the Legend
Master of Attractions and TourGuide Hopeful!
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2001
Hi Everyone and a happy New Year to you all,
It seems like a funny New Years resolution but a long time ago, promises were made to complete this Sept 2002 TR to WL/AKL @ WDW. After a 3 month assignment to Singapore, a House move and some strenuous family commitments, I am happy to write up the conclusion of this trip with my Brother Lance. I hope you enjoy it! For those who PM'd, thanks for your words of encouragement.
Kindest Regards
Rob aka The Legend
The Pre-Trip
Day1 - Welcome to the Wilderness Lodge
Day 2 - Finding our feet at the Magic Kingdom
Day 3 - American Idle
Day 4 - Paying the Price
Day 5 - Welcome to the Animal Kingdom Lodge
Day 6 - Phun at PhutureWorld and Phantasmic!<HR>
The Legend returns: Day 7 - A Duck walks into a Bar ... (Part 1 of 2)
Cast of 'Atlantis'
Rob, your 36yo Storyteller, aka The Legend as Milo J. Thatch, wanna-be Adventurer with big shoes to fill.
Lance, my 30yo Brother. Like as Vincenzo Santorini, he has a hard time choosing between Flowers and Explosives.
Summary for Thursday 26 September.
We started the morning with an early and easy drive to the Animal Kingdom We had an 8:30 PS at Restaurantosaurus and I didnt want to be late. As we parked, a sizeable crowd was growing at the tram stop. By the time we walked over, they were going hysterical
Heeyyy Gooooffffyyy!!!".
We couldnt make out what was going on until we actually got up front.
"Heeyyy Miiiiiicckkeeeyyy!!!".
Was Mickey and Goofy on the tram? No, a Van with an open roof was driving the tram route and several Characters were waving at the Masses. It was Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Rafiki, Donald and Turk. As the Van slowed down for some photo ops, one Girls Dad got particularly loud :jumping4:
"Heeyyy Gooooffffyyy!!! Heeyyy Gooooffffyyy!!! IIIIts myyyy Little Giiiirls Biiiirthdaaaayyyy", lifting her up like Rafiki showing Simba to the Animals in Lion King. And then it started, every Parent with Child started hollering at their favourites.
"Yooo Miiicckkeeeyyy! Yooo Donnnnaaalldd!".
"Yoohoo ... Minnie Over 'ere Love!".
"Heeyyy ... Gooooffffyyy!!!".
Every character was getting a shout out except poor old Turk
, who had moved to the back of the Group to let the Peoples Favourites through. One little boy and his Mum had just walked up to the tram stop with us and he was pointing at the retreating Tarzan character. Some of the people had noticed Turks retreat ...
"Awww"
Slowly but surely a small chant started moving through the Crowd.
"Turk! Turk!"
With his back to the crowd, Turk was playing us for all it was worth. People were clapping and the chant was getting louder.
"Turk! Turk!"
The other Characters parted to let the Tarzan star through but he continued playing the shy Guy and really winding the crowd up.
"Turk! Turk!"
He finally came forward with his arms in the air as if to hug us all.
There was a giant cheer and spontaneous applause as the Character Van pulled out, Turk was waving wildy to his new found friends.
The Mum next to us reassured her boy, "Look Son, he's waving at us!" That's funny, I could've sworn he was waving at me! There were happy faces all round and everyone was energized. As we boarded the Tram I thought, Who said the Magic was dead?
Chapter 2: Dining with Donald!
Breakfastosaurus has always been my favourite way to start an Animal Kingdom day An 8:30am PS meant we were out around Park opening at 9am. You could ride Dinosaur two or three times before any real crowd turned up and that was important because it would take one ride to find out where the camera was and practice our poses for that all important on-ride Photo!
Now I've always felt there was something special about walking through an empty Animal Kingdom. With the morning mist and nothing but the sound of water and birds, you feel at one with nature and it is very calming. With a cool alpine breeze and the smell of moist pine, it wouldve felt like home however the 80 degree heat reminded me we were a long way from New Zealand and once again, we were in for a very very hot day.
At Restaurantosaurus, we were seated and greeted by Hostess Darlene. Like all Character meal hosts, she told us how the characters worked the room and how the buffet worked (Bob NC would've laughed!). Darlene had just finished taking our drink orders and before I could say "Todays Gameplan is ...", Lance was gone! The promise of Bacon and Eggs was just too much to deny any longer. On his return, it seemed he had scored one of every item on the menu. To see it, you'd think he hadnt eaten in a month. I had a horrible flashback to yesterdays PS at Le Cellier, where we actually returned food however that certainly would not be the case today! Serving after serving of Breakfast food was devoured with ease, especially the Bacon and Eggs. My planned exit time of 9am was overshot by half an hour to accomodate both the characters and our ravenous appetites.
I must mention that we did get to meet the characters several times and it didnt matter to them that we were two adult males by ourselves . The old rule of showing some love
was especially evident today as I hope you can see by the photos! We left Donald and Friends very full and contented. Thinking back to last Mondays heat exhaustion at Busch Gardens Tampa and the heat that would eventuate today, I was thankful we had a filling breakfast today. ($40.00 including tip)
Chapter 3: Quick, Call the Carnival! They've left some rides behind!!
With full bellies, we waddled over to Dinosaur for our first ride of the day. I managed to get my photo with a Carnotaur . He was on the way out and I dont blame him, it was barely 9:35 and I was starting to feel the heat big time. There was no lines at Dinosaur and they were loading as fast as the pre-show allowed. We rode by ourselves the first time through trying to figure where the camera was and practicing the first of on-ride photo poses. Now was it me or was this thing getting scarier every time I rode it? It wasnt Halloween but it was pitch black in there
with very little in the way of lighting and scenery plus it sure didnt help that we were the only two on-board the only vehicle visible. Ride 2 saw some extra passengers as we practiced our poses one last time. Ride 3 type of made the Greeters day , "Youre the only guys who've done multiple rides today, you must really like it?" ... "Oh no, its taken two rides to get our poses for the photo right!". There was chuckles all round as we made our way to the loading platform. As we departed, the Loading CM even wished us luck with the photo! Well, third ride was a charm and we managed to not only to get a good photo but did so with the shocked looks of the other passengers on board which added to comedic value of the picture ($13.73).
Leaving Dinosaur, we used the little shortcut to Chesters and Hesters Dinosaur Treasure shop to get to the new rides, Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin. When I caught first glimpse of this new area, my jaw almost dropped. Seemed the Carnival had been to town and forgotten to take some rides with them. My first thoughts were how did something so ghastly ever get approved for this park? Triceratops Spin I can understand, as Dumbo-type rides are a Disney staple and it goes without saying that one would built here someday. But what really irked me was Primeval Whirl, an Animal Kingdom Eyesore if I ever saw one with an equally weak storyline to boot. It goes without saying that we rode it anyway but I was not impressed at all. I believe more needs to be done with it. What? I dont know. Its presence just bothers me thats all. I believe that thrills rides in an Animal Park can be done tastefully and within the constraints of the Park (eg Journey to Atlantis and the Kraken Coaster at SeaWorld etc) but Primeval Whirl felt as home to me as Pavorotti would be in the Beegees. I suppose Im the only one who feels this way but we moved on fairly quickly after that one ride. Luckily someone had paved a highway out of Chester and Hester Land and the Expressway went straight to the Tree of Life and Its Tough to be a Bug.
Chapter 4: Take my advise, you'll need it!
We entered Tough to be a Bug and somehow ended up 3/4 back in the middle of the row. Funny that. I never did find my lost Nephew but we got a great view of the Show. Now Lance has caught on that I know my attractions fairly well and since the whole Beverly affair yesterday, he's watching me like a hawk. My first experience with the Stinger was particularly bad so I always make it a point to lean forward during that bit. Lance saw me sitting off the back so he did likewise narrowly missing the Sting. He looks at me like he just foiled another one of my attempts to embarass him but I can tell you now, it was only for my own unselfish preservation. During this whole trip, I made it a point not to warn him about anything, I might guide him a bit but I would never spoil the attraction for him after all this was his first to WDW and I wanted him to experience it the way it should be experienced. Bug was great and Lance was so smug thinking he had beaten me that i left it at that and went over to Kali River Rapids.
Walking to the Asian section of the Park, I gave Lance my take on the Rapids
. If we were lucky and the crowds are low, we can ride this as many times as we like without getting off. Upside, great ride and great fun if you have a full raft. Downside, someones getting wet. We made our way through the queue and onto the rotating platform before attempting to take our shoes off. The Ride Op quickly ushered us back up the line to get changed so we wouldnt block the queue. Well, you can imagine, we're at the head of the queue in the exit lane across from the Greeter taking off the Shoes and Socks, getting our Ponchos on, all in the blazing Sun.
Several Families passed us by, some looked at us as if to say 'Chickens' in fact one kid had the nerve to say to us, 'You dont get THAT wet on this ride' (Famous last words). Well, I told him we were going around at least three times so this was just protection. His Mom asked if they'd need their ponchos so I had to let them know about the drop. 'Whoever goes down the drop with their backs to it, will be drenched. If you have them, I suggest you wear them' . Some rafts had come in and the people getting off were relatively dry, Mom in her better wisdom decided to board without ponchos. Another Family boarded with us, again taking no precautions and both groups sat opposite us. You know what happened next!
The ride was calm until the drop, down we went with Lance and I looking down at our two families. I wished I had a waterproof camera bacause the looks on their faces when the Wave came over the top was truly a Kodak moment if I had ever seen one! Trying our best not to laugh, we coasted home. Too rub salt in their already wet wounds , our two families were also attacked by the spraying elephants at the end of the ride (Some people have no mercy!). Well, the boy who had ushered those famous last words and his family left, Mom commenting about how shouldve taken our advise. I felt sorry for Mom but as her son walked off with the squishy socks, I knew he was in for a long, long day (Buwahaha!).
Family Two trooped on and did another two rides with us and they were talking about how they'd been at Islands of Adventure yesterday and got soaked on all their boat rides. They weren't expecting anything like that at a Disney Park but we all had a great laugh and we swapped advice, which always makes for good conversation. Third ride was a charm so we jumped out, got changed and made our way out. For some reason, all that water had made me thirsty so it was over to one of the ODVs for that expensive Dasani Water and some M&Ms ($3.75)
With Animal Kingdom half done. What was next for our Boys? Read what happens in our next instalment 'The Legend returns: Day 7 - A Duck walks into a Bar ... (Part 2 of 2)'
It seems like a funny New Years resolution but a long time ago, promises were made to complete this Sept 2002 TR to WL/AKL @ WDW. After a 3 month assignment to Singapore, a House move and some strenuous family commitments, I am happy to write up the conclusion of this trip with my Brother Lance. I hope you enjoy it! For those who PM'd, thanks for your words of encouragement.
Kindest Regards
Rob aka The Legend
The Pre-Trip
Day1 - Welcome to the Wilderness Lodge
Day 2 - Finding our feet at the Magic Kingdom
Day 3 - American Idle
Day 4 - Paying the Price
Day 5 - Welcome to the Animal Kingdom Lodge
Day 6 - Phun at PhutureWorld and Phantasmic!<HR>
The Legend returns: Day 7 - A Duck walks into a Bar ... (Part 1 of 2)
Cast of 'Atlantis'
Rob, your 36yo Storyteller, aka The Legend as Milo J. Thatch, wanna-be Adventurer with big shoes to fill. Lance, my 30yo Brother. Like as Vincenzo Santorini, he has a hard time choosing between Flowers and Explosives.Summary for Thursday 26 September.
- Morning - Breakfastosaurus @ Animal Kingdom
- Morning - Animal Kingdom.
- Afternoon break at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
- Evening - La Nouba, Cirque de Soliel, Downtown Disney.
- Evening - Pleasure Island, Downtown Disney.]
We started the morning with an early and easy drive to the Animal Kingdom We had an 8:30 PS at Restaurantosaurus and I didnt want to be late. As we parked, a sizeable crowd was growing at the tram stop. By the time we walked over, they were going hysterical
Heeyyy Gooooffffyyy!!!".
We couldnt make out what was going on until we actually got up front.
"Heeyyy Miiiiiicckkeeeyyy!!!".
Was Mickey and Goofy on the tram? No, a Van with an open roof was driving the tram route and several Characters were waving at the Masses. It was Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Rafiki, Donald and Turk. As the Van slowed down for some photo ops, one Girls Dad got particularly loud :jumping4:
"Heeyyy Gooooffffyyy!!! Heeyyy Gooooffffyyy!!! IIIIts myyyy Little Giiiirls Biiiirthdaaaayyyy", lifting her up like Rafiki showing Simba to the Animals in Lion King. And then it started, every Parent with Child started hollering at their favourites.
"Yooo Miiicckkeeeyyy! Yooo Donnnnaaalldd!".
"Yoohoo ... Minnie Over 'ere Love!".
"Heeyyy ... Gooooffffyyy!!!".
Every character was getting a shout out except poor old Turk
, who had moved to the back of the Group to let the Peoples Favourites through. One little boy and his Mum had just walked up to the tram stop with us and he was pointing at the retreating Tarzan character. Some of the people had noticed Turks retreat ... "Awww"
Slowly but surely a small chant started moving through the Crowd.
"Turk! Turk!"
With his back to the crowd, Turk was playing us for all it was worth. People were clapping and the chant was getting louder.
"Turk! Turk!"
The other Characters parted to let the Tarzan star through but he continued playing the shy Guy and really winding the crowd up.
"Turk! Turk!"
He finally came forward with his arms in the air as if to hug us all.
There was a giant cheer and spontaneous applause as the Character Van pulled out, Turk was waving wildy to his new found friends. The Mum next to us reassured her boy, "Look Son, he's waving at us!" That's funny, I could've sworn he was waving at me! There were happy faces all round and everyone was energized. As we boarded the Tram I thought, Who said the Magic was dead?
Chapter 2: Dining with Donald!
Breakfastosaurus has always been my favourite way to start an Animal Kingdom day An 8:30am PS meant we were out around Park opening at 9am. You could ride Dinosaur two or three times before any real crowd turned up and that was important because it would take one ride to find out where the camera was and practice our poses for that all important on-ride Photo!
From the tram we could already see a large crowd of people (about 200 appox.) waiting to get into Animal Kingdom. It was 8:20 and there was still 40 minutes to opening, however I wasnt phased by the size of this crowd. Animal Kingdom is one of the largest on property and could easily swallow 200 people with ease. The line for Breakfastosaurus was on the left hand side of the turnstiles and there was little wait before we were confirmed and escorted to Restaurantosaurus.
Now I've always felt there was something special about walking through an empty Animal Kingdom. With the morning mist and nothing but the sound of water and birds, you feel at one with nature and it is very calming. With a cool alpine breeze and the smell of moist pine, it wouldve felt like home however the 80 degree heat reminded me we were a long way from New Zealand and once again, we were in for a very very hot day.
At Restaurantosaurus, we were seated and greeted by Hostess Darlene. Like all Character meal hosts, she told us how the characters worked the room and how the buffet worked (Bob NC would've laughed!). Darlene had just finished taking our drink orders and before I could say "Todays Gameplan is ...", Lance was gone! The promise of Bacon and Eggs was just too much to deny any longer. On his return, it seemed he had scored one of every item on the menu. To see it, you'd think he hadnt eaten in a month. I had a horrible flashback to yesterdays PS at Le Cellier, where we actually returned food however that certainly would not be the case today! Serving after serving of Breakfast food was devoured with ease, especially the Bacon and Eggs. My planned exit time of 9am was overshot by half an hour to accomodate both the characters and our ravenous appetites.
I must mention that we did get to meet the characters several times and it didnt matter to them that we were two adult males by ourselves . The old rule of showing some love
was especially evident today as I hope you can see by the photos! We left Donald and Friends very full and contented. Thinking back to last Mondays heat exhaustion at Busch Gardens Tampa and the heat that would eventuate today, I was thankful we had a filling breakfast today. ($40.00 including tip)Chapter 3: Quick, Call the Carnival! They've left some rides behind!!
With full bellies, we waddled over to Dinosaur for our first ride of the day. I managed to get my photo with a Carnotaur . He was on the way out and I dont blame him, it was barely 9:35 and I was starting to feel the heat big time. There was no lines at Dinosaur and they were loading as fast as the pre-show allowed. We rode by ourselves the first time through trying to figure where the camera was and practicing the first of on-ride photo poses. Now was it me or was this thing getting scarier every time I rode it? It wasnt Halloween but it was pitch black in there
with very little in the way of lighting and scenery plus it sure didnt help that we were the only two on-board the only vehicle visible. Ride 2 saw some extra passengers as we practiced our poses one last time. Ride 3 type of made the Greeters day , "Youre the only guys who've done multiple rides today, you must really like it?" ... "Oh no, its taken two rides to get our poses for the photo right!". There was chuckles all round as we made our way to the loading platform. As we departed, the Loading CM even wished us luck with the photo! Well, third ride was a charm and we managed to not only to get a good photo but did so with the shocked looks of the other passengers on board which added to comedic value of the picture ($13.73).Leaving Dinosaur, we used the little shortcut to Chesters and Hesters Dinosaur Treasure shop to get to the new rides, Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin. When I caught first glimpse of this new area, my jaw almost dropped. Seemed the Carnival had been to town and forgotten to take some rides with them. My first thoughts were how did something so ghastly ever get approved for this park? Triceratops Spin I can understand, as Dumbo-type rides are a Disney staple and it goes without saying that one would built here someday. But what really irked me was Primeval Whirl, an Animal Kingdom Eyesore if I ever saw one with an equally weak storyline to boot. It goes without saying that we rode it anyway but I was not impressed at all. I believe more needs to be done with it. What? I dont know. Its presence just bothers me thats all. I believe that thrills rides in an Animal Park can be done tastefully and within the constraints of the Park (eg Journey to Atlantis and the Kraken Coaster at SeaWorld etc) but Primeval Whirl felt as home to me as Pavorotti would be in the Beegees. I suppose Im the only one who feels this way but we moved on fairly quickly after that one ride. Luckily someone had paved a highway out of Chester and Hester Land and the Expressway went straight to the Tree of Life and Its Tough to be a Bug.
Chapter 4: Take my advise, you'll need it!
We entered Tough to be a Bug and somehow ended up 3/4 back in the middle of the row. Funny that. I never did find my lost Nephew but we got a great view of the Show. Now Lance has caught on that I know my attractions fairly well and since the whole Beverly affair yesterday, he's watching me like a hawk. My first experience with the Stinger was particularly bad so I always make it a point to lean forward during that bit. Lance saw me sitting off the back so he did likewise narrowly missing the Sting. He looks at me like he just foiled another one of my attempts to embarass him but I can tell you now, it was only for my own unselfish preservation. During this whole trip, I made it a point not to warn him about anything, I might guide him a bit but I would never spoil the attraction for him after all this was his first to WDW and I wanted him to experience it the way it should be experienced. Bug was great and Lance was so smug thinking he had beaten me that i left it at that and went over to Kali River Rapids.
Walking to the Asian section of the Park, I gave Lance my take on the Rapids
. If we were lucky and the crowds are low, we can ride this as many times as we like without getting off. Upside, great ride and great fun if you have a full raft. Downside, someones getting wet. We made our way through the queue and onto the rotating platform before attempting to take our shoes off. The Ride Op quickly ushered us back up the line to get changed so we wouldnt block the queue. Well, you can imagine, we're at the head of the queue in the exit lane across from the Greeter taking off the Shoes and Socks, getting our Ponchos on, all in the blazing Sun. Several Families passed us by, some looked at us as if to say 'Chickens' in fact one kid had the nerve to say to us, 'You dont get THAT wet on this ride' (Famous last words). Well, I told him we were going around at least three times so this was just protection. His Mom asked if they'd need their ponchos so I had to let them know about the drop. 'Whoever goes down the drop with their backs to it, will be drenched. If you have them, I suggest you wear them' . Some rafts had come in and the people getting off were relatively dry, Mom in her better wisdom decided to board without ponchos. Another Family boarded with us, again taking no precautions and both groups sat opposite us. You know what happened next!
The ride was calm until the drop, down we went with Lance and I looking down at our two families. I wished I had a waterproof camera bacause the looks on their faces when the Wave came over the top was truly a Kodak moment if I had ever seen one! Trying our best not to laugh, we coasted home. Too rub salt in their already wet wounds , our two families were also attacked by the spraying elephants at the end of the ride (Some people have no mercy!). Well, the boy who had ushered those famous last words and his family left, Mom commenting about how shouldve taken our advise. I felt sorry for Mom but as her son walked off with the squishy socks, I knew he was in for a long, long day (Buwahaha!).
Family Two trooped on and did another two rides with us and they were talking about how they'd been at Islands of Adventure yesterday and got soaked on all their boat rides. They weren't expecting anything like that at a Disney Park but we all had a great laugh and we swapped advice, which always makes for good conversation. Third ride was a charm so we jumped out, got changed and made our way out. For some reason, all that water had made me thirsty so it was over to one of the ODVs for that expensive Dasani Water and some M&Ms ($3.75)
With Animal Kingdom half done. What was next for our Boys? Read what happens in our next instalment 'The Legend returns: Day 7 - A Duck walks into a Bar ... (Part 2 of 2)'
