Boo to you and you and Whew... It’s too hot for a Halloween parade - A September TR

Hello friends and welcome to my September Trip Report! I’ve only been home a few weeks and I already miss Walt Disney World like crazy! I’m already going through withdrawals and searching for the possibility of any excuse to get back down to central Florida and to my favorite place on earth. Realistically, I’m thinking February or March 2013, but I would love to squeeze a trip in between now and then... Anyway, my last two Disney trips have been one extreme to the other - weather wise. I absolutely froze in December of 2010 and turned right around and melted in September 2011. But you know what? I LOVED every minute of it!

Click here to read my December 2010 trip report

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=718898

Now, on to the details of this trip...

When did we go? September 15-25, 2011
Where did we stay? Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House
How did we get there? We drove 8 and 1/2 hours
Who all went? Just me and my beautiful bride
Why did we go? Our 3 Year Anniversary! (Not that we need a reason to go to WDW)
Any other details to offer up? We had 9 day park hoppers and were on the dining plan

I started planning this trip before we even went on our December trip! Talk about excitement! Planning and thinking about two Disney trips at the same time was awesome!! Of course, with every trip to the World, our plans changed many times... but here is my pre trip report/itinerary so you can see what I planned and compare it to what we actually did.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=733892

We actually stuck to our plans, for the most part, at least until the end of the week. I was proud.

Ok, I stated earlier that on this particular trip, it was just me and my wife. Here we are...
First up, we have myself, Jon. Tar Heel born and Tar Heel bred. The planner and over the top WDW fanatic.

Next we have my better half, my gorgeous bride, Brittany. The WDW veteran who loves Disney but doesn’t obsess about it 24/7 like her hubby...

Man, she’s hot!!

Anyway, we had been looking forward to this trip for a long time for many different reasons. Since we walked out of EPCOT on that last night in December, we had been longing to get back! I was so pumped that I packed like a week before our trip! I NEVER do that. I’m normally a last minute packer. I was so excited because, yes, I love WDW, but also this trip was going to allow us to experience a lot of firsts. This trip would be our first trip with “just us”; this trip would be our first staying at a deluxe Disney resort; and this trip would be our first time being on the Disney Dining Plan! Wooo Hooo! We were excited! So excited, in fact, that I was up at the crack of dawn 180 days before our check in date to schedule ADRs! Needless to say, we got all the restaurants and times that we wanted. Our departure day couldn’t come fast enough!


Thursday September 15, 2011

This day started like any other day. I got up, did my normal morning routine, and was ready to go to work. The only difference (besides my heart racing from excitement and anticipation) was the fact that we were leaving for vacation in just a few hours...
Having packed a week early and having stayed on Brittany to make sure all of her packing was finished on Wednesday night to avoid feeling rushed or stressed on Thursday morning, we were all set to go the second I got home from work around noon. As I left for work that morning, this was the sight I saw as I headed out the door...

The time crept by at work that morning as it seemed to take forever for lunchtime to come. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve... Finally, it was 12:00 and it was time to start our journey! I flew out of the office and minutes later into my driveway. I ran through the door, changed clothes, and finished packing everything into our Jeep Grand Cherokee. Brittany had most of our stuff loaded up already. God bless her! We jumped in the Jeep and were ready to roll! Brittany wanted to drive because she said she had an anniversary surprise for me... I went along with it.
Our traditional in the vehicle, pre-departure photo...

We were on our way! Brittany immediately handed me a thick envelope and told me to open it. When I did, I found a letter and a CD. The letter got mushy (I’ll spare you guys the details...) and instructed me to put the CD in. Each song on the CD had a special meaning which she explained in detail in my letter. It was the sweetest thing EVER. I love my girl! When we had listened to all of the songs, we pulled off the interstate and swung into a Chick-fil-a to grab a quite bite and got right back on the road. Now, it was my turn to take the wheel... and I had it for the rest of the trip.

77 South...

I don’t mind road trips. They are fun for me. I think the anticipation makes my excitement grow higher and higher as I near my destination.
We were making great time! I was only stopping if we had to - for gas, food or bathroom and I had packed a couple of empty water jugs. Just kidding about that last part. For the next several hours, I looked like this...

And Brittany looked like this...

Typical. You get this woman in a moving automobile, and she instantly transforms into an infant. She was out, so I listened to a couple episodes of WDW Today and the Be Our Guest Podcast and of course I had to pop in The Eagles - Hell Freezes Over album. Britt doesn’t like The Eagles, so I have to take advantage of her slumber when I can...
It was around 7:30pm or so when we both started to get pretty hungry. I spotted a sign for our favorite road trip restaurant at the next exit, so we pulled off, fueled up, and filled our bellies...

Love some Cracker Barrel!

We got back on the road and only had a couple more hours of driving ahead of us for the night until we reached our first destination.
Weeks before I had booked a room for $71 at the Holiday Inn Express in Orange City, Florida, which is only about an hour from Walt Disney World. Our plan was to stop there for the night, get up early the next morning, and have just a short drive to WDW so we wouldn’t feel like we were wasting a day of our precious vacation! The more time in the parks, the better, right?!? We pulled in to the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express at exactly 9:30pm.

It had been a long day and we were tired (although I don’t know how Britt was tired considering she slept 90% of the drive), but I still had trouble sleeping because of the excitement of knowing that in the morning we would be at Disney World! I went to the restroom and when I came out, Britt was out again already. After catching a few highlights on SportsCenter, I finally drifted off to sleep...

 

[fractal]

Jon, I also wanted to tell you that I love your hair doo! Looks like its a bit shorter than in your trip report. Soooooo cute!






- just kidding.

 

[mamamouse]

HOORAY u started ur report n guess who figured out how to do hers,yeah thats right forget that stupid blog thingy I did a while back i actually started my very first report just as u requested yay!!!!!!!!n omg i'm sorry but I gotta .....totally love britts hair!!!:wave:

 

[harveyt0206]

Can't wait to read more...you and your super cute wife were there at the same time as hubby and I, so of course I am going to be scrolling through all of your pics to see if maybe I'm somewhere in the background....lol...the chances are slim but you just never know.

Looking forward to reading more. :wave:

And PS, it was "too hot for a Halloween parade", wasn't it?? We went twice during our trip - 9/21 and 9/23. The weather on the 23rd was "somewhat" cooler than what we had on the 21st, but both were scorchers in my opinion. I am sure the native Floridians would laugh their head off at me for saying that, but to an Ohio girl, 95 in September is H-O-T.

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

As Kelly mentioned, while we're all focused on Britt's hair (WHICH IS BOMB, BY THE WAY - BABE MUCH?!) your TR is looking very promising. I give your props for that - and I'll be back to read up on adventures and admire more 'dos.

Thanks! That means a lot considering I'm such a fan of your reports!

Great TR so far. I can't wait to see the rest. It has me so excited for the rest of your trip!!!! :sohappy:

Thank you!

Starting off with Chick-Fil-A? My kind of trip!
Great report so far!

Gotta kick it off with some Chick!

Jon, I also wanted to tell you that I love your hair doo! Looks like its a bit shorter than in your trip report. Soooooo cute!
- just kidding.

Hahahahaha

HOORAY u started ur report n guess who figured out how to do hers,yeah thats right forget that stupid blog thingy I did a while back i actually started my very first report just as u requested yay!!!!!!!!n omg i'm sorry but I gotta .....totally love britts hair!!!:wave:

Yay! Can't wait to read it!! Thanks for stopping by and Britt appreciates the compliments!

Can't wait to read more...you and your super cute wife were there at the same time as hubby and I, so of course I am going to be scrolling through all of your pics to see if maybe I'm somewhere in the background....lol...the chances are slim but you just never know.
Looking forward to reading more. :wave:
And PS, it was "too hot for a Halloween parade", wasn't it?? We went twice during our trip - 9/21 and 9/23. The weather on the 23rd was "somewhat" cooler than what we had on the 21st, but both were scorchers in my opinion. I am sure the native Floridians would laugh their head off at me for saying that, but to an Ohio girl, 95 in September is H-O-T.

Working on the next update now...
I bet we walked right past one another at some point during the week and didn't even know it!
And yes, it was WAY too hot or any kind of parade. But I'll take hot over cold any day.

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

Friday September 16, 2011


We got up at around 8:00am, got ready and headed down to the lobby to get some free (yet paid for with the price of the room I’m sure) breakfast. Britt got some kind of omlet looking egg patty which turned out to be a bad choice. She ended up throwing it away after a couple of bites. I grabbed one of those delicious cinnamon rolls and some apple juice. We checked out of the HIE, topped off the tank at the gas station that was next door and were back on our way! Britt popped in our Wishes CD to set the mood as we headed southwest...

In almost exactly an hour, we started to see the WDW billboards everywhere, so we knew we were close! A couple of these billboards got me pretty excited because they were advertising new things that I was going to get to experience during the next week...

Forgive the quality of these pictures... Brittany did her best to get those shots from a moving vehicle being driven by a grown man acting like a child. In my defense, we were MINUTES from Walt Disney World, so cut me some slack and don’t judge. If you’re a true Disney fan, you’ve done the same. Haha.
We were almost there! So close...

We took our exit, came around a curve, and then saw one of the most glorious sights a WDW fan can see...

We were there!!!! Finally!!
Going under the sign and following the signs towards our resort, I bet I didn’t get over 25 miles per hour. I was just taking my sweet time, taking in all the sights while Brittany got more pictures.
Which way to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge?

Oh, thanks!

Next thing we knew, AKL was in sight and what a sight it was! This place is awesome! We had been looking forward to staying here since December of 2010 when we went over to check the place out. We fell in love with it then and now we got to stay there!

We parked and walked toward the lobby to check and see if possibly if our room was ready so we could go ahead and check in. It was only like 9:30 or 10:00, so we weren’t too hopeful. We even left our luggage in the Jeep because our plan was that if we couldn’t check in, we would go on to a park and check in later that night.

Would we get lucky and be able to check in? Let’s go give it a try...

 

[meeskamickey]

Loving your trip report!! I really love the first pic that you have of AKL. It's such a different take on the typical resort pictures. It gives you the feeling of excitement of seeing "your resort" for the first time during your trip. Can't wait to read more of your report...oh BTW I have to chime in about your wife's hair...TOO CUTE!!

 

[mamamouse]

OMG awesome,can't wait to see what's next:wave:

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

Loving your trip report!! I really love the first pic that you have of AKL. It's such a different take on the typical resort pictures. It gives you the feeling of excitement of seeing "your resort" for the first time during your trip. Can't wait to read more of your report...oh BTW I have to chime in about your wife's hair...TOO CUTE!!

Thanks! I tried to at least take a few unique shots...

OMG awesome,can't wait to see what's next:wave:

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

Friday Sept 16 Continued...



We parked over in the short term, check-in parking lot and headed inside to see if by chance our room was ready. Also, I had ordered our park tickets online well in advance of our trip and we needed to have them converted over to our Keys to the World.
We stopped for a photo opp on the way in...

We were welcomed to our home for the next 9 days as we entered the Animal Kindom Lodge - Jambo House lobby.

We walked into the lobby and just stood there in awe for a moment... The best way I can describe it is in comparison to walking into the Wilderness Lodge lobby. It just kind of takes your breath away. The outside of the building is a little deceiving because while very nice on the outside, it in no way prepares you for how majestic and open and just down right beautiful the inside is. Enough of me babbling about it. The best way to tell you about it is through pictures... But they don’t even do it justice. Next time you are at WDW, I highly recommend that you take a trip over to AKL and check it out. You will not regret it, I promise.
And now, without further adieu, I proudly bring to you.... the AKL JH lobby:

We got in line to check-in and unsurprisingly, our room was not ready. I asked the front desk cast member if there was any way we could be upgraded to a savanna view room, you know, since it was our anniversary and all... and he said he would see what he could do. He was very friendly and even gave us buttons for us to wear for our anniversary.

He went ahead and assigned us a “partial room number”, which I had never heard of before, and told us he would send us a text message when our room was ready and that once our room number was assigned, the keys that he had just given us would work in our door. Pretty cool. He said he would let us know the rest of our room number at that time. Our partial room number was 51--, so we knew we were going to be on the 5th floor and we were hoping to get that upgraded view! Next, with our “partial rooms keys” in hand, we moved down to talk with the concierge so we could get our keys and park tickets combined on one Key to the World card. We got that accomplished and decided to head toward the bus stop and to our first park of the trip!
Here is a shot of the front desk as we were leaving...

We had to go back to the Jeep to grab a few things and move it to the long term parking lot. Once we got it parked, we walked to the bus stop. We were itching to get to our first park! We only had to wait a few minutes for this little beauty to pull up...

Ahhhh, Disney transportation! Haha. I have a love/hate relationship with Disney transportation. Well, other than the Monorail because I love it all the time. I love Disney transportation because it means that I’m at Walt Disney World, I love the narrator, and I love the fact that I don’t have to drive. On the other hand, I hate it because at times it can be SO time consuming. Sometimes we get lucky and only wait for 5-10 minutes on a bus or boat, but many times we’ve had to wait 30 minutes or more. That just cuts into my park time and thus makes me less than happy.

Animal Kingdom Lodge is about as far away from the Magic Kingdom as you can get on Disney property, but the ride wasn’t bad at all. There was hardly anybody on the bus and we arrived at the MK at approximately 11:00am. We had finally arrived! As we “disembarked”, we watched our step and took small children by the hand and headed toward the MK entrance.

 

[mamamouse]

I hope the parents of those small children didn't mind LOL:ROFLOL:

 

[TheMouseFan]

Good start to your TR! Can't wait to read more. Reading everyone's TRs is helping me get through the excruciating wait until I can be "home" in 6 days!

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

I hope the parents of those small children didn't mind LOL:ROFLOL:

It didn't say "take YOUR small children by the hand"... j/k haha

Good start to your TR! Can't wait to read more. Reading everyone's TRs is helping me get through the excruciating wait until I can be "home" in 6 days!

I know EXACTLY what you mean. We've only been back two weeks and I can't wait to go again. Writing trip reports is definitely therapeutic for me...

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

Friday September 16 Continued...

We had just gotten off the bus and were heading toward the entrance to the Magic Kingdom!! I was so excited! I wanted to hurry up and run through the gates, but it ended up taking us quite a while because I was taking so many pictures. Brittany was getting a little annoyed. I told her I was just trying to capture everything so we could look back when we got home and remember the magic. She wasn’t buying...
LOL. I’m picking. She was a great sport! She let me stop and take as many pictures as I wanted. I’m still trying to convince her that I need to take a solo trip for photography purposes only. We’ll see about that and I’m not holding my breath...

We went through the bag check and took some shots of the train station. I love the train station. There’s just something about it... I think it is a combination of things. One being that it’s the entrance to the most magical place on earth (and my favorite of the four parks). Another reason is because it just looks cool and it’s fun to photograph. I had seen the fall decorations in pictures online, but never in person. They were awesome and they made you feel like it was fall, even though it was 90 degrees outside...

We had a Photo Pass card, but we always gave the cast member our camera to take a picture as well. That was one of our best ideas of the week. Photo Pass is nice, but the prices are just ridiculous.

By this time, Britt was practically dragging me through the tunnel to the inside of the park. I’m glad she did because I needed to take more pictures on Main Street and not to mention, I was ready to do some attractions! I loved all of the fall decorations on Main Street and I spent a few minutes snapping shots before we ventured into the park. Here are some shots from just inside the Main Street entrance...

After this mini photo shoot, it was time to head down Main Street and toward Cinderella Castle! We tried to take our time walking down Main Street so we could soak everything in. The Magic Kingdom and especially Main Street USA is sensory overload and I love it!

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

Friday September 16 Continued...


Before we headed down Main Street, I wanted to get one shot in particular. I ran up the steps to the train station to take this picture. I think it turned out pretty good...

Ok, we’re ready to actually make our way toward the castle now. Main Street was busy, but nothing like other times I’ve been to WDW. The crowds we not bad at all! During the week, I mastered the art of taking shots while walking. Here are some as we walked down Main Street...

As we neared the castle hub, our only decision was do we want to go to Adventureland or Tomorrowland? Based on the fact that the crowds were low, we ultimately decided to start out in Tomorrowland.

It was a pretty easy choice to go to Tomorrowland first. It has one of my top four rides at Walt Disney World here and a couple other really good ones as well. As we entered Tomorrowland, we stopped for a couple of pictures and a Photo Pass picture.

Ok, no more stopping for pictures! I want to ride my favorite attraction at the Magic Kingdom... Stitch’s Great Escape! Haha, just kidding. We headed directly for Space Mountain, which has been a favorite of mine since I was a young boy.

I LOVE this ride and I’m so glad we chose it to be our very first ride of the trip! I loved it even more when I saw that the stand by entrance was only a 5 minute wait! Giddy as small children, we hurried on in, down the stairs and up the ramp toward the loading area...

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

Friday September 16 Continued...



They weren’t kidding about that 5 minute wait... and it took 4 minutes of it just to walk the queue. There was literally nobody in line. It was like a dream come true. We would experience walk ons like this all week!
Some shots from inside Space Mountain...

Just take a look at the line (or lack thereof)

And we’re off...

Space Mountain was even better than I remembered! I could have ridden it over and over again, but we decided to go grab some lunch before it got too late. It’s easy to lose track of time at WDW, and being on the dining plan for the first time, we wanted to make sure we used all of our counter service and table service credits. We had 5:45 dinner reservations that night, and we wanted to eat lunch early enough so that we would be hungry again for dinner. Also, we thought that with only a 5 minute wait, we could come back and ride Space Mountain again after we ate.
Since we were in Tomorrowland, there was only one place we wanted to go eat.
Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe!

Blackthidot, this next part is for you...
On our last trip, I did something I’m not proud of... Actually, it was more like something I didn’t do... I didn’t take ANY pictures of our food! I know, I know. It’s unacceptable. Well, just know I made up for it on this trip!
We got in line at Cosmic Ray’s, which uncharacteristically was pretty empty as well, got our food and took a seat in front of Mr. Sonny Eclipse.

This was the first time we had eaten inside and were able to hear Sonny. Every other trip, the place had always been PACKED!
Sonny Eclipse was very entertaining, we realized as we dug in to our food. I got the chicken and ribs combo with mashed potatoes and green beans, with a coke and chocolate cake.

Brittany got the chicken fingers with fries, a coke and carrot cake.

Our food was very good and we both agreed that Cosmic Ray’s is one of the best counter service restaurants in all of Walt Disney World.
After we finished eating, we wanted to do some more attractions. We figured Space Mountain was probably not a smart choice, so we opted for another favorite so that we could sit back, relax (sorry Lou Mongello) and let our food digest for a few minutes... There was only one attraction we really couldn't wait to ride in Tomorrowland that would allow us to do that...
The TTA! Or the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover, as it’s called now. It will always be the TTA to me.

“Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow...”
I love this ride! It is so relaxing and a perfect way to get off your feet and cool down on a hot day. It lets you see all of Tomorrowland from a different angle and even do a little people watching.

Had we had given our food enough time to settle or was it was time for some more up tempo attractions? We played it safe and headed toward a couple more less intense rides before riding anything that would shake us up too much... Tomorrowland wasn’t crowded at all, so we had our pick of what we wanted to do and nothing had a long wait. This was my kind of day at WDW!

 

[Disneydreamer23]

i love this TR so far!!!

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

i love this TR so far!!!

Thank you!

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

Friday September 16 Continued...


Our bellies were still full, so we decided to hop on another favorite attraction that we never miss when at the Magic Kingdom. An attraction that didn’t have much movement, spinning or sudden drops and turns...
Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress!

This is such a great and underrated attraction! It is a timeless classic and I love it if only because Walt Disney himself was the creative mind behind it. There are very few things at the Magic Kingdom and at WDW in general that Walt himself actually had a hand in creating, and the Carousel of Progress is one of those things. That’s why it bears his name...
Here are some (flash free) shots from the attraction...

“There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow... shining at the end of every day...”
Such a catchy tune! Haha.
As we exited the CoP, we noticed some kids waiting in line to meet Buzz Lightyear. Naturally, we had to ride his Space Ranger Spin next. Luckily, it was a walk on too!

I dominated with 60,400 points, while Brittany managed a pathetic 23,900. Lol, j/k baby. You did great! Love you!
Next, we thought we would try something we’d never ridden before (and probably never will again), Astro Orbiter. It was ok. It had a nice view, but definitely not worth the wait. I would hate to see how long this line takes on a busy day.
High above Tomorrowland...

Ok, we had done everything in Tomorrowland that we wanted to do, so it was time to ride Space Mountain again! But first, a Photo Pass shot...

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

Friday September 16 Continued...


We finally left Tomorrowland and headed toward Fantasyland! There were a couple of things we wanted to do here and I wanted to see what I could see at the Fantasyland expansion construction site... The best way to sneak a peak, is to ride Dumbo, of course! So up, up and away we went...

The Beast’s castle area...

The Little Mermaid attraction...

After Dumbo, we did Snow White’s Scary Adventures,

Prince Charming Regal Carrousel,

It’s A Small World and Mickey’s PhilharMagic.

After PhilharMagic, it was time to leave Fantasyland and head toward Liberty Square. Fantasyland was crazy busy, as usual, during this time of day, so needless to say I was ready to go to a less crowded area of the park. Here are a couple of shots as we were leaving Fantasyland...

 

[MEyeSeeKayEY]

Friday September 16 Continued...


As we left Fantasyland and entered Liberty Square, the music from the Haunted Mansion became audible. The Haunted Mansion is one of my favorite attractions at the Magic Kingdom and it’s impossible for me to walk by it without stopping by to socialize with the grim grinning ghosts... I also was curious and wanted to check out the new interactive queue that had been added since our last trip.
We saw that the HM only had a 10 minute wait, (even though we would have waited longer if we had to) so we jumped right in line.

Once you enter the queue, you have a choice of either going through the new graveyard or you can skip it and go straight up to the entrance to the Mansion. Of course, we wanted to check out the new queue, so to the graveyard we went...

I played a haunting air on the organ for the folks in line...

The new interactive queue was cool, but not something I would have to do on each visit to the HM. Honestly, we took the short cut every other time we rode the Haunted Mansion on this trip. I guess if it were a busy time of year and you had to wait in a really long line, it would give you something to do though. Overall, I’d have to say, “Good job, Imagineers!”
We got to the end of the queue and got in line with the other foolish mortals at the entrance to the Mansion. Before we knew it, the doors opened and it was our turn to go in.
Leota had her eyes closed, but she looked at me at the last second...

The Haunted Mansion was excellent as usual and as we left, we most definitely watched out for hitchhiking ghosts...
Whew! We escaped the HM with our lives and found ourselves back in the safety of Liberty Square. LS is an overlooked area of the Magic Kingdom. I know we always rush right through it. One day I want to get Lou Mongello’s audio guide and spend a couple of hours there just looking at everything and exploring all the details.

While we were in Liberty Square, we decided to check out the Hall of Presidents. I always drag Brittany in to the attraction. I love history while she couldn’t care less. It was easy to convince her today though because I baited her with the promise of air conditioning...
Hall of Presidents is a great attraction. So much time and detail was put in to every audio animatronic. The show is just amazing and makes you proud to be an American!

After the show, we headed out of Liberty Square and in to Frontierland because we were hot and wanted to cool off on a certain water ride...
Splash Mountain!

The stand by entrance said 15 minutes, but we walked through the entire queue without stopping and boarded our log in less than 5 minutes. Splash has got to be one of my favorite attractions at WDW. I love all of the detail and story telling that they put in to this ride and the music is good too. “How do you do...” I’m actually singing it now as I type... If you’ve ever been on Splash Mountain, you know the best part is the last drop in to the briar patch. So much fun and getting a little wet felt great being that it was 90 plus degrees...