The One With All The Birthdays - October 14 COMPLETE

Ahh only just missed each other! How did you like key west? It was so much busier when the cruise ships were in, have you been not on a cruise stop? The ladies were wearing knickers, yes I can tell you that for certain :-/ yeah it does suck being sick on vacation, but I don't let it hold me back too much least I try not to!

Awww I don't mean to make anyone feel bad! It's just part of the trip. Sadly it's not just on vacay that I'm ill, but there are people SO much worse off than me so I try to just get on with what I can. I have a very understanding hubby who looks after me way more than most young married men should have to yes my order was one of the chickens and it was AMAZING I wanna go back to key west and get the meal all over again

We had a great day till that point the pie was so good! Sy liked the conch fritters, he said they reminded him of razorclam fish... I wouldn't know lol he said the batter was like falafel fluffy and dense. He's really pleased to hear they do them at Olivia's... I feel an ADR coming on there

Day 4
Fort Lauderdale.

We had a day of driving ahead of us today. We wanted to get to Ft Lauderdale in time to actually see some of the place so we were up early - 6:30am in fact - and by 8:30am we were all packed and ready to go!

First stop was breakfast at the same place as yesterday - Old Town Bakery. We all got some breakfast and something to have for lunch as we would still be in the car around lunchtime and the sandwiches looked amazeballs. Sy got a ham and cheese croissant while I got a plain and we planned to share a raspberry one, only I didn't like the raspberry (it had jam/jelly in it which I'm not a fan of) so instead we shared the ham and cheese (much to Sy's dismay hehe). For lunch we both got the same thing - a curried chicken and apple sandwich. $24 including a large coffee and an Orangina. Not too bad for breakfast and lunch I thought. We had more of a chat with the owner today as it was less busy, he makes everything by hand each morning which would explain why it was all so yummy.

We sat in the car to eat our breakfast and once finished it was time to hit the road. I took a few pics from the car, most didn't come out all that well but here are a few that did.

Apparently this had been used in a film of some sort... I wanna say a Bond? I was told to take a picture by Sy LOL

I think this might have been James Bond too..

This is the dead centre of Key West... Aka the cemetery (see what I did there?). The water level is so close to land level here they cant bury bodies instead they have to pile them up above ground. I dunno if I like that idea or not.

We made good time on our way up through the Keys, and I even managed to stay away this time so I didn't missed the miles of driving over open sea! I may have had a nap shortly after that bit, I can't quite recall It started to rain about an hour into the journey which made our trip run a little slower but this was actually the ONLY day of rain the whole trip so I can cope with it being the day we were in the car.

It was decided that we needed a restroom stop as we drove through Key Largo so we stopped at a hideously tacky shell shop. It was still raining so Sy and I stayed in the car as we didn't really need to go. Mums came back first followed by the dads with some Key Lime pie they had bought in the shop. We ate our sandwiches in the car park as we were stopped anyway and boy, they were seriously good! I could so eat one right now. The apple and curried chicken on the most amazing bread " heaven! Bread is the one thing I miss when we are in the USA, the bread over there is all too sweet for me, sourdough comes close but still not great, plus I love a really hard crust, none of that soft stuff So trust me when I say, that bread was goooooooooooood. We then all tried a bit of Key Lime pie, not quite as good as Blue Heaven as you would expect, but not a bad effort.

There was a huge storm over Miami as we drove past, the lightening was forking across the sky in front of us, gotta love those Florida storms! We never get lighting the same at home. We also discovered that we started to quite desperately need some petrol, and it took a while before we could find anywhere to stop! I started to get a bit panicky but we made it to a station in the end which turned out to be only about 2 miles away from our hotel for the night, phew!

We actually drove round for a bit looking for our hotel, it didn't look much from the outside and all of the pictures I'd seen of the inside were really lush and posh so I was looking for somewhere pretty spectacular. The outside didn't really match up to what I was expecting however as soon as we walked in we were blown away. I went to check in with both Dads while mums and Sy unloaded the bags along with the help of the bellman. We were told we had been upgraded when we checked in which was lovely! The girl didn't say what we had been upgraded to though... We were in for a real treat...

We all went up and the bellman said he would follow us shortly after. We all went to our respective rooms and then ran to each others rooms to tell each other how awesome they all were (if that makes any sense!). We had been upgraded to 1 bedroom suites. Each room was slightly different, my parents had the best and biggest room. Each room had washing machines and driers so Bill (my dad) went out to find some washing stuff, I did suggest waiting as we would have a washer and drier the next day in Disney but mum's didn't want to... Dad was actually gone so long we started to worry but he had walked and couldn't find anywhere (he missed the Wallgreen's at the end of the road, whoops!).

Anyway after all this talk about how amazing our room was, I guess I better show some pictures (and believe me, I took a LOT! This isn't even half of them, photo overload warning)

A downside to the hotel was $27 per night car parking, quite a lot considering it was a bit further out of town. The girl who checked us in did say the parking on the street was only .50c an hour and no charge at night so I think they are used to people not parking in the hotel... Seems silly to me to charge so much more! We saw a lot of guests going out to their cars parked in the street and none going into the hotel car park Guess where we parked...

We unpacked a little and did a bit of washing once dad was back with the washing tablets. Then it was time to head out on the 5pm boat trip that I'd found online before we left home, the rain had long cleared up but I thought it would be best to check the website before going to find the place in case it wasn't going out for whatever reason, it said it was still going ahead so off we went. We were struggling to find a car parking space and it was coming close to 5pm so Sy dropped me and Bill off and we went to check they would wait for us all (didn't think they would wanna turn down 6 adults on the trip considering it was out of season), the boat was there but deserted and the ticket booth had the shutters down. I was cross, like really cross. I had checked before we left it was still running! There was nothing to say why it wasn't running and closed up. We could have gone with another company and been out on the water by now The only reason we didn't find a boat trip in Key West was cause we knew we were going on this boat tour! This was the only thing we were planning to do in Ft Lauderdale, the only sightseeing trip, we were planning to leave early the next morning! I was really cross. Luckily we managed to grab Sy before they paid the huge parking charge in the car park nearby. We hopped back in the car and decided to instead drive ourselves round on a tour and look at the sights, not quite the same thing but it was nice to have a look around.

We stopped at the Wallgreen's on the corner near the hotel to get some snacks and drinks and headed back into the hotel. We sat on my parents balcony as they had the biggest with the nicest view. We had some drinks and crisps and tried to decide what to do for dinner. Sy really fancied trying a place called Chima however on looking at the menu online it was hugely expensive and as it was an all you can eat Brazilian you had to go really hungry, which we now weren't after the snacks... We decided that we were all a bit knackered and actually no one really wanted to go out to eat so we sent the men out to take some food, they know us and know what we like so we had every faith. By 9pm (almost 2 hours later) we were all falling asleep in mum's room. Anne had her key but Sy had gone with ours so I couldn't get back into our room, eventually I got sick of waiting for the guys and went down to reception to ask for a key but as I had no ID they were a bit wary, they did agree to take me up to the room if I could show them ID once inside (which is where everything was) but as I was about to get into the lift with the guy taking me up, the men appeared with pizza. Crisis averted. I'll be honest here, we had decided not to go out to eat because we were tired but by the time the guys got back we could have gone out and eaten and come back again, so I wasn't best pleased - none of us ladies were. They said they had driven up and down looking for somewhere but ended up at the Italian about 3 mins walk away.

Back in the room we had 3 massive pizzas, Sy had got stuff on ours I can't eat, Cliff had got stuff on theirs that Anne wouldn't eat and my mum was now so tired she didn't want any. Good job guys! So I went to bed in a huff cause 1, they had been gone so long and I was peed off and 2, Sy had got stuff he knew I couldn't have on the pizza. Oh dear, not a happy Robyn. LOL (I got over it pretty quick - by the morning it was forgotten).

Tomorrow, DISNEY!!

Boys eh, who'd have them

Boooo boys indeed! hehe

More coming up today too The hotel was so lush!! Lucked out with that one

Well ask and you shall have.....

Day 5

Today we head to DISNEY!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

We were awake at 7am We got up and watched some Golden Girls on the TV in the lounge while I did a bit of internet surfing including checking the credit card, I was a bit panicked when I saw that it showed it had loads of transactions - we had read online that a lot of tourists had been targeted lately with credit card fraud which we really didn't need. Sy made a quick call to find out what was going on and luckily we had nothing to worry about, the last hotels we had stayed in had all put holds on our card for the rooms, though not one of them had told us that they were gonna do it - bit rude not to even mention it but we were too relieved to care.

It was a gorgeous day, the sun was shining and hardly a cloud in the sky. I had done a bit of washing the night before and some of the stuff that couldn't go in the tumble drier still needed drying so I put it out on the chairs on the balcony, it was dry in no timeout there.

We decided last night that we would just have breakfast in the hotel, it was expensive but not ridiculously so. My parents were first to arrive in the restaurant followed by me and Sy and then Anne and Cliff followed later. Breakfast was a buffet, there wasn't a huge choice but what was there was really nice, good quality and fresh.

I had a fruit tea to go with my breakfast which was lovely.

Our view while eating breakfast, alright for some eh?

I actually didn't manage to eat much before I felt ill and had to leave and go back up to the room.

Once feeling a bit better I finished packing up and got dressed into my travel outfit, today I was Disney bounding! We were off to Animal Kingdom Lodge so I was wearing my leopard print dress with zebra print hair flower

Not really sure what was going on in this picture, I was trying to do an 'out of safari' pose but I just look like a dork! LOL

Just as we were about to leave I was ill again so everyone was waiting down in reception for me, that was a change to be the last one ready lol it doesn't happen again all trip. We loaded the car up with the bags and were on the road by 10:45am - bit later than I would have wanted but couldn't help being poorly.

For anyone who hasn't made the journey before, that is one long, boring drive. Made 10x worse knowing we were on the way to my happy place! We had been in the car all of about 10 minutes before I was starting with the 'are we nearly there yet?!?!' I'm pretty sure I was told to 'something off' by the 10th time I'd asked

Cliff had a nap on the way.

We stopped about half way at a services so we could use a restroom, it was actually the same one we stopped in the last time we drove up from Miami - what are the chances of that?

Finally, we were driving along the 192 where everything looked familiar and soon after we were pulling into those wonderful gates.

It was 2:45pm when we walked into reception at Kidani, we checked in and picked up our magic bands (they don't send them to the UK).

Our 2 bedroom villa was ready so we had all of the bags sent there, we did a little unpacking and I skyped my friend back home and then made our way out to Walmart for some supplies. Sy and I went to grab the car from Valet while the rest waited by the Zazu lifts for us. Sy made a little friend who then wouldn't get off his leg LOL we was blowing him and trying to gently nudge him but he was having none of it and stayed perched there until I got a map and guided him back down his leg...

We picked up the parents and headed straight to Walmart. We bought lots of drinks, snack and stuff for breakfast in the rooms and left $130 lighter. Time had kinda got away from us in Walmart so we were now in a rush to make it back in time for our ADR. We also needed to swap the beast at Alamo for a smaller car so we quickly filled up the beast and headed to the Disney Car Centre. Luckily someone rather clever thought to bring all of the info we needed to swap out the cars (me!) so it was easy, we transferred all the shopping and headed back to Kidani. We quickly dumped all of the shopping in the room and practically ran down to Sanaa. We checked in and grabbed a table in the bar.

We were there for quite a long time, people all around us were called to their tables, it didn't really matter and we were chatting to the table next to us so time passed quicky. When we had been there for about 40 minutes I went to see what the hold up was with the front desk, they didn't say to me but I overheard them say to one another that we had been forgotten about, the system had gone down and I guess we had just been missed off. They seated us right away so it was all good, on the way to our table I discreetly reminded them that we had a special cake on order. As we sat down I made sure Anne, Sian and Bill were sat together in preparation for the cake.

Our server was called Pat and he was a total babe throughout the meal, totally gonna ask for him when we go back if he's still there!We got the breads to start with full order of the dips to go with them We also might have got a few extra breads... hehe. I really liked the pickled garlic, the African BBQ, mango chutney and chilli dips the best. They had run out of poppadums so gave us some weird cracker type things, they were definitely not a hit.

Anne and I decided to share a main as did my parents - they were so sweet and split them up in the kitchen for us! I had butter chicken and rice and Anne had the seafood curry, sadly I forgot to get pics of the mains - sorry!

Our waited then came over and asked Sy quietly who's birthday the cake was for. Sy told him it was for 2 of them, doh! It was for 3 but luckily the cake came with all 3 names on (like I had asked) so it was obvious once it arrived. Everyone in the restaurant sang for them it was lovely! The cake itself was beautiful too, after hearing a lot of bad press about Amanda the AKL pastry chef I was a bit worried but it was exactly what I'd asked for. We were all too full to eat any right away so we asked to have the box so we could take it back up to our room. They were also given a birthday card signed by lots of CM wishing them a happy birthday.

We got the bill and for some reason we had been charged for a standard podium cake instead of what I had been quoted! And they took 20% off with the TiW card! Result!!

We paid up and headed back to the room. Back in the room the kettle went on and cake was cut, funny how that 5 min walk can help make room for cake The cake was immense! It was **SO** good! Yummy yummy yummy, in fact I'm trying to think of a reason to order another one for the next trip just so I can have it again. It was vanilla sponge with fresh strawberries and custard filling. Yumminess.

After cake we unpacked and mum and dad went over to their room which was across the hall and round the corner a little bit.

I managed to completely fill our wardrobe with clothes! I don't think I realised I'd brought so much stuff with me...

I had a quick shower and it was then time for bed. 11:30pm, it had been a looooooong day.

day 6

The alarm went off at 7:25am, we hopped out of bed and got ready for our first day at Disney! And what a sight to wake up to...

Wow, some view huh? I could get used to that. In fact I could stop being a night owl if I could wake up to that every day!

We got everyone else up and were soon all ready and with some gentle persuasion, Anne wasn't too late either We drove over to the Grand and valet parked. Today's breakfast offering was at 1900 Park Fare. I'm not really a buffet girl but I make exception for this place; the food is good, it doesn't get manic and there are characters!! We parked mums scooter outside with the strollers (I didn't bring mine as we weren't planning on being out long) and headed inside. I checked us in and then we posed for a few memory maker pictures.

There was no queue so we were shown right in. We were given a table right by the door which was a bit of a bummer, we had people going in and out all the time right beside us, and the door behind us kept opening with kids wanting to have a look inside. It wasn't very relaxing, I'd ask for a different table if I was sat there again for sure. Breakfast was good though, and we met all of the characters I didn't make the most of the buffet as per usual, I can't eat a big breakfast as it makes me unwell, but what I ate was nice and there was lots of choice, but lets face it, the reason I come is for the Characters!! And mainly the lady herself, Mary Poppins! As it happens, it was the exact same Mary Poppins as the last time we were here in September 2013

We were also brought over some cupcakes after as we were celebrating so many birthdays.

After we had finished and paid the bill we grabbed mums scooter and made our way upstairs to catch the monorail over to Magic Kingdom!

First stop is usually a round trip on the train but as its down for maintenance we make our way down Main Street, stopping on the way for a few pictures.

Once we walked up to the hub it was almost time for Dream Along with Mickey so we decided to stay and watch it.

While we were watching we noticed a guy dressed head to toe like Woody, an adult on his own. I thought guests weren't really allowed in wearing costumes? Either way, he looked fab so I snapped a pic.

After the show had finished it was just about time for the Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it, parade and as that's our favourite we watched that too, I even managed to get Sy onto the streets to dance with me (my mum did a lot of filming of this, maybe one of these days I'll get round to doing something with the videos lol). I was dragged off by one of the dancers and made the lead the conga line which was fun and kinda embarrassing at the same time, I wouldn't have minded so much but the rest of my family just walked away and left me! Thanks guys He held onto my hand the whole way too so I couldn't even escape!

We had a fastpass for Jungle Cruise next so we went off in that direction. I really think this ride is all about the skipper, if you have a great one it can be the best ride in the park, if you have a bad one it feels like the longest 10 minutes of your life. Luckily our skipper was brilliant and had the whole boat laughing with the terrible jokes.

Once we were off the boat we went to grab a drink and wait to our friends Anna and Edwin. We had met them on our last trip and since kept in touch online, they were coming to meet us for a drink and to say hello. They live in Florida but not that close to Disney, it was the last day of their trip but they were coming back before we went home again so we got chance to meet up again twice more later in the holiday

We grabbed some seats and the guys went to get us some drinks from Sunshine Tree Terrace. We sat chatting for about 20 minutes I think before we had to head off again, not nearly long enough but we made up for it later in the trip! I forgot to get pics of us all together dammit.

Up next on the list was the Enchanted Tiki Room which was a first for our parents. I'm not sure they were convinced by it lol I love the nostalgia of it though

Afterwards was our next fastpass, Big Thunder Mountain! Anne didn't want to ride so the 5 of us went while she waited on a seat in the shade. The queue line here isn't suitable for wheelchairs so we couldn't go down the fastpass lane, instead they scanned our magic bands and took us to the disabled entrance which is round by the exit. (Just as a note, if we hadn't have had fastpasses they would have given a return time on either a DAS card or handed out a paper fastpass type thing).

Our next fastpass opened up while we were on BTM which was Splash. I love Splash, even if the song sounds like 'pretty good show us your bum' haha. Actually I might be warped and like it even more BECAUSE it sounds like that lol. We waved hello to Anne on her bench and went to ride Splash.

We decided to then make our way back to the hotel for a rest/swim so we headed out of the park and hopped on the monorail back to the Grand Floridian.

We picked up the car and drove back home to Kidani where we chilled for a bit and all got changed ready for a swim. I had been keeping in touch with my friend Carrie and I had managed to talk her into swinging by to say hello when she didn't really have time (oops!) so while our parents went ahead to the pool we went to meet her and give her the presents we had brought over for her.

Everyone but me and my mum were off to watch a basketball game this evening and when Carrie saw we were off for a swim she said we better hadn't as that the guys should really be going already so we said goodbye and headed back to the room having not made it to the pool! What a waste eh? I messaged our parents and they came back shortly after as well. Everyone rushed around getting ready and headed out to the game, Carrie had given directions to get there quickly and she was spot on, they made it there in time. Mum and I pottered about, the idea was we each were going to have a nap but neither of us did! Oh well! We both showered and washed our hair before hopping on the bus and heading to Hollywood Studios. We left at about 6:30pm and the bus was the first bus to arrive so we did well, we also had the entire bus to ourselves! Woohoo!

We decided to get food as we were both hungry so we headed down towards ToT and checked out all the different food places, there are so many choices down there we were bound to find something we both really wanted. And what did we eventually decide on? Chicken nuggets and fries. Something new and different for us They were good though!

The plan was to watch Fantasmic but they had changed the time since I last checked and added in an extra show which had only just started and made the next show an hour later than I had planned Mum was really tired so we decided not to wait and instead catch it later in the trip. Instead we decided to take a little tour on our scooters. We went out of the park and drove all the way to Epcot via the Boardwalk, round World Showcase through the F&W crowds and to the front entrance to get on a bus back to AKL. It was really quite nice actually, I may hate having to use my scooter but there's no way I'd ever be able to cover that sort of distance without it so it does really give me some independence back. The bus arrived shortly after and we left again only half full. Back at Kidani I was in bed by 10pm. Everyone came back from basketball at about 11pm but I was fast asleep by then and didn't wake again till the next morning.

Day 7

This morning the guys were going on the Food and Wine cheese seminar that I'd booked which meant we had to be up and out on time. I set the alarm for 8:30 to give us till 9am to get ready. Cliff decided to wake us up at 7:45am instead, pfffft!! Mind you we still left late due to people not being ready, I'll be honest and say it did tick me off a little only cause I could have slept loads more, oh well. We managed to have some bagels and cereal in the room before leaving. I drove as we were dropping the guys in Epcot and then going off for some shopping.

Men dropped off we headed to the Premium Outlets at Vineland. We went to grab a drink first as Anne hadn't had anything to eat or drink yet as she was still getting ready this morning. We headed into Starbucks at the food court.

I bought loads in the Disney store, 3 t-shirts, a mickey ice bucket that Sy had been coveting for ages, tea towels for me and some as presents for people back home, a colouring set for my niece. Spent about $80 in total which wasn't back considering how much I had. I bought a top in another shop as well but not sure of the name, Anne bought 3 dresses and Sian got a top both from Dressbarn. We were starting to get hungry for lunch but didn't fancy the food court as it was now really busy, so we decided to head out to find something nearby. I tried to contact the guys to find out if they wanted lunch with us or if they were sorting themselves out, but no luck getting a reply (they actually did reply shortly after but I had no wifi by this point and didn't get it).

We drove round the corner and found a place called Sweet Tomatoes, I'd read about it having lots of fresh salad and knowing Anne was on a huge health kick I suggesting going there. We really enjoyed our lunch, it cost about $10 each with a coupon (the cashier used one he had there for us). Lots of yummy salad, pizza and baked potatoes.

I noticed a few families who came in around us all prayed before their food, not something I've noticed many places before. One family all had t-shirts that said 'You need Jesus, I'm just saying'. Hmmm. I did see something in there though which really touched me, a cop came in for his lunch and sat on the table behind us. An older couple (one of those who had prayed actually) went over to the cop on their way out and thanked him for all his hard work. I'm not ashamed to say I welled up. It was such a small thing but the cop was really touched himself. Just goes to show an act of kindness, no matter how small, can make someone's day. Says something that I still remember and talk about it now.

Lunch finished we left a tip on the table and made our way back to Kidani. The guys had just got back to the room when we arrived, they hadn't eaten lunch and were quite hungry, oops! They survived on some snacks in the room though, after all that cheese and wine from earlier they didn't starve It was too late for them to eat a proper meal as we had an ADR for Yak and Yeti for later.

The men had absolutely LOVED their seminar, it had changed from Spanish cheeses to all European cheeses. Plus lots of wine they were all feeling rather tipsy by the time it had finished. They each bought one of the books for sale and had it signed by the guy hosting the event. Sy said he would like to do more seminars next time we are there for F&W.

We chilled out in the villa for a bit with some drinks before heading out to AK at about 3:30pm We had fastpasses for Dinosaur so we went off that way first, stopping first to get a few pictures.

We stopped to get Anne a bottle of water by Dinosaur and then went inside. Anne didn't fancy riding so she waited outside. I think Dinosaur is a seriously underrated ride, I love it!

Afterwards time was getting on for our ADR so we decided to head over that way. Parked scooters outside Yak & Yeti and went inside to wait for our table, we were a little early but the guys were still hungry so we thought we would ask to see if they could seat us, our luck was in and they could! I've had a bit of a weird relationship with this restaurant, we ate here in 2012 and were very underwhelmed, was was okay but definitely not fitting of the buzz for the place online. Plus our server was very lacklustre. We decided to give it another go and had a wonderful meal, and ever meal since then has been great. Just goes to show it's worth giving a place another chance!

We were seated right by the bar, first time that we've sat in this part of the restaurant. Our drink order were taken and I snapped some pics while we perused the menu.

We started with pot stickers and the fried green beans, both of which were very tasty.

There were a few new specials not yet on the menu, a few of us decided to try them out, Sy had the chicken tikka masarla. I stuck with good old bourbon chicken, cant get this in the UK both were yummy. We skipped on dessert as we were all too full, I was seriously sad about missing the mango pie though

We had a bit of drama getting the AP discount added to the cheque, as we were never sent out the AP booklet (they don't send them to the UK) so we had no proof that we had the AP, the manager did sort it in the end though by taking our bands and scanning them to see we were AP holders. Only 10% off entrees (no TiW here sadly) but any discount is better than no discount.

While having dinner we missed our fastpass for Festival of the Lion King but once dinner was done we had time for our Kali Fastpass, sadly though it was down We could swap to another ride so we decided on the Safari. Sadly it was nearly the end of the day and lots of the animals had already gone in for the night.

I was still feeling sad about missing out on my mango pie so Sy and I decided to walk over to get me one to take away while the others made their way to the car. Sadly though just as we were hitting the hill on the way out my scooter decided to run dead, so Sy had to help push me up! Oops! Must remember to charge it more often it only has a small battery compared to my mums.

I managed to devour the mango pie before I'd even left the car park, I did share a few forks full with Sy

We were back in the hotel by 7:30pm, totally shattered. We debated a swim but all decided we were too tired. We watched tv for a while before heading to bed, needed an early night tonight as we had an early start tomorrow...

Awww thanks boomer. I love trying out new places! Already working on the list for our next wdw trip that isn't until November lol

Well I say shared.... More like he was fed 2 or maybe 3 mouthfulls and I scoffed the rest hahaha

Ah I can't be the first person to notice that's what it sounds like?? I don't even know what it's meant to say! Lol

Now it's all you will think of when you ride it

Day 8

We had a super early start this morning for our Sunrise Safari in Animal Kingdom. Sadly I believe this safari has been discontinued now I'm glad I got to do it before it finished. The safari was open to club level guests only and then in 2014 they opened it to any DVC member staying in AKL on points. As soon as it opened up I called member services and booked it for all of us.

The alarm went off on Sy's phone at about 6am but he turned it off without waking me which resulting in him waking me minutes before we were due to go eeeeeek! Cue lots of mad dashing about to get ready. We left the room at 6:50am, this is almost unheard of for me back home as I'm a total night owl but with the time difference it didn't feel too bad. We parked at Jambo and went inside to check in for the safari in the hotel lobby. There were some drinks for us to help ourselves to while we waited for everyone to check in, after a short wait we were given the introductory chat and taken outside to the buses. As we were heading into Animal Kingdom security were there to check our bags as we boarded the bus.

A pic of us all looking bright eyed and bushy tailed... or something like that

There were 2 buses and each of us had our own tour guide. There was one guy and 1 girl, we had Ryan on our bus. He was amazing, not just because of his dashing good looks (think Bradley Cooper's thinner brother), but he was so enthusiastic about his job, we could tell just how much he loved it. The bus took us round to the back entrance of the park where we left the bus and made our way to the safari. The park was just opening as we arrived (I think it may have had EMH?) and the first few people were heading towards us hoping to be on the first safari of the day.

We boarded 2 safari buses through the normal queue line and started on our journey. The safari was so interesting, Ryan explained all about the animals and how they got there, how they looked after them, where they had come from, the breeding info, every question you could think of, he knew the answer. He also told us the next animals that were joining AK would be hyaenas (bit of inside info for you there!). We saw the lions out playing which was amazing, I think the female was flirting... she was play-fighting with the male trying to get him to chase her. The animal were all so active, was lovely to see them up close. I took loads of pictures so here are just a few highlights...

We were out on the safari for an hour, time went by so quickly though, we didn't get off till 9am. Included in the safari was a buffet breakfast inside Pizzafari so that's where we headed next, with Ryan leading the way. We were greeted at the door and shown to our table which had been decorated for our birthday's! This was the only time all holiday that any restaurant took notice of our celebration (including the table for our vow renewal meal, where we arrived in wedding attire and still didn't get so much as a sprinkling of confetti ). Unfortunately my mum's birthday had been left off for some reason, one of the waitresses (called Diane) noticed my mum had one of our specially made badges on (they were admired by SO many CM's!), and realised she didn't have a happy birthday sign so she went off and came back with a Duffy pin for her! It was so sweet and kind of her, my mum was so touched she got all teary. This is why Disney is the best. Disney would be nothing without its amazing CM's, such a small thing but meant so much to my mum. Mum isn't a pin trader or collector but she wore that pin all holiday as it made her smile.

Ryan came round to talk to us while we were eating to make sure we had enjoyed ourselves which we of course had The lady who was on the other safari came round to chat as well. Breakfast itself was okay, nothing too special but very edible and plenty of it.

After we all had our fill we made our way out into the warm Florida sunshine, it was a beautiful day again. We decided we would watch the next Lion King show but we were early so we grabbed a seat in the sun and all nearly fell asleep haha! All these early mornings clearly were catching up with us! It was getting time for Festival of the Lion King so off we went to the new Harambe theatre. We stopped for a few selfies on the way...

We were shown inside and given seats on the ground floor as mum was in her scooter. One of my favourite moments of the trip happened next, Cliff was picked to help demonstrate how to be an elephant to everyone. He was so funny! He's a good sport though and had fun with it. (I have got it on film, one of these days I'll get round to editing the clips, honest).

The show itself was as wonderful as ever, my favourite show in Disney hands down. I always have to fight back the tears, am I the only one who gets so emotional watching FotLK? I love seeing the kids getting involved at the end, it always reminds me of the time I watched a 'zebra' push a young boy round in his wheelchair so he could join in, the look on his face - he was so happy. Still brings a tear to my eye now when I think of it.

After the show we were all seriously flagging so we decide to head back to the resort to chill for a bit. We had to get the bus back as we had got the bus there. I grabbed a mango slushie as we headed out of the front gate. Sitting on the bus my dad was striking up conversation with someone sitting opposite, what I didn't realise was the guy was asking if my name was Robyn - it was only our very own Skunk! How completely random to bump into each other on the bus!! We had a great chat, he and his guests were off to Sanaa for lunch so were getting the bus over. Was lovely to say hello and get a picture together. The bus ride was short though and all too soon we had to say goodbye as they were heading to their ADR and we were heading for the room to chill out.

Back in the room we decided to go and chill by the pool. Sy said he needed to spend some time in the gym to combat all of the bad food he had been eating so I went to the pool with my mum and dad and he went to the gym with his parents with the plan that they would come for a swim after they were done. Sy's parents have a treadmill at home and his mum was worrying as she hadn't been for a walk since she got there so she was pleased to go as well. I did say we had been walking round the parks but she said that didn't count lol. So we left them in the room getting ready for the gym while we went to sun ourselves by the pool (I know who had the best idea ). At the pool I found us some loungers and spent the next 2 hours dipping in and out of the water, reading my book in between. I was a bit annoyed as Sy never came down to meet us at the pool, but I later found out that he had to wait for something in the room...

My lovely romantic husband had arranged for this as a surprise for me! What a sweetie I didn't stay mad for long after I saw that!

We had an ADR later at Via Napoli so we got dressed after our swim and headed to Epcot, leaving the room by 3:45pm. Unfornutately we were later leaving than planned so we missed our first fastpass, booo. Our second FP was for Test Track so that's where we headed. We stopped on the way in for some Memory Maker pics.

While we were waiting in the queue for Test Track Sy decided to recreate a photo from our honeymoon, I caught him off guard while we were waiting for a show to start in Universal Studios. It makes us both laugh though as its just such a bad pic, he looks so miserable!

The honeymoon pic...

The recreation...

Okay, okay, it might not be the best recreation but it made us laugh... Small things eh

I did take a nice picture as well.

And one of my mum

On the way into Test Track I got a return time on the DAS card so by the time we had been on once, we only had a short while to wait to ride it again! Woohoo!

Our awesomely designed cars.

Our ride photos...

We then made our way to world Showcase as we wanted to stop and sample a thing or 2 on the way round to Italy (it had been a long time since breakfast!!). The guys got some beers, Sy got a beef thing and I got some pot stickers from China but those were the only food items in the end as it was nearing our ADR.

We meandered slowly round so by the time we arrived in Italy we were only slightly early for our ADR. We checked in anyway and were shown to our table shortly after. There reception area was mobbed, surely there should have more seats if all are taken with people stood everywhere as well? Our waitress was fine, she wasn't very good at refilling drinks, we had to ask for everything but she was nice. We decided to go for 2 arancini to share as appertisers and then had 3 pizzas to share as our mains. Sorry no pictures of the starters

Completely stuffed we paid up (once we could finally get hold of our waitress) and waddled outside. Now full of pizza, on a warm evening were all completely worn out so we decided to make our way back to the car. As we passed Spaceship Earth we thought we would check quickly just in case there was no queue, and we were in luck, there was none at all!! So on we went...

I managed to snap this before we went into the ride, I wouldn't use a flash on the ride as it ruins it.

We had to stop by one of the shops on the way out, not 100% sure which shop as it was the guys who went to find it, they had bought wine the other day after their seminar but they weren't allowed to carry it out of the park by themselves and they couldn't pick it up for 4 hours from the shop either (what a pain in the bum!) so they were picking it up today instead.

Back in the car we were all seriously flagging but we really needed to get some supplies for the room (drinks, bread, snacks etc), so we decided to drop parents off at Kidani and just head out to Publix on our own.

Luckily it was pretty quiet in Publix so we were in and out of the shop in no time. Supplies in hand we headed back to Kidani arriving at 10pm. My parents were in bed already, Anne and Cliff were still up but ready for bed. They helped us unpack the shopping and we were all in bed by 11pm.

Tomorrow yet another early start!

Ahhh thank you very much for sharing the pic Skunk! I tried to look for it as I know you posted it before but couldn't find it. It was lovely to meet you hope you loved sanaa as much as we do!