The Lodge

Arriving at The Animal Kingdom Lodge!

The Lobby.

Cool exhibit!

The Concierge.

One of the many fire pits!

The pool!

Restaurants!

When Andy and I decided to go ahead and make the trip to Disney World, I was on the phone a lot. Last year when we were there we dreamed of what it would be like to actually stay on the resort with all the conveniences that go along with that, so this year I called to check out the prices and they were actually very reasonable we felt.

The first time I called I got a bunch of different quotes for all the different resorts. We had decided to stay in a moderate resort being the middle tier of their hotels. The first time I called I found out that due to our large number of guests (7) there were only a few options. Of course the cheaper ones were out, because we needed two rooms. Oh well, it was still a great deal. I had always wanted to stay at the Animal Kingdom lodge, but it was a little pricier than what we wanted to spend. When Andy got home that night we looked at all the options and decided to stay either at the Caribbean or the Port Orleans.

Well when I called back the next day she had to look it all up for me again and The Animal Kingdom lodge was actually 64 dollars cheaper than the cheaper hotels for some odd reason. So I jumped on. Although we would not have a Savannah room, we would have two standard rooms, I was ok with that. How much would we really be in our rooms anyway and the resort had all kinds of things to walk around and look at. So I reserved that along with 6 day park passes and the dining plan which included a snack a day, a sit down service and a quick service meal. It was so much food! Then as I was about to get off the phone I happened to casually ask about air fair since I knew 2 hours sounded a lot better than 15 and to my surprise and excitement they were only 654 more! That is a lot of money, but for 7 of us to fly...no brainer! TOTALLY WORTH IT! I loved that the price I paid that day included everything. We would not have to pay for another thing other than souvenir's.

I called Andy right away and told him we were staying at The Animal Kingdom lodge and he was so excited since that was the place we really wanted to stay, but did not think it was possible. Disney sent us itineraries and fun little things for the kids, coupons to the game room and other places, free miniature golf, luggage tags and a video to get every one excited. I tell ya, I love working with Disney. Everything is so organized and went so well and smoothly. It is the perfect vacation for our gang. I don't know where they find their "castmates" but seriously from the lady I talked to book the vacation to the guy changing the trash bags, they are ALL SO DARN NICE! They must do something, maybe some sort of incentive or something, Andy and I would love to figure that out.

So after we arrived at our resort after being in our lovely bus ride with an awesome bus with our own personal tv's and such, the Kids and Andy went to the big five story window to look out to see if they could see any animals. When we pulled up I knew it was nice. It was going to be the nicest place we have ever stayed with out a doubt! I went to check us in. She asked my name and follows with you are going to love this to celebrate your family we upgraded you to our nicest room the two bedroom suite! I was going to love that and actually did love that very much. She gave me a fun little folder with everything we would need our "keys to the world"(cards that got us into our rooms, our meals and park tickets...see how nice and convenient they make everything?) and pointed the way. So we walked. And walked. And walked. The only problem with these suites is they are at the end of the hall. It seemed to take forever to walk there especially at 10 at night with five very tired little ones. Once you got there though, it was all worth it.

We walked in and could not believe our eyes. It was nice. I mean NICE. Like when celebrities visit Disney World they stay here kind of nice. We walked into the huge living area that was so awesomely decorated with an African Flair. The room had it all including huge french doors that opened up to our suite. The bed was huge, the room was amazing the bathroom is indescribable. The shower itself was bigger than our entire bathroom. There were phones and tvs everywhere, nice big plush robes. Chocolates on the bed with Mickey Mouse made out of towels. It was all so nice. We could not believe it. The kids room was off the living area and had two queen beds again with chocolates on the pillows huge flat screen tvs, and huge lovely bathroom and big closets. It was SO nice. We had three balcony's looking off to the Savannah. Here we thought we would not even have a Savannah view and we probably had the best view of the resort now. There were always zebras and giraffes right out our balcony's almost looking close enough to touch. The kids could not get enough of it. The zoo will never be the same again! It was amazing. We sat on the balcony for a long time just admiring the view in amazement of how lucky we got.

After all the excited of the rooms our luggage was delivered and off to the 15,000 square foot pool we went. The kids loved it. Bennett, Jadeyn and Maddox could seriously live in the water. Cortland loves it, but his body temperature must not be able to take it because he always gets so cold and just shivers the whole time. Maddox's does a little too, but this kid does not let it stop him. We stayed at the pool for a while, then went to get a meal right at the restaurant right by the pool. Our resort had three restaurants, a gift shop and a little market. The food was great and had something for everyone, of course my kids are not picky at all, so it wasn't hard, but it was nice that they had a variety of things everywhere we went for the kids to chose from.

After dinner we went back up to our rooms, put the kids to bed and then Bennett, Andy and I all sat on the balcony for a while. It was just so neat. We felt so grateful for it all.

It was such a lovely place. We have said that there were a few other places we would like to try and stay at, but we are afraid to now after having such a nice place there and liking it so much! It was so great to come back to our rooms being all made up back to beautiful, fresh linens and vacuumed floors and more chocolates on the pillows every day. The kids loved that! They came by around 8 every night and did a turn down service. Normally we weren't there, but one time we were and the sweet lady just could not get over our family and had such a fun time talking with us. She kept saying are you sure they are all yours...pretty sure sweet thing and I have all the extra poundage to prove it!

Every morning we walked to the front of the resort and waited for the bus. There was a different bus that went to each park and came by about every ten minutes. It was awesome. They dropped us off right at the gates of the parks. With so many small children it was really all about convenience and they sure know how to do it. They had activities for the family to do every time of day and fun little nature walks to see the animals and learn more about them. It was so cool!

Although we did not spend enough time in our rooms, we loved every minute we did. I wish we could go back right now and stay forever. Seriously I do. Kudos to Mr. Walt Disney. You were a genius. We are happy we got to benefit from that!

PS...if you are wondering why I am up blogging at 3:52 am it is because this lovely month of June not only gave me a sweet ear infection going on for 2 weeks now, but now she has blessed me with a raging sore throat, or what some like to call strep throat...why? Tell me why? I just pray with all I got no one else gets it. I have only had a sore throat and an ear infection one other time in my life, what makes June so special to give me both of them right now?????

PSS...I love having a baby in the house...there is nothing better than that!

PSSS...why will blogger only let you upload five photos at a time?!?

PSSSS...{now it is getting ridiculous!} These pictures do not do the room or the animals justice. I did not do a very good job catching great shots.