CaipiraBob
"Perfectly content to be an absolute caveman"
- Joined
- May 5, 2002
- Messages
- 586
Disney Vacation 11/29/03 - 12/06/03 -AKL and Polynesian Concierge
We're back from a fabulous family (DD,DW, DS 6 &DD 4) vacation over the Thanksgiving weekend and 1st week of December.
We planned this vacation as early as May 2003 and gradually expanded it from 5 nights to 8, including 2 nights at the AKL Concierge to try it out.
We worked with both AKL and Polynesian planning offices for weeks upon weeks ironing out details for this vacation. It was worth it because we ended up sticking with about 90% of our original plans. The only thing we didn't do was our last planned dinner at 1900 Park Faire. We had simply eaten too much over the past week and could not bear to see another buffet (so we called and cancelled.) I was very pleased with both of the concierge planning offices. The staff went out of their way to help us make all sorts of reservations and later "adjustments" on timing and such.
Friday, November 28th
We arrived the Friday after Thanksgiving at the AKL after a quick drive up North. We expected it to be busy but on the whole it wasn't bad at all. We received immediate assistance from the Valet and Bellman. They assisted us with our excessive amount of luggage and escorted us into the lodge. These guys work hard, and I try to take care of them for their efforts. I figure the guy who took care of our luggage saved me about $200 or so in the therapy I would have required to fix my back if I had to haul all of our stuff to the room. I think he left with a smile on his face.
I hadn't been there in over a year since we ate at Boma, but it still hit me as I walked in. The main lobby is simply magnificent. The design along with the music and the smells really takes you to a different world. We couldn't check in immediately so we wandered around the hotel until our room was prepared. It was the day after Thanksgiving, so we had to expect it to be a little crazy. Still, we got into our room in a timely fashion. Here's the "kicker", though. We got all of our requests and for a busy weekend, that's simply outstanding!
We requested, on one of the busiest weekends of the year, for Arusha Rock view and Bunk Beds for the kids (room 5309). In addition, we had requested that the children would have 2 "Pal Mickeys" (so they don't fight over them!) waiting for them in the room. We had planned this as a "Christmas trip" so we even had our own tree. We wanted to do part of the kids Christmas at Disney (and ALL of ours!) Well, the concierge had them set up when we arrived, beautifully wrapped and waiting with the kids' names on the packages. In addition, each child received a sign greeting card from Mickey or Minnie welcoming them to Disney. The kids went nuts! I had my camera ready and we filmed the whole thing. Rest assured I'll use the video at a future prom or to promote a guilt trip when the "rebellious years" arrive.
The next big "WOW" is when you walk out onto the balcony. What a view! The Savannah is so well done. We had Zebras, Giraffes and something I dubbed "Big Uglies" that had huge horns they used to unabashedly scratch themselves whenever they weren't eating. We had brought binoculars and got a lot of use out of them watching the animals. It was really enjoyable, at least when the temperature was above the 40 degrees it dropped down to that weekend. We loved the view of Arusha Rock that they gave us, and I think it's something the children will never forget.
On the night we arrived, we ate at a favorite of mine from our trip last year, Boma. The food was again just excellent. This time we tried a lot of the soups. We found they had a spicy seafood soup that was outstanding. We sampled many of the different platters and of course the abundant deserts. Just a tremendous meal and highly recommended.
We greatly enjoyed the concierge lounge at AKL. It's on the top floor just above the entrance to the main lobby. You have a wonderful view of the traffic in the lobby as well as Arusha Rock. The lounge also has an espresso/cappuccino machine that we practically attached ourselves to. The children always had some sort of snacks available and there was enough space for families to sit every time we visited. It was only crowded on one occasion, and that was the "Sunrise Safari" on Saturday morning. The crowd was only there for departure and no one was eating anything, as one of the features of the safari was a huge buffet breakfast at AK.
Saturday, November 29th
My son and daughter visited the lounge with me in the morning while my wife slept. I did trips with them separately to enjoy time alone with each of them. We had a lot of fun together walking around the lodge and exploring together. The continental breakfast at the lounge was wonderful, but we really would have liked to have trays available to haul breakfast back to our rooms to sit on the balcony (yes, even with the weather!) We attempted to do this on one occasion but found it's just easier to eat in the lounge and gave up.
On Saturday we went to AK for a visit. We did it later in the morning when the temperature raised a little (yeah, 40 to 43 degrees?) We didn't really have any problems with crowds. We did the Dino-whirl coaster thing, the triceratops spin, ITTBAB, Tarzan and gave up on the Lion King when we learned the show we were interested in was standing room only. Many attractions had small wait times but we were interested more in exploring the park while the kids held up. Altogether we found AK was "doable" even on the busiest weekend of the year outside of Christmas.
Just a comment on AK, though. It's a pain to traverse through the park. Whoever designed the layout of the park really didn't think along the lines of convenience and accessibility. One of the beautiful things about MK's design is that there seem to be so many little pathways in and around the different lands. The most inconvenient route is going from Adventureland to Tomorrowland but outside of that it's fun to make your way around. AK is just the opposite. All the lands are isolated and you have to make your way back through to the central hub, the Tree Of Life to get to wherever you want to go next. Even if it's the next land over you have to go through the central hub. Quite frankly, it's a pain and it gets boring, fast. They could have made it much more interesting if they had created other small pathways to make your way through to the other lands. In addition they could have made more room for more shops and stuff, either way it would have been far more interesting and enjoyable to visit the park. By the third time my wife and I had to walk the kids past the same area by the Tree Of Life we were fighting down the urge to leave. Disney really didn't help anything or anyone with the design of the park. I believe this is part of the reason it's hurting compared to the other parks, it's just not as fun and it's almost "work" to get around. At least that was the impression we got from the kids after a while.
So after the park we returned to AKL. Home again! We stopped by the lodge to pick up some warm drinks and went to the room to look out on the balcony. They rotate the animals through the savannahs, so we have a variety of animals we can view throughout the day. Always something interesting to see there. We loved the concept. We stopped at McDonald's and did enjoyed a "picnic" type meal on the balcony despite the cold weather.
We put the kids to rest for a short while as we had planned to drop them off at "Simba's Cub House" that evening while we ate dinner at Jiku. We had stopped by to check out the place Friday evening and the kids wanted to stay even then. Once we arrived there on Saturday, we checked in the kids, made their meal selection and picked up our beeper, the kids took right off. They jumped right into the multitude of toys around the room. Once they had started to play, I had trouble getting them to even make eye contact with me which was sort of funny. They had dollhouses, legos and lots of video games. The kids were "gone" in seconds. I left to prepare for dinner.
My wife and I had reservations at Jiku at 6:00PM. Once again, we were seated immediately. We really enjoyed the food, we had some sort of pate for an appetizer, my wife had steak, and I had the monk fish. All of the food was of outstanding quality. We couldn't finish the portions and lamented that we didn't have a microwave to heat up any leftovers even if we did take them. Suffice to say we would not go hungry any time soon at Disney.
Sunday, November 30th
Sunday morning we took our time and prepared to transfer to the Polynesian. We made a "first light raid" on the concierge and had some oatmeal and other goodies. I said a tearful "goodbye" to the expresso machine. We hadn't unpacked all of our luggage, just enough for the two days at AKL. We left around 11:00AM and between the Bell Service and Valet we went from our room and into our car and ready to go within about 15 minutes. Not bad at all for a massive departure date. Kudos to AKL. On top of it, the concierge provided us with a parting gift of water stating it was a tradition to see off friends in such fashion in Africa. A very nice and useful touch.
So from there, we headed towards our next destination, the Polynesian. Once again, a very high traffic morning. There was a bit of a mix up on arrival and no one was sure if our room was ready or not. They brought us over to Hawaii via the cart they use to haul luggage and escorted us to room 3509. We walked into the room, and the room had not yet been serviced! It was still trashed, the beds were unmade, and garbage was all over the floor. Not a great first impression.
The bellman apologized and dropped off our luggage. We decided to check out the view while we were there. Now that was impressive! We had a beautiful view of the lagoon from the third floor. We could clearly see the castle at MK, the top of Splash Mountain, some of BTMRR, and Space Mountain. We had a beautiful view of the Contemporary from the right side of the balcony. There was a large palm tree that would obscure part of the view towards the right side, but otherwise a gorgeous view!
We made our way to the lounge with the understanding that housekeeping would finish our room quickly. It was simply not the case. It took nearly two hours. In that time, we checked in and explored our favorite old haunts around the Polynesian. Now normally I would complain about housekeeping nor expect to have to at Disney, but housekeeping at the Polynesian this trip absolutely stunk!
We did have a good experience during the week with a lovely Latina woman who worked around our touring schedule and nap times for the kids, but the woman who worked Friday though Monday was horrible. We never had any cleaning done nor performed at a convenient time. We only had turndown performed twice during the week (not such a loss to me as standard housekeeping.) What was more annoying is that we received interruptions despite the "Do Not Disturb" sign posted on the door. This was during the afternoon when we let the children rest to be ready for a big evening(we always tried to be consistent with the kid's rest time.) Our overall schedule to work around two small children was to do our parks runs early in the morning, return near noon-midafternoon and rest, then prepare for the evening's events. This worked exceptionally well for our children, with whom we never experience a "Disney Melt-Down Moment" for the duration of the vacation.
We had hoped that the woman who was unable to work around our schedule would at least let them get some rest in after we posted notice but this wasn't the case. It really annoyed me. People who stay at this "top notch" resort tend to stick around and enjoy the resorts. It'd be nice if the housekeeping staff could either be expanded to accommodate the guests who stay there. If anyone has been on a cruise before, they know how well kept their cabins are. I've hardly ever had an issue with service there. On several occasions, we'd step out of the cabins for only 20 minutes or so to return to a spotlessly clean cabin. Why can't Disney get this straight?
Well, either way it's hit or miss I suppose, like I said, the other woman who cleaned our room was wonderful. Still the other "situation" was extremely inconvenient, sloth-like slow and bordered on intrusive rudeness. I think their housekeeping procedures need to be revisited, reviewed and revamped.
So anyway, back to Sunday afternoon, we finally got into our room. We had early seating arranged at 1900 Park Faire so we didn't do any touring beyond the resort itself. We made it to the Grand Floridian a little early and toured around. We looked at the Christmas tree and the Gingerbread house. We strolled through the garden area and enjoyed the sites. We made our way back to the restaurant and again we were seated immediately.
1900 Park Faire is now a "Princess Dinner" and we had lots of them roaming around the tables. Hey, it keeps them off the streets so I'm all for it. Seriously, my daughter got a big kick out of the meal and had lots of time with the princesses and Prince Charming for photos. The food was good quality as usual from our last two visits. We enjoyed this restaurant and recommend it to all.
We returned to the Polynesian via the monorail and again set out to explore. The kids had wanted to visit the Peter Pan club so we asked the concierge to make some last minute reservations. We brought the kids there following dinner and once again they were "gone" in seconds. We let them stay for two hours or so and then brought them back for the "big show". Sunday night was one of the MVMVP's and "Wishes" fireworks were to be launched at 9:15PM that night. I was very interested in seeing just how good our view was going to be for the fireworks. We had stayed on the first floor the previous year in 1507, and I wanted this higher view this time for a clearer view of the surrounding action. It was about to pay off.
"Wishes" for the MVMVP was amazing! The show was about 10-15 minutes of beautiful fireworks. Our balcony provided the perfect view, well worth the money and 6 months of anticipation. The grand finale literally blew us away. Imagine our view from the third floor balcony extending from the left side of the Grand Floridian to beyond the right side of Space Mountain. You can then picture the entire sky being filled with fireworks at one time. I'm not kidding, it seemed that our entire field of vision was filled with explosive light all at once. It was astounding. All you could hear outside of the explosions was a collective "WOW!" or "OH!" from around the lagoon area followed by applause and cheering. It was that impressive and inspiring.
So that concluded our Sunday evening. We slept like rocks that night. The following morning we visited the Polynesian Concierge lounge to check out the usual offerings. All the usual oatmeal, pastries and juice were available. This time, however, their espresso machine was broken! Now I am a coffee lover, people. It's a very serious thing for me. On our last trip I was compelled to visit the Kona Café on a regular breakfast due to the sub-standard coffee offered in the lounge. As the espresso machine was broken this time we would have been completely out of luck had I not promised and planned to bring my own percolator and coffee with me this time. To add insult to injury, you can't use water out of the tap for your own coffee at Disney. The water is nearly undrinkable and will ruin your coffee. We had to get around these hurtles but I was able to enjoy a decent cup-o-java for once at the Polynesian this trip. I really think it's time for the concierge to invest in a machine such as the one at AKL. It doesn't seem like much of a leap to please your guests. At least get the darn espresso machine fixed within a week or so of it breaking. This was a pretty sad commentary on top of some of the issues we ran into this trip. Normally I would not say anything, but the concierge experience IS about the details! This should have happened to anyone, but I was prepared so for my part it's worth noting so anyone who reads this can prepare! Otherwise we were very pleased with the concierge again.
Monday, December 30th
On Monday morning we had reserved seating at CRT at MK. So after waking up the family we made our way to the monorail and rode over to the MK and waited 5 minutes for the gates to open.
This is a great time to see MK, there's nobody there except for diners and others with some sort of special pass or other. We made our way slowly to the castle and enjoyed finally returning with our children to the place we had tormented them with for months upon months prior to our visit (*evil grin*.) To top it off I there wasn't a cloud in sight to my memory. We were fortunate enough to experience several crystal clear blue sky -days while were there. Really the stuff of dreams, IMHO. We had a great breakfast at CRT and lots of time with...you guessed it, the princesses. I actually enjoy eating at CRT. The castle is a lot of fun to look around and very beautiful. The kids just love it, too. Our waitress was excellent and I let her know it.
We rolled, ok, strode down the stairs afterwards and witnessed the opening ceremony for Fantasyland that was very cute. We took our time walking around and managed to walk on to IASM, SWSA, PP, WTP and had an exceptionally minimal wait for Mickey's Philhar-magic. Now the latter was truly an enjoyable attraction! The kids just loved it and we visited it several times during our stay. We worked our way over to HM and then SM where we got a photo of my DD(4)'s first ride on it! She just loved it and has a copy of the photo in her room. We got lucky here because there was another family catching up to us quickly in the line. I didn't want to rush my daughter because I wanted her to "take in" the details of the ride as you approach the entry lanes. I waved them buy saying we were just being slow and didn't want to hold them up and they bustled on. Well, there was no one else around and they got into the lanes and got seated towards the rear. When we arrived they put me, DD and DS in the front seat. So the photo I'm talking about really came out great. Some good memories there for all (my DW can't ride these things, but that another story.)
So we hit some other rides and headed back to the room around 1:00PM or so. We hit a lot of stores for shopping so my wife could see if there was anything she thought would make a good gift. We enjoyed taking our time in the morning to see the park, and as it got more busy towards the afternoon, we had already had our fill and could spend time doing more leisurely activities. It worked out well for the kids as they could go at a slower pace as they might begin to grow tired. We ended up resting for a short while and then preparing the children for their evening at the Peter Pan club. The kids loved this place and we obliged them with a return visit. They were jumping up and down when we told them we were bringing them back, it would be the last time for this trip though as we had some other surprises in store later that week.
My wife and I planned to head over to Epcot that evening and enjoy a return visit to Japan for the Tepanyaki Dining rooms. We strolled around Epcot as we had some 2 hours to kill before our reservation time. We ended up in Japan early and asked if they could seat us sooner. Again, within 5 minutes we were seated with a group at a table. We met up with a wonderful couple who were also from Palm Beach County. We all joked and laughed all night long and there was most likely a "shortage of Sake" in Japan before I left. The food and the meal were wonderful and the presentation is very enjoyable. We staggered out later to explore some of the other countries and had fun looking through all their goods. We returned to the Polynesian and picked up the children who were loathe to leave their toys and video games but reluctantly returned to the room with us.
Now on return, we had one more surprise for the kids. My mother had not been able to visit with us the previous year due to illness. This year however turned out different. I was able to reserve her a room over at the AKL so she could enjoy some time at Disney on her own and rest without the kids jumping all over her 24/7. We arranged for the concierge to check her into our room as a third adult so she could enjoy our resort with us when she visited and have her own key. She was able to arrive on Monday night and was waiting for the children. My wife took a moment to set up the camera before the children entered the room. My mother was sitting by the table next to the window with the castle looming in the background changing all sorts of colors. The kids saw her and went nuts..."Granma! Granma! Are you here?!?"(lol - yes, they said that like they couldn't believe it!) So it was a great moment to have on film, one to remember for years to come.
Tuesday, December 2nd (MVMVP)
Tuesday morning we hit the lounge for breakfast. We brought some goodies back to the room and enjoyed our view of the castle. We lingered on the balcony and enjoyed the view of the castle and sights. Again, we decided to visit MK being so close and being lazy. We hit the same rides again where most cases were walk-ons. We took our time roaming the park until it started to get busy. At that point we returned to the hotel and stopped at the Kona Café for lunch. We greatly enjoyed our meal there despite a so-so experience the prior year. We returned to our room and relaxed for a few hours.
We had our tickets for the MVMCP that night. We decided to arrive a little later, and had no problems passing through the gates and through main street. The lighting was beautiful and definitely enough to put you in the Christmas spirit. We wandered towards the castle and went over through adventure land where we rode Aladdin's Carpet for the kids. We got our photo, saw the first parade and wandered around on a mission of "search and devour" for the cookies and chocolate. We met up with my mother later. We all sat down and watched the fireworks together. This turned out to be extremely impressive. We sat by the old 20,000 leagues lagoon and apparently we were between mortar stations for the fireworks. With each burst we were turning our heads back to the other side to view the next explosion. The finale was just as impressive even from this perspective. Once again you heard the collective "WOW!" or "OH!" from around the park followed by applause and cheering. We hung around a while and finally decided to return around 11:00PM or so.
Wednesday, December 3rd
We took our time waking up again on Wednesday. It was a nice warm day and we weren't in a rush to go anywhere. We decided finally to go out and try the mini speed-boats (water mouse?) on the lagoon. We headed off on our own, as my wife has a bad back and didn't want to go too fast but take her time and explore. My son and I bolted off and headed over to the Wilderness Lodge area and explored all over the lagoon. We met up later and took the kids to the pool for a few hours. We got some nice photos of the kids playing around and on the slide. It was a great afternoon. In the evening my mother joined us again from the AKL. We visited the lounge briefly and then headed over to our reservation at "Chef Mickey's" for the evening. It was packed when we got there, but within 5 minutes (I'm saying this a lot but it's true!) we were in line for the photo and then off to our table. We had a lot of interaction with the characters and the kids loved the meal. I do recommend this meal for anyone interested. We returned and toured around the Polynesian and visited the lounge for desert. That pretty much wrapped up our evening as the kids had "had it".
Thursday, December 4th
Thursday arrived and we decided to finally hit MGM. We made a great day of it but continually messed up our timing for the Disney kid's show. We were kind of sad about that but the kids we in heaven as it was so it wasn't really a loss. We ended the day by buying some Mickey Mouse pops for the kids that they half-ate, half-wore as the afternoon passed on. We have a multitude of photos that are sure to pop up just in time for their prom. We returned that evening and met up again with my mother, who was enjoying her days by touring all of the resorts and seeing their decorations. Tonight's event was dinner at Ohana's. We met up and hit the lounge and then headed over to the main lodge. There was a pretty good line with people filling the lobby's lounge area, but we were seated in around...5 minutes. We had an outstanding time as they brought so much food we never had a chance of eating it all, but we had to try. By the time desert arrived all we could do was sit, stare and laugh. We rolled, wattled and crawled back to our room and the balcony, where, within 5 minutes, the fireworks started. Awesome, awesome show! This time I videotaped the whole thing using a Canon ZR65 DV. It came out as good as I could hope for with that style of camera. We had a tripod and just let it run. Beautiful! My wife "appropriated" some of the desert offerings from the lounge and we munched on a chocoholic's dream come true. Then we passed out, having eaten enough to see us through an entire winter's hibernation.
Friday, December 5th
Now on Friday we decided to say our goodbyes to the MK. We went early, taking the boat across the lagoon as we had started to do this visit. The kids enjoyed it but preferred the monorail. We got in upon opening and found that they were taping the ABC Christmas parade. They were inviting people to join the crowd for the taping but we declined and moved on to Fantasy Land. I laughed when I overheard a little girl tell her DD, DM and DB "What are we here for, to shoot a video or for the rides" and everyone echoed her choice, the rides. Right behind ya, honey - lol! Again, everything was a walk-on with the great wait being... 5 minutes for Mickey's Philhar-magic. We hit all of the favorites on more time. Towards 1:00PM, it started getting busy and we told the children to start saying "Goodbye" to the castle, which my DD had continually referred to as "my castle", yet grudgingly conceded towards the end of the trip that it was "our castle". My fear that we are fostering higher expectations than wisdom would dictate continues to grow with my little one.
We hit the hotel and relaxed for a while. We still felt full from dinner the previous night. It was very rich food and we didn't have much of an appetite. We ended up canceling our final return meal at 1900 Park Faire. We had a small helping of the lounge appetizers for the first time during our stay at the Polynesian and order some room service. Really, we were all way too stuffed from the past week of gluttony to eat at another buffet. We spent our last night relaxing and enjoying our resort (if it's my DD's castle it's our resort!) We all gathered on the balcony again and watch the special "Wishes" fireworks for Friday's MVMCP. I don't think I'll ever get tired of that show.
Saturday, December 6th
Saturday came and we were ready to leave. We truly enjoyed our visit but we were looking forward to returning home. We had many, many good points to reflect upon, some truly wonderful family moments to remember, and actually felt relaxed having not rushed all over creation to do this or that. I have my complaints about some of the quality, but overall we had a very positive experience. Our encounters with the staff, with the exception of the sloth-like efficiency of one of the housekeeping staff were generally excellent. I was very pleased with the service of the AKL and Polynesian staff and planning desk.
If I had to pick between the two hotels where location was not a consideration, it'd be AKL hands down. If I had to choose based on location, it's the Polynesian. Overall, AKL edged out the Polynesian for the overall concierge experience. They also had a functional espresso/cappuccino machine, a touch that sends them miles above the others just for that alone. Some of the problems I had with concierge were more related to contacting them, which was hit or miss. I had much better luck getting in touch with the Boardwalk Inn concierge planning desk, who helped us out a great deal in June 2003 with some last minute changes. If they had slapped a monorail track on AKL they'd never have a free room, but fortunately that will never happen so we'll be able to visit in the future. We'll also be returning to the Polynesian. It's going to be hard to top this trip, though. There was just so much put into planning that worked out just perfectly for us, I think we'll probably need to look into a different aspect of Disney next time or we will be disappointed. I heard the Wilderness Cabins are pretty good. Maybe we'll head out there next time. I'll miss concierge but not the weight gain, plus the different environment sounds like a lot of fun. For the record we won't discuss how much I gained. My Wife went from a whopping 99lbs to a near-deathly obese 102. Shame, shame, shame...*grin*
So anyway, we had a wonderful time. Some things that I feel made a difference on our part or Disney's:
· The nastiest thing I saw was in the Polynesian. The marble tile on the floor in front of the toilet appeared to have thick residue on it. This completely sickened us at first but I scrubbed out the floor with cleanser that we brought. It turns out that whatever was on the floor had eaten through the finish of the marble. At least now we were sure it was sanitary. Still, they should have removed this tile and replaced it. Disgusting!
· Who am I kidding? We brought a load of our own cleaning supplies to do the rooms as we moved into each one. It's a "peace of mind" thing we can cover within minutes and it makes a big difference in comfort level. For that matter we usually request an immediate change of sheets if we have any doubts.
· We brought EVERYTHING. We literally left a kitchen sink in the garage and there was a momentary debate over bringing it along. We lacked nothing during our stay on our part.
· For Christmas we brought our own tree and lights. We really made the most of this visit and the season for the kids. We even hung lights on the balcony and around the room. I recommend this for everyone, it really helps bring in the season and the personal touch is unbeatable.
· GO TO THE PARKS EARLY. The days of low crowds during off-season appear to be over, the word is out. Our best park days were when we arrived early and left a little after noon. We experienced many, many walk-on situations for the major lines and hit lower priority rides as time went on. Time management and a flexible plan make a difference here.
· Two things here: The concierge staff and others are not personal slaves as I have seen some people treat them. On the other hand do not settle for less than what you paid for. Courtesy is the rule and will work wonders when attempting to resolve a given scenario.
Well, I can go on forever but I'll end on that note. May your skies be clear and your lines be non-existent!
We're back from a fabulous family (DD,DW, DS 6 &DD 4) vacation over the Thanksgiving weekend and 1st week of December.
We planned this vacation as early as May 2003 and gradually expanded it from 5 nights to 8, including 2 nights at the AKL Concierge to try it out.
We worked with both AKL and Polynesian planning offices for weeks upon weeks ironing out details for this vacation. It was worth it because we ended up sticking with about 90% of our original plans. The only thing we didn't do was our last planned dinner at 1900 Park Faire. We had simply eaten too much over the past week and could not bear to see another buffet (so we called and cancelled.) I was very pleased with both of the concierge planning offices. The staff went out of their way to help us make all sorts of reservations and later "adjustments" on timing and such.
Friday, November 28th
We arrived the Friday after Thanksgiving at the AKL after a quick drive up North. We expected it to be busy but on the whole it wasn't bad at all. We received immediate assistance from the Valet and Bellman. They assisted us with our excessive amount of luggage and escorted us into the lodge. These guys work hard, and I try to take care of them for their efforts. I figure the guy who took care of our luggage saved me about $200 or so in the therapy I would have required to fix my back if I had to haul all of our stuff to the room. I think he left with a smile on his face.
I hadn't been there in over a year since we ate at Boma, but it still hit me as I walked in. The main lobby is simply magnificent. The design along with the music and the smells really takes you to a different world. We couldn't check in immediately so we wandered around the hotel until our room was prepared. It was the day after Thanksgiving, so we had to expect it to be a little crazy. Still, we got into our room in a timely fashion. Here's the "kicker", though. We got all of our requests and for a busy weekend, that's simply outstanding!
We requested, on one of the busiest weekends of the year, for Arusha Rock view and Bunk Beds for the kids (room 5309). In addition, we had requested that the children would have 2 "Pal Mickeys" (so they don't fight over them!) waiting for them in the room. We had planned this as a "Christmas trip" so we even had our own tree. We wanted to do part of the kids Christmas at Disney (and ALL of ours!) Well, the concierge had them set up when we arrived, beautifully wrapped and waiting with the kids' names on the packages. In addition, each child received a sign greeting card from Mickey or Minnie welcoming them to Disney. The kids went nuts! I had my camera ready and we filmed the whole thing. Rest assured I'll use the video at a future prom or to promote a guilt trip when the "rebellious years" arrive.
The next big "WOW" is when you walk out onto the balcony. What a view! The Savannah is so well done. We had Zebras, Giraffes and something I dubbed "Big Uglies" that had huge horns they used to unabashedly scratch themselves whenever they weren't eating. We had brought binoculars and got a lot of use out of them watching the animals. It was really enjoyable, at least when the temperature was above the 40 degrees it dropped down to that weekend. We loved the view of Arusha Rock that they gave us, and I think it's something the children will never forget.
On the night we arrived, we ate at a favorite of mine from our trip last year, Boma. The food was again just excellent. This time we tried a lot of the soups. We found they had a spicy seafood soup that was outstanding. We sampled many of the different platters and of course the abundant deserts. Just a tremendous meal and highly recommended.
We greatly enjoyed the concierge lounge at AKL. It's on the top floor just above the entrance to the main lobby. You have a wonderful view of the traffic in the lobby as well as Arusha Rock. The lounge also has an espresso/cappuccino machine that we practically attached ourselves to. The children always had some sort of snacks available and there was enough space for families to sit every time we visited. It was only crowded on one occasion, and that was the "Sunrise Safari" on Saturday morning. The crowd was only there for departure and no one was eating anything, as one of the features of the safari was a huge buffet breakfast at AK.
Saturday, November 29th
My son and daughter visited the lounge with me in the morning while my wife slept. I did trips with them separately to enjoy time alone with each of them. We had a lot of fun together walking around the lodge and exploring together. The continental breakfast at the lounge was wonderful, but we really would have liked to have trays available to haul breakfast back to our rooms to sit on the balcony (yes, even with the weather!) We attempted to do this on one occasion but found it's just easier to eat in the lounge and gave up.
On Saturday we went to AK for a visit. We did it later in the morning when the temperature raised a little (yeah, 40 to 43 degrees?) We didn't really have any problems with crowds. We did the Dino-whirl coaster thing, the triceratops spin, ITTBAB, Tarzan and gave up on the Lion King when we learned the show we were interested in was standing room only. Many attractions had small wait times but we were interested more in exploring the park while the kids held up. Altogether we found AK was "doable" even on the busiest weekend of the year outside of Christmas.
Just a comment on AK, though. It's a pain to traverse through the park. Whoever designed the layout of the park really didn't think along the lines of convenience and accessibility. One of the beautiful things about MK's design is that there seem to be so many little pathways in and around the different lands. The most inconvenient route is going from Adventureland to Tomorrowland but outside of that it's fun to make your way around. AK is just the opposite. All the lands are isolated and you have to make your way back through to the central hub, the Tree Of Life to get to wherever you want to go next. Even if it's the next land over you have to go through the central hub. Quite frankly, it's a pain and it gets boring, fast. They could have made it much more interesting if they had created other small pathways to make your way through to the other lands. In addition they could have made more room for more shops and stuff, either way it would have been far more interesting and enjoyable to visit the park. By the third time my wife and I had to walk the kids past the same area by the Tree Of Life we were fighting down the urge to leave. Disney really didn't help anything or anyone with the design of the park. I believe this is part of the reason it's hurting compared to the other parks, it's just not as fun and it's almost "work" to get around. At least that was the impression we got from the kids after a while.
So after the park we returned to AKL. Home again! We stopped by the lodge to pick up some warm drinks and went to the room to look out on the balcony. They rotate the animals through the savannahs, so we have a variety of animals we can view throughout the day. Always something interesting to see there. We loved the concept. We stopped at McDonald's and did enjoyed a "picnic" type meal on the balcony despite the cold weather.
We put the kids to rest for a short while as we had planned to drop them off at "Simba's Cub House" that evening while we ate dinner at Jiku. We had stopped by to check out the place Friday evening and the kids wanted to stay even then. Once we arrived there on Saturday, we checked in the kids, made their meal selection and picked up our beeper, the kids took right off. They jumped right into the multitude of toys around the room. Once they had started to play, I had trouble getting them to even make eye contact with me which was sort of funny. They had dollhouses, legos and lots of video games. The kids were "gone" in seconds. I left to prepare for dinner.
My wife and I had reservations at Jiku at 6:00PM. Once again, we were seated immediately. We really enjoyed the food, we had some sort of pate for an appetizer, my wife had steak, and I had the monk fish. All of the food was of outstanding quality. We couldn't finish the portions and lamented that we didn't have a microwave to heat up any leftovers even if we did take them. Suffice to say we would not go hungry any time soon at Disney.
Sunday, November 30th
Sunday morning we took our time and prepared to transfer to the Polynesian. We made a "first light raid" on the concierge and had some oatmeal and other goodies. I said a tearful "goodbye" to the expresso machine. We hadn't unpacked all of our luggage, just enough for the two days at AKL. We left around 11:00AM and between the Bell Service and Valet we went from our room and into our car and ready to go within about 15 minutes. Not bad at all for a massive departure date. Kudos to AKL. On top of it, the concierge provided us with a parting gift of water stating it was a tradition to see off friends in such fashion in Africa. A very nice and useful touch.
So from there, we headed towards our next destination, the Polynesian. Once again, a very high traffic morning. There was a bit of a mix up on arrival and no one was sure if our room was ready or not. They brought us over to Hawaii via the cart they use to haul luggage and escorted us to room 3509. We walked into the room, and the room had not yet been serviced! It was still trashed, the beds were unmade, and garbage was all over the floor. Not a great first impression.
The bellman apologized and dropped off our luggage. We decided to check out the view while we were there. Now that was impressive! We had a beautiful view of the lagoon from the third floor. We could clearly see the castle at MK, the top of Splash Mountain, some of BTMRR, and Space Mountain. We had a beautiful view of the Contemporary from the right side of the balcony. There was a large palm tree that would obscure part of the view towards the right side, but otherwise a gorgeous view!
We made our way to the lounge with the understanding that housekeeping would finish our room quickly. It was simply not the case. It took nearly two hours. In that time, we checked in and explored our favorite old haunts around the Polynesian. Now normally I would complain about housekeeping nor expect to have to at Disney, but housekeeping at the Polynesian this trip absolutely stunk!
We did have a good experience during the week with a lovely Latina woman who worked around our touring schedule and nap times for the kids, but the woman who worked Friday though Monday was horrible. We never had any cleaning done nor performed at a convenient time. We only had turndown performed twice during the week (not such a loss to me as standard housekeeping.) What was more annoying is that we received interruptions despite the "Do Not Disturb" sign posted on the door. This was during the afternoon when we let the children rest to be ready for a big evening(we always tried to be consistent with the kid's rest time.) Our overall schedule to work around two small children was to do our parks runs early in the morning, return near noon-midafternoon and rest, then prepare for the evening's events. This worked exceptionally well for our children, with whom we never experience a "Disney Melt-Down Moment" for the duration of the vacation.
We had hoped that the woman who was unable to work around our schedule would at least let them get some rest in after we posted notice but this wasn't the case. It really annoyed me. People who stay at this "top notch" resort tend to stick around and enjoy the resorts. It'd be nice if the housekeeping staff could either be expanded to accommodate the guests who stay there. If anyone has been on a cruise before, they know how well kept their cabins are. I've hardly ever had an issue with service there. On several occasions, we'd step out of the cabins for only 20 minutes or so to return to a spotlessly clean cabin. Why can't Disney get this straight?
Well, either way it's hit or miss I suppose, like I said, the other woman who cleaned our room was wonderful. Still the other "situation" was extremely inconvenient, sloth-like slow and bordered on intrusive rudeness. I think their housekeeping procedures need to be revisited, reviewed and revamped.
So anyway, back to Sunday afternoon, we finally got into our room. We had early seating arranged at 1900 Park Faire so we didn't do any touring beyond the resort itself. We made it to the Grand Floridian a little early and toured around. We looked at the Christmas tree and the Gingerbread house. We strolled through the garden area and enjoyed the sites. We made our way back to the restaurant and again we were seated immediately.
1900 Park Faire is now a "Princess Dinner" and we had lots of them roaming around the tables. Hey, it keeps them off the streets so I'm all for it. Seriously, my daughter got a big kick out of the meal and had lots of time with the princesses and Prince Charming for photos. The food was good quality as usual from our last two visits. We enjoyed this restaurant and recommend it to all.
We returned to the Polynesian via the monorail and again set out to explore. The kids had wanted to visit the Peter Pan club so we asked the concierge to make some last minute reservations. We brought the kids there following dinner and once again they were "gone" in seconds. We let them stay for two hours or so and then brought them back for the "big show". Sunday night was one of the MVMVP's and "Wishes" fireworks were to be launched at 9:15PM that night. I was very interested in seeing just how good our view was going to be for the fireworks. We had stayed on the first floor the previous year in 1507, and I wanted this higher view this time for a clearer view of the surrounding action. It was about to pay off.
"Wishes" for the MVMVP was amazing! The show was about 10-15 minutes of beautiful fireworks. Our balcony provided the perfect view, well worth the money and 6 months of anticipation. The grand finale literally blew us away. Imagine our view from the third floor balcony extending from the left side of the Grand Floridian to beyond the right side of Space Mountain. You can then picture the entire sky being filled with fireworks at one time. I'm not kidding, it seemed that our entire field of vision was filled with explosive light all at once. It was astounding. All you could hear outside of the explosions was a collective "WOW!" or "OH!" from around the lagoon area followed by applause and cheering. It was that impressive and inspiring.
So that concluded our Sunday evening. We slept like rocks that night. The following morning we visited the Polynesian Concierge lounge to check out the usual offerings. All the usual oatmeal, pastries and juice were available. This time, however, their espresso machine was broken! Now I am a coffee lover, people. It's a very serious thing for me. On our last trip I was compelled to visit the Kona Café on a regular breakfast due to the sub-standard coffee offered in the lounge. As the espresso machine was broken this time we would have been completely out of luck had I not promised and planned to bring my own percolator and coffee with me this time. To add insult to injury, you can't use water out of the tap for your own coffee at Disney. The water is nearly undrinkable and will ruin your coffee. We had to get around these hurtles but I was able to enjoy a decent cup-o-java for once at the Polynesian this trip. I really think it's time for the concierge to invest in a machine such as the one at AKL. It doesn't seem like much of a leap to please your guests. At least get the darn espresso machine fixed within a week or so of it breaking. This was a pretty sad commentary on top of some of the issues we ran into this trip. Normally I would not say anything, but the concierge experience IS about the details! This should have happened to anyone, but I was prepared so for my part it's worth noting so anyone who reads this can prepare! Otherwise we were very pleased with the concierge again.
Monday, December 30th
On Monday morning we had reserved seating at CRT at MK. So after waking up the family we made our way to the monorail and rode over to the MK and waited 5 minutes for the gates to open.
This is a great time to see MK, there's nobody there except for diners and others with some sort of special pass or other. We made our way slowly to the castle and enjoyed finally returning with our children to the place we had tormented them with for months upon months prior to our visit (*evil grin*.) To top it off I there wasn't a cloud in sight to my memory. We were fortunate enough to experience several crystal clear blue sky -days while were there. Really the stuff of dreams, IMHO. We had a great breakfast at CRT and lots of time with...you guessed it, the princesses. I actually enjoy eating at CRT. The castle is a lot of fun to look around and very beautiful. The kids just love it, too. Our waitress was excellent and I let her know it.
We rolled, ok, strode down the stairs afterwards and witnessed the opening ceremony for Fantasyland that was very cute. We took our time walking around and managed to walk on to IASM, SWSA, PP, WTP and had an exceptionally minimal wait for Mickey's Philhar-magic. Now the latter was truly an enjoyable attraction! The kids just loved it and we visited it several times during our stay. We worked our way over to HM and then SM where we got a photo of my DD(4)'s first ride on it! She just loved it and has a copy of the photo in her room. We got lucky here because there was another family catching up to us quickly in the line. I didn't want to rush my daughter because I wanted her to "take in" the details of the ride as you approach the entry lanes. I waved them buy saying we were just being slow and didn't want to hold them up and they bustled on. Well, there was no one else around and they got into the lanes and got seated towards the rear. When we arrived they put me, DD and DS in the front seat. So the photo I'm talking about really came out great. Some good memories there for all (my DW can't ride these things, but that another story.)
So we hit some other rides and headed back to the room around 1:00PM or so. We hit a lot of stores for shopping so my wife could see if there was anything she thought would make a good gift. We enjoyed taking our time in the morning to see the park, and as it got more busy towards the afternoon, we had already had our fill and could spend time doing more leisurely activities. It worked out well for the kids as they could go at a slower pace as they might begin to grow tired. We ended up resting for a short while and then preparing the children for their evening at the Peter Pan club. The kids loved this place and we obliged them with a return visit. They were jumping up and down when we told them we were bringing them back, it would be the last time for this trip though as we had some other surprises in store later that week.
My wife and I planned to head over to Epcot that evening and enjoy a return visit to Japan for the Tepanyaki Dining rooms. We strolled around Epcot as we had some 2 hours to kill before our reservation time. We ended up in Japan early and asked if they could seat us sooner. Again, within 5 minutes we were seated with a group at a table. We met up with a wonderful couple who were also from Palm Beach County. We all joked and laughed all night long and there was most likely a "shortage of Sake" in Japan before I left. The food and the meal were wonderful and the presentation is very enjoyable. We staggered out later to explore some of the other countries and had fun looking through all their goods. We returned to the Polynesian and picked up the children who were loathe to leave their toys and video games but reluctantly returned to the room with us.
Now on return, we had one more surprise for the kids. My mother had not been able to visit with us the previous year due to illness. This year however turned out different. I was able to reserve her a room over at the AKL so she could enjoy some time at Disney on her own and rest without the kids jumping all over her 24/7. We arranged for the concierge to check her into our room as a third adult so she could enjoy our resort with us when she visited and have her own key. She was able to arrive on Monday night and was waiting for the children. My wife took a moment to set up the camera before the children entered the room. My mother was sitting by the table next to the window with the castle looming in the background changing all sorts of colors. The kids saw her and went nuts..."Granma! Granma! Are you here?!?"(lol - yes, they said that like they couldn't believe it!) So it was a great moment to have on film, one to remember for years to come.
Tuesday, December 2nd (MVMVP)
Tuesday morning we hit the lounge for breakfast. We brought some goodies back to the room and enjoyed our view of the castle. We lingered on the balcony and enjoyed the view of the castle and sights. Again, we decided to visit MK being so close and being lazy. We hit the same rides again where most cases were walk-ons. We took our time roaming the park until it started to get busy. At that point we returned to the hotel and stopped at the Kona Café for lunch. We greatly enjoyed our meal there despite a so-so experience the prior year. We returned to our room and relaxed for a few hours.
We had our tickets for the MVMCP that night. We decided to arrive a little later, and had no problems passing through the gates and through main street. The lighting was beautiful and definitely enough to put you in the Christmas spirit. We wandered towards the castle and went over through adventure land where we rode Aladdin's Carpet for the kids. We got our photo, saw the first parade and wandered around on a mission of "search and devour" for the cookies and chocolate. We met up with my mother later. We all sat down and watched the fireworks together. This turned out to be extremely impressive. We sat by the old 20,000 leagues lagoon and apparently we were between mortar stations for the fireworks. With each burst we were turning our heads back to the other side to view the next explosion. The finale was just as impressive even from this perspective. Once again you heard the collective "WOW!" or "OH!" from around the park followed by applause and cheering. We hung around a while and finally decided to return around 11:00PM or so.
Wednesday, December 3rd
We took our time waking up again on Wednesday. It was a nice warm day and we weren't in a rush to go anywhere. We decided finally to go out and try the mini speed-boats (water mouse?) on the lagoon. We headed off on our own, as my wife has a bad back and didn't want to go too fast but take her time and explore. My son and I bolted off and headed over to the Wilderness Lodge area and explored all over the lagoon. We met up later and took the kids to the pool for a few hours. We got some nice photos of the kids playing around and on the slide. It was a great afternoon. In the evening my mother joined us again from the AKL. We visited the lounge briefly and then headed over to our reservation at "Chef Mickey's" for the evening. It was packed when we got there, but within 5 minutes (I'm saying this a lot but it's true!) we were in line for the photo and then off to our table. We had a lot of interaction with the characters and the kids loved the meal. I do recommend this meal for anyone interested. We returned and toured around the Polynesian and visited the lounge for desert. That pretty much wrapped up our evening as the kids had "had it".
Thursday, December 4th
Thursday arrived and we decided to finally hit MGM. We made a great day of it but continually messed up our timing for the Disney kid's show. We were kind of sad about that but the kids we in heaven as it was so it wasn't really a loss. We ended the day by buying some Mickey Mouse pops for the kids that they half-ate, half-wore as the afternoon passed on. We have a multitude of photos that are sure to pop up just in time for their prom. We returned that evening and met up again with my mother, who was enjoying her days by touring all of the resorts and seeing their decorations. Tonight's event was dinner at Ohana's. We met up and hit the lounge and then headed over to the main lodge. There was a pretty good line with people filling the lobby's lounge area, but we were seated in around...5 minutes. We had an outstanding time as they brought so much food we never had a chance of eating it all, but we had to try. By the time desert arrived all we could do was sit, stare and laugh. We rolled, wattled and crawled back to our room and the balcony, where, within 5 minutes, the fireworks started. Awesome, awesome show! This time I videotaped the whole thing using a Canon ZR65 DV. It came out as good as I could hope for with that style of camera. We had a tripod and just let it run. Beautiful! My wife "appropriated" some of the desert offerings from the lounge and we munched on a chocoholic's dream come true. Then we passed out, having eaten enough to see us through an entire winter's hibernation.
Friday, December 5th
Now on Friday we decided to say our goodbyes to the MK. We went early, taking the boat across the lagoon as we had started to do this visit. The kids enjoyed it but preferred the monorail. We got in upon opening and found that they were taping the ABC Christmas parade. They were inviting people to join the crowd for the taping but we declined and moved on to Fantasy Land. I laughed when I overheard a little girl tell her DD, DM and DB "What are we here for, to shoot a video or for the rides" and everyone echoed her choice, the rides. Right behind ya, honey - lol! Again, everything was a walk-on with the great wait being... 5 minutes for Mickey's Philhar-magic. We hit all of the favorites on more time. Towards 1:00PM, it started getting busy and we told the children to start saying "Goodbye" to the castle, which my DD had continually referred to as "my castle", yet grudgingly conceded towards the end of the trip that it was "our castle". My fear that we are fostering higher expectations than wisdom would dictate continues to grow with my little one.
We hit the hotel and relaxed for a while. We still felt full from dinner the previous night. It was very rich food and we didn't have much of an appetite. We ended up canceling our final return meal at 1900 Park Faire. We had a small helping of the lounge appetizers for the first time during our stay at the Polynesian and order some room service. Really, we were all way too stuffed from the past week of gluttony to eat at another buffet. We spent our last night relaxing and enjoying our resort (if it's my DD's castle it's our resort!) We all gathered on the balcony again and watch the special "Wishes" fireworks for Friday's MVMCP. I don't think I'll ever get tired of that show.
Saturday, December 6th
Saturday came and we were ready to leave. We truly enjoyed our visit but we were looking forward to returning home. We had many, many good points to reflect upon, some truly wonderful family moments to remember, and actually felt relaxed having not rushed all over creation to do this or that. I have my complaints about some of the quality, but overall we had a very positive experience. Our encounters with the staff, with the exception of the sloth-like efficiency of one of the housekeeping staff were generally excellent. I was very pleased with the service of the AKL and Polynesian staff and planning desk.
If I had to pick between the two hotels where location was not a consideration, it'd be AKL hands down. If I had to choose based on location, it's the Polynesian. Overall, AKL edged out the Polynesian for the overall concierge experience. They also had a functional espresso/cappuccino machine, a touch that sends them miles above the others just for that alone. Some of the problems I had with concierge were more related to contacting them, which was hit or miss. I had much better luck getting in touch with the Boardwalk Inn concierge planning desk, who helped us out a great deal in June 2003 with some last minute changes. If they had slapped a monorail track on AKL they'd never have a free room, but fortunately that will never happen so we'll be able to visit in the future. We'll also be returning to the Polynesian. It's going to be hard to top this trip, though. There was just so much put into planning that worked out just perfectly for us, I think we'll probably need to look into a different aspect of Disney next time or we will be disappointed. I heard the Wilderness Cabins are pretty good. Maybe we'll head out there next time. I'll miss concierge but not the weight gain, plus the different environment sounds like a lot of fun. For the record we won't discuss how much I gained. My Wife went from a whopping 99lbs to a near-deathly obese 102. Shame, shame, shame...*grin*
So anyway, we had a wonderful time. Some things that I feel made a difference on our part or Disney's:
· The nastiest thing I saw was in the Polynesian. The marble tile on the floor in front of the toilet appeared to have thick residue on it. This completely sickened us at first but I scrubbed out the floor with cleanser that we brought. It turns out that whatever was on the floor had eaten through the finish of the marble. At least now we were sure it was sanitary. Still, they should have removed this tile and replaced it. Disgusting!
· Who am I kidding? We brought a load of our own cleaning supplies to do the rooms as we moved into each one. It's a "peace of mind" thing we can cover within minutes and it makes a big difference in comfort level. For that matter we usually request an immediate change of sheets if we have any doubts.
· We brought EVERYTHING. We literally left a kitchen sink in the garage and there was a momentary debate over bringing it along. We lacked nothing during our stay on our part.
· For Christmas we brought our own tree and lights. We really made the most of this visit and the season for the kids. We even hung lights on the balcony and around the room. I recommend this for everyone, it really helps bring in the season and the personal touch is unbeatable.
· GO TO THE PARKS EARLY. The days of low crowds during off-season appear to be over, the word is out. Our best park days were when we arrived early and left a little after noon. We experienced many, many walk-on situations for the major lines and hit lower priority rides as time went on. Time management and a flexible plan make a difference here.
· Two things here: The concierge staff and others are not personal slaves as I have seen some people treat them. On the other hand do not settle for less than what you paid for. Courtesy is the rule and will work wonders when attempting to resolve a given scenario.
Well, I can go on forever but I'll end on that note. May your skies be clear and your lines be non-existent!
