Dreams Come True! An April Adventure of Being Remembered & Making Magic Updated 11/6!

[katt789]

Oh the Barnstormer. It's now Maddie's favorite ride at MK. We went on that ride so many times! DH is 6'2", and he also mentioned that the seats are child sized. Since I'm 4'11", I didn't notice It's a cute ride, but so short!

You guys got a lot done during EMH! We were unpacking and going to bed at the time.

Pretty, pretty CBR. I miss it already. We'll definitely stay there again. Loved it!

Haha, that's great! It's honestly one of my faves, I end up just needing something with a little "thrill" in MK, and it helps satisfy that! Lol

I guess we did, especially considering we got there after 9, which I hadn't planned on. I wish we had gotten there just a half hour sooner, in time to see some *other* characters Baha!

I would definitely stay at CBR again, it was awesome!! I do want to try out as many resorts as possible though, but those will be for shorter stays. If I do end up doing the audition for FOTLK next year, I'll probably stay at Beach Club...

 

[IheartDDuck]

Haha, I did the same thing when Farrell and I went. Wishes was going on, and it wasn't our night to watch it and I was like "look away, look away!!!"

I have to say, at least Tanessa was photobombed by a little cutie.

Your hair totally looked fine! But I know what you mean. It's like icky when it reaches that point.

 

[katt789]

Haha, I did the same thing when Farrell and I went. Wishes was going on, and it wasn't our night to watch it and I was like "look away, look away!!!"

I have to say, at least Tanessa was photobombed by a little cutie.

Your hair totally looked fine! But I know what you mean. It's like icky when it reaches that point.

Haha! I honestly was thinking of your TR as I was telling her to look away! And yeah, at least it was a small child...and not Tyler...he has such a talent of photobombing..ugh

Haha! Thanks! It had definitely fallen, and wasn't as nice as it could have been, especially by the end of the night *sigh* this is why it's always up in florida!

 

[katt789]

The next morning began bright and early as we had some extra magic hours to get to, and some new parks to explore!!! With the park opening at 8, we were all up by 7:00, and jumped over to the bus stop by 7:30 before we knew it! We were excited to go and get on some great rides.

The first couple of days of the trip, the busses are always so exciting, as they’re all “WELCOME!” and do those little messages; it makes it so much more exciting! I love the music they have when you start to pull into Animal Kingdom, Disney has themeing down, that’s something that is a for sure FACT!

It may have been early, but we were sure excited!! They let us in through the turnstiles, and we wandered quickly though the Oasis where they had the classic ropes set up waiting for 8:00 o clock so that they could drop them! Before each of us stopped at that little cart they have up on the left hand side for a coffee/small snack for breakfast (I had mentioned before leaving that it would be a good idea to bring granola/protein bars and some fruit or something, saves time and money, but I was the only one who ended up doing it) Thanks to having a little more time, we stopped to see a photopass somewhere between breakfast and the rope dropping as well!

After the shots were done, we weaved our way to a closer up spot towards Asia, and headed off! The rope was dropped, and let me tell you, there were some people running, I get it, it would be totally awesome to be the FIRST people to ride it of the day, and who knows, if you went fast enough, maybe you’d get a train to yourself? (Awww man! Now I kinda want to do it! Haha) However we took our pace at a brisk walk, and eventually got to Everest, Tyler was saying “EVERYONE’s here right now, it’s gonna be crowded” Oh Tyler…how much you have to learn. Was it crowded? Of course NOT! We walked right on through the cue! Seriously, walked straight through it, and jumped right onto the ride!

After our thrilling escape from the yeti, what did we decide to do? Well, Tyler was right, the wait was already at 45 minutes, so we left EE for now.. HA! Just totally kidding, the wait time was still 5 minutes, and it was time for us to go AGAIN. I’m pretty sure that it was this round that we stopped and asked to ride in the front, it was also this time in line that I jumped up to lightly hit one of the bells they have hanging from the ceiling (something about scaring away all the bad spirits, am I right?) and it just to happened that I ended up accidentally slamming it, and it just so happened that Tyler was walking directly under it as I did it. Oh well, nothing like a wake up call right after a roller coaster in the morning, right?!

I only have Ty’s picture this time as Tanessa’s & I’s was blocked by other arms, or blurry, or who knows what. I deleted it, haha. We survived the yeti attack once again (man we were lucky today!) and looked at the wait time was we disembarked, it was still posted 5 minutes. Yes? I think yes! The wait was a little longer this time (closer to 5 minutes for real) there were a lot of kids in line, school groups, this one was a grad trip I’m pretty sure.

We did our princess pose for you this time! Now that we had gone three times, I stopped a little bit to browse through the gift shop, I knew that there was something I wanted to get thanks to braving the ride, here and ToT, and I got that shirt last time. However, I really couldn’t find anything that I liked, my option that was a maybe was the yeti toque…but I didn’t get it. When we exited, the line was starting to build, and the wait time was a up a bit, so we made the decision to grab some fast passes for later and move on for now.

I love how it looks in the morning sun! Animal Kingdom is SUCH a morning park, when it’s still a little cool, there’s still some smaller puddles on the ground, I was just thinking to myself how much I love going through the EE cue in the EMH mornings, when it’s somewhat quiet and calm, when it really could be something completely different and not a theme park. *sigh* the magic of Disney! Tyler and I thought it was awesome!!

Next up on our list of things to do was Kilimanjaro Safaris! The wait time was around 15 minutes (I’m totally guessing here, but it wasn’t that long; note to self, write down more wait times in future trips!) Before we knew it, we were off on our 2 week safari in Africa! (I also quickly explained to Tanessa that it wasn’t too well explained, but we were going on a 2 week safari, and that there were poachers in the area, and we were going to end up having to save a baby elephant…and that some of the cm’s stuck to the schtick very well, and others, not so much) we also let her have the “window seat” for optimum picture taking quality!

They were doing the Wild Africa Trek (or something of the sorts) this morning, so we actually got to SEE the head of a hippo! EEK!

(And now, I’m trying out a new thing, not resizing my pictures, just to see what it will look like, and if I like the look of it, that’s a whole lot less work, and TR’s won’t take as long to be done, and that would just be nice, so if they’re HUGE, I apologize)

Another great thing about AK in the morning, so many animals on Safari! I only have my pics, and a limited number of those, but I was doing my best this trip to just observe, and take it all in, and not be distracted with so many thoughts of “OH MY GAWD I NEED PICTURES OF EVERYTHING!!!!” which is why some pictures may be lacking in some areas of this TR.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the safari, our guide wasn’t the greatest, but that’s ok, we were seated in the very back row, and couldn’t really hear her as well as we should have. Also, the back row….yeah…REEEEALLY bumpy, I’m talking like, elementary school when you go FLYING over bumps in the back seat bumpy, so insane. Thanks to this, I was taking special note to warn Tanessa about the wobbly bridge, but we went over the two bridges, and NOTHING happened. Le sad.

With our animal adventures done, we had to zip back in time, way back in time, in order to see our next set of friends!!

 

[shan23877]

Hooray for 3 back to back EE rides! I can't believe that Taneesa was wearing a tank top! It was COLD that morning!

It's so funny to read knowing that we were at that exact same rope at the same time. We were off to the left at the breakfast line

I love Taneesa's face in that first ride pic, classic

 

[katt789]

Hooray for 3 back to back EE rides! I can't believe that Taneesa was wearing a tank top! It was COLD that morning!

It's so funny to read knowing that we were at that exact same rope at the same time. We were off to the left at the breakfast line

I love Taneesa's face in that first ride pic, classic

I know right?!? It was fantastic, and I was SOO COLD that morning, I've found that I'm constantly cold, specially the fingers & toes, possibly poor circulation, maybe she was warmer.

And just wait! We get even closer and closer with where we were (I'm interested to see when you guys were in character lines, maybe even that was the same!? ahha...also to see if you guys met coco-puff naveen and what you thought bhaha!)

Also definitely a classic!!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Looks like you guys had quite a morning! Getting on EE three times is a row is always a good morning.

It always looks crowded at first when you get there in the morning and the crowd heading in is large. I could imagine that it would make a less experienced person a little worried.

 

[katt789]

Looks like you guys had quite a morning! Getting on EE three times is a row is always a good morning.

It always looks crowded at first when you get there in the morning and the crowd heading in is large. I could imagine that it would make a less experienced person a little worried.

It was awesome!! EE just makes any day at animal kingdom so much better!

I find that all parks are like that, everyone in one place, really decieving!

 

[Eglantine]

I've been reading up on all your TRs and am just getting on board with this one...trying to get in real time! I think you have the same post on two links of the April TR. At least that's what I'm getting.

I'm enjoying everything anyway!

 

[ronnmel]

Oh I how wish I was in my early 20s again and could stay up super late one night, then be up for morning EMH the next day. LOL

 

[katt789]

I've been reading up on all your TRs and am just getting on board with this one...trying to get in real time! I think you have the same post on two links of the April TR. At least that's what I'm getting.

I'm enjoying everything anyway!

Yay! I'm glad you've been reading them (and hopefully enjoying them) I just fixed the April TR links, thanks for letting me know!!

Oh I how wish I was in my early 20s again and could stay up super late one night, then be up for morning EMH the next day. LOL

Hahaha!! The only reason I can do it is with the disney magic that makes me excited (or a very very large starbucks!)

 

[Merida]

I'm so behind!

Day 1: I love your Ariel t-shirt! I saw it at a cart in Disney California Adventure and it reminded me of you! I love the sleeves - I think drape-y sleeves like that are so adorable.

The Caribbean Beach Resort is really cute, but it reminds me way too much of the beach house we went to every year growing up. It's nice, but I think I want something different when I go to Disney! I still want to stay there… but maybe in the much distant future

Storybook Circus look adorable! And I totally miss the MK Splash Mountain - the Disneyland version just doesn't compare.

I agree- Disneyland Pirates is amaaaaazing. That beginning part?? So COOL!! I'm glad the 'main' part is the same but more Pirates is always good!

Aw, ducks in the pool! I love all the places ducks go in the Disney parks - I would so love to live in the parks if I was a duck.

Day 2: Your sunglasses are great! I have to get expensive prescription ones and while they're nice, I get so jealous of the cool pairs that everyone else can get. It's really hard to find fun trendy prescription sunglasses! I guess when you're paying hundreds of dollars for 'em, most people want more classic styling.

Heh, I never note wait times either. They're usually off and I'm so bad at judging how much time has passed. Oops.

Was the baby elephant thing still up? I guess they only just took that down - maybe the CMs weren't quite as schtick-y because they knew that was going away?

 

[katt789]

Alright, so where we left off we had just returned from our 2 week safari through various parts of Africa, and we were ready to head back in time, WAY back in time. Our journey took us back though Asia, and before we knew it, we were prehistoric! Last trip, Tyler had really wanted to ride the Primeval Whirl, but it was closed, so it was our first stop when we reached DinoLand!

It has a super cute set up, every time I’m in here I just feel like I’m walking through the “kiddie” area at the Stampede, but it’s still super cute!

Again, the ride was clearly made for kids, so it was kind of tough to squeeze 3 adults into the ride haha! However, we spent the ride giggling and laughing at how awesomely hilarious it was, it was honestly a hit for Tanessa & I, we enjoyed it, it’s just enough for a kid to have fun, but not be scared. Tyler on the other hand, was clearly just bored on it, but hey, he was the one who wanted to go, right?

Next up was a little more of a dangerous exploration into the past, Dinosaur!

I just have to stop at this point and say that on our first trip in May of last year, there was a little blurb before we went into the ride (in the big circular room with the skeleton in it) that was narrated by non other than Bill Nye the Science Guy himself, and we were all SUPER excited, and since then, haven’t heard it. Has anyone else had the chance to hear this?

And that is one of my favorite ride pictures of the trip, I refused to sit on the far right side of the vehicle, especially since we were in the front row, HECK NO! I’m not the biggest fan of Dinosaur, but I’ll go on it when we have other people on the trip, and Tanessa, clearly, wasn’t the biggest fan either. We both like it, but once a trip is just enough for us! Tyler, clearly not so impressed Hahah!!

With our prehistoric adventure done and finished with, we checked the time on our fast passes, and decided that yes, it was time to return to Expedition Everest for another ride, after all, braving the yeti was not nearly as bad as Dinosaurs!

Now, with all that we’ve done so far, and Tyler at this point saying that he was “ready to leave the park” after all, he had done everything he had wanted to (not the biggest character buff or anything) you’d think it was at least coming on noon, right? Well, no, it was ONLY 10 AM, that’s right, AM. The park had only been “officially” open for an hour, and Tyler was headed back to the resort. (I know, all you Disney buffs, me included, are thinking “WHAT?!” I didn’t get it, but he just wanted to hang out in a hammock on the beach, have a couple of beers and chill out, very possibly sleep). Whatever, to each there own.

Since it had been so long since our not really existent breakfasts, we headed toward where our next destination would be (and if any of you know my Animal Kingdom plans, that’s towards Camp Minnie Mickey). Well, Pizzafari was right there, and we were in need of some noms before continuing on, so we headed inside. Funny moment: we started joking that we should get a beer with our 10 am lunch, and when I walked up to order, the CM nicely informed me that they were only serving breakfast at this point, and to check back in about 20 minutes. THANK GOD we didn’t say “I’ll have a Bud Lite with that” HA! Talk about awkward! Luckily we avoided that situation, and headed down to Camp Minnie Mickey to meet some characters before circling back for some lunch!

Right as we were crossing the bridge, I more had my eye set on getting through the crowd that was coming out of the showing of FOTLK, and less on realizing that the family we had just walked past included Shannon & Maddie! (also known as Shan23877 and her adorable daughter to those here on the disboards) Eeek! By the time my brain even clicked that it was them, we were far to past them to try and get their attention, but I figured we would end up running into them later in the week. (For those of you who don’t know, we were even staying at the same resort, and basically had the same plans for the week, great minds think alike!!)

We reached Camp Minnie Mickey to find some characters out and about (obviously!) and we jumped in line for Chip and Dale right off the start, knowing that they would be pretty awesome!

I had been debating about getting an autograph book for this trip, I had one last May/Sept, and have bought one of the ones you can put pictures in for my Sept trip this year, so I was conflicted…should I do it, or not? Well, I ended up wanting one for this trip, so Chip & Dale were my first autographs!

They were great, nice and huggy and friendly and awesome!

Yay! While we had been waiting in line, I was keeping an eye out to see if Thumper had been out yet, or if there were any signs of a line for him & Miss Bunny, they’re more hard to come by, and the only other character I really wanted to see would have been Donald. Luckily, the rabbits were out by the time we were saying good bye to our new chipmunk friends, so we jumped over there next!

With time before our next big event slowly beginning to run out, we decided it was time to head back to Pizzafari and get some lunch!

I got that! The vegetarian pizza, ceaser salad, orange juice, and you can kind of see the reminants of the birthday cupcake that they gave me (seriously a great thing to wear those birthday buttons!) First off, those little birthday cupcakes are the most delicious things in the WORLD, so light and fluffy, and just enough. The pizza was good, I ended up eating probably ¾ of it, and leaving some of the crust, which is weird for me, I’m usually a crust eater, but I wasn’t too keen on this stuff. The salad was really good, we were both surprised for where we were and how mass produced stuff is. (For the record, Tanessa got practically the same thing, but with a cheese pizza)

With our bellies full of pizza and us being satisfied with everything, we headed back over to Camp Minnie Mickey, it was time for the greatest show of the day (or would something later top this?!), Festival of the Lion King!!

 

[shan23877]

OMG! You are kidding me! You saw us at AK? I guess it shouldn't have been that surprising since both of us were bound to spend a ton of time in the Camp Minnie Mickey area

We skipped Dinoland again on this trip! We've seriously got to get over there! It looks really cheesey, but really fun.

Yay for Miss Bunny! We were on a serious mission to find Pocahontas that morning, so other hard to find characters were out of the question.


I think Tyler had a pretty good idea! I might have done it if someone hadn't convinced me that we had to see FOTLK

Can't wait to hear what you did next!

 

[katt789]

OMG! You are kidding me! You saw us at AK? I guess it shouldn't have been that surprising since both of us were bound to spend a ton of time in the Camp Minnie Mickey area

We skipped Dinoland again on this trip! We've seriously got to get over there! It looks really cheesey, but really fun.

Yay for Miss Bunny! We were on a serious mission to find Pocahontas that morning, so other hard to find characters were out of the question.


I think Tyler had a pretty good idea! I might have done it if someone hadn't convinced me that we had to see FOTLK

Can't wait to hear what you did next!

Yeah! Totes did! It seriously took me a bit to realize, but it was you guys lol. Dinoland is pretty cheesey, and I'll admit, if I had kids, I'd probably skip it as I *think* some of the little games in that area you have to pay for? (I could be wrong?) Hhaha! Hopefully you ended up finding her!!

Baha! Yeah, considering the day, and how early we had been up, and how late the previous night, he had a good idea, later in the week, I was about to kill him for similar ideas. Haha!

But it was WORTH IT RIGHT?!??!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Haha, you think fitting three adults in Primeval Whirl is hard, try four! It's a sight, I tell you.

I didn't sit on the right side of the vehicle for the longest time on Dinosaur. Now I just laugh in his face.

Yum yum, Pizzafari. Love it!

 

[katt789]

Haha, you think fitting three adults in Primeval Whirl is hard, try four! It's a sight, I tell you.

I didn't sit on the right side of the vehicle for the longest time on Dinosaur. Now I just laugh in his face.

Yum yum, Pizzafari. Love it!

Hahaha! I'll bet that's rough!! Bahaha, yeah, I just don't like sitting on the edge on dinosaur, I probably will eventually, we'll see. Ah Pizza! So delicious! I could go for some now!!

 

[katt789]

Tanessa and I (remember that Tyler is already gone back to Caribbean Beach Resort to chill out while we explored more) quickly headed back across the bridge into CMM and joined the line that was already formed for Festival of the Lion King. They started letting people in rather soon, and we picked some seats, I believe we were in the Warthog section for the show!

However, the head of the lion section certainly was good looking haha!!

And the show begins! GAH! I just love it, how it gets all silent, the sound of the “wind” and stuff while all the “animals” are coming into the room, and then the songs & singing starts, so incredible!

Benefit of being in the Warthog section, we were super close to the bird dancer the entire show! YAY! She is my favorite after all, haha! *sigh* I swear, by this time next year, I will be doing that job, I just need to crack down and be stretching and doing ballet as much as I can!

I know some of the pictures aren’t the greatest, but hey, they’ll do, right?! And of course, that’s only half of the pictures that I have, so more in the next post!!

Continued In Next Post

 

[katt789]

The show was absolutely fantastic, as per usual, but something was lacking from it today. Whether there were some different main cast members, or someone wasn’t feeling too hot, or they just wanted to get through the day of shows, and this was only number 2, it had that feel to it, Tanessa agreed. The potential was definitely there, everyone just wasn’t giving their fullest, kinda just going through the motions, that being said, it was still fantastic! We headed out talking about the show with the plan to go see some more characters next!

 

[IheartDDuck]

The girl who flies as the bird is my absolute favorite part of FOTLK. That would be epic if you got that job. So so so cool.