Cosmo
Member
Hi Everyone! Just back and here's how it was (this is my first trip report, so be nice). This was a pre-honeymoon, get away from the family because they're driving us crazy weekend trip. My honey and I are getting married 11/30 and going to disney and staying at the Polynesian for 4 nights, but we wanted to go this past weekend to catch the food and wine festival and just kind of chill.
So we stayed at the AKL (first time for both of us). We had a great deal (can't remember if it was for being fl. residents or annual passholders) We left on friday morning about 11am or so and had a great ride down I-75. The only bad part was the construction off the turnpike right on the I-4 exit (which in my infinite wisdom i missed and had to get off at the next exit and double back). Finally got to akl at 1ish and it is GORGEOUS!!! HOLY COW!!! Really, just amazing. Valet parked the car and checked in. We stayed on the second floor of the kudu trail rooms. Great savannah view, there were giraffes and birds of all kinds and weird cow things with huge horns (so i'm not a wildlife expert!:lol: ) There was SOOO much to do at just the resort. We joked that we didn't even need to go to the parks at all because of all the activities at the resort! But after having a couple of adult beverages and hanging out looking at the cowthings we jumped in the car and drove over to mgm. There were really no crowds and walked on ToT. When we went to RnRC it was closed!!! Then about 5 minutes later it opened back up (anybody know what was up with that?). We then strolled over for our PS at Brown Derby (one of our favourites, we eat there every trip). We even had the same waiter we had when we went for our engagement weekend and he remembered us and brought us champagne. We started with the Cobb salad (YUMMY!!) and then i had the filet mignon with a lobster tail. It was better when they served it with regular potatoes and now they use boniato (a sweet potato thing) but it was still good. Amy had the grouper and practically swallowed it whole! She had the white chocolate cheesecake with a godiva liquer and i finished with the creme brulee and a brandy!! Everything was great as always.
We then went over to epcot and stolled around and looked at all the stuff for the food and wine festival. We watched illuminations from the rose & crown and had a drink while the park emptied.
Back at the lodge we hit the game room (where i kicked her butt at air hockey and she kicked mine at ms. pac-man). We sat by the fire and then went to sleep in the room!
Slept in the next day and woke with some yummy room service. We wanted to spend the day at epcot and enjoy the festival. We poked around the resort (that fire place is VERY VERY nice) and went to jump on the bus to epcot around 1ish.
It rained....and rained....and rained....the deluge
But we pressed on...nothing's going to keep us away from food! We had an umbrella, which amy stole from me, and i braved it in my little sweater thing. It was really only drizzling but our feet were soaked by the rivers of water everywhere. It was very very very empty (as you can imagine) and we went on bodywars with no wait. Then we went straight for the countries. The rain really didn't bother us that much, but it kind of ruined the festival. Its kind of hard to enjoy food or beverage when its getting soaked! It was also hard to balance an umbrella, plate, utensil and beverage....couldn't even buy a popcorn because it would have melted! And still we pressed on. Finally arriving at Japan and went inside to get some sushi. The majority of the gift shop is closed! They had alot of items outside the gift shop but the windows are boarded up at the end closest to World showcase lagoon.
Then...it REALLY started to rain. I'm talking rain...i swear i saw noah and an ark!!!
We decided that we needed some real food and to remain dry so we made a ps at italy for later and walked off to mouse gear. I was drenched and didn't want to eat in a puddle, so i bought a nice (dry) t-shirt and another umbrella for me. of course, right after we bought the umbrella it stopped raining. No kidding...no more rain. I didn't even open the darn thing...i was a little chagrined about that, but a guiness in ireland helped put things right. The crowds were still pretty non-existant and when we went to italy it was pretty empty. Maybe on 10% full. Had a great meal (lamb for me, fettucine and lasagna for her). Then more stolling and munching on sweets. We left during illuminations.
Back at the resort we changed into warm and dry clothes and headed for the bar. Then strolled though the viewing areas and finally rested in the lobby (hmmmmm...fireplace.....)
The next morning we went over to AK and it was pretty empty too. No wait for dinosaur at all (her favourite). The weather was excellent (for me). Perfectly clear and chilly though it was a little cold for amy...she's a wimp! There was a pretty good line for the safari so we skipped it and went to epcot to eat eat eat....
and we did. The weather was beautiful all day. And we had a great time eating and talking and people watching.
The gates on the Maelstrom look cool and the safety spiel is pretty cute. Italy is still under renovation as is part of the gift shop in china. The Spain (andalucia) area was COOL and we kept going back again and again for free samples of the olive oil. It looks great and like alot of work went into building it. Its hard to believe that its only temporary...it looks so...permanent! The building looks great as does the deck...i really really wish it would stay!
The Sam Adams History of Beer in America was cool too. I really liked the winter lager. Oh...we saw chubby checker (from afar) and laughed at the huge line of people waiting to see him when we saw him just great without waiting by sitting by the fountain in front of the American Adventure!
We finally left epcot around 6ish or so just kind of walking slowly and snuggling against the cold and talking about how in two weeks we'll be back as Mr. and Mrs. We're also trying to decide if we want to wear the mickey/minnie wedding hat things or if we should just tell everyone and not wear those things (i don't want to). We got back home in time for simpsons and sopranos and talked about what a beautiful time we had.
all in all a great time. The weather could have been better saturday but made up for itself on sunday. The crowds were non-existant and there was disney magic everywhere. It was a great de-stress from the wedding plans trip and we can't wait to see the Polynesian (first time for Amy) in only 12 days!!
Sorry its so long...hope you enjoyed it.
So we stayed at the AKL (first time for both of us). We had a great deal (can't remember if it was for being fl. residents or annual passholders) We left on friday morning about 11am or so and had a great ride down I-75. The only bad part was the construction off the turnpike right on the I-4 exit (which in my infinite wisdom i missed and had to get off at the next exit and double back). Finally got to akl at 1ish and it is GORGEOUS!!! HOLY COW!!! Really, just amazing. Valet parked the car and checked in. We stayed on the second floor of the kudu trail rooms. Great savannah view, there were giraffes and birds of all kinds and weird cow things with huge horns (so i'm not a wildlife expert!:lol: ) There was SOOO much to do at just the resort. We joked that we didn't even need to go to the parks at all because of all the activities at the resort! But after having a couple of adult beverages and hanging out looking at the cowthings we jumped in the car and drove over to mgm. There were really no crowds and walked on ToT. When we went to RnRC it was closed!!! Then about 5 minutes later it opened back up (anybody know what was up with that?). We then strolled over for our PS at Brown Derby (one of our favourites, we eat there every trip). We even had the same waiter we had when we went for our engagement weekend and he remembered us and brought us champagne. We started with the Cobb salad (YUMMY!!) and then i had the filet mignon with a lobster tail. It was better when they served it with regular potatoes and now they use boniato (a sweet potato thing) but it was still good. Amy had the grouper and practically swallowed it whole! She had the white chocolate cheesecake with a godiva liquer and i finished with the creme brulee and a brandy!! Everything was great as always.
We then went over to epcot and stolled around and looked at all the stuff for the food and wine festival. We watched illuminations from the rose & crown and had a drink while the park emptied.
Back at the lodge we hit the game room (where i kicked her butt at air hockey and she kicked mine at ms. pac-man). We sat by the fire and then went to sleep in the room!
Slept in the next day and woke with some yummy room service. We wanted to spend the day at epcot and enjoy the festival. We poked around the resort (that fire place is VERY VERY nice) and went to jump on the bus to epcot around 1ish.
It rained....and rained....and rained....the deluge
But we pressed on...nothing's going to keep us away from food! We had an umbrella, which amy stole from me, and i braved it in my little sweater thing. It was really only drizzling but our feet were soaked by the rivers of water everywhere. It was very very very empty (as you can imagine) and we went on bodywars with no wait. Then we went straight for the countries. The rain really didn't bother us that much, but it kind of ruined the festival. Its kind of hard to enjoy food or beverage when its getting soaked! It was also hard to balance an umbrella, plate, utensil and beverage....couldn't even buy a popcorn because it would have melted! And still we pressed on. Finally arriving at Japan and went inside to get some sushi. The majority of the gift shop is closed! They had alot of items outside the gift shop but the windows are boarded up at the end closest to World showcase lagoon.
Then...it REALLY started to rain. I'm talking rain...i swear i saw noah and an ark!!!
We decided that we needed some real food and to remain dry so we made a ps at italy for later and walked off to mouse gear. I was drenched and didn't want to eat in a puddle, so i bought a nice (dry) t-shirt and another umbrella for me. of course, right after we bought the umbrella it stopped raining. No kidding...no more rain. I didn't even open the darn thing...i was a little chagrined about that, but a guiness in ireland helped put things right. The crowds were still pretty non-existant and when we went to italy it was pretty empty. Maybe on 10% full. Had a great meal (lamb for me, fettucine and lasagna for her). Then more stolling and munching on sweets. We left during illuminations.
Back at the resort we changed into warm and dry clothes and headed for the bar. Then strolled though the viewing areas and finally rested in the lobby (hmmmmm...fireplace.....)
The next morning we went over to AK and it was pretty empty too. No wait for dinosaur at all (her favourite). The weather was excellent (for me). Perfectly clear and chilly though it was a little cold for amy...she's a wimp! There was a pretty good line for the safari so we skipped it and went to epcot to eat eat eat....
and we did. The weather was beautiful all day. And we had a great time eating and talking and people watching.
The gates on the Maelstrom look cool and the safety spiel is pretty cute. Italy is still under renovation as is part of the gift shop in china. The Spain (andalucia) area was COOL and we kept going back again and again for free samples of the olive oil. It looks great and like alot of work went into building it. Its hard to believe that its only temporary...it looks so...permanent! The building looks great as does the deck...i really really wish it would stay!
The Sam Adams History of Beer in America was cool too. I really liked the winter lager. Oh...we saw chubby checker (from afar) and laughed at the huge line of people waiting to see him when we saw him just great without waiting by sitting by the fountain in front of the American Adventure!
We finally left epcot around 6ish or so just kind of walking slowly and snuggling against the cold and talking about how in two weeks we'll be back as Mr. and Mrs. We're also trying to decide if we want to wear the mickey/minnie wedding hat things or if we should just tell everyone and not wear those things (i don't want to). We got back home in time for simpsons and sopranos and talked about what a beautiful time we had.
all in all a great time. The weather could have been better saturday but made up for itself on sunday. The crowds were non-existant and there was disney magic everywhere. It was a great de-stress from the wedding plans trip and we can't wait to see the Polynesian (first time for Amy) in only 12 days!!
Sorry its so long...hope you enjoyed it.
