bellatheball
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2012
- Messages
- 10
We just got back Sunday from our trip to Disney. My DH and I took our three kids (DD 7, DS 4, DS 2) on a 21 hour road trip so, clearly, you'll understand from the start we are a bit insane.
We chose to surprise our kids the morning of our trip. We sat them down before my daughter's school bus came and told them all we were picking them up and going to Disney. Their reactions aren't what I expected....at all. The oldest two sat there in stunned silence and my DD kept asking over and over again if we were telling them the truth. (Before you ask, no, we are not accustomed to lying to our kids outside of a few holidays/year). Everyone left the house mildly confused.
We picked our boys up from the sitter and my 4 year old was REALLY excited. Then we headed to my DD's school to get her out of class an hour early. Her classroom door opened and the sound exploded from the other side. Apparently she didn't tell anyone she was going to Disney because she still thought were were tricking her. She waited until we got there to share the news. During the first leg of our trip she asked us if we were just driving in circles instead of Florida...really?
So we stock our car with every Disney DVD (except for everyone's two most favorite which I somehow managed to forget!), games, books, and those little Disney snack packs you can buy in the fruit section at Walmart. This bought us a bit of sanity for the first six hours. Twelve hours into it, we decided to crash in Nashville and make the second half of the trip the next day. We got to AKL around midnight and my DD FINALLY managed to crack a smile and started to get excited. Woot!
We've stayed in Kidani once before and I was worried that Jambo House would seem too big. That wasn't the case at all. The lobby is, of course, gorgeous and overwhelming. It always shocks me when there are lines to check into hotels at midnight though. We were four or five deep in line which wasn't a ton of fun but my kids held it together. The walk to the room wasn't too bad because there were big picture windows where we could stop and find the animals.
The rooms are AKL were spotless. Trust me, this means something to me. I'm the one who checks drawers for stray pub....um, hairs. If I find one, the deal is off! I didn't find any dust, stains, hairs, bugs...nothing. It was perfectly clean.
The layout of the room was the typical hotel room. I always wish they'd close off the bathroom so adults can get ready in the morning without waking up their kids. No such luck.
The real value in the place is the view. We paid a bit extra for an Arusha view (after a 30% pin) and it was worth every penny. The animals were up early and made their way back toward us for feeding time each morning. They were quiet until about 11am and then came back out. We were usually lucky enough to have a giraffe (or giraffes) and a zebra or two sleeping right outside our balcony. This made for some magnificent breakfasts each morning. Our kids checked off all of the animals they say and were certain the giraffes were trying to talk to them. My 2 year old was sleep talking and kept asking, "Where'd the giraffes go?" So if a 2 year old is impressed, what more could you ask for?
The cast members were great about answering questions about the animals or pointing the kids in the right direction. Top notch service.
We had some lazy mornings at the hotel but spend late nights at the park. For that reason, we didn't take much advantage of dining at the hotel. Mara was great for a quick snack or late dinner though. Loved their falafels!
The pool served its purpose. My kids like to swim but don't need anything fancy. THey enjoyed the one basic water slide and jumping in off the side of the pool. If your kids are big swimmers, I could imagine they'd be looking for a bit more.
Now for the parks:
Magic Kingdom
This won't make me popular but I think MK has lost a little bit of magic. They took out Mickey and his friend's houses (Mickey's ToonTown Fair) which was a near travesty. It was the best part of the park the last time we went and my kids all love MM Clubhouse. Thankfully I heard about it right before we left otherwise I had planned on telling them all about getting to see Mickey's house! Apparently they are having some sneak attractions of the new rides etc but we weren't lucky enough to be there at the right times. Honestly, I think this was a big misstep and they'll have to come up with something really great to appeal to the younger kids. (I actually think Universal won the battle of the 2 year olds with their Suess Landing.)
My kids loved all of the usuals (PotC, Small World, Splash Mountain etc) and enjoyed Goofy's new ride as well. The parade was great as was the fireworks show.
We returned to MK for a second day. We were booked for The Pirates League and then had tickets for MNSSHP that night. The Pirates League was FANTASTIC! The place itself was perfectly decorated and the cast members were great. I took tons of photos with no flash and they turned out with this very cool pirate-y glow to them. The kids got their makeup done and then got their sashes, bandanas, swords, eye patch, pouch and necklace. They even gave a set to my 2 year old even though he was too young to fully participate. They take professional photos afterwards which are about $15 each and totally worth it. Again, they put my 2 year old in with his brother and sister (he was also dressed as a pirate for the HAlloween party) which was great of them.
We had the chance to meet Captain Jack and he gave the kids certificates saying they were part of his crew. You'd have thought they met the Queen of England!
The park was busy that night but many rides had no wait so we were able to hit a lot of attractions. The Haunted Mansion is beyond perfect for that party. The cast members are all dressed up for it too.
The Boo To You Parade, the Villains show and the fireworks at the party cannot be missed. All were fabulous. The characters were scattered all over the park for great photos ops. After much trick or treating (tons of chocolate!!!) we finished the night at a dance party with Goofy and Pluto. My kids managed to schelp through the park until midnight and they soaked every bit of it in. It was a HUGE hit.
Animal Kingdom
I know the argument is that this park doesn't get its due. Maybe it's that we were already seeing beautiful animals at the hotel but we really didn't choose to spend much time looking for them in AK. We did go to Lion King which was fabulous! Really, really top notch. My kids got pulled up to dance with them and for my 4 year old, it was a huge deal. He loves, loves, loves Lion King (remember those two movies I forgot?).
My older kids went on the water rides (and got completely and totally soaked) while I took my 2 year old to the parade. Every single walking character came over to him to give him a high five or tousle his hair. He loves Pluto and kept telling us "Pluto touched my head!" over and over.
The lines to meet the characters were long for some reason so we chose to only spend half the day in the park. It was time well spent.
Hollywood Studios
I'm surprised I don't hear more about this park. It was sort of good for those in between Disney and Universal Studios (am I allowed to say that name here?)
. We saw so many great characters in this park (The Incredibles, Mary Poppins, Pinocchio, The Army Guys, Buzz, etc). Lines for photos were very short as well.
The HUGE, and I mean HUGE hit at this park was the Star Wars attraction. My son was the "Rebel Spy" on our ride and he was completely convinced Princess Leia had smuggled information in his backpack and that we had actually flown to outer space.
My DD did the Jedi training and loved it more than I could ever hope to explain. The kids get to battle Vader with Lightsabers and even at her advanced age of 7, she was sort of willing to believe she truly defeated the really Vader. The photographers were everywhere taking photos during this as well. It was really nice to come home to professional photos of events like that.
The store at the end of Star Tours was something. We found incredibly cool items there and spent a boat load of money.
The Tower of Terror was another big highlight. My 7 and 4 year old did it five times and it kept getting more and more fun for them.
The Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground was awesome. My kids have all seen that movie a few times and they loved finding some of the same objects as were in the movie. It was nice to have some unstructured areas for them to just run, jump and play too.
Muppet Vision was cute but the 3D think doesn't always have the greatest impact. It was fun to watch all the little kids trying to reach what they were seeing on the screen though.
We were all looking forward to Beauty and the Beast but left a little let down. We'd seen it before a few years ago and remembered it feeling more complete. I'm not sure if they shortened it but it felt choppy and rushed. Belle was played by a women who was clearly in her mid to late 40s which took me right out of it. Gaston was fasntastic.
We wound up going back to HS for a second day because the older two loved it so much.
Chef Mickey
I have heard over and over that this is rushed, expensive, and the waits are long. We had none of those problems. We were seated within minutes and had a great waitress who loved telling our kids tales about Mickey and his friends. Mickey and Pluto were very brief in their visit but Goofy, Minney and Donald made up for it in spades. Goofy came back a few times. My 4 year old finally got comfortable enough to show Goofy his Darth Vader stuffed Goofy doll. The character Goofy then danced around the room with both of them and finished by doing the Hot Dog dance together. It was priceless. The food was good too and $120 for 5 of us wasn't awful given the experience.
Others
We went to US one day as well. Like I said, I think they have Disney beat in the 2-3 year old crowd with their Suess Landing. The very small superhero section of the park was fantastic! We got to meet Captain America, Cyclops, Spidey, and some of the X Men in addition to Green Goblin and Dr. Doom. They were super great with the kids and the SpiderMan ride was great (even though it was another 3D thing).
We really went because my daughter and I are huge Harry Potter fans. Seeing Hogsmeade in the middle of the day with bright FL sunshine and 80 deg temps stole from the magic. We went back at night and found it to be far more impressive. They spared no details and true fans of the books will love sifting through all of the details in Honeydukes (try the Fizzing Whizzbees for the little surprise) and Zonkos. The Three Broomsticks was great for Butterbeer and ice cream too.
They let kids 35 inches and over on The Flying Hippogriff. That meant my 2 year old could go on it. BAD. IDEA. Ten seconds into the ride and I was holding on to him for dear life and praying he didn't get hurt. That ride is not for little guys and it's not something you'd necessarily know from the ground.
Hope someone read all of that!
If you did, thanks. Hopefully some of it helped you.
We chose to surprise our kids the morning of our trip. We sat them down before my daughter's school bus came and told them all we were picking them up and going to Disney. Their reactions aren't what I expected....at all. The oldest two sat there in stunned silence and my DD kept asking over and over again if we were telling them the truth. (Before you ask, no, we are not accustomed to lying to our kids outside of a few holidays/year). Everyone left the house mildly confused.
We picked our boys up from the sitter and my 4 year old was REALLY excited. Then we headed to my DD's school to get her out of class an hour early. Her classroom door opened and the sound exploded from the other side. Apparently she didn't tell anyone she was going to Disney because she still thought were were tricking her. She waited until we got there to share the news. During the first leg of our trip she asked us if we were just driving in circles instead of Florida...really?
So we stock our car with every Disney DVD (except for everyone's two most favorite which I somehow managed to forget!), games, books, and those little Disney snack packs you can buy in the fruit section at Walmart. This bought us a bit of sanity for the first six hours. Twelve hours into it, we decided to crash in Nashville and make the second half of the trip the next day. We got to AKL around midnight and my DD FINALLY managed to crack a smile and started to get excited. Woot!
We've stayed in Kidani once before and I was worried that Jambo House would seem too big. That wasn't the case at all. The lobby is, of course, gorgeous and overwhelming. It always shocks me when there are lines to check into hotels at midnight though. We were four or five deep in line which wasn't a ton of fun but my kids held it together. The walk to the room wasn't too bad because there were big picture windows where we could stop and find the animals.
The rooms are AKL were spotless. Trust me, this means something to me. I'm the one who checks drawers for stray pub....um, hairs. If I find one, the deal is off! I didn't find any dust, stains, hairs, bugs...nothing. It was perfectly clean.
The layout of the room was the typical hotel room. I always wish they'd close off the bathroom so adults can get ready in the morning without waking up their kids. No such luck.
The real value in the place is the view. We paid a bit extra for an Arusha view (after a 30% pin) and it was worth every penny. The animals were up early and made their way back toward us for feeding time each morning. They were quiet until about 11am and then came back out. We were usually lucky enough to have a giraffe (or giraffes) and a zebra or two sleeping right outside our balcony. This made for some magnificent breakfasts each morning. Our kids checked off all of the animals they say and were certain the giraffes were trying to talk to them. My 2 year old was sleep talking and kept asking, "Where'd the giraffes go?" So if a 2 year old is impressed, what more could you ask for?
The cast members were great about answering questions about the animals or pointing the kids in the right direction. Top notch service.
We had some lazy mornings at the hotel but spend late nights at the park. For that reason, we didn't take much advantage of dining at the hotel. Mara was great for a quick snack or late dinner though. Loved their falafels!
The pool served its purpose. My kids like to swim but don't need anything fancy. THey enjoyed the one basic water slide and jumping in off the side of the pool. If your kids are big swimmers, I could imagine they'd be looking for a bit more.
Now for the parks:
Magic Kingdom
This won't make me popular but I think MK has lost a little bit of magic. They took out Mickey and his friend's houses (Mickey's ToonTown Fair) which was a near travesty. It was the best part of the park the last time we went and my kids all love MM Clubhouse. Thankfully I heard about it right before we left otherwise I had planned on telling them all about getting to see Mickey's house! Apparently they are having some sneak attractions of the new rides etc but we weren't lucky enough to be there at the right times. Honestly, I think this was a big misstep and they'll have to come up with something really great to appeal to the younger kids. (I actually think Universal won the battle of the 2 year olds with their Suess Landing.)
My kids loved all of the usuals (PotC, Small World, Splash Mountain etc) and enjoyed Goofy's new ride as well. The parade was great as was the fireworks show.
We returned to MK for a second day. We were booked for The Pirates League and then had tickets for MNSSHP that night. The Pirates League was FANTASTIC! The place itself was perfectly decorated and the cast members were great. I took tons of photos with no flash and they turned out with this very cool pirate-y glow to them. The kids got their makeup done and then got their sashes, bandanas, swords, eye patch, pouch and necklace. They even gave a set to my 2 year old even though he was too young to fully participate. They take professional photos afterwards which are about $15 each and totally worth it. Again, they put my 2 year old in with his brother and sister (he was also dressed as a pirate for the HAlloween party) which was great of them.
We had the chance to meet Captain Jack and he gave the kids certificates saying they were part of his crew. You'd have thought they met the Queen of England!
The park was busy that night but many rides had no wait so we were able to hit a lot of attractions. The Haunted Mansion is beyond perfect for that party. The cast members are all dressed up for it too.
The Boo To You Parade, the Villains show and the fireworks at the party cannot be missed. All were fabulous. The characters were scattered all over the park for great photos ops. After much trick or treating (tons of chocolate!!!) we finished the night at a dance party with Goofy and Pluto. My kids managed to schelp through the park until midnight and they soaked every bit of it in. It was a HUGE hit.
Animal Kingdom
I know the argument is that this park doesn't get its due. Maybe it's that we were already seeing beautiful animals at the hotel but we really didn't choose to spend much time looking for them in AK. We did go to Lion King which was fabulous! Really, really top notch. My kids got pulled up to dance with them and for my 4 year old, it was a huge deal. He loves, loves, loves Lion King (remember those two movies I forgot?).
My older kids went on the water rides (and got completely and totally soaked) while I took my 2 year old to the parade. Every single walking character came over to him to give him a high five or tousle his hair. He loves Pluto and kept telling us "Pluto touched my head!" over and over.
The lines to meet the characters were long for some reason so we chose to only spend half the day in the park. It was time well spent.
Hollywood Studios
I'm surprised I don't hear more about this park. It was sort of good for those in between Disney and Universal Studios (am I allowed to say that name here?)
. We saw so many great characters in this park (The Incredibles, Mary Poppins, Pinocchio, The Army Guys, Buzz, etc). Lines for photos were very short as well. The HUGE, and I mean HUGE hit at this park was the Star Wars attraction. My son was the "Rebel Spy" on our ride and he was completely convinced Princess Leia had smuggled information in his backpack and that we had actually flown to outer space.
My DD did the Jedi training and loved it more than I could ever hope to explain. The kids get to battle Vader with Lightsabers and even at her advanced age of 7, she was sort of willing to believe she truly defeated the really Vader. The photographers were everywhere taking photos during this as well. It was really nice to come home to professional photos of events like that. The store at the end of Star Tours was something. We found incredibly cool items there and spent a boat load of money.
The Tower of Terror was another big highlight. My 7 and 4 year old did it five times and it kept getting more and more fun for them.
The Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground was awesome. My kids have all seen that movie a few times and they loved finding some of the same objects as were in the movie. It was nice to have some unstructured areas for them to just run, jump and play too.
Muppet Vision was cute but the 3D think doesn't always have the greatest impact. It was fun to watch all the little kids trying to reach what they were seeing on the screen though.
We were all looking forward to Beauty and the Beast but left a little let down. We'd seen it before a few years ago and remembered it feeling more complete. I'm not sure if they shortened it but it felt choppy and rushed. Belle was played by a women who was clearly in her mid to late 40s which took me right out of it. Gaston was fasntastic.
We wound up going back to HS for a second day because the older two loved it so much.
Chef Mickey
I have heard over and over that this is rushed, expensive, and the waits are long. We had none of those problems. We were seated within minutes and had a great waitress who loved telling our kids tales about Mickey and his friends. Mickey and Pluto were very brief in their visit but Goofy, Minney and Donald made up for it in spades. Goofy came back a few times. My 4 year old finally got comfortable enough to show Goofy his Darth Vader stuffed Goofy doll. The character Goofy then danced around the room with both of them and finished by doing the Hot Dog dance together. It was priceless. The food was good too and $120 for 5 of us wasn't awful given the experience.
Others
We went to US one day as well. Like I said, I think they have Disney beat in the 2-3 year old crowd with their Suess Landing. The very small superhero section of the park was fantastic! We got to meet Captain America, Cyclops, Spidey, and some of the X Men in addition to Green Goblin and Dr. Doom. They were super great with the kids and the SpiderMan ride was great (even though it was another 3D thing).
We really went because my daughter and I are huge Harry Potter fans. Seeing Hogsmeade in the middle of the day with bright FL sunshine and 80 deg temps stole from the magic. We went back at night and found it to be far more impressive. They spared no details and true fans of the books will love sifting through all of the details in Honeydukes (try the Fizzing Whizzbees for the little surprise) and Zonkos. The Three Broomsticks was great for Butterbeer and ice cream too.
They let kids 35 inches and over on The Flying Hippogriff. That meant my 2 year old could go on it. BAD. IDEA. Ten seconds into the ride and I was holding on to him for dear life and praying he didn't get hurt. That ride is not for little guys and it's not something you'd necessarily know from the ground.
Hope someone read all of that!
If you did, thanks. Hopefully some of it helped you.
