3 WDW Trips in 6 months: August, October and December Reports *Completed*

Continuing this mini trip report, we flashback to 1999 for more of a previous Dixie Landings (aka Port Orleans Riverside) stay.


Day Three:

It was Surprise Morning day at EPCOT (now redubbed Extra Magic Hours- name change #5), and our main priority for the morning was Test Track. This was the first time we had been to WDW since the attraction had opened. It was originally scheduled to open in spring 1997, but for about two years, every time we went to EPCOT, the attraction just sat there claiming it would open “soon” while rumors of technical difficulties floated around. Now, EPCOT’s first big thrill ride was finally open, and we were curious to try it.


When we got to the EPCOT, we headed straight to Test Track where got into what would be our longest wait for a Disney attraction to date- and perhaps for all time. We got in line during early entry morning and waited… and waited… and waited… and waited. Two hours and a few ride breakdowns later, we finally got on the ride. Despite the long line, we enjoyed the ride. Ironically, weeks later, Fastpass was introduced to selected attractions and by the end of the year, most E-Ticket rides, including Test Track, had them. Thanks to Fastpass, we’ve never had to wait that long for a ride since. If only it had been added a little earlier.


Before heading to World Showcase, we checked out Innoventions, but most of the pavilion was under refurbishment getting ready for the Millennium Celebration, so we passed on it. Spaceship Earth was also getting ready for the Celebration was well. Cranes were at work placing the decorative stars and would by park of the giant wand that would make its premiere in a few months. By now, it was about time for World Showcase to open, so we headed over there.


We started our World Showcase visit in Canda by doing a little exploring and to a bagpiper there (of the traditional variety, not Off Kilter). We checked out the UK next before heading to France. We had lunch at the Boulangerie-Patisserie there. I know that this place is mostly known for its pastries, but it had some nice sandwiches and quiche that is perfect for a little meal when added with their fruit and cheese plate and a pastry for dessert. :thumbsup2


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After France, we headed to Morocco where we took the “Treasures of Morocco” tour. I’m not sure if they still do this or not, but at least at this point, they offered free 45 minute tours of the pavilion. It was really an interesting tour and gave us a lot more insight on the country and the details of the pavilion. Our tour guide even brought the group inside the Restaurant Marrakesh, which at the time we had never been to before, to see part of the show there. After Morocco we headed to Japan to see the drummers and, according to my notes from 10 years ago, Mexico, though I’m not sure if that’s true since the very next thing we did was get in line to see the show at the American Gardens Theater. Seems like Mexico would be pretty out of the way, but whatever. :rolleyes:


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The show at the American Gardens Theater that summer was “The Best of Michel Flatley’s Lord of the Dance” which is a 30-minute abbreviated version of the Lord of the Dance step dancing show. We all really enjoyed it. Fantatic dancing and music! I kind of miss bigger shows like this coming to EPCOT in the summer. Seems now all they get are cover bands. I guess they only do the big acts during the Flower and Garden and Food and Wine Festivals. Italy was next. We looked around here for a bit and listen to some of Rondo Veneziano, which was a fantastic band that used to play in that pavilion.


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We continued through World Showcase stopping in Germany complete with a visit to the miniature Railway Garden (always a must-see), China where we saw their “Land of Many Faces” exhibit and saw a bit of entertainment, Norway, and Mexico (again or for the first time?) for dinner at the Cantina and watching a bit of the Mariachi band.


On our way out of the park, we saw a bit of Cast in Bronze, which is the only musical act in the world that features the carillon. They were at EPCOT for a number of years, usually at Christmastime, but this was the only summer that I remember them being there. I didn’t get any pictures back then, but Buzz and I actually saw Cast in Bronze recently performing at Busch Gardens in Tampa and got a picture there:


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Cast in Bronze’s shtick has changed a little since EPCOT. Back then it use to have more of a rock band vibe like Off Kilter or MoRockin complete with live backup band and occasionally live singers. At Busch Gardens, it was just the carillon player performing with pre-recorded band accompaniment. The costume and mask he’s wearing are also new since EPCOT. Apparently they do a lot of Renaissance fairs now, so I guess that helps them fit in more. The songs are just the same though. We really enjoyed them. Dad even bought their Christmas album back when they were at EPCOT and we still play it every year.



Day Four:

Our final theme park day of the trip would be spent at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This would be our second time visiting the park and the first since they opened Asia. First though, we began our day in Africa with a ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris and seeing the animals on the Pangani Forest trail. Next, we headed to the Theater in the Wild to see the new Tarzan Rocks show. It seems like this show has gotten somewhat of a bad rap over the years, but I thought it was fun. Not as good as "Finding Nemo: The Musical" that’s there now, but still enjoyable. Unfortunately though, it was not enclosed and had no air conditioning back then. Perhaps that would have made the show even better.


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We headed to Asia next to check out the Maharajah Jungle Trek. The tigers weren’t very active this time around, but it was still fun. We passed on Kali River Rapids and headed back to Africa for some lunch at Tusker House (this was back when it was still a counter service restaurant instead of a buffet).


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We headed to Dinoland USA to ride Countdown to Extinction (now DINOSAUR- name change #6) since we hadn’t done it the previous year. I’m not sure how much they changed the ride when they changed the name. It seems just the same to me. I think they lowered the height restriction a little when they did though so they must have changed something. By now, it was beginning to rain, so after the ride we ducked into the Dino Jubilee tent. This was roughly where the entrance to Dino-Rama is now and featured displays of dinosaur skeletons and information. There were also some steetmosphere performers who were supposed to be Dino Institute grad students who were giving a tour of the exhibit which was a lot of fun. Once the rain let up, we headed over to take the Wildlife Express to Conservation Station (now Rafiki’s Planet Watch- name change #7).


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The last attraction of the day was the Radio Disney River Cruise, which was a reworked version of the original River Boars attraction that use to take guests along the Discovery River around Safari Village (now Discovery Island- name change #8). The only differences between the original and the Radio Disney version were that 1) the boats were painted brighter colors, 2) they played different songs as you passed by the different areas of the park like “Eye of the Tiger” as you’re passing Asia and “Hakuna Matata” as you’re passing Camp Minnie-Mickey and 3) a narration featuring Radio Disney DJs was added. The attraction lasted another couple months and the boats were gone for good by the end of the year. After that , we checked out a few of the shops and animal habits on the way back to the bus stop to head back towards the resort.


That evening, we had dinner at Boatwright’s Dining Hall, which was nice. Amusingly, the thing I remember most about it was our waiter trying to chit-chat with us. He asked what we had done that day and we said we went to the Animal Kingdom. He asked if we went on Kali River Rapids today, and we responded, “No”. We asked about the Lion King show and It’s Tough To Be A Bug and we had to say we hadn’t done those either. A little aggravated he finally blurted out “Well, what did you do all day?!” Pretty much every other attraction in the park! :laughing: It was a nice meal, and afterwards we explored the resort a little before heading back to the room.



Next: Downtown Disney and more.  
 
With the last of our days in the theme parks done, our July 1999 trip ends by focusing on spending time and Riverside and Downtown Disney.


Day Five:

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Today we had a more relaxing day away from the parks. After breakfast, we spent the morning at the pool on Ol’ Man Island. Once we were done, we returned to the food court to get some lunch to take back and eat in the room. Once we were all cleaned up, we drove to Downtown Disney for the afternoon and evening.


We had tickets for the matinee performance of Cirque du Soleil, so we parked at West Side and looked through some of the shops in the area until it was time to come to the theater. The show was very good- extremely well done. We all enjoyed it.


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After the show, we headed off to the Marketplace to do a little souvenir shopping at World of Disney and some of the other shops around there. We ended the evening by having dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express and taking another look through Virgin Megastore on the way out (can’t believe it’s gone now).



Day Six:

Our last day of the trip. We spent the morning at Port Orleans (now Port Orleans French Quarter- name change #9). At the time, Port Orleans had our favorite breakfast spot on Disney property- Bonfamille’s Café. It was such a pleasant restaurant, plus it was a great place to get beignets! We ate there on our first summer vacation at Disney and came back many times until it closed in 2000. After this we were able to eat there one last the next year only days before they announced that it would close and that Port Orleans and Dixie Landings would be renamed “Port Orleans French Quarter” and “Port Orleans Riverside”. I still miss Bonfamille’s, and we never did find a new breakfast spot to frequent regularly after it closed. :( At least the food court at French Quarter still serves beignets, so that part of the tradition does still live on. After breakfast we looked around French Quarter before heading back to Riverside.


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Before heading home, we Riverside, taking some last pictures and filling our refillable mugs one last time before we left.



Hope you enjoyed this mini “flashback” report. It was fun looking back at how much has changed and revisit old memories. I’m thinking about doing another mini-report of our 1999 Christmas trip. Normally, I’d wait until December to do it gearing up to our December trip, but at the rate I usually seem to write trip reports, I’d be surprised if I got both the August and October trip reports done by then. I figure that next week is “Christmas in July” week with July 25, so I’ll most likely get the report up then. :santa:
 
I love your flashback trip reports! It's so neat to hear how everything has changed at Disney. I love that you numbering the name changes. :laughing: I sometimes wonder why Disney changes names so often of the attractions and such. Hmm. :confused3

I'm looking forward to the December 1999 trip report! :goodvibes
 
I love your flashback trip reports! It's so neat to hear how everything has changed at Disney. I love that you numbering the name changes. :laughing: I sometimes wonder why Disney changes names so often of the attractions and such. Hmm. :confused3

I'm looking forward to the December 1999 trip report! :goodvibes

Thanks. Looking back, it really does amaze me how much has changed in 10 years. I think every time I start one of these I think "Not that much has changed since this time" only to realize at the end how many attractions, shows, restaurants, etc. have come and gone in just that amount of time. And I have to say, the name changes are interesting. After all these years though, I still call Riverside "Dixie Landings", and I don't know if I'm ever going to adjust to calling MGM "Hollywood studios". I'm getting better, but after all those years of calling it another name, it's tough.
 

Thanks. Looking back, it really does amaze me how much has changed in 10 years. I think every time I start one of these I think "Not that much has changed since this time" only to realize at the end how many attractions, shows, restaurants, etc. have come and gone in just that amount of time. And I have to say, the name changes are interesting. After all these years though, I still call Riverside "Dixie Landings", and I don't know if I'm ever going to adjust to calling MGM "Hollywood studios". I'm getting better, but after all those years of calling it another name, it's tough.

I will admit...I've gotten used to Hollywood Studios. I kinda like that name better too, it was always weird to me that it was MGM. I don't know...I think I might be in the minority. :confused3
 
I will admit...I've gotten used to Hollywood Studios. I kinda like that name better too, it was always weird to me that it was MGM. I don't know...I think I might be in the minority. :confused3

I actually do like the "Disney's Hollywood Studios" name and think it feels like a better fit for the park now, but I do kind of miss having it be MGM as well because it did elict such a fanastic old Hollywood feel that the park had more of when it opened than it does now. I don't know; I'm a little torn. Plus almost 20 years of just calling the park "MGM" has got me to the point where I just call it that without thinking. It will take a while until I can get the name right all the time (and actually, I'm still not there with Riverside; I've been calling it "Dixie" for months while we've been planning).
 
Hi Meeko!

All caught up now! Your flash back report was fun - it's interesting to see how much things have changed over the years! i still call DHS MGM from time to time but I'm getting better!

And it would be great to read about your other trips!

And am glad to see biegnets getting a mention! ;):cloud9:

Di x

PS, just mentioned to my DH that you've got 3 trips coming up and he's very jealous now! :rotfl:
 
Great fun reading about past trips. I don't know how long it will take for me to get used to calling it DHS instead of MGM. I am slow to accept change.
 
Hi Meeko!

All caught up now! Your flash back report was fun - it's interesting to see how much things have changed over the years! i still call DHS MGM from time to time but I'm getting better!

And it would be great to read about your other trips!

And am glad to see biegnets getting a mention! ;):cloud9:

Di x

PS, just mentioned to my DH that you've got 3 trips coming up and he's very jealous now! :rotfl:

Thanks. :) Beignets just had to be mentioned. Bonfamille's was the first place I ever had them, another reason I loved that place.

Oh no. You should be sure to tell him that they're short trips. Maybe that will help lower the jealousy. ;)


Great fun reading about past trips. I don't know how long it will take for me to get used to calling it DHS instead of MGM. I am slow to accept change.

Hi. Glad you enjoyed it. I'm already getting photos scanned for the next one. It should be up next week. :) As far as MGM/ DHS I think I've come to the point where I've accepted the change, but it will probably be a while until I stop calling it by the old name most of the time.
 
I’m happy to say that the August trip really seems to be coming together. We’ve got less than a month to go and we’ve got most of the major planning out of the way. There’s just a little bit of fine-tuning left, I think, but for the most part, here is our working itinerary:


August 2009- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort Riverside


Day One: Arrival/ Downtown Disney

Main Priorities:
  • Spend some time at the Ol’ Man Island pool
  • Take the boat to Downtown Disney
  • Look around at some of the shops at West Side and Marketplace

Dining:
  • Riverside Mill food court (lunch)
  • Bongo’s Cuban Café (dinner)


Day Two: Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Main Priorities:
  • Kilimanjaro Safaris
  • Trails (Pangani, Maharajah, etc.)
  • Festival of the Lion King
  • Expedition Everest (Buzz and Meeko only)

Dining:
  • Riverside Mill food court (breakfast)
  • Yak and Yeti (lunch)
  • Riverside Mill food court or Sassagoula Floatworks food court (dinner)


Day Three: EPCOT

Main Priorities:
  • Soarin’
  • Turtle Talk and the aquariums at The Seas
  • O Canada
  • Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure

Dining:
  • Riverside Mill food court (breakfast)
  • Les Chefs de France (lunch)
  • Counter service- likely Tangerine Café in Morocco or Yakatori House in Japan (dinner)


Day Four: Departure

Main Priorities:
  • Go next door to Port Orleans French Quarter (beignets!)

Dining:
  • Sassagoula Floatworks food court (breakfast)
 
Those sound like great plans! I am hoping to get some of those yummy beignets too! I have heard nothing but good things about them. :cloud9:
 
Those sound like great plans! I am hoping to get some of those yummy beignets too! I have heard nothing but good things about them. :cloud9:

The biegnets are fabulous! You'll love them!

Your plans are looking good Meeko, it sounds like it will be a fun trip for all of you!

Di x
 
Those sound like great plans! I am hoping to get some of those yummy beignets too! I have heard nothing but good things about them. :cloud9:

Thanks. We all love beignets. You'll have to go next door to French Quarter to get them (they don't have them at Riverside), but its worth it. Plus French Quarter is such a beautiful resort that just to see it is worth a trip in itself.


Your plans are looking good Meeko, it sounds like it will be a fun trip for all of you!

Di x

Thanks Di. Hopefully it will be a fantastic trip.
 
Those of you who have read other trip reports by me know that one of my favorite parts of Disney trips is taking photos of the meet-and-greet characters around the parks. Usually, I like to find at least a few new characters I’ve never met before and get their photos and autographs, but from what I’ve heard, there aren’t any new characters at EPCOT or Animal Kingdom. They seem to be all at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, so I guess they’ll have to wait for another trip. I’m a little bummed that I likely won’t be finding any new characters (2nd trip in a row too :( ), but I figured I could at least set a goal to try and meet some of the characters that I haven’t met in a few years and/ or don’t have autographs from. Here’s a look at who I hope to find.


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Terk from Tarzan. The last time I met Terk was back in December 2002 at Animal Kingdom. I didn’t really get back into collecting autographs until the trip after that, so her autograph is one that I’m missing. Recently, I’ve heard that she’s been hanging out either in Discovery Island or in Africa.


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Lilo and Stitch. I’ve met Stitch a little more recently, but the last I found Lilo was the same trip I last saw Terk. Seems every time I’m at AK, Stitch is at Discovery Island by himself because Lilo is off at “hula practice” or “surfing lessons”. If I find her on this trip, it will also be the first time I will be getting her autograph as well.


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Kenai and Koda from Brother Bear. I haven’t gotten a chance to meet these guys since December 2003. I hear they’ve been in Camp Minnie-Mickey recently at the “Good Time Gathering Spot” where the Pocahontas show use to be. I’ve heard conflicting responses whether this location is a meet-and-greet or a dance party like at the hard-ticketed events at Magic Kingdom, but either way, I hopefully should be able to get a photo of at least one of them.


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Pooh. Buzz doesn’t usually come along with me to meet characters, but he’s interested in meeting the Pooh characters this trip. I figure we’ll try and meet them when we’re at the Animal Kingdom since we’ve never been to Pooh's location there, and if we miss them then, we’ll meet them at the UK in EPCOT.


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Mickey Mouse. Does it make me a bad Disney fan if I’ve been to Disney World five times since I last met Mickey? We’re planning on doing the Character Connection at EPCOT to see Mickey and the gang. We haven’t been in there since they refurbished it a few years back. From what I’ve seen, the backgrounds here look great, so they should make for some nice photos.


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Mulan. Out of all the characters in World Showcase, it’s been the longest since I’ve met Mulan, so she’ll be one of my priorities for EPCOT. I was a little sad to hear that Mushu doesn’t really come out much anymore. Too bad; he was always a lot of fun.


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Snow White. It actually hasn’t been that long since I’ve seen Snow White, but I’ve heard that they’ve done some improvements to her meet-and-greet location in Germany including adding a wishing well. Seems like a nice photo opportunity. Even if I don’t find Snow White, I’ll at least try to come back with a photo of the new set-up and well.
 
That is a great character list! I really want to meet some characters on my next trip. I did better in May than I did in September but I still want to meet more. I think my autograph book will help me do that. :thumbsup2

I have to tell you that I was viewing your Flickr photos. Absolutely amazing! You have met so many characters and you take such great photos of them.
 
Those look like some good character meeting goals. You have 3 trips to find them all.
 
That is a great character list! I really want to meet some characters on my next trip. I did better in May than I did in September but I still want to meet more. I think my autograph book will help me do that. :thumbsup2

I have to tell you that I was viewing your Flickr photos. Absolutely amazing! You have met so many characters and you take such great photos of them.

Thanks. Meeting the characters can be so much fun. I'm hoping that your next trip will be your best yet as far as meeting them. :thumbsup2

Thanks so much for visiting my Flickr page and for the kind words. I try very hard to get some nice photos of the characters. Sometimes I'm more sucessful than others on getting the "nice shot", but it's always fun.


Those look like some good character meeting goals. You have 3 trips to find them all.

Thanks. Hopefully I'll be able to find all of these on the first trip so I can set new goals for the next two.
 
It’s begun to be sort of a tradition for Buzz and I to do something as sort of a “warm-up” before a Disney trip. Usually we like to go somewhere where we can get practice taking photos, dealing with the heat and crowds, and doing a lot of walking. Since we both have annual passes at Busch Gardens in Tampa (which is surprisingly affordable- year passes there cost just a little bit more than a one-day ticket), we usually tend to go there. I thought you might enjoy a little trip report from our day. It may not be specifically Disney, but it’s at least somewhat related, so hopefully you enjoy it.


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Buzz and I arrive at Busch Gardens just in time for rope drop. Our plan was to head straight for Rhino Rally, the park’s safari attraction as soon as the park opened. It’s a pretty low capacity, slow loading attraction, so latter in the day lines can get pretty long. As we’re walking back to the attraction, we notice a rope up across the pathway. When making our plans, we had forgotten that Rhino Rally doesn’t open until a half-hour after rope drop. Oops. Note to self: check operating hours for Disney attractions before we leave.


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Rolling with the punches, we head to the Egypt area of the park for one of my favorite attractions at the park- Montu. I think it’s one of the best (if not the best) roller coaster Busch Gardens has, and it’s the best coaster in terms of theming. Mind you, it’s not Disney-quality theming, but for Busch, it’s good. There was no line, so we got to walk right on. :thumbsup2


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By now, it’s nearing time for Rhino Rally to open, so we head over there. There wasn’t much of a line, but we did have to wait a few minutes for a safari jeep to come.


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Rhino Rally is sort of a combination of the off-road animal adventure aspects of Kilimanjaro Safaris on a much smaller scale with the corny jokes and wisecracks of the jungle cruise and a white-water rafting finale that sometimes works (which it was this morning). It’s a cute ride, but not worth the waits it gets later in the day. AK definitely has Busch beat when it comes to safari rides.


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Next, we headed to the Timbuktu area to ride the park’s oldest coaster left in existence- the Scorpion. No wait at all here.


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There wasn’t any line for the Carousel Caravan, so we hopped on. For this carousel, there are both horses and camels. Buzz wanted to ride a camel, but didn’t realize until the ride started that the camels don’t go up and down like the horses do. Oh well. The ride seemed to last a really long time- maybe 5 minutes. We don’t normally do the carousel here, so I’m not sure if it always goes that long or if they just kept the ride going since we were the only people there.


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The Cheetah Chase was right next door so we went on that. It’s a family coaster like Primeval Whirl. When you go around those sharp turns, you really do feel like you’re going to fly out of the coaster! Not my favorite ride of the day, but it did give us some good laughs.


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Next, we headed to one of the park’s other big coasters- Kumba. There wasn’t really that much of a wait here either. It’s a fun ride. Not as good as Montu, but still very good.


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The Ubanga Banga Bumper Cars were next door, so we did that next. Just had to wait one cycle. It was fun. Managed to bump Buzz a number of times, but I think he got me more. I was just about to get him one last time, but the ride stopped when I was less than a foot away! He ended up getting the last laugh.


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Next we headed over to probably my favorite area in the park- Jungala. They have a really phenomenal tiger habitat that I think I like better than Maharajah Jungle Trek at the Animal Kingdom. It seems that there’s a lot more viewing areas here that at Maharajah.


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One of the viewing areas in Jungala even has a pop-up window that goes right up into the habitat. When we checked it out, there was a tiger sleeping right next to the glass. Phenomenal.


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Jungala also has an Orangutan habitat as well.


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While in Jungala, we hit the Wild Surge. It’s one of those rides that takes you up and drops you. It’s nice for a mind thrill and gives you some nice views of the rest of the land.


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Before leaving Jungala, we get some photos of some of the stilt walker characters in the area. This one is Okashi the Crane.


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Kodock the Tree Frog showing off his jumping skills for the camera.


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Buzz and I headed for the Stanley Falls Flume next. It turned out to be the longest wait of the day- which isn’t surprising since it was hot! It’s one of the older rides in the park, but still a lot of fun. It does get you wet, but not as wet as something like Splash Mountain. Thanks to the heat, we were all dried off in just a few minutes after getting off.


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By this time, Buzz and I were ready for some lunch, so we decided to take the Skyride to Crown Colony and get some lunch there. The ride was fun. It gives great views of the park and some of the Rhino Rally and the rest of the Serengeti. Wish I could have done the Skyway at Magic Kingdom when it was still open. I was very afraid of heights as a kid, so we never did it. Not that I’ve finally worked up the courage to try something like it, it’s gone. :sad2:


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The Crown Colony House is the signature dining area facility for the park and includes both a table service and a counter service restaurant. We went with the counter service one. It turns out it has some really good pizza for a theme park.


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We got a table on a portion of the dining room that was both air conditioned (a must for this park since there aren’t than many attractions or shows that have it) and had windows that overlooked the Serengeti and Edge of Africa area of the park. It was really fun getting to watch the animals as we ate. The only thing that bothered me about the place is that visually it’s so well-themed, but they just play smooth jazz elevator music in their area loop. That would never fly at Disney. It would have to have a more fitting musical loop.

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After lunch, we headed to Edge of Africa, another of the park’s animal habitats. It’s pretty comparable to Pangani Forest at Animal Kingdom. It’s very close, but I think I’d say that Pangani was a little bit better than Edge. There were some baby zebras out today which were getting a lot of attention.


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A few meerkats in their habitat.


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One of the things that I really like about Edge of Africa is that it lets you get a lot closer to the lions that you can at Animal Kingdom. It’s so amazing to be so close to them. He was pretty active today. We even got to hear him roar a little.


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Lemurs.



I think I’m getting to the photo limit for a post, so I think I’ll stop here and post the second half tomorrow.
 
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After Edge of Africa, we checked out the Busch Gardens 50th birthday exhibit.


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Some costumes from the “Das Festhaus” show that used to be in Timbuktu.


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A souvenir featuring a past mascot. Can’t remember what it said his name was. Something like Friendly the Eagle?


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A gnome statue from the old Dwarf Village. Back when Buzz and I were kids, the Dwarf Village was the main kids area of the park. It has since been replaced.


We went to another animal habitat in the park next, Myombe Reserve. This is home to the chimpanzees and gorillas. Didn’t really get any photos there. Afrerwards, we headed to Jambo Junction. It’s sort of like Rafiki’s Planet Watch and has a number or animal displays and has keeper presentations.


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A Hyrax at Jambo Junction.


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Flamingos.


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Outside, the river otters were awake and active. It seems like these guys have two modes- asleep and extremely hyper!


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This one had a pebble that he was playing in and was fighting off all the other otters from trying to take it from him.


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It was time for another break with air conditioning, so we headed to the Moroccan Palace Theater to see Katonga- the big Broadway-style show at the park. The storyline of the show is that the greatest storytellers in Africa have been assembled to tell stories of the animals. It’s pretty comparable to Festival of the Lion King or Finding Nemo, even to the point that the same person who designed the puppets for The Lion King on Broadway designed all the fantastic puppets and animal designs for this show. The script musical score isn’t as strong as any of the Disney shows, but all in all, it’s a fantastic show and the must-see for the park.


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After the show, we headed to Nairobi to catch the Serengeti Express train ride that goes around the park. It also offers some nice views of the animals along the Serengeti along with other sites throughout the various lands of the park.


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We got off the train in Stanleyville and headed to one of the park’s aviaries- Lory Landing.


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Next, we stopped by Eagle Canyon. Usually they have an exhibit featuring Bald Eagles and one with Golden Eagles, but the Bald Eagles were out today.


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For the last ride of the day, we did my other favorite coaster in the park- Gwazi, the dueling wooden coaster. It’s pretty close to the front of the park so usually, it’s the first thing people do when they get there. This means long lines in the morning, but by afternoon when most people have made their way back into the rest of the park, the lines get shorter. By now, it was a walk-on with no wait. Fantastic ride. It’s a little rough, but a lot smoother if you sit closer to the front of the train than the back. After a look through the gift shop (mostly for one last blast of air conditioning before the tram ride back to the parking lot), we leave the park.


It really turned out to be a fantastic day. The weather was warm, but beautiful. It looked like it might rain in the early afternoon, but unless it rained while we were in Katonga, we didn’t get any storms. I’m hoping the weather stays like that for Disney in a few weeks. It would be nice to get some photos of the park with that beautiful blue sky since last year we barely saw anything but cloudy or rainy days. The crowds were large (lots of British tourists and Brazilian tour groups), but manageable with a bit of a plan.



Hope you all enjoyed the trip report for Busch Gardens. I’ll be getting back to posts about Disney next, I promise.
 
That looks like a great trip to Busch Gardens. I have never been there. It looks like an awesome place to see animals. You mentioned a couple areas of AK that I am not familiar with. We have never done any of the hiking trail areas. Maybe now that the kids are going to be a bit older we will hit some. What kind of camera do you use? Those shots were amazing!
 












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