got2travel
Disney lover
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2004
- Messages
- 8,866
Recap Trip Details
Monica (me) Disney lover, frequent traveler, Disneyland AP holder, 2nd trip to WDW
Trevoy (my 9yr old son) Disney lover in the making, frequent traveler because Mom drags him around, Disneyland AP holder, 2nd trip to WDW
Tameka (friend) frequent travel partner, cant understand my obsession with Disney, 2nd trip to WDW although first trip was only 1 day at MK
Dejante (DJ) (friends 8yr old Godson) first time traveler (never been on a plane, never been in a rental car, never stayed in a hotel, you get the picture), first visit to any Disney theme park
Day 3, Dec 10 Animal Kingdom
Up early again for the Extra Magic Hour. We arrive at the park about 8:10 and Im not happy about that. Im thinking about revising my park strategy since these folks cant seem to get in gear in the morning. Anyway, I try to explain that we can explore the Discovery Trails later because I really want to get to Kilimanjaro Safari before it gets too crowded. But everyone is so excited with all the nooks and crannies that can be explored that I am forced to slow down and remind myself that 2 of the 4 are seeing this park for the first time. I just need to let them experience the park and whatever rides we get to are just icing on the cake.
I decide to stop for a photo op in front of the Tree of Life and get our first Photo Pass pictures. After a few shots of another family, its our turn. We take a few pictures, again having to tell DJ that at first I just want me and Trevoy, then we can get one all of us. (Side note on Photo Pass, we ended up with the pictures of the previous 2 families on our card. Poor things, they tried so hard to get the youngest to pay attention, and now I have their photos).
Finally get to the Safari and we grab Fastpasses to be able to come back later then try to head on to the ride. I say try because these boys cannot pass by anyone that has a pin trading lanyard on. (Side note on pin trading it seems as if there are no rules when it comes to trading at WDW. There were so many CMs trading non-Disney pins, Sedesma pins or rubber pins. In Disneyland we never saw sub standard pins. On this trip we learned quickly that we had to supervise the pin trading so that our kids would not end up with worthless pins.) Finally on the Safari, we all enjoyed it, there were tons of animals out this morning. The only drawback was a guide with a Brooklyn accent. Nothing against it, I just didnt feel it quite fit the story line to be told of the elephant who just gave birf or the baby wifhis momma. (Sorry, no flames please, being from California I usually find an East Coast accent sexy, but no on a safari in Africa).
After leaving the Safari, we start heading over to Dinoland, but ran into King Louie and Baloo. Trevoy plays with them in character, but DJ doesnt want anything to do with them. Again, poor guy, he just didnt know who they were. Pictures and autographs taken, we are on our way again. Pretty much walked on to Dinosaur. A fun ride, but I love its cousin at Disneyland better, Indiana Jones Adventure. DJ didnt like it though. He said it was too loud and had his hands over his ears the whole time. This from a kid who blasts rap music in his ears. Oh well.
Next we head to Primevil Whirl which had a 15 minute wait posted but I dont think it took that long. This is one of those once per trip rides for me. I guess Tameka didnt pay attention to the ride before we got in line because she pretty much cursed me for taking her on it, but the kids loved it. It started raining as soon as we were off the ride, so we put on our ponchos. Not Mickey, but they worked just as well. I had brought some along from the Dollar store since I knew a few of the days had rain forecasted. We send the kids back on Primevil Whirl by themselves. Meanwhile the rain stops and out comes the lady Dinosaur. Sorry, but I dont know her name or if she even has one. I took a picture with her and we are both showing off our jewelry. Too bad I dont have a nice rock to show off like she does. Maybe one of these days. (Big dreamy sigh!)
Next was two times around on Tricera Top Spin for the boys with no line what-so-ever. Spent a little time at the Boneyard, then headed over to Tarzan Rocks, which was starting in just a few minutes. I had never seen this show but it sounded cool. I enticed the boys by telling them the monkeys would do tricks on rollerblades. The show was ok, but I thought there would be more stunts and not so much singing. Well, at least I can now say Ive seen the show. When it was over, it was pouring raining, so we took our time leaving. We put our ponchos back on but by the time we left the theatre, it had stopped again.
We decided to visit Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. Finally characters that DJ knew! After the pictures we head over to Asia. I thought we might grab Fastpasses for Kali River Rapids, but they werent using Fastpass today. We werent ready to get wet yet, so we decided to go back to the Safari and use our Fastpasses there. It took so long just to walk the path from Asia to Africa that by the time we got there I decided I didnt want to ride the Safari anymore. We had a 2pm Priority Seating for Rain Forest Café (RFC) and we would have been pushing it if we got on the ride. So we walked through Pangani Forest Exploration Trail instead. The gorillas were out goofing around today, so that was a good choice.
After finishing the trail we start heading towards RFC but ran into Lilo and Stitch. More characters that DJ knew, so we stopped to see them then take a quick cruise through the gift shop. As we near the exit, the rain starts pouring down again and back on go the ponchos. We hightailed it to RFC right at 2pm and waited probably 15-20 minutes for our table. Once seated, I let our server know we had meal vouchers. He was so great in letting us know what we could do with them. We ended up with over $200 worth of food for only a $56 investment. We stuffed ourselves and still couldnt finish everything.
With 2 child vouchers and 1 adult, heres what we got:
Drinks 2 Rainbow Icees in souvenir water bottles with a little toy and 2 smoothies (Had to pay out of pocket for 1 smoothie $5.25)
Appetizers Shrimp Cocktail, Crab Cakes, Blue Crab Dip
Entrees Pizza (which the kids shared) and 2 Steak and Stuffed Lobster dinners
Dessert Bananas Foster, Key Lime Pie and Banana Cheesecake
After eating, we headed over to Camp Minnie Mickey thinking we could see the characters. But lunch had taken so long, it was now 4:30 and the characters were only out until 4pm. But Festival of the Lion King was just starting so we headed to the show. This was the first time I had ever been to the part of the park and was really disappointed that I had never made it there before. Its really a neat little area. Anyway, the show was great and a little nostalgic for me. When I took my son to Disneyland for his 1st birthday, they were filming the Lion King parade and we had to listen to Lion King songs all day long with the floats out in the streets all around us. As I understand it, some of the floats from that parade were taken to Florida and used in this show. I recognize the Simba one. Ive got a picture of it from when we were in Disneyland.
Time to leave since the park was now closed but we took some time to explore the Discovery Trails on the way out and kept running into CMs with trading pins. Finally almost an hour after the park closed, we head out the front gates. I really wish we would have gotten out sooner. There were so many characters out front, but by the time we got there, all the lines were closed. No pictures for us. We had taken so much time leaving the park that we finally realized we might actually miss the last bus back to the lodge. Well we were on the last bus and it was a Special bus meaning that it didnt just go to AKL, but to whatever resort there were people left over for.
Back at the Lodge, we let the kids go swimming, even though it was very cold outside. They had been bugging us everyday, so we finally decided to stay in this evening and let them swim. After the swim we grabbed some dinner at the Mara and then explored the Lodge. The animal viewing with the night vision goggles is a not to be missed activity.
Monica (me) Disney lover, frequent traveler, Disneyland AP holder, 2nd trip to WDW
Trevoy (my 9yr old son) Disney lover in the making, frequent traveler because Mom drags him around, Disneyland AP holder, 2nd trip to WDW
Tameka (friend) frequent travel partner, cant understand my obsession with Disney, 2nd trip to WDW although first trip was only 1 day at MK
Dejante (DJ) (friends 8yr old Godson) first time traveler (never been on a plane, never been in a rental car, never stayed in a hotel, you get the picture), first visit to any Disney theme park
Day 3, Dec 10 Animal Kingdom
Up early again for the Extra Magic Hour. We arrive at the park about 8:10 and Im not happy about that. Im thinking about revising my park strategy since these folks cant seem to get in gear in the morning. Anyway, I try to explain that we can explore the Discovery Trails later because I really want to get to Kilimanjaro Safari before it gets too crowded. But everyone is so excited with all the nooks and crannies that can be explored that I am forced to slow down and remind myself that 2 of the 4 are seeing this park for the first time. I just need to let them experience the park and whatever rides we get to are just icing on the cake.
I decide to stop for a photo op in front of the Tree of Life and get our first Photo Pass pictures. After a few shots of another family, its our turn. We take a few pictures, again having to tell DJ that at first I just want me and Trevoy, then we can get one all of us. (Side note on Photo Pass, we ended up with the pictures of the previous 2 families on our card. Poor things, they tried so hard to get the youngest to pay attention, and now I have their photos).
Finally get to the Safari and we grab Fastpasses to be able to come back later then try to head on to the ride. I say try because these boys cannot pass by anyone that has a pin trading lanyard on. (Side note on pin trading it seems as if there are no rules when it comes to trading at WDW. There were so many CMs trading non-Disney pins, Sedesma pins or rubber pins. In Disneyland we never saw sub standard pins. On this trip we learned quickly that we had to supervise the pin trading so that our kids would not end up with worthless pins.) Finally on the Safari, we all enjoyed it, there were tons of animals out this morning. The only drawback was a guide with a Brooklyn accent. Nothing against it, I just didnt feel it quite fit the story line to be told of the elephant who just gave birf or the baby wifhis momma. (Sorry, no flames please, being from California I usually find an East Coast accent sexy, but no on a safari in Africa).
After leaving the Safari, we start heading over to Dinoland, but ran into King Louie and Baloo. Trevoy plays with them in character, but DJ doesnt want anything to do with them. Again, poor guy, he just didnt know who they were. Pictures and autographs taken, we are on our way again. Pretty much walked on to Dinosaur. A fun ride, but I love its cousin at Disneyland better, Indiana Jones Adventure. DJ didnt like it though. He said it was too loud and had his hands over his ears the whole time. This from a kid who blasts rap music in his ears. Oh well.
Next we head to Primevil Whirl which had a 15 minute wait posted but I dont think it took that long. This is one of those once per trip rides for me. I guess Tameka didnt pay attention to the ride before we got in line because she pretty much cursed me for taking her on it, but the kids loved it. It started raining as soon as we were off the ride, so we put on our ponchos. Not Mickey, but they worked just as well. I had brought some along from the Dollar store since I knew a few of the days had rain forecasted. We send the kids back on Primevil Whirl by themselves. Meanwhile the rain stops and out comes the lady Dinosaur. Sorry, but I dont know her name or if she even has one. I took a picture with her and we are both showing off our jewelry. Too bad I dont have a nice rock to show off like she does. Maybe one of these days. (Big dreamy sigh!)
Next was two times around on Tricera Top Spin for the boys with no line what-so-ever. Spent a little time at the Boneyard, then headed over to Tarzan Rocks, which was starting in just a few minutes. I had never seen this show but it sounded cool. I enticed the boys by telling them the monkeys would do tricks on rollerblades. The show was ok, but I thought there would be more stunts and not so much singing. Well, at least I can now say Ive seen the show. When it was over, it was pouring raining, so we took our time leaving. We put our ponchos back on but by the time we left the theatre, it had stopped again.
We decided to visit Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. Finally characters that DJ knew! After the pictures we head over to Asia. I thought we might grab Fastpasses for Kali River Rapids, but they werent using Fastpass today. We werent ready to get wet yet, so we decided to go back to the Safari and use our Fastpasses there. It took so long just to walk the path from Asia to Africa that by the time we got there I decided I didnt want to ride the Safari anymore. We had a 2pm Priority Seating for Rain Forest Café (RFC) and we would have been pushing it if we got on the ride. So we walked through Pangani Forest Exploration Trail instead. The gorillas were out goofing around today, so that was a good choice.
After finishing the trail we start heading towards RFC but ran into Lilo and Stitch. More characters that DJ knew, so we stopped to see them then take a quick cruise through the gift shop. As we near the exit, the rain starts pouring down again and back on go the ponchos. We hightailed it to RFC right at 2pm and waited probably 15-20 minutes for our table. Once seated, I let our server know we had meal vouchers. He was so great in letting us know what we could do with them. We ended up with over $200 worth of food for only a $56 investment. We stuffed ourselves and still couldnt finish everything.
With 2 child vouchers and 1 adult, heres what we got:
Drinks 2 Rainbow Icees in souvenir water bottles with a little toy and 2 smoothies (Had to pay out of pocket for 1 smoothie $5.25)
Appetizers Shrimp Cocktail, Crab Cakes, Blue Crab Dip
Entrees Pizza (which the kids shared) and 2 Steak and Stuffed Lobster dinners
Dessert Bananas Foster, Key Lime Pie and Banana Cheesecake
After eating, we headed over to Camp Minnie Mickey thinking we could see the characters. But lunch had taken so long, it was now 4:30 and the characters were only out until 4pm. But Festival of the Lion King was just starting so we headed to the show. This was the first time I had ever been to the part of the park and was really disappointed that I had never made it there before. Its really a neat little area. Anyway, the show was great and a little nostalgic for me. When I took my son to Disneyland for his 1st birthday, they were filming the Lion King parade and we had to listen to Lion King songs all day long with the floats out in the streets all around us. As I understand it, some of the floats from that parade were taken to Florida and used in this show. I recognize the Simba one. Ive got a picture of it from when we were in Disneyland.
Time to leave since the park was now closed but we took some time to explore the Discovery Trails on the way out and kept running into CMs with trading pins. Finally almost an hour after the park closed, we head out the front gates. I really wish we would have gotten out sooner. There were so many characters out front, but by the time we got there, all the lines were closed. No pictures for us. We had taken so much time leaving the park that we finally realized we might actually miss the last bus back to the lodge. Well we were on the last bus and it was a Special bus meaning that it didnt just go to AKL, but to whatever resort there were people left over for.
Back at the Lodge, we let the kids go swimming, even though it was very cold outside. They had been bugging us everyday, so we finally decided to stay in this evening and let them swim. After the swim we grabbed some dinner at the Mara and then explored the Lodge. The animal viewing with the night vision goggles is a not to be missed activity.
