wdwgirl03
<font color=red>I'm just a big Disney Freak! :-)<b
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2004
- Messages
- 12,049
August 23, 2009 (part 3)
After our great safari ride it was off to Dinoland USA for Dinosaur. Dinosaur is one of those rides that I always get a little nervous before riding...maybe it's those huge dinos that pop out at you! But at the same time there's no way we can skip it. When we got to the ride building it was not crowded at all. There were only a handful of people in front of us and we only had to wait a couple of minutes before going into the preshow. Once we were granted access to go back in time we were ready to board our time rovers. There was another bit of trivia I looked for as we headed to the loading area: there are some red, yellow, and white pipes and on them are some chemical formulas. What are those chemical formulas exactly? Ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise! haha I also noticed the vehicle license plates which are something like CTX 98 which is a nod to the original name of the attraction (Countdown to Extinction) and AK's opening year.
Before long we were off to meet the dinosaurs. I remember the first time we ever rode Dinosaur I was so scared that I had my eyes closed the whole time...well, I've gotten a bit braver but I still cannot look at that big one that pops out at the end. It freaks me out!
After our ride we took a look at all the pictures which are always hilarious. It's so funny how some of the "veteran" riders will pose but most people look terrified. 
Love it!
While we were in Dinoland we decided to check out Primeval Whirl. The wait was posted at 20 minutes and they only had one side operating. We didn't feel like waiting so instead we headed back to Asia to use our fastpasses for Expedition Everest. Again it was another great ride.
After Everest, Dad wanted to see the tigers so we took a quick stroll through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Sadly we didn't get to see too many animals. Maybe it was too hot? If that was the case I don't blame the animals...it was pretty humid out. There was a fan near one of the viewing locations that I stood in front of for a little bit. Luckily, we did spot a couple of tigers. But even they were just lounging in the shade.
By that time we were ready for lunch. We ended up going to Restaurantosaurus (NOT Flame Tree BBQ as I originally had written...oops!) which was a first for us. In all our trips to WDW it just seems like we don't eat there a lot since we've gone in the afternoon a lot. Anyways, we just got some burgers. It was nice to sit in the air conditioning for a while! As we were eating, some lady came up to our table and offered us one of those little chocolate cakes. They must've been on the dining plan and couldn't eat all of their food. We gladly accepted (it's kind of funny because I saw them on the menu and thought they looked really good...plus they were so cute with the little Mickey sprinkles, hehe!) and thanked the lady for giving it to us. We all split the cake and it was really good. Very rich, which was probably why they couldn't eat both of them. But it just kind of verified why we don't bother with the dining plan. I know so many people seem to think it's a great deal but geez, what do you do with all those credits?! Definitely not for us.
After our lunch we headed over to Camp Minnie Mickey to see Festival of the Lion King. This is probably one of my favorite shows in Disney World...I gained a new appreciation for it when we saw it a couple years ago. I love the energy and the music is great too. Before the show started one of the "camp counselors" went around to all the sections and led everyone in the hand jive which was fun. Then we were assigned our section (we were the in the lion section). I got a kick out of the people they picked to imitate all of the animal sounds.
The girl chosen for the giraffe section had no clue what to do and who could really blame her?!
And some more pictures taken from the show:
King Simba.
Side note: All of the 4 main people in the show introduced themselves and said what their names meant in Swahili. The younger guy said his name meant "Good-looking." hehe
Just as expected it was a spectacular show. It's also so cute how they have some of the kids come out at the end during one of the songs. I am such a sucker for anything involving the kiddos.
There was one little kid in a wheelchair who they picked and one of the performers walked her around. I can't imagine how her parents must've felt. So sweet!
We ended our Animal Kingdom day by taking the train back to Rafiki's Planet Watch. The last time we did that we were kind of rushed since we wanted to see the Nemo show...luckily this time we'd be able to explore a little more. One of the neat things about the train ride is getting to see some of the "backstage" parts of the AK, like the animal barns. When we got to RPW it started to drizzle a little bit. We made our way inside to explore some of the exhibits they have. There was an animal keeper out with a parrot. The parrot was so cute...the trainer had it talking and nodding its head. Emma got her picture taken with them:
There was also a neat exhibit where you could control some of the cameras that they have at various locations around the park, like on the safari, in some of the animal barns, and on some of the trails. It was funny because there was one on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and when you moved the camera around you could sometimes see people crossing the bridge. So that was kind of fun. They also had various different insects which was kind of creepy...eww. If you've never been to Rafiki's Planet Watch before it's worth a visit.
After spending some time there we took the train back to Africa and said good-bye to the Animal Kingdom. We had gotten fastpasses for Kali River Rapids at some point but decided not to use them despite the heat. Oh well. On the way out, I saw this guy pushing a stroller. The little boy in the stroller said "Are we going home now?" The dad said that they were and the little boy said "Awww but we were having so much fun!" Dad and I got a kick out of that...it's not too often you actually hear a kid say that...it seems you usually hear the over-tired kids! haha
Farewell, Animal Kingdom!
up next: Our Hollywood Studios "finale"
After our great safari ride it was off to Dinoland USA for Dinosaur. Dinosaur is one of those rides that I always get a little nervous before riding...maybe it's those huge dinos that pop out at you! But at the same time there's no way we can skip it. When we got to the ride building it was not crowded at all. There were only a handful of people in front of us and we only had to wait a couple of minutes before going into the preshow. Once we were granted access to go back in time we were ready to board our time rovers. There was another bit of trivia I looked for as we headed to the loading area: there are some red, yellow, and white pipes and on them are some chemical formulas. What are those chemical formulas exactly? Ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise! haha I also noticed the vehicle license plates which are something like CTX 98 which is a nod to the original name of the attraction (Countdown to Extinction) and AK's opening year.
Before long we were off to meet the dinosaurs. I remember the first time we ever rode Dinosaur I was so scared that I had my eyes closed the whole time...well, I've gotten a bit braver but I still cannot look at that big one that pops out at the end. It freaks me out!
After our ride we took a look at all the pictures which are always hilarious. It's so funny how some of the "veteran" riders will pose but most people look terrified. Love it! While we were in Dinoland we decided to check out Primeval Whirl. The wait was posted at 20 minutes and they only had one side operating. We didn't feel like waiting so instead we headed back to Asia to use our fastpasses for Expedition Everest. Again it was another great ride.
After Everest, Dad wanted to see the tigers so we took a quick stroll through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Sadly we didn't get to see too many animals. Maybe it was too hot? If that was the case I don't blame the animals...it was pretty humid out. There was a fan near one of the viewing locations that I stood in front of for a little bit. Luckily, we did spot a couple of tigers. But even they were just lounging in the shade.
By that time we were ready for lunch. We ended up going to Restaurantosaurus (NOT Flame Tree BBQ as I originally had written...oops!) which was a first for us. In all our trips to WDW it just seems like we don't eat there a lot since we've gone in the afternoon a lot. Anyways, we just got some burgers. It was nice to sit in the air conditioning for a while! As we were eating, some lady came up to our table and offered us one of those little chocolate cakes. They must've been on the dining plan and couldn't eat all of their food. We gladly accepted (it's kind of funny because I saw them on the menu and thought they looked really good...plus they were so cute with the little Mickey sprinkles, hehe!) and thanked the lady for giving it to us. We all split the cake and it was really good. Very rich, which was probably why they couldn't eat both of them. But it just kind of verified why we don't bother with the dining plan. I know so many people seem to think it's a great deal but geez, what do you do with all those credits?! Definitely not for us.
After our lunch we headed over to Camp Minnie Mickey to see Festival of the Lion King. This is probably one of my favorite shows in Disney World...I gained a new appreciation for it when we saw it a couple years ago. I love the energy and the music is great too. Before the show started one of the "camp counselors" went around to all the sections and led everyone in the hand jive which was fun. Then we were assigned our section (we were the in the lion section). I got a kick out of the people they picked to imitate all of the animal sounds.
The girl chosen for the giraffe section had no clue what to do and who could really blame her?!
And some more pictures taken from the show:
King Simba.
Side note: All of the 4 main people in the show introduced themselves and said what their names meant in Swahili. The younger guy said his name meant "Good-looking." hehe
Just as expected it was a spectacular show. It's also so cute how they have some of the kids come out at the end during one of the songs. I am such a sucker for anything involving the kiddos.
There was one little kid in a wheelchair who they picked and one of the performers walked her around. I can't imagine how her parents must've felt. So sweet!We ended our Animal Kingdom day by taking the train back to Rafiki's Planet Watch. The last time we did that we were kind of rushed since we wanted to see the Nemo show...luckily this time we'd be able to explore a little more. One of the neat things about the train ride is getting to see some of the "backstage" parts of the AK, like the animal barns. When we got to RPW it started to drizzle a little bit. We made our way inside to explore some of the exhibits they have. There was an animal keeper out with a parrot. The parrot was so cute...the trainer had it talking and nodding its head. Emma got her picture taken with them:
There was also a neat exhibit where you could control some of the cameras that they have at various locations around the park, like on the safari, in some of the animal barns, and on some of the trails. It was funny because there was one on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and when you moved the camera around you could sometimes see people crossing the bridge. So that was kind of fun. They also had various different insects which was kind of creepy...eww. If you've never been to Rafiki's Planet Watch before it's worth a visit.
After spending some time there we took the train back to Africa and said good-bye to the Animal Kingdom. We had gotten fastpasses for Kali River Rapids at some point but decided not to use them despite the heat. Oh well. On the way out, I saw this guy pushing a stroller. The little boy in the stroller said "Are we going home now?" The dad said that they were and the little boy said "Awww but we were having so much fun!" Dad and I got a kick out of that...it's not too often you actually hear a kid say that...it seems you usually hear the over-tired kids! haha
Farewell, Animal Kingdom!
up next: Our Hollywood Studios "finale"
So Tammy, I don't know if you're still reading this but I'm still kinda bummed we never got to meet up. Hopefully on a future trip!! One of these days I'll meet a fellow DISer...
hehe
There were two girls in particular who were really getting on my nerves. The one girl (I think it was her birthday because she was wearing a crown and sash...) parked herself right in the middle of a row and refused to move even when one of the CMs told everyone they had to move. The other girl and her family did the same thing but did end up moving. Needless to say she was not happy about that and I made some comment about how the birthday girl still wasn't moving and girl #2 snapped at me and said "EXACTLY!" like she thought that because the one girl didn't move she didn't have to. Ummmm...ok. I guess we had such horrible seats and you can only see if you're directly in front of the stage. UGH you have no idea how much I wanted to tell her off. LOL! Sorry for that rant...anyway, moving on to the show.
Maybe it wasn't that bad and they were just trying to get people to stay away since it was getting close to closing but we didn't feel like waiting to find out. So instead we decided to call it a night.
