Day 1 and 2 – May 10 and 11, 2014 - Let them Eat Cake!
The countdown was over and it was finally the day we leave for Walt Disney
World! My husband had to work on that
Saturday so we decided to leave that evening and drive straight through to the
Disney Art of Animation (AoA) Resort.
My daughter and I slept in and then spent the day finishing with packing,
running errands and making sure everything was ready at home. Hubby got home around 7:15 pm and we all sat down
to a homemade dinner and discussed our car packing strategy.
Since hubby had such a difficult time navigating the parks in October
and we ended up renting a wheel chair most days, we decided to take our home
wheel chair with us this trip. It made
packing a bigger challenge but over all made his trip more enjoyable for him
and we saved money by taking our own.
My unrealistic goal was to leave by 8:30 pm. We ended up pulling out of the drive way
around 10:00 pm which was still okay.
We traveled south on I-77 and I-95 which was approximately 966
miles. We stopped 4 or 5 time for gas
which averaged $3.00/gallon. We also had
3 tolls at $2.00 each. We had several potty breaks along the way and
stopped at the I-95 welcome center to enjoy some orange and grapefruit juice,
stretch our legs and take a few photos.
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| Welcome to Florida! |
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| Postcard moment |
We arrived at Disney around 2:00 PM and got excited when we passed
under the Walt Disney World sign. There
was a scramble for camera devices by the non-drivers to snap a picture as we
passed.
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| We have arrived! |
We made our way to AoA and pulled
into the parking lot. It was such a
surreal experience. We saw all of the
larger than life images of Ariel, Nemo and Simba, the Disney buses and it all
just hit me and I started crying happy years.
None of us could believe we were back on Disney property so soon after
our previous trip because we usually go once every decade. It felt lush and almost forbidden! We all took a few moments to let the
environment soak in then headed to Animation Hall to check in!
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| Turn right at the sign |
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| We are really here! |
Animation Hall is really cool.
When you enter from the parking lot all of the art is in black and white
sketch form. As you walk deeper into the
building the pictures slowly get color and definition added and at the far end
they are in full color. Disney cast member
were helpful, kind and fun. We looked
around a little and then headed to our room in the Little Mermaid section.
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| Animation Hall - from full color side looking toward black and white side |
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| Animation Hall - art wall] |
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| Animation Hall full color cell wall |
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| Chandelier made of black and white sketches |
I requested a room on the 4th floor with a lake view. You don’t necessarily get your request, but
it never hurts to ask. It turns out we
got building 9, room 9870, 4th floor facing the Little Mermaid pool
courtyard! We were so excited when we
turned the corner and saw King Triton’s head and the pool and courtyard!
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| King Triton from our balcony |
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| Panorama of Little Mermaid pool area |
Then I opened the door to our room! We had all looked at photos and videos of the
Little Mermaid rooms but it still did not prepare me for the awesome theming of
this room! I gasped, my daughter’s jaw
dropped and my husband got big eyes and a big smile! Then we ran around the room snapping photos
and laughing! Yep, it was that
good!
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| Double beds |
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| Dresser, TV, curtain in front of vanity area |
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| Behind the curtain, vanity, dresser, shell chair |
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| Top of table |
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| Bathroom vanity |
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| Bathroom, shower curtain |
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| Bathtub tile is Ariel's grotto |
Since it was mother’s day, we called our mom’s to wish them a happy
day and let them know we arrived safe and sound. We organized our luggage and stuff and then
we headed back to Animation Hall to take a free animation class! Daughter and I did the drawing and my husband
snapped photos of us. It was a really
cool Mother’s Day thing to do together.
We learned to draw Chip and Dale.
There is a little room to the side of the registration desks with benches. They pass out art board (kind of like an
oversized clip board), paper and pencils.
Our animator had a desk that has a projector so he can project what he
is doing on the wall for us to follow.
He was really friendly and everyone had a great time.
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| Art class at Art of Animation |
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| Daughter and I working hard on our drawings |
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| My fat chipmunks |
Since it was now almost 6 pm we decided it was time to go to the
Landscapes of Flavors, AoA’s food court, for dinner. This food court has different sections that represent the different themes of Art of Animation Resort. We always sat in the Little Mermaid area and really enjoyed the decor. There were large pictures of Atlantica around the area and I noticed that light above blinked and were creating a light in the water effect as though we were under water and looking at Atlantica in the distance.
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| Light above the Little Mermaid area. |
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| Atlantica pictures around dinning area |
I had heard that this food court was unlike
others in quality and general scrumptiousness, but I was still pleasantly surprised
with just how good. We had dining plan which
allows for 1 table service, 1 counter service, and 1 snack per person, per day. Counter service, which is what the food court
is considered, include 1 entre, 1 dessert and 1 drink. The dinning plan also includes a refillable
cup. Hubby ended up getting the meatball
sub which came with salad, a decadent muffin concoction and a chocolate milk
plus soda in his mug.
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| Enjoying that sub! |
Daughter got the
veggie pizza, salad, chocolate milk and a marshmallow wand. The cool thing about the wand is the
marshmallows are on a Mickey crazy straw, so you get the straw for later!
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| Hungry! |
I got the build your own pasta. You pick the type of pasta you want, the
sauce, a protein and the veggie and they make it up fresh for you right
then. It was so YUM! It came with garlic bread and I also got a
juice, and a Mickey chocolate ganache tart.
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| Bad photo of my pasta - I went with bow tie pasta, white sauce, chicken and all the veggies |
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| Another bad photo of really yummy chocolate tart |
My daughter and I were enjoying the iced tea in our mugs. The meal was pretty good and it was nice to
just stay at the resort for dinner.
We decided to explore the different areas of the resort but at this
point hubby was going to need to use the wheel chair. So we headed back to our room to get the
wheel chair and more cameras. We toured
our own section, the Little Mermaid area, first. We liked how they used the plants to look
like sea plants. We also noticed that
all of the fish on the building were swimming to Ariel and away from Ursula. While King Triton and Ursula are engaged in a
battle for control of the courtyard!
Next we walked over to the Lion King Area. There is a play ground here but no pool. I loved the landscaping!
Next is the main pool area in the Nemo section. We looked at the pool but we never went in
and tried it out. There are a ton of
activities going on at the main pool at any one time so there is always a
crowd. I realize now that I only took a few photos of that area.
Last was the Cars area. I was
most impressed with this section. It was
like walking into the animated movie, so very cool. We sat by this pool for a little while and
just enjoyed the theming of the area.
It
was night time at this point so we talked about going to the outdoor movie at
the Big Blue Pool but opted instead to head back to our room, shower relax and
go to bed. We were all asleep by 10pm. We had been awake for more than 24 hours at
this point so we were all ready to sleep and wake up the next day refreshed and
ready to celebrate!
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