meeko_33785
<font color=teal>Surrounded by characters<br><font
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2000
Morning comes and Stitch and Mickey call to wake us up. Buzz picks up the phone, puts in back and then presses the button to put the phone on speaker so I could hear it before he realizes that he hung up on our wake-up call. 
We get up and Buzz calls for another wake-up in 15 minutes. Eventually Mickey and Stitch call again and our first theme park day begins.
Buzz and I were up and ready first, so while we waited for Mom and Dad, we set out around Riverside to get a few photos before breakfast. Buzz worked his way all the way to Ol Man Island while I didnt stray far from Acadian House.
A glimpse of Alligator Bayou just a little farther down the river. Out of all of our stays at Riverside over the years, weve never stayed in this area, only the mansions. Wed never really taken much time to even explore the area before.
Once everyone is ready for breakfast, we head towards the food court.
The Riverside Mill. Since we knew we would be eating well at Yak and Yeti for lunch, we grabbed a quick breakfast and headed off to the bus stop. It wasnt long until we were on our way to Disneys Animal Kingdom.
We arrived at the park just a little bit before opening. I was hoping that we would make it there for rope drop to see the characters come out on their jeep and open the park, but we were just a little too late and missed it. Oh, well. We were able to get right into the park though and start exploring.
We began the day by looking at some of the animal habitats in the Oasis, eventually intending to make our way to Africa and hit Kilimanjaro Safaris. The spoonbills were our first animal sighting off the day.
Farther down the path a little, we find some macaws.
The Tree of Life!
While Buzz, Mom and Dad looked at some of the animals around the Tree, I went off to see if Lilo and Stitch were out yet. It turned out that they were and had a short line, so I hopped right into the queue.
First character of the trip! It had been almost 7 years since the last time I had seen Lilo out in the parks, so I was thrilled to finally find her again.
Not only was Lilo the first character of the trip but also the first new autograph of the trip as well. The last time I had met Lilo was before I had gotten back into collecting character autographs, so her autograph had been missing from my collection.
Ever mischievous, Stitch was in a very havoc-causing mood this morning.
First he tried to steal my backpack to see if there was any food in it. After I assured him I had nothing to eat he decided that my autograph book could be a tasty snack. He was even growling and making all of his Stitch noises which I had never heard him do out for meet-and-greets.
I had already gotten Stitchs autograph on a previous trip and normally dont get repeat autographs, but who am I to say no to Stitch when he was in this sort of mood?
Stitch's handler told me that Stitch was jealous of me and felt like I was getting between him and Lilo. I assured Stitch than Lilo was still his best friend and that I would never get between them. We seemed to get along just fine after that. I managed to get one more group photo before heading on.
After regrouping, the whole family headed to Harambe on our way to Kilimanjaro Safaris. It felt so good to see such a beautiful blue sky! On all of our family trips last year, every day we spent in the parks was mostly gray skies or rainy. They were still fun, but I was really hoping to get some beautiful blue skies on this trip because I think they make for better pictures than white or gray ones. It was beginning to look like it was going to be a lovely trip!
Next chapter: Animal Adventures in Africa
We get up and Buzz calls for another wake-up in 15 minutes. Eventually Mickey and Stitch call again and our first theme park day begins.
Buzz and I were up and ready first, so while we waited for Mom and Dad, we set out around Riverside to get a few photos before breakfast. Buzz worked his way all the way to Ol Man Island while I didnt stray far from Acadian House.
A glimpse of Alligator Bayou just a little farther down the river. Out of all of our stays at Riverside over the years, weve never stayed in this area, only the mansions. Wed never really taken much time to even explore the area before.
Once everyone is ready for breakfast, we head towards the food court.
The Riverside Mill. Since we knew we would be eating well at Yak and Yeti for lunch, we grabbed a quick breakfast and headed off to the bus stop. It wasnt long until we were on our way to Disneys Animal Kingdom.
We arrived at the park just a little bit before opening. I was hoping that we would make it there for rope drop to see the characters come out on their jeep and open the park, but we were just a little too late and missed it. Oh, well. We were able to get right into the park though and start exploring.
We began the day by looking at some of the animal habitats in the Oasis, eventually intending to make our way to Africa and hit Kilimanjaro Safaris. The spoonbills were our first animal sighting off the day.
Farther down the path a little, we find some macaws.
The Tree of Life!
While Buzz, Mom and Dad looked at some of the animals around the Tree, I went off to see if Lilo and Stitch were out yet. It turned out that they were and had a short line, so I hopped right into the queue.
First character of the trip! It had been almost 7 years since the last time I had seen Lilo out in the parks, so I was thrilled to finally find her again.
Not only was Lilo the first character of the trip but also the first new autograph of the trip as well. The last time I had met Lilo was before I had gotten back into collecting character autographs, so her autograph had been missing from my collection.
Ever mischievous, Stitch was in a very havoc-causing mood this morning.
First he tried to steal my backpack to see if there was any food in it. After I assured him I had nothing to eat he decided that my autograph book could be a tasty snack. He was even growling and making all of his Stitch noises which I had never heard him do out for meet-and-greets.
I had already gotten Stitchs autograph on a previous trip and normally dont get repeat autographs, but who am I to say no to Stitch when he was in this sort of mood?
Stitch's handler told me that Stitch was jealous of me and felt like I was getting between him and Lilo. I assured Stitch than Lilo was still his best friend and that I would never get between them. We seemed to get along just fine after that. I managed to get one more group photo before heading on.
After regrouping, the whole family headed to Harambe on our way to Kilimanjaro Safaris. It felt so good to see such a beautiful blue sky! On all of our family trips last year, every day we spent in the parks was mostly gray skies or rainy. They were still fun, but I was really hoping to get some beautiful blue skies on this trip because I think they make for better pictures than white or gray ones. It was beginning to look like it was going to be a lovely trip!
Next chapter: Animal Adventures in Africa
It looks just as nice as the mansions, and I'd be quite happy to stay there! 
Well, that's summer in Florida for you. We may be the "Sunshine State" but any sun is much more appreciated here between May and September.
I should be able to get at least the Kilimanjaro Safaris/ Pangani Trail chapter up this week though.
Glad that you liked the pics. King Louie was great. I'd met him by himself before, but with Baloo to play off of he was fantastic. 
I dont think that I really wanted to know that. 
The way he talked, he made it sound like this sort of thing happened a lot at Yak & Yeti, but fortunately for us, there wasnt anyone waiting so we were seated right away. Im hoping that this is just hiccups in the ADR system (which sometimes happens at new restaurants) and not a problem that will continue. 
