The Allan Family does Disney - 1/8-1/14 - COMPLETE!! - UPDATED 2/14 About This Page:

[DyanKJ130]

Wonderful start! Sounds like you all are having a magical time! the magic number idea! Can't wait to hear more

[dmallan]

DAY 4 – Friday, January 11th
This morning after breakfast Jeff and I walk over to All Star Movies and take a few pictures of their buildings. By the time we get back it is about 10:00 and everyone is ready to head out for Epcot. Our bus driver to Epcot is the funniest of the week. He tells us very corny riddles most of the way there and then sings a bit of “It’s a Small World” for us. We all have a good laugh. When we arrive in Epcot we go to the Land pavilion first and get fastpasses for Soarin’. Then we ride Living with the Land and watch The Circle of Life. We then go over to the Living Seas and ride Nemo and Friends and watch the fish in the aquariums for a bit. The girls do a little shopping in the Seas gift shop and we have a snack before heading back to The Land for Soarin’. This is our first time on Soarin’. What an awesome ride! It is so real that I have to lift my feet because I think they might touch the trees! We then make our way to World Showcase and around to Japan for our 1:30 ADRs at Teppan Edo. This is one of the highlights of the day! We have a short wait, but soon are seated (with our dinner companions) at a table for 8. It is a fantastic meal and so interesting watching the hibachi chef cook it right in front of us! Our magic number here is $29, but we’ve done so well with our budget, sometimes even sharing meals, that we can splurge a bit here and order some appetizers. We decide on a sushi sampler and some California rolls. For our meal Jeff and Liz each order Hotate, which is the cold-water sea scallops, I order Ueno, the chicken and shrimp, Katie orders Asakusa, the steak and shrimp, and Tom orders NY Strip Steak (hmm, no Japanese name for that?). Everything is delicious!


Steak and Shrimp

Even a trip to the bathroom, with the beautiful red and black décor, is fascinating! The bill is $149.37. With tip it comes to $180; our most expensive meal so far, but we are not surprised as we knew ahead of time how pricey this restaurant was. Then, my most embarrassing moment - I try to pay the bill with my park pass by mistake! The manager comes over to tell us they cannot accept it! Oops! There are just so many cards in my wallet – my rewards card, my park pass, my room key, several Disney gift cards and my Disney Visa. And they all have a Disney picture on them! It was bound to happen sooner or later! We are all a little embarrassed (well, maybe just me)! Anyway, I get over it, and we are on our way. When we exit the restaurant, Liz and Kate decide to check out the Mitsukoshi Department store and Jeff, Tom and I watch the Taiko drummers. It is very mesmerizing and we stay for the whole show.

Then we head over to the American Adventure while Liz and Katie continue to shop. We hang out here for a bit and watch the Fife and Drum Corp, but Tom is not too interested and wants to move on. So he and Jeff head to Italy for a cappuccino while I go into the American pavilion to watch the Liberty Voices. My favorite! Meanwhile, the girls are still shopping! After the Liberty Voices are finished I text the girls – “Are you still shopping?” “We’re checking out,” they answer. Then a few minutes later, “We’re watching these great drummers in Japan!” Well, eventually, we all meet up in Italy. And now we make our way around the world stopping to browse in Germany, and The Outpost. We end up in Norway and get a fastpass for Maelstrom. We hang around for a bit and take some pictures and pretty soon it’s time to ride. This is one that everyone remembered from last time and we are anxious to get on. After, on our way through the Norwegian streets, we stop at the Kringla Bakery. Liz, Kate and I get a cappuccino cheesecake to share, Jeff gets a chocolate chunk cookie and Tom, as usual, has a hankering for a salad. It was good to stop for a rest and now we head to Mexico to ride the little boat ride there. (Can’t remember the new name!) After the ride, we can’t resist stopping to browse in the plaza area. As we exit the Mexican pavilion we realize it’s getting dark. Wow, today went fast! We head back around the world to see what we missed the first time around. We stop at the Outpost to buy a few souvenirs. Our next stop is in France. We shop for a bit and then Liz, Tom and I go into the bakery to get some pastries to share. We end up with an éclair and a pithivier, which is a delicious almond pastry. YUM! It was a great day and we decide not to stay around for Illuminations. We don’t want to end up in the huge crowds at the end of the night like the past two nights. We head back to Future World and check out the wait times for Soarin’ and Test Track, both of which we’d like to ride again. Unfortunately, the wait times are 50 minutes and 70 minutes, with no fastpasses available, so we decide not to wait. Katie decides she wants a hot pretzel and as she walks up to the snack cart, another person buys the last one! We feel like we’ve been wandering around the last 45-minutes or so, going from one side of FW to the other, and not doing anything! But on our way out of the park we decide to ride Spaceship Earth again and then take some nighttime pictures. We head back to the resort and Liz, Kate and Tom go to the piano pool for a bit, although it wasn’t heated, so they didn’t stay long.

The best thing today was…lunch at Teppan Edo
The worst thing today was…our indecision toward the end of the night
The funniest thing today was…the bus driver on the way to Epcot and when I tried to pay for lunch with my park pass.
Today we tried…to snack around the world
And the result was…treats in Norway and France
The most magical moment today was…Soarin’

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you had a great lunch! It looks delish Don't fret over the wrong card thing I once tried to pay for our meal with DD's room card, which of course didn't have charging privileges on it It happens

Hurry back with more

[mcc0313]

Lunch looked great and sounded fantastic...glad you had a great Epcot day and by the end of the night it can only be expected that you were ready for some rest at the resort...

[disneydani]

Just catching up...sounds like you guys are having a magnificient trip! I like your careful budgeting; glad it is working so well and you could indulge in a few extras!

danielle

[tammyd_rn]

Sounds like a great day at Epcot. You guys are doing good on keeping to the budget. Wish I could say the same for myself on my trips.

[RobDVC]

Great Report so far!
We love Teppan Edo too!

[dmallan]

Thank you so much for your kind replies!
It's been alot of fun writing the trip report and sharing it with other Disney fanatics!
I've also been looking through all our pictures! We had 4 cameras between the 5 of us, and so we have over 1350 pictures. They are all digital, of course, but I'm picking out ones to have made into prints.

I'll be posting Day 5 in a minute!

Donna

[bfth]

Great report thus far...

As for the card thing, don't be too embarrassed. On Friday I tried to pay for my Starbucks coffee with a Target gift card! Now THAT was embarrassing!

[dmallan]

DAY 5 - Saturday, January 12th
Today is Animal Kingdom day and we head out by 9:00. It doesn’t seem to be as crowded as the past few days. Maybe it’s because we got an earlier start. We are able to get into “It’s tough to be a Bug” with no wait, and then head to Asia to ride Expedition Everest. There is only a 5-minute wait here and before we know it, we are in our car heading up the side of the mountain! It is an awesome ride and we decide as we’re getting off that we’d like to ride it again. And since there is still not much of a wait, we hop back in line and make it twice in a row! Now, we decide to head to Africa. But on the way, we pass the Flights of Wonder and see that the next show is about to start. Today has been a great day for being in the right place at the right time! It’s a great show – the birds are awesome and the trainer and his co-star (tour guide Jane) are hilarious, especially when one of the birds does not want to cooperate! Tom gets to be a part of the act when he volunteers to hold up a dollar bill and one of the birds flies to him and takes it out of his hand. Then the bird flies back, lands on Tom’s palm and gives him back the money!



After the show we head to Kilimanjaro Safari. As we are approaching the entrance, we see the “blue shirts” are just entering as well. Oh, no! We don’t want to be behind them in line again! We decide to get fastpasses. Our return time is only 30 or 40 minutes away, so we hang around Africa, take some pictures, and do some browsing in the shops. When it’s time to ride, we have a bit of a wait but not too bad. The safari is quite a bumpy ride! But we are able to see many animals up close including ostriches, hippos, flamingoes, elephants, alligators and many others. After our safari we take a break for lunch at the Flame Tree BBQ. Jeff and Kate have the pork sandwich, Tom has the Beef sandwich, Liz has the BBQ ribs and I have a chicken salad. With drinks it comes to $56.01. Liz is disappointed with the ribs. They are tasty, but hard to pull apart and not very easy to eat. There are some pesky ducks that are hanging around the eating area and we don’t appreciate them walking around under our table. Some people at a neighboring table started feeding them, so now they’re hanging around looking for more! Liz is eating with her legs up underneath her, Katie is shushing them away whenever they get near, and I’m a little jumpy each time I feel something brush my leg. Well, we get through it, and after lunch we head to Dinoland and ride Dinosaur - another bumpy ride. Good thing I took my Dramamine this morning! Then Liz, Kate and Tom ride Primeval Whirl. Ok, now it’s back to Asia for the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Jeff is fascinated with the elder deer; the room full of bats is a little creepy, but at least they are all asleep! We are able to get some nice pictures of the tigers as well. By now we are pretty tired and decide to ride the Express train out to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

Unfortunately, once we get there, we realize it’s not really something we want to do, so we take a break on a bench and strategize. We decide to take the train back and make our way around to Dinoland to ride Dinosaur again. Once we get there I admit that I really don’t want to ride again, so Jeff sits it out as well. We find a nice shady spot on a bench along the path, and the kids go on by themselves. Then Tom and Kate ride Primeval Whirl, while we do a bit of browsing in the shops. After they’re done we head toward the exits. Tonight we have ADRs for 5:50 at Boma, so we find the bus for Animal Kingdom Lodge. We arrive with plenty of time to spare, so Tom and I go out to the animal viewing area for a bit, while the others find a spot to rest in the lobby. It’s a great place to hang out and relax after a long day. Before long our buzzer goes off and we head to the restaurant. We have a nice table in an out of the way area, and our waiter, Abdel, takes our drink orders and tells us we can go up to the buffet whenever we are ready. There is so much food! The soups are delicious and the hummus and flatbreads are awesome. Among the items we try are: the salmon, prime rib, and BBQ ribs, the coconut rice, potatoes with Afritude, and fufu. And the desserts are amazing! Wonderful tarts, and cakes, and those zebra domes! We lost count of how many Zebra Domes Tom ate!



We certainly did not leave the place hungry. Our bill came to $145.06, with tip it was $172.30. After dinner we waddle out to the bus stop and wait for a bus to Downtown Disney. While we’re waiting another bus drops off a group of unruly children. There were 5 or 6 kids, the oldest of which was about 12. After he dropped them off the driver got out of the bus and asked them where they were headed and where their parents were. I really didn’t hear their answer, but they walked toward the resort as if they were going inside. Then when the DTD bus comes along they appear again and get on. They were in the back of the bus yelling and making a fuss the whole way there! Well, we just ignore them and their antics, but still we wonder how parents can leave their kids to wander around Walt Disney World by themselves. Anyway, once we get to DTD, we find our way to The World of Disney Store. It is very crowded but we shop around a while and finally choose some souvenir items. Kate and I go to the checkout while Dad, Liz and Tom wait outside. The line is long, so it takes a while before we are even cashed out, then of course we have a few glass items, which she has to wrap, so it was a while before we got out of there. But we are finally on our way. We head back to the bus stop and wait for the next bus to All Star Music. We are tired and the wait is longer than usual, but finally we are on our way back to the resort. Time to look at the pictures from the day and make some decisions about tomorrow. We have decided that for our last day in that parks we’ll go to Hollywood Studios. We’d like to ride Rock n’ Roller Coaster again and there are some other things that we didn’t get a chance to do on Wednesday. We have dinner reservations at Boatwright’s at Port Orleans, but we don't want to do the whole bus transfer thing again to get to POR. We’ve decided to stay in Hollywood Studios and do dinner at a table service restaurant there. I call the reservation line, cancel dinner at Boatwright’s and make them for 5:20 at Hollywood and Vine. We haven’t eaten here before and it sounds great – we are all for the buffets!!

The best thing today was…riding Expedition Everest twice with practically no wait AND dinner at Boma
The worst thing to day was…the ducks at lunch and the annoying kids on the bus to DTD
The funniest thing today was…Flights of Wonder – the bird that would not cooperate and tour guide Jane
Today we tried…Zebra Domes
And the result was…Yum!
The most magical moment today was…when the bird took the dollar bill from Tom’s hand.

[DyanKJ130]

WOW!! Two wonderful updates! It sounds like you all are having a fabulous time!! Your meals sound delicious and your park time lots of fun! Can't wait to hear more.

[bsblady01]

more please

[scrapbookmomma3]

I your magic number idea. Maybe I can squeeze another trip out of my DH with this idea. Thanks!!!
More please!!!

[Colexis Mom]

Great day at AK!! And glad you enjoyed Boma and the Zebra Domes More please

[RobDVC]

A terrific day in the Animal Kingdom! Looking forward to reading about your Hollywood Studios day!