MOmousefan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2005
- Messages
- 1,054
Wed, June 6 Animal Kingdom
Today is our first full day and Early Entry is the Animal Kingdom, so we met at 7:00 in the Food Court. The buses are prompt and we are at the rope watching Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Mickey fire up the crowd.
Expedition Everest is new, so we head to Asia. Everyone else has the same idea and there is already a 40-minute wait. We Fastpass it and our return time is 1 hour and 20 minutes, so we do Safari. The animals are out and we see a baby Rhino and baby elephant, both with their mothers. The rhino is nursing, but the driver evidently cannot say this, so he says they are “bonding”.
I cannot get over how unobtrusive the barriers are between each animal. Scott thinks the wires on the ground are electrified and they do go into some type of insulator, so he is probably right.
It’s time for EE! What a fantastic experience. The theming is pure Disney.
The standby wait by now is 60 minutes, thank goodness for Fastpass. We get another Fastpass for this attraction and head over to the Pangini Trail.
I hang out with the meerkats
We do Dinosaur
Scott noticed that we could get another Fastpass an hour later, rather than after the original FP expired. I don’t remember this from 2005, but turned out to be very handy all week.
I don’t mind the heat, but the humidity is like wearing a hot, wet wool blanket. It takes away my appetite, which is fine, but I consume mass quantities of water and Diet Coke. I much prefer Diet Pepsi, but this is Coke country.
We ride Dino and Scott is impressed. He hasn’t been to WDW since 1990, so there are lots of new things for him to see.
After Dino we want to see the new NEMO show, so I get in line(Which ends right in front of the big dinosaur) and have no idea how long the line is. Scott and Alison go to get some snacks and I stand behind a mom and her two pre-school age girls, one in a stroller. A security guard walks by and tells her she can’t have the stroller in the line. So she leaves her four year-old holding their place while she takes the stroller over to a wall by the lake. The line starts to move and the poor girl doesn’t know what to do. People practically knock her down as they move forward, so I ask if she would like to move with me and we will watch for her mom. By now mom is 30 feet behind us, so I wave to her, but she isn’t looking for me. I finally catch her eye and all are united. I am appalled at the herd mentality shown on this trip, people just blindly pushing and shoving to get ahead.
The same security guard is now talking to a couple next to me about how the Disney employees are voting tomorrow (Thus) on a new contract. People are asking if this will effect their vacation. He didn’t comment one way or the other, but we all wondered. Scott and Alison catch up with me as we enter the turnstile in front of the building with a much needed drink for me. We proceed into the building and sit down in air-conditioned comfort. The seats have backs, so it is a nice respite from the heat. They announce several times that no photography of any kind is allowed. The show starts and I didn’t know real people were in the show. It is a very good show, not to be missed. The sets are dazzling and the visual effects are stunning. The no photography rule was strictly enforced as CMs came around warning people to stop filming. DON’T MISS THIS SHOW!
It’s lunchtime, so we head for the Flame Tree BBQ, but first get FPs for ITTBAB. The food at the Flame Tree is very good, especially the onion rings. Birds are all around us mooching for morsels, with the ducks at the top of the pecking order. I had a smoked turkey sandwich and they shared a BBQ chicken salad and the rings.
We experience ITTBAB, one of our favorite 3d shows.
We return to the resort around 2:00 for a much needed rest (Nap).
Notice the clouds
We have two vouchers each worth $15 in our travel packets to be used at Planet Hollywood, so head for Downtown Disney to shop and eat. I finally find name badges in the World of Disney store, but they have to be engraved in the Christmas store, way back by the entrance. It is now pouring down rain, so I get out my 97-cent poncho from Wal Mart and proceed to the store and the counter where the engraver is located. I should mention that I had bought several shirts and other things and had them sent to my room at the PoP. The CM at the engraver is first confused looking at the receipt and wondering where everything else is. She then tells me to leave the name and come back in half an hour because she “Hasn’t had a break all day and she is taking it now”. I find the kids and we head through the rain for PH. They didn’t bring any ponchos and get soaked.
We are told it is an hour wait, so we go upstairs and immediately while they are in the bathroom drying off my name is called. I grab the table and wait for them. They find me and is well. No not quite. I take all the receipts, loose change, etc out of my pockets to rearrange things and since the two tables joined together aren’t the same height, Scott spills his water all over the table. The waitress is right there with towels and we dry off the table. I later realize that all my receipts, including my room delivery receipt is gone, swept up with everything. Anyway, the food is good and we head back to the resort at 8:00. BTW we got the name badges!
The kids are tired and want to stay in the room. I am ready for some action, so I head to MGM since it is the late park. I knew it was going to be great when I was the only rider on the bus. It is raining lightly when I arrive and collect pressed pennies going down Sunset Blvd toward ToT. I walk on the ToT as there is few people in the park. I walk on RnR in the single rider line. It is now 10:00PM and I go to the ABC commissary to get my wristband. I walk-on the Star Tours and there are only seven of us on the ride. I have never experienced a partial load like that before.
I walked around enjoying the mostly empty park until10:45 and then left for the resort. This was my first night EMH and it was definitely worth it!!
Next.....The magic Kingdom!
Today is our first full day and Early Entry is the Animal Kingdom, so we met at 7:00 in the Food Court. The buses are prompt and we are at the rope watching Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Mickey fire up the crowd.
Expedition Everest is new, so we head to Asia. Everyone else has the same idea and there is already a 40-minute wait. We Fastpass it and our return time is 1 hour and 20 minutes, so we do Safari. The animals are out and we see a baby Rhino and baby elephant, both with their mothers. The rhino is nursing, but the driver evidently cannot say this, so he says they are “bonding”.
I cannot get over how unobtrusive the barriers are between each animal. Scott thinks the wires on the ground are electrified and they do go into some type of insulator, so he is probably right.
It’s time for EE! What a fantastic experience. The theming is pure Disney.
The standby wait by now is 60 minutes, thank goodness for Fastpass. We get another Fastpass for this attraction and head over to the Pangini Trail.
I hang out with the meerkats
We do Dinosaur
Scott noticed that we could get another Fastpass an hour later, rather than after the original FP expired. I don’t remember this from 2005, but turned out to be very handy all week.
I don’t mind the heat, but the humidity is like wearing a hot, wet wool blanket. It takes away my appetite, which is fine, but I consume mass quantities of water and Diet Coke. I much prefer Diet Pepsi, but this is Coke country.
We ride Dino and Scott is impressed. He hasn’t been to WDW since 1990, so there are lots of new things for him to see.
After Dino we want to see the new NEMO show, so I get in line(Which ends right in front of the big dinosaur) and have no idea how long the line is. Scott and Alison go to get some snacks and I stand behind a mom and her two pre-school age girls, one in a stroller. A security guard walks by and tells her she can’t have the stroller in the line. So she leaves her four year-old holding their place while she takes the stroller over to a wall by the lake. The line starts to move and the poor girl doesn’t know what to do. People practically knock her down as they move forward, so I ask if she would like to move with me and we will watch for her mom. By now mom is 30 feet behind us, so I wave to her, but she isn’t looking for me. I finally catch her eye and all are united. I am appalled at the herd mentality shown on this trip, people just blindly pushing and shoving to get ahead.
The same security guard is now talking to a couple next to me about how the Disney employees are voting tomorrow (Thus) on a new contract. People are asking if this will effect their vacation. He didn’t comment one way or the other, but we all wondered. Scott and Alison catch up with me as we enter the turnstile in front of the building with a much needed drink for me. We proceed into the building and sit down in air-conditioned comfort. The seats have backs, so it is a nice respite from the heat. They announce several times that no photography of any kind is allowed. The show starts and I didn’t know real people were in the show. It is a very good show, not to be missed. The sets are dazzling and the visual effects are stunning. The no photography rule was strictly enforced as CMs came around warning people to stop filming. DON’T MISS THIS SHOW!
It’s lunchtime, so we head for the Flame Tree BBQ, but first get FPs for ITTBAB. The food at the Flame Tree is very good, especially the onion rings. Birds are all around us mooching for morsels, with the ducks at the top of the pecking order. I had a smoked turkey sandwich and they shared a BBQ chicken salad and the rings.
We experience ITTBAB, one of our favorite 3d shows.
We return to the resort around 2:00 for a much needed rest (Nap).
Notice the clouds
We have two vouchers each worth $15 in our travel packets to be used at Planet Hollywood, so head for Downtown Disney to shop and eat. I finally find name badges in the World of Disney store, but they have to be engraved in the Christmas store, way back by the entrance. It is now pouring down rain, so I get out my 97-cent poncho from Wal Mart and proceed to the store and the counter where the engraver is located. I should mention that I had bought several shirts and other things and had them sent to my room at the PoP. The CM at the engraver is first confused looking at the receipt and wondering where everything else is. She then tells me to leave the name and come back in half an hour because she “Hasn’t had a break all day and she is taking it now”. I find the kids and we head through the rain for PH. They didn’t bring any ponchos and get soaked.
We are told it is an hour wait, so we go upstairs and immediately while they are in the bathroom drying off my name is called. I grab the table and wait for them. They find me and is well. No not quite. I take all the receipts, loose change, etc out of my pockets to rearrange things and since the two tables joined together aren’t the same height, Scott spills his water all over the table. The waitress is right there with towels and we dry off the table. I later realize that all my receipts, including my room delivery receipt is gone, swept up with everything. Anyway, the food is good and we head back to the resort at 8:00. BTW we got the name badges!
The kids are tired and want to stay in the room. I am ready for some action, so I head to MGM since it is the late park. I knew it was going to be great when I was the only rider on the bus. It is raining lightly when I arrive and collect pressed pennies going down Sunset Blvd toward ToT. I walk on the ToT as there is few people in the park. I walk on RnR in the single rider line. It is now 10:00PM and I go to the ABC commissary to get my wristband. I walk-on the Star Tours and there are only seven of us on the ride. I have never experienced a partial load like that before.
I walked around enjoying the mostly empty park until10:45 and then left for the resort. This was my first night EMH and it was definitely worth it!!
Next.....The magic Kingdom!
