Whose Bright Idea Was it to Drive to Disney Anyway? Oh wait - that was me.

[JenSop]

Hello all!

We just got back from our anniversary trip to the World and wanted to share it with all of you!

I know I failed miserably at my first trip report attempt last year, but fear not loyal readers! This time I will not disappoint! I’ve lived, I’ve learned, I’ve been to the World - again!

What are some of the highlights to come? Making the excrutiating drive down to WDW, one night in a Pirate room at Caribbean Beach, five nights in a value studio at Animal Kingdom Villas - Jambo House, trying out Sanaa, Wanyama Safari, the Kidani Village pool, anniversary freebies, and more animals than you can imagine!

Meet the cast!

JEN (me!) uh, uh, uh! No ages here! Let’s just say I tend to look young for my age. (ahem.)
Anyway, I’m a singer - classical, musical theatre, jazz, early music, oratorio - you name it, I sing it! I also teach private voice lessons, work part time retail, and occasionally substitute teach. I’ve been visiting WDW since I was eight and have loved it ever since.

BRIAN (DH) - not gonna give his age, or you might guess mine - d’oh! Brian’s a music teacher - right now he’s elementary band - meaning he teaches all those kids how to play their band instruments for the very first time. (Bless his heart!) He also teaches lessons privately, works part time retail, and plays in and conducts one of the local community bands. He hasn’t been to WDW as much as myself, but he loves it nonetheless!

Our trip this time was sort of from 6/19-6/27. I say sort of because we actually weren’t in the World that whole time. The bookend days were for driving. I got the brilliant idea that we would save money by driving to Disney this time! We both got Honda Fits right before the new year and they get amazing gas mileage - about 40 mpg highway. So I thought.... good mpg, low mileage on the vehicle.... let's drive!

We live in eastern PA, about an hour north of Philly. I’d done the long drive a couple times in the past, and didn’t remember it to be that bad. However, those times were as a passenger when I was eight, as a H.S. senior going on the band trip in a comfy bus, and as a college student going with my family and only having to drive a total of five hours. All the other visits, I’ve flown.

I will fly from now on....

 

[My2Qtz0205]

I'm the first poster!

I like your TR title. I hate, hate, hate, hate flying, and the thought of putting my babies on a plane keeps me up at night! But then I think about how my DS (6 1/2) asks every 2 minutes of our 4 hr. car ride up to D.C., "How many minutes now?" and I actually think it might be healthier for all of us if we took a 2 hr. plane ride versus a 14 hr. drive.

 

[JenSop]

PART TWO: Just a thousand more miles to go!

So the plan was to leave around 6pm on Friday, June 19th. I had a gig to sing that afternoon, and figured we’d want to wait until after rush hour to hit Philly and later Baltimore and D.C.

However.....

Brian and I both had very busy weeks leading up to the trip. I was working extra hours at the store, doing some recording for my new CD; and Brian just finished the school year only to be thrown into director-ship of the Pioneer Band. (He was assistant director, but the director moved suddenly, leaving Brian in charge with no prep time!)

Needless to say, we weren’t ready when we wanted to be.

So we ended up leaving the area around 9pm. (Had to make a stop at the grocery store for some travel snacks/drinks and stuff that we could take down to our room, then to our villa.)

We were not happy about leaving late...

But I think the excitement at the beginning end of a trip can do wondrous things for your energy. As tired as we were, the trip down was bad but not horrible. The first five hours were straight through with no stops at all. We finally stopped at a random 7-11 in Virginia to get some more gas and to stretch our legs.

I tried to sleep a bit while Brian was driving, but besides the occasional drifting off, I didn’t really get any sleep.

At 5am, it was my turn at the wheel. I got my iPod hooked up, and got a Red Bull and drank another Coke.

Despite all that caffeine, I was really struggling after about four hours, so I decided to be our guinea pig for the 5 Hour Energy Shot that we bought. I was a bit apprehensive about taking it, since I’m thinking, “what the heck is in this stuff?” And was kind of weirded out by the warnings on the bottle and the whole possible “niacin flush” or something like that???? Oh, and it tasted god-awful. Really nasty. Had to wash it down with Coke right away, as the taste was that foul. (That was around 8:45am.)

Anyway, the darn thing worked. Within minutes I went from needing to slap myself in the face to stay awake to be COMPLETELY awake and alert. So strange.

During this whole time, we were getting FABULOUS gas mileage. Our average was at 42.6 until we needed to turn on the air conditioner. Even then, the average never dropped below 40.

Before long, we were finally at the Florida Welcome Center, ready to get our free orange juice. Here I am looking tired and loopy.....

Nothing like seeing all those miles still before you on the Garmin!

The last hour of the trip on I-4 was tough, as I was starting to get tired again, but before we knew it, we were seeing that wonderful sight that makes everything better...

Yay DVC! (We’ve only been members for two years, but we LOVE it!)

It was SO WEIRD to be driving around Disney. We always use the buses, so it was strange doing the actual driving. I took a wrong turn at first, but we eventually got to Caribbean Beach Resort around 2pm, the location of our first night stay.

Had to give a big thumbs up to our great Honda Fit - you go little car! (And I'm feeling like I'm melting within seconds of getting out of the car - it was around 97 degrees out.)

Coming up next....

We’re so dead tired, will we even have the energy for the Disney fun we both so desired? What will the pirate room look like? What surprise lies ahead at Kona Cafe? Come back and find out!

 

[OhMari]

Wow, I just said on another thread,
"no one ever stays at the Caribbean Resort"
I'm excited to finally find someone.
Wow, I'm betting you guys had to be really tired.
My dh does all nite driving too. I could never do it.

 

[JenSop]

PART THREE:

“Arrrrr maties, this be the Pirate room!”

Well, I guess it’s no shocker that our room wasn’t ready yet when we checked in, so we decided to walk around a little bit. We wanted to see the renovated pool and be NOT sitting in a car. We walked around a bit outside, but it was getting WAY too hot.

We got a snack and by the time we were done, the room was ready. We were all the way down in Trinidad South. (I think that’s where all the pirate rooms are?) Anyway, we took the car down there and unloaded our massive suitcases.

The whole Pirate Room thing came about because we booked that part of our reservation only a month out. The original trip was booked at our 11 month window (through our DVC points) - a value studio in AKV for five nights. (Sun.-Fri.) But as the trip got closer, Brian was talking more and more about going down a night early. So we decided to do just that, and stay at CBR, since we stayed there for our honeymoon eight years ago. BUT, since we were booking so close to the trip, it seems that only the pirate rooms were available.

CBR is a nice resort and the pirate room was really cute. It would be great for a family with kids - they would totally get into it.

Here are some pictures so everyone can see what the room looks like!

View from the balcony into the courtyard below:

We still had a few hours before we had to leave for our 7:20 ADR at Kona Cafe. With as hot as it was out, and with as gross as I felt from the heat, it was time to head to the pool!

Since we only had this one day, we wanted to make sure we tried the renovated pool. After getting wet, we headed over the try out the water slide. This definitely got a thumbs up from me A decent pool slide with a short section that was totally in the dark - very cool.

The pool was crowded though. Really crowded. I think we only lasted about 30 minutes before heading back to get ready for dinner.

Here I am on the way out the door. I got some fun turquoise streaks put in my hair before leaving on the trip - I called it my fun vacation hair. It washes out (it's almost all gone today), and since I wasn’t going to be singing any auditions or performances, I thought I quite deserved to do something fun with my hair. This pick is a terrible angle for my nose (wow it looks big here) but you can kind of see my streaks!

When we got to the bus stop, it seemed that every bus was coming but the Magic Kingdom bus. Since we were going to another resort, we needed to transfer at a park - and to get to the Polynesian, the quickest way is going to MK and hopping the monorail.

(Everytime we saw the monorail, we couldn’t help but sing the song from that Simpson’s episode where the Harold Hill type character comes to Springfield and convinces them to build a monorail by singing a catchy tune. Love that episode....)

We did eventually get over to the Poly. We really love the Polynesian. Heck, we’ve never even stayed there, but we love it! The grounds are just so lush and tropical. If they ever do DVC at the Poly, we'll be first on the add-on list!

Here’s our view looking down on the lobby as we waited for our table.

Kona Cafe was running a bit late, and we didn’t get our table until about 15 minutes after our ADR time. Not that big of a deal though. We were too tired to care.

Since this extra night was tacked on later, we didn’t add the meal plan for this portion of the stay - so this meal was out of pocket. We shared the Sticky Wings for Two as an appetizer: glazed chicken wings with a tangy mustard drizzle and toasted sesame seeds. They were YUMMY!

For an entree, I had the shrimp and scallops. They were pretty good, but I have had better.

Brian had the pomegranate barbecue pork chop. It was excellent. We would both recommend this to any one thinking about Kona.

We decided to split dessert and got the banana creme brulee. It was SO good. They even had a banana slice (lengthwise) bruleed on the plate next to the little saucer.

(Sorry, we ate this before we remembered to get a pic. Oops!)

THEN, the waitress came out with a special complimentary anniversary dessert. (Why do they always seem to do this AFTER you’ve already gorged yourself?!)

It was a such a nice gesture, but we got it wrapped to take back to our room. Overall, we got very good service at Kona and the food was definitely good. (although the pork better than the shrimp/scallops, like I said.)

Even though we were super tired, we decided to take a short walk around the grounds of the Poly before catching the monorail back to the buses.

Once we got back to CBR, we got some drinks to take back to the room and called it a night!


Coming next.....

Resort transition day and fun at Animal Kingdom , Sanaa, and MK EMH!

 

[burly]

This is great so far. Looking forward to doing WDW with just the hubby and myself. NO KIDS. Really want to stay at the POLY.

 

[cmfranklyn]

We were there the same week! Can't wait to read along.

 

[JenSop]

Yay! I'm so glad to have some readers! I should be able to work on the next installment tomorrow night!

burly: Brian was just passing through and said how much he'd love to stay at the Poly too! Alas, for us I don't see it happening until they do a DVC there.

cmfranklyn: funny, I've talked to a few other people that ended up being there the same time - I wonder if we saw eachother and didn't know it!

OhMari: we do like CBR - perhaps a bit of nostalgia from our honeymoon? Glad we could be one of those random people who actually did stay there! But for as crowded as that pool was, it felt like EVERYONE was staying there!

My2Qtz0205: I have to say that I MUCH prefer the two hour plane ride! That drive was brutal - and I can only begin to imagine how much harder it would be with kids.

Glad to have you all on board!

 

[tinkgurl]

I'm in! Just had to say...we were there June 22-July 1!

 

[JenSop]

I'm in! Just had to say...we were there June 22-July 1!

Aha! There really were alot of us there that week! Welcome aboard!

 

[SLM]

What a great start-enjoying your trip report very much! Could you use your points for a Poly stay? Or does it use too many? We stayed there before we bought DVC and the rooms are HUGE.

 

[JenSop]

What a great start-enjoying your trip report very much! Could you use your points for a Poly stay? Or does it use too many? We stayed there before we bought DVC and the rooms are HUGE.

Technically we could use our points to stay at Poly, but since it's not an actual DVC resort, it costs ALOT of points! Maybe we'll win some money for a nice size add-on!

 

[JenSop]

I just wanted to post a little message to say that our hearts go out to the family of the monorail driver that was lost this morning. It is a very sad day.

 

[Echo queen]

I'm in.

 

[JenSop]

I'm in.

Welcome! Glad to have you on board!

 

[JenSop]

(Hi everyone! Here's a quick update. I'd write more, but I need to get to bed, as I'll be in the recording studio for several hours tomorrow (today) working on some stuff for my new CD!)

PART FOUR:
OMG! WHY MUST IT BE SO HOT?!

The next day (Sunday, June 21) we wasted no time and got up at 8:30. Which, considering the drive we had just had, was still pretty early. We wanted to not only check out quickly, BUT we also wanted to check into the Animal Kingdom Villas as early as possible.


We booked a value size studio, which is a GREAT deal with points. It was only 11 points per night, for a grand total of only 55 points for our stay. SOME of the value rooms have savanna view, so I put in a request nice and early (many months ago) for a view. I knew it wasn’t guaranteed, but I REALLY wanted the view.

We left CBR around 10am and went straight to Jambo House at AKV.

I dropped Brian off at the front door with the big suitcases and ventured out to the parking lot to find a spot.

There was a long line at check-in, then I also had to wait in line at the concierge desk to have our tickets added to our room keys. I like to get my tickets in advance from AAA at a discount. But once you get down there, they have to do some kind of process to get that ticket transferred to the key.

I let out a bit of a baffled chuckle as I heard the woman next to me trying to make meal ADR’s right after checking in for her week.

Now don’t get me wrong.... I know that not everyone is versed in extreme Disney planning, but from what I overheard in her conversation, this was NOT their first time. She was actually trying to get Le Cellier. Needless to say, they were having a bit of trouble finding any places that had ANY normal dinner time reservations available for the length of their trip. It just makes me sigh, as that kind of thing is so avoidable - just call at your 90 days out! Anyway, I digress.....

We got all the stuff done at the desk then gave our suitcases to bell services, since our room wasn’t ready yet. They gave me the option of getting a text when the room was ready, so of course I chose that option!

So our plan was to head over to Animal Kingdom and hit some of the highlights (since we had another regular Animal Kingdom day planned for later in the week.)

Okay, let me just say that it was hot. I mean really hot. I mean you have no idea how hot it was! The heat index was up around 105 or so. We had been having a very cool spring up here in PA, so before we left I was starting to get worried how we’d adjust to the Florida heat. But this was beyond what I could have imagined.....

Regardless, I went on ahead and got us Fast Passes for Expedition Everest. I LOVE that ride!!!

I met Brian back at the Maharajah Jungle Trek for a nice leisurely stroll and some animal viewing. We’ve walked through so many times, that the main reason we go through anymore is to see the tigers. They’re usually always asleep. This time was no exception. Last year, we had great timing and actually saw the tigers awake! I’m going to share one of the pics from last year, since we actually didn’t take any new ones this year. (You can only have so many pictures of sleeping tigers no matter HOW cute they are.)

Last year we spoke with one of the animal caretakers that stand near the tiger area and found out that all the tigers are sisters - that’s how they can live together without having major territorial issues. They are also NOT handled directly and are completely wild and untamed. They just look so cuddly though! As a cat person myself, it’s hard to see those tigers laying on their backs, paws held up in the air, and not think of my kitty back home snuggling with us on the bed. I just want to go give those adorable tigers a big hug and snuggle.... if it weren’t for the whole attack/possible death issue.

We also walked through the bird area. Here's beautiful bird house:

And little exotic ducks from another section of the Trek:

We also decided to catch the bird show, “Flights of Wonder,” as we had never seen this one before - and it was in the shade!

It was actually really neat. We got to see lots of cool birds - more than one actually swooped right over our heads. Here’s some pics:

And this is an action shot - the bird swooped right over us. It happened so fast, that we only got part of the wing in the shot - but it shows you how close it was!

After the show, enough time had gone by and we were able to get another Fast Pass. So we headed over to Dinosaur to get Fast Passes for that ride as well.

Then it was time for some lunch. Because we were already in Dino Land, we decided to just split a salad at Restaurantasaurus. Plus, I hadn’t had my Coke yet for the day (I’m a bit of an addict - and I DON’T drink Pepsi - yuk), so the caffeine was much appreciated. Thank GOD Disney serves Coke!

By the time we were done eating, we were able to use both of our Fast Passes. We decided to ride Dinosaur first. This is a fun one - but we’re never surprised by the dinosaur anymore - so we know to put on a big smile and wave to the camera!

After that it was off to Expedition Everest!

Did I mention I love this ride? haha!

I was doing A-okay until a few minutes after getting back into the heat after riding Everest. I do have motion sickness, but none of the rides at Disney really ever bother me (except Mission Space, but that’s a tale for another time.) However, with walking out into the over-100 degree heat, my body started to go into some kind of heat exhaustion. (Probably combined with mild motion sickness that also got exacerbated by the heat.) I didn’t get far before I was having shortness of breath, was getting dizzy, and feeling like absolute crap. I sat down in the shade while Brian went and got some ice water. The people around me must have thought I was some kind of freak as I sat there almost hyperventilating from the heat.

After several minutes, I was getting alright enough to stand up and walk again. But we decided we had had enough park time for right now and that we would do the rest of our waiting for the room at the actual Lodge.

On our way out, we stopped at one of the gift shops to get our lime green mickey heads ( I forgot to bring them!)

(For those of my friends reading that are not regular disers, lime green mickey heads show others ‘in the know’ that you are also a disboard member.)

Once we got back to the resort, we decided to first head over to the new AKV building - Kidani Village. This new building is all DVC villas. Their lobby was nice, but much smaller than the one at Jambo House.

We also walked out onto their animal viewing area and got some great shots:

I checked my phone and it turns out our room was ready - #5124!

We walked back over to Jambo House. (The walk is VERY do-able. Took us LESS than ten minutes.)

As we got closer to our room, we realized that we WERE going to have a savanna view! And what sight greeted us outside our balcony when we walked in? Three giraffes!

I was SO HAPPY!

And the room was great. I didn’t know how small the value room would be, but for two people, it was PLENTY big.

We unpacked and started to get ready for dinner. We had a 7:40 ADR at Sanaa back over at Kidani Village!

Coming up next...... dinner at Sanaa and MK evening Extra Magic Hours (EMH.)

Stay on board!

 

[MJAJmom]

Love your driving down experience with all the cokes, redbull and energy drinks - major caffeine sugar buzz going there!! We stayed in a pirate room with my 2 boy in June - they loved that room!! The picture of the tiger is beautiful - she looks so regal! Nice room at AKL.

 

[taintedzodiac]

Great report! As a fellow Eastern PA person who's been on that drive a half a dozen times, I feel your pain and wanting to do anything outside the car when you get there.

 

[JenSop]

Great report! As a fellow Eastern PA person who's been on that drive a half a dozen times, I feel your pain and wanting to do anything outside the car when you get there.

Hey! It looks like we're neighbors! We live in Hellertown!

 

[JenSop]

Love your driving down experience with all the cokes, redbull and energy drinks - major caffeine sugar buzz going there!! We stayed in a pirate room with my 2 boy in June - they loved that room!! The picture of the tiger is beautiful - she looks so regal! Nice room at AKL.

Yeah! The caffeine buzz works for a time, but then you're all loopy and jittery hours later. But, hey, it worked!

Glad your boys liked the pirate room - I'd say it's the perfect type of room for a family with young boys. Very whimsical.