The Smith's "yes, we are to Disney AGAIN" PreTrip Report!

[LuccaDrake]

I've always wanted to see them navigate the buffet lines with 10 plates

I must say that I can't stand that show though. Kate is such a b to her husband while he is the one working all the time to support 10 people. Just my opinion though, thanks for listening.

I absolutely LOVED the look on Ash's face with the tink basket! How cute! And our pitbull gets anxious when the suitcases come out. I think it's from years of watching DBF leave on many business trips.

~Beka~

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I must say that I can't stand that show though. Kate is such a b to her husband while he is the one working all the time to support 10 people. Just my opinion though, thanks for listening.

I absolutely LOVED the look on Ash's face with the tink basket! How cute! And our pitbull gets anxious when the suitcases come out. I think it's from years of watching DBF leave on many business trips.

~Beka~

Oh I don't really like the show...it's like a bad accident...I can't look away. I don't know if you've read her SIL's blog but it doesn't exactly show them in the best light. Ash loves the show (mostly because of her obsession with Korean people) so it ends up on here on Mondays and Wednesdays.

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Love the tink basket!

So now my queen sized bed had 2 large adults, a big almost 5 year old, a cat, a stuffed dog, a doll, and some remote controls

Want to expand on what the multiple remote controls are for?

I love watching Jon and Kate. Even if it is just to remind myself that 1)I am not as crabby as she is and 2)Someone does more laundry than me.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Love the tink basket!


Want to expand on what the multiple remote controls are for?

I love watching Jon and Kate. Even if it is just to remind myself that 1)I am not as crabby as she is and 2)Someone does more laundry than me.

Get your mind out of the gutter...they are for my tv, DVD player, and for the heating pad if my back is killing (although last night I cheated and used it because it went down to freezing and I was too lazy to get up and close the windows )

And yes, Kate has more laundry...but she doesn't do it herself so that doesnt' count. Also, according to her SIL's blog, she doesn't cook or clean...they have a organic chef.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Ok my Disney obsessed fans...don't know if everyone saw this or not BUT at 1pm today...Disney announced that in 2009, if you visit a Disney park on the day of your birthday, you will get a free ticket. If you already have tickets, they will give you a gift card to spend (that day) equal to the cost of a one day ticket. You need to go on a register your birthdays and then they send you a certificate for the free ticket. We don't plan to go for any of our birthdays but I registered just in case!!!


http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/di...ouCelebrate/index?name=FreeonYourBirthdayPage

 

[LuccaDrake]

Ok my Disney obsessed fans...don't know if everyone saw this or not BUT at 1pm today...Disney announced that in 2009, if you visit a Disney park on the day of your birthday, you will get a free ticket. If you already have tickets, they will give you a gift card to spend (that day) equal to the cost of a one day ticket. You need to go on a register your birthdays and then they send you a certificate for the free ticket. We don't plan to go for any of our birthdays but I registered just in case!!!


http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/di...ouCelebrate/index?name=FreeonYourBirthdayPage

I did see that. I think's it's the new thing they're doing.

~Beka~

 

[sohappy]

Thanks for the heads up. We might be there for Jackson's next birthday, so I need to sign him up!

Hey, are you still going to the disboutique meet?

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Thanks for the heads up. We might be there for Jackson's next birthday, so I need to sign him up!

Hey, are you still going to the disboutique meet?

Yes, I am planning on going. I need to hurry up and book it. I found decent airfare finally.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

So when I lasted updated you, were were cramming everyone and everything into my mom's car. Shortly into the drive, I realized that DH was giving my mom really weird directions to the airport. I should explain that we all know how to get the airport by 93-which is the main highway thru Boston. But my DH works near the airport and knows some shortcuts so he usually directs my mom that way so we aren't stuck in commuter traffic. I quickly turned around and asked "are you sending her to 93? She knows how to get to 93!" My DH's response was that they were doing construction on the other roads so we had to take 93.

UMMMM....you chose to wait until we were in the car to inform me of this??? My airport departure time did not factor in sitting in commuter traffic on 93! MEN I sat back and tried not to freak out. Luckily, I forget with all of our people and junk, we could take the car pool lane. So we cut off a good half hour/45 minutes of sitting in traffic. We made it to Logan only about 10-15 minutes than I had originally planned and still plenty of time to get checked in and through security.

Arrival at the airport was fun because we had a visitor. My DBro had flown the red eye in from LA and was hanging out at the terminal waiting for us. So a quick hello to my Dbro (and of course my mom had to snap some photos...which I will include later, they are on her camera) and we were off to check in. Check in went fine. Dragging 4 suitcases, 4 carryons, and a stroller is a little tough especially through those nice ropped off areas. As we were struggling going through the line like you are supposed to, some jerk and his lovely wife tried jumping ahead of us by just walking up to the counter. BUT, the super nice clerk at JetBlue's counter put an end to that immediately. He told him to get behind us. We thanked him when we got to the counter and he expressed that he couldn't believe that the guy pulled that.

As most people are aware, the airlines are going really overboard with the fees lately. We had booked our tickets in March so we were exempt from fees. I had all my information printed out from the website and I was ready for a fight. Did I get one??? NOPE Guy just said "when did you book these tickets?" WOW, this guy thinks that many Bostonians are honest

We got through checkin and security without incident. We did get a LOT of compliments on our matching Ts. Since it was my first day officially off of South Beach, I headed right to Starbucks for some Frappuchino goodness They even had the Pumpkin Spice one so I got that. DH got a Caramel one and I bought DD an overpriced OJ...that she had maybe one sip of. Why you may ask?? Because when I took out my book and started reading...this happened!

I can't tell you how many times a day I find myself thinking "thank God she is cute"

DD waited for the plane to arrive and checked out all the engines (my DH builds jet engines so she is fascinated by this)

Pretty soon we were on the plane and ready to go!

Nothing to exciting happened on the plane. Some of the stations didn't come in on the tvs (including the kids channels) but that was ok. DD was excellent and kept herself amused with her tink gifts and "homework" from school.

When we landed in Orlando it was cloudy and looked like it had just rained. We took the little monorail thing over to check in for ME. On the way, we helped a lot of newbies who were totally confused by the signs. In fact, there was one family who I think were sad that we weren't at the same hotel as them because they were clueless and followed us around until we got on our own ME bus.

While waiting for ME...and I mean WAITING (this was the longest wait ever for ME...it was 2 1/2 hours from landing to arriving at AKL )...the CM directing people noticed DD. Was it her "going on safari" shirt??? NOPE...it was her singing. I should mention now that DD sings constantly. Doesn't matter where she is or who is there...she sings. While waiting for ME, she alternated between the new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme and the old Mickey Mouse Club theme. The CM thought this was so adorable that he pulled DD out of line and gave her ME stickers. YAY!!! The Pixie Dust has started!

Finally it was time to board the bus. We got a Disney Cruise Line bus.

I was a little nervous that the video wouldn't be "right" since it was a DCL bus but no fears...it worked. We had the front seats and I think I mentioned to DH a little too loudly that the volume was off because the bus driver immediately put it on.

Pretty soon the fun signs started!

We stopped at Pop Century and Coronado Springs first. While we were stopped at Pop, DD continued her musical performances. A CM from Pop who was hanging out near the bus heard her and came on the bus and gave her this

More Pixie Dust

After that excitement, we were FINALLY getting closer to AKL

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

We arrived at AKL and headed in to check in. Check in was relatively painless. The lobby was pretty as always

When I went up to check in, the first thing they gave me was our Anniversary buttons...YAY. Next they gave me our KTTW cards and a map showing me where our room was located. OK, here is one of biggest gripes about Disney hotels. Why do they let you request a certain area if the NEVER give it to you. I have never ONCE gotten what I requested. Usually, I just suck it up. But this time, I had to complain. Granted, I requested a prime location (4th floor, Zebra Trail) but I made the ressie literally a year earlier on the bounceback. Yes, I know they don't do "room assignments' until a week before you arrive but I swear they don't look at your requests. So where were we assigned? 3rd floor, Uzima Savannah, in the VERY last room (meaning as far away as you can get from lobby/pool/buses/food/etc). Are you kidding me? Oh and it's was 2:40pm at this point. Yes, I know check in is at 3pm. But the room they had assigned us to wasn't cleaned yet. OK, 20 minutes before check in and the room isn't clean? I could deal but I thought it was odd.

So, completely out of character for me...I said something. I simply asked "were there no rooms available where I had requested, I did make this ressie a year ago" The CM told me that he would check. He looked into the computer and couldn't find anything (again odd...this is Sept...it's DEAD at WDW...how is the entire hotel booked up?!?!) He went and talked to his manager. The manager checked the computer and said "ok, give her this one" Where did they assign me? 4th floor, Zebra trail, Arusha Savannah. AND it was already cleaned. I was a little unnerved at this point. If they had this room available why hadn't they just given it to us???

We went up to the room and it was great. I immediately noticed that they had done some renovations (or so I thought at the time). There were flat screen tvs, dvd player, and big comfy robes in the closet. There was also new curtains and fancier bathroom fixtures. It also seemed that the room was slightly larger.

Well we got all settled and headed down to swim

After awhile, I decided that we better start getting ready for dinner. We went up to our room and our beds had been turned down (complete with a card of African Art and chocolates) I figured it was an anniversary surprise and we continued to get ready.

At 7pm, we headed down to Boma for dinner. The waiter came over and asked what we would like to drink. DD promptly responded "Coke". Ok, this child has NEVER been allowed to have soda. I was so shocked that I didn't even tell the waiter that she couldn't have it. This started a trend for the week. DD kept asking for soda AND she started her overconsumption of mac & cheese. Up until maybe 6 months ago, DD wouldn't TOUCH mac & cheese. I don't know if mac & cheese is that good in Disney since I've never had it but I think she ate it every day!

I had this yummy drink

And this was the highlight of my meal: seafood stew. Seriously, if you ever go to Boma, you have to get this. They also had it at Tusker House at AK.

Here are some photos of Boma if anyone is interested. Boma really is a pretty restaurant. Even the bathroom sign is pretty!

Coins from Boma's Wishing fountain

Oh and they gave us a really nice card signed by the CMs in their native languages

After Boma, we headed upstairs and got into bed. And that was the end of Day 1!

Now, I am going to ruin a surprise for you. If you've read this far, you might be thinking...What was up with the turn down service and the robes? Seriously, I didn't think about this at all during our stay. That is, UNTIL we started talking to other AKL guests while waiting for buses and such. As it turned out...nobody else's room had robes or flat screens. Nobody else was randomly given turn down service...for all 8 nights. People with more brains than me might have figured it out. I didn't get it until I got home and checked the AKL website. YA, we were upgraded to Concierge Level. Yup, that's right, I was upgraded to concierge and never even realized it...meaning we never made use of the lounge. If you are a CM and reading this...PLEASE tell people if you are upgrading them. I'm sure that I'm not the only dense person out there...RIGHT??? RIGHT????

Up Next: Breakfast with Mickey and our first Park Day!

 

[Lady Lallie]

That is one pretty light fixture! \

Why did I think you were staying at WL? I could've sworn I read that. Maybe the light fixtures are getting to me.

You had a lot of magic your first day! Wow. I can't believe they didn't tell you they upgraded you to CL. Seriously, how are you supposed to appreciate the awesome magical-ness of a Disney upgrade?

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

That is one pretty light fixture! \

Why did I think you were staying at WL? I could've sworn I read that. Maybe the light fixtures are getting to me.

I knew that you would like that one!

 

[LuccaDrake]

OMG! That's too bad that you didn't get to use the coveted concierge lounge! I wonder if they didn't tell you so you wouldn't use the lounge since you weren't paying extra for that room??? Hmm...we also had requested a certain section at CSR when we booked and then faxed something over a week or so ahead of when we were going and didn't get put anywhere near what we requested. But neither of us said anything. Oh well. Oh, I keep meaning to ask what you do. From what I've gathered your a social worker??? Just curious as we plan on adopting from the state within a couple of years and would love to have someone to talk to on the 'inside' even if it's not the same state.

~Beka~

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

OMG! That's too bad that you didn't get to use the coveted concierge lounge! I wonder if they didn't tell you so you wouldn't use the lounge since you weren't paying extra for that room??? Hmm...we also had requested a certain section at CSR when we booked and then faxed something over a week or so ahead of when we were going and didn't get put anywhere near what we requested. But neither of us said anything. Oh well. Oh, I keep meaning to ask what you do. From what I've gathered your a social worker??? Just curious as we plan on adopting from the state within a couple of years and would love to have someone to talk to on the 'inside' even if it's not the same state.

~Beka~

Yup, I'm a social worker and yes, I do adoptions. Oh and I've worked with Maine so I know a little about the system. I also have a contact up there I could set you up with if you want more info about Maine's system. PM me if you have any questions.

Never thought about that (why they didn't tell me about the upgrade). Great point! I bet that's it. Not that I really needed the free snacks but I would have loved to check it out!!!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I moved us! Just so I won't be accused of teasing y'all, the first few posts are just copies of the last few posts here. I didn't get my CD yet BUT I did get all the photos finally on my computer and started putting them on Photobucket so I'm ready!!!

Come join my new trip report page entitled:

Does the Pixie Dust count if you don't KNOW about it?
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27717058&posted=1#post27717058