December 22
Terry got up early. It was eight thirty when I rolled over and looked at the clock. Crystal made bagel and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We packed Hansen juice boxes from Costco and gummy bears along with some other snacks. Went to Animal Kingdom and renewed our annual passes using Disney Club discount.
Went to see Flights of Wonder Bird Show. This is usually one of the first things we do because Crystal loves the birds. One of the people she knows from the birds of prey program at the Oregon Zoo now works at Animal Kingdom and we were able to get a behind the scenes tour. No such luck this time however. Since Disney hires an outside company to do the bird show she was working at their ranch.
Went to get fast passes for Dinosaur hmmm fastpasses not working. Whenever we tried to insert our tickets it kept saying not a valid fast pass. We were puzzled as to why this was since we had just renewed our passes that morning. Walked off and watched carnatorus (Big dinosaur) person scaring assorted people. Come to find out the tickets we were using were the ones we were given for the Wide World of Sport complex. They have the same design on the front duh silly us of course those wont work for the fast pass machines.
By this time Tarzan Rocks was going to be playing in 20 minutes so we went and watched that. Or at least some of us did. Ryan fell asleep during the show even with all the really loud music. Even though he has a hard time sleeping with lots of distractions. We were wondering if Mickey sells hearing aids after everyone goes deaf from the loud music. No one in the party particularly cared for this show. Crystal of course prefers the Festival of the Lion King.
Stopped on the way to Kali River Rapids and ate a turkey leg ($4.49) and coke ($2.34). Nice warm sunny day so it would seem that Kali is the perfect choice. OK, OK we fess up we dont really enjoy getting soaked on a ride and suffering the rest of the day so we put on our Stearns rain gear from Costco both pants and jackets. Pooh52 sat and baby-sat the packs and cameras. We figure that Kali has two sides one side of the raft gets soaked the other doesnt the catch is that you never know which side is going to get soaked. Half the fun this time was to see people that werent prepared get soaked. Cruel but amusing I suppose. One of the greatest things to do is to stand on the bridge that the raft passes directly under and press the button on the bridge that makes elephants squirt water that if timed right will squirt the riders. Went twice the second time they stopped us on the ramp up for about 10 minutes. Still got to ride the rest of the way but they stopped running it after that for some reason. Crystal had taken off her socks so we had to wait while she put them back on. Terry and Ryan had just got Smart Wool socks. They ought to be smart they cost $16.00 a pair. Terry swears by them. Since he stands on concrete most of the day at work Ill take his word.
Went on a Killamanjaro Safari next wait was only like 15 minutes. Most of the animals seemed to be on the left hand side this time. Of course this changes every time the crocodiles were quite picture perfect. They looked almost like toys. The hippos seemed quite active moving around. We had an American tour guide this time. Which was interesting because it is more common to get someone who is from a different country. She was a more cautious driver than weve had in the past that was nice because we got better views of the animals. She also stopped several times so we could get better photos. Most of the animals seemed pretty resistive got to see the male lion walk a little bit though. This is one of the must-sees in Animal Kingdom.
After the Safari we decided to wait for the parade because it starts right next to the entrance of the Safari. This was a cool place to watch it from not too many people. While we were waiting we watched some people get picked to be part of the parade, which was cool. They rode in the little bicycle cart things. This parade is a really neat one and something not to miss. It has the traditional Animal Kingdom people on stilts thing and plenty of characters and carts. Its amazing how Mickeys mind works however. To get to the rest of the park you must follow the parade because it loops around Asia and you will get stuck. A very effective way to usher most people to the front of the park if I say so myself. We ended up following all the way around past camp Minnie Mickey and to Dino-land. Most people were running toward Tarzan Rocks but we took a right to get on Dinosaur. Our wait time was more like just getting through the cue line and through the little video we were on in about 15 minutes or so. This ride is an OK nothing too special. For people with children (or adults) that are either afraid of the dark or dinosaurs this is definitely a ride to miss. We tried to make horrified faces when our pictures were taken but missed somehow. There are two different points where they do a flash thing like they are taking a photo. We still arent sure which one they use.
We head to Its tough to be a bug not knowing if we are going to be able to get in because it was 4:54 and the park closes at five. Luckily we got in for the last show. This is a really neat show and we all enjoy it. Again not for children that are afraid of the dark or large buggy things.
Headed back to Costco to develop the pictures that we took to make sure the x-ray machines at the airport didnt trash it. Went back to the hotel we are staying at All Stars Music. We stayed at All Star Sports last time. We were at Dixie Landings for our first trip. One quick side note we really enjoyed Dixie Landings but had a hard time justifying spending the extra money for a place that we just went back to and crashed at. It was nice but we prefer to stay for a longer period of time and get to see more rather than pay more for a room. The only real difference is the decor. That and Dixie had a hot tub (we do miss that). Spent 27.65 that day.
Terry got up early. It was eight thirty when I rolled over and looked at the clock. Crystal made bagel and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We packed Hansen juice boxes from Costco and gummy bears along with some other snacks. Went to Animal Kingdom and renewed our annual passes using Disney Club discount.
Went to see Flights of Wonder Bird Show. This is usually one of the first things we do because Crystal loves the birds. One of the people she knows from the birds of prey program at the Oregon Zoo now works at Animal Kingdom and we were able to get a behind the scenes tour. No such luck this time however. Since Disney hires an outside company to do the bird show she was working at their ranch.
Went to get fast passes for Dinosaur hmmm fastpasses not working. Whenever we tried to insert our tickets it kept saying not a valid fast pass. We were puzzled as to why this was since we had just renewed our passes that morning. Walked off and watched carnatorus (Big dinosaur) person scaring assorted people. Come to find out the tickets we were using were the ones we were given for the Wide World of Sport complex. They have the same design on the front duh silly us of course those wont work for the fast pass machines.
By this time Tarzan Rocks was going to be playing in 20 minutes so we went and watched that. Or at least some of us did. Ryan fell asleep during the show even with all the really loud music. Even though he has a hard time sleeping with lots of distractions. We were wondering if Mickey sells hearing aids after everyone goes deaf from the loud music. No one in the party particularly cared for this show. Crystal of course prefers the Festival of the Lion King.
Stopped on the way to Kali River Rapids and ate a turkey leg ($4.49) and coke ($2.34). Nice warm sunny day so it would seem that Kali is the perfect choice. OK, OK we fess up we dont really enjoy getting soaked on a ride and suffering the rest of the day so we put on our Stearns rain gear from Costco both pants and jackets. Pooh52 sat and baby-sat the packs and cameras. We figure that Kali has two sides one side of the raft gets soaked the other doesnt the catch is that you never know which side is going to get soaked. Half the fun this time was to see people that werent prepared get soaked. Cruel but amusing I suppose. One of the greatest things to do is to stand on the bridge that the raft passes directly under and press the button on the bridge that makes elephants squirt water that if timed right will squirt the riders. Went twice the second time they stopped us on the ramp up for about 10 minutes. Still got to ride the rest of the way but they stopped running it after that for some reason. Crystal had taken off her socks so we had to wait while she put them back on. Terry and Ryan had just got Smart Wool socks. They ought to be smart they cost $16.00 a pair. Terry swears by them. Since he stands on concrete most of the day at work Ill take his word.
Went on a Killamanjaro Safari next wait was only like 15 minutes. Most of the animals seemed to be on the left hand side this time. Of course this changes every time the crocodiles were quite picture perfect. They looked almost like toys. The hippos seemed quite active moving around. We had an American tour guide this time. Which was interesting because it is more common to get someone who is from a different country. She was a more cautious driver than weve had in the past that was nice because we got better views of the animals. She also stopped several times so we could get better photos. Most of the animals seemed pretty resistive got to see the male lion walk a little bit though. This is one of the must-sees in Animal Kingdom.
After the Safari we decided to wait for the parade because it starts right next to the entrance of the Safari. This was a cool place to watch it from not too many people. While we were waiting we watched some people get picked to be part of the parade, which was cool. They rode in the little bicycle cart things. This parade is a really neat one and something not to miss. It has the traditional Animal Kingdom people on stilts thing and plenty of characters and carts. Its amazing how Mickeys mind works however. To get to the rest of the park you must follow the parade because it loops around Asia and you will get stuck. A very effective way to usher most people to the front of the park if I say so myself. We ended up following all the way around past camp Minnie Mickey and to Dino-land. Most people were running toward Tarzan Rocks but we took a right to get on Dinosaur. Our wait time was more like just getting through the cue line and through the little video we were on in about 15 minutes or so. This ride is an OK nothing too special. For people with children (or adults) that are either afraid of the dark or dinosaurs this is definitely a ride to miss. We tried to make horrified faces when our pictures were taken but missed somehow. There are two different points where they do a flash thing like they are taking a photo. We still arent sure which one they use.
We head to Its tough to be a bug not knowing if we are going to be able to get in because it was 4:54 and the park closes at five. Luckily we got in for the last show. This is a really neat show and we all enjoy it. Again not for children that are afraid of the dark or large buggy things.
Headed back to Costco to develop the pictures that we took to make sure the x-ray machines at the airport didnt trash it. Went back to the hotel we are staying at All Stars Music. We stayed at All Star Sports last time. We were at Dixie Landings for our first trip. One quick side note we really enjoyed Dixie Landings but had a hard time justifying spending the extra money for a place that we just went back to and crashed at. It was nice but we prefer to stay for a longer period of time and get to see more rather than pay more for a room. The only real difference is the decor. That and Dixie had a hot tub (we do miss that). Spent 27.65 that day.
