97 fast passes and 97 pounds later, I'm back! March 2018 Trip Report *Updated 6-11*

[NotZacHoward]

Hello everybody! I just got back last night from an AMAZING trip at the most magical place on earth. I obviously am having Disney withdrawals already so I thought, what better way to cure that than to do my very first trip report!

I know I do not know any of you, so lets start off with some introductions!

Zac (Me)

My name is Zac (as stated before) and I am what many people call, unique, free spirited, different, etc. I love anything and all things Disney and have ever since I was 4 years old (my first trip so I just assume thats when my love bloomed). I am 22, almost 23 (March 23rd incase anyone wants to send a little present this way) and I am currently in my semester of Graduate school. I did complete the Disney College Program back in 2016 and my role was merchandising. I absolutely LOVED it and definitely see my future working for the Disney Company in some way. My family are DVC members and I am also an annual pass holder going at least twice a year.

Rachel (Travel buddy)

This is Rachel or Rach or Rachy (on the right). We have been best friends for 5 years now and currently are renting a house together with 3 other friends. She is 23 years old and about to start her last semester as a graduate student in the fall. She fell in love with Disney when she did her college program back in 2016 as well! She just bought a season for this trip in hopes to start going more.

Trip details
You can look in my signature for the full Pre-Trip Report with dining details (which wasn't much I must admit) but here is a little bit of what went down.
When: March 9th - 17th
Where: Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge
Why: Spring Break and my birthday month celebration
How: My grandma had 175 vacation club points that she was not going to be able to use in the use year and they were already banked. She asked me one day, back in July of 2017, if I would have any use for them and of course I said yes! Since I already had a season pass, all I would really be paying for was food and flight, an offer I could not pass up! I have been to Disney World over Spring Break in some capacity every year so far in college and I plan to continue that tradition next year as well.
Extras: We were on the deluxe dining plan and had an early morning flight on the 9th and a very late flight on the 17th so we considered those days to be full days as well.

Table of Contents
Day 1 Part 1: Travel Day and Jungle Skippers! - Vlog 1
Day 1 Part 2: An Exhausting Afternoon and Evening - Vlog 2
Day 2 Part 1: Cinderella's Royal Table, Frolic and Be Our Guest - Vlog 3
Day 2 Part 2: California Grill and Galactic Hero - Vlog 4
Day 3 Part 1: Boma and Animal Kingdom - Vlog 5
Day 3 Part 2: Pandora and Jiko - Vlog 6
Day 4 Part 1: Whispering Canyon and 10 Fast Passes?! - Vlog 7
Day 4 Part 2: Why Do I Feel Like I'm In Antarctica?! - Vlog 8
Day 5 Parts 1 & 2: EPCOT and Lots of Food! - Vlog 9/Vlog 10
Day 5 Part 3: My Dining Dreams Came True! - Vlog 11
Day 6 Part 1: Panic and Adventure - Vlog 12
Day 6 Part 2: Shopping and Elegance - Vlog 13
Day 6 Part 3: I'm Really Irresponsible - Vlog 14

Mousecellaneous
I plan to do a new section every Wednesday at 6:00 pm CT. I will be writing these trip reports for those who love to read them; however, I also did vlog the whole time I was there so if you are one that wants to watch a trip report, I will be adding a video at the end of each report covering everything that is covered in the typed out version. I am also going to do usually do 2 parts to each day! They may be a little longer than most TR's but it'll give you some good reading material LOL!

I cannot wait to share this awesome time with you all and I hope you all are excited as well. We will get things kicked off this Wednesday (March 21st) with the first official post of the report. Also please let me know of anyway I can enhance this trip report with any construction criticism along the way, since this is my first one and all!

Trailer video

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[jrmint427]

I'm excited to follow along! I love the trailer video We are staying at AKL for the first time later this year, so I'm excited to hear about your experience there!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Following along!

 

[jchurch0409]

Following!

 

[Stasieki]

Excited to follow along

 

[abarriger]

97 fastpasses, wow! I'm excited to hear!

 

[NotZacHoward]

I'm excited to follow along! I love the trailer video We are staying at AKL for the first time later this year, so I'm excited to hear about your experience there!

Thanks! AKL was seriously so beautiful! I have stayed there before and fell in love. It gets better and better each time. I saw your other post! Unfortunately we had a schedule change and didn't make it to Teppan Edo however I will tell you that I absolutely LOVE it! Even though you can get hibachi anywhere, it obviously has that little bit of Disney flair that makes it special. Their vanilla ice cream is seriously out of this world, that is always my favorite part of the whole meal and the yum yum sauce of course

Following along!

Welcome!

Following!

Welcome welcome!

Excited to follow along

Excited to have you along

97 fastpasses, wow! I'm excited to hear!

I know! It was a lot of late nights and some good luck as well!

 

[cyndiloveswalt]

I'll be joining in. Excited to hear about your trip!

 

[jrmint427]

Thanks! AKL was seriously so beautiful! I have stayed there before and fell in love. It gets better and better each time. I saw your other post! Unfortunately we had a schedule change and didn't make it to Teppan Edo however I will tell you that I absolutely LOVE it! Even though you can get hibachi anywhere, it obviously has that little bit of Disney flair that makes it special. Their vanilla ice cream is seriously out of this world, that is always my favorite part of the whole meal and the yum yum sauce of course

I am so excited for AKL! We’ve eaten at Jiko and Boma but both at night, so we didn’t get to see much of the resort. I can’t wait to stay there.

I am definitely leaning toward Teppan Edo for our TS at Epcot. Do they make the ice cream themselves? What is yum yum sauce? I’m sold at the name!

 

[Nohal]

Looking forward to your trip report.

 

[NotZacHoward]

Day 1 Part 1: Travel Day and Jungle Skippers!​

The day is finally here! I had about 3 and a half hours inbetween class (thanks grad school) and when we’re trying to leave. After packing and tough decisions , like which tsum tsums to take, I looked at the clock and it was…..10:45. I was so disappointed. I swore I was packing at least for 2 hours by now! So I still had about two and a half hours to kill before leaving. I popped in Avatar (the movie) to refresh myself on it and so I will have a big appreciation for when I walk through the land. I actually do enjoy the movie quite a lot, I do not think it is as groundbreaking as some may say but it definitely is a nice movie and got me extremely excited to witness the land first hand!

Finally 1:45 am rolled around and it was time to pack up the car and head over to the Nashville Airport! It is about a 3 and half hour drive according to iMaps and since it was through the night and an early flight, we figured we did not need to leave any earlier than 1:45 am for our 6:40 am flight. We arrived at the airport around 5:00 am and parked in the economy lot. I really wanted to park in the express parking that they have there but I could not find the lot for the life of me! We hopped right on a shuttle and flew through bag check in and security. It literally took a total of 20 minutes from walking into the main doors to collecting our belongings from the other side of security! That is why I love really early morning flights, it never takes long at any section of the airport (usually). I had never been to the Nashville airport and it was super nice! It had some really interesting artwork along the walk to our terminal. Not to small but not to large either, had some nice shops along the way as well as some breakfast places. I was too excited to start using my dining plan that I opted out of eating at the airport and just waiting for our lunch reservation.

We started boarding around 6:10 and I was B13 while Rachel was B31. We were hoping that I could just save a seat next to me so we could still sit by each other. Since we really weren’t that far apart I did not think it would be a big deal but the worrier inside of me kicked in so I just acted like I was searching for something I my backpack for about 15 minutes until Rachel showed up. Right before we were scheduled to take off the captain came over the intercom and told us we needed to get our wings defrosted with some special solution. I am not really sure how long this took because once I laid my head on my Captain America tsum tsum I was passed out until we landed around 9:30. It was a really calm and nice flight according to Rachel, which must have been true because flying freaks me out and even the slightest bump would have woken me up!

We were utilizing the Magical Express and I was honestly worried that it was going to be extremely busy since I thought the Friday morning of spring break would have been. To my happy delight we were the second group in line! Weehoo! We cued up and about 45 seconds later the man with the rolly computer came to our line, scanned our magic band and we were on the bus! We waited around for about 20 minutes for some more people to board our bus. By the time we took off, there were only about 15 others on the bus. Naturally I started to hope that this was going to be a sign of the crowds at the park.

We stopped at Coronado Springs first and WOW. That new building they are building sure is huge! I will reserve judgement on if I like it or not once it is fully complete, but it definitely is giant. We arrived at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, our home for the next 8 nights, right around 11:00 am. It was about an hour from the time we boarded the bus till when we stepped off, which for free transportation is definitely fine with me! We utilized the online check in system but unfortunately our room was not ready yet, which I figured it wouldn’t be.

Before heading to Magic Kingdom, I needed to drop off my huge backpack I had on at the bell services desk. A super simple process, I just took out my draw string bag, loaded my go pro and portable charger in there and headed on my way. About half way to the bus station I went to check the time and realized, wow I forgot my phone in the side pocket of my backpack. I guess I truly was trying to disconnect from the real world while here! However, I could not last without my phone so we had to turn around and go get my phone.

NOW we were ready to head to the Magic Kingdom! The bus was there minutes after we got to the station and that seemed to be the case for most of our trip! I don’t know if we were just lucky, except for one occasion, or if they have improved the bus system. Obviously I am hoping for the latter! The bus ride took exactly 20 minutes from our hotel bus station to the Magic Kingdom bus station which was the perfect amount of time for me. I do not mind the longer bus ride from the Animal Kingdom Lodge because I think the beauty of the resort outweighs the longer bus ride to most the parks.

We are finally walking to the Magic Kingdom entrance and the excitement is literally flowing out of me! This is the first time with the new security system and I really enjoy it. I think it is really efficient and does not clog up the main area. I made it through lickity split and was ready to go! However, Rachel apparently had never actually activated her annual pass so she had to go to that little side building to get it taken care of. She gotten taken care of no problems, apparently her annual pass card just got lost in the mail so who knows where that could be now!

We had a lunch reservation at Jungle Skipper Canteen at 12 so we pretty much had to head straight there. However, we had to take in the first few moments on Main Street for the first time this trip. No matter how many times you walk down the middle of main street, that first few moments seeing it on your trip never gets old!

We got to Jungle Skippers right at 12 and they were able to seat us almost immediately. Unfortunately I am not a Jungle Cruise stan nor know the back story to it all so I do not have the immediate wow factor of the place and the little jokes but I definitely liked the theming! It was very well done and a great indicator of how our meal was going to be. Our skipper was CC and she was absolutely phenomenal! I am sure the jokes are the same throughout the restaurant (which they are since I heard the same thing about 4 times throughout the meal ). We do have the deluxe dining plan so we get an appetizer, entrée, dessert and drink!

For our appetizer I ordered the Sea Shu Mai and Rachel ordered the Orinoco Ida’s Cachapas (Corn pancakes lol). Both were extremely good! I am not an avocado fan at all so I did not like the Avocado Cream with the corn pancakes but other than that they were good none the less! The Sea Shu Mai were like dumplings/pot stickers combo type thing. These were good as well! They were open faced so lots of stuffing in them but pork was definitely the main flavor you got even though they are also stuffed with Shrimp and Edamame beans.

For our entrée’s, I got the Lamb Chops and Rachel got the Thai Noodles without tofu. The lamb chops were excellent! The spice almost tasted like cinnamon and the salad in citrus vinaigrette was to die for! Rachel’s Thai Noodles was spicy so I did not try it, I am a chicken when it comes to spicy food; however they did do double chicken for no extra charge since she opted out of the tofu. She said it was really good! Not as spicy as they made it seem but definitely had really good flavor.

For dessert we got the Kungaloosh and the Coconut Bar. I am not sure why I ordered the Coconut Bar because I am not a fan of coconut at all BUT I am extremely glad I did. It was super duper delicious! You could not really taste the coconut, I think it was more a texture thing above all else. The lime-white chocolate ganache was AMAZING. The Kungaloosh was decent, I am not a huge chocolate fan and I hate coffee so it was not the best mix for me. Rachel did not mind it but the coconut bar was definitely the highlight!

Day 1 Part 1 Vlog:

 

[Belle's-Library]

That sounds amazing! It's on my bucket list to stay at AKL, I've heard so many great things!

 

[jrmint427]

I'm not sure how you stayed awake on the drive to Nashville! Glad travel went smoothly. I love how grand the AKL lobby is. It's so fun to watch the video and see the first glimpse of the castle... almost like I'm there We tried Jungle Navigation for the first time on our last trip and I absolutely loved it - the food, theming, corny jokes, all of it. We didn't get dessert, but now I wish we had tried the coconut bar, that looked amazing! Maybe you should post updates twice a week... ;-)

 

[Plucker001]

I'm loving your vlog. Thanks for posting!

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading and watching the rest .

 

[NotZacHoward]

That sounds amazing! It's on my bucket list to stay at AKL, I've heard so many great things!

It was literally amazing!! I absolutely loved it.

I'm loving your vlog. Thanks for posting!

Thank you so much!

Following along. Looking forward to reading and watching the rest .

Looking forward to having you along!

I'm not sure how you stayed awake on the drive to Nashville! Glad travel went smoothly. I love how grand the AKL lobby is. It's so fun to watch the video and see the first glimpse of the castle... almost like I'm there We tried Jungle Navigation for the first time on our last trip and I absolutely loved it - the food, theming, corny jokes, all of it. We didn't get dessert, but now I wish we had tried the coconut bar, that looked amazing! Maybe you should post updates twice a week... ;-)

Jungle skipper really was amazing! I absolutely loved it so much. And well as and you shall receive because..

SURPRISE ANNOUCEMENT!!

I will be posting up dates/vlogs TWICE a week now!! Every Wednesday AND Sunday!

Get super excited! Even more magic from ZacTooTurnt!​

 

[jrmint427]

And well as and you shall receive because..

SURPRISE ANNOUCEMENT!!

I will be posting up dates/vlogs TWICE a week now!! Every Wednesday AND Sunday!​

Woohoo!! Can’t wait to read the next chapter!

 

[momabbate]

Following along. I been looking for a TR of someone on DXDDP. Next trip will be the first time we try DXDDP. Plus always can look at more Disney pics. Your VLOG is interesting. Sorry age thing haven't gotten into that part of technology. Depending on what I am doing will depend if I watch. Although I have a feeling if I skip I will go back. I hate missing stuff. Looking forward to hearing about your trip both on Wed and Sundays. Yeah!

 

[frostymojo]

Following along

 

[NotZacHoward]

Day 1 Part 2: An Exhausting Afternoon and Evening​

After filling our bellies to the brim we finally can start enjoying some attractions! Our first fast pass was for Big Thunder Mountain, one of my absolute favorite rides for sure. I just love how fast it gets going and the theming throughout is just incredible! We caught the tail end of this fast pass reservation and due to the long line in the fast pass, a whole 20 minutes, it was already time for our next one, Space Mountain! This is obviously a classic and a beloved ride of mine as well. This fast pass line was also extremely long, almost to the Lunching Pad! I am not sure if they over booked fast passes or had a lot of groups go in at once but it seemed like the whole day the fast pass lines were longer than usual. The time was 2:55 once we got out of Space and we decided to try and get lucky with a decent spot for the Festival of Fantasy!

It actually was not as hard as you may think. We got right next to the corner where they turn from the hub onto main street and we were standing right behind the people who were sitting on the curb. I am not sure what I did to deserve that luck but whatever it was I sure hope it keeps on coming! This parade will forever hold a special place in my heart, the music and floats are truly amazing.

After the parade we had our last scheduled fast pass for the day which was the mine train! I definitely would never wait in the obscenely long line for it but I do think it is a fun ride, only when you sit in the back. That is my one requirement on any ride is that I sit in the back on the mine train. I just think it feels so much fast and you swing so much more! I know it probably isn’t that much more if you really tested it but just let me dream that it is!


So this is where I start to get crafty with the fast pass system. Right when we scan our bands for our last reserved fast pass I instantly get on MDX and look for more fast passes. My method of madness is to decide what ride I want to ride and then obsessively search for a fast pass for it. The next ride I had to ride was Splash Mountain! I saw a time pop up for 9:45 pm. Of course I take it! What I do next is modify it and just click on the different 30 minute time windows until a sooner one pops up. What do you know? One popped up for 4:10 and what time did we board the mine train you may ask? 4:02. It does take some work but I definitely think it is worth it. We never waited in a line for more than 30 minutes and that thirty minutes was waiting for a bus home!


I am not sure of the exact order but after Splash I am pretty sure we got a fast pass for Pooh and then Buzz Lightyear. After Buzz I was CRAVING a mickey krispy! I love the chocolate the dip them in and the krispies are just so good. It is one of my favorite uses of a snack credit! After enjoying that snack, we went and used a fast pass at Philarmagic! Such a fun show, definitely underrated in my eyes. After that we went to go walk around the Emporium and I got my autograph book for this trip. I usually just bring one from a previous trip and continue to fill it up; however I saw that they have new ones and it was just way to cute to pass up on!

While in the Emporium I got another fast pass for Splash Mountain for 6:55 which was a perfect time because we could go ride that then go stake our spot for Happily Ever After. I have to get the same spot for all firework shows I see. It is on main street, right outside Casey’s Corner – usually where they tape off for a path way between the two sides of main street. I love this location because the fireworks are perfectly above the castle, not too high to where they dwarf the castle but not too low to where you can’t see them, and you also can see the projects clearly. It is just a win win spot for me! This would be the first time I have seen Happily Ever After live and I was so so so excited! Right once the music started, I started bawling like a baby. It just was so surreal standing there hearing the music and watching it live. I really didn’t stop crying the whole way, it let up during the middle but once Mufasa came on and said “remember who you are” the river opened back up and didn’t stop until I could collect myself later. (I am an emotional butterfly, what can I say)


After the fireworks we had a reservation at Crystal Palace. Before going there I HAD to go get the Baymax ears I had saw earlier in the day. They were so cool and definitely not ears I saw everywhere. Baymax is also my favorite character so you know they were a must. We sprinted to the Chapeau.

Once I had my ears bought, we started walking towards the Crystal PalaceI have dined here before for breakfast and lunch (lunch was on Thanksgiving and was a less than stellar trip) so I was interested to see how the night would go. Much to my surprise, all the food seemed extremely fresh, for a buffet, and hot. The mac n cheese on the kids station was to die for! I could at least three helpings of it, I know I didn’t need three helpings but who cares, calories don’t count on vacation! The characters all came around pretty quickly and were actually quality interactions as well! I am sure this had to do with the fact that the restaurant was half full, but none the less it was a great experience!

During dinner, we realized just how tired we were from the long day of traveling. It was 10:00 pm and it seriously felt like 3:00 am. We decided to call it a night there and not enjoy the park till close, which was 11:00 so we wouldn’t have done that much more anyway. We did run into a long bus wait, about 25 minutes, but it felt like longer since we were so tired. We were just ready to be at our hotel and finally see our room and hope our luggage was in the room.

We got to the hotel around 11:30 and got just a little lost trying to find our room. The signs were a little confusing to us and we weren’t thinking quite right due to the lack of sleep as well! We finally found room 5508 and it was beautiful! A deluxe studio booked with the DVC points and exactly how I imagined it. We had a Savannah view but unfortunately there was nothing to see at this time of night! As we were winding down, Rachel noticed that her ankle was extremely swollen and starting to blister. Somehow during the day, she literally got third degree burn from the sun on her one ankle! She thinks it may have been her leggings of all things. They were new and from Walmart and that was the one reasonable thing that she could think of. Extremely crazy right?


Well after all of that, we decided to call it a night since we had to be up and at em for our breakfast reservation at 8:00 am at Cinderella’s Royal Table! Definitely an early morning but it will totally be worth it!

Day 1 Part 2 Vlog:

FP count for this section: 8

FP count for the trip so far: 8