diswedwish
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2002
- Messages
- 812
Backstage Safari - 1/9
We woke up tired, we were really starting to need more sleep! but excited since we were trying our first tour today. We had to be at AK by 8:15-8:30ish, so we grabbed a quick breakfast at the foodcourt. Not too shabby to only eat counter service once! We missed Boatwright's however, it wasn't open until 7:30 and I didn't want to be late.
We arrived in plenty of time and waited by the left turnstile into the park. Our names were on a list, and I'm pretty sure we showed our id. There were only 5 of us on the Backstage Safari tour and our tour guide's name was Paul. He is a retired teacher and seemed to really enjoy what he does in FL. We thought he was excellent!! We went backstage near Rainforest Cafe and hopped on a van heading towards the back of the park, talking along the way. We stopped at the elephant barn and got to see the youngest male and heard some funny stories about him. Then it was off to the rhino barn, where we got to touch Sammy
Then we went to the giraffe barn and saw a Rothschild giraffe - when we arrived he was butting his head against this hanging punching-bag-like toy which was quite amusing. Then we saw the food prep area, the vet lab in conservation station, got our snack break, touched a snake, and got our goodies. We went back on-stage again for a personal safari given by Paul. We filled out a survey and separated at Tusker House. We learned so much information on this tour, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone that is even considering it. It lasted between 3-4 hours, and we weren't bored for a minute. We were so glad we decided to try it
After going on the tour, all we wanted was to spend more time in AK, but that would have to wait another day. We had PS at Le Cellier, so off we went to Epcot. We had a very nice server and really enjoyed our lunch. The food was delicious and we liked the atmosphere. Then we headed off to the monorail to MK. Next time we've decided to try a few of the Epcot tours, it's our least favorite park and I know we're missing a lot, but we never really take the time to explore...
We got to ride in the front of the monorail from TTC to MK (I asked) so that was a treat. Neither of us had done that before. We wandered around MK going on our favorites, enjoying the fact that we had a few days left and that it wasn't very crowded. It started to rain a little, but we still wanted to catch Wishes (again), so we grabbed a spot in front of the castle and waited, meanwhile observing a very short-tempered mother with her 2 little girls. Poor kids and poor mom too, I think they needed a nap!!
It stopped raining towards the end of Wishes, although it was still chilly - we were very glad to hop on the BW bus! We were off to our PS at Flying Fish. It was around this time that I started to drag. My throat was starting to get sore and food didn't sound very appealing. I also felt very out-of-it and kind of feverish. But darnit, we were *not* going to spend the night in our room with me miserable, we were going to the Flying Fish!!!!! I am very stubborn... So we enjoyed dinner although I wasn't very hungry and felt sick - certainly would have enjoyed it more if I was feeling better. DH enjoyed his meal, and I pawned some of mine off on him. Then we got to experience the joy of Epcot resort buses again on our numerous stops to DD. I was freezing, then hot, freezing, then hot, etc so all we did was get a bus back to POR, limp back to the room, and try to get to bed early so I'd feel better the next day. The problem was that in order to eat our 3 meals a day we were up early, and out late every night so the meals were spaced out. Plus I was worn down. Happy to say that it didn't spoil our time though
We woke up tired, we were really starting to need more sleep! but excited since we were trying our first tour today. We had to be at AK by 8:15-8:30ish, so we grabbed a quick breakfast at the foodcourt. Not too shabby to only eat counter service once! We missed Boatwright's however, it wasn't open until 7:30 and I didn't want to be late.
We arrived in plenty of time and waited by the left turnstile into the park. Our names were on a list, and I'm pretty sure we showed our id. There were only 5 of us on the Backstage Safari tour and our tour guide's name was Paul. He is a retired teacher and seemed to really enjoy what he does in FL. We thought he was excellent!! We went backstage near Rainforest Cafe and hopped on a van heading towards the back of the park, talking along the way. We stopped at the elephant barn and got to see the youngest male and heard some funny stories about him. Then it was off to the rhino barn, where we got to touch Sammy
Then we went to the giraffe barn and saw a Rothschild giraffe - when we arrived he was butting his head against this hanging punching-bag-like toy which was quite amusing. Then we saw the food prep area, the vet lab in conservation station, got our snack break, touched a snake, and got our goodies. We went back on-stage again for a personal safari given by Paul. We filled out a survey and separated at Tusker House. We learned so much information on this tour, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone that is even considering it. It lasted between 3-4 hours, and we weren't bored for a minute. We were so glad we decided to try it After going on the tour, all we wanted was to spend more time in AK, but that would have to wait another day. We had PS at Le Cellier, so off we went to Epcot. We had a very nice server and really enjoyed our lunch. The food was delicious and we liked the atmosphere. Then we headed off to the monorail to MK. Next time we've decided to try a few of the Epcot tours, it's our least favorite park and I know we're missing a lot, but we never really take the time to explore...
We got to ride in the front of the monorail from TTC to MK (I asked) so that was a treat. Neither of us had done that before. We wandered around MK going on our favorites, enjoying the fact that we had a few days left and that it wasn't very crowded. It started to rain a little, but we still wanted to catch Wishes (again), so we grabbed a spot in front of the castle and waited, meanwhile observing a very short-tempered mother with her 2 little girls. Poor kids and poor mom too, I think they needed a nap!!
It stopped raining towards the end of Wishes, although it was still chilly - we were very glad to hop on the BW bus! We were off to our PS at Flying Fish. It was around this time that I started to drag. My throat was starting to get sore and food didn't sound very appealing. I also felt very out-of-it and kind of feverish. But darnit, we were *not* going to spend the night in our room with me miserable, we were going to the Flying Fish!!!!! I am very stubborn... So we enjoyed dinner although I wasn't very hungry and felt sick - certainly would have enjoyed it more if I was feeling better. DH enjoyed his meal, and I pawned some of mine off on him. Then we got to experience the joy of Epcot resort buses again on our numerous stops to DD. I was freezing, then hot, freezing, then hot, etc so all we did was get a bus back to POR, limp back to the room, and try to get to bed early so I'd feel better the next day. The problem was that in order to eat our 3 meals a day we were up early, and out late every night so the meals were spaced out. Plus I was worn down. Happy to say that it didn't spoil our time though
