My Animal Kingdom Lodge Grand Villa Vacation!! With a side trip to see Harry!

Yep! A grand villa at Animal Kingdom Lodge. :sohappy: No words can describe the awesomeness. Any other resort, no matter how deluxe, is going to be a letdown from here on out. In fact, my house was a bit of a disappointment when I got back. :lol:

Who: Us, the DVC members who were kind enough to use our points to take family. :D That's me Tammy- travel agent extraordinaire:lol:, dear hubby - air force officer extraordinaire who was wise enough to buy DVC two years ago, ds15 - our high school student/the quarterback who missed a football game for this trip and whose coach wasn't very happy with me :lookaroun and dd12 - who turned 13 today.:)

My in-laws whom you may recognize from my Mediterranean cruise report from May.

My brother in law and his family.

Here we are!

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When: October 3-10. On my niece’s fall break. My kids flat out skipped school. :D

What: This was supposed to be a relaxing, enjoy our resort kind of trip. I think we succeeded. We took a lot of breaks. We also took advantage of our full kitchen. The in-laws loaded us up on groceries. We ate breakfast in the room every morning and came back for another meal most days. We were trying to cut down on the quantity of food we ate.

Disclaimers: First, I took a bazillion pictures and am working my way through them, but life gets in the way. This report may take a while, but I've got the first couple of days done. Second, I am not good at food pictures. I forget to take them and someone's usually eating before I get a chance.:lol: You'll have to go elsewhere for those. Third, I may offend some with my rather conservative opinions on Disney appropriate behavior. You may think me a prude and I don't mean to offend, lets just agree to disagree.:)
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
My son loves those crocs. They go with everything! No one believes us when we tell them they are crocs. I'm trying to talk hubby into a pair too.

Exactly!! My kind of heaven too!! Come on hubby!!:sohappy:

Yeppers. Total kudos to Crocs for doing different things that are less Croc-like. Chandler's old dress shoes were the same material as your son's but they had laces. The insoles were removable Crocs cushions. Got 'em on clearance for like $13 to wear to a funeral. But, dang, if that boy's feet would stop growing so fast. He's 14 and his feet are bigger than mine (and I have full-on Yeti feet).

Have you shown your hubby pics from inside those Grand Villas??? Especially the ones that overlook the MK???? Those are absolutely breathtaking!
 

WishIWasAtWDW

Well-Known Member
another great set of pictures! and i also LOVE survivor! i was so sad that jimmy johnson got voted out! i thought he was great. i never watch tv either while at wdw but its painful to have to wait until i get home to watch all my shows. especially reality tv. anyway...enough survivor talk :lol: great update!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yeppers. Total kudos to Crocs for doing different things that are less Croc-like. Chandler's old dress shoes were the same material as your son's but they had laces. The insoles were removable Crocs cushions. Got 'em on clearance for like $13 to wear to a funeral. But, dang, if that boy's feet would stop growing so fast. He's 14 and his feet are bigger than mine (and I have full-on Yeti feet).

Have you shown your hubby pics from inside those Grand Villas??? Especially the ones that overlook the MK???? Those are absolutely breathtaking!

I totally agree about the crocs. They don't all have to be ugly! Heaven knows they are stinking comfortable. Dd and I wear various croc flip flops every day at Disney.

I need to show him some more pictures apparently!:lol:

another great set of pictures! and i also LOVE survivor! i was so sad that jimmy johnson got voted out! i thought he was great. i never watch tv either while at wdw but its painful to have to wait until i get home to watch all my shows. especially reality tv. anyway...enough survivor talk :lol: great update!

I was so sad too!! He was so likable!! I'm in total catch up mode now. It is painful!:lol:
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I just got my photopass disc! Woo hoo! So I interrupt this trip report to add in pictures that should have been there earlier.

Here's the girls at AK:

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Here's some of us at DHS:

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All of us!

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Buzz and Woody!!

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Dh and I got in on the character interaction:

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Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Love this shot! The queue of ToT is one of my favorite locations in all the world. It captures the feeling of walking through the misty queue on a hot morning.



The colors in this pic remind me of a vintage Disney postcard. Love it!

Thanks DipSu! I went a little strong on the processing on the second one, but I like it.:)
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Hey Tammy! Wanna thank you for the pics of your son wearing those Crocs with shorts and showing how well they work together. I showed the pics to Chandler yesterday. He finally got what I've been trying to tell him about how they work with anything. And he let me buy him some! WooooHoooo!!!! Now hopefully when they get here they'll fit. LOL!

Cool beans! When's the next update due???? :D
 

Tiggerish

Resident Redhead
Premium Member
Love this shot! The queue of ToT is one of my favorite locations in all the world. It captures the feeling of walking through the misty queue on a hot morning.



The colors in this pic remind me of a vintage Disney postcard. Love it!

I have to say that these are my two favorite pictures, as well.

Great photopass shots! It's always great to see the photographer (you) get in the picture sometimes.

I haven't ordered my photopass pics yet--we have another trip coming up mid-November, so I am going to pay the extra $10 for a 15-day extension in order to get both trips on one CD.
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hey Tammy! Wanna thank you for the pics of your son wearing those Crocs with shorts and showing how well they work together. I showed the pics to Chandler yesterday. He finally got what I've been trying to tell him about how they work with anything. And he let me buy him some! WooooHoooo!!!! Now hopefully when they get here they'll fit. LOL!

Cool beans! When's the next update due???? :D

Yay! I bet he'll love them! :sohappy:

I'll try to update soon! I have several photography jobs that I'm photoshopping right now. I'm working on someones senior pictures right now, but hopefully I'll get back to Disney pictures soon!

I have to say that these are my two favorite pictures, as well.

Great photopass shots! It's always great to see the photographer (you) get in the picture sometimes.

I haven't ordered my photopass pics yet--we have another trip coming up mid-November, so I am going to pay the extra $10 for a 15-day extension in order to get both trips on one CD.

That's a great idea to get both trips on! I hope you like yours!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday – October 7th

Epcot today! We slept in another 30 minutes and left the room at 8:30 today. Crazy! My niece had said the morning before that it wasn’t really feeling like a vacation. :lookaroun Poor teenagers, they just needed sleep. So we gave them a little more.:lol:

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Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
When we got there, we went right to Test Track which we rode 3 times. I realized I forgot my phone in the car :rolleyes: and walked back to the car while everyone else rode the 3rd time.

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Ds is dreaming here:

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When I got back they were on their way to Mission Space. While the three of us who weren’t riding waited, we made multiple alien videos to send back to ourselves. It was highly entertaining.

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Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Next we walked to Soarin. We fell in love with this ride while we lived in California, and it will always be one of my favorite rides ever.

After that, we ignored the tempting smells of Sunshine Seasons and went back to the room for lunch! This was so unlike me, but we really did save a lot of money, and got to spend more time in our villa! Double bonus.:sohappy:

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We found Stitch on the way out:

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On the tram:

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Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After a short break in the room we went back to Epcot. The wait for Spaceship Earth was 0, so we rode it first.

Next we went to Innoventions so the kids could ride Sum of All Thrills. They enjoyed it but said they liked the simulator coaster at DisneyQuest better.

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We went to Club Cool next and forced everyone to try Beverly. Really, what were the Italians thinking?

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We started off in the World Showcase next. Ran into Donald on the way!

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Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It was time for Kim Possible next. We broke into two groups and saved China and the World! I got some cute pictures of the activities (and the ending which I love) but I don’t want to spoil the surprises, so here are some general pictures:

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Getting instructions:

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Off to China!

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Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After leaving China we were on a mission to find Aurora for my niece. On the way, I got a text from Pam! Yes, that Pam, the owner of Kingdom Konsultants! :) She was in Germany which we just walked through. I told everyone to go ahead and I went back to meet up with her! I talk to her often of course, but only see her once or twice a year, so that was a treat! I should have taken a picture! I don't know what I was thinking! :rolleyes:

I found everyone again in France watching the chair guys and waiting in line for Aurora.

I am spacing on where and when I took these:

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We had reservations at my favorite tonight, Le Cellier. I had talked it up, so I was really hoping it wouldn’t disappoint!

We ran into Mary Poppins on the way.

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Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It did not disappoint. Everyone loved it. Ds ate enough pretzel bread to feed an army.

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Little texting while we waited:

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I caught Canada in dd’s sunglasses:

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After that meal, we needed to walk! We used our Fastpasses for Maelstrom. Then we split up. Some went to American Adventure while others went to Mousegear to shop. Look at these adorable crocs!! Dd got a pair.

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We stopped by character connection again to see if the wait was short, but alas, no. Not short enough for teenagers anyway.:animwink:
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
They went off to Test Track one more time. This lady next to the kids in the paisley shirt cracks me up. I can hear her thought process, “What? Oh, are we supposed to raise our hands here?”

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and we entertained ourselves with some fun photopass photos! :lookaroun

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Then we got some spots for Illuminations. We were near Mexico and we had a surprisingly good view! No tripod though. :cry: Afterwards it was bedtime! We all agreed to sleep in tomorrow before our teenagers revolted.:lol:
 

Nicole220

Well-Known Member
We're in Colorado Springs! We've only been here 14 months and will probably leave next summer. We love it here though!
I just moved back from 2 years in Colorado...I loved it there! (except for the cold and snow).


You guys are SO fun! I love it. I want to join you guys on a vacation. :lol:
 

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