It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Needs An Eyepatch - A Dec TR Complete 8/31

[OregonMomToWDW]

How amazing that you got to see the baby gorillas! We only got to see a bit of papa gorilla last trip.

 

[DisneyJo]

Awww cute animals

 

[Elevationist]

We were blessed with some good animal juju this day.

YAY!!!! I love good animal juju!

The zebras were being feisty and playing/fighting/trying to mate? Two of the zebras kept jumping at each other, butting heads, kicking each other. It was pretty entertaining.

Awww, I would have loved that!

The lemurs were next to the zebras and they were watching the zebra antics closely.

*whispers* Shhh, don't let Timon hear you call them Lemurs. They're Meerkats.

Here's a video I took of the zebras. I didn't manage to get the best of the "fight" but it will give you an idea of their antics. It is not long, 30 seconds, and the best part is at the very end.

AHHHH!!! I love it!!! See, @deedee2177 ?! This is why shouldn't skip the walking trails!!

BABY!!!!!!!!!! So cuuuuuute!

Of course I had to take a video of them playing! The video is better than the pictures.

OMG!!! I loooove this!!!

We had to go see big papa gorilla before leaving the trail.

Gorilla: I love it when you call me Big Poppa.

 

[KathyM2]

Was that a baby zebra I saw in one of the pics?? Love the animal pics!

How was the shipping cost to Canada? I would love to order online if the cost isn't too much extra.

Funny that you should ask that....and I'm sure it would be exhorbitant as always lol But I do not know because I kind of cheated - I had stuffed shipped to my parents' place in South Florida and retrieved it when I was there for Christmas. So I wish I could answer that one for you because I would love to know!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Zebra fights and cute little gorillas? It doesn't get much better than that!

We seem to have very good luck lately when visiting various zoos and Animal Kingdom.

Joining in!

Welcome!

It looks like a lot of the animals were pretty active when you were there.

Yes, I think this is the most active we have seen them at AK.

What a great time on the animal trails! Feisty zebras and adorable baby gorillas - life doesn't get much better than that!!

It seemed as though our day at AK was charmed!

Omg, those baby gorillas are just amazing!!! Of course Daddy is pretty impressive too. I hope to see them several times in April - hope they are out and about when we are there!

I am sure they will be. Hopefully they will be out and active for you.

Just wanted to say hello, from a fellow Canadian

Welcome! I always like to hear from a fellow Canadian!

I have never gone up the Pangani Trail but it looks like it's worth the time!

It definitely is worth the time. We love the trails at AK.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

How amazing that you got to see the baby gorillas! We only got to see a bit of papa gorilla last trip.

Hopefully you will get to see the rest of the clan on your next trip.

Awww cute animals

They definitely were!

*whispers* Shhh, don't let Timon hear you call them Lemurs. They're Meerkats.

And I knew that. Not sure why I typed out lemur??? Thanks for pointing out my typo, it is all fixed now!

AHHHH!!! I love it!!! See, @deedee2177 ?! This is why shouldn't skip the walking trails!!

Definitely worth doing the trails!

Was that a baby zebra I saw in one of the pics?? Love the animal pics!

You know, i'm not sure.

Funny that you should ask that....and I'm sure it would be exhorbitant as always lol But I do not know because I kind of cheated - I had stuffed shipped to my parents' place in South Florida and retrieved it when I was there for Christmas. So I wish I could answer that one for you because I would love to know!

I do that too, have stuff shipped to my grandparents house in Ohio and pick it up when I visit.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

****Not sure what is going on with photo bucket but my pictures for this update keeping disappearing saying they have been moved???****

Next up it was time to use our first fastpass. Alek and I were off to Expedition Everest and made plans to meet up with Mom and Erich outside the dump shop in 30 minutes.



On the way to Everest we passed a character meet, King Louie and Baloo in Christmas gear! We've had our picture with them before so I probably wouldn't have wanted to stop for them if it weren't for the fact that they had Christmas outfits on. Since we are from Canada we had our phones in airplane mode so that we wouldn't get charged crazy rates for data and texts/calls while on vacation. Luckily WDW has wifi everywhere in the parks and hotels and so I was able to send Erich a message on Facebook Messenger telling him that they should meet us at this character spot rather than the Everest gift shop. I loved that we were able to use wifi like this, made splitting up in the parks so much easier. No worries about not being able to find each other and we could change plans on the fly like we did that morning. Message sent Alek and I were off to Everest.

I think we were in line for 10 minutes max with the use of our fastpass. In line with us was a group of guys that were bragging about how many times they had gone on Everest that day. I guess they ran there right at rope drop and had done nothing else but ride this one ride. Don't get me wrong, I love Everest, but I don't think I would want to spend my whole morning riding it. There are so many other things to do.

Once on the ride we were able to get a view of all the construction for the new night show and Avatar. We could see that the very top of one of the floating mountains was up but everything else was still looking very rough and nowhere near completion.



The ride was a lot of fun but it made me sick to my stomach. That has never happened on that ride before. I am worried that I am getting old and that I can't tolerate the thrill rides anymore. It reminded me of the Disneyland episode of Modern Family although unlike Phil I did not have the flu.

I love that all ride photos are now included with photopass/Memory Maker. No more "redneck" ride photos for us!



All you have to do to collect your photo is tap your Magic Band below your picture. Very easy!

Feeling slightly ill we went off to meet up with Mom and Erich who had received my message and were waiting at the character spot.

While Alek and I were on Everest Mom checked out the empty Harambe Market and they stopped for some photopass photos.





We ended up waiting about 20 minutes for the characters as they had to go for a break. That was okay though as we took the opportunity to check out the My Disney Experience app on our phones. I had used it at home to book dining reservations but I have to say I loved having this to use in the park. Handy for checking ride times but I also liked how it could tell where you were in the park and would tell you what was nearby and exactly how far away it was. For example, if you need a potty break and are not sure where the closest bathroom is the app will tell which ones are closest and is very precise.

We had a fun character meet and I was very happy to see characters out in Christmas outfits. We noticed that Animal Kingdom seemed to be the only park that had characters in Christmas outfits. I wonder why that it?

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

.

 

[KathyM2]

Great pics!! Love the Christmas "outfits" funny that they are just scarves lol

No worries about not being able to find each other and we could change plans on the fly like we did that morning.

We have the same problem, being from Canada etc, but we found the wifi so spotty that we couldn't count on it. I'm so glad it worked well for you!! I usually end up getting a ridiculously priced data plan in the US...sigh...

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Noooooo! Well, hopefully not, for you anyways. I'm afraid I might be in that club now myself. But it does give me lots of time to explore other things.

I'm hoping that it was a one-off and was related to my lack of a decent sleep and being somewhat hungry.

Good to know. I only used it to remind myself of what time my FP+ were, but I think this next trip I need to have a tiny list of must do's, not just go with the flow the entire time. Holiday mush brain = relaxed, but I forget what I want to do!

We also primarily used it for keeping track of our fastpasses and dining reservations. The other features were handy though! I also liked that we could use it to look at our photopass photos just minutes after they were taken.

Great pics!! Love the Christmas "outfits" funny that they are just scarves lol

Yeah, not much more they could do to dress them up for Christmas. I liked the scarves though and the decorated meet and greet area.

We have the same problem, being from Canada etc, but we found the wifi so spotty that we couldn't count on it. I'm so glad it worked well for you!! I usually end up getting a ridiculously priced data plan in the US...sigh...

That is too bad about the wifi being spotty for you. I found that the wifi was pretty good. I found there were only a few dead spots in the parks and those were usually when we were in indoor queues.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

I only went on EE once and then left my DH and DD to it. The backwards bit did me!

Loving your report

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I only went on EE once and then left my DH and DD to it. The backwards bit did me!

Loving your report

Yeah, the backwards bit is I think what did me in this time.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Photobucket is being a pain and messing with my photos. Anybody know any good photo hosting sites?

 

[FancyNancy]

Don't feel bad about the motion sickness. I have to pop a Dramamine every time I plan on riding the coasters!

 

[oOJulieOo]

Ugh. I'm sorry about the motion sickness. Hopefully that was a one time deal. I've been getting motion sickness more and more and it makes me crazy because I love thrill rides! I have a definite limit now though.

Thanks for sharing about the my Disney experience app. I am sure we will be using the restroom feature many times with our 2 little ones.

Things have changed so much since my last WDW trip! I had no idea there is now wifi throughout the parks.

Thanks for being super informative, as always!

Edited to say I love your outfit in these pics!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Joining in!! I'm loving your report and the interaction between the members of your family. The PP photos are awesome and you guys had some gread photographers! Looking forward to more!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Don't feel bad about the motion sickness. I have to pop a Dramamine every time I plan on riding the coasters!

Gosh, I hope it doesn't come to that for me. Gravol/dramamine knocks me out.

Ugh. I'm sorry about the motion sickness. Hopefully that was a one time deal. I've been getting motion sickness more and more and it makes me crazy because I love thrill rides! I have a definite limit now though.

Oh no, not you too. It is disappointing when rides that used to be nothing but fun start making us feel ill.

Thanks for sharing about the my Disney experience app. I am sure we will be using the restroom feature many times with our 2 little ones.

It is definitely handy. I used the app all the time during the trip.

I had no idea there is now wifi throughout the parks.

Yep! It's great!

Edited to say I love your outfit in these pics!

Thanks. I was trying to find something that was Christmas coloured for the character photos but still cool enough in case it got too warm during the day.

Joining in!! I'm loving your report and the interaction between the members of your family. The PP photos are awesome and you guys had some gread photographers! Looking forward to more!

Thanks for joining in! We had good luck with many of the photographers.

 

[hfrink13]

Joining

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Luckily WDW has wifi everywhere in the parks and hotels and so I was able to send Erich a message on Facebook Messenger telling him that they should meet us at this character spot rather than the Everest gift shop. I loved that we were able to use wifi like this, made splitting up in the parks so much easier. No worries about not being able to find each other and we could change plans on the fly like we did that morning. Message sent Alek and I were off to Everest.

I was at a resort in mexic for a family wedding and messenger and free wifi came in handy for keeping in touch with everyone. The best thing with messenger is anyone can use it no mater what device they have as long as you have a facebook account you can use it

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Photobucket is being a pain and messing with my photos. Anybody know any good photo hosting sites?

flickr is good and it has no limit to the amount of storage now