Day 1
We have arrived at WDW and checked in at AKL Jambo. We just spent three nights at Universal. The trip report for that is here: Canucks do Universal: A 16th turned 18th birthday trip
We’ll be here for four nights before transferring to BC for four more. Our savannah view room is on the second floor overlooking the Arusha savanna. We have already seen so many animals!
Dinner tonight at Sanaa and then MK tomorrow.
Excited to follow along!!
Waving at you from AS-Movies! We are heading out early tomorrow. Have a magical time!
Took the shuttle bus over to Kidani for our Sanaa dinner. Arrived early enough to spend a bit of time at the savanna outlook. There was a lovely cast member there, Linda, who talked to us about all of the animals. I sent my first cast compliment on MDE to her.
Dinner at Sanaa was fantastic! We started with the bread service and samosas. I had to have a Painted Lemur to drink. Yummy! Then we shared two of the Potje inspired entrees. Butter chicken, seafood curry, chickpea wat and lentil daal. All were delicious. I was too full to even think about dessert! Sanaa is probably my favourite restaurant at WDW. It was a great way to start this portion of the trip.
Of course back at the room the lock on our door started acting up and wouldn’t let all of us unlock it! We had to go to the front desk to get them to encode all of the bands again. They seem to be working now.
Tomorrow I get to try Genie+ for the first time. I have BG1 set up on three different phones and have been checking it out frequently. We don’t want any ILLs for MK so I only have to try for Jungle Cruise at 7 am. The good thing is we’re not going to be too upset if I mess up somehow and we can’t get a decent time for it. We would happily take many other rides that seem to have better availability. The only reason Jungle Cruise is our first choice is because we would like to ride it at some point and it fills up so quickly! The park I am most worried about is HS. Luckily it’s not until park day four so I have some time to figure out the system.
You’ll do fine with Genie+, BG1 makes it easy. HS is the hardest park to get more than one in the morning.
Have fun at MK!
Day 2
Today was our full MK day and my first time using Genie+. We grabbed breakfast (croissants and muffins) in the Mara and filled our water bottles at 6:30. I had BG1 and the MDE app up and running on my phone (and DH’s phone and DD’s phone). After eating we headed to the lobby to wait for 7:00. I hit the button in BG1 just as the clock ticked to 7:00 and got a Jungle Cruise LL for 9:00! Thank you @joelbruick 
BG1 made the whole process so clear and easy. And it only got better as the day went on.
We stepped out of the lobby to the bus stop and hopped on a bus to MK at 7:10. They let us off the bus at about 7:30. We completely lucked out at the gate. We were held up at security as they checked our backpack, but just as they finished the tapstiles on the right opened up and we ended up first in line. We were rope dropping Space Mountain and after a nice walk to Tomorrowland we wound up right at the rope. We were a bit annoyed by the number of people who pushed past us as the cast members walked us to the line but we were still pretty close to the front. And then as we got near the loading zone they directed us to the left side (only right had been running so far) and we ended up in the first rocket sent from that side!
We also managed to ride Buzz during early entry then walked swiftly to BTMR which took about 15 minutes total. Next we used our LL for Jungle Cruise and grabbed an immediate one for HM. While still in line for HM got a LL for POC that started in 5 minutes.
It was about 10:30 by then and we decided to stop for Dole Whip floats and wait for the 10:47 drop. It worked like a charm and we got Splash for 11:05. We got off Splash around 11:30. We wanted to watch the noon parade and get some food so we booked a BTMR LL for 1:35.
The parade was great but so hot!! We were melting by the end. And we realized later that the noon parade is actually a bit shorter than the 3:00 one! Needing sustenance we chose cinnamon rolls from Gaston’s Tavern for lunch. Split two between the four of us.
It was still a bit before 1:00 and Under the Sea had a posted 20 minute wait. We rode that and at 11:24 booked a LL for Dumbo for 11:25. After riding Dumbo we booked IASW for 1:55. Decided to ride BTMR first then IASW.
By now it was 2:15 and we were hot and tired. The only LL we still wanted was Space so we grabbed one for 4:15. Enjoyed the cool theatre for Mickey’s Philharmagic and spent about an hour wandering the Main Street shops. We saw a glass blower make an ornament from scratch. So cool! And I saw about half a dozen Loungefly bags that I want.
We rode Space again and then it was time for our dining reservation at Skipper Canteen. What a fun place! Quite enjoyed our waiter.
After dinner we were done. Took the bus back to AKL, got ready for bed and spent some time on the balcony watching the animals. Came inside when it started to pour rain. It’s interesting to see which animals seek cover and which ignore the rain.
Tomorrow we are taking a break at the resort for the morning and then going to AK in the afternoon. Should be a more relaxing day. But we had so much fun today. Can’t get over how easy BG1 makes the whole Genie+ experience!
Wow, you rocked it on your first day with Genie+! You had nothing to worry about!
This was a constant annoyance to us during our trip. Our last Epcot day was the worst. Everyone was waiting in a nice line, and then about 5 minutes before they opened, this family walked right past everyone to the front, asked the CM something, the CM pointed to where the line was for everyone, and they just stayed there! The lady behind me and I were doing some serious eye rolling to each other 
What an amazing day.
What a great day!
Our room was on the second floor and I was close to the pool. I could see the pool bar from the balcony. I had a partial savannah view.
I liked getting wet in the pool and then reading my book. They have plenty of lounge chairs that are shaded. I should have gone down the slide on my first day. Great way to get wet quickly
That sounds like my plan for this morning!
What is BG1?
BG1 is a system for using Genie+ that makes it simpler and faster. There is a thread in La Cava that explains what it is and how to use it.
Day 3
Best day ever! It’s going to be hard for anything else on this trip to top today. Set alarm to go off at 6:50 so I could sort out how to buy ILLs for FOP. That meant I got about nine hours of sleep which I really needed after being up around 5 am every day for a week.
We weren’t planning to go to AK until after lunch so I booked FOP for 2:40. We took our time getting ready. While the girls got dressed I popped downstairs to start a load of laundry. Grabbed some pastries for breakfast in the Mara. By the time we were done eating I could transfer the clothes to the dryer. Spent some time on the balcony watching the animals and got into our bathing suits for pool opening at 10 am.
We spent a relaxing hour and a half by the pool. In the middle I grabbed the clothes from the laundry and took them up to the room. The nice people in the room next door were checking out and asked us if we could use their half case of water since they couldn’t take it on the plane. I said sure, so now we have all the water we’ll need for the rest of our trip!
I had grabbed a LL for Navi at 10:18 when the times finally got late enough. It was for 1:45. We had lunch in the Mara as well. Good selection of food! At 12:18, the times for all rides were still too early so I didn’t book anything. As we were finishing lunch at about 12:50, I saw in the app that a bus for AK should be arriving at 1:05. EE now had a return time of 1:20 so we booked it and headed right out to the bus stop.
We got to AK around 1:15 and went straight to EE which we basically walked on with our Lightning Lane. This would be a recurring theme for the rest of the day. It was great timing for EE since it was just lightly raining as we got off. The rain never really started but there was thunder and the outdoor rides were shut down for a bit. Oh, and we took a picture of the tree for @OBNurseNH
We went right over to Navi. I don’t think the shaman was fully working the last time we rode this. He seemed way more impressive today.
We had a little while until our ILL for FOP so we spent the time looking around Pandora and seeing what was available in the gift shop. Then it was time to ride a banshee! I love this ride. I think it’s my favourite from any park! So beautiful.
While in line I booked a 2:55 LL for the safari. We got on the truck about 3:15 or so. It was a really cool safari in terms of seeing a ton of active animals. We didn’t mind at all but it took about forty minutes because one of the rhinos kept stopping in front of the trucks! Oh well, more time to see the animals including two baby rhinos!
When we finished the safari we walked the Gorilla Falls trail. The little gorillas are adorable!
It was now almost 4:30. Dinosaur had a LL available for 4:55 so we grabbed it and decided to check out the Maharajah trail on the way. Lots of great animals to see there. We rode Dinosaur after that. I quite like this ride. I think it’s a good story.
Finally it was time for our dining reservation at Yak n Yeti. We had never been there before. What a great meal! So many great options and excellent desserts as well.
It was just after 7 pm as we finished up. Knowing that the safari closed at 7:15 we decided to pop over for one last ride. We walked right on to what may have been the final truck of the night. The driver went perhaps a little quickly but we still had a great ride. The male lion was awake and looked right at us. The rhino that was blocking the trucks earlier paused in front of us then full out ran past! It was a great way to end the day at AK.
We caught the bus back to AKL and settled in for the night. It was a perfect day.
Tomorrow will be a long one. We’re hitting MK for rope drop then park hopping to Epcot. We’ll see if we make it through the extended evening hours!
Aww she was looking good for you today!!! 
Sounds like a great day! Glad you enjoyed Yak & Yeti.
Fantastic! Hope today is just as good.
Yesterday while we were in line for security at AK a woman walked right past about twenty of us. A security guard was telling people to join the line and called out to her, “Ma’am the line is for everyone!” The woman ignored her and merged into the line up ahead. It’s possible she was joining her party I suppose. But it did feel like karma a bit later after DH cleared bag check to see that woman still held up by security!
What an amazing day!! That photo of that adorable Rhino eating grass 
