John & Family - August 2007

Participants: Me - 40, DW (Karen) - younger than me , DS#1 (Thomas) - 7, DS#2 (Andrew) - 2, DFiL (Rich) - Older than me, DMiL (Janet) - Younger than her husband
Location - New Jersey/Walt Disney World - Animal Kingdom Lodge
Pictures - Disney Day 1

Well, it is finally here. August 3rd, 2007! The day we leave for Walt Disney World. We were up until midnight last night getting packed. Something always happens, doesn't it? This time it happened to Karen on her way home from work. She works in Newark, about a 40 minute drive from home (usually..) Well on this trip there was an accident on Route 78 which meant that my wife who left work at 4pm and should have been home by 5pm didn't get home until 9:30 pm. That explains why we were up until midnight packing.

Anyway THAT was yesterday, today is D Day. I've counted down since we booked it last September. We left the house as planned at 9am, made a couple housekeeping stops at Blockbuster and the library and hit the highway. We had arranged to leave our car at Avistar Airport Parking. We found the location easily, despite my navigation systems best efforts to fool us and dropped the car off. The shuttle took us to arrivals, instead of departures (new airport rules evidently) but we found the awesome Continental .COM baggage drop off and soon we were heading to security.

Security went like a breeze! I couldn't' believe we didn't get 'randomly' picked to be searched! God was watching out for us. We met my in-laws on the concourse and were soon at gate 96.

After our plane arrived late we started boarding at 12:45 and STILL left the gate only 3 minutes late at 12:13pm. The kids were split up between us and the in-laws and we settled down for our flight south. Even the flight went quickly and before I knew it we were pulling up to our gate at Orlando 5 minutes early at 2:45 pm. Wow!!!!

We made our way to the shuttle and then found our way down to the level for the DME. We quickly registered and boarded our bus. While we were waiting for what seemed like an age (only about 15 minutes) during which we saw a wonderful site. We saw a little girl and her mom being escorted by 3 CM's to their Magic limo to take them off to the World. Any jealousy was easily squashed by the look on the little girls face.

We had a tight connection here. Our first meal reservation was at 5:50 pm at Boma, which meant we needed to take 2 buses, one from our resort to a park and one from that park to the Animal Kingdom Resort. Would we make it ???? or would we start our trip off by missing our first ADR. It was slightly stressful: We pull in to our resort, the beautiful Port Orleans: Riverside ( I will never get used to not calling it Dixie Landings!! Curse you Al!!) at 4:00 pm. Guess what happened now!!! The check in system is down!!! After 40 minutes on line we get temporary cards and a promise to refund our meal costs at BOMA since we were on the DDP. I send the family off to find the rooms and I go get the ECV for my in-laws. After a little confusion they find the key and I'm off driving this scooter across the resort to Building 38 in Alligator Bayou.

Here we find out another small snafu. You notice I have mentioned my in-laws several times. One of the many added benefits of having them along on this great trip (although having them with us is the best part) is that they are going to babysit a few evenings for us. This is going to be facilitated by us having connecting rooms! So we find our rooms, we are in 3818 and they are in 3820. . Yes there is someone else in 3819!. I end up talking to the CM's at the front desk about this later when I return to get our refund and REAL room keys.

So we SHOULD make it BOMA, it is 5:00 pm and we had 50 minutes. SURELY we can make to the AKL by 5:50, right?? We head to the North Depot and wait for a bus to the AK where we will grab a bus the AKL. It's 5:15 and we have seen buses for all parks but AK. It's 5:30 and we finally see a bus for AK!!! We now have 20 minutes to get to AK and grab a bus to AKL.. Did I mention we are in PO:RS? Yes that's the resort on the opposite side of the World from AK! 20 minutes later we pull up at AK and I whip out my Passporter. I don't have a phone number for BOMA (note to self - next trip have direct numbers of all restaurants we have ressies at in Passporter) but I do have the AKL so I call them and ask for BOMA desk. They say no problem.

At 6:15 we arrive at AKL. Let me backtrack at this point. Once I realized my error in our ADR time about 2 weeks ago I started calling WDW DINE to try to move our ADR back. They always said that everything was taken and the restaurant was booked solid. Well we found a restaurant that was about 80% full and as our meal progressed it got less full. Anyway, the food was OUTSTANDING. Our server, nikki, was not as outstanding unfortunately. The downside to the DDP is they get a tip regardless.. Small matter..

After we finished eating we spent a little time touring the resort. We went out back and saw some Kudu's and Cattle, and Giraffe. We saw some bunnies fighting (yeah!! Really). It really is a beautiful resort, and I love the animals. However I think I prefer the dcor at WL most (but I'll take the animals over dcor ANY DAY!).

We now headed out the resort and grabbed a bus to DTD so we could enjoy a leisurely ride down the Sasscagoula River on a boat. This I think is one of the aspects of staying at PO:RS worth it. It is a VERY big resort and it feels like a LOT of people are here (and there are) but it is very special. Beautiful groves and shady places with well designed structures really create a sense of peace, which you need when you return from the hectic fun of the parks.

Another visit to the Desk (my second at this point) and we start to get the room situation resolved. Our friends are arriving tomorrow and it is they who Disney put in 3819 instead of us. The CM's at the desk are real troopers, dealing with an absolute LOUSY checkin system and crazy people like me with insane reservations. In the end all will turn out and we will be in our correct room on Saturday and life is good.

Light out, and prepare to enter the world tomorrow. Our first Park: Magic Kingdom on Saturday, August 4th. What a day that will be, filled with flying elephants, swirling cups, flight children, and a couple of Pirates names Max and.. Captain Jack Sparrow!!

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