The Sears Go Wild At Animal Kingdom Lodge Club Level

[Stewboy]

Previous Trip Reports

Hey dibbers, yes we’re back again. Having literally just finished my last trip report from July/August, here I am writing a pre-trip report for our next trip that starts TOMORROW! Anyone who read last year’s October/November and New Year trip know that we’ve got form when it comes to this kind of thing!

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Instagram single digit dance

Before I get started, I just wanted to apologise - this pre-trip report isn’t full of loads of detail (I don’t really do that anyway) and maybe a little rambling... But hey, no change there!

So what’s the plan this time, and who’s going?

Well, no change in the personnel: it’s just us three -

Stewart “Stewbacca” - Geek. Designer. Trip Report Writer.
Joanne “Margarita” - Scientist. Tutor. Trip Report Editor
Isabella “Senior Wilderness Explorer” - Dancer. Reader. Artist.


Stewbacca


Joanne Margarita


A Senior Wilderness Explorer

So how did this trip come about?

Well, around Christmas time last year, just before our New Year’s trip, Jo was looking at holidays for the following year (she has a habit of doing that ), and found another cheap flight this time for October half term - same as our July/August trip, flying from Manchester again.

We wanted to book the Premier Inn again, and ended up booking Runger Lane South this time - literally the other side of the car park from Runger Lane North where we stayed last time.


Premier Inn Runger Lane South

So we had flights and pre-flight accommodation where we actually going?! Well, Disney World again obviously, but where we going to stay?

Our Annual Passes meant that we just needed a place to stay, park tickets were sorted. We decided to book 8 nights at Pop Century as it was cheap (ish), and we were able to get a free night as part of an offer that Disney were running.


Last time as Annual Passholders

So that was it, all booked.

But that’s obviously not the full story. We went on our New Year trip, and once we were back home, we began to worry about the size of the beds at Pop Century; they were apparently the same size as the beds at Rosen Inn, and we had not had comfortable sleeps on that trip due to the bed being too small - we’re used to a bigger bed.

Jo looked at upgrading, and we were going to go for Port Orleans Riverside (which is somewhere we’ve been talking about staying), at an extra £500, but then Jo saw Animal Kingdom Lodge available for another £800 on top of that. Now obviously, that ain’t cheap! But it’s somewhere that we’ve always wanted to stay, and also that deal was for a savanna view, Club Level room, so that’s actually a really good deal!

We talked about it for a while, before deciding that we may as well go for it, as I mentioned the Annual Passes meant we’d be saving money on park entry, and parking, and also if we made good use of the Club Level lounge and the food and drink that’s on offer throughout the day, we’d save money on food and drink too.

Once it was all booked, it was time to make plans. To ensure we took advantage of Club Level we planned to spend plenty of time around the resort, so we looked at the various activities on offer around the resort - Isabella was particularly interested in the brass rubbing, which she keeps calling ‘breast rubbing’.

Talk then turned to whether we would do Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party again. Originally we decided against it, but as this is probably the last time we’d be staying there at this time of year for a while, we thought that we should go for it - and yes, there will be costumes again (you’ll have to wait to see what they are!).


This again (different costumes though)

So that we could do MNSSHP we cancelled a couple of ADRs: California Grill (for Hallowishes), and Boma breakfast.

That left us with just the four: Jiko dinner, Sanaa lunch, Homecomin’ lunch, and Skipper’s Canteen. We were also very pleased to hear that the AP 20% discount has been extended (it was originally available until September as part of Magic Kingdom’s 45th Anniversary.)

For our Jiko dinner, Isabella may go to Simba’s Cubhouse (kids club) - you get the first hour free with a Jiko receipt, and also a 15% Annual Passholder discount.

Other plans include another Dibb meet - we’re meeting Bambikate and her family again - the girls have been exchanging letter since we met last year, and we’re planning on spending an afternoon of drinking at Epcot!




Meeting these lovely Dibbers again

I think the only thing left to mention is that, with the release of a whole new set of Starbucks mugs for the parks we’ll be aiming to get a whole new set. This may involve actually going to Hollywood Studios - something we weren’t actually planning on doing!

So suffice to say, we’re super excited about staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and waking up to see giraffes loitering outside our window - that’s what’s going to happen right?

As I mentioned, it’s been a bit of a rambling pre-trip report, and I’m sure I’ve missed out loads of details, but hopefully you’ll read along and all will be revealed!

TFR


Us

[JanetteP]

Wow - sounds like a fantastic trip - I'm so jealouse of that AKL savannah view Club Room - did you book on the UK or the US site. We're going in May, and have thought about upgrading to AP, so would be interested to know how you booked your club room. Anyway, have a great trip.

[Clamshell]

Great timing to finish one trip and set us up all ready for the next one 😁😁

[Jaspercat10]

really looking forward to your new report

[sheluk]

Have a fabulous trip! Can’t wait to read all about AKL!

[Dogwalker]

Already looking forward to the trip report 😀

[mrsdjh]

Jo is very good at this holiday planning lark!

Cant wait to hear all about AKL Club level and see what outfits you've gone for at MNSSHP this time.

Happy holidays Sear family.

[Excited6910]

Have a fab holiday Sears Family!

[Beccleberry]

Have a fab time ✨

[Pavilion1983]

Hope you have a great time