Momof2boys
11-08-2007, 02:40 PM
Recap of Facts
Who:
Amanda (Me)
John (DH)
Matt (DS9)
Nate (DS7)
When & Where:
Friday, October 19 until Monday, October 29 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Pool View Bunk Beds
Day 3 – Sunday, October 21
My Pirates wake up call came at 7:00 and I jumped out of bed. I was hoping that John & the boys could sleep a bit this morning so I tried my best to stay quiet. :tiptoe: We’re planning on meeting at Disney Quest this afternoon after they swim and relax. After a shower & breakfast at Mara I was on a bus to MK along with many young families. I arrived at 8:30, stopped at Guest Services to check some tickets I had, stowed my items in a locker ($7.00 but got back a $2 deposit), and headed to check in for the Keys to the Kingdom tour. I was given my name tag and made my meal selection for lunch from the Columbia Harbor House menu. I chose the fish basket & Diet Coke. Those of us on the tour waited in the garden until Anibal, our tour guide, arrived. He set us up with our headsets & we were off right at 9:00.
The tour was fabulous ! This was the first tour I have done at WDW and it definitely won’t be my last. I won’t go into too much detail to avoid spoilers, but I learned a lot, saw some great things, and will remember a few images for a long while to come. Those cast members that we saw backstage were very nice, no matter what their role. We rode Jungle Cruise without the skippers spiel & rode the Haunted Mansion, which was my first time since the refurb ! What great changes they made. The bride still freaks me out a bit. Lunch was fun as I was able to sit with Anibal and a couple from South Carolina. He was able to answer a lot of questions honestly, and he enjoyed hearing our thoughts about Disney. He asked if I was one of them “Internet people”. When I asked what that meant he laughed and said those people who think “What would Walt say if he saw this change” or “How you could remove Leota’s ring from the cement”. If you’re thinking about doing a tour, I definitely recommend Keys to the Kingdom ! Well worth the money.
Meanwhile back at AKL, John and the boys woke at 10:00 and had a late breakfast in the room then spent the rest of the morning in the pool. A nice family who were leaving that day gave the boys a Pool Noodle to use for the rest of our stay. They lunched on veggies, fruit, and of course Matt had to have more Zebra Domes ($11.05). They decided to head to Downtown Disney early and do a bit of browsing, snacking on pretzels ($7.65) and (surprise) a slushie ($5.25).
The tour ended at 2:00 and I called John who was already at The West Side. I walked to the Contemporary and waited forever for a Downtown Disney bus. A bus finally showed up 25 minutes after I had gotten there. After a stop at the Poly, we were on our way. While driving along, we encountered a man running on the road. He was on the asphalt and wouldn’t move over for us. Cars were passing us, but the driver said he was not allowed to cross the yellow line to pass him. After a few honks (he was wearing headphones) we finally moved onto the grass for us to pass. It was the longest ride ever on Disney grounds for me. Just as we arrived it started to drizzle.
I found John & the boys and we made our way over to Disney Quest. The boys have been wanting to do this for a couple years but I wanted to make sure they were old enough to enjoy it. We had tickets from 2004 that had Plus Options on them, but turns out Disney Quest wasn’t added as a Plus Option until 2005 so they wouldn’t let us use them. Which was the exact opposite of what I was told earlier in the morning at MK. UGH ! :bang: Well, they did give us a 10% discount but it was still $129.94 for the 4 of us. We went inside not really knowing what to expect. We took the elevator up and went to see what there was to do.
We loved it ! Even John loved playing the old arcade games – Frogger, Centipede, Ms. PacMan, etc. We did the Buzz Lightyear Blast, played endless games of car racing, skateboarding, hunting, skee ball, basketball , air hockey, etc We were going to leave for dinner and then come back but it was now pouring outside. So, we went to the Cheesecake Factory Express upstairs and ordered a whole Pepperoni pizza ($18.06) for us. The pizza was actually really good. When we got to the level with all the interactive games (Pirates, Jungle Cruise, etc) it was about 8:00. The boys and I did Jungle Cruise and I felt absolutely nauseous afterwards. I can’t do the spinning rides, but this blow up river & raft did me in. I think it was the movement with trying to focus on the moving screen. I headed straight for the restroom & got sick. :sick: I was down for the count. I ended up sitting on the floor with a cold towel on my head for another hour while John & the boys played more games. They played one where you hunt in a truck for 40 minutes. They liked playing the games but not having to put another $1 in to continue the game. We headed back to the bus stop just before 10. I was feeling a bit better but my head was calling the pillow.
Back at AKL, John & Nate bought snacks from the gift shop Zawadi – chocolate covered peanuts & peanut butter cups ($9.50). We always try to buy something from the resorts we stay at – totem pole from WL, painted coconut from Poly, globe from CBR, so we ended up buying an African mask ($17.00) with giraffe’s carved in it. There were even some Mickey heads painted on it. A perfect AKL souvenir. Matt wanted more Zebra Domes ($3.93), so a quick stop at Mara provided him with his snack. I got back to the room, set a 6:30 wake up call, & fell asleep.
Who:
Amanda (Me)
John (DH)
Matt (DS9)
Nate (DS7)
When & Where:
Friday, October 19 until Monday, October 29 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Pool View Bunk Beds
Day 3 – Sunday, October 21
My Pirates wake up call came at 7:00 and I jumped out of bed. I was hoping that John & the boys could sleep a bit this morning so I tried my best to stay quiet. :tiptoe: We’re planning on meeting at Disney Quest this afternoon after they swim and relax. After a shower & breakfast at Mara I was on a bus to MK along with many young families. I arrived at 8:30, stopped at Guest Services to check some tickets I had, stowed my items in a locker ($7.00 but got back a $2 deposit), and headed to check in for the Keys to the Kingdom tour. I was given my name tag and made my meal selection for lunch from the Columbia Harbor House menu. I chose the fish basket & Diet Coke. Those of us on the tour waited in the garden until Anibal, our tour guide, arrived. He set us up with our headsets & we were off right at 9:00.
The tour was fabulous ! This was the first tour I have done at WDW and it definitely won’t be my last. I won’t go into too much detail to avoid spoilers, but I learned a lot, saw some great things, and will remember a few images for a long while to come. Those cast members that we saw backstage were very nice, no matter what their role. We rode Jungle Cruise without the skippers spiel & rode the Haunted Mansion, which was my first time since the refurb ! What great changes they made. The bride still freaks me out a bit. Lunch was fun as I was able to sit with Anibal and a couple from South Carolina. He was able to answer a lot of questions honestly, and he enjoyed hearing our thoughts about Disney. He asked if I was one of them “Internet people”. When I asked what that meant he laughed and said those people who think “What would Walt say if he saw this change” or “How you could remove Leota’s ring from the cement”. If you’re thinking about doing a tour, I definitely recommend Keys to the Kingdom ! Well worth the money.
Meanwhile back at AKL, John and the boys woke at 10:00 and had a late breakfast in the room then spent the rest of the morning in the pool. A nice family who were leaving that day gave the boys a Pool Noodle to use for the rest of our stay. They lunched on veggies, fruit, and of course Matt had to have more Zebra Domes ($11.05). They decided to head to Downtown Disney early and do a bit of browsing, snacking on pretzels ($7.65) and (surprise) a slushie ($5.25).
The tour ended at 2:00 and I called John who was already at The West Side. I walked to the Contemporary and waited forever for a Downtown Disney bus. A bus finally showed up 25 minutes after I had gotten there. After a stop at the Poly, we were on our way. While driving along, we encountered a man running on the road. He was on the asphalt and wouldn’t move over for us. Cars were passing us, but the driver said he was not allowed to cross the yellow line to pass him. After a few honks (he was wearing headphones) we finally moved onto the grass for us to pass. It was the longest ride ever on Disney grounds for me. Just as we arrived it started to drizzle.
I found John & the boys and we made our way over to Disney Quest. The boys have been wanting to do this for a couple years but I wanted to make sure they were old enough to enjoy it. We had tickets from 2004 that had Plus Options on them, but turns out Disney Quest wasn’t added as a Plus Option until 2005 so they wouldn’t let us use them. Which was the exact opposite of what I was told earlier in the morning at MK. UGH ! :bang: Well, they did give us a 10% discount but it was still $129.94 for the 4 of us. We went inside not really knowing what to expect. We took the elevator up and went to see what there was to do.
We loved it ! Even John loved playing the old arcade games – Frogger, Centipede, Ms. PacMan, etc. We did the Buzz Lightyear Blast, played endless games of car racing, skateboarding, hunting, skee ball, basketball , air hockey, etc We were going to leave for dinner and then come back but it was now pouring outside. So, we went to the Cheesecake Factory Express upstairs and ordered a whole Pepperoni pizza ($18.06) for us. The pizza was actually really good. When we got to the level with all the interactive games (Pirates, Jungle Cruise, etc) it was about 8:00. The boys and I did Jungle Cruise and I felt absolutely nauseous afterwards. I can’t do the spinning rides, but this blow up river & raft did me in. I think it was the movement with trying to focus on the moving screen. I headed straight for the restroom & got sick. :sick: I was down for the count. I ended up sitting on the floor with a cold towel on my head for another hour while John & the boys played more games. They played one where you hunt in a truck for 40 minutes. They liked playing the games but not having to put another $1 in to continue the game. We headed back to the bus stop just before 10. I was feeling a bit better but my head was calling the pillow.
Back at AKL, John & Nate bought snacks from the gift shop Zawadi – chocolate covered peanuts & peanut butter cups ($9.50). We always try to buy something from the resorts we stay at – totem pole from WL, painted coconut from Poly, globe from CBR, so we ended up buying an African mask ($17.00) with giraffe’s carved in it. There were even some Mickey heads painted on it. A perfect AKL souvenir. Matt wanted more Zebra Domes ($3.93), so a quick stop at Mara provided him with his snack. I got back to the room, set a 6:30 wake up call, & fell asleep.