"Visiting Home" for the First Time - A PTR ... And Now a TR!!!

[catherines_mama]

For the record, I leave today and you are not done! ;-)

AKV here I come!!

 

[joelp]

For the record, I leave today and you are not done! ;-)

AKV here I come!!

Well - maybe I'll finish this TR before you get back!!

 

[joelp]

... back from my waaaaaayyy too long hiatus ....

Let's just say a whole bunch of paint cans and brushes have kept me busy ...

As I seem to recall, we avoided getting soaking wet (again ...) and headed into Marvel Super Hero Island ...

And our timing was perfect, because the superheroes had a "parade" (of sorts) a couple of minutes later ...

... so of course we rode the "Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man Ride" ... which was ... (uh, what's the word I'm looking for? ...)

And since there was no wait ... we rode it again ... [This was somewhat of a problem, cuz the queue includes a video giving the back story for the ride. But we pretty much zipped through the queue, because there wasn't really a queue ...]

I got my picture taken with my favorite superhero - Captain America!! (which I won't post - some things are just toooo embarrasing!! ) And I'm not too sure the Wolverine liked my attire ...

The DW really liked this "island". I'm not sure why - but maybe although those guys running around in tights had something to do with it ... ???

It was getting towards dinner time, the sun was just starting to go down, we had seen and done just about everything ... So ... back to Hogsmeade ...

(But first I need to load some more photos into Photobucket ...)

 

[joelp]

So we said a fond farewell to the Marvel Superheroes ...

and strolled through Seuss Landing - but with a detour to watch the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad Stunt Show ...

... where the IoA folks tried to get us soaking wet one more time - but failed ...

That seems to be a major theme of IoA - getting wet or avoiding getting wet ...

The DD was ready and more than willing to take on Harry Potter one more time ... the DW was placing a bet that almost getting sick the first time was a fluke and due to the bad sandwich she had at the airport yesterday ... but I was looking forward to a good dinner ... So they strolled into Harry Potter (a whopping 5 minute wait!!) while I checked out all of the over-priced stuff in the gift shop ...

 

[joelp]

... about 20 minutes later the two of them joined me: the DD was bouncing off the walls ("Again! I wanna do it again!! ) - and while the DW was not green, she had no desire to ride a broomstick with Harry and friends one more time ... ...

And by the time we strolled out side, it was dark - and Hogwarts had taken on yet another, more mysterious aspect:

We were done with IoA - we had a lot of fun, got wet ("of course!!), finally visited Harry ... The DW particularly enjoyed the day, in part because it was something different than WDW ...

So we headed out of the park ...

But the lights of Marvel Superhero Island (and perhaps the lure of men in tights ...? ) called to the DW for one last visit ... and picture:

We had decided to have dinner at the Bubba Gum Shrimp Compamy - and I would heartily reccommend it!!

The food was very good, the service excellent, and we had a fun time ... So much so that - when the DD's Girl Scout Troop took a trip to NYC to see "Annie" on Broadway a few weeks ago, we paid a visit to Bubba and Forest at their Times Square location ...

A half-hour cab ride back to AKV-Kidani ... a little looking/shopping in the gift shop ... And another good night's sleep ...

Coming up on Saturday: Downtown Disney!!

 

[joelp]

I'm back ...

I managed to find the time to load up some photos of the AKV Kidani savanas ...

I thought I was being smart when I set the rule that my DD couldn't turn on the TV until she had seen at least 3 types of animals each morning ... Well, she would walk out on to the balcony and point left, right, and straight ahead - and it was time for the Disney Channel!!

We had a looooooooooong walk from our room to the lobby ... But there were a lot of cool sights along the way:

Until next time (and I've set myself an April 30 deadline to finish this TR ... and start a new Pre-TR???)

 

[catherines_mama]

Those were beautiful views!

 

[joelp]

Back to the TR ...

Saturday morning we "slept in" - which meant getting up at 7 instead of 6 ...

The DW's cousin was driving over from Tampa - so we finished off the bagels and stuff we had brought for breakfast, took showers - pried the DD out of the whirlpool tub after about 45 minutes of fun ... and just hung out reading, sitting on the balcony, etc.

Claire arrived and we jumped on a bus to Downtown Disney ... for lunch at:

Good food - great service - outdoor deck with nice weather - and a 20% DVC discount!! We can heartily recommend Paradiso 37 ...

Claire wanted to head over to the MK to check out the new Fantasyland ... but we weren't going to a WDW Parks this trip ... So we parted ways (until later that night), and we headed over to T-REX. I few years ago I promised the DD the next time we were in DTD she could build herself a Dino ... and the DD does not forget those kind of promises!!

She ended up getting a stuffed sabretooth tiger - with a sequined mini-skirt ... named her "Claudette" (why - who knows? - I don't ... and the DD doesn't either ...) - but to this day she takes Claudette to bed with her every night ...

We strolled around DTD a bit - checked out some shops ... and then it was back to AKV-Kidani for some swimming.

It was a bit chilly for me, so I kept to taking pictures - but the DD and DW were all in ...

The DW went down the slide once ... and then disappeared (I later found out it was a bit too cool for her, too - but a hot tub took care of that!!)

So while the DD and her new BFF went for a swim, I took a few pictures of the Kidani pool area:

Unfortunately - as you can see in that last picture - after about 1/2-hour the clouds started rolling in ... Dark Clouds!! Big Dark Clouds!! Really Big Dark Clouds!!

Followed by rain ...

So we headed back to the room to rest a bit before dinner at Sanaa ...

 

[joelp]

The DW LOVES Indian food ... I on the other hand ...

So we decided to give Sanaa a chance ... and I was kinda looking forward to it since the menu is supposed to be an Indian-Asian-Middle eastern blend ... something a bit different ...

Well - it's mostly Indian ... or at least STRONGLY Indian ...

So my wife liked it ... the DD was happy with her chicken fingers ...

And I tried this combo platter thing which was not "marked" as being hot and spicy ...

All I know is, the first thing I put into my mouth - which looked like a nice, sweet vegetable dish ... was a hot as Hell!!!

Everything else in the platter was fine - not that I could really taste it after that first veggie-thingy ... LOL!

All-in-all a decent meal - but nothing extraordinary (according to the DW ...) - so next trip we'll be having dinner at our favorite: Boma!!!

The DD was tired - so she and the DW went back to the room, while I printed out boarding passes for the next day's flight (with some extra help from the concierge!!) - and made reservations for breakfast at Boma the next morning ... (the first time we will have breakfast there - and a surprise for Claire).

And then walked around the lobby area taking some pictures:

Next up: our last day in WDW - a "Grand Tour" ...

 

[joelp]

It's "Do or Die" time ... to wrap this up ...

So to quote the sidekick of one of my favorite comedians: "And awaaaay we go!!"

Sunday morning ... slept in a bit (you don't sleep in a lot with a DD-10 ... ) ... plenty of room in the King-size bed for the three of us ... none of this: going on ...

Claire had "Danielle's" bedroom to herself. She apparently came back from the MK around 11 and had a "bit" of trouble using the key to unlock the door. I had old her it was an RFID - but apparently that didn't "take"... so she spent about 10 minutes trying to get in, wondering what was going on, and laughing at herself to whole time ...

We spent a relaxing morning checking out the animals on the savanna ... packing for the filight home ... tidying up a bit ... and the DD took another hour-long swim in the whirlpool tub ...

And then we checked out (leaving our bags with Bell Services) and it was off to Boma for "brunch" at 10:30 ... with a nice stroll from Kidani to Jambo House.

We had a little wait, so the DD and I checked out the pool area and Uzima Savanna:

So I think by the end of this short trip - when I checked the checklist - we had seen almost every animal that calls the AKL/AKV savannas "home" ...

 

[joelp]

Boma is one our favorite restaurants - anywhere!!

We had never had "breakfast" there before - and all four of us gave it



Great food!! Great service!! And its in the AKL ... (what more could you ask?)

Breakfast was followed by a bit of shopping in the Jambo House gift shop.

Then it was back to Kidani - with the DW and Claire walking real fast (why? ... hmmmm ...) and the DD and I taking our time, checking out the plantings and searching for lizards (and fairies ...).

The plan was to do a tour of some of the resorts ...

So we jumped in Claire's car and headed to the Polynesian ...

We had never been there before - nice lobby (but not as impressive as Jambo House) and nice grounds ... with some nice views of the MK:

In other words: nice ...

I suggested we jump on the monorail and head to the Grand Flordian - so we did ...

Much nicer - especially all decorated for Christmas:

We spent a little time shopping here - with the ladies (all three) putting that DVC discount to use ...

Back on the monorail ... waved to the MK entrance (very wierd passing by it and not going in ...) ... through the Contemporary (been there before - not really our style ...) and over to the TTC ...

Where we jumped on the monorail to Epcot!!

 

[joelp]

We hadn't taken the monorail to Epcot in a few years - and Claire had never done it, so it was a pleasant surprise to circle around Spaceship Earth and view Epcot from a different perspective:

This one one of the highlights of the trip - an "unexpected treasure" ... ... well worth the time and effort (if sitting in an air-conditioned monorail is an "effort" ... )

Back to the TTC ... where we could have walked to the Poly ... but why walk when you can take a boat? (after grabbing something to drink and few few choco-chip cookies ...) And take in some more great sights?

And once again - it was VERY weird walking past the MK entrance without going in (I somehow managed to restrain myself ... )

Back on the monorail to the Poly ... where we jumped back into Claire's car and drove over to Saratoga Springs ... and then OKW ...

Yea - we toured a few resorts ...

 

[joelp]

It was about 5:00 pm by then - time for Claire to head back to Tampa, and our ME bus to MCO was picking us up around 6 ...

So we said our fond goodbyes to Claire - did a bit more shopping in Kidani ... walked around the lobby area and nearby halls looking at the art work (highly recommended you take the time to do this - some really interesting stuff to see ... ) ... and went out on to the Kidani savanna overlook:

One of the reasons we had visited SSR and OKW was to check them out and see if we would want to stay there during a future trip ...

Well - all I can say is that SSR and OKW are very nice - but as the sun was starting to set and we were strolling around Kidani, it was just reinforced that

AKV is truly "magical"

And we couldn't have picked a better "second home" ... (so I don't think we'll be staying at SSR or OKW any time soon ... )

Pretty much uneventful after that ...

Although in hindsight, we should have eaten dinner at The Mara: by the time we got to MCO, just about everything but the Wendy's were closed, and we had to "rush" to grab some food and get to our flight ...

Oh yeah - Christmas morning I found out why Claire and the DW were in such a hurry to get to Kidani from Jambo that morning ...

With some help and from a couple of CMs, the two of them essentially repacked our bags - with a couple of additions for me ...


Thanks for coming along for the ride - actually rides ...

Now I have to start serious planning - and make the ADRs next week - for our November trip ... 9 days, 8 nights, lots of parks, the F&W Festival, a 5K race ... and the DD's tenth birthday ...

Stay tuned ...

 

[catherines_mama]

I went on a work trip and you finished it. Enjoyed your pictures a lot and am so glad you loved AKV. We bought SSR but I think DH will love AKV too. We'll have to make a trip over there for sure. Happy planning!!!

 

[franandaj]

I'm glad you persevered and completed the report. It was a fun read. Enjoy your trip in November.