TimandLesley's When the Boat's a Rockin' Don't .... Trip of a Lifetime TR 2/4/1 pg.33
- Thread starter timandlesley
- Start date
dolfinjuls
DIS Veteran
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I just finished reading your tr to date! Sounds absolutely amazing so far! Luke and Lauren are getting so big and they looked great for the formal night! As did you & Tim of course! Can't wait to hear about the 2nd half of your trip!
Lesley, I thought they had gotten rid of Disney dollars a couple of years ago. Hmmm...I just googled and found them, maybe I am dreaming but I thought people were posting how they were gone and everyone was so sad. Where on earth did I get that from? Did something change about them?
Mickey'sMainMami
<font color=red>I love playing video games!!<br><f
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Hi guys, I hope everything is ok, haven't heard anything in a while! Waiting anxiously for an update, lol. Thanks!
timandlesley
<font color=darkorchid>The tag fairy may not but t
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WOO HOO! Welcome! Thanks so much for reading and posting!
So glad you are enjoying it, yes they sure are growing up fast.
So glad you found us again, you will LOVE it!
WEll, they didn't..............more details on that in my next update. I will let you know how I got them.
So sorry! I am usually SO quick on updates. This past week was my first full week back (I'm a full time special education teacher) so it's been crazy. Life will get back to normal here very soon and I will try and get an update up here quick, so much more fun to tell you guys about with our AKL concierge part of the trip ; ) Thanks for your patience!
cdotla
Trish
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- Jul 13, 2006
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Wow....your cruise sounded so fantastic. I can see why you enjoyed this trip so much. And I completely forgot until just now that you still had conceirge at AK to experience before heading home.
Loved Lauren's braids. And so glad the kids found her wand!
How great to experience Cars 2 together on board. As well as Lauren's lost tooth...can't wait to hear how the tooth fairy found her at AK. As well as how you found those Disney dollars!
Did you hear from anyone who visited Atlantis for the day whether it was worth it? If we ever went to Nassau, the only way I would be getting off the ship would be to tour Atlantis. I would have no interst in shopping/exploring based on everything you said and I have heard on the Disunplugged.
Looking forward to the next update when you have time. Things sound understandably swamped for you right now. Hope life calms down a bit for you soon.
Loved Lauren's braids. And so glad the kids found her wand!
How great to experience Cars 2 together on board. As well as Lauren's lost tooth...can't wait to hear how the tooth fairy found her at AK. As well as how you found those Disney dollars!
Did you hear from anyone who visited Atlantis for the day whether it was worth it? If we ever went to Nassau, the only way I would be getting off the ship would be to tour Atlantis. I would have no interst in shopping/exploring based on everything you said and I have heard on the Disunplugged.
Looking forward to the next update when you have time. Things sound understandably swamped for you right now. Hope life calms down a bit for you soon.
brookelizabeth
Jambo Wildbunch Gang
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- Jul 20, 2006
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- 11,271
so glad it's not over with the cruise!!!I just had the opportunity to tour the Dream, so it's even more exciting seeing your pictures knowing what it looks like in real life - even MORE amazing! It's such a beautiful ship!
I hope your family can go back sooner than expected.That pic of Lauren on the island made me smile - she's growing up so fast!!
timandlesley
<font color=darkorchid>The tag fairy may not but t
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- Apr 19, 2004
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Wow....your cruise sounded so fantastic. I can see why you enjoyed this trip so much. And I completely forgot until just now that you still had conceirge at AK to experience before heading home.
Loved Lauren's braids. And so glad the kids found her wand!
How great to experience Cars 2 together on board. As well as Lauren's lost tooth...can't wait to hear how the tooth fairy found her at AK. As well as how you found those Disney dollars!
Did you hear from anyone who visited Atlantis for the day whether it was worth it? If we ever went to Nassau, the only way I would be getting off the ship would be to tour Atlantis. I would have no interst in shopping/exploring based on everything you said and I have heard on the Disunplugged.
Looking forward to the next update when you have time. Things sound understandably swamped for you right now. Hope life calms down a bit for you soon.
It truly was a great trip. I have only read on here about people going to Atlantis for the day. For me, I would rather just stay on the ship since you have the incredible Castaway Cay day to experience the tropical island. The Atlantis excursion was so pricey! Life is busy but I found some time today to write so update coming TONIGHT!
It is such a beautiful shop! We will be back on in February, I won a cruise for being top sales agent with my travel agency so I'm THRILLED!!! My parents are going too so that should be extra fun! Yes, she is growing up TOO fast!! : (
I just had the opportunity to tour the Dream, so it's even more exciting seeing your pictures knowing what it looks like in real life - even MORE amazing! It's such a beautiful ship!
That pic of Lauren on the island made me smile - she's growing up so fast!!
timandlesley
<font color=darkorchid>The tag fairy may not but t
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So the morning that we had dreaded arrived and the alarm clock went off at 6:00. I looked at our virtual porthole and we were definitely docked back at Port Canaveral:
We headed up for an EARLY breakfast (I think it was 6:30) at Royal Palace. Here were our menus:
Poor Ana and Zoey and the rest of the wait staff just looked exhausted, as did all of us. We had successfully “unplugged” away from iPhones for the entire trip and I was sad when everyone pulled them out and we were all sucked back into them for our final meal. I made a conscious effort to put it down quickly and enjoy our last meal on the ship. After breakfast we rolled off the ship:
We had used “Park and Cruise” to park the car, they were SO much cheaper than parking at the port. I was a little worried that we would have to wait forever for the shuttle but he picked us up RIGHT AWAY, literally NO wait and it was JUST US:
I highly recommend using them if driving to the port!!!
We got into the car very tired but so excited to be heading to Disney. We had booked 5 nights post cruise using our Disney Vacation club points at our home resort of Animal Kingdom Lodge. We splurged and did concierge level so we were so excited to see what that had to offer.
Lauren was instantly asleep and stayed that way for the whole ride to Disney:
We saw those Magical gates before we knew it:
Home sweet HOME!
Concierge is housed only inside of Jambo House (our favorite part of AKL anyway!):
We checked in at the gate and told them we were arriving for a stay and rolled on through.
Such a beautiful resort:
We got out and started unloading the car. As we did, a concierge member greeted us by name (we couldn’t believe it) and told us she’d be showing us upstairs, SWEET!!!!! I couldn’t get over the curbside service. She took us to the elevator and put in her magic key getting us up to the concierge floor. Our room wasn’t ready so we hung out in the lounge, helped ourselves to some of the goodies they had out and tried to decide what we wanted to do for the day. Diane and Bryan arrived too and couldn’t decide what they wanted and their room wasn’t ready either. As we sat there I noticed this GORGEOUS woman. She was dressed to the 9’s, had a body to die for (sorry, she was that beautiful that I noticed) and then I saw the ROCK on her finger. I was thinking “wonder who SHE is married to!?” Well……………… next thing I know guess who walked up to her and sat at the table with her and the kids. SCOTTIE PIPPIN!!!!!!! Oh my gosh! I couldn’t believe it. We all were in awe and starting posting on facebook that we were rolling with celebrities in the AKL concierge lounge : ) We never interrupted his family time for an autograph or pictures but we sure wanted to.
I threw out the idea that since our rooms weren’t ready and it was only like 9:30 how about we head over to the Animal Kingdom park and that way we could spend another day at one of the other parks and bust out Animal Kingdom park touring today- everyone seemed on board, so we headed down to the buses.
Luke in his Castaway Cay shirt:
We arrived at Animal Kingdom in no time:
And GOOD LORD so did the tour groups
First thing the boys decided they wanted to ride Expedition Everest, Lauren didn’t want to ride so walked over to get fast passes to the safari. A few stops along the way:
Got our fast passes:
We still hadn’t heard from the boys so we decided to head over to Dinoland since the plan was to meet up at Dinosaur and ride that after they got off of Everest. We jumped in the lack of line for Triceritop Swirl:
When we got off the boys were headed over (they had ridden twice) and we went inside Dinosaur:
Loved it, that ride is fun! (scary but fun!) On our way out of the gift shop we ran into Scottie Pippin and his family again (doing a VIP tour).
We decided to head inside the gift shops to look around:
It was time for our Safari fast pass so we walked back that way:
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!!
We headed up for an EARLY breakfast (I think it was 6:30) at Royal Palace. Here were our menus:
Poor Ana and Zoey and the rest of the wait staff just looked exhausted, as did all of us. We had successfully “unplugged” away from iPhones for the entire trip and I was sad when everyone pulled them out and we were all sucked back into them for our final meal. I made a conscious effort to put it down quickly and enjoy our last meal on the ship. After breakfast we rolled off the ship:
We had used “Park and Cruise” to park the car, they were SO much cheaper than parking at the port. I was a little worried that we would have to wait forever for the shuttle but he picked us up RIGHT AWAY, literally NO wait and it was JUST US:
I highly recommend using them if driving to the port!!!
We got into the car very tired but so excited to be heading to Disney. We had booked 5 nights post cruise using our Disney Vacation club points at our home resort of Animal Kingdom Lodge. We splurged and did concierge level so we were so excited to see what that had to offer.
Lauren was instantly asleep and stayed that way for the whole ride to Disney:
We saw those Magical gates before we knew it:
Home sweet HOME!
Concierge is housed only inside of Jambo House (our favorite part of AKL anyway!):
We checked in at the gate and told them we were arriving for a stay and rolled on through.
Such a beautiful resort:
We got out and started unloading the car. As we did, a concierge member greeted us by name (we couldn’t believe it) and told us she’d be showing us upstairs, SWEET!!!!! I couldn’t get over the curbside service. She took us to the elevator and put in her magic key getting us up to the concierge floor. Our room wasn’t ready so we hung out in the lounge, helped ourselves to some of the goodies they had out and tried to decide what we wanted to do for the day. Diane and Bryan arrived too and couldn’t decide what they wanted and their room wasn’t ready either. As we sat there I noticed this GORGEOUS woman. She was dressed to the 9’s, had a body to die for (sorry, she was that beautiful that I noticed) and then I saw the ROCK on her finger. I was thinking “wonder who SHE is married to!?” Well……………… next thing I know guess who walked up to her and sat at the table with her and the kids. SCOTTIE PIPPIN!!!!!!! Oh my gosh! I couldn’t believe it. We all were in awe and starting posting on facebook that we were rolling with celebrities in the AKL concierge lounge : ) We never interrupted his family time for an autograph or pictures but we sure wanted to.
I threw out the idea that since our rooms weren’t ready and it was only like 9:30 how about we head over to the Animal Kingdom park and that way we could spend another day at one of the other parks and bust out Animal Kingdom park touring today- everyone seemed on board, so we headed down to the buses.
Luke in his Castaway Cay shirt:
We arrived at Animal Kingdom in no time:
And GOOD LORD so did the tour groups
First thing the boys decided they wanted to ride Expedition Everest, Lauren didn’t want to ride so walked over to get fast passes to the safari. A few stops along the way:
Got our fast passes:
We still hadn’t heard from the boys so we decided to head over to Dinoland since the plan was to meet up at Dinosaur and ride that after they got off of Everest. We jumped in the lack of line for Triceritop Swirl:
When we got off the boys were headed over (they had ridden twice) and we went inside Dinosaur:
Loved it, that ride is fun! (scary but fun!) On our way out of the gift shop we ran into Scottie Pippin and his family again (doing a VIP tour).
We decided to head inside the gift shops to look around:
It was time for our Safari fast pass so we walked back that way:
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!!
timandlesley
<font color=darkorchid>The tag fairy may not but t
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2004
- Messages
- 5,523
On our way over we laughed because this bird REALLY wanted their turkey leg (Luke thought that was sick and called it a cannibal):
We hopped in our safari vehicle and were on our way:
We saw lots of giraffes this time:
After we were done with the safari we decided we wanted to go back to the resort to eat lunch and see if our room was ready. We were bummed because, still no text. As we were getting off of the bus I got a text saying our room was ready. WOO HOO!!!!
We had the BEST room location, right off the concierge lounge on that floor (literally a few doors down from the lounge). Here was our door:
We couldnt wait to get inside and check the room out:
We had a savannah view:
Tim didnt waste any time and put on his concierge robe to feel all swanky : )
There was a nice letter welcoming us and some flamingo chocolates : )
I headed down to Mara and grabbed some lunch for us and brought it back up to the room. We had a good time eating lunch and enjoying the view. I took about an hour nap and then when I woke up went outside to check out the view of the savannah with the kids.
As we were checking things out it was ostrich feeding time, this was SUCH fun to watch:
Luke loved the view:
We got freshened up for dinner. Before we left I headed down to the front desk to work some tooth fairy magic. I went down to the front desk and told them about the special occasion, they let me exchange some dollar bills for Disney dollars which I was sure would be a hit with Lauren!
After that was settled we drove over to the Boardwalk. Our dinner was at Teppan Edu so we decided it would be easiest to drive over there and go through the international gateway. In no time we were over in Japan ready for an awesome meal at one of our favorite places:
Luke enjoyed the hot towels:
We were so hungry I didnt take pictures of dinner but we had a GREAT meal, so yummy. After dinner we enjoyed the World Showcase (my favorite place in Disney world):
Lauren had us stop for Mo Rockin, her favorite!
We went over towards Great Britain to see the Toy Soldier. My beautiful girl in the pretty garden.
Toy Soldier:
We were kind of bummed to see that most of this store has been replaced with Beatles stuff instead of all of the toys we love.
After some shopping we decided to go back to the resort and enjoy some down time in the concierge lounge.
I LOVE that Luke still isnt too cool to hold our hands (I know those days are quickly numbered):
WE took in the scenes of the Boardwalk on our stroll back:
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!
We hopped in our safari vehicle and were on our way:
We saw lots of giraffes this time:
After we were done with the safari we decided we wanted to go back to the resort to eat lunch and see if our room was ready. We were bummed because, still no text. As we were getting off of the bus I got a text saying our room was ready. WOO HOO!!!!
We had the BEST room location, right off the concierge lounge on that floor (literally a few doors down from the lounge). Here was our door:
We couldnt wait to get inside and check the room out:
We had a savannah view:
Tim didnt waste any time and put on his concierge robe to feel all swanky : )
There was a nice letter welcoming us and some flamingo chocolates : )
I headed down to Mara and grabbed some lunch for us and brought it back up to the room. We had a good time eating lunch and enjoying the view. I took about an hour nap and then when I woke up went outside to check out the view of the savannah with the kids.
As we were checking things out it was ostrich feeding time, this was SUCH fun to watch:
Luke loved the view:
We got freshened up for dinner. Before we left I headed down to the front desk to work some tooth fairy magic. I went down to the front desk and told them about the special occasion, they let me exchange some dollar bills for Disney dollars which I was sure would be a hit with Lauren!
After that was settled we drove over to the Boardwalk. Our dinner was at Teppan Edu so we decided it would be easiest to drive over there and go through the international gateway. In no time we were over in Japan ready for an awesome meal at one of our favorite places:
Luke enjoyed the hot towels:
We were so hungry I didnt take pictures of dinner but we had a GREAT meal, so yummy. After dinner we enjoyed the World Showcase (my favorite place in Disney world):
Lauren had us stop for Mo Rockin, her favorite!
We went over towards Great Britain to see the Toy Soldier. My beautiful girl in the pretty garden.
Toy Soldier:
We were kind of bummed to see that most of this store has been replaced with Beatles stuff instead of all of the toys we love.
After some shopping we decided to go back to the resort and enjoy some down time in the concierge lounge.
I LOVE that Luke still isnt too cool to hold our hands (I know those days are quickly numbered):
WE took in the scenes of the Boardwalk on our stroll back:
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!
timandlesley
<font color=darkorchid>The tag fairy may not but t
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2004
- Messages
- 5,523
And another show:
And of course a FRIENDLY competition of who can reach the top of the stairs first:
Lauren was VICTORIOUS!
On the drive back to AKL there was a beautiful sunset:
Then we were welcomed home , always a great feeling:
We went up to our room, I took some lobby pics:
View looking down from outside of our room:
Here is a view of the sunset from our room:
Just love Animal Kingdom Lodge!
The lounge had dimmed lighting and they had wine and deserts out:
We had fun hanging out with Diane, Bryan and family in the lounge.
I was in HEAVEN because they had chocolate covered strawberries out with the wine, that was MY night cap!
Our room was turned down and looked incredible:
Good night!!!!!!
READ THE NEXT INSTALLMENT HERE!:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=42596960#post42596960
And of course a FRIENDLY competition of who can reach the top of the stairs first:
Lauren was VICTORIOUS!
On the drive back to AKL there was a beautiful sunset:
Then we were welcomed home , always a great feeling:
We went up to our room, I took some lobby pics:
View looking down from outside of our room:
Here is a view of the sunset from our room:
Just love Animal Kingdom Lodge!
The lounge had dimmed lighting and they had wine and deserts out:
We had fun hanging out with Diane, Bryan and family in the lounge.
I was in HEAVEN because they had chocolate covered strawberries out with the wine, that was MY night cap!
Our room was turned down and looked incredible:
Good night!!!!!!
READ THE NEXT INSTALLMENT HERE!:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=42596960#post42596960
Poolrat
I am alive, sometimes I wonder too.
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2008
- Messages
- 9,189
What an incredible way to return to shore.
I was able to score a couple of night at AKL with a Sav view over NYE.
Concierge was not to be for right now. Someday, Someday.
We got upgraded to concierge at the BC in 2008. Heavenly I tell you.
I was able to score a couple of night at AKL with a Sav view over NYE.
Concierge was not to be for right now. Someday, Someday. We got upgraded to concierge at the BC in 2008. Heavenly I tell you.
shannon47142
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2007
- Messages
- 944
Fun update
you took some great photos--the sunset was incedible!
you took some great photos--the sunset was incedible!
disneybarbie
Disney Princess
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2006
- Messages
- 2,873
Lovely update!
AKL concierge looks beautiful - we loved staying at Kidani for the one night before the cruise, such a lovely resort
Looking forward to your next updates!
Emma
x
AKL concierge looks beautiful - we loved staying at Kidani for the one night before the cruise, such a lovely resort
Looking forward to your next updates!
Emma
x
Stringbean&Wingnut
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2010
- Messages
- 3,989
What a nice way to end your cruise, with a Disney trip!! Your room looks like it was wonderful, and how fun to stay Concierge level - I've never done that before! I also love your pics from the Boardwalk - my favorite area
momof2cutegirls
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2005
- Messages
- 910
Love all of your sunset photos! Want to get your opinion on Boardwalk v. AKL. We stayed at both during our last trip. Love the location of Boardwalk as it's so close to World Showcase (my favorite too!), but the AKL resort was breathtaking!
Your thoughts?
Your thoughts?
I think I am going to pass out from sheer jealously!!!
gorgeous sunset, AMAAAAAZING concierge service, so much family fun, and...chocolate covered strawberries and wine before bed. Oh heaven on earth!!!!
Seeing your family pics just brings tears to my eyes. Can't wait to take our soon-to-be son there one day and have as much fun as y'all!
gorgeous sunset, AMAAAAAZING concierge service, so much family fun, and...chocolate covered strawberries and wine before bed. Oh heaven on earth!!!!
Seeing your family pics just brings tears to my eyes. Can't wait to take our soon-to-be son there one day and have as much fun as y'all!
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