The Skeptical First-Timers made it back home, here's the TR! Completed!

[heathsf]

Whew...I fell behind for a little while but now I'm all caught up again. I'm still so jealous of all the rides you get to do with no wait! Allison took some really great pictures on the safari. I'm so happy to hear about how much fun your kids are having on this trip!

 

[FosterA]

Lol can't wait to hear about poor Erin!

coming right up!

Oh my goodness the cliff hangers.

You got some great photos - hard to get the lions. And Devine is actually usually hard to find. In 2008, I looked for her every day we were at AK and never saw her. In 2010, I found her while I was touring solo (Chris was visiting clients), but when he got back to me, we couldn't find him. So he's never seen her. I just love her!

I actually have seen her both times I went in the same exact place. I figured she was always there since it was so easy to find her my only two times I went

lol .. great way to end your latest installment ! Love the pics .. AK is my all time favorite park. I could just walk around there all day long.
Looking forward to your next update !

ETA .. good job on being able to see Devine ! She is very elusive.

I had no idea that normally she is hard to find because we just ran right into her and I found her just as easily back when I went to AK alone in Feb.
Thanks for reading along!

I can't believe you haven't slapped someone yet I'd be getting irritated too if we had only done one thing by lunch time. At least you had enough time to take in all the details instead of rushing through. AK is so beautiful!

I know right?? I had to really contain myself with the slapping though it was hard.

You should've told DH the tree is actually built from an oil derrick. Maybe that would have gotten his engineer mind spinning. You clearly know your husband better than I, but is he maybe just not the "jump up and down...ooh and ahh type". Just cause he's not talking about how wonderful everything is doesn't mean he didn't enjoy himself. (Us men gotta stick together sometimes!)

The most amazing thing to me about the safari is that they literally built EVERYTHING. That was a flat cow pasture when they started construction. All the hills, lakes, cliffs, baobab trees were constructed and all the plants as throughout the park - were planted...just astounding what it took for a single attraction like that. Partly why the park ended up so underbuilt when it opened. (no Everest, and no Primeval Whirl / Triceratos Spin 10 years ago.)

SkierPete

You always know so many great facts!! how interesting about the oil derrick!!
You are so right about David's lack of emotion. Poor guy, in hindsight I was probably a little mean to him on the trip. I mean, he's always a low key soft spoken guy so I'm not sure why I expected to turn him into a Disney fanatic on his first trip. Maybe I've been hanging on the Dis boards too much and have forgotten that not everybody goes nuts in the parks

Great TR so far.

I saw your post over on my TR. We were there the Saturday before you arrived and left after 7 nights. I’ve been following your TR too. It's great following someone else's TR from the same time we were there and hearing a different perspective. We really liked this time of year and would definitely go back.

We were at MVMCP the same night you were. I'd be willing to bet we were within 50 feet of where the above picture was taken.

We were also at DHS the Thursday you were but I don't think our paths crossed that day.

You stayed at port Orleans right?? I really want a re-do trip and want to stay there! Thanks for following along

I kept checking the first page to links for the 4+ days, and was diappointed to see that it wasn't avaiable. You have an entertaining TR. Also, GUYS DON'T SHOW A LOT OF EMOTION! You do get that, right? I've dragged my husband down there for years and he is al blah about most of it. So for next year I said "let's plan a different vacation" and he said, "why, I love it WDW."
THIS IS THE ABSOLUTELY THE BEST KEPT SECRET. It goes to show that guys are emotion challenged! Anyway, glad I found you have kept at it. the TR are a way of enjoying the fun inbetween trip!

I know I know. In hindsight I was pretty mean to David. He always is mellow and then for some reason I had expectations of him to all of a sudden be bursting with enthusiasm once we got to WDW. duh on my part!
Thanks for reading along!! oh and I don't always get my table of contents updated right away even if I did post an update so be sure to scroll to the end and check
p.s. so cool that that your husband wants to keep going back!!

My DH is the same way. Everytime we go to Disney, it seems like he could care less that we are there. We went to Chattanooga this past October for a long weekend trip per his request. We had fun but on the way home he said,"We should have gone to Disney like we always do." I was shocked. The brainwashing has finally been completed!

I am loving your TR and can't wait to read your next update. I hope that your DH really enjoyed himself and wants to go back again.

I love to hear stories like this. I do hope that some brainwashing seeped into David though he wont admit it if it has
Remember, there is an event coming up in my TR that he did really really enjoy so there is still hope for another trip!

Whew...I fell behind for a little while but now I'm all caught up again. I'm still so jealous of all the rides you get to do with no wait! Allison took some really great pictures on the safari. I'm so happy to hear about how much fun your kids are having on this trip!

Hello there yes...the kids LOVED it and sooooo want to go back!
you got any updates lately? I love your TR too!

 

[FosterA]

DAY 4-part 3

Before I get started again I wanted to point out that we were still touring around with our trip hi-jacking friends on this day. They were great and still just happy to be along for the ride and did not resist whenever I barked out my orders. I don’t have hardly any photos or too much info in my TR about them because obviously I have no idea if they’d want me tossing their family pics out there in cyber space. Either way, we spent 3 whole days with them and did not have one problem which was very nice. They knew I had the “plan” a loose one, but more of a plan than they had, so they were content letting me lead the way.

Ok…back to the regularly scheduled TR:
Like I said, we had knocked out one entire attraction (Safari) before it was time for our lunch ADR! Sheesh I had originally planned on being at the park much earlier so I thought noon was good for lunch. I liked all of our table service meals but part of me thinks it may have been better just to do CS all the way. We didn’t even have one table service a day and I still felt like those reservations got in the way sometimes. I can’t imagine doing the Deluxe Dining. I suppose if it wasn’t our very first trip and we were ok with missing a lot of things it would be ok but there was sooooo much to do that sometimes stopping to eat was a bit of hassle.

Anyhow…after the Safari and watching Devine for a little bit we made our way to Yak and Yeti. As usual, we had really no wait and they took us right in. I mean, we had the reservation but I have heard stories of still having to wait a bit. This was our third meal reservation so far on the trip and we never waited more than 2 minutes to be seated.

I think this was taken near the entrance:

My whole family likes “Chinese” food so that’s why I booked this. Allison loves any kind of noodle veggie dish and Ian always goes for some sort of honey chicken or sweet sour chicken ala carte. No rice or other “weird” things. Dave and I will eat about anything so Yak sounded like a good spot for us. Our friends that were touring with us this day were able to get a reservation also though they didn’t make it until a week or two before. We all got seated together without a problem.


Allison LOVED the atmosphere in this place and she was walking all around taking photos while we were waiting on our food. I made her sit down after awhile though because this place is TIGHT! They really pack the tables in here and I was worried she’d be bumping into people. Here’s a couple pics:

Is this a cleverly disguised thermostat control thingy?

I ordered the lettuce wraps/cups, Ian got honey chicken, Allison got low mein, and David got a Kobe Burger. I can’t remember what my friends ordered but I’m pretty sure one thing was a salad and it was huge because Erin got a to-go box to take it for snacking on later. I’d say we all thought our meals were just “OK”. I was hoping for a PF Changs but it wasn’t near that good. All in all, not a bad meal and no regrets but nothing we talked about later and reminisced over. Once we all finished up (again, nobody in a big hurry but I was fretting a little because it was already 1:00, the park closes at 5:00 and all we’ve done was the Safari and eat!!!) Holy cow, we wasted a lot of time this day. Only downfall of “off season” is that the parks aren’t open as late and if you don’t do rope-drop it’s pretty tough to get it all done.

After eating I really wanted to see the bird show but there wasn’t one starting right then. The kids wanted to do Kali River Rapids but I said that would have to wait since I didn’t want any drenched people in our party slowing us down with whining about being wet! We settled (with my guidance) on doing the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I LOVED this walking trail. Way neater than I had envisioned. I was thinking “zoo” but it was so much nicer!! The kids really loved it too. Ian was still rushing us through because we had EE to get to and he wasn’t about to let that go but he did seem to enjoy the trek. Allison thought it was awesome and could have literally spent hours on it. Our friend’s son saw the big dragon lizard thing at the beginning and wanted to take at least 4,000 photos of just that so if you can just imagine how long this trek would take considering we were only at the first “exhibit”. Here’s a couple pics:

How sick is this thing! Gag me!

The tigers were amazing and I loved the old “ruins” that are the backdrop. So creative!! At one point one of the tigers got up and “spray” marked his scent on a rock and the kids died laughing. Those things can really spray A LOT! Everybody wanted to spend a lot of time in the bat area too and that was not really fun to me. I felt pretty packed and bottlenecked up in there. At some point we FINALLY got out of this trail. Not that I didn’t love it, but the clock was really ticking and we had to get to EE before Ian exploded.

So, if you remember, once we entered and got through the Oasis, I had sent David off for Faspasses for our whole group. Well, once we got out of the Maharajah trek and got to EE, there was only a 10 minute wait (probably 2:00 or so in the afternoon). I thought that since for sure the kids will want to do it more than once, that we should just all go standy-by and then they could use our faspasses and go again. All of us except for the other dad touring with us (He doesn’t do coasters and thrill stuff) headed on in. I was excited because the only time I did this before was single-rider and I don’t remember going through the Yeti Museum when you do that. Well, the museum area is just amazing. I mean…you don’t even mind waiting in line a bit! David was semi-interested in the things in there also. Well, for some reason, I specifically remember starting to feel my cold/fever/funk spiking up another notch at this point because I kind of felt like the floor was moving a little and had to hold the railing at one point. I think my equilibrium was off since my ears and everything were all plugged up. The previous day I knew I was getting sick but it was still tolerable, this day was a bit worse, and tomorrow is when I’ll peak into my miserableness. Then the last 2 days of our trip I start improving again. Great time to be getting on roller coasters huh!

I also am sad to say that I really don’t have photos from this time frame which sucks! Ian was so excited too! I don’t know if it’s that Allison had my camera and was too far ahead or if I just was feeling so bad that I didn’t care? I figure when I get ready to do our scrapbook, I’ll just have to google some images and print them. Nobody needs to know right?

Ian wanted to ride with his friend but I made him ride with me because it was going to be our “special mom/son bonding ride”. I really must have been feeling bad at this time because for some reason I felt like we were in the very front but I honestly don’t remember.

Well, EE did not disappoint. It’s such an amazing ride! I’m a big chicken and I really like this ride because it’s so scenic and pretty too. I really wish the Yeti was working though. We all screamed and went nuts and everybody loved it! Once we exited the kids were jumping around to do it again. Since we had 4 faspasses (and once is enough for me and Dave since were old geezers) the kids got to go 2 more times!!! They did 3 rides in a row and Ian thought he died and went to Heaven!

So us 4 parents went and found some flat rock like benches that are right there at the entrance and sort of camped out. I was just in awe of the scenery. The detail and such right in this area is AMAZING!! Well….I was chatting with David when I looked over and saw my friend Erin completely stretched out across one of the rocks (her husband was on his phone completely clueless). She had her camera bag hanging over the edge across her chest and her mouth was wide open. Poor thing looked like someone just hit her over the head with a frying pan. She was very much asleep. It was nice and warm on the rocks and perfect for napping. Well, I then see a plain-clothes security guy (I just know it was because I’m observant that way) come over and stand over her and sort of started fiddling around with something like he was getting ready to call for back-up. Well, it wasn’t but a second when she must have wiggled or something because he then strolled off when he realized she was just asleep. I thought it was hilarious but I didn’t even tell her about it because I didn’t want to embarrass her! Oh how I wish I had taken a photo!!

Ok….next chapter: Did we ever get anything else done this entire day but eat and 2 rides?! Also…What on earth am I going to do if my friends want to be “pool hoppers” and use our pool while they are there checking out the fireworks and visiting with us?!

 

[swwake]

I love that jungle trail. The bats kinda creep me out because you can see their "parts" (if you know what I mean). Love the tigers though.

Did you spend any time with the gorillas? And what about those yelping monkeys on the way around to Yak & Yeti?

Love EE! So glad you got to have your mother/son moment there.

I am not sure I could EVER take a nap at Disney. Kudos to Erin for making it happen!

 

[BridgetR3]

DAY 4-part 3

I liked all of our table service meals but part of me thinks it may have been better just to do CS all the way. We didn’t even have one table service a day and I still felt like those reservations got in the way sometimes. I can’t imagine doing the Deluxe Dining. I suppose if it wasn’t our very first trip and we were ok with missing a lot of things it would be ok but there was sooooo much to do that sometimes stopping to eat was a bit of hassle.

My DH and I agree totally that eating at TS wastes way too much of your time if you aren't one of those families that goes to Disney every year. Spending a good 1.5 to 2 hours in a restaurant for TS meals messed up our schedules on more than one day. We always had to leave something undone or get out of line in order to make the TS reservations. And honestly, in our opinion, the meals were not that great. They were good and all...don't get me wrong but we have good restaurants at home that we can visit and not pay Disney prices while wasting our precious touring time!

We actually preferred our CS meals anyways and will be going OOP next trip!

 

[AprilRenee]

I totally almost fell asleep on those rocks on our AK day on our last trip. I was SO tired and they were the most comfortable rocks I've ever felt!

 

[heathsf]

Hello there yes...the kids LOVED it and sooooo want to go back!
you got any updates lately? I love your TR too!

I planned to get at least one update in this weekend but I've just been so busy. Hopefully nothing will distract me when I get home from work today and I'll work on the TR for a little bit before making dinner with BF.

 

[heathsf]

Great update! The maharajah trek is so awesome. The animals really seem to be in this natural habitat and it totally feels like another part of the world. I love it! And for EE 3x in a row for the kids! And that story about your friend taking a nap on the rocks was hilarious.

 

[FosterA]

I love that jungle trail. The bats kinda creep me out because you can see their "parts" (if you know what I mean). Love the tigers though.

Did you spend any time with the gorillas? And what about those yelping monkeys on the way around to Yak & Yeti?

Love EE! So glad you got to have your mother/son moment there.

I am not sure I could EVER take a nap at Disney. Kudos to Erin for making it happen!

ewwww, bat parts. gross. Luckily I never witnessed any of that. We did see some monkeys once but I don't remember seeing more than one or two and they were quiet

My DH and I agree totally that eating at TS wastes way too much of your time if you aren't one of those families that goes to Disney every year. Spending a good 1.5 to 2 hours in a restaurant for TS meals messed up our schedules on more than one day. We always had to leave something undone or get out of line in order to make the TS reservations. And honestly, in our opinion, the meals were not that great. They were good and all...don't get me wrong but we have good restaurants at home that we can visit and not pay Disney prices while wasting our precious touring time!

We actually preferred our CS meals anyways and will be going OOP next trip!

I can totally relate to just wanting to do CS. If you come to Disney alot and have more touring hours the TS is probably good but I can be totally content with CS Were even paying OOP and didn't "have" to use up any TS credits so I imagine it's even harder if you have free dining plan and want to be sure to get the value. I'd feel pressured to eat TS almost.

I totally almost fell asleep on those rocks on our AK day on our last trip. I was SO tired and they were the most comfortable rocks I've ever felt!

Right! nice and flat rocks and you feel like you are in the mountains. awwww. I think Erin just drew attention from that guy because her mouth was wide open and her camera was slung over her neck area and dangling to the side and at first glance it looked like maybe it was chocking her

I planned to get at least one update in this weekend but I've just been so busy. Hopefully nothing will distract me when I get home from work today and I'll work on the TR for a little bit before making dinner with BF.

No hurries. It takes time to do updates that's for sure. I have no idea how I'm banging mine out so quick because I have so much else I need to be doing. I think I just really miss our trip and am not sure when/if we'll ever go back

 

[FosterA]

DAY 4-part 4

After the kids did their 3x on EE and we jostled Erin out of her deep sleep, it was time to get moving! I knew we were quickly running out of time with the park closing at 5:00 and I still wanted to do Bug’s life and Festival of the Lion King at the very least. I would have loved to do the other trail too but that did not happen on this trip.

So we took off out of the EE area and got…..oh 30 feet, when someone in the group just HAD to have an ice cream break. There was a cool little bus thing (I’m sure some of you regulars would know the name) that had ice cream so we stopped there. I wanted to get the ice cream and keep trucking towards Bug’s Life but did that happen? No of course not. Everybody wanted to lounge around on benches and take their time. Oh Lordy, I’m about to have a hernia at this point. We’re at maybe my favorite park and we have only done 2 big attractions and one Trek and it’s almost closing time! See what happens when you are the “boss” and the tour guide but nobody is scared of you? I need to learn how to be more intimidating to my family.

After the slow-motion ice cream eating we finally got over to Bug’s Life. I just think this thing is sooooo cool and couldn’t wait for the fam to see it. As a matter of fact, I personally think it’s way better than Philarmagic as far as 4-D movies go! As usual, there was no line so we pretty much whipped through the line very fast and there wasn’t a lot of checking out the tree. However we got a couple pics:

Everybody loved it!! Even David had a big smile on his face. Allison was the most freaked out by it but she was still laughing/smiling the whole time.


After Bug’s we had just a little time before the final showing of the day of Lion King which would be our last attraction of the day. There was some awkwardness for awhile with not really knowing what to do since there wasn’t THAT much time yet we still had SOME time. Ian wanted to do Kali super bad and so did his little friend. Nobody else wanted to risk getting wet. We ended up splitting up and David took the two boys all the way over to Kali (no wait) and they did it, though David just waited for them and didn’t join in for some reason. I think he should have, big baby!! The boys didn't even get wet at all! yay. The rest of our group worked our way over to Dinosaur while we waited for the boys.

I sat this one out because this ride is cool but I feel beat to heck by the time I get off. I was worried I’d end up with a migraine or something beings I had a head full of congestion. The remaining group all did Dinosaur and LOVED it! Once Dave and the boys got back, the remaining group all went a second time so they could ride with Ian and Patrick. David sat this one out too because he thought it was a Simulator type ride. Once the group was already gone, I told him it wasn’t and then he wanted to go do it. I said “go!” you can catch up to them (no lines) but he didn’t because he didn’t think he’d get in their group. I know he would have because I don’t remember seeing hardly any other people go into this ride after our group got inside. Oh well….I think he wishes he had done it.


After Dinosaur we all headed over to Lion King. Well, Ian and his friend wanted to do a quick stop at Boneyard first so I took them there and we met up at Lion King in a bit, sort of. The boys played for a few minutes and then we tried to get back with the group. Unfortunately the show had already started and they shuffled us in the back way and we never got to sit with the rest of the group. It was ok though, the show is SOOOOOO awesome! Even Ian said it was one of his favorite things! By the time the boys and I got in there though we did miss the first few minutes. Boo hoo. I think this show is sooooo amazing. I did sort of miss that I didn’t get to sit by Allison so I really don’t know what her reaction was. I wanted to post some photos since this update is so boring without photos but I really didn’t get too many from EE on through the end of our day. Sorry.

After Lion king, the park was closing so we got swept up in the river of people heading toward exit. Wow! This was a slow day but it was a giant mass exodus that’s for sure.

I don’t remember having any trouble getting on a bus pretty quick though because before you know it we were back at the Poly. Our friends had their car parked there and had planned on hanging with us on the beach just to visit. We don’t live in the same state as our friends so we really did want some catch-up time just to talk. We’ve been running around together of course but that’s sometimes hard for talking. I was worried about what would happen if their son wanted to swim with Ian and be one of “those” pool hoppers. Well….luckily for me I didn’t have to say anything because it was downright windy and chilly so nobody wanted to swim! Whew!

They weren’t even able to set up the movie on the beach because the wind was whipping the screen around. They did attempt to have the marshmallow roast though but it was so windy and chilly that it wasn’t that great. I noticed that our friends did roast a marshmallow or two though. It was ok though because the poor CMs were bored to death because nobody was coming to do it except for our group. Here'a pic and you can sort of make out Allison in the corner. She was being a good daughter and making me a marshmallow when I shot this. awwww.

After we played around with the marshmallows we all just pulled up some seats by the pool and hung out and chatted for a couple hours. It was really nice and relaxing though it was definitely on the chilly side. The only night on our whole trip that was too cold to swim. We all just snacked on pizza and things from Cook’s and had a great time. At one point we got some cupcakes from Cook’s and munched on those too. Gotta love the Mickey sprinkles!

Well, this was our last day with our buddies since they would be leaving in the morning. It was fun spending time with them and I’m so glad that they didn’t put any kinks in our touring. It worked out good timing wise though because this is the night that my cold/sinus problem got to it’s very worst so Day 5 was not too fun. I’m glad we didn’t still have our friends around because I might have tried to do too much and there was no way I could. Stay tuned on how Day 5 worked out and what we ended up doing. It was my scheduled Epcot day too, yikes! Let’s just say that Day 5, 6, 7 look nothing like my original itinerary and there was lots of shuffling and canceling of ADRs and so forth. Remember the ORIGINAL itinerary was:
Day 1 Arrival day and Christmas party
Day 2 MK and F!
Day 3 Studios all day
Day 4 Ak all day
Day 5 Future World portion of Ep
Day 6 World Showcase portion
Day 7 hang at resort and DTD
Day 8 fly out early

So the first 4 days went exactly as planned but the last 3 were a whole ‘nother story.
The good news though is the there still is that “thing” coming up that David got all excited and VERY ENTHUSIASTIC about. Yay. As a matter of fact, he actually uttered the words “ok, I might be feeling just a little of that magic now” at one point. Not “a lot of magic” mind you but he did get a slight sprinkling of it.

More soon!

 

[okw19]

Even though you didn't get everything in on your AK day, it still sounds like a good visit! I was hoping Yak & Yeti would be as good as PF Chang's too, so thankfully you saved me from making an ADR.
I'm nervous to hear about the rest of the week with you not feeling well. Hope you still got to do most of what you wanted.

 

[204charity]

Can't wait to read what happened at Epcot! (my favorite park)

 

[Moodyzblu]

Great update !! Touring AK is something my kids and I really enjoy and we spend hours doing the "treks". Sometimes I just sit and take it all in .. I just LOVE this place. We always do 2 full days here.

I don't do TS meals at WDW unless it's at DTD and we do T-Rex and Planet Hollywood. But when I'm in the parks .. I can't stand to take more than 1/2 hour spending time eating. I also don't like to be tied down with ADR's.
There is lot's of great CS food. I surprised my friend last trip because she figured we would be eating burgers all week but I changed that train of thought when we ate at Seasons and we got pork chops. We ended up going back there a second time for another round.

I can't wait to hear what got David excited !!

 

[kittylady1972]

Yippee...loved the whole Animal Kingdom day and just kept laughing at your impatience with everybody else. Too funny but completely understandable. I get that way too, even though I try to make time for us all to relax and enjoy while in the parks. It's hard, you just want to DO STUFF and I have kids that would just do the BIG RIDES over and over again...even though when I get them into the shows (usually after some threatening/yelling/etc....so Disney..NOT) they always enjoy them! Of course!

I must say we have not done any of the walking trails in a long time, but you've convinced me that next time we should try them. The kids LOVE animals and I think they would enjoy this too. I'll have to add it to my Nov 2012 must-do list!

 

[skier_pete]

I still can't believe we were at the same park at the same time all day and didn't get to meet...so bummed. How did I miss that in the schedule? We must've crossed near eachother at Maharajah Jungle Trek...that rack of ribs laying by the Tiger's was there when we went through, though the Tiger wasn't there. I think we went through around 11:30...

I have to tell you with Kali. Typically on each raft 4 people stay completely dry, 4 people get moderately wet, and 2 people get soaked to the bone. A 1 in 5 chance of a drenching. You (and David) were better off skipping it!

Oh...since you like my stupid facts...the Maharajah's palace was original for the Raj of Anandapur, who was a big time hunter - which is why the murals of the palace depict this. Later, the people of Anandapur decided to turn it into a sancuary for the native animals. The grounds of the palace extend through Yak and Yeti all the way over to the Flights of Wonder show.

SP

 

[Chicago Mo]

I LOVE your TR!!!!
your pictures are amazing!!!
I cannot wait to hear what he really likes?!? has to be in Epcot.. Soarin?!?! Test track? Finding Nemo? the three caballeros? or just world showcase in itself? ugh it's killing me..
will you be able to get them all on board for a return trip?!?!

 

[hollyrose]

This is great! Can't wait to find out if your husband sees the magic. I am taking my boyfriend for the first time and I'm praying he sees the magic too!

 

[momabaarjo]

Way to leave us hanging....I so want to know what brought David to feel a little magic...but I am excited right now that you got a smile out of him at the Tree of Life.

Your pictures are getting me so ready to go...especially after today's weather! Sending some downstate I am sure!

 

[B&WMickey]

You stayed at port Orleans right?? I really want a re-do trip and want to stay there! Thanks for following along

Correct.

We did stay at Port Orleans Riverside and loved it. We've liked it enough to have stayed there 3 times now. For the price I’d say it’s hard to beat. The grounds are immaculate and well themed. The rooms are smaller than at the Poly (quite a bit smaller) but on the good side when the refurbishment is finished in 2012 all of the rooms will have 2 queen sized beds instead of the current double beds.

I’ll continue to post pictures/comments about POR in my TR.

 

[heathsf]

Even though you didn't get to to do everything you wanted at AK, it still seems like everyone had a great day and enjoyed themselves. Sometimes lounging around eating ice cream is the right thing to do! I think I have the same kind of head cold now that you had back in November and I can't imagine trekking around Disney World with it. Yuck. I hope you were still able to enjoy yourself on Day 5!