Chim Chiminy
stale marshmallows sting when they hit you
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2003
- Messages
- 1,861
Cast--Liz, Jason(DH), Neth(DS10), Brenne(DD4), mom(aka lala), dad(aka papa), Jimmie(DB32), Geoff(DB24), Brad(DBIL29), Rick(DBIL40)
August 20 Wednesday
Today we sleep in a little bit. We are all tired from E-Night.
Once we finally get going today, we head out to Animal Kingdom. Mom, dad, and Jimmie stay behind and I drive the rest of us to the park. We arrive around lunchtime.
Neth is very cranky today, and has a meltdown before we even leave the van. He and Jason almost miss the tram to the park entrance because of it.
Outside of the park entrance, characters are everywhere. We slow it down so Brenne can see some of them. They are starting to head in, but she gets an autograph from Terk. We also see Launchpad McQuack. I point him out to Geoff, because after school he used to make us watch Ducktales all the time. He loved that show. I can still sing the theme song to it. Neth stomps away from us, and Chip sits beside him, trying to cheer him up. Didn't work. He complains that he is hot, but I point out that we are in Florida, it is going to be hot.
We get through the gates and Neth refuses to walk, so I offer to rent him a stroller. He accepts, but when Jason goes to get one, Neth starts crying. He says that daddy is making fun of him for wanting a stroller. Jas to this day insists that he didn't make fun of Neth. I go get the stroller myself.
Finally, with Neth comfortably settled in a stroller that is really too small, we move on. Out of all the parks, Animal Kingdom is my favorite as far as theming goes, everything is detailed. We cross through the Oasis where monkeys and exotic birds are freely roaming through trees. We step into the marketplace and we spot two huge Hollywood stars, so of course, we have to get pics and autographs. I am talking about none other than Lilo and Stitch. There is a decent line, but it moves quickly. (Neth stays in his stroller.) The girl behind us keeps telling Brenne to "Hurry up and move it!" even though there are still people in front of us! Finally, it is Brenne's turn and she is so happy! She dances like Lilo all the time, so meeting her in person was such a big deal. We get our pics and she is happy.
Everyone is hungry, so we walk on to Africa so we can eat at Tusker House. Jason goes on to snatch a table while I order. I use three adult meal vouchers here. I ordered the Salmon meal, half rotisserie chicken, and a turkey wrap with corn chowder. All three are exceptionally good for theme park fast food. Geoff helped me carry the trays to our table. While we are eating Jimmie shows up out of the blue with some bad news. Dad's truck won't start. They wind up getting it into a shop and getting a rental car.
We finish eating and split up. Jimmie and Geoff go off on their own.
We head over to the Kilimanjaro Safari. We grab fastpasses and do the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail nearby. There are a lot of animals out to be seen, but several stand out. Number one, the room with the wall of naked mole rats. Very interesting. Number two, the silverback gorillas. Gorgeous creatures. Rick asked a CM about them, they have a 2 acre habitat to themselves. They are smart enough that when the vegetation is stripped, they move on to a new area to let it grow back. Something we humans could learn. I think Rick was in heaven here. He really loved watching them.
When we were done, we still had about five minutes to kill, so we found some benches inside an area that looked like a hut. Behind it were some crested cranes. While we were sitting there, one of them started a mating dance, very entertaining to watch. His crest fluffed up and he started slowly pulling his wings up and down, pushing his neck in and out. Dancing.
Time for our safari! It was around 1:30, I was afraid with it being so late, there wouldn't be many animals out. No need to worry. Plenty of animals. We even had a giraffe right up against the vehicle. We could see his long black tongue pulling leaves off of a branch. We saw the king of beasts, the lion, on Pride Rock. He let out a huge yawn as we drove by!!!! And we saw the newest member of the Animal Kingdom family, a baby elephant born in April. So cute. I was so happy to get to see him. The only downfall to our safari was the people behind us. I wanted to strangle them. The whole family. All eight of them. They were chatting loudly the whole time about how obviously fake all the animals were, "After all, this is Disney !" And then, one of the guys gets on his cell phone to discuss business. Hello!!!!!! Some people are trying to enjoy their vacation!!!!!!!! And the same guy and one of the women started arguing about their plans for the next day.
Well, we survive, and have Fastpasses for Kali River Rapids. The time will be up shortly so we start walking toward Asia. I notice that Rick has picked up a souvenir, either from the Pangani Trail, or just from walking around. After all there are a lot of birds flying freely here. I have to have a pic, so we trick him into walking onto another trail in the ruse of taking pics of the Tree of Life. Alas, we are all laughing so hard, he figures it out. I try and wipe it off, but it is fresh and only smears. So, we have to find Rick a new shirt. Now, I figure out the truth. He is mad because I made matching t shirts for everyone to wear, he's not into that, so he purposefully walked under a ________ bird so that he could change shirts! I know the truth........
We get to Asia and Rick hunts out his new, better, shirt.
We also lose Jason here. I don't quite remember how, but we lost him for a good ten or fifteen minutes.
It starts to rain, but passes quickly. I talk to a gentleman who vacations here every year from NJ, he is with his mom who is in a wheelchair and they just love it. Something about this place makes people very friendly.
We head over to Kali and there is a lot of confusion with the lines. People without Fastpasses are standing in the fastpass line, making it very long. People with Fastpass times still thirty minutes away are in the line (People, the whole idea of fastpass is that it frees you up to do something else besides wait in line!). It is a mess, and the CMs don't seem to be doing a good job of sorting it out. It takes a good five minutes before we are even allowed up to the front to enter the line. Brenne is measured and she gets her hand stamped, but she wonders why mommy doesn't get a stamp too. We walk on through the line. The unfortunate thing about using fastpass here is that there are so many beautiful things to see in this line, you miss them all. The detailing here is outstanding.
This is Brenne's first rapids ride and she is a little nervous about getting wet. We all wear our ponchos just in case, and Brenne has her goggles. Some parents nearby giggle a bit about her goggles.
We get on our raft and I strap her in tight. She is holding tight to her goggles! The ride is not as rough as I remember it, and really is too short. Wish it were longer. It has a powerful message though about the environment that is not lost on Neth, or the rest of us. None of us really get very wet.
When we are done, it is nearing time for the parade. Routes are blocked off and we have to criss cross through shops to get to Dinoland. I catch a glimpse of the parade coming and it looks spectacular, I definately want to catch it next time.
We get over to Dinoland. Jason takes Brenne to play in the Boneyard, while we go ride Dinosaur! The wait is only a few minutes. The hardest part is getting through the preshow, I think it is too long! This ride is very cool. Rick declares it his favorite of the whole trip. And Neth keeps his eyes open this time. I was disappointed though that our pic didn't turn out, because I wanted to buy it. We were going to ride again, but the ride shut down and we got tired of waiting. Instead we went over to Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin. I took Brenne on Triceratops Spin while everyone but Brad went on the other. They all came off laughing, Jason even wanted to go again. Big change from last year, when he looked like he was going to spew. Brad had taken Brenne over to the carny games and surprise, Brenne won! She won a big turtle that she named Ricky Turtle, after her Uncle Rick. Brad and Rick took Brenne, while I went on Primeval Whirl with Jas and Neth. The wait was a little longer this time. About fifteen minutes. Finally, on our time machine we were ready to blast into the past. I had to video this, and a woman standing outside the ride told me I was a brave soul. Believe me, I held on to the camera for dear life. But I am glad I taped it. Like everything, the ride is over too quickly.
It was now time to leave. Mom had radioed and said she was at the Rainforest Cafe. We were meeting Jimmie and Geoff at the park entrance. We crossed the bridge out of Dinoland and I looked across the water, I could see where they are building Expedition Everest. Neat!
All too quick we were at the park entrance. I had to turn in the stroller, and I got a shock. A boy, about four, was urinating on some bushes while his parents stood a few feet behind watching. Now, the restrooms were ten feet away! What is wrong with people!!!!!!! I wanted to grab him, or smack them. Almost as bad, the CM's at the stroller return were all giggling and laughing about it!
Anyway, we couldn't find mom, and finally decided that she wasn't there. I figured she would be smart enough to get to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is where we were having dinner.
August 20 Wednesday
Today we sleep in a little bit. We are all tired from E-Night.
Once we finally get going today, we head out to Animal Kingdom. Mom, dad, and Jimmie stay behind and I drive the rest of us to the park. We arrive around lunchtime.
Neth is very cranky today, and has a meltdown before we even leave the van. He and Jason almost miss the tram to the park entrance because of it.
Outside of the park entrance, characters are everywhere. We slow it down so Brenne can see some of them. They are starting to head in, but she gets an autograph from Terk. We also see Launchpad McQuack. I point him out to Geoff, because after school he used to make us watch Ducktales all the time. He loved that show. I can still sing the theme song to it. Neth stomps away from us, and Chip sits beside him, trying to cheer him up. Didn't work. He complains that he is hot, but I point out that we are in Florida, it is going to be hot.
We get through the gates and Neth refuses to walk, so I offer to rent him a stroller. He accepts, but when Jason goes to get one, Neth starts crying. He says that daddy is making fun of him for wanting a stroller. Jas to this day insists that he didn't make fun of Neth. I go get the stroller myself.
Finally, with Neth comfortably settled in a stroller that is really too small, we move on. Out of all the parks, Animal Kingdom is my favorite as far as theming goes, everything is detailed. We cross through the Oasis where monkeys and exotic birds are freely roaming through trees. We step into the marketplace and we spot two huge Hollywood stars, so of course, we have to get pics and autographs. I am talking about none other than Lilo and Stitch. There is a decent line, but it moves quickly. (Neth stays in his stroller.) The girl behind us keeps telling Brenne to "Hurry up and move it!" even though there are still people in front of us! Finally, it is Brenne's turn and she is so happy! She dances like Lilo all the time, so meeting her in person was such a big deal. We get our pics and she is happy.
Everyone is hungry, so we walk on to Africa so we can eat at Tusker House. Jason goes on to snatch a table while I order. I use three adult meal vouchers here. I ordered the Salmon meal, half rotisserie chicken, and a turkey wrap with corn chowder. All three are exceptionally good for theme park fast food. Geoff helped me carry the trays to our table. While we are eating Jimmie shows up out of the blue with some bad news. Dad's truck won't start. They wind up getting it into a shop and getting a rental car.
We finish eating and split up. Jimmie and Geoff go off on their own.
We head over to the Kilimanjaro Safari. We grab fastpasses and do the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail nearby. There are a lot of animals out to be seen, but several stand out. Number one, the room with the wall of naked mole rats. Very interesting. Number two, the silverback gorillas. Gorgeous creatures. Rick asked a CM about them, they have a 2 acre habitat to themselves. They are smart enough that when the vegetation is stripped, they move on to a new area to let it grow back. Something we humans could learn. I think Rick was in heaven here. He really loved watching them.
When we were done, we still had about five minutes to kill, so we found some benches inside an area that looked like a hut. Behind it were some crested cranes. While we were sitting there, one of them started a mating dance, very entertaining to watch. His crest fluffed up and he started slowly pulling his wings up and down, pushing his neck in and out. Dancing.
Time for our safari! It was around 1:30, I was afraid with it being so late, there wouldn't be many animals out. No need to worry. Plenty of animals. We even had a giraffe right up against the vehicle. We could see his long black tongue pulling leaves off of a branch. We saw the king of beasts, the lion, on Pride Rock. He let out a huge yawn as we drove by!!!! And we saw the newest member of the Animal Kingdom family, a baby elephant born in April. So cute. I was so happy to get to see him. The only downfall to our safari was the people behind us. I wanted to strangle them. The whole family. All eight of them. They were chatting loudly the whole time about how obviously fake all the animals were, "After all, this is Disney !" And then, one of the guys gets on his cell phone to discuss business. Hello!!!!!! Some people are trying to enjoy their vacation!!!!!!!! And the same guy and one of the women started arguing about their plans for the next day.
Well, we survive, and have Fastpasses for Kali River Rapids. The time will be up shortly so we start walking toward Asia. I notice that Rick has picked up a souvenir, either from the Pangani Trail, or just from walking around. After all there are a lot of birds flying freely here. I have to have a pic, so we trick him into walking onto another trail in the ruse of taking pics of the Tree of Life. Alas, we are all laughing so hard, he figures it out. I try and wipe it off, but it is fresh and only smears. So, we have to find Rick a new shirt. Now, I figure out the truth. He is mad because I made matching t shirts for everyone to wear, he's not into that, so he purposefully walked under a ________ bird so that he could change shirts! I know the truth........
We get to Asia and Rick hunts out his new, better, shirt.
We also lose Jason here. I don't quite remember how, but we lost him for a good ten or fifteen minutes.
It starts to rain, but passes quickly. I talk to a gentleman who vacations here every year from NJ, he is with his mom who is in a wheelchair and they just love it. Something about this place makes people very friendly.
We head over to Kali and there is a lot of confusion with the lines. People without Fastpasses are standing in the fastpass line, making it very long. People with Fastpass times still thirty minutes away are in the line (People, the whole idea of fastpass is that it frees you up to do something else besides wait in line!). It is a mess, and the CMs don't seem to be doing a good job of sorting it out. It takes a good five minutes before we are even allowed up to the front to enter the line. Brenne is measured and she gets her hand stamped, but she wonders why mommy doesn't get a stamp too. We walk on through the line. The unfortunate thing about using fastpass here is that there are so many beautiful things to see in this line, you miss them all. The detailing here is outstanding.
This is Brenne's first rapids ride and she is a little nervous about getting wet. We all wear our ponchos just in case, and Brenne has her goggles. Some parents nearby giggle a bit about her goggles.
We get on our raft and I strap her in tight. She is holding tight to her goggles! The ride is not as rough as I remember it, and really is too short. Wish it were longer. It has a powerful message though about the environment that is not lost on Neth, or the rest of us. None of us really get very wet.
When we are done, it is nearing time for the parade. Routes are blocked off and we have to criss cross through shops to get to Dinoland. I catch a glimpse of the parade coming and it looks spectacular, I definately want to catch it next time.
We get over to Dinoland. Jason takes Brenne to play in the Boneyard, while we go ride Dinosaur! The wait is only a few minutes. The hardest part is getting through the preshow, I think it is too long! This ride is very cool. Rick declares it his favorite of the whole trip. And Neth keeps his eyes open this time. I was disappointed though that our pic didn't turn out, because I wanted to buy it. We were going to ride again, but the ride shut down and we got tired of waiting. Instead we went over to Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin. I took Brenne on Triceratops Spin while everyone but Brad went on the other. They all came off laughing, Jason even wanted to go again. Big change from last year, when he looked like he was going to spew. Brad had taken Brenne over to the carny games and surprise, Brenne won! She won a big turtle that she named Ricky Turtle, after her Uncle Rick. Brad and Rick took Brenne, while I went on Primeval Whirl with Jas and Neth. The wait was a little longer this time. About fifteen minutes. Finally, on our time machine we were ready to blast into the past. I had to video this, and a woman standing outside the ride told me I was a brave soul. Believe me, I held on to the camera for dear life. But I am glad I taped it. Like everything, the ride is over too quickly.
It was now time to leave. Mom had radioed and said she was at the Rainforest Cafe. We were meeting Jimmie and Geoff at the park entrance. We crossed the bridge out of Dinoland and I looked across the water, I could see where they are building Expedition Everest. Neat!
All too quick we were at the park entrance. I had to turn in the stroller, and I got a shock. A boy, about four, was urinating on
some bushes while his parents stood a few feet behind watching. Now, the restrooms were ten feet away! What is wrong with people!!!!!!! I wanted to grab him, or smack them. Almost as bad, the CM's at the stroller return were all giggling and laughing about it! Anyway, we couldn't find mom, and finally decided that she wasn't there. I figured she would be smart enough to get to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is where we were having dinner.
