I am up way too early. My internal alarm clock seems permanently set on 6 something in the morning, and I don’t know how to break the habit! I may have to find out during Christmas break!
I get up, and quietly start to pack our stuff. At some point, Jim wakes up, and he starts getting himself ready. When the girls get up, so as not to disturb anyone, I give them cereal and juice, and then I start to get them ready to go. At that point, Dot and Russ wake up, and the kids decide they need “second breakfast” – a hot and delicious eggs and bacon, which certainly makes them forget the cereal they have already eaten.
We take our time, load up the car, and we all head to CiCi’s Pizza for lunch. When lunch is over, we head to our hotel – Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. This is our first trip “home” as Animal Kingdom DVC owners. We checked in and found our room was not ready, so we headed over to do the grocery shopping. The thing I like best about the villas at DVC is the kitchen and laundry facilities in your room. It’s a great money saver to have the ability to make some meals – especially breakfast – and to keep snacks and drinks handy. And going home with all clean clothes is AWESOME! We hit Walmart and do our shopping, picking up more than we need of everything (come on, who doesn’t do that at Walmart?). By then, we can check into our villa.
I had booked a 2 bedroom, working on the assumption that my mom would be coming with us. She doesn’t feel up to it, and we have a ton of room. The thing is, this is a lock off – meaning it’s really a 1 bedroom and a studio that are opened up at the connecting door to make it a 2 bedroom. I feel a little cheated here, because I have tried to change our reservation to a 1 bedroom several times, only to be told they are not available. They could have made another family happy by closing this unit off.
This is, as I said, our first trip to AKL villas, and they are GORGEOUS! The counter tops are all granite, and the color scheme is very earthy. The CM who brought up our luggage tells us that AKL is now the largest African museum in America, and every piece in the unit is authentic – from the carved wood headboard and armoire to the art work. I love how they incorporated things from The Lion King – my all time favorite Disney movie. The room is just beautiful.
We have a nice dinner – Granuaile’s favorite – hot dogs. And then we sit on the balcony and watch the animals. We also have a great view of the Magic Kingdom fireworks, and we watch them each night that we are in the room. We headed to the gift shop and rented a couple of movies, and Granuaile falls asleep early. We’re visiting SeaWorld tomorrow, so we’re trying to be well rested. The rest of us head to bed about 11 with no plan to rush getting up in the morning. They’re saying the weather will be beautiful all week. I can’t wait!