Merrie May Travels - Part 5

[faline]

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Who: Gene & Me

Plan for the Day:

Disney Studios
Lunch at Tune In Lounge
Dinner at Il Mulino New York Trattoria

When I left off, I was about to set a wake up call for this morning. I hit the button on the phone expecting an automated system but got a real person. I gave her my room number and the time I wanted the call. She responded “I’m confused. Oh, I see why…” “You’re all set” Somehow the cynic in me doubted I would get a wake-up call this morning!

Sadly, I was right. Fortunately, I woke up about 10-15 minutes before the wake-up call was supposed to occur. I’m quite thankful for that internal time system that seems to work quite well!

We shower, dress, and, like yesterday, have coffee and breakfast in our room. While getting ready to leave, Gene comments that the Red Sox are playing at 7 tonight and I respond that we’ll be at dinner at 7.

We manage to get out to the bus stop around 8:30 in the morning. Once again, we see busses for every park except the one we are heading to. Suddenly, there’s a bus jam once again. The Animal Kingdom stop is, once again, chock-a-block full including two folks waiting to board in scooters. The first Animal Kingdom bus loads the scooters. Folks are then squishing themselves on board a standing room only bus when, right behind that bus, is another Animal Kingdom bus! In fact, the bus to our destination (Disney Studios) cannot pull up to the stop because it is waiting for the second Animal Kingdom bus to pull forward to allow it access to our stop. Finally, we board the Disney Studios bus and head off to Blizzard Beach. It is now shortly before 9 in the morning. Blizzard Beach will open at 10 a.m. so, surprise!, no-one wants to get off at this stop more than a full hour before the park opens. Seems a bit like a waste of time to me! We then head to Disney Studios and arrive shortly after the 9 a.m. park opening.

Gene doesn’t have a bag so walks through the quick security line. I, clearly, select the wrong line and shuffle my way through more slowly than I had hoped. Finally in the park, we head over to Toy Story Mania. The fast pass line is way back to there……We head into the standby line which is listed as 30 minutes but I suspect we actually spent about 20 minutes in line. We have decent, though not excellent, scores. Gene comes out about 20,000 points ahead but I have better accuracy than he does.

We head over to Muppet Vision and check out the key under the mat before we enter the theater. The pre-show has started but we have not missed much. Still enjoy this show lots!

We want to go to the Tune In Lounge for lunch but they won’t open for another ½ hour. I don’t want to enter another attraction as, in my experience, the bar fills up quickly with folks waiting to be seated in Prime Time Café so….we wander through a few shops and have our pics taken with a couple of very popular and pleasant “monsters”!

So…we enter Prime Time Café at opening and find the lounge empty. We take seats at the bar and say we want to eat lunch. We order a turkey sandwich to share and an order of onion rings. More than filling! Hmmm…the traffic into Prime Time is steady but certainly not as busy as we’ve seen it at other times.

After lunch, it is too early for the Indy Jones show so we had to the Studio Backlot Tour. By time we get through that, though, we’ve missed the start of the Indy show. It’s not that long to the Lights, Motors, Action show so we head there. By time that ends, we’ve once again missed the next Indy show so, instead, take in One Man’s Dream. When we exit there, it is heading towards 3 o’clock and we decide to head out of the park.

Along the way, we’ve had our pictures taken with several photopass photographers.

When we exit the park, we arrive at our bus stop and wait 10-15 minutes for a bus. Our bus is certainly not full. We stop at Blizzard Beach and pick up a few folks there and then return to Animal Kingdom. The folks we picked up at Blizzard Beach are staying at Old Key West and are heading to Animal Kingdom to ride Expedition:Everest. They are asking how to get there but then reveal that the driver said she is heading there next. Sure enough, at Jambo House, she pulls into the slot for Animal Kingdom so we tell them they should stay on board and they’ll arrive there in five minutes or so.

About the time we were getting ready to head home, I was wondering if I really wanted to go out to dinner tonight. We opted for a relaxed evening at home so I cancelled our dinner reservation. We headed out to the pool and spent an hour of two there. Before heading back to the room, we checked out the menu at Mara but decided we’d probably order from room service.

Back to the room, we changed. We sat on the balcony, enjoying “our” animals while also indulging in some cheese and crackers. For dinner, we decided on steaks along with chocolate and white mousse desserts. We were told ½ hour and it was almost exactly that before dinner was delivered. It was yummy! And it was so nice to actually have a table at which to eat!

In the meantime, Gene was able to find the Sox game on tv so he is happy watching that. It’s about a quarter to nine now and I intend to head back out to see the Epcot fireworks. I don’t think Gene will last much longer – he appears to be sleeping on the couch now!

Okay – our room. We have a one-bedroom vacation club unit on the 5th floor of Jambo house. I like it but, of the 2 DVC stays I’ve had, I would have to give the top points to Bay Lake Tower. Our room enters directly from the hall into the kitchen area. We have a full sized refrigerator (black, not stainless and we do NOT have an ice maker here). We do have ice cube trays but both are cracked and leak. We have a double toaster, a coffee make, a black glass topped oven/range (which has seen better days) with a microwave above. There’s a dishwasher to the left of the sink and marble countertops. The sink is under counter but the faucet is installed in a way that would not permit tall pots to fit underneath. The tile blacksplash has some tiles that represent the Lion King including a Simba tile. As you enter the front door, there is a closet to the right. Inside that is a pack n play, high chair and the safe. I was quite disappointed to find that the safe here is one of the smaller ones and is certainly not adequate for our needs. There is an island in the kitchen, sort of. It is not permanently attached in place but can be slid from location to location – odd.

Beyond the closet on the right is a door which, I believe, would allow this unit to connect to at studio next door. Beyond that, is our dining/living area. The table has a bench on one side and two chairs on the opposite. The table is shaped like a half moon with the flat side facing the bench. The living area has a pull out couch with ample coffee table and two end tables. There is also a pull out chair and another end table which has been pushed over to the couch side of the room because, otherwise, you would not be able to exit the room to the balcony. Next to the dinette is a piece of furniture that contains the television and several drawers. The television does not slide or swivel so one cannot watch it from the dinette – one needs to be seated at the couch to really watch it.

Just as the kitchen counter ends and just before the first end table in the living area is a short hallway to the left. At the end of that hallway is a washer and dryer hidden behind folding doors. Whenever the washer/dryer are run, they are quite noisy as the doors that are available here do not help muffle them. Still, it is quite nice to have this convenience! To the left of the washer/dryer is the bathroom. It is very nice in that it contains a double sink with shelves to the left of that. There is a separate room with a toilet which is rather barren and strange. There is not a picture on the wall – just a closed in room that feels quite like a dungeon! Across from the sinks is a large Jacuzzi tub. [Intermission – I just spent the last 10 minutes or so on the balcony watching the Epcot fireworks. From here, the ones I can see seem to be shooting off in front of – or to the right of – Expedition:Everest.] Back to the room – the jetted tub is quite nice and very impressive looking. However, due to space constraints within this makeover, they had no room for a tub and a shower so they simply put a shower head over the tub. This seems okay until you try to step into or out of the “shower”. Think of stepping over a wall that’s 2-1/2 – 3 feet high to access a shower! Now, Gene & I aren’t in horrible shape but we’re not spring chickens either! This set-up appears to be an accident waiting to happen. Additionally, at least in our unit, there aren’t any aids to help getting into or out of the tub – such as bars. To get out of the shower in the morning, I’ve taken to wrapping myself in a towel, sitting on the side of the tub, and swiveling over.

Across the hall from the bathroom is the master bedroom which is another issue – it’s across the hall and not part of a master suite. I understand why – with one bathroom and the possibility of sleeping 3 additional folks, you want to allow them access to the bathroom as well. Not having anyone stay with us, having the bathroom across the hall from the master is not an issue but I would not be happy with having to share the bathroom with guests staying in the living room sleeping area. However, for a family with children, this setup would likely work well though I’m not sure how the tub/shower combo would work for those with young kids.

The master bedroom is adequate and spacious enough. There isn’t a closet but there is an armoire that serves quite nicely. There are six drawers to hold clothes and a tv above.

[BelleKP]

Thanks for the detailed description of the room. It gives us a good idea of the space available and the pros and cons.
Sounds like you had a good day at DHS, and a nice quiet evening . . . it's good to take some time to relax!

[RedSoxFan]

Sounds like a nice day at Hollywood Studios. And to end it watching the Red Sox sounds perfect!!

[mouseketeer mom]

Each night when we called for a wake up call, we got a live person as well. I wonder what happened to the automated system? I liked that much better.
A good day at the studios...we seem to always miss the Indiana Jones show too.

[yjgirl32]

Great report- thanks for sharing.

[emerzmom]

Thanks for such a detailed trip report.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

thanks for the report....it does seem like whatever bus we are waiting for is the last one to come in

[princessgirls]

Great day in the studios and dinner outside with "your" animals.

Whenever I read how some of these rooms are laid out, I just assume a man did them...LOL! Interesting. Why when they were doing the construction for the DVC suites didn't they put water lines in for the ice machine. Most people have them, and it's an easy thing to do when you are building. So strange...

Julie

[Mickey'sGirl]

I'm glad to read that Gene got to see his ballgame afterall (even if some was through his eyelids ). I think your evening in sounds really really nice.

The toilet room seems odd ....

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.

[DizNee143]

of course another good day..sounds like a nice evening at "home"
i havent ever stayed at AKL but the room started sounding like one from the WLV but then you lost me lol..doesnt sound like to bad of a room although i can see that tub/shower thing a bit difficult also..

[Suz36]

Sounds like another nice, relaxing day! I would have been so disappointed to not get the automated wake-up call set - it's one of the little things that I love! My husband has to wish me magical dreams for the first few nights we are home after a Disney trip.

[KylesMom]

Thank goodness for that internal alarm clock so you were able to stay on track this morning!

Sounds like you had the same problem we do while in the Studios - it's difficult to be able to see the scheduled shows with the staggered times they have, isn't it?!

You know, we've never been into Tune-In Lounge before - I keep telling DH we need to take a quick stop in there for a cold beverage mid-afternoon. Maybe this next trip!

A nice relaxing evening at home - although I must admit, I was hoping to get your review on Il Mulino!

I would agree that some of the room setup seems strange - but it sounds delightful with a view of both the animals and fireworks!

All in all, another great day!

[DisneyorBust]

We enjoyed an evening staying 'home' during our last get away in WDW, nice change of pace from our normal routine.
Thanks for the detailed description of the room, having never been inside the AKL it was nice to read about it's floor plan.

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!

[brian2000boston]

Great description. Must be great having a full size fridge. It must be so cool seeing the animals while relaxing on the balcony.

[buzznwoodysmom]

Another great day. I think your room sounds very spacious, especially for just the two of you. We've only ever stayed in the studios at AKL. We love the themeing of the resort and the rooms. We just don't love the location of the resort, seems too far removed from everything else.

[darthmacho]

Thanks for sharing the room description and your day at DHS. I had no idea you could eat at that Tune In Lounge, not that I would choose to eat at a bar with my kids, but it's good to know.

My favorite part of your day was that you decided to get room service and eat in your room. That sounds like a good call. I hope the Red Sox won that night!

[January-2007]

Thanks for reporting.

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

thank you for the detail of the room. I'm glad now that we're in Kidani!