Move People! I'm going to Disney World! A Free Dining TR (8/16-8/22) [AKL & minigolf]

[PalmettoPrincess]

Hello hello everyone!! I just returned from a week-long adventure in Disney World! I will be writing this trip report and a dining review of our travels! Here's a link to my dining review: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2265584I had an absolutely wonderful time! I conquered my fears, ate fantastic food and felt the magic of Disney! So let's get started!!

The History: Back in March, my DBF (Jamey) called me early in the morning and asked if I wanted to go to Disney World! Of course I said YES! We planned the trip for August 16-22, which was the first week of free dining and coincided with my birthday! Flash forward four months and we were on our way!

Sunday, August 16, 2009: We woke up super early to be on the road by 6 am. Everything was going smoothly until we got in the car and cranked her up.... my engine was making AWFUL noises. I got scared because we had a 7 hour drive ahead of us and I didn't want to break down on the way. So we got delayed about 30 min while Jamey and my brother checked everything out. Luckily it was only because I had a new part put on my car the day before and it had to be "broken in." So we headed on down the road!

Our first pics on the trip!

Jamey

Me (Yeah, I look awful in the mornings!)

How many miles to go?!

Anyways, the drive down wasn't bad. We hit a few traffic areas in Georgia, but other than that it was smooth sailing! And before we knew it..............................................

Jamey and I were staying at All-Star Movies, so that was our first stop! We arrived in DW at 1pm, but we decided to check-in first and just wait for our room. We waited for like 5 min and then we were being helped. The CM was very nice and gave me a birthday button, Jamey got a First Visit button and we both got "I'm Celebrating" buttons. And lo and behold! Our room was ready! WooHoo! We were staying in Love Bug Building 7 Room 7953. Here are some pics of the room:

We had a Mickey Head waiting on us!

Coming up next on Day 1: We explore the resort; travel to AKL; and play mini-golf! Stay tuned!

 

[aprilisis]

You're off to a great start! I'm following along.

 

[jessrose18]

 

[milmore104]

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm in! I love reading about other people's Disney adventures. We are thinking about trying a new resort for our 2010 trip. Hope you'll include lots of details on the All Star Movies.

Lisa

 

[Sleeping*Beauty]

I can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[A M&Asmom]

 

[floridascgirl]

Following along from here in Charleston, too!

 

[PalmettoPrincess]

Welcome and thanks for the encouragement everyone! So after we unloaded our bags into the room, we decided to take a look around the resort. Since we were staying in the Love Bug section, that was our first area to explore. I'm a HUGE Herbie fan, so I was thrilled when we found out that's where our room was. Here are some pics from the Love Bug section::

The building across from ours

The Herbie on our building :]

Jamey & Herbie

Me in the Winner's Circle

Next we ventured over to the Fantasia section... most of the pics I took here are of the pool. I slacked off... Sorry.......

Around 3pm we got ready for our dinner ressie, and then ventured around some more. The Toy Story section was next:

I love Rex, so I had to get a pic with him!

And last but not least, was the 101 Dalmatians section!

Jamey & Lucky got a little too friendly with one another..................

This is the only pic I have of the Mighty Ducks section (it's actually of the pool area)... we had to hightail it to AKL for our dinner ressie... again, I slacked! Sorry....

Thoughts on ASMovies: All in all, I enjoyed our stay at ASMovies. I didn't expect anything fancy, and felt that we got more than what we paid for the room ($82/night). Prior to arriving, I had wanted to stay in either the Love Bug or Toy Story sections. Since we booked a standard room, I figured we would get Love Bug and was right! IMHO, Toy Story is the prettiest area. Even the landscaping seemed more upkept there. But I was more than happy with our building. At first we were a little annoyed that our building was in the BACK of the resort, but it was so quiet!! Plus we had a small parking lot next to the building where we parked. Since we drove ourselves to the parks, this worked out perfectly! Mousekeeping cleaned our room everyday and replenished our towels. The CMs were all nice and helpful. The only downfall to this resort is that the beds were uncomfortable. We had two double beds instead of one king, and we slept in separate beds the entire week. They were way too small to share, especially with the way Jamey and I sleep! One of us is always moving around! The mattresses were on the hard side, but as I said, I know that we got what we paid for. I would definitely recommend ASMovies to another person, as long as they understood what they were getting. If you go expecting a hotel like AKL or WL, you will be disappointed! But it has a great Disney atmosphere and is perfectly adequate for a stay in the World! I give it a thumbs up!

But it's getting late and I'm getting tired, so in the next installment: We go to AKL and play mini-golf!

 

[mousebymarriage]

Sounds great so far, can't wait to hear more!

 

[Sandy321]

Loved your dining reviews - thought I'd pop over and check out the trip report!

Good pictures and review of ASM - we've only stayed at Pop in the values - I like the pictures, it looks like a nice value resort - how was the bus situation? I know you posted you drove, but on the off chance you might have noticed the bus lines... thought I'd ask!!

(and I like the cooler in the room!! ; ) )

 

[mickeystoontown]

Sounds like your vacation is off to a great start!

 

[PalmettoPrincess]

Thank you everyone!

Loved your dining reviews - thought I'd pop over and check out the trip report!

Good pictures and review of ASM - we've only stayed at Pop in the values - I like the pictures, it looks like a nice value resort - how was the bus situation? I know you posted you drove, but on the off chance you might have noticed the bus lines... thought I'd ask!!

(and I like the cooler in the room!! ; ) )

Welcome! I noticed the bus lines at times... they were pretty much non-existent in the mornings. We like to make rope drop, so we would leave our room about 90 min prior to park opening. At that time, I'd say there wasn't more than 10 people in each line. On Friday, we slept in and left around 10am and the lines were longer then. But not so much that I didn't think they all couldn't make it onto the same bus.

Yep yep! I brought a cooler, a picnic basket and a beach bag filled with goodies! lol! I filled an entire drawer in the dresser with snacks. hahaha! Of course, I ended up bringing most of it home, but better safe than sorry!

 

[PalmettoPrincess]

I might have to do this in two posts, since I have a ton of pics to upload for this portion. Okay, so after exploring ASMovies, we headed over to AKL.

We had a 4:30pm ressie for Boma, which you can read about in my dining review I've never been to AKL before and it took my breath away! Jamey and I were astounded at how beautiful it was. It was hard going back to a value after spending time there, but we both decided that we would save and stay there someday. I just couldn't get over the attention to detail here!

A rhino lamp

The wooden frames around the mirror

After our delicious dinner, we walked out to the back where the Savannah lookout was. Again, I was flabbergasted...

There were several CMs out on the viewing area who were more than happy to help show us the animals and answer our questions. Here are a view pics of the animals we saw:

It was so peaceful just watching the animals. There were some people relaxing on their balconies... I got a little jealous lol

On our way back through the lobby I noticed a photographer. I assumed she was with the Photopass sessions, but I stopped and talked to her. She said that she does do sessions, but she also takes regular photopass pics!!! This made my night! She was the nicest lady and one of the best photographers I've had with photopass!

These turned out to be my favorite pics of our vacation! I don't know if they do that in all of the resorts now, but I had only heard of the sessions.

Alright, after taking our first photopass pics of the trips and setting a precedent for stopping when we see one of their photographers, we reluctantly left AKL and headed to Winter Summerland to play some mini-golf!

 

[PalmettoPrincess]

Since we booked our vacation package through disneyworld.com, we got one free round of mini-golf at either Fantasia Gardens or Winter Summerland. I had heard that Winter Summerland was easier and it was near our hotel, so we went there. It was around 6pm or so and right after a hard rain, so there was hardly anyone there! It was perfect! We played through at our leisure without feeling the need to rush. Because of our one free round, it cost us a whooping $12 or so to play miniature golf! You can't beat that! And this turned out to be the most entertaining course I've ever played! It was so interactive, and again the attention to detail is amazing! I took pics of every hole, so here we go:
Hole 1:

Hole 2:

Hole 3:

Hole 4:

Hole 5:

Hole 6: (This one was so frustrating!)

Hole 7:

Hole 8:

Hole 9:

Hole 10:

Hole 11:

Hole 12:

Hole 13 was being refurbished...
Hole 14: (The ball travels up the pole!)

Hole 15:

Hole 16:

Hole 17:

Hole 18: (Santa pops up with a message on the screen!)

This was one of the most fun activities we did all week! I would HIGHLY recommend this... it's inexpensive and a festive treat all year long! There are Christmas lights hung and they play Christmas carols! We both had a blast!

BTW, I lost... 42 stokes to 53, with a par of 56.

After that we went back to the hotel where we went to the arcade to use our free 30 min of play card that came with our package. All you do is rip out your coupon and scan the barcode on arcade games only... you cannot play games where you win tickets nor the photo booths. Also you cannot play two games at once, although you can play two-player games. Your 30 min begins when you first scan your card... I think we ended up playing 4 or 5 games. Scanning a piece of paper was frustrating and we couldn't get some of the games to scan it, but for a free gift, it was nice. The best game we played was the one where you lay down and it makes you feel like you're on a ride. It was interesting!

After that we stopped by Silver Screen Spirits and got a drink (ick! - read my dining review to find out about that one!)... then we headed back to the room and hit the hay in order to get ready for our first day in the parks! :]

Coming up next, we head to Animal Kingdom, where we conquer the Yeti, almost touch a giraffe and get lost in a sea of people! Stay tuned! :]

 

[Sandy321]

Thank you everyone!



Welcome! I noticed the bus lines at times... they were pretty much non-existent in the mornings. We like to make rope drop, so we would leave our room about 90 min prior to park opening. At that time, I'd say there wasn't more than 10 people in each line. On Friday, we slept in and left around 10am and the lines were longer then. But not so much that I didn't think they all couldn't make it onto the same bus.

Yep yep! I brought a cooler, a picnic basket and a beach bag filled with goodies! lol! I filled an entire drawer in the dresser with snacks. hahaha! Of course, I ended up bringing most of it home, but better safe than sorry!

the only way to travel!! Good job!!

Love this set of pictures - and reviews - I'e always skipped the mini golf - now I want to play!!

Thanks for taking the time to give such a great insight!!

 

[dina7]

We had the Mini-Golf Voucher too for our trip from Aug.11-18, but didn't use it for our family of four. I had heard the mini-golf was expensive. My DS(8) just ran up to the kitchen begging for us to try the Winter Summerland Course next August, since he saw your pictures & how fun it looks! Thanks! Just kidding, we are now considering it...it looks really fun!

 

[aprilisis]

I like the photos from AKL- they came out really good. I can't wait to read more!

 

[wannago2disney]

great pictures

We haven't had any time to explore other resorts on previous trips so it's great to see them! We have a couple of off days in our upcoming trip and I hope we can do some resort exploring...AKL looks like it will be a must do. What a treat to find a photopass person there. Those pictures turned out wonderful!

(i'm off to sub into your dining report...need to find out what that yucky drink was!)

 

[MyBuddyBaloo]

Enjoying your report. Great pictures!!