Trip Report *COMPLETE* I always thought I’d be Simba… turns out I’m Zazu

We’re back! Well, we’ve been back since Saturday, but trying to settle back into normal life has taken some time. But, before the holidays fully kick off, I wanted to get started on the TR!

First an intro (I did did a PTR but plans changed quite a bit)-

There’s C (8), me, my wife K, and L (3). This was C’s 4th trip, and L’s 2nd.

When: December 3 - 10
Where: AoA Lion King suite

We were also joined by my in-laws for the 3rd-8th.

This trip was different in a lot of ways. Our last trip was August 2020, with hardly any entertainment, extremely limited hours and dining, masks everywhere and of course no crowds. That was also L’s first trip. Yes, we took a one year old to WDW during a pandemic. Can’t wait for him to be a teenager and give us an eye roll for that one!

So in a lot of ways, this was L’s first real trip - with characters, waits, fireworks, and having his own thoughts/desires. Which was awesome. What wasn’t awesome was that he and his sister realized the fun in getting on each other’s nerves right before this trip. But, they also had some incredibly sweet moments between the two of them.

This was also our first trip with no Magical Express (which I hated even more than I expected), and with Genie +. But, we didn’t use Genie + because we also got DAS for the first time. I’ll put more detail on that in a separate post because it’s not all peachy and maybe could trigger some I suppose.

Anywho, so it was different. Bad? No, the opposite. I think that what hit us the most was realizing that as we return more to WDW and as our kids grow, the way we vacation changes a bit. We did a lot of new activities, and that was by far my favorite part of this trip.

 

[Spash007]

After this, we were all feeling pretty good. We wanted to get to bed early, but also wanted to get our laundry done. It was 8 pm and we should have gotten the kids ready for bed, but we’re on vacation and the Nemo pool was open and empty.

So we figured what the heck. Laundry is right there, we’ll bring it in and use the pool while it goes.

A bit before 9:30 we were starting to get chilly and got out while the laundry finished up.

At this point I was wondering whether we would be able to see Harmonious at all if we walked along the lake. One of my regrets from our 2018 stay at CBR was never watching the fireworks from the beach, so I wanted to try this trip. We heard it start just as we were finishing getting the laundry, and decided to walk back along hour glass lake to get a peak. Sure enough, we didn’t catch a great view, but it was still enough for a great end to the night!

We sat on a bench for a few minutes and just enjoyed it until the tiredness and fact that we were still wet caught up with us.

Getting back to the room we took advantage of having two bathrooms so the kids could each bathe and quickly got to bed.

And we had to have just one more cookie this night

For a day that had its bumps in the beginning, it really turned around and became one of my favorite days we’ve had at Disney yet

 

[k8einwdw]

But I especially was looking at C. Each trip is different, and as she gets older, some of the magic starts to slowly fade. Characters aren’t a big deal as much any more, and she really doesn’t like Princesses anymore. She is far from that young girl who got so excited to meet Minnie on her first trip, or literally ran with me to see Merida on her horse. But in this moment, she got caught up in it too. And this moment showed why we keep going back, even after all the nickel and dining and decisions I don’t always agree with.

 

[fractal]

$68 for cookies! But they're magical cookies.

Glad C enjoyed the snow and that moment. Wait until the teenage years - they actually do enjoy spending time with you but they'll never show it or admit to it. Good luck!

 

[Swissmiss]

Glad C enjoyed the snow and that moment. Wait until the teenage years - they actually do enjoy spending time with you but they'll never show it or admit to it. Good luck!

So true!

 

[Spash007]

Gonna change things up for a second and then this into a bit of a pre-trip report since we leave TOMORROW.

I’m going to simplify it a bit since I have a million things to do that I’m completely procrastinating on while kids are at school and K is at work but here we go!

Adults only (me and K)
2/25 - 3/2
Two nights at GF Villas
Three nights at WL

Saturday: No parks relaxation, Disney Springs at night
Sunday: Hollywood Studios
Monday: Epcot
Tuesday: Animal Kingdom
Wednesday: Magic Kingdom
Thursday: Flight home at 2:30

Why: K and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in November, but put off our trip since we went on our family trip in December. We were looking at a non-Disney trip like London (but didn’t want to spend as much time on a plane), or an all-inclusive (fun, but we think we would get bored because we’re not sit and relax people anymore). We booked a cruise on the Wish, with the two days renting points at GF, and then realized we just weren’t excited for it, and felt like it wasn’t worth the price for us. So we decided to just stick with Disney and do a trip completely different.

On the surface it will be the same, but not feeling responsible for another human will be huge.

So huge, that in fact I went grocery shopping today without kids for the first time in close to a year, and was convinced I forgot something important. I had my bags, my list and then checked down to make sure I had pants on. Then it dawned on me - that it was the kids missing.

I was a bit sad, but mostly relieved I did in fact have pants on.

I also told K that I am now a bit concerned I’ll forget pants on the trip, but she reminded me she isn’t blind so I don’t have to worry.

Anyway, our flight is tomorrow at 6 am and we are spending the night tonight at my in laws so we don’t have to switch before our car comes at 4 am. I probably won’t live update, but will probably catch up on some other TRs on the plane!

 

[Spash007]

$68 for cookies! But they're magical cookies.

Glad C enjoyed the snow and that moment. Wait until the teenage years - they actually do enjoy spending time with you but they'll never show it or admit to it. Good luck!

So true!

I feel like there are times when we are getting there. C doesn’t want me to walk her into dance anymore, and at her “special someone” dance at school spent way more time with her friends (but did come to me when they played Livin on a Prayer which I’m proud of her for).

But this is also why I like reading other trip reports as well - they really give me the perspective that just because things are changing does not mean it’s a bad thing.

 

[mpaulam]

Have a wonderful time! Enjoy every minute

 

[Figment Forever]

Have a magical time!! Happy belated Anniversary!!

 

[k8einwdw]

Why: K and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in November, but put off our trip since we went on our family trip in December.

Happy Belated Anniversary! All the best people get married in November. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Zipadeelady]

I hope you had a great time and pants were included in all forth coming pictures

 

[Spash007]

Have a wonderful time! Enjoy every minute

Have a magical time!! Happy belated Anniversary!!

Happy Belated Anniversary! All the best people get married in November. Enjoy your trip!

I hope you had a great time and pants were included in all forth coming pictures

Thank you everyone! It was a really great time, and we even got to come home with an extra souvenir - COVID!

So far myself, K and L have it. We’re not sure if we picked it up when traveling or if L got it at school last week, and luckily we’re not all that symptomatic.

But yes, all pictures will have pants!

 

[Spash007]

Let’s go back in time to December shall we?

December 7 - Animal Kingdom

This day I woke up fairly early on my own, and the combination of getting coffee, not being able to make coffee in the room without waking anyone up, and walking around an empty resort in the early hours was too great to pass up. So a little before 7 I set off on a walk, and took the long way to the lobby.

Watching the Skyliner over the lake became one of my favorite simple pleasures.

I think I need to always stay at resorts on water from now on.

Seriously, the sky was paying me for getting out of bed early.

As the clocked hit 7, I made my way to the lobby for coffee and to watch everyone stop and grab LLs.

After grabbing the coffee for me and K, I headed back to the room, expecting every would be awake. Nope!

Everyone, including K were still fast asleep. I enjoyed a bit more moments of silence and drank my coffee in peace, before rallying the troops and getting everyone ready with a light breakfast in the room.

By 8, we made it to the bus stop. And 5 minutes later, our ride showed up!

I was very excited for the 50th bus.

Also, this trip we hardly waited for a bus. I thought that was due to some kind of improvements in their system. This past week I learned that we were just lucky in December.

Early entry started at 8:30, and by 8:20 we were pulling up. With some time to spare, we made our way to the Christmas tree for some pictures.

This one was actually on our Christmas card this year.

And if you look closely, you can see the yogurt L had for breakfast that he managed to cover his shirt in in the 3 seconds we dared to turn away.

Soon we were in the park, and made our way to the tree of life.

 

[MickeyCB]

This one was actually on our Christmas card this year.

And if you look closely, you can see the yogurt L had for breakfast that he managed to cover his shirt in in the 3 seconds we dared to turn away.

Love this photo, and no, not yogurt, just rare white leopard spots!

 

[mpaulam]

Love those early morning pictures around the resort!

 

[Spash007]

Love this photo, and no, not yogurt, just rare white leopard spots!

Love it! It was to the point where normally we would have changed his shirt, but when you have one AK shirt, we just cleaned it the best we could. We should’ve went with the leopard spots though!

Love those early morning pictures around the resort!

Thank you! We really saw some of the most gorgeous sunrises and sunsets this trip.

 

[Spash007]

As most of the crowds headed towards Pandora, we instead headed towards Asia.

Being not too crowded in this area of the park meant we could really take in the details.

But really, there was no one back here.

If I hadn’t seen the same thing happen last week, I would have thought this picture was from 2020.

Our destination.

As K, her dad, C and I got in line, L was already saying he was hungry, so my MIL took him in search for a snack around Asia. The wait time was posted as 5 minutes, so we figured we would be off quick (or would we?)

I love all the details in this queue. One of the bad parts of having no line is you speed right past them.

I have a weird thing about deer - I think it’s from Ring 2 where they attack the car. And this one is nightmare fuel.

 

[Spash007]

As expected, it was a total walk on. We got put in a row, and very soon after the train pulled in. Gates opened, and we started stepping in - and then we were told to back up. Weird.

The gates closed and the train left empty. Then another train came, and the gates stayed closed. And that one left. We also noticed the background sounds had stopped.

This kept going on for about 10 minutes - eventually CMs got on a train, and we watched them return, and go again.

After about 15 minutes, the background sounds came back and we were told we could board. It was very weird, and now the park was officially opened so the line behind us had started to fill in. No announcement was made, and the ride never closed, so it just seemed to be some extra testing (or the CMs wanted to take a joy ride).

I tried to get some pictures on the ride, but once we started moving faster, I put my phone away out of fear of dropping it.

When we finally got off, we now had to find L and K’s mom. Since we were gone for awhile, they ended up walking a bit further away. As K set off to find them, C and I sat in the Rivers of Light theater and watched some of the characters pass by.

We even got to see St. Nick! C is at that age where whenever we see him, we hold our breath waiting for THAT question, but it still hasn’t come so far. She did claim that this couldn’t be the real center, not because he spoke with a Jamaican accent, but because he was announcing everyone was a good boy and girl, and “there’s no way that is true”.

It took K about 10 minutes to find her mom, who had found some popcorn for the kids. We were soon on our way to the Safari.

Even though the park was open, the path between Asia and Africa was still nice and empty.

 

[cgersic]

Loving the photos!! And your daughter's dress!

 

[Spash007]

Loving the photos!! And your daughter's dress!

Thank you!

 

[Spash007]

The posted wait for the safari was 20 minutes if I recall, but we literally walked right on. Ready for an onslaught of animal pictures?

L really loved finding all the animals

Yes, I included this because it’s two animals butts. Yes, I am as immature as my three year old.

Is it just me, or are the giraffes getting much closer much more regularly?

We even got to hear the lion roar a bit

Overall, a really great safari! Our guide was ok, not great, but the animals made up for that.