dani0622
Mouseketeer<br><font color=00cc00>Blames the DIS f
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2005
- Messages
- 867
Back in NJ buried in snow
Sigh, just a few days ago saying how we wished it was warmer than 60 degrees. Had a fun trip, exhausting but fun. First time staying on property at Animal Kingdom Lodge (Ill be posting a review on the resort board for that). Decent weather, hit 70 degrees twice, mostly in 60s, mornings and evenings a little chilly.
Day 1- Arrival day
Arrived at MCO around 10:30 am. Found ME quite easily. Very long line though. Very convenient not having to tote around luggage. ME bus seats were way more comfortable than Continentals airline seats. We had to stop at Pop Century and Coronado Springs before being dropped off at AKL. Thought along with other AKL guests that maybe we should have been dropped off first since we were the deluxe resort. Not being superior here, just thought it made sense to have a little luxury. Ended up being on bus for about 45 minutes (not as bad as departing date ). Arrived at AKL at 2:00 pm. Room was not ready, and no, we did not get an upgrade from our standard view room (I know thats a big question around here). We had a very unenthusiastic person checking us in, borderline rude, didnt bother giving us a bunch of paperwork we got from bell services later on or explaining things. We got a quick bite (bought our refillable mugs) and toured and called promptly at 3 and our room was ready. Nice room, very close to check in area outside. One piece of luggage was there the other two missing. Called to bell services to see if we should be concerned with luggage and they said it should arrive in an hour, this was normal. Two hours later it showed up at 5:00 pm. Finally got to unpack, shower, and make plans. We headed down to bus stops and were promptly picked up by a bus. Went to DD and ended up at Adventurers Club for our first time (Kungaloosh!). Had a few drinks, some fun, and were quite surprised to see the amount of small children and babies there. Like other people have said, it can get pretty raunchy but funny and I couldnt believe parents bringing their small kids there. The performers did seem to pick on the kids (like joking about booze in their sippy cups). Had a quick bite at McDonalds which was packed and headed back to room for well needed sleep.
Day 2- MK
Had ADRs at 7:30 am at Ohanas. Went down to bus at 7:00am. Bus driver picked us up at 7:10 am and got to MK in 15 minutes- cutting it close! Thought wed be dropped off at TTC not directly in front of MK. Hopped on Monorail thinking ok be there in five minutes WRONG!!! First stop was Contemporary. Monorail driver stopped, got off and chatted it up with cast members there for 15 minutes!!! Why didnt we say anything, we didnt realize what was going on until it was time to leave, thought it was normal to be waiting that long! Now panicking, DH says we are getting off next stop and walking (had no idea it was a good 10 minute walk from TTC to Polynesian). When we get off monorail driver says my next stop is Poly, we say we know but we cant wait 15 minutes again we are already late for our ADRs. She got in a huff and said fine and promptly took off! We are peeved but what could we do? Were a half hour late for ADRs but were seated luckily. Did notice if we had later reservations we probably would have lost them because Ohanas got really crowded. After breakfast headed to MK. This was one of our most awesome days! Parks were practically empty! Walked on almost every ride or used fast pass very conveniently. Did encounter some very rude people (will post on shocking thread ) Went back to room for a few hour break and came back for EMH. Rode POC 2x, BTMRR 3x, HM 2x, SM 2x. Had a blast! Only one bad occurrence, DH left refillable mug on monorail, and called lost and found and they never found it. Told AKL front desk and they were just kinda of like oh well, call lost and found. Not helpful at all. Had to buy another mug, which stunk. Saw very little dance teams walking around as anticipated.
Day 3 Epcot
Another awesome day with very low crowds. Only crowds encountered were at The Land pavilion which was expected. Got fast passes for Soarin, left the Land, came back, rode Soaring, had ADRs for Garden Grill, then got fast passes for Living with the Land. Took Behind the Seeds Tour and then with five minutes to spare used fast passes for the attraction. Tour was fun and informative, dont really need to do attraction if you do the tour. Had a great dinner at Rose and Crown with a great view of Illuminations. Again, only issue was some rude people!
Day 4 MGM
Snuck over to AK to see if EE was open and it was!!! Walked on twice within 20 minutes! Very awesome ride!!! Then left for MGM which was our original plans. Again, very low crowds, walked right on Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. Took in a few more attractions, had lunch at 50s PT and then headed back for early evening and a nice dinner at Boma.
Day 5- AK and DD
Spent morning at AK rode EE again, lines were a little longer. Saw the most animals ever on Safari ride, it was incredible. Walked right into Its a Bugs Life. Headed back to room to try to swim, that lasted five minutes because of cold. Headed back to Downtown Disney. This was the only time we had to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus. It took a half hour, it must have been some glitch. Did some shopping (World of Disney was PACKED!). Started seeing first signs of cheerleading teams. Tried to eat at Fultons but was an hour wait. Tried Raglan Road and it was 20 minute wait. Had a good time there, headed back to Adventurers Club for a while. Again, surprised to see small children in babies on PI. Left around 12:30 and even saw an infant being wheeled into PI.
Day 6 Back to Epcot
Slept in and then headed back to Epcot. Again, pretty low crowds except for the Land. Got fast passes for Soarin and then did some other stuff- walked onto El Rio Del Tiemp. After Soarin DH headed over to Mission Space. Standby time was 20 minutes and single rider was 5 so he went that route. HALF HOUR later comes out! While he was waiting I checked times again and stand by was at 5 minutes and single rider was 30 minutes! They really need to do something about that! Had ADRs for lunch at Le Cellier, had to wait about 20 minutes. Watch family after family get turned away. Actually heard Cast Members say they were booked until Sunday for lunch and dinner. Saw quite of few of those people get really annoyed. Who said planning was bad! Had a great meal, toured the rest of the countries, walked onto Maelstrom. Went back to room for a little while to change clothes and head back to MK to catch Spectromagic at 7:00 pm which was only being done Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. On the way there around 6:00pm, heard multiple families talking about how they hope that MK was open until 10 but 9 would be okay. Okay, MK was open til 8 that night, hello people plan to not disappoint (these people are clearly not DISers!!!). MK very low crowds, left after parade before Wishes.
Day 7 Back to MK
This was UCA (cheerleaders) day- even had a welcome banner. The parks were pretty crowded. Fast passes were going pretty quick, SM had a 60 minute wait. Saw a ton of cheerleading teams, Brazilian tour groups (which were surprisingly louder than the cheerleaders!), and a ton of kids on school trips. It was pretty hard to just walk around. We hit up our fav rides and then headed back to resort to relax. Had a nice dinner at Jiko, but let me tell you AKL was a zoo!!! We had to wait 25 minutes for our table even though we had ADRs. I requested to not sit in the first area or that small enclosed room but to sit in the open area. When it was time to be seated they brought us right to the small enclosed room. I said please I really dont want to sit here I did request to sit in the main room, they did get a little annoyed with me but said fine youll have to wait. Okay, had to wait another 15 minutes but then got a table in the main room. Once seated we had to wait almost 20 minutes for someone to take our drink. Our waiter who was really not supposed to be our waiter came over in a panic and noticed no one had come over and took care of us. Decent meal but wouldnt go back based on service and treatment (more detailed review to come).
Day 8- Home
ME pickup was at 7:35, said to be out there 15 minutes before. Checked out at 630 headed over to Airline check in. The two dopes there were fooling around and joking around so much that they screwed up our luggage checkin and only printed out a tag for 2 of our 3 pieces. They said we would have to check the 3rd bag at airport, which defeated the whole purpose. So annoyed we sat waiting for bus. Went outside 15 minutes before with another couple. Bus came 730. Still had to wait until 735 for one last family (do people even read their instructions?). Then had to pickup at Beach Club, CBR, and Boardwalk!!! Were on bus doing pickups for almost an hour! Getting nervous because flight was at 1030 and still had to check a piece of luggage. Got to airport at 9am and fortunately Continental had no wait (other airlines had really long waits). Checked the one piece of luggage and took our slightly delayed flight back home to chilly NJ.
All in all, it was fun, but being there twice in one year I think was too much for us. Its going to be a few years before we go back. We need a relaxing beach vacation next. Overall decent weather, wish it had been warmer, low crowds except for last day at MK. Still amazed at the rudeness of people and how uninformed people were when it came to events, hours, ADRs, etc. We even had a few snarky comments come our way when we used fast pass. The one gripe about AKL was that we had a pair of dirty underwear (Playboy labeled!) on the roof shingles outside the balcony next to our room the entire week. We made several calls about it and they always said they would take care of it and they never did. In fact if you stay in room 4015 at AKL soon, I bet they are still there. I would probably not use ME again, due to the wait times and luggage aggravation. Overall we love WDW but we need a vacation from our vacation!!!
Day 1- Arrival day
Arrived at MCO around 10:30 am. Found ME quite easily. Very long line though. Very convenient not having to tote around luggage. ME bus seats were way more comfortable than Continentals airline seats. We had to stop at Pop Century and Coronado Springs before being dropped off at AKL. Thought along with other AKL guests that maybe we should have been dropped off first since we were the deluxe resort. Not being superior here, just thought it made sense to have a little luxury. Ended up being on bus for about 45 minutes (not as bad as departing date ). Arrived at AKL at 2:00 pm. Room was not ready, and no, we did not get an upgrade from our standard view room (I know thats a big question around here). We had a very unenthusiastic person checking us in, borderline rude, didnt bother giving us a bunch of paperwork we got from bell services later on or explaining things. We got a quick bite (bought our refillable mugs) and toured and called promptly at 3 and our room was ready. Nice room, very close to check in area outside. One piece of luggage was there the other two missing. Called to bell services to see if we should be concerned with luggage and they said it should arrive in an hour, this was normal. Two hours later it showed up at 5:00 pm. Finally got to unpack, shower, and make plans. We headed down to bus stops and were promptly picked up by a bus. Went to DD and ended up at Adventurers Club for our first time (Kungaloosh!). Had a few drinks, some fun, and were quite surprised to see the amount of small children and babies there. Like other people have said, it can get pretty raunchy but funny and I couldnt believe parents bringing their small kids there. The performers did seem to pick on the kids (like joking about booze in their sippy cups). Had a quick bite at McDonalds which was packed and headed back to room for well needed sleep.
Day 2- MK
Had ADRs at 7:30 am at Ohanas. Went down to bus at 7:00am. Bus driver picked us up at 7:10 am and got to MK in 15 minutes- cutting it close! Thought wed be dropped off at TTC not directly in front of MK. Hopped on Monorail thinking ok be there in five minutes WRONG!!! First stop was Contemporary. Monorail driver stopped, got off and chatted it up with cast members there for 15 minutes!!! Why didnt we say anything, we didnt realize what was going on until it was time to leave, thought it was normal to be waiting that long! Now panicking, DH says we are getting off next stop and walking (had no idea it was a good 10 minute walk from TTC to Polynesian). When we get off monorail driver says my next stop is Poly, we say we know but we cant wait 15 minutes again we are already late for our ADRs. She got in a huff and said fine and promptly took off! We are peeved but what could we do? Were a half hour late for ADRs but were seated luckily. Did notice if we had later reservations we probably would have lost them because Ohanas got really crowded. After breakfast headed to MK. This was one of our most awesome days! Parks were practically empty! Walked on almost every ride or used fast pass very conveniently. Did encounter some very rude people (will post on shocking thread ) Went back to room for a few hour break and came back for EMH. Rode POC 2x, BTMRR 3x, HM 2x, SM 2x. Had a blast! Only one bad occurrence, DH left refillable mug on monorail, and called lost and found and they never found it. Told AKL front desk and they were just kinda of like oh well, call lost and found. Not helpful at all. Had to buy another mug, which stunk. Saw very little dance teams walking around as anticipated.
Day 3 Epcot
Another awesome day with very low crowds. Only crowds encountered were at The Land pavilion which was expected. Got fast passes for Soarin, left the Land, came back, rode Soaring, had ADRs for Garden Grill, then got fast passes for Living with the Land. Took Behind the Seeds Tour and then with five minutes to spare used fast passes for the attraction. Tour was fun and informative, dont really need to do attraction if you do the tour. Had a great dinner at Rose and Crown with a great view of Illuminations. Again, only issue was some rude people!
Day 4 MGM
Snuck over to AK to see if EE was open and it was!!! Walked on twice within 20 minutes! Very awesome ride!!! Then left for MGM which was our original plans. Again, very low crowds, walked right on Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. Took in a few more attractions, had lunch at 50s PT and then headed back for early evening and a nice dinner at Boma.
Day 5- AK and DD
Spent morning at AK rode EE again, lines were a little longer. Saw the most animals ever on Safari ride, it was incredible. Walked right into Its a Bugs Life. Headed back to room to try to swim, that lasted five minutes because of cold. Headed back to Downtown Disney. This was the only time we had to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus. It took a half hour, it must have been some glitch. Did some shopping (World of Disney was PACKED!). Started seeing first signs of cheerleading teams. Tried to eat at Fultons but was an hour wait. Tried Raglan Road and it was 20 minute wait. Had a good time there, headed back to Adventurers Club for a while. Again, surprised to see small children in babies on PI. Left around 12:30 and even saw an infant being wheeled into PI.
Day 6 Back to Epcot
Slept in and then headed back to Epcot. Again, pretty low crowds except for the Land. Got fast passes for Soarin and then did some other stuff- walked onto El Rio Del Tiemp. After Soarin DH headed over to Mission Space. Standby time was 20 minutes and single rider was 5 so he went that route. HALF HOUR later comes out! While he was waiting I checked times again and stand by was at 5 minutes and single rider was 30 minutes! They really need to do something about that! Had ADRs for lunch at Le Cellier, had to wait about 20 minutes. Watch family after family get turned away. Actually heard Cast Members say they were booked until Sunday for lunch and dinner. Saw quite of few of those people get really annoyed. Who said planning was bad! Had a great meal, toured the rest of the countries, walked onto Maelstrom. Went back to room for a little while to change clothes and head back to MK to catch Spectromagic at 7:00 pm which was only being done Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. On the way there around 6:00pm, heard multiple families talking about how they hope that MK was open until 10 but 9 would be okay. Okay, MK was open til 8 that night, hello people plan to not disappoint (these people are clearly not DISers!!!). MK very low crowds, left after parade before Wishes.
Day 7 Back to MK
This was UCA (cheerleaders) day- even had a welcome banner. The parks were pretty crowded. Fast passes were going pretty quick, SM had a 60 minute wait. Saw a ton of cheerleading teams, Brazilian tour groups (which were surprisingly louder than the cheerleaders!), and a ton of kids on school trips. It was pretty hard to just walk around. We hit up our fav rides and then headed back to resort to relax. Had a nice dinner at Jiko, but let me tell you AKL was a zoo!!! We had to wait 25 minutes for our table even though we had ADRs. I requested to not sit in the first area or that small enclosed room but to sit in the open area. When it was time to be seated they brought us right to the small enclosed room. I said please I really dont want to sit here I did request to sit in the main room, they did get a little annoyed with me but said fine youll have to wait. Okay, had to wait another 15 minutes but then got a table in the main room. Once seated we had to wait almost 20 minutes for someone to take our drink. Our waiter who was really not supposed to be our waiter came over in a panic and noticed no one had come over and took care of us. Decent meal but wouldnt go back based on service and treatment (more detailed review to come).
Day 8- Home
ME pickup was at 7:35, said to be out there 15 minutes before. Checked out at 630 headed over to Airline check in. The two dopes there were fooling around and joking around so much that they screwed up our luggage checkin and only printed out a tag for 2 of our 3 pieces. They said we would have to check the 3rd bag at airport, which defeated the whole purpose. So annoyed we sat waiting for bus. Went outside 15 minutes before with another couple. Bus came 730. Still had to wait until 735 for one last family (do people even read their instructions?). Then had to pickup at Beach Club, CBR, and Boardwalk!!! Were on bus doing pickups for almost an hour! Getting nervous because flight was at 1030 and still had to check a piece of luggage. Got to airport at 9am and fortunately Continental had no wait (other airlines had really long waits). Checked the one piece of luggage and took our slightly delayed flight back home to chilly NJ.
All in all, it was fun, but being there twice in one year I think was too much for us. Its going to be a few years before we go back. We need a relaxing beach vacation next. Overall decent weather, wish it had been warmer, low crowds except for last day at MK. Still amazed at the rudeness of people and how uninformed people were when it came to events, hours, ADRs, etc. We even had a few snarky comments come our way when we used fast pass. The one gripe about AKL was that we had a pair of dirty underwear (Playboy labeled!) on the roof shingles outside the balcony next to our room the entire week. We made several calls about it and they always said they would take care of it and they never did. In fact if you stay in room 4015 at AKL soon, I bet they are still there. I would probably not use ME again, due to the wait times and luggage aggravation. Overall we love WDW but we need a vacation from our vacation!!!
