The Trip, Trip, Trip Report

[lklasing 16]

Next we were off to Primeval Whirl, which appeared to have little to no line, so we rode standby first and then again with FPs.  When we were done with that, it wasn’t time yet for our next FP (back to EE again), so we rode EE standby, which was right at the predicted 30 minutes, followed by our last EE with FP.  If you’re counting, that was 4 trips on EE this morning!  EE is in my top 3 attractions, but even I was fine with being done with EE by then. 

 

 

 

Stolen from someone’s snapchat – I figured that the only way for me to make it into very many pictures was to start photobombing them:

 

 

 

After overdosing on the Yeti, we booked it to the new FOTLK theater and caught the noon show before riding KRR.  I’m never willing to ride KRR unless it is legitimately hot, as I have no interest in being wet and cold when the weather is cool, but by now it was a good 80 degrees and beautifully sunny (on January 3!), so I went along.  Thankfully we didn’t get too soaked, though the people shooting water at the tail end got us pretty good.

 

Finishing up ice cream real quick before entering FOTLK:

 

 

 

With that, we had done about all AK we could do for the morning.  It was 1:00 and we had done EE 4 times, PW twice, plus 4 other attractions and the FOTLK show.  Not bad for just one morning on a holiday weekend.

 

After doing a little shopping on our way out, we headed back to POR.  Danielle showered and napped inside while Megan and I enjoyed sitting by the quiet pool right by our room.

 

 

We were all loving the weather as it has been yucky even in the South lately, but Megan in particular was loving it.  Being from Denver, she has rarely if ever experienced weather this warm, and certainly never in January.

 

After some down time, we caught the boat to DTD.  Megan and Danielle are both shoppers, so they had a good time.  Plus, I wanted to get Ray and Jodi something since they couldn’t join us, so I was glad to be going too.  Ray was easy, but Jodi is tougher to buy for these days.  At least, I thought she would be until I saw the store Basin.  It must have opened up sometime since the last time I was paying attention to that area.  If you like bath bombs, salt scrubs, or anything else smelly for your bath or shower, it’s the place to go.

 

 

 

 

After shopping around pretty good, we hopped a bus to the Contemporary for dinner with my friend Claire and her husband and son at the Wave.  I hate that I forgot to take any pictures, but I did.  We had a good dinner together but once again, the girls and I were pooped out from another awesome day.  We had thought about going to the MK after dinner but instead cabbed it back to POR, packed our bags and hit the hay.  I think everyone was sound asleep before 10:00.

 

Next up – My first ever resort-hop!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Nice work at AK!

We were posting about Basin at roughly the same time. Crazy! It's called Basin White at the GF but looks like the same place.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

What a great AK day!

[Humphrey Bear…Rob 42]

Really enjoying the girls photo antics - trying to get my two boys to do anything but look sullen (teenagers..) is a chore

 

Great TP!

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Wow! 4 rides of EE, and all the rest by 1:00 pm. That's impressive.

Another great update with some awesome pix.

[Memphis 105]

Great update.  Those girls look like sisters in most of those shots.  Great to see ya'll having so much fun in the sun. 

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

 

Distances can be a funny thing.  It's the same distance from the 2700/2800 cabin loop bus stop to the Outpost Depot at the Fort, but how many people do you ever see making that walk?:

 

 

 

 

It's kind of funny to me that people who think nothing of walking from the park entrance to Space Mountain will sit and wait for a bus to take them a much shorter distance.

I think for some, they take the bus whenever possible to save their legs and feet for the parks.

 

Great TR!  Can I ask - is your daughter wearing Chacos?  I am thinking about getting some for my spring trip, but am still on the fence.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Okay seriously... do you all EVER take a bad picture?  I've never seen so many cute photos :)

 

Back to the drink thing at Epcot... where were you?  Looks like the World of Coca-Cola factory here in Atlanta; I didn't know they had something similar at Epcot (not that I want to, once again, try a bunch of yucky drinks :) ).

[sherryberry 35]

Okay seriously... do you all EVER take a bad picture?  I've never seen so many cute photos :)

I agree! Very cute pictures! You and your daughter seem to genuinely enjoy each other's company!

[lklasing 16]

Nice work at AK!

We were posting about Basin at roughly the same time. Crazy! It's called Basin White at the GF but looks like the same place.

 

Neat that they have a Basin at the GF too!  I'm sure it's the same place.  It's definitely a dangerous place for our family to be - too many fun things to buy!

 

What a great AK day!

 

It really was!

 

Really enjoying the girls photo antics - trying to get my two boys to do anything but look sullen (teenagers..) is a chore

 

Great TP!

 

My girls never really went through the sullen time at least when getting pictures taken, but I've definitely traveled to WDW with teenage boys who did, so I feel your pain!

 

Wow! 4 rides of EE, and all the rest by 1:00 pm. That's impressive.

Another great update with some awesome pix.

 

Thanks, Ray!  It was a big fun day.  We were absolutely dead at the end!

 

Great update.  Those girls look like sisters in most of those shots.  Great to see ya'll having so much fun in the sun. 

 

Thanks!  The weather was absolutely perfect that trip and we took full advantage of it.

 

I think for some, they take the bus whenever possible to save their legs and feet for the parks.

 

Great TR!  Can I ask - is your daughter wearing Chacos?  I am thinking about getting some for my spring trip, but am still on the fence.

 

Yes about the Chacos!  Danielle loves them.  I've worn my Tevas for years and they're in perfect shape, but Danielle has about talked me into some Chacos for this summer.  You should get some and we can compare notes!

 

 

Okay seriously... do you all EVER take a bad picture?  I've never seen so many cute photos :)

 

Back to the drink thing at Epcot... where were you?  Looks like the World of Coca-Cola factory here in Atlanta; I didn't know they had something similar at Epcot (not that I want to, once again, try a bunch of yucky drinks :) ).

 

Bad pictures?  Ummmmm, yes!  Y'all just don't get to see them!

 

And about the coke thing - Epcot has a place very similar to World of Coke on a much smaller scale.  Club Cool is what it's called and it's just past the new Starbucks very near the backside of the giant golf ball.  It's pretty much a stop for us on every trip.  I really don't care much about going, but all the kids love it.

 

I agree! Very cute pictures! You and your daughter seem to genuinely enjoy each other's company!

 

Thanks!  I am very blessed to have an amazing relationship with both my girls.  It wasn't always that way, so I relish it every second now.  I'm very grateful.

[lklasing 16]

Sunday morning I woke up before my alarm, which surprised me given how hard we had been going and how much we needed sleep.  But, it was a good thing in that it gave me time to go to the front desk, check out the procedure for changing resorts and transferring bags, etc., check my POR bill and, of course, get some breakfast!  With another pile of Mickey waffles (the BIG ones again!), I returned to the room.  Megan was up and getting ready but Danielle needed some prompting to get moving.  Thankfully the waffles helped the cause.

 

We finished packing up everything and then lugged it to the front desk (here’s where that 0.31 mile trek really felt like much longer), where we left everything with the luggage guys to transfer to our next home.  But before I get to that, let me say this.  If anyone reading is considering staying at POR for a future trip, my suggestion would be to do it!  I was really surprised at how much I liked it.  I thought about booking the 3 days I couldn’t get DVC for at POP or another of the values or even offsite and I came very close to doing that.  However, I really get a lot out of the resort part of my stays in WDW and just decided to go with a moderate, mainly out of concern for noise.  I don’t know whether the value would have been noisier, but I’m very glad I chose POR.  It’s just a beautiful resort and really felt like a step up from how I had thought it would feel.  The lobby area was very nice, the staff was wonderful, the food court was large and had everything we needed for each meal we had there, and the room itself was very nice and comfortable.  Being used to staying on DVC points, having daily housekeeping was very nice too! Again, the one comment I have is the issue of it being so spread out.  If I stay there again, and I definitely hope to, I’ll try harder to get a room close to the main building.

 

Now, having said all that, we get to the next resort – Animal Kingdom Lodge/Kidani Village!   But before heading to Kidani, we had big plans for the day – a quick trip to do two attractions at the MK that would be difficult to impossible on Monday, followed by a big day at HS. 

 

We made it to the MK right as the opening show was finishing, and booked it to the back for the 7DMT.  We didn’t have any FPs since the trip was conceived far too late to get any, so we jumped in the standby line.  The sign said 45 minutes but I think it was more like 35-ish.  It was only Danielle’s and my second time to ride it and of course Megan’s first, so we had a good time.

 

 

 

 

 

After 7DMT,we zipped over to Splash, as we knew that this was the last day it would be operating this trip.  Thankfully we just got a little wet.  I wasn’t in the mood for a soaking before 10:00 in the morning.

 

 

 

After those two, we swam upstream against the hoards of people coming into the park, then took the monorail to the Contemporary and the bus from there to HS.  We got to HS by 11:00, which I thought was pretty good given that it was our second park of the day!

 

Last pictures for our family in front of the hat!

 

 

At HS, we got to do almost everything we had wanted to – lunch at Sci-Fi (a must on all of our family trips, no matter which family members go), Indiana Jones, the Frozen Sing-a-long Celebration, Beauty and the Beast, TOT (just Danielle and me – Megan opted out of that one), Star Tours and TSMM.  We actually got two rides on TSMM, as RNRC went down early in the day and we weren’t able to ride using our FPs.  I got the obligatory email telling us that we could enjoy virtually any other attraction in the park instead of RNRC, except TSMM.  But, it just seemed to me that since I had been required to choose between RNRC and TSMM in selecting FPs, and since we couldn’t ride on the one I chose since it was down, that we should have gotten to go on the other one.  So, I took a tip from TCD and others here who have talked about just politely discussing whatever issues may exist with guest relations.  I was very polite about it of course, and was very willing to take no for an answer, but the CM had no problem at all with the request to switch our RNRC FPs for TSMM.  In fact, when he put them on, he wound up putting on 3 new FPs that could be used on any attraction for the rest of the day, so we wound up all riding TSMM twice.  We thought about going a third time, but we were getting pretty tired from a big day and wanted to see the Osborne Lights.  We were glad to catch them before they went dark, I think the very next day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They absolutely loved the Frozen sing-a-long.  The two of them and all the other 5 year old girls there.

 

 

 

 

Random assortment of HS pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

One pretty funny thing happened while we were there.  We went to see Beauty and the Beast, and before it started we noticed a lot of people looking up in the rafters above and pointing.  Finally I saw what they were pointing at – a squirrel:

 

 

 

Actually, it was a few squirrels.  But then a disaster happened – one fell!  Right into the audience!  People were screaming and running around.  It was hysterical, especially since the squirrel was okay as evidence by him immediately running away.  But it really was a lively moment in an otherwise dull wait for the show to start.

[lklasing 16]

A post for all Danielle’s and Megan’s friends out west:

 

 

 

 

After all that, we drug ourselves from the park and hopped the bus for our new home for the tail end of this trip – Kidani Village at the AKL.  :)  It was already dark when we arrived so we couldn’t see much of the savannah that night, but we sure liked the room.  The building as a whole is beautiful and our room was awesome.  Be aware in case you ever stay there that the shower head was no mild-mannered shower head.  It dang near took your skin right off, which felt amazing at the end of a big fun day. 

 

 

 

 

Even the tiles in the shower were impressive:

 

 

I grabbed some dinner to bring back to the room from the CS place at the Jambo House, which highlighted one very big problem I figured out immediately upon checking in – that Kidani doesn’t have its own CS.  Our room was pretty far off the Kidani lobby so between the walk to the lobby and taking a van next door to the Jambo House, it was quite a trip.  But even with all that, I don’t think it took much more time than going from our room at POR to the Riverside Mills CS.

 

Once again, we were all beat, so after supper we unpacked a little, ate a little, and then slept a lot.

 

Up next – Our last day for this trip!    (But at least there’s another trip around the corner!)

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

Major pixie dust, matching shirts, and a squirrel dropping from the rafters BEST TR EVER!!!!!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Squirrel falling from the rafters ... I would have been screaming too!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

The squirrel incident had me really LOL! I bet people freaked! 

 

Oh, 83 degrees.... I miss you! 

 

We plan to visit the AKL next trip. We've never been. One reason is that I've been shopping DVC resales, and it might be a good fit for us. 

[dvccamper 32]

Fun report so far, falling squirrels included!!

From the map it looks like you stayed right around where we did on one of our visits to Kidani. Wow, that is a long walk. At the end of the day the kids would count the steps as we made the long trek back. Not so bad at the beginning of the day but at the end it was a killer. Can't beat the view though :)

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

The Frozen sing-a-long, we're hoping to get to do this on our next trip.  I have no doubt that our daughter would LOVE it :)

 

My brother and his wife are DVC members; they (and my parents) joined us at WDW this past October.... they ended up having to split their stay between AK and the Contemporary which was kind-of nice as we got to see suites at both.  I liked each of them but the master bathroom at the AK room was HUGE.  Seriously... I think it was the size of a standard hotel room!  I have no idea why it was that big, but it sure made washing down the kids after the pool very easy.  Their shower head wasn't full force, but I'm pretty sure I could have fit a small car inside the HUGE shower :)  Crazy stuff....

 

Looking forward to hearing about the final day.  Looks like you had such a wonderful trip :)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

This TR rocks!

 

What a great first visit to WDW for Megan.  How much fun did she have?

 

Good job seeing Guest Services after being denied at RNRC.  The same thing happened to us recently, and I did exactly as you did.  It's not right that you have to settle for a Tier Two ride if RNRC goes down.  I realize that they have to do that because there are only two rides that everyone wants to do in all of the park, but that doesn't mean we have to accept it.

 

I'm really glad that this TR is just getting started.

 

TCD

[lklasing 16]

Major pixie dust, matching shirts, and a squirrel dropping from the rafters BEST TR EVER!!!!!

 

Thanks!  The funniest part about the squirrel (at least to me, at least once it was over) was when, after the crowd had finally settled down from the falling squirrel incident and we were just waiting for the show to start, that same squirrel (or maybe a friend of his) ran right behind my feet!  Like actually right behind my feet!!!  I'm surprised I didn't feel his tail on my sandal'd foot as he went by!  So, now that everything was quiet and calm, there he goes and what happens?  I SCREAM!  Like, really scream!  Which of course had everyone all around me in hysterics as they knew immediately what must have happened since this was apparently the squirrel pre-show.  It was awesome.  Almost gave me heart failure, but otherwise awesome.  

 

Squirrel falling from the rafters ... I would have been screaming too!

 

Yup.  They evoke lots and lots of screams.

 

The squirrel incident had me really LOL! I bet people freaked! 

 

Oh, 83 degrees.... I miss you! 

 

We plan to visit the AKL next trip. We've never been. One reason is that I've been shopping DVC resales, and it might be a good fit for us. 

 

You'll love AKL.  That's exciting about thinking about DVC!  Y'all would love it.  And for us, our resale points have been just as usable as our direct purchase points.  Are you thinking of buying AKL or somewhere else?

 

Fun report so far, falling squirrels included!!

From the map it looks like you stayed right around where we did on one of our visits to Kidani. Wow, that is a long walk. At the end of the day the kids would count the steps as we made the long trek back. Not so bad at the beginning of the day but at the end it was a killer. Can't beat the view though :)

 

I agree to everything you said!  Long walk, that is definitely worse at the end of the day, but best view ever!

 

The Frozen sing-a-long, we're hoping to get to do this on our next trip.  I have no doubt that our daughter would LOVE it :)

 

My brother and his wife are DVC members; they (and my parents) joined us at WDW this past October.... they ended up having to split their stay between AK and the Contemporary which was kind-of nice as we got to see suites at both.  I liked each of them but the master bathroom at the AK room was HUGE.  Seriously... I think it was the size of a standard hotel room!  I have no idea why it was that big, but it sure made washing down the kids after the pool very easy.  Their shower head wasn't full force, but I'm pretty sure I could have fit a small car inside the HUGE shower :)  Crazy stuff....

 

Looking forward to hearing about the final day.  Looks like you had such a wonderful trip :)

 

Those DVC bathrooms can really be nice.  In fact, every DVC unit I've been in so far has been nice, though some are definitely nicer than others.  I think that the newer ones are particularly nice, which would obviously include AKL and Bay Lake Tower.

 

Your daughter will love the sing a long.  And therefore, I predict you'll love it too!

 

This TR rocks!

 

What a great first visit to WDW for Megan.  How much fun did she have?

 

Good job seeing Guest Services after being denied at RNRC.  The same thing happened to us recently, and I did exactly as you did.  It's not right that you have to settle for a Tier Two ride if RNRC goes down.  I realize that they have to do that because there are only two rides that everyone wants to do in all of the park, but that doesn't mean we have to accept it.

 

I'm really glad that this TR is just getting started.

 

TCD

 

Megan had a truly awesome trip, as did Danielle and I.  But it was particularly fun having someone who had never been there before and had no expectations at all about anything. It was our first time to have a first timer in a while.

 

And thanks for all the tips through so many of your TRs for things like talking to guest services, etc.  I'm glad I had read things like that, as it helped me understand that Disney really does want to take care of its guests - sometimes you just have to help them help you!

[lklasing 16]

Monday, January 5:

 

What an awesome last day we had!  It was our big MK day even though we had already had a couple of visits there earlier this trip.  This was our day to try to do as much as we could while we were still lucky enough to be in the World.  And that’s what we did!

 

Of course, I got up early and zipped next door to the CS place at Jambo for breakfast, which we ate out on the balcony waiting on the various animals arrive.  We learned that while we’re not sure where they go overnight, they definitely don’t stay on the Savannah all the time.   They were parceled out slowly, coming out in small groups of the same species – a group of zebras, then a clump of giraffes, etc.  (Can you tell I don’t know the right words for groups of various animals?)  Anyway, it was lots of fun getting to watch them join us and each other.

 

 

 

 

Saddest sight of the day, indicating our departure in just one more:

 

 

Very cool thing at the bus stop.  Hopefully all stops will get them soon, since they obviously have the technology:

 

 

 

We grabbed the bus in enough time to arrive at the MK around 10:00 and started hitting the various attractions we had FPs for, both ones I lined up ahead of time as well as ones we got using old bands when we arrived, plus a few on standby.  We did Buzz, Monster’s Inc. (where Danielle was interviewed about being from Alabama!), Space, the speedway, the teacups, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Peter Pan, HM and BTMRR.  We had lunch somewhere in there at CHH and caught the 3:00 parade too.  It was a busy, fun day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photopass fail:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sad Splash Mountain, which closed that day for refurb:

 

 

 

 

We really enjoyed the parade – this was our first time for this one.

 

 

 

 

This guy freaks me out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lklasing 16]

 

Wheels under those dresses!

 

 

Those women remind me of the women in this video.  It popped up on my facebook page a few days ago.  Skip to about 1:25 to see what I’m talking about.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQkmqK5U5Uo&index=2&list=PLaOpQAE8kDPwSS9L-zJ-BTauELFEvb2VA 

 

 

I’m wondering whether DIT may have any insight into this.   They are Russian Folk Dancers.  Maybe the Godmother women in the parade are Russian?

 

 

 

 

 

This is for Dave:

 

 

I vow that this will be my next job.  It’s not too late for me to do this, I think:

 

 

The big finale:

 

 

Bus ride silliness:

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back to Kidani, we had some more Savannah viewing time, followed by a dip in the hot tub and finally dinner at Sanaa.  We had gone to Sanaa last time we were in the World and loved it, so it was a must do for us again this time, especially since we were staying there.  We were smarter on our second trip, though – we just ordered the bread service and a few appetizers, rather than full entrees, which last time we found to be not nearly as good as the appetizers.

 

They had night vision goggles to use to see the savannah while we were waiting to get in:

 

 

(It looked like we were on Survivor):

 

 

 

 

 

This place is so pretty.  Even the ceiling:

 

 

Complete yumminess:

 

 

After supper, we sadly headed back upstairs and packed.    We had an extra early pickup by MDE in the morning since all of our flights were right at 9:00.

 

Up next – final thoughts on POR, Kidani, the trip as a whole, and then on to the next trip!!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

I love the excitement on Megan's face every time she is doing something new.

One thing I have noticed this trip is that you have not mentioned going running. Were you able to get any runs in on this trip?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

 

Very cool thing at the bus stop.  Hopefully all stops will get them soon, since they obviously have the technology:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't know they had this technology at AKL.  I know they were testing it at the Grand Floridian, but I thought they had stopped that test.  It sure would be great if they could provide this information at all the bus stops. 

 

 

 

Wheels under those dresses!

 

 

Those women remind me of the women in this video.  It popped up on my facebook page a few days ago.  Skip to about 1:25 to see what I’m talking about.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQkmqK5U5Uo&index=2&list=PLaOpQAE8kDPwSS9L-zJ-BTauELFEvb2VA 

 

 

I’m wondering whether DIT may have any insight into this.   They are Russian Folk Dancers.  Maybe the Godmother women in the parade are Russian?

 

 

 

Want to know something amazing?

 

I was at the MK just two days ago, and took these photos:

 

 

 

There has been discussion on other threads about how these fairies work.

 

The comments to that YouTube video are funny- everyone is puzzled at how those Russian women pulled off that dance.  I am with those that think there is some kind of mechanical help.

 

When we discussed these fairies earlier, there was talk about them using some kind of Segway technology.  We can now see that there are at least four wheels under there.  

 

We are getting closer to an answer.

 

The rest of your parade photos are great- especially the shot of the dragon breathing fire. 

 

TCD

[Memphis 105]

Great Pictures and ya'll all seem to be having such a great time.

 

I still think the fairies are on modified Segways with training wheels for safety.

[lklasing 16]

I love the excitement on Megan's face every time she is doing something new.

One thing I have noticed this trip is that you have not mentioned going running. Were you able to get any runs in on this trip?

 

Megan was so much fun!  And her smile really was great.

 

You're right about the lack of references to runs - I did exactly zero runs this trip.   :o   We were all just having so much fun, and also pretty much all on the same schedule, so I never carved any time to break away from the girls for a run.  Happily, I got to run several times on trip #2, but I was just a happy slug on trip #1!

 

 

I didn't know they had this technology at AKL.  I know they were testing it at the Grand Floridian, but I thought they had stopped that test.  It sure would be great if they could provide this information at all the bus stops. 

 

 

Want to know something amazing?

 

I was at the MK just two days ago, and took these photos:

 

 

 

There has been discussion on other threads about how these fairies work.

 

The comments to that YouTube video are funny- everyone is puzzled at how those Russian women pulled off that dance.  I am with those that think there is some kind of mechanical help.

 

When we discussed these fairies earlier, there was talk about them using some kind of Segway technology.  We can now see that there are at least four wheels under there.  

 

We are getting closer to an answer.

 

The rest of your parade photos are great- especially the shot of the dragon breathing fire. 

 

TCD

 

That's so funny that you took those pictures!  I remember the segway discussion, which is why I got down low to take the wheel pictures.  I think Danielle thought I had lost my mind at that point.

 

Great Pictures and ya'll all seem to be having such a great time.

 

I still think the fairies are on modified Segways with training wheels for safety.

 

I'm definitely a fan of the segway theory.  And you know what - it looks like you could definitely be right about training wheels.  On both my pic and on TCD's, it almost looks like you can see two bigger wheels and two smaller ones.  I bet you're right!  Someone needs to break into costuming for that parade and get to the bottom of this mystery.