E
erikthewise
Guest
Cast
Self (Richard): likes seafood, gets up too early, walks too fast. Thinks that entering a park after the scheduled opening is like walking in on a movie after its started. Can accurately estimate the duration of any sequence of activities.
DW (Julia): Family photographer. Hates seafood, likes to sleep in, walks too slow. Has no sense of time. Thinks its immoral if not illegal to arrive at a park before opening time.
DS9 (Jonathan): Tall enough to ride anything but doesnt like thrill rides. Loves computer games and arcades. Haven't told him about Disney Quest.
DS6 (Patrick): Fearless; will ride anything. Just barely tall enough to ride Space Mountain. Has the patience of a forest fire. Doesnt like anything that isnt a ride or a meal. Haven't told him about Tower of Terror.
We are staying 5 nights at Beach Club Villas in our first trip as members of Disney Vacation Club, followed by 3 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Also see restaurant report
http://www.disboards.com/showthread...threadid=303938
Fri Dec 13: "Disney World is Dead for Us"/Santa Goofy Comes Through
All three mornings at AKL we bought food from Mara and brought it back to our room. The prices werent too bad; we paid an average of $15 a day for breakfast, which wouldnt even get one adult into a character breakfast. We did not buy any beverages as we had bottled water and canned soda left over from BCV in our room. There are many outrageous things I will put up with on vacation, but $3.00 for 16 ounces of bottled orange juice is not one of them.
Mara worked out well for us, but we went there between 6:30 and 7:30AM and it wasnt crowded. If it were busy it could be a nightmare as it doesnt seem to be set up for volume operation. There is a tray run where you can purchase hot items, but there is no obvious beginning or ending or designated lines. And if you want to get bakery items such as pastries or bagels, there is no place to put your tray! Every morning I would get a tray, go over to the bakery section, put my tray on the floor, put pastries and bagels on little paper plates, kneel down and put them on the tray, then pick up the tray and go over to the hot food counter and get some scrambled eggs to go. Completely bonkers; one wonders if any thought at all has been given to the customer experience. There is one chain toaster and one microwave available for use. The food itself is OK, at least for breakfast.
The torrential rains that lasted all night continued this morning. They started to tease by letting up a little, then picking up again, over and over. The savannah was flooded and the animals did not come out this morning, except for some of the birds. DS6 was very depressed about it and wrote on a piece of paper "Disney World is dead for us". He is often very enthusiastic and cheerful, but when he's depressed he also let's you know about it.
Finally around 10:00 it had let up enough to consider doing something. This seemed like a good day to visit Old Key West and have lunch at Olivias. We have friends who are also DVC members and swear by OKW, so we wanted to take a look. On the way over we took a brief detour to drive through All Star Movies in hopes of seeing the giant Buzz and Woody, but somehow I missed them.
There was a lot of standing water all over that morning, but the entrance to OKW was truly flooded, and halfway through I realized the water was deeper than I thought. As I pulled out of the water there was steam/smoke coming from the hood. I hoped it was just steam! I complained to the gate attendant that the water was too high for cars and the entrance should be blocked off. He said next time you can go around and come in through the exit. NEXT TIME?!?!, I thought. THIS TIME I may have just trashed this rental car! Fortunately I did not express those thoughts out loud as the car turned out to be alright. But when a car comes out with the engine steaming, the water is too deep.
At OKW we asked to visit a 2-bedroom suite and they were very nice about showing us one. It really is enormous, nearly twice as big as our 1-bedroom suite at BCV. On weekdays it costs the same number of points! OKW has a golf course running through it; that doesnt particularly excite me as I am not a golf player, but Im sure a lot of people like it. We havent decided whether to stay there next year or not.
Lunch at Olivias was very good, especially since I had the classic Key West dishes of conch chowder and key lime pie. I had the opportunity to visit the real Key West last February, and the theming at OKW brought back memories.
After lunch we headed toward Animal Kingdom park. DS6 said his socks were wet (from walking through a puddle at OKW) so we made a detour back to our room to get dry socks for him.
On the way back to Animal Kingdom we had driving mishap number two. There is a left turn lane that allows you to go across the divided highway directly to Animal Kingdom when driving east from AKL, but it is completely unmarked. I was about to take it anyway, but there was a sign in that lane that looked like it said (in symbols) "no turn", so I bailed out and didnt take it. As I went past I looked closer and noticed it actually said "no right turn", a right turn arrow with a circle/slash through it. How bizarre! Who gets in a left turn lane to make a right turn?! Or does it mean dont try to leave this left turn lane by veering right?
Only later did we figure out that the sign means after turning left (when this sign is no longer visible), do not instantly turn right into oncoming traffic on the other side of this divided highway. If someone is inclined to do that, no sign will save them. It would be a public service for someone to remove this idiotic sign, and replace it with one that says
<-- Animal Kingdom Theme Park.
Animal Kingdom turned out to be pretty empty; apparently the heavy morning rains had caused a lot of people to give up for the day. We watched Its Tough to Be a Bug as part of a small audience, then headed toward Dinoland. DW wanted to try Primeval Whirl but DS9 (of course) didnt and DS6 was too short. So I took them on Triceratop Spin while she got in the 15-minute line for Primeval Whirl. Dont ask me why they wanted to ride Triceratop Spin when they didnt want to ride the nearly identical Dumbo and Aladdins Magic Carpets at Magic Kingdom, but they did. When we got off, DW was sitting on the bench waiting for us; she said the line looked longer than 15 minutes. I grabbed a fastpass for her and suggested we ride Dinosaur and then come back.
DS9 was not sure about Dinosaur. I hadnt ridden it before. The line seemed to be short (it turned out to be a walk-on) so I suggested fearless DS6 and I ride it first and come back with a report. We did, and gave two thumbs up. Its very bouncy and scary but thats all. All four of us went the second time. Its a great ride but I was a little disappointed they didnt try to simulate the meteor strike. Now THAT would have been exciting. Theres just no satisfying some people
We were trying to be early for the 3:45 Lion King show so DW decided to forget about Primeval Whirl (another fastpass bites the dust). The kitchy/carny admosphere of Dinoland is effective, but Im not sure that I like it. It was so effective we stayed away from the side shows because I was sure they cost extra. Do they? Maybe next year well look closer.
As we passed the entrance to the Tarzan show a CM was shouting loudly about the next show starting in so many minutes, and all but grabbing people and dragging them in. She seemed pretty desperate. Nobody likes to perform in front of an empty theatre, and things can get ugly when park attendance is low
. We avoided eye contact and kept walking. As we stopped at a rest room on the way out of Dinoland, we found some more of the 100-year celebration Q&A kiosks like the ones under the hat at MGM. The CM said there were some in each park. I didnt know that! The boys loved playing with those so we took a few minutes here.
We arrived half an hour early for Lion King and had a little time to kill. The character greeting trails at Camp Minnie-Mickey were nearly deserted. We saw Santa Goofy all by himself and he waved to us. Both boys refused to go see him; they can be real boogers sometimes. So I went to see Santa Goofy and had my picture taken with him. I told him I wanted a Honda Civic Hybrid for Christmas. He raised his index finger as if to say Ah-Ha! I know! He then turned to the CM in safari outfit next to him and pulled the car keys out of her pocket! He handed them to me. Thanks, Goofy, but I really shouldnt! I handed the keys back to the her; she wasnt sure if this was a good joke, but I liked it. She said it *was* a Honda Civic, but not a hybrid.
The reason we wanted to be early was that one of DS9s teachers said her father Smiley worked at the Lion King show! We hoped to say hi and get a picture to take back. Everyone knew Smiley but unfortunately he was not working that day nor before we left. However we did get into the show early enough to grab the special front row seats in the Giraffe section. One of the CMs named Luis came over to talk to us. DS6 was being a superbooger now as going to the Lion King show was not his idea and he was determined to be miserable. Luis tried to cheer him up but that just made him more determined so Luis gave up on him and talked to the rest of us for about 15 minutes, which was really nice. Being in the front row, the boys had a couple of opportunities to volunteer as helpers during the show, but their remained true to their boogerhood and said no. That was fine as some younger children sitting behind us got a chance instead.
Another advantage of sitting up front was that we were really close to the performers. That zebra was the cutest zebra I have *ever* seen, and she spent much of the show dancing right in front of us (sigh). Unfortunately my sinuses were acting up a little so I couldnt hit the high notes in The Lion Sleeps Tonight. (For bonus points name the group that did the original recording.)
As we left Camp Minnie-Mickey we caught the tail end of the parade. After it passed we hustled down to Africa and rode Safari at 4:15. There was a lot of standing water on the trail, some of it pretty deep, but the safari vehicles were up to the challenge. We left the park right around 5:00, and ate cheap at Pizzeria Uno in the Crossroads shopping center.
Self (Richard): likes seafood, gets up too early, walks too fast. Thinks that entering a park after the scheduled opening is like walking in on a movie after its started. Can accurately estimate the duration of any sequence of activities.
DW (Julia): Family photographer. Hates seafood, likes to sleep in, walks too slow. Has no sense of time. Thinks its immoral if not illegal to arrive at a park before opening time.
DS9 (Jonathan): Tall enough to ride anything but doesnt like thrill rides. Loves computer games and arcades. Haven't told him about Disney Quest.
DS6 (Patrick): Fearless; will ride anything. Just barely tall enough to ride Space Mountain. Has the patience of a forest fire. Doesnt like anything that isnt a ride or a meal. Haven't told him about Tower of Terror.
We are staying 5 nights at Beach Club Villas in our first trip as members of Disney Vacation Club, followed by 3 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Also see restaurant report
http://www.disboards.com/showthread...threadid=303938
Fri Dec 13: "Disney World is Dead for Us"/Santa Goofy Comes Through
All three mornings at AKL we bought food from Mara and brought it back to our room. The prices werent too bad; we paid an average of $15 a day for breakfast, which wouldnt even get one adult into a character breakfast. We did not buy any beverages as we had bottled water and canned soda left over from BCV in our room. There are many outrageous things I will put up with on vacation, but $3.00 for 16 ounces of bottled orange juice is not one of them.
Mara worked out well for us, but we went there between 6:30 and 7:30AM and it wasnt crowded. If it were busy it could be a nightmare as it doesnt seem to be set up for volume operation. There is a tray run where you can purchase hot items, but there is no obvious beginning or ending or designated lines. And if you want to get bakery items such as pastries or bagels, there is no place to put your tray! Every morning I would get a tray, go over to the bakery section, put my tray on the floor, put pastries and bagels on little paper plates, kneel down and put them on the tray, then pick up the tray and go over to the hot food counter and get some scrambled eggs to go. Completely bonkers; one wonders if any thought at all has been given to the customer experience. There is one chain toaster and one microwave available for use. The food itself is OK, at least for breakfast.
The torrential rains that lasted all night continued this morning. They started to tease by letting up a little, then picking up again, over and over. The savannah was flooded and the animals did not come out this morning, except for some of the birds. DS6 was very depressed about it and wrote on a piece of paper "Disney World is dead for us". He is often very enthusiastic and cheerful, but when he's depressed he also let's you know about it.
Finally around 10:00 it had let up enough to consider doing something. This seemed like a good day to visit Old Key West and have lunch at Olivias. We have friends who are also DVC members and swear by OKW, so we wanted to take a look. On the way over we took a brief detour to drive through All Star Movies in hopes of seeing the giant Buzz and Woody, but somehow I missed them.
There was a lot of standing water all over that morning, but the entrance to OKW was truly flooded, and halfway through I realized the water was deeper than I thought. As I pulled out of the water there was steam/smoke coming from the hood. I hoped it was just steam! I complained to the gate attendant that the water was too high for cars and the entrance should be blocked off. He said next time you can go around and come in through the exit. NEXT TIME?!?!, I thought. THIS TIME I may have just trashed this rental car! Fortunately I did not express those thoughts out loud as the car turned out to be alright. But when a car comes out with the engine steaming, the water is too deep.
At OKW we asked to visit a 2-bedroom suite and they were very nice about showing us one. It really is enormous, nearly twice as big as our 1-bedroom suite at BCV. On weekdays it costs the same number of points! OKW has a golf course running through it; that doesnt particularly excite me as I am not a golf player, but Im sure a lot of people like it. We havent decided whether to stay there next year or not.
Lunch at Olivias was very good, especially since I had the classic Key West dishes of conch chowder and key lime pie. I had the opportunity to visit the real Key West last February, and the theming at OKW brought back memories.
After lunch we headed toward Animal Kingdom park. DS6 said his socks were wet (from walking through a puddle at OKW) so we made a detour back to our room to get dry socks for him.
On the way back to Animal Kingdom we had driving mishap number two. There is a left turn lane that allows you to go across the divided highway directly to Animal Kingdom when driving east from AKL, but it is completely unmarked. I was about to take it anyway, but there was a sign in that lane that looked like it said (in symbols) "no turn", so I bailed out and didnt take it. As I went past I looked closer and noticed it actually said "no right turn", a right turn arrow with a circle/slash through it. How bizarre! Who gets in a left turn lane to make a right turn?! Or does it mean dont try to leave this left turn lane by veering right?
Only later did we figure out that the sign means after turning left (when this sign is no longer visible), do not instantly turn right into oncoming traffic on the other side of this divided highway. If someone is inclined to do that, no sign will save them. It would be a public service for someone to remove this idiotic sign, and replace it with one that says
<-- Animal Kingdom Theme Park.
Animal Kingdom turned out to be pretty empty; apparently the heavy morning rains had caused a lot of people to give up for the day. We watched Its Tough to Be a Bug as part of a small audience, then headed toward Dinoland. DW wanted to try Primeval Whirl but DS9 (of course) didnt and DS6 was too short. So I took them on Triceratop Spin while she got in the 15-minute line for Primeval Whirl. Dont ask me why they wanted to ride Triceratop Spin when they didnt want to ride the nearly identical Dumbo and Aladdins Magic Carpets at Magic Kingdom, but they did. When we got off, DW was sitting on the bench waiting for us; she said the line looked longer than 15 minutes. I grabbed a fastpass for her and suggested we ride Dinosaur and then come back.
DS9 was not sure about Dinosaur. I hadnt ridden it before. The line seemed to be short (it turned out to be a walk-on) so I suggested fearless DS6 and I ride it first and come back with a report. We did, and gave two thumbs up. Its very bouncy and scary but thats all. All four of us went the second time. Its a great ride but I was a little disappointed they didnt try to simulate the meteor strike. Now THAT would have been exciting. Theres just no satisfying some people
We were trying to be early for the 3:45 Lion King show so DW decided to forget about Primeval Whirl (another fastpass bites the dust). The kitchy/carny admosphere of Dinoland is effective, but Im not sure that I like it. It was so effective we stayed away from the side shows because I was sure they cost extra. Do they? Maybe next year well look closer.
As we passed the entrance to the Tarzan show a CM was shouting loudly about the next show starting in so many minutes, and all but grabbing people and dragging them in. She seemed pretty desperate. Nobody likes to perform in front of an empty theatre, and things can get ugly when park attendance is low
. We avoided eye contact and kept walking. As we stopped at a rest room on the way out of Dinoland, we found some more of the 100-year celebration Q&A kiosks like the ones under the hat at MGM. The CM said there were some in each park. I didnt know that! The boys loved playing with those so we took a few minutes here.We arrived half an hour early for Lion King and had a little time to kill. The character greeting trails at Camp Minnie-Mickey were nearly deserted. We saw Santa Goofy all by himself and he waved to us. Both boys refused to go see him; they can be real boogers sometimes. So I went to see Santa Goofy and had my picture taken with him. I told him I wanted a Honda Civic Hybrid for Christmas. He raised his index finger as if to say Ah-Ha! I know! He then turned to the CM in safari outfit next to him and pulled the car keys out of her pocket! He handed them to me. Thanks, Goofy, but I really shouldnt! I handed the keys back to the her; she wasnt sure if this was a good joke, but I liked it. She said it *was* a Honda Civic, but not a hybrid.
The reason we wanted to be early was that one of DS9s teachers said her father Smiley worked at the Lion King show! We hoped to say hi and get a picture to take back. Everyone knew Smiley but unfortunately he was not working that day nor before we left. However we did get into the show early enough to grab the special front row seats in the Giraffe section. One of the CMs named Luis came over to talk to us. DS6 was being a superbooger now as going to the Lion King show was not his idea and he was determined to be miserable. Luis tried to cheer him up but that just made him more determined so Luis gave up on him and talked to the rest of us for about 15 minutes, which was really nice. Being in the front row, the boys had a couple of opportunities to volunteer as helpers during the show, but their remained true to their boogerhood and said no. That was fine as some younger children sitting behind us got a chance instead.
Another advantage of sitting up front was that we were really close to the performers. That zebra was the cutest zebra I have *ever* seen, and she spent much of the show dancing right in front of us (sigh). Unfortunately my sinuses were acting up a little so I couldnt hit the high notes in The Lion Sleeps Tonight. (For bonus points name the group that did the original recording.)
As we left Camp Minnie-Mickey we caught the tail end of the parade. After it passed we hustled down to Africa and rode Safari at 4:15. There was a lot of standing water on the trail, some of it pretty deep, but the safari vehicles were up to the challenge. We left the park right around 5:00, and ate cheap at Pizzeria Uno in the Crossroads shopping center.
