"So. Many. Selfies." A Mother-Daughter Trip! April 2014 UPDATED 1/4

[schinaman]

I'm loving your trip report Emma! You so belong at Disney!

xo, Rebecca

 

[hopex]

Loving your TR so far (and your nails!), can't wait to read more! x

 

[disnemma]

joining in on the trip! i'm going around the same time next year, so it'll be nice to see what the crowds and stuff are like!

That's great! I'm going the same time next year too, so maybe we'll be down at the same time! The crowds really depend on when Easter falls, so if Easter is closer to the time you're going, then it's going to be more crowded. Though it really isn't that bad this time of year even if there are crowds, because it's not so hot!

It was pretty cool

I'm so pleased you had an uneventful journey and you're almost at Disney

Thank you! It's so exciting!!

Great start to your TR! Can't wait for the next installment.

Thank you!!!

Your trip sounds awesome. You're such a good writer. Can't wait for more!

Wow, thank you! That means a lot to me!

Joining in! My mom's my normal WDW travel partner so I love reading TRs like this - can't wait for more!

This was our second mother-daughter trip - it's a lot of fun! Lots of "girl time!" Thank you!!

Loved your intro! Joining in!

Welcome!! Thank you!!

I'm joining.

Glad to have you!

Joining in!! I can't wait for more updates!!!

Thank you!!

I'm joining in too! I will be going on my first trip with just my Mum later this year so this is just the trip report for me

That's so exciting!! Let me know if you have any questions once your trip gets closer! It's a lot of fun to do a girl trip!!

I'm loving your trip report Emma! You so belong at Disney!

xo, Rebecca

Thank you, Rebecca! We totally owe this trip to you!!!

Loving your TR so far (and your nails!), can't wait to read more! x

Thank you!! It's a lot of fun to do them to get into the Disney "spirit!"

 

[ElenaJane]

I'm hooked! Can't wait to follow along!

 

[Newsies]

Very cute thread! I'd love to do a mother-daughter trip to Disney one day. My mom doesn't fly, so we drive down to Disney from New Jersey whenever we go. As you can imagine, it'd be kind of dangerous only having one person behind the wheel, so we've never had the opportunity to do a trip like that with just the two of us. Maybe some time in the foreseeable future now that I'm so close to my driver's license. Subscribed xo

 

[MONIQUE1739]

Joining In! You got me hooked with just the title. 1 more month to go. I have 2 girls hoping to take tons of selfies with them

 

[disnemma]

I'm hooked! Can't wait to follow along!

Thank you so much!

Very cute thread! I'd love to do a mother-daughter trip to Disney one day. My mom doesn't fly, so we drive down to Disney from New Jersey whenever we go. As you can imagine, it'd be kind of dangerous only having one person behind the wheel, so we've never had the opportunity to do a trip like that with just the two of us. Maybe some time in the foreseeable future now that I'm so close to my driver's license. Subscribed xo

Thank you!! We also usually drive if my dad's with us, but like you, we don't feel comfortable driving that far with just one driver. This was only our second trip alone, and we've been lucky enough to be able to fly both times. I'm also working towards my driver's license! I just got my permit the other week.

Joining In! You got me hooked with just the title. 1 more month to go. I have 2 girls hoping to take tons of selfies with them

Thanks! That sounds like a lot of fun - I bet you're so excited!!

 

[shannn]

I'm in too

 

[disnemma]

CHAPTER 2- Welcome Home! ​

April 1, 2014 ​

Pretty soon, the bus was on its way to the Walt Disney World Resort! It was crazy to think that we were already in Florida, and it was only 10:00 in the morning. We still had a whole day ahead of us!

The ME played a new welcome video, which I wasn't a huge fan of. I missed the old one, which featured Mickey and his pals checking in at WDW and discovering everything it had to offer. From what I've heard, many others aren't keen on the new video either, so maybe they'll change it in the future!

Our passage under the glorious WDW arch was a quiet one. There weren't many people on the bus, but I still expected a little more excitement! However, Mom and I were thrilled to be back on property. It just feels so right to be there!

The first stop on our Magical Express journey was Disney's newest resort, Art of Animation. My mom and I stayed at Pop last year, so we were right across from AoA, but we never made it over to look around. From what I saw from the bus, it looks absolutely amazing! I love most of the Value resorts, and this was no exception!

(right before Spring Break, we watched Finding Nemo in our French class, so now whenever I see Nemo I can't help but say his name with a French accent in my head )

From Animation, we ventured over to Pop Century. As I said, we stayed here last year, but I wasn't a huge fan of the overall ambiance of the resort. It didn't really have very much of Disney feeling to me, so I'm more partial to the All Stars.

Finally, it was time for our stop! I was so excited to be staying in the Animal Kingdom Lodge! We actually owe our staying there to our good friend Rebecca, who is amazing! She was kind enough to book a room for us there using her DVC points, so we essentially got to stay at AKL for free! When we pulled up, my first impression was that everything was so huge. The whole resort is on such a large-scale, which results in an overall grand feeling. It's also themed beautifully, so it really feels like you could be in Africa.

We grabbed our luggage from the bus and thanked our driver, Waldemar. The first thing we noticed was that between the two sets of doors leading into the lobby, there's a sign that says Welcome Home. How very fitting! As we were walking up to get a picture of it, a CM named Daisy with an iPad said, "You must be the (insert our last name here) family!" and we were kind of surprised and confused. We said yes, and she was like, "Welcome! Follow me, and have a seat in the lobby!" So we followed her in a stunned silence, and when we set foot into the lobby.... WOW. There are really no words. It's so grand and dazzling - pictures and words could never do it justice. Just the way the light fell on the lobby and created these amazing shadows was breathtaking, not to mention the huge window at the far end of the lobby that overlooked a savanna. The whole thing just felt so surreal!

Pretty soon, Daisy came back with a packet of papers about AKL, the savannas, MagicBands, FP+, etc. She explained that our room wasn't ready yet and could be from anytime from that time to 4:00, which was 5 hours later. We were a little disappointed but weren't really expecting it to be ready when we got there, so we decided to check our luggage in with the Bell Services so we could explore the resort a little. As we were waiting in line, a CM came up and talked with us for a little. He saw my camera and explained very seriously that the minimum number of photos that I have to take there is 1000, and I laughed and told him that it wouldn't be a problem. (I actually ended up taking a little over 4000 pictures during our five-day trip! )

We took a quick trip into the resort shop, Zawadi Marketplace, but decided that we had been inside all day and needed to feel some Florida sunshine! So we headed outside to explore. We weren't exactly sure where we were going, so we just kind of wandered around. We walked by quite a few hot tubs, a few secluded spots overlooking various savannas (though we couldn't spot any animals), a banana tree, the Hakuna Matata playground, the huge blue pool, and some flamingos (right by the pool!).

Ahh... so quiet and peaceful!

After about 20 minutes, we plopped down in some pool chairs, kicked our shoes off, and shed our cardigans to soak up some sun. It felt glorious! While we were relaxing, I spotted a group of Very Important-Looking cast members in a huddle by the flamingos. I wonder what they were up to??

After another 20 minutes, I began to get restless and we still hadn't received a text that our room was ready, so we decided to go get linner at one of our favorite places to eat in WDW - Earl of Sandwich!! We hadn't had it for eight months (the last time had been at Downtown Disney in Disneyland!), so we were definitely craving some of that wonderful Earl bread. We also figured that we could just pick up our Annual Passes in the Guest Relations in Downtown Disney while we were there, and that way we wouldn't have to do it when we got to the park later that night.

We ventured back into the lobby to see if there was any way to see when our room would be ready, but the Bell Services lady said that there wasn't really any way to be sure. She was nice enough to let us go back to our luggage and put our sweaters away since we didn't need them anymore, and we set off to go find the bus stops.

While we were waiting for our Downtown Disney bus to arrive, we talked with a nice older couple that said that they lived in Florida and were DVC members. It's always fun to make new friends in Disney, even if you only know each other for 10 minutes and will probably never see each other again.

Here's a bus, but it's not ours!

Soon enough, our bus arrived, and we were off! Right when we got on, we got a text saying that our room was ready.... oh, the irony!

It took us about 30 minutes to get to Downtown Disney. When we arrived, we decided to get our Annual Passes first, so we asked a CM from Cuba at the Pin Traders store where Guest Relations was. She said, "You want to go.... that way!" and pointed us in the right direction.

We were helped by a really nice cast member from Miami. I wish I could remember his name! He was so excited for us! Mom and I both picked out Minnie Annual Passes (he said that she was their most popular, because she's the only girl character available for APs). We thanked him for all of his help and walked out of Guest Relations feeling very official.

So excited!!

Next, it was time for something else very exciting - Earl of Sandwich! I cannot tell you how much I love this place. If I could marry it, I'm pretty sure I would. It's literally that good!! I'm kind of glad that there's not many locations around the U.S., because it just makes it even more special when you have to wait a long time to eat it!

I got the Ham & Swiss sandwich with no Swiss (even though I'm pretty sure they still put Swiss on there... ) and Mom got the Hawaiian BBQ sandwich. She usually gets the Caribbean Jerk, but they took it off the menu! That was disappointing! The guy who worked there even said that he was sad that they did away with it! We also got a bag of chips to share, and I got a Cherry Coke and Mom got an ice water. Here's some pictures to torture you:

My Ham & Swiss

Mom's Hawaiian BBQ

NO SHAME

It was absolute heaven! We actually debated on going back another time later in the trip, but decided against it.

When we finished, we made a quick trip into Tren-D because it's THE BEST! (I'm pretty sure I could spend all my money in there.) I was surprised to find that they took out Club Mickey, which was next door to Tren-D.

I love these topiaries!!

Mom in front of Once Upon a Toy!

Within 10 minutes, we were back at the bus station to get back to AKL, because our room was ready!! Woohoo!
​

Continued in Next Post​

 

[iheartbklyn]

I'm in as well - love seeing these pictures. Makes me so anxious for our trip!!!!

 

[basketlacey]

I'm in! We were in WDW at the same time. We stayed at CBR.

 

[Surfinpiratee]

All caught up!!! Two things:

1. It took 30 minutes from AKL to DTD !?! Is this the normal travel times for AKL??

2. Were those 4,000 pictures on more than one memory card? If so, how many???

 

[Credit Man]

Great start! Looking forward to more.

 

[DisFanAmI]

Following along and enjoying your TR so far!

 

[JenSop]

Yay! AKV is also my DVC home resort and my favorite on property. So glad your friend could share some pixie dust with their points! Can't wait to find out where your room was!

 

[texasbelle12]

Joining in! We are heading there until NYE for our honeymoon, but I'm interested in learning how everything is going along with all the new changes!

 

[disnemma]

I'm in too

Great!

I'm in as well - love seeing these pictures. Makes me so anxious for our trip!!!!

Thanks for joining! I wish I could put more pictures in each post - it will only let me put 25!!

I'm in! We were in WDW at the same time. We stayed at CBR.

Wow! We might have even crossed paths at one point or another! I would love to stay there - it looks gorgeous!

All caught up!!! Two things:

1. It took 30 minutes from AKL to DTD !?! Is this the normal travel times for AKL??

2. Were those 4,000 pictures on more than one memory card? If so, how many???

Thanks for following along!!

1. Yes, I just double-checked and it took about 30 minutes to get there and get back. The trip to DTD from AKL was the longest of the whole trip, probably because they're almost exactly on opposite edges of the WDW property. I think the bus drivers take weird routes sometimes too, which might make it longer.

2. Nope - just one memory card! I invested in a 32GB last summer for a 2-week road trip out west, and it's definitely been worth it! I still have space left on the card! I think it holds about 5000 pictures, and I have it set to normal image quality and large image size.

Great start! Looking forward to more.

Thank you very much!

Following along and enjoying your TR so far!

Thanks for joining!!

Yay! AKV is also my DVC home resort and my favorite on property. So glad your friend could share some pixie dust with their points! Can't wait to find out where your room was!

It was pretty amazing - we felt so lucky to be able to stay there! You'll have to wait and see....

Joining in! We are heading there until NYE for our honeymoon, but I'm interested in learning how everything is going along with all the new changes!

It was definitively a new experience with all the changes, but it kept the trip interesting, and I really approve of the new system! I didn't think I was going to like it, but it does make things run smoother!

 

[karenell]

I think your Mom and I are about the same age and you are about the same age as my youngest daughter. I'm really enjoying report and pictures and can't wait to read more!

 

[disnemma]

I think your Mom and I are about the same age and you are about the same age as my youngest daughter. I'm really enjoying report and pictures and can't wait to read more!

Thank you!! I'm 15... but I probably shouldn't put my mom's age on here!! I don't think she would appreciate that very much!

 

[enchantedrosex]

Yay sounds fun! I'm in!
I also plan on doing the college program when I graduate in a year and I can't wait!