Lodge-hopping... from the Pacific Northwest to an African Savannah: A July 2009 TR!

Last week we returned from our summer Disney fix so it’s time again for another monster trip report!! This one is sure to dwarf my previous reports in sheer size alone considering it was a 9 night/10 day stay at WDW and all our past trips have ranged from 3-5 night stays. I must say it’s a bit daunting, but I took detailed notes and am ready to relive our adventures (and possibly bore you with all the details)!!

The cast includes myself, Holly; the birthday boy, Brett; his parents, Kathy and Danny; and brother, Derek. Here’s one of the few pictures I have of us all from our December 2008 trip:

The planning stages of this trip went through many variations. So let’s start at the beginning… ever since the “Celebrate” theme was released I wanted to plan a trip for Brett’s birthday. We started putting it into action sometime in early April and not long after we settled on dates and made reservations, Brett’s parents invited us to join them on their summer trip to the Wilderness Lodge Villas. It just so happened to be close to the dates we were already looking at, so we talked about it and decided if we budgeted right we could do a super trip. Woohoo for super trips :sohappy:.

We changed our dates slightly to line up with theirs, and then I cancelled our ADRs and made some new ones. Since we were on a budget we decided a value resort was a must (and we should forego signature dining)… no ifs, ands or buts about it. Or at least that’s what Brett thought… I, however, had other plans! I got it into my head that it would be so cool to surprise him with a deluxe resort so we wouldn’t, you know, be slumming when we left the WL :lol:. Once I had my mind set I practically took up a vigil waiting for the AP resort rates to be released. And when they were I snagged a pool view room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our four night stay! Oh yeah… and we couldn’t possibly celebrate his birthday without some wine and signature dining so I made reservations for Jiko!

To make a long story even longer, Brett called me at work one day and told me his parents had to make a slight change to their dates, which meant we would either have to do the same or lose some days of “our” trip. I was freaking out (and couldn’t tell him) because I just knew the AP rate would no longer be available… and it wasn’t. So I started calling once or twice a day, every day. I can still recite the confirmation number! I was in luck though, because after three weeks of calling the AP rate magically reappeared!!! I guess I’m sharing all this basically to say sometimes it pays to be persistent. Let me just tell you… keeping this secret nearly killed me, but it was totally worth it!

Okay, so now that we've gotten all of that out of the way… let us finally begin.

 

[disneygirl1]

Loving the update!! The Lupa Lupa looks delish!!! Sure wish we had the time to hit DTD during our Sept. trip, really want to go to Trend-D!!!

 

[Mukta]

I am dying to hear about the resort switch surprise. I hope you don't have a lot of plans this weekend and you will be posting.

 

[diddy_mouse]

Kona Cafe is one of my new favorite restaurants. We enjoyed lunch there and I was so full it was a good thing we were touring the MK that evening...needed to walk it off. :lol:

I might have to check out TrenD the next time were at DTD. It's a shame everything was so busy that you couldn't really enjoy it. Hopefully you had a chance to later in your trip.

 

[sleepybear]

Loving the trip report, Holly. And the pictures, as always, are phenomenal! It's awesome to see you guys having so much fun and just gets me psyched for my trip in October.

Kathy always gets the fruit plate when we go to Kona. It looks so good and I keep telling myself I should order it sometime, but I just can’t bear to part with my strawberry compote covered Tonga Toast. That strawberry compote is heaven in a carafe!

Next time you're there for breakfast, try doing what we do. We order 1 Tonga Toast and 1 fruit plate. Then we split them. So you still get the banana-stuffed goodness of Tonga but some of the fruit as well. Top it off with a French press of Kona coffee and you have the Walt Disney World Breakfast of Champions!

 

[HollyBelle]

Love the review of Trend-D! I'm sorry you couldn't find Daisy there! And how can a Daisy lover not do bling? :lol:

Can't wait to read about your resort switch!

Oooh... point taken. But you know, Jenn, I do like bling. Only I prefer the kind that goes around my neck, in my ears, or on my fingers! Not quite the same. :lol:

I love it when you post more, Holly!! Your pictures of Remi are awesome! And I didn't even notice the ceiling in TrendD!! It is cool.

Yeah, I really really enjoyed the Les Chefs experience with Remy. He looked EXACTLY like he did in the movie. And of course I love that movie because it's all about the food and wine!

Wow! Remy looks great! Those are the first pictures I've seen, and I am amazed at what Disney can do.

If we go to Kona during our next trip, I will definitely get the tuna. That looked delicious.

As far as Tren-D goes, I haven't been there, but I hear you on not wanting to be Bedazzled.

I'm with you on being amazed at what Disney can do. Remy really was perfect. Definitely get the tuna... my mouth's watering just thinking about it. And I'm glad to have some company on the whole bedazzling approach. There are some really cute shirts that are simply ruined with rhinestones and glitter. That being said, my nieces do look cute in them, but they're 6 and 8 years old.

Awesome report! Great food pics...Im so hungry now!

Thanks! I look forward to seeing your food report when you return!

Loving the update!! The Lupa Lupa looks delish!!! Sure wish we had the time to hit DTD during our Sept. trip, really want to go to Trend-D!!!

Thanks, disneygirl. I wasn't a big fan of the drink, but then again, I prefer beer, wine, and tequila. :ROFLOL: It had none of the three! Maybe you'll find some time to get over to Tren-D... the art alone was exciting and fun to see!

I am dying to hear about the resort switch surprise. I hope you don't have a lot of plans this weekend and you will be posting.

Ooops. We spent the weekend in Atlanta, so I didn't have time to write. But all of Day 6 is written now and I'll have it up once I get home from work today. I hope you'll forgive me another 7-8 hours!

Kona Cafe is one of my new favorite restaurants. We enjoyed lunch there and I was so full it was a good thing we were touring the MK that evening...needed to walk it off. :lol:

I might have to check out TrenD the next time were at DTD. It's a shame everything was so busy that you couldn't really enjoy it. Hopefully you had a chance to later in your trip.

Yep...I'm in love with Kona. We've always said that if we would be lucky enough to have Disney chain a restaurant we would want it to be Kona because all three meals at the restaurant are exceptional!

We did get back over to DTD a little later in the trip, but unfortunately for me, the shirts at Tren-D were all still blinding.

Loving the trip report, Holly. And the pictures, as always, are phenomenal! It's awesome to see you guys having so much fun and just gets me psyched for my trip in October.

Next time you're there for breakfast, try doing what we do. We order 1 Tonga Toast and 1 fruit plate. Then we split them. So you still get the banana-stuffed goodness of Tonga but some of the fruit as well. Top it off with a French press of Kona coffee and you have the Walt Disney World Breakfast of Champions!

Thanks, sleepybear! I look forward to your future report. The only thing wrong with your perfect suggestion for the Breakfast of Champions is that Brett scrunches his nose up at bananas. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to eat it all myself!

 

[mouselvrmom]

Oooh... point taken. But you know, Jenn, I do like bling. Only I prefer the kind that goes around my neck, in my ears, or on my fingers! Not quite the same. :lol:

Well, I guess that's the kind of bling that truly matters! I think Daisy would be proud!

Although I must admit, you had me excited when I saw that you had posted in this thread. I figured you must be adding on a day, but alas you were only responding to us. Are you going to have this done before I leave? :shrug::lol:

 

[HollyBelle]

Well, I guess that's the kind of bling that truly matters! I think Daisy would be proud!

Although I must admit, you had me excited when I saw that you had posted in this thread. I figured you must be adding on a day, but alas you were only responding to us. Are you going to have this done before I leave? :shrug::lol:

I don't know, when do you leave? :lol: Maybe you'll have one written before I finish mine.

We spent the weekend in Atlanta so I didn't write a word. But, I will have the whole next day up when I get home from work later, and I promise you will be more than happy with the character interactions on Day 6! Over half way there! :sohappy:

 

[PotteryGal]

Yay - now that my TR is done I can finish reading yours! :lol: Absolutely love all the the little details you captured....I felt like we were on the move too much and didn't take near as many as I wanted. In fact we're thinking about going down to only two parks on our next trip so we can take our time. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[mouselvrmom]

I don't know, when do you leave? :lol: Maybe you'll have one written before I finish mine.

We spent the weekend in Atlanta so I didn't write a word. But, I will have the whole next day up when I get home from work later, and I promise you will be more than happy with the character interactions on Day 6! Over half way there! :sohappy:

I guess that'll have to do. :lol:

I leave next Tuesday, so you'd better get working! :sohappy:

 

[HollyBelle]

Yay - now that my TR is done I can finish reading yours! :lol: Absolutely love all the the little details you captured....I felt like we were on the move too much and didn't take near as many as I wanted. In fact we're thinking about going down to only two parks on our next trip so we can take our time. Can't wait to hear more!

I'm jealous... I wish mine was finished!! I'm sure being kid-free helped me find the time to take those pictures. :lol: Although, I do look forward to the days when my trips will be more like yours!

I guess that'll have to do. :lol:

I leave next Tuesday, so you'd better get working! :sohappy:

Yeah... probably not going to happen. :brick:But I promise I'll try! Starting now!

 

[HollyBelle]

Day 6, Thursday, July 16: AKL Check-in/Studios/Magic Kingdom

I woke up on Thursday all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to check in at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Honestly, I was more excited about this surprise than anything else during the whole trip. Turns out, Danny and Kathy decided they wanted to stay another day, as well. They had everything all squared away by breakfast and encouraged us to leave our stuff in the room for the morning and switch resorts later in the afternoon. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Brett’s parents and am very appreciative of all they do for us, but I was ready for “our” vacation to start and so was Brett. We were definitely on the same page, so much so that he wanted to check out of the Wilderness Lodge ASAP to get over to All-Star Sports.

Here Brett is relaxing in the lobby as his parents take care of things at the front desk. Look at that smile. Doesn’t it just look like the kind of smile someone wears when they know they’re leaving behind that oh so comfy lobby for the craziness of the All-Stars. He does look a bit hesitant:

We all went to Whispering Canyon and had breakfast. Brett and I aren’t big on all-you-can-eat meals, so the breakfast skillet doesn’t appeal to us. And with that out of the equation, there’s really nothing unique about the breakfast offerings. So, in my opinion, breakfast at Whispering Canyon is good, but nothing to write home about. Again, it was fairly early and there were hardly any diners yet, except for us and two other tables. One of the waitresses got off on a tirade about the new marketing campaign, saying “It’s no longer dreams and wishes, people. This year you celebrate. If you have nothing to celebrate, just celebrate today. If you have dreams… too bad, you should’ve come last year.” and so on and so forth. Her delivery was hilarious and she had us all laughing out loud!

After breakfast we went to the room to pack up the rest of our stuff. Sheer stupidity must have led us to think it was a good idea to take everything to the car ourselves. Ummm… does anyone remember that picture of the hallway I posted oh so many moons ago?!

Before we ever left for the trip I spent much time contemplating how I wanted to reveal the resort to him. I knew I wanted to wait until the last possible moment and I figured the only way I could do that would be if I was the one in the driver’s seat. Soooooooo…. as we finished packing up the car I offered to drive. He didn’t take the bait so I had to insist, and as I did, suspicion set in. A big smile crept across his face and he said “We’re not going to the All-Stars, are we?!”

“Nope!”

He happily handed me the keys and started guessing. Where, oh where could we possibly be going?! Of course I denied each guess and it became a game as we passed our options, checking off every resort as we went. Brett was pretty much convinced it would be a moderate resort. Therefore, when we passed up all options but the All-Stars and AKL, he looked at me incredulously and asked if I was just trying to trick him. Of course not, I would never! I don’t think he fully believed me until we got to the security gate and I gave them my name.

Once we parked and were headed up to the lobby I think it had finally sunk in. Brett was so excited and thankful, telling me he didn’t know how I could top myself next year. Hmm… a challenge. Maybe I should start planning now! Keeping the secret was so worth it because his reaction was priceless. And because he knows me so well, the next thing out of his mouth was “You didn’t go and make Jiko reservations, did you?” I couldn’t keep a straight face. While he kept saying I shouldn’t have, he did agree with me, how can you stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and NOT eat at Jiko?! Check-in was smooth as could be; Brett got his birthday button and the first of a million “Happy Birthday’s” of the trip. Lucky us, our 3rd floor pool view room was ready. And it was only 9:30 in the morning! This is starting off to be a fabulous day!

As we were walking away from the counter another CM stopped us and wanted to know if we’d be interested in participating in a study. We’re always game to provide information so we said yes. Basically, she wanted us to document our trip in a provided “diary.” Everything was coded, and we had to track where we went each day, where we ate, how much it was, how much we spent on merchandise, how many fastpasses we used, and a few other miscellaneous things. For our trouble we would receive a $25 Disney gift card 6-8 weeks after we submitted the completed diary. Heck… at this rate our gift card will be here before I’m done with this trip report! :ROFLOL:

For anyone who's interested, here are some pictures of the journal:

I’d never heard of this before, but I’d be willing to do it on every trip. Filling this out was no problem for me because I save all receipts anyway, and keep a brief journal, which I update each evening, so I just updated the diary at the same time. For some people though, I can see where this might have been more of a hassle.

We were so busy getting checked in I didn’t get many pictures of the lobby area. I love the Animal Kingdom Lodge and if forced to choose between it and the Wilderness Lodge, it gets top billing in my book. The theming at all of the Disney resorts is top notch, but the AKL simply takes it to a whole new level. The resort fully immerses guests in another world entirely.

Victoria Falls Lounge… my favorite resort bar on property. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time (or the funds) to fully utilize it during this trip:

 

[HollyBelle]

After a few quick pictures of the lobby we were off to check out our room! We were in # 3474, at the VERY END of the the first arm off the Zebra Trail. Wow, someone’s trying to tell us we need our exercise this week! The good thing about this location is we were right beside the stairwell that leads down to the hot tub and Uzima Springs!

I love the room décor at AKL. It’s one of the best on property, in my opinion:

Bathroom:

A fun giraffe wall hanging:

Behold… our pool view:

Okay, so I think A LOT of the pool view rooms look like this. I’m guessing what was once a pool view is no longer a pool view because of all the trees and shrubbery that have grown in. I was a little disappointed at first, but it really wasn’t a big deal. I paid the extra $10 a night for the pool view mostly to avoid the possibility of having a parking lot view or one of those horrible ground floor rooms that look right out at the bus stop and smoking areas. So this was perfectly fine by us.

“Where’s the pool, Dale? The girl said there’d be a pool.”
“I don’t’ know, Chipper. Maybe if we climb out on that tree limb we’ll get a glimpse of it!”

 

[HollyBelle]

As soon as bell services brought up our luggage we left for the Studios. We parked in Film and hopped on a tram to the front of the park.

It’s hard to believe that this was already the 6th day, but only our first morning at the Studios. We immediately headed over to the Magic of Disney Animation to see Carl and friends. We probably waited in a 45 minute line, but lucky for us, all three characters were out when it was our turn… well four, we can’t forget Kevin. I love that they found a way to include him in the meet and greet. We got some great interaction time and some good pictures, too.

Carl, Kevin and I:

Russell petting the dogs:

All of us:

After meeting the Up characters, we found out Brett’s family was in the fastpass queue for TSMM so we wandered around a bit and met some characters that were new to us: Jojo and Goliath!

 

[HollyBelle]

We headed over to Muppets from there- I love this area of the park.

After continually trying to meet up with Brett’s family, we finally did at the Writer’s Stop. We hung out for a little bit, and Brett filled them in on our new accommodations!

A vintage poster in the shop:

My favorite little detail in the place is the Mickey mirror! And of course, books, because what would a writing shop be without them?:

Brett and I didn’t stick around long though because we had lunch reservations at the Turf Club over at Saratoga Springs. I captured another Celebrate banner on our way out:

 

[HollyBelle]

Like Olivia’s (at OKW), the Turf Club tends to have a sizeable number of non-vacationer’s dining during lunch. While this might take you out of the “Disney” atmosphere a bit, the food is very good and it makes for a great lunch spot.

For lunch Brett had a burger, which he raved about and I had the crab cake appetizer as my meal. The mango salsa is to die for… I could eat a big heaping bowl of that stuff alone:

After lunch we hit up one of the pool tables, something else we wouldn’t normally take the time for; so let’s add it to the Super Trip list! Brett and I actually played in a billiards league while in college so it was fun to see if we were still any good. Brett was. Me, not so much!

We bid farewell to Saratoga Springs and the gargantuan balloon in the distance and made our way back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

 

[HollyBelle]

After unpacking we wandered around the resort for a bit and introduced ourselves to some of the animals. I love the flamingos. They’re so strange and unusual, but beautiful all the same:

Uzima Springs:

The area just outside of Jiko is one of my favorites on the whole property. I think the running “creek” is so peaceful and beautiful.

And the Asante Sana sign inevitably gets me singing “asante sana, squash banana.” You've gotta love Rafiki!

I hope to have the rest of the day up in a little bit!

 

[HollyBelle]

After such a relaxing afternoon we went back to the Studios in search of more characters. Before leaving for the trip, we had read that “random” characters were making appearances at the Magic of Disney Animation in the late afternoon. As soon as we got in the park, we saw a slew of character attendants up front so I asked one of them if characters would be coming out in the area and he told me High School Musical was about to start. Grrrrrr. But then he said “for you character fans, there’s something special happening at 5pm today in the Animation building,” which confirmed what we were hoping to be true.

So off to the Magic of Disney Animation we went, taking some pictures along the way.

We had some time to kill so I twirled a bit with June:

 

[HollyBelle]

We hung out in the Animation building for a little bit, just anticipating who would be dropping by. Right at 5pm the place was crawling with character attendant CMs. Shortly thereafter, the following characters all made an appearance: the Evil Queen, Pinocchio and Geppetto, Friar Tuck, Mary Poppins and a penguin, and Goofy and Max. And twenty minutes later they switched out with another group: Jafar and Ratcliffe, Chip and Dale, Stitch, Pocahontas and Meeko, and Pluto and Minnie Mouse. These were all characters we’d met before but it was so exciting to see a random character greeting. This really needs to happen more often. Turns out, the characters all do two twenty minute sets alternating with one another from 5-6:20 pm. And because not many people were in the Animation building, the lines were short and we were able to meet everyone during the first two sets.

For whatever reason, my camera was acting up and the pictures aren’t real crisp.

Of course when we met Pinocchio we had to be marionettes! I love just how professorial Geppetto looks in this picture:

We tried to do a penguin waddle with Mary and Mr. Penguin, but I think it’s kind of hard to tell, especially because you can’t see our feet:

The Evil Queen was cracking me up… I couldn’t keep a straight face:

Jafar and Ratcliffe:

And possibly my favorite character interaction of the trip goes to Chip and Dale. They turned me into a Munk Sandwich as soon as they saw me. I could not stop laughing because they would not let me go… it went on for some time:

At one point, while we were waiting in line for Chip and Dale, Dug took off from the Up set and made a beeline for the chipmunks. “Squirrel… Squirrel” is what he was trying to tell his attendant. Of course, Chip and Dale started taunting him. It was hilarious.

 

[HollyBelle]

After experiencing the character bonanza we made our way out of the park and over to Downtown Disney. We walked around a bit before heading over to Raglan Road for dinner.

Raglan Road from across the way:

Signage:

Self portrait time again:

Some kind man took pity on us when he saw us struggling and offered to take our picture:

Funny thing is, I’m actually partial to the self portrait!

When we tried to check in for our 7:30 pm reservations, we weren’t on the list… after some searching the hostess found a red-flag reservation for 7:30 pm, June 16. We no-showed!! Uh-oh. Looks like the individual who made our reservations over the phone mixed up the months. This freaked me out at first because I was thinking about all our other reservations, especially JIKO! But then I realized I only made two reservations with that call and the other one was the Captain’s Grille, which was sure to still be available. The hostess looked them up and all the others were there. Whew!

We were seated right away and our server was quick with the Newcastle’s! What service! I really wanted an appetizer and knew I couldn’t finish it and a meal, so we ordered an appetizer and split the entrée special. This turned out to be a great idea.

The yummy scallop forest with lime dipping sauce:

And the BEST BONE-IN PORK CHOP EVER with parmesan mash and apples:

A night at Raglan Road isn’t complete without some clogging. This chick must be good at multi-tasking, considering she was also our hostess:

 

[HollyBelle]

That evening, we decided it would be good of us to meet back up with Brett’s family so we called them to see where they were. They had just finished dinner at Whispering Canyon and were on their way back to the Magic Kingdom… so off to the Kingdom it was.

We caught up with them in Toontown as the lights were coming on in Minnie's house:

And Pete's Garage was looking a bit spooky:

We took our time wandering through the park, just enjoying nighttime at the Kingdom. Over in Adventureland we hit up Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise before SpectroMagic started. Again, I indulged myself with a dole whip and watched from Frontierland as the parade exited the park. It was the early parade and much more crowded back there, but still a good show!

Brett’s family called it a night because they had to pack up and get things ready to go. We thanked them for everything and said our goodbyes. Then we made a snap decision to head back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and enjoy Uzima Springs and the hot tub before turning in for the night. Our room location made this ever so convenient!

While we didn’t accomplish much of anything at the parks throughout the day, it was still one of my favorite days of the entire trip.

Up next: The Birthday weekend finally begins!