Awaken Summer Preview Event, Day 1

I could not have been more thrilled to be invited to this event. So much so, Mike and the kids accompanied me to Walt Disney World. We booked a one bedroom villa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village with a savanna view for 3 nights. We were ready for summer to awaken…

We arrived pretty early on Monday, April 18th. My daughters had a twirl competition on Sunday, so our plans to leave then were changed to the very first flight on Monday morning.  That flight was scheduled to land at 10am actually landed about a half hour early- which was awesome.

We arrived to Kidani Village, after taking Disney’s Magical Express, dropped our bags with Bell Services and headed to Jambo House for lunch and to pick up my credentials for the event that began that afternoon. Lunch was pretty uneventful, but delicious. No one was brave to try any of the African delicacies at The Mara- the kids all got chicken and Mike and I devoured our burgers. Once we were fueled up we headed for Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

It was important to me to get that family picture as we strolled down Hollywood Blvd. This was what Hollywood Studios looked like back in 1989 as MGM Studios when I visited with my parents, the first summer the park opened. I wanted that shot without Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice Hat. Silly, but it wasn’t to me and I am grateful my family didn’t flinch when I asked for it.

Now, it was hot. Much hotter than our NY bodies were used to in April, so we bee-lined for Star Wars Launch Bay. Inside we found Kylo Ren, Chewbacca, Jawas, movie props, videos, and video games.

I then realized our room was ready and decided to go back and freshen up before the event started in 90 minutes. Everyone was curious about our room, and Mike & the kids’ Fast Passes didn’t start until later, so we all headed back.

Our room was located in the Zazu section of the resort, which was ideal for me because most of the meeting and transportation options for the event were at Jambo House- and Zazu was the closest to Jambo House.  The view was absolutely stunning…

Inside the room we had 2 full bathrooms, a full kitchen, washer and dryer, a living room with a pull out couch and convertible chair, and a king sized bed in the bedroom with a balcony that spanned the width of the room. A perfect fit for our family for the next 3 nights.

Before I knew it I was off to meet my colleagues for our trip to Disney Springs.

We were treated to special viewing La Nouba and their new acts for 2016…

Then it was on to dinner…

After dinner, we were then transported to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and an exclusive desert party on the set of Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.

Then to a special roped off area to watch Symphony in the Stars: A Galactic Spectacular

We were then given access to Star Wars Launch Bay after hours, but I headed back to Animal Kingdom Lodge as I had just spent the afternoon there with Mike and the kids. They met me there as they spent the evening in Hollywood Studios as well experiencing Muppet Vision 3D, Star Tours, Toy Story Mania, Fantasmic!, and the Symphony on the Stars: A Galactic Spectacular. Mike spoiled the kids with ice cream from Dinosaur Gertie’s for dinner! Safe to say, they had a pretty magical evening too.

It was a magical night, filled with experiences I will never forget- how could our day tomorrow top this?