Hope you enjoy the trip report
The weather was absolutely fantastic for the entire time. We had low to high 80's for the entire trip, not a drop of rain, and those beautiful blue Florida skies.
The coolest part of this trip was that our DD was finally tall enough and wanted to do more of the adult rides. So she hit most of the big ones, Space Mountain, Everest, Mission Space etc...and did great. It was awesome to see her so excited to ride the big rides, but a little sad to think she was always just happy to do Dumbo, but now she wants to do everything! We really enjoyed the time together
Saturday Oct 16thWe arrived at Kidani Village around 12:30 and went to the front desk. I had used online check-in and requested a top floor room. We were told our room would not be ready until close to 4:00. That was fine as we dont do much on arrival day, so we changed into our bathing suits and headed for the pool. It was a beautiful sunny day, probably mid 80's. I went over to the Publix market around 3:00 to pick up provisions for the room. Got back and the DW and DD were in the room, so up with the groceries. I got my request for top floor, we were in Rafiki Room 7903 - a nice one bedroom close to the lobby elevators. Funny, we had a problem with the toilet flushing in the big bathroom, same issue we had last year, and we were just a few doors down. We had reservations for BOMA at 6:20, but DD was hungry, so we went over a little after 5:00 and they were able to seat us. Love the BOMA buffet, my favorite is the ancho ribs, but I also really liked the tomato yogurt sauce with cheese (forgot the name) over rice. My favorite dessert was the Kenyan Coffee tarts. We had a great meal, checked out some animals and then went back to Kidani for the evening parade/story in the lobby. Hung out by the fire and then up to the room to rest up for Sunday and the start of the parks.
Sunday October 17th Got up around 7:30, cooked a little breakfast in the room, and off to Sea World. It was our first time at Sea World and we were very impressed. Beautiful park and layout, loved the shows we got to see, and Manta is a great Roller Coaster. Spent the full day and did the Halloween Spooktacular, I am sure we will go back. Got back to the room and made dinner and relaxed.
Monday October 18th Went to Cape May Cafe for Breakfast, really good way to start a day in the parks. I think they do a great job, with a lot of offerings, probably the best breakfast we have been to at WDW. Got a good amount of time in with the characters, but only Goofy, Donald and Minnie - I know there were more last time. Hollywood Studios was our park for the day, and this seemed to be the most crowded we found a park during our week. Aerosmith was consistently in the 40-50 minute range, and even TOT was 30 minutes. I got Toy Story FP's at 10:30 and they were for 7:30 in the evening. We did TOT and Aerosmith, walked around, and went back to the room around 1:00 Spent the afternoon at the pool had a little lunch in the room, and went back to the park. HS had extra magic hours. The line for the 9:00 Fantasmic show was crazy, but we did some other things and just walked in right before the show. Didnt have great seats, but it beats standing in line for an hour. We hit most stuff, Muppets, we skipped Motor Show - which I like but no biggie.
Tuesday October 19th We spent the day at the pool because we had passes for MNSSHP. I drove over to Bay Lake Towers and walked around, walked over the pass to the Contemporary. Very cool. What a great location, not sure the look or feel of BLT is for me, but what a great spot. Took some pictures, wandered around and then went back for another swim. We got over to MK around 4:00, and got in. The lines for the rides were very short, we hit every ride we wanted, saw the late parade, did a little trick or treat, and had a ball. Thanks to everyone who recommended this - we loved it and will do it again
Wednesday October 20th My favorite EPCOT and the F&W Fest. I ate my way around the world, my favorites were the beef skewer with Chimichurri sauce in Argentina, Enchilada in Mexico, BBQ Chicken in China. The beer stops were very nice, and my wife really enjoyed the Cheddar Cheese soup in Canada. One of my favorites as well. We got all the rides in upfront (NEMO, Soarin, TT, MS, SE etc..). We did Soarin twice, but spent a lot of time in Innovations and really enjoyed the exhibits there. I need to spend more time in that place. We were there for .38 Special, the songs brought back some old high school memories. They sounded good, and my wife loves Off-Kilter so that is a must do. We stayed for the fireworks and then headed home. Good eats all the way around!!
Thursday Oct 21st Another lazy pool day - and had no plans. I took a break from the pool and headed over to DTD and got a Sandwich at Earl's and took a walk around Saratoga Springs our home, glad to see it looking so good. Went back for an afternoon swim with the family then back to DTD for dinner. We had plans for Whispering Canyon but no one was really very hungry for a big meal. I was bummed to cancel, but we will try again. We did go over to Wilderness Lodge just to walk around, we love that resort to. Then over to DTD, wife went to EARL for the Holiday Sandwich, and I went got a fish and chips. We all hit Ghiradelli for Ice Cream and then just walked aroune.
Friday Oct 22nd Animal Kingdom Park. Another great day, crowds seemed light, got everything in. A lot of character pictures here, and did the rides two or three times each. The only ride we got a FP for was the Safari. We also did a few more of the shows (Lion King, Birds of Wonder etc..) that we have missed previously. This park was open until 8, but we left at 5:00, as we like to traditionally end our vacations with an evening on the Boardwalk. Tough to find parking, we got into the Beach Club - and were lucky with that. We hung out, saw the acts (Brian - our favorite was great). I will say they could get a much better pizza place than spoodles - dreadful. They need to up the food factor, we usually just get ice cream and I should have known better. We ended up over at the Beach Club watching UP on the beach. It was a fantastic way to end the vacation
Sat Oct 23rd Our flight didnt leave until 4:00 so we checked out, had a couple hours at the pool and then headed for home.
It was a great trip, we really relaxed and enjoyed our down time as much as our park time. So sad that it has to end!!
The weather was absolutely fantastic for the entire time. We had low to high 80's for the entire trip, not a drop of rain, and those beautiful blue Florida skies.
The coolest part of this trip was that our DD was finally tall enough and wanted to do more of the adult rides. So she hit most of the big ones, Space Mountain, Everest, Mission Space etc...and did great. It was awesome to see her so excited to ride the big rides, but a little sad to think she was always just happy to do Dumbo, but now she wants to do everything! We really enjoyed the time together
Saturday Oct 16thWe arrived at Kidani Village around 12:30 and went to the front desk. I had used online check-in and requested a top floor room. We were told our room would not be ready until close to 4:00. That was fine as we dont do much on arrival day, so we changed into our bathing suits and headed for the pool. It was a beautiful sunny day, probably mid 80's. I went over to the Publix market around 3:00 to pick up provisions for the room. Got back and the DW and DD were in the room, so up with the groceries. I got my request for top floor, we were in Rafiki Room 7903 - a nice one bedroom close to the lobby elevators. Funny, we had a problem with the toilet flushing in the big bathroom, same issue we had last year, and we were just a few doors down. We had reservations for BOMA at 6:20, but DD was hungry, so we went over a little after 5:00 and they were able to seat us. Love the BOMA buffet, my favorite is the ancho ribs, but I also really liked the tomato yogurt sauce with cheese (forgot the name) over rice. My favorite dessert was the Kenyan Coffee tarts. We had a great meal, checked out some animals and then went back to Kidani for the evening parade/story in the lobby. Hung out by the fire and then up to the room to rest up for Sunday and the start of the parks.
Sunday October 17th Got up around 7:30, cooked a little breakfast in the room, and off to Sea World. It was our first time at Sea World and we were very impressed. Beautiful park and layout, loved the shows we got to see, and Manta is a great Roller Coaster. Spent the full day and did the Halloween Spooktacular, I am sure we will go back. Got back to the room and made dinner and relaxed.
Monday October 18th Went to Cape May Cafe for Breakfast, really good way to start a day in the parks. I think they do a great job, with a lot of offerings, probably the best breakfast we have been to at WDW. Got a good amount of time in with the characters, but only Goofy, Donald and Minnie - I know there were more last time. Hollywood Studios was our park for the day, and this seemed to be the most crowded we found a park during our week. Aerosmith was consistently in the 40-50 minute range, and even TOT was 30 minutes. I got Toy Story FP's at 10:30 and they were for 7:30 in the evening. We did TOT and Aerosmith, walked around, and went back to the room around 1:00 Spent the afternoon at the pool had a little lunch in the room, and went back to the park. HS had extra magic hours. The line for the 9:00 Fantasmic show was crazy, but we did some other things and just walked in right before the show. Didnt have great seats, but it beats standing in line for an hour. We hit most stuff, Muppets, we skipped Motor Show - which I like but no biggie.
Tuesday October 19th We spent the day at the pool because we had passes for MNSSHP. I drove over to Bay Lake Towers and walked around, walked over the pass to the Contemporary. Very cool. What a great location, not sure the look or feel of BLT is for me, but what a great spot. Took some pictures, wandered around and then went back for another swim. We got over to MK around 4:00, and got in. The lines for the rides were very short, we hit every ride we wanted, saw the late parade, did a little trick or treat, and had a ball. Thanks to everyone who recommended this - we loved it and will do it again
Wednesday October 20th My favorite EPCOT and the F&W Fest. I ate my way around the world, my favorites were the beef skewer with Chimichurri sauce in Argentina, Enchilada in Mexico, BBQ Chicken in China. The beer stops were very nice, and my wife really enjoyed the Cheddar Cheese soup in Canada. One of my favorites as well. We got all the rides in upfront (NEMO, Soarin, TT, MS, SE etc..). We did Soarin twice, but spent a lot of time in Innovations and really enjoyed the exhibits there. I need to spend more time in that place. We were there for .38 Special, the songs brought back some old high school memories. They sounded good, and my wife loves Off-Kilter so that is a must do. We stayed for the fireworks and then headed home. Good eats all the way around!!
Thursday Oct 21st Another lazy pool day - and had no plans. I took a break from the pool and headed over to DTD and got a Sandwich at Earl's and took a walk around Saratoga Springs our home, glad to see it looking so good. Went back for an afternoon swim with the family then back to DTD for dinner. We had plans for Whispering Canyon but no one was really very hungry for a big meal. I was bummed to cancel, but we will try again. We did go over to Wilderness Lodge just to walk around, we love that resort to. Then over to DTD, wife went to EARL for the Holiday Sandwich, and I went got a fish and chips. We all hit Ghiradelli for Ice Cream and then just walked aroune.
Friday Oct 22nd Animal Kingdom Park. Another great day, crowds seemed light, got everything in. A lot of character pictures here, and did the rides two or three times each. The only ride we got a FP for was the Safari. We also did a few more of the shows (Lion King, Birds of Wonder etc..) that we have missed previously. This park was open until 8, but we left at 5:00, as we like to traditionally end our vacations with an evening on the Boardwalk. Tough to find parking, we got into the Beach Club - and were lucky with that. We hung out, saw the acts (Brian - our favorite was great). I will say they could get a much better pizza place than spoodles - dreadful. They need to up the food factor, we usually just get ice cream and I should have known better. We ended up over at the Beach Club watching UP on the beach. It was a fantastic way to end the vacation
Sat Oct 23rd Our flight didnt leave until 4:00 so we checked out, had a couple hours at the pool and then headed for home.
It was a great trip, we really relaxed and enjoyed our down time as much as our park time. So sad that it has to end!!
