I'm so jealous!! We absolutely loved everything about AKL when we stayed there.
That was taken in May of 2001. I think the lodge had opened to the first guests in April and by the time we were there (from the 20th to the 29th of May) they had opened the 2nd phase of rooms - so it still wasn't quite finished. We were able to wlak through the wings with the empty rooms, so I think they were just getting the staff "up to speed" at that point.
Anyway, we returned to our room one evening to find an announcement on the bed inviting us to the official dedication of the lodge the next morning. I had a hard time convincing DH to wait to go to the parks, but I really wanted to go. LOL It included people from the cast of The Lion King on Broadway there to sing. That 2nd photo is Rafiki leaving at the end. While they were singing, the balconies were lined with CMs and high school choir students. They sang along in parts. Partway through, they had these white origami birds hung from dowel rods that they put over the edge & they made them "fly". Right at the end of the song, the starting tossing tissue paper leaves over the side. That's the effect you see in that first photo...typical Disney pageantry like you see at parades, etc. It was awesome!
If you have kids, check to see if they still do the pool slide opening in the mornings. DD got to participate in that on our last day. (Again, DH didn't want to wait. LOL) Just as they open the pool for the day, they had a little ceremony with kids over on the platform of the pool slide. The kids got to play drums/instruments and then were the first ones into the pool. Just a fun little thing...DD loved doing all that stuff.
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