Our Cheap Disney Vacation

One Year Later: Was Our Cheap Disney Vacation Worth the Money?

2011-04-25T19:26:00.000-04:00

Here’s a question for you. What has been your all time most fun vacation? And compared to your other vacations, which was the best value for your money?

We were discussing this just the other day. Not including visiting the family for holidays, we’ve been on a couple vacations. We’ve done the following:

10 day trip playing tourist in New York City ~$1200
7 day Carnival Cruise down the Mexican Riviera ~$1700
7 day Carnival Cruise to the Bahamas ~$1700
6 day Disney World Vacation ~$1500

New York was the cheapest, however we were crashing at a friend’s place, so lodging was free. We ice skated in Rockefeller Center, were in live audiences for TV shows, ate great pizza, and went to the top of the Empire State building. Very cool trip, great pictures, and awesome memories.

The Mexican Riviera Carnival cruise was really fun, we did zip lining through the jungle, ate great unlimited food, and it was relaxing.

The Bahamas Carnival cruise was also relaxing. We caught the comedy shows, laid out on picturesque beaches. Lovely.

At Disney we had an adrenaline rush every day going on rides like Rockin’ Roller Coaster or Expedition Everest. We looked at giraffes through night vision goggles at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We ate Dole Whips, Chocolate Crescents, and Tonga Toast to name just a few. We learned why Fatima is such a popular name while visiting the Morocco Pavilion. We saw Tinkerbell fly, cheered for our favorite singer at Disney’s American Idol Experience, and kept our hands up the WHOLE time on the drop down Splash Mountain. And this paragraph could actually be extended into multiple pages of all the fun stuff we did.

But what was the best? We narrowed it down to our cheap New York trip and our cheap Disney trip. In New York we were sleeping on an air mattress (which we were very grateful for since it was free). At Disney we were at a luxurious vacation resort, Animal Kingdom Lodge. In New York we saw a bunch of sites. However they were not as thrilling nor as jam-packed as our cheap Disney days. So we felt the difference in 300 dollars was well worth it.

After we started chatting about it, Disney really was the clear winner for best money spent on a vacation for us. It was truly a cheap Disney vacation and was wildly, awesomely, super fun!

We want to go back!

Which reminds us, we need to download the most up to date copy of Beth Haworth’s Ultimate Disney Guide to see some of her other money saving and fun increasing tips. (Remember that once you buy it online, you have unlimited access to any future updates.)

Disney Lost and Found: Our Personal Experience

2010-06-18T14:27:00.000-04:00

Remember how we listed our Orioles hats on our Essential Supply List? Well, it is the easiest supply to lose. On practically every thriller-ish ride we went on, we had to keep reminding each other to remember our hats when getting off. And we did fairly well until…

Wednesday night. Coming home. My husband realized his cute Orioles hat was gone.

Thankfully we remembered that he left it on Rockin’ Roller Coaster about an hour before park closing.

Tip: Remember the time and what ride you lost your item on. It will help you get it back.

The next morning, we went to Guest Services between shows at Hollywood Studios. The friendly cast member explained that all Lost and Found items go to the Theme Parks Lost and Found at the end of each day. Since we lost the hat the day before, that’s where it hopefully was.

Tip: You can call the main Lost and Found at 407-824-4245

When it was convenient for our schedule, we took the monorail over to the Ticket and Transportation Center. The Lost and Found is on the other side of the ticketing counters, opposite the boat landing to get to Magic Kingdom. Look for the Kennel Building signs.

My husband stood in line while I talked to a nice lady with 2 adorable Westies. Triumphantly, my husband waved his Orioles hat in the air.

“Disney has this down to a science, I gave him the time and place I lost my hat, and poof, there it was.”

I guess even the Lost and Found has some Disney Magic.

Parking at Disney

2010-06-18T14:22:00.001-04:00

My husband’s 1st experience with Disney was…the parking lot. And he was amazed. Disney parking lots can hold A LOT of cars.

We prefer walking to the cars rather than using the tram. Fortunately, we usually were able to park so close to the gates that walking wasn’t a problem. You will be especially grateful if you can forgo the experience of wedging yourself next to a very overweight, sunburned, rather sullen woman and just walk to your car.

Here are some tips for successful parking at Disney:

1. Arrive 30 minutes before park opens. You will most likely get a spot close to the entrance. Disney will have the trams running, because that is just what they do in parking lots. But most of the time we found it is faster to walk.

2. If you arrive in the afternoon, drive as close to the entrance as possible. The Disney vacationers who got there 1st thing in the morning are probably pooped out by now. They left. And their parking spots are open! Yay!

3. Make sure you don’t forget your parking spot. Use your cell phone to text yourself your section and lane. Don’t be that family that needs to ride around with security looking for your car. Can I get a wha-wha for Dopey 110!

4. Do you know how many black sedans are in a Disney parking lot? Have an orange ribbon around your antenna or on your rear view mirror to make it easy to spot.

5. If you are at Hollywood Studios in the morning and doing World Showcase in the afternoon, try using the boats so you don’t have to park at Epcot and walk all the way through Future World to get to the World Showcase.

Review of Tour Guide Mike

2010-06-18T14:08:00.002-04:00

What possessed me to try it?

Ok, so you might be judging us right now. Why would a couple who is concerned about their tight Disney budget spring $21.95 for an online service? Remember that we had already purchased Beth Haworth's Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide which saved us over $1400 in lodging. Well, online Disney experts really do give good money saving advice.

We decided to try it because $21.95 was only 1.5% of our budget. On Tour Guide Mike’s website he promises no long lines or huge crowds on your Disney Vacation.

We reasoned that if we could even save ourselves two hours of waiting in line, this service would pay for itself. That’s because our two hour cost of being in the park was more than $21.95.

You see, I’ve experienced the enormous-crush-all-hope-of-fun-again Disney lines. I’ve waited 90 minutes to ride Splash Mountain. It’s awful. And my husband has a hard time when he gets stuck in traffic. And he had never been to Disney World before. I knew my husband and long lines was not going to be a good combination on our Disney vacation.

So we bought it. My husband thought it was a bit silly but he humored me since I have some more Disney experience.

What we found on the site

Tour Guide Mike could have sold a book with all the information on his site. It can be a bit overwhelming. We’d recommend setting aside a morning or afternoon to sift through the different information. Here are some highlights of what we found.

General Park Strategies: Tour Guide Mike does a really great job setting up a framework for you to plan your vacation. It’s obvious he’s a pro at park touring because he incorporates firework shows, how tired you will be, and Florida heat into the mix.

Least Crowded Park Days: This is our most favorite feature of the site. This is also why Tour Guide Mike works a million times better than a book. You can find customized plans for when you will actually be at Disney. He updates them complete with park opening and closing times and lets you know when big parades and fireworks shows will happen. He also gives his reasoning for why the Magic Kingdom will be super crowded one day and not the next. This list was EXTREMELY helpful. You can bet we planned to go to the least crowded parks.

Sample Touring Plans: This is another section we found quite helpful. Mike put together touring plans for each park. Not only that, he has touring plans for thrill seekers, families with little guys, and adults who aren’t interested in thrillers. We wanted to go on all the thrillers, so we found a plan that fit perfectly for us.

Seating: Tour Guide Mike also has detailed reviews of EVERY attraction at Walt Disney World. Included in these reviews are where to sit. For example, Mike explains what to do if you don’t want to get wet on a ride or if you want to have the best view of the fireworks show.

That’s just a smattering of what Tour Guide Mike’s website offers. We felt like it was excellent preparation of what to expect in the parks from crowd levels to rides to food.

How we utilized it on our vacation

We printed out over 100 front and back pages of information from Tour Guide Mike. We were not expecting to have internet at Disney. So we had a rough idea of what we were doing on what days, but that was it.

The night before we went to a park, we set aside 30 minutes to review what we were going to do the next day. We looked at the sample touring plan that best fit us, read over the rides we wanted to ride and came up with an ordered list of how we would hit everything with minimal wait times.

Did it work?

ABSOLUTELY! Longest wait time was 15 minutes.

My husband was spoiled. After spending a successful morning at Hollywood Studios, we were walking out to get lunch. We walked by Toy Story Mania and the wait time was 80 minutes.

“Are people seriously waiting that long?!?!”
“Yes honey they are. That’s how most families experience Disney. My family did the same thing.”
“Wow. Tour Guide Mike is good!”

Seriously.

Tour Guide Mike. You rock!

Review of Beth Haworth's Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide

2010-06-18T13:39:00.007-04:00

The Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide (DisGuide)

Why I decided to buy

My husband said he would take me anywhere I wanted after I graduated from grad school. I chose Disney World. And since he had never been and I had been about 2 dozen times, the planning fell mostly on me. And I was happy to do it because I love Disney!

Problem: I always went as a kid and never planned a trip. I’m an adult now. I have to do all the planning. YIKES!

Solution: Do some research.

In fact, I started to do research for this Disney vacation 18 months before we left. And I got overwhelmed. Big time. Wowza! There is so much information on Disney vacations. You may even be overwhelmed reading what little we wrote for this site. When I started researching I realized I needed to pin down what dates were best to go, if it was better to stay on Disney property or off Disney property, whether we wanted a dining plan or not, and if so where to go to make reservations, what shoes were best to wear, figure out what the heck Toy Story Mania was because everyone on the internet talks about it, whether we should fly or drive in, ahhh!!!

Enter the DisGuide.

My favorite features of Beth Haworth’s Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide

Confession: This was my first e-book purchase ever. I wasn’t sure what to expect but a few features helped quell any misgivings.

-Full refund if you aren’t satisfied. Suh-weet.
-Exclusive discount on Disney World tickets. This alone made up for the price of the e-book.
-Constantly updated. As of 7/20/2011, it was 141 pages.
-Lifetime Access. Some e-books only have the download page available for a day or so. Not so with The Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide. You will always have access.

How it helped us

This guide is no joke. When I first downloaded her e-book, it yielded a 140 page document chocked full of most everything you need to plan a Disney vacation. The only thing that was lacking was how to physically tour around the parks. For information on that I recommend checking out Tour Guide Mike. Overall this guide was extremely useful for major Disney vacation purchases - or in other words, lodging and tickets.

Lodging: Beth Haworth is extremely comprehensive with all the lodging options. And she explains many cheap Disney resort stay options. Of the Disney lodging options she reviews, we chose to rent from a Disney Vacation Club Member. However, she also includes special offers to some off-site Disney resorts with discounts!

Discount tickets: She also does a fantastic job explaining ticketing at Walt Disney World. We bought our tickets from one of her recommended discount Disney World ticket vendors and saved some money. We also didn’t have to waste precious time while we were at Disney buying our tickets.

Very up-to-date: Disney changes their ticket and lodging prices often. Beth has up-to-date charts on the exact pricing of tickets at the time of download.

Did it work?

Heck yes it did! It would’ve taken me ages to figure out how to stay in a Deluxe Disney Resort for cheap. We saved so much money on lodging and got a great value for our dollar. We also wouldn’t have found those cheap tickets either.

We highly recommend this guide for planning your cheap yet super fun Disney vacations.

Purchase Beth Haworth's Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide here.

Fun Disney Picture Ideas

2010-06-12T22:29:00.002-04:00

Pictures are some of the best souvenirs that you will take from Disney. So why not make them more fun! Here are some fun picture ideas that we loved.

Favorite Cast Members: We took the boat between Hollywood Studios and Epcot (See transportation article). We thought our boat operator was the dude. He could turn our boat on a dime! We decided to take a photo with him. From the look on his face, I think we made his day.

Jump Pictures: Nothing captures Disney fun like being suspended in mid-air. Need we say more?

Characters in Epcot: We were more interested in hitting rides than character greetings. However, the least crowded character greeting spot we saw was right near Club Cool in Epcot. First thing in the morning, Minnie and Donald were waiting for children to come up to them. How often does that happen?

Favorite Attractions: Disney World knows how to focus on the details. Even the signs in front of the rides are magical looking. My favorite ride is Rockin' Roller Coaster, so I got a picture right in front of the entrance. My husband's was Tower of Terror. What’s your favorite ride or show? Take a picture in front of the sign for it.

Animals on Safaris: It’s best for the group photographer to sit on the ends for Kilimanjaro Safari. Sometimes the animals are behind you, in front of you, or even right next to the truck! Take this rhino for example. It’s much easier to maneuver when there is no one between you and the animals.

Someone Else with Animals: We got a great shot with my husband and a giraffe. The giraffe looked right at the camera as I snapped the picture. There's only one rule when picture taking with animals...you are on the animal’s schedule. Move the human and the camera and you might just get lucky with a photogenic creature in the background. For great shots, visit Animal Kingdom Lodge and walk out onto the overlook area. It’s free!

The Art of the Ask: Most people are willing to take a photo of you and your group. It helps after you get the yes to give a quick tutorial on your camera. For instance my husband explained that pushing lightly auto-focuses the camera and pushing all the way takes the picture. Most impromptu photographers took nice pictures if they had an explanation of how the camera works.

The Iconic Classics: Cinderella Castle, Tree of Life, the geodesic dome (or that giant golf ball to most of us), and the Mickey Hat are must have pictures in my opinion. Capture the classic icon from each park.

Give Yourself a Disney Discount on Photos

2010-06-12T22:26:00.002-04:00

In our humble opinion, pictures are the BEST souvenirs you can get. Why is that? They have you and your family in it, they are help capture the memory, they’re fun, and best of all they’re CHEAP!

However, pictures at Disney can be expensive. Disney's PhotoPass for our family was just a little too pricey. Also, we didn’t see a lot of Disney PhotoPass photographers in the parks. Besides, it really is just cheaper to have a random person snap your picture.

Disney enjoys taking your money in another way - getting you to buy your ride pictures. A picture of you and your family of four on Rockin’ Roller Coaster will cost you $30. Yikes. We'd rather get a cool painting of Animal Kingdom Lodge for that price. Check out our Souvenir article for more ideas.

Alternatively, nothing stops you from taking a picture of your picture on screen. We did this for the pictures after Rockin' Roller Coaster, Expedition Everest, and Tower of Terror. Sure, they may be a bit grainy, but they still capture the fun! If you are worried about upsetting the Disney people, never fear. There are typically Disney Cast Members around the screens flashing after-ride pictures. Not one of the workers said anything to us.

Cheap and Free Ways to Raise Excitement for Your Disney Vacation

2010-06-12T22:18:00.002-04:00

The anticipation of going on a Disney vacation is part of the fun! For our trip in May 2010, I tried to do various things to help get my husband excited for his first Disney trip. I think it was successful and he appreciated the fun before our trip. Here are a couple of easy ideas you can do with your family.

Free Disney resort music online: I’m actually listening to some right now as I write this. Basically a couple of websites will stream Disney Music that was exclusively written as background music for the parks and fireworks show.

Disney Tunes Radio Network - I prefer to listen to the Theme Park Music Station
Sorcerer Radio
Live365 Radio – Search for Mouse World radio

Other Disney Music: As mentioned in our Supplies article, Pirates of the Caribbean was a great soundtrack to listen to. We originally rented it from the library. You may be surprised how much Disney music your local library has in stock. My mom also bought us a Disney CD for Christmas. That Bear Necessities song is classic! And it was a great morning song to get ready to.

Mousejunkies guide book: If you and your family have some downtime while driving, you'll love reading this book out loud together. We found it hilarious. It includes a little bit about everything, especially the parks, but more importantly it put us into the Disney spirit.

Documentary of Walt Disney: We rented Walt: The Man Behind the Myth on Netflix. We both appreciated how amazing the Disney Theme Park story was after learning about Mr. Disney himself. Oh and it’s narrated by Dick Van Dyke.

Watch some favorite Disney movies: Need I say more? Swiss Family Robinson, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Toy Story all make excellent primers for your Disney vacation.

Free maps mailed to you: The Disney company will mail you customized maps of what you’d like to see at the park. It's free! That’s a happy mailbox trip.

Ode to My Disney Cooling-off Device: My Fan

2010-06-12T22:11:00.002-04:00

Disney is hot. In the Paris Hilton sense of the word and literally.

Having been on Disney vacations before, I did not want to lug around one of those large spray bottle fans that they sell. It's so big that it needs to have a lanyard connected to it! Who really wants a large spray bottle hanging around your neck? Not I.

Because we were going on a fun, cheap Disney vacation my fan needed to fulfill 3 requirements. The link is for one that is similar, although it requires an extra battery than ours.

-Compact
-Effective
-Cheap

And we found this beauty for under 5 dollars at Walmart. Notice the carabineer for easy clipping to belt loops on jeans.

I wore this on my jeans at all times throughout our vacation. I didn’t feel it when I slid around my seat on Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom. I used it at 2:00 in the afternoon watching the Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show in Hollywood Studios. I sprayed my husband with it when he least expected it in Swiss Family Robinson Tree House.

This little baby only required 1 AA type battery and lasted us our whole vacation. And I laughed inside as some poor kid tried to lug around his humongous spray bottle fan.

The Top 10 Best Disney Experiences that No One Mentions

2010-06-12T22:08:00.002-04:00

You know there must be Disney rides and attractions that slip through most people's itineraries. We found these to be a ton of fun and are sure you will too!

1. Sid Cahuenga's One-of-a-Kind: Where else can you find authentic letters from Winston Churchill (I have a historical crush on Winston) or the jacket Burt wore when he danced with the Penguins in Mary Poppins? Unless you have some serious cash flow, many of the items will be a bit out of reach. But they are still fun to look at. You’ll find this immediately after the entrance to your left at Hollywood Studios.

2. Voices of Liberty: This acapella group performs in the American pavilion at Epcot. Wow. These guys have knock-your-socks off voices. Don’t be shy - sit right around the pink circle, so you can get the full effect of their voices in the rotunda.

3. Magic of Disney Animation: Seriously now. Disney would not be what it has become if it weren’t for animation. Find this attraction next to Voyage of the Little Mermaid in Hollywood Studios. Best yet, it culminates with drawing lessons from a real Disney animator. Personally, it’s amazing to see the process happen.

4. Carousel of Progress: This ride is in Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom. We love this one for a couple of reasons. First, Walt designed and loved this one. Second, it follows families through various decades in America and shows how technology has changed their lives. Walt was a bit of a family person. Also this ride has a pretty fast moving line! And it’s air conditioned. And you get to sit for a while. And I really do love the song, though my little brother thinks it's annoying because it repeats itself many times on the ride. But hey, I am a proud optimist and I LOVE it! It’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow…

5. The Enchanted Tiki Room: Also in the Magic Kingdom, except it’s in Adventureland. Ok I’m a bit biased on this one. My uncle used to work the original Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland in Southern California. I’m also a sucker for classic attractions that Walt himself had a hand in. And I guess I’m also a sucker for songs written just for that attraction! Innnnn, the tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room…

6. Philharmagic: Another excellent Magic Kingdom attraction in Fantasyland. I explained to my husband in very clear terms that we HAD to experience this one. Since he had never been before he thought the name was a bit weird. I told him he would be weird if he left not thinking this one was amazing. It’s a huge 3D movie that reminds you of a bunch of great scenes from Disney animated movies. I particularly love the Aladdin and Jasmine scene. Gah! Get’s me every time. Oh, and my husband thought it was fantastic after he saw it.

7. Living With the Land: This one is in Epcot in Future world. The line doesn't get bad for a while, and you get to ride on a boat! Through a greenhouse! With Tomato trees! Think of what a futuristic garden would look like, and that's this ride. As a biology major, this was a must-see.

8. People Mover: Another fun Tomorrowland attraction in Magic Kingdom. The queue on People Mover is always moving. So you get on fairly quickly and then go on a great tour of Tomorrowland. Notable points of interest are the models of what Walt wanted for Epcot Center, a great point earner on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, and a chance to kiss in the dark under Space Mountain.

9. Museum in Morocco: Go to Morocco in the World Showcase. This screamed authentic. I had never given much thought to Morocco until I went through this museum. Apparently, a native artisan helped build the Moroccan pavilion. We also learned why Fatima is such a popular name in Islamic cultures. Very cool.

10. Flights of Wonder: This show is in Animal Kingdom between Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest. Before we entered the theater, a cast member was holding this incredible owl. I was mesmerized with how far he could turn his head. What a gorgeous amazing animal to see up close! This show features all sorts of birds. That includes a bald eagle. When this happened, my husband whipped out his camera. The audience oohed and aahed. And the bald eagle pooped as he was walked across the stage. Ahahah. Very, very cool, must see show.

Add some of these to your Disney itineraries and you won’t be disappointed.

Kids Say the Darndest Things at Disney

2010-06-12T22:03:00.000-04:00

Anyone who goes to Disney will probably have a couple of stories to share around the campfire. Here are a couple of fun kid stories we have.

The Pool: My husband was waiting to use the water slide at the Animal Kingdom Lodge pool. A young boy behind him asked if he was a lifeguard. My husband said he wasn’t. Then the little kid said he looked like “swimming material.” Yes, swimming material. Ahahah.

Illuminations: Toward the very end of the Illuminations fireworks show at Epcot Center, the little 5 year old girl in front of us walked over to her dad and tugged on his shirt. We assumed she needed to use the bathroom, and felt bad for her dad because that meant they would miss the best part of the fireworks. Then we looked back 15 seconds later and were surprised to see she was dancing with her dad in the middle of the walkway. She had actually asked her dad to dance with her! Adorable.

Wishes Fireworks: After the Wishes fireworks show at Magic Kingdom a fairly frazzled family of 5 noticed they couldn’t find their expensive camera. The 10-ish son was interrogated by his parents who asked where he put it last. “In the bottom of the stroller” was his response, which elicited some yelps from his parents because the camera could’ve easily fallen out. The father sat down and started going through the stroller bottom. He composed himself and said, “Ok, nobody panic.” On cue the 10 year old said, “I’m panicking!” “Shut up," chimed his dad. This was not the first kid we saw who enjoyed frazzling their parents.

Why Staying at a Deluxe Disney Resort Will Rock Your World!

2010-06-12T20:41:00.003-04:00

By now we hope you have read how to get big discount Disney Resort rates.

You may be thinking, Self, what is the big deal about staying at a Deluxe Disney Resort?

Well because it is unbelievably amazing. That’s why.

Why I'm Right!

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge for this first trip out to Disney.

Each month the Lodge puts out an activities list of all the events going on. During any given day there were at least 36 activities going on at the Lodge. Of May’s activities 30 of these were FREE. You don’t get any more cheap at Disney than free! You'll find that a mix of activities are for adults, while others are for kids. Some examples include Disney trivia, African drumming, cultural tour of Sanaa (the restaurant at Kidani Village), African trivia, African folktales, and wildlife games. In fact, you can get the list of activities going on at any Disney resort by simply asking a Cast Member at the front desk. They will gladly give you a paper listing all the fun going on at the resort. We could’ve spent an extra day or two just exploring the Animal Kingdom Lodge!

Most all the activities are run by African Cultural Representatives, interns actually from Africa. All of the interns were very friendly and really enjoyed getting questions about their home countries. We learned so much about Africa and felt we got a fairly authentic experience because of our interaction with these interns. Many of them said that the Animal Kingdom Lodge was so authentically African they had trouble adjusting to being away from family because the Lodge made them homesick!

Here are some things we did at the resort when we weren’t running around the parks.

Night Vision

Behind the pool at the Jambo House, each night from 9 to 11, some more of our African friends lead night vision viewing of animals on the savannah. Wow! We saw a giraffe sitting down, another galloping around some trees. And yes, looking through night vision goggles is just like it seems in spy movies. Everything was in green. It felt pretty dang cool.

Samawati Springs Pool

The pool at Kidani Village was for Disney Resort guests at Animal Kingdom Lodge only. They had ping pong tables, 2 jacuzzis, a children’s area, and 2 water slides. Oh and towels are provided too. This was a great activity after a long day at the parks.

Upclose Animal Viewing: Pembe Overlook

We decided not to get a Savannah view room at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Even with our discount Disney Resort price, staying in a Savannah view room would’ve cost us an extra $40 a night. Over 5 nights that’s an extra $200, and that was how much we spent on food and souvenirs for the week.

So in order to get the most out of our Animal Kingdom Lodge experience, we made it a priority to spend some time at the various animal overlooks throughout this Disney Resort.

The Pembe Overlook, located directly behind the lobby at Kidani village, was hardly ever crowded. And it was always staffed by a Cultural Representative from Africa who would take any questions we had. Our intern friend Pearl from South Africa admitted she was scared of Tower of Terror and took some great pictures of us with a giraffe in the background.

Another overlook by the pool at Kidani village was staffed by a man from Botswanna. He had been a safari guide for 5 years in his home country. And you could tell. He was extremely knowledgeable about all the animals. And he was hilarious. He pointed out the crowned crane, ankole cattle and zebra.

African Journey

As mentioned before, you don’t get much more cheap at Disney than FREE! This was probably one of the cooler things we did at Disney. And anyone can do it. You don’t even need to be staying at Kidani Village.

At 8:30 each night a cultural representative gives a 20-30 minute PowerPoint presentation on their home country or an area of expertise. It’s in the Palace Library around the fireplace there. Both nights we went there were only 2 other people listening to the presentation. So the African presenter gave us lots of attention and was very happy to see us there.

The first night we went a young women name Limu from Namibia gave a presentation on her country. It’s ok, we didn’t know were Namibia was either. She showed us some stunning pictures of the Namibian landscape. Later in the presentation we realized these were all photos that she took herself! She was studying ecotourism in Namibia and had worked in all sorts of national parks there. She had taken people on safaris and had actually been to all these beautiful places. Limu was also half bushman and spoke the click language. That was a great experience talking with her and having Namibia come alive.

Another African Cultural Representative gave a presentation on cave art found in Africa. He was ethnic Indian, but his family had been living in South Africa since the 1800s. According to our presenter, Durbin, South Africa has the highest concentration of ethnic Indians, living outside of India. Whoddathunk? Our Indian South African friend taught us all about cave paintings in South Africa, which is what he studied back home. The pictures he took of cave art were fairly recently discovered! We learned that elands are creatures of good luck in cave art. We also learned that they can jump over 9 feet high! Anything that can be as big as a horse and have a nine foot vertical jump is good luck in my book!

Restaurants

There are a couple eateries around the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We decided to eat at Sanaa. It means art, and the restaurant sure lives up to it’s name. In fact, we were told that the Animal Kingdom Lodge has the most African art on display in the world - it's fun to find sculptures and paintings tucked away in every corner. We were a bit skeptical and had it clarified that some museums like the Smithsonian may have more art, but that it's not all on display. The most-African-art-on-display award goes to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. So no surprisingly this restaurant is very beautiful. We had just enough money left over in our budget to eat there at the end of our trip, and since we probably won’t eat African food in the near future, we decided it would be a fun culinary experience. What's even more fun, Sanaa overlooks the savanna. Our “merchant” (that’s what the servers at Sanaa called themselves), pointed out that the rambunctious zebra Kidani normally liked to bother the other zebras. So we enjoyed watching Kidani, the young zebra horse around with the other zebras. Pun intended. We did the bread sampler with sides of mango chutney, cucumber riata, and roasted bell pepper hummus. We also ordered potato and pea samosas and roasted cauliflower with mango chutney and tomato sauce. Yeah, that beats chicken fingers.

If you can't tell from our review, we LOVED Kidani village at the Animal Kindgom Lodge. As mentioned in the lodging article, we were able to get our room for only $550 for 5 nights. Read our review of Beth Haworth's e-book "The Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide" to see how we did this.