06/06-06/11 Assault on Disney's Beaches: Update 8/13, Swag Pics on last page

[SurfinTX]

Great updates!!!
I especially love this part:
"On the bus back to the Poly another family was sitting across from us. Actually I was standing as well as the mom of their family. We strike up a conversation about how this is not the picture of Disney that is advertised on TV. All over the bus are tired and sweaty families with small children crying including theirs. "
I am laughing hysterically because this is sooo TRUE!! I have sadly experienced this many times firsthand!

I swear I didn't do this to Goofy!

I didn't quite look this bad leaving the World Showcase.

 

[SurfinTX]

A Wild Time on the Safari

Thankfully we all slept pretty well after our late tour of Animal Kingdom. Now the plan called for a non-EMH day to see the animals this morning.

Waking up we were greeted by this sight out our window.

Those crazy ducks at it again! If anyone is curious this was our view.

We had pretty much settled into a routine by now and sleeping in a bit helped I think. Still, it was critical to get to Animal Kingdom early since I heard the animals are still a bit active before the heat of the day sets in. All went according to plan and around 8:20 we get on the bus.

Arriving about twenty minutes later we head up through the bag check and wait at the turnstiles. This morning seemed to have many people with strollers and the loading into the pre-show area was slow. We didn't quite make it past the turnstiles when the opening show began.

After Mickey and Pals all welcome us on our expedition the crowd was off! This opening is very packed with two small paths leading past the Oasis. It took some time to navigate it but at the turn towards Africa it became a lot easier to walk. Pretty much the entire crowd was going in the direction of Kilimanjaro Safari. As we arrive the line was about 15 minutes but building rapidly. The queue is themed very well with shows of some of the animals we might see and how they are cared for. A few birds are also nearby.

Pretty soon we load up in our vehicle and we are off!

Our driver was much better than the one I had on my '07 trip and was very informative. Many questions were asked and she was right there with the answers.

As far as animals this time? They were everywhere!

The best I could do with the baby elephant.

At this point the safari would have been great as it was but we were in for a surprise.

Just as we wound our way around a curve we had to stop because the vehicle in front of us had been halted by an unexpected visitor.

In fact two adults and a baby rhino all decide to cross the road in front of us. A moment later a pickup drives up and places itself between the rhinos and the other vehicle in front of us.

The rhinos all wanted to drink from the puddle near the road so we remained stopped until the truck got closer and moved them away. Our driver assured us that the pickup does not touch the animals but that they recognize it as a sign to move along.

Well, this time the rhinos see it as a threat and start backing away slowly with the baby between them. For a moment it got a bit tense and our driver reminded us to remain sitting at all times. Eventually the baby moves off and the adult rhinos relax.

All of the vehicles in the area begin to move again. It wasn't all over yet, however. Just as we reach the same puddle I talked about earlier the baby decided it was a good time to come back. The adults were having none of that and one of them nudges the baby back as the other trots at us! The driver doesn't stop but has to slow to get by. This time the guy in the pickup waves us by as he is really trying to distract the rhino. It gets so close that Dianna could have reached over only a few inches and touched it's horn. This is the best picture I could get.

That's Michael's hat in the foreground. If Dianna had the camera she would have had to use the macro setting. Lol!

Easing by we get past the protective rhinos and finish an encounter that none of us will forget! All of the other riders kept commenting how much better this ride was from some "fill in the blank" other time. The rest of the ride went pretty typicaly.

This time the shaky bridge did not fall and the rescue kinda fell flat as compared to what we had already experienced. After a bit we unloaded and realized how long it had been. The delay had been about 15 minutes but the morning was off to a great start!

 

[swwake]

That's a great safari story. So many animals so early in the morning. I love the rhino escapades - mischievous baby rhino, huh? Thanks for the pics. Can't wait to hear the rest of the day.

I just got back from vacation so I have lots to catch up on here. Spent 7 days surfing the Flow Rider on Oasis of the Seas. You'd love it!

 

[SurfinTX]

That's a great safari story. So many animals so early in the morning. I love the rhino escapades - mischievous baby rhino, huh? Thanks for the pics. Can't wait to hear the rest of the day.

I just got back from vacation so I have lots to catch up on here. Spent 7 days surfing the Flow Rider on Oasis of the Seas. You'd love it!

Wow! I bet that was an amazing trip! I researched that boat while it was being built. I have been trying to convince Dianna to take a cruise but she is just not into that.

Starting the next update now!

 

[SurfinTX]

More Animal Adventures

After our encounter with the rhinos we exited the safari and had just a short walk over to the Pangani Exploration Trail. There is a lot to see and learn along the way.

From rodents...

to birds...

Fish and hippos

to many hands on exhibits.

This part of the park is the most similar to a zoo experience you will find at Animal Kingdom.

I love the meerkat.

The family group wasn't around today but the proud males were snacking nearby.

A great little waterfall along the way.

Near the end of the trail you run into a Kid's Discovery spot where a CM will teach kids something about the area. There are a number of them scattered throughout the park. After completing the area you recieve a booklet that the CMs stamp for you.

Next up was just hop away...Rafiki's Planet Watch via the Wildlife Express Train.

At Rafiki there are opportunities to get an upclose look at how the animals are taken care of as well as the places they live. We took advantage of the second Discovery spot and then continued to the Affection Section.

Many of the animals didn't want to get very close, however, so we moved quickly into Conservation Station. In here we found various displays with CMs caring for animals, preparing food as well as bringing them out for display.

This ferret was still being trained to see how it would do with people and the helpful CM was comforting it. Poor little guy!

There is also an opportunity to meet Rafiki himself!

The kids love the Lion King so it was a must do all of a sudden.

Time was passing so we had to move along back to Africa.

The kids were getting hungry and if there is a pizza spot available you know what they are going to pick. Pizzafari! I was really hoping to try for Flametree BBQ this time but the location was just to convenient to our next stop, Camp Minnie-Mickey.

This was the first time I had gone back to this part of the park and we passed another Discovery Zone that the kids checked out. We entered Camp Minnie-Mickey proper and found that the Festival of the Lion King was already seating and there was no wait. Well it was a tradeoff since we had to sit at the back. No matter since there was no one behind me I could stand and get some wide angle shots.

The tumblers did a great job and ran around the whole theater during the show.

The torch guy is always great!

Overall it was a great show and well worth the no-wait we had. Lol! While we were watching I made the mistake of putting my camera bag on the bench next to me. I looked back and saw that there was a gap behind the stands so I reached for my bag and, Whoops! There it goes. After the show a CM in a wheelchair had gathered it up for us and all was well.

Walking out and looking around we realized we hadn't had a picture with Mickey on this trip yet. This looked to be by far the shortest wait to see him at about 20 minutes. Getting in line we notice how often they have to rotate the characters out and that there must be an army of CMs in the back. Eventually we get our chance to say hi!

Now it was past noon and we had checked off everything on our list to do this morning. It was time to decide if we were up for more. Gathering everyone together I made my recomendations to the kids. What would we do next?

Tune in later to see.

 

[swwake]

Great update! I have never been on that train or to Rafiki's or Conservation Station. It's on my list for this trip, since we'll be finishing up the Sunrise Safari early - maybe we can see something going on over at Conservation Station.

We loved Pizzafari. How did y'all like it?

FOTLK is one of my favorite shows. Glad you found the bag!

 

[SurfinTX]

Great update! I have never been on that train or to Rafiki's or Conservation Station. It's on my list for this trip, since we'll be finishing up the Sunrise Safari early - maybe we can see something going on over at Conservation Station.

We loved Pizzafari. How did y'all like it?

FOTLK is one of my favorite shows. Glad you found the bag!

You will have to let us know how the Sunrise Safari goes. Since it was the first time for most of us we had a lot on our plate to do.

Pizzafari is similar to Pizza Planet just without the crowds. Plenty of seating. The pizza is OK with choices of cheese, veggie and peperoni. I took one picture inside of the beer taps but it didn't turn out too well.

 

[SurfinTX]

The Longest Line...EVER!

If you can't tell by the title of this part of the report, I gathered the family together to decide what to do next. I told them there were several things we missed at Disney Hollywood Studios including Toy Story Mania. I also gave them the bad news that the worst case scenario will give us about a two hour wait for the ride as well.

Everyone agreed and we march out of Animal Kingdom...but not before a quick stop at guest services to fill in the rest of the kids' Discovery Booklets. There was no way we were going to hike all the way around the park just for that.

Again we were very lucky with the busses and we were off in minutes. Arriving at DHS we marched straight back to TSM to find all of the fastpasses gone. No surprise there since it was approaching 1 pm. Standby it is then.

We get in line and marvel at the queue for a while.

Then we round a corner and realize just how long a line we are in.

Still, there was a lot to see and do and the kids were pretty entertained the first 30 minutes or so.

...however, the line moved very slowly. I was begining to wonder if the ride wasn't having troubles. Slowly but surely we move up to this guy,

I do have to say he is an amazing piece of technology. I'm not sure if it's CM assisted but it did a great job of entertaining the kids for about 20 minutes. About here though the line slowed even more so we saw some of the same skits over again. Earlier Mr. Potato Head had asked all of the children who is their favorite toy and they all screamed "We love you Mr. Potato Head!" which then he responded very positively to.

Now 20 minutes later he asks the same question and all of the kids including ours shouts - "We HATE you Mr. Potato Head!" which he then responds "You're all so cruel!" and then shuts up for about ten minutes.

Eventually we wind our way around and see where they filter in the fastpass line and I notice that they are letting large numbers of them through. So much in fact that it all but halted the standby line for long periods of time. I counted and for every 10 in standby they were letting 40 from the fastpass line in. Ouch!

Now I'm thinking that if they need to do this just to handle the FP crowds Disney really needs to create a second version of this ride. A "Double Mania" if you will. Well, we get past this point and it was about 15 more minutes until we finally arrived at the loading area.

For the last 30 minutes me and Dianna had been whispering to each other that no ride is worth this. The kids were falling out. Many adults had sat on the floor or used the theming as seating. So how was it?

It was OK. I could see how it could be addicting as you figure out all of the unlocks and bonuses. However, the average rating for everyone fell somewhere between Pooh (the best of the Fantasyland rides) and Test Track (the most boring of the Thrill rides.) Until Disney does something about the constant crowds going for this ride you absolutely must do it at rope drop or use fastpass which means you will need to be in the park before 10:30 on a busy day. Any wait for more than 45 minutes and it's not worth it for us now that we have seen it.

Just so I can gloat I had high score for the family. Michael was sitting next to me.

As you can imagine, a two hour wait in a line can take it out of a family. I knew it was going to be a tough sell to continue on to the last ride we have not done yet, Tower of Terror. At this point Dianna, Michael and Kyler decide to head back to the resort. Me and Madison make the trip over to my favorite hotel.

The sign said 40 minutes but in reality it was less than 20 to the pre-show and another 10 to the elevator itself.

How did we like it? Madison says that it was awesome! As you can see in our ride photo she is yelling at me "This is awesome!"

Compared to my '07 trip it was much better at the end. There were two full drops with several partial up and downs. The image at the end worked as well which I didn't notice the last time I was on it. There were no ghosts this time which I saw several in '07.

Very pleased and happy, me and Madison leave the park for our bus back to the Poly.

 

[swwake]

Great update! I'm glad you talked them into going back to DHS. I kinda agree with you on TSM - not so much worth the hype. I can't believe your older son missed TOT!

 

[SurfinTX]

Great update! I'm glad you talked them into going back to DHS. I kinda agree with you on TSM - not so much worth the hype. I can't believe your older son missed TOT!

When I was showing the family this part of the report I could tell that Kyler regretted not going on it. He was tired and the long wait just sapped his patience for anything else that day.

The next update should be up tomorrow.

 

[SurfinTX]

Back Home at the Poly

Last time we left you, me and Madison were hopping aboard our bus to get back to the Polynesian...but before we get there...A funny thing happened on the way.

The bus was moderately full so I let Madison sit and I remain standing next to this young (18ish) couple. Well, as I'm standing there I can't help but overhear their conversation about what they were doing for the rest of the day. The girl kept mentioning how she would have loved to see Star Wars but it was on wednesday. I turn to them and mention that Star Wars Weekends would start tomorrow, actualy. The girl just about had a fit at that moment.

I know I'm a big fan of Star Wars but this girl was like OMG! I would mention an event like the parade or Hyperspace Hoopla and she would freak and grab her boyfriend. I turned to the boyfriend and I could tell he wasn't a fan at all. The contrast between the two even had Madison smirking.

Eventualy we reach our resort and we head directly to the volcano pool area due to the high probability that the boys would be there. No surprise, I found all three setting up. Dianna then proceeds to tell me about her bussing adventure.

It turns out that the driver of her bus was kinda new at the job and ended up driving them to Fort Wilderness! Eventually the driver gets reoriented and delivers them to the Poly only 15 minutes before me and Madison. Still, it was barely 4 pm and we had the entire evening planned around hanging around the resort.

A little time in the pool. A few rides down the slides. There even was foosball and pingpong right next to the beach. It was about now that the kids realized that the pool had Polynesian music piped in underwater and of course they spent a lot of time holding their breaths after that.

After a while we head back to the room and dress for the evening. The lounge had a nice spread again with Crab Rangoon and Spring Rolls. We wandered around the resort and took a few pictures along the way.

We were thoroughly relaxed and slowly meandered our way up to the second floor of the Great Ceremonial House. I made sure to take a picture of the new sushi bar.

Eventually our ADR time of 8:15 arrives at

While hanging around waiting for our buzzer to go off I look for some room at the Tambu Lounge.

No such luck. However, the wait wasn't long and we check out the drink menu. Dianna sets her sights on the Pina Colava. I figure I'll get a lighted cube with the Blue Glowtini.

We get called up and are greeted with Alooohaaaa! We are seated right next to the entrance and are bombarded by Aloooohhaaaas! every few minutes. The server explains the service to us and takes our drink orders. After a few minutes our noodles and pot stickers arrive as well as the drinks. Dianna takes a look at hers and realizes it's a standard Pina Colada. Pointing this out the server appologizes and returns with the proper drink leaving the other with us. I gladly had some sips of it since my Glowtini was absolutely horrid. I'm not kidding. The kids loved the glow cube so it was worth it I guess.

My Glowtini with Pina Colada in background.

All is right with the world.

The entertainment gets started and it was the same lady we had on my '07 trip! She starts a conga line and the kids join in the fun!

Madison is really getting into the spirit of things.

Soon we are stuffed to the gills with shrimp, steak and chicken and even Kyler the bottomless pit has to say "No more". Now it was time for dessert and Dianna has a peanut allergy. The chef brought out this for her!

Dianna's face is not showing disapointment but bewilderment on how she should attack this.

Everyone else gets to share the bread pudding which was amazing!

I did walk around a bit to get some pictures. Here is the open fire grill.

It was now about 9:30 and it was time to head back to the beach area and prepare for the night's finale.

 

[swwake]

I can't believe they got back only 15 minutes before you and Madison! Kyler could have ridden TOT!

Love the pics around the pool. I didn't know they piped in music there.

I also didn't know they'd added a sushi bar at the Poly. I wish I had told you earlier that a Lapu Lapu is much better than a glowtini.

 

[TinksThree]

Great safari pictures!! I video taped our KS so my DS took the pictures. Later, I realized he had missed a bunch!! Oh well...it was all good!

Love the Poly pictures!! This is a resort I really hope to stay at one day!! I find excuses to visit on my trips! I love riding that ferry to MK! It seems so non-rushed.

How did she like the Pina Colava? I got one at POR poolside and it was so yummy!!!!

I am all caught up now...only took me forever!!

 

[SurfinTX]

I can't believe they got back only 15 minutes before you and Madison! Kyler could have ridden TOT!

Love the pics around the pool. I didn't know they piped in music there.

I also didn't know they'd added a sushi bar at the Poly. I wish I had told you earlier that a Lapu Lapu is much better than a glowtini.

I was feeling adventurous but I knew the kids would love the cube so I dove in. Yikes!

Great safari pictures!! I video taped our KS so my DS took the pictures. Later, I realized he had missed a bunch!! Oh well...it was all good!

Love the Poly pictures!! This is a resort I really hope to stay at one day!! I find excuses to visit on my trips! I love riding that ferry to MK! It seems so non-rushed.

How did she like the Pina Colava? I got one at POR poolside and it was so yummy!!!!

I am all caught up now...only took me forever!!

The Pina Colada and Pina Colava were both great...Dianna only spoke up because...she wanted that pink drink in the pictures. Glad to see you read my trip report up to now. The next update will be up soon.

 

[SurfinTX]

The Poly Beach and Summer Nightastic

After being completely stuffed at 'Ohana the family wobbles back to the Hawaii building around 9:30 to get ready for Summer Nightastic from the Poly Beach. Grabbing a couple glasses of wine me and Dianna settle down with a few other couples in the area and let the kids run about the sand.

Soon the music is piped in and the show starts across the lagoon.

The reviews on my camera was showing I was overexposing so I made some changes to the shutter speed.

Ooops. Too dark. Well I made a guess and tried a few things.

I was using a small tripod so it helped a bit but I sure did learn a lot that night.

Rounding up the kids it was time to go back to the room. All in all it was a fabulous day and for once we were getting in bed at a reasonable hour for the kids. Me and Dianna started packing for tomorrow will be our last day.

 

[TinksThree]

Beautiful pictures!! What a great place to view the fireworks...not half as crowded as the park!

BTW: I meant to add earlier, that in your PTR, your trip last summer sounded like so much fun, although tiring!! We love road trips and have considered a similar trip (as far as driving distances) to Utah (Zion Nat'l Park) and the Grand Canyon.

 

[SurfinTX]

Beautiful pictures!! What a great place to view the fireworks...not half as crowded as the park!

BTW: I meant to add earlier, that in your PTR, your trip last summer sounded like so much fun, although tiring!! We love road trips and have considered a similar trip (as far as driving distances) to Utah (Zion Nat'l Park) and the Grand Canyon.

Our trips with the kids have always been exerting. We always need a vacation from the vacation afterwards! Lol!

Next year we will be going back to Heber, Utah again and then heading north to Yellowstone for a few days. I have visited the Grand Canyon and it's a wonderfull destination for older kids who love hiking. You could easily spend a week exploring or rafting the Colorado.

Zion is a bit out of the way but it is beautiful. The camping areas are amazing and there are lodging options on the west side just outside the park.

Anyone notice my new ticker?

My place of work decided it was time for some training at one of our facilities in L.A. in October. Checking my calender and vacation I extended the trip so now I will be seeing Disneyland for the first time! In fact this will be my first trip anywhere in California. I can't wait to see the parks in Halloween decorations!

The big drawback is that this will be a solo trip and I know Dianna and the kids will be missing out. I am already having mixed feelings about planning and enjoying this trip knowing that I'll be without them.

 

[swwake]

Exciting new ticker! Too bad the family can't join you But a solo trip sounds fun. I might try that one day.

 

[SurfinTX]

Exciting new ticker! Too bad the family can't join you But a solo trip sounds fun. I might try that one day.

I have been on many solo trips before I met Dianna. It's a mixture of freedom and loneliness. You can get a ton done but you wish you could share the experience if you know what I mean.

My next report update should be up in the morning. TTFN!

 

[SurfinTX]

Day 6: One Last Magical Day

It is Friday morning and after another great nights sleep it was time to pack up. Don't fret, however, since we have planned more time in the parks!

We woke up around 8 a.m. and began the process of moving our bags to the car. This would take a few trips and upon returning to the room found an envelope with all of our room charges listed. All was in order and it indicated that unless there was a problem we were checked out. What a bill though!

Off to the lounge again (we had settled into a routine by now) and we all agreed that today, now that we were packed, was going to be a relaxing end to our visit to Disney World. After one final trip to the car we hoofed it over to the Monorail for a ride to Magic Kingdom. This was the first trip by the Grand Floridian and this portion of the monorail. As we got a close look at the GF both me and Dianna agreed that the Poly was a much better location for children.

A few minutes later we had reached our stop and strolled over to the gate entrance at 10:15. We all made it through except for Dianna who's card failed to read over and over. The CM manning the station waved her through though. First stop today was to snag fastpasses for Space Mountain. Of course Dianna's card does not work on the fastpass machine as well. A helpful CM came over and punched one out for her luckily. That out of the way we traveled around the back of Magic Kingdom and happen to see Alice and the White Rabbit near the Teacups.

They were quite popular today so we passed them by and continued over to Frontierland to get to what we had missed earlier in the week. Around the river we walk to see... Big Thunder Mountain RR shut down. Keeping our hopes up I notice that the FP return time wasn't that late yet so we would check up on the ride from time to time.

It was a short walk over to our next ride at Splash Mountain anyway. Just as we get into line a nice lady walks up to us and hands over 4 fastpasses for the ride! Thanking her I tell the rest of the family to get in that line and I'll wait standby. Soon after we separate I realize that I didn't have my phone on me. Luckily I was hanging on to the big red umbrella and was able to flag them down to tell them to head on to Tom Sawyer Island since I still had about 20 minutes of standby left.

This was the first time I had ever rode this attraction so I was really looking forward to this.

Chip and Dale are up to something.

Loading in the front of our log I was off and boy did I get wet right after this pic.

A water canon sprayed me pretty well. Luckily I saw it coming and covered my camera with my top hat. It can in really handy on this ride and shielded the electronics from the water pretty well. One thing about the ride it does psych you out with small drops throughout. I kept expecting the big one but...not this time. Eventually we hit the big drop and I did get plenty wet. It was fine, however, since it promised to be a hot day again in South Florida.

Exiting the ride I planned to walk over to Tom Sawyer Island to meet up with everyone. I didn't get very far though. Dianna and the kids were waiting for me right under the railroad bridge. I asked them if they had made it out to Tom Sawyer Island and Dianna said no but not to ask. Recently I found out that Kyler had a problem with the rafts that carry you across to the island. Dianna didn't make a big deal of it but I think the kids were fighting about it before I arrived.

Clueless but better for it at the time I lead them by BTMRR and see that it's still closed but our fastpass window had opened again. Snagging these (with help from another CM) we move our way over to Adventureland and our next ride...

to see Dianna's boyfriend. Johnny Depp has been a longtime favorite of Dianna and she claims him as the closet boyfriend. This is another ride I had never been on. Honestly, I love the theming and the line really sets the mood. My opinion of the ride itself is that it is so-so. I know the history of the attraction and I really wish I could have seen it when I was younger. It could have easily had the same nostalgic value as Haunted Mansion for me but without that...it kinda fell flat.

Right next door was the Jungle Cruise. Again, the kids loved the line, but not so much the ride. This was our boat.

Now this tour was full of nostagia for me. I have memories all the way back to the 70's and I think it was the first ride I went on in the Magic Kingdom. Me and Dianna cracked up at all of the lines and as we exited the CM asked us "How was your Honeymoon Cruise?" I responded "It was lovely. Thank you." Then I turned to Dianna and said "Wasn't it worth the thousands of dollars we paid?" Dianna shook her head at me and everyone around us laughed.

While us adults were having a gay ol' time the kids it seems were not. They were looking for more action and thrills and today we haven't had all that much. We were all getting hungry as it was well after noon now. Time to poll everyone and figure out where to use our last counter service credits.

To be continued...