ADP - Live From Disney World

[ADP]

Sunday. April 6th Morning

Hi Everyone,

We've checked into Old Key West. Here's an update to this mornings activities.

The weather has turned sour this afternoon. It started raining at about 1:30PM and has continued until now.

We started our morning at the Mara again for a light breakfast. After we finished breakfast we went back to our room at AKL for the last time. I called Bell Services to come pick up our luggage and have it transferred to Old Key West.

For those of you who split your stay between resorts this is the best way to get your luggage from one resort to the other. Just keep in mind you may beat your luggage to your next resort. Our luggage did not arrive at Old Key West until 2:45PM. It was funny, but when we were checking in we saw our luggage being unloaded from the AKL van. Anna saw it and yelled "THERE'S OUR LUGGAGE!!" Thanks for announcing it for the whole lobby to hear.

Anyway, we arrived at Hollywood Studios just after it opened around 9:15AM. The park was not crowded at all yet.

Here's a shot of some cement patchwork drying alongside of Hollywood Blvd. As you can see Hollywood Blvd was not very crowded yet.

Attractions we experienced this morning were The Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Muppets 3-D, Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show. and Honey I Shrunk the Playground. The wait times we experienced were minimal. None longer than 15 minutes.

We also caught the High School Musical 2 Pep Rally.

We also saw Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable.

One of the hidden treasures of the Studios is this umbrella commemorating "Singing in the Rain" near the Streets of America. If you stand underneath it, it begins to rain...Honestly!

Also, the old ABC theater still has the construction walls up. This will be the theater used for the new American Idol attraction scheduled to open in 2009.

For lunch today we chose to dine at the Backlot Express. Let me just say the food at this counter service restaurant is very delicious. In my opinion its the best counter service food at the Studios. I had the Turkey & Swiss sandwich with french fries and a sugar free strwberry parfait for dessert. I apologize, but I got more than half way through the sandwich before I realized I needed to snap a picture. Trust me, it was very good!

The bread is toasted and I believe it is a wheat bread. The sugar free strawberry parfait was also very good and very refreshing. I highly recommend this place for quick service dining at the Studios. It is themed like a studio backlot with several props around the restaurant you would see used in a movie set.

So, that's it for now. Quite honestly, I'm not sure we are going to make it to Tutto Italia tonight due to the weather. We may end up cancelling and trying to dine here at Old Key West. I may try and get a last second reservation at Olivia's; which is the sit down restaurant here at the resort.

I'll be back later for another report.

 

[beachwarmer]

Hope the weather improves and you can make it over to Epcot.

 

[ADP]

How are the crowds?

The crowds have been predictable meaning they've been typical during Spring Break. The mornings and evenings have not been bad at all with wait times from 5 to 15 minutes before 11:00AM and 10 to 30 minutes after 9:00PM. Between 11:00AM and 9:00PM all bets are off. Wait times could be anywhere from 30 minutes to 80 minutes depending on the popularity of the attraction.

Great trip report Aaron!!! We got back late last night and I've been catching up on all the pages I missed. Hope you enjoy OKW as much as we did during our last visit.

Thanks Lisa! Hope you had a great time at Disneyland. We'll take some photos of the resort and post them.

Thanks for doing this!!

You're welcome! More to come.

Sounds like another great day!! Nice report and keep it up!! BTW, love Anna's facepaint!!

Thanks! It was a very nice job by the facepaint artist. It was done at the Outpost in World Showcase.

How is the weather (besides the rain)... is it really hot?

The rain hasn't been too bad until today. It was only short bursts, but today its been steady. The temps have been very nice....Low 80s, and some high 70s with lows in the 60s.

I cant wait to hear about Tutu Italia (sp) and see some pics of OKW my boss always tells me to stay there. I will be curious to hear all about it.

Let me apologize if we don't make it to EPCOT for Tutto Italia to those looking foward to a report. Looking out the window in our villa it doesn't look promising. Olivia's looks much more possible tonight.

 

[WDWBetsy]

Another great update! Stay dry and please... eat a Mickey bar for me!!!

 

[ADP]

Sunday, April 6th Evening

It appears Central Florida has turned into a rain forest at least until tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to EPCOT for our Tutto Italia ADR. Instead we decided to stay close to home and dine at Olivia's here at Old Key West.

We are staying in a 1 bedroom unit in the Old Turtle Pond section of the resort. For those of you who have not stayed here before the accomodations are the largest on Disney World property. I honestly think we could live here, you know, like our residence. The units are that big, spacious and comfortable.

We headed over to the Hospitality House (main building/check-in for the resort. We stopped in to Community Hall to check out what was available for rent. I saw a group of pool lifeguards passing the time. Since it was raining and the pool was closed they may have had the easiest job on property at the time.

It was now time for our reservation at Olivia's so we headed over to the restaurant to check in. I must first say the staff at Olivia's are very friendly. It was apparent they went out of their way to be cordial, talkative, and courteous throughout our meal.

Front enterance to Olivia's

The theme of the restaurant is nautical with several nautical artifacts hanging on the walls. The restaurant serves different styles of poultry, fish and beef dishes.
Here's a photo of some of the decor in the restaurant.

Before we ordered our food our waitress, Katie, brought out some pina colada bread to our table. This bread was to die for. I never tasted anyting like it...Very delicious.
Here's a photo of the bread. It looks like ordinary bread from the outside, but it tasted unique and wonderful.

The menu has 8 or 9 main entrees to choose from. There is also a special of the day not listed. Kim chose the special of the day which was breaded chicken with hollinday sauce and mashed potatos and string beans. I chose the 10oz new york strip steak with Olivia's au grautin potatos. We all agreed the food was very good. My steak was cooked perfectly.
Here's a photo of my entree.

For dessert I had the chocolate Mousse cake and Kim had the New York cheesecake with berries. Again both were very good. Kim's cheescake was a very large portion. I kept referring to it as "the hunk of cheesecake!". It was huge and delicious.
Here's a photo of her cheesecake.

Here's my chocolate mousse cake

Our total cost for the 3 of us was $65.45. Since we were on the dining plan we used 3 table service credits.

After dinner Kim went back to the room via the internal resort bus. Anna and I chose to head back to community hall for a couple games of air hockey. On our way to the bus depot I took a photo of the breezeway at the Hospitality House (main building).

Rain was abundant this afternoon and this evening. Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day.

Next up
Ohana character breakfast
The Magic Kingdom
Time with some friends
And who knows what else

 

[checkwriter]

Aaron, I have to say that I'm really enjoying your trip report! Thanks for taking the time to share your family's vacation with us. I'll cross my fingers for better weather for the remainder of your stay . . . maybe a little pixie dust will help.

 

[ShesAPirate]

I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying your report! I've never read a report as the trip was happening before, and I love it. I hope you're enjoying writing it as much as we're all enjoying reading it -- seems like it would be a nice way to unwind at the end of a hectic Disney day. I believe my laptop will be joining me in December!

 

[Paul in CT]

Too bad about the rain, but it looks like you made the best of it. My DW and I always enjoy Olivia's. I think that it is often underrated. The desserts looked great!

I agree about being able to live in the 1BR at OKW. When we traveled with our "kids", Turtle Pond was our favorite section because of the proximity of the quiet pool and the nearby Turtle Shack. I hope the weather cooperates for you tomorrow.

Great trip reports and photos! Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

[dvc at last !]

I am enjoying reading your report.
Too bad it is doing all that raining.
I especially am enjoying seeing the pics at OKW - my fav !
Where is your building ?
Your meals look very good, too !
Glad you daughter's b-day was grand !

Waiting for more, more, more .....................

 

[ADP]

Hi Everyone,

We are up after sleeping in a bit this morning. We will be heading to the Polynesian for a character breakfast at Ohana. Looking out the window this morning I see some sunshine and ITS NOT RAINING!

We are going to try and make it to the Magic Kingdom after breakfast. We will be having breakfast with some friends from our home town. It should be an interesting breakfast since I believe our party will consist of 10 people. It should be a festive table. I think Mickey, Lilo & Stitch maybe ganged up on!

I'll post some pictures of our room this evening.

The Magic Kingdom has evening Extra Magic Hours tonight. That means the park will be open until 2:00AM . We may come back to our room this afternoon for some sack time if we decide to try and make it past midnight. Thinking about it is one thing, but actually doing it something totally different.

More to come!

 

[Verandah Man]

Great report and am enjoying all the photos!!!

 

[Harley-Mouse]

Thank you for taking the time to post daily. The photos are great. We will be down in July first stay at AKV & SSR Our home resort is BCV.what did you think about the laugh floor?

 

[bcvdreamer]

ADP, I love the live trip report and pics.

Thanks and enjoy the rest of your vacation.

 

[tinkbutt]

lovin this report glad you have some sunshine today!!

 

[3DisneyKids]

Thanks again, Aaron!

Ah, the pics of OKW bring me back!

 

[ADP]

Monday, April 7th

Hi Everyone,

We are back from our Ohana character breakfast. We were going to go the Magic Kingdom, but when we saw the crowds leaving the monorail and at the gates of the Magic Kingdom we decided to come back to the resort and go to the pool. We will also be going to the Saratoga Springs pool later and then to Downtown Disney.

We took the bus from Old Key West to the Magic Kingdom and then jumped on the resort monrail around to the Polynesian.

Our breakfast was very good this morning. The food and service were top notch. Ohana's character breakfast is served family style. They bring the food out to you on a skillet and serve some of it individually. Our waitress brought separate plates of fruit out to our table and a bucket of mickey waffles as well.

The scrambled eggs were soft, warm, and fluffy. The pineapple was very tasty. The character interaction was very good. This is the second time we've expereinced this character breakfast and both times have been very favorable. I would highly suggest trying this breakfast. The characters were Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto.

Before you are seated you take a picture with your group for potential purchase later during your meal. I'm glad they don't force you to buy it like at Norway (Akershus) and the castle meals.

Here are some photos from this morning.

The crowd going into the Magic Kingdom. Very large today. Probably since tonight is Evening EMH, last night's Pirate & Princess party closed the park early, and the rainy weather yesterday.

Polynesian landscape in and near the lobby

Ohana Signage

Our table of 10. Everyone receives a leigh when they check in.

Hula Mickey and the children from our table. I guess I'm just a kid at heart because I jumped in as well.

The children get to parade around the restaurant with the characters during certain times of the meal.

The firepit at Ohana is used to cook meats for dinner. It is one of the largest firepits in the world.

Here's a picture from the window of Ohana looking towards Cinderella castle and the Magic Kingdom with the Polynesian volcano pool on the side.

The new Kingdom Towers (Contemporary DVC) from afar. It sure is coming along quickly.

And finally a shot of our building number 38 in Turtle Pond

All in all it was a great morning with family, friends, and even characters!

I'll be back later with some photos of our room, the pool, Downtown Disney and Saratoga Springs.

 

[tinkbutt]

wow you guys are like me really moving around the WDW I took my Dbf down to disney in 06 I made him walk so much he said it was like getting a butt lift. LOL

anyway glad to see your having a good time keep up the good work and its always a good thing to be able to recognize the kid in yourself!!!!

 

[carelo]

I'm so glad to hear the rain has stopped. I love O'hana, but I've never been there for a character meal. I'll have to try it.

 

[annie1995]

What a great report!!! I love the pictures!! Can't wait for more!!!

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I love the report, Aaron, but I have to say...MK did NOT look that crowded to me in your pics. Maybe I'm just used to it a lot busier.