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Old 9 Mar 20, 05:18 PM  
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missdopey
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Ok Let's Try This With A Baby - Feb/March 2020 - Day 10


So today was the day I had been looking forward to/anticipating the most. Today we were checking in for our 1 night stay club level at animal Kingdom lodge on dvc points. This reservation is like the holy grail of dvc reservations. In Jambo house the dvc rooms are all located on the 5th floor except for 5 studios and 5 1 bedrooms which are on the 6th floor, these 10 rooms are the only club level allocation dvc has and is near impossible to get if you are not an owner at AKL. I happened to come across a random night available in a studio back in the summer and immediately booked it as it is something I'd wanted to do for a long time. So this morning I was awake at 5.30am with DS and too excited to get back to sleep. When DH and Dd woke up we packed our bag for our overnight stay and made the short drive to animal kingdom lodge.



We checked in first at the desk on the ground floor but when they looked up our reservation and found we were club level we were immediately escorted up to the 6th floor and checked in by the concierge.



They gave us our magic bands and a welcome pack with some information about the resort/activities/dining plan/club level lounge. There was also a back of chocolate covered granola from the ganachery at Disney springs.



Our room wasn't ready which wasn't a surprise as it was only 10am. We had a coffee in the lounge, there is a coffee machine, nespresso machine and a fridge full of soft drinks as well as a number of dispensers with iced tea, water, lemonade and jungle juice to help yourself to.












After our refreshments we had a wander around the resort before heading out and driving over to the contemporary resort for our brunch reservation at chef Mickey's.



We were on the deluxe dining plan for our 1 night stay meaning we got 3 dining credits each. We checked in at chef mickeys and were seated about 10'minutes later. I know this meal gets some mixed reviews but we love it! The characters are great and it's not of DD's favourites which she asks to do every trip.



After we were seated our server took our drinks order. I had a pina colava. This is a frozen pina colada cocktail with raspberry purée. It's absolutely delicious and was included with the dining plan.



DH had the watermelon lemonade as he was driving. This is topped with wild berry foam and really refreshing. Dd ordered an orange juice but was brought apple juice first which was quickly replaced by an orange juice.



Dd had been looking forward to this meal for months. She couldn't wait to have tater tots! She also got a pancake with maple syrup, watermelon and scrambled eggs. All of it was very tasty.



My first plate was a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese, scrambled eggs, cheesy potatoes, sausage, bacon and tater tots. The smoked salmon was fantastic! And the bacon was really hard and crispy just as I love it.



DH had scrambled eggs, ham, biscuits and gravy, sausages and a pancake. He said the ham was really good. This was carved to order at the buffet.



Next DH had a plate of the beef stew with rice and a corn on the cob.



I then tried some bits and pieces, shrimp and grits which was really good, baked salmon which was quite dry, kielbasa which was weird and beef stew and rice which was really tasty.



For Dessert I had a Mickey waffle with maple syrup and chocolate and peanut butter chips. I'm actually not too much of a fan of Mickey waffles and didn't finish this.



DH had another plate from the main buffet mainly salad and shrimps, he said the shrimps were really good.



Dd got an ice cream sundae from the self service area. She chose chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream and topped it with loads of things like nerds, gummies, cherries, sprinkles and jelly beans.



DH tried a selection of the deserts, they all seemed quite sickly looking. The cannoli is filled with cookie dough. The chocolate cake was nice and moist.



After we'd finished we paid the bill. This was $50 for adults and $33 for children and with our drinks our total would have been $161.13.



After our brunch, feeling more than stuffed we returned to animal kingdom lodge and our room was ready, I was thrilled to find we had one on the left hand side of the lounge which meant we had one of the rooms with a view over the savannah. We had a look out and could see some zebras, ostriches and Thompson gazelles. Today was a cooler day with predicted temperatures around 17 degrees but at this time it was feeling quite nice and warm.



DH had a headache coming on so took some painkillers and we decided to give him some time to just sit and chill on the room so I took Dd and DS down to Boma where they were doing cookie decorating from 1.30-2pm. There were cups of coloured buttercream, jelly sweets and chocolate chips on the tables and the cast member came round with a tray of animal shaped cookies for you to choose from to decorate. I chose a tortoise and Dd did an elephant, this was a really fun activity that was so simple. Most people are their cookies before leaving but Dd wanted to take hers back up to the room to show DH.






On the way back through the lobby we spotted the traditional African face painting over by the stairs at the back of the lobby, a couple of cast members were set up and Dd had her face done. She's been asking to have her face painted since we arrived so was made up with this.



We went back upto the room and DH was feeling much better so we took a walk down to mara where we picked up our refillable mugs. At the moment you are able to pay a $10 on the dining plan and upgrade the plastic mugs for a metal travel mugs. We decided to get 2 plastic original mugs and 1 metal Star Wars themed night. We put these straight into the pram as our plan was just to keep there for our stay at beach club as they are valid for 2 weeks from today. We then walked around the pool and out to the little playground near the back of the resort. Dd had a lovely time playing here for 20 Minutes of so. We made our way back to the main lobby and on the way passed a table tennis table with paddles and balls and the 3 of us had a game.
By now it was just after 4pm and the afternoon offerings were out in the lounge and we were starting to feel abit hungry after our brunch/lunch. Dd loved using her magic and to scan the reader in the lifts to get upto the 6th floor, she felt really special.



When we got to the lounge there were a couple of small desserts, chocolate chip muffins and butterscotch chip brownies aswell as cookies. The brownies were really soft and gooey and tasted so good!






There was a selection of things to make your own trail mix including m&ms, gummie sweets, jelly beans, spiced nuts, dried cranberries, dried banana and goldfish crackers. Dd got a plate and had a selections instead of a little bag you could make up and take away with you.



We asked one of the concierge cast members for a glass of wine and she happily brought us a glass of red for DH and a sparking white for me. This was really nice actually and we enjoyed a chill out while DS had a nap and Dd did some drawing and maths practice.









At 4.30om they cleared away the desserts and starting preparing the dinner offerings, this was from 5pm-7pm and there was a lovely variety of options.



There were wines and beers to help yourself to. A section with about 4 different cheeses, one of which was cambozola and DH probably ate his body weight of this. There was honeycomb, a cured meat, chutney and a huge basket of artisanal breads. Further along were some veggies and ranch dip, sliced apples and caramel sauce and peanut butter. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, meatballs with a tamarind barbecue sauce and a small serving of minted couscous topped with some kind of meat but we couldn't find the sign for this and I couldn't put my finger on what it was.



There was also a chefs section with 2 hot sample size servings. These were a sambal chicken corn chowder and a pork dish. Both of these were absolutely excellent. The sauce for the pork dish was really tasty and I mopped the rest up with some bread and the chowder had a Thai taste to it and was delicious.









Overall the dinner offerings made for a lovely relaxed dinner and we spent a good amount of time returning for more and enjoying the wine. I tried a glass of Sauvignon blanc but preferred the sparking so went back to that. It was especially nice with some jungle juice in it to make a mimosa!



We decided we'd had quite enough food and wine so went for a look around the resort now it was night time, the lobby is beautiful and really impressive, there were a number of fires inside and out you could set around and relax and the evening wasn't too cold. We found our way to the arcade and spent half an hour in here with Dd playing on the arcade games and I had a go in one of the massage chairs which was odd but relaxing.



It was after 8pm by this point which was proving to be quite late for us on this holiday so we popped back up to the lounge for the dessert offering which were out from 8-10pm. There were more butterscotch chip brownies, a passion fruit tart, vanilla and lemon dessert cones, cookies and apple slices with caramel and peanut butter. They also had a self serve liqueur section with kaluha, amarula and grand mariner.









We had a small glass of amarula to go with our desserts and then grabbed a couple of cans of coke to take back to our room before getting ready for bed. Overall our impressions of club level at animal kingdom were extremely positive. We would absolutely love to come back and do this again in a heartbeat. The 22 point per night cost was an absolute bargain when you compare it to the cash cost of about $600 per night. The food offerings were plentiful and alcohol was available all day upon request. Our favourite dishes were the chefs tastings of chowder and the pork, the cambozola and definitely the jungle juice mimosas.


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Old 9 Mar 20, 10:27 PM  
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New Photo Added by missdopey - 9 Mar 20 9:27 PM.
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Old 10 Mar 20, 12:16 AM  
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mrsdjh
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No wonder you couldn’t get back to sleep today ! Club level sounds very exciting and the snacks and drinks look delicious. I didn’t realise you could get metal refillable cups now.
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Old 10 Mar 20, 11:01 AM  
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mick
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Club level sounds really nice

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Old 14 Mar 20, 01:21 PM  
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Ooh sounds fancy! What a lovely all round day. So many yummy treats
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