The Land, Sea and Wedding Trip Oct 2015 - Day 13, Kidani, Disney Springs and Outback

[Lisa29]

The Land Sea and Wedding Trip Oct 2015 - Day 13, Kidani Village, Disney Springs and Outback Steakhouse

The previous day is HERE.

Friday 23rd October 2015

I woke at 7.20am and went and sat out on the balcony for a bit until everyone else woke up. We finished tidying, packed the last bits and had breakfast/showers/dressed, etc. We loaded everything into the cars and took lots of photos of the villa (shown on day 2 for anyone who wants to look), before leaving for the last time.

We have a ritual on our last day where we release the girls' balloons. Although this wasn't our last day, balloons are not permitted at Kidani Village so we had to let them go here.

There was no sadness this time around as our holiday isn't over yet!

Phil took some photos of the Old Turtle Pond pool and play area that were right by our building

And one last photo of our building

Before we all got into the car and drove around to Hospitality House to check out.

I don't recall what was involved with check out, or even if Mum just did this, but Phil took more photos

We had really enjoyed our stay here. It is a really pretty resort, I particularly love the 'ice cream' colours of the buildings. It was an excellent location for getting to all the parks, with it never taking too long to get to any of them. The room sizes were really big and easily accommodated all of us, and they were all really bright and spacious. Saying that, given a choice, I would prefer to stay at Saratoga Springs as I preferred the layout of the resort, I found the pools to be better and I like how easily and quickly you can walk to Disney Springs.

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[Lisa29]

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Finished with check out, we drove to Kidani Village

'Hidden' Mickey on the pavement

We made our way to check in at about 10.30am

This took a little while and unfortunately our room wasn't ready yet. Phil took some photos of the incredible lobby area while he was waiting for us

He ventured to the far end of the lobby to see the animals

Before taking more photos inside. It really is so impressive in here

As the room wasn't ready, we went straight around to the pool. Madison, Kaley and Piper played in the water play area first

They really liked this and had so much fun. After a while they decided they wanted to play in the pool

They loved the pool! We stayed here for 5 nights in 2010, when Madison was 2, and she had loved the small slide. We knew that Kaley would love it and she did. This was all she wanted to do and she just came down the slide then went straight back round for another go. We managed to get her away from the slide and they both spend ages jumping in to us and swimming a bit.

I don't know how long we were in for but I got out after a while and Phil stayed in with the girls.

Soon, it was past our usual lunchtime and we were feeling hungry. We got dried off and decided to walk over to Animal Kingdom Lodge to eat at the Mara.

The walk here doesn't take long. It is all on pavements and is signposted too.

Outside the grand lobby

They had some sort of building work going on. It was quite noisy so I hope these rooms weren't in use

We had a quick peek inside

Extremely impressive in here too, Disney did an amazing job when they built these resorts.

We had a quick look at the pool

Before going to the Mara

My receipt says 12.56pm on it but it wasn't busy at all. There were only a couple of other people waiting and there were plenty of tables available to sit at.

The menu board

And an actual menu

We joined the short line and ordered and picked up our food. Kaley had chicken nuggets and fries ($9.29), an apple juice ($2.79) and a Mickey premium bar ($3.99). Madison had a pepperoni flatbread ($8.79), an orange juice ($3.99) and a Mickey premium bar ($3.99). Phil had the burger specialty which was a BBQ bacon cheeseburger, with fries, ($9.99), a chocolate milk ($2.59) and a Mickey ice cream sandwich ($3.99). I had a bacon Angus cheeseburger and fries ($9.99), an apple juice ($2.79) and a cookie ($2.99). This should have cost $68.68 including tax but we used 4 counter service credits.

This was all really good, though Madison found the pepperoni on hers a bit spicy. Kaley shared hers with Piper and there was more than enough food for them both.

Whilst we had been lining up to pay, a guy slipped/fell over almost as soon as he walked in the door. He banged his head on something and it was bleeding. Staff were over to him straight away and by the time we ended up leaving, they were not letting anyone in that door, there were lots of staff members, including some in suits, around him and he was well and truly being looked after. He was awake so hopefully just had a bit of a bump to the head.

When we 'paid', they told us to come back when we had finished to get the ice creams so Phil went and got them and we left the Mara.

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[Lisa29]

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Phil, Madison and Kaley ate theirs as we walked back to Kidani.

Inevitably, they got in a mess!

Phil's ice cream sandwich

Bus stops at Kidani

(I vividly remember waiting here on our first night in 2010, waiting for a bus to Downtown Disney to go to Earl of Sandwich. )

We got back to the pool area and our room still wasn't ready. Mum and Dad went over to the Mara to get some food and we sat for a while

After a while I decided it was silly just sitting around. We were going to Disney Springs to use the last of our counter service credits on lunch for everyone tomorrow from Earl of Sandwich, and we wanted to use up our snack credits at Goofy's.

The four of us went to use the (lovely) showers next to the gym. The one I used had a lockable changing area with the shower around to the side, so was perfect for me to take the girls in. Showered and dressed, we were on our way to Disney Springs at 2.45pm.

We went to the parking garage again, and parked on level 4, row 5. We walked straight round to the Marketplace and to Earl of Sandwich. It was busy as usual.

Menu

As I was using up our remaining counter service credits, along with Mum and Dad's and Ryan and Bethany's, I ordered loads! My list was:

2 x the Full Montagu ($6.99 each)
7 x Earl's Club ($6.99 each)
1 x Caesar wrap ($6.99)
1 x spiny tuna wrap ($6.99)
1 x the Italian ($6.49)
1 x All American ($6.49)
1 x Hawaiian BBQ ($5.99)
1 x Holiday Turkey ($6.49)
15 x packets of crisps ($1.29 each)
15 x bottled water ($3.29 each)

This should have cost $182.17(!) but we used 15 counter service credits instead.

I know this was a huge order but we waited absolutely ages for it to be ready. We were in there for over 45 minutes. So many people behind us got their orders before us and there were other people around who were waiting ages too.

Once we had the food, and thankfully the pushchair so we could put everything in it and have Kaley walk!, we went into the Christmas shop. It was busy in there and we really didn't have time to look around so we went to Goofy's Candy Co. We got:

2 x bags gummy characters ($4.95 each)
2 x bags jelly beans ($4.95 each)
4 x packs of chocolate coins ($3.99 each)
From the counter
2 x chocolate smores ($4.99 each)
1 x marshmallow Olaf ($4.99)
2 x Mickey shorts shortbread ($4.99 each)
2 x M&M marshmallow wands ($4.99 each)
1 x topped marshmallow ($4.99)

Phil had taken the girls somewhere while I was getting all of this and for some reason, my magic band would not work. I had to wait a few minutes for him to come back and his band did work. This should have cost $75.68 plus tax but we used our last 16 snack credits.

Although we still had quite a lot of counter service and snack credits left as of this morning, we hadn't gone without at all so far on the holiday and hadn't had to pay out for anything.

From here, we walked back to the car, taking photos along the way

It was 4.30pm when we were in the car and on our way back to Kidani and we arrived back at about 4.50pm. We already had our room number and knew we needed to park in the Timon parking lot (underground). We weren't parked particularly close so had a bit of a trek getting all our luggage out and over to the lift. It took us two trips to unload everything, but we were soon in our lovely 2-bed, room 7327. Michelle and her family were next door in room 7325 which was very handy

These rooms are beautiful, all dark wood and lovely colours. As soon as you walk in, there is the third bathroom to the left and the washer/dryer in a cupboard to the right. There is then the kitchen with breakfast bar, dining area with table and chairs and then the living room, with access to the balcony. Off to the right was our bedroom with two double beds, lots of storage space, large bathroom (with separate toilet within the bathroom), large closet and also access to the balcony. To the left from the living area is the huge master bedroom, again with access to the balcony, huge bathroom, also with a separate toilet inside.

The balcony is one long balcony with access from all three rooms. Now for the photos!

Second bedroom

This was to the right as you walked into the second bedroom. There was so much space here

(The door to the right is to the living area, to the left is the bathroom. Next to the pushchair is the large double closet and at the bottom right of the picture is another single closet.)

Second bathroom

This was a great size and it is so handy having the toilet separate so someone else can still use the sink area.

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[Lisa29]

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Master bedroom

Master bathroom

Detail

Huge shower, which we still didn't see how many of us could fit in!

There was also a large double closet in here, which had the safe inside.

Living and dining areas (excuse the mess we had already made!)

Kitchen area (we were sorting all the EoS sandwiches and drinks out!)

Third bathroom

Balcony

A little note left

Kaley testing the bed

We may not have seen how many of us could fit in the shower but some of the family had a go at seeing how many the bath could hold!

Besides taking these photos, all we had done really was put our luggage into our room and unloaded everything that needed to go in the fridge. As we were all ready to go out, we went down to the cars and were on our way at 5.50pm.

The corridor and view from near the lift

We used Sherberth Road to get to the 192 and drove to Longhorns. Unfortunately, it had not twigged with any of us that it was a Friday night and it would be busy. We got there and it was a 2 hour wait! That was far too long so we got back in the cars and drove a bit further down to Outback. It was 6.30pm when we arrived and they said it would be a 40 minute wait. We decided to wait, left our details and sat down at the tables outside.

40 minutes later, we were still waiting and lots of people had gone in ahead of us. We went to ask and were told it would be another 30 minutes! That was far too long so we asked to speak to someone else as we had been told 40 minutes and spoke to the head Host. He said it would be 10 minutes and that is what it ended up being thankfully.

We were seated at two booths next to each other and our server was Suzette. She was brilliant, she realised straight away how long we had been waiting and knew that with young kids, we didn't want to wait around and be out very late. She very quickly took our food and drinks orders (we had studied the menu in the 50 minute wait!) and came back with our drinks and some bread

I'm not sure what type of bread this was but it was really nice and all got eaten. We didn't wait too long and our food came out.

Kaley and Madison both had cheeseburgers with fries and fruit ($5.29 each)

Phil had the chicken tender platter with fries and veggies ($12.99)

I had the 6oz filet with potato soup, garlic mash and garlic butter sauces ($21.49)

My soup had come out not long after the bread.

This was all really good, with the exception of the potatoes. They were very bland and I ended up leaving them. Ryan had the same as me and had also ordered a side of mac and cheese which he shared with me as his potatoes weren't good either. The mac and cheese was really good and I'm glad he ordered it.

Our meal came to $51.05 plus tax and our share of the tip was $9. We also paid for Mum and Dad's meal and their share of the tip too.

Suzette had done a really good job of getting our order in quick and getting our food out fast, along with getting the bill to us to pay, and we were on our home at 8.30pm.

The girls went to bed just after 9pm and fell asleep straight away. After doing the washing up, I went and re-packed everything in our cases. I sorted into the things we didn't need at all, what we needed for the next 3 days and finally what we needed for the cruise.

I finished this about 11.20pm and went to bed.

Day 14 - Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios, Shopping and BJ's Brew House is HERE




DINING PLAN ROUND UP - 48/48 Table Service used, 48/48 Counter Service used and 48/48 Snack Credits used. ALL DONE FOR THIS PORTION OF THE HOLIDAY!

[waiting4disney]

Wow that is a massive order at Earl of Sandwich. Great haul at Goofys as well.

[Moleymole]

Fantastic pictures, makes me all warm and fuzzy inside seeing picture of OKW, we love that pool area. AKL looks so nice too, don't seem to see too many pool pictures from there for some reason.

[JenD1]

We have the same tradition of releasing our Mickey balloon. As we're staying at AKL next year we won't be buying one😢. We loved OKW and SSR too. Your room looks stunning.

[Tartan Tigger]

Your room looks fabulous.

[Milner]

Excellent read.

[Lisa29]

Originally Posted by waiting4disney

Wow that is a massive order at Earl of Sandwich. Great haul at Goofys as well.

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I know, we got so much! Had to use all the credits up, couldn't let them go!

Originally Posted by Moleymole

Fantastic pictures, makes me all warm and fuzzy inside seeing picture of OKW, we love that pool area. AKL looks so nice too, don't seem to see too many pool pictures from there for some reason.

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Thanks, Phil as always gets the credit for the photos. The pool area next to us was lovely.

AKL is lovely and the pool areas are so nice, the actual pool seems to really stand out next to all the greenery.

Originally Posted by JenD1

We have the same tradition of releasing our Mickey balloon. As we're staying at AKL next year we won't be buying one😢. We loved OKW and SSR too. Your room looks stunning.

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It is usually a sad tradition but wasn't this time which was lovely. Even though the balloons just stay in the room, I would be disappointed not buying one.

Thanks, the room really is stunning.

Originally Posted by Tartan Tigger

Your room looks fabulous.

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Thank you, it was and didn't seem as dark as I remembered from 2010.

Originally Posted by Milner

Excellent read.

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Thank you!