Trip Report Late April, early May Trip! Day 1

Hello!

I just wanted to start off by saying my fiancé and I are passholders, and we go about 3 times a year, but this last trip was one of the best we took, which is why I am posting! We stayed at AKL on club level because we got an amazing Passholder discount and it was the same amount as a regular Savannah room, and we thought, when in Disney! AKL was a little expensive, so we split the stay up,and did the 2nd half at Port Orleans Riverside

Check in- we were escorted right upstairs to the club level for check in. The concierge was very nice and said they would send us a text as soon as the room was ready (we checked in around 9am). As soon as we got everything squared away, we were off to Hollywood Studios!
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As you can see, it was not a nice day. But the rain did not stop us, we are true Disney fans Before the trip, we bought $1 Ponchos. BEST IDEA EVER! Saved us a lot of money and we could just throw the dirty wet ponchos out after each use if we wanted because we brought a few. We also wore rain jackets with hoods, they come in handy when going into an air conditioned ride.
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We had a fastpass for ToT, we must of dropped at least 10 times, the most we ever have! On a slightly annoying note, we had the back row and everyone knew each other on our ride so they all put their hands up for the picture. Fun for them, not for us because we love buying those pictures oh well we could have gone again but we were starving. Our extremely healthy lunch is pictured below!
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laben594

laben594

Active Member
Original Poster
DAY 1 CONTINUED-

So after lunch, we headed over to Toy Story Mania. We FINALLY got a fastpass for this and wanted to see what the big fuss was. Well now we know, and we LOVE IT! This ride is so much fun and we joked that it was literally impossible to not have a good time on that ride.
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We went on rockin roller coaster after this, we didn't have fastpasses for it, but we used the single rider line. We only waited 10 minutes when their was an hour wait. If you are okay with being separated, I would recommend using the fastpass for the top tier for Toy Story, and using the single rider line for Rockin.

Overall, we had fun at Hollywood studios, HOWEVER we did not pay regular admission since we have the passes. I would strongly advise not going here until they complete their construction. I would be very disappointed if I paid ($100?) to go to HS.

While we were busy in Hollywood, we got a text at 11:15am that our room was ready at AKL! Wow!! I have never gotten into a Disney room that early. We hopped on the bus back to the resort and it was time to see our room!

Next post I will post pictures of the room:)
 
LisaBelle

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Following along! I love Toy Story Midway Mania. I used to love Buzz, but never scored well. I have way more success on TSMM. We stayed at AKL on our first trip with our kids. We loved it. Can't wait to hear what you think!
 
SeanWM48

SeanWM48

Well-Known Member
cool post so far. i've actually never done the toy story ride, always has long line. i guess there's a good reason for the wait
 
laben594

laben594

Active Member
Original Poster
DAY 1-CHECKING INTO THE ROOM

We got the text that our room was ready around 11:15am (WOW)! We did the direct to room check in, which we honestly were a little nervous about. We read many reviews that people lug their stuff all the way to their room, only to find out their magic bands don't work and they need to go to the front desk. We did not have a problem getting into our room so maybe this will be our new thing!;)
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Our room was BEAUTIFUL!! I loved the atmosphere and decorations, it really made me feel like I was in Africa. They didn't have any king beds available, so we got two queens. Not the most romantic but we figure when we come back from the parks, we use one bed as a "nap" bed and one as a "sleep" bed. This way we aren't laying in our dirty park clothes in the bed we will sleep in at night! (Yes I am that much of a germaphobe :greedy:)

We open the balcony door to our view, and it did not disappoint
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How beautiful!! There was never a time when we didn't see animals out there, it was great! After looking at our room, we headed over to the club lounge for happy hour.
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We had some GREAT FOOD, on club level. They had delicious African themed appetizers each night during happy hour (along with wine and beero_O) this really helped out with our later dinner reservations (like BoG at 9:30 one night) we would fill up on yummy appetizers then go to dinner a few hours later. Plus they would let us take some wine and beer back to our room to sit on our balcony
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Honestly, the club level was one of the best deals we had ever done. We saved so much money by staying there(sounds crazy right?) but we ate breakfast there every morning, had an afternoon snack each day when We came back from the parks, had wine and beer along with appetizers before dinner, and had dessert there each night. We also took a glass of water each to bed each night from there, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but when water is $2.50 a bottle, it was a big deal. We thought we saved so much on food and beverage during the trip, because all that walking works up an appetite! We were wondering before the trip if club level was worth it, and the answer is YES!!

That night, we went to downtown disney. We walked around for a bit then had dinner at Wolfgang Puck Cafe. It was okay, not the best meal, not the worst. We decided we don't like the crowd at DTD. It was a a lot of unsupervised teenagers who were cursing up a storm and causing trouble. We don't have kids yet, but I thought of all the parents with small kids who were walking next to these teenagers saying the F-Bomb. Plus this was a Tuesday night, not during spring break. Why were there so many??? Sadly, I think that will be our last trip down there for awhile, because every time we go this seems to be the theme. While I'm not saying park goers are "perfect", there is definitely a different crowd that goes to DTD rather than the parks, and I think it's because there is no admission and anyone can go. Plus, people inside the World of Disney just get down right mean and will shove you over if you get in their way!

Overall we had a great first day, our biggest regret though is not staying at AKL for dinner, and going to DTD:depressed: we wished we could have had more time there, maybe next time!

Next-Epcot!
 
laben594

laben594

Active Member
Original Poster
LisaBelle said:
Following along! I love Toy Story Midway Mania. I used to love Buzz, but never scored well. I have way more success on TSMM. We stayed at AKL on our first trip with our kids. We loved it. Can't wait to hear what you think!
Click to expand...

Thanks for reading!! Buzz is hard, I feel like I either don't do it right or the ride needs to go under for a renovation. Toy Story was so much more fun!! AKL is great, I think it's a hidden gem at Disney :)
 
laben594

laben594

Active Member
Original Poster
SeanWM48 said:
cool post so far. i've actually never done the toy story ride, always has long line. i guess there's a good reason for the wait
Click to expand...

Thanks for reading! If you get a chance you should go on toy story! We waited so long to go on because we didn't get what the big deal was, but now it's on our to-do list each time! It's such a different experience, much better than buzz
 

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