We took the ferry to the TTC. Id never been to the TTC except to switch monorails before. We headed out to wait for the AK We waited. And waited. I dont know why it took to so long for a bus to come, but it did. When it came, there were more WDW employees than I generally see on a bus. We took the bus to AK, took note of the AKL stop, and headed into AK. We used the RFC entrance, b/c were cool like that. Mom was impressed. We headed towards Kilomanjaro Safaris. I had thought we could use our DVC tour insta-fastpasses, but they had no more Fastpasses left. So we waited in line. It wasnt too bad, we chatted with people in line. We boarded. I like the Safari ride-its always different.
Baby rhino! We exited, and found ourselves with about 45 minutes left to tour AK. We watched the parade-I liked the Holiday overlay.
I suggested we head to Marahraja Jungle Trek. On our way, we stopped to take pictures by the Tree of Life. This was funny, actually. I stopped to ask the Photopass Photographer to take my picture. She declined, saying it was too expensive. After I looked puzzled, she laughed. She too a few pictures of me, then offered to include Mom. Mom refused, then she took a couple of pictures of her. It was amusing. I stopped to pin trade with a CM, then we headed towards the jungle trek. We passed some soaked people coming off of Kali River Rapids. A nearby CM made a guy put his shirt back on. But hes wet! His companion objected. The CM replied with some very polite, but firm phrasing and got the guy to dress himself. As soon as the guy was out of earshot, the CM mumbled If you dont want to get wet, dont go on the ride. Seriously. I was highly amused, as was Mom. We headed towards the Jungle trek, but then Mom saw some glasses cases in a store-the Yak and Yeti gift shop. They were only $2.99, so she got one. I offered to get the other one she was looking at for her stocking, and she gladly obliged. In line we saw some Yak and Yeti stocking caps. She suggested it would be a good gift for ElderNephew, who collects Disney hats. I agreed, especially as ElderNephew loves AK, and has never been there. We got in line. Mom decided not to buy the hat because it said Yak and Yeti on it and ElderNephew has never eaten there. We headed out of the park, and onto the bus.
Now, Im pretty tolerant of stuff that occurs on WDW buses, and most public transportation. But there was some stuff that happened on the bus to AKL that just left me slackjawed. We were towards the end of the line. Towards the front of the line, a family had their kid (who couldnt be over 11) go on ahead of them (the others were behind us) and spread herself out over a row of seats. I was far too tempted to sit down on the spread out kid. I was kind of bothered the bus driver didnt say anything to her, but I think its that messy area where CMs cant be unmagical to a guest. Even if theyre dumb, and using their kid as a weapon. We found standing space on the back of the bus, as a seat was taken up by a family holding a stroller. I really dont think your stroller needs to block a bus seat, but given the number of T riders who think that their backpack needs a seat, Im not surprised.
Anyway, we got off at AKL, and went to Boma. I was surprised at how much more quiet it was at Boma this time than my trip in 06. We checked in, and were seated. When the waitress came over, she asked if we had any special dietary needs. I mentioned I am vegetarian, she listed the vegetarian options on the buffet. This is solely noteworthy because when YoungestBrother at al. went to Boma in October, they were accompanied by friends of DSIL who were vegan and vegetarian. The chef prepared a special dish for them. I adore Boma and didnt care that I didnt get a special dish, but I thought it was interesting. We both picked out drinks-I remember not liking a wine in my red wine flight in 06, so I went with a hard cider. Mom got goat wine. We headed up for our first course.
I started off with the Butternut Squash soup, which was excellent. And Butternut Squash soup is like ravioli-Ive had a lot of it. I also liked the avocado, tomato and grapefruit salad, although I was once again under whelmed by the tomato quality. I also liked the corn and fried plantain salad. I also had hummus and flatbread-IMO Boma has the best hummus on property.
Mom, meanwhile, started off with a coconut curry stew-I think there might have been some seafood in it as well-she liked it. She also liked the salmon salad she had, saying that the sauce was nice.
I then moved onto pap, fufu, falafel, mealie (corn) bread and rice. I loved the pap, fufu and falafel; however, the rice was dry, and the mealie bread was just ok. I had more falafel and pap and fufu. I also had some black-eyed peas and vegetables.
I apparently didnt take notes on what Mom had (sorry pescetarians! This is what I get for telling her she could eat her food, that she didnt need to pose it first.) but she liked it.
We went into the restroom in between entrees and dessert. In things only overheard in WDW, I could hear a mother cajoling her kid Cmon sweetie, poo for Mickey! I managed to make it back to our table without laughing, at which point I told my mother. We were dying.
For dessert, I had banana bread pudding (ok, I looked Tusker Houses better), peach crumble (yum!) and cookie and zebra domes (which I have since learned is not vegetarian :-( ). Mom had some sort of pineapple upside down cheesecake, which she was not a fan of, and zebra domes.
We exited Boma. We paused to look at the menu for Jiko-DSIL (Mrs. Middlebrother) had raved about their menu, so we think we may try it next time, as they had things which appealed to us. We wander around the lodge-they were having an activity where you donated $5 to the Wildlife fund, and got to make an ornament. We didnt partake, though. We paused to look around their store. I know this was because Ive never looked for DVC stuff before, but I was surprised that they didnt have any AKV merchandise-and their DVC merch was pretty paltry-a golf shirt, a girly t, and a neck safe. As we were off to DTD, we didnt buy anything. We headed off to the DTD bus.
On the bus, we chatted with two little girls and their parents, we discussed HSM (they were missing HSM on ice to go to WDW, I agreed that was the right choice), the older one was outraged Mom napped on the CoP. We got off and stopped at the Holiday sign. I showed my mom around Goofys Candy Co. We looked in the $10 store, but nothing jumped out at us. We wandered through there into the Pooh store-Mom said she hadnt been in there before, I pointed out that thats where Dad bought his Tigger sweatshirt, which he then wore non-stop. She then remembered it, saying he always got complements on it. Seriously-my screensaver is family pictures-Breakfast with Santa 02-hes wearing it. Apple picking in fall 03? Wearing it.
We then headed onto the WoD. We started in the Boy/Pirate section. Mom picked out a hat-it kind of looks like an Abercrombie distressed hat with Mickey Mouse on it for ElderNephew, and a PoTC hat for YoungerNephew. We stopped the housewares section to pick something else up for YounestBrother-I got the Disney cookbook and the set of reuseable Mickey Head icecubes (BTW-he loved both-one Mickey head cube had to be frozen in our freezer during Xmas dinner-it worked, just in case you were wondering). And then someone stepped on my flip-flop. My back hurt, my feet were all Epcot-rashy, and I realized my bag and been open. After a brief Donald Duck moment, we headed on. I got the boys two pirate pens, which came with a sheath on a carabiner. I also got a pink sparkly pen with an H on it. We stopped to look at the BBB. I had seen a necklace I liked in the Princess room, but the chain was too short for my neck. :- (. As we were checking out, I noticed that their upsell included Mickey Santa hats for $10. I asked our cashier if I could get two. I heard Mom groan. So yepp, I got the boys each a hat.
We took the boat home-our pilot was good, polling us on what Epcot stood for. We got back to our room and packed, we had an early ADR at 1900 Park Fare the next morning.
I also got a Gorilla pod for Christmas from my SIL--I'd never seen one before but she knows I love using my camera. 
We got one at the MK last year and I don't think I was every happier about winning anything. 
to me!
Don't tell me they have Zebra in them!
I always feel guilty! This trip I did manage to get a set of ornaments( the ones the kids wanted) , a 
