Our Family Adventure at Animal Kingdom Lodge August 22-28

[PinkJade]

Hello!

My name is Alyssa and this is my attempt at a Pre-Trip/Trip Report!

We are going to Disney World August 22-28 and will be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

This is our second trip to Disney World as a family. Our last trip was in October 2007. We went with my parents and my sister and her family. This trip will be just the three of us!

Introductions:
Me- Alyssa

DF- Michael

DD- Hailey 3 3/4
Here she is at Halloween as Sleeping Beauty.

We are all excited, but especially DD. She asks everyday if it is time to go and wants to watch movies of the rides! Can't wait to see how she reacts during this trip versus our last one.

 

[PinkJade]

The planning of this trip was definitely more spontaneous than our first trip. For our first trip we had all the reservations made 6 months ahead of time and seemed like we were waiting forever to go.

This year at the end of June my fiance was told at work that everyone had to take two weeks of vacation by the end of September. We had been wanting to go somewhere this year but I wanted to wait until later in the fall. For practical purposes Michael decided if we wanted to go away anywhere it had to be at the end of August. Since we wouldn't have much time to coordinate our schedules with anyone we knew we would be on our own and our daughter would have to come with us. Only one place came to mind... Disney World!

We knew we had to book right away, so we reviewed all the options. Initially I wanted to stay at Pop Century, we had a great time there on our last trip. But we also wanted to try something new. Now Animal Kingdom is Michael's favorite park, and when he saw the Animal Kingdom Lodge he just wanted to stay there! We figured out the prices, oh at least a dozen times. It was making me a little crazy!

But on June 29 we booked our trip at Animal Kingdom Lodge in a Pool View room (here's to hoping we get upgraded!) for August 22-28 with Free Dining. We were able to get a great deal on airfare by flying out of Indianapolis, which is a little bit closer than Chicago anyway! We will arrive in Orlando around 9:30 a.m. and depart at 4:30 p.m. on Friday the 28th.

Here is Hailey meeting Mickey Mouse on our first trip:

 

[PinkJade]

We were planning on having the dining plan anyway, so when I noticed it would be free dining I was very happy! I still priced all the options and the free dining was only a very small amount cheaper than the room discount (less than $30). But it was cheaper!

I knew with less than 2 months to go before our trip it might be a little bit difficult to get the reservations we wanted. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could make the ADR's online!
The online system was a little bit frustrating at first, but once I got used to it I was easily able to make all the reservations. I was wishing I could just see what times were available instead of choosing times over and over.

We are stay 7 days and 6 nights so needed 6 ADRS:

We wanted:
Cinderella's Royal Table, Hailey loves the princesses
Le Cellier, we really enjoyed it on our last trip
Crystal Palace, Hailey likes Pooh & Friends (OK I'll admit there's a soft spot in my heart for too!)
50's Primetime Cafe, another one of our favorites from last time
Boma, heard good reviews and at our resort!

We got:

8/22 (Day we arrive) - The Diamond Horseshoe at Magic Kingdom 5:05 p.m.
The menu is the same as Liberty Tree Tavern. We enjoyed the meal there on our last trip and I'm sure we won't be disappointed here.

8/23 - Akershus Royal Banquet at Epcot 8:10 a.m.
As I mentioned before Hailey the princesses! My sister had been to the dinner before and said the food was really bad , so we avoided lunch and dinner. The breakfast menu sounded good to us and we figure that it can't be that bad.

8/24 - Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge 8:55 p.m.
The time is a little late for us, but we wanted to try it and at least we will be at our resort when the meal is over!

8/25 50's PrimeTime Cafe at Hollywood Studios 2:40 p.m.
Couldn't really find a good time, but we'll make it work. Plus we will be able to try some of the lunch entrees as we had dinner there last time.

8/26 Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom 1:10 p.m.
Again not a perfect time, but we look forward to Pooh and hopefully a good meal!

8/27 Rose and Crown Pub at Epcot 4:45 p.m.
We are looking forward to trying this restaurant. Michael loves Shepherd's Pie so hopefully they are serving it!

So everything worked out pretty well! Since we couldn't get Cinderella's Royal Table we got an extra meal and that will be for the best anyway.