Trip Report - May 6-13

We had the most amazing week in WDW! It really was a dream vacation! I thought I’d try my hand at a trip report since I loved reading them when I was planning and I also thought it may help me relive the magic. We spent a week at AKL Jambo House. It was myself, DH, DD6 and DD3. We absolutely loved AKL! It’s an absolutely beautiful, calming place. And we had no issues at all with the buses. We actually only waited for a bus once, on the way back to the resort from MK after the parade, and even then, it was about a 7 minute wait. Otherwise, our waits were all under 5 minutes. Most days we were lucky enough to walk (run) right onto the buses, both to and from the parks!

Saturday - Arrival Day!

We were coming from the east coast of Canada and had about a 5 1/2 hour flight to MCO. Our flight was about 45 minutes delayed and ended up landing about 2:35 pm. We got through customs relatively quickly and our bus was waiting when we got to the the ME line. AKL was the only stop (hooray!) and we got to the resort about 4:30 or so. The lobby is so beautiful and we were all in awe! Our room was ready and we were in room 3417. I had requested 3427 on our fax so I would definitely call it a win for the TP fax service! The room was exactly what I had asked for - quiet, two queen beds, a view of the Arusha savanna and about a 30 second walk to the lobby. Perfect! The girls wanted to check out the pool so we put on our suits (which we had in our carry ons) and hit the pool. The pool is beautiful and DD6 loved the slide.

Unfortunately I ended up losing track of time which lead to DD3’s only real meltdown of the trip. When I checked my watch, it was after 6 and we had a 6:30 reservation at Boma. DD3 did NOT want to leave the pool and didn’t yet understand that we’d be back, so she was not happy. I ended up carrying her back to the room, but after the long day we’d had she was not ready to settle quickly. I sent DH and DD6 on to dinner at Boma while I calmed DD3. She calmed down pretty quickly once all was quiet and was happy to sit on the balcony and watch the animals. About 20 minutes later, DH and DD6 showed up with food from the Mara and explained that the person at check in at Boma told them we could cancel our reservation (this one time) with no penalty, given the circumstances. I was so grateful that we could have our first meal of the trip together! I had debated making a reservation for our arrival day and I think I should have made our plan a bit more flexible. After we finished eating, the kids were exhausted and fell asleep early. DH and I enjoyed a glass on wine on the balcony as we watched the animals. Despite the minor hiccup, it was a great first day!

Next up AK!

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Sunday - AK

We were all up early this first morning so made it to the bus stop by 8:00. The bus was literally pulling up when we arrived so we hopped on and were to the park by 8:15 or so. We did have an issue with our magic bands on this first day. Since we had the Canadian Resident park ticket, we had to activate our tickets at guest services and show a Canadian ID. No big deal since we were there with lots of time to spare.

I was actually amazed at the crowd at the ropes to Africa! We had a 9:45 FP for the safari so decided not to try to get there at RD. Instead we walked the Gorilla Falls trail which was beautiful. The girls loved it and it was nice and cool for walking. After the trail, we did the safari with our FP. I loved this ride! It was so much fun and we saw tons of animals. After the safari, we took a bathroom break and grabbed a snack and got in line for the 11:00 showing of the Lion King. This show was so amazing! DD3 was a bit scared of the Scar parts, but loved the monkeys. After the show, it was time for our Tusker House reservation. We loved Tusker House. The food was delicious and I also had a mojito which was super refreshing. The kids loved the characters and I thought the interaction was really cute. It was also nice to get out of the sun for a bit because it was heating up - both temperature and crowd-wise! After lunch, we did Kali River Rapids with our FP. DD3 wasn’t too sure about it, but the rest of us loved it. We had all changed into our flip flops and I had put the kids in their swim bottoms but we didn’t end up getting too wet.

After Kali, I had planned on the Nemo show but the girls were content to play in the water next to the locker area, and then watch the monkeys for a bit. By this time it was getting pretty crowded, but luckily it was almost time for our Expedition Everest FP for DD6 and I. DD6 absolutely loved this ride! I was pretty terrified. Haha! She kept yelling for me to put my hands up and our picture is hilarious. After Everest, DD6 (using DD3’s band) and DH had a FP for Dinosaur, but everyone was pretty done at that point. It was 2:30 so we called it a day. We walked out to a waiting AKL bus and spent the afternoon resting and in the pool. We ate at the Mara again which was quite good. We were all asleep pretty early as we had PPO BOG reservation the next day!

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Monday - MK Day 1

This day we had an 8:25 reservation at BOG. We ended up getting a taxi to the CR to avoid any potential bus issues and everything went super smoothly. We took our seat before 8 and our pre-ordered food came quickly. DH and I split the Croque Madame and DDs shared the french toast. It was all delicious! We finished about 8:20, took a quick look around the castle, used the restrooms and were in the 7DMT line at 8:35ish. They walked us to the ride at about 8:52 and DD6 and DH got two rides before RD. DD3 and I got one because she absolutely did not like this ride. I LOVED it!

The park opened during their second ride, so then we hustled to Fairytale Hall and saw Cinderella and Elena with a 5 minute wait. DD3 loved the princesses. Her little face in all the pictures is so sweet. We then went to WTP and waited again for about 5 minutes. DD3 also did not like this ride (I was starting to see a pattern here. Haha!), and I actually thought it was a bit trippy! We headed to IASW next which DD3 got on grudgingly but ended up liking ok. It was then time for our PP FP. When we got to the front of the line, DD3 didn’t want to ride and was getting a bit upset, so I took her out of the line. We checked out Rapunzel’s tower while DD6 and DH rode PP. They both loved it.

I then decided to change our plan a bit on the fly since DD3 wasn’t loving the rides. We nixed Under the Sea and Dumbo and ended up meeting Goofy and Donald and then playing at Casey’s splash area. DD6 didn’t mind and DD3 loved it!

We then headed to lunch at BOG (yes, again!). Thankfully we had pre-ordered because the other line stretched all the way to the check in kiosk outside the castle! We ate in the Rose Gallery this time and the food was really good. DH and I shared the turkey sandwich and the girls had grilled cheese and soup. We also shared 3 cupcakes between us. Yum!

After lunch, we did Enchanted Tales with Belle. DD6 had a part, but DD3 was a bit nervous and watched from my arms. They both really enjoyed it though and I thought it was super cute. We then had our FP for 7DMT. DD6 got to ride twice since DD3 didn’t want to ride, once with each of DH and I. I have to say again how much I liked this ride! So fun! DD6 loved it too and ended up with 4 rides on this day. She was pumped!

By now, it was after 2 and the kids were fading fast so we decided to head back to AKL. We swam for the afternoon and had dinner by the pool. We thought about going back for the evening, but both girls were wiped and fell asleep early so DH and I had some wine and cheese on the balcony and watched the animals. Bliss!

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Great report! Sounds like a really fantastic holiday! Looking forward to reading more! :smile:

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I love how you’re killing it early and then chilling in the evenings. That’s a good balance!

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Tuesday - HS

DD6 and I were both up early on Tuesday but we ended up having to wake DH and DD3! :dizzy_face: We still made it to the bus stop by 8:15 or so and the bus came quickly so we got to HS in plenty of time for RD.

We followed the mass of people to TSMM. I rode with DD3 and, surprise, surprise, she didn’t like the ride. Lol! I ended up with 44,000 points even with one hand (my left at that!) since my other arm was around DD. Then DD3 and I walked around while DH and DD6 walked on for a second ride.

After that we grabbed a snack and coffee at Starbucks since we didn’t have a proper breakfast. We sat outside Starring Rolls and it was actually a lovely morning. We headed to the Disney Junior show next but it was cancelled after it started due to technical difficulties so we wandered around and killed time before our Frozen show FP.

We all loved this show! I laughed so much! And the girls were amazed by it all. After the show, DD3 chilled in the stroller while DH and DD6 met Olaf. DD told him that she loved summer and he played his song and danced around. She loved it!

Then DD6 and I headed to our Tower of Terror FP. It was backed up because it had been down earlier and the stand by line was actually closed. We both loved the ride, though we found it a bit scary! Haha!

At this point, we were a little late for our Hollywood & Vine reservation. It didn’t seem to matter and we got seated quickly. The girls loved seeing Sophia and Doc McStuffins and I thought the food was pretty good. I had a Piña Colava which was delicious!

When we got out of lunch, we asked the girls what they wanted to do next. It was a resounding “Pool!” so we headed out. We walked onto a bus to AKL again. We were so lucky with busses!

We swam for the afternoon and then explored the resort a bit. We did the folktales on the Arusha Rock Savanna Overlook and also checked out the arcade.

We ended up snagging a last minute reservation for Boma for a late dinner. I can’t say enough about how delicious the food was here! We all really enjoyed it and the girls were on their best behaviour so DH and I actually enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine with dinner. We were all exhausted after dinner and fell asleep early again (another theme of our trip! Haha!).

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Yes! We found we were all tired by the end of the day, so we had a lot of early nights. It definitely worked for us!

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Thank you for posting a trip report! I have only tried Boma for breakfast but I guess I need to try dinner some time!

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We thought it was really good! My favourite dishes were the pistachio crusted, maple salmon and the coconut basmati rice. We also had a great server and found the atmosphere really fun and upbeat!

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Wednesday - Epcot

All went smoothly on Wednesday morning and we made it to Epcot for RD. Man was it hot waiting for the park to open! DH and I were sweating before the day even started. We decided to focus on the characters for DD3 this morning, so when the park opened we saw Joy and Sadness, Baymax, Goofey and Mickey and Minnie all with no wait. DD3 and DD6 both loved them all.

We then made our way to the Land Pavilion. As expected the wait for Soarin was now 60 minutes. DH and DD6 did Living with the Land with FP which they both really liked. DH has a vegetable garden and DD6 loves to help out so she was proud to announce that they were “backyard farmers”. :slight_smile:

Next DD6 and I did the Nemo ride and then we all did Turtle Talk with Crush with FP. This was such a cute show! DD3 was a bit nervous so I sat on the floor next to her and she really enjoyed it. DD6 got called on and was so proud to ask her question. We then explored the aquariums for a bit.

After this our plan sort of collapsed. We had decided the day before to cancel our Akershus lunch reservation because we’d done two characters meals already and were doing CRT the next morning. With that huge hole in our day and our FEA FP not until 2:00, we had a lot of time to kill. DH wanted to just walk the WS and stop wherever for lunch, but unfortunately that meant we ended up with two hot, hungry kids. It was actually super hot this day and walking the WS with two small kids probably wasn’t the best idea!

We also started the wrong way so passed Norway at like 11:45. Once we got to the end of the WS the kids were done and nobody had any interest in making our way back to Norway for FEA. So I ended up modifying our FEA FP for SE. :cry: DD6 and I rode this on the way out and we did both really enjoy it, me especially! Also on the upside, I did get to try the Grand Marnier slushie in France which was delicious!

So we made our way out of Epcot without doing FEA, TT or Soarin. Oh well! I figure it gives us a reason to plan another trip! :slight_smile:

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Great attitude, and maybe by next trip your youngest might enjoy more of the rides.

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That’s the hope! She really didn’t like any of the rides this trip, though she did love all the characters. She says her favorite things at Disney were the bus and the pool! :smile:

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Great report, thanks for sharing! I like your attitude to touring, nothing’s worse than seeing kids have meltdowns because of rides/tiredness, I think you got the balance quite right! Pool time in the afternoon sounded like you were doing the right thing. And being flexible, we always change our plans mid-flow! Looking forward to the rest :grinning:

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Oops - posted too quickly!

Thursday - 2nd MK day

This was my most favourite day of the trip! We were up early for our 8:25 CRT reservation. We decided to try the bus this time and were pleasantly surprised when the board showed a bus arriving at 7:15 which meant we’d only be waiting a few minutes. It actually arrived earlier than that so we were to the gates of MK before 7:45.

We loved our CRT breakfast! We were seated right at 8 and the food came quickly and was really good. DH had the steak and eggs which was really good and I had the stuffed french toast. Yum! I loved how they announced all the princesses. It was really fun and dramatic. We saw Cinderella, Aurora, Jasmine, Ariel and Snow White. The girls loved them all. We were planning to spend 90 minutes here but since we were seated early and saw all the princesses really efficiently, we were at Frontierland at RD!

DD6 and I rode BTMRR (LOVED this) and then DD6 and DH rode Splash, both walk ons this early. We then headed to Adventureland where DD6 and DH did POC while DD3 and I explored. I loved being in this area at park opening. It was really quiet and we had a lovely time.

After POC, we headed to JC for our FP, but it was down so we were given 4 anytime FPs. We decided to sit and have a dole whip and then did Country Bears Jamboree. The girls both found this so funny! After CB it was time for our FPs for BTMRR (DD6 using DD3’s MB and DH) and Splash (DD6 and I). DD6 absolutely loved Splash as did DH and I. DD3 loved the play area under the train station so that was a win too!

We then headed to Peco Bills for lunch. We had a great lunch and it was quite affordable as we shared a couple orders of nachos. After lunch, it was getting pretty hot so we headed to the Tiki birds to try and stay out of the sun. We all liked this show though DD3 said she didn’t like “the thunder or the drummers”.

After the show, DD3 fell asleep in the stroller. We decided to use our anytime FPs for Splash so DD6 got two more rides (she definitely benefited from her sister not liking rides!). In all the Splash pics DD6 looks so happy. I just love looking at them. :heart_eyes:

We had a FP for Talking Mickey which I was able to change to a later FP for Tinkerbell. As we were walking out, DD6 decided she wanted to check out the Christmas shop and get some souvenirs for her grandmothers. DD3 was still asleep so DH and DD6 headed inside.

I sat outside with DD3 and realized that the ropes were up for the parade and it was 2:35. When DH and DD6 came out, we decided to stay where we were and watch the parade. It wasn’t a perfect view as we were behind the crowd at the ropes, but it was shaded and we could sit while we waited. DD3 woke a few minutes before the parade so we all got to enjoy it together. It was really magical! DD3 said after that her favourite part of the day was the boy in the green pants (Peter Pan). Haha!

We then headed out of the park with the mass of people. We had missed our FP for Tinkerbell, but we were all hot and tired anyway. We ended up waiting for about 10 minutes for an AKL bus and it was really packed for the ride back, but it was still nice to be in the AC.

We rested for a bit, had a quick dinner at the Mara and then decided to swim until the kids got tired of it, which meant we were in the pool for a good long while! :wink: DH and I fell asleep pretty soon after the girls because we had had such a full day!

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Friday - MK

Our last full day! :cry: This was an EMH (am) day. Once again DD6 and I were up and ready early, but we had to wake DD3 and DH. Everything went smoothly with the bus and we were outside the MK gates at 7:35.

When we were let in at 7:45, we lined up at the ropes to Tomorrowland. The crowd was definitely manageable in this area. Once the park opened, DD6 and I headed to Space Mountain while DH and DD3 wandered around Tomorrowland. DD6 loved it and wanted to ride again. We waited about 10 minutes for our second ride.

After riding Space Mountain twice at 8 am, I was feeling a little queasy so we decided not to try AO or Buzz right then. We made our way toward FL and stopped for a coffee and snack at the Cheshire Cafe. At this point it was about 8:55 so we jumped in line for the 9:15 Merida meet. We were second in line so there was no wait once they opened. I think this was my favourite meet of the week. Merida was so interactive and the girls adored her.

After Merida, we headed to meet Ariel in her grotto. This was also a really nice meet! Then DH and DD6 rode Under the Sea while DD3 and I made our way to Gaston’s Tavern for a look around. It was getting close to 10 so we jumped in line to meet Gaston. He was so great! He was totally in character and DD6 loved him!

It was then time for our 7DMT FP. DD6 got to ride twice again since DD3 didn’t want to ride. So much fun! We then had a FP for Rapunzel and Tiana. They were both really sweet and the girls had fun.

Next we headed to lunch a Pinocchio’s Village Haus. We shared some flatbread and breadsticks. The food was pretty good and it was another affordable lunch. Also, we got a table overlooking IASW and DD3 loved waving at everyone.

When we came out of lunch and grabbed our stroller from the Carousal parking, we noticed our backpack was gone. DH was convinced it was stolen, but I couldn’t imagine that was the case. All that was inside was our sunscreen, water, hats and some band aids. A CM advised us to make a report to security, which we did. They checked lost and found and nothing was there, but they said it could take a couple of hours for it to make its way there anyways. I tried to get DH to shake it off, but he was definitely bothered by it all.

We headed to Frontierland to do our FPs for BTMRR (DD6 with DD3’s MB and I) and Splash (DD6 and DH, this cheered DH up a ton!). DD3 fell asleep in the stroller again so while I chilled with her under the train station, I looked for additional FPs.

Once we finished our 12:45 BTMRR (FP for me and DD3), I was able to get two 1:15 FPs for Splash after modifying a bunch of times. I originally picked a 9 pm slot and then got it all the way to 1:15!

Then once DD6 and DH scanned their 12:55 FPs at Splash, I was able to get another two FPs for Splash at 1:30! Again, I modified a ton and actually picked a BTMRR FP at 5pm originally and then modified the times until I saw the 1:30 Splash. I was ridiculously pumped about these two scores! The stand-by line was at 90 minutes and we were able to get two extra FPs! And best of all, DD6 got three rides in a row on her favourite ride on our last day. It was perfect!

When we finished at Splash we made our way to City Hall and low and behold our backpack was in lost and found! I figure it must’ve gotten knocked off our stroller and turned in. DH was so happy. It was a great end to our last park day!

We had another great dinner at Boma that evening. After dinner, we got some things at the gift shop and hung out in the lobby for a bit, just trying to soak up the last bit of vacation.

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Really enjoyed your trip report…great that you were able to modify your plans on the run…seems like you managed to maximize touring and down time perfectly…thanks so much for sharing your trip.

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Thank you so much for reading! :slight_smile:

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What a great trip, thanks for taking the time to share your report! The tables in Pinocchio Village Haus overlooking IASW are one of my favorite spots. I’m much older than 3 and I love waving to the riders.

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Thank you for sharing your trip report! I enjoyed reading it. I love reading how the sweet littles enjoy WDW, it helps me remember my DD’s first trip with me when she was 3. Time goes so fast…

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Great report! Thanks so much for sharing. I’m anticipating having to do a lot of modifying and fast passes too while in park. Did you use cell data or wifi?