Fabulous February Friends TR About This Page:

[KMB733]

Great pictures of all the little details at AK!!!

[cindybelle]

Of course no trip to the AK would be complete without the Safari ride, and I also took more time than usual exploring the hiking trails. I also attended the last showing of the day of Finding Nemo: The Musical and enjoyed it a lot more than I had a few years ago -- the actress playing Dory was just plain annoying last time, which is why I haven't been back until now. This time, Dory was almost as adorable as Ellen Degeneres had voiced her in the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Oh, and while I was waiting in line to get into the theater, I heard a "Cindy!" and a young architect who had worked for our firm until her husband got transferred to Orlando (!) came rushing at me. It truly IS a small world after all.




But the AK is all about the ANIMALS, so of course I'm happy to share some of my favorite animal pics of the trip:



And let's not forget our feathered friends:




And this next pic of the same little yellow bird is now my screensaver


And then I came upon this adorable cardinal, who was sitting quite low to the ground and near the sidewalk -- clearly he's used to tourists, because he calmly kept posing while all us nut-jobs photographed him.

[cindybelle]

Everybody sing: It's the circle of life!

[cindybelle]

[cindybelle]

I decided to head back to AKL pretty soon after the Nemo show ended -- I was getting a rumbly in my tumbly and figured Boma would be happy to welcome me a little early (my ressie was for 5:15).

I'll leave you with five more of my favorite details from AK, icons that I'm sure you've noticed on your own journeys to the Happy Place.









You definitely can't miss this fabulous sign at the end of the day -- it always makes me :

[Pinkyt177]

Incredible pics, I love it!

[cindybelle]

AKL was alive with talk of the impending Super Bowl, but I was in an Animal Kingdom haze and tuned it out. Sure enough, the nice people at Boma welcomed me -- in fact, they serenaded me upon my arrival:



Boma doesn't serve Honey Pot, so I had the Star Tree Nouveau Blanc instead. Quite tasty, and yes I had two glasses.



I love me the salads!



I wasn't crazy about the meat from the carving station, but I unfortunately put my hand on a dirty plate AND on a dirty bowl -- and when I say dirty, I don't mean dried-on food -- I'm talking about wet, gloppy stuff. Ugh. I brought this to a couple of the male Cast Members, and they said, "Oh that happens sometimes." I had to ask them for a paper towel to get the glop off my hand. So I wasn't in the best frame of mind to enjoy the meat.

But I sure enjoyed the desserts -- all my dessert photos are too fuzzy to share here, but you can see me enjoying a Zebra Dome:



And since it was about 6:15 at this point, I had plenty time to drop some things off in my room and then go to the fire pit for the Storytelling, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The skies opened up just a bit -- a few big splashy raindrops fell, but nothing to drown our enjoyment of the storyteller.



It was a lovely, calming way to end the day. I headed to my room to "pack" for the Beach Club, and I posted some pics to Facebook while I watched some of the Super Bowl.

I am so glad I stayed at AKL for those two nights -- it was absolutely lovely! And the next day I heard we had gotten a lot more rain that night, but I missed it. How is THAT? And we didn't have any more rain for the rest of my visit.

[buzzspal2]

Cindy, You put so much detail in your trip reports. I feel like I'm right there with you. Thanks for taking us along.

[MGW]

Wow! Great pictures! You know what I would like to see? A documentary on the carving of the Tree of Life, I wonder how many people worked on it?

So glad you had warm weather! There will probably be a cold front at the end of the month!

Can't wait for more!

[cindybelle]

Monday, Feb. 6: There I was, dawdling in my room at AKL, thinking about going to Boma for breakfast -- when Sheri to say she'd gotten up at 6:30 and was nearly to WDW and that she would convey me and my luggage to the Beach Club! How perfectly mahvelous, dahlings! That was worth skipping breakfast for!

I goodbye to AKL and Sheri drove us to the Beach Club -- where she promptly picked up a man. (I swear, I don't know how she does it. )



And then we asked the dear fellow to take our pic of this momentous occasion:



Sheri was delighted to find we had a first-floor room. She has stayed at the Beach Club (as well as her favorite, the Yacht Club) before, but this was my first time. I was thrilled with the room and with our proximity to Epcot -- our building was the first one you come to after you walk over the hilly bridge thingy from the back end of World Showcase.





My bed is the one on the left -- closest to the bathroom. Sheri was closer to the patio (and the quiet pool, which was just beyond).

I excitedly showed Sheri the vintage hats my friend Kathy had let me borrow for our upcoming day at the Hollywood Studios, and so we tried them on, along with our cigarette holders and fake cigarettes. We look too, too already, don't we dahlings?

[cindybelle]

I managed to take a few photos before we walked to Epcot for our first-ever lunch at Akershus.

Inside our room:


This was the cupboard door hiding our little refrigerator:


And in the common hallway:






Oh yes, I was going to like it here!

[cindybelle]

We were inside Epcot in no time and heading toward Norway!





The first thing we did at Akershus was pose with my favorite Disney princess of them all! She seemed delighted when I told her I'd seen her in 3-D a few weeks ago.


Now, I was really-really since I'd skipped breakfast -- and the yummy cold buffet was a welcome sight. I could have pulled up a chair to the buffet and spent the day there quite happily, but I contented myself with filling my plate.


And then I also got a yummy entree -- mushroom-stuffed pasta with Swiss Chard and Parmesan Cream. Oh. My. Goodness.

[dwsandy]

Love, love, love the tree of life pictures! The trip sounds amazing so far. Your trip reports always make me feel like I'm right there with you. Can't wait to read about the rest of the trip with Sheri.

[cindybelle]

Sheri got some sort of sandwich & soup thingy that looked divine and she pronounced delish.


And dessert came with the meal, plus they gave me a birthday dessert. And yes, we ate it ALL.





In case you couldn't read that card, here's a close-up. I'm just sayin'.


And of course there were little princesses everywhere.

[cindybelle]

While we enjoyed the feast, the real Disney princesses started walking through the restaurant and interacting with every single guest!


This adorable little girl was sitting quite near us, along with her parents and grandparents, who kindly gave me permission to take these photos:




And Ariel showed Sheri and me how to properly display our fins!


Here's the tapestry you see as you enter and exit Akershus. I've got to tell you, I HIGHLY recommend this place, with or without children! It was yummy and charming and delightful. And here's the link to the lunch menu, and while it's a bit pricy it's SO worth it. (And you get the framed photo with Belle, too!) Akershus Royal Banquet Hall Lunch - Norway - World Showcase - Epcot