Trip Report The Emmy and Matt’s Birthdays and Audrey’s First Trip Trip Report…!!!!!

Who: myself (Steve), my wife of almost 35 years (Carolyn), our 3 grown children (Megan, Matthew -Matt turned 31 during our trip- and Sarah), our son-in-law (Daniel), and our 2 granddaughters (Emory, “Emmy”, turned 5 during the trip, and Audrey turned 2 in June)…!!! :)

When: Oct. 3rd to Oct. 8th, 2023.

Where: AKL, and our first deluxe resort stay. My dear DWifey found some crazy deal online and we stayed for about 65% off regular room rates…all the beautiful women in my life do this, they find deals…!!!!! :inlove::hilarious:

Anyway, this is us…!!!!! :inlove::happy:

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donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am here! I love staying at AKL. The ambiance is truly magical. Looking forward to more!

Thanks for following…!!! :)
And yes, AKL is a beautiful, Magical resort…!!! :)
Being in room #5555, we were about a hundred miles from the main lobby, but, we all got some good exercise, and didn’t mind…!!!!! :hilarious:

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How nice that your whole family got to go!

Thank you, and thanks for following…!!! :)
Having us all there together was awesome…!!!!! :happy:

You've got my attention here, too!

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Thanks for following, Minnie, my friend…!!! :)

I'm following along. I love AKL.

Thank you for following…!!! :)
We’ve always wanted to stay at either AKL or WL, and the stars just happened to align for AKL…just beautiful…!!!!! :inlove:
And, we had no issues with the buses, either…!!!!! 😀
 

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, October 3rd, continued…

After we got settled into our rooms, about 2p, Emmy and Audrey took about a half-hour nap while the rest of us chilled. We’d all been up since about 4:15a, and Audrey napped a little during their flight, but, Emmy did not.

With everyone having had a little rest, we then headed down to The Mara for some snacks (including Zebra Domes :hungry:). Although, I only had one Zebra Dome, and the only other “snack” I had was an Angry Orchard…!!!!! :hungry::hilarious:

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donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, October 3rd, continued…

After The Mara, we caught a bus to Disney Springs, to do some browsing and exploring…!!! :) This would be the first time any of us had visited since all the changes.
We liked a lot of the newness of it, but, we also liked that the old Marketplace seemed largely untouched…good memories from there…!!! :)

Someone also decided they needed a little more nap time…!!! ;)

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After checking things out sufficiently, for now ;), we headed off to our 5:45p ADR at Raglan Road.
Daniel (SonIL) is mostly of Irish descent, and he and Megan have travelled to Ireland and Europe before, so they wanted to check it out.
Along the way, they picked up some vegan cheese and olive pizzas from Blaze Pizza, for Emmy and Audrey to take to Raglan Road to eat.
Megan and the girls are eating vegan these days. Megan has been vegan for years now (the girls, all their lives), but, Daniel is an omnivore, that definitely leans towards carnivore…!!!!! :hilarious:

We got to Raglan Road a little early, and chose to eat outside, at a table with a large umbrella.
At that point, the weather was really nice.
There was also outside entertainment, as well as the usual inside entertainment, but, the outside entertainment is a bit more…….subdued…?!!!!! 😂;)

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Daniel and I each had a Guinness, and the ladies had different cocktails that I don’t remember, other than Sarah’s was some kinda’ coffee martini thing. Everyone enjoyed what they ordered…!!! :)

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The line for Gideon’s Bakehouse was crazy…!!!!! 🤪:hilarious:;);)
Three pics of that below…

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Not long after I took those pics (and before we got our food - we had already ordered), we had about a 5 minute downpour, and made a buncha’ new friends from other tables that didn’t have large umbrellas…!!!!! 🤣
During the downpour, I didn’t see one person bolt from the Gideon’s line, and most of those folks were gettin’ flat-out soaked…!!!!! :hilarious:

Before the downpour, and then a faint rainbow (above an Irish Pub - although we did not go in search of a pot of gold ;)), after the downpour, below…

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Next up: food pics…!!!!! :hungry:
 

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, October 3rd, continued…

We skipped the apps because of our earlier snack time visit to The Mara.

For mains, Carolyn had the Shepherd’s to Die for Pie, Daniel and Matt had the OMG Burger, and I had the Fish & Chips, respectively…

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Megan had the This Shepherd Went Vegan pie, and I don’t remember what Sarah had. And I have no pics of either.
On a side note: Carolyn, Megan and Matthew don’t mind me taking food pics, but, Sarah is more “Dad…?! :rolleyes:“…!!!!! :cool:😅
Although there were no major standout dishes, we all enjoyed our meals…!!!!! :hungry:

Below is a short video of the entertainment guys singing happy birthday to Emory…!!!!! :inlove::happy:



After all that fun (and it was fun), we started heading back to AKL about 7:30p, as we had rope drop at MK for Emmy’s 5th birthday the next morning…!!!!! :inlove: :happy:

Up next: Emmy’s 5th birthday at MK the next day…!!!!!!! :joyfull:
 
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donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Now that my son has moved to Orlando I've learned there is a cult like following for Gideon's! He told me they obviously like the cookies and such but apparently the merch including clothing and paper/art work, is a huge deal and there are online forums where people trade, etc.

I believe it, as, like I posted, I didn’t see even one person scoot from that line during the downpour…!!!!! 😂
 

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday, October 4th, and Emmy’s 5th birthday…!!!!!!! :joyfull:

I should note, this trip included only two Park days…one for Emmy’s 5th birthday at MK on the 4th, and one for Matt’s 31st birthday at Epcot on the 7th…!!! :)
Beyond that, we found plenty of other things to do around AKL, Disney Springs, etc….!!! :)

Sunrise over the savanna at 6:58a, and then we hauled it down to the bus for MK that arrived at 7:11a…!!!!! :hilarious:

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We all entered MK (Audrey for the first time) at 8:13a, and then got some PPP pics of the birthday girl and her lil’ sis…!!!!! :inlove::happy:

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Up next: more Emmy MK birthday, of course…!!!!! :hilarious:;)
 
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donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday, October 4th, and Emmy’s 5th birthday, continued…

Waiting for rope drop at 8:26a…!!! :)

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Sun comin’ up behind the carousel spire…!!! :)

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Our first attraction was Little Mermaid.
Emmy and Audrey loved it, of course, and I finally got some decent pics on this ride.
But, in that last scene with Ariel and Eric, Ariel always looks like she had one too many Xanax…kinda’ reminds me of the older sisters wedding in Sixteen Candles…!!!!! :hilarious:

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donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday, October 4th, and Emmy’s 5th birthday, continued…

After the carousel, we headed for Sleepy Hollow for some breakfast.
Long story short, Megan was assured by a CM at the AKL front desk that Sleepy Hollow had vegan waffles, as his girlfriend gets them there all the time.
No. There were no vegan waffles on the menu at Sleepy Hollow. Sure your girlfriend gets them there “all the time” says the CM dude that I’m pretty sure does NOT even have a girlfriend…!!!!! :hilarious:
Also, we thought this place also had the Nutella waffles, but, no dice on that, either.
No biggie, as Daniel dashed to Starbucks for some bagels (Emmy and Audrey love ‘em :hungry:), and all was right with “The World” again…!!! ;)

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