DisneyPhD family does AKV May 2nd to 10th 08

Disney PhD family AKV May 2nd to the 10th 2008
Cast:
Me, (Mrs.PhD.)
DH, Paul (the Real Disney PhD)
Anna, just turned 7 years old, her 13th time to WDW
Lily 3 years old, her 6th trip to WDW

Later in the trip, our friends (same age) with 2 sons, the same age as our DD’s.


WDW 2008 AKL May 2, to the 10th.

May 2nd, Leave DTW at 10:50 on SWA. We jumped our 1st big hurtle at the airport. Lily used an auto flush potty with the help of a Mickey shaped post it note. The note wasn’t as sticky as I would have hoped, but it did the trick. No problems flight on time and the girls behaved very well. Anna played on the laptop and Lily watched a DVD. Magical Express went well and we were at AKL by 3:00. Our room was ready when we got there, but turns out I didn’t pack the girls bathing suits in the carry on, so we could not swim and I wanted to stick around because our grocery delivery should be here soon. We went down and got some food at Mara the counter service place. I was able to pull off the order info for Garden Grocer on the laptop and give the place a call at 4:00. They called shortly to let me know it was at bell services. Before they brought that the DME brought the luggage so the girls got dressed to swim and I stayed to unpack. Garden Grocer got a few things not right, but it all works out. I wasn’t able to give them a tip, so I don’t feel as bad about that. All in all I would recommend them to others.

Our room (studio DVC 5508 on the 5th floor facing the Uzima Savanna (the south one, not the main Arusha Savanna.) Still we have a number of animals out there and 2 baby giraffe. One is 6 months old, the smallest one was born on Leap Day 2008. The pull out couch is big and roomy, there is a flat panel T.V. and DVD player and cables for the internet. We can see the tip of blizzard beach summit plummet from the room too. Yes there were mugs and glasses in our studio. Good thing or I would have been calling about it.

I get unpacked and find a few things I thought about packing, but turns out I didn’t. Such is life, at least we didn’t forget anything major. I think that is part of the 1st day, making peace with what you left behind.

Met the kids and Paul down at the pool. Anna has gone down the slide twice already. It is warm, with big puffy clouds. After a bit of swimming back up to the room for a rinse off and change to head out to Epcot. The line at guest services was long and not moving too fast. There were issues with people from the media trying to get in and not being able to. I thought it was about the marathon, but we find out later it was about Disney channel stars. We need to buy new AP and a Disney Dinning Experience card. There was a long line at guest services, but we got our passes and also found out the old park hopper I brought with us has 2 park days on it and 3 water parks or DQ or PI passes on it. The sting of the 4 AP weren’t so bad with the DVC discount and close to $400 of Disney Visa points.

Once we got in Epcot it was really busy and we were hungry and tired so like crazy people we walk through WS to exit and head over to beaches and cream for dinner. It was crazy busy just past Canada. I asked a guard and I guess “the stars of the Disney channel shows were going to walk by.” It was so busy we just kept walking. I guess they have been here all week. We keep walking and leave the park for Y&BC. Beaches and cream isn’t too bad, but there is a 20 min wait. We get a beeper and I take the girls to use the bathroom. I load a card for the arcade with just a dollar on it, but before we can play a game, our beeper goes off.

Lily fell getting into the restaurant. It was clear this little girl was tired. She wanted her food now. We ordered 2 kid meals (hamburger and cheeseburger) and a burger for Paul and I. Paul brought Anna back to the arcade to play her game while I cuddled Lily. Our food came shortly after that. It was after 8:30 by the time we were done. There was a party going on at the main Y&BC beach and we walked past it to head back to Epcot just in time to get back in to see Illuminations. The girls danced with daddy to the music as we left the resort area. Both girls were very impressed by the fireworks, in the past they were more scared. We watched it near the international gateway and then walked over in front of Canada to finish off. We ended up with fire works aftermath in our face, but the show was good. It was Extra Magic Hours, so we fought the crowd over to Future world, Journey Into Imagination was not working so off to the Living Seas we went. It was a walk on to Nemo. Lily did not want to ride, but daddy offered to carry her and she was fine. She loved it. After we saw turtle talk. The girls loved it. It was so late we were actually a bit slap happy. The bus ride home was typical end of the park but we managed. :snore:



More to come (and pictures too!)

 

[Mrs.PhD]

Day 2 May 3rd.

I slept so well I woke in the middle of the night and I thought I was at home. It took me a few min to adjust to where I was. Good thing or instead of the bathroom I would of ended up in the savanna. We would of gotten to the MK at opening, but we had a 30 min wait for the bus. This pattern seemed to happen more often then not in the mornings at AKL. The buses are the real draw back for me for the resort. The ride to almost every park is a long ride.

Per family tradition, off to Fantasyland for Dumbo, we did the rounds and got on carrousel. Turns out that was a good thing because when we went back it was closed for repair. Anna was thrilled to find that Darby was over by Winnie the Pooh. After the rounds of everything in Fantasyland (with fast pass where needed) we headed over to lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. It was a good meal. Lily was thrilled to find the bathrooms there were not auto flush. The girls spilt a kids meal and I got crab cakes and DH a sandwich. We did a few attractions in adventure land and headed back to the resort for a swim. Lily passed out on the bus ride home so she got a nap. Paul took Anna down to swim and we meet him there later. The weather was great.

We ate dinner in the room (stuff from garden grocer) and headed off to MK. Our bus luck was better this time. This time we did tomorrow land, monster laugh floor, TTA and buzz light year. There was even fast passes left for buzz. The line wasn’t too long for astro orbiter so we waited for it. While waiting we saw some dream squad people waiting by the elevator. Apparently they were waiting to take people up to view the fireworks from the landing. We rode the ride and got off right as the fireworks were starting. We headed over to the castle and found a spot near the big rocks to view the fireworks. This was the night I found out that when I lift Anna her legs hang down so low I can’t walk on the bus. I tripped and had to hand her over dad. Luckily she was asleep and doesn’t remember it. Thank Goodness for our double stroller we brought from home. Both kids were sound a sleep so Paul had to get off the bus and unload the stroller and come back to help.

 

[Mrs.PhD]

let's try some pictures.

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[Mrs.PhD]

Oh goody, they worked.

here we are at beaches and cream the 1st night.

On the balcony

 

[Mrs.PhD]

Day 3, May 4th. Our friends arrive today. They have kids the same age as ours, but boys. This is the 4th time they have been at WDW with us. The last time was 2 years ago. We headed out to AK for the morning. This was the morning of the long bus wait (one of them). We waited and waited for an AK bus, others came and went, but the crowd at the bus stop just kept growing. 40 min later a bus shows up, thank goodness another bus pulled up and we were able to make it on that one.

Paul headed over to get fast passes for the safari ride while the girls and I headed over to play in the dino dig area. It was pretty empty so we took some good pictures. Both girls only played in the dig area for a few min, they didn’t like not being able to take their shoes off. They road “dino dumbo” with no wait. It was getting hot. We saw Pooh and Friends down by the river. Lily was nervous, but did ok as long as we held her. She did like Pooh and Piglet.

We got some lunch at Flame tree and Paul found some great seats down by the water with a view of EE. The girls had fun playing with the ducks, almost too much instead of eating lunch. After, we headed over to the Safari ride with our fast passes. The animals really seemed to be out and we had a great guide. After the ride we got some Mickey ice cream and then headed back to the resort. It was so great to let Lily eat ice cream and not have to worry about her food allergies (she outgrew her milk and egg allergy a year ago.)

Lily slept for a while and Paul tried to work on getting the lap top hooked up to the “free” internet. He called tech support, and they guy was very helpful, but we still were not able to get it to work. His guess was because it was Vista said to keep it all hooked up and maybe it would start working. After that Paul took the girls to swim and I got ready. My friend called and said they were on their way per DME, but it took them a while to get on the bus. I had a feeling we were not going to make our ADR’s at Kona Café at 5:30 the rate we were going. I tried to call and change them, but no luck. Our friends were upgraded to a Savanna view a few floors below us. They were pleased about this.

My friend said they wanted to keep the Kona ADR so we got cleaned up and headed out. Lucky for us, we got a bus right away, headed over to the waiting resort monorail and got to Kona only about 15 min late. No problems, we got our seat and had a great meal. Our service and food was great and we all were in a good mood. The bigs (7 year old kids) were a bit shy with each other at 1st and kept “messing with each other”. You know how 7 year old kids are. I figured they both would have bruises later. The littles (3 year olds) always get along great. They are fast friends from birth.

After we headed to MK and grabbed fast passes for Buzz while we saw monster laugh floor and road TTA. Monster is a lot better then it was last year. They have worked the bugs out it seems. They kids loved Buzz After we headed to MK and grabbed fast passes for Buzz while we saw monster laugh floor and road TTA. They kids loved Buzz and we headed around by the train over to toon town. Big night, 1st ride on goofy's barnstormer for Lily. She just made it on the 35 inch mark. She rode it, but didn’t want to do it again. The bigs however did and rode it a few times. We then headed over to FL. We road small world right at 9:45 and we were all kind of shocked to see the clock where the time goes out that we almost forget to get on the boat. Everyone loves the ride. When we reach the end of the ride, our boat can’t make it up the hill. We are in the front of the boat, and they over loaded the back so we were stuck. The cast members had to crawl through a archway to push us over the hill. The whole boat was laughing so hard. (We always have a great time with these friends.)

When we got out the fire works were going. We headed over to the other side of haunted mansion. My friend got the kids lollipops. They got all sticky and had a great time watching the fireworks while eating them. Time to head out when we were done, once again a full bus back to the resort. Anna was asleep before we got on the bus. I went to pick her up and her legs are so long I was not able to get on the bus and tipped over. Paul had to take her from me. He got a seat with her and we headed to the back of the bus. My friend and I sat in the back with all the kids (except Anna) asleep on top of us. The husbands had to come back to unload after getting the strollers off. AKL has one stop so it isn’t too hard to do that.

 

[Mrs.PhD]

the group at Poly

Lily getting measured for goofy.

The kids watching the fireworks.

 

[micknut]

sounds like a lot of fun we are also from michigan(trenton) and are going with are 8 and 6 year old in july

 

[lpet11984]

Sounds good-- can't wait to hear more!

(I'm in MI too and spend an awful lot of time just north of you in Clawson where the DBF lives-- howdy neighbor!)

 

[Mrs.PhD]

Sounds good-- can't wait to hear more!

(I'm in MI too and spend an awful lot of time just north of you in Clawson where the DBF lives-- howdy neighbor!)

Oh you are super close.

Mickeynut, I have good friends that just bought a house in Wyndote, that is close by isn't it?

Working on the next days. I was good at 1st and kept notes, now I have to refer to the digital pictures as to what happens next. Our camcorder is all screwed up and we lost about half of our videos.

 

[nibblesandbits]

Hey! Always love your TRs! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Mrs.PhD]

Hey! Always love your TRs! Can't wait to read more!

Thanks, I enjoy writing them (and even more living them.) I should get more up tonight. DH likes to read them over and add his 2 cents before I post them. :lol:

 

[disney21]

Really great trip report! i enjoyed reading it and looking at the pics! I esp. love the pic of the kids with their lollipops!!!

 

[Turcicus]

Great report so far! Your daughters are super cute

 

[Mrs.PhD]

Great report so far! Your daughters are super cute

Thanks, I think so! Updates coming soon. :kiss:

 

[#1hockeymom]

great report

Great trip report! I'd LOVE to buy into AKL DVC! Uzima is actually my favorite savannah, as are closer to the pool area yet can still feel like the savannah is all yours! (I like it wayyy out on the end!)




This post was posted by the one and original #1hockeymom. If my gas tank has to support the kid's hockey by driving all over a six county area, I will continue to be #1!

 

[Mrs.PhD]

Great trip report! I'd LOVE to buy into AKL DVC! Uzima is actually my favorite savannah, as are closer to the pool area yet can still feel like the savannah is all yours! (I like it wayyy out on the end!)




This post was posted by the one and original #1hockeymom. If my gas tank has to support the kid's hockey by driving all over a six county area, I will continue to be #1!

Hi. We were not way out on the end, but a few doors down from the elevator. It was a good room. It was really quiet (other then the kids next to us that became my DD's balcony buddies.) More about them later in the report. I got to get work on the next days. Lily is all set to go back. She does not understand we won't be back to WDW until 2009.

 

[Mrs.PhD]

May 5th, (day 4)

Off to Disney Studios for my friends 1st day. Once again every other bus seemed to come but not ours. There was a CM doing guessing animal games with the kids so they were having fun at 1st, but they were only amused for a while. The crowd grew, and grew. Finally Paul went up to a bus driver from another stop and asked him to call in and see if one was coming. Well that did the trick because before he could help us, a bus came, then another. We got on the 2nd one since the 1st was loading wheel chairs.

Once at Hollywood studios the High School musical show was going. My friends wanted to look in the shops and we got in the line for play house Disney after the Little Mermaid show got out so it was busy. We didn’t get the best of seats, but the kids did like it. After we headed to the honey I shrunk the kids play set. The dad’s and my friend’s oldest son wanted to ride star tours (Anna did not) so they went off to do that (after we saw the show outside it.) The girls (and little boy) headed to the play set. We all played for a while and then it was time for lunch at Hollywood and Vine for the play house Disney meal. We had a bit of a wait (but we were actually on time for our ADR, maybe the only time the whole trip.) The meal was good and my friend’s son loved the characters. After, everyone was spent so we headed back to the resort for swimming. The kids had a blast.

After we hosed off the kidos in the shower and headed back out to a park. The plan was for MK, but my friends wanted to go to Epcot and Mexico for Cinco De Mayo. I told them I didn’t think they were doing much for it, but they were game for Epcot so off we went. We went on the new spaceship earth, the additions are really cool as is the exit part of the ride. Our friends car didn’t work so we all rode it twice. Before heading to Mexcio we stopped to get 4 fast passes for MS and 4 for test track. We ate at counter service in Mexico. Since Anna doesn’t eat Mexican food much we brought a P&BJ sandwich for her in the cooler bag we hang off the back. Paul and I split a meal and we got Lily a kids meal (that we ended up eating most of.) There was not any thing special for May 5th that we could see. We did get a cute picture of the kids with the big hats on.

Next we went in the Mexico Pavilion to ride the ride (our friends had not seen the new updates yet.) There was no line but as we got to the front a two people in ECV’s came up. The cast member asked if they could transfer and they said yes. Next is the story of the night, so if you are just skimming, read this.


*****************


The cast member directed the women in the front ECV to ride her cart around the corner and to the back of the boat. As she did this her scooter shot out of control full throttle past me (close to me but not on me) and towards the poor little cast member standing near the pavilion. Out of instinct (I don’t know what I was thinking) I reached out to stop her. If she was merely rolling down the incline it would of worked, but she had power behind her and drug me along for the ride. The cart stopped a few seconds before crashing into the cast member who had run as far away from the ECV as she could get and was trapped by the wall in front of the water.


The cast member handled it well, I don’t know if she had a panic button to push, but there was another castmember that showed up within seconds and the girl excused her self to back stage. I asked if that ever happened before and she said yes. :brickoor girl I bet she never expected to be run over by power wheelchairs when she agreed to come to Epcot.

We all were flabbergasted. The group ended up in the back of our boat, so when we got off the driver was standing near the exit and she gave me a sheepish apology look. There was nothing to do but laugh about it so I smiled and told her “Just give us a 5 minute head start.” :lol::lookaroun She told me she wasn’t getting back on it. Someone else would have to take it back, she was done. She looked mortified by the whole thing. My friends were mortified I said that, but hey I had to make a joke out of it, the poor girl looked very sad about the whole thing.:hammer:

After we headed back to FW so the bigs and dads could ride MS and TT. The mom’s shopped some and I got the girls this spinner where Auroa’s dress twirls and lights up. They only had Aruoa and I didn’t want to buy two of the same so my friend bought one for Anna (since she owed me some money from dinner).The littles only had a few min to play in the butterfly garden before it closed so we headed back to WS for a seat for illuminations. Things were filling up fast and it was only a bit after 8:00. I found a lady between Norway and Mexico that had a lot of space around her and asked if we could stand behind her. She was very kind and moved over to make room for us. We had a nice chat with the groups on either side of us as we waited for it to start. It seemed to be taking a very long time for the dad’s and big’s to ride 2 rides with fast pass and at 9:00 they called and said they were out. MS had broken down (with them in it) but both kids really enjoyed it (1st time) and they were headed back to us. They met up and we had a good view of the show. Anna actually did a good job of finding out Lily had a new toy and she didn’t. She did not whine at all and they shared and took turns. So I let my friend give Anna one too. (If she had been all “Why did she get one and not me, not fair” I would have taken it back.)

Once again bus ride back the resort on a packed bus with sleeping kids, but we managed.

 

[figmentmom]

the group at Poly

What a TERRIFIC picture!!!! Everyone looks like they're relaxed and having a great time, and the kids are all adorable! :sohappy::wave:

 

[Mrs.PhD]

Thanks, here are a few from the day I just posted.

At hollywood and vine

We have a picture like this but from the "big's" 3 years ago.

This one is just so cute I had to stick in it (honey I shrunk.)

 

[Mrs.PhD]

May 6th. MK and Tie dye day. We had a tie dye party before we left. My friends Mickey heads didn’t turn out as well as ours, but it was still fun. My friend really does not like to dress a like. That is a true friend to do this for me. :kiss: I could not stop taking pictures. Everyone looked so cute.

When we got to MK the show was going on in front of the castle so we went around the side into fantasy land. We did FL, some with fast pass, some without and headed over to adventure land. We stopped for lunch at Columbia Harbor house, always a good meal. Then we went over to adventure land and the whole group rode pirates. The girls used their light necklaces (seen in many of the pictures)., I got them at toys R us before the trip. It really helped them feel more confident in dark rides. Neither girl really liked it, but the big boys did. They all did ok. The bigs went over to ride BTM while the mom’s rode the carpets and got a snack. We met them over at the bridge near BTM and they got the bigs ice cream too (thank goodness for cell phones, they helped a lot.)

When we were done it was time to do something we always mean to do while at MK, but never get around too. Tom Sawyer Island. We got on a raft right away and headed over. The kids had a blast running around the Island and exploring caves and the fort. By the time we got to the fort the Little’s (and the some of the parents) were running out of steam. The Big’s however were really enjoying themselves in the fort with the guns in the tower. I was a bit snap happy and DH had enough of me taking pictures. It was time to head back to the resort for another swim and rest. The weather was perfect once again.

Back at the room the girls were out on the balcony talking to who I will refer to as the balcony buddies. The little girl in the next room that I met her parents on the 1st day. They have 2 little girls and one was having a melt down outside the room when I met them. The parents apologized and I told them not to worry, I had 2 girls of my own. Well the girls soon became fast friends and her balcony buddy was so cute. She was so sorry she wasn’t able to meet us today, they were just coming in from swimming and her little sister was sleeping. Paul came out on the balcony and found a little girl on it. She had crawled under the partition. Her dad freaked out when he came out and found her gone. These girls became fast friends. It was very cute. They hated that partition that kept them apart. It did not stop them from playing together.

They enjoyed swimming and crafts at there resort. The bigs made a number of sun catchers. There was a lot of AKL staff (college students) working with the kids. The big kids loved the slide and being able to put on life jackets (free and comfortable ones) and swim and jump into the deep end.

After showers and cleaning up it was time to meet in the lobby. We got there early and had some time to explore. There was some cm from Africa who were doing music with the kids and we took some pictures of the new DVC building for the sunset savanna. We headed out to explore in the main savanna and the kids had a blast.

Dinner at Epcot at Garden Grill tonight, later ADR’s so we did not have to rush. We even had time to look up where our friends leave a legacy tile was from a few years ago (with some help from a cm.)

Lily was scared of the characters, but my friend’s youngest son loved them. The bigs were caught up in coloring and working on their menu cross words. Lily hid under the table. The food was great, and we finally got Lily to eat some. By the end she was hugging Mickey.

After, we headed over to the living seas for Nemo. It was a walk on. The big’s rode together with no adults. It was a moment for me. We even got in turtle talk too, all the kids sat in the front. My friend’s son was even called on. Lily got bopped in the face by her friend who was too excited and jumping up in down so it ended in tears for her, but she was fine.