Day 3 Animal Kingdom and Stinky Feet vs. Tumbleweed Tami
After an ok nights sleep, the mattress was hard and lumpy, as was the pillow, we woke at 7 am and headed to our home for the next 8 days, Pop Century. I had a preferred room, and asked for a room in the 60's building. I had already checked in online before we left, and was very curious to see how well the system worked.
I went in to get our Keys to the Kingdom cards, knowing that our room would not be ready, and check in was very quick and smooth. They took our cell number and would call as soon as the room was ready. With keys in hand we headed to the bus stop for AK.
I do want to say before going any further, I expected bigger crowds with the free dining plan, but to my surprise, the crowds were light our whole stay. Most rides were a walk on, and I know that isn't by chance, but by a lot of hard work by Tour Guide Mike. Great Job Mike!
So we board our bus, just us and one other family. The girls are psyched that the bus is empty, so I did warn them that we would not be so lucky when we were coming back from the parks late at night.
When we got to AK, the rope drop had already occurred, but I wasn't going to let that little thought ruin my day. We carried on happily, the girls literally running through the park. I did not get the time to shoot the photos that I wanted that day, but I knew I had another Ak day later in our stay, so I was ok with it....I should have taken the pictures this day, but more on that later.
I know we are supposed to forgo characters when we enter the park, because we will see them later, but the girls won out, and we had to stop for Lilo and Stitch. This becomes a theme for our trip.
We left Lilo and Stitch and immediately went to Kilimanjaro Safari, and WALKED on. It was 9:30, and KS was a walk on! You have to remember this is a holiday weekend, and I was sure there would be bigger crowds than this.
The girls loved the safari, and here are a few shots I got from the trip.
After the safari, we headed to the Pangani Forest Trails, but the girls were not impressed, so we hurried through the trails, much to my disappointment. I love seeing the gorillas here, I could honestly watch them for hours.
Kristy then wanted to take the girls to It's Tough to be a Bug, and I was ready for a sit down somewhere cool. Being from Texas, the weather didn't really play a factor at all, but heat is heat, and if you can take a break, you should.
Kristy and I couldn't wait for their reactions to the surprises during the show. I knew someone would scream, and the show didn't disappoint.
Paula screamed as soon as she was sprayed with water, while Kacie laughed, and kept saying "Cool.". I couldn't wait for the wasps or the roaches and neither would disappoint. What fun it is to take newbies to the World.
Since we did not eat breakfast, we were getting hungry, so we went ahead and ate at Pizzafari.
I was bad when it came to taking photos of the food, usually because when I got the food, I wanted to eat it!
This was the first time we had eaten here, usually Kristy and I eat at Tusker House, but thought we would try Pizzafari today. We were all very pleased with the pizza here. Paula loved the salad, and raved about the apple cobbler she got here. Something we learned about Paula,.... she loves apple cobbler, and every chance she got, she ate it as a dessert. If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, she should never have to see a doctor again.
We then headed towards Festival of the Lion King, one of our favorite shows at the World. The show had just begun, so we decided to get some shots with the characters. I did take a few shots of the Photopass Photographers as well, but I didn't find that to be as fun as I thought it would be.
Kristy made the girls a autograph book, and they loved getting the different signatures from the characters. They loved Donald's as it said Donald Duck number one. I felt sorry for all our fuzzy friends, they must not have a very good vision insurance program, I mean look at how close Donald has to put the book up to his face to see it.
So after seeing Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and CHip and Dale, we went to see FOTLK. We secured great seats near where Simba comes out. We were on the second row. When the show began I got quite a bit of attention by the performers, which was cool. Then my worst fear happened. The male leader, I cannot remember his name, came and picked me to help him lead the call of the Elephants. Why do I always get picked out of a crowd?
So I went up and did my best elephant call, which surprised him, and myself how well I did. People sitting nearby, even told me I did well, which was nice.
Kristy and I love this show, and the girls did as well. I had a monkey sitting on the Simba float, play a game with me of catching bugs in our hair and feeding them to each other. A ton of fun, and a show that should not be missed!
After the show we headed to Finding Nemo. Yes we are all over the park, and no we did not follow my plan, but I was going to let it slide because this trip was really about the girls, and I still had seven more days to get us on track.
Paula said she cried a bit during Finding Nemo, and we all agreed that we wanted to see it again on our next AK day.
We then headed to Dinosaur, which was a walk on as well. Walk on was definitely the theme of the day, as we waited longer for characters that rides or shows.
Paula and I rode on the outsides, and Paula got SCARED! I think this ride scarred her for life. I'm not sure she can ever go to the museum and look at a dinosaur skeleton the same. She blamed me for the scare, and I was to blame. It was my idea to put her on the outside, but I think on the outside you see more..... Really that is my story...
When we finished Dinosaur, we decided it was time to head to Wilderness Lodge for our dinner reservation. It was nearing 4 p.m., so I was ok with it, knowing we would want to tour the hotel, as this is one of Kristy and my favorites.
We got there at 4:55, yes, that's right, an hour waiting for a bus. It was ok, though, just a little frustrating, but no big deal.
We were seated in the second room of the main dining area, not where I wanted, but I wasn't going to complain. We had always wanted to eat here, but we just never found the time.
Our waitress came out and introduced herself as Tumbleweed Tami. I looked around at the other tables in our area, and they were all smiling, waiting to see what Tami would say to us. Right of the bat, she realized that someone at our table had stinky feet.... It was my wife.
Our table erupted in laughter. As soon as she saw we were up to having fun, she laid it on! She threw us our napkins and straws, and always had something to say about my stinky footed wife. I laid low, only getting picked on for drinking my Dr. Pepper like it was going out of style.
All of the tables enjoyed this ribbing, and each table got it just as bad as we did.
Then 2 men from France were seated at the table behind me. They did not get the humor of it all, and were almost offended when napkins and straws came at them from across the room. You would think that the french would have a pretty good sense of humor, I mean Jerry Lewis is king of comedy in France, but maybe these men were not fans of Jerry Lewis. It did not seem they were big fans of Tumbleweed Tami either.
When our meal was done, Tumbleweed Tami began calling birthday people up. She then did something that sent chills down my spine...... She called my name!
The look on my face had to be one of pure terror. I had done my best not to feel the wrath of Tami, but it seemed to have failed. I looked at my wife, who had a grinch like smile inch across her face.
I had been bamboozled! The all girl trip to the restroom was a trick. Darn those females! So, myself and three little kids, and one very nervous Frenchman stood in the center of the room and acted out, while singing, I'm a Little Teapot. It was good fun, looking back on it. This plot against me, now made me nervous the rest of the trip.
I forgot to say what we ate, no big surprise here, we ate the Skillet. More food that you could imagine, but very well cooked and seasoned. We said our goodbyes to Tami and all went to DTD for another night. This was our lets figure out what we are going to buy night. We all chose many things, and we had a ball!
With our first day at a close, we put our heads to our pillows wondering what tomorrow would bring.
Next: Day 4 Sept. 6; Get up, we are going to MK today!
Sorry Mr. Bodett, you can shut that light off now. So an extra 60 dollars later, we were asleep across from the beach. Just a little secret between us, I really liked Comfort Inn and Suites. It was a great place to stay after a long day, and the feather pillows were incredible! 
