A week's worth of Disney FUN in a day and a half! **Completed**

[alan_renfroe]

Hello and welcome to my 4th trip report! I was in Orlando for a conference Feb. 5-8, 2015 and I just had to get some Disney World time in! My DW and I took took 12 college students to a leadership conference held at the International Palms Resort on International Drive and, although we had a busy schedule, DW and I definitely found time to get in our time at Walt Disney World!

As the title suggests, we felt like we almost had a week's worth of fun in just over a day and a half!
The plan: On Thursday 2/5 we planned to arrive by lunch time and eat somewhere on Disney property. After getting checked into our rooms and registered for the conference that evening, DW and I had reservations at Sanaa for dinner that night. Friday 2/6 would be all day in the conference, but DW and I had reservations for dinner at Ohana. On Saturday 2/7, we had a free day, so DW and I had one day tickets with park hopper to Disney! So, with great excitement we set out on our adventure.

Not to get too far ahead of myself, but here is a picture of myself with the twelve students who were attending the conference! Most of them had never seen Disney World before:




So glad to have you along for the ride! The first chapter will be posted shortly!

 

[alan_renfroe]

A week's worth of Disney FUN in a day and a half:

Chapters:

Chapter 1: Arrival on Thursday, February 5, 2015 - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...ld-in-a-day-and-a-half.3383170/#post-53131103
Chapter 2: Monorail Tour and Checking-In - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...ld-in-a-day-and-a-half.3383170/#post-53136540
Chapter 3: Dinner at Sanaa - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...un-in-a-day-and-a-half.3383170/#post-53143477
Chapter 4: More pictures from the beautiful Animal Kingdom Lodge's Kidani Village - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...un-in-a-day-and-a-half.3383170/#post-53158228
Chapter 5: Friday, February 6, 2015 - Boats, Buses, and Resort Hopping! - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...a-day-and-a-half.3383170/page-2#post-53220464
Chapter 6: Dinner at Ohana, Feb. 6, 2015 - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...half-updated-3-9.3383170/page-2#post-53234080
Chapter 7: PARK #1 - Animal Kingdom - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...alf-updated-3-11.3383170/page-2#post-53252427
Chapter 8: PARK #2 - Disney's Hollywood Studios - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...alf-updated-3-14.3383170/page-3#post-53262347
Chapter 9: PARK #3 - Magic Kingdom (part I) - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...alf-updated-3-16.3383170/page-3#post-53279142
Chapter 10: PARK #3 - Magic Kingdom (part II) - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...alf-updated-3-19.3383170/page-3#post-53295661
Chapter 11: PARK #4 - Epcot (part I) - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...alf-updated-3-21.3383170/page-4#post-53305350
Chapter 12: PARK #4 - Epcot (part II) - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...alf-updated-3-23.3383170/page-4#post-53326772

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Your last trip report was awesome, so I'm back for more!

 

[princessbelle2015]

Joining in. I read your last trip report and I look forward to this one

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi there Alan. Sounds like you experienced a lot of the great things from Disney in a short period of time. A day and a half is better than nothing right? Looking forward to hearing all about this one.

 

[alan_renfroe]

Your last trip report was awesome, so I'm back for more!

Thank you very much! Glad to have you along for my latest trip report! Even though it was fairly short, we got to see and do quite a bit!

Joining in. I read your last trip report and I look forward to this one

Cool, thanks for following along again! I'm looking forward to sharing this whirlwind of a trip!

Hi there Alan. Sounds like you experienced a lot of the great things from Disney in a short period of time. A day and a half is better than nothing right? Looking forward to hearing all about this one.

Hi emmysmommy! Yes, exactly! It was basically like a 'bonus' trip, seeing how it was an all-expenses-paid trip for me!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Chapter 1: Arrival on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015

We actually began our journey the night before and drove to Tifton, Georgia, where we spent the night at the Comfort Inn & Suites at Exit 62 off I-75. This was a great place to stay for the evening! Very clean, under $100, free wifi in the rooms and a complimentary full breakfast.

On Thursday morning, we had breakfast, checked out, and was on the road by 8:30am.

The skies were cloudy and we were expecting rain up until about 1pm, and then it was expected to clear up.



We stopped one final time for gas before getting on the Florida Turnpike:





As expected, it was raining when we arrived, but the forecast looked very favorable for the rest of the weekend!

We finally arrived at WDW!



Since we had 12 students with us, most of whom had never seen Disney World, my plan was to show them around the world a bit before heading to our hotel for check-in. I devised what I thought was a great plan....and it worked out perfectly! We drove straight to the Contemporary Resort to have lunch.



The rain had just stopped!








We went in on the ground floor and took the elevator to the 4th floor. It was about 1pm and we all went to the Contempo Cafe (right next to Chef Mickey's) for lunch...my treat!











DW and I both ordered the Grilled Mahi Mahi Sandwich...the first of several meals at Disney World this week! It was delicious and for the price it was a great value!





After we finished our lunch, the group wanted to look around the Contemporary and shop a bit. I went to the observation deck to get my first glimpse of the Magic Kingdom and Cinerella's Castle for this trip:





Even though we knew we couldn't stay long, we enjoyed every second of just taking in the magical atmosphere of being on Disney property! Coming up next, we'll ride the monorails to see what we can see....and later, DW and I have dinner reservations at Sanaa!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Chapter 2: Monorail tour and checking in

After a great lunch at the Contempo Cafe, the group did a bit of shopping and exploring at the Contemporary Resort...





then we hopped on the monorail just sight-seeing around the World!





The off-season monorail stops were a bit different than what I was used to...anyway, the first stop from the Contemporary was the Magic Kingdom...so we got off to take some pictures!



Most of the students were pretty excited about this. This was like seeing Disney World without actually having to pay to see Disney World!

We had to make a few group photos in front of the Main Street Train Station at the Magic Kingdom!





After a few pictures, we hopped back onto the monorail and headed towards the Ticket & Transportation Area....we took a few pics along the way...










We took the monorail to the Ticket & Transportation Area, then switched to the Epcot monorail. The students got to see Epcot as we made the loop inside the park! We stayed on the monorail back to the TTA, then switched to the resort monorail. I had hoped we would get a chance to stop at the Poly so the students could see what a beautiful resort it was, but it was time for us to leave WDW to go and get checked into our hotel for the weekend and checked in for our conference.

The conference we attended was at the International Palms Resort on International Drive, and that's where we would be staying. It was within walking distance to Wet N' Wild (not that it mattered in early February.) Our check-in process was relatively smooth and we even got checked into the conference pretty easily...everything seemed to be going just great. Our assigned rooms would be in the 'tower'. Okay, whatever. DW and I were assigned to a room on the 11th floor of the tower...a suite with a king bed! Everything sounded great....



and then we approached the elevators to take us to the 11th floor....

Oh my gosh...the elevator situation was absolutely terrible. The 'tower' had three elevators; only one of them was working and it made strange noises. It was really really bad. We kept making references to the 'out of order' elevator situation on The Big Bang Theory! Clearly, this place was really OLD and unkept. I took several pictures of the elevator situation...







The one and only working elevator...and the up/down button had literally been ripped out of the wall...



Now I am soooooo wishing we would have stayed at a value-priced resort at Disney, and just commuted into the conference each day. The tower had a nice courtyard view, but there was no ceiling! It may look nice, but with no ceiling this was all outdoors....in February....so it was cold just outside our front door.





The room itself was not too bad. The TV was an old tube-style TV, but it was relatively clean. The mattress was cheap and uncomfortable, and the towels were very very flimsy and cheap. But the view of International Drive from the room was very nice! To the left, you can see Wet N' Wild!



...and the view to the right...



It was now about 4:10pm. We had arrived at our resort, gotten checked in, got our packets for the conference (which would start at 7:30pm on this night), and got ready to go to our early dinner reservations at Sanaa at 5:30! Other than the sub-par resort (particularly the elevators), everything was going as planned!

Coming up next: our visit to the Animal Kingdom Lodge...and our first time dining at Sanaa!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Loading pics for next chapter now!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Chapter 3: Dinner at Sanaa

It was Thursday afternoon, February 5th. After getting checked-in at our resort, DW and I drove back to Disney property for our 5:30pm reservation at Sanaa. We had never eaten here before but have wanted to for a long time. In fact, we had reservations for Sanaa on our trip this past summer, but didn't get to make it. The conference I was attending began at 7:30pm, so we had a couple of hours.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom lodge and drove over to Kidani Village. I had never been to this part of the resort before...and it is beautiful! We took a few pictures on our way in...






We checked in at Sanaa around 5:10pm.



We were given a beeper, so we walked outside to look around. It was stunning!







We weren't waiting long...within 3 or 4 minutes our beeper went off and we were seated.







This restaurant is absolutely beautiful!



Even the ceiling is cool!



We began our meal by ordering the Bread Service with all 9 accompaniments.



Sooooo, Soooo Good! It's only a couple of dollars more to get all nine accompaniments than just ordered the three...and in my opinion it was well worth it. We got to sample so many delicious flavors! Both of us liked the Spicy Jalapeno Lime Pickle best, even though it was the hottest. The taste was just outstanding!





We also ordered the Salad Trio...



All three of these salads were super fresh and very delicious!

We almost filled up on just the salads and the bread! Instead of ordering an entree, we decided to split the Appetizer for Two as our main course.





It was very good also, particularly the Lamb Sliders with the slaw! Everything was just great!

We considered having dessert, but we were both full. We got the check and even with a 20% tip we had dinner for $43! This was definitely a great dining experience and the service was great also.

Coming up next...enjoying a lovely sundown at Kidani Village!

 

[KathyM2]

Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing how you packed a lot into 1 1/2 days...that is exactly how much time I'm going to be there for in March. It's better than nothing I know...and I'm lucky to have even that but...I know it will leave me wanting so much more.

 

[accountingbabe08]

Looking forward to reading more

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Great choice to have lunch at Contempo Café. I went there for the first time last fall, and it immediately became my new favorite counter service restaurant at WDW. I had the turkey sandwich with green apples and honey mustard, with side of cole slaw. Did anyone in your group get that?

Bummer about your offsite hotel being in disrepair and with flimsy towels. With your convention rate, did this hotel cost much less than the WDW value resorts?

Remembering your story from last year about getting sick waiting out in the sun too long on your last day and having to skip Sanaa, it's good that you guys finally got to try it!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing how you packed a lot into 1 1/2 days...that is exactly how much time I'm going to be there for in March. It's better than nothing I know...and I'm lucky to have even that but...I know it will leave me wanting so much more.

It will definitely leave you wanting more!!! But if you can have one FULL day with a park hopper, you'd be amazed at what you can see and do!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Looking forward to reading more

Great to have you along for the trip report! I'll post the next chapter soon!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Great choice to have lunch at Contempo Café. I went there for the first time last fall, and it immediately became my new favorite counter service restaurant at WDW. I had the turkey sandwich with green apples and honey mustard, with side of cole slaw. Did anyone in your group get that?

Bummer about your offsite hotel being in disrepair and with flimsy towels. With your convention rate, did this hotel cost much less than the WDW value resorts?

Remembering your story from last year about getting sick waiting out in the sun too long on your last day and having to skip Sanaa, it's good that you guys finally got to try it!

I had never eaten at the Contempo Cafe, but researching the menu it looked like a great option....and it was a big hit! I will definitely go back again! And you are right...it was one of the best Quick Service restaurants we've ever been to on property! My grilled mahi-mahi sandwich was like $10....a great value!

 

[dixonsontour]

Everything at sanaa looks great - more than can be said for your offsite hotel elevators!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Everything at sanaa looks great - more than can be said for your offsite hotel elevators!

Yes, Sanaa was fantastic! What's funny is that my DW and I, when we left Sanaa, were both like..."I can't believe we've got to leave Disney and go back to that horrible place!"

 

[alan_renfroe]

Chapter 4: More pictures from the beautiful Animal Kingdom Lodge's Kidani Village

After a wonderful dinner at Sanaa, the sun was just setting and we went outside to enjoy the beautiful wildlife at Animal Kingdom Lodge's Kidani Village:























After a wonderful date night, it was time to go back to our resort...and my conference started at 7:30pm and ran until 10pm.

Coming up next: Friday night's dinner at Ohana! And later, on Saturday, we will attempt to do all four Disney parks in one day!

 

[KathyM2]

Wow....all 4 parks in a day...that's very ambitious...especially on a Saturday...looking forward to reading about it! Great pics of AKL!