grumpyandbashful
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 9, 2000
- Messages
- 573
Characters:
Me - 48 year-old vet of many WDW trips with family & solo
Sis - 49 year-old WDW newbie
Background/ Arrival Day:
I had a solo trip planned, and asked my sis 3 weeks before if she would like to come along, and to my surprise she jumped at the offer! She is a very busy mom/clergy person, but she was able to swing it. She came with ZILCH preparation, trusting me to lead her through WDW
. We coordinated flights from Kansas City and Milwaukee so that we arrived within 30 min. of each other on a Sat. afternoon, grabbed our car from the Emerald Aisle, and were off!!
We arrived at AKL around 5:00 and the place was packed!! - I've never seen the lobby like that. Bellhop told us it was because many Floridians come just for the weekend. It did clear out considerably by Monday a.m. After some pleading, we did get the room location I had requested - on Zebra Trail overlooking Arusha Savannah, close to the lobby. We had great animal viewing (2nd floor), and the room was very convenient 
.
After settling in, we headed to Boma for our PS. We had an awesome dinner and a very sweet waitress, Keir, whom I remembered from our visit there in 2001! Boma was our best dining experience during the trip - so many wonderful flavors!!
Day 2 - AK/Epcot:
We were up early to head to the AK - unfortunately I had it in my head that the park opened at 8, and when we got there we realized it opened at 9
, so after some deliberation, we asked if we could be walk-ins at Donald's. We were let in, and the very funny Mikeosaurus led us to breakfast, and was our waiter there. Talk about instant immersion into Disney! Lots of character interaction, and I have great pics of my sis with Mickey et. al. It was a good start to our day.
After breakfast, we rode Dinosaur & Primeval Whirl (a blast!), then headed over to the Safaris, then Festival of the Lion King (one of my fave WDW attractions, and my sis loved it too ). We saw ITTBAB, then decided it was too cool to ride Kali River, so we caught a bus to the Beach Club, and after a quick tour there (had to show sis Stormalong Bay!), we walked over to Epcot.
We grabbed a quick lunch at Yakitori House, my favorite counter service place in Epcot. Had a pleasant lunch in the Japanese garden. We did some shopping around the WS, stopping for Maelstrom and El Rio del Tiempo (sis loved the Mexico pavilion!). We headed over to Canada to watch O Canada!. We were getting tired - a lot of walking for the first day! - so we swung through Test Track (single riders line due to 45 minute standby), then Soaceship Earth, then caught a bus back to AKL. Poor sis was in a bit of a daze by now
.
We rested for awhile (I hit the hot tub and pool - very relaxing, perfect temp. in the pool ).
We drove our rental car to DTD for dinner, and walked in to Bongo's around 7:00. We had only a short wait. Loved the atmosphere (and cute waiters LOL!). I had mahi-mahi and sis had the skirt steak - both were good, although I didn't care for the plaintain side dishes
. We strolled around the West Side a bit, then headed back to AKL after our first FULL day at WDW.
Me - 48 year-old vet of many WDW trips with family & solo
Sis - 49 year-old WDW newbie
Background/ Arrival Day:
I had a solo trip planned, and asked my sis 3 weeks before if she would like to come along, and to my surprise she jumped at the offer! She is a very busy mom/clergy person, but she was able to swing it. She came with ZILCH preparation, trusting me to lead her through WDW
. We coordinated flights from Kansas City and Milwaukee so that we arrived within 30 min. of each other on a Sat. afternoon, grabbed our car from the Emerald Aisle, and were off!! We arrived at AKL around 5:00 and the place was packed!!
- I've never seen the lobby like that. Bellhop told us it was because many Floridians come just for the weekend. It did clear out considerably by Monday a.m. After some pleading, we did get the room location I had requested - on Zebra Trail overlooking Arusha Savannah, close to the lobby. We had great animal viewing (2nd floor), and the room was very convenient .After settling in, we headed to Boma for our PS. We had an awesome dinner and a very sweet waitress, Keir, whom I remembered from our visit there in 2001! Boma was our best dining experience during the trip - so many wonderful flavors!!
Day 2 - AK/Epcot:
We were up early to head to the AK - unfortunately I had it in my head that the park opened at 8, and when we got there we realized it opened at 9
, so after some deliberation, we asked if we could be walk-ins at Donald's. We were let in, and the very funny Mikeosaurus led us to breakfast, and was our waiter there. Talk about instant immersion into Disney! Lots of character interaction, and I have great pics of my sis with Mickey et. al. It was a good start to our day.After breakfast, we rode Dinosaur & Primeval Whirl (a blast!), then headed over to the Safaris, then Festival of the Lion King (one of my fave WDW attractions, and my sis loved it too
). We saw ITTBAB, then decided it was too cool to ride Kali River, so we caught a bus to the Beach Club, and after a quick tour there (had to show sis Stormalong Bay!), we walked over to Epcot.We grabbed a quick lunch at Yakitori House, my favorite counter service place in Epcot. Had a pleasant lunch in the Japanese garden. We did some shopping around the WS, stopping for Maelstrom and El Rio del Tiempo (sis loved the Mexico pavilion!). We headed over to Canada to watch O Canada!. We were getting tired - a lot of walking for the first day! - so we swung through Test Track (single riders line due to 45 minute standby), then Soaceship Earth, then caught a bus back to AKL. Poor sis was in a bit of a daze by now
.We rested for awhile (I hit the hot tub and pool - very relaxing, perfect temp. in the pool
).We drove our rental car to DTD for dinner, and walked in to Bongo's around 7:00. We had only a short wait. Loved the atmosphere (and cute waiters LOL!). I had mahi-mahi and sis had the skirt steak - both were good, although I didn't care for the plaintain side dishes
. We strolled around the West Side a bit, then headed back to AKL after our first FULL day at WDW.
