nkereina
Last chance to lose your keys.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
Just back from 4 days/3 nights at WDW (followed by 3 day/2 nights at Universal which I'll cover in a separate post). We stayed for the first time at AKV in a standard studio that we rented points for. Just two adults, no kids, and we've been to WDW several times before. This was a much shorter trip than we are used to so it was a fast paced one!
Sunday
Arrived at DME around 10:30am this past Sunday and it was a mad house. We just missed the AKL bus so we had to stand and wait in the very warm queue area for a good 20 minutes. Finally got on the bus, and they filled the four empty seats with one family going to CSR, which they dropped off first. Took an extra 20 minutes to get to AKL because of that because we got stuck behind a DME bus loading people up when we got to CSR.
While on DME, I happened to check my email and saw that I had one saying our room was ready with our room number. Never got the text, despite setting up online check-in for it. When we arrived at AKL around 12:30, we proceeded straight to our room which was on the 5th floor on the zebra trail. DH's MB didn't work to open the door, so we later had to have the front desk fix that for us. The room itself was nicely appointed and the animals outside our room did not disappoint! There were large birds and vultures propped below our balcony the whole time, and one morning all the giraffes and warthogs were hanging out within our view. Super cool.
We left to go to Disney Springs around 1pm, and that was also crazy. It was a Sunday which is probably busier than a weekday, but it was shoulder to shoulder people. We stopped in Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar to check it out. Cool place, lots of detail, but not a place we were interested in hanging out at. We headed over to Splitsville for lunch instead. We had about a 10 minute wait for a table which was great because we did not have an ADR, and it was relatively crowded with football fan. We had a good table near the bar that allowed us to watch some of the games. Definitely a good place to catch some football, but its smaller than ESPN Club so that would still be my first choice.
After Disney Springs, we headed to the Poly to check out Trader Sam's. They don't open until 4 and we got there at 3:30, so we killed time by having a drink on their patio bar which was already open. We were given a buzzer, which went off a minute or two after 4pm and we got the last two seats in the place, at the bar. Our drinks were good, the place was cool, but again its not a place we'd hang out at for the night. I was also surprised at how small it is in there.
For dinner Sunday night we just grabbed food at the Mara, AKL's QS. I got the special which was a BBQ burger and DH got a flat bread. Both were good, but we were surprised at how crowded it was there at 8pm. Weather was nice so it wasn't as if people were driven back to the resort by rain or anything.
Monday
Got to DHS about 8:10am and were one of the first people in line. I must say their new rope drop procedures sucked. We were let in at 8:30am, and they held everyone in the center area until 8:45, at which time CMs walked the hoard of people over to TSMM. It was chaos, people pushing, run-walking, etc. We got on TSMM relatively quickly, but it was a cluster. Much less stressful before when we could just power walk ourselves back to TSMM when the gates opened. Also, while on TSMM, the last screen on the last game was broken for our car. It was completely black, so we didn't get to play the last game at all. Super disappointing. We did tell a CM when we left, but who knows if anything was done.
After that chaos, we did TOT, RnRC, Great Movie Ride, and Star Tours. By then it was already 12pm and we had to leave for our lunch ADR. Took the boat over to the Beach Club for lunch at Beaches & Cream which was fabulous as usual. For anyone who hasn't been able to snag an ADR here, I recommend trying to get in as a walk-up at the counter. The whole time we were eating, almost all 10 of the counter seats were open.
After lunch, we walked over to Epcot around 2pm. We started with Figment which had a good 15 minute wait surprisingly. Then made our way over to Livin with the Land, followed by Soarin with a FP. Then did Nemo, Spaceship Earth with a FP, Mission Space single rider, then Test Track single rider. Skipped Ellen and Captain EO for the sake of time. Got to the World Showcase around 5:30 and just moseyed around snacking on Food & Wine stuff the rest of the night. Tried the lobster roll from the booth in the American pavilion, Belgian waffle with chocolate ganache, brazilian cheese bread, the pork item from brazil. Several beers, including the flight from the craft beer section. All good! Finished up around 8:30pm and headed back to AKV after a long day.
Tuesday
Started the day with an 8am Tusker House breakfast. We've done this every trip for the last several years and always end up sitting at 1 of 2 tables in the same section. Food and characters were good, as usual. Started with the safari after the park opened and the animals were pretty active - baby giraffes running around, saw the baby rhino, baby warthogs running around. Super cute. While walking the trail afterwards, we saw the baby meerkats and baby gorillas which were awesome. After, we did Everest, Dinosaur, Its Tough to be a Bug, and Everest again. By then, it was about 12:30 so we headed back to AKL to freshen up.
Around 2pm, we headed to MK where we stayed for MNSSHP that evening. It was raining on and off. We started with Splash (FP), BTMRR, 7DMT (FP), Buzz, Carousel of Progress, Pooh, Little Mermaid, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Space, People Mover. Had to skip Philharmonic, Small World, and Peter Pan due to time. Somewhere in there, around 5:30pm, we made our way over to the Plaza for our ADR. I overheard A LOT of people stopping to ask the hostess if they could eat there without a reservation. They were telling people yes but it was about a two hour wait. We were seated about 25 minutes after we checked in, which got to be frustrating when we were seeing other small parties who checked in after us get seated before us. Food was good.
We didn't do any of the MNSSHP activities. We had been before and I mostly bought tickets to use the time as our time in MK with hopefully low crowds since our time was so short. The party was sold out but we found wait times manageable.
We did do the dessert party, which I wasn't super impressed with. We went out to the front of the park around 5pm to get our party wristbands and dessert party lanyard. The girl putting the wristband on us directed us to the podium for the dessert party check-in, but it was on the other side of the gate. She didn't know if we could leave and come back in since we already had our wristbands. After a manager got involved, he just checked us in to the dessert party and gave us the lanyards. We made our way over to the parade viewing area around 8:15 and by that time, almost all the curb spots were gone. We did get a spot facing the train station, so it was nice not to have to stand around forever holding a spot. They gave us free bottled water too, which was nice while we were waiting. After the parade, we followed a CM holding a sign through the backstage short cut area over to the Tomorrowland Terrace where the dessert party was. The desserts themselves were ok - nothing special or unique. The crackers and pretzels were stale from sitting out too long. They gave us souvenir cups filled with candy which we left behind because we didn't want to carry them around. Once Celebrate the Magic started, some people got up and stood at the railing, blocking our view since we were in the first row of tables. This was frustrating since we essentially paid all this money for reserved *seating*. When Celebrate the Magic was over, some people left so we decided to go stand at the railing too so we could actually see. It was nice to have an uncrowded spot to watch the fireworks, but I don't think any of it was worth the $120 we paid for two people. Lesson learned.
Wednesday
After a late night at MNSSHP, we slept in a little and made our way to Boma for breakfast at 10am. This was our first time at Boma. Great selection of food, but thought both the buffet area and seating area were a little small and crowded. Good food though.
We the checked out and hopped in a cab to head over to our Universal resort. I'll do a review over on the Universal forums of our time there.
After being at Universal for about 4 hours, I realized that I forgot both of our iPads in the safe in our room at AKL! I was in panic mode! I googled the number for AKL and they then connected me to AKL lost & found. They were able to confirm they had the iPads in their possession. Phew! We still had two more days in town so I asked if we could pay to have a courier bring them to us, but that was not an option. We didn't have a car (or the time) to go all the way back to AKL, so they agreed to overnight them to us on our last day in Orlando so we would get them the first day we were home. Happy to report I had them in my door from FedEx at 11am this morning! Big ups to the staff at AKL lost & found!
Overall, it was a good albeit brief trip. Very tiring, very fast paced, but fun. We enjoyed our stay at AKL but the theme isn't really our preference. We will try other resorts first before returning. Weather was also nice and much warmer than we anticipated - mid-80s and very humid.
Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions! On to plan the next one!
Sunday
Arrived at DME around 10:30am this past Sunday and it was a mad house. We just missed the AKL bus so we had to stand and wait in the very warm queue area for a good 20 minutes. Finally got on the bus, and they filled the four empty seats with one family going to CSR, which they dropped off first. Took an extra 20 minutes to get to AKL because of that because we got stuck behind a DME bus loading people up when we got to CSR.
While on DME, I happened to check my email and saw that I had one saying our room was ready with our room number. Never got the text, despite setting up online check-in for it. When we arrived at AKL around 12:30, we proceeded straight to our room which was on the 5th floor on the zebra trail. DH's MB didn't work to open the door, so we later had to have the front desk fix that for us. The room itself was nicely appointed and the animals outside our room did not disappoint! There were large birds and vultures propped below our balcony the whole time, and one morning all the giraffes and warthogs were hanging out within our view. Super cool.
We left to go to Disney Springs around 1pm, and that was also crazy. It was a Sunday which is probably busier than a weekday, but it was shoulder to shoulder people. We stopped in Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar to check it out. Cool place, lots of detail, but not a place we were interested in hanging out at. We headed over to Splitsville for lunch instead. We had about a 10 minute wait for a table which was great because we did not have an ADR, and it was relatively crowded with football fan. We had a good table near the bar that allowed us to watch some of the games. Definitely a good place to catch some football, but its smaller than ESPN Club so that would still be my first choice.
After Disney Springs, we headed to the Poly to check out Trader Sam's. They don't open until 4 and we got there at 3:30, so we killed time by having a drink on their patio bar which was already open. We were given a buzzer, which went off a minute or two after 4pm and we got the last two seats in the place, at the bar. Our drinks were good, the place was cool, but again its not a place we'd hang out at for the night. I was also surprised at how small it is in there.
For dinner Sunday night we just grabbed food at the Mara, AKL's QS. I got the special which was a BBQ burger and DH got a flat bread. Both were good, but we were surprised at how crowded it was there at 8pm. Weather was nice so it wasn't as if people were driven back to the resort by rain or anything.
Monday
Got to DHS about 8:10am and were one of the first people in line. I must say their new rope drop procedures sucked. We were let in at 8:30am, and they held everyone in the center area until 8:45, at which time CMs walked the hoard of people over to TSMM. It was chaos, people pushing, run-walking, etc. We got on TSMM relatively quickly, but it was a cluster. Much less stressful before when we could just power walk ourselves back to TSMM when the gates opened. Also, while on TSMM, the last screen on the last game was broken for our car. It was completely black, so we didn't get to play the last game at all. Super disappointing. We did tell a CM when we left, but who knows if anything was done.
After that chaos, we did TOT, RnRC, Great Movie Ride, and Star Tours. By then it was already 12pm and we had to leave for our lunch ADR. Took the boat over to the Beach Club for lunch at Beaches & Cream which was fabulous as usual. For anyone who hasn't been able to snag an ADR here, I recommend trying to get in as a walk-up at the counter. The whole time we were eating, almost all 10 of the counter seats were open.
After lunch, we walked over to Epcot around 2pm. We started with Figment which had a good 15 minute wait surprisingly. Then made our way over to Livin with the Land, followed by Soarin with a FP. Then did Nemo, Spaceship Earth with a FP, Mission Space single rider, then Test Track single rider. Skipped Ellen and Captain EO for the sake of time. Got to the World Showcase around 5:30 and just moseyed around snacking on Food & Wine stuff the rest of the night. Tried the lobster roll from the booth in the American pavilion, Belgian waffle with chocolate ganache, brazilian cheese bread, the pork item from brazil. Several beers, including the flight from the craft beer section. All good! Finished up around 8:30pm and headed back to AKV after a long day.
Tuesday
Started the day with an 8am Tusker House breakfast. We've done this every trip for the last several years and always end up sitting at 1 of 2 tables in the same section. Food and characters were good, as usual. Started with the safari after the park opened and the animals were pretty active - baby giraffes running around, saw the baby rhino, baby warthogs running around. Super cute. While walking the trail afterwards, we saw the baby meerkats and baby gorillas which were awesome. After, we did Everest, Dinosaur, Its Tough to be a Bug, and Everest again. By then, it was about 12:30 so we headed back to AKL to freshen up.
Around 2pm, we headed to MK where we stayed for MNSSHP that evening. It was raining on and off. We started with Splash (FP), BTMRR, 7DMT (FP), Buzz, Carousel of Progress, Pooh, Little Mermaid, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Space, People Mover. Had to skip Philharmonic, Small World, and Peter Pan due to time. Somewhere in there, around 5:30pm, we made our way over to the Plaza for our ADR. I overheard A LOT of people stopping to ask the hostess if they could eat there without a reservation. They were telling people yes but it was about a two hour wait. We were seated about 25 minutes after we checked in, which got to be frustrating when we were seeing other small parties who checked in after us get seated before us. Food was good.
We didn't do any of the MNSSHP activities. We had been before and I mostly bought tickets to use the time as our time in MK with hopefully low crowds since our time was so short. The party was sold out but we found wait times manageable.
We did do the dessert party, which I wasn't super impressed with. We went out to the front of the park around 5pm to get our party wristbands and dessert party lanyard. The girl putting the wristband on us directed us to the podium for the dessert party check-in, but it was on the other side of the gate. She didn't know if we could leave and come back in since we already had our wristbands. After a manager got involved, he just checked us in to the dessert party and gave us the lanyards. We made our way over to the parade viewing area around 8:15 and by that time, almost all the curb spots were gone. We did get a spot facing the train station, so it was nice not to have to stand around forever holding a spot. They gave us free bottled water too, which was nice while we were waiting. After the parade, we followed a CM holding a sign through the backstage short cut area over to the Tomorrowland Terrace where the dessert party was. The desserts themselves were ok - nothing special or unique. The crackers and pretzels were stale from sitting out too long. They gave us souvenir cups filled with candy which we left behind because we didn't want to carry them around. Once Celebrate the Magic started, some people got up and stood at the railing, blocking our view since we were in the first row of tables. This was frustrating since we essentially paid all this money for reserved *seating*. When Celebrate the Magic was over, some people left so we decided to go stand at the railing too so we could actually see. It was nice to have an uncrowded spot to watch the fireworks, but I don't think any of it was worth the $120 we paid for two people. Lesson learned.
Wednesday
After a late night at MNSSHP, we slept in a little and made our way to Boma for breakfast at 10am. This was our first time at Boma. Great selection of food, but thought both the buffet area and seating area were a little small and crowded. Good food though.
We the checked out and hopped in a cab to head over to our Universal resort. I'll do a review over on the Universal forums of our time there.
After being at Universal for about 4 hours, I realized that I forgot both of our iPads in the safe in our room at AKL! I was in panic mode! I googled the number for AKL and they then connected me to AKL lost & found. They were able to confirm they had the iPads in their possession. Phew! We still had two more days in town so I asked if we could pay to have a courier bring them to us, but that was not an option. We didn't have a car (or the time) to go all the way back to AKL, so they agreed to overnight them to us on our last day in Orlando so we would get them the first day we were home. Happy to report I had them in my door from FedEx at 11am this morning! Big ups to the staff at AKL lost & found!
Overall, it was a good albeit brief trip. Very tiring, very fast paced, but fun. We enjoyed our stay at AKL but the theme isn't really our preference. We will try other resorts first before returning. Weather was also nice and much warmer than we anticipated - mid-80s and very humid.
Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions! On to plan the next one!
