Crossing over Crocodiles, Runaway Trains, & Birthday Wishes Updt 10/18

[kathleen27]

We are scheduled for the Africa Trek in June. Your pictures are getting me excited! Thanks for sharing!

It was a lot of fun! I think you'll really enjoy it. There are a lot of very different things on the tour. Hannah said the bridge (which I hope to post tomorrow) was her favorite part of the whole vacation.

I'm really enjoying reading your trip report. And I love all of the pictures! Can't wait to hear about the rest of the tour.

Thanks! I should have more tomorrow, I have a lot more photos from the tour, more than I realized.

Joining in...what a cool tour so far!

Your kids are so cute! It must've been really challenging to have to deal with all the diabetes stuff, without being used to it...sounds like your DD (and you) were coping with it really well.

I just got back a few weeks ago from my first stay at the BC, and I totally agree with you about the bathroom. Ridiculously tiny!

Thanks!

I think the fact that we were adjusting made it the hardest. It was incrediblly overwhelming at first. The meal at the airport was our first meal not at home, hospital, or school. I think we will feel more comfortable on future trips.

It really was tiny!! I am glad its not just me, I don't remember reading that before the trip. I also found it steamed up, but I like water at a very hot temperature.

That is the first time I have read about the Wild Africa Trek and it sounds amazing!

That baby gorilla sure is cute

Yay on seeing the hippos!

It was really a great tour! I'm glad they created it - & just in time for us!

He was so cute, & was having fun running around!

 

[kathleen27]

We learned a bit about hippos and crocodiles on our hike. Two animals that could be found in the “part of the reserve we were hiking through.” Both these animals spend much of their time in the water, so of course there was a river nearby. And …



We were going to cross that river…



On this bridge!

Exciting!


There were 15 of us who needed to cross, so it took quite a while. One of our guides crossed first. (He was also our photographer!)

Then another family crossed. We were next!

I wanted to go between the kids, so I could get photos of each of them.

Hannah asked to go first. She was really excited!

Here she is getting her harness hooked up!

And onto the bridge-

That looks like a big step for her!

A view across the water-

Jacob getting his harness hooked up!

A Hippo in the water beneath us!

And onto the bridge for Jacob-

We crossed right over the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride

A pretty view-

Another bridge to go!

Jacob finishing up his crossing!

We needed to wait for everyone to cross the first bridge before we could start on the second.

Hannah asked me to take her photo while we waited.

It was also a good time for a water break. We were glad to have the water bottles with us!


PHOTOPASS PHOTOS-

I mentioned our guide / photographer went first. He took photos of everyone as they crossed.

Have to pay attention to your step here!

All three of us on the bridge-

Hannah

Me

Jacob

Checking out the view

Each family received a group photo when they finished crossing the first bridge:

cont'd...

 

[kathleen27]

Here’s the second bridge!

Pretty view and a Beautiful Day!

The bridge we completed first-

At tree top level!

I think there’s something missing here?!?

Want to see what was below us?

Jacob joins us!

Right below us-

He looks hungry!

So does he! Actually we later learned they open their mouths to cool off! There were a lot of interesting bits of info like that on the tour!

cont'd

 

[kathleen27]

MORE PHOTOPASS PHOTOS-

Here are some of our photopass photos from the second bride-
Notice we are holding on the the railings!

Smile!

We waited at the base of the bridge for everyone to finish crossing.

Then we headed down toward the river bank. Yes the river full of crocodiles! We were about to get a close up view!

We were harnessed in at the viewing station. I was last, and I was able to take a few photos of the set up.

The harness track-

Our view-

Back of the vests with the harness, they clipped to the front of the vest when we weren’t hooked in.

Our guide had her radio off while we all crossed the bridge.
Now she turned it back on so we could learn a bit more about crocodiles.

When we were done viewing the crocs we headed off down the trail.

We stopped and checked out some seed pods-

A pretty side trail.

This was only a short trail, and we soon reached our destination.
We unhooked all the straps on our harnesses and removed our water bottles to keep.
We were done with the harnesses, but we still had quite a bit of time left on our tour.

We had a whole different adventure coming up!







I will stop and make a few comments here – on the first two parts of the tour!

We loved the bridge!!!
Hannah maintained this was her favorite part of our vacation through the entire trip!

However, I can see this might not be for everyone. The hike through the woods was at least moderate. The trail was intentionally left as thin, for authenticity. There were obstructions on the ground, and places where you had to move foliage aside. You really had to pay attention to your step on the trail and the bridge. Sneaker type shoes are required, no sandals (they did loan two guests on our tour sneakers).

Also this is not for anyone who might be afraid of heights. As for kids, we had some young kids on here (the age is 8). They did great, they enjoyed themselves & had no issues. There was one teenage girl in our group that was nervous about crossing the bridge, they had her wait until last to cross the bridge, and the guide crossed with her, talking to her the whole time, and pointing things out to her.


If you can handle a hike and aren’t afraid of heights, and you like animals & enjoy animal kingdom then I really recommend the tour.

I am going to go a little out of order here, and post some photos from later in the trip when we visited AK again, and rode Kilimanjaro Safaris.

The harness stations at the hippo viewing areas- there are two, but each tour only stops at one, they try to determine which will have the better view, based on the current location of the hippos.

Passing under the bridge-

I think this one is the croc viewing area – they did an amazing job, because it felt like we were much closer!

 

[mermaid764]

Joining in

I just found your TR tonight and have enjoyed getting to read through it.

The tour looks amazing and I can't wait to hear about the rest of it

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love the photos and commentary of the tour!

Crossing the bridges seems like fun and the view looks amazing! Yay on seeing all the crocodiles and I learnt something new - didn't know they opened their mouths to cool off!

I like the way the CMs helped the teenager cross the bridge

 

[norybell]

Crossing that bridge looks like SO MUCH FUN!!! You have completely sold me on this tour. Disney should pay you a commission!

 

[ksl5f123]

We saw some people on the bridge while we were on the safari in March. I guessed that it was part of this tour. I didn't guess that they made the bridge so authentic! Wow! My oldest child is 7 and it is going to be several years before I will be able to convince her to do that, but I think it sounds awesome! Wonderful pictures!

 

[kathleen27]

Joining in

I just found your TR tonight and have enjoyed getting to read through it.

The tour looks amazing and I can't wait to hear about the rest of it

Thanks! We really enjoyed the tour.

Love the photos and commentary of the tour!

Crossing the bridges seems like fun and the view looks amazing! Yay on seeing all the crocodiles and I learnt something new - didn't know they opened their mouths to cool off!

I like the way the CMs helped the teenager cross the bridge

Thanks!
The view was amazing!

The CMs were great on our tour. So much enthusiasm & so much info to share. I didn't know that about the crocs before, but we heard it a couple of times on this trip!

Crossing that bridge looks like SO MUCH FUN!!! You have completely sold me on this tour. Disney should pay you a commission!

It really was fun! This tour was perfect for us.
And they created it just in time!

We saw some people on the bridge while we were on the safari in March. I guessed that it was part of this tour. I didn't guess that they made the bridge so authentic! Wow! My oldest child is 7 and it is going to be several years before I will be able to convince her to do that, but I think it sounds awesome! Wonderful pictures!

Thanks!
They did a great job of making it look good! Yet at the same time its all enclosed in net, and you are clipped into a harness! I don't think Hannah would have liked it at 7! The younger kids on our tour did great though.

 

[Happy Elf]

Just found your report and I'm joining in! Your tour sounds amazing! Something I will look into for the future....at this point my kids are way too young.

 

[kathleen27]

Just found your report and I'm joining in! Your tour sounds amazing! Something I will look into for the future....at this point my kids are way too young.

Hi! Thanks!
It was a lot of fun!
I remember reading your trip report a couple of years ago. I bet your kids have grown since then!

 

[kathleen27]

Sorry for the update delays.

Haven't been on the computer much.
Last two times I tried to update I had technical difficulties.
Photobucket kept stopping mid upload last week.
Two nights ago my computer could not deal with any web page at all.

I updated lots of stuff, so hopefully everything will work.

Before I start - just wanted to tell everyone what Jacob and Hannah did for Mother's Day. They (mostly Jacob) made a calendar with photos from our Disney trip that they uploaded and put together cool groupings and backgrounds. They did a fantastic job. It was perfect because Jacob knew that I had recently decided that I wanted to put a calendar above my desk.

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Ok, so we were on our Wild Africa Trek, we had crossed over several exciting bridges, got a close-up personal view of some crocodiles, then unloaded our harnesses, and took a short hike through the woods to the Savannah. When we arrived, our transportation was waiting.

(taken later in the trip while on Kilimanjaro Safaris)

Seated and ready for the next part of our adventure

Our vehicles were equipped with a half dozen binoculars under the seats.
We traveled through the Kilimanjaro Safari’s ride track along with the regular vehicles, except that we were able to stop at several viewing areas along the side of the road. While we were stopped we were allowed to get up and move around for a better view. We also had our guides riding along with us, giving us lots of information about the animals we were seeing.

Notice the structures up ahead. They were our destination.

The baby elephant was adorable!

Photopass Photos!


The rest of the photos were taken by our CMs (two of which now had photopass cameras!

Now we had reached our destination for the next part of our tour, we were going to have a chance to relax, enjoy the view, and have a little snack.

I promise to get the next one up this weekend (maybe tomorrow night), mostly ready, but need to ask the kids for a refresher on some details, and add the photopass photos!

 

[Happy Elf]

I remember reading your trip report a couple of years ago. I bet your kids have grown since then!

They have grown quite a bit! I started a PTR for our July trip with some pictures of the kiddos if you would like to check it out.

Your animal pictures are awesome! How sweet of the kids to make you a calendar for Mother's Day.

 

[TanzUnited99]

How cool of Jacob and Hannah to make you a personalised calendar for Mother's Day!

The photos of the rest of your day look great! Look forward to reading more

 

[kathleen27]

They have grown quite a bit! I started a PTR for our July trip with some pictures of the kiddos if you would like to check it out.

Your animal pictures are awesome! How sweet of the kids to make you a calendar for Mother's Day.

Thanks!
I will definately check out your ptr.

They were super excited about their surprise!

How cool of Jacob and Hannah to make you a personalised calendar for Mother's Day!

The photos of the rest of your day look great! Look forward to reading more

They did a great job with the calendar.

Thanks!

 

[kathleen27]

We stopped at a little rest area on the savannah. We could relax and take in the view from a couple of different directions.

Hannah loves elephants!

Jacob relaxing.

The view from this side.

We experienced A Taste of Africa – For the adults: Melons, fruit; Chicken salad; Proscuito; Shrimp; Salmon; Pita pieces & I forget what we had to put on them. For the kids: Melons, fruit; Chesse cubes; Pinwheel sandwhich; Carrots & dressing; Trail mix (pretzels, nuts, m&ms, dried bananas & raisins). Jacob was disappointed he wasn’t able to have an adult choice, but we did a lot of trading. I gave him my shrimp & salmon, he also wanted a pita. He gave me his carrots. The flower in the container was “edible”, one person said later they tried it. I saved mine, but lost it later that day. There were little wooden spoons, which we were told we could keep, so the kids saved theirs. We also had more of that delicious juice!

And a photopass:

That is the shirt Hannah bought the night before at MK.

Sometime in the future this will be a path leading to an additional viewing area. There were plenty of binoculars around the enclosure, and if we stood in an exact spot and look in a specific direction, we could see a lioness in the distance.

Lots of great carvings & amazing details!

View from another side.

Two Tired Kids!

He wandered into view.

A couple more photopass photos:

After our rest, we were back on our safari vehicle for a short ride through the rest of the safari.

We stopped for a distant view of the Cheetahs-

They were sleeping.

And up ahead the lions.

Sleeping too. We learned how many hours a day a lion sleeps. I don’t remember the exact number, but Jacob was impressed – and a little jealous.

Photopass Photo

We finished out our safari ride on the regular Kilimanjaro trail (with a couple side of the road stops). We were let off at the ride exit, and our tour group hiked back to the tour center together.

Part of the tour fee is donated to charity, and we were given a vote as to what type of charity we wanted to support. Our choices were elephants, big cats, rhinos or the Disney Conservation Fund. After voting we were given our photopass cards & collected our items from our lockers.

We really enjoyed our tour!

The tour was scheduled for 12-3pm, but we had been running a little late, we had been asked earlier if we had anywhere we needed to be or if everyone was ok with returning a little late. Everyone was ok with the extra time.

 

[mermaid764]

The tour looked like it was an amazing experience for you and your kids, and what a sweet surprise the calendar must have been for mother's day.

Love the pics you got of the animals, they turned out really well

 

[Happy Elf]

What an amazing tour! Your lunch sounded good, and what a neat little viewing area! Love the picture of Emily with the elephant. I elephants too! I was excited last summer when I took the kids to the zoo and they had one out that we could pet.

 

[TanzUnited99]

The food sounds amazing! Yay on being able to relax and have such a gorgeous view

I like both the Mickey shirts - look great on Hannah and you.

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in! My husband i were thinking of doing the African tour but the price seemed pretty high but after seeing your pictures, i am rethinking it!