The Blizzards 2 week Adventure to AKL

[AndyBlizz]

The Cast.

Me (29) - Planner and Big Disney World Fan.

Disney Wife (29) - Claims not tolike Disney as much as rest of us.

Disney Son (2.5) - Been in Disney Training for last 15 months. Now loves Disney, esp Playhouse Disney Channel.

Disney Brother (23) - Likes Disney and wont say no to a free holiday.

Disney Mum (57) - Hates Traveling and flying but will always do it for a holiday to WDW.

Disney Dad (59) - The funds of the holiday, wanted to treat family to "Final" family holiday beofre the big 60.


The Plan

In july 2007 D.Dad mentioned he would like to takes us all to WDW again. He gave me a budget and told me the look into it. So i started to look around.

The last time we went June 2005 we traveled with Virgin Holiday from Manchester to Orlando, and did a split center stay at Port Orleans Riverside and Portofino Bay. It was good but we felt that we did not want to go to the universal parks this time due to D.Son.

So i searched various travel agents and websites Virgin, TCD, THomson etc... This time we wanted to fly from Birmingham as we all hated the traveling to and from the airport in the UK.

This meant that we had to use Thomson Holidays. We decided that we would go back to the POR, as we knew it was a nice hotel as we had stay there last time. We got quotes and was all in budget. But i did not feel right going all that way just to stay in the same hotel plus we had a bigger budget this time. So i started to look at the Deluxe resorts and we decided on AKL. For a couple of reasons we thought D.Son would love seeing the Animals on a daily basis and another, it was really the only deluxe which fitted the budget.

So on the phone again to Thomson i got a great quote for the 6 of us to fly on the 3rd of October 2008 Premium Economy for 2 weeks at AKL for just over £7k. I tried to get them down to £7k exactly but the lady on the phone said she would have to check and call me back. (1st error i made, didnt take any of her details) As i didnt realise that the Thomson Phone line sent you to a random thomson shop, therefore when i wanted to speak to her again i did not know which shop and therefore lost the deal. As she never called back.

Anyway a few weeks past and i managed to get very close the the deal again. This time i took all the persons details and duly called them back and booked it for £7500 ish. And i also purchased 5 adult 14 day ultimate passes for disney. We didnt book savanna view as we had PE flights instead.


The waiting then started ......

Disney training started for my 18 month old, we got tickets to Disney on Ice at the NIA for winter 2007. He loved it and D.Wife and myself did also. And then we also got tickets for Playhouse disney live, my son loved, as it but i thought it was pretty poor, as it didnt have the disney magic about it in my eyes.

And then the magic 180 day marker came around and i booked the must have ADR that we wanted.

I booked CRT (lunch) and Chef Mickeys (Breakfast).


Many hours were spent on DisBoards looking for advise on various things Money Parks Phots etc etc.

And then about 5 weeks before we left i dug out my old park maps to show my son. And he saw the the picture of Fantasmic on the MGM map. And he said he wanted to "go on that".

So back on the back of that i was back on the phone to ADR number to try and get a Fantasmic Meal ticket. The only one they had, was for our 1st full day in WDW Sat 4th at Hollywood and Vine @ 3:40pm so that was also booked. While on the phone i booked a Breakfast at Crystal Palace for D.Son, D.Wife and myself for second week.

Other tickets also purchased in advance was MNSSH party and a Single Day Seaworld Ticket (Get 2nd day free).

D.Dad and me were going to play golf but decided against it due to mounting cost of the round to play a decent time.


During week before we were due to leave i called AKL to see if we could find out what room we were in. (As i was praying for a free cheeky upgrade to a savanna view, as i had heard all the great reviews about these rooms) Sadly the system said he had been allocated standard rooms, but they did not know which one at that time.

While on the Phone I was put through to the Disney Florist as i want to have a PAL Mickey in our room for arrivalfor my son. All booked and paid for.

Other than all the clothes shopping my Wife had done for her and my son that sort of finished the planning part of my trip.


Actual Trip report to follow.


Regards

Andy....


Hope you are enjoying it so far.

 

[AndyBlizz]

Day 1 - Friday 3rd October

The day had finally arrived. We had stayed at my mum and dads for the night as we thought it would be easier and better to make sure that we were all awake in time for the taxi to pick us up at 6:00am. There was no worries there, as i dont think anyone got any sleep as we were all to excited. (reminds me of the old disney advert with the parents and kids not sleeping the night before there WDW holiday...so it is true )

We get to the airport in plenty of time for our 09:45 flight. Nobody at check in desk as checked in very quickly. We had already prebooked our seats 3 lots of 2 (we had 2 window seats, 3 alise seats and 1 normal).

We went up to departures and had some breakfast and a look in the shops. Managed to spend £30 on magazines and sweets in addtion to the breakfast. (Must have been holoday mode kicking in really quickly LOL) D.Wife was happy as she purchased some make ups bits and pieces, and also a new bag. (to go with all her magazine she had just purchased )

We went to the viewing area so that D.Son could watch the planes landing and taking off. And we pointed out the "Blue Plane" that we were going on. And he called it Jeremy Jet (For ones that dont know Jeremy the Jet Plane is from Thomas the Tank Engine).

As PE passengers we got to board 1st. We go on and take our seats. And i think blimey this is masses of leg room. (my previous 4 or 5 flights had only been short haul for business with EasyJet) So it was great to beable to stretch my legs out (im over 6ft tall).

As soon as all the PE passengers were settled they came round with a drink. Archers and Lemonade well that is what it tasted of any way.

I started to have a look at the inflight entertainment. HAd masses of Films and Programs to watch. Could Pause FF. RWD etc.. Just like watching a DVD. This is where a Hicup, the inflight book said we should have 90 CDs. But for some reason D.Bro and mine only had 10. They tried to reset our to correct it whould it still only showed 10, i wasnt that bothered as i had extra films (inbound films as well out the outbound) so i watched Iron Man. Was a alright film.

Then came food time (had been loads of drinks times as it was all included in PE ) The food was alright not a alot different to economy i think, we just got warm bread rolls. LOL

The thing i couldnt believe was my D.Son was given an adult meal. As there are no Child meals in PE. We even asked if we could change it and they said we could not. Will be contacting Thomson Holidays about this as this appears very wrong to me. Also In regard to my son the headphone given out are the in ear ones and for a 2.5 year old these were 2 big. So he could not listen to the TV very easy. (But he did have plenty of other things to keep him happy on the flight) Mainly his Nanny and grandad sat behind him LOL.

The Flight took 9.5 Hrs due to strong head wind, Once we landed at Sanford we were let of the plane 1st. Was very happy about this as we had no wait at US security and got through that no problems. The guy at the security desk even had a special mickey stamp which he did in my sons passport.

We got our bags and headed for our coach transfers. We only had 14 passengers on the bus and AKL was the 1st drop. We got to the hotel and checked in. And as we had been told on the phone we had not been upgraded we werent expecting anything special with the room.

How wrong could we have been. We had been UPGRADED RESULT.

We had had both rooms upgraded with a Savanna and Pool view LOL. It was at the end of the bit that sticks out of the Zebra trail. So If you looked left from the balcony you could see the Savanna and right in front was the hot tub. The Access to the pool area and Mara quick serve food court was just outside our rooms down the ourdoor stairs. The room location could not have been better. (or so i had thought .. more later about that).


The only downsideon arrival was that the PAL Mickey that had been ordered and paid for in advance was not in the room. And we had to chase it up..... TWICE... it took over an hour to get it 2 us. If i had known i would not have pre ordered it and would have purchased from the shop on arrival.

We just had a meal from the Mara , purchased our Resort Cups and had an early night as we were all knackered from the travelling. As the only one to have slept on the flight was my son.

 

[Goofysmate]

great start and shame that that you had to chase up the pal mickey.

 

[natalielongstaff]

great upgrade

 

[mandymouse]

Great start, I look forward to reading some more

 

[The Fetherstons]

great start

 

[jjk]

great start

 

[AndyBlizz]

If i can chance tonight. I will try and get a few more days done.

 

[mark&sue]

loving the start to your report. it feels like I am with your family. would be even better if you could post some photos!!!


Susan

 

[TootieBear765]

Andy

Great start! And especially great news about the upgrade! (hope we will be as lucky next September!)

Keep it coming... can't get enough, especially keen to hear your experience of AKL (starting to consider upgrading to YC/BC after seeing some pretty grim pics of the 'natural green' pool lol)... and of your experience of travelling with a wee one (although my DD will be 4 when we're there!)



TootieBear

P.S. I'm with Susan - piccies please (unless you're all very shy!)

 

[KayleeUK]

More please we are taking our DS aged 2 just 6 days and would love to read about how your DS enjoyed it

 

[AndyBlizz]

Andy

Great start! And especially great news about the upgrade! (hope we will be as lucky next September!)

Keep it coming... can't get enough, especially keen to hear your experience of AKL (starting to consider upgrading to YC/BC after seeing some pretty grim pics of the 'natural green' pool lol)... and of your experience of travelling with a wee one (although my DD will be 4 when we're there!)



TootieBear

P.S. I'm with Susan - piccies please (unless you're all very shy!)

Bear with me on the the pics front.

As i am trying to colate them from many different people, memory card Photopass etc..

 

[Tammy Stringer]

A great start - the room sounds wonderful.

Tammy

 

[AndyBlizz]

Day 2 - 4th October 2008

The 1st proper day at Walt Dinsey world. We are all awake at 4am, waiting for the Mara to open at AKL for breakfast.

We have our ADR @ Hollywood and Vine in the afternoon for the Fantasmic Dinner Package.

However due to D.Son already telling us before we came to WDW that the 1st think he wanted to do was go on "Mickey's " Train at MK. (You will gather from the rest of the report my son loves trains)

So after breakfast and deciding that we would go to MK, around 8am we head towards the disney bus station at AKL. And with 5 mins the MK bus had arrived RESULT we hoped that this luck would continue, as had heard mixed report on AKL buses.


We arrived at MK to see the opening show. D.son loved it as "Mickeys" train arrived with all the Character on it. (well the important ones in his eyes.)

After the show we got staright to the train station, to try and catch the train that brought Mickey and the gang on. Sadly nobody is allowed on that train. However we do manage to see Mickey and Minnie disappearing into a Cast Member only Door. Which made D.Son very happy.

So we catch the next train, and we "have" to sit as close to the front as possible in order to please D.Son. We ride the train round to Mickeys Toontown Fair, but as it does not open for another 25 mins and the place is empty we decide to stay on the train for another whole lap of MK.

We arrive back at Mickeys Toontown Fair and get off we then are waiting for the area to open as the next ride D.Son had wanted to ride was "Goofy's Roller Poster" (to you and i that is Goofy's Barnstomer Roller Coaster )

We were the 3rd group to arrive at Mickeys Toontown Fair. (we would have been 1st if we had got off 1st lap). As the 1st family to arrive at Mickey House each day gets a Guide Tour around mickey house by Mickey. (Complete with Photopass Photograher... Takes about 15 mins)

TIP - If you want to have guided tour of Mickey's House, be 1st of the 1st train to arrive at Mickeys Toontown Fair.

Anyhow we were 3rd to see Mickey. And D.Son loved it. We had been worried he might have been fightened (but i think that the Disney Training ...Disney on Ice and Playhouse Disney Live had helped). We had purchased "The" Blue autograph book the night before thinking D.Son might want to get autograph Good Job because during the holiday it was nearly filled.

After we had met the main man. Off to Goofy's Roller Poster, D.Son, D.Dad and me rode it twice. And then D.Son wanted to ride it at the front so this time only me went on with him.

My son is only 2.5 and yet loves Roller Coaster, we had been to Drayton Manor twice this year and had to ride "Troublesome Trucks" Roller coaster in Thomas Land many times. He is so confident that he now holds both hands in the air when on roller coasters. (Worries D.Wife even more when he rides them )

PIC to be added.


By the time we had walked around a bit and looked at other section of the park. (we didnt go an any other rides as we knew we would be revisiting many times) We though we best head back to AKL for a break for D.son (more like for me) as we had a late evening a head of us.

We did manage to catch the show at the front to the castle before we left

We get back to the hotel. And we notice quite a few be orange lifts outside the main savanna. Which had work men painting the outside to the building. (This was a surprise to me as i thought the only work going on was over at AKV, which is a different building.) Any way we get back to our room and we can hear quite a bit of noise coming from up stairs. But we are knackered and manage to get a couple of hour sleep before we had to head of to DHS for the ADR.

We cathe the bus to DHS no problems and arrive around 2:45pm. Just before the block party parade is due to start. We get a location at the bottom of the stairs of the "Hat".

And watch the 1st stage of the block party parade. D.son sits on my Sholders so he can get a better view.

After the 1st stage of the block party we head over to Hollywood and Vine for our ADR.

We are seated and start to eat. But we notice that all the other table have been given a yellow fantasmic ticket. And we ask our server for ours, she says that we are not on the fantasmic package. (I suddenly lose all my appetite for food). i send her away to go check her system, she return to say computer says no. At this point i am not happy, as we only booked they meal for the ticket. I tell her to get a manager now and this time check it properly.

She came back a few minutes later saying sorry and that the computer system had not sent the fantamic request along with the booking. But we were on the dinner package.



To be continued.........

 

[Pinky166]

Great updates. Glad you got upgraded, the savannah views are just amazing.

Sounds like your Son is definately going to be a roller coaster junkie!

 

[jockey]

Great reports

 

[irongirlof12]

off to a fab start

 

[AndyBlizz]

Day 2 Saturday 4th October.... (Part 2)


So after the buffett at Hollywood & Vine we had a few hours to kill before Fantasmic.

So as we were close by to Indy. We thought we would have a look and see what the show time were. To our luck it had just started, so in we went. We sat towards the right hand side just by the exit.

It must have seen this show aleast 6 times now, over all the visits i have had to WDW. But i always enjoy it. D.Son loved all the action and the explosions. He jumped a few times. The only downside to the show is that it looks warn as all the explosions have taken it toll on the set and the burn marks are very visible.


We also did that back stage tour, Sadly when they tried to do the water cannon's they failed to work. So we were moved along to the "Land Train" bit. D.Son loved this as i have mentioned previously he loves trains. He also liked seeing all the Planes (or bits of planes)

As with Indy, the canyon section of this ride/show looks warn. (Very unlike disney) But yet again i enjoyed the ride. D.son got a little scared on the shaking bit, but soon laugh it off. When i got wet.


When on the "land train" was coming back to the drop of point we noticed the enterance to the Sully and Mike W Character Spot. So we headed over to that next. We took D.Son into see them but he didnt want to see these. (I was thinking the Disney Training was failing LOL) D.Son had not seen monster Inc beofre the trip.

As we had done more adult rides. It was time for D.Son to go and see playhouse disney live. Which he loved to bits, i didnt realised before hand that they were "mini" puppet version of the characters. But I enjoyed seeing D.son joining in with all the fun. He kept a couple of the green leaves that fell during the one section.


And then Came Fantamic time. We walked down to the entry to fantamic. But before we went we we thought it would be a good idea to get a drink and some popcorn. WRONG the guy serving was so slow just getting the drink and the popcorn. And when i tried to charge it to my room, he had not got a clue.

Any way we went and found our seats. This shows how quite it was as we could have easliy had not got the dinning ticket. (Glad we did just incase)

The 1st proper day and we saw fantasmic. It is definiately worth seeing. It was the 1st time any of the family had seen it. I cant believe that we had not made the effort before. (mainly thank to Disboards that we went LOL)

D.Son gat a little upset in parts, think he thought Mickey might get it LOL. But when it finished he said "Again, Again, Again"

We then went back to the bus stop to get back to AKL. Seemed to take ages for a bus to come (40 mins) this was the longest wait i think we had for a bus from a park.

We got back to AKL had a quick look in the shop. D.Son started the nagging for a Dinsey Monorail Toy at $70 he was not having it.