Music Mole
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2002
- Messages
- 180
Cast: me, Elisabeth, Planner and official historian of the trip
DH, Gavin, Park Commando in recovery
We've both been to WDW before, but never together, and our last trips were within weeks of eachother during the 25th Anniversary year. Since we met 5 years ago, we have always wanted to go to WDW together - and this is our trip!
Day 6, Sunday, October 6th
Got up, took our stuff down to the Bell Stand for transfer to the AKL, and checked out of the YC. Took the Friendship Launch to Boardwalk and mmm what a breakfast from the Bakery! This is a must do on my list! It was nice to sit at the tables on the boardwalk and watch the people and the boats as we ate breakfast and drank our coffee very nice way to start the day. We have really enjoyed being Epcot/MGM based and will definitely try to do this again.
We caught a bus at the BW bus stop for AK it pulled up as we got to the stop we have had great timing like this throughout the trip; its been nice. At AK, the first thing we did was K. Safari we loved it! Saw giraffes, hippos, elephants, wildebeests, ostriches, lions sleeping that was just what I remembered to write down after it was over. This is where we really missed our camera that took its own little thrill ride on day 1 it allows you to take two pictures in rapid succession. Because the safari vehicles are very bumpy, you might miss a shot and want to take another one really quickly before your past it well, this Kodak camera takes along time to snap a picture after you press the button, so we found ourselves missing shots that way, and it also takes a long time between pictures. We will definitely have to get the Olympus looked at, but in the mean time, we are grateful for any camera with a zoom.
After the safari we took the Pangani Trail wow until you go on this, it is just too hard to picture from all the trip reports and descriptions. It was amazing! Along the trail we saw gorillas, impala, storks, meerkats. At one point, you leave this area with glass walls and think youve left the gorilla habitat, but you really havent. There were signs describing the stream along the trail as the boundary between the bachelor gorillas territory and the familys territory. I missed a great photo of one of the bachelor gorillas in this area. <sigh for the Olympus camera>. At 11 Am wwe saw the Festival of the Lion King show it is amazing how involved these shows are that are staged multiple times daily. We were in the Lion section whew thats a sound I can make. After this we headed to Tusker House for lunch, where we purchased the meal/snack deal.
After lunch we headed to Asia, where we saw Forest Gibbons and Simiangs (sp?) before
Getting Fastpasses for Kali River Rapids wow our first fastpasses of the trip on Day 6! Then we caught the 1 PM Flights of Wonder show this really is neat. Before the show, an owl named Twister was out with a CM who talked about owls and answered questions. This was a neat show my mother-in-law loves birds and she would just love this show, and the AK for how many different birds you can see.
After the show it was time for our FP return to Kali River Rapids. Standby was posted at 35 minutes. Even with FP return, this was the longest line of our trip to date. But still the queue moved almost the entire time, and we were on in 10-15 minutes. Yeah! We hardly got wet at all! Some folks on our raft were drenched I felt sorry for them. I can deal with wet but not wet tennis shoes, so I had worn my river sandals this day, just in case, and Gavins swim trunks look like shorts but dry faster, so we had tried to come prepared. All in all, we liked the Grizzly River Rapids ride at DCA (which is very similar to this) better we rode it several times in a row last year, but felt that one time on Kali was fine for us here. Cant really pinpoint the difference I think Grizzly felt longer, and you are more likely to be drenched on Kali so the dread of drenching detracted a little for us.
After Kali, we took the Maharajah Trek again I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. It was especially neat to be so close to the tigers. After this we headed to Dinosaur at 2:45 PM only a 5 minute posted wait time. This was good not as scary as I had feared from everything I had read. And I seem to have gotten some of my coaster stamina back, since it didnt bother me. Since Primeval Whirl was a walk-on, we decided to do it. Somewhere I had gotten the idea that you could control the spinning of your car on one of these AK coasters I thought it was this one, but if it was, we never saw how to do it. That was fine with me I dont like spinning and this one spins you around enough as it is. This was the first Crazy Mouse type coaster for either of us. It was cute, but not anything Id wait a long time for. We redeemed our snack & drink tickets for popcorn and a Mickey bar, and two cokes mmm hit the spot on a hot day. Gavin has really embraced the slow down, take a break every so often philosophy and enjoyed this little break in the afternoon. It was parade time and we found a great spot to watch it. Right in front of the right (as you are facing them) gate of the big carved gates leading to the Africa area the parade will come across that bridge and there was no one standing with us. We got a TON of interaction from the puppets, and we got great shots with the camera of the characters looking/waving straight at us. Throughout this parade, the camera was flashing a low battery light we sweated it out and did manage to get pictures of all the floats/cars. This was a cute parade I liked how each character packed different things for the safari, in keeping with their personalities.
After the parade, we bought a replacement battery, and the clerk took our old one to recycle! We thought this was fantastic you usually have to hunt for a place to take your used batteries for recycling (at home we take them to Target) so if anyone is using batteries they brought with them 9our old camera took AAs another plus in its favor) be sure to stop by a photo/battery cart or shop when you replace them and they will dispose of the used batteries for you (ok environmental spiel off).
Right after the parade, and buying the battery, we made a beeline for the Safari again. That was nother advantage to this spot, since you are seeing the parade near its starting point, you just wait a minute or so after the last float (a lot of people follow the parade), and it is a free and clear shot for a last ride on the safari. Again lots of animals. Missed a great shot of the male lion stretching between a lower level rock and a higher rock on the hill (film rewinding) <sigh>.
Left AK and took the bus to AKL to check in. Had savannah view room #3211 first room off the lobby so there was a fair amount of noise early in the evening. (Dad horsing around with his kids). I think because it is so close to public areas (an overlook area was right next to our balcony) people dont realize there are rooms there and dont watch their volume. It wasnt bothersome for us, but might be for some over an extended stay. Showered and went to dinner at Boma. After dinner we headed to the hot tub, and this is where we learned the cardinal rule of staying at AKL ALWAYS take your camera with you no matter where you are going or why. The first spa we saw was crowded so we headed to the other one. Just before we reached it, there was an overlook; at this pint the savannah is the same level than you (unlike Arusha rock) and *not 12 feet from us* were three giraffes feeding! OMG me without my glasses or the camera! We watched them for a long time and talked with the attendant (from South Africa I think) he wanted to know if the stereotypes of Texans you see in movies are true. We had a nice chat with him and then hit the spa ahh much stronger jets than the WL (possibly too strong for some, but I loved it). Gavin went and did the pool slide for 10-15 minutes until the lifeguard left at 10:30 he said it was fun and after we felt we had worked out some of the kinks from our days of touring, we headed off to bed. I will say that Im not sure what it was, but this is the only hotel where my allergies bothered me. I would definitely have to take my Zyrtec if I stayed here for any length of time. The room was beautifully themed, and we both agreed that Gavins mom would love to stay here. Wed love to try to convince the family to join us in April for a family vacation. So much is new since Gavins family was last here, we really think they would enjoy it.
Tomorrow we check out, and fly home at the end of the day.
DH, Gavin, Park Commando in recovery
We've both been to WDW before, but never together, and our last trips were within weeks of eachother during the 25th Anniversary year. Since we met 5 years ago, we have always wanted to go to WDW together - and this is our trip!
Day 6, Sunday, October 6th
Got up, took our stuff down to the Bell Stand for transfer to the AKL, and checked out of the YC. Took the Friendship Launch to Boardwalk and mmm what a breakfast from the Bakery! This is a must do on my list! It was nice to sit at the tables on the boardwalk and watch the people and the boats as we ate breakfast and drank our coffee very nice way to start the day. We have really enjoyed being Epcot/MGM based and will definitely try to do this again.
We caught a bus at the BW bus stop for AK it pulled up as we got to the stop we have had great timing like this throughout the trip; its been nice. At AK, the first thing we did was K. Safari we loved it! Saw giraffes, hippos, elephants, wildebeests, ostriches, lions sleeping that was just what I remembered to write down after it was over. This is where we really missed our camera that took its own little thrill ride on day 1 it allows you to take two pictures in rapid succession. Because the safari vehicles are very bumpy, you might miss a shot and want to take another one really quickly before your past it well, this Kodak camera takes along time to snap a picture after you press the button, so we found ourselves missing shots that way, and it also takes a long time between pictures. We will definitely have to get the Olympus looked at, but in the mean time, we are grateful for any camera with a zoom.
After the safari we took the Pangani Trail wow until you go on this, it is just too hard to picture from all the trip reports and descriptions. It was amazing! Along the trail we saw gorillas, impala, storks, meerkats. At one point, you leave this area with glass walls and think youve left the gorilla habitat, but you really havent. There were signs describing the stream along the trail as the boundary between the bachelor gorillas territory and the familys territory. I missed a great photo of one of the bachelor gorillas in this area. <sigh for the Olympus camera>. At 11 Am wwe saw the Festival of the Lion King show it is amazing how involved these shows are that are staged multiple times daily. We were in the Lion section whew thats a sound I can make. After this we headed to Tusker House for lunch, where we purchased the meal/snack deal.
After lunch we headed to Asia, where we saw Forest Gibbons and Simiangs (sp?) before
Getting Fastpasses for Kali River Rapids wow our first fastpasses of the trip on Day 6! Then we caught the 1 PM Flights of Wonder show this really is neat. Before the show, an owl named Twister was out with a CM who talked about owls and answered questions. This was a neat show my mother-in-law loves birds and she would just love this show, and the AK for how many different birds you can see.
After the show it was time for our FP return to Kali River Rapids. Standby was posted at 35 minutes. Even with FP return, this was the longest line of our trip to date. But still the queue moved almost the entire time, and we were on in 10-15 minutes. Yeah! We hardly got wet at all! Some folks on our raft were drenched I felt sorry for them. I can deal with wet but not wet tennis shoes, so I had worn my river sandals this day, just in case, and Gavins swim trunks look like shorts but dry faster, so we had tried to come prepared. All in all, we liked the Grizzly River Rapids ride at DCA (which is very similar to this) better we rode it several times in a row last year, but felt that one time on Kali was fine for us here. Cant really pinpoint the difference I think Grizzly felt longer, and you are more likely to be drenched on Kali so the dread of drenching detracted a little for us.
After Kali, we took the Maharajah Trek again I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. It was especially neat to be so close to the tigers. After this we headed to Dinosaur at 2:45 PM only a 5 minute posted wait time. This was good not as scary as I had feared from everything I had read. And I seem to have gotten some of my coaster stamina back, since it didnt bother me. Since Primeval Whirl was a walk-on, we decided to do it. Somewhere I had gotten the idea that you could control the spinning of your car on one of these AK coasters I thought it was this one, but if it was, we never saw how to do it. That was fine with me I dont like spinning and this one spins you around enough as it is. This was the first Crazy Mouse type coaster for either of us. It was cute, but not anything Id wait a long time for. We redeemed our snack & drink tickets for popcorn and a Mickey bar, and two cokes mmm hit the spot on a hot day. Gavin has really embraced the slow down, take a break every so often philosophy and enjoyed this little break in the afternoon. It was parade time and we found a great spot to watch it. Right in front of the right (as you are facing them) gate of the big carved gates leading to the Africa area the parade will come across that bridge and there was no one standing with us. We got a TON of interaction from the puppets, and we got great shots with the camera of the characters looking/waving straight at us. Throughout this parade, the camera was flashing a low battery light we sweated it out and did manage to get pictures of all the floats/cars. This was a cute parade I liked how each character packed different things for the safari, in keeping with their personalities.
After the parade, we bought a replacement battery, and the clerk took our old one to recycle! We thought this was fantastic you usually have to hunt for a place to take your used batteries for recycling (at home we take them to Target) so if anyone is using batteries they brought with them 9our old camera took AAs another plus in its favor) be sure to stop by a photo/battery cart or shop when you replace them and they will dispose of the used batteries for you (ok environmental spiel off).
Right after the parade, and buying the battery, we made a beeline for the Safari again. That was nother advantage to this spot, since you are seeing the parade near its starting point, you just wait a minute or so after the last float (a lot of people follow the parade), and it is a free and clear shot for a last ride on the safari. Again lots of animals. Missed a great shot of the male lion stretching between a lower level rock and a higher rock on the hill (film rewinding) <sigh>.
Left AK and took the bus to AKL to check in. Had savannah view room #3211 first room off the lobby so there was a fair amount of noise early in the evening. (Dad horsing around with his kids). I think because it is so close to public areas (an overlook area was right next to our balcony) people dont realize there are rooms there and dont watch their volume. It wasnt bothersome for us, but might be for some over an extended stay. Showered and went to dinner at Boma. After dinner we headed to the hot tub, and this is where we learned the cardinal rule of staying at AKL ALWAYS take your camera with you no matter where you are going or why. The first spa we saw was crowded so we headed to the other one. Just before we reached it, there was an overlook; at this pint the savannah is the same level than you (unlike Arusha rock) and *not 12 feet from us* were three giraffes feeding! OMG me without my glasses or the camera! We watched them for a long time and talked with the attendant (from South Africa I think) he wanted to know if the stereotypes of Texans you see in movies are true. We had a nice chat with him and then hit the spa ahh much stronger jets than the WL (possibly too strong for some, but I loved it). Gavin went and did the pool slide for 10-15 minutes until the lifeguard left at 10:30 he said it was fun and after we felt we had worked out some of the kinks from our days of touring, we headed off to bed. I will say that Im not sure what it was, but this is the only hotel where my allergies bothered me. I would definitely have to take my Zyrtec if I stayed here for any length of time. The room was beautifully themed, and we both agreed that Gavins mom would love to stay here. Wed love to try to convince the family to join us in April for a family vacation. So much is new since Gavins family was last here, we really think they would enjoy it.
Tomorrow we check out, and fly home at the end of the day.
