Sunshine1010
01-13-2008, 10:10 PM
People on trip:
Me - 41
DH - 42
Son - 6
Dates:
January 2 - January 12, 2008
Accomodations:
Villas at The Wilderness Lodge, Room 1504
1 bedroom villa
**favorite part of the villa - WASHER AND DRYER!!!!!!! (yep, I'm a dork)
Dining Plan:
2008 Deluxe Dining Plan
$1,599.00 approx.
Travel:
South West (3 people - $420.00 for round trip)
Magical Express
Misc:
- DVC owners
- AP holders
****************
Day Two, January 3, Thursday
We sleep in. It was a great feeling. I'm sure you guys can relate. Knowing that we have our entire trip ahead of us. No rush since we'll there for 10 days. Just a sllloooowwww pace. Gotta love it.
We walk to the bus stop and.....one word: COLD. Goodness, the wind was unbelievable. I saw the forecast and saw that it was going to be windy again. THANK GOODNESS I brought ear muffs and hats for my husband and child.
Cold can be fun,....but not fun if you will be walking around for hours and hours and hours (unless your skiing or something like that).
I canNOT believe how crowded the parks were. I'm talkin' C-R-O-W-D-E-D.
I have strategically planned my vacation to account for crowds, extra magic hours (to avoid them), functions, parties, hours, weekday/night difference in crowds.....I mean, I PLANNED. I had heard that the parks were still crowded up until Jan. 6th....but I didn't think it was THIS crowded. Wow ----- I won't go again in January until the day school starts (the Monday). Crowds were a LOT lower then.
Our first full day was spent at the Animal Kingdom. We didn't get there until 10:45am. Our ADR was for 11am. LOTS of people. So many that we were only able to do 2 rides (Safari and Dinosaur). We watched the Christmas parade (which was cute)....had a great spot. Ate a churro and popcorn and a sprite during the parade. (our dining card STILL said we had no snacks - so we just charged it to our room knowing we'd have to go to the front desk again). The Safari was wonderful. I have never seen so many animals up close on this ride like I did on this trip. We loved it. We video taped the whole thing. It was great. Cold - but great.
We had lunch at The Tusker House. It's a buffet now. It's layout is neat. While we were waiting after we signed in, the performance started. It was a lot of fun to watch. Anyhow, the hostess explained a lot of things to us as we were walked in - culture, artifacts, etc. She was perfect. Food was......okay, again. Dining card worked this time for the TS meal, but the waitress messed up once, and was quickly fixed. The cole slaw was the best!
We spent the day walking around because everything had a huge line in it. EE's line was about 50 feet out the door. If you know how long the que (sp?) line is, then you can imagine how long the line was. We skipped this ride all together. It was not justifiable in my mind to wait 90 min. for a ride. I just can't do it. Anyhow, the day was just spent looking, etc.
We went and looked at a lot of animals this time, which is usually something we skip to do the rides, etc. It was very nice. More people need to stop and admire these awesome 'tropical' animals.
Dinner was at Jiko since it was so close. I planned on it since it was a short bus ride. We left early and sat and enjoyed the fireplace at the AKL. Walked around a bit. This was the first resort my family and I stayed at, so it had a special feel to it.
Jiko was amazing. The steak was wonderful. We weren't dressed up, nor were we dressed completely 'down'. Just regular t-shirts and jeans. No one seemed to judge us. My husband loved his dish also....so did my son.
We went back to our resort. I had to go to the front desk AGAIN, and they finally told me to just start charging everything to my card (snacks) and they would refund it back to me at the end of the trip --- but that I needed to keep all receipts, write down everything (TS included) so it would match up. They apologized. I also noticed that the remaining TS dinners were off. They didn't take off enough. They stated for the trouble we were going through - to just keep the credits and go out to eat somewhere, ...plus, it was easier for them NOT to do any computer work to fix it (they said).
Found a notice under my door stating that there would be people working outside our windows/sliding glass doors every day from 9am-5pm for over 7 days and to keep the blinds closed. We never saw anyone ---- thank goodness. I love to have the curtains open.
I did the laundry and watched some TV.
Still.....very, very cold out. First freeze in FIVE years the news report said. Everyone had on thick winter clothing on.
Me - 41
DH - 42
Son - 6
Dates:
January 2 - January 12, 2008
Accomodations:
Villas at The Wilderness Lodge, Room 1504
1 bedroom villa
**favorite part of the villa - WASHER AND DRYER!!!!!!! (yep, I'm a dork)
Dining Plan:
2008 Deluxe Dining Plan
$1,599.00 approx.
Travel:
South West (3 people - $420.00 for round trip)
Magical Express
Misc:
- DVC owners
- AP holders
****************
Day Two, January 3, Thursday
We sleep in. It was a great feeling. I'm sure you guys can relate. Knowing that we have our entire trip ahead of us. No rush since we'll there for 10 days. Just a sllloooowwww pace. Gotta love it.
We walk to the bus stop and.....one word: COLD. Goodness, the wind was unbelievable. I saw the forecast and saw that it was going to be windy again. THANK GOODNESS I brought ear muffs and hats for my husband and child.
Cold can be fun,....but not fun if you will be walking around for hours and hours and hours (unless your skiing or something like that).
I canNOT believe how crowded the parks were. I'm talkin' C-R-O-W-D-E-D.
I have strategically planned my vacation to account for crowds, extra magic hours (to avoid them), functions, parties, hours, weekday/night difference in crowds.....I mean, I PLANNED. I had heard that the parks were still crowded up until Jan. 6th....but I didn't think it was THIS crowded. Wow ----- I won't go again in January until the day school starts (the Monday). Crowds were a LOT lower then.
Our first full day was spent at the Animal Kingdom. We didn't get there until 10:45am. Our ADR was for 11am. LOTS of people. So many that we were only able to do 2 rides (Safari and Dinosaur). We watched the Christmas parade (which was cute)....had a great spot. Ate a churro and popcorn and a sprite during the parade. (our dining card STILL said we had no snacks - so we just charged it to our room knowing we'd have to go to the front desk again). The Safari was wonderful. I have never seen so many animals up close on this ride like I did on this trip. We loved it. We video taped the whole thing. It was great. Cold - but great.
We had lunch at The Tusker House. It's a buffet now. It's layout is neat. While we were waiting after we signed in, the performance started. It was a lot of fun to watch. Anyhow, the hostess explained a lot of things to us as we were walked in - culture, artifacts, etc. She was perfect. Food was......okay, again. Dining card worked this time for the TS meal, but the waitress messed up once, and was quickly fixed. The cole slaw was the best!
We spent the day walking around because everything had a huge line in it. EE's line was about 50 feet out the door. If you know how long the que (sp?) line is, then you can imagine how long the line was. We skipped this ride all together. It was not justifiable in my mind to wait 90 min. for a ride. I just can't do it. Anyhow, the day was just spent looking, etc.
We went and looked at a lot of animals this time, which is usually something we skip to do the rides, etc. It was very nice. More people need to stop and admire these awesome 'tropical' animals.
Dinner was at Jiko since it was so close. I planned on it since it was a short bus ride. We left early and sat and enjoyed the fireplace at the AKL. Walked around a bit. This was the first resort my family and I stayed at, so it had a special feel to it.
Jiko was amazing. The steak was wonderful. We weren't dressed up, nor were we dressed completely 'down'. Just regular t-shirts and jeans. No one seemed to judge us. My husband loved his dish also....so did my son.
We went back to our resort. I had to go to the front desk AGAIN, and they finally told me to just start charging everything to my card (snacks) and they would refund it back to me at the end of the trip --- but that I needed to keep all receipts, write down everything (TS included) so it would match up. They apologized. I also noticed that the remaining TS dinners were off. They didn't take off enough. They stated for the trouble we were going through - to just keep the credits and go out to eat somewhere, ...plus, it was easier for them NOT to do any computer work to fix it (they said).
Found a notice under my door stating that there would be people working outside our windows/sliding glass doors every day from 9am-5pm for over 7 days and to keep the blinds closed. We never saw anyone ---- thank goodness. I love to have the curtains open.
I did the laundry and watched some TV.
Still.....very, very cold out. First freeze in FIVE years the news report said. Everyone had on thick winter clothing on.