Part 3
“Not all those who wander are lost” – JRR Tolkien
Just in case you’ve forgotten, when we left off, I had just arrived at the Orlando airport! Since this is already part 3, and I’m just now getting off the freaking plane, I promise to try to speed things up a little!
I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried just about every kind of transportation there is from MCO to WDW. I’ve taken Mears busses and vans, I’ve hailed taxies, I’ve hired Tiffany Towncar drivers, and even rented tame flying monkeys to carry me to my hotel. (Okay, so one of those is a lie. You know I’d never take a taxi!) This trip, however, I was experiencing a whole new option in transportation- I had a friend to pick me up! My superhero, Airport Transport Girl (You can call her Kiki, if you like), was sitting in her car just outside of baggage claim when I got there! With a swish of her superhero cape, she helped me load my stuff into the trunk, and we were off! No squinting around for some guy holding a sign with my name! No forking over money that could be better spent on Mickey-shaped rice krispy treats or Kungalooshes just for a spot on a bus that I’d have to wait 20 minutes for! No making uncomfortable conversation with whoever was driving me! I was free! I was having a great time listening to good music and talking to my friend that I hadn’t seen in a while, and flipping through all of my stuff in my Passporter to figure out which area the All Star Resorts were in so that we would know where to turn (They’re Animal Kingdom resorts, FYI! I would have totally guessed MGM.) and bouncing with excitement as we passed various landmarks (LOOK! There’s the Earful Tower at MGM!), and talking about what I was going to do this week and…. Getting Lost. Somehow, the well-lit, purple directional sign-lined, Disney-paved street had turned… scary! It was dark, and there were no signs, and we were pretty sure that we were in Canada, or at least somewhere scary like Universal!
“Well…” I pondered, “Maybe we’re still going the right way? I mean, it’s an Animal Kingdom resort, and AK is kind of separated from the rest of the park…”
“Or maybe we completely missed our turn?” Super-Kiki asked, making a u-turn. In a minute, we were back on the brightly-lit Disney roads, and AH HAH! There was a sign pointing to the exit for Animal Kingdom resorts! Tip For Those Driving: Don’t get distracted by the Earful Tower. The turn for AK Resorts is RIGHT after it, and it whooshes by really fast!
Kiki dropped me off, and sped off into the night to take care of her various other Superhero Duties, and I went to check in. Part of the beauty of arriving after midnight is that there is never any line at check-in!
“I see you requested a room with a King bed?” the check-in chick asked. Um, no, I hadn’t, but King beds are lots of fun when you’re by yourself (You get to do that greedy “Muahahah, I am taking up this WHOLE bed” thing where you stretch your arms and legs out as far as possible. Or maybe that’s just me.) Of course, in taking the King Bed option, you forfeit the benefits of the two Queens that solo travelers get (Those of course are a) a bed to stick all your junk on, and b) morning workout of hopping back and forth between the beds- the more exciting version of jumping on the bed!)
I would be in Jazz Building 9, in 3rd floor room 9641 this trip. I was in Jazz Building 2 last time, and loved the location, so this sounded good to me!
Cute Key Holder Photo:
It was after 2am when I finally got to my room, as you can see by the clock in one of the room photos below.
Welcome to room 9641!
I still had way too much energy to think about sleeping, so I dropped my stuff in my room, and went out to walk around the resort for a while.
The color-changing Jazz Guy rocks!
I wandered past most of the buildings, noticing that a few had Christmas lights up in the windows- cute! I also love how everything is themed to the area, down to these lantern-type lampposts in the Country area.
And check out the detail here! The plant imprint in the sidewalk matches the plant nearby! One of those little Disney touches
Does anyone know what happened to the yellow cab that used to be parked on the street near the Broadway buildings? I loved how it added to the theme, but it was gone this trip!
It had been something like 10 hours since I’d eaten, so I went back up to the vending machines near my room to look for food. I really wish that the food courts were open 24 hours! There was a soda machine on the 3rd floor, but no food, so I got a bottle of water from the soda machine. ($2.50 for a TINY bottle! I think it was 10oz or so). After nearly starving to death after arriving on my last trip, I had thought ahead this time, and had NutriGrain bars and some crackers back in my room. By the time I finished my snack, it was 3:30am, so I set a 6:50am wakeup call, and fell asleep.
(Additional midnight snack from the airline. Yum!)