Kimberly815
DIS Veteran<br><font color=green>you can call us M
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2005
- Messages
- 2,302
Links to the rest of the report!
The One with the Pre-Trip
The One with Dinner at Boma's
The One with the 45 minute Safari
The One where Dudley did NOT do right
The One with the Segways and without paperwork
The One with the Kitchen Sink but no running water
The One with Dinner in the Castle
The One with the Incredibles
The One where we fly home
Sunday October 16th
The one with the 45 minute Safari
The crew:
Myself; K-bug; age 25
Funnyman; my fiancé; age 26
Screamer; Jennifer48 here on the disboards; age 25
BurgerGuy; age 33
I was expecting to be woken up by the lovely jarring beep of our alarm clock. Funnyman sets the alarm clock at home, so Funnyman set the alarm clock at Disney. I rolled over and stretched, and through my eyelids, I could see how bright the room was. My heart stops. I roll over and see 7:54am flashing on the alarm clock. But there was no sound. The alarm had been going off for 24 minutes, but the volume was turned down so low, that no one could hear it. Way to go Funnyman. We hop up, jump in the shower, get ready and are about to leave when the phone rings. Its Dad.
Where were you? I called your room like a half an hour ago and no one answered he asks.
Um, must have been in the shower, I guess I reply.
There are two of you, were you in there together? Dad asks.
Um. . . .Well, the alarm didnt go off, and it was more efficient that way . . . . I trail off with, blushing.
He laughs. At least you didnt deny it!
We meet everyone downstairs and start the daily tradition of the antennae topping ceremony. Since today is actually Dads birthday, and him and Mom will be joining us for half the day at Animal Kingdom, he gets the honor of placing on the topper. Lucky guy.
We pile into the two cars, since Mom and Dad will be leaving us come lunchtime, and make our way to Animal Kingdom. We are there within 10 minutes. We used our AAA Diamond Parking Passes all week. It was fantastic!
After Mom and Dad buy some tickets, we head in. This is the first time both Mom and Dad have been to ANY Disney World park to my knowledge (This also happens to be BurgerGuys first visit to Animal Kingdom as well). So after consulting with Screamer, we decide that the two things that they must do are the Kilimanjaro Safaris, and the Festival of the Lion King Show. So, knowing that the Safari will be good at this time in the morning, we head to the back of the park.
When we get to the Safari, the wait time says 25 minutes. We decide to chance it. We are on board and on our way within 15 minutes. This had to be the best Safari I have ever been on. The animals were out and about, crossing roads, right next to the trucks. It was fantastic. We were a bit delayed by a mischievous Giraffe who kept crossing the road over and over, but we didnt mind one bit. Our total Safari ride time came to a whooping 45 minutes, and we loved every second of it. We kept telling Dad that the only reason that the Safari was so great was because all of the animals wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday. I dont think he believed us.
We decided to head back down toward the Festival of the Lion King Show so that Mom and Dad could be sure to catch it. We leisurely made our way down there, stopping for treats (Mmm, Mickey Ice Cream is delicious.), to look for hidden Mickeys, and the animals and sights along the way.
We got 3rd row seating for the Festival of the Lion King, in the warthog section. The view was great. We all clapped and sang along, except Dad. Dad, unfortunately, has carpel tunnel syndrome, and the clapping was too much for him. But dont you worry he made up for it with super loud whistles. My ear is still ringing now. Thanks, Dad.
Mom and Dad wanted to head out just after lunch, since they had the long drive back to the west coast of Florida still ahead of them. So we headed to get some lunch at the Flame Tree Barbeque. This would give Mom and Dad a good view of the Tree of Life as we passed, and be close to the exit so that they wouldnt get lost on their way out.
The seating for the Flame tree Barbeque is a bit out of control, I have to say. There is plenty of seating, but you cant find the others in your party if you wanted to! I went ahead to get seating for six and it wasnt until 20 minutes later that they found me, and they had already settled down someplace else! I will forgive them for this one, since their location had a lovely view of Expedition Everest and mine did not. The food was good, and during lunch BurgerGuy made the astute observation that Expedition Everest is kind of like Big Thunder Mountain on Steroids. That pretty much sums it up in my opinion. For the record, BurgerGuy did not have a burger. How disappointing.
It was painful for me to let Mom and Dad leave. I am one of those unusual people who is really close to their parents (My Mom and I have been compared to those Gilmore Girls at times!), but I had no choice. I will have to wait until January before I can see them again. But at least I had Disney and my friends to help me this week.
Next up was Dinosaur, a first for Funnyman and I (and of course BurgerGuy, since this was his first trip to Animal Kingdom). Ironically, Screamer is the only one who looks scared in our ride photo; she of course, screamed through the end of the ride! Up next, a close look at the Tree of Life and Its Tough to be a Bug. Since these were the only things that we felt we had to do, we decided to take a leisurely stroll through the park and head to something none of us have seen: take the Wildlife Express Train to the Conservation Station.
If you love hidden Mickeys this is the place to go. There is something like 24 Mickeys in the mural on the walls inside of the Conservation Station. However, beware of Rafiki. He is one creepy looking character. And he likes to hit on Pocahontas. I think they may have some sort of romance going on behind the scenes. Rafiki also was bullying Stanley, who was also there. He picked up the bowl with Stanley's fish in it, and was shaking it around. I think Rafiki might be a punk.
Now its about 4:50pm, and the park is closing, so we slowly make our way out of the park, shopping along the way. We say good bye to Animal Kingdom, at least until next trip. We head back to the hotel to freshen up quickly, and Screamer and BurgerGuy use that glorious South Tower internet to secure directions to the nearest Steak and Shake. The ride there was uneventful, with the exception of the fact that we passed 7 Dwarfs Rd, and could not, for the life of us, name those 7 Dwarfs. We could get 6, but that 7th elusive Dwarf always escaped us. I am starting to wonder if there are only 6 Dwarfs and we have been lied to since childhood.
If you havent dined at Steak and Shake, please try it. It is delicious burgers, and shoestring fries, and yummy shakes that you wouldnt believe. After the burgers tonight, and burger for the rest of the week paled in comparison. Plus, it is a bargain. The 4 of us at 4 burgers, cheese fries, onion rings, 2 shakes, and sodas for a mere $30 (including tip).
Apparently here, we deviated from our original plan. We had planned to play some Fantasia minigolf, however Downtown Disney was so much more appealing. I love the endless amount of shops! We spent a bit of time in the Disney Days of Christmas store, trying to purchase one little ornament. The lady behind the counter was a dear old woman, who may have been old enough to be working here since the 1st Christmas, and was working slow enough that we might be there for the last Christmas. I thought Funnyman might start screaming in line, so I sent him outside to relax.
We spent several hours going through the shops, picking out things that we may need to buy when we come back on Saturday, before deciding that it might be best if we turn in. We have another early date tomorrow at 8:30am for a little Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure quality time. That alarm clock had better go off on time!!
The One with the Pre-Trip
The One with Dinner at Boma's
The One with the 45 minute Safari
The One where Dudley did NOT do right
The One with the Segways and without paperwork
The One with the Kitchen Sink but no running water
The One with Dinner in the Castle
The One with the Incredibles
The One where we fly home
Sunday October 16th
The one with the 45 minute Safari
The crew:
Myself; K-bug; age 25
Funnyman; my fiancé; age 26
Screamer; Jennifer48 here on the disboards; age 25
BurgerGuy; age 33
I was expecting to be woken up by the lovely jarring beep of our alarm clock. Funnyman sets the alarm clock at home, so Funnyman set the alarm clock at Disney. I rolled over and stretched, and through my eyelids, I could see how bright the room was. My heart stops. I roll over and see 7:54am flashing on the alarm clock. But there was no sound. The alarm had been going off for 24 minutes, but the volume was turned down so low, that no one could hear it. Way to go Funnyman. We hop up, jump in the shower, get ready and are about to leave when the phone rings. Its Dad.
Where were you? I called your room like a half an hour ago and no one answered he asks.
Um, must have been in the shower, I guess I reply.
There are two of you, were you in there together? Dad asks.
Um. . . .Well, the alarm didnt go off, and it was more efficient that way . . . . I trail off with, blushing.
He laughs. At least you didnt deny it!
We meet everyone downstairs and start the daily tradition of the antennae topping ceremony. Since today is actually Dads birthday, and him and Mom will be joining us for half the day at Animal Kingdom, he gets the honor of placing on the topper. Lucky guy.
We pile into the two cars, since Mom and Dad will be leaving us come lunchtime, and make our way to Animal Kingdom. We are there within 10 minutes. We used our AAA Diamond Parking Passes all week. It was fantastic!
After Mom and Dad buy some tickets, we head in. This is the first time both Mom and Dad have been to ANY Disney World park to my knowledge (This also happens to be BurgerGuys first visit to Animal Kingdom as well). So after consulting with Screamer, we decide that the two things that they must do are the Kilimanjaro Safaris, and the Festival of the Lion King Show. So, knowing that the Safari will be good at this time in the morning, we head to the back of the park.
When we get to the Safari, the wait time says 25 minutes. We decide to chance it. We are on board and on our way within 15 minutes. This had to be the best Safari I have ever been on. The animals were out and about, crossing roads, right next to the trucks. It was fantastic. We were a bit delayed by a mischievous Giraffe who kept crossing the road over and over, but we didnt mind one bit. Our total Safari ride time came to a whooping 45 minutes, and we loved every second of it. We kept telling Dad that the only reason that the Safari was so great was because all of the animals wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday. I dont think he believed us.
We decided to head back down toward the Festival of the Lion King Show so that Mom and Dad could be sure to catch it. We leisurely made our way down there, stopping for treats (Mmm, Mickey Ice Cream is delicious.), to look for hidden Mickeys, and the animals and sights along the way.
We got 3rd row seating for the Festival of the Lion King, in the warthog section. The view was great. We all clapped and sang along, except Dad. Dad, unfortunately, has carpel tunnel syndrome, and the clapping was too much for him. But dont you worry he made up for it with super loud whistles. My ear is still ringing now. Thanks, Dad.
Mom and Dad wanted to head out just after lunch, since they had the long drive back to the west coast of Florida still ahead of them. So we headed to get some lunch at the Flame Tree Barbeque. This would give Mom and Dad a good view of the Tree of Life as we passed, and be close to the exit so that they wouldnt get lost on their way out.
The seating for the Flame tree Barbeque is a bit out of control, I have to say. There is plenty of seating, but you cant find the others in your party if you wanted to! I went ahead to get seating for six and it wasnt until 20 minutes later that they found me, and they had already settled down someplace else! I will forgive them for this one, since their location had a lovely view of Expedition Everest and mine did not. The food was good, and during lunch BurgerGuy made the astute observation that Expedition Everest is kind of like Big Thunder Mountain on Steroids. That pretty much sums it up in my opinion. For the record, BurgerGuy did not have a burger. How disappointing.
It was painful for me to let Mom and Dad leave. I am one of those unusual people who is really close to their parents (My Mom and I have been compared to those Gilmore Girls at times!), but I had no choice. I will have to wait until January before I can see them again. But at least I had Disney and my friends to help me this week.
Next up was Dinosaur, a first for Funnyman and I (and of course BurgerGuy, since this was his first trip to Animal Kingdom). Ironically, Screamer is the only one who looks scared in our ride photo; she of course, screamed through the end of the ride! Up next, a close look at the Tree of Life and Its Tough to be a Bug. Since these were the only things that we felt we had to do, we decided to take a leisurely stroll through the park and head to something none of us have seen: take the Wildlife Express Train to the Conservation Station.
If you love hidden Mickeys this is the place to go. There is something like 24 Mickeys in the mural on the walls inside of the Conservation Station. However, beware of Rafiki. He is one creepy looking character. And he likes to hit on Pocahontas. I think they may have some sort of romance going on behind the scenes. Rafiki also was bullying Stanley, who was also there. He picked up the bowl with Stanley's fish in it, and was shaking it around. I think Rafiki might be a punk.
Now its about 4:50pm, and the park is closing, so we slowly make our way out of the park, shopping along the way. We say good bye to Animal Kingdom, at least until next trip. We head back to the hotel to freshen up quickly, and Screamer and BurgerGuy use that glorious South Tower internet to secure directions to the nearest Steak and Shake. The ride there was uneventful, with the exception of the fact that we passed 7 Dwarfs Rd, and could not, for the life of us, name those 7 Dwarfs. We could get 6, but that 7th elusive Dwarf always escaped us. I am starting to wonder if there are only 6 Dwarfs and we have been lied to since childhood.
If you havent dined at Steak and Shake, please try it. It is delicious burgers, and shoestring fries, and yummy shakes that you wouldnt believe. After the burgers tonight, and burger for the rest of the week paled in comparison. Plus, it is a bargain. The 4 of us at 4 burgers, cheese fries, onion rings, 2 shakes, and sodas for a mere $30 (including tip).
Apparently here, we deviated from our original plan. We had planned to play some Fantasia minigolf, however Downtown Disney was so much more appealing. I love the endless amount of shops! We spent a bit of time in the Disney Days of Christmas store, trying to purchase one little ornament. The lady behind the counter was a dear old woman, who may have been old enough to be working here since the 1st Christmas, and was working slow enough that we might be there for the last Christmas. I thought Funnyman might start screaming in line, so I sent him outside to relax.
We spent several hours going through the shops, picking out things that we may need to buy when we come back on Saturday, before deciding that it might be best if we turn in. We have another early date tomorrow at 8:30am for a little Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure quality time. That alarm clock had better go off on time!!
