skylynx
DIS Sponsor in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2003
Just returned from a five day celebration of the day my husband and I met 15 years ago when we were both taking the same 3-day Disney Institute customer loyalty class-me from Chicago and him from England. It was our goal on this commemorative trip to try and recreate some of the most memorable moments of our meeting while experiencing a couple of new things, too.
I've been kind of resigned about the whole fast pass plus and advanced dining reservations spelling the end of where-do-you-want-to-go-today spontaneity we used to enjoy, but the fact is, I still love Disney and I'm not going to stop going, so we've got to learn to love it differently. This was probably the happiest Disney trip we've had in years, and it was largely because we took advantage of the best parts of our DVC membership AND stopped putting so much weight on how long we stayed at a park or how many rides we went on.
From the start, this trip was destined to be good. For once, our long flight from Denver to Orlando on Southwest wasn't full and we had the extra seat in our row to stretch out in. Then, we arrived at the airport around midnight and Alamo was out of economy cars so we got a free upgrade to this enormous pickup truck we nicknamed Optimus Prime. Alamo also covered the prepaid fuel. Luckily, we have a Ram 2500 at home so it wasn't intimidating, though I imagine to other late night renters who were expecting a Kia, it could have been off-putting! Since we were arriving so late we used LaQuinta points for a free night at a LaQuinta near the airport and although it could have been scary it was quiet, clean, and safe.
In the morning, we stopped at Publix on the way to Magic Kingdom to get some groceries for breakfast during our stay and kept them in our fold up cooler with ice from the hotel. It was a glorious day and we almost, almost felt like old times as we were able to get on several rides before we needed to use our fast passes as the standby lines were short. Rode Splash Mountain and didn't even get soaked! Watched the Festival of Fantasy parade (we love the steampunk dragon!) then checked in to our room at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We usually reserve Jambo House instead of Kidani Village as we like being close to the Mara and Victoria Falls and we had reservations for Boma. Though our room was over two-tenths of a mile hike from the lobby according to my Fitbit, it was in a wonderful location to see critters. Of all the times we'd stayed at AKL, and always in a savannah view, we've never seen such profuse animal activity. We had gazelles sleeping outside our room every night, as well as wildebeests and roan antelopes and zebra and the funny river hogs and we even saw antelopes chasing a zebra all around the trees beneath our balcony. I'm counting that as pixie dust.
After unpacking, we left Optimus Prime in the parking lot and took the bus to Magic Kingdom, then the boat to the Polynesian. As total tiki heads and big fans of Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Room in Disneyland, we couldn't wait to experience Trader Sam's Grog Grotto. When we got there, there was a 2 and a half to 3 hour wait. Argh. We were booked for the 8:15 Spirit of Aloha dinner, so that wasn't going to work. Here come more pixie dust...some gentleman who had already waited two hours couldn't wait anymore and gave us his pager. Ten minutes later, we were seated in Trader Sam's. We don't love it quite as much as the Disneyland one (it's always tough to top the original) but we definitely enjoyed it and will visit every trip. After a cocktail and watching the entertainment that accompanies certain drinks, it was off to the Spirit of Aloha where we had a front row table. Pixie dust! This was our second time at the luau, and we enjoyed it just as much this time as the first. The first part of the show is a little contrived, but we really love the second part with the native dances. The monorail was packed to the gills on the way back to Magic Kingdom, as was the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge (and that's a long way to stand). But we didn't have to wait long for either! Back at our room we sat out on the balcony for at least an hour watching the animals. It was a good day!
Our second day (Sunday) was the actual anniversary of the day we met. We spent the morning at Epcot and decided to just try and walk in for lunch at Via Napoli where we have never eaten but which just sounded good to us! We always try to do at least one or two things we've never done each trip, which is getting harder because we've had a lot of trips! Pixie dust...we were seated right away with no reservations and had a fantastic pizza and shared a pitcher of beer. Afterwards, we went to the exact spot where we first set eyes on each other (it's now the site of the DVC preview center over at Saratoga Springs.) We'd hoped to find someone to take our picture (other than a cell phone selfie), and who happens to walk by but a DVC guide with two newlyweds who were taking the DVC tour and they were completely enamored with our (abbreviated) tale of why we were standing there. Later, we went back to Epcot to watch Illuminations as we did with our class the night we met, then stood under a speaker in World Showcase listening to the Tapestry of Nations music they play in Epcot after Illuminations is over. We saw the parade together the night we met (and got engaged during it months later) and even though the Tapestry of Nations/Dreams parade is long gone, we were in the exact place listening to the exact music and so we both shut our eyes, held each other tight, and "watched" the parade in our memory. Way-la, way-la way-la...
Animal Kingdom was the next day. "Dug" from Up is my favorite Disney character and we just happened to walk up to his photo spot just as he arrived so I got to hug him. Pixie dust. After our fastpasses were used, we headed over to Downtown Disney to check out the status of all the construction. We saw the Amphicars and admired the new Boathouse restaurant. Later we got dressed up and had a drink at Victoria Falls before heading down to dinner at Boma. After dinner, we enjoyed a bottle of Indaba South African wine sitting on our balcony watching seven different species of animals at one time!
So much is closed at Hollywood Studios we couldn't imagine spending more than a couple hours there, so after the Indiana Jones show we drove Optimus Prime to the Polynesian. This time, we were there when Trader Sam's opened up and had a better place to sit. Because it's our anniversary, we splurged on a "Nautilus" which is a drink for two that is served in...you got it...a ceramic model of the Nautilus with edible gardenias floating in it! After getting our fill of Tiki craziness, we went back to AKL, had an extremely rare, totally heavenly nap. Woke up a bit groggy, but came back to life after a swim and then a bubble in the hot tub even though resort hot tubs have pretty much become kiddie pools, which is a little disappointing because it used to be nice to just have a quiet place to sit and bask in the warmth without kids splashing and swimming and jumping in and out. Now I love kids...and these kids aren't being bad, they are just being kids, but a hot tub is just not big enough or designed to be a swimming pool. Eventually stopped grumbling about hot tubs no longer being any kind of haven, and got presentably dressed for Victoria Falls again. Had some Tandoori chicken wings that were phenomenal and then brought some flatbread pizza up to our room for a candlelight supper on the balcony. One thing I really love about DVC is the balconies. We love them in our resort rooms and love them on the Disney cruises we've become addicted to.
All in all, we got just as much pleasure outside the parks...in resorts and restaurants and lounges...than we did in them. We were lucky that this was a relatively off-peak time, if such a thing even exists at Disney anymore. So while I will still pick our fast passes in advance and make ADR's for the one or two Disney meals we do per trip (we like to eat off property) we will shift our expectations to do things that are less likely to be disappointments when the crowds are unbearable. We'll do parks in the morning, have fast passes for midday or for our second park if we hop, and I won't let the fact that I have fast passes control our day's destiny if the weather or our own tiredness are suggesting otherwise. And if we suddenly get an urge to eat at a Disney restaurant that has had no reservations available for five months, go when it opens and just try it.
On our going home day, we took advantage of the wonderful baggage check in at the resort, then went back to Downtown Disney to look around when it wasn't so crowded. We were able to get a great seat at the Dockside Bar just outside the Boathouse. A Longboard will cost you $8 (ouch, that's what we pay for a six pack of bottles at home) but we shared the steak sandwich and fresh cut fries which were really, truly delicious. These restaurants are expensive places to eat and drink, but if you can make a beer last a while and share a meal, you can get lots of enjoyment out of it. All the while we were sitting there, we got to snicker at four men dressed up like Captain Stubing of the Love Boat crammed into an Amphicar having a cast member training session, and also several launches. One car even got stuck and had to be towed back in. Because the gas for Optimus Prime was prepaid, we didn't even have to stop for gas before returning the car. And though there were thunderstorms threatening in both Orlando and Denver, we managed to leave and arrive on time and...miracle of miracles...had another empty seat in our row on the plane.
And so the pixie dust that rained down on us throughout the trip wasn't necessarily provided by a cast member or Disney directly, I think we had lots of it peripherally because we were willing to accept it that way.
I like to think this anniversary visit was charmed.
I've been kind of resigned about the whole fast pass plus and advanced dining reservations spelling the end of where-do-you-want-to-go-today spontaneity we used to enjoy, but the fact is, I still love Disney and I'm not going to stop going, so we've got to learn to love it differently. This was probably the happiest Disney trip we've had in years, and it was largely because we took advantage of the best parts of our DVC membership AND stopped putting so much weight on how long we stayed at a park or how many rides we went on.
From the start, this trip was destined to be good. For once, our long flight from Denver to Orlando on Southwest wasn't full and we had the extra seat in our row to stretch out in. Then, we arrived at the airport around midnight and Alamo was out of economy cars so we got a free upgrade to this enormous pickup truck we nicknamed Optimus Prime. Alamo also covered the prepaid fuel. Luckily, we have a Ram 2500 at home so it wasn't intimidating, though I imagine to other late night renters who were expecting a Kia, it could have been off-putting! Since we were arriving so late we used LaQuinta points for a free night at a LaQuinta near the airport and although it could have been scary it was quiet, clean, and safe.
In the morning, we stopped at Publix on the way to Magic Kingdom to get some groceries for breakfast during our stay and kept them in our fold up cooler with ice from the hotel. It was a glorious day and we almost, almost felt like old times as we were able to get on several rides before we needed to use our fast passes as the standby lines were short. Rode Splash Mountain and didn't even get soaked! Watched the Festival of Fantasy parade (we love the steampunk dragon!) then checked in to our room at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We usually reserve Jambo House instead of Kidani Village as we like being close to the Mara and Victoria Falls and we had reservations for Boma. Though our room was over two-tenths of a mile hike from the lobby according to my Fitbit, it was in a wonderful location to see critters. Of all the times we'd stayed at AKL, and always in a savannah view, we've never seen such profuse animal activity. We had gazelles sleeping outside our room every night, as well as wildebeests and roan antelopes and zebra and the funny river hogs and we even saw antelopes chasing a zebra all around the trees beneath our balcony. I'm counting that as pixie dust.
After unpacking, we left Optimus Prime in the parking lot and took the bus to Magic Kingdom, then the boat to the Polynesian. As total tiki heads and big fans of Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Room in Disneyland, we couldn't wait to experience Trader Sam's Grog Grotto. When we got there, there was a 2 and a half to 3 hour wait. Argh. We were booked for the 8:15 Spirit of Aloha dinner, so that wasn't going to work. Here come more pixie dust...some gentleman who had already waited two hours couldn't wait anymore and gave us his pager. Ten minutes later, we were seated in Trader Sam's. We don't love it quite as much as the Disneyland one (it's always tough to top the original) but we definitely enjoyed it and will visit every trip. After a cocktail and watching the entertainment that accompanies certain drinks, it was off to the Spirit of Aloha where we had a front row table. Pixie dust! This was our second time at the luau, and we enjoyed it just as much this time as the first. The first part of the show is a little contrived, but we really love the second part with the native dances. The monorail was packed to the gills on the way back to Magic Kingdom, as was the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge (and that's a long way to stand). But we didn't have to wait long for either! Back at our room we sat out on the balcony for at least an hour watching the animals. It was a good day!
Our second day (Sunday) was the actual anniversary of the day we met. We spent the morning at Epcot and decided to just try and walk in for lunch at Via Napoli where we have never eaten but which just sounded good to us! We always try to do at least one or two things we've never done each trip, which is getting harder because we've had a lot of trips! Pixie dust...we were seated right away with no reservations and had a fantastic pizza and shared a pitcher of beer. Afterwards, we went to the exact spot where we first set eyes on each other (it's now the site of the DVC preview center over at Saratoga Springs.) We'd hoped to find someone to take our picture (other than a cell phone selfie), and who happens to walk by but a DVC guide with two newlyweds who were taking the DVC tour and they were completely enamored with our (abbreviated) tale of why we were standing there. Later, we went back to Epcot to watch Illuminations as we did with our class the night we met, then stood under a speaker in World Showcase listening to the Tapestry of Nations music they play in Epcot after Illuminations is over. We saw the parade together the night we met (and got engaged during it months later) and even though the Tapestry of Nations/Dreams parade is long gone, we were in the exact place listening to the exact music and so we both shut our eyes, held each other tight, and "watched" the parade in our memory. Way-la, way-la way-la...
Animal Kingdom was the next day. "Dug" from Up is my favorite Disney character and we just happened to walk up to his photo spot just as he arrived so I got to hug him. Pixie dust. After our fastpasses were used, we headed over to Downtown Disney to check out the status of all the construction. We saw the Amphicars and admired the new Boathouse restaurant. Later we got dressed up and had a drink at Victoria Falls before heading down to dinner at Boma. After dinner, we enjoyed a bottle of Indaba South African wine sitting on our balcony watching seven different species of animals at one time!
So much is closed at Hollywood Studios we couldn't imagine spending more than a couple hours there, so after the Indiana Jones show we drove Optimus Prime to the Polynesian. This time, we were there when Trader Sam's opened up and had a better place to sit. Because it's our anniversary, we splurged on a "Nautilus" which is a drink for two that is served in...you got it...a ceramic model of the Nautilus with edible gardenias floating in it! After getting our fill of Tiki craziness, we went back to AKL, had an extremely rare, totally heavenly nap. Woke up a bit groggy, but came back to life after a swim and then a bubble in the hot tub even though resort hot tubs have pretty much become kiddie pools, which is a little disappointing because it used to be nice to just have a quiet place to sit and bask in the warmth without kids splashing and swimming and jumping in and out. Now I love kids...and these kids aren't being bad, they are just being kids, but a hot tub is just not big enough or designed to be a swimming pool. Eventually stopped grumbling about hot tubs no longer being any kind of haven, and got presentably dressed for Victoria Falls again. Had some Tandoori chicken wings that were phenomenal and then brought some flatbread pizza up to our room for a candlelight supper on the balcony. One thing I really love about DVC is the balconies. We love them in our resort rooms and love them on the Disney cruises we've become addicted to.
All in all, we got just as much pleasure outside the parks...in resorts and restaurants and lounges...than we did in them. We were lucky that this was a relatively off-peak time, if such a thing even exists at Disney anymore. So while I will still pick our fast passes in advance and make ADR's for the one or two Disney meals we do per trip (we like to eat off property) we will shift our expectations to do things that are less likely to be disappointments when the crowds are unbearable. We'll do parks in the morning, have fast passes for midday or for our second park if we hop, and I won't let the fact that I have fast passes control our day's destiny if the weather or our own tiredness are suggesting otherwise. And if we suddenly get an urge to eat at a Disney restaurant that has had no reservations available for five months, go when it opens and just try it.
On our going home day, we took advantage of the wonderful baggage check in at the resort, then went back to Downtown Disney to look around when it wasn't so crowded. We were able to get a great seat at the Dockside Bar just outside the Boathouse. A Longboard will cost you $8 (ouch, that's what we pay for a six pack of bottles at home) but we shared the steak sandwich and fresh cut fries which were really, truly delicious. These restaurants are expensive places to eat and drink, but if you can make a beer last a while and share a meal, you can get lots of enjoyment out of it. All the while we were sitting there, we got to snicker at four men dressed up like Captain Stubing of the Love Boat crammed into an Amphicar having a cast member training session, and also several launches. One car even got stuck and had to be towed back in. Because the gas for Optimus Prime was prepaid, we didn't even have to stop for gas before returning the car. And though there were thunderstorms threatening in both Orlando and Denver, we managed to leave and arrive on time and...miracle of miracles...had another empty seat in our row on the plane.
And so the pixie dust that rained down on us throughout the trip wasn't necessarily provided by a cast member or Disney directly, I think we had lots of it peripherally because we were willing to accept it that way.
I like to think this anniversary visit was charmed.
