Wednesday Resort Day: Part II
Welcome back, friends! I'm so grateful people took time to read about our Disney trip!
Tonight I hope to finish up our Wednesday Resort Day. It wasn't a busy day, so there isn't as much to talk about. But still a great day!
After Cape May Cafe, we drove back to our resort. I was sending texts back and forth with my mom, because they were en route to Disney from Minnesota at that very moment! They had left Tuesday afternoon and hoped to be to the resort around dinner time. They were going to stay at CBR too, just for one night and hit Magic Kingdom with us the following day. I was super excited!
When we arrived back at CBR, it was freezing. I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, and there was no way in hell I wanted to go swimming (which had been our plan for the day!). It was late morning and the kids were tired. We decided to let them watch some TV and veg out for a little while. While they were occupied, I walked over to the resort's souvenir shop and shopped sans children, which was wonderful! I didn't even buy anything but it was fun to look around and spend some time by myself.
By the time I got back, the kids had decided they wanted to go swimming. Ummmm it's 63 degrees, you crazy crazy children. But if they wanted to do it, more power to them!
Here's some sad news: We are checking out of CBR tomorrow morning!!!!!
4 nights was just not enough for me!
Since we were planning to be at MK before 7 am again Thursday morning, we had to be packed up and ready to check out before then. So I stayed in the room to pack up while the baby took a nap, and my husband and the older 3 went to the pool.
I'm soooo glad they went! They stayed for a really long time and had a BLAST! Here's some pictures my husband took.
My 7YO on the water slide
And my daughter
And my 4YO trying to get used to the temp of the hot tub
I made lots of progress packing while the kids were gone, but it was just sad. I wish I could whine like my kids "I DON'T WANNA LEEEEAVE!!! YOU CAN'T MAKE MEEEEE!"
When the baby woke up and the big kids returned, we did some baths and showers and got ready for dinner. We had a 4:55 pm reservation for Boma at AKL. I'd never been to AKL before so we wanted to go a little early and explore, maybe see some animals.
We got to AKL at around 4 or 4:15. At that point I had gotten a text from my mom that she and my dad were going to be staying in the room right next door to ours at CBR! Yay!!! They were going to be arriving around 5 pm but they weren't going to meet us for dinner because they wanted to check-in, explore the resort and shower.
So the AKL lobby was amazing!!! I was all set to take a bunch of pictures of the lobby because it was so beautiful, but almost immediately when we walked in one of the cast members came over and greeted us, so I got distracted. We explained we had a reservation at Boma but wanted to see the animals, so she said she would take us out to see them!
On the way, she stopped to see if we could find a hidden Mickey. Omg, I am apparently TERRIBLE at this! Both my husband and I could NOT find it until she told us pretty much the exact location, lol. Even then he couldn't find it, so I took a picture so I could point it out to him, lol. Can you see it?
We stopped and found another hidden Mickey and then we got to see some zebras!
We hung out a little bit, saw some giraffes.
When we made it back to the lodge, the CM asked if we more time before our reservation, and we did. She asked if we wanted to be part of a drum circle. Ummmm yes!
So we went to this little room where a man was teaching everyone how to play drums, and doing some drumming activities.
I wish I had gotten my phone out quicker to get a picture of my 4YO's face banging away on this drum. He was smiling sooooo big! After he saw me take a picture he got all serious, lol.
After they were done, they each got a little necklace strung with a drum bead. What an amazing souvenir!
Both my husband and I left thinking man, we really need to save up enough money to stay at AKL! Such a cool experience! My husband has said it was actually his favorite memory of Disney.
It was time for our dinner reservation! We were seated at our table, and started getting plates for the kids made. The kids mainly stuck with chicken strips and mac and cheese, but my husband and I tried more of the African food. Some of it was amazing, some of it was a new flavor I wasn't crazy about, but I was happy to get to try so many new things.
We all made several trips back and then had dessert. My silly 7YO came back with 3 cupcakes, and I asked him why he chose that dessert and he said he got 3 so that it made Mickey ears.
The kid is going to be seeing hidden Mickeys everywhere he looks now, lol.
So we finished up and left Boma, and headed back to CBR! The kids were so thrilled to see their grandparents so we went straight to their room. You'd think it had been months since they last saw them, and not just days lol. A very happy reunion! My parents had gone over to Old Porte Royale for dinner and said it was really good. They got their magic bands, because their trip had been a last minute thing, and were ready for tomorrow. We talked over our morning plans of being at the bus stop by 6 am.
My 4YO begged my mom to please let him spend the night in her room. She said yes, which maybe wasn't the best decision because then the other kids got upset. But I'm glad he got some time with them and he doesn't get as much special time with them.
So we wrapped up the last of our packing and hauled a bunch of suitcases out to the car. We planned to stay parked at CBR and still use the bus so we didn't have to worry about parking. We packed up some lunches because some of our group planned to have a picnic on Tom Sawyer island for lunch the next day.
And, very sadly, we ended our last night in our resort. Even writing this, I am so "homesick" (if that's the right word!) for our resort! I wish we could go back right now! But clearly I enjoyed the experience if I feel this way, so it's a good thing too.
Join me next time as I start in on our very last Disney day at Magic Kingdom. There will be smiles, there will be tears, and there will be princesses.