Trip Report And We’re Back! – A March Trip Report

Well, I’m back! I’ve been pretty MIA from the boards for the last few months. It has been a crazy busy Fall and Winter and it’s about time that things slowed down. We sold our townhouse in September and moved in with my parents for 4 months while we waited for our new home to be built. All that plus the regular busyness of the holiday season meant little time to go online.

My last trip to WDW was in November of 2012 so I was itching to go back. My next trip wasn’t scheduled until October 2014 and that was just too long for me to wait. So, I emailed my friend Maggie who went with me in 2010 and asked if she would want to go again. She was in and suggested we stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Sounds good to me!

The Details:

Who: Me (Ashley) and my best friend from college (Maggie)

I'm the short one.

When: March 5-9, 2014

Where: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge

Wednesday March 5th – Disney World and Warm Weather Here We Come!

Today was a very early morning for both of us. At my old house, I used to live 8 minutes away from the airport. The new house is 35 minutes from the airport, which isn’t bad for most people, but when you used to be 8, it now seems a lot farther. I didn’t think about the new drive to the airport when I booked my flight for 6:45am.

So I woke up super early and made it to the airport about an hour before my departure time. I barely slept at all the night before so I was extremely tired. I think I woke up every hour or so worried that I had overslept. I got about 3 hours of sleep in total. But I was on my way to WDW so who’s complaining!

The flight was uneventful and we landed on time. Maggie’s flight didn’t land for another hour so I had some time to kill. At first, I thought I was going to kill time by browsing the shops but then I figured I would just head down to the DME area and wait there. An hour wasn’t too bad. I made it all the way down to the DME area and decided I should check on Maggie’s flight to see if it was on time. And what do you know…her flight was delayed…45 minutes.

So I went back up to the shops, looked around and grabbed some breakfast from McDonald’s. Then it was back down to the DME counter to wait for Maggie. Her flight landed at the newly scheduled, delayed time and we were finally ready to board the bus. I had been at the airport for 2 hours so I couldn’t wait to get this vacation started!

We made our way to the DME counter to check in with our fancy, new MagicBands! This was the first time I got to use the bands so I was super excited!

Animal Kingdom Lodge here we come!

Obligatory Instagram shot

The Animal Kingdom Lodge was one of only two deluxe resorts I had never stayed at before so I was really excited to stay at this resort! First we had to stop at Pop Century and then Art of Animation before we arrived at our destination.

We’re finally here!

I had done online check in so it was a pretty smooth process once we arrived. I was very pleased that our room was ready. That was the only request I made when doing online check in. We already had booked an Arusha view room so as long as it was ready when we arrived, I was fine with the luck of the draw. Knock on wood, I have always been pleased with our room placements without having any special requests.

We were in room 3415 located along Zebra Trail and on the same floor as the lobby. I was already pleased with the location of our room and I hadn’t even seen it yet.

Feels like a Disney vacation when I see one of these

View from our room

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Great stuff as always, Ashley!

I hope you liked staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. My family and I stay at Kidani Village, as our DVC home and we love it, especially my 8 year old!

Onward!

Thanks Billy! We really liked the AKL. My final thoughts about the resort coming up.

Love the report. So cool that you met Vern! He was my favorite, and I sometimes still reference his old designs. Especially right now as we're remodeling (Okay...we're fixing a tornado struck home...).

Thanks! Vern was so nice! I always love his design style. Oh no about your house! That is terrible! I hope everyone is okay.

Wow bet the Croque Glace tasted great! It is now on my have taste list for our October trip great report, great pics!!

The croque glace was tasty! It got a little messy at the end. The ice cream started leaking through the bread but the newspaper did a good job stopping it. Thanks for reading!

I'm really enjoying your trip report. Thanks for sharing. All the awesome photos are really making me excited for our trip this summer. We've stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge many times - and will be staying there again this summer. Just love it. As great as your photos are, I've seen lots of them taken of AKL by many different people, and I have to say, photos just never fully do it justice.

Thank you! I know what you mean about pictures not doing it justice. No matter how many pictures I see of resorts, there is nothing that compares to the wow feeling of walking in to the lobby at the start of your vacation!

Ok...on with the trip report! I have 1.5 days until my next trip so I better hurry this up!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Saturday March 8th – Sunshine on our Last Day in the Parks

Today was our last day in the parks so we were making the most of it. Hollywood Studios had EMH this morning so we were up bright and early to make it before the 8am opening.

Blue skies!

We arrived about 10 minutes before opening and the lines were already pretty long at the turnstiles (although, I guess they aren’t turnstiles anymore with the RFID scanners). When the park opened, we went with the crowd back to Toy Story Midway Mania and entered the standby line.

Well this looks new

Since we only had two people in our party, we were sent up the right hand side of the queue and boarded really quickly. I love this attraction! It’s so well done and so much fun.

Woo hoo! I won!

Next we made our way down Sunset Boulevard. We had some time before our 9:25am FP+ time for Tower of Terror so we went for a couple spins on RnR before checking in. I think RnR is my favorite ride. I go back and forth but this one is always up there at the top. I love the launch and the Aerosmith music during the ride is always great.

I can’t help but make this face on this attraction

Look at that sun!

Instagram version of the same shot

Next up was the Great Movie Ride before it was time to use our FP+ for a second round on TSMM.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

This Etch-A-Sketch is pretty cool

We both improved our scores this round. I find that when I don’t worry about accuracy, I do better. After TSMM, I wanted to check out The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow. I hadn’t seen it since it opened so I figured it was worth a visit.

I really enjoyed the new attraction. The technology was really cool. It’s not a must see attraction or anything but its worth a visit if you are trying to kill time before a FP+ return time or it’s a really hot day.

After seeing Captain Jack Sparrow, we went for a walk through history into One Man’s Dream. I love all of the memorabilia in this attraction!

After OMD, Maggie wanted to go on the Backlot Tour. She really liked this attraction the last time we were there so she wanted to go again. I’m not a huge fan of this attraction but I was willing to go for a ride. As we were waiting in line, the cast member announced how long the attraction was and a bunch of people in line made their exit. Hahaha

After the Backlot Tour, we were getting pretty hungry so we decided to try Pizza Planet. I had never eaten there before so I wanted to give it a try. I like how the meals here come with a salad. I went with a cheese pizza and Maggie got a meatball sub. I mentioned before, if you noticed a pattern here. Maggie only eats sandwiches. It made it challenging to pick quick service locations when there had to be a sandwich option that Maggie liked on the menu. We managed to do that the whole trip but it got challenging at the end there.

Looks like I got a little lazy when it came to taking pictures of Maggie’s food

After our lunch, we had one more FP+ to use for Star Tours. On the way out of the store, I saw this shirt:

I had to take a picture and send it to Wes. We jokingly make these noises all the time at home. Hahaha Its juvenile, I know but it’s fun to say. Pew pew! And with that we decided to go back to AKL to lay by the pool for a little bit and enjoy the sunshine.

We lucked out and caught a bus right away. We spent a little over an hour laying by the pool. I didn’t want to push my luck and get burned. It was a beautiful day out so it was hard to go back in but the Magic Kingdom was calling!

I really wanted to get some sunny pictures of New Fantasyland so that was our first destination.

Hello!

I took this same picture the other day but now you will notice blue skies!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

I had heard good things about the pork shank at Gaston’s so I wanted to give it a try. Since we were there, we also decided to try LeFou’s Brew.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture with this ginormously large pork shank

I thought the pork shank was good but Maggie wouldn’t share with me. It was way too much food for just one person. I would only order it again if I had someone who wanted to share. I really enjoyed the LeFou’s Brew though and would get it again.

As we were leaving Gaston’s Tavern, we saw Gaston meeting guests. Maggie overhead him with a guest who had red hair. He said “Look at you…even your hair is blushing!” Hahaha We got a kick out of that one.

After we left New Fantasyland, we noticed that the crowds had really picked up. We made our way to Adventureland and saw that the Jungle Cruise had posted a 40 minute wait. Say what?! I looked at my TouringPlans app and saw that most of the attractions had long waits so I figured we should just stay put and wait it out.

After Jungle Cruise, we went to Pirates where the queue was winding through the beginning area! I have never seen it so crowded! This picture gives you an idea of the line. The wait felt like forever.

We made our way to Fantasyland and found that wait times there were also nuts. 30 minutes for it’s a small world! Waiting in line was better than walking around and doing nothing so in the line we went.

Maggie was hungry now but I was still full from the pork shank. She wanted to get a sandwich (surprise, surprise ) so we made our way over to Cosmic’s Ray’s so she could eat dinner. I grabbed us a table up by Sonny Eclipse while Maggie waited in line for her food.

After Maggie’s dinner, we went to Dumbo and then I was hungry so we went to Casey’s Corner so I could get a hot dog. I love Casey's Corner and really wanted to eat there. They don't have any sandwiches so it was a good thing we ate dinner separately because I wanted my Casey's!

I ended up drenching it in ketchup… Oops.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

We saw Celebrate the Magic and Wishes tonight but I didn’t take any pictures of either. Maggie and I decided that we wanted to enjoy the shows and not see them through our cameras so we restrained ourselves and put them away. We got a great spot right in the middle of the hub.

After Wishes, we took a walk up to the castle for some final pictures and then made our way out of the park. I hate leaving the parks for the last time on a trip. I always walk really slow because I never want the moment to end!

We got back to the AKL and I started packing up some of my stuff. We were laying by the pool tomorrow so there was no need to wake up too early.

Sunday March 9th – See ya real soon WDW!

Today we woke up a little before 9am. We weren’t getting picked up by DME until around 1:30 so we had some time to lounge by the pool.

I spy some Hidden Mickeys in this shower curtain

It was a gorgeous day today! It was so nice to end our trip relaxing by the pool and reading a good book! I was reading The Passage by Justin Cronin. Has anybody else read this book? It was really good and it's going to be a trilogy. The third one comes out later this year. I can't wait!

Finally a little after noon we decided to grab some lunch from the Mara and take it back up to our room to eat. We ate on our balcony to try to enjoy every last minute of our view! Of course Maggie ordered some sandwich-like chicken pita with couscous dish and I went with the chicken tenders and fries. Everything I order looks so unhealthy compared to what Maggie orders.

The giraffes were eating lunch too

We spent our last hour in our room packing and enjoying the view from our balcony. I really didn’t want our checkout time to arrive but it did. At one o’clock we made our exit from our room to drop our bags off at bell services. I wasn’t ready for our vacation to end so we went out to the Arusha viewing area to prolong our inevitable departure.

That was our room with the red railing

I always get so sad when my Disney vacations come to an end. I was holding back tears as we made our way to the DME bus stop.

The bus arrived, as it always does, and we made our way to the aiport.

Goodbye Jambo House!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed the Animal Kingdom Lodge! I asked Maggie which resort she liked better, the Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge, since those are the two resorts we have stayed at together, and Maggie said her favorite was actually AKL. I still prefer the WL over AKL but they are both great resorts. The Arusha view room was such a unique experience. I would stay at AKL again but I think I would plan a more relaxing trip with more time scheduled at the resort.

We loved the Flower and Garden Festival! I still prefer Christmas time in WDW but F&G comes in a close second. The topiaries are so cool and the outdoor kitchens are really fun. It’s like a little bit of the Food and Wine Festival but in the spring. I like it!

It is amazing looking back at this trip and realizing how many new things I did on this trip. After all of these trips, it is so cool that there are still things I haven’t done at WDW. On this trip, I stayed at a resort I have never stayed at before, tried new restaurants, and checked out some refurbished attractions. People always ask me why I keep going back to WDW, thinking that I must be bored with it by now but I try new things every time so it never gets boring. I can’t wait until my trip in a couple of days because we are trying a bunch of new things!

Maggie and I had a wonderful time on our trip. We decided that we need to plan another trip in the near future. Maggie already decided that next time we need to do 5 nights instead of 4! I have taught her well!

Thanks for following along!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Awesome report, Ashley!

AKL looks gorgeous. We have been over to Kidani to eat at Sanaa but have never been to Jambo House. It is definitely near the top of my list of places to stay at WDW.

and you're going back in like 2 days right?! Lucky duck! Hope you have a blast! I'm headed to California on Saturday to check out Disneyland for the first time!

 

[mammaminnie]

So excited to read your TR Ashley!!! It's great to get the stories that go along with the photos I saw on FB

 

[joshsprincess921]

Great report!

 

[Weather_Lady]

I couldn’t resist taking a picture with this ginormously large pork shank

After we left New Fantasyland, we noticed that the crowds had really picked up. We made our way to Adventureland and saw that the Jungle Cruise had posted a 40 minute wait. Say what?! I looked at my TouringPlans app and saw that most of the attractions had long waits so I figured we should just stay put and wait it out.

After Jungle Cruise, we went to Pirates where the queue was winding through the beginning area! I have never seen it so crowded! This picture gives you an idea of the line. The wait felt like forever.



We made our way to Fantasyland and found that wait times there were also nuts. 30 minutes for it’s a small world! Waiting in line was better than walking around and doing nothing so in the line we went.

Unfortunately, the lines you saw are the "new normal" for those attractions in the Magic Kingdom. Typical standby wait times at its a small world, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Jungle Cruise have all more than doubled since the introduction of FP+.

I'm loving your trip report, BTW. Your photography is beautiful!

 

[Webb]

Great trip report! Your friend REALLY enjoys a good sandwich!

Enjoy your next trip! Mine is 18 days away!

 

[coachwnh]

Thanks for the great report and fantastic pictures!

 

[LeCellier.Lover]

Loved your trip report! Your photography is awesome!
Umm trip countdown timer is at 17 hours?! Now that's not fair!
Hope you have a great trip and come back to write another wonderful TR!

 

[disneyfan1995]

Great report! I enjoyed reading it. Glad to hear you enjoyed AKL! It's definitely an awesome resort to stay at.

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

Reporting live from WDW Waiting for the inlaws to arrive so I figured I would reply to some messages before the real fun begins.

Awesome report, Ashley!

AKL looks gorgeous. We have been over to Kidani to eat at Sanaa but have never been to Jambo House. It is definitely near the top of my list of places to stay at WDW.

and you're going back in like 2 days right?! Lucky duck! Hope you have a blast! I'm headed to California on Saturday to check out Disneyland for the first time!

Thanks!! We had visited AKL to eat at Jiko a few times and I always thought the resort was really pretty. Wes stayed there back in 2011 without me so I was glad that Maggie wanted to try this resort so I could try it too!

Yep! I'm here now. I never have trips this close together but the inlaws had DVC points that they were about to lose so we couldn't say no. I physically couldn't. Hahaha Have a great time at Disneyland! I need to make it over to that coast soon!

So excited to read your TR Ashley!!! It's great to get the stories that go along with the photos I saw on FB

Thanks Stacy!

Great report!

Thanks for reading!

Unfortunately, the lines you saw are the "new normal" for those attractions in the Magic Kingdom. Typical standby wait times at its a small world, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Jungle Cruise have all more than doubled since the introduction of FP+.

I'm loving your trip report, BTW. Your photography is beautiful!

I didn't even realize that FP+ would be the culprit! I think the crowd levels for that night were higher than the rest of our trip since it was the first day of Spring Break season but I bet you are right about FP+ adding to those wait times. Very interesting.

Thank you! I try with the photography. I wish I had more time to get better with the manual settings but automatic is working for me just fine at the moment.

Great trip report! Your friend REALLY enjoys a good sandwich!

Enjoy your next trip! Mine is 18 days away!

Thanks! Yes, she does love sandwiches. Hahaha

Have a great time on your trip! It will be here before you know it!

Thanks for the great report and fantastic pictures!

Thank you for following along!

Loved your trip report! Your photography is awesome!
Umm trip countdown timer is at 17 hours?! Now that's not fair!
Hope you have a great trip and come back to write another wonderful TR!

Thanks! Hahaha I don't mean to rub it in but I'm here now. I will be sure to write a trip report when I get back, don't worry!

Great report! Have fun on your upcoming trip!

Thanks! It's hard not to have fun on these trips!

Great report! I enjoyed reading it. Glad to hear you enjoyed AKL! It's definitely an awesome resort to stay at.

Thank you! We really enjoyed AKL. I'm not sure when I will get back there since I am trying to stay at all the resorts before I start going back to resorts so it may be a little while.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Next stop was the Tangled restrooms. It wasn’t completed the last time when I was there so I was beyond excited to see it. Talk about some beautifully themed restrooms. Again, only Disney could make something like a restroom a site worth visiting. And it has an AMAZING restroom sign.

How cute is that?! LOVE it.

The inside of the restroom is also really cute but I felt a little weird taking pictures in there with so many people. Maybe next time I will be braver and take some pictures.

We made our way to Adventureland for a ride on Pirates (classic), then to Tomorrowland for a spin on the PeopleMover and to use our Space Mountain FP+s.

I wanted to get a good spot for the first parade but Maggie didn’t want to have to stake out a spot for more than 30 minutes. So, we ended up not being able to find a spot on the right side of the hub. We found a spot on the other side of the parade route but I knew that we would have a good view from there for Celebrate the Magic and Wishes so we stayed there. We caught the parade from a distance but that was okay. I’m not a huge fan of the MSEP. I want to love it but I just don’t. I prefer SpectroMagic.

Celebrate the Magic is my absolute favorite! The technology is just so awesome. The projection right on the castle. Crazy awesome. And I really love the music. As soon as the Frozen segment started, the crowd went wild! Hahaha It was so funny hearing all the excited screams when “Let It Go” started. I recorded that part and sent the video to my husband. He doesn’t love the song but he knows that I sang it for like a month after I bought the soundtrack. He can’t say, “let it go” without me breaking out in song.

Wishes was wonderful as always. I tried to take some pictures but it’s not even worth trying anymore. I always end up watching Wishes through my camera lens and miss really seeing the show.

Our next stop was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to use our last FP+ for the night. I love riding BTMR at night.

Not so great selfie mid-rid.

We decided to check out some shops after that. I was on a mission to buy a hoodie sweatshirt. I had very specific criteria for what I was looking for so it was hard to find exactly what I wanted. I only brought one lightweight zip-up hoodie on this trip so I would need a heavier one soon. No luck tonight though.

We caught the tale end of the second Celebrate the Magic show and grabbed a spot on Main Street to get a front row view of the second MSEP. I know I said I didn’t love it, but I wanted a good seat to give it another chance.

I still prefer SpectroMagic, but I tried. After the parade, it was time to call it a night. I can’t believe we made it as long as we did, considering we both had gotten up so early! We left the park around 11:20 to take a bus back to AKL.

I made Maggie pose for this one. Not sure why, but I guess I was loopy-tired and thought it was funny.

It wasn’t long until we were back at AKL seeing a very empty lobby. It was midnight, after all.

We were in bed around 1am. At some point during the day, I asked Maggie if she wanted to do four parks in one day tomorrow. She said “sure”. And with that, we would be doing all four parks in one day tomorrow! I have never done that before so I was excited for another first this trip. It’s amazing that after so many trips to WDW, there are still things I have never done before.

Up next: Four parks in one day in the rain!

I am totally loving your TR!!!! Can't wait to keep reading it Thanks for sharing!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Caught up on the last few days! I'm glad you got to enjoy some hours by the pool at the resort! I want to actually do that this time around staying at the Beach Club...I mean I have to spend time at the coolest pool in WDW..Stormalong Bay! Even if it is just for an hour!

Love all of your blue sky pictures! Always the best!!! Hope you get to ride the Mine Train while you're there!!!!! I'm completely jealous you're there now, but I'll be there in 2 weeks so it's not so bad!!!

I hope you have a great trip and will be looking forward to the report as well!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

I am totally loving your TR!!!! Can't wait to keep reading it Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for reading!

Caught up on the last few days! I'm glad you got to enjoy some hours by the pool at the resort! I want to actually do that this time around staying at the Beach Club...I mean I have to spend time at the coolest pool in WDW..Stormalong Bay! Even if it is just for an hour!

Love all of your blue sky pictures! Always the best!!! Hope you get to ride the Mine Train while you're there!!!!! I'm completely jealous you're there now, but I'll be there in 2 weeks so it's not so bad!!!

I hope you have a great trip and will be looking forward to the report as well!

Resort time can be so hard to come by. The Beach Club pool is so awesome! You absolutely need to take some time to hang out by that pool.

I wish we could have ridden the Mine Train! We only went to Hollywood Studios and Epcot this past trip. I was really bummed not to get to see the Mine Train in person. Next trip though!

Thanks! I will be uploading pictures and starting my new trip report soon.

 

[FlaggNL]

Great report! Superb pictures and loved all your qoutes! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Resort time can be so hard to come by. The Beach Club pool is so awesome! You absolutely need to take some time to hang out by that pool.

I wish we could have ridden the Mine Train! We only went to Hollywood Studios and Epcot this past trip. I was really bummed not to get to see the Mine Train in person. Next trip though!

Thanks! I will be uploading pictures and starting my new trip report soon.

You only went to two parks this last trip? Short trip? lol