Day 3 AK and Disney Qwest
Todays plan is AK for EE and DTD, specifically Disney Quest in the afternoon. More beignets this morning while ironing.
Note to Zurgs Wife: I do not mind ironing while on vacation as long as I get my beignets. I just wish everyone would stop complaining about the powdered sugar splotches on their clothes.
Poor DW is going to have to start getting up earlier if she wants any of these pasteries. She missed out again this morning. She is also starting to come down with a nasty cold I think. I hope not!
After the usual dress/shower/yell at everyone to hurry its EE today (not necessarily in that order), we are off directly to the bus stop. No breakfast at the food court this morning, we have a 10:00 PS for Donalds Breakfastasauras. We arrive at the park right at 8:00 and get through security and the park gates fairly quickly. I am not sure if EE is that great a deal at AK because they allow off-property guests into the parking lot the same time as everyone else, and although you are supposed to show a resort ID to get in the gates, no one asked me for one. But I digress. We made directly for Harambe and the KS, the line was already backed up all the way to the fruit vendors cart, but it moved quickly as they had not begin issuing FPs yet. The entire time I waited in line the father in the family behind me complained to his wife about how he would rather be fishing than waiting in another queue. It makes me so sad that people can be in the happiest place on earth and make themselves miserable. Especially when they are obviously affecting how the rest of their family are enjoying WDW. His very cute and very pregnant wife and his probably 4 YO son were so excited when they first got into the queue, but by the time they actually got in their Jeep they looked miserable. I hope he went back to the room and they enjoyed the rest of the day. The safari was great I think we saw more animals up close than we ever had before. Even the male lion stood-up, shivered, and yawned. Thats the most I have ever seen him do! DD2 adores animals and I think this was her absolute fav time in our trip. We decide to take a leisurely walk through the Maharajah Jungle Trek so that DD2 could enjoy more animals. It was still early enough that we had the place almost all to our selves. It was like being in another world far away from WDW, quiet and peaceful. Realizing that our 10:00 PS time is fast approaching, we high tail it across the new bridge in front of EE. The walkway, bridge, new buildings, and landscaping are gorgeous. This bridge will really help with the congestion on Discovery Island, especially when Tarzan Rocks! Spits out a couple of thousand people several times a day. While DW and the rest wait to be seated, I grab FPs for DW and DS to ride Triceratops Spin after we eat. I had decided to pass on being spun around in circles after eating a buffet. The character breakfast was pleasant, DD2 now very curious about the characters. She used to have a four foot rule (if the characters got closer than four feet, she would scream), but now it appears that is down to about two feet. After breakfast, DW and DS head off to TS, DDs and I are going to secure seats at Legend of the Lion king. We have not seen LotLK since 2001 and every trip since then I swear we are going to make time, but something always seems to come up. Not this trip sister! DD2 falls asleep in the stroller on the way, bummer as she loves animals so much, I know she would really like this show. We get in line early enough to get in the 1st row behind the handicapped rows. We are in the giraffe section, and have a great view of everything. I call DW on her cell as they are about to close the doors, she and DS are just leaving TS and will not make it in time. Probably a good thing as I forgot to same them a seat ;-). About halfway through the show DD2 wakes up and loves it! Upon exiting the theater I run into DW and DS who apparently were able to enter the theater late. They were sitting a few rows behind us and none of us realized it LOL. I try to convince someone, anyone in our group to ride Kali RR with me but no one is buying into the deal so we decide to head back to the room for a break. By the time we get back to the room DWs cold has definitely taken a turn for the worse and DD2 needs a real nap, so I decide to take DD1 and DS to the pool while everyone else rests.
Side note: This trip marks the first time that we have booked two rooms, one for the kids and one for us. I would highly recommend this strategy, as DD2 napped much better having her own room. It was also nice to be able to put the kids to bed and still be able to watch TV and visit w/DW without waking them up. The second bathroom came in really handy also. I really debated doing this, as we could have gotten one room at the AKL for the same price. POFQ is a very nice resort, but it does not compare to AKL IMHO. Nonetheless I think it was a good decision to go with the two rooms.
I find a lounge chair where I can watch DD1 play in the kiddie pool and still see DS go down the slide in the big pool. One frosty adult beverage and a good book, and life could not be much better! After about an hour and a half of pool time, I round up the kiddos so that we can head out to DQ. We had to wait a good 25-30 minutes for the bus to DD, this was the only long wait that we had on this trip for a bus. You would think that with FQ sharing busses with Riverside that overcrowding might be a problem, but I did not really see a problem with it. It helps that the busses stop at FQ first when picking up and dropping off. A lot of people complain about Disneys bus transportation, but I think they do a bang-up job moving the # of people that they do. After being dropped off at PI, we high tail it to DQ. DQ is DSs favorite attraction in the world, and DD1 has decided even though she does not understand how to play most of the games, by golly if big brother does it, then she needs to do it to. DW had decided to stay behind as DD2 had not yet awakened from her nap. After about two hours of gaming DW calls to say that DD2 is awake and they are coming to DD to meet us for dinner. We all meet at the boat dock and decide to try Capt Jacks for dinner. This is one of the few DD restaurants that we have yet to try. After finding out that there was over an hour wait, we decide just to go back to the resort and eat at the food court. The boat ride back to the FQ was very relaxing, it offered a great view of the new Saratoga Springs VC resort, it looks incredible. I am so glad I convinced DW that we should buy some additional points there! The boat ride also went past the old treehouse villas of the DI, they look like they would be so nice and relaxing to stay in. Our boat captain told me that the treehouses would be refurbished and considered part of Saratoga Springs in the coming years. Hope that happens, I would really love to check them out.
Had dinner at the FQ food court again. I am fairly impressed with the quality of food. They have a bakery that serves breakfast breads and desserts, and oh yeah BEIGNETS, another spot that has freshly made to order and really large Mickey waffles with eggs bacon etc. For dinner the waffle station serves pot roast, ribs, chicken, etouffee, and jambalaya, with side dishes of greens, mashed taters, corn, or rice. I sampled everything but the etouffee and jambalaya and for food court fare it was all pretty darn good. There is also a pizza/pasta station in the evenings. All we tried from that station was the mac and cheese which the kids gave two thumbs up. My only food court complaint was the way the beverages were set out. All of the bottled drinks were in a round open air refrigerated cooler that did not cool very well. Keep my beer on ice, pleeeaasse. Back to the room by 9:30 and we are all pooped.
Coming up Day 3- MK and Epcot can we do both in one day?
Todays plan is AK for EE and DTD, specifically Disney Quest in the afternoon. More beignets this morning while ironing.
Note to Zurgs Wife: I do not mind ironing while on vacation as long as I get my beignets. I just wish everyone would stop complaining about the powdered sugar splotches on their clothes.
Poor DW is going to have to start getting up earlier if she wants any of these pasteries. She missed out again this morning. She is also starting to come down with a nasty cold I think. I hope not!
After the usual dress/shower/yell at everyone to hurry its EE today (not necessarily in that order), we are off directly to the bus stop. No breakfast at the food court this morning, we have a 10:00 PS for Donalds Breakfastasauras. We arrive at the park right at 8:00 and get through security and the park gates fairly quickly. I am not sure if EE is that great a deal at AK because they allow off-property guests into the parking lot the same time as everyone else, and although you are supposed to show a resort ID to get in the gates, no one asked me for one. But I digress. We made directly for Harambe and the KS, the line was already backed up all the way to the fruit vendors cart, but it moved quickly as they had not begin issuing FPs yet. The entire time I waited in line the father in the family behind me complained to his wife about how he would rather be fishing than waiting in another queue. It makes me so sad that people can be in the happiest place on earth and make themselves miserable. Especially when they are obviously affecting how the rest of their family are enjoying WDW. His very cute and very pregnant wife and his probably 4 YO son were so excited when they first got into the queue, but by the time they actually got in their Jeep they looked miserable. I hope he went back to the room and they enjoyed the rest of the day. The safari was great I think we saw more animals up close than we ever had before. Even the male lion stood-up, shivered, and yawned. Thats the most I have ever seen him do! DD2 adores animals and I think this was her absolute fav time in our trip. We decide to take a leisurely walk through the Maharajah Jungle Trek so that DD2 could enjoy more animals. It was still early enough that we had the place almost all to our selves. It was like being in another world far away from WDW, quiet and peaceful. Realizing that our 10:00 PS time is fast approaching, we high tail it across the new bridge in front of EE. The walkway, bridge, new buildings, and landscaping are gorgeous. This bridge will really help with the congestion on Discovery Island, especially when Tarzan Rocks! Spits out a couple of thousand people several times a day. While DW and the rest wait to be seated, I grab FPs for DW and DS to ride Triceratops Spin after we eat. I had decided to pass on being spun around in circles after eating a buffet. The character breakfast was pleasant, DD2 now very curious about the characters. She used to have a four foot rule (if the characters got closer than four feet, she would scream), but now it appears that is down to about two feet. After breakfast, DW and DS head off to TS, DDs and I are going to secure seats at Legend of the Lion king. We have not seen LotLK since 2001 and every trip since then I swear we are going to make time, but something always seems to come up. Not this trip sister! DD2 falls asleep in the stroller on the way, bummer as she loves animals so much, I know she would really like this show. We get in line early enough to get in the 1st row behind the handicapped rows. We are in the giraffe section, and have a great view of everything. I call DW on her cell as they are about to close the doors, she and DS are just leaving TS and will not make it in time. Probably a good thing as I forgot to same them a seat ;-). About halfway through the show DD2 wakes up and loves it! Upon exiting the theater I run into DW and DS who apparently were able to enter the theater late. They were sitting a few rows behind us and none of us realized it LOL. I try to convince someone, anyone in our group to ride Kali RR with me but no one is buying into the deal so we decide to head back to the room for a break. By the time we get back to the room DWs cold has definitely taken a turn for the worse and DD2 needs a real nap, so I decide to take DD1 and DS to the pool while everyone else rests.
Side note: This trip marks the first time that we have booked two rooms, one for the kids and one for us. I would highly recommend this strategy, as DD2 napped much better having her own room. It was also nice to be able to put the kids to bed and still be able to watch TV and visit w/DW without waking them up. The second bathroom came in really handy also. I really debated doing this, as we could have gotten one room at the AKL for the same price. POFQ is a very nice resort, but it does not compare to AKL IMHO. Nonetheless I think it was a good decision to go with the two rooms.
I find a lounge chair where I can watch DD1 play in the kiddie pool and still see DS go down the slide in the big pool. One frosty adult beverage and a good book, and life could not be much better! After about an hour and a half of pool time, I round up the kiddos so that we can head out to DQ. We had to wait a good 25-30 minutes for the bus to DD, this was the only long wait that we had on this trip for a bus. You would think that with FQ sharing busses with Riverside that overcrowding might be a problem, but I did not really see a problem with it. It helps that the busses stop at FQ first when picking up and dropping off. A lot of people complain about Disneys bus transportation, but I think they do a bang-up job moving the # of people that they do. After being dropped off at PI, we high tail it to DQ. DQ is DSs favorite attraction in the world, and DD1 has decided even though she does not understand how to play most of the games, by golly if big brother does it, then she needs to do it to. DW had decided to stay behind as DD2 had not yet awakened from her nap. After about two hours of gaming DW calls to say that DD2 is awake and they are coming to DD to meet us for dinner. We all meet at the boat dock and decide to try Capt Jacks for dinner. This is one of the few DD restaurants that we have yet to try. After finding out that there was over an hour wait, we decide just to go back to the resort and eat at the food court. The boat ride back to the FQ was very relaxing, it offered a great view of the new Saratoga Springs VC resort, it looks incredible. I am so glad I convinced DW that we should buy some additional points there! The boat ride also went past the old treehouse villas of the DI, they look like they would be so nice and relaxing to stay in. Our boat captain told me that the treehouses would be refurbished and considered part of Saratoga Springs in the coming years. Hope that happens, I would really love to check them out.
Had dinner at the FQ food court again. I am fairly impressed with the quality of food. They have a bakery that serves breakfast breads and desserts, and oh yeah BEIGNETS, another spot that has freshly made to order and really large Mickey waffles with eggs bacon etc. For dinner the waffle station serves pot roast, ribs, chicken, etouffee, and jambalaya, with side dishes of greens, mashed taters, corn, or rice. I sampled everything but the etouffee and jambalaya and for food court fare it was all pretty darn good. There is also a pizza/pasta station in the evenings. All we tried from that station was the mac and cheese which the kids gave two thumbs up. My only food court complaint was the way the beverages were set out. All of the bottled drinks were in a round open air refrigerated cooler that did not cool very well. Keep my beer on ice, pleeeaasse. Back to the room by 9:30 and we are all pooped.
Coming up Day 3- MK and Epcot can we do both in one day?
I can't wait to try out the new Earl of Sandwich! The "Original" for me please. 
Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
