When I left off we were slightly drippy, but excited to head...FINALLY...over to EE!
We had been waiting for this ride the entire trip.
Before the trip.
From FOUR years ago as we watched it being built.
The anticipation was ridiculous
(and rarely do things live up when you've built it up that much!)
Of course, watching Stacey talk about it all week didn't help lower the excitement factor either!
Wall-E had been wanting to buy a pin all week but my rule was no ride pin unless you've been on the ride!
The standby line was still quite long. I can't recall what it was but think it was about 40 minutes.
It wasn't EMH yet so it was not dark but the sun was beginning to set.
I did not take any pictures. I think after Kali I'd put it into DH's backpack, "photo'd" out for the day if you will.
Tink of course was non stop with the questions as we worked our way in. And we really had NO idea what to expect, other than it was tall, there was a Yeti and well, that's about it.
So the anticipation was huge to say the least. I think however we all were thinking about the parts in the dark, the idea of going backward. What never, ever occurred to me was...
The view as you go up the mountain, at night, with the Tree of Life Illuminated has to be one of the most Spectacular things I've ever seen at WDW. It was just stunningly beautiful.
Gasp worthy.
And then
I realized
JUST HOW FLIPPING HIGH UP WE WERE!
I think, being in the dark, exaggerated it. I can't really compare, not having ridden it during the day.
Holy Moly!
And then, we were off.
The Yeti was pretty humorous I must say but I really REALLY enjoyed this ride, backwards broken track and all.
Tink however, not so much.
She did great all week on the fast and furious rides but being outside and seeing how high up we were freaked her out. Not crying, screaming freaked out but as you can see, she looks awfully pale in the pic!
Wall-E has his new "I'm holding my glasses so they don't fall off" look and Steven is raring to go. I think the pic of Scrooge and Goofy didn't turn out or they were blocked by hands or something.
For the rest however it became a great internal debate, which was the better coaster, RRC or EE.
Afterwards, once we escaped the mandatory gift shop clutches (not escaping until we'd bought the picture and a T shirt for Goofy who still had some $$ left) it was officially EMH!
The boys all wanted to do EE again and Tink and I headed back to...
you guessed it....
Dinosaur!
Which was a riot and a half I have to admit. I get suck a kick out of that ride. Afterwards we all decided to so some last minute shopping, Scrooge wanted a espresso and Steven still needed his smoothie.
I finally found myself something!
I picked up this
Which gets an awful lot of wear. I love this shirt. I've never had a princess shirt before, and likely will never again but I love this shirt.
Scrooge was less than thrilled, saying he wasn't a beast and reminding me that I wouldn't let him get the shirt that said "I'm Grumpy because I'm with Dopey". Which actually wasn't true, I'd tease him he couldn't get it and then he'd say he didn't want it b/c I'm not really dopey lol.
I reminded him that Beast turns out to be a pretty cool dude.
I also found some great pj bottoms, black with cheetah print mickey heads. Sadly they are a wee bit short, I like them long and they did shrink but that happens with most pj pants. I still wear them anyway!
Steven took FOREVER looking at more necklaces but in the end, I don't think, bought anything else.
More so than any other park, all week, probably b/c it was our last night we really meandered with the shopping on the way out. Tink had some of her own money and picked up a very cute eyeore nightshirt. Tired to get me to get the Morning Minnie one but I'm not a nightshirt fan....too much material to twist around the legs, ugh! But of course, when I was Tink's age, I lived in them.
Finally..shopping was done and it was time to say goodbye. One last think to take care of though
the Photopass guy!
See how beautiful the TOL is lit up? Now imagine, looking out at that as you ride up to the top of EE.
Spectacular!
Our PP guy was so cute. He was like "hey, you guys are smiling, that's so cool!" and I asked why, don't most people smile?
And he said....you'd be surprised!
Finally finished, a wee bit sad, we left AK and headed over to AKL for dinner at Boma.
Either I was wiped out, focused on getting a cocktail or just thinking about how dreadfully early we had to get up the next day but like a total idiot, I didn't take a single picture of our last dinner!
So...I stole some
The restaurant is GORGEOUS!
Our reservations were for 8pm. We checked in about 10 minutes early and within 5 minutes our pager was vibrating and we were escorted to our table. Boma is a BIG restaurant and very pretty. It was also pretty darn busy. Our table was right in a main traffic path but as it sat eight we simply moved one chair down so we didn't feel in the path and that worked well.
Scrooge ordered another African Amber and I went for a cocktail of some sort. Obviously nothing special as it is NOT jumping out at me, I think it was a Bahama Mama. It was ok. I was kind of bummed as there had been one cocktail at Yak and Yeti (a Yak attack I think) that I'd hoped would be on the menu, and it wasn't. Oh well.
The younger kids got the mandatory light up cars drink, not on the plan. I'd been surprised that they hadn't asked for it at Kona so I let them get one here (and pre-empted any fighting over my glow cube from PTC). Steven was able to get a different smoothie than we'd seen elsewhere as his beverage and really liked it. Some orange concoction.
Off to the buffet. Boma is in pods and you do not have to go in order but, most people do. If you don't you actually may get a look like you are cutting in line! The menu varies quite a bit. We were there on a Wednesday and the menu included the short ribs and the nut crusted salmon as well as a spice rubbed chicken.
Highlights:
1. Soups! Their soups were simply unbelievable. In particular the Coconut Curry Chicken Stew (medium in thickness with moist chicken and a wonderful base. I would have LOVED to pour this over rice and eat as an entree) and the Carrot Ginger Soup (melt in your mouth subtle flavor creamy delight). Seconds were had on both of these by several of our gang.
2. Hummus! I'm sorry, you can't go wrong with a hummus bar and flatbread! Yum yum and yum.
3. Short ribs. I am not a huge rib eater. These were amazing. They just fell off the bones so no fingers where needed. The recipe I just made for the 4th of July reminded me of these, I need to go look this one up and compare.
4. Salmon. Mnn! I have a spice rub from Tom Douglas that is very reminiscent of the seasoning the used and then coated with crusted nuts. Outstanding.
5. Spice chicken. Classically simple, nice spice, very moist.
6. Potatoes with attitude. While the name says it all these seasoned red potatoes were little gems of flavor. On a side note Steven got the last of one pan and they looked pretty pathetic. Wait for a new pan if they are running low, or ask!
7. Banana Bread Pudding. Not the best bread pudding ever but it was quite good. None of the other desserts really grabbed me and none of my gang really commented on the rest although people tried most everything. I thought the coco-misu was just ok. Fine but nothing super special.
Lowlights:
1. Prime rib. Scrooge liked it but it just wasn't anything special to me.
2. Salad offerings. Nothing was awful, but nothing really grabbed me either.
3. Desserts in general. Ok I may get flamed for this one (b/c I know a lot of people love the Boma desserts) but over half of the items had alcohol in them and while that might be great for Scrooge and I, who wants to be the mean parent at a buffet telling their child they can't have it. I did let Goofy taste one and he didn't like it but I would have expected a better non-alcoholic selection than cookies (which looked like nothing special though the kids liked them.
I would eat here again. AKL is a bit out of the way but if at AK I would go here though I'm more likely to try Sanaa next time. I'd liek to do Jiko but if I'm paying OOP for a signature there are others in front of it in my line up.
I'm just not a big buffet person so that is more likely the issue and on day 6 we were all a little burnt out from too much food. I truly can't imagine the
DDP!
For Scrooge though it tied as his favorite meal!
The kids ate well, a bit more mac and cheese than usual but Wall-E downed 2 bowls of the Carrot Ginger Soup and Tink dived into the Coconut Chicken Stew which was a pleasant surprise.
Up next, how long will it take to get back to the resort? boarding passes and billing and a last minute travel change.
plus, the last towel animal. Which wasn't an animal. What was it?
and....having fun, at work, with ride pictures....