Our 2nd Shot at the Dream Team -TONS OF PICS. 10/28 New PTR LINK

[mindyd]

We are eating at Kona and for some reason I was thinking the Lapu Lapu was somewhere else now I am really excited about it. I am really impressed with how good you guys were at getting up and getting to the parks early. Last trip I had trouble getting my kids moving hopefully this trip will go better.

 

[carissanboys]

I'm with you on the Indy Speedway. You're a much nicer mom than me. We didn't even ride it on our last trip

I hope you start to feel better!

 

[Trentmom]

You are doing great getting at those rope drops.

Kids all have their moments...glad he did not lose it totally \


Cute matching shirts...

Love how you had them demonstrate front and back, so we could how wet they really were

Sounds like you had an overall good day so far.

Hope you felt better after cooling down

 

[Jeanine3kids]

Great update,
I hate Indy Speedway LOL. Not to mention how loud it is LOL.

 

[stagemomx3]

I hate Indy Speedway too, lucky for me my kids are old enough to go by themselves.

 

[dddisrunner]

I hope we find it as easy to get up & going as early as you guys.
Love the MK morning...your trip makes me so excited for ours. Love the matching tshirts too!!

Thanks! Rope drop makes the morning sooo enjoyable!

Loved the update . I guess sometimes the waiting just get to kids. Thomas had a rough time with the waits this trip too a few times. The boys look cute in thier matching shirts. Are you wearing the same shirt too? In our Epcot pics DH doesn't match the rest of our family. Your pics are great! Sorry you got talked into devating from your plan but sounds like you had fun anyway. ewww Indy Speedway, I feel your pain.
I have good news to share, upgraded to WL again. But still wondering if we should try AKL , but then I want to spend even more $$ for a Savannah View.

Thanks Nichole! for the Wilderness Lodge upgrade! I am so jealous...I have no idea when we will be going back I didn't have a matching shirt, but I did have a Mickey shirt on. If you do change to AKL I think a pool view is awesome. There are literally TONS of places to see the animals but the view of that awesome pool would be great and it's only $10 more a night then a standard view!

Oh, my gosh, where do I start? Kona looks great--we haven't tried it yet but it's on my list for a future trip! Love the look of that Lapu Lapu!

I'm so glad that all was well with Space Mountain--Mommy worrying is pretty much a requirement for all of our children's new adventures.

The early morning meltdown made me smile (probably because I wasn't there and it wasn't my child!)--mainly because dd still complains about me getting everywhere "insanely early." Luckily, I can now let her sleep in and still indulge my earliness obsession.

I hope you got to feeling better after the Tylenol!

Oh Amy you should definitely try Kona, it is one of our favorites! I am dying to do an adults only trip!

I share your pain about deviating from "The Plan"! We are leaving in 61 days.. I have each day, meal, snack, park etc.. planned as well as the route we are to take on our way through each park. DD (14) has announced to me, (as only a teenage girl can.. ) That she really does not want to "DO A PLAN" she wants to "hang out" and take things as they come! HA!!! Nice try kido.. that's why you are the child and I'm the MOM~! You can take things as they come at the Jersey Shore... we do Disney MY WAY!

I agree! Jersey Shore do what you want, Disney NO WAY BABY!

I just read your report so far---Great Job. I know what you mean about the girl/princess thing. I feel like there needs to be more geared to the boys. I have one son who is our only. I love the pictures of AKL. We are going in November and staying at the CR. I had booked AKL for spring 2009 but we are thinking of going Thanksgiving each year so I may move it to then. Can't wait to see if you get a dream!!!

Erika

Welcome Erika! Thanks for joining us! I LOVED the AKL I hope you get a chance to stay there!

We are eating at Kona and for some reason I was thinking the Lapu Lapu was somewhere else now I am really excited about it. I am really impressed with how good you guys were at getting up and getting to the parks early. Last trip I had trouble getting my kids moving hopefully this trip will go better.

Hi Mindy! Yes you can get the Lapu Lapu at Kona, go for it you will LOVE it!

I'm with you on the Indy Speedway. You're a much nicer mom than me. We didn't even ride it on our last trip

I hope you start to feel better!

Thanks Carissa, everyone was against me on that decision, so I had to cave

You are doing great getting at those rope drops.

Kids all have their moments...glad he did not lose it totally \


Cute matching shirts...

Love how you had them demonstrate front and back, so we could how wet they really were

Sounds like you had an overall good day so far.

Hope you felt better after cooling down

Thanks Kelly! Oh yes I had to show you how truly soaking wet we were!

Great update,
I hate Indy Speedway LOL. Not to mention how loud it is LOL.

Thanks Jeanine, Indy Speedway haters unite!

I hate Indy Speedway too, lucky for me my kids are old enough to go by themselves.

Lucky duck!!

 

[dreamer17555]

You got a lot done! And you are a better mom than me because I just flat out refuse to do Indy. Every amusement park across the country has a similar attraction and this doesn't have enough Disney touches to make it special.

-Becca-

 

[timandlesley]

LOVE LOVE LOVING your report! Not seeing the dream team yet but hoping you get to see them before the trip is over
LOVED the pics of AKL, I've been trying to convince Tim to stay there and with our friends who are there now telling him awesome things and your pics maybe we'll get there somday
I was bummed to read about your Jedi Training Academy experience. We were just showing Luke that on you tube last night and he is so thrilled and will be devestated if he doesn't get picked. I agree about your rant, let the boys do SOMETHING!!! They need more boy stuff and the ratio of girls to boys picked that day was nuts
We love Kona too, now I'm regretting not scheduling it this year, that pinnapple drink looked yummy, Tim got that last time. That was a great meal.
Loved the pic of Eric after he got off of Space Mtn. What was the height requirement of that again? I am hoping Lauren makes the 44 inch cut off this year but she's around 43 inches.
Looking forward to more!!!!!
Lesley

 

[Tanya90210]

Ohhh man... you missed em by just seconds!! Dog gone it! I love the pics of the fam and I am with ya about Dh's swerving from the plan mine luckily learned after he stopped swerving and just goes w/ it now

 

[dddisrunner]

You got a lot done! And you are a better mom than me because I just flat out refuse to do Indy. Every amusement park across the country has a similar attraction and this doesn't have enough Disney touches to make it special.

-Becca-

Thanks Becca! Yeah I caved! The boys were happy so I got over it!

LOVE LOVE LOVING your report! Not seeing the dream team yet but hoping you get to see them before the trip is over
LOVED the pics of AKL, I've been trying to convince Tim to stay there and with our friends who are there now telling him awesome things and your pics maybe we'll get there somday
I was bummed to read about your Jedi Training Academy experience. We were just showing Luke that on you tube last night and he is so thrilled and will be devestated if he doesn't get picked. I agree about your rant, let the boys do SOMETHING!!! They need more boy stuff and the ratio of girls to boys picked that day was nuts
We love Kona too, now I'm regretting not scheduling it this year, that pinnapple drink looked yummy, Tim got that last time. That was a great meal.
Loved the pic of Eric after he got off of Space Mtn. What was the height requirement of that again? I am hoping Lauren makes the 44 inch cut off this year but she's around 43 inches.
Looking forward to more!!!!!
Lesley

Hi Lesley! I'm glad you made your way over here! Yes, the AKL is AWESOME and theming is so INCREDIBLE! Yeah the Jedi Training Academy was a bummer, but I also think the Jedi Master just wasn't very good! Eric is about 43 inches without shoes. He wore his crocs to our boardwalk and one of the rides was 44inch requirement. He missed it by less than a quarter of an inch. Space Mountain, Mission Space and Everest are all 44 inches. When Eric wore his Sketcher Venilators he made the 44 inch mark by about 1/2 inch. Maybe if you brought sneakers w/ you to the park Lauren would make the height requirement I hope she does, it was so GREAT being able to do all the rides as a family!

Ohhh man... you missed em by just seconds!! Dog gone it! I love the pics of the fam and I am with ya about Dh's swerving from the plan mine luckily learned after he stopped swerving and just goes w/ it now

Thanks Tanya! I was so sick and tired of missing them! Bryan learned quickly that deviation is NOT a good thing!

 

[dddisrunner]

Day 3 detour and Tutto Italia

We left off with us leaving the Magic Kingdom. I wanted to relax a little bit, but we really didn't want to go back to the AKL because it was 3:00 and our ADR at Tutto Italia was early at 5:15 so Bryan suggested we take a boat ride over to check out the Wilderness Lodge! I thought this was a great idea (see, he's not all that bad) I have always wanted to stay at WL and was thrilled to have the opportunity to see it in person! We get into the boat and snap these pictures on our way over to the WL...

I love how mysteriously the WL just kind of looms there and how you can't truly appreciate it until you are actually there! We walk off the boat and up the dock to take these pics.

This was so cool to see in person...

We made our way into the lobby and it was every bit as beautiful as I imagined it would be! You could tell that the same person designed both the AKL and WL. The lobby is very tall but not as big area wise as I thought it would be. The other major difference is that the restaurants at WL are on the same level as the lobby where at the AKL the lobby is on the 3rd floor and the restaurants are on the first. I don't have much experience never having stayed there but I imagined the lobby at the WL gets very noisy. It was beautiful though. Here are some pic. we took inside...

Forgot to mention that the boys bought guns at the POTC gift shop. They had been begging for these our last 2 trips, so we finally caved on this trip and bought them!

Here they are posing with them...

We enjoyed our time at The Wilderness Lodge and I would LOVE to stay there someday! We went out to the bus stop to wait for an Epcot bus to come.

The boys passed the time waiting for the bus by pretending to shoot empty water bottles off of the garbage can! They would shoot and Bryan would knock them off, if you could have heard the boys laughing it was sooooo funny!

An Epcot bus finally came and we were off to Epcot...whoops Ft. Wilderness first. Sounds silly but I was happy to have to go there because again it was a place I had never seen! Once was enough though! We arrived at Epcot and then made our way around World Showcase to Italy. We snapped this pic. along the way...

We checked in and waited only about 5minutes and then we were buzzed! We were all looking forward to this meal!

I don't really have much to say other then we were disappointed in this meal. I am soooo thankful we were on the dining plan because this restaurant is WAY overpriced. The service was slow and she was very inattentive. We had a particularly bad table too! We didn't even take pics. because we just wanted out of there! The food was OK not great at all! The kids liked there plain pasta and the bread was good but this was the worst meal of our trip. I was so disappointed because we were really looking forward to it. Also, this was the only TS where we had the server ask how much we were going to tip? I was floored! Usually you get a receipt and at the bottom it has a reccomended tip at either 18% or 20% and prior to this we had just circled what tip we wanted to give. Needless to say we couldn't wait to put this experience behind us! We were going to stay for Illumination, but none of us were feeling it so we headed back to the AKL to swim!

Once we got back to the AKL it was actually a little chilly so we told the kids they couldn't swim. They were so upset so we told them we give them each 10 bucks for the arcade! This cheered them up instantly!

After they blew through their money (which took about 10 minutes) we went and got our mugs and let the kids play on the playground! I couldn't believe how many people were swimming, the water was warm but there was a very cool breeze! Here are some pics. from the playground!

Me with my coffee! Notice the sweatshirt, I was so cold!

After about a 1/2 hour on the playground it was time to shower and hit the hay! Bryan took this picture of me and the boys walking back and I just love it!

I am not familiar with any other resorts except Pop and now AKL but I love how evrything at the AKL is hidden, the hot tubs, the playground, even the public savannah viewing areas are all surrounded by lush, tropical vegetation. It truly has a "resort" feel to it! It is so funny too, you can hear the flamingoes squaking when you are on the playground because they are right behind it. At night you can hear them but not see them and that is so strange!

We were all asleep by 9:30 on this night!

Coming up next.........A later wake up call and an Epcot morning!

 

[dreamer17555]

Sorry about your meal. We found ourselves very happy that we had the dining plan at two different places because they weren't that good and like you said way over priced. The dining plan makes the last part easier to swallow.

DH and I are talking either the Poly or AKL for our next trip and the way you describe AKL I am thinking that we will probably stay there.

-Becca-

 

[swwake]

Great pics! Thanks for the update.

I wasn't planning to do Tutto Italia anyway, but this clinches it. We have a great Italian restaurant near home that we visit a couple of times a month, so we're spoiled.

I am excited that we also get to visit and explore WL. Your pictures got me excited for this. We are having dinner at WCC.

We're also doing Jiko so we can explore AKL too. Looking forward to that after hearing your raves!

 

[Tanya90210]

wow am I glad we cancelled Tutto!! I love the pic of you and the boys walkin back to...

 

[mindyd]

We had thought about going to Tutto and decided against it now I amr eally glad we did. The picture of you and the two boys walking is adorable!

 

[casnider]

I am just loving reading your trip report. We were there last year (during the HM refurb, what a bummer...love that ride) and I kept telling the family to "look for people dressed up in vests or suits" and if you saw any to look happy and joyfully because these were the "dream people with the great prizes". Never saw a one.

We are facing a deployment next year and are broke this year so reading your report gives me a little mini vacation until we can make it back again.

I am on board.

 

[kaysmommie]

Great update and pics . Love the ones at WL too. Sorry that Tutto was nasty. Glad I read your review before I decided to book it. I'll stick with Coral Reef.

 

[kathleen27]

sorry you did not like Tutto.
Kona sounds great though!
Hear so many good things about Kona, we will have to try it.

Your son has such a great smile coming off of Space Mountain for the first time!
Sounds like you got to do a lot of rides!

Deviating from the plan. Oh No! My kids are older and they still get upset that we are doing something "later".

 

[dddisrunner]

Sorry about your meal. We found ourselves very happy that we had the dining plan at two different places because they weren't that good and like you said way over priced. The dining plan makes the last part easier to swallow.

DH and I are talking either the Poly or AKL for our next trip and the way you describe AKL I am thinking that we will probably stay there.

-Becca-

OOH! I LOVE the POLY and the AKL that is a tough choice!

Great pics! Thanks for the update.

I wasn't planning to do Tutto Italia anyway, but this clinches it. We have a great Italian restaurant near home that we visit a couple of times a month, so we're spoiled.

I am excited that we also get to visit and explore WL. Your pictures got me excited for this. We are having dinner at WCC.

We're also doing Jiko so we can explore AKL too. Looking forward to that after hearing your raves!

Thanks Susan! It is soooo much fun exploring the other resorts! I don't want to bash Tutto, but it really wasn't a great experience!

wow am I glad we cancelled Tutto!! I love the pic of you and the boys walkin back to...

Thanks Tanya!

We had thought about going to Tutto and decided against it now I amr eally glad we did. The picture of you and the two boys walking is adorable!

Thanks Mindy! How are your plans going?

I am just loving reading your trip report. We were there last year (during the HM refurb, what a bummer...love that ride) and I kept telling the family to "look for people dressed up in vests or suits" and if you saw any to look happy and joyfully because these were the "dream people with the great prizes". Never saw a one.

We are facing a deployment next year and are broke this year so reading your report gives me a little mini vacation until we can make it back again.

I am on board.

WELCOME! Thanks so much for joining us! Thanks for all your sweet comments! I just want to say thank you to you or your DH whomever is serving! We are truly blessed to have men and women like yourselves that defend our freedom on a daily basis! I hope you are able to find a way back to the World soon!

Great update and pics . Love the ones at WL too. Sorry that Tutto was nasty. Glad I read your review before I decided to book it. I'll stick with Coral Reef.

Thanks Nichole! I would DEFINITELY choose Coral Reef over Tutto!

sorry you did not like Tutto.
Kona sounds great though!
Hear so many good things about Kona, we will have to try it.

Your son has such a great smile coming off of Space Mountain for the first time!
Sounds like you got to do a lot of rides!

Deviating from the plan. Oh No! My kids are older and they still get upset that we are doing something "later".

Thanks so much Kathleen! Thanks for your sweet compliments! I LOVE that pic. of Eric too! Pure joy coming off that boys face!

 

[Jeanine3kids]

Sorry to hear about Tutto. So what was your opinion on the WL? We usually stay at BWV or BC because of the walking distance to two of the parks. With a double Jogger the buses are hell. We want to stay at WL or AKV next. However I don't know if I want to wait until the kids are a little bigger they are DS6 DD4 DS2.