Yo ho ho, a pirate life for me & me crew at MNSSHP (long overdue first trip report )

[Alexsandra]

After a little hat shopping at the market in "Africa", we worked up quite an appetite.

We headed to our favorite lunch spot Flame Tree BBQ. As we approached, the sweet aroma of BBQ meat cooking over on open flame filled the air and made our mouths salivate. This little counter service spot doesn't look like much but, boy oh boy, is the BBQ good! We ordered our dishes and made our way down the path behind the restaurant, until we found a nice covered area next to the water. The view was spectacular. It felt like we were dining in a different country! So cool!

covered area

the view from our table

We all ordered ribs, BBQ chicken and hot dogs for the kids. The ribs were well seasoned and smoked to perfection. The chicken is out of this world good: tender,juicy and the BBQ seasoning is delicious. (Sorry no pictures, we were all too hungry!) We also had a choice of chocolate mousse or key lime mousse. We all took the keylime mouse which was ok. I did not like this gelatin stuff they top the mousse with, plus it is an unnatural fluorescent green color that is not very appetizing if you ask me. But hey, I do not go to Flame Tree for dessert, I go for the BBQ. I cannot believe that this is one dining credit QS. WOW!

As you can see we all finished our plates

The key lime mousse with fluorescent green jelly

We headed to Dinoland to get Fast Passes for the Dinosaur ride.

It was so hot we just decided to take a little rest in the Dinosaur trail right next to the attraction. This is a little shaded area with benches and a big dinosaur where the kids can play on. It was perfect to just relax and get away from the parks hustle and bustle.

Our fast pass time was up so Kheo, my husband, my father-in-law and myself all tried out the ride while my mother-in-law relaxed in the shade with the baby. I have to say that this ride was truly scary, But my five-year old loved it. Go figure! I am such a chicken when it comes to this stuff.

After that we made our way back towards the restaurant to see Its a Bug's Life. I love that you have to pass under the tree of life to enter this attraction. You get to see all the wonderful animal carvings in the tree's trunk and it makes for special pictures.

A Bugs Life was so cute and my kids really got a kick out of all the interactive stuff. Kheo loved the "suprise ending!" I won't spoil it for you if you've never seen it.

 

[Glittercat]

What an absolutely stunning trip review! The pictures were so vibrant and your whole family just seems to have a nice attitude about life! Our kids were delighted by the Nemo show, but we are for sure going to not miss Lion King after reading your review! Thank you ever so much for sharing! *smiles*~Rebecca

 

[Alexsandra]

What an absolutely stunning trip review! The pictures were so vibrant and your whole family just seems to have a nice attitude about life! Our kids were delighted by the Nemo show, but we are for sure going to not miss Lion King after reading your review! Thank you ever so much for sharing! *smiles*~Rebecca

Awe, thanks so much. I really appreciate it. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful family. The Neemo show was beautiful but I was really blown away by The Lion King. You'll love it for sure. I really love WDW and it is fun to be able to share my experiences and gives me a chance to relive the trip again.

 

[Alexsandra]

It was so hot at this point we decided that it was a good time to cool off so we were willing to get soaked on the Kali River Rapids. Grand-ma took Jonah on the Maharaja Trek, while the rest of us got in line for the ride. My husband laughed at me 'cause I screamed so much on this ride, not from fear of the ride but from fear of getting wet. FInally, I was the one laughing at the end. It was my husband and Kheo who got wet to the bone.

This is a picture of the boats next to the ride.

When we go out, we walked around a little until we just could not take the heat anymore and we found refuge in Yak and Yeti restaurant. There was a bar area where everyone ordered drinks and I tried their fried won tons filled with sweet cream cheese and served with pineapple. It was good but too sweet for my liking and I found the cheese filling a little grainy. I should of ordered their Yak Attack frozen drink instead. Oh well, next time.

YAk and Yeti bar area

Picture of restaurant

Buddha inside restaurant

It was getting close to parade time so we made our way back to Africa and sat on some benches in front of Tusker House which gave us a great view of the parade. It was a fun parade with colorful animal floats, MIckey and Minnie safari vehicles and some great performers in elaborate costumes.

I waited until the end of the day to let the kids lay in the Boneyard play area. It took forever to get them out of there on our last trip so I knew that I had to schedule this attraction at the end. This place is just great with a huge park with giant slides, hidden caves, rope bridges and a giant sand pit called the Dig Site. They especially loved the dig site and so did I. It was nice to sit in this covered area with giant misting fans blowing a cool breeze while the kids played in the sand and being surrounded by dinosaur fossils. Talk about fun!

 

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

Such a fun time!

They boys look intent digging in the dig site!

Great pictures!

 

[Alexsandra]

Such a fun time!

They boys look intent digging in the dig site!

Great pictures!

Thanks, we did have great time. My kids loved the boneyard but what kid doesn't like to play in the sand, especially littered with dinosaur bones!
My oldest kept saying "look Mommy, I'm a paleonthologist" (a word he learnt from watching Curious George).
I love your name, especially with the red hair and all.

 

[Alexsandra]

After a full day at Animal Kindom, we rushed to catch the bus for our ADR at Boma. The lineup for the bus was really long and I was a little worried that we were not going to make it on time. I was wrong, we made it!

The Animal Kingdom Lodge is such a beautiful resort and their lobby is just breathtaking.

It was our second time at Boma's but it was my parents-in-law's first and we were excited for them to try it. My husband and I loved Boma the first time around. We were seated very quickly. While my son and I waited for the Chef to come out, the rest of the family began eating with a little of convincing on my part (we were all starving). I love the atmosphere at Boma's.

When the chef came out, she went through the buffet with us. As she started to go through food to avoid, she told me to avoid almost half of the buffet since they used garam masala in most dishes and she did not know if their was anise used in this spice mix. In the end she was too scared for me to eat anything off the buffet so she insisted to make me a dish from scratch. She asked me what I felt like eating and went to cook me pan seared salmon with a side of broccoli. She was really sweet but I was disappointed since last time the chef had known all the ingredients to each dish and had even went as far as explaining the history of each dish and which region of Africa it came from. I really enjoyed trying new dishes and the flavors were so exotic and very refined. However, this time, even though my dish was very well cooked, it was very basic and nothing special.

Even if I had already tried some of the dishes previously, I could not take a chance this time so I just avoided the buffet. I did stuff my face with the desserts which were no problem, especially those zebra domes and the peanut tarts. Yummy! It was worth the trip there just for those!

My son, however, had to avoid the dessert bar and some dishes cooked with nuts. He ended up eating some soup, roasted meat and broccoli from my plate. I think next time I will just avoid Boma's all together. It is just not the best suited restaurant for our allergies. Also my parents-in-law ended up not being that adventurous in their food choices and were disappointed with what they did taste. Bummer!

We did take the time to look around the resort and the kids happily played in the children's playground while we watched the animals in the "fake savana". It is so impressive how Disney managed to create an African paradise in the middle of Florida. I also can believe how many animals we saw. So cool!

While I was there I started a conversation with a nice girl who worked at the resort. She was from South Africa and we spoke about where she was from and what it was like in South Africa. We ended up having a lot in common and we exchanged e-mails.

Finally after the sun set we decided to take a taxi back to our resort but not before getting our taxi stolen from us by two couples who tipped off the bellboy. Really nice, right! The bell boy said to stand on the side while he called us a taxi. There were were standing there with two young children for over 20 min. and this couple walks out and is ushered into our taxi when it arrives, then it happens a second time. I was furious. it was obvious this bellboy was ignoring us. Finally my husband had to go see the bell boy to ask him politely if he forgot about us (sarcastically!) It was so obvious he was ignoring us since we were standing right in front of him. Plus the couple that came out tipped the bellboy so that they could get a taxi more quickly and that is exactly what they got. I would have gladly the bellboy after he found us a taxi but he wasn't going to get a tip now! We are not ones to judge and we are the type of people who want to stir up anything but this was just ridiculous. Then, finally after waiting for another 15 min. a taxi pulls up to the door and we rush over to it not even waiting anymore for the bell boy to call us. I swear, it would have been faster to take the buses back to the parks and then back to the resort than waste 45 min. waiting at the front lobby for a taxi! It is too bad because it left us with a bad taste to the evening and kind of ruined my love for this resort.

It had been a long day and tomorrow was the MNSSHP and we really needed to get some sleep. Boy was I happy to be in bed that night.

 

[Alexsandra]

We decided to take it easy today since we were going to attend the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party tonight. We tried to sleep in (as much as possible with 2 young children who are early risers!) and lazily made our way to the food court. We had run out of food and wanted to try the POFQ food court for breakfast. My boys shared a kid's plate of mickey waffles served with fresh strawberries which they finished clean. I ordered the adult version of the kids' plate and my husband had the basic breakfast. We paid OOP and it was really reasonable in price and the food was hot and very good for a food court.

It was another beautiful day but it was going to be a hot one.

Now I had reserved, months ahead of time, the Pirate League for my son and I as to not have to worry about bringing elaborate costumes for the party. I thought it would be fun for us both and very halloweeny!(yes, this is a word in my book of vocabulary).
My husband decided to come along to take pictures of us getting "pimped up". Since I could only get a reservation for 11:00 (for Kheo) and 11:15 (for me) we had to go to MK early and we were planning on coming back in the afternoon to rest before the party.

My parents-in-law stayed with the baby and decided to enjoy the resort's pool. My husband, DS4 and I made our way to Magic Kingdom, but not before putting a lucky coin into POFQ's fountain and making a wish. I had bought a pair of pirate Mickey ears for DS with his name stitched on the back and he wanted to wear it to go to the Pirate League. He was so cute in them. I tried to wear my pirate looking shirt to go along with the theme (yes, I know I'm so cheesy!)

When we got to the park, the heat was pounding down hard so we decided to enjoy a cool refreshing Dole Whip. My husband always orders a dole whip float. So delicious! I wish I could find them around here, but then I would be eating them everyday.

When we got to the Pirate League desk right next to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, we had some time to spare. So we watched the show with Captn' Jack Sparrow. It was a fun pre-curser to our pirate experience.

Like a dinner reservation you have to show up 15 min. prior to your appointment time. We check in at 10:45 and were told to wait until our names were called out. We were also asked to choose our facial effect. My son obviously chose the "Cursed Pirate" (because it is the scariest according to him) and I chose the "multi eyed Jack" however I was concerned about the makeup (I have very sensitive skin and easily have allergic reactions to cheep skin products). While waiting we took a picture of us before the transformation. It took a good 15 min. before they called us in but DS was having fun with his "pirate gun" that Grand-ma had bought him a few days ago.

Once we were called they showed us into a room that housed a big table with a boat wheel attached a treasure box. We were asked to spin the wheel which in turn spins the treasure box containing a pair of dice. With the dice and our birthdays, they decoded our pirate names. I was called Elizabeth Longmonger and DS's was Francis ... (I can't remember his last name for the life of me, sorry).

After getting our official pirate names, we were now allowed to enter the pirate room. It looked like a ship's hold surrounded with barrels and secret pirate artifacts. There were several makeup stations all facing ornate mirrors
on each wall. It was really cool! We sat in the middle on "crates" while we waited for our names to be called.

I was shining the skeleton silhouette with Kheo's pirate gun. He already looked like a pirate to me.

Our names were called and we were each assigned a pirate charged to transform us into one of them. They sat us in a kind of hairdresser chair and covered our clothes with a smock. I spoke to my pirate make-up artist about my concern on the makeup. She finally suggested I switch my pirate look to the empress package which has a lot less makeup and is just eye shadow instead of stage makeup. I went with her suggestion.

She first started painting my nails with OPI nail polish. I had the choice between pink or black. I chose black of course: I ain't goin' to be no sissy pirate! Then she asked me to choose the color of my eye shadow. I chose dark purple and told her to go all out. I also had to choose what sticker I wanted on my face (I chose a gem skeleton) and got to keep the rest of the gem sticker sheet. My son was getting his face painted on the other end of the room, but my husband took some great pictures so I could see later on.

 

[Alexsandra]

After the makeup was done, I got to choose what color I wanted my bandana. I had the choice between black or pink. I chose pink since my husband told me that DS's was black. We got a clip on earring to add to the look. We were then asked to take a pledge to swear by the pirate ways (so fun!) After that they announce your pirate name to the room and everyone cheers and claps.

Then we were given our satchels, swords and a special pirate necklace (to decode a secret message that will be given to us on our way out.) We were led into the highly secret room to which we swore to never speak a word of. Sorry, I need to keep my word, or forever be lost at sea

Then when we came out we we given the option of buying the photo taken in the secret room. It was around $15 for the picture that came with a pirate league map and a folder. I found it was worth it so purchased my son's package. I skipped mine of course. The whole experience cost $30 each and we had a great time. My son's makeup was perfect and he was really spooky looking. He absolutely loved the way he looked and when we got out, everyone stared at him and some kids were even scared of him. I thought it was really worth the money and would pay it again for my son in a heartbeat.

Here is the after pictures which we took in the Pirate of the Caribbean ride.

After the ride, it was lunch time and we decided to go to Colombia Harbor House for a quick bite. It was complicated for Kheo to eat his chicken nuggets without messing up his makeup but I knew the heat and nap time was going to make more damage than eating!

We headed back to the hotel and I forced DS to take a little nap. Surprisingly, the nap did not damage the makeup as much as I thought and he still looked pretty scary. I thought it was going to be all smudged but it wasn't only a little makeup around the mouth that was smudge. My son didn't even notice so it was fine. That is some good quality makeup!

 

[Alexsandra]

So now that the kids had taken their naps, it was time to head to MNSSHP. I knew we could get in starting at 4:00PM but either way it was not going to be a problem since we already had our day passes at MK.

I had bought a glow in the dark skeleton PJ at Old Navy® for each of my sons. I didn't want to spend a fortune on costumes that they would die of heat in. At the same time I figured, at the end of the evening, I would not have to change them out of their costumes since they were already in their PJs. Since my son was already an "un-dead" pirate the skeleton fit perfectly with his face paint. I had also previously purchased a couple of pirate hats, and a hook (plastic) at the dollar store and brought them in my suitcase. DS4 wanted to wear the pirate hat instead of the bandana so I convinced my husband to wear it along with the clip on earring. He wore a striped t-**** and I used my makeup to paint his face like a pirate. My parents in-law had brought their own costumes from home and also dressed up as pirates. The kids loved it. They were so happy that we participated, it was totally worth it just to see them all light up like that.

all dressed up and waiting for the bus.

When we got there there were already signs up welcoming us to the party. As we crossed the gate, they put a special party bracelet on our wrists so that they could tell us apart from non-party goers.

The park looked all pretty with halloween decorations everywhere. (the same as it did all week). There were cool mickey jack-o-lanterns in each window of the buildings lining Main Street. But it is at sundown when the park comes alive.

We made our way to Fantasyland to ride on some attractions we did not get to do on our regular park days. There was Cinderella's carriage and there was almost no line-up, so my mother-in-law and I decided to take a picture there while my husband and DS4 went trick or treating at the candy station near by.

When I looked into my son's candy bag, I realized every candy in there contained nuts. Bummer! So I told my son, we would go check at City Hall on the way out and see if they had any nut-free candy to give him instead. He was ok with that!

We decided to ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant, a ride that both my kids could enjoy. There was barely no lineup and we just walked on.

As you can see, Kheo's makeup was getting more and more smudged and here he looked more like Brandon Lee in the movie "The Crow".

Next came the Golden Carrousel. Another family friendly ride.

While we were walking around, there was a scary "Halloween" voice on the intercom speaker that could be heard throughout the park. He welcomed us to the party (which officially started at 7:00PM) and told we we would have a frightening fun time.

I remember eating a quick bite but I can't remember where or what I ate? I think it was burgers at Pecos Bil!? I was having too much fun, what can I say?

We then went to the Winnie the Pooh ride. Again, there was no ones and we just walked on. This is such a fun little ride and I think the whole family really enjoyed it. We were here for the kids so we only did rides that the whole family would enjoy, that included my little one.

Here is the whole family on the ride.

When we got out I realized that time had flown by and the parade was going to start in less than 30 min. So we rushed to Main Street which was a really bad location since it was completely packed. There was a stage show infront of the castle we had missed (I was really disappointed about that) and the crowd that was there had already gotten in line for the parade. Fortunately, Grand-ma, who was in a wheel chair, got to go in the handicapped zone for parade viewing and we all got to follow. Thank-goodness or we would have not been able to see the parade. (I think there was going to be a second parade later however that one would have been too late in the evening for my kids).
The parade started and it was absolutely fabulous! The music was great and it was all light up with lights. All the Disney characters were dressed up in halloween costumes. All the "evil" characters from the Disney movies were present like Hook, Malificent, Ursula, etc. But my favorite part were the Haunted Mansion characters that were dancing with shovels and making sparks on the ground by dragging their shovels across the asphalt. Too cool!

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have that is not too blurry. It was hard to shoot at night without a tripod.

We headed to the Main Street Ice Cream Parlor for a little treat. We were lucky to have found seats right away and figured we would watch the Hallo-Wishes fireworks from there. The castle was all light up and Main Street was now all spooky with green lights shining from the windows and spooky jack-o-lanterns light everywhere. They kept playing halloween inspired music like the tunes from Nightmare Before Christmas (which my family loves). My husband and I went to stand in line to order ice-cream. It was a really long line. It took us almost half an hour to get our ice cream but we were not in a hurry. When we got out, we slowly ate our ice-cream and the Hallo-Wishes started. This was the best part of the evening. The fireworks were the best I have ever seen and the music accompanied it perfectly.

 

[Alexsandra]

When the fireworks ended it was mayhem in the park. There were crowds of people leaving and others just trying to make their way to other lands. I lost my family in the confusion and it took me 20 min. just to find them. After that incident, I think we just decided to call it quits. My parents-in-law were like the living dead, they were so tired and my kids were getting fussy. We stopped at City hall to see if my son could get any nut-free candy. They gave him a bag of lollipops, raisin boxes and chocolate coins. It was pitiful considering we paid $50 for his ticket, but he was happy and that is what counted. On the way out, there were cool lighting effects on the ground and a nice big Mickey balloon all light up where the kids could get one last round of candies.

The lineups for the buses where terrible and the kids were so tired they could not even keep their eyes open. When we got back to our room, I plopped them onto the bed makeup and all and they slept in that position all night.

So in the end it was a fun night but I felt we had missed out on a lot of the halloween activities. There was stage shows, meet and greets and dance parties which we all missed because we were on rides instead.

Conclusion: I think for the price we paid, it was not worth it for my children's ages. The party starts at 7PM when the kids are already tired and ends way too late for them. I would go back but with older children and I would plan it out better next time. However, the parade and Hallow-Wishes blew us away and it was worth the ticket just to see that.

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

First, you have a lovely family... .... your little boys are too cute for their own good and how nice to have such awesome inlaws... (I love it that they dressed up for the Halloween Party...

I was really interested in your Party experience... that's one thing on my Disney bucket list that I haven't gotten to do that I am really dying to do...I can see that bits of it could be overwhelming for the little guys... It's a long day/night... Sometimes I think there are so many great things to do at Disney...it's tempting to try to do them all... We did the Christmas party when my daughter was 12 and my son was 4... and it was perfect for her... she was able to appreciate it (it was cool the parade and the snow on Main Street...) but he feel asleep in his stroller...

Love, Love the Pirate's League... the atmosphere in there is absolutely awesome... great that you did it too...

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience at AKL ... I love it there ...it's one of my favorite lodges... and the restaurants are all really good... You should give it another try sometime... It's too bad about the bellboy... I've found most of the service there quite good...

Your photos are really very good... great clarity and color... If you don't mind me asking...what kind of camera did you use?

Fun trip report ...

 

[Alexsandra]

First, you have a lovely family... .... your little boys are too cute for their own good and how nice to have such awesome inlaws... (I love it that they dressed up for the Halloween Party...
Thank you very much. My boys get a lot of attention because of the red hair! I do have great parent-in-law. They live far away from us so we don't get to see them very often. That is why we all loved this trip so much. We got to spend some quality time together.


I was really interested in your Party experience... that's one thing on my Disney bucket list that I haven't gotten to do that I am really dying to do...I can see that bits of it could be overwhelming for the little guys... It's a long day/night... Sometimes I think there are so many great things to do at Disney...it's tempting to try to do them all... We did the Christmas party when my daughter was 12 and my son was 4... and it was perfect for her... she was able to appreciate it (it was cool the parade and the snow on Main Street...) but he feel asleep in his stroller...
I am trying to decide to do the Christmas party on my upcoming trip! It is funny you mention it. I think the Halloween party has to be done at least once. But make sure you plan your night better than I did. Skip the rides and do/see the Halloween activities!


Love, Love the Pirate's League... the atmosphere in there is absolutely awesome... great that you did it too...
This was my favorite experience of the whole trip. I think it was so well done and really worth the price!

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience at AKL ... I love it there ...it's one of my favorite lodges... and the restaurants are all really good... You should give it another try sometime... It's too bad about the bellboy... I've found most of the service there quite good...
Don't worry, I still love AKL, however I don't think I will dine at Boma's again because of the food limitations my allergies impose on me. I know that the Bell Boy incident was isolated and I have never before experienced bad service at WDW. I will be back for sure, I even think I will go see its Christmas decorations this coming December.

Your photos are really very good... great clarity and color... If you don't mind me asking...what kind of camera did you use?
I borrowed my mom's camera for the trip. I know it is a Canon Eos Rebel but I can't tell you the exact model. I am no professional photographer but I have to say that a good camera can take beautiful pictures even on automatic mode. If you are looking to buying a camera, I would get the Sony Cybershot DSC-RX100. I am purchasing it for my next trip. It is a DSLR in a compact size. It has amazing picture quality, great for low light shots, great video quality and is the best compact camera on the market right now. I am purchasing it for work so its price is not really a problem but it is quite expensive. If you want an alternative good compact camera, look at the Canon Powershot S100 or S95 (older model) which are similar and not as expensive. These cameras offer the option of using them in manual and automatic mode. If it is a simple point and shoot you are looking for then maybe look at the Canon Power Shot SX260 HS instead which also offers an excellent zoom lens, excellent photo and video quality.

Fun trip report ...

Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

[Alexsandra]

The next morning, my husband and I woke up before sunrise and I decided to take one last picture of river from our bedroom window.

This our room number if ever you would like to make a request. It was the best location. Top floor in building 5, river view. There was hardly any traffic on this wing since there were only a few other rooms down the corridor.

Since we had a breakfast reservation at Kona Cafe at 9:30AM, I woke up the kids. I tried to wash off the makeup on Kheo's face as best as I could but it was not an easy task. WHen I was finally done, he still had makeup around his eyes that I could not get off. He looked like he was wearing eyeliner.

I was so excited to finally be able to try Kona Cafe. I had read so many good reviews of this place and was curious to try their Tonga toast.

We bus over to MK and took the monorail over to the Polynesian. Since we were not in a hurry we really got to enjoy the ride over. We arrived 15 min. before our ADR and were seated right away.

The first thing we did was order the Kona Coffee Press and lilikoi juice. I was debating on the macadamian nut pancakes or the Tonga toast. Finally I decided I had to try the toast. My husband ordered the steak and eggs and both my parents-in-law ordered the Big Kahuna.

Tonga toast

Big Kahuna

Steak and eggs

The portions were huge and everyone seemed to enjoy their meals. Now the Tonga toast was amazing! I like sweet breakfast type foods so this cross between a donut and stuffed french toast just blew me away. SO yummy! The strawberry coulis that came with it was a delicious addition and cut some of the richness. It was stuffed with bananas and covered in cinnamon sugar. I loved it.

The toast cut crosswise.

The lililoi juice and coffee were also great.. Needless to say, this place had become one of my favorite restaurants on property and I have already booked it for my next trip.

SO after our great breakfast we decided to explore the property. The kids had fun running around.

We went to look at the lava pool and the beach also but it was so hot we soon decided just to head back to our own resort to take a swim.

The baby fell asleep on his grand-pa on the bus ride back. SO cute.

Once back, we quickly got changed into our bathing suits and headed to the dragon pool. The baby was still sleeping so we just let him rest in his carriage. I have to say that DS4 thoroughly enjoyed this pool and its theming. How could he not with a giant Dragon slide and fun alligators playing instruments.

The baby woke up and wanted to join in the fun so luckily I had brought his bathing suit and changed him at the pool.

 

[Alexsandra]

After spending the day soaking up the sun, we decided to go to Downtown Disney. So we got changed and took the boat over. The boat ride was really nice and the kids loved it.

Grandma with Kheo on the boat.

We finally arrived at the dock and were surprised to see how pretty DTD was.

We had built up an appetite and were trying to figure out where to eat. Well, when Kheo saw that giant dinosaur skeleton outside of T-Rex, there was no question were we were going to have dinner.

We had no dining reservation but decided to try my luck anyways. They told us it would be a 20 min. wait. That was no problem, sine we had no where we needed to be. We waited 5 min. and were called in. Cool!
When we walked in, we were blown away by the stunning decorations and the life size animatronic dinosaurs.

You are first greeted by a giant wooly mammoth.

Then we were taken to our table in the "jungle dining room.
There were several dining rooms: a coral reef bar with a giant moving octopus bar, the ice room with a t-rex skeleton frozen in its walls, the jungle room with its star light skies and dinosaurs hiding amongst tropical plants and finally a volcano room where you can glimpse into the kitchen and sit next to a giant T-Rex.

Octopus bar

Coral reef room

Ice Room

Jungle room

Volcano room

The waitress was very nice and suggested we get specialty drinks in light up cups. We all ordered one and soon regretted it. They were really not good, and hardly contained any alcohol. When we saw the cost for those drinks at the end of the meal we almost lost our lunch. I know we were paying for the novelty cups but this was ridiculous: $14 for fruit juice. At least we had souvenirs to bring home!

The we ordered our food. We all took ribs which were ok but again too saucy and no BBQ flavor or char on them at all. The kids plates were liked. DS4 got ribs and beans (his favorite!) and the little one had a pasta dish. They both enjoyed their light up cups.

Since the food was sub-par we decided to skip on dessert and headed to Ghirardelli for hot fudge sundays. They chocolate fudge sauce is to die for! Lets just say, we did not regret our dessert choice.

After doing some souvenir and toy shopping, we saw that a band was playing in the big amphitheater near the water. The kids went to dane together while we enjoyed the show.

It was time to call it a night. I took one last picture of the moon light on the river before hitting the sack.

The next morning we caught the magical express at 8:00 AM to make it on time for our plane. What a wonderful trip we had and what beautiful memories it left with us.

THE END

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

What a great trip report!

Your five year old sounds like a real little daredevil. I still haven't gone on Dinosaur! That's really something that he liked it when I hear it's loud and scary.

Great pics of AKLodge! Have never visited that resort, but it's on our hit list of resorts to try.

Oh, too bad the meal at the TRex dinoaur restaurant wasn't very good. The photos of the place look terrific, though. Glad to hear you guys were able to have a yummy dessert at Ghirardelli. Love their hot fudge sauce!

Love the moonlight shot over the River. Pretty!

Ah, those nice corner rooms at the PO resorts! I had one at CBR and it was great. Much brighter than the other rooms. With the nice view you had I bet it was especially pretty to be able to see so much of the grounds. Oh, I see the dreaded ME envelope on your doorknob. Never a welcome sight.

Thanks for the close up shot on the Tonga Toast. It was on my to-do list when we were in Disney in August and I just didn't get around to the Kona Cafe. I'm glad to hear it was as tasty as they say. Next time, next time for sure.

Great pool shots at the POFQ! Looks like the kids had a lot of fun in that pool.

 

[Alexsandra]

What a great trip report!

Your five year old sounds like a real little daredevil. I still haven't gone on Dinosaur! That's really something that he liked it when I hear it's loud and scary.

Great pics of AKLodge! Have never visited that resort, but it's on our hit list of resorts to try.

Oh, too bad the meal at the TRex dinoaur restaurant wasn't very good. The photos of the place look terrific, though. Glad to hear you guys were able to have a yummy dessert at Ghirardelli. Love their hot fudge sauce!

Love the moonlight shot over the River. Pretty!

Ah, those nice corner rooms at the PO resorts! I had one at CBR and it was great. Much brighter than the other rooms. With the nice view you had I bet it was especially pretty to be able to see so much of the grounds. Oh, I see the dreaded ME envelope on your doorknob. Never a welcome sight.

Thanks for the close up shot on the Tonga Toast. It was on my to-do list when we were in Disney in August and I just didn't get around to the Kona Cafe. I'm glad to hear it was as tasty as they say. Next time, next time for sure.

Great pool shots at the POFQ! Looks like the kids had a lot of fun in that pool.

Thank you, I'm happy you liked my trip report. I really wanted to share my experience, especially at the MNSSHP.

My 5 y.o. is a dare devil (worried!), it goes with the red hair

AKL is beautiful, you must head over there for a meal at one point.

T-Rex is a must-see at least once, the atmosphere in there is too cool to miss. Just avoid the drinks and ribs.

As for the pretty moonlight shot, it has to be one of my favorites!

I've never stayed at CBR, how was your experience?

Kona cafe was great and that Tonga toast is on my list of musts on my upcoming trip. Soooo good!

My 5 y.o. loved that pool more than the CSR pool (we stayed here on our first family trip) which is fabulous. I guess the theming was more age appropriate. What 5 y.o. wouldn't like sliding down a giant sea dragon!?

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Thank you, I'm happy you liked my trip report. I really wanted to share my experience, especially at the MNSSHP.

My 5 y.o. is a dare devil (worried!), it goes with the red hair

AKL is beautiful, you must head over there for a meal at one point.

T-Rex is a must-see at least once, the atmosphere in there is too cool to miss. Just avoid the drinks and ribs.

As for the pretty moonlight shot, it has to be one of my favorites!

I've never stayed at CBR, how was your experience?

Kona cafe was great and that Tonga toast is on my list of musts on my upcoming trip. Soooo good!

My 5 y.o. loved that pool more than the CSR pool (we stayed here on our first family trip) which is fabulous. I guess the theming was more age appropriate. What 5 y.o. wouldn't like sliding down a giant sea dragon!?

I plan on commenting on the rest of your trip report as well.
LOVED the MNSSHP and the pirate costumes! What a precious photo of your son asleep in bed with the face make up on. Too cute!

We loved our stay at CBR. It was only a one night stay, though, before we moved on to our main resort the following day. This was back in 2008, so I'm sure the rooms look quite different now, but I included a link to my old ancient CBR resort report link below if you wanted to take a look. We would definitely stay here again, even though I'm nostalgic about POR and will stay there again in the future too.
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1988280

 

[Alexsandra]

I plan on commenting on the rest of your trip report as well.
LOVED the MNSSHP and the pirate costumes! What a precious photo of your son asleep in bed with the face make up on. Too cute!

We loved our stay at CBR. It was only a one night stay, though, before we moved on to our main resort the following day. This was back in 2008, so I'm sure the rooms look quite different now, but I included a link to my old ancient CBR resort report link below if you wanted to take a look. We would definitely stay here again, even though I'm nostalgic about POR and will stay there again in the future too.
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1988280

Thanks for the link. CBR looks really nice. I was considering it for my next trip but ended up choosing POR instead. We got a Royal room in Mansions (only room available). Heading over there in Dec. so excited!
But I will try CBR one day for sure. Love the bright colored building and the beach!