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| Map of Kidani Village |
May 5, 2010
This is the day that we moved from Saratoga Springs to Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village. As with most things Disney, the move was easy as pie. We called Bell Services, they picked up our bags, groceries and all, tagged them, and took them downstairs. You just have to tell them which ones are fridge or freezer, and they keep them cold until they deliver it all to your new room. We had planned this as a rest day, too, because we didn't know what would be involved with moving. So we drove pretty much straight over to AKV and checked in, then ate lunch at Sanaa, the table service restaurant in the resort.
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| The Kidani Village lobby at night | The Jambo House lobby |
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| Our villa - living room, with sofa bed | Kitchen |
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| Bedroom - The bed faces the dresser with TV, and desk. | Master bath with toilet, shower, jet tub, closet. Another bath with toilet, tub, and sink was off the entry. |
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| The restaurant sign | Inside the restaurant - lunch time |
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| How to keep the kids occupied at the table? | Giraffes... |
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| Ankole Cattle... | even the occasional Deere. |
And yes, Logan almost fell asleep at this meal, too, even though it was only lunch time. For supper, we went to Wolfgang Puck's Cafe. We love the express place on Downtown Disney's east side, so thought we would try out the table service. Surprisingly, we prefer the express. And only the one at the east side Marketplace, as we tried the west side express and it was disappointing, too. The desserts were wonderful, though! And we were so mean to Logan, we kept him up until bedtime, despite his best attempts. It was hard work.
May 6, 2010
Park day! Animal Kingdom - only fitting, since we were staying so close! The first time we went to Animal Kingdom park was in March of last year. It was the hottest day ever, and we were all miserable. Plus, if you remember, we went to Rafiki's Island, to the Affection Section - the single biggest waste of time at Disney World - and that ate up the enjoyable park of the day, and contributed greatly to our grumpiness. We had such a great time that we skipped it entirely in October.
But, upon reviewing the map at home before we went and realizing how much of the park we missed, we decided to give it another try. We had breakfast, then left for the park. Another reason to go was that the boys were tall enough for the Kali River Rapids ride this time. And we ran into the age-old equation: Logan with no nap the day before + getting up in time to go to the park = a very contrary, obstinate boy.
One of the first things upon entering the park was getting Fast Passes for Kali River. Then we had time to wander, do bathroom breaks, find frozen treats, drink lots of water. Back to the ride and the Fast Pass line. Because Logan is so close to the 40" restriction, he has to be measured. And that day he was having nothing to do with standing on those two footprints and holding his head up and standing up straight. And it seems that his Daddy had had about enough for one day - and one month. So, while Liam and I went on the ride, Logan sat in the stroller. And Logan continued to sit in the stroller. Liam and I had a great time on the ride and we got soaked. Totally dripping wet. Not a bad thing in such a hot place.
The downside was that I had made reservations at the Tusker House restaurant for lunch, which was air conditioned, so we got a bit chilly! With the reservations, though, we got reserved seating for the Finding Nemo show in the afternoon. I remember the endless lines in 2009, and how I swore no show was worth that. And although the show was quite good, I still don't think I would have lined up that long! Having had seats set aside, and entry through the exit (thus avoiding the people in line), I will say the show was great for the kids. It's a giant puppet show, and the puppeteers are the voices and acting, all at the same time. And the theatre is air conditioned; so important when Animal Kingdom is unbearably hot on a scattered-clouds kind of day. After a couple more rides, it was time to head home. The closing hours at the park are quite early, so we had a good excuse to head back to the room on time and I popped over to the quick-service restaurant at Jambo House to bring us back supper.
May 7, 2010The opening day of Iron Man 2. We, of course, were at the 1:15PM show. We went to Downtown Disney for lunch and Wolfgang Puck's Cafe Express, then to the theatre, then wandered around Downtown Disney for a while, until we went off and did some shopping in Orlando. We stopped at the huge McDonald's, where I had ravioli (?!) and Craig had a double Filet of Fish and we discovered that there was no playland; it was all money-required games like a bowling lane (that is sooooo awesome to eat near), air hockey, and arcade games. Very disappointing!
May 8, 2010
Epcot. When we were planning our trip, Liam said that this time he only wanted to do fun stuff. I asked him what that would be, and he said "Rides. No Epcot!" Since our last stop at Epcot, we found some more kid-oriented things to do, and going during the Flower Festival meant a couple more.
When we got to Epcot we got fast passes for Soarin' then went explorin'. We were hungry, so we stopped at the Moroccan quick-service restaurant for a snack that ended up looking more like a meal. Then we headed over to the Japanese restaurant, as we had 2:00 reservations for Teppan Edo and wanted to see if we could move them up. And we ended up going right in. Needless to say, the kids were a little full for lunch, but at least they had the patience to watch the presentation of the food being cooked, etc.
We took a boat ride across the lake to go on Soarin'. We also went to a couple more rides during the day, had some treats, played, then went to supper at the San Angel Inn at Mexico. After supper we stuck around for the fireworks. And even though we weren't in the best viewing spot (we were strategically located near the exit and the bathrooms and a bench), it was still great - the kids loved it, even if it was a bit loud. A late night, but an excellent day at Epcot. Even Liam wants to go back. As long as we go on the same rides. And not to the Hawaiian [Japanese] restaurant where they cook on the grill. Just to the place where Mickey cooks.
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| Scene from Captain Cook. | Giant tea cups growing different kinds of tea. |
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| The French Pavilion. | Logan loves all fountains and water falls! |
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| And the Oscar goes to..... the boy who had to leave the fountain! | So I remember what I want my backyard to look like someday ;) |
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| Our chef at Teppan Edo. | Watching the chef put on a show. |
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| Both boys decided to eat with chopsticks, and did quite well! | One of the play areas they set up during the Flower Festival. The ground is covered with recycled rubber pieces. They have to disassemble the area before the rubber starts melting in the summer. |
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| Waiting for Dad to get snacks at Norway. |
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| The San Angel Inn restaurant at Mexico. 7:30 PM reservations. | Going.... |
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| Going.... | Gone. |
May 9, 2010
Mother's Day! We went to the Magic Kingdom, where we had reservations for Crystal Palace, with Winnie the Pooh and friends. At the park gate, all the mothers got a carnation. So I DID get flowers for Mother's Day!
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| Liam holding my carnation. Apparently Tigger is also bouncing on his head! | Piglet! |
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| Logan with characters. | Logan without characters. |
At some point at Epcot the day before we lost Logan's hat. So after breakfast we spent some time looking for another. You would think this would be easy, like Disney would have them all over, just DYING to sell you one. They had really cute ones for girls.... Not so much for boys.
We could not find a boy's hat with a brim. And then the kids found these. And they looked so cute. And they rarely ask for souvenir-type stuff. So we bought them, and Liam proceeded to lead us on a parade down Main St, all the way to Tomorrow Land. And they looked cute all day!
It was a pretty short day at the park. We left in good time and headed back to the resort for a swim.
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| Written on the wall on the way into the pool area: "It's a bad child who does not take advice" -Asante. | The boys, after asking them to stand nicely for a picture after swimming. See previous picture. |
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| The pool at Animal Kingdom-Kidani Village. |
May 10, 2010We took this day to go shopping and driving, as it was our second-last day in Florida. We were back in time for supper at Sanaa, at the resort.
May 11, 2010
Sniff. Our last day. Off to the Magic Kingdom again! We drove so we could drop the rental car off on the way there. We hit the favourite rides and explored some new areas. We had never gone over to Tom Sawyer's Island before, so we took the raft over for some quiet play time while the parade was on.
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| On the way to drop off the car. | Where did I put my Hawaiian shirt? |
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| Pineapple floats. | Splash Mountain! |
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| Playing on Tom Sawyer's Island. | Teacups! |
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| How old is that kid that just got off Thunder Mountain?! |
That evening, Liam and I headed down to the story telling around the campfire. Although it wasn't exactly what I expected, Liam enjoyed it; he still talks about the story he heard.
Once the campfire story was over, we put the kids to bed and finished packing. We got ready for the trip back to Ottawa, where we spent a couple of days stocking up on wants and needs, and visited some friends again.
We took this final Florida picture at the Orlando airport:
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| Now he decides to smile! |
