Cindy'smom
03-05-2008, 10:48 PM
Oh, the dread of departure day! We were packed and trudging with a heavy heart to stow our luggage by 8:00am. Boy am I glad I booked an evening flight. We have almost a whole day ahead of us! The heart didn't remain heavy long as we boarded the bus for AK. DD (13) had elected to return to AK this day to head out to Rafiki's Planet Watch and see what animal exams we could catch. But not before we take a quick train ride to Mount Everest and grabbed a fast pass for later. Have I mentioned how much we love this ride??;) I know Disney isn't about the rides, but this one has made a great park even better. Out to Rafiki's to see what is in store. Being it was leap day they were doing....you got it...frog exams. The staff out there are so incredible. They are filled with knowledge and are so happy to share it. Although I believe DD was a bit disappointed initially with the lack of "wow factor" on the vet schedule for today, it turned out to be very interesting. We spent quite a bit of time listening, watching, and later talking with several animal care specialists. We have always missed the live exams, as they do them starting around 9:45am, during which time we are usually hitting the most popular attractions. I'm glad we took the time to slow down and check this out. Both DDs were very interested in the food preparation area. They spent quite a bit of time watching the staff prepare the bird "lunchboxes" and asked quite a few questions. Pixie dust struck again, and the girls were made "nutrition assistants of the day." They were able to follow the recipe and each prepare a bird meal. They were then awarded "nutrition assistant of the day" magical moment certificates and given stickers by the staff. They really thought this was neat.
Our AK day quickly flew by with a great safari, several EE rides, ITTBAB, a ride on Dinosaur, and some great gorilla viewing (they alluded us earlier in the week). I would have liked to see and do everything this day, but our goal was to slow down and just take it in, savoring our last few hours in Disney.
By 4:00 we were headed back to POR to pick up our luggage and await ME. All too soon we were on our way home to snow and ice and cold.
RANDOM CLOSING THOUGHTS:
POR:
The resort is beautiful and relaxing. We enjoyed our AB room more than I thought we would. It was nicer than in the pictures. The size of the resort was not a problem for us because we were in building 14. I can see how it would be an issue if assigned to a building far away.
Mousekeeping was fantastic. All our requests were met. Our housekeeper left us a handwritten wish for a great vacation our first day. How great is that? We had towel animals several days, and if we didn't have one that day, we had some nice touch, like the soaps arranged on the shelf in a classic mikey shape. The DDs looked forward to going back to the room each night to see what she did.
TRANSPORTATION:
ME was great. No wait for the bus on arrival, and on time for return trip. We did make three stops on our way to the airport, but that was expected.
Resort busses were efficient and ran frequently. I always made the family get an early start in case we had to wait a while for a bus, but that was never an issue in the morning. I swear Magic Kingdom busses ran about every 5 minutes in the morning. Our longest wait was about 30 minutes at TL, but that was the only lengthy one.
CLEANLINESS:
I've read other discussion about the parks just not being as clean as they used to be. Sadly, I'd have to agree. They weren't disgusting by any means, just not up to the standard we have come to expect from Disney. Don't you think that is due in part to the increase in crowds? That stands to reason.
NEW EXPERIENCES:
I'm glad we tried a few new dining experiences. Marrakesh is not on our return list. Nothing bad, just not our thing. I really thought I'd like it more than I did. Biergarten and Liberty Tree are the big hits of the trip. It was our first time at both, and I would make it a point to visit them again.:thumbsup:
COOL SIGHTINGS:
Besides my friend and her daugher, we were lucky to come across a few special things. We saw both Push in MK and DeVine in AK. I've seen Push before and I can now see very quickly how it works. The families interacting with him were absolutely clueless and it was great fun to watch. This is the first time I've ever seen DeVine. She is absolutely AMAZING. Very cool. What incredible strenth that must take.
CROWDS:
This was the busiest we have experienced as a family, but it wasn't as bad as I expected considering it was a vacation week. Fast pass was necessary and required a skillful plan to use our time optimally. You definately have to get there early folks. The crowds just build as the day goes on.
DREAM TEAM SIGHTING:
Where were they? I saw very few dream fastpass lanyards each day. Only a couple of groups with them in each park. I saw 10x more on my last trip. Hummm. I wonder if they are phasing them out.
THE MAGIC:
This trip was magical. Pixie dust seemed to surround us as our room request was honored, we had great luck with busses, we received dream Mickey ears, the nutrition assistant magical moment, the fact that the whole family could and did enjoy the same things, and of course, being selected as the Magic Kingdom Family of the Day and all the memories that experience created.
Thank you for reading my reports. It was fun to revisit the memories.:mickey:
Our AK day quickly flew by with a great safari, several EE rides, ITTBAB, a ride on Dinosaur, and some great gorilla viewing (they alluded us earlier in the week). I would have liked to see and do everything this day, but our goal was to slow down and just take it in, savoring our last few hours in Disney.
By 4:00 we were headed back to POR to pick up our luggage and await ME. All too soon we were on our way home to snow and ice and cold.
RANDOM CLOSING THOUGHTS:
POR:
The resort is beautiful and relaxing. We enjoyed our AB room more than I thought we would. It was nicer than in the pictures. The size of the resort was not a problem for us because we were in building 14. I can see how it would be an issue if assigned to a building far away.
Mousekeeping was fantastic. All our requests were met. Our housekeeper left us a handwritten wish for a great vacation our first day. How great is that? We had towel animals several days, and if we didn't have one that day, we had some nice touch, like the soaps arranged on the shelf in a classic mikey shape. The DDs looked forward to going back to the room each night to see what she did.
TRANSPORTATION:
ME was great. No wait for the bus on arrival, and on time for return trip. We did make three stops on our way to the airport, but that was expected.
Resort busses were efficient and ran frequently. I always made the family get an early start in case we had to wait a while for a bus, but that was never an issue in the morning. I swear Magic Kingdom busses ran about every 5 minutes in the morning. Our longest wait was about 30 minutes at TL, but that was the only lengthy one.
CLEANLINESS:
I've read other discussion about the parks just not being as clean as they used to be. Sadly, I'd have to agree. They weren't disgusting by any means, just not up to the standard we have come to expect from Disney. Don't you think that is due in part to the increase in crowds? That stands to reason.
NEW EXPERIENCES:
I'm glad we tried a few new dining experiences. Marrakesh is not on our return list. Nothing bad, just not our thing. I really thought I'd like it more than I did. Biergarten and Liberty Tree are the big hits of the trip. It was our first time at both, and I would make it a point to visit them again.:thumbsup:
COOL SIGHTINGS:
Besides my friend and her daugher, we were lucky to come across a few special things. We saw both Push in MK and DeVine in AK. I've seen Push before and I can now see very quickly how it works. The families interacting with him were absolutely clueless and it was great fun to watch. This is the first time I've ever seen DeVine. She is absolutely AMAZING. Very cool. What incredible strenth that must take.
CROWDS:
This was the busiest we have experienced as a family, but it wasn't as bad as I expected considering it was a vacation week. Fast pass was necessary and required a skillful plan to use our time optimally. You definately have to get there early folks. The crowds just build as the day goes on.
DREAM TEAM SIGHTING:
Where were they? I saw very few dream fastpass lanyards each day. Only a couple of groups with them in each park. I saw 10x more on my last trip. Hummm. I wonder if they are phasing them out.
THE MAGIC:
This trip was magical. Pixie dust seemed to surround us as our room request was honored, we had great luck with busses, we received dream Mickey ears, the nutrition assistant magical moment, the fact that the whole family could and did enjoy the same things, and of course, being selected as the Magic Kingdom Family of the Day and all the memories that experience created.
Thank you for reading my reports. It was fun to revisit the memories.:mickey: