Trip Report Will it ever stop raining? Our June 2017 trip

Hi, all!! I've finally had a chance to start going through my photos and thought I would get started on my trip report! For those of you not familiar, here is my pre-trip report:
Adventure is out there...June 2017
If you don't want to read the PTR, here is a brief synopsis before I get started:
Who: Me (Amy), DH (Brian), DS Logan (14), DD Lily (12), and DS Owen (9)
When: June 2-17, 2017
Where: Universal Studios (Hard Rock Hotel), Disney (Art of Animation), and SeaWorld

For those of you who followed along with the live portion of my PTR, I apologize that some of the photos will be the same. I'm too lazy to go back and remember which ones I used!

I experienced one of the longest days of my life on Friday, June 2!! We left Dayton, Ohio before 5am.

Neither one of us drinks coffee, but we definitely needed some caffeine to start our morning! We stopped for the best Coke in the world!!

McDonald's!!
We had a little delay in Cincinnati because I-75 was closed both directions and we had to take a little detour.
We waved @LisaBelle and @21stamps and any other Cinci friends as we finally drove over the bridge and entered Kentucky!

We made sure to get past Lexington before morning rush hour, and stopped in Richmond for breakfast.

The kids had never had Chick fil A for breakfast, so we had to correct that!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Brian and Logan headed off to ride one of the other slides, and Lily, Owen, and I headed to Castaway Creek for a little relaxing.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Great pics of TL

How much for the private shack?

I have never considered it in the past. If it looks great

Max

Thanks!
It was $362 including tax. It includes a locker, a cooler full of bottled water, as many towels as you need, a refillable mug for each person, and an attendant that will fetch whatever you want, including food. The price is different depending on what time of year you are there.

 

[TheMouseFan]

We met back up with Brian and Logan at the Shack. It was a little after 11am at this point. We had just decided we would hop in the wave pool when they made everyone get out of the water due to an impending storm. We were allowed to stay in our area, as there was a lightning rod on the roof. It hadn't started raining yet, so the kids played in the sand a little more.
Lily and Owen's creation:

Brian and Logan's:

And then it started raining!

And it kept raining, and raining, and raining! We were unable to leave our shelter to get food or drinks or even go to the bathroom unless it was a true emergency. They weren't letting the attendants come to us either. Unfortunately, our roof was leaking, as were all the other shacks, so it was hard to find a place to sit and stay dry! Someone came around at about 12:30 to tell us that it would be at least 2 hours before they would even reassess the situation and possibly reopen the water to guests! After much debate, we decided to head back to our room. Not that we weren't already wet, but we were soaked and miserable by the time we got to the car!! At least we didn't have to deal with the whole bus thing and Disney Springs!! Lily was not at all happy with our decision, but what were we going to do for 2+ hours? It may have been different if we could have stayed dry, and gotten something to eat and used our mugs!

 

[TheMouseFan]

We spent the afternoon in the room relaxing and napping. It was still raining a little when we made our way to the bus stop to head to our dinner reservation. We hopped on the bus for MK.

Luckily, it had stopped raining by the time we got there, so we decided to walk to the Contemporary.


This sign cracked the kids up! They couldn't understand why it was even there!

We wandered and shopped a little.






And we caught the monorail to our next stop.

 

[TheMouseFan]

We wandered and shopped here as well.









Lily wanted to ride the elevator:

 

[TheMouseFan]

Then we decided to walk to our final destination.








Found a little friend along the way:



We were early for our ADR, so we wandered and shopped here too!

 

[TheMouseFan]

 

[TheMouseFan]

It was finally time for dinner!!


I wasn't too thrilled with our seat, but the food made up for it!


My favorite part of dinner, the Island Sunset!

Then my second favorite part, the potstickers!


Then Brian's favorite part, dessert! Lily and Owen ate these:

While the rest of us ate this:


Soooooo good!!

 

[TheMouseFan]

We caught a boat back to MK, then took a bus to Pop because the AoA line was horrendous!














When we got back, I had to stop in the lobby for some reason that I can't recall right now, but the CM asked me what we had done earlier in the day. I expressed my disappointment in the experience we had at TL. I said I knew that they couldn't control the weather, but we had been hoping to spend most of the day at TL, and instead having to get out of the water after only an hour and not being able to get back in. Without me asking, she offered to refund me the full amount we had paid for the Beachcomber Shack!! She put it as a credit on our room account. Talk about some Disney magic! I wasn't even fishing for any kind of compensation, just answering her question!

 

[amjt660]

I was going to ask if you had considered asking for a refund or a discount of some kind

I am glad it worked out

Max

 

[TheMouseFan]

I forgot to add the days of rain to the last post! We are now at day 6 of 6 for rain!!

 

[TheMouseFan]

I was going to ask if you had considered asking for a refund or a discount of some kind

I am glad it worked out

Max

I did think about it, but they explicitly say there are no refunds for weather, so I guess I got lucky!

 

[DryerLintFan]

We met back up with Brian and Logan at the Shack. It was a little after 11am at this point. We had just decided we would hop in the wave pool when they made everyone get out of the water due to an impending storm. We were allowed to stay in our area, as there was a lightning rod on the roof. It hadn't started raining yet, so the kids played in the sand a little more.
Lily and Owen's creation:

Brian and Logan's:

And then it started raining!

And it kept raining, and raining, and raining! We were unable to leave our shelter to get food or drinks or even go to the bathroom unless it was a true emergency. They weren't letting the attendants come to us either. Unfortunately, our roof was leaking, as were all the other shacks, so it was hard to find a place to sit and stay dry! Someone came around at about 12:30 to tell us that it would be at least 2 hours before they would even reassess the situation and possibly reopen the water to guests! After much debate, we decided to head back to our room. Not that we weren't already wet, but we were soaked and miserable by the time we got to the car!! At least we didn't have to deal with the whole bus thing and Disney Springs!! Lily was not at all happy with our decision, but what were we going to do for 2+ hours? It may have been different if we could have stayed dry, and gotten something to eat and used our mugs!

If the roof didn't leak, and you could get food and drinks, and you had a couple board games, that cabana would be so peaceful during a storm. Disney should work on that!

 

[TheMouseFan]

If the roof didn't leak, and you could get food and drinks, and you had a couple board games, that cabana would be so peaceful during a storm. Disney should work on that!

I agree!

 

[TheMouseFan]

So, not at all trip related, but I'm super excited about my latest Lularoe acquisitions. I got them all off of Ebay for less than retail price!!

Ok, I lied! I forgot that I ordered the blue randy from a consultant at full price, but still worth it to me!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Thursday, June 8

This was our first day at AK. AK is my favorite park, so there will be an overabundance of pictures. I apologize ahead of time if I bore anyone with them!

We were up and out early for our 8:05am ADR. I don't recall any issues with the bus this particular day!
A quick trip through Animation Hall:
IMG_2545 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2546 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2547 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
We arrived well before park opening, but they were already letting people in for Pandora. We just wandered the Oasis on our way back to Africa.
20170608_071813 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2548 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2549 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2551 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2552 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2553 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2554 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2555 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

 

[TheMouseFan]

Please let me know if you can't see the pictures, or if the sizing is different from my others. I had to switch from Photobucket to Flickr.

 

[TheMouseFan]

More pictures as we wandered:
IMG_2556 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2559 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2560 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
PhotoPass_Visiting_AK_403084466834 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2562 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2563 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2564 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2566 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2567 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
They were out feeding these guys, so they were very active:
IMG_2569 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2570 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2571 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2573 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2574 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2575 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2576 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

 

[TheMouseFan]

Still heading back to Africa:
IMG_2577 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2578 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2579 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2581 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2583 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2584 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2585 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2586 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2588 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2589 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2590 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2594 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2595 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr
IMG_2597 by Amy Clingner, on Flickr

 

[becca_]

I'm glad you take so many photos, I feel as though sometimes I rush through every park & never notice all the details!!

I also love your shirt, so cute!