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

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Sounds like a lovely afternoon in World Showcase, very relaxed!

 

[beebeeryan]

Oh my GOODNESS!!! An afternoon alone. How wonderful is that. I didn't get that this trip, last trip I had about 2 hours to myself one afternoon which was nice. Love the pictures you took. I think next trip I'll make a deal with DH we each get an afternoon to ourselves while the other hangs out at the pool with the kids. Good plan.

 

[lbuzz52]

perfect afternoon! everyone happy and relaxed. i might need to suggest that to my family on a future trip!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Glad to see you're back!!! I know, it's so annoying when posts disappear.

Sounds like everyone was able to have a great afternoon! That was great that your DH offered to take the kids to the pool, so you had some more park time! And how fun that you went to a Dismeet! (Grand Marnier squishees are just the icing on the cake )

You'd think I'd learn my lesson and start saving posts before I click to post just in case that happens. One of these days!

Sounds like a lovely afternoon in World Showcase, very relaxed!

It was both lovely and relaxing...even though Epcot was crowded!

Oh my GOODNESS!!! An afternoon alone. How wonderful is that. I didn't get that this trip, last trip I had about 2 hours to myself one afternoon which was nice. Love the pictures you took. I think next trip I'll make a deal with DH we each get an afternoon to ourselves while the other hangs out at the pool with the kids. Good plan.

I think that's a great deal to strike with your DH. Definitely worth it for each of you!

perfect afternoon! everyone happy and relaxed. i might need to suggest that to my family on a future trip!

Yes, it was probably one of our best days there for all of us. I will definitely be taking advantage of a couple afternoons alone in the parks on our next trip (as long as DH doesn't mind).

 

[AKL LOVER]

Saturday May 7th

Just to catch you up...We had spent the morning at Epcot and I had attended my first DISmeet. DH and the kids had skipped the DISmeet for some time at the pool (surprise, surprise). I met up with them back at the resort when I was done wandering around WS and was able to squeeze in a bit of pool time myself.
　

Now, on to the new stuff...

　
We left the pool around 5:45 to get ready for dinner. But not before I stopped by the Mara to grab one of these to snack on:
　

　
　
In case I haven't said it before, I'll say it again--these are my favorite Disney snack! My one must have every single trip. Just a simple rice krispie treat; weird I know, but I just LOVE them. I think it's the Mickey shape that makes them taste so much better than the ones I make at home!
　
　
Getting everyone ready for dinner was a pretty quick process. But even so, by the time we were done there was a rumbly in my tummy despite the snack I had just had. Luckily we didn’t have to go far for dinner because we were headed to:
　

　
　
　
This was one of our favorite places to eat the last 2 trips, and I was so excited to eat here again. I absolutely LOVE their mustard seed crusted scallop appetizer. It is to die for. The only problem with it is that it needs more scallops!
　
　
We arrived and had a some time before we were seated so we made our way out to the savanna viewing area to pass the time. Even though we could see the savanna from our room, we just never tire of taking a break to look at the animals!
　

　

　
　

　
　

　
　

　
　
I love all the sayings in random places on the rocks/walls at Kidani:
　
　

　
　

　
　
We also took the opportunity to take some pics of the kids:
　
　

　
　

　

DD wanted to take a pic of her own--it’s not too bad!
　
　

　
　
And when a nice gentleman saw this, he was kind enough to offer to take a family picture for us.
　
　

　
　
After about only 15 minutes our table was ready. I was hoping for a table next to a window, but no such luck. Maybe one of these days we’ll get one!
　
　
Hidden Mickey near our table:
　
　

　
　
I was excited to try something different on this trip to Sanaa. I had to take a pictures of the menu so I would remember what I ordered because I knew I wouldn’t remember…
　
　
Kids meals--both had pizza and veggie sticks:
　
　

　
　
My app--Mustard seed crustad scallops with a coconut cream sauce.
　
　

　
　
You can see that I was so excited to dig in that I forgot to take a picture before I took a bite! 　
　
　
DH's app--I'm pretty sure these were the samosas. The fact that I might even be relatively close is nothing short of amazing since it's actually September and we ate this meal more than 5 months ago!
　
　

　
　
OK--here we go with pictures of the menu to remember what my entree was.
　
　
My entree--
　
　

　
　

　
　
I had the coconut curry lamb and the spicy durban shrimp with basmati rice. All of it was delicious. Lots of idian/african flavors without being too, too spicy. Although the spicy durban shrimp did have a really good kick to it.
　
　
DH's entree--
　
　

　
　
He had the sustainable fish with scallops in a curry broth. It was amazing. I don't remember what kind of fish it was now, but it was so delicious!
　
　
Dessert--
　
　
Tapioca pudding with a cute little chocolate stamped Mickey for DD:
　
　

　
　
Plain old ice cream with sprinkles for DS (all the other desserts had egg!)
　
　
And Chai tea cream for each of us:
　
　

　
　
This dessert was so yummy. I loved the Chai tea flavor and the cream was soooo creamy. Also, I loved how they served it in a little bitty tea cup and the spoon was dipped in chocolate. They hardened the chocolate so it came off bit by bit as you were eating all of the cream.
　
　
　　
So exactly how does one eat a work of art??? By going to dinner at Sanaa (which means "work of art") because our food was exactly what the name promised! Everything was fantastic! Our server was OK--certainly nothing to write home about, but the food more than made up for that.
　
　
Leaving Kidani I managed to snag a few more pics of us:
　

　
　
　
After dinner we headed back to the CL lounge to grab a tasty adult beverage and then it was back to our room to relax and pack our things up. We had a later flight the next day but we had breakfast plans as well as wanting to get some park time before we had to catch ME, so it was a good thing when the kids hit the hay early.
　
　
This also meant that DH and I were able to spend our last night enjoying the savanna and relaxing on our balcony with a few glasses of wine courtesy of the CL lounge! I love ending my nights at Disney this way--that view is a total escape from reality!!
　
　

　
　
Up next: My favorite way to spend Mother’s day--can you guess what it is???

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I was so excited to see your review of Sanaa - we just added a dinner there to our lineup! It looks great, I'm very excited to go there!

Great family pics by the savannah, everyone looks wonderful!

 

[beebeeryan]

What a wonderful meal and lovely last evening. I loved sitting out on the balcony sipping my drink on the last night too.

That fish your DH had looks like Salmon? Maybe.

 

[amandaw]

I love all of the pictures - especially the family pictures!

Sounds like y'all had a very nice dinner.

Can't wait to hear what you got to do for Mother's Day!

 

[lbuzz52]

I have to admit, while i like my evenings in the parks, your balcony time is quite appealing. Great family shots! Cant wait to hear about mother's day!

 

[basketkat]

I love the family picture! So cute!

Your food all looked amazing!

Looking forward to hearing about Mother's Day!

 

[PirateKate]

How nice to get to spend some time alone in WS!

Sanaa looks really good. I've never been to interested in it before, but everything looked like very delicious works of art.

Ending the night by watching the animals sounds perfect.

 

[AKL LOVER]

I was so excited to see your review of Sanaa - we just added a dinner there to our lineup! It looks great, I'm very excited to go there!

Great family pics by the savannah, everyone looks wonderful!

I hope that you guys enjoy it as much as we have. It really is a great place to eat. To me it almost feels like a signature restaurant without the prices!

What a wonderful meal and lovely last evening. I loved sitting out on the balcony sipping my drink on the last night too.

That fish your DH had looks like Salmon? Maybe.

I cannot for the life of me remember what it was! But I remember that it was delicious so that should count for something, right?

I love all of the pictures - especially the family pictures!

Sounds like y'all had a very nice dinner.

Can't wait to hear what you got to do for Mother's Day!

Thanks for the compliments on our pics.

I have to admit, while i like my evenings in the parks, your balcony time is quite appealing. Great family shots! Cant wait to hear about mother's day!

I wonder if one of these trips when I'm finally able to drag my crew to the parks at night if I might start to miss those evenings on the balcony. It really is a nice way to wind down and end the day!

I love the family picture! So cute!

Your food all looked amazing!

Looking forward to hearing about Mother's Day!

Thanks!

How nice to get to spend some time alone in WS!

Sanaa looks really good. I've never been to interested in it before, but everything looked like very delicious works of art.

Ending the night by watching the animals sounds perfect.

Sanaa really is a great place to eat. One of the things I really like is that it's so different from most of the other restaurants.

An afternoon alone in WS was so much fun--definitely a hightlight of the trip for me!

 

[AKL LOVER]

It looks like some people are still following along despite my recent TR neglect. Thanks to those of you who are in it for the long haul--here's another update!


Day 6


Breakfast at CL lounge
　

Snack from the Mission Space cart
Mango smoothie--4.25
Popcorn--3.95
Popcorn--3.95
Bottle water--2.69
Total w/ tax--15.81
　

Lunch at Electric Umbrella
Bacon Cheeseburger w/ fries--8.79
Cheeseburger with fries--8.79
Fruit cup--3.39
Fruit cup--3.39
Soda--2.69
Soda--2.69
Kids chicken nugget meal--4.99
Kids chicken nugget meal--4.99
Total w/ tax--42.30
　

Snack at the Mara
2 Mickey Rice Crispy Treats--5.38
2 bags Pita chips--5.90
Bag of Chips--2.95
Total w/ tax--15.61
　

Dinner at Sanaa
Kids veggie sticks--1.75
Cheese Pizza--5.09
Ice cream sundae--2.09
Kids veggie sticks--1.75
Cheese Pizza--5.09
Rice pudding--2.09
Crusted Scallops--8.99
Lamb and Shrimp--18.99
Chai Cream--5.49
Kenya pressed coffee pot--6.29
Samosas--7.99
Sustainable Fish--26.99
Chai Cream--5.49
Total with tax--98.09

Sangria and 2 African beers--24.00
　

Snack at the Mara (buying extra snacks to take home!)
3 bags of Pita chips @ 2.95 each
3 cartons of Mickey head cheese crackers @ 2.95 each
3 bags of Chip and Dale pretzels @ 2.95 each
Total w/ tax--28.75
　

Total for Day 6: 200.56 (not including the alcohol)
At a cost of $202 a day, we came just shy of breaking even this day. Had we actually had breakfast at a restaurant instead of the club level lounge, we would have made out much better.
　

Stay tuned because this was our last full day, so we only have half a day to get through until I can give a grand total of cost versus actual usage of the DxDP...finally!

 

[JessicaFaye508]

I'm still here! It took me a few days to get to reading the update, but I finally had time! (see? we're all busy. no worried!)
I LOVED reading your review about Sanaa. I went there in April and it was one of my absolute favorites. I'm so hungry... I wish I could eat it now
P.S. May 8th aka the next day aka Mother's Day was my BIRTHDAY! Lucky you got to be in Disney on my birthday! Yay!
Can't wait for the next update.. even though it's almost done

 

[pinkxray]

Your Sanaa review was great. Part of me really wanted to try it while at AKL but I ended up cancelling. I'm just not sure if we would like the food. The view looks amazing though.

Your DXDP math isn't looking too good. I can't wait to see how you made out. We had a bit of savings but not enough to convince me that we need to do dxdp again.

 

[lbuzz52]

almost breaking even works for me- heck, it would be worth a few dollars loss just due to not having to stress over what we are spending on food.

 

[AKL LOVER]

I'm still here! It took me a few days to get to reading the update, but I finally had time! (see? we're all busy. no worried!)
I LOVED reading your review about Sanaa. I went there in April and it was one of my absolute favorites. I'm so hungry... I wish I could eat it now
P.S. May 8th aka the next day aka Mother's Day was my BIRTHDAY! Lucky you got to be in Disney on my birthday! Yay!
Can't wait for the next update.. even though it's almost done

I think that Mother's day and your birthday both while you're at Disney sounds like one of the best days ever. Too bad you weren't there...or that it wasn't my birthday.

Your Sanaa review was great. Part of me really wanted to try it while at AKL but I ended up cancelling. I'm just not sure if we would like the food. The view looks amazing though.

Your DXDP math isn't looking too good. I can't wait to see how you made out. We had a bit of savings but not enough to convince me that we need to do dxdp again.

You chickened out of Sanaa?? You really should give it a try one time. I really think your whole family would be able to find something that wasn't too exotic if you aren't the adventurous type when it comes to your food (which I know your DH isn't!)

I'm afraid you're right about my DxDP math. I think it's going to be such a bummer when I see the final numbers!

almost breaking even works for me- heck, it would be worth a few dollars loss just due to not having to stress over what we are spending on food.

I completely agree with you on the breaking even or taking a bit of a loss just to make up for the lack of stress over spending $$ on food. Buying the dining plan in the total package makes it "seem like" there isn't so much spent on eating which makes me feel less guilty about trying new things or restaurants when we are there! Besides, when we're on vacation I do not want to be stressing about $$. And since the DDP is paid ahead of time, I don't! But I am thinking that for the next trip we'll just stick with the regular DP (especially if my DxDP numbers look bad!).

 

[BennyFedora]

Hey Melissa...Ben here (Joyce's DH). Awesome TR! I'm actually going to start a TR for the DVC trip we just took to Vero Beach, Hilton Head, and then Savannah and I think I need to make some posts before I can upload pictures. I figured, hey, we've met, posting on your TR isn't weird, right? *crosses fingers*

 

[AKL LOVER]

Hey Melissa...Ben here (Joyce's DH). Awesome TR! I'm actually going to start a TR for the DVC trip we just took to Vero Beach, Hilton Head, and then Savannah and I think I need to make some posts before I can upload pictures. I figured, hey, we've met, posting on your TR isn't weird, right? *crosses fingers*

Hey Ben! It's not weird at all, in fact, I'm glad you did! It reminds me that I haven't posted an update lately and I need to get on that asap...

Let me know when you start your TR--I will definitely follow along. We haven't been to Savannah in several years, so I'm excited to see some pictures and to hear how you liked it!

Any new Disney plans in the works yet?

 

[loganpaulsmom]

Ok I spent all morning reading your TR.. First off.. I know I saw you and your family at AK.. One thing about me is I am great with faces.. and as soon as I saw your pics I know I had seen you somewhere and then saw that we were at AK the same day.. Also, can't believe you didn't love Narcoosses.. It was pretty much my all time favorite restaurant.. I probably would only go back there though if I was on DDxP..3.. I went to that DIS meet at Epcot at 3 on the 7th.. I waited for like over 20 minutes.. I got a grey goose slushie and tired to find shade, but it was SO hot that day that after 20 minutes we walked away.. We ended up getting a Passport for Logan and went through all the countries.. But, i was bummed I didn't meet anyone...