Day 3, Part 1: Goodbye Boardwalk, Hello Animal Kingdom Lodge!

​I tried to sleep in this morning since the previous night had been so late, we didn’t get home until about 12:45, and then took a bit to wind down before heading to bed, so I was annoyed that I was awake by 7:30.

The one downside to the room in the Boardwalk is the window coverings didn’t do a great job blocking the light, so once the morning light started to stream in, I was awake.

I took a quick shower and dried my hair before checking in with my parents to see what they wanted to do.

They had already gone to breakfast, but offered to join me again, so we all headed out to the lounge.

This morning they had a quiche and bacon, the quiche was really good, but the bacon seemed undercooked, it was just kind of soggy. I also got a few glasses of POG juice, and a few cups of coffee. We hung out in the lounge for a while enjoying the food and drinks.

Finally, we headed back to the room to pack and just enjoy some more time in the room. We absolutely loved that room, I would stay in it every single trip if I could!

Around 10:15 we decided it was time to check out our next hotel, so headed downstairs and called for an Uber.

We got a car quickly, and soon were pulling into the Animal Kingdom Lodge!

Once inside we headed to the front desk to check in. I was surprised when the woman checking us in went through the entire check-in process and didn’t bring us upstairs. We get to the point where we’re all checked in, and still no mention of club level, so I finally ask if we could go up to the lounge.

I actually feel bad, the cast members face totally fell when she realized that she missed that we were staying club level. She apologized profusely, and brought us over to bell services to drop off our stuff and then took us upstairs to transfer us to the club level cast members.

Once upstairs we chatted a bit with the cast members up there, we loved the club level cast members at Animal Kingdom Lodge, they were so amazing. One of our favorites was Rachel, she always seemed to be there and was so helpful!

Since we’d already completed the check-in downstairs, the cast members started going through the daily offerings with us and mentioned that they have sangria, to which both my mom and I perked up and one of us said “oh really? Sangria?” The CM asked if we would like one right then, and of course we said yes, nothing wrong with drinking at 10:40 in the morning on vacation!

We settled into a table in the lounge to wait for the drinks to come out. It was so nice being able to hang out there even though it was between food services, especially since our room wasn’t ready yet. While sitting there another cast member brought over our welcome gift.

We ended up hanging out there for a while, during which time the lunch/snacks service started, so we grabbed some bites to eat, and took some pictures.

We also spent a ton of time chatting with the cast members up there, they were all so amazing and just fun. One, who’s real name I either forgot or never picked up, was wearing a borrowed name tag, Odin, and she was hilarious. She also gave the most ridiculous wine pours. Just before heading out of the lounge I asked if I could get wine to go, so she went back to grab some for me, and came back carrying a plastic cup filled to the brim. I thought she accidentally got me a beer, but nope, she just forgot to stop pouring.

(this is after having a few sips!)

I made a mental note to find “Odin” every time I wanted a drink!