Eeyore1954
<font color=purple>A smart man who realizes that p
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2002
- Messages
- 5,327
Discovering AK!
Admittedly, I have not been a fan of AK, but this trip DW and I decided to approach it one more time with an open mind. Part of what helped was the special about it on the Travel Channel. It put AK in a new light for us.
We arrived by Disney bus and got in line. Alas, it was a CM entry line, so after waiting for what seemed like forever, we decided to switch lines. Once inside, I realized that I was way short of film, so a quick stop to load up on film corrected this oversight.
We had several must-do's on this trip, which included seeing the Lion King and Tarzan Rocks show. Fortunately, once again the crowds were very light which made navigating the park faster. If only I could read a map, I might be able to figure out where we are at.
We ended up at the entrance to It's Tough to be a Bug show and decided to go see it. The long and winding walk to the show was kept interesting with the carvings inside the Tree of Life. I am glad now I stocked up on extra film. The show itself was quite funny and had several unexpected surprises which I won't give away. Let's just say that if you use a wheelchair or ECV, do everything you can to move to a seat. Some of the best moments are sitting on the benches.
We soon found our way to Kilamanjaro Safari and our guide, Dan, was in rare form. He tried to help us learn a few words of Swahili, but I'm afraid he got a car-load of people who were language-challenged. We did remember hello, so maybe we weren't so remedial?!?
Like I said, I am map-reading challenged, so DW and I ended up trekking to the Lion King show next. This was wonderful and we were so glad we saw it. After the show, our feet decided they needed a rest and we stopped by Pizzafari for an early lunch, a break and some serious map study. The pizza there is not going to win any awards for taste, but it was filling. Fortunately, Mary (CM) took some time to help us map out a plan to attack AK effectively, see the shows, ride a few rides, and make the most of the time we had (AK closed at 5 that day).
With Mary's aid and following the recommendations on the show/ride board, we did everything we wanted, including catching the amazing Tarzan Rocks! show. The actors make the stunts look easy, but I'd never try some of them.
We had a great time on a walking tour through a trail and we quite lucky to catch some tigers napping in the shade. It was amazing that all the animals had not disappeared, partially due to the cooler temps that day (only in the mid 70's). I especially enjoyed watching the fruit bats. Hopefully, my camera skills were better than my map-reading skills; we'll see when the pics are all developed.
The Wonder of Flight show was amazing. Several different types of birds were shown and most flew right over our heads. It was a great show to get an up close look at some awesome birds of prey.
One highlight of the visit was watching Baloo interact with guests at the entrance to Asia. It was hilarious. The CM must have been having a very good day, because he/she carried on with so many people. It was fun to stop and watch Baloo "sneak up" on someone and then jump on the ground behind them, often with funny reactions from the guest.
Shopping at AK was also great fun. We used one of our Discovery Magic wishes to get a Mickey clock and of course, did a lot of pin-trading and a lot more pin-buying throughout the day.
We ended our visit with a swing back to the fruit bats. Close to 5 p.m. they get fed and the CMs will let you hang around even after 5 p.m. to watch. This was absolutely the most amazing sight. It looked like dozens and dozens of bats flying around as the fresh fruit was put out. I was very glad there was glass and net separating me from them! I would not have known about this had one of the CMs not told me when we walked through the first time.
After this we took a somewhat leisurely walk back through the park to the bus. My only regret was not giving AK a better shot when we went before -- and not doing a little more prep work to learn the lay of the land from the map. We are definitely AK fans now and look forward to a future visit to this great park.
Admittedly, I have not been a fan of AK, but this trip DW and I decided to approach it one more time with an open mind. Part of what helped was the special about it on the Travel Channel. It put AK in a new light for us.
We arrived by Disney bus and got in line. Alas, it was a CM entry line, so after waiting for what seemed like forever, we decided to switch lines. Once inside, I realized that I was way short of film, so a quick stop to load up on film corrected this oversight.
We had several must-do's on this trip, which included seeing the Lion King and Tarzan Rocks show. Fortunately, once again the crowds were very light which made navigating the park faster. If only I could read a map, I might be able to figure out where we are at.
We ended up at the entrance to It's Tough to be a Bug show and decided to go see it. The long and winding walk to the show was kept interesting with the carvings inside the Tree of Life. I am glad now I stocked up on extra film. The show itself was quite funny and had several unexpected surprises which I won't give away. Let's just say that if you use a wheelchair or ECV, do everything you can to move to a seat. Some of the best moments are sitting on the benches.
We soon found our way to Kilamanjaro Safari and our guide, Dan, was in rare form. He tried to help us learn a few words of Swahili, but I'm afraid he got a car-load of people who were language-challenged. We did remember hello, so maybe we weren't so remedial?!?
Like I said, I am map-reading challenged, so DW and I ended up trekking to the Lion King show next. This was wonderful and we were so glad we saw it. After the show, our feet decided they needed a rest and we stopped by Pizzafari for an early lunch, a break and some serious map study. The pizza there is not going to win any awards for taste, but it was filling. Fortunately, Mary (CM) took some time to help us map out a plan to attack AK effectively, see the shows, ride a few rides, and make the most of the time we had (AK closed at 5 that day).
With Mary's aid and following the recommendations on the show/ride board, we did everything we wanted, including catching the amazing Tarzan Rocks! show. The actors make the stunts look easy, but I'd never try some of them.
We had a great time on a walking tour through a trail and we quite lucky to catch some tigers napping in the shade. It was amazing that all the animals had not disappeared, partially due to the cooler temps that day (only in the mid 70's). I especially enjoyed watching the fruit bats. Hopefully, my camera skills were better than my map-reading skills; we'll see when the pics are all developed.
The Wonder of Flight show was amazing. Several different types of birds were shown and most flew right over our heads. It was a great show to get an up close look at some awesome birds of prey.
One highlight of the visit was watching Baloo interact with guests at the entrance to Asia. It was hilarious. The CM must have been having a very good day, because he/she carried on with so many people. It was fun to stop and watch Baloo "sneak up" on someone and then jump on the ground behind them, often with funny reactions from the guest.
Shopping at AK was also great fun. We used one of our Discovery Magic wishes to get a Mickey clock and of course, did a lot of pin-trading and a lot more pin-buying throughout the day.
We ended our visit with a swing back to the fruit bats. Close to 5 p.m. they get fed and the CMs will let you hang around even after 5 p.m. to watch. This was absolutely the most amazing sight. It looked like dozens and dozens of bats flying around as the fresh fruit was put out. I was very glad there was glass and net separating me from them! I would not have known about this had one of the CMs not told me when we walked through the first time.
After this we took a somewhat leisurely walk back through the park to the bus. My only regret was not giving AK a better shot when we went before -- and not doing a little more prep work to learn the lay of the land from the map. We are definitely AK fans now and look forward to a future visit to this great park.
