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. 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!

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

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.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I have my files again! Yay! Big props to Crashplan and my brother in law for suggesting we set it up to back up each others computers every night!! It saved me many tears. Now all I lost was a laptop.

Saturday – October 9

The one thing we decided last night was to sleep in. It was becoming our theme for the last couple of days. I made it until 8 this time. We piddled around the resort until 10:30. I took some more pics of the villa.

This is a view down the hall from our bedroom to the kitchen:

Here’s a view down the hall from the kitchen to the other two bedrooms:

The hall to the laundry room and 4th bath:

Ds trying to eat his cereal in peace:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I finally got around to taking some wand pictures. Check out these awesome boxes!

The general consensus was that we hadn’t spent enough time at Epcot but it was an awkward time to leave. We decided to go Downtown Disney for a little while and then come back to the villa for lunch.

Before we left I ratted out some smokers below us. There were signs all over saying there was no smoking on the balconies and the lady below us was puffing away. Sorry to all the rule abiding smokers out there, but that really irritated me.

We agreed to only spend an hour at DD and then go back for lunch.

Characters in Flight:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We spent most of our time in the new Vinylmation store which was awesome! My kids are beyond hooked on vinylmations. We purchased several while we were there. They fact that they have trading stations now makes me more willing to buy them.

Check out this table:

This is the super cool sign inside:

This is the back of the sign:

I think I need this chandelier for one of the kid’s rooms:

When we got back to the resort we all ate lunch on the balcony. We saw some little warthogs for the first time:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Then we went down to Boma for some cookie decorating.

As a side note, here’s where having a washer and dryer doesn’t pay off. It was so easy to do laundry, we just threw loads in whenever we were in the villa. Well Dd loves this shirt and as soon as she saw it clean, she grabbed it! Now I have a shirt repeater in my trip report. I don’t like shirt repeaters.:lookaroun

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We walked around the resort a little more:

The girls on the bridge:

Everyone but Fil and Mil decided to go to Epcot for a few hours.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We started with Kim Possible again in the UK. The girls getting their mission:

We ran into Pooh and Tigger on the way. They needed some hugs:

The boys stayed to watch the British Invasion while the girls went to France for another mission.

Epcot was crazy crowded. The lines for the food and wine booths were crazy. Seriously. Crazy.

We found Aurora again:

And Marie!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We wandered through the shops of multiple countries with some stops along the way:

We searched for some Mickey bars and enjoyed them in Italy.

We paid for that photopass disc, we better take some more pictures!!

The girls decided to go back after that. Too much excitement, I'm sure.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We walked for a little while longer and decided to end with Captain EO. I don’t remember if I’ve seen it before or not, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!

While we were walking back, we were in a pretty heavy crowd. At this point I almost ran into someone who was dropping f-bombs. Flame away, but Disney in a crowd of kids is no place for that. I half muttered, half said aloud, “Wow!" Well, she wasn’t happy to say the least. She started yelling at me with f-ity this and f-ing that. Nice. I just shook my head, and kept walking.

Wouldn’t you know that about 3 minutes later we ran into a couple that was yelling at each other and, of course, dropping f-bombs. Really? Do people not realize how offensive that word is to a lot of people? When did it become okay to use in casual conversation and when you’re surrounded by kids? I didn’t want to get involved in an argument between two people so I kept my mouth shut that time.

We walked out through Boardwalk and back to our wonderful villa one last time. We ate at Mara. Yay, zebra domes!!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Then we went upstairs to pack and watch the Auburn game. The girls went swimming one more time.

I walked around to take my final pictures of the trip.

DME was picking us up at 5 am, so we said our goodbyes and went to bed.

Sunday – October 10

We were in the lobby by 5 to check in our bags. Off to the airport. The last day always tears me up, but this time departure came so early it almost helped. I didn’t have to walk down the hall with my suitcases passing people coming in with theirs. I HATE that!!:lol:

I miss my villa dearly. It has ruined me from normal hotel stays. I’m already plotting how we can use our points for a grand villa at BLT next time.

Thanks for reading!!:wave:

 

[erstwo]

I have LOVED this trip report!

When I saw you were updating, I stayed up late just to read the last installment. (Curse your Pacific time zone! :lol

I love that you got to see Prince Philip! Do you think he was out just because of the F&W festival? I know I've posted it here a million times, but my son would LOVE, LOVE to "meet" him.

Those last few nighttime shots of the AKL are stunning. Makes me wish I was sitting in that lobby right now!

Thanks for sharing with us! :wave:

 

[DAKOTADISNEY]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your trip report. The pictures of the villa are amazing and I can see why you are spoiled to stay in a standard room anymore. I laughed at the picture of your son eating breakfast at the table with his cell phone close at hand. I have a 15 yr. old daughter and has that thing with her at all times!

As for the language, I did hear one of the Jersey Shore cast was at WDW recently . They can't complete a sentence without using the F-word. I also get upset hearing that kind of language, especially on vacation at Disney.

Thank you for sharing your amazing trip with us!

 

[tiaragirl]

Great TR Tammy, thank you!

I laughed when I saw your distain for shirt-repeaters.. I feel the same way ahaha.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I have LOVED this trip report!

When I saw you were updating, I stayed up late just to read the last installment. (Curse your Pacific time zone! :lol

I love that you got to see Prince Philip! Do you think he was out just because of the F&W festival? I know I've posted it here a million times, but my son would LOVE, LOVE to "meet" him.

Those last few nighttime shots of the AKL are stunning. Makes me wish I was sitting in that lobby right now!

Thanks for sharing with us! :wave:

Thank you erstwo! I think I've seen Prince Philip there before! I could be totally wrong though. He wasn't there earlier in the week when we stopped to see Aurora though.

Thanks for reading!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your trip report. The pictures of the villa are amazing and I can see why you are spoiled to stay in a standard room anymore. I laughed at the picture of your son eating breakfast at the table with his cell phone close at hand. I have a 15 yr. old daughter and has that thing with her at all times!

As for the language, I did hear one of the Jersey Shore cast was at WDW recently . They can't complete a sentence without using the F-word. I also get upset hearing that kind of language, especially on vacation at Disney.

Thank you for sharing your amazing trip with us!

Maybe it was Snooki!!:lol:

I didn't even notice his cell phone there, but of course it was! It's like another appendage.:lol:

Great TR Tammy, thank you!

I laughed when I saw your distain for shirt-repeaters.. I feel the same way ahaha.

I'm glad someone feels my pain on that! It really messes with my pictures!:lol:

 

[iconjunkie]

Your TR was excellent! It's so exciting to hear about everyone's trips and it reminds me of all the things I want to see when I go next time.

The pictures were also lovely!!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Your TR was excellent! It's so exciting to hear about everyone's trips and it reminds me of all the things I want to see when I go next time.

The pictures were also lovely!!

Thank you iconjunkie!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

amazing trip report and pictures! loved it! thanks for sharing

 

[Disneyfalcon]

amazing trip report and pictures! loved it! thanks for sharing

Thanks for sticking with it WishIWasAtWDW!

 

[Raven66]

Great trip report and pictures. I love the photopass one when you are in DHS, the look on your mil's face is priceless. And the one with Stitch laying back on the curb.

I so enjoyed reading the whole thing!!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Killer report, Tammy! I gotta remember to do the crazy faces for photopass pics! Love those.

Shirt repeaters. I don't buy that many for us to go 10 days without repeating plus I shudder at the luggage bulk but I'm seeing a real stroke of genius in not having to repeat. If I don't "file" my pics at the end of every day it can make figuring out what was on what day sorta tedious if you've worn the same shirt twice. I hate having to look at the dates in the pic info. So, for picture sorting by day I can see where not washing & repeating shirts can help. Hhmmmm....

Your villa total kicked mega-bahonkus! (<---that's a Brian word) Seriously! I didn't think I'd ever feel the urge to stay at AKL again but you got me thinking of all the awesomeness we missed. Loved all your pics. I'm so totally jazzed for our upcoming trip now!

Oh! And if that BLT grand villa happens I'm totally sneaking in & camping on your floor! I'll earn my keep. Promise! Lol!

Thanks again for another fun-filled journey!
:wave:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Great trip report and pictures. I love the photopass one when you are in DHS, the look on your mil's face is priceless. And the one with Stitch laying back on the curb.

I so enjoyed reading the whole thing!!

Thank you, Raven! I'm not sure what mil was doing in that picure.:lol:

Killer report, Tammy! I gotta remember to do the crazy faces for photopass pics! Love those.

Shirt repeaters. I don't buy that many for us to go 10 days without repeating plus I shudder at the luggage bulk but I'm seeing a real stroke of genius in not having to repeat. If I don't "file" my pics at the end of every day it can make figuring out what was on what day sorta tedious if you've worn the same shirt twice. I hate having to look at the dates in the pic info. So, for picture sorting by day I can see where not washing & repeating shirts can help. Hhmmmm....

Your villa total kicked mega-bahonkus! (<---that's a Brian word) Seriously! I didn't think I'd ever feel the urge to stay at AKL again but you got me thinking of all the awesomeness we missed. Loved all your pics. I'm so totally jazzed for our upcoming trip now!

Oh! And if that BLT grand villa happens I'm totally sneaking in & camping on your floor! I'll earn my keep. Promise! Lol!

Thanks again for another fun-filled journey!
:wave:

See! That is a benefit of no shirt repeaters! I normally can tell exactly what day it was and which pictures go together. Now it's all messed up!:lol:

Mega-bahonkus. I like it!!

If I make it to a BLT grand villa you can definitely sneak in!