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

[mickeystoontown]

Was on vacation at WDW and got behind. Now that I'm all caught up, I forgot what I wanted to comment on. Guess that means, I'll just comment on the last post. I can't believe that your two kids got on Tower of Terror! I was a complete chicken and didn't ride it myself until two years ago.

 

[sahm2two]

great update! I love the picture of y'all on the ToT... so fun that y'all got to ride it together maybe next time we go we'll be able to ride some of the thrill rides as a family.

 

[__disneygirl]

Hey!!! I know you read my TR so I had to come check out yours, love it so far!!

When I read the first line, "Welcome aboard the motorcoach" I immediately heard it in my head and got the warm and fuzzies!! ahhh 4 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days until Disney for us!

I know what you mean about AKL feeling like home. The first Disney Resort we ever stayed at was Pop and I don't think I'll ever visit Disney without going there at least once even if we weren't staying there! Once you stay on property you never go back!

Yummm, Crystal Palace! That is one of my favorite places and yet we haven't been back in so long, it's so hard to fit in new things plus old favorites!

Great pics of the Fantasyland expansion... I still can't believe there is going to be another castle! It looks amazing!

I didn't know they had Disney stuff at Old Navy, wow! I'll have to check that out soon, as if I don't have enough Disney clothes already.

25 minutes is DEF a long time for the monorail! I don't know if I'm just lucky cause we usually go in April or October when the crowds are low, but I don't think we've ever waited more than 5-10 minutes for one.

Ohana looks soooo good! We can't wait to try it for the first time in Oct!

Aww, such drama at Fantasmic! Kids are so unpredictable, you never know what they are gonna wanna do... same goes for husbands! lol. I totally understand though, I never get upset by crowds but the mess that happens on the Fantasmic show nights is just ridiculous. I hated it and was so uncomfortable! I love that show, but next trip we are skipping it.

Interesting breakdown of DxDP. We've never done the dining plan before and I'm kind of dreading all the math I'll have to do to figure out if it's worth it for us this time! Don't think it will be because a lot of our meals will be just walking around enjoying the Food & Wine Fest, but I do want to try it.

I love that ToT photo of you guys, so funny!! We have a few like that.

Such cute pics in the 3D glasses... your kids are so adorable!

 

[Joyciemc]

Mmm, that plate of fruit from the CL lounge looks so yummy! Too bad you didn't get to eat more of it

Looks like you had a good day at the studios... now, where did you eat?

 

[basketkat]

Sounds like a fun day!!!!!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I still haven't tried TSM...I definitely want to though! Usually the wait is just too long, and fastpasses are in too high demand hahaha.

 

[mrssmith06]

I finally caught up on your TR! I didn't know you could purchase the pictures from ToT! We asked the CM at the end if we could photopass it or anything and she just said "No" and didn't bother telling us we could buy it. Dang!! That sucks too because I don't know if I'd ever go back on it hahaha, I'm such a wuss.

We didn't get to see F!, the lines were insane, we couldn't get in! I wanted to see it so bad, hopefully we can next time!

Great updates, looking forward to reading more!

 

[Corrine 1973]

How did I miss that you started your TR! Oh well, better late than never, right?

Just loving the new ride. I would have done the same thing, I don't think I could have felt comfortable in the van after what you had gone through.

I love the pics of the animal from your room. Another reason to stay at AKL, it is definatly on my top list of resorts to stay at.

I am glad that your DS loved F! but sorry your DH and DD didn't want to stay. We did use the F! dinning package and though I would have liked more center seats I still enjoyed the show very much. The main problem I had was that the boats seemed to be more geared for the center seats.

I am loving your TR so far and can't wait to read more.

 

[lbuzz52]

Sounds like my idea of a perfect morning! You hit all my favorites!

I never thought of taking a snack to BMTB. Great idea!

 

[Aburns8]

Great update! You went on my favorite ride (ToT). I like the Beauty and the Beast show. I have only seen it once though and it was a couple of years ago.

 

[pinkxray]

Yummy, the CL food looks yummy. I love chocolate croissants especially the ones at Disney.

I am glad DS perked up once it was time to get on TSM. He looks so calm in the TOT picture. I hold on for dear life. He makes us adults who hold on look bad.

Good to know they let you back in for the B&b show. I was thinking of leaving to get a snack, but didn’t want to deal with having a hard time getting back in.

 

[silverhaze269]

I just got all caught up on your TR...sounds like a great time so far! It sucks your DH wasn't feeling well after 'Ohana. I can see why though...we ate there on our trip, and there was almost too much food! I really wanted to try a Lapu Lapu, but given my circumstances I just couldn't do it. Next time though...

I also can't believe you got your kids on ToT! I've never been on it because I'm too That's one ride that has me running for the hills, !

Can't wait to read more!

 

[beebeeryan]

ToT as a family is great, we did it last summer and DS4 was just 40 inches and was so excited to ride it. He loved it, I think our photo was probably the same, me screaming and the rest of them laughing at me.

 

[AKL LOVER]

Sounds like a fantastic day so far!

Love the ToT photo!

Thanks--guess you all know what a wimp I can be now ....seriously, I screamed more than both of my kids combined!!

Was on vacation at WDW and got behind. Now that I'm all caught up, I forgot what I wanted to comment on. Guess that means, I'll just comment on the last post. I can't believe that your two kids got on Tower of Terror! I was a complete chicken and didn't ride it myself until two years ago.

I'll forgive you as falling behind due to a WDW vacation is a perfectly acceptable excuse...now if you had fallen behind due to something like work, then you might not have been forgiven so easily!

great update! I love the picture of y'all on the ToT... so fun that y'all got to ride it together maybe next time we go we'll be able to ride some of the thrill rides as a family.

I definitely recommend trying them at least once. And it was so much fun to ride it with the 3 of them for their first time!

Hey!!! I know you read my TR so I had to come check out yours, love it so far!!

When I read the first line, "Welcome aboard the motorcoach" I immediately heard it in my head and got the warm and fuzzies!! ahhh 4 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days until Disney for us!

I know what you mean about AKL feeling like home. The first Disney Resort we ever stayed at was Pop and I don't think I'll ever visit Disney without going there at least once even if we weren't staying there! Once you stay on property you never go back!

Yummm, Crystal Palace! That is one of my favorite places and yet we haven't been back in so long, it's so hard to fit in new things plus old favorites!

Great pics of the Fantasyland expansion... I still can't believe there is going to be another castle! It looks amazing!

I didn't know they had Disney stuff at Old Navy, wow! I'll have to check that out soon, as if I don't have enough Disney clothes already.

25 minutes is DEF a long time for the monorail! I don't know if I'm just lucky cause we usually go in April or October when the crowds are low, but I don't think we've ever waited more than 5-10 minutes for one.

Ohana looks soooo good! We can't wait to try it for the first time in Oct!

Aww, such drama at Fantasmic! Kids are so unpredictable, you never know what they are gonna wanna do... same goes for husbands! lol. I totally understand though, I never get upset by crowds but the mess that happens on the Fantasmic show nights is just ridiculous. I hated it and was so uncomfortable! I love that show, but next trip we are skipping it.

Interesting breakdown of DxDP. We've never done the dining plan before and I'm kind of dreading all the math I'll have to do to figure out if it's worth it for us this time! Don't think it will be because a lot of our meals will be just walking around enjoying the Food & Wine Fest, but I do want to try it.

I love that ToT photo of you guys, so funny!! We have a few like that.

Such cute pics in the 3D glasses... your kids are so adorable!

I am so jealous that you have an upcoming trip this fall. NO FAIR! Guess that means you are going to have to take plenty of Fantasyland expansion pics and post them on your TR to appease all of us who can't go...

Oh and by the way, it's funny that you would comment on the motorcoach recording. Just the other night, sitting at the dinner table, my son started rambling off the recording. I literally said out loud to my husband, 'did he just seriously say what I think he said?!?!' Then I asked DS to repeat what he said, just to be sure I heard him right!! It's been a month and a half since we were in Disney, but he still remembers every word! That's my boy!!

Mmm, that plate of fruit from the CL lounge looks so yummy! Too bad you didn't get to eat more of it

Looks like you had a good day at the studios... now, where did you eat?

Have no fear, I made sure to snag some of that yummy fruit several times later in our trip. It was the best fruit--fresh, ripe and juicy!!

Sounds like a fun day!!!!!

It was...and it's a good thing too! (FORESHADOWING for my next update!)

 

[AKL LOVER]

I still haven't tried TSM...I definitely want to though! Usually the wait is just too long, and fastpasses are in too high demand hahaha.

You have got to try TSM. Right now. This very minute. Stop what you are doing and jump on the next flight to WDW...

...OK, well I guess it could wait until your next trip. But only if you promise to try it out then. It is such a blast, you cannot even imagine how much fun it is. You just have to experience it yourself to find out!

I finally caught up on your TR! I didn't know you could purchase the pictures from ToT! We asked the CM at the end if we could photopass it or anything and she just said "No" and didn't bother telling us we could buy it. Dang!! That sucks too because I don't know if I'd ever go back on it hahaha, I'm such a wuss.

We didn't get to see F!, the lines were insane, we couldn't get in! I wanted to see it so bad, hopefully we can next time!

Great updates, looking forward to reading more!

That sucks that the CM didn't tell you that you could purchase the pics...hello!?! Don't you think that if you asked about adding them to photopass and you couldn't that you might be interested in actually spending $$ to buy it?? You should definitely get back on again next time just so you can get a pic!

I can't believe how crazy the lines have gotten the past few years for F! The show is great, but it's just not worth the lines after you have seen it once IMHO.

How did I miss that you started your TR! Oh well, better late than never, right?

Just loving the new ride. I would have done the same thing, I don't think I could have felt comfortable in the van after what you had gone through.

I love the pics of the animal from your room. Another reason to stay at AKL, it is definatly on my top list of resorts to stay at.

I am glad that your DS loved F! but sorry your DH and DD didn't want to stay. We did use the F! dinning package and though I would have liked more center seats I still enjoyed the show very much. The main problem I had was that the boats seemed to be more geared for the center seats.

I am loving your TR so far and can't wait to read more.

You're not really that late--I'm only on day 3 so far! (and day 1 was just a travel day!)

If you ask me, AKL should be at the top of everyone's must-stay resort list , so I'm glad to hear it's at the top of yours!

DH would have really enjoyed all of the thought put into the show, but no worries--his loss, not mine! And to be honest, he wasn't really that upset about not seeing it, so there was no point in me getting upset over since I stayed to see it!

Sounds like my idea of a perfect morning! You hit all my favorites!

I never thought of taking a snack to BMTB. Great idea!

Having a snack during the show was the perfect way to cool off--but the kids were entertained so they didn't get bored taking a break!

Great update! You went on my favorite ride (ToT). I like the Beauty and the Beast show. I have only seen it once though and it was a couple of years ago.

ToT is SO MUCH FUN, but the real lesson learned here is how much DH enjoyed it! He could have ridden it 150 times in a row and not gotten tired of it. Note to self--promise DH lots of ToT time the next time I beging talking about a Disney trip!

Yummy, the CL food looks yummy. I love chocolate croissants especially the ones at Disney.

I am glad DS perked up once it was time to get on TSM. He looks so calm in the TOT picture. I hold on for dear life. He makes us adults who hold on look bad.

Good to know they let you back in for the B&b show. I was thinking of leaving to get a snack, but didn’t want to deal with having a hard time getting back in.

I didn't even get a bite of the chocolate croissant that morning! But I did get one later in the week and it was good.

I was amazed at how well DS did on that ride--he is normally our 'frady cat--particularly heights. The fact that we were inside and it was so dark, made him not even realize we were up so high! And believe me--I was holding on for dear life!!

I just got all caught up on your TR...sounds like a great time so far! It sucks your DH wasn't feeling well after 'Ohana. I can see why though...we ate there on our trip, and there was almost too much food! I really wanted to try a Lapu Lapu, but given my circumstances I just couldn't do it. Next time though...

I also can't believe you got your kids on ToT! I've never been on it because I'm too That's one ride that has me running for the hills, !

Can't wait to read more!

Ah, the Ohana dinner. The meal that shaped the rest of our trip--which will make more sense once I write my next update. I tried to convince DH that he should pace himself, but what do I know right?

DD loves any thrill ride she is tall enough to ride. DS, we weren't so sure about since this would be his first time on all the "big boy" rides (as he called them!)...he was a champ though!

ToT as a family is great, we did it last summer and DS4 was just 40 inches and was so excited to ride it. He loved it, I think our photo was probably the same, me screaming and the rest of them laughing at me.

I never imagined that we'd have that much fun riding that ride together...It almost makes it ok that they were laughing their butts off at me!

 

[Becc1]

All caaught up on your report! I am just loving your "quiet" meal at Ohanas

 

[AKL LOVER]

All caaught up on your report! I am just loving your "quiet" meal at Ohanas

It was a nice surprise. We enjoyed the uninterrupted 'us time' that we don't always get!

 

[__disneygirl]

I am so jealous that you have an upcoming trip this fall. NO FAIR! Guess that means you are going to have to take plenty of Fantasyland expansion pics and post them on your TR to appease all of us who can't go...

Oh and by the way, it's funny that you would comment on the motorcoach recording. Just the other night, sitting at the dinner table, my son started rambling off the recording. I literally said out loud to my husband, 'did he just seriously say what I think he said?!?!' Then I asked DS to repeat what he said, just to be sure I heard him right!! It's been a month and a half since we were in Disney, but he still remembers every word! That's my boy!!

I will take a million pics, of course! Just in general, I need to take waaaay more than I did last trip.

That is one awesome kid you've got there!

 

[AKL LOVER]

It's still Wednesday May 4th and we are at DHS and hungry!! We had not really had breakfast this morning (besides fruit and snacks) which is a miracle b/c my kids don't think they've had breakfast until they've had something hot and filling (eggs, pancakes, oatmeal, bacon, etc). But we had an early lunch ADR and I didn't want us to spoil our lunch.

12:15 rolls around and we are starving...so we head over to:

I checked in and we were able to squeeze in a just a couple of photos before we were called back...

(DD took this picture--not too bad!)

We were excited to eat here despite the negative reviews I've seen. I thought this was the perfect restaurant to escape the heat from. It was dark and cool and that was perfect!

The view from our car:

Love this pic of the kids:

I'm not sure why I didn't ask our server to take a pic of all of us in the car...but I didn't. Bummer.

However, I did actually remember to take pictures of our food this time so here goes...

DH had the reuben. He proclaimed it yummy and cleaned his plate!

I had the shrimp pasta and it was good. But it was huge so I took half of it back to the room with us.

DS had a burger and fries:

DD had mac and cheese and soup:

I did not take pics of desert and to be honest, now I don't even remember what we had! But a quick look back at my receipt reveals what was forgotten:

DD had an ice cream sundae.

DS had fruit salad (the ice cream had egg).

I had the peanut butter chocolate cake which I was not a fan of. The cake was hard. Yuck. I barely ate any of it.

DH had the apple crisp which he loved and once again cleaned his plate.

At the end of our meal our server brought the kids a surprise:

It was filled with yummy caramel popcorn that we enjoyed later that day. We paid for our meal and left Sci-Fi at 1:30. What to do next???





Yup, you guessed it....





Back to the pool!! Of course. But today I was ok with it since we had gotten a lot done that morning at DHS and it was hot. A nice dip in the pool would feel good. Besides, we had fabulous dinner plans--HDDR!! Or so I thought....

On our back to the hotel, DH began complaining about HOW FULL he was again. Geeze. Would he never learn?? He asked again (for the hundreth time) what were our plans for the evening...Once I remind him that it's HDDR night, the conversation just goes down from there. He is SO STUFFED that he can't possibly eat anything at dinner, so he doesn't want to do the show. Really?? It was only 1:30 and we wouldn't eat until 5:30...that was 4 hours from now. I found it hard to believe that he wouldn't be hungry again in 4 hours. He knew before lunch that we were doing HDDR that night and he knows what to expect from that meal b/c we've been before. He was just so hungry at lunch that he couldn't help eating everything that he ate...OH CRY ME A RIVER! Besides, I was really looking forward to HDDR. Not just for the show itself, but for the included drinks. The one night we have a meal planned where we don't have to think about how much the adult beverages cost and DH doesn't want to go. And it's an ADR that has a cancelation requirement which means we would lose our dining credits. This was also our one night to catch the MM&Y show as well as the MSEP and Wishes--we were going to head back to MK after HDDR.

So all of this pisses me off. Big time.

I don't know why it made me so mad at the time, but it did. So then I ask, well what does he want to do for dinner? He can't decide. By then, I'm so pissed that I can't decide. I sat by the pool that afternoon while he and the kids swam. I have to admit, I was pouty. DH told me to go ahead and take the kids and go see the show, but I just didn't want to fool with the hassel of it with the kids all by myself. And I didn't want to go and eat by myself like a dork. I should have taken one of the kids or gone by myself to at least see Wishes.

It was during a conversation by the pool this day that DH announced that he did not like crowds and that the DxDP is just too much food...seriously?? Who is this person?!?! This is our 4th trip to Disney and all of a sudden you don't like crowds and the DxDP is too much food. Would have been nice to know that ahead of time. Could have save us a bunch of $$ by not getting any DP or by just getting the regular one.

I did speak to the CL lounge CM and she was able to get our HDDR ADR canceled and we were not charged for the meals! That was the one bright side to my afternoon. However, now what they heck am I going to do with 8 extra meal credits?


So, I searched for other ADR's for that night (yay for smart phones!). I found plenty, but nothing sounded good to replace HDDR. We eventually decide to hang out at the resort. We made our way up to the CL lounge to have dinner apps they put out. They were pretty good. Although I did not take any pictures for the rest of the day because of my mood. I stopped being very pouty but I was upset at the $$ I felt that we were wasting on our trip. We spent the majority of our evening in the CL lounge. The kids colored and watched cartoons. We sat and relaxed. It was a nice way to spend the evening...and I could have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been in such a bad mood. And I still have 8 extra credits.

At some point that evening DH and I had a conversation about how our idea of touring plans are vastly different (well, duh!) and he's sorry about screwing up our plans for the evening. He says that next trip we need to try and plan a couple days where we go, go, go and a days where we don't do much at all...I planned our trip this time to have pool time/a big break every day. Bad idea--we'd get back to the resort and then DH and the kids didn't want to leave.

The one plus to this night is that since we are at the resort I can head back to the room to watch Survivor!! I was DVRing it at home and planned to watch it once we got back, but with the change of plans I decided that I wasn't going to miss it after all.

The kids fell asleep while I was watching tv. DH got bored in the room so he headed back up to the CL lounge while I finished watching. By the time he came back into the room at 9:15, I was asleep on the bed. I remember waking up when he walked back in the room and he was bummed that I had fallen asleep. He wanted to hang out. Serves him right for screwing up my plans--I went back to sleep!

Lessons learned from today:

1. Don't have lunch (even an early one!) on the same day that you schedule an all you can eat dinner...have an early breakfast instead.

2. Avoid crowds at all costs for DH; no night time shows for him!--perhaps he should stay home next trip!

3. Next trip add a few more days to our vacation so we can tour and do everything I want to do but at a slower pace--DH suggested this one! This way he and the kids can have plenty of down time too. Hey, more days at Disney?!? I won't argue with that!

4. Go do more stuff by myself next trip! I do eventually use this tip later in our trip.



Up next: How do you get rid of the blues when you're at Disney?!?

 

[AKL LOVER]

Wow. That post was a RANT if I ever saw one!

Thanks for those of you who took the time to actually read it all. I promise that this was the one downer of the trip and it all goes uphill from here!