There is NO random dancing at Disney! A June TR *NEW 9/19 *FINAL THOUGHTS*

[Charleston Princess]

Yes, with those eyelashes the lizard was definitely a girl lizard!

What a neat outing! That is very cool about the training techniques the owner's daughter learned -- I never would have even thought about the animals learning to do things like that.

 

[KathyRN137]

...if we were going to spend the money to stay in a nice resort, by golly we were going to enjoy it!

Ahhh, Storm Along Bay, you have my heart.

I HAD to post that first sentance, because it sounds just like Ed!!

The pool looks amazing!


Kathy

 

[jordanyosh]

Where do most of the animals come from?

How did he come to open his place in MI?

How cool that there was a WDW connection!

 

[MinnieNurse]

Hi Minnie! Are you bouncing off the walls yet? I am so excited for you. Only 8 more days!!

I hope you enjoy Kona. We loved it. And your DS will think he's died and gone to heaven with that Kona Cone.

I hope you can stay at the BC someday. It was truley a great resort.

I would say you have no idea, but you do since you were just in my shoes a few weeks ago.

So ready for a vacation.

That is cool about the gator place. We have a place in Texas and we went over spring break but there is no interaction with the animals like your kids had. That is really neat. Ours is like a small dirty zoo with snakes and gators. DS loved it though.

 

[cjackearl]

Yes, with those eyelashes the lizard was definitely a girl lizard!

What a neat outing! That is very cool about the training techniques the owner's daughter learned -- I never would have even thought about the animals learning to do things like that.

I thought you'd see it.

I HAD to post that first sentance, because it sounds just like Ed!!

The pool looks amazing!


Kathy

I sounded just like George, too. His frugality is wearing off.

Where do most of the animals come from?

How did he come to open his place in MI?

How cool that there was a WDW connection!

Several of his animals are drop offs by people who didn't realize the little snake, tortoise, etc. that they bought at the pet store was going to become enormous and completely inappropriate as a house pet. Some are rescues, quite a few of the alligators from drug busts at homes where apparently its macho to have an alligator. A couple of the animals inside were dropped off by college students whose parents didn't want to care for their reptile while they were away.

I'm not sure why Michigan, except that's where he lives and he's passionate about his "work".

 

[jordanyosh]

I wish people were more informed before purchasing a reptile! I feel bad for these animals...I wonder how many are just neglected and die..so sad.

Alligators and drugs...somehow that doesn't seem too surprising...

I guess reptiles need rescuing all over. It's cool he's passionate about his work and love for animals and educating people.

 

[KathyRN137]

Here's the Disney connection: After his alligator demonstration... He asked us if we were familiar with the Disney theme park Animal Kingdom... He told us that his daughter, who helped create the sanctuary, had done some training at Animal Kingdom. The animals on the safari are trained to march back into shelters, which the public can't see, at the end of the day. His daughter came back and taught her dad the same training techniques.

Very cool!

Three degrees of separation... Disney style!


Kathy

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Very cool and unusual. I never would have thought there would be a place to take a rescued alligator to.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

This totally reminds me of Gatorland in Orlando. We used to go there on our trips, but it has been 5 years or so. You really get an appreciation of our powerful the alligators are. What a cool experience for your kids to get to interact w/ the animals. And the story about his daughter is really cool!

 

[Angies1274]

What a great "field trip" you took!! I'm going to have to show my boys the pictures they will love them!! That's so cool that there was an Animal Kingdom connection!!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I was SOOOO not expecting to see ALLIGATORS in your post!

And I'm impressed your girls held the alligator! Alligators give me the heeby-jeebies!

 

[jenjolt]

What a great update!! As a biology teacher I think it would be great to be able to hold little aligators and other reptiles!! How fun that even in on a fun family outing you get a Disney connection!! That is fantastic!!!

 

[carissanboys]

Great pictures! That is very interesting about the animals being trained at AK. Cool bit of info.

 

[dismagiclover]

That looks like a real interesting place, but I think holding alligators might freak me out a teeny bit Looks like you guys had a great time though

 

[stace208]

Oh, all those wonderful SAB pictures. The pool out back just pales in comparison...I wonder if my DH would oppose to me having a load of sand dumped all around the edge!?!

Looks like you guys had a great, relaxing, and fun resort day! CMC is delish!

That's an awesome place you went and a very cool Disney connection. I just love learning little tid bits like that!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Just catching up!
Isn't SAB just grand? We thought the "sinking sands" were so cool. I can't wait to go back next summer!
I have to laugh, we are some of those crazy people who have a pet that will totally outgrow them. Baylor has an African Spurred Tortoise! When it's bigger it (we don't know if it's a girl or boy, no eyelashes) it will summer in the backyard grazing on the grass and then winter in the basement in a wading pool.... Yes we've done this before but our last one died when it was 6 yrs old and the size of a large dinner plate.
I hope someday Baylor wil have his own home to take Scales to....

 

[cjackearl]

I wish people were more informed before purchasing a reptile! I feel bad for these animals...I wonder how many are just neglected and die..so sad.
Or get released into the wild! Actually, Maddy really wants a corn snake, but I told her that her pet would become one of the rescues if she left for college without it!
Alligators and drugs...somehow that doesn't seem too surprising...
Cuz they're both really cool..
I guess reptiles need rescuing all over. It's cool he's passionate about his work and love for animals and educating people.

I'm glad someone's on their side.

Very cool!

Three degrees of separation... Disney style!


Kathy

It's a small world after all....

Very cool and unusual. I never would have thought there would be a place to take a rescued alligator to.

Most of them get put down, but if they know about this guy they sometimes give them to him.

This totally reminds me of Gatorland in Orlando. We used to go there on our trips, but it has been 5 years or so. You really get an appreciation of our powerful the alligators are. What a cool experience for your kids to get to interact w/ the animals. And the story about his daughter is really cool!

It was really cool.

What a great "field trip" you took!! I'm going to have to show my boys the pictures they will love them!! That's so cool that there was an Animal Kingdom connection!!

My girls are both reptile lovers, which they do NOT get from me! They were thrilled to hold the lizard and the alligator and would have happily held one of the 10 ft boas if they'd been offered. Ian likes them too, but we didn't know how gentle he'd be.

I was SOOOO not expecting to see ALLIGATORS in your post!
SURPRISE!!
And I'm impressed your girls held the alligator! Alligators give me the heeby-jeebies!

The big ones freak me out, but I thought the babies were very cute.

What a great update!! As a biology teacher I think it would be great to be able to hold little aligators and other reptiles!! How fun that even in on a fun family outing you get a Disney connection!! That is fantastic!!!

I was very surprised at how hands on this place was. We loved it and will definitely be back.

 

[cjackearl]

Great pictures! That is very interesting about the animals being trained at AK. Cool bit of info.

Yea, I was really glad he shared that.

That looks like a real interesting place, but I think holding alligators might freak me out a teeny bit Looks like you guys had a great time though

The alligators didn't bother me at all, but there's no way I'd hold that lizard.

Oh, all those wonderful SAB pictures. The pool out back just pales in comparison...I wonder if my DH would oppose to me having a load of sand dumped all around the edge!?!
Let me know how that works out for you.
Looks like you guys had a great, relaxing, and fun resort day! CMC is delish!
Yes, one of our best Disney days. We enjoyed our meal at CMC!
That's an awesome place you went and a very cool Disney connection. I just love learning little tid bits like that!

An interesting little gem in the middle of nowhere.

Just catching up!
Isn't SAB just grand? We thought the "sinking sands" were so cool. I can't wait to go back next summer!
I have to laugh, we are some of those crazy people who have a pet that will totally outgrow them. Baylor has an African Spurred Tortoise! When it's bigger it (we don't know if it's a girl or boy, no eyelashes) it will summer in the backyard grazing on the grass and then winter in the basement in a wading pool.... Yes we've done this before but our last one died when it was 6 yrs old and the size of a large dinner plate.
I hope someday Baylor wil have his own home to take Scales to....

Oh Wigd, that is so funny! African Spurred Tortoises are just what we saw, and they were big enough for Ian to ride! In fact, we learned they're the 3rd largest in the world. Amelia wanted to buy one a couple of years ago. I told her she needed to save her money, it was $50 I think?, and she lost interest before she saved enough, but I had no idea the cute little thing in the pet store could get so big! I wonder how long it takes, though. Scales is a good unisex name for a tortoise without eyelashes.

 

[cjackearl]

We decided to get our shopping freak on! Downtown Disney here we come! We strolled outside to catch a bus and were soon unloading at the Marketplace. On the ride over it started to rain so I broke open the ponchos and then we looked like big dorks getting off the bus because the rain had stopped. World of Disney was our first stop. Amelia was on the hunt for a special stuffed guy and Ian had money burning a proverbial hole in his pocket.

These guys were dying to get some shopping done. Or maybe they are still waiting for their wives to finish shopping.

Amelia found her special plushie. Her Lady needed a Tramp!

I know I downloaded a picture of him, but can't find it at the moment. I'll keep looking and post it later.

Once we were sufficiently jostled and crowded, we strolled over to the Lego store.

Oh no, it's the dreaded mongrel invader Amelia!

Take THAT sister! Although it looks like he's stabbing her in the eye, not to worry. She's got another. No, really it wasn't close but its a good illusion.

Wow, it got dark while we were inside the Lego store so this is the only outside picture we took.

Madeline decided to buy a small Lego kit, SpongeBob I think, and Ian was having a very hard time. He saw lots of things he liked, but couldn't decide on anything so we moved on. The girls and I wanted to check out Basin. George didn't want to come. I don't know why not. He and Ian went ahead to Once Upon a Toy, where we would meet up with them when we were done. Ahh, bath products.

Madeline took this photo of Basin.

Maddy bought three bath bombs, one each for her two best friends and one for herself. I filled a paper board tube with 5 medium bath bombs, and picked two Mickey soaps. I couldn't decide on one because they both smell wonderful.

Mickey head soaps

I can't quite bring myself to unwrap them, though. Amelia filled a test tube with bath salts. It was set up like sand art, where you pick which ever colors you like and layer them in your tube. It looked really pretty, but she's already used it all so I don't have a picture. Once we were done enjoying the tranquility that is Basin, we found the boys at the toy store playing with the light sabers and potato heads. We were browsing here when Ian ran up to me. He knew what he wanted to buy and I had to come see right now! He showed me the Jedi/Sith costume chest and I explained to him that it would cost almost all of his money. Did he understand that he couldn't buy anything else? He said yes, and that this was the only thing that had made him "freak out" and he was sure this was what he wanted.

This turned out to be a worthwhile purchase. He's played with his costumes nearly every day.

We bought the big Mr Potato Head container that can be stuffed full of different pieces. The bodies we already had.

Honestly, I like these guys as much, if not more than my kiddos. Every few days we make a couple of new characters and set them up in the family room to enjoy. I guess I should act my age, huh?

Finished with our shopping for the night, it was time for a snack and what better place to find a snack than Goofy's! I don't have one picture of our snackage here, sorry, but I got both a slushy, apple and strawberry, I think and some make your own pretzel rods for later. All the rest of my family picked the sour powder thingies, where you fill your own tubes with different colors of sour powders. I don't really get the appeal, but the kids loved them.

It was getting late at this point, so laden with shopping bags and snacks, we found our Beach Club bus and were soon "home" and preparing for bed. We'd be up early again the next morning.

Next Post: Follow the green line at Echipot!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

What a great evening!! You guys had soooo much fun! One of my favorite things to do is to wander the shops and get goofy pics. Ian is a very good swordsman to get that close to his sister's eye... a good ninja needs great fighting skills And score on the costume chest! Does he wear the braid?

I've never been to Basin. Well correction, I've been to the front door of Basin but never gone inside. One whiff from the hubby had him going the opposite direction and silly me said we'd come back another time. Another time, coming up!

Love the guys waiting for their wives to come back from shopping! Gotta look for that one... may I borrow your line when we see it?

Echipot?