My Resort Hopping Day (Conclusion)

 

This is the second piece of my whirlwind resort tour of Walt Disney World.  You can (and should) read the first part here - otherwise it looks like I just beamed into Disney and started walking around.  I last left off by saying goodbye to the Crescent Lake and Skyliner resorts and heading over to Animal Kingdom Lodge.  Let's pick it up here.

 

I have Animal Kingdom Lodge on my short list of places to stay; my one knock has been that it’s kind of remote and only accessible by bus, the only deluxe resort to have exclusively bus transportation.  The price (especially via DVC points rental) has always been on the lower end of the deluxe properties though, and I wanted to see for myself whether the savanna views would make it worth the inconvenience.

 

My Resort Hopping Day (Part I)

 

I recently had the opportunity to do something at Walt Disney World that I had never done before – spend an entire day resort hopping.  Normally when we get the chance to take a trip, we devote the majority of our time to the parks.  I’ve talked about this in the past, but given the high cost of a Disney trip and the (in)frequency with which we visit, the parks are always my primary focus.

 

But this time was different, mostly because this wasn’t a “real” trip to Disney.  I had gone to Florida for an entirely different reason (family related) but found a way to squeeze in one day to myself in Orlando.  I had originally wanted to spend the day at Epcot by myself, but my family was not fond of this plan and I can’t really blame them.  Disney has been something that we do all together and I didn’t want them to be upset if I managed to have this kind of fun without them.

 

Destination D23 Announcements

 

This past weekend, Disney hosted their bi-annual Destination D23 convention in Orlando.  This is a bi-annual event because it alternates with the larger D23 in Anaheim.  Usually D23 proper is where most of the big parks announcements (among other things) are announced, where Destination events tend to be smaller, fan focused historical presentations.

This was NOT true two years ago, and that fact, combined with an especially huge D23 event last year had many fans thinking that we were in store for more major announcements, regardless of the year or name of the event.  But as the event approached, people noted that there wasn't even a Disney Parks panel listed, so many bloggers and those in the know were warning fans to lower their expectations, as it looked like nothing major would be announced.