My First Trip Report
<HR style="COLOR: #1353b3" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->Hi everyone,
This is my first thread. I wanted to start with saying thank you to a few people. I started planning this trip 7 months ago. I stumbled across this board and I lurked soaking in all the tips and info that whole time. Thanks to all of you my wife and son experienced an exceptional amount of magic on their first trip. My son also turned 7 while we were there and all the tips I got here made it a B-day he will never forget.
I also want to thank Pam from KingdomConsultant. I have never used a travel agent before, but I will never go to WDW without Pam. She was instrumental in getting us breakfast at the castle and our Concierge AP rate at AKL.
As for the trip it was amazing. We picked up Birthday pins at each park and the reaction of the Cast Members was awesome. Some of the special things that were done for him were:
A Cast Member at MK stopped us on Main Street USA a<ST1
< class=inlineimg title='\\"stick' out tongue\? ST1nd sang him happy b-day.
An off duty CM visiting the park for her own enjoyment approached us as we waited for MK to open and wished him happy b-day and gave us some great tips.
A CM at Mission Space gave us 2 Switch Passes (for Test Track) after wishing him happy b-day.
A CM at Dinosaur at AK gave him a pin (by the way that was my son’s 1<SUP>st</SUP> pin and it ended up costing me when we ended up building his collection!!)
The CM at Chef Mickey’s for his B-day dinner was phenomenal in her attention to him.
In addition to this we ran into some exceptional CMs just doing their thing. Our bellman at AKL gave us a very informative tour of AKL before we checked in. He was great.
A bus driver saved the whole vacation. I had left my camera case (digital video recorder and my new digital camera) on a bus from AKL to MK. When I realized it we started backtracking. Finally I ended up waiting at AKL to see if I could get the same bus. No luck, but when I spoke with the driver of the bus I finally took he radioed ahead to the shack at MK and found out that there were 2 camera bags turned in. When we got there I was able to describe the contents and get my cameras back. If not for that driver I would have spent the day worrying about it until we could check with lost and found at the end of the day (as another helpful CM told us to do). I wish I knew the name of the driver that turned in the bag because it was over $1,000 in brand new equipment and he saved the trip.
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I did get the name and hometown of each CM that we thought provided some Disney Magic. I have to say I was very impressed because theses folks ranged from what looked like Veteran CMs to College Program participants to those “Earning their Ears.” Guest relations will be getting an e-mail regarding each of the 14 CMs we encountered.
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Back to the B-day events. We did Breakfast-a-saurus and Chef Mickey’s for dinner. We were not impressed with Breakfast-a-saurus. We are not big breakfast people, but the CM seating us never even brought us to our table (started talking to other tables and left us in the middle of the floor) and seemed very flustered. I think maybe she needed some more help.
Chef Mickey’s on the other hand was amazing, as was the CM bringing us our drinks. She also let us know ahead of time when Mickey was coming out for my son’s B-day celebration so we would be ready with the cameras. She also corralled Mickey after he went by us by mistake and gently removed some children who were trying to hug Mickey during our pictures with hi (the parents were oblivious to what was going on).
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One unplanned event was extra special. Thanks to the info on the WDWMAGIC we knew about the Sword in the Stone Ceremony. We got there a little early and Keith was able to get Merlin’s autograph and a picture. I then made sure my son was up front. Merlin had noticed my son’s B-day pins and after his “bodyguard” was picked Keith was picked by Merlin. The smile on Keith’s face during the “processional” around the stone was priceless. Merlin did an awesome job!
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The other big impression was AKL. AKL was beautiful and the extras they offer kept us busy on our slow days and nights. During one story time by the fireplace the cultural ambassador telling the story was faced with 12 adults and 1 child (my son). She told us two stories and even had everyone sing happy b-day to my son (after she sung it in Afrikaans). The animal views from out balcony were superb and being concierge guests we took advantage of the Sunrise Safari. I highly recommend this if you stay concierge at AKL. It is definitely worth the cost and blows Kilimanjaro away. Coincidentally the animal guide was from my hometown in lace> and our families know one another. Breakfast at Tusker house was delicious. Whatever they do to that cinnamon French toast should be illegal. I think I gained about 3 lbs. just eating those. Boma was probably the best dinner we had.
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I won’t go into every park, but a couple of things:
We were impressed with the cleanliness of the parks.
SGE was lame. I went in with no preconceptions because I have never done Alien Encounter, but Disney fell short on this one.
We loved Dinosaur, Mission Space, Test Track, TOT, RnR, and Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin (I scored a million points, thanks for the tips).
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We also were “stranded” in Disney for 2 extra days due to the blizzard in So there is my abbreviated report. Thanks you everyone for the help because this trip would not have been as magical without the information on these boards.
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<HR style="COLOR: #1353b3" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->Hi everyone,
This is my first thread. I wanted to start with saying thank you to a few people. I started planning this trip 7 months ago. I stumbled across this board and I lurked soaking in all the tips and info that whole time. Thanks to all of you my wife and son experienced an exceptional amount of magic on their first trip. My son also turned 7 while we were there and all the tips I got here made it a B-day he will never forget.
I also want to thank Pam from KingdomConsultant. I have never used a travel agent before, but I will never go to WDW without Pam. She was instrumental in getting us breakfast at the castle and our Concierge AP rate at AKL.
As for the trip it was amazing. We picked up Birthday pins at each park and the reaction of the Cast Members was awesome. Some of the special things that were done for him were:
A Cast Member at MK stopped us on Main Street USA a<ST1
< class=inlineimg title='\\"stick' out tongue\? ST1nd sang him happy b-day.An off duty CM visiting the park for her own enjoyment approached us as we waited for MK to open and wished him happy b-day and gave us some great tips.
A CM at Mission Space gave us 2 Switch Passes (for Test Track) after wishing him happy b-day.
A CM at Dinosaur at AK gave him a pin (by the way that was my son’s 1<SUP>st</SUP> pin and it ended up costing me when we ended up building his collection!!)
The CM at Chef Mickey’s for his B-day dinner was phenomenal in her attention to him.
In addition to this we ran into some exceptional CMs just doing their thing. Our bellman at AKL gave us a very informative tour of AKL before we checked in. He was great.
A bus driver saved the whole vacation. I had left my camera case (digital video recorder and my new digital camera) on a bus from AKL to MK. When I realized it we started backtracking. Finally I ended up waiting at AKL to see if I could get the same bus. No luck, but when I spoke with the driver of the bus I finally took he radioed ahead to the shack at MK and found out that there were 2 camera bags turned in. When we got there I was able to describe the contents and get my cameras back. If not for that driver I would have spent the day worrying about it until we could check with lost and found at the end of the day (as another helpful CM told us to do). I wish I knew the name of the driver that turned in the bag because it was over $1,000 in brand new equipment and he saved the trip.
<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O
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<>I did get the name and hometown of each CM that we thought provided some Disney Magic. I have to say I was very impressed because theses folks ranged from what looked like Veteran CMs to College Program participants to those “Earning their Ears.” Guest relations will be getting an e-mail regarding each of the 14 CMs we encountered.
<O
< p></O
<>Back to the B-day events. We did Breakfast-a-saurus and Chef Mickey’s for dinner. We were not impressed with Breakfast-a-saurus. We are not big breakfast people, but the CM seating us never even brought us to our table (started talking to other tables and left us in the middle of the floor) and seemed very flustered. I think maybe she needed some more help.
Chef Mickey’s on the other hand was amazing, as was the CM bringing us our drinks. She also let us know ahead of time when Mickey was coming out for my son’s B-day celebration so we would be ready with the cameras. She also corralled Mickey after he went by us by mistake and gently removed some children who were trying to hug Mickey during our pictures with hi (the parents were oblivious to what was going on).
<O
< p></O
<>One unplanned event was extra special. Thanks to the info on the WDWMAGIC we knew about the Sword in the Stone Ceremony. We got there a little early and Keith was able to get Merlin’s autograph and a picture. I then made sure my son was up front. Merlin had noticed my son’s B-day pins and after his “bodyguard” was picked Keith was picked by Merlin. The smile on Keith’s face during the “processional” around the stone was priceless. Merlin did an awesome job!
<O
< p></O
<>The other big impression was AKL. AKL was beautiful and the extras they offer kept us busy on our slow days and nights. During one story time by the fireplace the cultural ambassador telling the story was faced with 12 adults and 1 child (my son). She told us two stories and even had everyone sing happy b-day to my son (after she sung it in Afrikaans). The animal views from out balcony were superb and being concierge guests we took advantage of the Sunrise Safari. I highly recommend this if you stay concierge at AKL. It is definitely worth the cost and blows Kilimanjaro away. Coincidentally the animal guide was from my hometown in lace> and our families know one another. Breakfast at Tusker house was delicious. Whatever they do to that cinnamon French toast should be illegal. I think I gained about 3 lbs. just eating those. Boma was probably the best dinner we had.
<O
< p></O
<>I won’t go into every park, but a couple of things:
We were impressed with the cleanliness of the parks.
SGE was lame. I went in with no preconceptions because I have never done Alien Encounter, but Disney fell short on this one.
We loved Dinosaur, Mission Space, Test Track, TOT, RnR, and Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin (I scored a million points, thanks for the tips).
<O
< p></O
<>We also were “stranded” in Disney for 2 extra days due to the blizzard in So there is my abbreviated report. Thanks you everyone for the help because this trip would not have been as magical without the information on these boards.
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