe the day we checked in, not even in concierge).

ok I'll post more late tonight probably. ANy questions while I'm here?

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

Hi I just read your Poly trip on your web site last nite. I opened this thread and said What they're in Disney again? Those lucky people! I have a ? about the in room fridge- is there a freezer? We're going 9/30 and I imagine I will need my ice water bottles! Enjoy your stay!

 

[katydid08]

I'm getting all excited! We leave for AKL next week. Is there enough room for an air mattress? How is MARA? Sounds like your having a great time.

 

[bugbugmom]

Hi! Sea Spray! Glad you are having a great time. We'll be arriving Tuesday at AKL and can't wait. Hope to meet you! Thanks for the live reports.

 

[SeaSpray]

We had a nice evening at MGM. Low crowds, walked onto Great Movie Ride, Muppetvision 3D, and Star Tours.

We had dinner at 50's Prime Time and I was very disappointed with my pot roast. It's different than when I had it the last time, in 2002. It was ok, but I won't purposely go back there for it anymore. DH's fried chicken was still very good though. The s'mores were good, but a bit too scorched on the top, the marshmallows had black on them, instead of just being toasty-brown.

I had the fried cheese appetizer and it was good, I took pictures of it. lol

3disneybuggs: My DH just checked in the fridge and said there is not a freezer section, however, we had placed several .5 liter water bottles in there the other day and the bottles that we layed down on the very bottom of the fridge are now frozen solid. The bottles that are on the shelf in the door are not frozen at all, but are very, very cold.

katydid08: We haven't had any food from Mara yet, but we just walked through there. If we get food from there, I'll let you know how it is There does not seem to be any room for an air mattress, except *maybe* over by the hallway in front of the door IF it's a small twin mattress, or maybe laying sideways in the hall, in front of the sinks. We're in a room with 2 queen beds and there is really no room, in the room itself, for any size air mattress. Maybe there is room for sleeping bags, on the floor at the foot of the beds.

 

[kimmar067]

Sounds like you are having a wonderful time...keep the posts coming! (I feel like I'm there WITH you.... )

Can't wait till August........

(Made some dinner ressies today...one of them being Prime Time...shucks, will I be disappointed???)

 

[7susan7]

I'm so happy your having what reads like a really good time, especially at the AKL. We will be going May 31st for our 20th wedding anniversary. This will be our first time staying at the AKL. We also will have a pool view. Continue on a great vacation. I look forward to reading more of your trip!

One more thing. Did you have to request a coffee maker and fridge or were they already in your room?

Thanks,
Sue H.

 

[SeaSpray]

We had an early night last night, and are "sleeping in" this morning. DH is still in bed, but I've been awake for about a half hour now. The beds and pillows are very comfortable

Oh.. When we first arrived in our room on Thursday, I called Housekeeping and requested a sharps container, extra pillows, and turndown service. The sharps container and pillows were brought by the time we returned from a quick walk around the resort, and housekeeping has been doing the turndown each night, leaving chocolate and cards with African proverbs, on the beds. What can I say, I love turndown service

It's supposed to be warmer today... hot even! lol The weather channel says in the 90s and high humidity. But it's better than the rain I see forecast for Boston. We left Boston in the rain and fog last week and it looks like we'll be returning the same thing next week.

We have an ADR for lunch at Marrakesh today, then dinner at 'Ohana with some friends tonight. We'll stay at the Magic Kingdom until midnight tonight, for the Extra Magic Hours.

Kimmar: I'd still go to 50's Prime Time. The pot roast was still good, just different and not as good than what I remember it to be. And everything else that people at our table ordered (we were with a party of 10), was very good. DH had the fried chicken for dinner, and shrimp cocktail appetizer. He had a hot fudge sundae for dessert.

7susan7: Yes, there was already a fridge and coffee maker in the room when we checked in. There's also an iron and ironing board in the closet, as well as a Pack-N-Play, and a LAN cable if you want to connect to the internet. DH brought his own cables in case the room didn't have one, but we saw it hanging in a plastic case in the back of the closet when we arrived to our room.

The fridge is in a small wooden cabinet, it's better than it just sitting out and clashing with the wonderful theming here. I think all of the resorts now have the fridges in small cabinets that are themed to each resort.



Regarding the drinks at the pool bar: "Nahtazu" is not on their regular drink menu anymore, but when I asked about it they pulled out a notebook that had several drink recipes in it and showed it to me and said they could make any of the drinks in there, including that one. I ended up choosing something called a "Pretoria Punch" or something like that, that is usually served at Boma. It was really good They had the recipes to many drinks that are on the menus at other places, including Jiko, Boma, and a bar at the Animal Kingdom park.

I had a glass of African wine with dinner at Jiko the other night, I can't remember which one it was though (if I saw the drink menu, I'd be able to pick it out, it was on the righthand side of the menu, in the middle of the page. lol), but I know it cost $12.50 a glass. lol The server recommended it, and it was very good.




Are there any pictures of the resort that anyone would like taken? My RA (rheumatoid arthritis) has been horrible since the first night we were here, so I'm moving very slowly, but I want to see the entire resort while I'm here, so I'd be happy to try and get any pictures that I can I've already gotten many pictures of the lobby, pool area, room, and Arusha rock area.

 

[ADisneygirl]

Hi SeaSpray! Happy Mother's Day! I just want to say that I love your live reports from one of my favorite resorts. We've been there twice now, once in a savannah view room and once in a pool view. We rather liked the pool view room for its convenience -- a few steps outside our door down the hall and we were at the elevator that took us down near the pool and the Mara. Very, very convenient. (our savannah view, while beautiful, was at the very end of one of the l-o-n-g halls!)

Have you tried the chicken pepper pot soup yet? They have it on the Boma buffet and in the Mara. I ate it all the time!

Hope you continue having a great time! We'll be here, waiting for your next report.

 

[Jasminetigger]

SeaSpray, so glad to hear you are having a great time. We were at AKl for the 1st time in March and loved it. Don't know if I can move it ahead of WL on my list though, but it is a very close 2nd.

I didn't know you could request a sharps container from housekeeping. Is this something you had to arrange ahead of time? My DD has to take shots every day and that would be one less thing to pack.

Can't wait to read more about all the fun you are having!