Spring trip 2010 (my first trip report)

[Dsnygrl1205]

This is my first trip report and actually my first ever post on this board. I have been a member for quite a while and enjoy reading others posts, though. So let’s start with my introduction I call myself Dsnygrl1205 because like all of you here I love everything Disney! Especially the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando! I went a handful of times as a kid with Mom, Dad and Brother but didn’t really fall in love with it until I returned in 2002. Wow what an enormous change since I had been there last in 1986! It might as well have been my first visit! After that trip I caught the bug and made it an annual trip for the next 5 years then decided yearly wasn’t quite enough and have been lucky to be able to go back twice a year for the past two years and show no signs of slowing!
The cast of characters for this trip is me, Cara or Dsnygrl1205.
My DS Aidan age 11 who loves Disney almost as much as I do.
My DN (nephew) Caleb age 9. This was His first visit!
My DM who comes with us every other year or so.
I started planning this trip last September right after I returned from our annual fall trip but didn’t book until January when I got a pin code in the mail for 40% off deluxe resorts. We had never stayed at any deluxe but have visited all of them and Animal Kingdom Lodge is by far my favorite so that’s what I ended up booking for 8 nights with the quick service dining plan, also a first for us as we usually do the regular dining plan. This time around I didn’t want to be tied to one particular park at any given time to make it to an ADR. Plus you get free refillable mugs with the QS and I’m so over paying for those things every time we go!

Next up day one: The long drive to the airport and arriving in Orlando!

 

[cmp1111]

We love the AKL, too. When did you go? Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

We love the AKL, too. When did you go? Thanks for sharing.

We were there from the 22nd to the 30th of April, though it already feels like forever ago!
AKL is a beautiful resort but I've spoiled myself and don't want to stay anywhere elseBut unfortunately I can't afford to stay deluxe everytime

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Day 1: The long drive to the airport.
We live in New England where spring vacation is at the end of April so the price flights from this area were outrageous! Even on Southwest and I love Southwest. So I brilliantly decided that we would drive to Baltimore and fly from there. It seemed like a great idea because it saved us over $600.00 and the drive down wasn't too bad because we were so excited to be going to Disney but oh boy that drive home... I'll get into that later .Our flight was scheduled to leave at 1:30pm on the 22nd and I calculated it would take us about 8 hours to get there but gave us 12 so we could make a few stops and find the long term parking in plenty of time soooo.
I picked my nephew up at his house the morning of the 21st he was so excited! This was his first time on a plane! He even had a "tourist" outfit picked out to travel in! This consisted of an Hawaiian shirt and shorts. He cracks me up!
So everyone was supposed to go to bed early because we were leaving for BWI at 1am but I don't think the boys slept until we were on the road. I got about 5 hours and my DM about the same. The car was packed and ready to go the day before so all we had to do was get up and go!
The drive was uneventful I drove to New Jersey and Mom drove the rest of the way while I slept. We made to the airport with time to spare and the line at security was pretty short so we got lunch before we went to our gate.
I forgot to mention that when my DN heard we were flying he asked his Mom "Do we get parachutes before or after we get on the plane?" And he was floored that you, in fact, do not get a parachute when you fly! How cute is that?
So we boarded on time without our parachutes and DN was feeling a little nervous and wouldn't sit next to the window so I did he sat in the middle and DS in the aisle. DM sat in the row in front of us and got some sleep. We changed planes in VA and landed at MCO 20 minutes early.DN did great on the flight! We quickly made our way down to the ME and got in line for AKL. I was so thrilled not to be staying at any of the All Stars this time, not because I don’t like them but because of all the cheerleaders! Holy Crow you should have seen them all! I guess the national cheerleading competition was that weekend at the Wide World of Sports Complex. Woops! Poor planning on my part? I was hoping not! We waited in line for our bus for about 15 minutes and then led to a Mears bus not the Magical express bus like I had hoped. Not a big deal for me or my DS but I wanted DN to get the full experience and the Mears buses don't have the movie welcoming you to Walt Disney World. Oh well we were off to AKL with a quick stop at Coronado Springs! We arrived around 6:30pm and since I had checked in online it only took a few minutes. I was hoping for an upgrade to a Savannah view but alas we did not. It's ok though because we ended up in ostrich trail really close to the lobby! We went to our room dropped off our stuff and jumped on a bus to Epcot to have some dinner and watch Illuminations. My DN and I got fish and chips at the UK pavilion then went over to Morocco to meet back up with DM and DS who both got the lamb platter. Dinner was great then we found a good spot for the show at about 8:30 so we didn't have too long to wait. DM and I sipped on Sultan's Coladas while we waited and the boys looked around the shops in Germany. After Illuminations we made our way back to the bus stop and were relieved to find the line was only about 15 people deep (such a change from the last trip staying at Pop Century!) We were back in our rooms and in bed by 10:30. The boys were out only a few minutes after lying down but I stayed up and watched TV for about a half an hour before passing out myself!

Up Next: Day 2 "Mom are you crying?" The Magic kingdom and Fantasmic

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

I was the first one up that morning so I grabbed the refillable mugs and headed out to find the coffee. We hadn't explored the resort yet so i wasn't sure where the QS restaurant was located however there's a map in the lobby so was able to locate it pretty easily and this leads to my one and only complaint about AKL. The food courts at the value and moderates we've stayed at were always on the way to the bus stop making it easy to grab something on our way out to the parks. Not here. The Mara is in the opposite direction from the bus stop, at least from where our room was.
Anyway, I made it back to our room with coffee for myself and DM who was up and getting ready. I showered and dressed then got the boys up. We were at the bus stop waiting for the MK bus by 7:45. I was worried about how long it was going to take to get there after having read a lot of reviews. We only waited about 10 minutes for a bus and got to MK well before 8:30. The kids looked around in the little gift shop while we waited for the opening ceremony to start. We always make it a point to see this at least once each trip. DS doesn't care too much about it but I love it and wanted DN to see it too. So it starts and we're right in the center embarrassing my DS by dancing and singing along and when we start the countdown to the opening I get choked up and teary! My son looks at me and SHOUTS "Mom, are you crying?" and laughs at me!! I felt a little silly but responded with "I'm just so happy to be here!"*sniff* It was pretty funny. We made it under the train station and on to Main Street USA . I tried talking DN into a first visit button but he wasn't having it so we made our way to the bakery because the boys hadn't eaten yet and I wanted another coffee. We got a little table outside and took our time just soaking up the atmosphere. When we were ready we headed over towards Frontierland to get Splash and Big Thunder Mountains done first. Splash wasn't up and running just yet so we got fast passes and headed over to BTMRR. There was no wait so we got right on. DN loved this ride! So we get off and right back on since it was still pretty dead and we still had 20 minutes until our SM fast passes. Once we were done with round two we headed back to splash to find it open and with only a 5 minute wait so we jumped into the stand by line and tucked our fast passes away for later. This is my favorite ride at MK so I was excited to go on with DN but he hated it! He doesn't mind fast rides but he's not a big fan of 50 foot drops. I was so bummed that he wouldn't go on again that day so we ended up giving the fast passes away. We went back through Adventureland and did Pirates, The Jungle cruise and Swiss Family Treehouse. It was past 11:00 by now so we were ready for a snack and pineapple floats were right around the corner so we headed over to Aloha Isle.
Up next Day 2 part 2

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

After our delicious pineapple floats we headed over to Liberty Square to check the wait time for The Haunted Mansion. By this time it was almost noon so I was expecting long waits everywhere but the posted wait was 10 minutes so we jumped in the very fast moving line. After HM we went to The Hall of Presidents, which is one of my favorites, DM hadn't seen it since the refurb so she was really looking forward to it and it was getting hot now so the AC was very welcome at that point. A show had just started so we had to wait about 20 minutes to go into the theater so by the time we were done there (blubbering messes I might add) it was well past lunch. We skipped over Fantasy land and headed straight to Tomorrowland for Space Mountain fastpasses. I was worried they would be gone by this time but the return time was between 2:20 and 3:20. Not a bad wait and there's plenty we had to do in the immediate area the first being lunch! Since Cosmic Rays was right there we went in. I love the food here but since everyone wanted something from different bays it took quite some time to get all our food so I think we'll skip it next time.
With our bellies full we went to the Laugh Floor where there was no wait (we had yet to see any large groups of cheerleaders yet so I was happy about that) the DM and DN did Stitch's Great Escape while DS and I waited because we hate that "ride" and while we did we ran into Push! I had never seen him other than on you tube so I was thrilled and he did not disappoint. What a riot! I wish I had thought to get a few pictures...
We met back up with the others and did the CoP and the TTA. After that was time for our SM fastpasses and we were excited to check the improvements... we got off the ride, which my DN loved, and I was a little bewildered as to what the big change was other than new cars to ride in. I guess the queue are is a little different too but I was expecting big improvements all around since it took so long. Don't get me wrong, though, I still love the ride!
After SM we decided to go back to AKL for some down time and the boys wanted to check out the pool so we made our way out of the park and back to the resort. We had dinner at The Mara and while everyone else went in the pool I napped on a lounger. By now it was after 6:00 and I wanted to go to HS for the 8:30 showing of Fantasmic so they changed out of their swimsuits and we made it to HS by 6:45, plenty of time! We decided to check on the wait time for ToT and, unfortunately is was 45 minutes but as we were walking away somebody handed us two fastpasses! Now there are 4 of us so I offered to let DS and DN go but DN wasn't ready for it so DM stayed with him while we rode. As soon as we were done at ToT we ran over to RNRC with crossed fingers hoping to find a short enough stand by line but no such luck. We decided to do a little shopping until it was time to go up to the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater. My plan was to get there early enough to sit near the center but even arriving an hour before show time we were seated over to the left. But almost every seat there is a good one. Once we were settled in DS and I went for snacks for everyone. A couple of hotdogs and pretzels later we were stuffed and just having fun talking with the people sitting next to us so the wait time flew by. We hadn't caught this show on the past couple if trips so I had forgotten how much I love it! The show ended and I was dreading the line for the bus but again the line at the AKL stop only had a few people in it! So we were back in our room at a decent time. Still tired from our travel and the long day we had just had I decided not to set the alarm and just get up whenever we woke.
Up next day 3 Epcot

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

I figured I better set the alarm for 6:00 because I wanted to be at Epcot for rope drop and get Soarin' done first. DM went on the coffee run this morning while I got showered and dressed. I let the kids sleep until 7:00 and we were out our door by 7:45. We waited about 15 minutes for our bus which, I might add, ended up being the longest wait of our entire 9 days! We made it to the turnstiles by 8:30 and they started letting everyone through around 8:45 we stopped to snap a few pictures before we made our way to wait for rope drop near Innoventions. This is where we ran into the rudest people I have ever encountered at Disney World. I'm the kind of person who will strike up a conversation with people pretty much anywhere and especially at Disney because I assume they're as happy to be there as me. So there was this older couple standing next to us trying to figure out which way to go to get to Soarin so naturally I piped up and tried to give them directions and offered to just have them follow us and got in response "I wasn't talking to you" from the woman and a really dirty look to go along with it. I was stunned! I didn't even know what to say back to her! But not too long after that was the countdown to rope drop so when the stampede happened we were separated from our new friends. We made it onto the ride with only having to wait for the intro movie and got fastpasses to ride again as soon as we were off. We had breakfast at Sunshine Seasons then did Living With the Land.
After leaving The Land pavilion we went over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends but skipped the ride because the wait was 25 minutes and I will not wait any amount of time for this ride. It's cute and all but not worth standing in line for. We did, however, go inside for Turtle Talk with Crush which is one of my favorites. DM had never seen this so DS and I were excited to show both her and DN. It was hilarious as usual and everyone loved it. As we were headed back towards Innoventions we saw Princess Aurora coming out of the Character Spot so we ran over for a picture. She was so sweet!
By the time we made it over to Test Track the wait was 45 minutes and we couldn't get another fast pass just yet so we went over to Mission Space. I had only ever done the green team version but armed with Dramamine I took an orange team card this time. I was a little nervous still and at every turn there was warnings about motion sickness so that didn't help either! After the ride was over I felt OK not great just OK. I will not be going on the orange team version again. I knew eating something would make me feel better so we went over to Cool Spot and I bought a small bag of pretzels and had a few sips of soda to settle my tummy. My DN having never experienced the Cool Spot he and DS were happily trying the different drinks from around the world and DS knows which one to avoid but didn't tell DN so it was pretty amusing when he got to the Beverley! He almost spit it out! DS got a huge kick out it. We were finished after that and with my stomach feeling better we went over to Test Track for our fastpasses. It was almost noon by now and our return time was after 2:50 so we headed over to World Showcase to find a place for lunch.

 

[loveysbydesign]

Sounds like you are having a great trip!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

It was a great trip! Thanks for posting!!

 

[cmp1111]

Aw, it sounds great. Your DN is too cute about the parachutes.

 

[Goofy442]

Great first trip report! We love the AKL! All those cheerleaders is the reason why we bought into DVC.

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Giraffes by the pool

One of the hot tubs. They were so nice after a day of walking.

Our lovely room

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Great first trip report! We love the AKL! All those cheerleaders is the reason why we bought into DVC.

Thanks for reading my TR I wasn't posting updates because I didn't think any one was Now that I have figure out how to post pics I will finish the TR! Gotta get it done before I leave for my next trip on the 30th!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

 

[Goofy442]

Love all the pictures Thanks for sharing!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

 

[Leucky]

Just found your trip report! Love it!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

We made our way over to World Showcase in search of lunch. I was really in the mood for Mexican but knew that the CS place was closed for renovations but came upon the the temporary one as we were headed by. The food was good but the only place to eat was at stand up type tables out in the sun.

Here's the boys enjoying their churros

And DN trying to catch a bird

We finished eating and decided to cool off in the Mayan temple for a while. We looked around for about 20 minutes then on we went towards Norway to ride Maelstrom. We skipped the movie at the end and walked on only stopping in Japan to do some shopping.

We rested in the shade while for a bit then decided to head back to our room for a rest.

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Just found your trip report! Love it!

Thanks so much!! And Welcome. So happy to have people reading along!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Once we were back to the room we realized DN had left his backpack on the bus with all his souvenirs from the day and his money too. He was so distraught so DM went to the concierge desk
to see what we could do. They made a couple of calls and said they would call us as soon as they knew anything. We didn't have high hopes but kept our fingers crossed. Not 10 minutes later our phone rings and it's them calling to let us know they found the bag but we would have to go to MK to get it. We couldn't believe it. We all made the trip to pick it up and luckily his money and loot from the day remained untouched! Exhausted by this time we were so happy to go home and hang by the pool for the evening.