M:SpilotISTC12
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2020
Now that we have been home a couple days and caught up on life I can write up a trip report! My daughter was born in November so this was her first trip! To celebrate with my wife, daughter and I was my mom, stepdad and my daughter's godfather. My mom and stepdad stayed at SSR while the rest stayed at AKL. I was able to snag 3 days in a row at a value room at AKL. To extend our trip a little longer we tacked on 2 days in a standard view at AKL JH.
5/15- We departed last Saturday from EWR for a 630 am flight! My DD was an angel on the flight! No tears! After taking our last DME ride (sad!) we arrived at AKL JH!
Our room wasn't ready so we decided to stroll around the resort. Well there wasn't a whole lot to see since most of JH was closed. It was eerie to see the whole resort empty except for a few people. The only thing that was open was The Mara and the pool bar. We ate breakfast at The Mara. The menu was super limited for breakfast. They didn't even have Mickey Waffles which I thought was strange.
So we walked to Kidani to see what was there. There were many more signs of life at Kidani. Of course after we walked to Kidani, our room was ready! So we walked back to JH and straight to our room. Our room was 5020. We had a killer view of the pool! I was not expecting it to have a view at all! The room was noticeably smaller but it didn't bother us too much. Time to get ready to meet up with my parents for dinner at STK.
After a 45 min wait for a DS bus it finally arrived. Now this being my first time staying at AKL I have no reference on how the bus situation was before Covid. Maybe they weren't sending as many buses to JH since its pretty much closed? But the wait was brutal. We barely made our reservation. This is the part where the day took a downward turn. We had a 6:15 reservation. We checked in at 6:10. They told us to wait a couple minutes for our table. Ok, no problem. Well at 6:35 still no sign of our table. My DD has fallen asleep in her stroller waiting. I go back up to the hostess and ask where our table is. She says that we were already sat. I said that was impossible since no one called our name. So after 10 min of scrambling they sat us...under a loud speaker that the DJ's music was coming out of. They knew we had a baby with us when we checked in. So my daughter had a meltdown. Meanwhile there were plenty of tables open outside where it was quiet. We were furious. It was almost like they did it on purpose. We walked away from the table and said nothing. Starving we settled on D-Lux burger and it was solid!
Now this was the first weekend after the lifting of the mask mandate outside. I've been to DS a 100 times and never felt like it was too crowded or anything. BUT THIS WAS DIFFERENT! Pandemic or not it was too many people. Now our whole family is vaccinated except our 6 month old (obviously) but we were all uncomfortable. Maybe the sense of normalcy plus the amount of people overwhelmed all of us. So we bailed at like 8-830 pm. Everyone was probably getting out of the cabin fever but that was not a fun trip to DS.
5/16- Today was the day we were looking forward to most! POOL DAY! Though we didn't do much it was a great day! My DD's first time in a pool. She had a blast! Took a ton of photos and caught lots of rays! Not too much to report here. We got Sanaa to go for dinner. It was really good! Even to go! Definitely would love to go back and sit down.
5/17- Epcot day! After a long discussion with my DW and I, we settled on Epcot being our DD's first park! We both love Epcot so it was just right! We got to Epcot around 1130am. About a 20 min wait for the bus. Not too bad. After walking into FW my DD got her first picture with Mickey (socially distant of course)! We met up with my parents. Every single one of us skipped breakfast know that we were going to engorge ourselves with food and drinks from all the stands.
We hit up all these booths in order (at least what I can remember. There was a fair amount of alcohol consumed that day):
Citrus Blossom-Lobster salad. We all pretty much enjoyed but the amount of lobster was definitely lacking.
Refreshment Port- Sausage and Pepper Poutine. Unanimously agreed this was the 3rd best thing we ate.
La Isla Fresca- Lamb Curry & Shrimp Skewer. Really good but not a lot of lamb but tasty. Shrimp was the best thing at this booth. Yummy and best bang for the buck.
Jardin de Fiestas- Taco Vampiro. Had a nice little kick to it but not overwhelming. Stay away from the garden margarita! Ew!
Festival Favorites- Beef Brisket Slider. WOW! This was unreal! My far the best of the day! I wish I got another one.
Farmer's Feast- Herb Crusted Lamb. 2nd best thing we had. So tender!
All in all! We enjoyed our food! Boy did we spend a pretty penny on it but it was worth it!
My DD's first ride was Gran Fiesta Tour! She was so happy! After that we rode SSE, Nemo and Living with the Land. She loved them all! She was jumping in our laps the whole time! We left the park once she started getting sleepy around 830 pm. She was napped throughout the day in the stroller and was not too fussy in the heat. It's almost like she was made for the parks!
5/18- MGM Day! (Yes we still and will always call it MGM! Hate all you want!) Weren't able to get a boarding group for Rise at 7am. Dang! The lucky stars aligned when we got to the bus stop at AKL there was an empty bus waiting to go! We got to the park at about 1030 am. My parents got there around noon. My DD's godfather hadn't been to GE yet so we went straight there for a Ronto Wrap. Very good! Definitely a new favorite! My parents met up with us and took my DD while us 3 went in line for SR. It said 60 min but was really 45 once we got off. So much better than the first time we rode it last year. In line for SR, we were able to get boarding group 101 at the 1 pm window! YAY!
We had about an hour and half until our boarding group was called. We hit up TS:MM with only a 25 min wait. Our boarding group came up quicker than an hour and half. It came in about 50 min! We rider swapped. I watched our DD while the other 4 went to ride. About a half hour later I get a text from my DW that the ride is down and they are stuck right outside the interrogation room. A couple minutes later its back up! Great! Then 10 min after that...back down. They got inside the interrogation room when they were told to leave and given a FP.
So not knowing how long it'd be down, we went to grab some food at Backlot Express. Nothing to ride home about. But during our meal Rise came back on line. So the 4 went back on and were out in under 30 min. Then my parents took the baby while us 3 rode Rise! So much fun! After riding Rise the park was only open for another 40 min so we headed to Mickey and Minnie's which had a 20 min wait! We were in the outdoor queue when they said it broke down. The park was only a half hour from closing. We got some photos from a photo pass photographer on our way out. We didn't do a lot but we had fun! The waits for everything for most of the day was over an hour until a hour before close. For such a small park, it needs fast pass. We enjoyed walking around more than just waiting in a line. Kind of a bummer. But it was still fun don't get me wrong!
Today was the day of our room switch. Our room, 5210, was ready when we got back. Our view was semi savannah so it was great to see the ostrich in the morning!
5/19- Relaxing day before the trip home. We had a 5:30 reservation at Narccoosee. Prior to that was more time at the pool and bar at AKL. Around 330 we caught a bus, 10 min wait, to MK. We took the new walking path to GF. It was a nice easy walk. We will definitely be using this in the future! We grabbed a drink at Enchanted Rose while we waited for our table. It was so nice in there! We haven't been there since it was Mizner's. 530 came and we got our table. That meal was absolutely incredible! 4 out of 5 of us got the surf and turf. My wife and I split a bottle of Skywalker Rose. Everything about the meal was great! The view, the food, the family. Really was the highlight of the trip!
After a $400 tab, we headed to the smoking section for a couple of cigars. My mom was spending as much time with the baby as possible and was strolling her around the GF. It made me so happy to see the joy on my mom's face. Honestly this day is the reason why I love Disney so much. To see the joy on everyone's face made the whole thing worth it and it's something you can't put a price on. After the cigars we headed back to Enchanted Rose for a night cap (or 3). Before we knew it, it was 1030! More than hour after park close. Luckily Uber has the option for car seats for the baby. We got one of those back to AKL. Such a great day!
5/20- Early Flight home so early DME back to MCO. Nothing to report. Easy and painless. Baby was great on flight. Sucks to be home but had a great trip! We have been to WDW at least 25 times. This was my favorite trip. Everyone had a great time! Can't wait to go back!
5/15- We departed last Saturday from EWR for a 630 am flight! My DD was an angel on the flight! No tears! After taking our last DME ride (sad!) we arrived at AKL JH!
Our room wasn't ready so we decided to stroll around the resort. Well there wasn't a whole lot to see since most of JH was closed. It was eerie to see the whole resort empty except for a few people. The only thing that was open was The Mara and the pool bar. We ate breakfast at The Mara. The menu was super limited for breakfast. They didn't even have Mickey Waffles which I thought was strange.
So we walked to Kidani to see what was there. There were many more signs of life at Kidani. Of course after we walked to Kidani, our room was ready! So we walked back to JH and straight to our room. Our room was 5020. We had a killer view of the pool! I was not expecting it to have a view at all! The room was noticeably smaller but it didn't bother us too much. Time to get ready to meet up with my parents for dinner at STK.
After a 45 min wait for a DS bus it finally arrived. Now this being my first time staying at AKL I have no reference on how the bus situation was before Covid. Maybe they weren't sending as many buses to JH since its pretty much closed? But the wait was brutal. We barely made our reservation. This is the part where the day took a downward turn. We had a 6:15 reservation. We checked in at 6:10. They told us to wait a couple minutes for our table. Ok, no problem. Well at 6:35 still no sign of our table. My DD has fallen asleep in her stroller waiting. I go back up to the hostess and ask where our table is. She says that we were already sat. I said that was impossible since no one called our name. So after 10 min of scrambling they sat us...under a loud speaker that the DJ's music was coming out of. They knew we had a baby with us when we checked in. So my daughter had a meltdown. Meanwhile there were plenty of tables open outside where it was quiet. We were furious. It was almost like they did it on purpose. We walked away from the table and said nothing. Starving we settled on D-Lux burger and it was solid!
Now this was the first weekend after the lifting of the mask mandate outside. I've been to DS a 100 times and never felt like it was too crowded or anything. BUT THIS WAS DIFFERENT! Pandemic or not it was too many people. Now our whole family is vaccinated except our 6 month old (obviously) but we were all uncomfortable. Maybe the sense of normalcy plus the amount of people overwhelmed all of us. So we bailed at like 8-830 pm. Everyone was probably getting out of the cabin fever but that was not a fun trip to DS.
5/16- Today was the day we were looking forward to most! POOL DAY! Though we didn't do much it was a great day! My DD's first time in a pool. She had a blast! Took a ton of photos and caught lots of rays! Not too much to report here. We got Sanaa to go for dinner. It was really good! Even to go! Definitely would love to go back and sit down.
5/17- Epcot day! After a long discussion with my DW and I, we settled on Epcot being our DD's first park! We both love Epcot so it was just right! We got to Epcot around 1130am. About a 20 min wait for the bus. Not too bad. After walking into FW my DD got her first picture with Mickey (socially distant of course)! We met up with my parents. Every single one of us skipped breakfast know that we were going to engorge ourselves with food and drinks from all the stands.
We hit up all these booths in order (at least what I can remember. There was a fair amount of alcohol consumed that day):
Citrus Blossom-Lobster salad. We all pretty much enjoyed but the amount of lobster was definitely lacking.
Refreshment Port- Sausage and Pepper Poutine. Unanimously agreed this was the 3rd best thing we ate.
La Isla Fresca- Lamb Curry & Shrimp Skewer. Really good but not a lot of lamb but tasty. Shrimp was the best thing at this booth. Yummy and best bang for the buck.
Jardin de Fiestas- Taco Vampiro. Had a nice little kick to it but not overwhelming. Stay away from the garden margarita! Ew!
Festival Favorites- Beef Brisket Slider. WOW! This was unreal! My far the best of the day! I wish I got another one.
Farmer's Feast- Herb Crusted Lamb. 2nd best thing we had. So tender!
All in all! We enjoyed our food! Boy did we spend a pretty penny on it but it was worth it!
My DD's first ride was Gran Fiesta Tour! She was so happy! After that we rode SSE, Nemo and Living with the Land. She loved them all! She was jumping in our laps the whole time! We left the park once she started getting sleepy around 830 pm. She was napped throughout the day in the stroller and was not too fussy in the heat. It's almost like she was made for the parks!
5/18- MGM Day! (Yes we still and will always call it MGM! Hate all you want!) Weren't able to get a boarding group for Rise at 7am. Dang! The lucky stars aligned when we got to the bus stop at AKL there was an empty bus waiting to go! We got to the park at about 1030 am. My parents got there around noon. My DD's godfather hadn't been to GE yet so we went straight there for a Ronto Wrap. Very good! Definitely a new favorite! My parents met up with us and took my DD while us 3 went in line for SR. It said 60 min but was really 45 once we got off. So much better than the first time we rode it last year. In line for SR, we were able to get boarding group 101 at the 1 pm window! YAY!
We had about an hour and half until our boarding group was called. We hit up TS:MM with only a 25 min wait. Our boarding group came up quicker than an hour and half. It came in about 50 min! We rider swapped. I watched our DD while the other 4 went to ride. About a half hour later I get a text from my DW that the ride is down and they are stuck right outside the interrogation room. A couple minutes later its back up! Great! Then 10 min after that...back down. They got inside the interrogation room when they were told to leave and given a FP.
So not knowing how long it'd be down, we went to grab some food at Backlot Express. Nothing to ride home about. But during our meal Rise came back on line. So the 4 went back on and were out in under 30 min. Then my parents took the baby while us 3 rode Rise! So much fun! After riding Rise the park was only open for another 40 min so we headed to Mickey and Minnie's which had a 20 min wait! We were in the outdoor queue when they said it broke down. The park was only a half hour from closing. We got some photos from a photo pass photographer on our way out. We didn't do a lot but we had fun! The waits for everything for most of the day was over an hour until a hour before close. For such a small park, it needs fast pass. We enjoyed walking around more than just waiting in a line. Kind of a bummer. But it was still fun don't get me wrong!
Today was the day of our room switch. Our room, 5210, was ready when we got back. Our view was semi savannah so it was great to see the ostrich in the morning!
5/19- Relaxing day before the trip home. We had a 5:30 reservation at Narccoosee. Prior to that was more time at the pool and bar at AKL. Around 330 we caught a bus, 10 min wait, to MK. We took the new walking path to GF. It was a nice easy walk. We will definitely be using this in the future! We grabbed a drink at Enchanted Rose while we waited for our table. It was so nice in there! We haven't been there since it was Mizner's. 530 came and we got our table. That meal was absolutely incredible! 4 out of 5 of us got the surf and turf. My wife and I split a bottle of Skywalker Rose. Everything about the meal was great! The view, the food, the family. Really was the highlight of the trip!
After a $400 tab, we headed to the smoking section for a couple of cigars. My mom was spending as much time with the baby as possible and was strolling her around the GF. It made me so happy to see the joy on my mom's face. Honestly this day is the reason why I love Disney so much. To see the joy on everyone's face made the whole thing worth it and it's something you can't put a price on. After the cigars we headed back to Enchanted Rose for a night cap (or 3). Before we knew it, it was 1030! More than hour after park close. Luckily Uber has the option for car seats for the baby. We got one of those back to AKL. Such a great day!
5/20- Early Flight home so early DME back to MCO. Nothing to report. Easy and painless. Baby was great on flight. Sucks to be home but had a great trip! We have been to WDW at least 25 times. This was my favorite trip. Everyone had a great time! Can't wait to go back!
