Zoe (my almost 3 yr. old) and I just got back last night. We spent 4 nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and 5 very full days at the 4 parks. We took advantage of the special that was advertised just before the Fairy Tale Vacation rate and were able to stay at the lodge for $134 per night plus tax.
I fell in love with the AKL; the ambiance, art, music and the great staff. We somehow got upgraded (which I found out later. I thought we just got lucky). Our room was on the "Kudo" trail and everyday we saw giraffes, ankeole and the hornbill birds. My daughter loved sitting on the balcony looking at the animals. I had to be very careful to point out that her snacks were not to be shared with them or we'd be staying at a Motel 6 in Kissimmee after we got kicked out. They warn you that if you are caught feeding or endangering the animals in anyway you are outta there.
Day One
We arrived at the lodge Wednesday, May 28 around noon and were able to immediately go to our room. We had the Mears transfer from MCO and had to wait a short time for the bus then had to make 2 or 3 stops before AKL, but it gave us a chance to meet some other families on the ride. They all thought I was nuts for taking a toddler on by myself at WDW, but with it just being the two of us, we got moving very quickly and had no trouble getting last minute priority seating at some of the best places. My husband didn't want to go along on this trip because WDW isn't his thing like it is mine.
We got to the room, ordered room service, got the bed rails installed on Zoe's bed and watched for animals. I unpacked between eating and feeding Zoe. Then I studied the massive amount of papers that were handed to me at check-in.
Our game plan was to make our 2:30pm reservations for "Story Magic" at Epcot. We left the room around 1:30 and found the bus pick-up location and the Epcot bus was just getting there. We got to Epcot around 2pm and were able to ride Spaceship Earth right away. Then we rode Journey into Imagination and made it over to "Story Magic" in time! The story time was cute and the little ones that were there seemed to love it.
Then it was onto Sea Base Alpha. This was fun, BUT hard to contain a little on by yourself without being able to keep her in the stroller (you must leave strollers outside the entrance). Zoe was all over running from one viewing area to another. She loves fish and visiting Aquariums.
We wanted to go to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, but it was closed for refurbishment. So we walked over to World Showcase stopping to literally smell the flowers from Epcot's Flower show. The Dog maze was so cute and great fun for Zoe. If you don't know what it is---let me try to explain. It is a maze with topiaries representing various Disney Dog characters with a play area in the middle that resembled a giant kitty box, but was supposed to be sand where you could bury large plastic dog toys.
After we left the Dog Maze, we lucked out and caught all the characters in one place. There were hardly any people there so we were able to get lots of pictures of Zoe and Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck and others. I thought she would be scared, but she went right up to Mickey and gave him a huge hug. It was magical. I had fun talking to the characters about how nice it was that it wasn't too hot that day which got a huge thumbs up from one of them.
We then zoomed through all the countries, stopping to ride the Maelstrom, get a snack and ride
El Rio Del Tiempo. We caught a little of Dave Mason's show at the American Garden theatre as part of the entertainment du jour.
We were done with Epcot and I thought if the crowds are this thin and she can't go on the roller coasters, we are going to be able to visit each park with an extra day to spare. So we headed over to the Magic Kingdom with the intention of catching Spectro Magic parade and getting dinner. We rode the monorail to the TTC and waited so Zoe could ride in the front car. She loved it. We then took the ferry over to MK from TTC. Zoe likes to experience various means of transportation so it was important to try each kind.
Well, our plans of sailing through each park quickly vanished upon our arrival at MK. The crowds were thick and Main Street was full of folks lining up for their space at the parade. We made our way down the sidewalks and over to Fantasyland. We had to wait 45 horrendous minutes for Dumbo. Horrendous because my child could not understand why she couldn't get on NOW and she had several melt downs and even hit me and ran off. Thank goodness the lady in front of me in line was nice. She said go get her and I'll hold your spot. Zoe learned waiting her turn and the rest of the trip her favorite expression was "It's Zoe's turn!".
After Dumbo, we jumped on the carrousel, rode It's a Small World, Haunted Mansion. We gladly missed the parade and avoided the crowds. Then we decided to try to get something to eat. That was a nightmare. Every food outlet was closed in the Fantasyland and Adventureland area. We went by the Royal Table and begged for a table, but they were closing. Now I am very hungry and very tried and have to try to make it through the crowds to leave hoping we can get back to the hotel for room service. After running over many feet with the stroller (sorry), we saw the Casey's Corner and never did a hot dog sound so good. This great cast member, Anne Marie, helped me out when Zoe jumped out of her stroller (she can unbuckle herself) and headed into the adjacent gift shop. Zoe found the bleacher seating and the movies next door and Anne Marie made sure we got ketchup, mustard and napkins. She even gave Zoe a stack of Mickey Mouse stickers. She saved our night....thanks. She told us how to get out of there faster and advised us to relax and wait about 45 minutes before we tried to leave.
Day Two, May 29
We slept in and enjoyed the Breakfast Buffet at Boma. The best part of traveling with a child under 3 is that they do not charge them for buffets so two eat for the price of one.
We headed over to Animal Kingdom because I wanted to go to the closest park to start our day since we slept late. We managed to cover half the park seeing It's Tough to be a Bug, Pocahontas and Kilimanjaro Safari. Then we tried to eat lunch at Rainforest Cafe, but the wait was over an hour so we headed back to AKL for some fun in the sun.
We got our lunch to go at Mara and headed to the room to eat and change into our bathing suits. After bribing my daughter to eat something and then we'd go swimming, we headed out to the pool. What a great pool and the fact that they provide swim vests for the little ones was great. Zoe loved floating and practicing kicking in the water. We also played in the playground.
We rested and headed back to the MK for our reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table for dinner. We were able to squeeze in a ride on the Carrousel before dinner. Dinner was great and they gave Zoe a card and little cake when we told them she was celebrating her birthday early at WDW. After that, every night Zoe had to have Happy Birthday sang to her and blow out a candle on top of ice cream or cake. We were finished with dinner about 15 minutes before park closing so we ran over to Dumbo and got to ride two times in a row. The second time was about 2 minutes to closing and they were letting the last few people in line on which left about 6 empty elephants so we just stayed seated knowing that we weren't taking away anyone's chance of riding.
We got back to the AKL around 8pm and called it a night.
Day three, May 30.
We decided to open and close MK this day. We had priority seating for the Crystal Palace Character breakfast with Winnie the Pooh. This time Zoe was scared of the characters even though she loves Pooh. She decided that she rather take pictures of them then be in any. I with I had bought her a disposable camera to play around with as my camera lens was full of little finger prints. I'm not sure what the pictures will look like and how many of the floor and ceiling that I may get, but Oh well, we had fun.
After breakfast we traveled counter clockwise through the park and did each ride that she could go on and saw all the shows. I was disappointed that the Diamond Horseshoe Revue and Winnie the Pooh was closed.
We made it over to the Barber Shop on Main Street and Zoe got a haircut and decorated with gold gel and pixie dust. She was done right before the 3pm Share a Dream Come True parade. We got to see the "Finding Nemo" promo portion of the parade on its first day.
We were going to leave after that, but ended up making dinner reservations for Tony's. Before dinner we grabbed a FastPass for Buzz Lightyear and went to do the Indy Car ride until it was our turn. We loved FastPass and always managed to get in 2 other rides while we waited for our assigned time to return. I don't know why more people didn't use it because it is great.
We ended our day with dinner at Tony's which was good, but I thought overpriced and not as good as the Royal Table or my best meal at Sci Fi Dine in at MGM.
Stayed tune for the rest of our adventures and my observations of park hopping with toddler in another post.
I fell in love with the AKL; the ambiance, art, music and the great staff. We somehow got upgraded (which I found out later. I thought we just got lucky). Our room was on the "Kudo" trail and everyday we saw giraffes, ankeole and the hornbill birds. My daughter loved sitting on the balcony looking at the animals. I had to be very careful to point out that her snacks were not to be shared with them or we'd be staying at a Motel 6 in Kissimmee after we got kicked out. They warn you that if you are caught feeding or endangering the animals in anyway you are outta there.
Day One
We arrived at the lodge Wednesday, May 28 around noon and were able to immediately go to our room. We had the Mears transfer from MCO and had to wait a short time for the bus then had to make 2 or 3 stops before AKL, but it gave us a chance to meet some other families on the ride. They all thought I was nuts for taking a toddler on by myself at WDW, but with it just being the two of us, we got moving very quickly and had no trouble getting last minute priority seating at some of the best places. My husband didn't want to go along on this trip because WDW isn't his thing like it is mine.
We got to the room, ordered room service, got the bed rails installed on Zoe's bed and watched for animals. I unpacked between eating and feeding Zoe. Then I studied the massive amount of papers that were handed to me at check-in.
Our game plan was to make our 2:30pm reservations for "Story Magic" at Epcot. We left the room around 1:30 and found the bus pick-up location and the Epcot bus was just getting there. We got to Epcot around 2pm and were able to ride Spaceship Earth right away. Then we rode Journey into Imagination and made it over to "Story Magic" in time! The story time was cute and the little ones that were there seemed to love it.
Then it was onto Sea Base Alpha. This was fun, BUT hard to contain a little on by yourself without being able to keep her in the stroller (you must leave strollers outside the entrance). Zoe was all over running from one viewing area to another. She loves fish and visiting Aquariums.
We wanted to go to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, but it was closed for refurbishment. So we walked over to World Showcase stopping to literally smell the flowers from Epcot's Flower show. The Dog maze was so cute and great fun for Zoe. If you don't know what it is---let me try to explain. It is a maze with topiaries representing various Disney Dog characters with a play area in the middle that resembled a giant kitty box, but was supposed to be sand where you could bury large plastic dog toys.
After we left the Dog Maze, we lucked out and caught all the characters in one place. There were hardly any people there so we were able to get lots of pictures of Zoe and Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck and others. I thought she would be scared, but she went right up to Mickey and gave him a huge hug. It was magical. I had fun talking to the characters about how nice it was that it wasn't too hot that day which got a huge thumbs up from one of them.
We then zoomed through all the countries, stopping to ride the Maelstrom, get a snack and ride
El Rio Del Tiempo. We caught a little of Dave Mason's show at the American Garden theatre as part of the entertainment du jour.
We were done with Epcot and I thought if the crowds are this thin and she can't go on the roller coasters, we are going to be able to visit each park with an extra day to spare. So we headed over to the Magic Kingdom with the intention of catching Spectro Magic parade and getting dinner. We rode the monorail to the TTC and waited so Zoe could ride in the front car. She loved it. We then took the ferry over to MK from TTC. Zoe likes to experience various means of transportation so it was important to try each kind.
Well, our plans of sailing through each park quickly vanished upon our arrival at MK. The crowds were thick and Main Street was full of folks lining up for their space at the parade. We made our way down the sidewalks and over to Fantasyland. We had to wait 45 horrendous minutes for Dumbo. Horrendous because my child could not understand why she couldn't get on NOW and she had several melt downs and even hit me and ran off. Thank goodness the lady in front of me in line was nice. She said go get her and I'll hold your spot. Zoe learned waiting her turn and the rest of the trip her favorite expression was "It's Zoe's turn!".
After Dumbo, we jumped on the carrousel, rode It's a Small World, Haunted Mansion. We gladly missed the parade and avoided the crowds. Then we decided to try to get something to eat. That was a nightmare. Every food outlet was closed in the Fantasyland and Adventureland area. We went by the Royal Table and begged for a table, but they were closing. Now I am very hungry and very tried and have to try to make it through the crowds to leave hoping we can get back to the hotel for room service. After running over many feet with the stroller (sorry), we saw the Casey's Corner and never did a hot dog sound so good. This great cast member, Anne Marie, helped me out when Zoe jumped out of her stroller (she can unbuckle herself) and headed into the adjacent gift shop. Zoe found the bleacher seating and the movies next door and Anne Marie made sure we got ketchup, mustard and napkins. She even gave Zoe a stack of Mickey Mouse stickers. She saved our night....thanks. She told us how to get out of there faster and advised us to relax and wait about 45 minutes before we tried to leave.
Day Two, May 29
We slept in and enjoyed the Breakfast Buffet at Boma. The best part of traveling with a child under 3 is that they do not charge them for buffets so two eat for the price of one.
We headed over to Animal Kingdom because I wanted to go to the closest park to start our day since we slept late. We managed to cover half the park seeing It's Tough to be a Bug, Pocahontas and Kilimanjaro Safari. Then we tried to eat lunch at Rainforest Cafe, but the wait was over an hour so we headed back to AKL for some fun in the sun.
We got our lunch to go at Mara and headed to the room to eat and change into our bathing suits. After bribing my daughter to eat something and then we'd go swimming, we headed out to the pool. What a great pool and the fact that they provide swim vests for the little ones was great. Zoe loved floating and practicing kicking in the water. We also played in the playground.
We rested and headed back to the MK for our reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table for dinner. We were able to squeeze in a ride on the Carrousel before dinner. Dinner was great and they gave Zoe a card and little cake when we told them she was celebrating her birthday early at WDW. After that, every night Zoe had to have Happy Birthday sang to her and blow out a candle on top of ice cream or cake. We were finished with dinner about 15 minutes before park closing so we ran over to Dumbo and got to ride two times in a row. The second time was about 2 minutes to closing and they were letting the last few people in line on which left about 6 empty elephants so we just stayed seated knowing that we weren't taking away anyone's chance of riding.
We got back to the AKL around 8pm and called it a night.
Day three, May 30.
We decided to open and close MK this day. We had priority seating for the Crystal Palace Character breakfast with Winnie the Pooh. This time Zoe was scared of the characters even though she loves Pooh. She decided that she rather take pictures of them then be in any. I with I had bought her a disposable camera to play around with as my camera lens was full of little finger prints. I'm not sure what the pictures will look like and how many of the floor and ceiling that I may get, but Oh well, we had fun.
After breakfast we traveled counter clockwise through the park and did each ride that she could go on and saw all the shows. I was disappointed that the Diamond Horseshoe Revue and Winnie the Pooh was closed.
We made it over to the Barber Shop on Main Street and Zoe got a haircut and decorated with gold gel and pixie dust. She was done right before the 3pm Share a Dream Come True parade. We got to see the "Finding Nemo" promo portion of the parade on its first day.
We were going to leave after that, but ended up making dinner reservations for Tony's. Before dinner we grabbed a FastPass for Buzz Lightyear and went to do the Indy Car ride until it was our turn. We loved FastPass and always managed to get in 2 other rides while we waited for our assigned time to return. I don't know why more people didn't use it because it is great.
We ended our day with dinner at Tony's which was good, but I thought overpriced and not as good as the Royal Table or my best meal at Sci Fi Dine in at MGM.
Stayed tune for the rest of our adventures and my observations of park hopping with toddler in another post.
Joan
