The Double-and-a-half Trippie ** COMPLETED **

[marivaid]

November 1st was our last full day at AKL and we wanted to stick around the resort and just chill.

After a few hours of "chilling" though, I was itching to go to a park. We both wanted to ride Kali River Rapids, so by 11am we were on our way to AK.

First thing first,let's check the board and see the wait time for Kali.
PAUSED.
Paused ?? What's that mean ? For how long ? Why ? Why ? Whyyyyyy ???
No fair.

Maybe the board is wrong. Let's go to Asia and see for ourselves... yep, it's "paused" alright, the CMs don't know when or IF it will open again today, and we can't even get FPs for later.

I'm not proud of this, but when things don't go my way, I tend to sulk. Big time. Kali was what I'd wanted to do that day, it was closed, and I didn't want to do anything else.

Grumpy is used to this kind of behavior so she wisely ignored me and entered Maharajah Jungle Trek. I followed. Tigers ? Why not.

Just when we got to the tiger part, it started to rain. I had taken ponchos with me since we'd intended to do Kali and handed my mom hers, but declined to put mine on. If I can't get soaked on Kali, I'll get soaked in the rain. So there ! In your face, mean ride-closing Disney !!!!

There were , of course, no tiger to be seen. We finished the trail (without seeing a single animal) and just walked around. We found a Christmas-themed store, bought a few things, and when we came out the rain had stopped.

Grumpy was hungry, and we found Flame Tree BBQ. Nice place, but way too much food for Grumpy (she had the ribs meal).

That's what a Grumpy looks like when it's full of ribs and onion rings.

The sitting area behind Flame Tree is really, really pretty. We stayed here for a little while since it wasn't busy, and took some pics.

Expedition Everest I'm still scared just by looking at the mountain. Still can't believe I actually went on that ride !!!!

Triceratops Spin is more our kind of ride, and that's where we went after we finally left Flame Tree.

I tried taking pics from up there but couldn't see much besides the top of the Dinoland rides.

After two or three rides on TriceraTops (no line!) Grumpy said she wanted to go back to AKL and go to the pool. So we walked back to the entrance. Just in case, I checked the board when we walked past it. Kali was open !!!!!

"Mom, mom it's open let's go let's go LET'S GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Apparently it had just reopened, and there was only a 10ms wait. We've always used FP on this ride but for once I got to see the theming when you go through the "real" line. No pics though, as my camera was safely put away in its case with the special water-repellent thingy over the case.

We shared our raft with 3 guys in their early twenties and their mom. Since we fully intended to get wet, we didn't wear ponchos. On the first drop, one of the guys got drenched and let out a blood curling, high-pitched scream. I think his mom will never let him forget about it. She was doubled over laughing and so were his brothers.

When we got to the part before the BIG drop, the raft turned and I found myself facing the drop backwards.. not sure if that makes any sense, but I had my back to the drop.

"Huh hoh. I have a bad feeling abooooAGGGGGGGGGGBBBHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Now it was my mom's turn to laugh about her offspring. Well , her and the rest of the raft. I was completly soaked from head to toe. Grumpy was in another seat and didn't have a DROP of water on her !!!

We left Kali and as we walked out, people looked at me and laughed. One lady said "Oh yeah, I'm definitely wearing a poncho" after I walked by. Sissy.

I was way too wet to go on a bus, so we found a bench in the sun and sat there while I dried. Grumpy got us a frozen lemonade, and this bird came to see what we were eating.
It took one look at our lemonade and walked away

Silly me had worn my "good" jeans and now we needed to do laundry. When we got back to AKL, we gathered up all our stuff and went to find the laundry room. Kudu trail. Ok. We were walking in the hallway when Grumpy yelled

"OHMYGOD LOOK !!!!! Look out the window !!!!"

There were 3 or 4 giraffes, several zebras, and a few other animals right below us. Of course I didn't take my camera with me - I hadn't anticipated this. How often do you get to see giraffes and zebras on your way to the laundry room ????

We ran, not walked, stuffed our clothes in the machines and ran back to the room to get my camera.

We found an observation deck and took more pics.

A lady and her son were there and we talked about cameras, because we had the same one, and neither of us really knew how to use it !!

Unfortunately it got dark soon and we couldn't see the animals anymore. So I took pics of the hallway instead They have African artifacts displayed everywhere in the resort.

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the photo you've all been waiting for....


......


the Animal Kingdom Lodge "Kudu Trail" laundry room

 

[CPer'sMom]

Great update! Glad to hear that your quest for the day was fulfilled and you did indeed get soaked on Kali!! I steer clear of that ride for that very reason since I'm not a fan of walking around the park soaking wet

Glad to see that you are enjoying AKL We love the theming and enjoy staying there - it's such a beautiful lobby and, even though we've stayed there many times, it's still fun to go out on the balcony and see a giraffes and zebras right there. Even when we aren't staying there we always
make a trip to Boma for dinner. It's one of our favorites.

 

[StephSalyer]

Awwww....that's it? I want to read more! Great trip report. I feel as if I am there with you! Most of my family thinks I am nuts because of how much I love Disney. In one of your earlier posts you explained it perfectly. Thank you!

This is one of the reasons why I love Disney so much though. Leave the rest of the world behind, leave your worries at the door. Everything inside is clean and pretty and friendly. No bad surprises. The good always wins.
At WDW I saw my mom really LETTING GO for the first time in ages, enjoying herself, forgetting that she's an adult with responsibilities and having fun with the characters. Not have to worry if she looks silly. Just be carefree again.
To me THAT is the Disney Magic.

 

[SeptemberGirl]

Those are amazing animal pictures!

 

[Hedy]

Well, I now know what a WDW laundry room looks like...

 

[marivaid]

Great update! Glad to hear that your quest for the day was fulfilled and you did indeed get soaked on Kali!! I steer clear of that ride for that very reason since I'm not a fan of walking around the park soaking wet

Glad to see that you are enjoying AKL We love the theming and enjoy staying there - it's such a beautiful lobby and, even though we've stayed there many times, it's still fun to go out on the balcony and see a giraffes and zebras right there. Even when we aren't staying there we always
make a trip to Boma for dinner. It's one of our favorites.

I'm a closeted flasher, I *love* walking around the parks soaking wet.
AKL is gorgeous, the only thing I regretted is not booking at least a pool view.. I wish we could go back there in April but the budget won't allow it.. but we're going to go see the resort and eat at Boma.

Awwww....that's it? I want to read more! Great trip report. I feel as if I am there with you! Most of my family thinks I am nuts because of how much I love Disney. In one of your earlier posts you explained it perfectly. Thank you!

Thank you !!! My family thinks we're nuts too. Some people just don't get it and don't WANT to get it. We've learned not to fight it.

Those are amazing animal pictures!

Thank you If only I could get a decent indoor shot once in a while...

Well, I now know what a WDW laundry room looks like...

Aren't you happy Seriously, I can't believe in all your trips you've never done laundry at WDW. Lucky you!

 

[CPer'sMom]

I wish we could go back there in April but the budget won't allow it.. but we're going to go see the resort and eat at Boma.

You're going in April?! So are we Where are you staying? Should be almost time for you to get started on your pre-trippie!!

A *little* off topic (maybe ) but how often do you visit DLP? I'd love to plan a trip there ~

 

[marivaid]

You're going in April?! So are we Where are you staying? Should be almost time for you to get started on your pre-trippie!!

A *little* off topic (maybe ) but how often do you visit DLP? I'd love to plan a trip there ~

When are you going ?? We'll be there Apr 18-24th, I think. Probably staying at POP or ASMU. Granny opted out, but we're bringing Sister and Sister's Friend Are you going to be at AKL ? ***DUH I just saw your GF ticker. GF!!! WOW!!!!***

DLP.. . I used to go once a year when my mom took her class there - because the school paid me LOL. But I haven't been in a while and can't say I miss it. What can I say, too many French people there.
Although they just opened TOT, and I was thinking of maybe trying it out. I figure, since I'm going to die on it, better do it closer to home you know...

 

[CPer'sMom]

When are you going ?? We'll be there Apr 18-24th, I think. Probably staying at POP or ASMU. Granny opted out, but we're bringing Sister and Sister's Friend Are you going to be at AKL ? ***DUH I just saw your GF ticker. GF!!! WOW!!!!***

Oh, darn! We won't be there until the week after you ~ arriving on the 30th. My DD is in school and we can't go until her break. Yep, first time at the GF We love staying at the YC and AKL but this time we decided we finally have to try the GF. I'm afraid we may like it too much! Thank goodness my DD gets her CM discount when we go ~~ makes it SO much easier to stay at the places we love! Plus she needs to go down every few months to work so I usually get to go along and play too!

What can I say, too many French people there.

Have you ever stayed at any of the resorts there?

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

You got great pictures at AK! Now if you don't know how to really use your camera-it totally does not show1 So does a trip in April mean another trip report? Keep it all coming!

 

[marivaid]

Oh, darn! We won't be there until the week after you ~ arriving on the 30th. My DD is in school and we can't go until her break. Yep, first time at the GF We love staying at the YC and AKL but this time we decided we finally have to try the GF. I'm afraid we may like it too much! Thank goodness my DD gets her CM discount when we go ~~ makes it SO much easier to stay at the places we love! Plus she needs to go down every few months to work so I usually get to go along and play too!




Have you ever stayed at any of the resorts there?

How cool that your DD is a CM ! I think you'll love the GF. I'm not into fancy resorts at all (need a relaxing atmosphere) but I had to admit the GF is really dreamy. Grumpy says keep dreamin'

We've stayed at one of the Disneyland Paris resorts, which I think is called the Cheyenne hotel or something like that. It had a westerny look to it, and now it makes me think of Wilderness Lodge because there were bunk beds in the room. That was the first time we'd been to DLP, very soon after it opened and I think I was 14 or 15 back then..The hotel was basic but nice. Some of my friends stayed at Newport Bay Club and loved it.

You got great pictures at AK! Now if you don't know how to really use your camera-it totally does not show1 So does a trip in April mean another trip report? Keep it all coming!

Thanks, I can take somewhat decent pics outside but 99.9% of my indoor shots make it seem like we went to WDW on acid. Still workin' on it though ! If we do go back in April you'll bet I'll write a TR I enjoy doing it even though only a few people read it. It's better than a diary.

 

[marivaid]

After giraffe-laundry time, we were supposed to go to MGM. Neither of us wanted to. Even though we both love Fantasmic, we didn't feel like sitting & waiting for an hour.

Instead, we decided to go back to Boma instead The only ADR I could get was for 9.15 which was fine for us. We spent the evening in the pool until it was time to get ready for dinner.

Boma again didn't disappoint. It was still very busy there, and several other parties came after us. So if you have a very late ADR for Boma, don't worry, you won't be the only one there!

After dinner we went to the gift shop and bought us some AKL T-Shirts, the AKL pin (I started collecting pins - so far, just from our resorts) and gifts for our friends and family. The next morning, we'd have to wave goodbye to the Lodge and move over to POP Century

I'd forgotten we had a 10am ADR for Boma the next morning. We thought we may cancel it, then in the morning I called and got the latest ADR I could get, around 11am, and we gave it a try. I'm glad we did ! Although the breakfast doesn't have as many "strange" choices as dinner, it's still very good. Better food, by far, that at any character breakfast we've ever been to.

After breafkast, we said goodbye to the animals and got on a cab to PoP Century.

We were a bit early and didn't expect our room to be ready, but it was. Yay!
Our room was in the 80's again, but in a different building. I liked this location better, because it was on a higher floor, right above the computer pool.

Since I'd totally forgotten to take pics the first time we'd been at POP, I made sure to take plenty this time as we made our way to the 80's.

I still have a Walkman EXACTLY like this one !!

Our room, pre-mess :

Pool from right outside our room :

I wanted to be in MK, dressed up, by 4.30pm. We had a 5PM ADR at LTT, and still had to pick up our tickets.
Grumpy went to the pool while I waited for our luggage.
She insisted I take pics of her in the pool from our floor :

As soon as we got our luggage, I dumped all our "dressing up" stuff on my bed. Since we didn't know what we wanted to dress up like, and didn't know if we'd find some real costumes while we were in New York (we didn't), I'd brought 2 big Tupperwares full of accessories.
On top of that, we'd found a bunch of Halloween stuff 75% off at the Outlets' Claires store. So, we had plenty to work with. We just didn't know what we wanted to do with it

Coming up... MNSSHP!!

 

[Hedy]

Can't wait to hear about MNSSHP
!

 

[DisneyTabby]

Love the pictures Sorry we'll miss you in April. We will be there May 1-9 at POR.

 

[SeptemberGirl]

Yeah POP pictures! We are headed there in March. After two Poly stays I hope I"m not in for a shock!

 

[marivaid]

Yeah POP pictures! We are headed there in March. After two Poly stays I hope I"m not in for a shock!

It's not so bad The rooms are definitely different than the Poly's though. The CMs we've had at POP were always super friendly!

 

[marivaid]

By the time Grumpy came back from the pool, I had BOTH beds covered in halloween-ish accessories.

She immediately picked up a pair of elbow-length black satin gloves and declared that she'd dress up as anything as long as it matched the gloves.

We both rummaged through the stuff and she finally decided to go for typecasting and dress up as... a devil.
The ears, bow tie and tail came from Claires'. She couldn't figure how to stick the tail to her... tail.... so she decided she'd just carry it around in her hand. And she did.
She paired that with a long black T-Shirt, black leggings, black and red flowers, red stars she stuck to her face, and for once let me put eyeliner on her.

I found a bunch of purple fake hair braids, and stuck about 20 of them on my head Add to that purple cat earrings, purple black and silver beads, a big purple Halloween hair clip... and I guess I was dressed as a Claires' Post-Halloween Leftovers Sale.

We left POP around 4.30 and got some weird looks on our way to the buses. I started talking loudly about the party - just in case people didn't know about it an thought we dressed like that on a regular basis.

The bus to MK was waiting for us. That's when I realized that we'd been there for four days and we had yet to set a foot in Magic Kingdom.

Here's my Devil Grumpy in front of the MNSSHP sign outside MK :

I thought the decorations were cute and not overdone. Grumpy went to get the tickets while I snapped a few more pics.

We entered MK and were surprised that, although the party was sold out, the park didn't seem busy at all. We were given small gift bags for our loot, which we took even though we didnt plan on doing much trick or treating.

We walked to Liberty Square and checked in at LTT. The place was PACKED.
A little girl dressed as Aurora was looking at Grumpy with a worried look in her eyes. She asked Grumpy what she was dressed as.

"The Devil !!!!"

Oh, come on ! The kid's scared already. I jabbed Grumpy in the side and she added "... but a nice devil!"

Better. Mini-Aurora also asked me what I was dressed up as, and I didn't feel like explaining that a box of leftover tacky accessories had fallen on my head, so I said "a purple witch".
That seemed to satisfy her.

We waited a little bit to be seated, then were taken to a small table next to a window. We didn't have much space to move at all but as long as we could get up to meet the characters, we were OK.

Our server brought our salad and rolls before he took our drink order, didn't introduce himself and didn't tell us anything about the characters. That was a little odd, but the restaurant was extremely busy, and we'd been there twice before so it's not like we didn't know what to expect.

Grumpy & I were a little hyper that night, it must have been something in the eyeliner We were "quiet" enough for Minnie and Chip & Dale, but when Pluto came around, I let it all out.
By that, I mean that I was almost on the floor rubbing Pluto's tummy and going "that's a good doggy, yes you are, yes you are.. let's go for a walk!!".

Oh, I forgot to mention that when Grumpy got her MNSSHP wristband, she didn't think of taking her glove off. So she got stuck with it the whole night, and ate with 1 glove on at LTT.

 

[marivaid]

We'd been at LTT for close to an hour and a half and had yet to see Goofy. I was ready to leave and start doing rides; we wanted to get a great spot for the fireworks and that didn't leave us a whole lot of time to do rides.
But I didn't want to leave without seeing Goofy.
So we waited.
And waited.

And we saw him... for about two seconds. He walked in front of the tables waving at everyone, but didn't stop at any of them.

I was very lucky to get this ONE shot of him

We paid our bill and left. This was our third time at LTT and we were a little disappointed, because we'd had such incredible character interaction last time.

Our first ride was Haunted Mansion. I had really missed it in July, and was excited to see the changes. When we came out, I realized how much the Mansion had needed the update. The last time we rode it, in December, there had been NO audio AT ALL !! Of course since we'd never been on it before, we didn't know what we'd missed.

After HM we made our way to Fantasyland. I had read that the Seven Dwarves were out on party nights, somewhere around Snow White's Scary Adventures, and of course I wanted to take a pic of Grumpy with Grumpy. But, except for mine, there were no dwarves to be found

Since we had about 45mns to kill before taking our spots in front of the castle, we did some trick-or-treating. The candy we were given was not that great. Mostly orange lollipops. Oh well. I intended to give the candy to my friend's kid when I got to Clearwater, and knew he'd be thrilled with anything.

It was dark and I wanted to go on Dumbo. Grumpy obliged. Thank you Grumpy

Doesn't she look like she's having fun ?

Thingy on top ... not sure why I took a pic of this but I like it!

Cute Dumbo topiary just outside the ride

It was time for us to claim our spots. We got lucky and sat on the round thing right in front of the castle. The Villain show started and I tried to take some pics but only one turned out half-decent.

That show was really nice, I wish I'd have thought of taking a video instead of pictures. But it didn't even enter my mind.

We got to see it twice before the parade started.

The parade was pretty cool. We were a bit far but still saw a lot. My pics were horrible though.

After the parade I decided not to even bother taking pic of the fireworks. They'd stink anyway. Might as well forget about the pics and just enjoy the show!

While we were waiting for the fireworks, we started to chat with a lady who was sitting next to us with her little girl. It started because some 7ft guy decided that standing right in front of us after the parade had already started was a good idea. The lady & I both got a little upset and after he left, we didn't want something like that to happen again so her DD stood in front of us and "guarded" our space

While we were waiting, a CM came and gave everybody handfuls of Halloween-wrapped chocolates. A little boy close to us popped one in his mouth and immediately spit it out "GROSS!!!". I made a mental note to taste one of the chocolates before giving them to my friend's son. Or, better, make Grumpy taste one.

This lady was very nice - I wish I'd had the guts to ask her if she was a DISer. We chatted about the parks and the rides, and somehow the conversation turned to "The Indian in the Cupboard".

"You mean "Native American" don't you ?" said Grumpy with a smirk.
"Oh yeah. I bet if the book came out now they'd have to rename it.. The Native American In The Closet!!!!"

As soon as it came out of her she realized what she had said ("in the closet", you know...) and we all exploded.

I love how so many Americans are relaxed and love making conversation with strangers. We talked about where we were from, how many times we'd gone to Disney, etc... It's so much easier to wait when you're having fun !
Then the lights were turned off and we all instantly shut up.

The fireworks were INCREDIBLE and I was in awe again, like the very first time I'd seen Wishes. Even thought I had watched Michelle's video from Hallowishes on YouTube a thousand times before we left, it hadn't prepared me for this.

Michelle I hope it's OK for me to post the links to your videos. They're awesome!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=I9NSbGRkvrI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=O7Gm-Cm5AoA

I didn't want it to end... but it did We waved goodbye to our new friends, and waited for the crowds to clear a bit before we made our way to Tomorrowland. I'd wanted to do Splash but Grumpy was freezing and refused. We were going to come back the next day though.

Instead we went on Buzz Lightyear's a couple times, then did the Laugh Floor. Grumpy flat out refused to do Stitch. We went back to Fantasyland, did PhilarMagic and It's A Small World.

It was about 11pm, Grumpy was really cold, and we'd pretty much ran out of rides she wanted to do, so we decided to beat the crowds to the buses and call it a night. We must have been pretty tired, because I can't even remember taking the bus and walking back to our room at POP.

MNSSHP was really cool ! I was glad we decided to do it, even if it was technically not Halloween anymore. Grumpy really had fun too.
The two things I was disappointed in though were

1/ there were only a few MNSSHP T-Shirts on sale and the only sizes available at 7PM were XS, S and M.

2/ the candy - the boy had been right, those chocolates were stale and gross. We left all of it behind. I have to admit though that we really didn't do any trick-or-treating and others that were at the same party were given a ton of great candy.

I'm really excited about (possibly) going to P&PP in April. My sister & her friend are crazy about POTC, so they're going to love it

 

[CPer'sMom]

Marina ~

Great update once again! But .... and as much as I love seeing the pics of Grumpy ..... how about a couple of you too? We didn't even get to see your *purple witch* costume!

 

[marivaid]

Marina ~

Great update once again! But .... and as much as I love seeing the pics of Grumpy ..... how about a couple of you too? We didn't even get to see your *purple witch* costume!

I don't fit in the frame
That's my story and I'm stickin to it.