No Sleep Till Disney! We can save money by flying at 6am! (Updates!! 12/7 - p.12)

[Shannon84]

I have begun to follow along...getting geared up for a trip next month and your TR caught my eye!

 

[JenSop]

I have begun to follow along...getting geared up for a trip next month and your TR caught my eye!

Glad to have you along for the ride! When are you going? I'll be going back in a little over a month for Food and Wine Festival! I can't wait!

 

[wlake]

Hello! Your title caught my attention -- we tried to leave the house at 4:15 last week when we went! With two children, it didn't happen! We had record heat too. Can't wait to read the rest!

 

[JenSop]

Hello! Your title caught my attention -- we tried to leave the house at 4:15 last week when we went! With two children, it didn't happen! We had record heat too. Can't wait to read the rest!

Welcome! I'll have to tell DH that the title caught your attention, as he's the one who came up with the idea. I was having the hardest time coming up for a title of my report. Nothing was coming to me, so I asked him for some ideas.

He said it refers to a Beastie Boys song. I never got in to the Beastie Boys back then. I was too in to Debbie Gibson and New Kids on the Block!

 

[BelleTinkMom]

I'm in. Can't wait to hear all about your trip and your thoughts on the Luau. We had ADRs here for our 2009 trip, but it was cancelled due to the weather.

 

[Lisa75]

I was on your flight out of Philly!

I could NOT believe how crowded that flight was! That time of day!

 

[JenSop]

Day One, Part Three... "Are we ever gonna get a room?!"

So, we just left AK and were headed back to Jambo House to see if our room was ready. Still no text, but maybe they forgot to text us?

Besides, we were hot, sweaty, and rained on. I REALLY needed to do make-up and hair stuff so I didn't look like a wet rat for the luau. Also, with the stress of the pre-trip time period, my skin was a mess and I needed my concealer and other make-up stuff!

I went right to the desk when we got there to see if our room was ready.

Nope.

Not ready.

It was already after 3:30 at this point.

So I grabbed my make-up bag and headed to the bathroom off of the lobby. I started to do my make-up at the sink. It's VERY dark in there. It was like doing make-up by candlelight. It was really that bad. I was hoping not to come out looking like a clown, so I kept it simple. As I said, my main goal was to work the concealer and not look like I'd only slept an hour and a half that night.

I was SO hoping that when I came out of the bathroom, that Brian would be telling me our room was ready!

Nope.

Still not ready.

As the time was ticking, I started getting worried about even having time to change before the luau. I was hoping to get washed up/freshened up. The luau was at 5:15 and we were already at 4:00. Even if we left then and there in our wet clothes, we would just make it.

I went up to the concierge desk to see what was going on. She also checked again on the room and it wasn't ready. We said we would take ANY room - even a non-DVC room if we had to. But the hotel was actually FULLY booked and there were no other rooms!

I explained the situation with our reservations. Letting her know that we'd been on the road since 3 in the morning and really just wanted a room to get ready in before dinner. They offered us a cab ride to the luau. But I told her at this point, we still couldn't leave right away, as we needed to get out of our rained-on clothes.

Now, in preparation, I had also made a back up reservation that night in case the luau was canceled. So we also had a 6:30pm ADR at Jiko that night - right there in Jambo House.

I asked her if she could just get us canceled for the luau (and not have to pay the cancellation fee) so that we could just eat at Jiko. She was able to get us out of the luau AND they gave us a $100 room credit for the inconvenience.

I told her that that would be very acceptable, as some of that money would soon be spent on alcohol at Jiko....

So in the end it worked out okay. The girl at the concierge desk (Alyssa) was so nice the WHOLE time. Since I have a part time retail job (and have had different ones for years) I know how mean people can be to people behind any desk. So I kept apologizing, as I didn't want to be "that person." But she was so helpful!!!!

Our room was finally ready by 4:30!!!

We passed the housekeeping crew just next to our room. (They had LITERALLY just cleaned our room.) The head of the crew was very nice and apologized over and over. Apparently, there were several rooms that decided to check out later than they were supposed to. Housekeeping was slammed with getting all these rooms ready for the next set of guests in a very short time period.

Anyway, here's our lovely room....

And we had a very cute washcloth mouse waiting on the counter!

Here was our view:

Posing on the balcony...

Next up......

Dinner at Jiko!!!!!

 

[tinkerbellandeyor]

Can't wait to hear about Diner at Jinko

 

[Shannon84]

We are headed down Sept 27 to Oct 3, I am running the wine and dine half marathon and decided to go for a vacation while we were already making the trip, why not!!

I have been stressed about making dinner plans for the first day, I think I may do a back up like you said you guys did, just in case!

 

[JenSop]

Can't wait to hear about Diner at Jinko

I'm working on the update now!
Let's just say dinner was AMAZING!

We are headed down Sept 27 to Oct 3, I am running the wine and dine half marathon and decided to go for a vacation while we were already making the trip, why not!!

I have been stressed about making dinner plans for the first day, I think I may do a back up like you said you guys did, just in case!

Awesome! Part of our trips will overlap! We'll be there Oct. 1-5. Girls-only trip with two of my friends. It'll be my first time doing F&W and my first MNSSHP!

 

[JenSop]

Day One, Part Four: I LOVE JIKO!

So we were happy to have our room, and to have a little time to relax before heading downstairs to dinner. We spent some time out on the balcony, taking in the gloriousness that is Jambo House. (Did I mention we love our home resort?!) I don't know - there's just something about this resort that makes me so relaxed, happy, and peaceful. It has a very "home" feeling about it for us.

When it was time, we headed down to Jiko. This restaurant has a lovely elegant feel to it, but not in a stuffy way. If something can be inviting, elegant, and sophisticated all at once - that's Jiko.

So let's get right to the food!!!

First - our server Dawn was excellent. She made some good wine suggestions for us, and also gave us info on some of the dishes. This was our third time at Jiko. The first time was two years ago and we had a very good experience. Then last year, we ate there as part of the Wanyama Safari. For that, they actually bring out several selections for each course so you can try a bunch of stuff.

Since we were on the Deluxe Dining Plan for this portion of our trip, an appetizer was included.

I got the corn bisque with crab and pickled celery. It was SO GOOD. (And I don't like celery usually, but being pickled, it added an amazing flavor!)

Brian got the wild boar tenderloin.

But before they brought those out for us, they came by our table with a complimentary small dish of soup for both of us. Saying it was to thank us for dining with us that evening. At first I thought, "Gee, maybe they heard about our trials and tribulations earlier in the evening and want to be extra nice!" But then later I saw another table getting some too, so maybe they were trying out a new recipe.

It was cauliflower and ginger soup. Again, I'm not a huge cauliflower fan, but this soup was AWESOME!!!!! Wow. That's all I can say. And look at the awesome presenation...

(Mickey ears!!!)

Then for dinner, I got the curried shrimp. I told our server that we'd be going to Sanaa in two days, so I didn't know if I'd want a curry dish when I might be having one again real soon. But she told me this one would be more of an African type curry, not the traditional Indian kind served at Sanaa. It was very good.

Brian got the lamb loin. He also enjoyed his dish.

For dessert, we got the pistachio creme brulee and the Jiko trio, which is Flourless Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Mousse, and Caramel Ice Cream.

The whole time, all we could talk about was how wonderful and awesome Jiko is. It just might be the best restaurant on property. In two years, we're going to do a big family trip to WDW. (Gonna try to get a Grand Villa - I'll probably be walking the reservations before our 11 month mark to be sure we can get a GV at Jambo!) It'll be the two of us, my sister and her husband, their two little girls, and my parents. We decided at this dinner, that the adults will HAVE to have dinner here on that trip. We'll send the girls to Simba's Cubhouse that night!

Seriously, if you haven't been to Jiko and are just considering it, you MUST do it. You will not be disappointed!

After dinner, we headed up to the room to get changed in to park clothes. We were full and exhausted, but we were going to do that MK EMH come hell or high water!!! And I was beside myself with excitement and anticipation to see the Main Street Electrical Light Parade again. I'll go more into detail later, but this was the parade from my childhood trips to Disney. In preparation for the trip, I would listen to the music for it on my iPod and actually cry.

(Yes, I am an extreme Disney dork. And I'm perfectly okay with that!)

Next up: MK EMH!!! Can we make it to 3am?!?!?!

 

[mermaid764]

Jiko looks amazing...definitely one I have to try in the future.

How nice of the staff to go the extra mile when they couldn't have your room ready earlier.

Looking forward to more

 

[JenSop]

Day One, Part Five: "OMG, OMG, OMG!! It's the Electrical Light Parade!!!"

So ever since Disney announced that the Main Street Electrical Light Parade would return this summer, I had been ecstatic beyond belief. This is not an exaggeration. I started visiting Disney when I was eight years old. This was the parade. I even had a record that I played on my little Fisher Price record player that had the music on it.

I really fell in love with Disney World on that very first trip. We went on several other trips when I was a kid with my grandparents (and my sister too, of course!). Those are some of my best memories ever.

Ever!

My grandfather let me help in the planning from our second trip on, and it made me feel so important and special! I was always a nerdy book-ish kid anyway, but I can't help but think that that's how I developed my love for planning Disney trips in general. He gave me a book with maps and all that kind of stuff. At age 9, I memorized the entire map - rides, restaurants, and even bathrooms. Then when we went down on that second trip, they just said, "Okay Jenny, where's such and such," and I would lead the way! (I was Jenny back then, but please don't call me that now! LOL!)

My grandfather passed away when I was in college. Every time I go to Disney I think about him. (He was also my biggest fan and supporter when it came to my singing... boy do I miss him...)

(Obviously, you can tell by my going on and on, that my childhood trips to Disney REALLY impacted my entire life. *Understatement of the century!*)

********************

I forgot to mention earlier (somehow the pic didn't make it on to Photobucket when I was doing my uploads) that I snagged a GREAT deal on a new T-shirt at AK earlier in the day. It was in the gift shop after Expedition Everest and was on sale for $6.99!!! Obviously, I had to get it.

Here I am showing off my find earlier in the day. (Can you see why I needed to get freshened up before dinner? Yikes.)

I thought it would be a great top to wear that night!


Anyway, we had a little bit of a hold up getting to MK that night. There was hardly a wait for the bus and we were moving along so quickly. BUT, there was some kind of security back up on that side road before you pass the Contemporary. It looked like the cops were checking all the cars that went by. Who knows what that was all about...

Because of the hold up, we watched the fireworks from the bus. But we weren't concerned. We knew we'd have more opportunities to see the fireworks later in the trip.

We were in MK by 10:30 and the parade would start at 11:00. There were already people getting lined up along Main Street.

**So for those of you who love Disney like I do..... you know that feeling you get when you walk into MK for the first time on a trip? Especially at night when everything is lit up and the castle is glowing? You can feel the pixie dust and magic in the air. The cares of the world seem to melt away, and you're a little kid again and all is right and good in the world. The energy is palpable - almost close to the feeling I was talking about in an earlier post about being onstage. Wow, do I love that feeling!!!!

Well, knowing that I was going to see the MSEP (Main Street Electrical Parade) again, that feeling was intensified by several times over. I felt like I was skipping and floating all at the same time! I was downright giddy!

We walked up Main Street and picked a spot out on the bridge before the hub in front of the castly. (On the Adventureland side.)

However, it was at this point - just 10 minutes before the parade would start that I realized I didn't have my room key!!! Now that we have AP's, our room keys and tickets are NOT the same. And you can't go on ANYTHING during EMH without your room key card!!! My super awesome excitement turned to momentary panic! I couldn't go all the way back to Jambo House! Then I knew what to do - go to Guest relations. And since I memorized my MK map all the way back in the 80's, I knew exactly where I needed to go. I ducked in and out of the crowds, cutting through the long gift shop complex on that side and got to Guest relations REALLY fast. Fortunately I had my ID with me (driver's license) and they were able to issue me a new room key card. (Yay for technology!)

I booked it back to the bridge with plenty of time to spare.

Then it started. The lights went out. The synthesizer voice came over the speakers... ("Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls....") The music started! Holy cow! I started cheering, along with lots of other adults my age or older. (You could totally tell that there were lots of other "Disney kids" on Main Street that night - those of us who grew up with the MSEP.)

I thought my head would explode from excitement! I held our camera and decided to video tape segments of the parade. (I promise to get those up when I can remember how to post video - it's still in the camera and I don't know how to get it to the computer. I'll have Brian help me with that.)

All I could think was, "I'm 9 years old again. OMG, I'm a kid again!" I had to keep myself from crying, because the camera was starting to shake and I didn't want to the video ruined!

(This is some kind of stock photo that was magically on my photopass CD, along with several others. I didn't take pictures of MSEP that night, just video, so here's more stock photos from the photopass CD. I promise I got a lot of our own pictures when we watched the parade again!)

After the parade passed us, we quick ran over to the photopass guy in the hub, since he didn't have a line. We wanted to get our picture with the castle AND the parade behind us!

Next, we headed over to our favorite land in all of MK - Adventureland!

We went right to Pirates. Some of you may remember that we truly did not make the most of our potential Pirates time last year. There was no wait during last year's EMH, but Brian was too tired to ride one more time. Well, we certainly made up for that on this trip!

There was no wait, so we walked right on and looped around to ride again right away!

Here we are between rides!

Then we headed over to check on how long the line was at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (BTMR). It was too long, so we headed over to Haunted Mansion.

I always like to tell the story of my first time on this ride when I was eight. It scared the bejeesus out of me. Especially that last part with the hitchhiking ghosts! I still remember leaving little nail marks in my Daddy's arm because I was grabbing on so tight!

At this time, there were no Fast Passes available for anything. We were using an app that Brian had downloaded on his Droid Eris that let you know about the wait times for the rides and what all the FP return times were. But I told him that there WOULD be fast passes for some of the rides later, once the EMH part of the night kicked in at midnight.

Sure enough, I was right! We checked the app and noticed that there were now FP's available for Space Mountain. During last year's trip, it was closed for the refurb, and we were dying to ride the new and improved version!

We headed over to Tomorrowland to get our FP's. Our return time was for 1:45am. So we walked around a bit more and took more pics....

Then we headed back to Adventureland...

We were hoping to do Jungle Cruise, but it was closed.

Headed over to BTMR again, but the line was STILL too long!

So... back to Adventureland....

This time it was Dole Whip time!

I have to admit, I didn't remember ever having one of these delightful concoctions before. But everyone consistently raves about them here on the Dis, so we HAD to get one!

We went with the Dole Whip Pineapple float - pineapple soft serve in pineapple juice. If there was a Homer Simpson drooling icon, I would insert it here..... this treat certainly lives up to the hype!

Before long, we headed back to Tomorrowland via the castle and Fantasyland....

We still had a few minutes to kill before our return time for Space Mt., so we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride. Brian totally kicked my butt on this one. I don't even remember the score - mine was really bad....

And thank GOD we did FP for Space Mt!!!! The line was insane. And we got to walk all the way through that insanely long tunnel. We still had about a 15 minute wait, but it was way better than standby!

So what do you think we did after Space Mt? You know it, you know it!!!


Yup....



We went back to Adventureland!!! Hahaha! Hey, I did say it was our favorite!

But this time, we were just cutting through - it was time for Splash Mountain. I love this ride. It's quite a long ride, and totally worth even a slightly longer wait.

But there was no wait! NONE!

We rode and got wet, but not drenched like last year.

Brian really dislikes water rides. I consider it a personal achievement anytime I can convince him to get on one.

This year, I couldn't convince him to ride it twice in a row. Oh well.

So we headed out through, what else? Adventureland!

It was time to ride Pirates again. And then one more time again.

But by this time is was definitely time to start heading out. And guess what? It was just about 3am! We made it all the way through. Once we got to Main Street, the castle started to sparkle and change colors rapidly. I told Brian that I thought it was the famed "kiss goodnight." I turned around to watch. But he was quickly walking to the exit as he totally was running on fumes.

I don't know - I still had that Disney excitement pumping through me. I think I could have gone for a few hours more, but everything was closing anyway.

We got to bed at 4:00am and were very glad for the "sleeping in" schedule I had planned for us the next day....

 

[JenSop]

Jiko looks amazing...definitely one I have to try in the future.

How nice of the staff to go the extra mile when they couldn't have your room ready earlier.

Looking forward to more

Yes, we were really appreciative of the extra effort of Jambo House. We put some of the money towards our Jiko drinks and tip! And yes, you MUST try Jiko!!!

 

[Sooze]

I'm here Jen! I'm sorry I have NO time to reply to everything! Just know that I'm loving your report and I'm so glad you and Brian are sharing this with us!!

 

[JenSop]

I'm here Jen! I'm sorry I have NO time to reply to everything! Just know that I'm loving your report and I'm so glad you and Brian are sharing this with us!!

Thanks for coming along Sooze! No worries - I know you're super busy with the start of school and everything. Hopefully I'll have my next update posted in the today or tomorrow!

 

[Minnie J]

The food looked great at Jikos and Im glad you got great service at the hotel=) Great updates=)

 

[tinkerbellandeyor]

Wow just looking at the pix and barly reading the trip report I could tell that you had a great night

 

[jenniferreich]

Hi Jen, Your trip report sounds wonderful! So looking forward to reading about your trip! Jennifer

 

[disneymoon_0307]

Great report. I can't wait to hear more. I love the story about your first time on HM....mainly because my story is extremely similar except I was 14... I literally gave my Dad a bruise from my nails. He felt horrible for taking me on it afterwards...But now it's the best ride in the whole wide world...lol.