marias
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 11, 2004
- Messages
- 121
The Team:
DH: Long suffering one (42)
DD: Beautiful, amusing and very so slightly stroppy (9 going on 19)
MIL: Sexagenarian
FIL: Sexagenarian
Me: Planner, worrier, pessimist (35 almost)
Sunday we need a rest!
We are all exhausted after yesterday so after a quick trip to Publix for provisions we settle down for an afternoon by the pool. As both MIL and me are on a diet plan (and want to stick to it as much as possible) we decide to have a green day and go veggie. Unfortunately we hadnt banked on Sweet Tomatoes, it is a veggie heaven. First you choose your salad from a bar that is 55ft in length. Then you help yourself to soup, pasta, pizza, jacket potatoes and bread. After this you have hot dessert, ice cream and muffins. For the five of us it came to $48 what value, what choice, and what a load of little piggies.
Monday Animal Kingdom
You know that song that goes oh what a night well this was oh what a day with a capital O. Settle back and prepare yourself for a doozy, as yet again I have to hold my hands up.
It started well and we arrived at AK by 8.45. Now, it wasnt the original plan to visit today, my itinerary had been to visit on Tuesday but as MIL and FIL were travelling to Hilton Head for a few days we brought it forward. Big mistake it was heaving. Needless to say we were hot and bothered before we even got going. As we could see it was going to be busy we headed straight for the Kilimanjaro Safari and picked up the fastpass, it was only an hour until we could ride so we headed off down the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. The gorillas were amazing the photo opportunities even more so which I would sorely come to regret in a short while. We decided to board the train to the conservation area. Once settled and enjoying the ride I decided to check what time we could use the fastpass until and discovered to my horror the tickets were gone, not only the fastpass but also all three of the 5-day hopper plus. I felt sick, I went hot, I went cold, I couldnt remember if I had the tickets or if DH did. All pockets and bags emptied nada! We eventually concluded that I had had the tickets in my camera bag (had being the operative word). In an effort to ensure the camera (-9 days old, as I hadnt yet reached my birthday) didnt get lost or broken, after each shot I placed it securely back into the bag, in the excitement of getting the perfect gorilla shot I must have knocked them out of the bag. Boy did I feel stupid. The train couldnt have stopped quick enough for me and once disembarked dashed off to speak to a CM. All I could think about was what if they couldnt be found/re-issued - how much money had been wasted. This was only our second day in the park and I had been so careful with all the tickets, money etc. A senior CM was called to help us; the first thing she did was escort us onto the ride, there and then and advised us to go to Guest Relations who would be able to help us. Well the safari was great and all the better for not having to queue, but you know when there is something else on your mind you just cannot settle and enjoy it. Anyway MIL and FIL offered to take DD off so we could dash back to the entrance. Unfortunately the CM at Guest Relations was not as helpful and only offered us the option of checking back later in the day to see if they had been handed in. However, she did give us 3 fastpass tickets for any ride any time, which we were very grateful for. She asked us where we had bought the tickets (UK) and whether we had the receipt with us (yes- back at the villa) and did this show the tickets numbers (No), she stated that without the numbers the tickets couldnt be cancelled and therefore re-issued. As part of the preparation for the holiday I had detailed all the usual information like passport numbers, traveller cheque numbers and insurances on a separate document (just in case) and I had listed every single piece of information from those Disney tickets even down to the character on the front sixth sense or what. My prayers were answered; the CM confirmed that if the serial numbers were brought in they would arrange the replacements. So with happy hearts we walked back to find MIL, FIL and DD only stopping on the way to get pooped on by a rather large bird now thats lucky.
Once FIL and DH had been dispatched back to the villa, MIL, DD and Oh guilty one ventured off in search of Pocahontas. The show was really good and DD was in her element sitting at the front with all the other kids. Not long after we met back up with FIL and DH who had managed to get home and back and had the tickets re-issued in an hour and a half not bad eh! Now we could all relax and enjoy the rest of the day so we headed off to see the Lion King show. Well, what can I say it surely made up for the awful morning we had it was fantastic, the costumes, set, music, a really great show, made all the better by coming out to find we can meet Minnie Mouse and Goofy brilliant photo ops. It was at this point we remember the fastpass tickets and head over to Kali River Rapids only stopping on the way to collect fastpass tickets for Its tough to be a bug. Im not that good with water and decide bumping along in a rather large tyre might not be that good for the old back so offer to bag sit and head off to the bridge for a snap shot. It took me a little while to realise that the ride had actually stalled with quite a lot of people still in the tyres who by this point were getting extremely cross sat in the boiling sun. Eventually I walked back round to the attraction entrance, it took the guys ages to get back apparently theyd been almost at the front of the queue and there had been no mention of the ride being broken. As you can imagine we had all had enough by this time. We went into bug in the hope that it was a sit-down attraction and that it would be cool. We were right on both counts and it was brilliant. Id never really seen 3D shows before and it was fascinating. We all came out feeling refreshed and ready for the walk back to the car, detouring only slightly for a bit of retail therapy which coincided with the parade, fancy killing two birds with one stone (I hope it was the one that pooped on me).
By now the humidity had risen and a storm was threatening so we made hasty tracks home. Oh yes, we had a monster storm which lasted for a good few hours, but it didnt stop us from going to the Olive Garden for dinner. If only I could have some of those warm breadsticks now.
Maria
DH: Long suffering one (42)
DD: Beautiful, amusing and very so slightly stroppy (9 going on 19)
MIL: Sexagenarian
FIL: Sexagenarian
Me: Planner, worrier, pessimist (35 almost)
Sunday we need a rest!
We are all exhausted after yesterday so after a quick trip to Publix for provisions we settle down for an afternoon by the pool. As both MIL and me are on a diet plan (and want to stick to it as much as possible) we decide to have a green day and go veggie. Unfortunately we hadnt banked on Sweet Tomatoes, it is a veggie heaven. First you choose your salad from a bar that is 55ft in length. Then you help yourself to soup, pasta, pizza, jacket potatoes and bread. After this you have hot dessert, ice cream and muffins. For the five of us it came to $48 what value, what choice, and what a load of little piggies.
Monday Animal Kingdom
You know that song that goes oh what a night well this was oh what a day with a capital O. Settle back and prepare yourself for a doozy, as yet again I have to hold my hands up.
It started well and we arrived at AK by 8.45. Now, it wasnt the original plan to visit today, my itinerary had been to visit on Tuesday but as MIL and FIL were travelling to Hilton Head for a few days we brought it forward. Big mistake it was heaving. Needless to say we were hot and bothered before we even got going. As we could see it was going to be busy we headed straight for the Kilimanjaro Safari and picked up the fastpass, it was only an hour until we could ride so we headed off down the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. The gorillas were amazing the photo opportunities even more so which I would sorely come to regret in a short while. We decided to board the train to the conservation area. Once settled and enjoying the ride I decided to check what time we could use the fastpass until and discovered to my horror the tickets were gone, not only the fastpass but also all three of the 5-day hopper plus. I felt sick, I went hot, I went cold, I couldnt remember if I had the tickets or if DH did. All pockets and bags emptied nada! We eventually concluded that I had had the tickets in my camera bag (had being the operative word). In an effort to ensure the camera (-9 days old, as I hadnt yet reached my birthday) didnt get lost or broken, after each shot I placed it securely back into the bag, in the excitement of getting the perfect gorilla shot I must have knocked them out of the bag. Boy did I feel stupid. The train couldnt have stopped quick enough for me and once disembarked dashed off to speak to a CM. All I could think about was what if they couldnt be found/re-issued - how much money had been wasted. This was only our second day in the park and I had been so careful with all the tickets, money etc. A senior CM was called to help us; the first thing she did was escort us onto the ride, there and then and advised us to go to Guest Relations who would be able to help us. Well the safari was great and all the better for not having to queue, but you know when there is something else on your mind you just cannot settle and enjoy it. Anyway MIL and FIL offered to take DD off so we could dash back to the entrance. Unfortunately the CM at Guest Relations was not as helpful and only offered us the option of checking back later in the day to see if they had been handed in. However, she did give us 3 fastpass tickets for any ride any time, which we were very grateful for. She asked us where we had bought the tickets (UK) and whether we had the receipt with us (yes- back at the villa) and did this show the tickets numbers (No), she stated that without the numbers the tickets couldnt be cancelled and therefore re-issued. As part of the preparation for the holiday I had detailed all the usual information like passport numbers, traveller cheque numbers and insurances on a separate document (just in case) and I had listed every single piece of information from those Disney tickets even down to the character on the front sixth sense or what. My prayers were answered; the CM confirmed that if the serial numbers were brought in they would arrange the replacements. So with happy hearts we walked back to find MIL, FIL and DD only stopping on the way to get pooped on by a rather large bird now thats lucky.
Once FIL and DH had been dispatched back to the villa, MIL, DD and Oh guilty one ventured off in search of Pocahontas. The show was really good and DD was in her element sitting at the front with all the other kids. Not long after we met back up with FIL and DH who had managed to get home and back and had the tickets re-issued in an hour and a half not bad eh! Now we could all relax and enjoy the rest of the day so we headed off to see the Lion King show. Well, what can I say it surely made up for the awful morning we had it was fantastic, the costumes, set, music, a really great show, made all the better by coming out to find we can meet Minnie Mouse and Goofy brilliant photo ops. It was at this point we remember the fastpass tickets and head over to Kali River Rapids only stopping on the way to collect fastpass tickets for Its tough to be a bug. Im not that good with water and decide bumping along in a rather large tyre might not be that good for the old back so offer to bag sit and head off to the bridge for a snap shot. It took me a little while to realise that the ride had actually stalled with quite a lot of people still in the tyres who by this point were getting extremely cross sat in the boiling sun. Eventually I walked back round to the attraction entrance, it took the guys ages to get back apparently theyd been almost at the front of the queue and there had been no mention of the ride being broken. As you can imagine we had all had enough by this time. We went into bug in the hope that it was a sit-down attraction and that it would be cool. We were right on both counts and it was brilliant. Id never really seen 3D shows before and it was fascinating. We all came out feeling refreshed and ready for the walk back to the car, detouring only slightly for a bit of retail therapy which coincided with the parade, fancy killing two birds with one stone (I hope it was the one that pooped on me).
By now the humidity had risen and a storm was threatening so we made hasty tracks home. Oh yes, we had a monster storm which lasted for a good few hours, but it didnt stop us from going to the Olive Garden for dinner. If only I could have some of those warm breadsticks now.
Maria
Thank Goodness you had kept the ticket numbers!
