Next trip I'm booking a resort w/out a pool! *Pg 25 Final DxDP numbers & last update!

[AKL LOVER]

Thursday May 5th (cont'd)

From Space Mountain it was a short walk to:

We were rushing to make it to our ADR on time. And of course, we get to the center hub, and the castle is closed because of the show they are doing. So we had to walk around, which actually made us about 10 minutes late checking in at Cinderella's Royal Table. They let us right in line for meeting Cinderella. I don't mind that we were late because that meant we were last in line. Cinderella spent more time with the kids.

Cinderella was super excited about DS's name. His name is Jack. And she was telling the kids how that his name was just like the name of one of her best friends...She even pointed him out to the kids:

I had no idea those guys were up there! And it was so sweet of her to point them out to the kids. DS was especially happy that Cinderella gave him so much attention! She has been the best Cinderella we've ever encountered (interaction wise and look wise!!)

Of course we got a family pic. This is the one we got with our meal.

(I took this pic with my phone and uploaded it to FB while we were there, so the pic quality isn't the best...)


Sitting at our table and ready to eat and meet some princesses!

(Notice DH's Mickey shirt that I got him to wear this trip!!!)

DD 's eating here, so we've done it on every trip. DS usually get's a good deal of attention while there too, so he also enjoys it! This visit was no exception:

I love how the princesses can carry on a conversation with the kids and sign their names at the same time, all without looking at the paper!!

DS getting some love from Ariel. No kiss on the cheek this year, but she's still his favorite! She did tell him that she couldn't believe that HE still remembered getting a kiss...She thought last year that he would be too little to remember

Don't worry, DD got some love too:

I even got a little attention from Sleeping Beauty herself! She was asking about our autograph books. DH explained that when we got home we would put put pics of the kids w/ the characters next to each of their signatures. Sleeping Beauty, replies "Oh my! Sounds like someone is a planner! laughing:, right??) You are just like my Flora. She's a planner too!"


**Side note: Don't you just LOVE how the characters stay in character even when talking to an adult!?!? I honesly think that this is my ABSOLUTE favorite thing about Disney. It is amazing! How could you not love Disney, just for this one fact?!?


Anyway, back to Sleeping Beauty and her raving reviews of my planning abilities (at least someone is appreciating all the planning I did for this trip! Hint, hint DH!) She went on to say what a wonderful keepsake it would make for the kids. It was cute and I won't lie--I enjoyed getting a bit of attention too!

Sadly, all the princesses has come and gone and it was time to leave the castle. Guess what DH and the kids want to do now???



No surprise here--they vote for the pool!!! However, I said that we had yet to ride one of my fav rides, so off to PoC it was! I think DH was a little more apt to giving me my way the rest of the trip after the fit he threw and the plans he ruined on Wednesday. PoC was only a 10 minute wait, so we park the stroller and head into the line. Or so we thought. We get up to the big double doors right as you enter the inside part of the queue and they seriously cut off the line and closed the doors just as we are about to walk through them! A CM announces that the ride is having technical difficulties and they aren't sure when it will be back up and running--I think I actually stamped my foot when this happened! I think I was entitled to a foot stamp or 2 because when we tried to ride PoC on Tuesday it was also down that day. 2 different days to try and ride and down both days. Maybe we were destined to miss one of my favorite rides this trip.



I was very sad about missing PoC and needed a pick me up...well DS and I found one on the way out of the park...any guesses??

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Love the interaction you got at CRT and that you got some Princess love as well.

Boo on your favourite ride being down!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Love your update! EMH seem to work well with MK. You can do all the Fantasyland rides first and then, once the crowds come in move on to an area with no wait while everyone rushes Dumbo. It will be tough to pick between an 8:05 CP adr with an empty park or EMH with 10:30am CP. Hopefully with 2 years to pick I'll figure it out.

I the view of your back yard. I just love the picture with the giraffee and zebra. They were my favorites but were never that close to each other, they always seemed to stay with there groups while we were there.

Great picture of the expansion. I can't wait to see Belle's castle when it is done. She is my favorite and I love that movie so much. Can't wait

ACK! You caught me mid update again! You are so good at that!

Morning EMH at MK is the one EMH we always do. I love doing EMH and then having a later breakfast. It's a great way to spend your morning--ride a bunch of rides, then take a break with a nice breakfast! That's why we did the 8:05 ADR at CP on a nonEMH day--I couldn't pick one over the other, and I knew that we'd be in MK on multiple days anyway, so we could get the best of both worlds!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Love the interaction you got at CRT and that you got some Princess love as well.

Boo on your favourite ride being down!

I've never gotten so much attention from a character--it was fun! And it almost made up for PoC being down!

 

[mrssmith06]

Great update! I am debating on whether to do 1900 PF or CRT on our next trip. Cost being a big factor of course! How is the food at CRT?

Sorry you missed PoC twice! That ride is on my "must do" list for next trip since we never got to ride it this time.

Sounds like you all had a great morning at MK!

 

[pinkxray]

I do always seem to catch you mid update.

How did you like CRT? It seems like you had some great interaction, but I didn't love it. I know it's not a big deal on dxdp but I still thought the breakfast was a bit lame for the price.

POC twice deserves a big foot stomp.

 

[AKL LOVER]

Great update! I am debating on whether to do 1900 PF or CRT on our next trip. Cost being a big factor of course! How is the food at CRT?

Sorry you missed PoC twice! That ride is on my "must do" list for next trip since we never got to ride it this time.

Sounds like you all had a great morning at MK!

That's a tough choice--CRT or 1900 PF!

We think that CRT is better for breakfast--we did it for dinner on our first trip and it was ok, but breakfast is better.

If you are looking for a bigger variety in food, then 1900 PF is the better choice. We really enjoyed our dinner there last trip! And the evil stepsisters are such a hoot! Loved them. CRT is really expensive so if you are looking for a less expensive option you will be just as happy at 1900 PF.

Are you going to be on the DP for your next trip? It might be worth it to do CRT then. I'm not sure how willing I would be to pay for CRT OOP!

Also, if you're looking for a meal to meet a lot of princesses and don't want to spend the $$ on CRT, you should check out Akershus in Epcot. It's a good meal, has great character interaction and also comes with a pic! And it's only 1 TS credit. For what it's worth, we like dinner better than breakfast for lunch at Akershus.

Hope this helps

I do always seem to catch you mid update.

How did you like CRT? It seems like you had some great interaction, but I didn't love it. I know it's not a big deal on dxdp but I still thought the breakfast was a bit lame for the price.

POC twice deserves a big foot stomp.

We think that breakfast is good, but I'm not sure that I would pay OOP for it. We definitely like doing it since we've been on the DP. I do love that it comes with a pic and that you don't have to leave a tip--gratuity is included with the price. However, if we weren't on the DP or if we downgrade our DP next trip, I don't know that we would do it again...we've already been so many times and there are so many other places that definitely have better food! We'll have to see how much DD pushes for it though!

 

[basketkat]

Love all of the pictures in this update!!!

It looks like you had a fabulous time at CRT!!! We are looking forward to eating there for the first time on our upcoming trip!

What a bummer about PoC

 

[__disneygirl]

SCI-FI!!!!!! One of my favorite places in the whole entire world, not just the World. I do not understand the negative reviews one bit. Plus, even if the food was vile, I'd go just for the atmosphere because it is beyond awesome in there. They have the best milkshakes in the world. I actually can't drink milkshakes from anywhere else because they are just so sad compared to Sci-Fi's!

You don't have to apologize for the rant. It's a shame you had to miss Hoop Dee Doo and I would have been really mad too. I hate when I plan all these great things and then someone on the trip just simply doesn't feel like doing something, and I'm like BUT WE HAVE TO YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW AWESOME THIS WILL BE and it's just a no. At least you got to see Survivor, I get quite annoyed when I miss Survivor

Sounds like a great morning at the MK. I love when the characters go that extra mile to really have a convo with you/your kids as opposed to just hi, sign, picture.

 

[Joyciemc]

Awesome update!!

CRT looks like such a fun time and is in such a cool location.
I agree- that seemed to be a great Cinderella!

 

[beebeeryan]

Great character interactions! It's nice when Mommy gets some attention too! So sad on POTC, I love that ride too.

We had a great meet&greet with Buzz and Woody at DHS last summer. As we got up to our turn in Andy's Room, Buzz took off for an adjustment of some sort, and so the boys hung out with Woody for almost 5 minutes before Buzz came back. They told us to just wait with Woody till Buzz returned. I got some funny videos of Woody goofing off making the boys laugh.

Oh man, see this is going to be my TR come August too, my boys were demanding to go back to the pool by 1pm every day last year. I planned my days based on that luckily and am planning this year's trip based on that too.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

for great character interaction at CRT!!!

Ugh, that stinks that POTC was down! I hope you are successful in riding it during your trip!!

lol back to the pool again! I'm definitely understanding your TR title by now.... The AKL pool must be pretty awesome!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Love all of the pictures in this update!!!

It looks like you had a fabulous time at CRT!!! We are looking forward to eating there for the first time on our upcoming trip!

What a bummer about PoC

You will have a lot of fun eating at CRT, especially for your first time! Are you have breakfast, lunch or dinner there?

SCI-FI!!!!!! One of my favorite places in the whole entire world, not just the World. I do not understand the negative reviews one bit. Plus, even if the food was vile, I'd go just for the atmosphere because it is beyond awesome in there. They have the best milkshakes in the world. I actually can't drink milkshakes from anywhere else because they are just so sad compared to Sci-Fi's!

You don't have to apologize for the rant. It's a shame you had to miss Hoop Dee Doo and I would have been really mad too. I hate when I plan all these great things and then someone on the trip just simply doesn't feel like doing something, and I'm like BUT WE HAVE TO YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW AWESOME THIS WILL BE and it's just a no. At least you got to see Survivor, I get quite annoyed when I miss Survivor

Sounds like a great morning at the MK. I love when the characters go that extra mile to really have a convo with you/your kids as opposed to just hi, sign, picture.

At least people on here understand why I was so upset, even if DH didn't!

And I agree w/ you on Sci-Fi...fabulous atmosphere! Too bad we didn't try a milkshake. I'll put that on my list for next time

Awesome update!!

CRT looks like such a fun time and is in such a cool location.
I agree- that seemed to be a great Cinderella!

I think the location is what makes CRT so great!

Great character interactions! It's nice when Mommy gets some attention too! So sad on POTC, I love that ride too.

We had a great meet&greet with Buzz and Woody at DHS last summer. As we got up to our turn in Andy's Room, Buzz took off for an adjustment of some sort, and so the boys hung out with Woody for almost 5 minutes before Buzz came back. They told us to just wait with Woody till Buzz returned. I got some funny videos of Woody goofing off making the boys laugh.

Oh man, see this is going to be my TR come August too, my boys were demanding to go back to the pool by 1pm every day last year. I planned my days based on that luckily and am planning this year's trip based on that too.

My DS really wanted to meet Buzz and Woody this year, but the line was too long. But he didn't fret about it too long b/c we just headed back to the pool instead of waiting in line!

My main problem was that once we hit the pool, I couldn't drag the 3 of them away for dinner or for doing the parks at night! Maybe if we had stayed in the parks until 2 or 3 then hit the pool it wouldn't have been so bad to miss out on night time plans. But most days we were back at the pool by 1 and I was done w/ the pool by 4 and ready to go back to the parks, but they weren't. I'm thinking maybe my kids were fish in another life....

for great character interaction at CRT!!!

Ugh, that stinks that POTC was down! I hope you are successful in riding it during your trip!!

lol back to the pool again! I'm definitely understanding your TR title by now.... The AKL pool must be pretty awesome!

Just wait, we aren't even half way through our vacation yet!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Thursday May 5

On our way out of the park I was still bummed about PoC being closed for technical difficulties. Of course DH and the kids were happy as a clam b/c this just meant that we could head back to the resort even earlier for the pool!

However, on the way out, I did manage to find something to perk me up...The wait to see Mickey was only 10 minutes! DS had been asking nonstop to see Mickey since we arrived on Monday and I wanted to do it this day b/c we were all wearing our Mickey shirts. However, DD did not want to see Mickey. Hhhmmm...someone not wanting to do what I have planned....why does this not surprise me at this point? Instead, she wanted to use some of her spending money to buy some Mickey ears.


BTW, can you believe that this is our 4th trip to Disney, but we've never bought Mickey ears before? Crazy, right???


So off DH and DD go to find some ears while DS and I head into Mickey's line.

Excited, but waiting patiently...

The wait wasn't bad at all (15 minutes) and we were excited to see Mickey and Minnie for our meet and greet!

See how happy he was??

Of course, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to get my picture taken with Mickey either!

One last hug before we go...

We had fun meeting them together. DS was so excited. Not really sure why, b/c he's met Mickey before, but he really really enjoyed it this time! On the way out, DS wanted his picture taken with these giant Mickey cards!

After leaving our meet and greet, DS couldn't pass up a huge Mickey in the gift shop. He spent all of his spending money on it! Clever Disney for placing a shop right at the exit, huh??

We met up with DH and DD. DD was sporting a new set of ears...Minnie style:

Now it was off to the pool for real this time. We made it back to AKL and were in the pool by 1:15. For the 3rd day in a row we enjoyed the AKL pool party. This day's pool party was especially fun because they had the kids going on a scavenger hunt. There were 10 objects total and they announced each object one at a time. They would give the kids 3 minutes and the first 3 kids to bring that item back won a point. The person at the end of the hunt with the most points won a big prize. The reason this was so much fun is that the items they were supposed to be finding were rather random...and because of the 3 minute time limit the kids had to limit themselves to finding someone AT THE POOL with that item. My kids didn't participate, but since I was lounging in a chair enjoying a tasty beverage, I had random kids coming up and asking me if I had the item they were looking for. The things I can remember from the list that they had to find were: a hair brush, a Disney World Resort pen, a pressed penny, the biggest size shoe possible (I think someone found a 13!!)...totally random but A LOT of fun! And I got to "participate" even though my kids weren't playing.

Once the pool party ended at 4, I told DH I was headed back up to the room to shower and get ready. That night was our Disney Date Night!! DH decides he's ready to head back up to the room too. Miracle of all miracles, the kids don't put up a fight--they are excited to go to the kids club! I'll have to remember that trick for our next trip too!



Before dropping the kids off at the kids club, we have time to hit the CL lounge for a beer and a glass of wine...for DH and I. Don't worry--the kids got juice!

A shot of the lounge:

The view from the CL lounge:

At 6:45 we drop the kids off at the kids club. I liked how dinner was included with their clubhouse stay. After a little snafu with finding out if the pizza crust had egg in it or not, DH and I were off to Jiko! I didn't bring our camera with us on our date night because I didn't want to be taking pictures, instead I wanted to be enjoying each other's company.

Next post: Jiko Dining Review minus pictures (SORRY!)

 

[AKL LOVER]

First of all, we had the best waitress EVER. She was fantastic!! I cannot say enough about her. Her name was Stephanie. In fact, everyone should run to Jiko the minute they make it to Disney and ask for Stephanie. Only eat there if she can be your server. She is that good! Seriously.



I was undecided on what wine I wanted with dinner. She told me that since the kids were at the kids club that we had all night and she was going to stretch this dinner out every last bit! She then proceeded to bring me 4 different bottles of wine to try. She even offered up that if I didn't like one of those wines that she would bring me more to try! Fortunately I didn't have to try a billion different kinds (I say fortunately because if I had tried as many as she wanted me to try I would have been falling flat on my a** drunk!!) I liked the 3rd wine I tried, and just like that she had sold us a bottle. Very smooth. If you weren't paying attention, you might not have even seen it coming! Like I said, she was good.



She had an amuse bouche sent out to us which was great. She somehow managed to get us 3 apps included in our deluxe dining, not just 2. We had the Jiko salad (yummy!), the wild boar (even yummier!) and the Tastes of Africa (dips w/ Naan--these were good, but not as good as the other 2 apps we had).



DH had the short ribs which were divine (I snuck a bite) and I had the filet. It was cooked to perfection. I wanted their mac and cheese in place of the side the filet normally comes with, but Stephanie said, no no, you can have an additional side of mac and cheese and it will be included w/ your DP. Really, it was at this point that I thought that I was seriously considering employing her as our own personal server to take back home with us!


And when she brought out the little bit of citrus sorbet to clense our palate, she put each one in a shot glass and had the bartender add a shot of vodka on top! Really, I told you she was good!



Finally for dessert, (I am embarassed to even say that yes, we had desert! ) we had a pot of pressed coffee (Stephanie included this with our DP too--did I already mention she was good??) the cheesecake and the Tanzanian Chocolate desert..both were extrodinary and worth the extra calories in my book! All in all I think we spent 3 hours at Jiko--we really took our time.




After a lovely evening w/ my DH we picked up the kids. They reported that they had a lot of fun at Simba's Clubhouse and they wanted to go back--the next night!



But sadly (for them) we have other plans for the rest of our nights in Disney, so they will have to wait for our next trip to go back...

 

[mrssmith06]

Aww, your DS is so adorable, I love that Mickey put that big smile on his face! I wanted to cry when my DS ran up and hugged Mickey.

Jiko sounds amazing!!!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

You meal at Jiko sounds amazing! I have been dying to try the filet with the mac and cheese but just can't bring myself to spend the money!

 

[lbuzz52]

i loved Ariel's comment. they are so quick and so clever and never even give the kids a chance to wonder.

ds looked so excited meeting mickey! and i can believe no ears until now. dh thinks once you have a pair, you never need another.

i'm not sure i completely get the lines app. i get that you can check or submit wait times, but i feel that i am missing something out of it.

your server sounds devine! she could sell mcdonalds as five star

 

[basketkat]

You will have a lot of fun eating at CRT, especially for your first time! Are you have breakfast, lunch or dinner there?]

We will be having a late breakfast. My DD will be turning 7 that day...so she is doing BBB before park opening then we are having breakfast at 10:30

Your son is so cute! He looks so thrilled to be meeting Mickey!

And your daughter's new "ears" are adorable!

How nice that you got to have a Disney date!!!

 

[Joyciemc]

Stephanie does sound amazing! Our Jiko server was super nice, but super cautious- he was worried about getting in trouble for making Ben eat his bread to fast; I couldn't imagine him adding vodka to anything

Glad you had an awesome meal!