TeresaNJ
Magic Begins With Me
- Joined
- Sep 13, 1999
- Messages
- 5,784
Cast of Characters:
Teresa, Harry, Mike and Dan, (you know the rest if you've been reading so far
)
Having spent a wonderful morning at AK, it was now early afternoon, and we were ready for a break. We decided to head back to Animal Kingdom Lodge and the pool. As I mentioned previously, I hadn't read too many good things about the AKL pool, but most of what I read were people's opinions from pictures they saw of the pool. There really wasn't much first-hand knowledge since the resort had just recently opened. Now I don't know how to swim, I kind of just loll about in the water, cooling off and people watching, and Disney's pools are great for that as they are usually never more than 5 feet deep, which is great for me. I really loved the pool here. First of all, it was really big and spread out, with lots of room for everyone. We didn't have a problem finding a few lounge chairs and prompty plopped our behinds down. I tried to read, but was having too much fun watching the kiddies in the pool. I had also read that AKL doesn't have any activities for kids, such as bike riding, etc, but they sure had alot going on in the pool! There were never less than three castmembers playing with the kids and organizing water games. The kids were having a ball. From the pool area you could also walk over to the bamboo rail and check out the wildlife on the savannah. There is also a very pretty area to sit where a lovely stream surrounded by rocks and foliage meanders past Boma's. We checked out the hot tub (loved it) actually there were two, one is warmer than the other, although I really couldn't tell the difference. The one hot tub is really close to the savannah, I swore a giraffe would have been able to lean over the rail to take a peek!
I thought about getting a drink from Uzima Springs, the poolside bar, you know, one of those icy, frosty, tropical alcholic types, but was afraid I would get too sleepy, we still had a long night ahead of us. So I settled for lemonade in my refillable mug from Mara's, where I also bought some chips and pretzels to munch on. We didn't eat lunch unless you're counting our Mickey bars at AK, and I was starting to get hungry again, but like I said, didn't want to spoil our appetites for dinner.
We wanted to make a Fantasmic dinner ressie at Mama Melrose's, but the only time they had available was for 5pm, which was a little too early for us. Same for the Brown Derby. Hollywood & Vine did have an opening around 6pm, though, so we took it. The boys never met us at the pool, they were taking a nap
confused: how old are these guys anyway. you'd think they'd have more energy than me!!
). We reluctantly left the pool around 4, which was later than I wanted, but I just couldn't pull myself away, and went back to our room to get ready for dinner. Of course, I had to check out the view from our balcony. Yep, mostly everyone was there, the giraffe, the cattle, zebra, and I think a few gazelle. Sorry, don't have time to dawdle checking you guys out, gotta get ready. This is not the resort to stay at when you only have a day or two, unless you are not going to the parks. There just isn't enough time!
We made it to MGM with just enough time to spare. So far we've had great luck with the bus system, never had to wait more than 10- 15 minutes. As we stroll down Hollywood Boulevard, I notice what looks like half of Mickey's Sorcerer's hat right in front of the Chinese Theater, which houses The Great Movie Ride. "What on earth are they thinking?", I think. I had read that they were building this new icon, but I didn't realize it would block the Chinese Theater. I was really upset. I loved seeing the Chinese Theater as soon as we entered the park, it was tradition, sort of like your first glimpse of the castle when you enter the MK, and now the view was blocked!! I'm sure the Sorcerer's Hat will be very nice, but it looks stupid plopped in front of the theater, or the theater looks stupid hidden behind the hat, whichever way you look at it. I told Harry I think they are probably going to get rid of The Great Movie Ride and the theater, otherwise, why would they have blocked it? I guess it's getting old in terms of how many times can you do it without getting sick of it? I, on the other hand, love it, even if it is outdated. I'll be sorry to see it go. My cousin is a castmember at WDW, and plays one of the characters (a very famous one I might add, although I'm not allowed to say, but my cousin is only 4'10", so I think you can guess). She says that MGM has no room to build, they've already taken over the castmember parking lot to put RocknRoller Coaster in, so they kind of had to put Mickey's Hat where they did. She agreed with me though that they are probably going to get rid of the Chinese Theater. What a shame.
We head to Hollywood & Vine for our PS ressie, and gave our name at the podium. We had about a 10 minute wait, which was good, cause I was starving at this point. We had never eaten here before, I don't know why, I think the theming just didn't reach out and grab me, but we enjoyed our meal very much. Number one, you can't beat the price compared to some of the other restaurants. For $16.95 you can eat all you want, there is a good variety, and you don't have to wait in line for Fantasmic. What more can you ask for? I really enjoyed the bruschetta salad (all the salads were good for that matter), and the mashed potatoes and flank steak. Harry said the salmon was very good, and the boys also helped themselves off the childrens buffet for, what else, chicken strips and mac and cheese. Of course, we made our own sundaes for dessert.
Being sufficiently stuffed, we thought we'd better get going, as it was already 7p and we had to be at that old-fashioned gas station at the beginning of the park by 8:30 in order to get in for the Fantasmic Dinner Package seating. We wanted to hit a few attractions at least before the show. The boys wanted to smoke a cigarette and there is a spot right near Echo Lake, so we stopped there for a few minutes. There was a little girl to our left who had gotten her knee stuck between the iron bars surrounding the lake. While she was crying, the dad was frantically trying to get her knee unstuck, as mom and brother looked on. It took him longer than it should have, since the little girl was so upset, and the dad so agitated, but he finally got her undone after a few minutes. I almost butted in to offer my suggestions, but thought better of it. I know Harry was glad that I refrained. Hey, I can't help it, when you work in an ER as long as I did, not much phases you, and I thought I could help them. Anyway, the boys were finished smoking, and we decided we weren't quite ready for RnR or TOT considering the amount of food we just put in our stomachs, so we grabbed fast passes for TOT and headed to MuppetVision 3-D since Dan had never seen it, and Mike hasn't seen it for years.
We still can't find that darn key under the mat!!
Have any of you found it yet? Muppet Vision was entertaining as usual, and then we were off to my very favorite attraction at Disney, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
inkbounc . I just love this ride. I can be a big chicken when it comes to some rides. Like I will not go on a ferris wheel, I'm afraid of heights and that I'll fall out. I really don't like RNR Coaster, it makes me nauseous, and Space Mountain kills my neck, but I love TOT. I guess I love the feeling of anticipation of being dropped. I also love the hotel itself. It is so real looking. I wish I could spend more time in the lobby, but with fastpasses you move through so fast. I got a couple of good pictures though. I've always wanted to buy the picture they take of you when you drop, but we can never seem to get a good one. Someone always has their arms up in front of our faces, or someone is ducking, or something. It was no different this time either. By the time we got off TOT it was time to go see Fantasmic. I wasn't sorry we didn't have time to do RnRC, and the boys knew they'd be back to do it before we went home.
Doing the Fantasmic dinner package is definitely worth it to not have to stand in that humongous line for an hour or more. I like Fantasmic, but I don't love it. Some people love it, I know, but not me. I usually do it every other trip. Illuminations and ToN are my favorites, but I'd have to wait until Sunday for that. After Fantasmic we had to go out the same way as everyone else (they should have a Fantasmic Dinner package that includes beating the mass exodus out), so we just took our time. We let everyone else leave the theater first, and then we got up. We stopped and let the boys have a cigarette, and by that time, the crown had thinned out alot. I love how Sunset Blvd. is lit up at night, with the Hollywood Hotel sign eerily glowing, and the brightly lit marquis of the Sunset and Hollywood Blvd shops. I took a couple really nice pictures as we walked along.
Believe it or not, our bus was waiting. We got back to AKL just in time to sit for awhile at the Victoria Falls lounge. It closes at midnight, and we got there about 11:15. I had a Kalua and Creme and Harry had a Mai Tai. They were very good. We sat in one of the loveseats near the rail overlooking Boma's. It was very relaxing. I forgot to mention that earlier before we left to go to MGM, Harry thought he would really like to eat at Boma's, so he went up to the podium and asked if he could make a PS ressie for tomorrow around 5pm. There were three cute cast members there (girls), and they told Harry that 5pm was just fine. Of course, did he get a confirmation number?, NO!
He told me not to worry, the girls said it was fine, and he gave them our name. I said I never made a PS ressie without getting a confirmation number. You'll find out what happened in tomorrow's edition.
By now, it was after midnight, and we were beat. We would have loved to have taken a midnight swim, but were just too tired, plus we had to get up early again tomorrow for our princess breakfast
!! This day was too wonderful for words, very tiring, but satisfying, if you know what I mean. I said goodnight to my friends, the cattle, who were in their usual spot all cuddled together, and then Harry and I both passed out.
Stay tuned for "Breakfast with the Princesses", or, "Can I have my picture taken with Jasmine, pleeease????"
If you missed the beginning, go here...
Teresa, Harry, Mike and Dan, (you know the rest if you've been reading so far
)Having spent a wonderful morning at AK, it was now early afternoon, and we were ready for a break. We decided to head back to Animal Kingdom Lodge and the pool. As I mentioned previously, I hadn't read too many good things about the AKL pool, but most of what I read were people's opinions from pictures they saw of the pool. There really wasn't much first-hand knowledge since the resort had just recently opened. Now I don't know how to swim, I kind of just loll about in the water, cooling off and people watching, and Disney's pools are great for that as they are usually never more than 5 feet deep, which is great for me. I really loved the pool here. First of all, it was really big and spread out, with lots of room for everyone. We didn't have a problem finding a few lounge chairs and prompty plopped our behinds down. I tried to read, but was having too much fun watching the kiddies in the pool. I had also read that AKL doesn't have any activities for kids, such as bike riding, etc, but they sure had alot going on in the pool! There were never less than three castmembers playing with the kids and organizing water games. The kids were having a ball. From the pool area you could also walk over to the bamboo rail and check out the wildlife on the savannah. There is also a very pretty area to sit where a lovely stream surrounded by rocks and foliage meanders past Boma's. We checked out the hot tub (loved it) actually there were two, one is warmer than the other, although I really couldn't tell the difference. The one hot tub is really close to the savannah, I swore a giraffe would have been able to lean over the rail to take a peek!
I thought about getting a drink from Uzima Springs, the poolside bar, you know, one of those icy, frosty, tropical alcholic types, but was afraid I would get too sleepy, we still had a long night ahead of us. So I settled for lemonade in my refillable mug from Mara's, where I also bought some chips and pretzels to munch on. We didn't eat lunch unless you're counting our Mickey bars at AK, and I was starting to get hungry again, but like I said, didn't want to spoil our appetites for dinner.We wanted to make a Fantasmic dinner ressie at Mama Melrose's, but the only time they had available was for 5pm, which was a little too early for us. Same for the Brown Derby. Hollywood & Vine did have an opening around 6pm, though, so we took it. The boys never met us at the pool, they were taking a nap
confused: how old are these guys anyway. you'd think they'd have more energy than me!! ). We reluctantly left the pool around 4, which was later than I wanted, but I just couldn't pull myself away, and went back to our room to get ready for dinner. Of course, I had to check out the view from our balcony. Yep, mostly everyone was there, the giraffe, the cattle, zebra, and I think a few gazelle. Sorry, don't have time to dawdle checking you guys out, gotta get ready. This is not the resort to stay at when you only have a day or two, unless you are not going to the parks. There just isn't enough time!We made it to MGM with just enough time to spare. So far we've had great luck with the bus system, never had to wait more than 10- 15 minutes. As we stroll down Hollywood Boulevard, I notice what looks like half of Mickey's Sorcerer's hat right in front of the Chinese Theater, which houses The Great Movie Ride. "What on earth are they thinking?", I think. I had read that they were building this new icon, but I didn't realize it would block the Chinese Theater. I was really upset. I loved seeing the Chinese Theater as soon as we entered the park, it was tradition, sort of like your first glimpse of the castle when you enter the MK, and now the view was blocked!! I'm sure the Sorcerer's Hat will be very nice, but it looks stupid plopped in front of the theater, or the theater looks stupid hidden behind the hat, whichever way you look at it. I told Harry I think they are probably going to get rid of The Great Movie Ride and the theater, otherwise, why would they have blocked it? I guess it's getting old in terms of how many times can you do it without getting sick of it? I, on the other hand, love it, even if it is outdated. I'll be sorry to see it go. My cousin is a castmember at WDW, and plays one of the characters (a very famous one I might add, although I'm not allowed to say, but my cousin is only 4'10", so I think you can guess). She says that MGM has no room to build, they've already taken over the castmember parking lot to put RocknRoller Coaster in, so they kind of had to put Mickey's Hat where they did. She agreed with me though that they are probably going to get rid of the Chinese Theater. What a shame.
We head to Hollywood & Vine for our PS ressie, and gave our name at the podium. We had about a 10 minute wait, which was good, cause I was starving at this point. We had never eaten here before, I don't know why, I think the theming just didn't reach out and grab me, but we enjoyed our meal very much. Number one, you can't beat the price compared to some of the other restaurants. For $16.95 you can eat all you want, there is a good variety, and you don't have to wait in line for Fantasmic. What more can you ask for? I really enjoyed the bruschetta salad (all the salads were good for that matter), and the mashed potatoes and flank steak. Harry said the salmon was very good, and the boys also helped themselves off the childrens buffet for, what else, chicken strips and mac and cheese. Of course, we made our own sundaes for dessert.
Being sufficiently stuffed, we thought we'd better get going, as it was already 7p and we had to be at that old-fashioned gas station at the beginning of the park by 8:30 in order to get in for the Fantasmic Dinner Package seating. We wanted to hit a few attractions at least before the show. The boys wanted to smoke a cigarette and there is a spot right near Echo Lake, so we stopped there for a few minutes. There was a little girl to our left who had gotten her knee stuck between the iron bars surrounding the lake. While she was crying, the dad was frantically trying to get her knee unstuck, as mom and brother looked on. It took him longer than it should have, since the little girl was so upset, and the dad so agitated, but he finally got her undone after a few minutes. I almost butted in to offer my suggestions, but thought better of it. I know Harry was glad that I refrained. Hey, I can't help it, when you work in an ER as long as I did, not much phases you, and I thought I could help them. Anyway, the boys were finished smoking, and we decided we weren't quite ready for RnR or TOT considering the amount of food we just put in our stomachs, so we grabbed fast passes for TOT and headed to MuppetVision 3-D since Dan had never seen it, and Mike hasn't seen it for years.
We still can't find that darn key under the mat!!
Have any of you found it yet? Muppet Vision was entertaining as usual, and then we were off to my very favorite attraction at Disney, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terrorinkbounc . I just love this ride. I can be a big chicken when it comes to some rides. Like I will not go on a ferris wheel, I'm afraid of heights and that I'll fall out. I really don't like RNR Coaster, it makes me nauseous, and Space Mountain kills my neck, but I love TOT. I guess I love the feeling of anticipation of being dropped. I also love the hotel itself. It is so real looking. I wish I could spend more time in the lobby, but with fastpasses you move through so fast. I got a couple of good pictures though. I've always wanted to buy the picture they take of you when you drop, but we can never seem to get a good one. Someone always has their arms up in front of our faces, or someone is ducking, or something. It was no different this time either. By the time we got off TOT it was time to go see Fantasmic. I wasn't sorry we didn't have time to do RnRC, and the boys knew they'd be back to do it before we went home. Doing the Fantasmic dinner package is definitely worth it to not have to stand in that humongous line for an hour or more. I like Fantasmic, but I don't love it. Some people love it, I know, but not me. I usually do it every other trip. Illuminations and ToN are my favorites, but I'd have to wait until Sunday for that. After Fantasmic we had to go out the same way as everyone else (they should have a Fantasmic Dinner package that includes beating the mass exodus out), so we just took our time. We let everyone else leave the theater first, and then we got up. We stopped and let the boys have a cigarette, and by that time, the crown had thinned out alot. I love how Sunset Blvd. is lit up at night, with the Hollywood Hotel sign eerily glowing, and the brightly lit marquis of the Sunset and Hollywood Blvd shops. I took a couple really nice pictures as we walked along.
Believe it or not, our bus was waiting. We got back to AKL just in time to sit for awhile at the Victoria Falls lounge. It closes at midnight, and we got there about 11:15. I had a Kalua and Creme and Harry had a Mai Tai. They were very good. We sat in one of the loveseats near the rail overlooking Boma's. It was very relaxing. I forgot to mention that earlier before we left to go to MGM, Harry thought he would really like to eat at Boma's, so he went up to the podium and asked if he could make a PS ressie for tomorrow around 5pm. There were three cute cast members there (girls), and they told Harry that 5pm was just fine. Of course, did he get a confirmation number?, NO!
He told me not to worry, the girls said it was fine, and he gave them our name. I said I never made a PS ressie without getting a confirmation number. You'll find out what happened in tomorrow's edition.By now, it was after midnight, and we were beat. We would have loved to have taken a midnight swim, but were just too tired, plus we had to get up early again tomorrow for our princess breakfast
!! This day was too wonderful for words, very tiring, but satisfying, if you know what I mean. I said goodnight to my friends, the cattle, who were in their usual spot all cuddled together, and then Harry and I both passed out. Stay tuned for "Breakfast with the Princesses", or, "Can I have my picture taken with Jasmine, pleeease????"
If you missed the beginning, go here...
