Alice28
DIS Veteran<br><font color=blue>I'm Doombah Fricki
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2002
- Messages
- 9,583
Cast of characters:
Me AKA Robin, 31, 3rd trip to the World
Mom- Judy, 56, 2nd trip to the World
Today we are going to the Animal Kingdom! WooHoo! I was especially excited about this park, as when we went in March we kinda just rushed through as my kids were crabby and not really into it that day. We woke up about 7:45 and ate our granola bars and drinks and stumbled out the door at 8:50. We drove our rental car to AK and it's quite the entry- really builds your anticipation. We parked in Unicorn and took the tram to the main gate, which was not far at all. By this time it is about 9:10 and I was hoping some of the initial crowd would have thinned and we wouldn't have to stand in too long of a line....oh my gosh....in my whole life I have NEVER EVER seen such a mob scene trying to get into any Disney park. What a freakin nightmare! Just a sea of people
. It literally took us 25 minutes to slowly shuffle forward to the turnstile- I was trying not to feel claostrophobic. So I get to the turnstile and my ticket won't work! We had to do the biometrics where I put my fingers in the thingee each time we go into a park and the CM said my ticket must have been demagnatized and to go to guest services to get a new ticket. I was so irritated! I was carrying only my ID, cash, a lip balm, my room key and a extra roll of film! The only way I thought it could have been demagnatized is if it came in contact with my sunglasses which have a magnet on them to hook them onto my regular glasses...but I had made sure not to do that. Anyhoo, I had to wait in another 10-15 minute line at guest services, got a new card, was instructed to go BACK to the turnstiles to have it ran through so I could use fastpass, which I did....what a nightmare! I was so irritated by that point I wanted to go to a different park, but we ventured forth- me in my wheelchair again (bum knee). It was 9:38 so we booked it to FOTLK and got there at about 9:44- front row seats due to my wheelchair status. It was great and quickly got me into a happier mood. 
From there we went to the Safaris which had a 30 minute wait. We decided just to wait in line and that we did. We passed the time being amused by the ladies in front of us- all in their 50's or early 60's, who were sharing stories and passing around pictures of their dogs. I was trying not to laugh when the one lady took out not one photo of her pet, but 5---all out of her skinny little fanny pack. I guess she considered it an essential. We get to the front of the line and I go to get out of my wheelchair to get in the regular line and a CM stopped me and said to get in the special assistance line as it's easier for me. Piece of advice here for all of you who may need a wheelchair to rest or have bum leg but can walk okay for short periods- don't get in the special assistance line. You have to wait for a certain jeep to come and in our case it took an extra 10-12 minutes- we would have easily been on a regular jeep withing 3-5 minutes otherwise. Not a huge deal, but a little exasperating. Sidenote I found quite interesting- a trio in front of us in the special assistance line had a person who I believe was blind as she had a guidedog and her eyes, well, looked like a blind person's eyes. They waited for awhile in the special line, after waiting in the regular line for 30 minutes, and the blind woman said, "Forget this....this line is taking to long...it's so hot and late morning, we won't be able to see the animals anyway." And they left. I just thought is was interesting because I thought first- "Why wait in line all this time and leave right before it's time to get on" and second "What exactly can you see?" I mean, obviously she must have been able to see some things, but I thought if she needed a guide dog, she probably wasn't able to see a lion far off, or antelopes hiding in the brush...I dunno, just an observance. Our safari was pretty decent- we saw the usual antelope, kudus, giraffes, no zebras though, plenty of crocs & hippos, ostrich, elephants, saw the lion sleeping with his paws in the air, and some birds. We were ready for lunch afterwards and went to Tusker House. We got the coupon meal deal and I had the rotisseris chicken and Mom had the salmon. A bit salty, but still quite good. I wished I had subbed the steak fries for the mashed potatoes- the people next to us had them with their sandwiches and they looked great. We had a magical moment when an African musician came strolling in with a sitar/guitar type instrument and it was neat watching him and listening to his music. We went onto Asia, and saw Devine on the way and got a FP for Kali and walked the Maharajah trail. I liked this quite a bit- great theming and it was cool to watch the tigers. We had 15 minutes to kill before our FP time, so we camped out on a bench and people watched a family with 4 girls under age 10 eating ice cream. They were such a nice looking family and their daughters were very well behaved. It's nice watching families get along, when unfortunately so often the heat and the crowds bring out the worst in folks. Speaking of the crowds, the wait times for rides weren't horrific but the pathways were quite congested. I chalk it up to the fact that the pathways are narrower than the other parks and even a normal attendance day at the AK seems crowded due to this. We had to wait 5-7 minutes to get on Kali and we had a fun, but WET ride. We were the lucky two souls destined to go through not one, but both soak zones of the ride- our raft mates were quite amused by this. I thought it was funny, but my camera didn't- even though I put it in the center in a bag, it still got wet and malfunctioned the rest of the afternoon. 
We took pictures of each other with Mom's camera of our drowned rat look. We went to Dinoland USA and mom loved it- she had skipped this part of the park in March and thought it was kitchy and funny. She didn't want to go on Dinosaur because of her still underlying headache, and I told her I had heard it was loud and might have strobe effects. We walked on Primeval Whirl, which was amazing in and of itself- I was expecting a line and shared a time machine with a gent in his early 50's. We laughed our entire trip- it is fun and kinda herky jerky- I kept slamming my shoulder in the side which kinda hurt, but I liked the ride. We barely hauled ourselves out of the time capsule as it's kinda low and we both have bum knees (my mom's doesn't hurt, but they're both "artificial" knees and she still isn't 100% at getting out of low seats. We laughed at our crippleness and made our way down the ramp. We stood on opposite sides of the ramp, my mom walking about 3 feet in front of me- we were very conscious of allowing a pathway around me cause I was so slow- I didn't want to hold anyone up behind me. Nonetheless, some woman and her two kids rudely says to me "Can you not block the pathway so other people can get by?" She said it soooo snotty. I turned around and stared at her and waved my arm forward like I was an usher- she had plenty of room to start with! I might have made another gesture behind her back but I can't believe a nice girl like myself would actually do such a thing. 
Then she and her kids literally stop at the base of the ramp, and blocked up the traffic behind them! 
Ey-yi-yi!!! People! Get a clue! Anyway, we poked around in the shop, got an ice cream with our coupon, and headed toward the Tree of Life to see some of the nature trails. Mom got some way cool pictures of the carvings and of a little monkey on one of the trails, we got water and some postcards, and left AK.
We rested up at the hotel for awhile, and headed over to MGM for the goal of seeing Fantasmic and maybe one ride. We drove and parked in the stage lot and weren't sure where the tram came, so we started walking. I wished out loud for a tram or a magical wheelchair, or God to beam me to the gate cause I was kinda hurtin, and strangely enough a lonely MGM wheelchair was sitting in an empty handicapped space! It was a small gift from God, that's for sure! We tried, fruitlessly to get FP's for ToT and as I suspected they were all gone, with a 60 minute standby line. So we went on the Great Movie Ride, which had been down for rehab in March, so it was interested. Call me a sexist, but I thought it a little odd to have a female "Gangster." She did a good job acting and nailed the accent, but it just didn't seem to flow with my vision of a 1930's gangsta movie. Oh well, can't please everyone! We decided to grab a bite at Rosie's All American Cafe. Boring food, little variety, but we didn't want to backtrack to ABC commisary. My tomato on my salad was gross- pale pink, totally meally and just plain yucky. I had chicken strips and said salad and mom had a burger. Nothing else to say about that. We went to Fantasmic and while we have seen it 10-15 times at DL it was our first time here. We got primo seats due to the wheelchair- right in the Mickey section behind the reserved seats. We got there at about 6:15, so we settled in for a wait. Great people watching- uber annoying lady to my right going on and on and on about everything she knew about nothing. A very nice family was a few rows in front of us with the most darling baby, and he was fun to watch. We got a popsicle to pass the time, and Fantasmic finally started. Well, I gotta say, I was disappointed. If you have seen the CA you know why. First of all, let me say what I liked- I liked the stadium seating- beats carving out your section of pavement on the ground at DL. Secondly, I liked some of the music better- nice montage of all of the films. The pyrotechnic effects are better at WDW too. But, I felt gypped by not enough live action stuff- no Peter Pan scene, no Jungle Book monkeys or Kaa, no Pinocchio or Dumbo...I didn't care for the Pocohantas scene at all, and the Jafar scene was just okay. The villian part seemed quite drawn out and the steamboat at the end seemed like a cardboard cut out. Still cool to see all the characters but nothin like the genuine Mark Twain chugging around the bend. I'm still glad I saw it, but doubt I will make any huge effort to see it again. I think my kids would have been frightened or bothered by all the villians screaming and such. It was quite reasonable getting out of the park- not the mob scene I had feared. We made it back to the car and promptly took a wrong turn and exited the property! Whoops! I was cracking up, my mom was trying not to freak, but we easily manuevered our way back on the property and back safe and sound to our hotel. On the way to the Contemporary, we passed thru the MK gates and were given candy by the CM at the gate- it was MNSSHP, so they had big tubs of candy for all guests. Bonus!
We dragged ourselves into bed after showers and feel asleep soon afterwards.
Coming up- Day 4- MK all the way baby! My thoughts on Philharmagic.
Gorge-fest at Cape May.
Me AKA Robin, 31, 3rd trip to the World
Mom- Judy, 56, 2nd trip to the World
Today we are going to the Animal Kingdom! WooHoo! I was especially excited about this park, as when we went in March we kinda just rushed through as my kids were crabby and not really into it that day. We woke up about 7:45 and ate our granola bars and drinks and stumbled out the door at 8:50. We drove our rental car to AK and it's quite the entry- really builds your anticipation. We parked in Unicorn and took the tram to the main gate, which was not far at all. By this time it is about 9:10 and I was hoping some of the initial crowd would have thinned and we wouldn't have to stand in too long of a line....oh my gosh....in my whole life I have NEVER EVER seen such a mob scene trying to get into any Disney park. What a freakin nightmare! Just a sea of people
. It literally took us 25 minutes to slowly shuffle forward to the turnstile- I was trying not to feel claostrophobic. So I get to the turnstile and my ticket won't work! We had to do the biometrics where I put my fingers in the thingee each time we go into a park and the CM said my ticket must have been demagnatized and to go to guest services to get a new ticket. I was so irritated! I was carrying only my ID, cash, a lip balm, my room key and a extra roll of film! The only way I thought it could have been demagnatized is if it came in contact with my sunglasses which have a magnet on them to hook them onto my regular glasses...but I had made sure not to do that. Anyhoo, I had to wait in another 10-15 minute line at guest services, got a new card, was instructed to go BACK to the turnstiles to have it ran through so I could use fastpass, which I did....what a nightmare! I was so irritated by that point I wanted to go to a different park, but we ventured forth- me in my wheelchair again (bum knee). It was 9:38 so we booked it to FOTLK and got there at about 9:44- front row seats due to my wheelchair status. It was great and quickly got me into a happier mood. From there we went to the Safaris which had a 30 minute wait. We decided just to wait in line and that we did. We passed the time being amused by the ladies in front of us- all in their 50's or early 60's, who were sharing stories and passing around pictures of their dogs. I was trying not to laugh when the one lady took out not one photo of her pet, but 5---all out of her skinny little fanny pack. I guess she considered it an essential. We get to the front of the line and I go to get out of my wheelchair to get in the regular line and a CM stopped me and said to get in the special assistance line as it's easier for me. Piece of advice here for all of you who may need a wheelchair to rest or have bum leg but can walk okay for short periods- don't get in the special assistance line. You have to wait for a certain jeep to come and in our case it took an extra 10-12 minutes- we would have easily been on a regular jeep withing 3-5 minutes otherwise. Not a huge deal, but a little exasperating. Sidenote I found quite interesting- a trio in front of us in the special assistance line had a person who I believe was blind as she had a guidedog and her eyes, well, looked like a blind person's eyes. They waited for awhile in the special line, after waiting in the regular line for 30 minutes, and the blind woman said, "Forget this....this line is taking to long...it's so hot and late morning, we won't be able to see the animals anyway." And they left. I just thought is was interesting because I thought first- "Why wait in line all this time and leave right before it's time to get on" and second "What exactly can you see?" I mean, obviously she must have been able to see some things, but I thought if she needed a guide dog, she probably wasn't able to see a lion far off, or antelopes hiding in the brush...I dunno, just an observance. Our safari was pretty decent- we saw the usual antelope, kudus, giraffes, no zebras though, plenty of crocs & hippos, ostrich, elephants, saw the lion sleeping with his paws in the air, and some birds. We were ready for lunch afterwards and went to Tusker House. We got the coupon meal deal and I had the rotisseris chicken and Mom had the salmon. A bit salty, but still quite good. I wished I had subbed the steak fries for the mashed potatoes- the people next to us had them with their sandwiches and they looked great. We had a magical moment when an African musician came strolling in with a sitar/guitar type instrument and it was neat watching him and listening to his music. We went onto Asia, and saw Devine on the way and got a FP for Kali and walked the Maharajah trail. I liked this quite a bit- great theming and it was cool to watch the tigers. We had 15 minutes to kill before our FP time, so we camped out on a bench and people watched a family with 4 girls under age 10 eating ice cream. They were such a nice looking family and their daughters were very well behaved. It's nice watching families get along, when unfortunately so often the heat and the crowds bring out the worst in folks. Speaking of the crowds, the wait times for rides weren't horrific but the pathways were quite congested. I chalk it up to the fact that the pathways are narrower than the other parks and even a normal attendance day at the AK seems crowded due to this. We had to wait 5-7 minutes to get on Kali and we had a fun, but WET ride. We were the lucky two souls destined to go through not one, but both soak zones of the ride- our raft mates were quite amused by this. I thought it was funny, but my camera didn't- even though I put it in the center in a bag, it still got wet and malfunctioned the rest of the afternoon. We took pictures of each other with Mom's camera of our drowned rat look. We went to Dinoland USA and mom loved it- she had skipped this part of the park in March and thought it was kitchy and funny. She didn't want to go on Dinosaur because of her still underlying headache, and I told her I had heard it was loud and might have strobe effects. We walked on Primeval Whirl, which was amazing in and of itself- I was expecting a line and shared a time machine with a gent in his early 50's. We laughed our entire trip- it is fun and kinda herky jerky- I kept slamming my shoulder in the side which kinda hurt, but I liked the ride. We barely hauled ourselves out of the time capsule as it's kinda low and we both have bum knees (my mom's doesn't hurt, but they're both "artificial" knees and she still isn't 100% at getting out of low seats. We laughed at our crippleness and made our way down the ramp. We stood on opposite sides of the ramp, my mom walking about 3 feet in front of me- we were very conscious of allowing a pathway around me cause I was so slow- I didn't want to hold anyone up behind me. Nonetheless, some woman and her two kids rudely says to me "Can you not block the pathway so other people can get by?" She said it soooo snotty. I turned around and stared at her and waved my arm forward like I was an usher- she had plenty of room to start with! I might have made another gesture behind her back but I can't believe a nice girl like myself would actually do such a thing. Then she and her kids literally stop at the base of the ramp, and blocked up the traffic behind them! Ey-yi-yi!!! People! Get a clue! Anyway, we poked around in the shop, got an ice cream with our coupon, and headed toward the Tree of Life to see some of the nature trails. Mom got some way cool pictures of the carvings and of a little monkey on one of the trails, we got water and some postcards, and left AK. We rested up at the hotel for awhile, and headed over to MGM for the goal of seeing Fantasmic and maybe one ride. We drove and parked in the stage lot and weren't sure where the tram came, so we started walking. I wished out loud for a tram or a magical wheelchair, or God to beam me to the gate cause I was kinda hurtin, and strangely enough a lonely MGM wheelchair was sitting in an empty handicapped space! It was a small gift from God, that's for sure! We tried, fruitlessly to get FP's for ToT and as I suspected they were all gone, with a 60 minute standby line. So we went on the Great Movie Ride, which had been down for rehab in March, so it was interested. Call me a sexist, but I thought it a little odd to have a female "Gangster." She did a good job acting and nailed the accent, but it just didn't seem to flow with my vision of a 1930's gangsta movie. Oh well, can't please everyone! We decided to grab a bite at Rosie's All American Cafe. Boring food, little variety, but we didn't want to backtrack to ABC commisary. My tomato on my salad was gross- pale pink, totally meally and just plain yucky. I had chicken strips and said salad and mom had a burger. Nothing else to say about that. We went to Fantasmic and while we have seen it 10-15 times at DL it was our first time here. We got primo seats due to the wheelchair- right in the Mickey section behind the reserved seats. We got there at about 6:15, so we settled in for a wait. Great people watching- uber annoying lady to my right going on and on and on about everything she knew about nothing. A very nice family was a few rows in front of us with the most darling baby, and he was fun to watch. We got a popsicle to pass the time, and Fantasmic finally started. Well, I gotta say, I was disappointed. If you have seen the CA you know why. First of all, let me say what I liked- I liked the stadium seating- beats carving out your section of pavement on the ground at DL. Secondly, I liked some of the music better- nice montage of all of the films. The pyrotechnic effects are better at WDW too. But, I felt gypped by not enough live action stuff- no Peter Pan scene, no Jungle Book monkeys or Kaa, no Pinocchio or Dumbo...I didn't care for the Pocohantas scene at all, and the Jafar scene was just okay. The villian part seemed quite drawn out and the steamboat at the end seemed like a cardboard cut out. Still cool to see all the characters but nothin like the genuine Mark Twain chugging around the bend. I'm still glad I saw it, but doubt I will make any huge effort to see it again. I think my kids would have been frightened or bothered by all the villians screaming and such. It was quite reasonable getting out of the park- not the mob scene I had feared. We made it back to the car and promptly took a wrong turn and exited the property! Whoops! I was cracking up, my mom was trying not to freak, but we easily manuevered our way back on the property and back safe and sound to our hotel. On the way to the Contemporary, we passed thru the MK gates and were given candy by the CM at the gate- it was MNSSHP, so they had big tubs of candy for all guests. Bonus!
We dragged ourselves into bed after showers and feel asleep soon afterwards. Coming up- Day 4- MK all the way baby! My thoughts on Philharmagic.
Gorge-fest at Cape May.
