Pre-Trip Let's Try This Graduation Trip Again

Now that I finally finished the report from our July trip, let's delve into the plans for our next trip! If you recall, the last trip was supposed to be a cruise to celebrate Logan's high school graduation. That obviously didn't happen and we rescheduled it for June 2022. Let's hope it actually happens this time!! First, let me introduce my family in case there are newcomers here who don't know us.
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Me (Amy), my husband Brian, and our kids, Lily (16), Owen (13), and Logan (19).

I am disappointed that we were originally scheduled on a 5 night Castaway Cay double dip cruise on the Fantasy sailing out of Port Canaveral and the only double dip this coming year was in September which is a no go with school schedules. We are now scheduled for a 4 night cruise on the Dream sailing out of Miami. We've been on the Dream before and loved it, but I was looking forward to experiencing a new to us ship.

We will be driving to Florida on Sunday, June 12. We will be staying in the Port Canaveral area as we plan to visit the Kennedy Space Center on Monday, June 13.

We will then drive to Miami on Tuesday, June 13. I am currently booked at the Holiday Inn near Port Miami, but I am open to other suggestions if anyone has them. We will have most of the day Tuesday and all day Wednesday in Miami before starting the cruise on Thursday, June 16. I am also open to suggestions for things to do in Miami on those two day. We may check out Zoo Miami, but nothing is definite yet.

We will be heading back to the Disney/Universal area after the cruise on Monday, June 20. We were originally going to stay in a Disney Springs hotel, but then I decided to surprise the kids with a deluxe resort stay for a few days since we would be able to fully enjoy the resort amenities since we won't be visiting any parks. We have talked about what resorts everyone wants to stay in, and the only one that always ends up on everyone's list is Animal Kingdom Lodge. I originally booked a one bedroom savanna view room at Kidani Village through Disney, but then I decided to check out DVC Rental Store and was able to rent points for a 2 bedroom savanna view room at Kidani for a few hundred dollars cheaper than what I was going to pay Disney for a 1 bedroom! Brian and I have decided to not tell the kids where we are staying until we are pulling up to the resort! We'll see if I am able to keep it a secret for that long! (I have my doubts!!) We plan to hit City Walk one afternoon and Disney Springs. And I want to visit All Star Movies to re-create some photos we have of the kids on their first trips. Otherwise, we will just relax at AKL and enjoy the room and the pool.

And I know all of that was really boring, so a few more photos of what we have been up to lately!

Logan was on the winning team for Canoe Battleship! (they were in canoes in the pool and threw buckets of water at the other teams and the last canoe floating won!)
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Lily was inducted into the National Honor Society.
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Owen finished his fall soccer season and has started indoor soccer.
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And Brian and I recently celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary. Here we are way back in 1998.
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Exciting plans!! I have never been to Miami so I can’t offer any advice. AKL is the perfect resort to stay at if not going to the parks. There’s so much to enjoy there!! Congrats on all the recent accomplishments!!
Thanks! I am super excited about AKL!
Very nice. You have a great family. Wishing you the best for your scheduled trip.
Thanks!
Sounds great!!
Thank you!
Thanks for keeping us up to date. I hope everyone has an amazing year!
You're welcome and thank you!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Beautiful family picture! Exciting news about the cruise, enjoy it. We are thinking of being at Disney around June 20th as well. I was thinking of renting DVC points too, what site did you use?
Thanks! I used the DVC Rental Store. It was very easy. They tell you on the website what rooms are available at the time you want to go, then you request for them to verify availability. If there is availability, you pay $100 for them to try to find a DVC member to make the reservation for you. If they do, you then pay a deposit, if not, they give you the $100 back. The remainder of payment is not due until closer to the trip. They also have a cancellation policy since so much is still changing right now! They give you credit to use later, but better than being totally non-refundable like some of the other rental companies are!
 
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LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
I’m so excited you’ll get to do your cruise! You will love AKL! We stayed there on our first family WDW trip. It was so exciting to open the curtains and watch the animals on the savanna. I think it’s an excellent choice for a resort only stay!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I’m so excited you’ll get to do your cruise! You will love AKL! We stayed there on our first family WDW trip. It was so exciting to open the curtains and watch the animals on the savanna. I think it’s an excellent choice for a resort only stay!
Thanks! I am sooo excited to stay at AKL!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
It will be fun to follow along on another trip of yours.
Love your detailed photos you take!
And I agree with everyone. Animal Kingdom is a great resort, especially if no park days since it is a fair distance from most of the parks.
 

LeighM

Well-Known Member
Happy anniversary! I can't wait until we get to stay at AKL again. We had one night at Kidani when I rented points from our SIL. Next time, I'm hoping for Jambo :) Looking forward to your pictures.
 

lindawdw

Well-Known Member
Sounds like it will be a fun trip to look forward to in 2022! It's hard to believe we are now in 2022! AKL is the perfect resort to stay at if you aren't doing the parks and a two BR savannah room is soooo nice!!!!
 
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sounds like it will be a fun trip to look forward to inn 2022! It's hard to believe we are now in 2022! AKL is the perfect resort to stay at if you aren't doing the parks and a two BR savannah room is soooo nice!!!!
Thanks! I'm really looking forward to AKL and having so many bathrooms!
 

cgersic

Well-Known Member
Love your wedding photo!!! Your dress is just beautiful. And it looks like the kids are staying busy and doing well! Happy New Year and I'm looking forward to more photos too!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Love your wedding photo!!! Your dress is just beautiful. And it looks like the kids are staying busy and doing well! Happy New Year and I'm looking forward to more photos too!
Thanks! We are very busy! And everyone is doing well! Happy new year!
 

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