You Guys Part of the Family? You've Got the Magic In Your Eyes!!->Updated 10/19x3!!!!

[lvcourtneyy]

Ah that AoA pictures are so so gorgeous ! Love the reunion with Paige too! I'm so sad the LM rooms aren't being included in discounts cause I wanna stay there so badly!

 

[katt789]

Love all the pictures of AOA!! Disney just know how to do things right that's for sure! I will stay there someday.

Ah that AoA pictures are so so gorgeous ! Love the reunion with Paige too! I'm so sad the LM rooms aren't being included in discounts cause I wanna stay there so badly!

AoA is definitely worth a stay, or at least a little trip over from Pop. If I was to stay at Pop again, I'd probably plan my arrival evening to walk through AoA and eat at their foodcourt, it's so amazing over there!!

Now, I've heard people complaining that LM rooms wouldn't be in ANY discounts cause they weren't in them last year, yet when we stayed at AOA we had free dining...so who knows about this year?!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

First, what a super sweet meet.

Second, I am def going to spend some arrival time over at AoA next week. It looks amazing.

 

[ronnmel]

I MISS AOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for the tour. I got to re-live a little bit of my trip. I especially love how you explained the Lion King section. I hadn't even noticed before how the placement of the characters makes so much sense!

 

[katt789]

First, what a super sweet meet.

Second, I am def going to spend some arrival time over at AoA next week. It looks amazing.

Definitely take a look over there, it's awesome!!

I MISS AOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for the tour. I got to re-live a little bit of my trip. I especially love how you explained the Lion King section. I hadn't even noticed before how the placement of the characters makes so much sense!

No probs! Haha, it's such a beautiful resort, like, if that, FLE and the Rapuznel bathrooms are a hint at what we can expect from Disney, I'm happy!

 

[katt789]

Hey team!
Sorry it's taken so long for me to post again, last week had been kinda crazy week with closing night at work, being sick, and trying to make my mind up about auditions haha! But now I'm back!!

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Paige and I were super excited to see how awesome the inside of our room was, I had seen some pictures online, but everything always looks more awesome in person, like, pictures of AoA really can’t do it justice! You need to go check it out if you’re there! We had used the elevator to get up there, as Paige had all her luggage with her, and after going around a few corners, it was time!

We had the same, scanning type locks that AKL had, and I explained them to Paige in case she got as confused as Mom and I did!

There’s a table…lol, just your basic table with the mirror above it, with little fishes as the frame! Yay!

A little towel art…and…a little problem….

This was our bed…I repeat…singular…bed….uhm…That’s definitely not what we wanted…Paige and I are both super aware sleepers, and it wouldn’t do well to have us sleeping in one bed, that’s just not going to work. However, we figured we’d ask when we got back from our evening, and they’d most likely be able to change us in the near future, right? Luckily, it was HUGE.

Beside the bed, is my favorite, dreamy Prince, Eric, and Max! Yay, notice how the frame is made out of “wood” like it’s all sea themed, and stuff. The shower curtain..UGH, I want one!

GRJFNDFNJDKFNDNA!!!! They were selling them all in the gift shop, but because the LM section had just opened, they hadn’t gotten any in yet! SAD FACE! (OH…Did I fail to mention that the Little Mermaid suites were opening on this very day that we checked in!? We were seriously the FIRST paying customers to stay in these rooms! Yayayayaya) And here comes the best part….behind the shower curtain…

THE GROTTO!! You want thingamabobs?! I’VE GOT TWENTY!!!!! In case you were un aware, we may or may not have been FREAKING out at this point!

The vanity mirror above the sink, and even the carpets are all themed!

The next thing was yet another one of the best thing, I shifted through all the papers on the table, the usual “book before you check out and save” stuff and there was more on the table that I tried to shift, but then noticed it was attatched! They were the lyrics and music to Under the Sea! Just in case we needed to prepare for any concerts!

Totes adorbs!

A better picture of the mirror for ya, with Paige & her Mickey ears on! Yay, Disney spirit!

A better look at the giant and solo bed (and classy Paige…)

Flounder & Sebastian are up on the wall ready to hang out with you, and of course, let’s not forget Eric…in fact, let’s take some time to appreciate him some more.

Yet another selfie in the mirror! Cause hey, we can! Paige dumped her luggage, I left the package on the table, we made sure we had our key cards, and we were all set to leave the room, we were hungry!

The view from our floor, and then a zoomed in look at Sebastian at the Flippin Fins pool! He’s across from Ariel, behind where the Eric statue is. The shell provides a nice background from both angles too!

From the third floor I could get a nice view across Hourglass Lake at my very first Disney resort!

Oh Pop Century! It holds a special place in my heart after being the first resort I stayed at (and since it was such a nice Value, I stayed my first 3 trips, now I’m experiencing Deluxe, and it’s GRAND!)

As I said, Paige, Mom and I were getting hungry, so we skipped down the stairs and headed over towards the bus stop (taking the quick route through the parking lot this time) to head over to Downtown Disney!

We seriously loved Art of Animation so far, it seriously was absolutely amazing! Everything was so bright and vibrant and amazing, and just BEAUTIFUL! The themeing was done so well, like, down to the greenery being themed in all the areas, it was amazing! I wish we could have seen the insides of the suites!

 

[katt789]

The bus ride over to Downtown Disney didn’t take very long at all, and we were there before we knew it. We headed into the Marketplace first, and I had an idea on where we would end up eating, but we had a little bit of exploring first! Paige also saw a Rainforest Café, and got all excited as she had been to one in New York (?) and was all excited. She also took the time to mention that she was more than okay with taking pictures while walking, she had been to New York recently and obviously, you can’t stop for the pictures when you’re there!

I know for a fact we stopped in the Art store, and I think it was before we had stopped to eat. I found some absolutely amazing paintings in there, that were only around $100.00 they all had even hidden Disney characters throughout the paintings! I really wanted the Princess and the Frog one, but didn’t really have the money for it at the time, so I made the right decision to not buy it! Haha. Paige got some random stuff, and then we headed over to non other than Wolfgang Puck Express for dinner!

The line was nearly at the door, but hey, that’s okay, I really wanted some noms from here! I did have a bit of confusion as it looked like people were being served, and honestly, some of the dining plan was SERIOUSLY confusing at points, and this was one of them. However we sorted it out and ended up getting food from here for all of us. Thanks to Mom and I having so many table service meals, we had a BUNCH of extra counter service credits left, so I told Paige we’d pay for her meals for the first little bit so they didn’t go to waste!

Paige got some kind of Santa Fe looking salad, she did like it! Way to eat healthy girl! Lol.

That one’s mine, the Four Cheese Pesto Pizza! Om nom nom nom nom! I had heard a million of good things about this pizza, and I had eaten it from the WPE in the airport when my flight got delayed in January! And of course, I absolutely loved it, it was sooo good, and I did end up saving a couple of pieces for the morning/later than night!

Mom got the “Oven Roasted Salmon” and she liked it, again, healthy haah. She also got the crème brulee for dessert!

Wolfgang Puck Express Review:
5/5!
-Beautiful food!
-Nice ambiance
-Friendly staff
-Great food!
-Loved that it was a mix of table service and quick service and it was just awesome!

With our dinner done with, I packed up 2 slices of pizza, Paige and I got cookies, so they were already ready to go and we headed out of the restaurant to explore. Since I can’t make it through DTD without a trip to TrenD we stopped there first, Paige and I both tried a bunch of things on, but managed to not buy anything! WHOOT! I found that a bunch of the stuff they had was the “baggy” styled shirts, and those can either look great or horrible on girls who are bigger chested, and in this case, it wasn’t for the better! Haha!

With TrenD done, we headed over to World Of Disney, in which I warned Paige & Mom that it is the biggest Disney store, and someone WILL get lost while we’re in it…also meaning that I wander off on my own a lot and will get separated! We walked in the door into the like, “boy” section, and I immediately found a new sweater!

Clearly it fits, right?! Haha. I also found a mini monorail playset, and a Tinkerbell wallet (which I ended up buying at DHS later in the trip!)

Paige picked up a few souviners for people back home and while she was paying I found some cute Minnie things!

Yup, I’m cool… We were getting pretty tired at this point, it had been a very busy day for Mom and I and traveling wears out Paige, so we decided to make the long trip back home. On the way out, Mom made sure to take a picture of the two of us being goofy as well.

We took a bus back to AKL where I packed up all of my things, and told Mom where to meet tomorrow, and what time to be down to the bus stop, and everything she needed to know about the check out envelope that would be on the door the next day, and then Paige and I took a cab over to AoA.

I stopped at the front desk while Paige went back to the room to get all of her things in hopes of moving rooms, but then of course, since it was opening day, I was told there was nowhere to move us to for tonight. However they had room for the rest of our trip that would be available tomorrow, they told us to call down in the morning to confirm, and they would move all of our things over for us during the day, and we’d get all that information in the morning. Ugh. Since Paige had already gotten all of her things back, and we had all of my things, we grabbed a cart from luggage services to take it all back to the king bed room. While we were there, one of the CM’s started talking to us, and chatting, which was fine, until he was all “you girls wanna party, come out and party” and just kept pushing, so we of course replied with “Well, she can’t as she’s only 18” (about Paige) and the guy was all “Oh that’s fine, we’ll bring the party to you” Uhm…we just told you she was UNDERAGE, back off, Paige then said something about how her “boyfriend wouldn’t like that” and the guy still didn’t back off, it was seriously just annoying.

We did eventually get out of there, and browsed through the gift shop at some point, where I found the Disney air fresheners, and an even more intense monorail play set!

Paige kept telling me to buy it throughout the trip…but I never did…Finally, we made it back to the room and were in bed by 10. We set up the extra pillows as a buffer between the two of us in hopes that we wouldn’t be to aware of each other while we were sleeping, set the alarm clock, and were off to dream land!

Summary of the Day​

Ups: –Paige arriving
-Getting to do all our favorite things again!
-Festival of the Lion King (it’s so amazing it gets its own line!)
-Getting into Magic Kingdom Early, it’s so pretty!!

Downs:
-Server at Crystal Palace wasn’t good
-So tired
-Only one bed??

Food of the Day: 4 Cheese Pesto Pizza from Wolfgang Puck Express AND the Zebra Domes from the Mara

 

[Pluto0809]

Those AOA Little Mermaid rooms look amazing! I think on my next solo trip I may have to stay there. No idea when that will be but there will be one!

I have Wolfgang Puck Express on our schedule for my October trip. All of the food looks great so I'm excited to try it.

I'm shocked you made it through Tren-D without buying anything! I've tried on stuff in that store but never bought anything since it's so expensive.

I hope you managed to get some sleep with only one bed!

 

[wiigirl]

That Tink wallet is so cute!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

OK, I was just casually following along at the awesome room photos... then BAM! that killer overview shot of the pool. So so cool!!

And then POP where I'll be in (good God) 3 days. B-eau-tiful

I'm not one to judge others normally AT ALL, but that CM interaction was... unusual.

Still waiting on the Pirates scented air freshener! C'mon Disney!!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Oh. My. God. The LM rooms are so much more spectacular inside than I ever knew!!! Ugh I can't take it.


The view from your room is totally gorgeous, as is the picture of Pop across the lake. Omg really can't it just be September now?!?!

Also, I've been wondering forever. Is the pizza at WPE one QS credit? I have no idea why I've never asked before because I really have been wondering for a while. It looks delicious!

Totally weird that you got a king bed. I feel like that would be a more popular request and there's a limited number so I would think they'd give it to someone who actually asked for it? Strange.

 

[katt789]

Those AOA Little Mermaid rooms look amazing! I think on my next solo trip I may have to stay there. No idea when that will be but there will be one!

I have Wolfgang Puck Express on our schedule for my October trip. All of the food looks great so I'm excited to try it.

I'm shocked you made it through Tren-D without buying anything! I've tried on stuff in that store but never bought anything since it's so expensive.

I hope you managed to get some sleep with only one bed!

They were awesome!!! I'm really glad we got to stay there, and I wish I could stay there again, but recently they haven't been part of the discounts! They were this trip, as we had free dining, but I know in the spring discount they aren't part of it. Though I do really want to stay in a suite!!

WPE is so yummy!! I always want the pizza, but the macaroni looks amazing too!! Aw man, I usually pick up one shirt, but the style there now a days is a lot of the "baggy" style tees, which doesn't work as well if you're big chested and small waisted (I know, such a problem, bahaha]

We slept surprisingly well! We laid out the extra pillows between us and were both tired enough we passed out pretty quick!

That Tink wallet is so cute!

Thanks!! I did notice once I'd been using it that it's really built for American money, there isn't really enough room for all the change (loonies and toonies] that we have up here, baha!!

 

[katt789]

OK, I was just casually following along at the awesome room photos... then BAM! that killer overview shot of the pool. So so cool!!

And then POP where I'll be in (good God) 3 days. B-eau-tiful

I'm not one to judge others normally AT ALL, but that CM interaction was... unusual.

Still waiting on the Pirates scented air freshener! C'mon Disney!!

Baha! I'm pretty impressed with that!! Despite not being where we wanted, I'm glad we were put up there so I could get that shot!! And yay!! Pop!! So excited for you!! Yeah, it was just too much, like, we're all for a little bit of flirting, heck, in Feb we full on got our flirt on, and we both had bf's back home. But when you're creeping on us, and we say "one of us is underage" and you don't know by how much, so you say you'll bring the party to us, and then we mention boyfriend, and they still don't stop, that's just too much.

Oh. My. God. The LM rooms are so much more spectacular inside than I ever knew!!! Ugh I can't take it.


The view from your room is totally gorgeous, as is the picture of Pop across the lake. Omg really can't it just be September now?!?!

Also, I've been wondering forever. Is the pizza at WPE one QS credit? I have no idea why I've never asked before because I really have been wondering for a while. It looks delicious!

Totally weird that you got a king bed. I feel like that would be a more popular request and there's a limited number so I would think they'd give it to someone who actually asked for it? Strange.

They're so amazing!! That resort is just incredibly well done!!Sept is surprisingly close! I'm dying!! It definitely is one credit, man, sometimes I can't believe the dining plan at Disney,it's so much food!!

It was super weird! I was thinking because on the reservation they had one female and one male (Cody, who was supposed to come on the trip with another friend originally] I thought maybe they threw us in there because they thought we were a couple. Which is still awkward, as we definitely aren't/weren't, so it's probably a good thing Cody bailed haha!!

 

[katt789]

Our alarm went off around 7:45 on Paige’s first full day in Disney! I set it a little early just because we still had to talk to the front desk, and I didn’t quite know how long Paige would take getting ready. She called down to the desk to confirm the room change, and the ladies response was “did you ask for a change? Then it’s happening” rather rudely, they didn’t seem to be dealing too well with things right now. Oh well. We had let all our luggage on the trolley from last night, and threw all the valuables in my back pack, ate some food in the room, and headed out. We dropped my back pack down at luggage services, grabbed some coffee in our mugs and jumped onto a bus for Epcot!

Over at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Mom had some coffee in the room, discovered no ME envelope on her door, and attempted to head down to the Mara for some food, but couldn’t find it. Yup…she got lost at AKL on her last day…*sigh* But at least she was taking photos that morning!

Pictures can’t do it justice, AKL is so beautiful. We had a meeting spot set over at Epcot for the three of us to meet, after bag check, before the turnstiles, and apparently we walked right by Mom and didn’t see her, but we did eventually find each other!

Once the three of us were collected, we headed through the turnstiles and were officially in Paige’s first Disney park and we were there right at opening! Our plan for the day was pretty much the same was when Mom and I toured earlier in the week, but there was no lunch ADR!

It’s amazing the number of different angles of Spaceship Earth you can get in pictures, and it’s always pretty!

We followed the crowd (or lack there of) into the Land Pavilion of course, Soarin was our first destination!

Not very often you see a wait time like that! Even first thing in the morning! Haha, this, friends, is why I love traveling to Disney in Sept, it’s the greatest time to go for sure!! Time for some selfies while we wait in line!

I’m sure Mom felt like being all “I could take a picture for you guys you know” when we were doing this all the time, but soon realized it’s just part of the generation, more-so Paige than I, but hey, everyone does it once in a while! We boarded the ride and had a grand adventure over California. I’m not sure if we were in the front row this time or not, but it was still awesome. Also, Paige cried…for the like, seventh time at this point. HAHA! I kid, I kid, she did nearly cry though. This, is why I’m so happy that she came with me!

After Soarin, we were clearly done living on Land for a bit, and had to venture under the Seas of the world for our next destination!

The water effect on the sign definitely went off right before or after taking this picture and scared Paige a bit, ha! Hilarity!

As we winded through the forever long cue, Paige noticed something that I never had before, there’s a boat “floating” above us, and of course, it’s “THE BUTT” hahaha! Awesome!!

Paige and I boarded a clammobile and Mom had the next one and we were off in an adventure through the big blue world!

The coral down there is just amazing, don’t cha think!

 

[katt789]

Mom, Paige and I had a little bit of time to kill before the next Turtle Talk so we actually managed to get some pictures around the area before going in! Some jellyfish! So cuuuute!

There were some little fishies, and some big fishies! Look out Paige, you’re gonna get eaten!!

Some more cute sea creatures, and of course, the obligatory in front of the sign picture!

We headed into Turtle Talk and took a seat near the back as to not distract from any of the kids/parents of kids who were up in the front of the room talking to Crush and settled in for the show!

Crush did the same “Ha, I gotta buzz” from the last time. Then there was a kid from Canada (I’m pretty sure it was somewhere in Saskatchewan, which of course, Crush had no idea where it was, I mean, there certainly aren’t any oceans around there!) Instead of a question, he simply said “I had a turtle shell once…” Crush replied “Yes….was there a turtle in it? No….good!” Cute as per usual!

And now we faced the ever baring challenge of Test Track being closed, and no one wanting to do Mission Space (and when Spaceship Earth was described to Paige, she wasn’t interested, this girl wanted to get her Magic Kingdom on, and I could tell, but I wanted her to see World Showcase first) Naturally, it wasn’t open yet, ugh, there’s just too much time in the morning for Epcot stuff! I then asked “Did you want to stop in to see some characters?” OF COURSE she did, I mean, what a better way to start off a Disney trip than to go see Mickey and his friends?!

 

[Pluto0809]

I am really enjoying seeing Disney through Paige's eyes. It is just so much fun introducing someone to Disney who has never been.

What a great morning, Soarin, Nemo, Turtle Talk, I love all three of those. I can't wait to take DH in Oct as none of those were there when we went in 1998. Of course he won't be quite as enthusiastic as Paige but I'm hoping he will at least like some of the stuff.

 

[katt789]

I am really enjoying seeing Disney through Paige's eyes. It is just so much fun introducing someone to Disney who has never been.

What a great morning, Soarin, Nemo, Turtle Talk, I love all three of those. I can't wait to take DH in Oct as none of those were there when we went in 1998. Of course he won't be quite as enthusiastic as Paige but I'm hoping he will at least like some of the stuff.

Yay!!! It was super awesome, and honestly, I was super glad that the boys ended up bailing on the trip! Paige was someone I always wanted to go with but because she was so much younger than me she was still in high school, so when this chance came across, I took it!!

It was an amazing trip, and I will always have the best trips with this girl because she gets it. Not to have any spoilers, lawl, but it was awesome to look beside you when Wishes finished and see that both of you were in happy tears! And be with someone who was willing to park hop over to MK daily to catch the move it shake it!

I know she feels like you about her Aug trip with the BF, she wants him to love it all and stuff but he's not up to her level of excitement. I just keep telling her that my Mom was like that too, she'd say she was excited, but wasn't bouncing off the walls like me. I know that once we got there and she was able to see how much I loved it, and she kinda saw it through my eyes, plus then she got to be a kid again, and she loved it, and now we're going back. I know the DBF will love it, especially when he sees it through Paige's eyes, and I'm so pumped for their trip!

Lawl.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Aw how sad that your mom got lost! But at least she had awesome scenery to take in while she was finding her way!

I like how you basically got to have 2 trips in one. First you got to share everything with your mom and then again with Paige. That's totally awesome and I'm sure it made it that much more magical to have the two different experiences!

You guys did so much so quickly that morning! Characters were definitely the best decision!

 

[shan23877]

I love hearing about Paige experiencing WDW for the first time! I don't blame her at all for needing to get to the MK. It's the first place we have to go too.

 

[katt789]

Aw how sad that your mom got lost! But at least she had awesome scenery to take in while she was finding her way!

I like how you basically got to have 2 trips in one. First you got to share everything with your mom and then again with Paige. That's totally awesome and I'm sure it made it that much more magical to have the two different experiences!

You guys did so much so quickly that morning! Characters were definitely the best decision!

Haha!! At least she managed to get to the bus, and find us at Epcot. Man, explaining that to her was hard. In her defense, the Mara was confusing to get to. Because we were on the first floor, we'd take the stairs to get to the bus stop, but then you'd have to take the elevator down another floor after that to get to the Mara/pool/Boma and Jiko. AKL is weird...

It was amazing!! When we originally booked, the boys had wanted to go for Halloween, and I wanted to get the free dining, so the only week that worked was the week after Mom's trip, so it turned into a two in one trip! Awesome!

I love hearing about Paige experiencing WDW for the first time! I don't blame her at all for needing to get to the MK. It's the first place we have to go too.

It's fantastic! I'm super glad we got to travel together. Ugh, MK is the first place I try to go!! Paige and I did it second in Feb and that was good enough, but we had DHS on day 1 which helped. I really like to MK on the first day, and I'm more than okay doing Epcot as we can always hop to MK after lunch!