Amy's Fabulous Split StayTrip Report!!!! (Finally)... - Page 12 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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We love WCC, glad you liked the food and the fun. We are going back to eat there in Sept. Sounded like a great day at MK. Sorry your feet made you go back to the resort early. I can't wait to hear about AKL.
Amy,
I'm enjoying your TR immensly! You are great at capturing the details and making me feel like I'm along on the trip with you! We too are doing a 9 day trip so I'm glad to hear that you felt more relaxed with that amount of time! We have three little ones and plan to take it slow but it seems that even doing that there isn't much that you missed! Your restaurant reviews are great! Really gives me a feel for each place!
Again, I am especially enjoying your reports about CBR as we check in or our irst stay there 30 days from today! Yipee!!
I am really enjoying your trip report. My family will be staying at a Pirate Room in Nov. and the pictures and restaraunt reviews are great! Can't wait to hear about AKL!
What a great meal at WCC - glad you had such a great server and you all enjoyed the fun. Loved the tips from Buzz, I had one good run and never could figure out what I hit but I will have to keep my eyes open a bit more now (and bring a copy of your notes as well )
I'm Back! Sorry it's been a while, I've been busy at home, enjoying the beautiful weather - Spring has FINALLY sprung here in Buffalo, and it is wonderful. Needless to say, I have been mowing, weeding, raking, trimming, egding, planting, and fertilizing - oh my! My boys are growing like weeds as well, I just bought them new clothes for our vacay, just a couple of weeks before we left - and they both came to me the other day and announced "mom, they are too tight!", they are hungry ALL THE TIME, and being one of three girls in my family, I am so not used to this! We ate like birds, didn't really have growth spirts, and I was in the same clothing & shoe size all through high school - my DS15 Michael is now wearing the same sizes as his dad, and has even bigger feet!
Okay, so on to the trip report....
I believe it is now Sunday, May 3rd Animal Kingdom & Animal Kingdom Lodge!
So, here we go.....we got up VERY early today, 5:30 for me, so that I could shower and pack up the rest of what I didn't get the night before, which wasn't very much, but I am an anal-retentive-perfectionist-neat-freak and a little but obsessive compulsive to boot , so I had to make sure everything was taken care of that morning. Tony was going to get up at 6:00 to shower and then get the boys going, and he was dead to the world when I was getting up, so I knew I would have to shake him awake at 6 so that we could stay on schedule. As I was washing my hair....I heard movement . I am one who, after seeing the movie "The Shining" as a kid in middle school, I am still afraid to close my eyes in the shower! I know, I know, but I am! So, I thought, it's nothing just rinse your freakin' hair you big baby - there's no time for this crap this morning! But, then I got soap in my eye and I had to reach for a towel - I had my arms straight out - like Frankenstein and I was walking forward to get the towel off the rack inside the shower, but when I reached for the towel.....it wasn't a towel....it was skin and chest hair .....I jumped and screamed and hit my head - right wear the flying dutchman is carved into the shower wall!!! Not exactly the reaction Tony was hoping for . But, we made the most of it, and laughed it off. However, when I came out of the bathroom, opened the door, standing there was little seven year old Matthew half asleep and said "why are you and Daddy both in the shower?" I had to think quickly on my feet and I said " , - I was in the shower, and Daddy is going potty, he is using the shower next, he will be out soon" whew - good save, Mommy . So, I got dressed, and got Matthew dressed, and then it was time to drag the crabby teenager out of bed - any of you with teenagers will feel my pain!!! Michael is a very good kid, very smart, stays out of trouble, has a great group of friends, and seldom gives us a reason to punish him - it's usually something trivial like missing the bus for school, or giving his little brother a hard time - stuff like that. But, he is a real pain when it comes to getting somewhere on time, and getting his butt out of bed! He is a total night owl, and he loves him some sleep. He would sleep 12-14 hours a day if we let him. Anyhow, being a teenage boy, he likes his privacy in the morning when getting up and getting dressed - but when we're all in a hotel room and rushing to get out there door - there just isn't time for that! Anyway, he drove us nuts because every time he needed to do anything with clothing he had to go into the bathroom - and we told him he could just go behind the privacy curtain near the sinks but Nooooooo he had to go in the bathroom, which was always conveniently the time when Matthew had to go potty and it was like he had to torture his little brother by staying in there as long as possible, and he always locked the darn door! So, this morning, Michael was sleeping on the air mattress, and Matt had the pirate bed. This time, I was not going to be nice - there just wasn't any time! At 6:15, one hour before we had to leave for the cab ride to AKL, I said "Michael, get out of bed!", he said "okay", and rolled over....at 6:18 I said "Michael get up NOW" he said "I'M AWAKE MOM!" and rolled over...at 6:19 I pulled up his covers, flipped up the air mattress and said "get your butt up off this floor, get dressed, or we will leave you here and you will find your own way to Tusker House for breakfast!!!" He still layed on the freakin' floor for about 30 seconds just to pee me off! I was soooo mad . I called the front desk at 7:00, told them we were checking out and transferring to AKL, said I needed a cab, and they connected my call to Yellow Cab, I spoke to them told them we were in Trinidad South building #35, gave my name and where we were going, they asked how many people and how much luggage, we all managed to get packed up and out the door in 5 minutes! We were told to go to the parking area for building 35 in Trinidad South and the cab would meet us there. At 7:15 a Yellow Cab van arrived, and the driver was really nice. He loaded everything and we were off to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We got to AKL arroung 7:25-7:30. The cab ride cost $17, and I tipped $5. It was well worth $22! The reason I chose cab over having bell services take our luggage and us use Disney busses to take us there is because 1) we had 8:05 ressie at Tusker House so we needed to get to AKL fast, 2) I wanted to check in early that day because we were spending the day at Animal Kingdom, and otherwise wouldn't be able to check-in at AKL until around 2-3pm. 3) I requested a specific room/trail at the Lodge and I wanted to make sure I could get that request, if possible.
So, we paid the driver, got our luggage, and got over to the front desk around 7:30. The front desk was empty, and we walked right up. Service was nice, very friendly, and efficient. However...when I was checking in....there was a bit of a debate with the room assigner.....I had conferred with several people here on the boards about which trail/savannah to request, and most said to go with "Zebra Trail 2nd Floor overlooking Arusha Savannah", so that is what I was asking for....the room assigner had other plans for me....he said that since it was our first time at the Lodge, he'd like to suggest another room for us, but if we got to it and weren't happy, he would change it....he said that if we were on Zebra facing Arusha, our backdrop is going to be the people in the public viewing areas - and a fence! So, he suggested putting us on the Kudu Trail facing the Sunset Savannah - because our backdrop would be the newly completed Kadani Village....and we were put on the second floor in room 2208! After much debate, I told him that I trust his judgement, but that I would be coming back later if it wasn't to my liking. The room wasn't ready yet, so the CM at the front desk called for a bellman - yes they called for a bellman - we didn't have to move a muscle! And the bellman arrived in about 45 seconds...and he gave us our tag and took the luggage and at about 7:40 we were on our way to the Animal Kingdom bus stop.
Now, let me just take this minute to point out a few things about the bus stops at AKL - they are nice and close to the Lodge, which is a good thing, and you can either exit through the main lobby entrance or take a short cut through the gift shop to get to them, but - you have to walk up/down a somewhat steep hill to get to & from the bus stops! Not the easiest thing for those in wheelchairs/ECV's I would imagine, and at night when you're coming back from a park, it's not too easy on your tired feet either - not to imagine if you're carrying a half asleep child! The busses now share service with Kidani Village as well, and they've been picking up at Kidani FIRST, so the buses are usually half full by the time the get to AKL, and they are taking longer to get there. This can be a problem. The buses to Animal Kingdom come pretty often, in about 10 minute increments, but we waited for a bus to DHS one day for about 40 minutes, and by the time one finally came there were so many people waiting that they could easily take up two buses - and the bus that did come was about 1/3 full with people from Kidani Village! So, at that time a bus to Epcot happened to pull up, and there were maybe 6 people getting on it, and we had the idea that we would hop on that bus - and the driver told us there would be a bus at Epcot that could take us to DHS! (that's Monday's stuff I'll talk about that more later)
So, the bus to AKL pulled up right as we were getting down that lovely hill, and we had to run to catch it. We got to AKL just before 8:00, and it was smooth sailing through the gates and down the paths over to Tusker House! We just LOVE breakfast here, it is one of our favorites.
Up next - breakfast at Tusker House, our day at Animal Kingdom, great pics of AKL, and was our room all that we wanted it to be?
__________________
~Amy~
Last edited by Buffalogirl18; 05-25-2009 at 12:10 PM..
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Oh wow, that sounds like quite an ordeal, getting everyone going that morning. I hear you about the buses at AKL - I can imagine that's no fun if you're staying at Jambo House now.
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Needless to say, I have been mowing, weeding, raking, trimming, egding, planting, and fertilizing - oh my! 
My boys are growing like weeds as well, I just bought them new clothes for our vacay, just a couple of weeks before we left - and they both came to me the other day and announced "mom, they are too tight!", 
they are hungry ALL THE TIME, and being one of three girls in my family, I am so not used to this! 
We ate like birds, didn't really have growth spirts, and I was in the same clothing & shoe size all through high school - my DS15 Michael is now wearing the same sizes as his dad, and has even bigger feet! 
As I was washing my hair....I heard movement 
I know, I know, but I am! So, I thought, it's nothing just rinse your freakin' hair you big baby - there's no time for this crap this morning! 
But, then I got soap in my eye and I had to reach for a towel - I had my arms straight out - like Frankenstein and I was walking forward to get the towel off the rack inside the shower, but when I reached for the towel.....it wasn't a towel....it was skin and chest hair 
Not exactly the reaction Tony was hoping for 
However, when I came out of the bathroom, opened the door, standing there was little seven year old Matthew half asleep and said "why are you and Daddy both in the shower?" I had to think quickly on my feet and I said " 
. So, I got dressed, and got Matthew dressed, and then it was time to drag the crabby teenager out of bed - any of you with teenagers will feel my pain!!! 
Michael is a very good kid, very smart, stays out of trouble, has a great group of friends, and seldom gives us a reason to punish him - it's usually something trivial like missing the bus for school, or giving his little brother a hard time - stuff like that. But, he is a real pain when it comes to getting somewhere on time, and getting his butt out of bed! He is a total night owl, and he loves him some sleep. He would sleep 12-14 hours a day if we let him. 
he said "I'M AWAKE MOM!" and rolled over...at 6:19 I pulled up his covers, flipped up the air mattress and said "get your butt up off this floor, get dressed, or we will leave you here and you will find your own way to Tusker House for breakfast!!!" He still layed on the freakin' floor for about 30 seconds just to pee me off! I was soooo mad 
The cab ride cost $17, and I tipped $5. It was well worth $22! 
After much debate, I told him that I trust his judgement, but that I would be coming back later if it wasn't to my liking. 
The room wasn't ready yet, so the CM at the front desk called for a bellman - yes they called for a bellman - we didn't have to move a muscle! And the bellman arrived in about 45 seconds...and he gave us our tag and took the luggage and at about 7:40 we were on our way to the Animal Kingdom bus stop. 
So, at that time a bus to Epcot happened to pull up, and there were maybe 6 people getting on it, and we had the idea that we would hop on that bus - and the driver told us there would be a bus at Epcot that could take us to DHS! 
We just LOVE breakfast here, it is one of our favorites. 
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