elgerber
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2000
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- 24,413
Day 3, 10/19/04
The cast
Me, Erika, 35, Disney obsessed for as long as I can remember
Dh, 37, lucky for me, while not obsessed, also loves Disney
Ds, 11, much like dh
Dd, 8, much like me, Disney Obsessed
AK is our park of choice today. I could have skipped this park altogether this trip, but dd really wanted to go. There are a couple of things here we have not seen yet, as we always seem to run out of time. I tell the kids we might get the other stuff done if we skip the Festival of the Lion King or Tarzan Rocks. Dd is having none of this, ok fine. We start heading to the safari, but find Lilo and Stitch first. This is the one character line they are willing to stand in, and I want a pic with them, for the Stitch picture frame I spotted at the gift shop. While they wait in line, I ran to get a fastpass for the safari. I spot Flik signing autographs, but he is gone when I return. Thats too bad, weve never seen Flik and my kids love him. I grabbed a show schedule on my way back, and discovered the first FOTLK show is in about 15 minutes, so we head over there. It was so weird, we walked right into the theater and they told us to sit anywhere we want. I have never had that happen before. We picked a row with no one in front of us, and no one behind us. It was the best view we ever had, since we didnt have to look over other people. Now, what the heck was I thinking, saying we could skip this show! If I ever say that again, shot me. This is the most wonderful show. Now I know there are many people who dont get the Disney magic the way many of us do, but to sit there listening to them perform Circle of Life (which is a moving song on its own) while my 8yr old dd belts out every word along with them is total magic.
After the show we make a stop to see Pluto. Hes very funny, he balanced the kids autograph books on his nose before he returned them. We headed back for our safari ride now. There were not all that many animals out today, it was very hot, even by 10:30 in the morning. The soundtrack of the radio communications was not working, so it wasnt much of a show, just a ride today. We were going to Asia now for the jungle trek since weve never been there before. We came across the living vine on our way, is her name De-vine?? She is so cool! And amazing, what a hard job she has. We went on the jungle trek to see the tigers, and we saw a few, they were all sleeping. They are such beautiful animals! I was ready to end the trek quickly though, it was so hot, we were all dragging already. We have only been to AK in December before, and its always been cold and rainy on the days we visit. Its amazing how much the heat can take out of you. We ate lunch at Pizzafari, took some animal pictures, hit a gift shop and got the heck out. We never made it to Dinoland or Tarzan rocks, it was just too hot.
Today the pool really felt great!!! Luckily we left the park fairly early, because we did not have a ton of time to swim, as we had PS for Hollywood and Vine for the Fantasmic dinner package. We ALWAYS do the dinner package. In late August of 2001 we tried to skip the package and wait for the show. We got there about 75 minutes in advance and stood like herds of cattle on the sidewalk ramp. After about 30 minutes, they told us it was already standing room only. Needless to say we bailed on that line, much to my kids dismay. After we left that night, I went straight to the front desk of the hotel and made PS for the package for the following night. We ate our dinner, did the Little Mermaid, and walked out to lightening. It got worse and worse as we sat waiting for the show, and at the last minute they called it off. My kids were terrified of the lightening and upset we missed the show again. I waited in line at guest relations while dh took the kids back to the hotel, and I got a rain check for Fantasmic for later in the week. Finally on our third try we got to see the show that year. Sorry for all that babble, but you will understand why I wrote it in a minute.
We walked over to MGM for dinner. We ended up walking very slowly as we were still drained from the heat. We ate our average dinner at H&V and then saw the Beauty and the Beast show before Fantasmic. We still had a little time so the boys went to ToT and dd and I went to the Great Movie Ride. We had about 30 minutes until we had to be at the gate for Fantasmic, and I thought that was plenty of time. There was only a few minutes of waiting, but I wasnt realizing how long the ride itself actually took. Guess I never timed it before. Alexa and I had to run to the gate to go to our seats, and as we are running, what do we see???? Lightening! I couldnt believe it. The only time the entire trip we saw lightening, and it has to be tonight. We go in to sit down, and it is packed! The reserved area for the dinner package is much more full than Ive ever seen it before. We sit down (on metal bleachers LOL) and wait and hope. They keep playing the recording saying the show can be cancelled at any time for bad weather. We are so nervous, but we want to see the show so bad. Finally, about 3 minutes before the show should have started, they turned off the lights and hit the music. Everyone cheered, looked like we were gonna be lucky after all. There was still some major lightening behind the mountain during the first parts of the show, but it actually looked cool. It looked like it was part of the show. It was still really hot during the show, I was fanning us with the AK brochure that was still in my bag, I couldnt believe we were still sweating after dark.
We took the boat back to the hotel, and this time we road all the way to the Boardwalk, instead of getting off at the Swan and walking back. We got some cookies for the kids for their snack, and I was going to get them something to drink, and something for myself. It then occurred to me that we already had juiceboxes and water in our room. Rather than pay $1.75 per box and $2 for the water, I just ran back to the room and got our drinks. Our room was in the ideal location for quick runs back from the Boardwalk!! We met the Juggler named Matt and watched his abbreviated show. He was pretty funny, but he quit because it started to rain. We walked around in the rain for a few minutes, then headed back to the room for the kids to relax before bed and we did some laundry.
The cast
Me, Erika, 35, Disney obsessed for as long as I can remember
Dh, 37, lucky for me, while not obsessed, also loves Disney
Ds, 11, much like dh
Dd, 8, much like me, Disney Obsessed
AK is our park of choice today. I could have skipped this park altogether this trip, but dd really wanted to go. There are a couple of things here we have not seen yet, as we always seem to run out of time. I tell the kids we might get the other stuff done if we skip the Festival of the Lion King or Tarzan Rocks. Dd is having none of this, ok fine. We start heading to the safari, but find Lilo and Stitch first. This is the one character line they are willing to stand in, and I want a pic with them, for the Stitch picture frame I spotted at the gift shop. While they wait in line, I ran to get a fastpass for the safari. I spot Flik signing autographs, but he is gone when I return. Thats too bad, weve never seen Flik and my kids love him. I grabbed a show schedule on my way back, and discovered the first FOTLK show is in about 15 minutes, so we head over there. It was so weird, we walked right into the theater and they told us to sit anywhere we want. I have never had that happen before. We picked a row with no one in front of us, and no one behind us. It was the best view we ever had, since we didnt have to look over other people. Now, what the heck was I thinking, saying we could skip this show! If I ever say that again, shot me. This is the most wonderful show. Now I know there are many people who dont get the Disney magic the way many of us do, but to sit there listening to them perform Circle of Life (which is a moving song on its own) while my 8yr old dd belts out every word along with them is total magic.
After the show we make a stop to see Pluto. Hes very funny, he balanced the kids autograph books on his nose before he returned them. We headed back for our safari ride now. There were not all that many animals out today, it was very hot, even by 10:30 in the morning. The soundtrack of the radio communications was not working, so it wasnt much of a show, just a ride today. We were going to Asia now for the jungle trek since weve never been there before. We came across the living vine on our way, is her name De-vine?? She is so cool! And amazing, what a hard job she has. We went on the jungle trek to see the tigers, and we saw a few, they were all sleeping. They are such beautiful animals! I was ready to end the trek quickly though, it was so hot, we were all dragging already. We have only been to AK in December before, and its always been cold and rainy on the days we visit. Its amazing how much the heat can take out of you. We ate lunch at Pizzafari, took some animal pictures, hit a gift shop and got the heck out. We never made it to Dinoland or Tarzan rocks, it was just too hot.
Today the pool really felt great!!! Luckily we left the park fairly early, because we did not have a ton of time to swim, as we had PS for Hollywood and Vine for the Fantasmic dinner package. We ALWAYS do the dinner package. In late August of 2001 we tried to skip the package and wait for the show. We got there about 75 minutes in advance and stood like herds of cattle on the sidewalk ramp. After about 30 minutes, they told us it was already standing room only. Needless to say we bailed on that line, much to my kids dismay. After we left that night, I went straight to the front desk of the hotel and made PS for the package for the following night. We ate our dinner, did the Little Mermaid, and walked out to lightening. It got worse and worse as we sat waiting for the show, and at the last minute they called it off. My kids were terrified of the lightening and upset we missed the show again. I waited in line at guest relations while dh took the kids back to the hotel, and I got a rain check for Fantasmic for later in the week. Finally on our third try we got to see the show that year. Sorry for all that babble, but you will understand why I wrote it in a minute.
We walked over to MGM for dinner. We ended up walking very slowly as we were still drained from the heat. We ate our average dinner at H&V and then saw the Beauty and the Beast show before Fantasmic. We still had a little time so the boys went to ToT and dd and I went to the Great Movie Ride. We had about 30 minutes until we had to be at the gate for Fantasmic, and I thought that was plenty of time. There was only a few minutes of waiting, but I wasnt realizing how long the ride itself actually took. Guess I never timed it before. Alexa and I had to run to the gate to go to our seats, and as we are running, what do we see???? Lightening! I couldnt believe it. The only time the entire trip we saw lightening, and it has to be tonight. We go in to sit down, and it is packed! The reserved area for the dinner package is much more full than Ive ever seen it before. We sit down (on metal bleachers LOL) and wait and hope. They keep playing the recording saying the show can be cancelled at any time for bad weather. We are so nervous, but we want to see the show so bad. Finally, about 3 minutes before the show should have started, they turned off the lights and hit the music. Everyone cheered, looked like we were gonna be lucky after all. There was still some major lightening behind the mountain during the first parts of the show, but it actually looked cool. It looked like it was part of the show. It was still really hot during the show, I was fanning us with the AK brochure that was still in my bag, I couldnt believe we were still sweating after dark.
We took the boat back to the hotel, and this time we road all the way to the Boardwalk, instead of getting off at the Swan and walking back. We got some cookies for the kids for their snack, and I was going to get them something to drink, and something for myself. It then occurred to me that we already had juiceboxes and water in our room. Rather than pay $1.75 per box and $2 for the water, I just ran back to the room and got our drinks. Our room was in the ideal location for quick runs back from the Boardwalk!! We met the Juggler named Matt and watched his abbreviated show. He was pretty funny, but he quit because it started to rain. We walked around in the rain for a few minutes, then headed back to the room for the kids to relax before bed and we did some laundry.
