WDW Celebrates Hank's B-Day, AKL, May 8-12, 2009

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Travel dates: May 8, 2009, to May 12, 2009
Travel method: Airline
Resort: Walt Disney World
Accommodations: Animal Kingdom Lodge, Standard View Room
Ages Represented in Group: 43 and 51
Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: Veterans
Cast of characters: Carolyn (your intrepid reporter) and Hank (notetaker)

Hank and I had a nearly perfect WDW trip in early February, and the combination of annual passes and the Celebrate Today campaign convinced us that a birthday trip was in order for him in May. I’ll get my turn in September. I’m the planner and trip reporter in the family and in return for my efforts Hank graciously ignores my obsessive worrying about the trip, makes any pet-related arrangements, and willingly participates in pretty much whatever WDW plans I come up with. So I heard nary a peep when I informed him we needed to set our alarm clock for 4 a.m. so we’d be ready for our 7:10 a.m. flight from DFW to MCO on May 8. He was also on board for a standard view room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge ($164/night with an AP discount) and ADRs at Biergarten, Yak & Yeti, Brown Derby, and California Grill. I scheduled the Epcot Segway tour for 9 a.m. on May 11, which was Hank’s birthday.

At the 10-day mark, I checked in on-line even though it was far from assured that we’d actually be able to make the trip. My mother had been in and out of the hospital in the weeks preceding our departure but luckily was doing fine at home by the time we were ready to leave. The day before we left, I took another look at our ADRs and changed our Biergarten ADR to Spoodles because I didn’t think a non-meateater like me would get her money’s worth at the Biergarten, which is a buffet-only restaurant. I also printed our boarding passes and called the WDW Florist to order a surprise gift basket for delivery on Hank’s birthday.

Friday, May 8, 2009 – Arrival Day, Magic Kingdom

Because of the early, early flight we had done almost all of our packing the night before. We stumbled out of bed at 4 a.m. (after a typically bad night-before-a-WDW-trip night’s sleep), showered, and were out the door on time at 5:00. We parked at the remote parking lot and were at the gate by 6:00 or so. While we were waiting we saw that my best friend’s sister-in-law was waiting for the same flight. We soon learned that she and her partner were on their way for a week of WDW, the shuttle launch, and dolphin-swimming. She had never been to WDW before but her partner had. We kept our mouths shut when they said they were staying off-site. Now, granted, we’ve never stayed off-site so we really don’t have a basis for our strong opinions that on-site is the only way to go. But lack of data never stopped us from having an opinion and we just really like being in that Disney bubble through the whole trip and don’t want to risk a buzzkill by staying off site.

During the flight we watched some episodes of Big Bang Theory, My Name is Earl, and 30 Rock that Hank had saved on his computer. We landed around 10:30, deplaned, and headed to Magical Express. Now I’m going to rant a bit. Magical Express totally drained the magic out of our arrival and there was nothing express about it. First we waited in line to get into the right queue, then we waited in line to go out to the bus, then we waited in line at the bus, then we waited on the bus, then we waited for unloading of passengers at Pop Century before waiting for more unloading at Coronado Springs, which was a prelude to waiting at Caribbean Beach. We finally arrived at AKL at 12:30, more than 2 hours after our flight had touched down. Hmm, I wonder how long it took my friend’s sister-in-law to get to her off-site hotel. Oh well.

The majestic sight of the AKL revived our spirits. We had stayed in a savanna-view room way back in March 2002 but had not been back since. It was every bit as impressive as I’d remembered. We quickly found the on-line check-in desk and saw that there were two guests already at the counter but not a desk clerk in sight. We waited for what felt like forever and it was clear that the couple in front of us had had a major problem with their check-in that was not going to be fixed any time soon if only because the desk clerk had turned in her notice and left the property. One of the regular desk clerks finally took pity on us and called us over for help at the regular registration desk. She said our room wasn’t ready yet but gave us a card to call periodically to find out if it was ready. Hank suggested that the better system might be for Disney to get the guest’s cell phone number and then call when the room is ready. The other couple was still at the on-line check-in desk when we finished with our registration. Frankly, I don’t think the on-line process saved any time, and I’m not sure I’ll bother with it for our next trip.

We got our shorts and bathing suits before checking our bags at Bell Services and heading over to Mara for lunch. Hank had the African stew in a bread bowl and I had the vegetable flatbread. With a cup of water for me and a Bud Light for Hank, our total was $22.51. We both enjoyed our meals. Our only knock on Mara is that does not have soft-serve ice cream, which is a vacation mainstay for Hank.

We changed into our bathing suits in the bathrooms near Mara before searching for two lounge chairs in a shady spot. Shade was a must as it was really hot. A lot of adults and kids were in the pool but it’s so large that there’s plenty of room for everyone. We found a nice spot and enjoyed relaxing and cooling off in and out of the water. At 2:10 I called the appointed number and was told that our room was ready so we packed up our pool gear, retrieved our bags from Bell Services, and headed to the room.

The room was at the very end of the Arusha Savanna and a looong walk from the lobby. Upon arrival we saw that it was a queen/bunk bed room and had a fairly unmagical view of some night barns and chain link fencing. But the view was less an issue than the bunk bed. We like to be able to spread our stuff out on the unused bed and the bunk bed really was not conducive to that. Plus, the room was smaller (or at least seemed that way). Since we hadn’t requested a bunk bed and certainly didn’t consider it an upgrade, I called the front desk to see if we could get a different room. They said they could accommodate us but we’d need to go back to the front desk. We trooped on down there and were told that our replacement room wasn’t ready. The desk clerk – who remembered us from our first check in a few hours before – accidentally told us our new room number but warned us not to go up there until we’d called to confirm that it was ready.

It was now 2:45 so we decided to at least cruise by the room to see if might be ready. We quickly found the room and were very pleased with its location. It was on the fifth floor at the beginning of the Giraffe Trail and close to the main elevators, which would quickly take us down to the Zawadi Marketplace, restaurants, pool, and buses. So that was a big win. We saw Mousekeeping carts in the hallway, but we couldn’t tell whether our room was ready, and the previous guest’s bill was in an envelope hanging on the doorknob. So we cooled our heels for 15 minutes, canceling our Spoodles ADR and making an 8:45 ADR for dinner at Jiko the next night before deciding to just go ahead and go into the room. Sure enough, it was ready even though that bill was still on the doorknob. Anyway, this room had the requisite two queen beds and a view over the front driveway. Our balcony was smaller than usual and kind of funky because of its location on the front of the building. Instead of a sliding door, we had one swinging door, and you could not see above the balcony wall if you were sitting on the chair. No big deal for us as we are not big balcony-sitters.

We quickly unpacked our stuff and then commenced a much-needed two-hour nap. We woke up around 5 and were out of the room and on our way to Magic Kingdom by 5:30 or so. We walked down Main Street, soaking up the magic, and trying to figure out where we ought to eat dinner. The Tomorrowland Noodle Terrace was closed – which may be a good thing as I’ve heard some pretty bad reviews of that place – and ended up at the Columbia Harbour House after first checking at the Liberty Tree Tavern only to be told that they were full up and not taking walk-ins. We split a hummus sandwich, a side of coleslaw, and an order of fries ($11.17).

After dinner we went to Mickey’s Philharmagic, my favorite 4-D show at WDW, and rode the Haunted Mansion. We had little to no wait at both attractions. We then decided we ought to get some ice cream and find a good viewing location for the 9 p.m. showing of Wishes. Not surprisingly, we were not the only people to have the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor idea so we waited in line for quite a while before ordering. We each got two scoops of ice cream ($7.86), which was more than enough, before going outside and finding a semi-comfortable place to sit on a little brick wall near the Plaza Restaurant. We enjoyed our ice cream and the fireworks. Afterward we headed out with the masses and we were on our bus (standing) and heading to AKL at 9:24. After a stop at the new Kidani Village DVC property, we were back at AKL at 9:45, just 30 minutes after the fireworks had ended. It was the first of many impressive performances by the WDW bus system. In fact, we had great bus service throughout our stay. We picked up a bottle of Diet Sprite at the Zawadi Marketplace before going up to our room and collapsing into bed.

Saturday, May 9, 2009 – Animal Kingdom

Since we had ADRs for lunch at Yak & Yeti, Saturday would be Animal Kingdom day. We woke up without an alarm a little before 7 and left the room around 9. We stopped at Mara to fill up our water bottle with ice and water as we knew we were in for a high temperature of 95 degrees that day.

The bus was waiting and standing-room only when it arrived at the bus stop. On the way to the park, Hank downloaded a WDW Dining app onto to his IPhone. The app has all of the menus, including descriptions and prices, for every restaurant in the World. We ended up using it repeatedly over the course of our trip and were surprised at how current and helpful the information was. Hank also helped with this trip report by taking notes on his IPhone about our activities.

Once at AK, we got through the perfunctory bag check and the turnstiles in rapid fashion. Just inside the park entrance there was a table with bird eggs and one of the Cast Members asked us if we wanted to be “tagged” in honor of International Migratory Bird Day. We hadn’t known about the related events beforehand, but it turned out to be a great day to visit AK, especially for an animal lover like me. We got tagged – left wrist for females and right wrist for males – before heading to Expedition Everest. Our plan had been to get a Fastpass but when we saw that the stand-by wait was only 10 minutes, we went ahead and got in line. Hank loves big rollercoasters. I enjoy them too, but I usually pay the price with an upset stomach and a headache. EE was awesome, as always, and I rewarded my bravery with some ice water and three aspirin. After Everest we stopped briefly to watch the gibbons and had a nice visit with the cast member posted at the exhibit. Actually, we couldn’t see the gibbons as they were resting up at the top of a very tall concrete column. The cast member told us that they often like to hang out there in the morning for some peace and quiet even though it’s too high up for the caretaking staff to put any food there.

After getting Fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safari we boarded the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, which was International Migratory Bird central that day. Just outside the building was an exhibit devoted to Operation Migration’s efforts to teach whooping cranes to migrate from Wisconsin to Florida. You may have heard of this – they raise whooping crane chicks from birth to adulthood and train them to fly behind an ultralight airplane. After they’ve made the migration just once, they’ll instinctively make the same migration for years to come even without the ultralight leading them. Hank took pictures of the ultralight while I visited with one of the members of Operation Migration. In fact, the organization’s cofounder was there as well. We learned that they had undertaken the project because whooping cranes were near extinction and the few remaining birds were migrating south to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge, a risky migration given the potential for hurricanes and oil spills in the area. So Operation Migration was formed to create a sort of back-up flock of whooping cranes. This is fascinating stuff, at least to us, so we also spent a good 30 minutes or so watching a movie about the training and one of the migrations. Before heading into the main building, we also had a nice visit with the expert hosting the Purple Martin table.

Once in the building, we listened to the sounds of the rainforest and browsed the various exhibits. We had been to Rafiki’s Planet Watch only once before several years ago and had found it to be pretty lame. This time, however, we found it a worthwhile experience because of the International Migratory Bird exhibits. We stopped briefly at the Affection Section, and Hank took my picture with a near-comatose sheep. I am not a fan of Affection Section. It’s a pretty unnatural setting and while the animals seem content they may just be resigned to their fates. This exhibit really is inconsistent with the rest of AK, which strives to create realistic, healthful environments for the animals. Okay, second rant over.

It was now 11:30 or so and we needed to get back to Asia for our ADRs at Yak & Yeti. Once at the restaurant we were promptly seated at a table for two upstairs. Hank ordered the beef and broccoli and I ordered the tofu noodle bowl. We also split the fried green beans. Drinks were a Safari Amber for Hank and a glass of white wine for me. Hank panned his meal because the beef was fatty and lacking in flavor. A real disappointment for him. My noodle bowl was fine. We liked the green beans with plum sauce but thought they would have benefited from a lighter tempura batter. With tip, our total was $63.09.

After lunch we got in the 30-minute stand-by line for Kali River Rapids. A 25-minute wait is usually my max, but it was HOT so we decided to tough it out and wait. We were off the ride in 30 minutes. I got pretty soaked but had no complaints because it was a nice way to cool off. The kids who shared our raft really enjoyed themselves too, so that was fun to see.

Our safari FP window had opened up so we headed over there. We got good looks at the hippos, alligators, giraffes, elephants, and ostriches but didn’t see the cheetahs and caught only the briefest glimpse of the male lion. Still, that’s always one of our favorite rides. After the safari, we walked the Pangani Forest Trail but saw very little fauna. The colobus monkeys were inside because it was too hot out. Same with the meerkats – funny, on our February trip they were inside because it was too cold. What divas! The gorillas were pretty much MIA too. We saw only one, and he was sound asleep with his back to us. At the meerkat exhibit we started talking to a pin-trading cast member. Hank and I were both wearing our lanyards and as we were comparing notes I noticed that I had lost one of my pins sometime that day. I was bummed! The missing pin was my 2006 Minnie Mouse Disneyland pin, and it fell off even though it was secured to my lanyard with one of the special – or maybe not so special as it turns out – locking pins. I’ve since found a replacement on Ebay at an only slightly inflated price so that’s good.

It was now around 2:45, and we were completely drained from the sun and all the walking we’d done. But for us no trip to a Disney park is complete without ice cream for Hank and popcorn for me. The popcorn was an easy find at the cart near Tamu Tamu Refreshments. The ice cream was a little more challenging. Hank wanted soft-serve so we headed to Camp Minnie Mickey. Hank placed his order and paid his bill but still didn’t end up with any ice cream. After what felt like an interminable wait in the hot sun, Hank was told that they were out of ice cream. So he got a refund and we headed over to try our luck at Dinobites in Dinoland. By this time I was starting to feel sick so I got horizontal on a bench while Hank got his ice cream. All I wanted was to lie down in a cold, dark room. On the way to the park exit, we stopped by Lost and Found just in the off chance that someone had turned in my pin. I wasn’t surprised that we came up empty. We were out of the park at 3:45 and back in our room at 4:00. Another stellar performance by the WDW bus system. I dare say a rental car and off-site location would have taken longer.

Our AKL room was ideal for napping. It was cool and pitch black with the drapes closed. It was also quiet. Surprisingly, we never saw or heard anyone other than Mousekeepers on our hallway during our entire stay. We woke up from our naps at 6 and showered, but I was still too zapped to go to a park and we had an ADR for dinner at Jiko. So we opted to just spend some time enjoying AKL. First we went out to the Arusha Rock Savanna Overlook where we visited with two cast members and were shown some pretty cool Hidden Mickeys by a young girl who was a fellow guest. We then strolled over for a leisurely 45 minutes at the Victoria Falls bar (blackberry mojito for me and a jack and Diet Coke for Hank). While there we caught the last 10 seconds of the Dallas Mavericks’ playoff loss to the Denver Nuggets. We aren’t fans so this didn’t negatively affect our evening.

It was 8:30 and time to check in for our 8:45 ADR at Jiko so while Hank paid our tab I went to the restaurant. They quickly showed me to our table, and Hank followed a few minutes later. We had a delightful meal – really good food and great service. Since it was so late we kept it reasonably light. I had the cauliflower soup, which thankfully tastes much better than it sounds. Hank had a salad, and we shared a really yummy flatbread. With drinks and tip our total came to $67.98.

After dinner we walked to Uzima Savanna so that we could see the animals using night vision binoculars. Night vision animal viewing is available every night from 8:30 to 11, and was pretty cool. We got a unique look at the giraffes as they were having a late-night snack. We were back in our room at 10:45 and sound asleep in no time.

Sunday, May 10, 2009 – Hollywood Studios

We had a noon ADR for the Hollywood Brown Derby so the Studios would be our park of choice this morning. We were out of bed at 6:47 and at the bus stop at 8:30. Once again we were departing with a full bottle of ice water and bananas for breakfast. We were at the park in time to catch the tail end of the opening ceremonies. There was a large crowd, of course, and I was sure that they all had the same idea that we did – heading straight for Toy Story Midway Mania. The actor conducting the opening ceremony jokingly admonished us repeatedly to walk, not run, once the park was open. After he gave the all clear, probably two thirds of the crowd headed for Mickey Avenue while the other third turned right at Sunset Boulevard. The procession to TSMM was orderly and we ended up in the long line for Fastpasses. While we were waiting, the stand-by line was getting longer too. The Fastpass line moved pretty quickly, however, and we were able to snag a return time of 10:40.

We then headed to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, which is one of Hank’s favorite rides. It was a walk on. I had wisely avoided having coffee that morning so my stomach felt okay despite the loop and corkscrew. We kept with tradition and hit Tower of Terror next. Another walk-on. We were feeling puckish and had some time to kill before our TSMM Fastpass window opened so we strolled over to Starring Rolls Café for a croissant and OJ for me and a cinnamon roll and chocolate milk for Hank ($10.29 total). We had to wait for a bit for a shaded table to open up. Not long after we sat down two women asked if they could share our table. We said sure and ended up enjoying a nice meal and chat with them. They were from Toronto and had worked at the Canada pavilion at Epcot 10 years before. They had returned for a Grand Gathering of former coworkers. They were staying at one of the All Stars and were pretty comical in their descriptions of that hotel and the much better experiences their friends were having over at the Beach Club. The Allstars were not winning any points with them.

We left our erstwhile dining companions and walked over to TSMM. Our Fastpass window hadn’t opened up, however, so we killed some time on the Studio Backlot Tour. That attraction is minimally adequate as a timekiller. We had not ridden it in several years and even then we had thought it was sorely in need of updating. The ride through the ghost town that used to be the costuming and scenery department was mildly depressing, and the AFI section had been replaced with costumes and props from Narnia. Don’t even get me started on Narnia. Suffice it to say that the charms of Prince Caspian and Narnia are completely lost on me. We lingered a bit in the shop and saw that the “Real men don’t need instructions” Binford Tool t-shirts are still available for sale. Hank and I were wearing our Binford shirts that day and a fellow guest at the turnstiles had told me she liked my shirt.

Our TSMM Fastpass window had opened. I absolutely love this ride. And I’m pretty good at racking up points even with a terrible shooting accuracy. Hank closed the gap pretty well, but I still beat him. Again. Okay, enough crowing since unbeknownst to me at that time Hank had a strategy for beating me later that evening.

Next we were off to lunch at the Hollywood Brown Derby, which is my favorite in-park restaurant at WDW. I’ve never had a bad meal there and the cool, quiet atmosphere is always a welcome respite from the madding crowd in the park. We were seated right away. I must have mentioned Hank’s birthday when I made the ADR because the hostess gave him birthday wishes and a birthday pin (to go along with the two he’d gotten when we checked in at AKL). As always, I ordered the coconut-crusted tofu noodle bowl. It was delicious. Hank had the baby spinach salad and corn chowder and also was pleased with his meal. The service was excellent and the hostess and our waitress made a nice fuss over Hank even though we fessed up that his birthday actually wasn’t until the next day. While we ate, the hostess came over to our table to take our picture. We told our waitress that we hadn’t saved room for dessert, but she soon returned with some chocolate mousse with a birthday candle. Okay, so we made room for it and it was delicious. Just as we were about to leave, the hostess returned to our table with a souvenir birthday card that featured the picture she’d taken earlier. It was a very nice gesture for a delightful lunch. With tip and drinks (ginger ale for me and an Amber Bock for Hank) our total came to $58.87.

Even though we had planned to depart the park after lunch, we couldn’t resist the 1:00 showing of the American Idol Experience. We walked into the theater about 5 minutes before show time. We’d seen this attraction during our February trip and had enjoyed it. This time was good too, though the audience didn’t seem to be particularly into it and the contestants were all pretty average. The contestants were a stay-at-home mom, a 14-year-old girl whose mother and stepfather also had one slots in the competition, and a 44-year-old banker named Tom. The judges included a heavy-set African-American guy purportedly named Randy, an obnoxious Brit purportedly named Simon, and a blond lady who wasn’t named Paula or Kara and didn’t look like any judge we’ve ever seen on Idol. I voted for the stay-at-home mom while Hank voted for Tom. As he put it, “us older gray-haired guys have to stick together.” Stay-at-home mom won. Anyway, the show was fun, and we vowed that someday we’ll make it to the evening finale.

We just missed an AKL bus when we got to the bus stop at 1:40, but another appeared just moments later. We hopped off at the Kidani Village stop with plans to check out the DVC resort and do some intelligence gathering for one of my coworkers who is considering staying there in the fall. We liked the pool but weren’t super impressed with the property. The lobby is a much smaller, less impressive version of AKL’s lobby and the savanna/firepit area out back was really undersized. We took the 10-minute walk back to AKL, baking in the hot heat the whole way. Back at the AKL we saw that our room had not yet been serviced so we quickly changed into our bathing suits and headed to the pool. We hung out at the pool for about an hour before heading back to our clean room.
After another quality nap, we showered and caught the bus back to Hollywood Studios at 7:15 for drinks at Hank’s favorite watering hole, the Tune In Lounge. We were pleased to see that Alena, the very pleasant bartender who had served us in February, was behind the counter. I enjoyed two Long Island Iced Teas while Hank had Jack and Diet Coke. The place was pretty packed and since we had no dinner ADRs we ordered our food at the bar (Caesar’s salad for me and a Caesar with chicken for Hank). As is our tradition at the Tune In Lounge, we watched American Idol videos (we are big fans) on Hank’s IPhone while we hung out and soaked up the atmosphere. A mom and daughter sitting next to us asked what we were watching. Turns out they hadn’t been watching AI regularly but were very familiar with the various contestants so we enjoyed a spirited conversation with them. Before departing the Tune In we got our pictures taken with Alena, who probably thinks we are freaks and might be a little afraid that we’re stalking her. I swear we’re not! We just like traditions! And the Tune In Lounge!

Next we were off to TSMM, which had a posted 30-minute stand by wait. We went for it. Hank was implementing his TSMM victory plan: Long Island Iced Teas before riding. It worked; he won handily.

Hank hadn’t yet ridden a boat – something that is a key ingredient for any WDW trip for him – or eaten ice cream that day so at 10:15 we climbed aboard the boat that was heading to the Boardwalk, Yacht Club, etc., with plans to share a sundae at Beaches & Cream. We disembarked at the Swan and Dolphin and walked over to Beaches and Cream. We had called WDW Dining to confirm that B&C was open until 11. We made it in plenty of time and were waited on by a very friendly cast member who we remembered from previous visits. We ordered a No Way Jose sundae and just about inhaled it. It was absolutely divine ($10 with tip). We left the restaurant a little before 11 with our best transportation option being a taxi ride back to AKL. At $15 including tip, we felt like it was money well spent but then we didn’t really have much of a choice. We were back in our room around 11:20, set our alarm clock for 7 so we’d be in plenty of time for our Segway tour the next morning, and fell into blissful slumber just moments after turning out the lights.

Monday, May 11, 2009 – Epcot and Hank’s Birthday

I woke up before the alarm went off. Hank was still snoozing but I did enough tossing and turning that he was soon awake too. Our Segway tour was set to start at 9 so we were on the bus by 8:15. Once at Epcot we got through the bag check quickly and got in line at the Will Call window to pick up Hank’s Birthday Fun Card and an “I’m Celebrating” for me to go along with Hank’s birthday button.

I then realized that I really had no idea where we were supposed to go to join our tour. We trooped over to an area that said “Tour Groups” but soon learned that the people gathered there hadn’t signed up for the Segway Tour. Next we went to the Guest Relations office outside the park entrance and were told to go to the turnstile for Cast Members. We hoofed it over there and, sure enough, our name was on a list and we were granted early admission with instructions to go to the Guest Relations office near Innoventions and sign in for the tour. There were four other people on our tour – one other couple and two guys, one of whom had been given the tour by his kids as a birthday present – and our guides were Brandon and Ann. Right around 9:00 they showed us into the Segway training area where we saw a very brief film on the Segway handling, picked out our helmets, and received some initial classroom instruction on how to operate the Segway. Next we went into a different area where we picked out our Segways and learned how to get on and off them and how to get them to move forward, stop, and turn. It was extremely easy to get the hang of it. The Segway is so responsive that it feels very intuitive. If you want to stop, just lean back a little and you’ll slow down and glide to a nice pause. We ran an obstacle course for a little bit – going up and down a hill and around cones – and then it was time to go out into the park. FutureWorld had opened by this time so we worked our way through the guests before making our way to World Showcase, which had not yet opened. We spent the next hour doing various “challenges” in China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Morocco, and France and learning bits of trivia in each country. Then we headed back to Innoventions to return our Segways and get our tour pins. All in all the tour lasted about two hours. It was pricy – about $180 for both of us with an AP discount, if I recall correctly -- but we had a great time and it made Hank’s birthday that much more fun and special.

After saying our goodbyes to Ann and Brandon we stopped at a kiosk for popcorn and beer. Then we were off to Restaurant Marrakesh for lunch. We liked the cool, quiet setting of the restaurant, but the food was not a success. I got the veggie couscous (the veggies were big hunks of squash, zucchini, carrots, and pumpkin), which was almost completely devoid of flavor. Hank got the chicken couscous, which was a little better but not much. So we were disappointed with our meal, but we didn’t let it dampen our spirits. After lunch we stopped at the Boulangerie Patisserie in France to get a Caffeine Free Diet Coke, a rare find in WDW. Then we headed to Mouse Gears since Hank’s Birthday Fun Card was burning a hole in his pocket. On our way to Mouse Gears we stopped briefly at Minnie’s Butterfly Exhibit. This was our first taste of the Flower and Garden Festival, other than the topiaries, and it was mildly interesting. A cast member near the exhibit told us that we could see the space shuttle go by shortly after its launch. We hung around for a bit along with a lot of other people looking up into an empty sky before giving up and going on to Mouse Gears. Hank was looking for a collared WDW or Mickey shirt but didn’t see anything that really struck his fancy so he left with $75 remaining on his Birthday Fun Card.

Next we took copious pictures of the many great topiaries before boarding the bus for a return trip to AKL at about 2:30. It was HOT again today and we were ready for our afternoon recuperative nap before our 6:10 ADR for dinner at California Grill. Upon returning to our room Hank was surprised to see that a gift basket had been delivered in his absence. The basket was wrapped in cellophane and had 15 Mickey chocolate bars standing on end on top of a red Valentine cutout. A Mickey plush was sitting in the center on a pile of confetti and really put a smile on Hank’s face. We had a nice nap before showering and putting on some non-park attire for our special birthday dinner. We briefly considered taking a bus to MK and walking to the Contemporary but then nixed that idea in favor of a taxi direct to the hotel. Our taxi tab was $23 with tip. We went upstairs to the restaurant check-in, arriving at 5:30. We then were escorted to the elevator and up to the restaurant. We relaxed for about 30 minutes at a table for two in the lounge area overlooking Seven Seas Lagoon. We also had views of the Grand Floridian, Polynesian, the Transportation and Ticket Center and Magic Kingdom. Our pager went off and Hank paid our bar tab. We were seated at a nice table by the window though the view was marred somewhat by the roof and HVAC equipment of part of the hotel. So we instead sat with our backs to the window and enjoyed the view of the restaurant and all of its activity.

We shared a goat cheese ravioli that was so good (and small) that we wished we’d order one for each of us. For entrees I had the potato-wrapped stuffed artichoke heart and Hank had pork tenderloin. The entrees were absolutely delicious. Our best meal of the trip by far. And as a birthday surprise, Hank was presented with a piece of triple-layer chocolate cake and candle. He ate almost all of the cake and pronounced it yummie. After our wonderful meal (total with tip and a couple of drinks was $117.65) and wonderful service we took the monorail to Epcot where we browsed in the store at the entrance to World Showcase. We found a few goodies but Hank still was not ready to commit to a birthday purchase. As he put it, he was still looking for the perfect item he couldn’t live without. Not too much pressure for Disney and the Birthday Fun Card. We then looked for a place to watch Illuminations. Hank found a superb viewing location not far from the shop we’d just exited. We love Illuminations, and this show was no exception. After the show and a five-minute wait we caught the second bus and were back at AKL at 9:50.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 – Magic Kingdom, Departure Day

We both woke up at 6:30 but were just not ready to get up. We went back to sleep and didn’t end up getting out of bed until 8:00. We started packing and Hank was struggling to get his gift basket into his suitcase in one piece. We soon realized that we would have to take it apart. I did so, and that’s when I saw that the center of the gift basket (under the Mickey and the confetti) was full of Ghiradelli chocolate squares, Chip N Dale pretzels, gummy bears, and jelly beans. We had been pretty pleased with the gift basket when it was just Mickey bars so this was a really nice surprise. We finished packing and dropped our bags at Bell Services and took some pictures of the pool area before heading to the bus stop. We were at the MK bus stop at 9:30 and arrived at MK at 9:48.

We walked down Main Street, buying some popcorn on the way, with the idea that I would get Fastpasses for Peter Pan’s Flight while Hank checked out the merchandise in Sir Mickey’s. He again came up empty. We briefly stood in the 30-minute stand-by line at Peter Pan’s Flight before realizing that was stupid since we had Fastpassess. Duh. Actually, Hank didn’t realize that I had gotten the Fastpasses. Anyway, we decided to ride It’s a Small World since the posted wait was only 10 minutes and we knew we could count on the ride to deliver copious amounts of air conditioning. The ride was it was. The couple in front of us overheard us debating a ride on Splash Mountain and warned us that they had been stranded on the ride and that it had since closed but we went ahead and checked it out since we had some time to kill before our Peter Pan’s Flight window opened. We walked on the wooden path along the water from Liberty Square through Frontierland all the way to Splash Mountain and sure enough it was closed. We consoled ourselves with a fun ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Then it was back to Peter Pan, which is such a sweet ride and never disappoints. We knew we were running out of time since we had a Magical Express pick-up time at 1:35 so we grabbed a veggie burger and fries at Cosmic Rays before walking to the Emporium. Hank found a great Mickey tropical shirt. With tax it was $50 so he still has $25 to spend when we go back for my birthday in September.

The day would not be complete without ice cream so we stopped at the Plaza Ice Cream and this time had single scoops – mint chocolate chip for Hank and cookies and cream for me. We sat at one of the little yellow and white tables outside enjoying our surroundings and some of the entertainment that was playing on Main Street. Then we moped our way to the park exit. We waited 5 minutes, and maybe less, for a 12:35 bus back to AKL. Once at the lodge we retrieved our luggage from Bell Services and waited for our Magical Express bus. The bus was about 10 minutes late. We stopped at Pop Century and then were on our way to MCO. Another wonderful WDW trip was in the books.

Thanks to Magical Express’s 3-hour pick-up time, we were able to get on an earlier flight to DFW. The flight home was rather unpleasant. The passenger sitting next to me drank 4 bottles of wine (airplane minibottles, but still) and got quite intoxicated. Despite my obvious use of headphones, he kept talking to me and even spilled red wine on my khaki shorts. We made it home, though, and received warm greetings from our dog and two cats.

Final Thoughts

We did not do justice to the Flower & Garden Festival. We didn’t make it to Epcot until our last full day at WDW so we missed the concerts and really didn’t have time to attend any of the lectures or other special events. At least for me, that was probably the only disappointment of the trip.

The Celebrate Today event was a big hit with us. Hank got many, many birthday wishes throughout the day and received special treatment at California Grill and Hollywood Brown Derby, which, perhaps not coincidentally, were the sites of our two best meals. Both places really know how to do it right.

We have taken most of our WDW trips in December so the May heat required a big adjustment. Regular drinks from our water bottle and the afternoon breaks were critical to our well-being. We did enjoy the opportunity to use our resort pool. In fact, everything about AKL was wonderful. We had great service there and everywhere. We are literally counting the days until our 5 nights at the Beach Club in September. After a dozen trips to WDW, I have to say we enjoy it as much now as we did the first time.

[adkinsfamily]

Carolyn - Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip report!! I really enjoyed all of the detail!!

[arnoldvb]

Likewise, Carolyn, I enjoyed reading your trip report. Thanks for sharing. I was especially intrigued by that iphone app with the WDW menus. I didn't know that something like that existed, other than on conventional sites like mouseplanet and allearsnet.

Arnold

[RyansMom]

I really enjoyed reading your trip report! Thanks for posting it! We were just in WDW from May 9th-13th and yes it was HOT!!! You mentioned that you usually visit in December. How would you say the crowds from this trip compare to the crowds when you have visited in December?

[texag87]

Thanks Adkinsfamily, Arnold, and Ryansmom for your kind words.

Arnold, the app cost 99 cents. There actually aren't that many WDW apps, but hopefully more will follow. I enjoyed your recent trip report and envied your long stay at WDW.

Ryan's Mom, our December trips are always over by the time the Christmas rush starts. I would say that the crowds we experienced in early May were pretty similar to the early December level.

[EJ4Disney]

Wonderful!! Thanks for sharing.

I want an IPhone really bad. I am with another provider, and don't know if I can change yet. But with the app for Disney and it only being .99 that might be in the cards. Oh how I want one!!

Thanks again.
Ellen

[tdelaney_98]

What a great way to celebrate Hank's birthday! Thanks for an awesome trip report!

[Teenkerbell]

Thanks for posting!

It looks like Hank had a fabulous birthday trip, and I can't wait to read about yours in September!