First timers trip to the magic - Day 12

[MorningGlory]

Cast

Me. Paul. 34. Chief planner and taxi driver. Scared and excited at the thought of the big coasters.

DS9. Paul (now called junior for the sake of this report). Absolutely bursting at the thought of Disney. As scared as his dad of the coasters but isn't showing it (yet).

Dad. 60 something. Doesn't know how he is going to handle 9 hours without a cigarette!

Brother. John. 45. Possibly the most excited of us all. Definitely looking forward to meeting Mickey.


Day 12 - Monday 25th June 2007

We managed to make quite an early start today, knowing that we were going to AK for the first time. After some light breakfast in the room, we managed to get John roused after phoning several times and banging on the room door.

Although I had gotten well used to the driving over here, any time I was going somewhere I hadn’t been before I was a little apprehensive especially since I hadn’t looked at a map for ages. I decided we would just trust the signs from Buena Vista Drive onwards but took my time, and around 9:10am we were pulling into the car park at the Animal Kingdom, getting into the park around 9:15. We were a bit disappointed to have missed a rope drop yet again, but at least we were early enough that the park wasn’t quite busy yet. We were all in agreement that the priority was the Jeep Safari, so we grabbed a map and I led the way through the jungles to Africa. We managed to get a fast pass return of between 10 and 11am, which left us enough time to fill the hole in our stomach at the Kusafiri Coffee Shop and Bakery, where I managed to grab an elusive couple of bagels with cream cheese, coffee and juice and John and Junior tucked into apple danish and juice;

Paul looking pleased to be there;

Happy with our fill, we left the cafe and John and Junior stopped to watch a street entertainer whilst I made a quick dash down to the smoking area at the bridge between Africa and Discovery Island for a quick cig and some photos;

A couple of people I showed that last photo to were convinced they were looking at a real snow-covered peak!

Grateful for a little nicotine intake, I made my way back up to get J & J and caught the end of the street entertainer’s act. This guy was really funny, he got all of the people around really involved in things and it put us in a great mood for the day ahead;

By now, our fast pass time was due so we headed over to Harambe to start our safari adventure;

We were on our way within a couple of minutes of joining the fast pass queue, and before long realised we were on the hunt of some poachers who had got into the reserve!! I have to say, the CMs were brilliant playing their parts in this, and it really drew John and Junior in. I think they were completely convinced at one point that we were really on the hunt for some mean poachers hehe! As you no doubt know, it’s a little difficult trying to get a steady picture on these kind of things, but I managed to catch a few good ones;

Cont...

 

[MorningGlory]

Cont...


After the safari, we took a slow walk around the Pangani forest trail, seeing up close some of the wonderful animals in this part of the park. This big guy looked non too fussed at the attention he was receiving;

Around the trail a little, we stumbled across one of his friends enjoying some breakfast in the shade;

It soon became apparent though that this must be the same one we had seen earlier, cos he was none too fussed about the attention either, and took to hiding behind a....ahem.....branch.....

Very cunning disguise there, he almost fooled us....


After Pangani, we took the long way round to Asia on a slow walk, stopping for some frozen lemonade on the way and catching the odd bit of entertainment;

And the occasional lizard going about their day to day business;

Eventually we hit Asia, and decided we would just take a slow walk around the area and enjoy the theming. We took a short rest here and there, as it was now mid-afternoon by this point and very humid amongst the foliage of the park. It would have been nice to cool down with a go on the Kali River Rapids but the standby time was crazy and even the queue for fastpasses was long, so we gave it a miss and took a walk down the riverside instead so I could grab another cig. After some much-needed shade, we walked over Camp Minnie-Mickey for the next showing of Festival of the Lion King, of which I had heard only good things. After a not-too-long wait, we were admitted to the theatre and found a bench quite near the front and sat back to enjoy the show;

This really was a wonderful show, it is so full of life, song and colour that you can’t fail to be grabbed by it. The only disappointment was that it was just too short! I could have sat there for God knows how long watching it. We all agreed that it was one of the best attractions we seen in the whole holiday!

Next up, we had some photos with Pooh and friends;

Tigger was brilliant, he wouldn’t let Junior have a photo until he had bounced and done a silly dance with him hehe!

After this, we decided we had better get some food as it had been a while since we had eaten and we were now all pretty famished. We decided we wanted to see a bit of Dinoland, so we headed for Restaurantosauraus for a lunch of burgers, hot dogs, friez, juice and strawberry cheesecake, all of which went down a treat! Burgers seem to be turning into something of a staple diet for me the last few days, something which I am mindful of and want to get out of doing. I have to say though, these ones were really enjoyable. Stuffed, we took a slow walk around Dinoland, having a look in some of the shops. We went into the shop at the Dinosaur ride but we all decided we didn’t want to do the ride itself as I had remembered hearing it could be quite jerky. After this, we walked through that weird part of the park, called Chester & Hester’s Emporium or something similiar. This is just a waste of space I think, it doesn’t seem to fit in with the theming in the rest of the park at all and after a short look around we decided we had had enough for the day. Paul was also frequent in reminding me that he wanted to get to the baseball shop before it closed and John looked at is he was starting to falter, so we made our way out of the park around 3pm and dropped John off at the hotel, before me and Junior headed down to the shopping mall just off the 535 with the Rawlings baseball shop. Paul picked up a Devilrays shirt, door poster, some baseballs that he could play with (he refused to let anyone near the one he got at the baseball game – viewing distance only please, lol!) and a display case for the baseball and ticket from the game.

The plan was for us to go to out for dinner tonight, but after we had all got showered and ready, we drove around stopping at several places only to find that the waiting time for a table was horrendous. We bumped into Kevin and Kathleen on the way back to the hotel and we all decided to just order pizza and sit at the hotel bar for a few beers before hitting the sack at 11pm.

Tomorrow: Back to Seaworld, and we’re all going again!

 

[scottishsue]

Long time since your last report Paul, but worth waiting for !!

Lovely pics of you and Paul Jnr. (Carry on posting and finish it)

 

[arieljasmine]

Another lovely day, Paul. That gorilla pic is classic! Loved the pic of Junior with my favourite bear too.

Laur's

 

[SusanEllen]

I was delighted to spot your TR title today and remembered I enjoyed reading the first installments last summer. When I looked back for a quick review of the earlier reports, I discovered I'd missed a couple you posted in November. Think I'm caught up now. What wonderful memories. Thanks for sharing them. I'll be watching for more.

 

[natalielongstaff]

what a fantastic report Paul

 

[Minniespal]

Another lovely day Paul ~ Your photos are superb.

 

[MorningGlory]

Thanks for all the lovely comments

I was delighted to spot your TR title today and remembered I enjoyed reading the first installments last summer. When I looked back for a quick review of the earlier reports, I discovered I'd missed a couple you posted in November. Think I'm caught up now. What wonderful memories. Thanks for sharing them. I'll be watching for more.

Thanks SusanEllen, it really makes it worthwhile when you know people have enjoyed reading it.

Also, I seen your info about Admiral Joe Fowler from my MK report. Thanks for letting me know, I hadn't realised he had so much to do with Disney itself!

Day 13 is up now. Only the last day, travelling home and final thoughts left

 

[mark&sue]

There is a great thread on this board somewhere which explains the theming for hester and chester but I can't find it.

The safari is great

Glad you all had a good time


susan

 

[rparmfamily]

I've enjoyed your reports! Great pics!

 

[cazzie]

Lovely photos of the gorilla, the safari is great fun it sounds like you had a good day.