Trip Report Be Our Guest-a family filled, visitors around every corner trip

I am alive! I know by now I have usually been on the ball about getting these trip reports done but its been a busy few weeks. This in fact is our first weekend we have been home since vacation. Between work, school and getting back to the norm I am just now getting to the report…

Most of you know who I am. But as a reminder here are the players.

Me. Aleisha, 33. mom, wife, hockey nut. Work down in DC doing pretty much what needs to get done.
Andy, my hubby. Daddy, hockey fanatic. Works for the sports teams in the area,
Logan-4 year old. Love of my life. Pretty much the greatest kid around. Loves his mommy and star wars….

Where-AKL Kidani Village
When- Aug. 2nd-10th.

There are also two other people, my brother in law and his wife. Lea and Elliott who joined us for a weekend…you will here more about them throughout the trip.

 

[imagination30]

I just no noticed this Alisha , but with Logan's bus pic he looks just like Andy's mini me!

 

[lbrad]

Enjoying your TR!!!
You have a beautiful family !!! Your son is adorable

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

How excited am I to return from my trip to find this TR?!? YAY!!!

So sad Logan didn't like the West Wing I have never been in there but I'm guessing it'd be a little dark. I might even get a little scared myself in there! He is such a brave boy though for going on Pirates, TT AND Soarin!! Can't wait to read more!!! (Is it hockey season yet?!)

 

[foreverbelle]

Love the report so far. I think you convinced me (not that I need that much arm twisting) to try to make a reservation at Be Our Guest for our trip next summer.

You should dif, we had a fantastic time despite!

Great report. I have been sort of dreading getting the West Wing for our trip next month, but now I think it will be just as good as the main ballroom.

I think you will have a blast either way! I loved the west wing myself.

So sorry about Logan's experience in the west wing. We had a similar thing happen at the Norway princess dinner. My three yr old loved Mickey and the gang but was afraid of face characters unbeknownst to us. She spent the entire dinner hiding under the table as my husband fed her a hot dog. Every time she came up for air, another princess would walk into the room! We were hoping there were no child protection people seated near us.

How sweet that he's willing to try it again for you. You've got one special little boy!

Oh I do have a very special boy indeed....it was heartbreaking but I am glad we all have a story like this in our memories...

 

[foreverbelle]

Enjoying your TR!!!
You have a beautiful family !!! Your son is adorable

Thank you...

How excited am I to return from my trip to find this TR?!? YAY!!!

So sad Logan didn't like the West Wing I have never been in there but I'm guessing it'd be a little dark. I might even get a little scared myself in there! He is such a brave boy though for going on Pirates, TT AND Soarin!! Can't wait to read more!!! (Is it hockey season yet?!)

I will say it was dif dark, and I could see where he got a little scared...
But yes he is brave to do the others I gotta hand it to him on that one.

As for hockey,,,its PRESEASON BABY!!!

 

[foreverbelle]

Day three continues...

Best of friends....

We hated to say goodbye to E&L, Logan had made fast friends with them and the moment they left he asked when they were coming back. I don't think he at this point had realized they were gone for good. The good news he decided was he would be getting the big transforming bed as he called it. And neither Andy nor I minded getting the bed back to ourselves either. We had just enough time to rest up, clean up and enjoy a little down time before we had to head out to Poly, where dinner would be at Ohanna.

Ohanna as usual did not disappoint at all. Logan thought we could just forget about the whole dinner thing and head straight to dessert because he remembered just how awesome it was, and informed us that it was quite possible the best dessert-in his eyes-on property...he quickly ate the meal so that he could enjoy the above special allergy free dessert. And you better he enjoyed every single ounce of it...I think it was the quickest meal he finished....The entertainment, which we always get the lady was the gentlemen this go around. We enjoyed him just as much as they lady. It was just a little surprising as we had never had him before. Very good, Andy said he enjoyed him over the female.

But before we knew it, dinner and dessert was done and over with and Logan suddenly-thanks to the sugar-full of energy, Andy and I decided it was the perfect night to hit up Magic Kingdom. So on to the monorail we went.

We would make it all the way to this point....before...

Now remember when I mentioned earlier that we would run into everyone? Well this I mean, Andy ran into everyone. As we entered the park and headed back to fantasyland, he got a text from a coworker who was there-beginning to think everyone he knew was-he was there with his wife and her brother. And he had saved us a spot during the parade and for Wishes. Of course this meant we had to turn around and head back up to the train station and as the parade went by Andy and Pete talked about, hmmm let me see here. hockey, the season. This happens a lot considering its their place of work. They talked for so long, the parade had long since finished, and Wishes was still ahead, and Logan began to get bored.

He had after all waited a total of an hour and a half combined. We knew it was late, but we had promised him Buzz and so even if it was we made our was back to Buzz, with Andy's coworkers family in toe who were happy to oblige his simple request. Logan enjoyed talking to the brother in law of the coworker and they had a great conversation regarding the fact that Pluto was not a planet and Logan explained how gravity actually works, I think by the end of the conversation he had the guy kind of scared and asking if he was truly 4 years old...

We got out just in time to see Logan's eyes began to droop we knew it wouldn't be much longer before he officially crashed. By 11:30 he was out on Andys shoulder, the latest I believe he had ever stayed up.

Vacations have an amazing way of doing that I suppose.

 

[foreverbelle]

Sorry it has taken me awhile, it has been an extremely hard week here in the DC area.

Monday August 5, 2013: Day Four

After a late night we all slept in, always wonderful to do so. During breakfast we decided we needed to hit up Animal Kingdom since had yet to do so. Our mission was to hit up Everest the Safari and to have lunch at Flame Tree as it is one of our favorite quick service meals.

First stop the Safari where we saw more animals than I think we had in years, the past couple of times that we had been on it, they were few and far between. But this go around I think we saw just about every single one of them. While it no longer included rescuing a baby elephant it did include an adorable giraffe.

Logan: 'Hey mommy they are having a staring contest!!'

The two week long safari had left us all hungry and so we made our way to FlameTree Believe it or not we find them to be one of the best for allergies, and if you are in need one a place I recommend hitting them up. They have always gone out of the way to accommodate both my own allergies as well as my son’s. Offering us other things and making sure we weren’t excluded.

Speaking of allergies. Disney had rolled out their new program the day before.

The Allergen Cart: A service near the front that has all the allergy information including the ability to buy special allergy and dietary snacks. The Enjoy Life cookies and brownies are some of Logan and my favorite. They also hand you a pamphlet that’s list the food choices and what menu items you can have including gluten free mac and cheese. The idea is you give the pamphlet to the quick service meal and instead of waiting they will assist you much like the sit down restaurants. The eventually plan to make this available at all parks, but for the moment it is only available at Animal Kingdom.

After lunch we made our way to Asia and discovered the single rider line for Everest was only 5 minutes! Score!!! Logan informed me I better go because ‘Mommy this is your most favoritest ride and I want you to go and do it, after all you let me go on Buzz all the time!’ Who is going to argue with that?

Both Andy and I were able to get on and off within no time and as we looked ahead we could tell a storm was moving in, we knew there would be no avoiding it we would simply have to continue on. So off to Dinoland we went where Logan and Andy played a couple rounds of games, to which Andy won and took home an amazing little prize for him.

Just as we were finishing the game the rain began to move in, rather the monsoon began to move in. You ever want to see a crowd move, have them be stuck in Dinoland. I am sure the game vendors were pretty excited as they had more people to play the games than they did

Logan for the most part seemed fine with staying there for the better part of the afternoon but Andy and I had plans, including a date night. I knew that we needed to get a move on things, Andy on the other hand kept thinking it was just going to blow over any minute. Looking up though, it was clear this was no ordinary 2pm shower. We could only wait so long.. and with the rain seeming to be going no where we were just going to have suck it up and make a run for it we needed to get a move on things if we wanted to get back to resort in time to get ready for a date night.

And so we made a run for it....

 

[foreverbelle]

I just no noticed this Alisha , but with Logan's bus pic he looks just like Andy's mini me!

Believe it or not your one of the first to say so everyone says he looks a lot like me

 

[tiaragirl]

I always love your TRs.. looking forward to the plethora of rides on Nemo

DATE NIGHT - ee, excited!

Your fam is adorable, love all of you.

 

[coachwnh]

Glad the TR is going again!!!! Look forward to reading more.

 

[foreverbelle]

I always love your TRs.. looking forward to the plethora of rides on Nemo

DATE NIGHT - ee, excited!

Your fam is adorable, love all of you.

Thanks!!! Yep date night is coming up.....and ah Nemo...someone has to love the fishy

Glad the TR is going again!!!! Look forward to reading more.

Thanks!

 

[foreverbelle]

Day Four continues...

Ah yes, getting around to date night. As most know Andy and I try to do at least one date night during each trip, this time we are doing 2...We discovered that we were able to schedule and request his favorite Kids Night Out lady-she has now watched him for the past three/four trips, she has now become a staple in our vacations. Yes, even Logan now asks if we can see his Kelly....he gets all excited at the thought of seeing her. She arrived right on time, and I have to say the brief hug and kiss before leaping over to her made this mommy a little sad.My little man is no longer my little boy...at the same time I love the fact we can trust her and know he is just as happy. Happy mommy indeed.

Now our plan originally was a nice dress up meal at Flying Fish, but at this point it was still storming, pretty good so we didn't dress up nearly as much as we wanted, but it would have to do. So we headed down to the bus stop, jumped on the bus and made our way over to Boardwalk...thankfully by the time we arrived the rain has stopped long enough we were able to enjoy some time around the boardwalk before checking in.

Flying Fish is new to us. To be honest I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, other than the fact the moment we walked in we felt immediately under dressed and very much like a drowned rat by this point. And looking around I had my own second doubts to whether I was even going to really like it. But the cook was amazing. At 7'6 he seemed to immediately dwarf my 6'2 something hubby he pulled up a chair asked about my allergies and then had a full conversation with Andy regarding what he wanted, recommending things to him which was super nice since at times I get the feeling he feels rather left out in terms of chef experiences and interactions.

Dinner was fabulous, what an amazingly pleasant surprise..

Andy's crab cake

My salmon!!

Andys thunder fish.....

Again it was truly amazing and we walked out dif, stuffed and positive we would be coming back and adding it to our list of places to go. But as we were leaving onto the boardwalk, those clouds began to darken once again We decided to head into the gift shop where I was suckered into getting a DVC lightweight jacket-an investment that has come so handy since!- As we headed for the buses we attempted to count the number of poncho's coming and going but couldn't keep up. I am beginning to think Disney has their own weather system in order for all of us to spend more on things like poncho's.

Tonight we decided to spend it at Magic Kingdom....despite the nasty weather we would go out and enjoy it..

It would turn out to be a rainy stormy night. There would be some brief breaks here and there but for the most part, the storms were strong and the rain so heavy that most outdoor rides would shut down, wishes and the parade would both be cancelled. But we would be able to enjoy Space Mountain with only a 35 minute wait and the Haunted Mansion, which we decided was not going to fly over with Logan after his reaction to the West Wing. with no wait as crowds were more concerned with getting out of the rain and back to their hotels. A plus for those of us who were willing to stick it out...

Seriously, I look like a drowned rat!!

And best of all, a pretty empty park meant I got to enjoy Belle's Village, the gift shop, which I must say I am so glad they could do this just for me, finally my own little corner! and Gaston's Tavern all to myself, a perfect spot to ride out the rain for the rest of the evening so while the rain poured outside Andy and myself sat in the corner while I sang along to every line of the Beauty and the Beast Broadway show and a drink, thanks to the man below.

It was getting late now. With most of the major rides shut down and no magic hours we knew we weren't missing anything and that we would have to skip some of the things we had originally wanted to get to that night. But it would be alright, and I was enjoying sitting there in the corner so much that I did not want to leave. I know a lot of people find the hustle and bustle exciting and would think we were wasting precious time, however without little man it was nice to just sit, and enjoy the small things and fine detail that Disney brought out. And we knew that Kelly was waiting for us and so we said goodbye to the man on the wall and made our way back to the Lodge.....

tomorrow would be our halfway point.....

 

[FlaggNL]

Great report! And allready half way Love the Walt and Mickey in front of the castle by night pic!!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

How great that you could get Logan's favorite sitter? I'm sure that makes it that much better for him, being with someone he knows. Glad you enjoyed your meal at Flying Fish. I have never dined there, but it does look good!

The one thing about rain at WDW is it does keep the crowds away. It rained in May when we were at TYphoon Lagoon. Now this is a WATER park, so you're going to get wet anyway, but it was dead that day. It rained on and off all day and every time it started to come down, people got out of the wave pool and made a bee line for shelter. I just kind of scratched my head and thought "what's the point? You're already wet!!" lol

 

[foreverbelle]

How great that you could get Logan's favorite sitter? I'm sure that makes it that much better for him, being with someone he knows. Glad you enjoyed your meal at Flying Fish. I have never dined there, but it does look good!

The one thing about rain at WDW is it does keep the crowds away. It rained in May when we were at TYphoon Lagoon. Now this is a WATER park, so you're going to get wet anyway, but it was dead that day. It rained on and off all day and every time it started to come down, people got out of the wave pool and made a bee line for shelter. I just kind of scratched my head and thought "what's the point? You're already wet!!" lol

Isn't it amazing? Its like umm you were already getting wet....lol...
And it does make it so much easier with the same sitter. We love the service, the fact we get the same lady makes it that much better.

 

[foreverbelle]

Tuesday August 6, 2013: Day Five

Decided we all needed a break as we had been hitting the parks pretty hard, so today would be spent between Downtown Disney for lunch at the Earl and an afternoon spent being lazy by the pool. We would eventually have to make it to Epcot for dinner but since it wasn’t until later we had plenty of time. Logan’s mission was on thing, toys, toys and more toys. But then again this is pretty much all he thinks about these days. We made our way down to the buses just in time to grab a downtown Disney bus, which always seemed to amaze us since we were having pretty good luck with the whole bus thing.

While little man may have had toys on the brain he managed to put up with our trip around the Christmas store and the pin store where I go this handsome little Vynalmation.

Everyone now...G..A..S..T...O...

But we had made him wait long enough and so off to the World of Disney. I suppose it should come as no surprise as to what he picked up-Star Wars stuff. He had been saving all summer long for stuff and with the toy in his hand he decided he would save the rest of the money ‘for some more later.’ Smart little boy….

I am a stormtrooper!

Which meant one thing, it was time for Earl, while Andy went and ordered Logan and I enjoyed some down time outside, surprisingly it wasn’t all that bad out, so he played storm trooper while I enjoyed people watching. We enjoyed lunch, talking about the fact we were halfway through-which was hard to believe, talked about how much we loved this place and how much it had become part of our every day life.

But we knew if we wanted to hit the pool up, we would have to head back to the pool and so we gathered our things and made our way back to Kidani.
Story time…

Logan is four. But we tend to forget this because he acts at times so much older. But I am quickly reminded of this when we head up to the big kids slide at the pool-which is amazing btw-and while he was excited about it initially the moment he started to sit down he decided he did not want to go on after all and freaked out. As he started to cry, the kid behind him said hey we have the same bathing suit!!! Which made him laugh but did not change his mind on the slide and so we spent the rest of the afternoon by the kid section where Andy and Logan battled it out…

If there is a downside to the pool experience it was this, there seemed to be a large amount of bees. As I went to grab our stuff their had to be at least ten on my cup alone. With both Logan and I having reaction to bugs I was rather nervous, even Andy was getting a little iffy, and so he decided we should play it safe. A good decision because shortly after the skies once again opened up.

After a quick change we boarded the Epcot bus just in time for it to downpour even more. I don’t think we have seen this much rain during a trip in years. We muttered through the place and did the best we could to dodge the rain but by the time we made it to Japan at World Showcase we all looked rather soggy. Oh well.

We were immediately sat with two other families, the girl that sat beside me must have told me her life story including the fact she was 20, and been going here since she was 2. They always stay at Deluxe resorts because they didn’t like the cheap hotels. But she thinks the DVC is stupid because why would you spend that much money on something like that year after year, it was just dumb. I am aware DVC is not for everyone, we had our reasoning’s to join but I wanted to point out that they had been spending a lot of money on Disney vacations years after year. I ended up just remaining quiet.

Dinner came and went and by the time we were done, we were still rather soaked and in no way ready to call it a night, plus we had told Logan he could pick one ride before we headed back, his choice was either Nemo or Mexico.

Mexico won.

While there was still plenty of time in the evening, dry clothes and a bath sounded a whole lot more inviting than finding a little orange fish.

 

[Tigger19]

Looks like you had a great time! At that age the darkness of the restaurant would've made me cry as well! But he is so brave for going on all those rides, not many kids his age would do it! Can't wait to read more

 

[foreverbelle]

Looks like you had a great time! At that age the darkness of the restaurant would've made me cry as well! But he is so brave for going on all those rides, not many kids his age would do it! Can't wait to read more

I probably would have as well, I felt so bad the funny thing is that's been the most talked about restaurant since, and he says he can't wait to go back just not to that part!

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

I can't blame Logan, West Wing is a bit scary but he sure did better than I would! Disney is such a cool place for kids to over come past fears. I called them Disney milestones One year, they're cautious on so many things, the next year, they take on almost any challenge My son was petrified of water slides one year, the next (thanks to an awesome lifeguard who talked him through it) we couldn't get him off the slides LOL. We STILL talk about that!! How cool Logan was able to get his fav sitter!!! It's memories like these that you will hear EVERY trip... "Hey Mom, remember when...!?!?!?"

 

[PineapplePrincess]

20 year olds know everything don't they?! It's nice that she doesn't want to waste her parents money on a DVC membership! I know what you mean about the bees by the pool, but I don't think it's just Kidani's pool. DD15 got stung by the BLT pool in July. Luckily she wasn't allergic and the lifeguard had something for her, but I'm guessing she won't be too keen on hanging out by the pool again. I understand that they don't want to exterminate them, but something should be done so that the paying guests can enjoy the pool.
Looking forward to the rest of your report!