Our weekend at AKL and baby’s first Disney trip! 1/22-1/24

[RN_Mama_inFL]

Hi everybody! Long time lurker here writing my first official trip report! I’ve learned so much from reading other peoples trip reports and it was such a great way to get excited before our trip so I thought I’d repay the favor.
A little background: I’m a born and raised Floridian, Mom to two little ones (4.5 year old daughter and 9 month old son), and an RN. Working as a nurse the last 2 years has been a wild ride to say the least so I treated our family to Annual Passes for the first time ever (at least that’s how I justified it haha)

Here’s an oldie from our DD’s first trip in 2019:


Growing up 2 hours away, I’ve had my fair share of Disney time both as a kid and an adult and now I’m enjoying it in a whole new way as a parent! There is nothing like seeing the way my daughters face lights up at Disney. Our last trip was actually the day of reopening in 2020. It was a complete coincidence that we had a trip already booked to celebrate my DD’s 3rd birthday for the day the parks were reopening after the closure. That was a very different exeperience than this one, it was so empty in the parks and there was still a lot not open yet so it was interesting to compare to now. Photo proof of park emptiness July 2020:



I had been considering getting Annual Passes for a while now ever since my daughter turned 3 and was no longer free. I ended up pulling the trigger on that decision right before they paused AP sales again. Shortly after that I started looking into when our first trip would be and found good prices for this weekend in January. Originally we were going to stay at Port Orleans Riverside and then they announced some AP discounts and for the same price we could stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge, so I jumped at that!!!

This is just a quick 2 day weekend trip (as most of our trips are) and our son’s very first trip to Disney so here we go!

 

[k5xs]

Thank you for your work as an RN, especially during this awful pandemic.

Enjoy your (beautiful) daughter and make lots of Disney memories for her. And teach her all about Bob Chapek, lol. (JK)

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

Day 1- We decided to do Animal Kingdom for arrival day since I didn’t think we would spend all day there and it was nice and close to AKL. We left just before 7 so that I could book our first LL in the car. We went straight to the park and got there about 9:00….to some MUCH cooler temps and some rain which made it even colder. We all bundled up and headed to GS to activate our passes!!

After entering the park, we headed straight to Island Mercantile to buy some cold weather gear! A beanie and gloves for my daughter.
Then of course we stopped for some photos in front of the Tree of Life. Our first LL was for Navi River Journey. We had a little time to kill so we stopped in for some breakfast snacks at Pongu Pongu. The breakfast biscuit sandwich was really good and my DD LOVED the French toast sticks. (See evidence)


After our snack, it was time to ride Navi!

I don’t think DD remembers this ride and doesn’t really know the movie but she does like the fun lights and when her clothes glow in the dark. I think the wait at this point was already 60 minutes so we definitely saved a lot of time with LL. After Navi we headed toward Africa. It was time to feed our DS so I utilized the Baby Care Center and DH and DD went exploring. They told me they ended up seeing Mickey pass by on his boat so that was perfect. The Baby care center was really nice, I had a quiet private room to nurse and change his diaper. Really nice touch.

While I was feeding DH booked our next LL for Kilimanjaro Safari for a pretty close time so we headed that way. On safari We saw all kinds of animals and my DD loved it. Baby Rhino was super cute. DS actually fell asleep in the carrier during our ride lol

It was close to lunch time now so I had placed a Mobile order for Flame Tree Barbecue. I really like Mobile order, it saves a lot of time waiting to order and helps the seating issue. We got the Chicken and Rib combo meal and the Pulled Pork Sandwich. Both were really good and hit the spot. We even caught a few glimpses of Kite Tails from where we were sitting eating lunch. It’s on the list to see the whole show during our next trip.

After lunch the rain was really picking up again. Originally I had wanted to head into Asia and do the jungle trek but it was raining too much so we decided just to call it a day and head to the hotel.
By the time we got to the hotel it was 1:00 pm. And our room wasn’t quite ready so we explored a little bit looking for animals out the windows. The resort is so beautiful! This was our first time staying here. That lobby is amazing. Now I really want to see it at Christmas time because I hear it’s stunning.

***Quick background: I had used the chat feature on the MDE app to place a room request about a week prior to our stay. I really was hoping for a partial Savannah view even thougH we booked a Standard room. I requested the Kudu trail on an upper floor. ***

We got the text message that our room was ready and it looked like I got my request! We were on Kudu Trail on 4th floor. It was really perfect and we saw a lot of animals out our balcony!



After getting settled into our room and (trying but failing miserably to get DS to nap) we got freshened up and headed back to AK for our dinner reservation… Tusker House!!

Back at the park, we had a little time to kill so decided to walk through Dinoland. DD wanted to play one of the carnival games so her and I played the skee ball game and I won her a little Minnie stuffy.
It was then time for dinner! We wanted to surprise DD that the characters would be there so she didn’t find out until we got there. She loved it! They each came around dancing and posing for pictures at all the tables. We thought the food was pretty good, not amazing but that’s obviously not our main reason for going there. But it was still really yummy and a ton of food. I’m not very good at taking pictures of the food before we eat it so you won’t be seeing any food pictures in this report, sorry! I will say though, DH and I both got the African Margarita and it was SO good!! Perfectly sweet/sour and definitely strong. I couldn’t finish it! The desserts were all kind of blah though. They looked nice but all tasted oddly bland.


After dinner we headed back to the hotel, we were whooped! DD actually fell asleep before we even got to the car. That’s it for day one!! Tomorrow is Magic Kingdom day!!

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

Ok a little info first and Genie+ frustration. I had *planned* on purchasing Genie+ well before 7am. We are always up early with the baby so I figured no big deal I’ll buy it at like 6:45 and then get the LL at 7. Well, we had an awful night of not much sleep at all. DS did NOT want to sleep in the pack n play so we were up most of the night. So of course I ended up sleeping through 6:45 and suddenly woke up right at 6:58 to try and quickly purchase Genie+. I was doing fine until when I got to the confirm party page, it would not let me select DH and DD, only me. I still don’t know what happened but I finally just said I’ll just buy it for myself first and go back. Well by the time I got it for all of us, it was 7:02 and the LL for Peter Pan was already out into the afternoon. I didn’t think we would be in the park that long so I ended up booking Buzz instead. I was really disappointed because Peter Pan is one of our favorites and I know it always goes fast and has long waits. So we never got to do it this trip. I have to keep reminding myself that we will be back more so not to worry about things we don’t get to do this time!

ANYWAY…if you’re still with me, it’s time for Magic Kingdom! After parking and getting from the TTC to the park via Ferry boat, we finally made our way into the gates about 9am. We totally missed Early Entry, but oh well! As soon as got in we saw the wait for Mickey was only 5 minutes so that was our first stop. It was fine but I do miss the kiddos being able to get to hug and interact more. I have such awesome memories from our first visit with DD and her interaction with Mickey and Minnie (see below) Can’t wait for that to go back to normal.


Fast forward to now she’s 4.5!

After Mickey we got some obligatory castle pictures and then went to Tomorrowland for our Buzz LL.
After Buzz, we did a couple stand by rides (Dumbo, Little Mermaid) and got another LL for Winnie the Pooh.

I utilized the Baby Care Center in MK as well, such a nice option to get a break and let baby eat, change his diaper, etc. comfortably. Highly recommend using this if you’re coming with an infant.


The rest of the afternoon included snacks, a ride on the carousel, meeting Cinderella for DD, stroller nap for DS, Phillarmagic, Monsters inc Laugh Floor and lunch at Pecos Bill’s. The line for Cinderella was posted as a 15 minute wait and I think it took more like 20. Right after this trip they added the princess meet and greets to Genie+ so we will definitely utilize that in the future.
Then it was time for Magic carpets LL for DD and a dole whip treat for me! Yes I ate ice cream in 40 degree weather and it was delicious! I got the Tropical Serenade, which was coconut soft serve with POG juice and a pineapple upside down cake pop! I cannot attest to the taste of the cake pop bc my daughter took it lol but the rest was perfect!

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

We stopped in to the Christmas shoppe to look for an ornament (we buy an ornament on every family vacation) but I really didn’t see anything that caught my eye there. We ended up finding one at the shop in AKL. A perfect little Mickey in his safari gear to commemorate our stay at AKL.

We caught the Royal Princess Processional on the way out by chance. I love running into the parades on accident, it’s so exciting! My daughter loved waving to all the princesses.

By this time it was about 3 pm so we decided to call it a day. Now looking bacj I realize we stayed longer than I thought and could have used an afternoon LL for PP but oh well.

DH took the kids to the Confectionary for some treats and I stopped in to the Emporium to look for a shirt for myself. That place was a zoo! I was very thankful to use the mobile check out so I could get in and out quickly. Loved mobile check out!

That concludes our day at Magic Kingdom! All in all we had a blast and got a lot done. I would have felt like Genie+ was a lot more worth it if we had gotten to do Peter Pan, but maybe next time! We probably won’t ever get Genie+ at Animal Kingdom again, it just didn’t seem worth it for 2 rides.

After going back to the room to freshen up and relax a little, it was time for our dinner ADR at Sanaa. I had read a lot of great reviews about the restaurant so was excited to try it out. I had the Watermelon Margarita which was pretty good but I actually preferred the one from Tusker house more. My DH got the pina colava (you can kinda see it in the background).


We did try the bread service and while definitely a unique experience, it wasn’t really for us. Too many of the breads and sauces were too spicy for us. Unfortunately by the time our entrees came out the kids were just over it and we had to box up the rest of our meals and bring back to the room.

 

[RN_Mama_inFL]

The next day we were checking out and we had a breakfast ADR at Boma. This was a really great breakfast buffet. Albeit quite crowded at times, the food was really good. I especially liked the scrambled eggs with goat cheese and the bread pudding with praline sauce. I would definitely eat here again if we were staying here or going to AK.

After breakfast we checked out and hit the road home!
Hope some of this is helpful for others. We had a great time and learned a few things haha. Looking forward to our next visit which is only about 3 weeks away! I’m running the Disney Princess Half Marathon on February 27th. We won’t do much park time because of the race but still can’t wait!