Mickey’s Hand is in my Pocket w/Pics. Ending Edited in 10/16-#84

[TyRy]

Thanks to everyone who likes the trip report so far - I've still got a lot of writing to do!

Had some of the love bugs started clearing out by the time you were getting ready to end your vacation?

Mikayla73 - they were getting better by the end of the trip - we arrive 9/23 and left 10/4. Although MGM for some reason was worse than the other parks - they were everywhere there!

 

[TyRy]

Sorry this took so long - I've had friends in from out of town using most of my writing time

Whoo hooo – FINALLY, a full day at the Magic Kingdom. This is my favorite park on the planet and I can’t believe I was actually at the World for three days without spending the WHOLE day here. It was hard enough to wait until last night to get to the MK, but since we didn’t do a whole lot, I was really excited today.

On our last trip with both sets of parents we had an early ADR at the Crystal Palace. It was so cool to be in a basically empty park (before it opened) that I knew we had to do it again. Plus DH never made it last time because he was “sick”…he usually gets one of those a trip and it usually revolves around the MK day Unless he was bleeding from every opening he was going to be dragged to the park this time if he was “sick.”

We had an 8:10 ADR, and I figured we should leave about 7:30, even though we were driving over, we still had to actually park and get to the MK. I think you may have figured out when at WDW I need zero sleep and DH still thinks it’s a vacation where he can get lots of sleep – ha! How wrong he is!!!!! So needless to say we were late for our ADR and I was getting aggravated on my very happy MK day …..we were getting to be so late that I was afraid they would not hold our ADR. We FINALLY got to the CP about 8:30 and they were nice enough to still have our table. We did have to wait about 10 minutes, but fine, I was getting in and having my breakfast. Although it did kind of ruin my we’ll get out of there before the park opens and be able to take pics in front of the castle with no one else around. I think DH thinks we have enough pictures of the castle…GASP – I know, how can you ever have too many pictures of the castle – unless it was the pink birthday cake – sorry I hated that!

Oops – off on a castle tangent – ok back to the story. So now that we have basically run into the MK and to the CP I’m melting already and it’s only 8:30 in the morning – not a good sign for the rest of the day. Well after the wait we are brought in and what do we see but:

Yep they had decorated our table for our anniversary. That started to get me definitely less crabby. Food was yummy as usual, but part way through my first pass, I was not feeling well – could I now be sick on the MK day? Nope – not happening – I’m convinced that the sight of the castle can cure all so I just needed to get outside. But before the characters made it around to us we had another surprise - – a cupcake with 15 candles and a certificate for our special day.

Characters then made their way around and took pics with both of us. We also had cute reactions when they saw the cupcake and certificate

DH swears that I leapt out of my chair (so much for not feeling well) and practically jumped into Eeyore’s arms/paws. Hey – he was my fave when I was little.

It was after nine when we left so the park was already opened. We made a beeline for Space Mountain as I know that gets filled fast. Here’s where we got our first magic of the day – the CM at the entrance saw my certificate and opened up the FP rope so we could go right up. Turns out it was still pretty empty and we probably wouldn’t have waited long anyway, buy it was still a nice gesture.

After Space, DH decides he wants to ride the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. Don’t let the lines fool you – there was barely one and I think we waited close to 40 minutes – and for some reason it was hot…sweaty icky hot while waiting in line. Something we did not experience any where else. When we got on there was only one track open so we couldn’t race.

By the time we got off the ride two tracks were open, but I told DH he could wait by himself as the line was twice as long. He wisely decided to join me in other parts of the park.

Because the park was pretty empty we were able to ride all the favorites and do a few new things. Riding the Liberty Bell, riding the Carousel, going into Mickey’s Toontown Fair and exploring, were just a couple of thing we had never done before, but did this trip.

The only attraction we had to pull a FP for was Jungle Cruise as the return time for that was 30 min away and it said the line was 35 min. Even Pirates was a complete walk-on. Oh – we also did Haunted Mansion twice in a row….we had to exit, but ran back around again and walked right in and on.

That afternoon we had the only rain of our trip. Except that until we left we never actually saw it rain. We would go inside something, come out and see puddles – that means it must have rained. This happened a few times. We did wrap up around 6ish to head back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner at the Yachtsman Steakhouse. While waiting for the monorail we now saw the rain. Bummer too as we asked to ride in the front car – something else we had never done.

It was one of those quick downpours though so by the time we were off the monorail and headed to the car it was just misting. Hmmmm – when we arrived at the WL, we saw this:

Seems the rain brings out the snails – I always though snails needed water, but these were all living in the front of the WL.

We made such good time back to the WL that we had enough time to stop in at the Territory Lounge and have a drink…I did not have a bad one while there. I posted our pics on the drinks thread if anyone wants to see.

We actually made it to the YS for our 8pm ADR on time – miracle of miracles. We were on the dining plan and I’d have to say service was really pretty good. The food was also pretty yummy. I put the full review on my dining reviews report as to not bore anyone here.

Back to the WL full of food and wine and it’s up early to go to the park offsite – OFFSITE – I can hear the gasps - the one they call Universal. Or at least that was the plan……….

 

[TyRy]

This was supposed to be the day we actually left Disney property (GASP!) and head to that other theme park down the road Universal Studios. Yes we were going to spend some of Mickey’s money elsewhere. DH has very fond memories of the original park from our first trip together to Florida, so he really wanted to go back. OK, fine – the planner in me now has to figure out all about Universal. Hey look – on their web site you can buy a front of the line pass for the big attractions (even though most are from 80’s movies), but I like skipping to the head of the line. So I pay my 30 bucks total – one of the best bargains of the trip – and get my passes electronically before we leave home.

What I did not do was buy the actual tickets – that was my BIG mistake. I figured I’d just buy them in Florida and again get them online. So I’m up early and enjoy a meal on my balcony of pancakes from Roaring Forks, while trying to figure out how to make that big piece of Ivy or something fall off the tree so I will also have a great view of the castle . DH slept in that day until about 10ish, so after he is up – I go online to buy the tickets. I’ll just use the pick up at the park option that the FOTL passes had. Nope - it turns out you had to print the tickets – no electronic pick-up – ARGGHHH Why can I electronically get my passes but not my tickets????? There is no where to print at the WL and I certainly didn’t bring a printer with. I already had the FOTL passes for this day so we were going. Time is tick tick ticking away and it’s now 11:30 since we are playing the blame game of told you to get them earlier – which gets us exactly no where - and we still have to print tickets. So we call the CR resort and find out we can use the services in the convention part of the hall. Cool – we can still print. Except that by the time we do print them it’s now about 12:30 and DH has decided he needs more than 4 hours in the park so we are not going! I tell him that’s more than enough but he disagrees – don’t worry we’ll just see who was right later in the trip!. Oh well, glad those FOTL passes were dirt cheap since we will now not be using them.

Instead we stay safely on Disney property and now have ½ a free day ahead of us. Well since it looks like we’ll be going over the weekend to that other park, might as well head to DTD to check things out. Yes it was again time to fight with Mickey’s hand yet again – and once again, he won! We head directly to the Christmas store – do not pass go, do not give anyone but Mickey your money! I should preface this that if you’ve ever seen National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – that’s what our house looks like at Christmas time – very easy to see from blocks away. And I only have two floors, but yet own two Christmas trees and both a small and large Christmas village.

So into the store we go…hey look, it’s a Christmas Village piece with Donald – DH’s favorite.

So I drop the hint that he should buy it for the Disney part of the village and I think I was once again ignored…unless it shows up soon!

After spending way tooo much and getting a bunch of things, we head to the Lego store…DH has promised to check on something for a co-worker. We take the traditional pics outside

DH is hungry but I’m not so we head over to Earl of Sandwich where we use one of our CS meals that Disney has so nicely given us during the free dining. I did not want to eat much since we are eating at the much loved LeCellier or the much hated LeCellier depending on how you feel.

After Mickey’s hands actually got a little tired of my money (yeah right!) we still had some time to kill. So DH, without any prompting (well at that moment at least) decides we should drive around and look at SSR and OKW – WHAT! We are actually going to even look at the buildings – I started looking around for the hidden camera, cause I thought there was no way he was serious. I’ve tried for years to convince him to buy DVC and he keeps saying “We have too many other places to go and I like staying at the different hotels when we do go to Disney” Once again I have to ask myself if he knew who he was marrying!!!

Well, we drove through SSR and just looked at the buildings, and I’m sorry to all the SSR peeps about to read this but it did absolutely nothing for him. And I have to admit it didn’t do all that much for me either. Next it was on to OKW. This proved his point that he actually does sometimes listen when I go on a Disney tangent cause he remembered me saying that this would be the cheapest to buy resale of the WDW properties and one of the lowest dues. WOW – I was in shock. Maybe I should try one of those subliminal techniques of a tape recorder under his pillow at night just saying over and over “Buy DVC, go back to WDW very very soon, you do not need to go anywhere else!"

This was the first time we’d drive around OKW even though we’d always pass it when staying at the POFQ the last few trips. I got out and checked out the check-in area and pools.

Not bad. I get back in the car and DH agrees that it is nice, BUT that he would want to buy at BW or BC. HUH?! Are we about to have a discussion about buying DVC??!!! Yeah right – I then get the same thing as above about going other places…blah blah blah…sorry tuned him out and pouted at this point. I think many of you know how I feel!

So back to the WL to relax just a little and head over to Epcot for dinner. We head over for our 7:10 dinner around 6ish. Plenty of time for our ADR and for us not to have to run like crazy people to get there. It must be SLOW season as there were no ticket windows open, only Guest Relations so we headed over there. We had to trade in CM tickets (my boss used to work for ESPN) and there was actually a decent line. But no problem, as we still had plenty of time to get to our ADR. So we waited and waited and waited and waited at Guest Relations – this was the LONGEST wait of the trip!!! We waited so long I started to think that we really thought we might miss our ADR time and that was NOT going to happen. OH – and some of the conversations we overheard while waiting for the seasons to change were” What do you mean I need a ticket to dine at the restaurants” and my other favorite – “FW is only open 10 more minutes – I don’t understand that!!!” Now I know I am a truly obsessive planner, but please people – at least GLANCE at the hours posted everywhere! Thankfully I had fibbed a wee bit to my always running late DH and we still had time to get to LeCellier – although we were somewhat sprinting through the park, just what I did not want to do. Oh well, maybe with all the sweating I’m dropping all the weight the plan is putting on.

We actually really enjoyed dinner and now fall on the half that loved LeCellier. We had no wait to be seated and everything came out yummy and timed well.

Since we had already seen Illuminations, we headed back to the hotel instead of sticking around. Of course we had to try and find ourselves in the Leave a Legacy Tiles and I finally ended up asking where we were…now we know (but we say that every time we visit ourselves at the World.)

This must be a picture of where we are, because on closer inspection, our picture is not in the picture!

Tomorrow - it’s MGM and my first time on TOT – which I’m still trying to get out of!!!!!

 

[mlill]

So DH, without any prompting (well at that moment at least) decides we should drive around and look at SSR and OKW – WHAT! We are actually going to even look at the buildings – I started looking around for the hidden camera, cause I thought there was no way he was serious. I’ve tried for years to convince him to buy DVC and he keeps saying “We have too many other places to go and I like staying at the different hotels when we do go to Disney” Once again I have to ask myself if he knew who he was marrying!!!

Well, we drove through SSR and just looked at the buildings, and I’m sorry to all the SSR peeps about to read this but it did absolutely nothing for him. And I have to admit it didn’t do all that much for me either. Next it was on to OKW. This proved his point that he actually does sometimes listen when I go on a Disney tangent cause he remembered me saying that this would be the cheapest to buy resale of the WDW properties and one of the lowest dues. WOW – I was in shock. Maybe I should try one of those subliminal techniques of a tape recorder under his pillow at night just saying over and over “Buy DVC, go back to WDW very very soon, you do not need to go anywhere else!"

This was the first time we’d drive around OKW even though we’d always pass it when staying at the POFQ the last few trips. I got out and checked out the check-in area and pools. Not bad. I get back in the car and DH agrees that it is nice, BUT that he would want to buy at BW or BC. HUH?! Are we about to have a discussion about buying DVC??!!! Yeah right – I then get the same thing as above about going other places…blah blah blah…sorry tuned him out and pouted at this point. I think many of you know how I feel!

Mark my words, it's only a matter of time! Once they (DH) cross over, there's no turning back. I hope your DH sees 'the light' and buys you a nice, big DVC contract! BWV is a good choice! Love the TR!

-Michelle

 

[TyRy]

Mark my words, it's only a matter of time! Once they (DH) cross over, there's no turning back. I hope your DH sees 'the light' and buys you a nice, big DVC contract! BWV is a good choice! Love the TR!

-Michelle

Michelle - I can only hope! And of course try that tape recorder trick!

 

[TyRy]

9/28 - It’s a miracle – I finally found some time to start on my trip report again. I also think it had to do a little with denial – who knows when I’ll get to go back again, and I’ve actually been avoiding the Disboards….anyone else ever get that feeling? I knew you guys would understand!

So it’s MGM day – actually a day I had been dreading. Why – because of this…

On our past three trips we’ve always had other people with us so I did not have to accompany DH on the Tower of Terror. Now I’ve ridden just about everything else, but did not want to go on this. I think it just reminded me of a fancy “Edge” – that was a ride we had at Great America where it would lift you up and drop you…until the day it broke and a bunch of people were hurt. And while I do not mind the stomach dropping on coasters, I just did NOT want to do this ride. Except that this time we had no one else with us and DH did not want to ride alone. He kept telling me that last time he went on it was “lame” I had nothing to worry about. Yeah right. All I wanted to do was get this over with. He wanted breakfast - - go ahead then – I was not eating anything. I think I burned calories that morning just from being so nervous!!! So we get to MGM late (as is now usual) and head directly over to the TOT and RNR. Awww the line for TOT is too long, so we can’t ride it. Except for those darn FP’s which we grab. Great – now it’s been put off for another hour. We then jump in line for the RNR – a ride I didn’t even know if I was going to be able to enjoy because I was so darn nervous about the TOT. It was only about a 15-20 min wait for this – much shorter than the wait for TOT. We ride; I enjoyed it a little, but was still way more nervous about the TOT.

Well RNR took just the right amount of time and now we go to TOT. I had gone through it once before to the “chicken exit” so I had already seen part of it. Was I enjoying the preshow – nope, too nervous. I was not happy. DH couldn’t stop laughing because I was so nervous – he tried everything to reassure me all would be fine – all I wanted was a divorce! So we finally make it past the “chicken exit” and I am gripping the bar like I’ve never held anything before. And then we drop. And then DH yells to open my eyes and I do and I’m looking out high above MGM – my eyes close VERY quickly. And then we drop again and again and again and again….is this never going to end???!!!!

YEAH – ride is over. DH declares how much better it was this time around than last time as it went up and down waaaaaay more. I’m just glad I made it through and truthfully the buildup in my head was probably a lot worse than the actual ride. Although, I hope on our next trip we have someone else with us so I can sit it out. It’s now around 11 and DH is hungry since he skipped breakfast with me that morning. So we eat at Rosie’s All American Café (I think) across from the Beauty and the Beast Theatre. There’s a showing at 11:30 and I’ve never seen this show so it was on the must do list for the day. After eating a not very tasty meal and battling the “love bugs” – which have all decided to congregate at MGM – we walk in to the theatre about a minute before it starts. We still had great seats in the upper left of the theatre. I really enjoyed the show. One of the things we wanted to do today was try and see a lot of the shows – for some reason we always seem to skip them.

I then wanted to grab FP for Lights Motor Action so we headed over that way. We had to stop to take a few pictures along the way as well.

And we took the millionth picture outside Star Tours, a ride we have not been on since our first visit to MGM and I am a HUGE Star Wars fan. But DH absolutely CANNOT handle the ride. He ended up on a park bench the first and last time we went on it for hours while his mom and I went around and saw the rest of the park. So now we just stand outside and take pictures.

We saw the NY streetscape and both of us thought it could use a little paint – it’s really looking faded. Then we saw the new San Fran streetscape and that made the NY one look even worse.

And I’m not sure if these lights are up all year or if they had already started putting the Christmas lights up, but I totally pointed these out to DH and stated for the millionth time I want to come back when they are all up.

He just smiled and moved on….meaning we will not be coming back when it is cold!

We finally made it to LMA, and the CM’s said that it was too slow right now for FP so they were not giving them out. OK – I guess we’ll just come back later then. Sooooo now that we had time to kill what should we do…..let’s do the backstage thing. WOW we actually had a small wait for this. We always do this but this time it wasn’t Catastrophe Canyon we had to worry about, it was the bugs. They were EVERYWHERE. DH doesn’t get grossed out and even he was starting to. I don’t know if there was some reason they were congregating at the entrance where you get on the trams but it was BAD. Everyone around us was making comments about it. This was the only day the bugs really bothered us and I can’t even imagine what they were like at MGM at their height!

During the ride they point out the new SF streetscape and state that they will be adding a Chicago one next – YEAH. I inform DH we MUST come back to see that ASAP. He points out I see it everyday outside my window at work. I remind him it will not have any hidden Mickey’s like the one down here will….he once again stays silent as he knows I will not let it go if he tries to reason with me. So we finish that ride, brush off the bugs that have now landed on us and head into the AFI museum. I make DH stop because I need more pictures of the characters from Star Wars…he just sighs and gets the camera out again.

And I think after you walk through the AFI part is where you can do the picture where they replace your face in some scene from something. Which, we of course did. They get us every time.

It was finally time for LMA and we arrived about 10 minutes before it started. We were in the center in the upper bleachers. There were seats a little closer, but I remember getting a tip somewhere on where to sit, so that is where we went. They were excellent seats and the show was awesome. This is a do not miss attraction.

We have some great video from the show as the pictures could not do it justice.

Back past the SF streetscape DH actually notices the hidden Mickey before I do…scroll down really fast past it if you do not want to see it (although if it were any bigger it would have smacked me on the head!)

I think it might have been around this time that we went to Drew Carey’s Sounds Dangerous. DH was really looking forward to this as it was another attraction we had always skipped. I’m going to go off on a small tangent here so bear with me. There are a million warnings that this will take place in TOTAL ABSOLUTE darkness and anyone afraid of the dark should not go in. It’s not a quick in and out of darkness, but for something like seven minutes. Which can be a lifetime to some. This attraction is all about the sounds you hear and using your sense of sound. But I guess we needed a million and one warnings because we had a couple that did not use any sense and proceeded to bring in little children. Well as soon as it went completely dark, guess what happened. Yep – instead of enjoying the sounds we were supposed to hear, we were treated to a couple of screaming children who would not stop. Totally wrecked the experience. Please, please do not bring young children into this if they are even slightly afraid of total pitch blackness. I know as a child I would have reacted the same way. OK – sorry for the tangent, but from the grumblings we were not the only unhappy people there.

We then headed for At Movie Ride – I mean The Great Movie Ride…perhaps Disney needs to replace a few lights???

Hey – we can still make the 4pm showing of Indian Jones – another show I’ve NEVER seen. It was great we were about 7 rows from the stage in the center section. The only bad part was when they asked for audience participation members they never even looked our way – boo hoo. Show was great though.

It was now close to the time for our 5pm Fantasmic Package dinner ressie at the Brown Derby. DH really wanted to eat here, and the package was actually a great deal so that was what we did. Food and drink was excellent as we remembered from 2000.

We had a little time to kill before we needed to be at Fantasmic, and I really really wanted to go to Journey into Narnia. I’ve loved this story ever since I was little and there was no way I was leaving without seeing it. We walked in and only had about a five minute wait before it started. DH wasn’t thrilled with it, but I loved it…but I’m sure that has more to do with me being a fan for such a long time.

We then slowly made our way over to Fantasmic…we arrived about a half hour before and grabbed seats in the reserved section. I know I’ve heard that people think they are to far over, but this is the second time we’ve sat in the reserved section and I still think they are great seats. On the trip with my parents in 04 we actually sat up high dead center and those were no better than the reserved seats. Of course, our camera only took blurry pics so I have none this time around – just video.

We then headed back to the WL and upon entering our room had our first (and only) towel animal of the trip – very cute.

Up next - it’s time to climb a mountain!!

 

[TyRy]

Thank you everyone for sticking with me...just a few more days and we are done!

Today was yet another day of me planning to get to AKL at opening, but DH again wanted to sleep in since he was on vacation. So we got to the park around 11am and headed right for Expedition Everest. Even two hours late it was only a 40 minute standby, but we grabbed FP anyway and headed over to Dinoland – where everything was basically a five or ten minute wait – nothing in the scheme of it. So since Dinosaur had almost no wait, we hopped right on that. Then we headed to Primeval Whirl where I had a chance to get even with DH for making me ride the TOT.

We’ve always skipped Primeval Whirl because it “spins” – the kiss of death for DH. Now he can handle roller coasters that flip you every which way, but claims his brain will explode if he rides the Tilt-a-Whirl. He also cannot handle rides such as Star Tours – which we rode not knowing that on our first trip and it rendered him useless for about 3 hours!! So needless to say, I was VERY surprised when he said he wanted to go on this ride. So being the good wife, I taunted him the whole time in line – which was only about ten minutes. And he made it through just fine. Now to get him to try Tilt-a-Whirl again (LOL).

We then decided to head over to Africa by way of Discover Island. Wow some great picture opportunities of EE.

We were heading to Africa to ride the Safari even though it was now noon and HOT. On our way, we were crossing a bridge and there she was DeVine.

I saw her right away and DH couldn’t figure out what people were staring at…it cracked me up. Finally he noticed and I informed him of the characters name and other tidbits I had picked up….he then said I was spending too much time on the Disboards to know that much information….as if one could spend too much time on the Disboards!

We finally made it over to the Safari and saw a 30 min wait, so since our FP window was open, we grabbed them and headed over to TTBAB. I love this show…although I still tense up when the “sting” comes along….I’m deathly afraid of bees!!! We then did the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail – something we had not done before. We found some very cool things.

After that it was back to the KS. I have to admit, we’ve ridden this before and have always had great cast memebers. The one we had this time was a total disappointment. He FLEW past every animal that was spotted, so no one had a good look and was very monotone the entire trip.

I know the story about “Little Red” and even though it needs to be redone, I couldn’t help but feel bad for those who were maybe riding it for the first time.

Then it was time for EE – YEAH! I’d been looking forward to that the whole trip and it did not disappoint. The ride was awesome….even the backwards part which I was a little worried about since I hate backwards coasters. I wish we had ridden it again, but oh well, gives me something to look forward to next time.

Now it was time for food…DH and I did not want to ride EE with a full stomach so we held off until after the ride. We kind of did a coin toss of where to eat and ended up at Tusker House. Since I have the whole food thread, I’ll just say we won’t be back. It was by far the worst meal of the trip and left me not wanting to eat chicken for a long time!!

So after the disaster of lunch, we still had time to kill so we hopped the Wildlife Express Train over to hit the Affection Section – I love the petting zoo.

We had a good time and even found a couple of characters.

The vets were operating on a duck while we were there and it was touch and go for a while and DH wanted to stay to see what happened. Thankfully the little guy came through!

We then decided to head back to the hotel and relax before dinner. Luckily on our way out a bunch of the characters were being brought out and we grabber a couple of quick pictures.

It was then back to the WL – can I just say again how much I LOVE going under the MK arch each time!!!!

We had a little time to relax, but we did start packing as we were switching to AKL in the morning. We also had to clean up as we were having dinner at the California Grill that night. DH’s parents then called to let us know they had settled into their hotel and we invited them over to come see our view and have a drink before DH and I want to dinner. They loved the view and room, and really liked the bar. I have to agree – this is my favorite bar/lounge at the hotels. There’s just something about it.

We then headed over to CG for dinner. Our ressie was for 2 people but they were nice enough to make it for four. I actually tried to call earlier in the day and they said they had us at a three-top and could not make it four. But when we checked in, they said it was not a problem. Had it been, they would have just come up and had a drink at the bar with us and left. We were seated right away….yeah, Mickey Heads on the table for our anniversary.

We also timed it great so that we got to watch Hallowishes from the balcony…that was VERY cool. Except our pictures turned out blurry!

We then headed back for one more drink in the Territory Lounge – drinks were yummy and it was a great way to wind down the night.

After that it was back to the room for our last night of looking at the castle and Main Street Station .

Tomorrow: I want to go back to the WL!!!!!

 

[A&CsMom]

I'm enjoying your TR. Can't wait for more!

 

[TyRy]

I'm enjoying your TR. Can't wait for more!

Hi A&CsMom - just wanted to say thank you - I'm glad you are enjoying it!

 

[Blaynexox]

Wow I love your TR! I was in love with your dining reviews and now this as wel! ! Great job!

 

[TyRy]

Wow I love your TR! I was in love with your dining reviews and now this as wel! ! Great job!

Awwwwwwwwww thanks so much Blaynexox!! I really enjoy writing them when I have the time which has been rare lately - that's why it is taking me forever to get this TR and DR up.

 

[TyRy]

Before I start this I need to ask all the AKL lovers to just bear with me until the end of the trip - ok, disclaimer over...on to the trip report.

Well it was time to say goodbye to my MK view – as small as it was – and head over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had never even visited this hotel, so we were looking forward to seeing it, although DH was way more excited then I was. Oh – another surprise – DH didn’t argue about getting up at a fairly early time so we could check-in by 10am. So we make it over to the AKL…booo, no pre-printed parking pass like I had at the WL. I know it’s a small thing but it bugged me at the time. Of course, since it was not DVC back then, they also didn’t say “Welcome Home” which we got most of the time at the WL. I made DH go through the guard each time at the WL just so I could hear that!

So he drops me off so I could check-in…WOW – what a line. You would think that they would have every station manned on a Saturday morning, but nope. Just a couple people working. It took about a half hour to check-in. DH had time to take some pictures while waiting for me to come back out (which I never did!) (DON't click on the link....it's for the first picture posted...I just can't figure out how to get ride of it, without turning the next one into a link instead of a photo as well!!)

DH finally comes in – he figured I was taking forever to get a specific room/view like I did at the WL Nope – I was just waiting in the forever line. But by the time I got up to check-in the rush was over...guess I was just a little to late to beat the rush - or too early and should have gotten there around 11.

Sadly no upgrades for us, so I’m very happy that I booked a pool view instead of a standard. The surprise came in that our room was ready. Cool –no just wandering until 3 o’clock.

Hmmmm, AKL is dark, but I had heard that so it was no surprise, I just didn’t think it would be that dark. It wasn’t too bad a trek to our room once we figured out where we were going. We were on the 5th floor, Giraffe Trail – I had requested a high floor, once again thanks to the Disboards. So we make it to our room,

open the door, and I was just like “Oh – I guess it’s ok”.

We were lucky in that our pool view was completely unobstructed – one of the few that looked that way we later discovered.

And DH pointed out that if we looked way out, we could see the water tower at MGM and the TOT…didn’t matter to me – wasn’t a castle!

Now it was time to get settled – there was just something about the AKL that was not making me happy. I looked at DH and stated I wanted to go back to the WL!!!! At first he tried to remind me we hadn’t even explored yet, but I was just in the mood of I don’t like this…eventually it started to even wear off on him. We started taking pictures of what was worse in our room compared to the WL:
No flat screen or dimming light about the table/mirror:

No multiple plugs up on the table for plugging in different electronics at the same time – only a regular one under the table:

No hat rack:

No outlets on wall in the room

The only better thing we found was the light in the bathroom was half over the shower and half not, so you were never in darkness. The one in the WL was not over both, so you would always end up with it being a little dim.

So you get the idea – my crabbiness was catching. So then we decided to go explore. Thank god DH has a sense of direction or I might still be wandering down there (but then again would that really be a bad thing? ) So as we are out wandering and taking pictures,

I happen to overhear another couple who is repeating just about word for word everything I was complaining about. We stop and ask them if they just switched as well. They had and the wife was not happy – just like me, and her DH kept trying to tell her to give it a chance, that it’s just different – which my DH tried to tell me when I did not have him on my crabby train.

Continued in next post (too many pictures).....

 

[TyRy]

We see the pool – looks nice, and finally see a savannah and a guide. That was pretty cool seeing the animals, but not as nice as seeing the castle!

So a little more exploring, trying to find the Victoria Falls Lounge which we did and did not even realize it at first.

Even DH had to admit to be a little disappointed at the set-up of the bar….the one at the WL just blows this one away (which is something I have not changed my mind on.)

Then trying to figure out how to get to the restaurants and stuff

So we go back up to the room to relax and so I can continue pointing out why the WL is better. DH finally gives up and decides that we should go down by the pool and have a drink at the pool bar.

We get to the bar and DH is now very happy. Turns out they have a beer he really likes on tap, which you can only get out east and not back home:

So I order my poolside lemonade and the bartender lets us know that if I bring my plastic glass back, the refills are cheaper. REALLY??? – sweet! Cause I think I’m going to need a lot of them over the next few days! Oh – and the bartenders at the WL pool bar neglected to tell us this fact.

I’d read a lot about the Culinary Tour, so after our drinks DH and my still somewhat crabby self managed to be at the Jiko podium on time. There was just two other people, a father and son. We had a great CM who brought us into Jiko, met the chef and tasted a few things.

I’m not an adventurous eater but tried little bites, while DH really enjoyed everything. Our CM then returned and let us know that we would not be able to tour Boma as everyone was in the Lobby celebrating an Independence Day (sorry – can’t remember which country) so that was semi-disappointing as I was looking forward to the Boma part. But it just fed into my “I want to go back to the WL” rant I was still on.

Dinner that night was scheduled for Jiko and this is where we had the longest wait of the trip. The CM asked if there were any allergies, so I added that I am allergic to chocolate – WHAT – yes I hear the gasping. Even DH tried to argue with me. I just knew that I was in unfamiliar territory with the food and if I even get close to real chocolate that I will be ill. Just the smell of walking into Godiva here in Chicago almost knocks me out, and not in a good way. So we get that settled and we grab our beeper and waited, wandered, waited, finally got a drink, waited, met another couple who told us how much they loved the AKL, and finally got our table. Of course the crabby me pointed out how we did not wait all week more then 5 minutes and here we were waiting 20 or 30 minutes. And may I also add that the waiting area was a complete zoo with all the people waiting for Boma.

Dinner ended up being pretty good and we even had a comped dessert for our anniversary.

After that it was back to the room for a good night sleep – being crabby and whiny all day takes a lot out of you.

OH – and we never did figure out the trick with the thermostats…I had even read and printed out from the Disboards on how to disable the auto shut-off….and it looked like someone else had tried too as there was a big dent in our thermostat.

Up next – we go off property (GASP!) and will I ever stop being crabby!!!

 

[tiggerbell]

You know you've reached the height of boredom at work when you enter your own name into the DisBoards search engine - but look where it took me!!!

I'm thrilled and honored to be among those you list as favorites... thank you.

Now that I've posted, and thusly subscribed, I will read from the TOP!

So far, all I've read (besides my name ) is the last line "off property" and "stop being crabby". Sounds like me (well, not the "off property" part, but the "crabby" for sure!!!

 

[Kay7979]

Very good report! You have a lot of fantastic photos and I'm enjoying the way you describe your experiences. Very entertaining. Thanks.

 

[tiggerbell]

Well, I've read it all and I love how you tell the story! I'm headin' over to the dining report portion!

 

[TyRy]

Thanks so much Tiggerbell - so do you! And now that things have calmed down with my work, I might be able to finish my report!!!

 

[PrincessNED]

great report - awaiting more !!

 

[TyRy]

You know you've reached the height of boredom at work when you enter your own name into the DisBoards search engine - but look where it took me!!!

So far, all I've read (besides my name ) is the last line "off property" and "stop being crabby". Sounds like me (well, not the "off property" part, but the "crabby" for sure!!!

LOL - too funny! Thanks again Tiggerbell - we Berwyn girls have to stick together. Now if I could only figure out a way to go back as much as you do!

Very good report! You have a lot of fantastic photos and I'm enjoying the way you describe your experiences. Very entertaining. Thanks.

Thanks Kay7979! I'm glad people are enjoying it - I'm enjoying reliving it!

great report - awaiting more !!

You ask you shall receive - next part going up today!

 

[TyRy]

This day started off pretty good, as I was FINALLY able to get my Mickey waffle that I had been missing while at the WL. That was a small point for AKL, but not enough that I liked it yet.

We then headed over to Universal. Being a weekend I figured we were really in for it since we did not repurchase the front of the line passes. We also took our sweet time getting there. Well, I was wrong. I think the longest wait we had was parking our car and standing in line to get in.

We only hit the “original” Universal Studios…no Islands of Adventure for us, so that may have been where the crowds were. The park was basically empty. We actually rode a couple of things that we had not before, such as ET and saw Shrek, and did favorites like Terminator 3D. The backlot streets were not even that crowded – as you can tell by our pictures.

There was a small (like 15 min) wait for The Mummy, but we skipped that as DH cannot handle visual rides – like Star Tours or Body Wars – and we weren’t sure if there was any of that on the ride. But think about it – that is the newest ride, yet even that movie was out a hundred years ago.

I also seem to remember a backlot tour at Universal – not anymore. Couldn’t find that anywhere. So that’s gone, and of course so are the fun things like star in a movie with characters from that movie. We made a hilarious one in ’95 of us and Star Trek Next Generation. Of course, that was already gone in 2000, still sucks that they haven’t brought that back.

One of the cool things they did have was where you stand just so, and this little miniature looks like a giant thing. We found the space shuttle one – worked really cool.

Between DH and myself we discussed how Universal better start pouring a little more money into this park, or it seems as if it will be doomed. No wonder you can buy a park pass for both parks for less than one day at Disney – you only need a couple hours to see the whole park!!!

After just a few hours we headed back to Disney (yeah) – I hate having to leave the property for any reason Took a couple more pics around the AKL before returning to our room.

Was I starting to warm up to it…not really. It was ok and we finally figured out the quickest way to get from point a to point b, but I was still a little crabby.

Looking at the animals was also starting to warm me up to the AKL, but I wasn’t about to become a devotee just yet.

We finally went back to our room and found a towel thing – not an animal but still a little something. That helped

For dinner that night I had planned a nice romantic evening at Narcoossee’s. How the heck did I know that the Chicago Bears had a night game against Seattle six months ago when I made ADR’s? Of course, DH was NOT budging. He was going to ESPN Zone no matter what to watch the game. Fine – I can go and pout. But wait – his parents are here. And while his mom and I are both big fans, we wanted to enjoy Disney while we had a chance. Yeah! Problem solved. DH would go with his dad to ESPN and I would go with DMIL to our nice romantic dinner at Narcoossee’s

We took a couple more pics on our way out of the lodge, as we were just kind of wandering since we had a little time to spare.

We met up at ESPN with DH’s parents and then DMIL and I headed over to Narcoossee’s. Dinner was really nice and yummy. We were seated facing the MK so you could see the castle and then Wishes. We were not up against the windows, but on the other side of the aisle. That worked out great as people blocked the windows when they went onto the porch, but we were far enough back that we did not have that problem.

DMIL and I then headed back to ESPN to watch the end of the game. We figured the guys would be crabby as we were playing Seattle and they had a really good team. So we both underestimated the Bears that night, as when we arrived they were totally beating up on the Seahawks. Yeah again – no crabby guys. I also managed to collect one of only THREE light up cubes that I got the whole trip. It came in my Year of a Million Dreams Martini.

DH also really liked how they kept pitchers of beer cold – with an ice thing.

Then it was back to the Lodge. It is really dark at night, but it’s also kind of a warm glow that just sucks you in – wait – did I just say something nice about the AKL? Hmmm, maybe it is starting to get to me.

Our room was right next to the windows and right across from elevators we figured out would take us to the pool – only saw other people in them once the whole time. That was kind of cool – uh-oh, did I just say another nice thing about the AKL…..

We were going to go have a drink, but I was just tooooo tired, so we called it a night. Tomorrow we will sleep in till 8:30am! Had an ADR at Boma for breakfast and since DH actually wanted to go there he may get up on time! And then tomorrow night it’s MNSSHP!