Should We Winnie the Pooh this Thing? - July/August 2018 Trip Report -Complete 8/18

We all love this place, but it’s Cora’s absolute favorite, which is why I strategically placed it immediately after our departure from BCV. Cheered her right up!
We stayed at Yacht Club and loved it. I don't blame Cora!

But she loved the shoes I had gotten her and wanted to switch into them anyway. I guess it ended up being a good investment, as they have become her favorite pair of shoes in the year since.

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They’re Crocs with little Mickey heads all over them and, according to her, very comfortable.
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Of course! But they are cute! Morgan would probably like those.

On the way, we had to take the obligatory “Cora is sad to leave BCV, Alex is just fine” picture with the Ariel statue.

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Seriously, I think Morgan and Cora are the same person!
 
AKL is gorgeous! It's definitely on the "one day" list. Sounds like you had a fun day at Epcot, minus the shoe situation. At least it resolved quickly.

It was a good day! And yes, the shoe situation was frustrating, but it did resolve quickly and we got a great pair of shoes out of the deal. She wants to look for another pair of them next month when we go back...

We stayed at Yacht Club and loved it. I don't blame Cora!

Alex was begging to try Yacht Club this year, but I ended up not booking it because I was worried about the atmosphere for families with kids. It's seemed kind of formal and quiet when we've walked through while being at Beach Club. Sounds like that must not have been y'all's experience?




Seriously, I think Morgan and Cora are the same person!

Ha! I wish they could meet! It's very rare we ever come into contact with other Disney-loving/Star Wars fanatic, tween girls
 
Alex was begging to try Yacht Club this year, but I ended up not booking it because I was worried about the atmosphere for families with kids. It's seemed kind of formal and quiet when we've walked through while being at Beach Club. Sounds like that must not have been y'all's experience?
Not at all!!! We didn't feel uncomfortable at all! I really felt like the 2 resorts were almost one. Just one side had different rooms than the other. And we had a conference that was there when we were there and never felt out of place. I would love to try Beach Club at some point, but also perfectly fine staying at Yacht with it being a little cheaper!
 


We love Garden Grill for breakfast! I think it’s our favorite meal on property! That cinnamon roll - yum!

Sorry to hear about Cora’s shoe situation, but I’m glad it was resolved quickly! The new sandals are cute.

So, back in 2009, on my boys’ first trip to Disney, we ate at Boma one night. That was our one and only time to AKL. My boys have zero memory of the resort. We talk about next year’s trip daily, lol, and know we want to spend sometime exploring different resorts, and AKL is one of them. I will say, I think the resort is gorgeous, but I really have no desire to stay there. Maybe our visit next year or after reading your review of your stay will change my mind.
 
After dinner the kids, of course, wanted some pool time, so DH took them while I spent some time wandering around the resort and sitting out on the balcony by myself. I was amazed by how peaceful and isolated (in a good way) I was able to feel at this resort despite still being in the busiest tourist destination in the world. We seriously debated returning to AKL this summer, but ended up choosing proximity to parks, as this will not be as long of a trip for us. However, we loved it so much it has DH seriously talking about buying into DVC resale to own here. Regardless of whether or not we end up pulling that trigger, we will for sure be back at some point.
I definitely love AKL! So much that I did pull the trigger and buy there! Even when I was staying other places I would always look longingly over to the buses headed to AKL!
 
Not at all!!! We didn't feel uncomfortable at all! I really felt like the 2 resorts were almost one. Just one side had different rooms than the other. And we had a conference that was there when we were there and never felt out of place. I would love to try Beach Club at some point, but also perfectly fine staying at Yacht with it being a little cheaper!

Good to know! My goal is to try all the resorts at some point. Of course, that's hard to do when I struggle with being pulled away from the ones I already know and love! That's a big part of why we do split stays...

We love Garden Grill for breakfast! I think it’s our favorite meal on property! That cinnamon roll - yum!

It's so good! I dream about that stupid cinnamon roll. And this year we're going for lunch rather than breakfast and I'm struggling with the idea of not having it (because I am pitiful).

Sorry to hear about Cora’s shoe situation, but I’m glad it was resolved quickly! The new sandals are cute.

I'm glad it worked out, but I was quite irritated in the moment.

So, back in 2009, on my boys’ first trip to Disney, we ate at Boma one night. That was our one and only time to AKL. My boys have zero memory of the resort. We talk about next year’s trip daily, lol, and know we want to spend sometime exploring different resorts, and AKL is one of them. I will say, I think the resort is gorgeous, but I really have no desire to stay there. Maybe our visit next year or after reading your review of your stay will change my mind.

I felt similarly, but decided to just tack it on at the end of this long trip to give it a try. I was shocked by how strongly and immediately we all fell in love with it. I'm not even a big animal person, but spending some time exploring that resort was all it took for me to be a full-on convert. It is really out of the way though, which is a struggle. I was trying to figure out how to work in a visit on our trip this year and couldn't make it happen. Oh, and I can totally relate to talking about the next trip every day long before it's scheduled to happen!

I definitely love AKL! So much that I did pull the trigger and buy there! Even when I was staying other places I would always look longingly over to the buses headed to AKL!

I'm glad I'm not alone! I worry I'm going to be looking at those buses that way this year, even though I'm thrilled with the resorts we're staying in.
 


I'm almost there! I am determine to get this thing finished before we leave for this year's trip and I've got just under 2 weeks to do it. Thanks for bearing with me!

Day 11: July 31, Part 1 – We can’t say goodbye if we don’t leave

Originally we had planned to rope drop a park this morning. After seeing AKL, we scrapped that plan and decided to spend the first half of the day enjoying the resort.

The kids enjoying the view from our balcony with bed heads.

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This is what they were looking at.

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The kids wanted to try one of the bead activities, so we headed down to the lobby to check one out. They were the only ones there to participate!

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The cast members were great and they loved it. While DH watched over the kids, I grabbed a seat by the fire pit just to enjoy how gorgeous it was outside. After a bit, I was joined by a boy about Cora’s age whose family was visiting from the UK. He pointed out a lizard to me on the rocks. Can you find him?

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After the kids finished their activity they came over and had a ball exploring with the boy before we headed back inside. I love those little moments of connecting with other people that seem to happen on Disney trips in ways they don’t typically at home. We’ve had some great moments like that over the years.

We spent some time in this lounge, as we had it to ourselves.

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We went out on the balcony to the animal viewing area and spotted this guy.

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Apparently he spotted us too, because he came right up to the fence underneath us and stayed there until we left.

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They were having some sort of cultural festival in the lobby. Of course, the kids wanted two different things – Cora wanted to check out the display and Alex wanted to keep exploring, so we split up. I got this picture of DH and Cora from above.

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And I ended up being super jealous, as they got to try some great food down there. Boo. However, I got to enjoy Alex dancing back and forth across the bridge to the drumming coming from below so maybe we were even?


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I hopped on MDE on my phone and was able to grab an 11:00am lunch reservation at about 10:40. Woohoo!

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I was so excited to try this place! And it was so pretty inside.

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Since they had just opened, we had no problem getting a table by the window. This guy stared at us creepily for the first part of our meal.

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I had heard wonderful things about the bread service here, so of course I had to try it. Oh. My. God. So so good! Like I want to go back and just make a meal of this good.

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I had the potjie with butter chicken and aloo masala. It was delicious.

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For some reason I don’t have a picture of DH’s meal and I don’t remember what he ate. I do have both kids’ though. Alex got the kids butter chicken and Cora got the kids chicken breast.

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The only problem with this place was how hard it was to keep the kids seated and focused on eating with all the animals right outside the window!

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For dessert the kids each had a dirt and worms.

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And DH and I split this mousse – also so good.

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Before we left our friend came back one more time to say goodbye.

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The lobby and entrance at Kidani is not as majestic as Jambo house, but it’s still gorgeous.

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Stuffed, we waddled back to Jambo (we didn’t use the shuttle either coming or going and the walk was very easy) to put my leftover food in the fridge and allow Cora to change into a costume before finally hopping a bus to a park! Where will we go…?
 
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After the kids finished their activity they came over and had a ball exploring with the boy before we headed back inside. I love those little moments of connecting with other people that seem to happen on Disney trips in ways they don’t typically at home. We’ve had some great moments like that over the years.
It's so true! Everyone is so much more open and friendly in Disney. if only we could be that way all the time.

I'm almost there! I am determine to get this thing finished before we leave for this year's trip and I've got just under 2 weeks to do it. Thanks for bearing with me!
I want to finish my trip report before we go in August. You can do it!

Originally we had planned to rope drop a park this morning. After seeing AKL, we scrapped that plan and decided to spend the first half of the day enjoying the resort.

The kids enjoying the view from our balcony with bed heads.

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Sounds like a good plan!

This guy stared at us creepily for the first part of our meal.

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The bird is making sure you aren't eating any of his relatives.

I had heard wonderful things about the bread service here, so of course I had to try it. Oh. My. God. So so good! Like I want to go back and just make a meal of this good.

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I seriously booked us lunch so I can do just that!
 
It's so true! Everyone is so much more open and friendly in Disney. if only we could be that way all the time.

I'm sure everyone would look at me like a weirdo at home if I interacted with people the same way I do at Disney!


I want to finish my trip report before we go in August. You can do it!

#goals8-)


The bird is making sure you aren't eating any of his relatives.

:rotfl:

I seriously booked us lunch so I can do just that!
It's worth it!

Oh wow, the resort is so pretty! What a nice way to spend the morning.

It was wonderfully relaxing!
 
That’s a great view from the balcony for animal watching!

Lunch at Sanaa looks really good! Kudos for nabbing a last minute ADR.
 
Shirts, of course, made by my mother in law.

I am living for these matching shirts! What a talent your MIL has!

Yum! This sticky bun gives me life.

OMG 🤤

Like one minute she was fine, the next minute she was in awful pain saying her shoes didn’t fit.

Kids sure grow fast! ;)

On the way, we had to take the obligatory “Cora is sad to leave BCV, Alex is just fine” picture with the Ariel statue.

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How could she be so sad to go to the AKL? That resort is on my bucket list, for sure!

I love that you all dropped some park time to enjoy the resort! All the activities and food look just amazing!
 
I am living for these matching shirts! What a talent your MIL has!

We are truly blessed that she shares her talents with us.


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How could she be so sad to go to the AKL? That resort is on my bucket list, for sure!

I love that you all dropped some park time to enjoy the resort! All the activities and food look just amazing!

My thoughts exactly! And, of course, she loved it. But she also fully plans to cry again when we leave Beach Club this year and she is unapologetic about it. :rotfl:
 
As indicated in my ticker, we have 5 days until our next trip! Woohoo! And I only have one more update to go after this one before this report is finished. I may just make it...

Day 11: July 31, Part 2 – Why do I keep doing this to myself?

No big surprise. For our first park from AKL we chose to go to Animal Kingdom. And Cora’s costume?

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We started out with a couple of Wilderness Explorer activities.

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Then did something we hadn’t done since our first trip in 2013 – we took the train out to Rafiki’s Planet Watch! Of course we met the man (monkey) himself, then we just sort of spent time looking at things and exploring. We found a couple of (not so) hidden Mickeys. The kids’ favorite thing was actually listening to the sounds in the little booths that they have. I was so glad we made it back out there and we will probably try to get out there again this time for the new amination class they just started.

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I felt so bad for Doc McStuffins. She was standing by herself trying to get kids to come meet with her and no one was coming. I tried to get Alex to go over to her, but he refused – he’s too big for Disney Junior. Of course, I wanted to cry a little bit right there over how big my kids have gotten – on our trip in 2015 he was swooning over Doc and saying he was going to marry her.

On the way back from from Rafiki’s Planet Watch we stopped to grab some drinks in Harambe Market – I don’t even remember what we drank, but I remember being refreshed! Then we checked out this performance, which was a lot of fun.

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And also this…because why not?

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Next we used our first fastpass at Kilimanjaro Safaris. It seems like there is always a giraffe right up on us on this attraction, which I enjoy.

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We also stopped to enjoy Burudika while in Africa and DH got in on the act. He hates that I took pictures of this, so of course I must put them on the internet.

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Fastpass number 2 was for Flight of Passage, then we decided to grab some food at Satu’li Canteen for the first time. We weren’t starving, as we were still kind of good from our meal at Sanaa, but we wanted to try this out. DH and I each got a kids hot dog meal for ourselves and the kids split the cheeseburger pods and chips. It was all pretty good and I would definitely go back.

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After eating we headed to our last fastpass. Unfortunately, it looked like the heavens were about to open up and, since it was one of the few indoor attractions in AK, many many other people were headed to the same place at the same time.

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Due to this, the fastpass line actually stretched far outside the entrance when we got there. Due to our outstanding luck, we were just far enough back in the line to be about two people away from the entrance when it started pouring. Fortunately, we were prepared and had our ponchos at the ready. Once again, I kept my promise to keep my eyes open.

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It was still pouring when we came out of the ride and many people were camped in the gift shop. We’re not about that life, so we pulled our ponchos back on and went right back out. Sadly, we had planned to meet the Duck Tales characters at this time, but, of course, they had headed inside because of the rain. Unfortunately, options are pretty limited in AK when it’s raining, so the rest of my family made a case for visiting what is objectively the worst attraction at WDW. That’s right, I said objectively. I refuse to cite it as opinion when it’s so clearly a fact. Those of you who have read my trip reports before likely know where I’m going with this.

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That’s right. It’s That Terrible God Awful It’s Tough to be a Bug (TGAITTBAB™). I swore I would never subject myself to this thing again and then like a fool I allowed myself to be talked into it. I hated it just as much as always. No more!

It had stopped raining by the time we got out of TTGAITTBAB. We shopped for a little bit then got a picture taken in front of the Tree of Life before heading out for the day.

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We spent the evening lounging around the resort and DH and I split a case of these

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Yum! It was my first time trying the famous Zebra Domes and I’m pleased to say I’d definitely eat them again. We got into bed early to get rested up for our last park day!
 
Day 12: August 1, Part 1 - A MAGICal last day

For our final day it was back to Magic Kingdom. We started the day at an uncommon rope drop attraction – Jungle Cruise! We actually enjoy rope dropping this one. We love the corny jokes and it starts the day off right. From Jungle Cruise we went to Pirates, which now features a completely unnecessary ride photo.

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After Pirates came Big Thunder followed by Haunted Mansion. We put our spectacular acting skills to good use again for a photo outside HM.

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The kids also used their acting skills in the stockades in Liberty Square. I very much enjoy pretending to jail my children and treasure it as a tradition of our trips.

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Another tradition is I never ride the carousel. Like, ever. And there’s no real reason. I don’t particularly feel one way or another about the ride, I just always use the time for a quick moment of refreshing solitude. I’ve also never ridden Barnstormer for the same reason. But I always take pictures of the other 3.

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Hands up for a Main Train fastpass!

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Hands down for a Buzz fastpass where we all look weird in the photos except Alex because you can’t see him.

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After Buzz we caught the Move it Shake it Parade, which the kids had asked to do because it was the only chance to see Judy and Nick from Zootopia, who they love. Mission accomplished!

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We had lunch at Pecos Bill’s and I enjoyed it a bit more this time. I hadn’t thought much of it the last time we ate there, but I decided to try it again, as I was getting desperate for Mexican food. As I know I’ve said before, there are 2 things that keep WDW from being a completely perfect place for me – the lack of decent Mexican food and the absence of Dr. Pepper. Notice the Dr. Pepper bottle in the picture of my food below, which I brought into the parks myself after bringing it from home…

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I had the fajitas, DH had the bowl, and the kids each had a mac and cheese meal. After we finished eating it was time for our 3rd fastpass and Cora started having her anxiety issues about riding it – Splash Mountain.

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This is also a familiar trope of my trip reports. Cora flips out and cries about going on Splash Mountain, then ends up riding it and laughing at herself by the end because she always enjoys it and the drop is over so quickly. For some reason the ride photo from this one didn’t get added to my account. But, true to form, here is her “after” shot.

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And here she is making fun of herself some more while we waited for the bus outside the park.

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We left for a break after Splash Mountain as it was getting pretty hot and we wanted to rest up – we had a late night planned!
 
As indicated in my ticker, we have 5 days until our next trip! Woohoo! And I only have one more update to go after this one before this report is finished. I may just make it...
You can do it!!! I have 3 full days to get through in a month.

I felt so bad for Doc McStuffins. She was standing by herself trying to get kids to come meet with her and no one was coming. I tried to get Alex to go over to her, but he refused – he’s too big for Disney Junior. Of course, I wanted to cry a little bit right there over how big my kids have gotten – on our trip in 2015 he was swooning over Doc and saying he was going to marry her.
This was the same when we were out there last time. I have to think they got rid of Doc out there? I mean she is in Hollywood Studios, I don't think they really need her in 2 places.

Africa and DH got in on the act. He hates that I took pictures of this, so of course I must put them on the internet.

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Such love!

We started the day at an uncommon rope drop attraction – Jungle Cruise! We actually enjoy rope dropping this one. We love the corny jokes and it starts the day off right.
I actually think it is a great ride to rope drop. The line can be super long and slow and the Fast Pass line, alot of times is no better.

After we finished eating it was time for our 3rd fastpass and Cora started having her anxiety issues about riding it – Splash Mountain.

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Seriously, this could be a picture of Morgan. She does the same thing for Spalsh, she hate the big drop but loves the rest of the ride!
 
Love your AK day. Planet watch was closed when we were there and I was bummed the kids couldn't see it but relieved I didn't have to fit it into the schedule.

Bummer about the rain, but at least for had a FP for an indoor ride when it started, right?

Too funny that you skip the carousel and Barnstormer. I guess you need to get some alone time however you can :-)
 
We are not big fans of It’s Tough To Be A Bug either. I think we watched it with our boys once, but it might have been their first trip so I haven’t seen it in years.

It’s been quite a few trips since my last meal
at Pecos Bill. Your food looks very yummy. I’ll have to eat there on our next trip.

I do remember Cora’s fear (Is that what we should call it?) of Splash Mountain. I’m glad she enjoyed it.
 

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