Goofydiane
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2002
- Messages
- 1,104
My first attempt at writing a trip report.....be patient with me.
Who: Diane (me) somewhere between 30 and 40
Mom if I wrote her age down, I wouldn't see tomorrow!
Dad 66 (gives you a clue on mom's age)
Where: Animal Kingdom Lodge
When: November 28 - December 8
Why: It's Christmas time!
The Plan: Animal Kingdom and MGM. Lunch at Brown Derby.
This morning was early entry at Animal Kingdom - and while I will usually avoid the park with early entry (ok, extra magicical hour the thought of getting on an earlier safari was worth the crowd. I ordered my parents 4 day park hopper tickets via Hilton Honors Rewards and was a bit nervous that they wouldn't work. Everything worked out great and we were in the park by 8:15am. Now, since my parents have never been to WDW, they just said that they were going to follow me. We got our park maps and headed straight to the safari. Got FP for 9:10am and then went in the stand by line which was walk-on.
Our guide was the best guide I've had during any of my safari rides. I wish I was listening at the beginning for his name
Even though I'm sure he wasn't supposed to, he stopped at all the animal spots for people to take pictures. We must have gotten to the grasslands right after they put out the food. We had giraffe's right up on the road and the safari vehicle 2 in front of ours had to stop until the giraffe moved. We saw the gazelle's running across the grasslands! When it was our turn to pass the tallest giraffe (who was still standing on the side of the road), the driver stopped and we could see directly into the giraffe's face! My dad and mom both were taking pictures, so I hope one of the turns out. The giraffe made head movements toward our vehicle - he was close enough to get his head under the top of the vehicle. By far, the best safari ride I've ever had! The rest of the animals were as active, the Cheetahs were moving around and so was the Lion! I was feeling pretty good about this, I've been nervous because my dad isn't 'theme park' interested - he looked like he was having a great time!
After we saved Little Red, we used our FP and hoped for another great safari. We were disappointed - the driver just wasn't into the trip like the first driver was - and she was hard to understand due to an accent. One of the giraffe's was still near the road - just not as close as he was before.
After the safari we walked the Pagani forest and saw the Gorilla's. There was a mother/child, the Silverback and then some of the bachelors out in the viewing areas. Most were hiding or had their backs to us.
My parents are not ride people, so Dinoland was out (which was ok with me). We walked around Discovery Trail and looked at all the animals carved into The Tree of Life . We wanted to watch the Acrobats so we headed back to Africa for the 10:50am show. The Acrobats were fabulous (I wish I was that limber!).
Finally, went to see the 12:00pm Festival of the Lion King. The show was FABULOUS! I looked over once and my dad was tapping his hand in time to the music on his leg! He was enjoying himself! YIPPEE!!
We left AK and headed over to MGM for lunch and a few of the attractions I knew they would enjoy. I'll be coming here tomorrow to do all the thrill rides!
It was 1:15pm and we hadn't eaten, so we headed to Hollywood Brown Derby to see if they could seat us early. The place was pretty slow and we got right in. Lorenzo was pretty good as our server. Both my parents raved about the salmon, and I had the cobb salad (so-so)
After lunch, we skipped the parade and went right to The Great Movie Ride . Had the gangster side and it was so-so. I guess this ride really depends on the tour guide and the gangster. We then headed to The Muppet's 3-D Adventure and then to Walt Disney: One Man's Dream . My dad is like me - he doesn't show much emotion when he enjoys something. My mom wants to make sure everyone knows she had a great time. My mom likes talking to everyone in line and I just enjoy getting lost in the crowd. I am working on being patient and just letting her talk to people - and I stay walking ahead of her.
It was about 5:00pm and I wanted them to see Fantasmic! so we started walking towards the theatre. I'm glad we got there when we did - we were in the Mickey/Pocahantas section and the theatre filled up about 10 minutes before show time! Dad went in search of ice cream for my mom and popcorn for him. He found out he couldn't buy them at the same booth so he went from one booth to another and then back to the original booth to get my mom her ice cream (aw....what a guy).
They both enjoyed Fantasmic! and then we followed the masses to Osborne Spectacle of Lights . Which again my mom oooo'd and awww'd at all the lights and my dad and I just silently took it all in.
I figured I had put them through enough for their first day (11 hours) so off to the bus stop and back to the resort. Right now, they are both too pooped to party. In fact, they are snoring in unison (I hope I get some sleep tonight!).
All in all, it was a pretty good first day with my parents. I'm used to traveling solo or with a friend, so this is a new experience for me. I made it through the first day.
Tomorrow: Parents are resting/relaxing at the resort. I'm doing laundry and then heading to Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.
Thanks for reading!
Diane
Who: Diane (me) somewhere between 30 and 40
Mom if I wrote her age down, I wouldn't see tomorrow!
Dad 66 (gives you a clue on mom's age)
Where: Animal Kingdom Lodge
When: November 28 - December 8
Why: It's Christmas time!
The Plan: Animal Kingdom and MGM. Lunch at Brown Derby.
This morning was early entry at Animal Kingdom - and while I will usually avoid the park with early entry (ok, extra magicical hour the thought of getting on an earlier safari was worth the crowd. I ordered my parents 4 day park hopper tickets via Hilton Honors Rewards and was a bit nervous that they wouldn't work. Everything worked out great and we were in the park by 8:15am. Now, since my parents have never been to WDW, they just said that they were going to follow me. We got our park maps and headed straight to the safari. Got FP for 9:10am and then went in the stand by line which was walk-on.
Our guide was the best guide I've had during any of my safari rides. I wish I was listening at the beginning for his name
Even though I'm sure he wasn't supposed to, he stopped at all the animal spots for people to take pictures. We must have gotten to the grasslands right after they put out the food. We had giraffe's right up on the road and the safari vehicle 2 in front of ours had to stop until the giraffe moved. We saw the gazelle's running across the grasslands! When it was our turn to pass the tallest giraffe (who was still standing on the side of the road), the driver stopped and we could see directly into the giraffe's face! My dad and mom both were taking pictures, so I hope one of the turns out. The giraffe made head movements toward our vehicle - he was close enough to get his head under the top of the vehicle. By far, the best safari ride I've ever had! The rest of the animals were as active, the Cheetahs were moving around and so was the Lion! I was feeling pretty good about this, I've been nervous because my dad isn't 'theme park' interested - he looked like he was having a great time!After we saved Little Red, we used our FP and hoped for another great safari. We were disappointed - the driver just wasn't into the trip like the first driver was - and she was hard to understand due to an accent. One of the giraffe's was still near the road - just not as close as he was before.
After the safari we walked the Pagani forest and saw the Gorilla's. There was a mother/child, the Silverback and then some of the bachelors out in the viewing areas. Most were hiding or had their backs to us.
My parents are not ride people, so Dinoland was out (which was ok with me). We walked around Discovery Trail and looked at all the animals carved into The Tree of Life . We wanted to watch the Acrobats so we headed back to Africa for the 10:50am show. The Acrobats were fabulous (I wish I was that limber!).
Finally, went to see the 12:00pm Festival of the Lion King. The show was FABULOUS! I looked over once and my dad was tapping his hand in time to the music on his leg! He was enjoying himself! YIPPEE!!
We left AK and headed over to MGM for lunch and a few of the attractions I knew they would enjoy. I'll be coming here tomorrow to do all the thrill rides!
It was 1:15pm and we hadn't eaten, so we headed to Hollywood Brown Derby to see if they could seat us early. The place was pretty slow and we got right in. Lorenzo was pretty good as our server. Both my parents raved about the salmon, and I had the cobb salad (so-so)
After lunch, we skipped the parade and went right to The Great Movie Ride . Had the gangster side and it was so-so. I guess this ride really depends on the tour guide and the gangster. We then headed to The Muppet's 3-D Adventure and then to Walt Disney: One Man's Dream . My dad is like me - he doesn't show much emotion when he enjoys something. My mom wants to make sure everyone knows she had a great time. My mom likes talking to everyone in line and I just enjoy getting lost in the crowd. I am working on being patient and just letting her talk to people - and I stay walking ahead of her.
It was about 5:00pm and I wanted them to see Fantasmic! so we started walking towards the theatre. I'm glad we got there when we did - we were in the Mickey/Pocahantas section and the theatre filled up about 10 minutes before show time! Dad went in search of ice cream for my mom and popcorn for him. He found out he couldn't buy them at the same booth so he went from one booth to another and then back to the original booth to get my mom her ice cream (aw....what a guy).
They both enjoyed Fantasmic! and then we followed the masses to Osborne Spectacle of Lights . Which again my mom oooo'd and awww'd at all the lights and my dad and I just silently took it all in.
I figured I had put them through enough for their first day (11 hours) so off to the bus stop and back to the resort. Right now, they are both too pooped to party. In fact, they are snoring in unison (I hope I get some sleep tonight!).
All in all, it was a pretty good first day with my parents. I'm used to traveling solo or with a friend, so this is a new experience for me. I made it through the first day.
Tomorrow: Parents are resting/relaxing at the resort. I'm doing laundry and then heading to Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.
Thanks for reading!
Diane
Goofydiane,
