Trip Report *COMPLETED* Allll the fun...and other musings - an August trip report

Some preamble
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Burnett Family Trip Report – Summer Edition. Before you commit to reading this, be warned that it may take a bit of time to complete this as I have 10 days to cover with something like 900 pictures to pick from and a busy next few weeks.

Some trip info
I could direct you to our epic pre-trip report found here: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...the-fun-august-20-29-ptr.915198/#post-7298480
but I’ll save you the trouble and recap the important stuff here.

Who's travelling

20160829_120850.jpg

From left to right there is my wife Tammy, Myself (Graham), our daughter Steph (Stephanie) and our son Liam.

When
August 20th – August 29th

Where
Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village in a studio

Anything else
The only other kind of interesting/problematic thing is that Steph has been having some foot problems for the past few months. She’s been off karate and has been going to physio, acupuncture and chiro, but at the end of two months her foot is still sore. This may come into play during our trip…

So……Let’s get started


August 18th-19th – some pre-trip stuff

We had some pre-trip stuff to take care of before we could get our vacation started.

Step 1: Take the feline members of our family to my Mom and Dad’s. We have two cats that we rescued from the SPCA when they were kittens.
IMG_20160801_195621.jpg

We have Zoey who is 7
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and we have Pyper (the torty) who is 5. They typically like being at my parents place as it is quiet and they don’t have to worry about….

Step 2: So it is early July and we’re out driving on a Saturday. “Let’s go to the SPCA just for fun” Tammy says…. Long story short “Let’s go to the SPCA just for fun” became this:
received_1057921864323186.jpeg


This is Cooper. He’s about 6 months old. We really don’t know what he is (We think a Daschund/Lab mix. Don’t aske me how that happens). The cats aren’t overly thrilled with him yet (Pyper hides. Zoey is the boss and smacks Cooper around when he gets out of line).
20160721_062155.jpg

We found a great place for Cooper to stay while we were away which we were happy about. The place came and picked Cooper up on Friday morning (the 19th) and with that we were almost ready.
I went to work on the 19th, but had booked a ½ day off to do some last minute running around/packing. Tammy runs an in-home daycare, so she was working the whole day. Around 5 the final kid was picked up, and we were ready to go.

We jumped in the car and took off across the border to the Sleep Inn in Buffalo, where we’d be staying for the night, before our flight the next morning. We made a quick stop at Sam’s Club to pick up some breakfast items, and then called it a night. We were in bed by 10, and ready to get this trip officially started.

More to come
 
Last edited:

MinnieM123

Premium Member
The tour sounds great! I liked all the lesser known facts that the tour guide shared with the group. That was really interesting to read.

By the way, my favorite ice cream spot in all of WDW is the ice cream parlor on Main Street. Even though I love places like Ghiradelli in Downtown Disney (aka Disney Springs--I just can't get used to the name change . . . :cautious: ), and The Fountain over in the Dolphin, I prefer the selection and ambiance of the Main Street location. (Incidentally, I tried Ample Hills over in the Boardwalk area back in May, a few days after its opening. It was good and all, but I just didn't get the hype over it.)
 

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Loved hearing about the tour! I want to do one eventually. I know a lot about Walt from reading books about him, but it would still be fun to see some behind the scenes and hear personal stories from the guide like you did. She sounds like a great guide!

Also, that stinks about Steph's foot :oops:. It's no fun walking around with an injury! I hope she gets healed up soon.
 

kimberlymautz

Well-Known Member
That tour sounds like so much fun! I'm hoping to do one on my our trip next year. This year it'll just me me, my boyfriend, and our five year old, but next year we're going with a group of people so I think it'll be more realistic. :)
 

gwhb75

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The tour sounds great! I liked all the lesser known facts that the tour guide shared with the group. That was really interesting to read.

By the way, my favorite ice cream spot in all of WDW is the ice cream parlor on Main Street. Even though I love places like Ghiradelli in Downtown Disney (aka Disney Springs--I just can't get used to the name change . . . :cautious: ), and The Fountain over in the Dolphin, I prefer the selection and ambiance of the Main Street location. (Incidentally, I tried Ample Hills over in the Boardwalk area back in May, a few days after its opening. It was good and all, but I just didn't get the hype over it.)

The tour was a lot of fun. I would fully recommend it.

We really enjoyed Ample Hills. We liked the Parlor on Main St too, but for some reason we really liked Ample Hills.
 

gwhb75

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Loved hearing about the tour! I want to do one eventually. I know a lot about Walt from reading books about him, but it would still be fun to see some behind the scenes and hear personal stories from the guide like you did. She sounds like a great guide!

Also, that stinks about Steph's foot :oops:. It's no fun walking around with an injury! I hope she gets healed up soon.

The tour was really fun. I'd recommend it, especially if you've been to the park a lot and are looking for something new to do. Darlene was an excellent tour guide.

Steph's foot still isn't right. She's going back to the Dr. next week to figure out what to do next.

Thanks for following along.
 

gwhb75

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
WOW! Love that shot of the ice cream sandwich!! It looks amazing! Glad Steph got her phone back!

To be honest, I wish the cookie had been a bit softer. It was more of a crunchy cookie, so it was hard to eat as a sandwich. We persevered though;)

We are glad Steph got her phone back too.

Thanks for following along.
 

Jim Buck

Active Member
FYI AK has a tour called backstage tales that you do not have to be 16 for. Took my 12 year old daughter on it in June and it was a great one.
 

officialtom

Well-Known Member
Some preamble
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Burnett Family Trip Report – Summer Edition. Before you commit to reading this, be warned that it may take a bit of time to complete this as I have 10 days to cover with something like 900 pictures to pick from and a busy next few weeks.

Some trip info
I could direct you to our epic pre-trip report found here: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...the-fun-august-20-29-ptr.915198/#post-7298480
but I’ll save you the trouble and recap the important stuff here.

Who's travelling

View attachment 158197

From left to right there is my wife Tammy, Myself (Graham), our daughter Steph (Stephanie) and our son Liam.

When
August 20th – August 29th

Where
Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village in a studio

Anything else
The only other kind of interesting/problematic thing is that Steph has been having some foot problems for the past few months. She’s been off karate and has been going to physio, acupuncture and chiro, but at the end of two months her foot is still sore. This may come into play during our trip…

So……Let’s get started


August 18th-19th – some pre-trip stuff

We had some pre-trip stuff to take care of before we could get our vacation started.

Step 1: Take the feline members of our family to my Mom and Dad’s. We have two cats that we rescued from the SPCA when they were kittens.
View attachment 158203
We have Zoey who is 7
View attachment 158202
and we have Pyper (the torty) who is 5. They typically like being at my parents place as it is quiet and they don’t have to worry about….

Step 2: So it is early July and we’re out driving on a Saturday. “Let’s go to the SPCA just for fun” Tammy says…. Long story short “Let’s go to the SPCA just for fun” became this:
View attachment 158204

This is Cooper. He’s about 6 months old. We really don’t know what he is (We think a Daschund/Lab mix. Don’t aske me how that happens). The cats aren’t overly thrilled with him yet (Pyper hides. Zoey is the boss and smacks Cooper around when he gets out of line).
View attachment 158207
We found a great place for Cooper to stay while we were away which we were happy about. The place came and picked Cooper up on Friday morning (the 19th) and with that we were almost ready.
I went to work on the 19th, but had booked a ½ day off to do some last minute running around/packing. Tammy runs an in-home daycare, so she was working the whole day. Around 5 the final kid was picked up, and we were ready to go.

We jumped in the car and took off across the border to the Sleep Inn in Buffalo, where we’d be staying for the night, before our flight the next morning. We made a quick stop at Sam’s Club to pick up some breakfast items, and then called it a night. We were in bed by 10, and ready to get this trip officially started.

More to come
Cooper is one handsome fella! Interesting combo for sure, but he's rocking it!
 

officialtom

Well-Known Member
August 23rd continued

We get in, and the kids decide they would rather go on RNR than watch the fireworks, so they took off (Liam was also getting hungry, so he picked up some chicken nuggets on the way to RNR). Tammy and I got a pretty good spot for the fireworks, and then waited.
View attachment 159464
Soon the lights go off and the show starts. I really hope they keep the show, because it was really well done. I don’t normally care for fireworks shows, but this is so much more than that. The projections on the theatre are really clear, and then there are lasers and fire.
View attachment 159462

View attachment 159461

View attachment 159467

The big finale
View attachment 159463
Just really good.

At 9 the fireworks end and the park starts emptying out. We text the kids and tell them to meet us behind the Starbucks. A few minutes later they show up…eating cupcakes? Turns out a CM was out in the street just handing out free cupcakes (I guess because the park was closing and they had left overs).

Now, for a day that was supposed to be an off day, we sure have done a lot. It’s now after 9, and we’ve basically been going almost non-stop since 10 this morning….but the day isn’t over yet.

One of the things that we had wanted to do on this trip was go to Ample Hills at the Boardwalk, and since we were so close, we decided we may as well go now. We were going to take the boat, but the line was just too long, so we decided to walk. Along the walking path we found an abandoned park wheelchair. This couldn’t have come at a better time, as Steph’s foot was really bothering her now. She hopped in and we pushed her over to the Boardwalk.

We got to Boardwalk and headed right to Ample Hills.
View attachment 159466
The place wasn’t too busy which was nice,
View attachment 159469
We decided to get two sundaes and split them.
View attachment 159465
We got the Ooey-Gooey-Butter Cake base which was just amazing. The sundaes were huge and very rich, and really good.

After our sundaes we decided to call it a night.
View attachment 159470
We took a boat to Epcot and entered World Showcase at the International Gateway (after going through the metal detectors again). I’ve learned that my belt buckle sets it off every time which means I’m getting wanded every time.

We walked through the parks to the bus,
View attachment 159468
and got back to our room before 11. What a day. We did Disney Springs and, technically, 3 parks (OK, we didn’t do anything in EPCOT, but we did enter the park so I’m counting it). I think we need to start planning our non-planned days a bit better.

Tomorrow is "tour" day.

that's it for August 23rd
Thanks for the idea to visit Ample Hills! We love the Boardwalk area. Adding to the the plan for our trip in Feb/March.
 

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