"This is NOT the once in a lifetime trip I was hoping for!" - (Baby Simba - 12/18)

[MagicalMerida]

your baby is adorable!

 

[cheekypoppins]

Claudia is gorgeous!!! Love her big beautiful eyes I'm also loving the AOA pics it's getting me very excited for my trip,I can't wait to get there!!!!

 

[hobbs6799]

Wow, thank you! That is such a nice compliment. It's so nice of you to say that, I had no idea!

OMG, your daughter and my step-daughter would get along so well together! I'm sure they could spend hours talking about anime and K-Pop! I can totally understand how your DD can be more excited about the Japan Pavilioon than MK. Otaku was like that. Wait until you see the picture I took of her just before going into the Japan store... Your DD will flip out!! Be prepared to spend hours in there.

I don't know why the flu is so much stronger this year!!! I hope your DD and DH feel better soon.

My daughter is now following your thread as well. Well, she reads it over my shoulder. She is so excited to see your Epcot and Japan pictures. She said she knows she would love your step-daughter.

Where she has been so sick, we have watched tv together, which means, I logged 5 hours of anime yesterday......She wanted to know if your SD had a favorite anime. And would you please tell her that my DDs favorites are Soul Eater, Full Metal Alchemist, Full Metal Alchemist:Brotherhood, Fairy Tale and xxxHolic.... so message delivered

Anyway, it is great to "meet" you and I am really enjoying your pictures and story!!!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

That is super-disappointing about the elephant graveyard playground. I saw that concept art, too, and I just assumed that they'd followed through with it. How pointless! I'm glad I didn't try to make that a selling point with my kids, or they would have melted down if all they got to do was walk through it!

I love seeing it at night. Just like Pop, I think it looks spectacular at niAght!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Love all of the pictures of the areas. I saw the starting of the drawings when I stayed at POP last February and wondered if they would be colored in or left as sketches. I liked seeing the final result across the lake in December!

I remember seeing the log with Timon, Pumbaa and Simba on the concept art and like how they look for real too. Bummer about the elephant "play yard" though.

 

[katt789]

Ack! I was just thinking of your TR and the fact that I needed to find it, and here it is, yay!!

Oh my goodness, Claudia is so adorable!! Eee!

That’s so not good with the sickness before the trip!!

Wow, I was just reading the whole “customs” thing and was all “wait, what? They have to do customs, I’m so confused” and then remembered that you’re also Canadian, lawl.

So glad you started feeling a bit better while getting close to Orlando, I guess Disney can do that, right?! Yay for AoA! I love that resort so much! It’s so awesome!

Excited to read more!!

 

[auroralark]

Enjoying your report so far! My daughter is about the same age so I'm looking forward to seeing how your trip went with a baby. (Even though I'm not brave enough to take her until she's a little older!) Claudia is a cutie! (And I love that name!)

 

[FancyNancy]

Great pics! My daughter would LOVE to stay in the Lion King section some year but it's way too much space for just the two of us.

 

[photographymom517]

Loved your pictures at night!!! I noticed some things that I hadn't noticed during the day, interesting to compare!

Luke walked through the graveyard part of the LK section & he asked "Is that IT mommy? Is that all I do?" I felt so bad for him!

Thanks for explaining the suites at AoA! I'm glad to hear I can have my own sink!!! I need to research them more!

 

[AvasMommy526]

Lion King is my favorite Disney movie so I am partial to it but the "playground" is disappointing! I've seen that in a couple other TR's and I just don't get it, obviously it was planned differently and behind the scenes something must have changed I bet they will change it up eventually! Still the resort is beautiful, I love the details!

 

[Pluto0809]

The more pictures I see of AoA, the more I want to stay there!

 

[Curiouser&curiouser!]

I am LOVING AoA!! It really is a beautiful resort!

 

[ronnmel]

your baby is adorable!

and Thank you!!

Claudia is gorgeous!!! Love her big beautiful eyes I'm also loving the AOA pics it's getting me very excited for my trip,I can't wait to get there!!!!

Thanks, I love her big eyes too. You're going to stay at AoA? You will have a blast there!!!

My daughter is now following your thread as well. Well, she reads it over my shoulder. She is so excited to see your Epcot and Japan pictures. She said she knows she would love your step-daughter.

Where she has been so sick, we have watched tv together, which means, I logged 5 hours of anime yesterday......She wanted to know if your SD had a favorite anime. And would you please tell her that my DDs favorites are Soul Eater, Full Metal Alchemist, Full Metal Alchemist:Brotherhood, Fairy Tale and xxxHolic.... so message delivered

Anyway, it is great to "meet" you and I am really enjoying your pictures and story!!!

Well, to your DD! Japan pictures will start coming up on day 5 I think. (Yes, we made her wait that long before getting to go to Japan. ) Otaku lives pretty far from us so I'm not going to see her until next month and I don't talk to her that often (her dad does), so I can't ask her what her favorite Animes are right now. I do know that she mentioned Black Butler quite a bit while in Disney. Also I just looked and in her bedroom (we let her paint on her wall as decoration) I see that she wrote "Luv to: Yuneiro Patissière; Soul Eater; and Sugo Chara" She even has a Soul Eater book on her bedside table, so I guess she likes it like your DD does.

That is super-disappointing about the elephant graveyard playground. I saw that concept art, too, and I just assumed that they'd followed through with it. How pointless! I'm glad I didn't try to make that a selling point with my kids, or they would have melted down if all they got to do was walk through it!

I love seeing it at night. Just like Pop, I think it looks spectacular at niAght!

Oh yes, do NOT tell your kids about the elephant graveyard playground. That would be a disaster trying to deal with the disappointment. But hey, the rest is absolutely wonderful. There IS another (small) playground in the Nemo section though (pictures coming up).

So many areas of Disney look awesome at night.

Love all of the pictures of the areas. I saw the starting of the drawings when I stayed at POP last February and wondered if they would be colored in or left as sketches. I liked seeing the final result across the lake in December!

I remember seeing the log with Timon, Pumbaa and Simba on the concept art and like how they look for real too. Bummer about the elephant "play yard" though.

At first I was disappointed with the sketches (when I first saw them from Pop), but now that I understand the concept and see how the sketches evolve and become colored at the end, I like it.

The statues of the characters are so realistic. It's great! They could have done so much with that elephant graveyard. Just one tiny slide, and one thing to climb up one would have made it 10 times better.

 

[ctl]

Sounds like an awesome time so far. I am definitely waiting to hear about the crowd level as I am taking my teenage DD there at that time next year for her birthday. Claudia is precious.

 

[KatMark]

Mel, great nighttime pictures (I had seen a lot of daytime pictures too, but never any nighttime ones). That's strange that they didn't make the boneyard into a playground. Is there a playground somewhere else for the kids?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Beautiful nighttime shots around the resort, Mel. I've got to talk my family into going over for a visit just to look around. We have several days where there's nothing but dinner planned so I know that we'll have time. It's just getting them to do it that's the problem.

Every since the resort open, I've read complaints about the "playground" not really being a playground. I can understand not wanting them to climb around on it but at least put in a slide or two.

 

[Marsheliz]

We enjoyed AOA in September. .We actually had to transfer to a suite over there from POFQ after we realized that our room with my mom, us and two kids was just too small.. Not sure if I can afford the suite price as we didnt have to spend any extra when they moved us... Might have to check out the Little Mermaid rooms

 

[ronnmel]

Ack! I was just thinking of your TR and the fact that I needed to find it, and here it is, yay!!

Oh my goodness, Claudia is so adorable!! Eee!

That’s so not good with the sickness before the trip!!

Wow, I was just reading the whole “customs” thing and was all “wait, what? They have to do customs, I’m so confused” and then remembered that you’re also Canadian, lawl.

So glad you started feeling a bit better while getting close to Orlando, I guess Disney can do that, right?! Yay for AoA! I love that resort so much! It’s so awesome!

Excited to read more!!

You're here! Yay! Thank you! My little peanut makes me smile everyday.

The sickness was awful.

LOL, yeah, we are from the winter woods as well.

It's the pixie dust that helped me feel better.

Enjoying your report so far! My daughter is about the same age so I'm looking forward to seeing how your trip went with a baby. (Even though I'm not brave enough to take her until she's a little older!) Claudia is a cutie! (And I love that name!)

I'll be sure to include lots of info on how traveling with a baby went. We did okay, and I'm glad to have that experience, but we probably will never travel with a baby that young again, at least not to Disney.

Thanks! It was my great-grandma's name. I fell in love with the name when I was about 12 and my grandma would tell me stories about her mom. I knew right there and then that my first daughter would have that name. That's so cool that our daughters are only about 2 weeks apart (I think, based on your signature)!

Great pics! My daughter would LOVE to stay in the Lion King section some year but it's way too much space for just the two of us.

I really wish they would have built some suites and some standard rooms in every section, mix them up a little bit. That way every type of family could experience the theming they want.

Loved your pictures at night!!! I noticed some things that I hadn't noticed during the day, interesting to compare!

Luke walked through the graveyard part of the LK section & he asked "Is that IT mommy? Is that all I do?" I felt so bad for him!

Thanks for explaining the suites at AoA! I'm glad to hear I can have my own sink!!! I need to research them more!

What things had you not noticed? Btw, I'm done posting pictures for LM and LK, so you can post pictures for those two areas if you want.

LOL, if even a little kid can tell that one measly tunnel does not a playground make, they really messed up. Poor Luke!

The suites are PHENOMENAL from what I have seen. I want to stay in one so bad!!!

Lion King is my favorite Disney movie so I am partial to it but the "playground" is disappointing! I've seen that in a couple other TR's and I just don't get it, obviously it was planned differently and behind the scenes something must have changed I bet they will change it up eventually! Still the resort is beautiful, I love the details!

Lion King is also my favorite Disney movie. In fact, it's one of my favorite movie of all time, non-Disney movies included. I don't get it either, why they changed their plan. I understand sometimes you need to scale it down, but that much? I sure hope they do change it up at some point, but I doubt it.

The more pictures I see of AoA, the more I want to stay there!

You should stay there!

I am LOVING AoA!! It really is a beautiful resort!

My sentiments exactly!

 

[ronnmel]

Sounds like an awesome time so far. I am definitely waiting to hear about the crowd level as I am taking my teenage DD there at that time next year for her birthday. Claudia is precious.

Crowd levels were both awesome and awful, depending on the day. What dates exactly are you thinking of going?

Mel, great nighttime pictures (I had seen a lot of daytime pictures too, but never any nighttime ones). That's strange that they didn't make the boneyard into a playground. Is there a playground somewhere else for the kids?

Thanks. I think it's interesting to see photos at night. Disney does night time lighting so well! Yes, there is a (small) playground in the Nemo section, which I will post next.

Beautiful nighttime shots around the resort, Mel. I've got to talk my family into going over for a visit just to look around. We have several days where there's nothing but dinner planned so I know that we'll have time. It's just getting them to do it that's the problem.

Every since the resort open, I've read complaints about the "playground" not really being a playground. I can understand not wanting them to climb around on it but at least put in a slide or two.

Just say you will go with or without them. They ought to feel guilty letting you go alone and will join you, right? Try to go over for lunch, they have one of the best food court of all Disney resorts. That should work to convince them, men and their stomach!

Exactly, just one tiny tiny slide would have made all the difference.

We enjoyed AOA in September. .We actually had to transfer to a suite over there from POFQ after we realized that our room with my mom, us and two kids was just too small.. Not sure if I can afford the suite price as we didnt have to spend any extra when they moved us... Might have to check out the Little Mermaid rooms

How lucky of you to have gotten a suite without having to pay the difference! What section were you in? Even if you can't afford a suite next time, the LM rooms are amazing anyway.

 

[ronnmel]

Art of Animation Review part 4  Finding Nemo Area


When you exit the lobby you enter the main area of Art of Animation, Finding Nemo. This is where you will find the biggest pool. If you walk straight past the pool to the end of the section, youll find yourself at the Generation Gap Bridge. This is the bridge that leads to PoP Century.

This is actually the way I entered the section on my walk, as I had come from the walk alongside the lake. For this picture I was standing at the bridge and looking back towards Finding Nemo.

This is me trying to be artistic.

This section is designed to make you feel as if you were in the middle of the ocean. You see lots of fish swimming along the walls.

Coming from the back I came across this little playground first (yes, this was an actual playground, not a fake elephant graveyard one)

For some reason I did not take a picture of the slide. Or maybe it turned out blurry and I deleted it. I did take a picture of Squirt making sure you are having fun.

This is as close as I came to finding a hidden Mickey. I dont think its a real one since the circles are not touching.

More fish swimming along.

Next you get to the kiddie splash area.

This one is supervised by Nemo and his dad.

Nemos friends are there to play with (splash) you.

The giant icons to represent the buildings are Crush (with Dory) and Mr Ray.

Even the shark makes an apparition.

Finally, you arrive at the main pool.

It has zero entry on one side, and these jellyfish that have water coming down them.

You know how fun those seagulls screaming Mine! Mine! Mine! are at The Seas in Epcot? Well, they have them here too! They stand high above the ground, on this poles.

Only one more section to visit, Cars.


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