Around 9:30AM, dad dropped mom off at our house and we (mom, Mike, Kira, and me) loaded all our luggage into the truck, said goodbye to Eddie (his pet sitter was Shirleen Celmer) and headed to the airport for our 12:01 flight on Delta 612 to LAX. The flight went shockingly well as each seat had in-flight entertainment in the back so Kira, all of us really, was riveted for most of the flight. She even took a nap. As a result, we all arrived relatively unscathed at LAX where we gathered up our bags, hopped on a bus and picked up our rental car. We finally managed to cram all our bags Tetris-like into the SUV and made our way to my brother's house where we were greeted with Margaritas, Chips, Salsa, and a really good soup. It was awesome. Eventually we got Kira to go to sleep and we stayed up way too late talking story.
One thing that surprised me was that Logan actually made it a point to be there when we arrived. Last time we barely saw him, I thought he was actively avoiding us. This time he told his parents he wanted to be there, and he even brought his girlfriend, Natalie, over so we could meet here. What a difference! Natalie is a lovely, sweet girl who seems to be a good influence on him and I really hope it works out for them. They actually hung out with us for quite some time and talked. It was really nice, I was so pleased to get to meet her and actually talk a bit with my nephew.
Wednesday, November 25
We woke up late and eventually made our way, one by one, to the kitchen where we were greeted by Liz. Mike had to work that morning. We didn't do much as we all felt rather lazy, but mom, Mike, Kira, Liz, Dani, and I eventually went to the mall where we let Kira play on the playground and we looked into some stores. We looked in the Disney store and kept coming back to a Merida doll which Liz bought for her as her Birthday present. Eventually my brother joined us for lunch at a Mexican place in the mall. The food was pretty good and it was really nice to have so many of us together. Really don't remember much else about the day other than wandering around the neighborhood a bit and playing "pool" with Kira where she would roll the cue ball with her hands to make other balls go in.
Thursday, November 26
It's Thanksgiving day and I don't remember much. We had a lovely dinner with the whole family, and Kira insisted on sitting next to Dani.
Friday, November 27,
It's our last full day and again I don't remember how we spent most of our time. In the evening, Mike and Liz through Kira an early birthday party. They brought out a cake with candles and Kira did a pretty good job of blowing them out. She also really liked her new Merida doll. I love that they did that even though we weren't there on Kira's actual birthday.
Saturday, November 28
Up and moving pretty early. Said our goodbyes and made it in time for our 10:15AM flight to MCO. Again, the flight was great and went far better than we ever would have expected due to the in-flight entertainment system. Kira even took another nap in her carseat on the plane. We arrived pretty close to our 5:55PM scheduled arrival time and we got our bags from baggage claim and headed to Magical Express. We had read that it can take up to 6 hours for bags to arrive if you let Disney get them, so we decided to get them ourselves given it was already rather late.
About 5 minutes later, we were seated on a bus, but we didn't leave for about another 15 minutes and it seemed like forever before we got to our resort because we stopped at about 4 others on the way there. Eventually, we made it and checked in to room #7864 at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Kidani village. The nice cast member asked if we were celebrating anything and I mentioned Kira's birthday so she made Kira a birthday button and also gave her a 1st visit button. Unfortunately, the ink she used wasn't permanent and part-way through the trip we noticed her name had mostly rubbed off so we had to re-do it and lost the nice little mickey head she had drawn.
We had rented a scooter for mom from Walker Mobility and they called me while we were on the bus to confirm our arrival and said they'd meet us in the lobby of our hotel. As we were getting our room keys, Walker Mobility called again and said they were there. I turned around and there he was! What great service. He showed mom how to use it and that was that. Unfortunately, mom was a lousy driver and didn't seem to get that there was a slow mode and a fast mode and she kept going way to fast for her reflexes to handle safely. It kinda sucked. That said, it kept her from getting too tired and she opted to bring the scooter all days but one. Most of the time we just used it to get from our resort to some central location in a park and then we'd park it while we did stuff in the area. So that part worked out well.
When we headed to our room, I was a little appalled at how far we had to walk. Those hallways are long! That said, our view was really nice. We were on the 4th floor overlooking the savanna and saw many animals: Giraffe, wildebeast, zebra, oryx, and ankole cattle were the most common ones, but there were many more. Kira would wake up every morning and immediately want to go outside to see what animals where there. Mike and I liked to sit on the lanai in the evenings with some wine and talk after mom and Kira went to bed. The word we finally decided on was "serene." There was something so relaxing about just sitting there and watching these magnificent creatures wandering around below. After a while, you start to see the different interactions and who bosses around who which was interesting to watch. Also, there was one very amorous zebra and the object of his attention was not so interested. So that was somewhat entertaining to watch as well.
I had requested a room on the second floor, close to the lobby, but we didn't get either of those. I was hoping to avoid the long walk, and I was thinking that if we did have a long walk, I wanted to be in the wing closest to Jambo to give Mike and I a chance to go there after Kira went to sleep. Didn't get that either, we were as far from Jambo House as possible. I made an inquiry into moving rooms, but one wasn't available for several days and I knew by then we'd be all settled in. So we decided to just drop it and take what we had. Good thing we had the scooter otherwise those hallways would have eaten up huge chunks of our time and worn mom out.
After dropping off our bags, we trekked back to the lobby and hopped on a shuttle van that goes between Kidani and Jambo. Unfortunately, some kid must have had an accident because that van reeked of pee. I was appalled that they were still using the van. There was a pile of towels in the front that I gathered was used to wipe it up, but why were the towels still in there? Anyway, thank goodness it was a short ride as I was eager to escape the smell.
Arriving at Jambo, we eventually found our way to the quick service restaurant which turned out to be awesome! I don't think we could have made a better choice to start things off with. Mike and I both had ribs, Kira had pizza and green beans. I thought the green beans were an odd paring with pizza but Kira showed me as she actually ate quite a few of them. In fact, I was pleased when Kira stopped eating even though she had more pizza so we had leftovers for her for another night. Mike and I also picked up a bottle of a decent South African wine in the restaurant and we really enjoyed our dinner and wine. I don't remember what mom got, but she wasn't happy when she ordered decaf coffee, paid for it, and then found out they had to make some. Eventually it was ready and she was content. Our ribs were delicious and I was eager to get them again, but the next time we went, the menu was different. It appears it changes daily.
Finally, we went back to our room and went to sleep.
Sunday, November 29th (Kira's Birthday)
I woke up around 9AM and realized that everyone around me was still down pretty hard. The blackout curtains really helped keep the room dark and we all slept really well. I was pleased that Kira would sleep so late, it just shows me that her room back home needs to be darker as well. Of course the first thing we did was to immediately open the door and go look at the animals as it had been dark when we checked in. There was a giraffe, right in front of us. Kira was delighted! It became a morning routine I treasured. When she woke up each morning Kira would ask if she could open the curtain to see the animals and then I'd get up and go outside and look with her. What a wonderful start to the morning to see them all right there.
Anyway, since it was clear we weren't going to make our 10:30 reservation at Crystal Palace, I called and I was able to reschedule to a lunch reservation at 1:10. How lucky that another slot was available as otherwise I was going to be dumping everyone out of bed in a hurry. As it was everyone got to sleep all they needed before we all got ready and headed to the Magic Kingdom for our first day in the parks.
I don't remember what we started with, but we eventually did our meet and greet with Cinderella and Rapunzel at Princess Fairytale Hall, 12:40-1:40p.
At 1:10, we went to the Crystal Palace for a character breakfast with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. As we were waiting for our table to be ready Mike walked Kira over to the Castle to watch a stage show on the castle forecourt. They called our name while they were gone and they wouldn't seat us until they came back. Fortunately, once the show ended and they came back we were seated quickly.
The food was decent, not stellar, but the characters were wonderful. We all had a good time. The characters came around quite a bit and for the most part we just let Kira interact with them and took pictures, but when Pooh was about to walk away mom asked if adults were allowed to interact with the characters, too, and she really wanted to meet Pooh. I jumped up and caught the attention of Pooh's handler and said that someone in our group had wanted to meet Pooh but didn't know she could and would Pooh come back soon, please? Immediately, Pooh came back and my mom with teary eyes gave him a big hug. I was a little teary eyed after, too. It was really sweet.
For the most part, unless we had a fastpass, I don't recall what rides we did at what times. So I'll just outline the things we had FPs for. As soon as we finished lunch we made a made dash to Peter Pan and just made it at the end of our time slot, 1:50-2:50, this was soon followed by a ride on Seven Dwarves Mine train 3:05-4:05 while Kira played in the Winnie the Pooh playground. The mine train was our first experience with the child swap. Mom and I rode it first, grabbing a child swap pass, and that allowed me to ride it again when Mike used his FP. So I got to go twice, which was fun. Mike and I have rarely ridden a ride together alone, let alone ridden any thrill ride, since Kira came along, so it was a real treat.
After that, we made a fast dash to our final appointment for the day, a haircut for Kira! We made an error in planning however and neglected to notice that the parade would be going down mainstreet at the exact time we needed to get to the barber shop. We went through the stores to get there and when we popped out on the other side and went around the corner to the barber shop, we had a fantastic view of the parade! I went in to check us in while the rest of the group stayed outside and Mike put Kira up on his shoulders to watch as no one was behind him. The dragon in this parade is fantastic, and I was in awe as it even breathed fire. The steampunk idea worked really well for it.
Eventually the parade ended and Mike took Kira off his shoulder and started she started crying and saying "Owie!" We couldn't figure out what happened for quite a while and just tried our best to comfort her. Eventually we gathered that her legs must have fallen asleep while she was on Mike's shoulders and they were waking up. Poor baby. Right around the time she was settling down, they called her name and in we went.
At first, Kira wasn't too sure about the barber's chair, but the lady handed her a spinning, light up Elsa toy and loaded her shirt with Mickey stickers (I lost count how many) and Kira was fine after that. In less time than I ever would have thought possible, her hair was trimmed and fairy-dusted. We had gotten the "first haircut" package as this really was her first haircut ever. The lady took a clipping of Kira's hair and put in a little package along with more fairy dust, and then put that in a little gauze bag with Mickey on it. Then they gave Kira Mickey ears with "First Haircut" on the back and a certificate saying how she faced it with bravery and fortitude. It cracked us up, really a neat experience that I'm glad we did.
After the haircut we returned to Fantasyland for a bit for the last half of the baby swap as we had run out of time earlier and now we were right on the trailing edge of Mike's fast pass window. Fortunately we got to do it. After this I think mom and I went to go get mom's scooter and Mike took Kira into the Dumbo playground. This is the first time we've ever seen the playground, but what a clever idea. I want to hug whomever thought of that as an alternative to waiting in line.
I have no recollection of what mom and Kira had for dinner, but after returning to the hotel and putting Kira down, my mom cut us loose and we practically ran down the hallway laughing and giggling at the novelty of going out child-free. We made our way to Sanaa where we seated ourselves in the bar area. There, we made the single best dining decision ever. We got the full bread service. Oh how we loved this! It was like playing with your food for adults. For $15 we both had enough to be full and we so enjoyed sampling all 9 sauces. The fun really started when we began doing combinations. It was really enjoyable. To top it off, our waitress/bartender was awesome and made an excellent margarita. We had a lovely evening and eventually made our way back to the room and to sleep.
Monday, November 30th
Our first and only day at Hollywood Studios. At this point is when we started noticing the trend that we were approaching the parks very differently than normal. Perhaps because it wasn't very crowded, but we were letting ourselves arrive quite a bit after rope drop. I think FP+ has something to do with it as we know we have a least a few things reserved no matter what time we arrive. I suppose if we thought we weren't going to be returning again for a long time it would have been different, but we know we're coming back in 9 months due to our DVC points expiring, so there really was no pressure. That said, if the parks had been crowded to the point that there weren't a decent number of rides in the 10 minute or less wait time category, we'd have made sure to been there are rope drop. As it was, it didn't seem important.
Anyway here was our agenda for the day:
10:30-10:50 Frozen sing a long at Echo Lake
11:45-12:00 Voyage of the Little Mermaid at Animation Courtyard
12:25-1:25 Toy Story Midway Mania
4p Dinner at 50s Prime Time Cafe
6p Osbourne Family LightsI think we ended up skipping Toy Story in exchange for getting Kira down for a nap. Mom wanted to do her own thing for a bit so Mike and I took Kira in her stroller and left the park and walked up and down the path between HS and Epcot. Eventually she fell asleep and we picked up drinks at the Boardwalk pool bar and made our way over to the Bellevue Lounge to relax. We'd have bought drinks at the Bellevue but they didn't start serving until 3 or 4, but it was fine that we just hung out. Eventually Kira woke up and we walked back to HS and met back up with mom.
Dinner was fun. Our cousin introduced us to our other cousins sitting next to us and everyone played along. The server was low key but we still enjoyed it.
Finally we made our way to the Osbourne Family Lights which are in their final year. I'm so sad to see this go. I was hoping it would be a tradition to see it whenever we went. Still, it was so fun to see it one last time. We were there for the lighting and it just blows you away. Mom was in awe. Kira thought it was pretty neat, but I think she was a little overwhelmed by all the people. I've seen pictures of it being much worse, but this was by far the most crowded that we'd ever seen it. Granted the last time we saw it the temps were down in the 30s so that may have kept people away. We wandered around and counted hidden Mickey's. I lost count but there were a lot. I think we had about 50 when we quit. Kira did really well with that as well and I was surprised at how long that kept her entertained.
We had debated about going to Fantasmic, but decided that would be pushing our luck and made our way home. Mike and I had another lovely evening at Sanaa, but we had a different server this time and the margarita was icky sweet. After that, I stuck to wine. On the plus side, the drink came with little wooden stirring rods that look like paddles. We knew Kira would like them and sure enough, she's still playing with them at home.
Tuesday, December 1
Our first day at Animal Kingdom. Here's the itinerary.
10:20-11:20 Kilimanjaro Safaris
11:20-12:20 Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost on Discovery Island
12:40 Lunch w/ Donald at Tusker House
2:30-2:50 Festival of the Lion King
As we walked in we stopped at the Starbucks to get Oprah Chais and that's when we learned that most places around here only have the other chair. I was rather disappointed but oh well. We continued to head to the back of the park and as we got near the bridge we found the wilderness explorers recruitment center. They gave Kira a little book and pencil and had all the kids recite a pledge. It was really cute. I tried to get Kira into doing the scavenger hunt, but she just wasn't interested. We'll try again next time.
In addition to this, we managed to get in a visit to Flights of Wonder. The Safari ride was great and Kira really enjoyed pointing out all the animals. She still talks about the ride and the animals she saw. When the ride was over we wandered the pangani trail. Kira doesn't seem to remember much about this except that there was a very large toad in the indoor cages area. She seems to have gotten this confused with the safari ride as she insists she saw the toad on the ride.
