Chunkymonkey and Chubbyhubby Stuff Themselves Silly! THE END..on to the next TR!

[redlight]

Funny, I was at a wedding too, but they got married on Saturday and didn't wait for 10/10/10. Comic Con and the Yankees-Twins game alone is a lot, together, that's a really busy weekend!

 

[Cat0727]

I'm so jealous you got to go to the Jets game! I'm a big Jets fan..The tickets are too expensive this year though, but hopefully next year I'll get to go. I was in California this past weekend for a wedding so I was watching the game on TV from there and couldn't believe the rain

 

[micheleq]

I just stumbled upon you TR and am loving it! I'm from right outside NYC (my dad works downtown, hubby used to work midtown, my brother lives in Chelsea...) so this is a dual TR for me seeing your NYC pics from Yankee Stadium and the new Giants Stadium (yeah, osrry, not a Jets fan!).

Glad to hear Pizza Planet pizza is good. My daughters love Toy Story and want to eat there. Pizza here in Detroit stinks; I'm craving Patsy's right about now...

Keep the fabulous pics coming! Cheers!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 4 Part 2: We head to AK and get soaked!!

So after leaving DHS, we board the bus to AK. Now I have to be completely honest, AK is not my favorite park. I don’t know why, but it always feels hotter here than at any other park and usually I am too hot to actually enjoy my time there. DH agrees too, although he does like EE. Anyways, I wanted to go to AK today because we had evening reservations at Boma, which I’ve always wanted to try, being that it’s in such close proximity to AK, it only made sense to go to this park before dinner.

So upon entering the park, the heat kind of hits me all at once. I think it has something to do with all the shrubbery and bamboo, etc. Whatever it is, it felt more like equatorial rainforest than it did theme park.

So I decide to make a beeline for the shops. But before that, me and DH split the one snack which is only available at AK (from what I understand) and which I consider one of the best savory snacks in the word: The jalapeno cheese-stuffed pretzel. To. Die. For. Sooooo yummy. Yummm.

I told DH that I was gonna cool down and take a break, but that he could go ahead and do single rider for EE. Then I’d go meet him for a couple of rides later. So DH and I part ways, and I end up going into one of the stores to cool down. I thought I could do a bit of shopping as well. I saw a really cute Mr. Potatohead t-shirt. It said “You Complete Me” with Mr. Potatohead on it. I loved it! So I definitely wanted to get that for DH. I was struggling between the sizing though, the t-shirt was a different material than his other Mr. Potatohead t-shirt and it looked a bit larger than normal, so I ended up getting him a M instead of an L, which is what I got him in the other shirt. I figure if it didn’t fit him, I could wear it as a sleep shirt or something. I also saw a few t-shirts for my sister. She is plus sized so I had to look for things that would fit her. She wanted a Minnie t-shirt with hearts, and her favorite color is pink. Doesn’t sound like it would be so hard to find right? Well, it was a lot harder than I thought, LOL! I finally narrowed it down to a red tank top with Minnie, and a white T with pink details and Minnie. I sent her two pictures on my blackberry and she said she liked the white and pink t best. It was quite a pricey t shirt though, like 34 bucks! Ouch. I am not a t-shirt person, and if I do buy t-shirts, it’s only to work out in and I buy them from the Old Navy clearance bin for like 5.99 LOL. Since all DH wears is t-shirts, I figured it was just a regular part of his wardrobe. At 24.99 the Mr. Potatohead t-shirt was not bad for Disney pricing. It was funny because I didn’t see this t-shirt anywhere else on our trip. So I bought the 2 tshirts for DH and my sis, and I also threw in the 10 dollar Vinylmations notebook that I saw in MK on our first day. I figure if I was getting 10% discount from the Disney Visa, I might as well get everything all at once. I don't have pictures now, but I do have them when I got everything delivered, but that is a later post

Now, DH calls back, and I didn’t realize how much time I had spent in the store, but he managed to ride EE 4 times! LOL. So we agree to meet at ITTBAB. In the meantime DH got Fps for KRR.

I have a bit of a bug phobia, so even though the show is cute and all, it’s definitely not one of my favorites, however it was nice to be out of the heat.

We decided to head over to Dinoland and do Primevil Whirl. It probably one of the jerkiest coasters I have been on. It’s also really hot waiting on line, even though there was only a 15 minute wait. Felt more like 30 minutes though. Ugh. We decided to grab a snack at that point, so I get a coke float from Dino Bite Snacks. Sorry no pic of it, I drank it too quickly!!

We then headed over to KRR to use our Fps.

I really love this picture

This is us before we get wet

And this is us after!!

Soaked!! Which was fine by us since we were soooo hot. Luckily we had a spare change of clothes which DH carried in his backpack so we quickly go and change. By that time, it was already 4:30. The park was almost closing! It was fine because we had 5:30pm ressies at Boma, so we decided to head out. In the meantime I shot these pics of AK:

We boarded the bus to AKL. The sky was already very gray at this point. We knew we were in for a wet night…coming up…Boma!!

 

[annmarieda]

As always, your pics bring your TR to life.

My dd does not like bugs either..it has been hard to get her to see the bugs life show.


I can't wait to read your review of Boma. (and see your pics)!!!

 

[QuirkyButterfly]

Day 4 Part 2:
This is us before we get wet

And this is us after!!

Are you using a waterproof camera here (I assume so) if so which one?

ps. great to get another update, I can't wait for the next part
pps. are you wearing Dior sunglasses. They look like it and look great.

 

[chunkymonkey]

sigh...it really isn't. We live in a pretty small town. It is near some major towns (by about an hour or so). It makes it hard to find a place that won't be too far from here. This part of the country is pretty rainy too. (although we are having gorgeous blue skies and sun now) The unpredictable weather makes it so it is too hard to plan something outside.

We will figure it out though...

I am sure Kira's wedding will be awesome! It really is all about the family and friends, not really the whole venue thing. Some of my favorite weddings have been really casual, small and sweet.

Funny, I was at a wedding too, but they got married on Saturday and didn't wait for 10/10/10. Comic Con and the Yankees-Twins game alone is a lot, together, that's a really busy weekend!

Yeah 10.10.10 was so such a popular day, I think places got booked up in advance too. Especially since it fell on a holiday weekend too!

I'm so jealous you got to go to the Jets game! I'm a big Jets fan..The tickets are too expensive this year though, but hopefully next year I'll get to go. I was in California this past weekend for a wedding so I was watching the game on TV from there and couldn't believe the rain

Yes, out of all the Jets games we decided to get tickets for, it happens upon the worst weather we've seen at a game ever!! There was lightning, hail, etc. Talk about the perfect storm! I think I lived through it!

I just stumbled upon you TR and am loving it! I'm from right outside NYC (my dad works downtown, hubby used to work midtown, my brother lives in Chelsea...) so this is a dual TR for me seeing your NYC pics from Yankee Stadium and the new Giants Stadium (yeah, osrry, not a Jets fan!).

Glad to hear Pizza Planet pizza is good. My daughters love Toy Story and want to eat there. Pizza here in Detroit stinks; I'm craving Patsy's right about now...

Keep the fabulous pics coming! Cheers!

Hi! Thanks for visiting and welcome! Always great to hear from a fellow NYC/Tri-State area DISer! I'm sorry pizza is no good in detroit! We love Patsy's too! Although, I actually like their pasta more than their pizza (which is good too, don't get me wrong) but they have this gemelli with chicken and arugula that I can eat plates and plates of...yum.

As always, your pics bring your TR to life.

My dd does not like bugs either..it has been hard to get her to see the bugs life show.


I can't wait to read your review of Boma. (and see your pics)!!!

Thanks!! I'll be sure to post my Boma review shortly.

Are you using a waterproof camera here (I assume so) if so which one?

ps. great to get another update, I can't wait for the next part
pps. are you wearing Dior sunglasses. They look like it and look great.

Yup, I'm using a Panasonic Lumix DMC - TS1. It's waterproof up to 10ft. I take it snorkeling with us all the time. And yes those are Dior Madrague sunglasses. I am a sunglass FIEND!! I love them. I have so many pairs. (also because I've lost my fair share too) DH bought me the Diors earlier this year, think it was for V-day. I love them, thanks!!

 

[tankgirl427]

Somehow I missed your whole AK afternoon. We must have been on with Steve at some point. We skipped lunch because of Tusker House. Hmmm I'd say we finished riding around 1:30??? then KRR then BF to Dinosaur while I met Pooh and the gang again. I wish I could figure out how to take photos like you. You should come to Boston and teach me! LOL

 

[Shannon84]

Aww beautiful AK pics!! I always feel like I am on fire in that park!! I was at the brink of being miserable this past trip while we were there and it was actually one of the only places we had a "meltdown" (and yes it was just DBF and I lol) Your pics came out great and I am glad you found some things out of the heat to do! I dont know what it is about the whole Chester and Hester area of "Dinoland" but I just refuse to step foot in it...I think because its very "non disney" to me

 

[mickeystoontown]

$34.00 for a T-shirt? Holy smokes! I sure hope your sister gave you a big hug for that souvenir.

Great Animal Kingdom pictures. Like a previous poster said, they bring your trip report to life.

Looking forward to your Boma review.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 4 Part 3: Boma and AKL

We head on the bus towards AKL. It’s only a short ride, thank goodness. Although the bus wasn’t considerably crowded and we were able to find seats.

We reached Jambo house and checked in for our reservation. We still had about 15 minutes to kill so we decided to walk around and check out the animals. Since it looked like it was going to rain, we didn’t venture out too much, but I manage to take these pictures from inside and outside the Lodge. What a beautiful resort! The savannah view is definitely the way to go!

After a while it starts to pour! Hopefully we get seated soon. I checked out the gift store at Jambo house too and saw some cute safari-inspired stuff. I thought their gift store was well-stocked and had lots of things the POFQ store didn’t. I guess it’s one of the perks of a Deluxe resort. Doesn’t matter, we were headed to DTD after dinner, and I was planning on doing most of my shopping there.

So our buzzer goes off, hooray! We went back to Boma and were seated immediately. The buffet looked good, so we were super excited to try many of the different flavors it had to offer. Now, I have had some African food before. I have a good friend who is Senegalese and we have eaten Senegalese food in NYC before. When I described to her the menu from Boma, she scoffed at it saying that it was NOT authentic. (Fufu is not made with sweet potatoes!). So I knew not to expect anything that was terribly authentic, but either way I was looking forward to having an interesting twist on your regular buffet fare. Also, Africa is such a large continent there is bound to be differences between the same dishes in different regions right? An example is when my Senegalese friend sat next to a friend from Ghana at our wedding. They had an argument all night over whose version of the traditional Jolaf rice was the “best” LOL. At Boma, Jolaf rice was called Gilly (sp?) rice, but my friend assured me that it means the same thing. LOL.

Here’s some pics of our food. Overall, we loved it! Everything tasted fresh and flavorful, which is more than what we expected from a buffet. I especially loved the different soups. Although they were a bit salty, I liked how there were 4 different soups, each tasting completely different from the other. I think the choices we had were mulligatawny, wild mushroom, a sort of ham and bean soup, which I thought was the best, and then a version of a chicken and peanut soup which I have had before. Boma’s version was not bad, it was smoother than I thought it would be, the ones I have had before were chunky.

An “aerial” view of my plate

My blue glowtini drink. I liked the pink version better.

We went up several times and tried different things on each round. There were a lot of different choices! One thing that I really loved was the grapefruit, avocado and papaya salad. It sounds weird but it was good! Maybe it’s because I love grapefruit, avocado and papaya as separate foods, and this was the first time I've had them together. Who knew they would mesh so well? The hummus bar was ok, I have had better hummus, but it’s a nice touch to the buffet. The coconut rice was a lot sweeter than I expected it to be. I am used to a more savory coconut rice (I am from Singapore so I eat a lot of spicy exotic foods usually) – but it was an interesting take on it. They also had more basic fare, like prime rib, sausage and peppers, mixed vegetables, pasta and regular salad bar fare, so even the non-adventurous would find something to eat.

At one point during dinner I looked over at DH’s plate, and saw a small breaded patty, and I asked, “Wow, is that some exotic potato pancake that I didn’t see? Is it some special fried dough or some exotic fish?” He looks at me and laughs and replies, “It’s a chicken nugget” LOL. Hahaha.

So here’s the nugget which I thought was something more exotic than it really is. It was good nugget though.

There were a lot of different desserts too! I couldn’t imagine eating any more at this point, but I was just too tempted by all the different offerings. Zebra domes were good. A bit too sweet but I’m not complaining. The passionfruit mousse (the orange dome thing) was good! I love passionfruit!

Wow, were we STUFFED by the time we left. As we departed Boma, we checked out the menu for Jiko. Definitely pricey, but the menu looked great. Maybe next time!

So our plan that evening was to hop on a bus to DTD and then take the ferry from there back to POFQ. It was still raining at that point so it was ponchos on from that point onwards. Since it was already dark out, I didn’t take any pictures at DTD, although I saw these t-shirts which were kind of funny.

I saw a pair of sandals which I really liked! However, I didn’t see anything else in the store that I wanted. The sandals were 39.99, but there was a 50 dollar minimum to get the 10% discount with the Disney Visa. This is kind of what annoyed me about the whole discount, in that certain stores sold different things so you weren’t always able to find everything you want at each store, and you end up spending MORE money just to get the discount. I tried to talk to the salespeople to see if they could combine purchases from another store but the salespeople didn’t want to budge, so I just had to purchase the sandals without the discount. Boo. I also asked if I could combine it with a purchase from ESPN zone next door (the stores were connected) but they said No too.

We then went to World of Disney and I got a few gifts for my friends kids, a Mickey head picture frame, some ice cube trays and boxers for DH. I was able to use my discount there, whew. We ducked into a few more shops and wandered around for a little bit. But the rain really prevented us from doing much more than I anticipated we would.

All in all, a semi-productive evening at DTD. It was still sort of drizzling at that point. We decided we were too tired to make it to EMH at MK, so we just decided to take the water launch back to POFQ. The ride was a lot longer than I expected, but it was a very calm and quiet boat ride. On the way we caught a glimpse of the Illuminations fireworks. Back at the resort, I went to the gift store to buy more water for our room, and then we called it a night!

End of Day 4

 

[mickeystoontown]

Oh my goodness, the Animal Kingdom Lodge looks beautiful! I wanted to visit it last trip but we never got around to it. After looking at your pictures, I'm definitely going over there now.

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Boma and that they have some more non-exotic offerings for those of us who aren't adventuruous eaters.

The Duck Duck Goose champion t-shirt was super cute. Where did you say you saw it?

 

[tankgirl427]

So we were at AK and DTD at the same time on Labor Day???? Seriously we need better plans next time so we can meet!

 

[therussells08]

This update makes me sooo excited to go to AKL and try Boma in December! That food looks yummy!

at the chicken nugget! My DH did something similar to that on our Disneymoon. We were eating at Coral Reef at Epcot and our dessert had cherries in it. Well, he was chomping away and about halfway through he stopped and said, "These juicy little red balls are so sweet and delicious! What are they!?" I thought I was going to die.

 

[Cat0727]

I can never get enough of looking at pictures of AKL. It is such a gorgeous resort.

I love Boma! mmm thinking about their soups got me drooling, lol! I love how your food pics came out so bright. Mine in Boma always come out dark, even with the flash. What setting on your camera did you use?

 

[Nermel9]

AKL is sooo beautiful! I can't wait to go there for breakfast at Boma and explore the resort a little!

That's too bad your night at DTD was semi productive! I don't like that $50 minimum rule they have with the Disney Visa discount either, it's ridiculous, I mean, 10% is basically nothing anyway, they should just give it to you no matter how much you spend.

I love that Duck Duck Goose t shirt!

 

[Shannon84]

ohhh I loved the glowtini...Ive only had blue...I didnt know there was a pink?!? I am sad I didnt know this before my last trip

 

[chunkymonkey]

Oh my goodness, the Animal Kingdom Lodge looks beautiful! I wanted to visit it last trip but we never got around to it. After looking at your pictures, I'm definitely going over there now.

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Boma and that they have some more non-exotic offerings for those of us who aren't adventuruous eaters.

The Duck Duck Goose champion t-shirt was super cute. Where did you say you saw it?

It was our first time to AKL too! I was never much of a resort hopper before, only to the resorts on the monorail, but AKL is absolutely stunning. Definitely a worthy destination!

We saw the Duck Duck Goose shirt over at the ESPN zone store in DTD. They had a lot of great t-shirts for guys!

So we were at AK and DTD at the same time on Labor Day???? Seriously we need better plans next time so we can meet!

Totally! I think we probably had the same schedule all week! We must have passed each other while doing something! LOL. You guys probably DID ride EE with DH at some point!

This update makes me sooo excited to go to AKL and try Boma in December! That food looks yummy!

at the chicken nugget! My DH did something similar to that on our Disneymoon. We were eating at Coral Reef at Epcot and our dessert had cherries in it. Well, he was chomping away and about halfway through he stopped and said, "These juicy little red balls are so sweet and delicious! What are they!?" I thought I was going to die.

Haha, that story is really cute. It's funny that as he was eating it, he didn't recognize the flavor! Must be some special cherries! (Were they marachino or something like that?)

I think you guys will enjoy Boma! We had a great time there!

I can never get enough of looking at pictures of AKL. It is such a gorgeous resort.

I love Boma! mmm thinking about their soups got me drooling, lol! I love how your food pics came out so bright. Mine in Boma always come out dark, even with the flash. What setting on your camera did you use?

I used the regular auto setting but no flash. I rarely use flash, since it washes out everything, so if you use no flash, you need a very steady hand. It helps when you rest your elbows on a table while you are taking the pictures so that your they won't be blurry. Hope this helps!

AKL is sooo beautiful! I can't wait to go there for breakfast at Boma and explore the resort a little!

That's too bad your night at DTD was semi productive! I don't like that $50 minimum rule they have with the Disney Visa discount either, it's ridiculous, I mean, 10% is basically nothing anyway, they should just give it to you no matter how much you spend.

I love that Duck Duck Goose t shirt!

I know! They should totally do away with that rule! I was actually talking to a CM who rang up our purchase for our ponchos at Epcot and he said that if I had told him I had a disney visa earlier, he would have given me the 10% off, regardless that my purchase was less than 10 bucks! He said some CMs are nice like that. But most stuck hard and fast to the 50 dollar rule.

ohhh I loved the glowtini...Ive only had blue...I didnt know there was a pink?!? I am sad I didnt know this before my last trip

LOL. Now you know and you can get the pink one! The pink one was definitely more "fruity" than the blue one though. But they were both yummy!

 

[kirrrby]

I just got myself caught up on your TR. So i'm on board now. All the food pictures are making me hungry, not the best idea when you have to fast for a blood test tomorrow.

Anyways, looking forward to more from you to make me look forward to my trip in December!

 

[tinacaplan]

As always, beautiful pictures. Can't believe it was that warm just a month ago. Granted it was a bit cooler up here, but still... AK was not our favorite park, either. Far from it. My husband really disliked it, actually, although we enjoyed our ride on EE (not the long lines, but hey..its Disneyworld). It will be interesting to see what Max makes of it and whether it is going to make a difference to be there first thing in the morning so we hit the safari right away. Your parting shot of EE looks like it could be an official Disney postcard, btw.

Enjoyed your Boma review and your pictures of AKL. We are having dinner there one night just so that I can visit AKL. I loved it there and didn't even see a lot of it. Strange that I would love AKL and no AK itself. Oh well. We found all of the CMs there to be super nice, too.

As it stands, we have ADRs for both Boma and Jiko. I need to drop one. We are doing the deluxe plan, so I got to thinking that I should throw another signature into the mix, but Boma might be better for Max. Not sure what to do. Was the food at Boma really good? It is one of those places that gets mixed reviews (for dinner at least, their breakfast seems to be universally adored) where I wonder if its just that folks don't like the spices/flavor combinations.