Podcast Cruise Photos & More

[medicjch]

HELP the pictures are not working. Is it just me?

I was just going to ask the same thing......so no......it's not just you.

 

[bcvdreamer]

ADP, Thank you for another great trip report! I can't wait to see more pictures.

 

[ADP]

Sorry gang. Something is not right with my photobucket account. I'm looking into it. I may have exceeded some sort of threshold.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Aaron tell everyone at DATW that I said Hi!

 

[ADP]

Aaron tell everyone at DATW that I said Hi!

I will Dave. By the way, I have the watch. I'll get it out to you as soon as I get home.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

I will Dave. By the way, I have the watch. I'll get it out to you as soon as I get home.

Thansk Aaron!

 

[ADP]

Here's what I got back from photobucket.

Dear Aaron

We apologize for the inconvenience. We are currently making maintenance updates to the site that may temporarily affect access and/or linking images from your Photobucket account.

We will be restoring connectivity as quickly as possible.

Thank you

Sincerely,

Your Photobucket Support Team

 

[Cyrano]

Aaron I can wait for the photos. Thank you for posting up further installments as I enjoy living the cruise vicarously through the reports

 

[wildfan1473]

Thank you, Aaron! What a wonderful report with wonderful photos (even though I can't see them at the moment, but I did see some last night). It's so fun to hear about what a great time you all had.

 

[ADP]

Good Morning Everyone,

Last night's DATW was a blast! I'll have photos up as soon as I can upload them to photobucket.

Today is our departure day, and although I should be pretty sad I feel pretty good about everything we've done on this trip. Most importantly spending it with several friends and family.

This trip was great, and if there was one piece of advice I could give you.....BOOK THE NEXT PODCAST CRUISE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Good Morning Everyone,

Last night's DATW was a blast! I'll have photos up as soon as I can upload them to photobucket.

Today is our departure day, and although I should be pretty sad I feel pretty good about everything we've done on this trip. Most importantly spending it with several friends and family.

This trip was great, and if there was one piece of advice I could give you.....BOOK THE NEXT PODCAST CRUISE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!

Totally agree!!

 

[Leigha]

Thanks for taking the time to do this!

 

[winotracy]

Totally agree!!

Mary Jo, thanks for getting us home last night! We had fun hiking through the woods

 

[ADP]

Good Morning Everyone,

We are finally back home after a very memorable trip. Photobucket is back online so my photos are now up on this thread.

I will be posting some DATW photos in a little while along with our breakfast at the Tusker House on Friday.

 

[ADP]

Friday, May 15th

Our post Podcast Cruise adventures reached Friday. Our family was staying at the Animal Kingdom Villas (Jambo House). Our family really loves the Animal Kingdom Resort mostly because of it's uniqueness. You can't find a resort like this anywhere in the world. I took an opportunity on Thursday to roam the resort and enjoy some time viewing the animals.
Giraffes

More Giraffes and Ankole Cattle

I found these photos from a trail behind the Azuma Springs pool bar. It's a very hidden trail and one I enjoy to visit because not too many guests are there.

Onto Friday, we visitied the Animal Kingdom first thing in the morming.

We had a character breakfast at the Tusker House with fellow cruisers. Before breakfast we stopped at Expedition Everest for fastpasses. EE was down due to technical difficulties, but we still got fastpasses anyway for 12:15.

We headed back to Africa where we already found some of our friends waiting for our breakfast check-in time.

Check this out! 3 Kims sitting together. This must be the Nexus of the universe!

While waiting for breakfast we also bumped into Amike...A citizen of Africa

Breakfast at Tusker House was very good. Our servers did a great job with both of our large tables. The restaurant can generate a lot of noise, but the food, friends, and service more than made up for it. The characters, Goofy, Mickey, Donald, and Daisy can pretty much all at once...One right after another.

Many of us enjoyed the delicious "Jungle Juice" the Tusker House serves with breakfast. The total bill for our table; 7 adults and 1 child was $148 with the 20% TIW and automatic 18% gratuity.

After breakfast we parted ways. Kim, Anna, and I headed for Expedition Everest to use our fastpasses.

We left the Animal Kingdom and went to EPCOT. We had a lot to do at EPCOT. We started with viewing some of the topiaries and flowers for the Flower and Garden Festival.

Next we wanted to try the Kim Possible adventure in World Showcase. We picked up our fastpass time at Innoventions West. Our pick-up time was 2:30 in the Italy pavillion. I must admit this is a very cool experience. Our daughter Anna really loved it and so did me and Kim. I suggest if you have a child, or heck, if you don't, do this experience. You will love it!
The "Kimmunicator"!

We ended up doing the adventure in 4 countries; Italy, Japan, Mexico, and the UK. After our adventures we dropped our "Kimmunicator" in a drop box in the UK...Very convenient. I didn't post a lot of photos from this adventure so not to spoil it for you.

After we finished the Kim Possible adventure we headed for Canada to start our DATW adventure. Before we got to Canada we already saw friends in the UK heading for Cananda. We were really looking forward to doing this; especially since I told Kim how fun it was during Mousefest. I went solo to Mousefest and Kim did not get to enjoy the fun of DATW.
The crowd gathers

Some random shots during our adventures.

Motley Crew!

Things got a bit violant at the UK

Kim thought the orange slushies in France were non-alcoholic... Alicia new better.

The lines grew at the various watering holes

The orange slushy seemed to be the drink of choice of the Grey Goose slushy

Champagne wishes

Don and "The Wives"

Some of the original flatties having a good time

We reached Italy and.....

 

[ADP]

I love this shot in Italy

Darkness was all around, but fun was still had by all

As we got close to the end of DATW something odd happened...A transfer of the light sabre!

As our evening ended we got back with our children. Jenny was kind enough to watch our daughter Anna while drank around the world. Thank you very much Jenny. We really appreciated it.

So our DATW was over, but was a lot of fun. I'm sure there will be many other pictures posted. I can't wait for the next one in December 2009.

After DATW we decieded to take a spin on Test Track. The standby line was 50 minutes so many decided to skip it. Anna and I went through the single rider line which was only a 30 minute wait. It was more like a 20 minute wait. We got our ride in and called it a night. We headed back to the Animal Kingdom Resort. Tomorrow was our departure day, but we still had the morning and most of the afternoon to hang out at the Kidani Village pool.

My last post will include what we did on our last day and private/quick service dining options at Kidani Village. Many have said a lack of a counter service location at Kidani was a problem...Myself included, but there are a few options other than traditional counter service.

More soon.......

 

[jen3003]

Awww. that was wonderful!

I did recognize Jaime partying like a wild woman at Wavebands during your first installment! Woohoo!

I saw that pic of Jaime as well. Way to go it looks like everyone had a good time.
Can't wait for the next cruise I will be on that one one!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Thanks, Aaron! It's great to see a little bit of what you guys experienced!

 

[ADP]

Saturday, May 16th
Today was our departure day. We spent a good portion of the morning packing our bags. We went to the AKL lobby to find a loooong line at the airline check-in desk. It actually took me 40 minutes to get checked-in. We also shippped a box of goodies from the cruise back home. It cost $12 to ship the box. Definately worth the price. We also checked our carry-on luggage with bell services. Our ME bus was not scheduled to pick us up until 3:05. So we had 5 plus hours to kill before we had to depart.

We spent our time at the Kidani Village pool. We were there before the podcast cruise and really enjoyed it, so much so that we decided to go back and relax a bit.

One of things I was curious about was quick dining at Kidani Village. Many DVCers have been complaining about the lack of a counter service location at Kidani Village. It's understandable conisdering the size of the resort and the walk to Jambo House to eat at the Mara (Jambo's counter service location).
I knew the pool bar had some food offerings and the gift shop inside the lobby (Johari Treasures) had some quick food items as well; however, I discovered something else. A private dining option is available at the Maji pool bar.

Here's how it works.
Look for this phone and display at the Maji Pool Bar. Simply pick-up the phone and it will ring into the Sanaa kitchen. Make sure to reference your private dining number on your identifiable tent; in this case it's number 2.

Simply place your order with the Cast Member. They will give you an approximate wait time, a total, and ask you how you will pay; cash, credit, or room charge. Take your number tent to your pool chair and wait for the server/delivery person to bring you the food.
Here are the menus for private dining. There is an adult menu and a kids menu to choose from. As you can see each adult entree comes with sides and a pudding dessert. Kids meals come with 2 sides and a dessert like chocolate cake.

Something I found odd is the resort does not have a fryer so you will not find any fried foods on the private dining menu. This was according to the Cast Member I spoke to on the private dining telephone. I wasn't sure if it was because of the healthier alternatives Disney was incorporating or not.

We ordered a kids pizza for our daughter Anna. You should know when you order through the private dining line you are charged a $3 trip charge and an automatic 18% gratuity. The total for our daughters kids pizza, 2 sides, dessert, and a bottled water was $12.75. There was some confusion whether the drink was included with the meal. When we called private dining they said yes, but the bottled water never came out, so I received one at the pool bar at no cost. I think they are still working out some of the kinks to private dining in general.

The Maji pool bar also offers very limited quick foods you can order and receive from their refrigerator right away without going through private dining.
Here is there menu

Make sure to bring your resort refillable mug to the Kidani Village pool because they have a soda refilling station next to the bar. A nice feature in my opinion.

For those of you lucky enough to stay at this resort the Johari Treasures gift shop also has some quick cold food and breakfast options. There are cold cereals, breads and other breakfast fare to choose from. Potato chips and other afternoon or evening snacks are available as well.

The gift shop also houses a refillable mug station for soda, coffee, and tea.

Despite the lack of a counter service restaurant at Kidani Village there are still options to choose from if you don't want to hike over to the Mara at Jambo House. Many DVCers have been sending suggestion letters to dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com to voice their displeasure about the lack of a counter service location. If you feel Kidani Village needs a counter service location feel free to send them an email as well.

Before we left the Kidani Village pool Puck (DPuck) and his family showed up. We got to spend some last minute time together, and Anna spent time with their children. A nice way to end a perfect trip.

It was 2:15PM and time to start heading back over to Jambo House to pick-up our carry-on luggage and catch the Magical Express bus to MCO. While at the airport we got to speak to Dodie and her husband Phillip who were on the same flight as us. It was a bumpy flight most of the way home, but we landed on time and made it home safely.

Thanks to everyone who made this trip so magical. We had a great time seeing and meeting everyone, and making new friends along the way.

 

[Launchpad11B]

Good report as always Aaron. It was a real pleasure spending time with you and your family. Anna & Kim are great. Tell them we said hello!