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Old 23 Apr 20, 06:32 PM  
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nothingless
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Talking 5-week Split Stay in Florida, Feb/March 2020 - Day 19: Animal Kingdom & Checking Into AKL!

Day 19: Animal Kingdom & Checking Into Animal Kingdom Lodge!
February 28, 2020

[-- Trip Index --]

This morning I woke up at 6:15AM and read on my phone for a bit until Myla woke at 7. Apparently this coronavirus thing that we'd vaguely heard about, was starting to make some bigger waves and there were yet more cases now reported back home too. I read that yesterday, my country of Holland actually issued a negative travel advice for Italy based on an outbreak there, and had its own first case, and I was glad we were so far away across the ocean. At that point, I genuinely didn't really expect it to affect us that much - I guess I should have, but I just read that sort of stuff half awake in the morning and then the rest of the day we were so wrapped up in our little Disney bubble, it hardly entered my mind!

Michael came back from the gym around 7 with fresh coffees, and I gave Myla her breakfast while I drank mine. We were checking out of Saratoga Springs this morning and heading to Animal Kingdom Lodge! We were all super excited about this. Animal Kingdom is Myla's favorite park right now, and Michael and I had stayed in the Wilderness Lodge on our honeymoon and LOVED it, so we were very excited to stay in a hotel with a similar vibe!

When Myla finished her breakfast of brioche rolls and fruit, I got her dressed and Michael took her over to the Congress Park playground where she ran around for ages. It was a little bit less cold than yesterday, but it was still most definitely hoodies-and-jackets weather.

In the mean time, I did all my work, showered, and packed up our things. Luckily this didn't take too long - it was mostly a case of zipping up the opened packing cubes and tossing them back into the suitcases!

I was all done by 10, took one last photo of our lovely room for a goodbye, texted Michael and called bell services, and they arrived at the room at roughly the same time lol.


We left the room at 10:15, with our suitcases on their way to Animal Kingdom Lodge. So so handy how they collect the luggage from your room and put it in your new room for you - it really makes split stays a breeze!

Michael was hungry, so we headed for Artist's Palette first instead of directly for the bus stop.


He had another Harvest Breakfast sandwich, Myla and I shared a grape cup as I wasn't hungry. Then it was on to the bus stop, Myla proudly in charge of carrying the popcorn bucket.


Bye lovely pool that we never got to use - better luck next time!

We were on the bus by 10:40 and at AK for 10:55.


It was nice and quiet at the park entrance for a change, though still busy inside!


Our first FP was for the UP bird show. Myla had absolutely LOVED this to bits last year, so we were eager to see her reactions this year, and walked straight there.


Unfortunately it was still quite chilly, especially in the shade, and the entire seating area for this show is in the shade. So we waited in the sun out front of the theatre for a bit longer, knowing we'd be freezing inside!


Myla spotted the Russell and Dug statues and wanted some photos with them.


Finally we had to go in, and we were all sitting freezing in the shade. It was only 15 or so minutes until the show started, but it felt like an eternity, and Myla's whining that she was cold didn't help! I'll repeat it again: I sorely regretted not packing coats, and by now was also sorely regretting not buying new ones anywhere earlier in the trip - but then again, none of the weather forecasts had shown this many cold days!



Once the show started, we all really enjoyed it again. However, am I going crazy or has the story changed? I could have sworn last year there was a storyline about Russell's camera going missing and it was more engaging and funny than this one was! Am I dreaming?!


Myla enjoyed it too but started to lose her concentration towards the end, she was getting tired. Oops - downside of taking her to a playground for over an hour this morning!

Next up was the big event of the day - FastPasses for Flight of Passage! Last year we stayed off-site and I couldn't get them at 30 days out, but this year I was more lucky and had been able to get them twice for our trip. Today was the first set, and Michael especially was so keen to ride it. Avatar is one of his favorite movies of all time, and he was very excited for this one! I was a bit hesitant myself - I get quite bad motion sickness, and usually any kind of ride with a simulator is a hard pass for me after I vomited getting off Star Tours in DLP when I was a teenager! So I was on the fence whether I'd try this one or not, I was sending Michael on first to report back to me - one of us had to stay with Myla anyway.

We had about an hour until it opened up, so we decided to get some lunch at Satuli Canteen first. Not completely to my surprise, Myla fell asleep in the stroller while we walked from Asia to Pandora!


That was OK though, we were able to have a delicious lunch in peace while she slept! We both had the bowl with Crispy Tofu and green onion sauce, Michael on a rice base, and myself on the potato hash one. They were both absolutely yummy! I also had the chocolate cake for dessert - I know, not quite vegan, but I couldn't resist!


We got coffees with our meals too, and I stayed at our table to finish sipping mine while Michael went off to use our first fastpass for FoP. Myla was still asleep, and I caught up on trip notes, admiring the beautiful restaurant. Love it in here!


Michael texted me as soon as he came off his first ride - he could barely put into words how much he had LOVED it and how amazing it was! We met up in the WindTraders shop and I discussed it for a minute with him, but I was so full from my lunch that even though I did decide I was going to do it, I decided to leave it till our next FoP fastpasses, and not stupidly eat a big meal right beforehand. I didn't mind though, I could see on his face how much he loved it and he was SUPER happy to ride it 3 times! So I gave him both mine and Myla's magicbands, and he went off to ride it another 2 times, just about making it within the hour lol.


Myla and I waited for him outside in the sun, playing around with some of the cards various bus drivers had given her, and watching the guy in the Exo suit. It was lovely in the sun now, we weren't bored at all and I was happy Michael was having such a blast!


When Michael had finished his 3 goes on FoP, we headed to the Dug & Russell meet, and ran into Kevin on the way. Hi Kevin!


There was a little bit of a queue, but it didn't take more than 15-20 minutes, so not too bad!


Myla loved this, they made such a big deal of her Wilderness Explorers shirt and her autograph book, so cute!
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Old 23 Apr 20, 06:35 PM  
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Our next FastPass was for Festival of the Lion King, we just always looove this one. We walked over to Africa - very busy still.


We joined the FP queue, and a few minutes later I got the notification that our Animal Kingdom Lodge room was ready!

I had requested room 5202, a studio on the 5th floor that had a partial Savannah view, and this was for room 5206 - I was very very happy with that, as I figured there was a decent chance we would indeed have a bonus Savannah view in our Standard View studio! Michael and I were both buzzing about this, eager to take the bus and check it all out as soon as the show was over!

Myla must have sensed our excitement - she was hopping around and absolutely loving the show. She was waving at everyone, and clapping and singing, so cute!


Then towards the end of the show, the most amazing thing happened. In the bit where they invite a few kids to come down and join in, Myla got picked! One of the dancer girls came up to us (she was sitting on my lap) and asked her if she'd like to join! She didn't hesitate at all, jumped off my lap, grabbed the girl's hand, and she was away lol!

Photos don't really do it justice, I videoed it lol. She got to shake one of the little musical instruments, they walked a little circle in front of our stand first, and then a big circle around the whole theatre! Myla had the biggest smile on her face, she was loving it and we were so silly proud of her that she wasn't scared to do this! Absolutely made my day, I was so excited for her!


Funnily enough, there was an older couple sitting beside us, who'd been smiling and waving at her before and telling us she was a cutie, and when she came back from this, the guy high-fived her and the lady told her well-done! So sweet! So we ended the show on a total high - Myla was hopping with excitement.


We were now heading for the bus, wanting to go check out our new room in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We walked back to the entrance, stopping at a few animal enclosures on the way. I don't think I stopped grinning the whole way lol!


A bus to AKL was waiting for us when we walked up to the bus stop, and we were soon on our way. The bus was busy and nearly full - Michael was standing near the doors with the stroller, and I'd taken an empty seat in the back of the bus with Myla. The bus pulled up to Kidani Village first, and I was in the middle of chatting to 2 other mommies at the back of the bus, glancing out the window, when I saw to my surprise my husband standing there unfolding the stroller! Um our room is in Jambo House - remember how we talked about that only 10 minutes ago!

To everyone else's laughter, I put Myla down and rushed to the bus doors, telling Michael to get back on, this isn't us yet haha! It gave everyone a good laugh, and one of the mommies I was chatting to, told me her husband did that only the other day. Good to know it's not just mine who pays absolutely no attention to that sort of thing!

We got off the bus at Jambo House around 5PM, and made our way to the lobby.


Oh my goodness - we didn't know where to look when we walked in! Of course I'd seen plenty photos online, and we knew from our stay at Wilderness Lodge roughly what to expect... but still. WOW! This resort is SO stunning! We stood and looked for a good few minutes, just amazed and feeling SO happy to be staying here!


We checked the little map in the lobby and found the elevators, and headed up to the 5th floor. From up here, the lobby is even more impressive!


Our room was right off the lobby on the left hand side. We walked in and I immediately went to check out the balcony. SCORE! We had a Savannah view! This didn't even seem like a partial view to me, it was great and SO cool to see the animals! Myla was out there right away, standing watching the giraffes in silence, amazed.


After watching the animals, I quickly took some photos of the room - it never looks as good as within the first 10 minutes of entering, as somehow our stuff gets thrown everywhere after that lol. Seriously though, we loved the room. It was bright and sunny, great size, we loved the dark wood furniture and general feel of the place.


I loved how this bed was right beside the window and I could watch the animals from bed in the morning! We were really chuffed and really happy to be staying in such a lovely resort, Michael and I agreed it was lovely and surpassed our expectations.

After bell services brought our luggage up around 15 minutes later, we went down to The Mara for some dinner, we were all starving. This is the view when we opened our room door:


Our room door - love the theming!


We took the elevator all the way down to the ground floor (the lobby is actually the 3rd floor), and walked the little outside walkway to the Mara. We thought this was a lovely restaurant - the theming actually reminded us so much of the Golden Forest lounge in Sequoia Lodge in Disneyland Paris!


I somehow forgot to take any photos of the food, but I got a veggie wrap, Michael got the Falafel platter, Myla picked a soy yogurt and a banana, and we picked up a large smoothie to share, and a Flamingo Cake (which is vegan!) as dessert to share. It was all yummy, my wrap was lovely and tasty, and the falafel platter was a ton of food, all of it delicious! It was $44 in total, and we were impressed with the large variety of choices here - definitely more vegan-friendly food here than in Saratoga Springs!


After we finished eating, we walked outside alongside the pool, which looked lovely but it was definitely too chilly for us now. I was hopeful we might manage an afternoon there if the weather improved a bit though!


We entered the main hotel building again where the gym was, so Michael could take a look at it and work out the best way to get there tomorrow morning. It wasn't as huge and awesome as the Saratoga Springs gym, in his words, but it was absolutely fine, had everything he needed, and he had no real complaints about it!

Once back in our room, Michael then gave Myla a bath while I unpacked, and we were all in bed for 20:30. This is when we discovered the only minor downside to our room - there's a drumming exhibition in the lobby around 20:30 every night, and we could hear it in our room. It actually started after we turned out the lights, so Myla sat straight up in bed going, "What's that? " When I assured her it was nothing, just the drums downstairs, she settled down again after a few minutes. It didn't bother us a lot, and we never heard any other lobby noise - but something to keep in mind if you have sensitive kids or babies who are light sleepers!

Anyway - I was actually happy listening to the sounds of the drums and slowly drifting off to sleep after one of our BEST holiday days!

Our little video from today:
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Old 23 Apr 20, 11:55 PM  
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Star of the show 👍👍😀 go Myla
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Old 24 Apr 20, 07:56 AM  
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Lovely report as usual.
Did you rent/use DVC points for AK? xx
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Old 24 Apr 20, 10:10 AM  
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Brilliant day :spin your room looks lovely


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Old 24 Apr 20, 12:43 PM  
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Originally Posted by Disney Nanny View Post
Lovely report as usual.
Did you rent/use DVC points for AK? xx
Yes we did, for our entire 20-night stay, we rented them privately from another Dibb member.
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Old 24 Apr 20, 01:43 PM  
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Another good day. So great that Myla is happy to join in. She looked in her element during The Lion King Show! My Husband doesn’t listen either! 😂
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Old 24 May 20, 06:45 PM  
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Another fantastic day. AKL is stunning. We had the pleasure of staying at Kidani on our last trip but I will say that the lobby in Jambo house is just something else. How lucky that you managed to get a savannah view in your room. You have some lovely memories from AK too. I hope that you did give FOP a go later in the trip as it is an amazing ride.
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Old 11 Aug 20, 11:28 PM  
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Sounds like you had an amazing day at Animal Kingdom, and what a view at AKL!
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