April 2001 Trip Report: Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge and "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire--Play It!"

Dates: April 16-23, 2001

Adventurers:

• Jennifer Watson: 32, Disney veteran and co-author of PassPorter Walt Disney World, on her umpteenth trip to Disney (from Ann Arbor, MI)
• Dave Marx, 46, Disney veteran and co-author of PassPorter (from Ann Arbor, MI)

Transportation: Southwest Airlines (from Detroit Metro Airport) and Tiffany Town Car

Resort: Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort

Parks: Disney's Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, Magic Kingdom, Pleasure Island

Restaurants/Eateries: Jiko, Boma, more to come later

Other: This is a research trip to check out the new resort and new attraction. Most of our time will be spent researching in great detail and thus will go outside the realm of the typical vacationer experience. This report may not make for scintillating reading all the time, but it should be full of great observations, tips, facts, and information.

Why Are We Going?
You need to ask?! In truth, we planned this trip over a year ago, as soon as we heard that Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge was accepting reservations. We want to be among the first to stay at the new resort and gather lots of details for our PassPorter readers. We will be arriving on April 16, opening day for Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, to begin collecting our first-hand experiences.

Why a Trip Report?
We've received many requests for our impressions of Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, and we felt this was the best way to present them. Our intention is to add to this trip report while we're actually at Walt Disney World, so you can read about it soon after we experience it. We're hoping to add information each evening, but please keep in mind that busy days or tired people may get in the way once in a while.

How Do We Research?
Contrary to popular belief, being a Disney travel author isn't the cushy job everyone thinks it is. We don't just stay at resorts and ride attractions and make notes. Don't get us wrong--we LOVE our jobs. But we also take our tasks very seriously and tackle them with enthusiasm and an obsessive attention to detail. Research begins before we leave, by making lists, gathering preliminary information, and creating databases for our Palm Organizers. Rather than rely on old-fashioned paper and pen, we use Palm handheld computers to record our observations throughout the day. When we get back to our room at night, we transfer the data we collected to the big database on the laptop and upload any new stuff we may need to the Palms, including each other's data. Isn't modern technology great?