Happy Birthday Jamie!

It's Jamie's Birthday, people! He's Twenty Five! I love him! Now, back to Disney Comments:

I know that everyone is so tired of hearing about our Disney Vacation. And to tell you the truth, I'm kind of over it myself. We've all got cold here, with fat, heavy heads, and brains leaking out our noses. (Except Nick, who is oddly healthy). So babbling on about a vacation that is over and fading seems silly. Except that this blog is also supposed to record our memories, and since I didn't blog WHILE I was there, I feel I need to get everything down, so I don't forget. So today I talk about our "Resort."

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It is called a "resort" and this prompts me to aske the question "What is the difference between a Hotel and a Resort?" Anyone?

I chose this place because we had the chance to see giraffes and zebras our our balcony. And we did indeed get to see animals! Unfortunately, we were facing a rather small area of the "savanna" and had an empty gated area directly in front of us. But it was still cool. There were lots of viewing areas with rocking chairs and binoculars.

The Lobby was huge. The room on the small side. This is to be expected. There are over 1200 rooms in this resort alone, not to mention the individual "villas" for those who needed a little more room and had more cash. But our room DID have a bunk bed, and the boys loved it. They climbed up, threw toys over the edge, climbed down, threw the toys back up, again and again.

The hotel also had a pool. A HUGE pool. Not deep, but graded on one side, so that the depth started at one inch. Even Andy could splash around. It was heated to a ridiculous degree (think warm bath) and had a water slide, which the boys loved. They slid down again and again until we physically pulled them away for dinner. There was also a playground for the kids, and a wading pool, a hot tub... I could use that hot tub about now.

Speaking of which... the place could use more food options. There were three restaurants at the resort. The upscale one, Jiko, we didn't even try to get into. Boma was a buffet, and it was fabulous once we were able to get in (one night we had reservations, but their computer broke down, and they "restarted" the list but made no announcement. We found out after an hour of waiting and finally just left.) The only other place to eat was a "fast food" type place called "The Mara" which served soggy burgers and something called "African Stew" for ridiculous amounts of cash. At two fifty per milk and seven dollars per waffle, we probably spent more there than at any other eatery. It got old, fast. What they really needed was a Dunkin Donuts or a Starbucks, or just one other place to get "reasonably priced" food. Because with 1200 rooms, three restaurants is not enough.


Since we stayed at the resort we could take advantage of "Magic Hours" at the theme parks, and we got free transportation to and from the parks AND the airport. All in all, I'm glad we stayed there. It was an experience. But next time around we may just opt for a less expensive option, maybe right outside the park. Or maybe... not?