How the Other Half Lives ~ Updated 10/22: I Forgot Something!

[Dugette]

After the last MVMCP, they start doing most of the party stuff everyday. This takes the place of the 3pm parade. You don't get the free cookies or all the fun character meets, but we were able to see the parade, this stage show, snow, and Holiday Wishes without paying for more tickets this way. They do the televised parade earlier in the month.

Well, that's cool that you got to see all the stuff during that time!

Great update! Love the pic of you together on Main Street. The window display pics are great, too. I never thought to try to take them at night. All my daytime pics look terrible with the glare from the sun. Yours' are MUCH better! The lava/freezing weather one was too funny.

Thanks on the pic. Yeah, we didn't have any choice on the window displays, since we only had a chance to take pics late at night. Love the lava/cold irony!

 

[Dugette]

Sorry for the delay. Dug has been out of town and at workshops, so we hadn't had the time together to make a new trailer...until today! Click on the image below for the video and enjoy!

 

[rachel09985]

I am really enjoying your trip report!! You are a great storyteller. We were there as well in December last year so it is bring back great memories.

 

[jc040404]

Love the trailer! Andrew said it was "scary" though.. haha.. Can't wait to read about it!

 

[Dugette]

I am really enjoying your trip report!! You are a great storyteller. We were there as well in December last year so it is bring back great memories.

fellow Minnesotan! Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Cool that you were there last December too! Did you overlap with us?

Love the trailer! Andrew said it was "scary" though.. haha.. Can't wait to read about it!

Thanks, I'm rather fond of this one! Andrew must have picked up on the fact that we used the "supernatural" template in iMovie to make this trailer! Who knew DeVine and an owl could be so scary?!

 

[407-W-DISNEY]

Great job with the trailer!!

 

[Dugette]

Great job with the trailer!!

Thank you!

 

[Dugette]

Weather for this day: High 48 degrees and Low 35 degrees. No rain. Just cold!

Today was an early Extra Magic Hour at Animal Kingdom. We woke up a bit later than we wanted to, but got going pretty early, nonetheless. Because of a late brunch ADR planned for Boma, we skipped breakfast in the Club Lounge and just grabbed a few things to go from the lounge: a banana, maybe a couple pastries (can’t remember), and some hot drinks. Dug had also grabbed some granola bars that we’d brought with from home. Dug had a half mocha/half hot cocoa and did not think it was that good. I had a hot chocolate, but downed it quickly before getting on the waiting bus. We arrived at Animal Kingdom around 7:30am.

The AK Christmas tree:

There were not a lot of people at AK rope drop this chilly morning. The small crowd of us all shivered as we waited for the rope drop show. Soon, Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto showed up:

We split up at rope drop. I hustled over to Expedition Everest so that I could obtain Fast Passes for us. Dug meandered his way over to Dinosaur, where we would meet and ride. He took some pics on the way:

Love the dino wearing a Santa hat!

Meanwhile, I was having my own adventure. I could not get any Fast Passes out of the Expedition Everest machines. Nobody could. It was so cold that they were frozen! No kidding! Instead, the attendant just gave me two FPs. Knowing that our APs were not linked to these FPs, I knew we could get more FPs right away…cool!

I made my way over to Dinosaur and marveled at how totally empty the park was! I have video of me walking across the park with nobody at all around! Crazy. It felt almost like the park was still closed.

We decided to get FPs for Dinosaur, since we could. Put our APs in and, again, no Fast Passes! The attendant told us that the machines were frozen and gave me two FPs! She also mentioned that AK has the oldest FP machines in WDW, which is why they cease to function in the cold. So, tip time: If you have a cold morning (probably less than 40 degrees) during your trip, go to AK and stock up on Fast Passes! Jackpot!

Since we were there, we decided to hop on Dinosaur. I was almost attacked in the queue area:

There were scientific exhibits:

We had time to take these pictures because there was literally nobody else at Dinosaur. Indeed, we had our very own Time Rover:

Since we literally had our own vehicle and there were not even people in other vehicles, we figured this was our one chance to take pictures and video on the ride without disturbing anyone (except maybe the dinos, of course). So, we did just that:

At this point, Dug decided it was getting too bumpy and put his camera away. Also, something had fallen out of Dug’s pocket during the bumps. He held it with his foot, as he was worried it was some electronic item or something. Turns out it was just a granola bar!

You can see how empty it was here:

More dino bones on the way out, I guess:

Up next: Dinoland. All by ourselves. Alone with the dinosaurs. In the cold.

 

[jc040404]

What an awesome morning to be at AK! I'm loving all the extra FPs you were able to get. Did they check out your APs, or just hand 'em over? I could see myself sending dh through the lines after me if this happened with a ride we love.

The empty park is awesome. I can't wait to see how long this lasts. The empty Dinosaur ride pics were great!

 

[Dugette]

What an awesome morning to be at AK! I'm loving all the extra FPs you were able to get. Did they check out your APs, or just hand 'em over? I could see myself sending dh through the lines after me if this happened with a ride we love.

The empty park is awesome. I can't wait to see how long this lasts. The empty Dinosaur ride pics were great!

They didn't check APs or anything for the FP...just asked how many we needed. Probably could have asked for more than two if we'd wanted...

More empty park coming up next!

 

[Dugette]

On the way out of Dinosaur, Dug took a pic of one of my favorite bits of Imagineering:

I love that Mr. Potato Head is eating a Mickey bar!

We also noticed this hanging from the ceiling:

As we emerged into Dinoland, we saw that it was deserted. Since it was empty, we decided to give Primeval Whirl another chance:

We’d ridden this once on a past trip and really disliked it! However, we figured maybe that was just a fluke. After all, it had been raining, we’d been squished in a vehicle with two strangers, and we’d just seen a girl take a scary spill while disembarking. So, maybe the ride was more fun than we thought? Why not give it another “whirl”?

This time, there were no scary falls, no rain, and we had our own car. You can see how thrilled I was:

The ride:

Well, guess what? We still hated this. Maybe not as much as the first time, but it still wasn’t our thing. Probably doesn’t help that I don’t like tilt-a-whirl-type spinning much.

The walk out:

Somewhere, I’d read/heard that the exit signs on this ride are well-themed. They are painted on old license plates:

Look how empty the place is (again, I look thrilled to be standing in the cold next to Primeval Whirl ):

Since we still pretty much had the place to ourselves, why not hop on Triceratop Spin? Dug described the ride as, “Like Dumbo but without anything interesting to look at.” Yes, no Fantasyland Expansion happening here!

The empty Triceratops:

Before heading out, Dug got some cool pics of signs in the area:

We also took some fun pics on the way out of Dinoland:

Did you know that giant Dinosaurs have udders?!

We decided to make our way back over to Everest to acquire more FPs. On the way, we took a pic of me dressed appropriately for standing in front of a snow-capped mountain:

More scenery pics:

We decided to send Dug through the FP line, in case they recognized me (since I’d gotten those FP not too long ago). He got us two more, not attached to our APs, as the machines were still frozen. Nice!

We headed over to do the Safari next. Since we could, we grabbed some FP for it too. The machines actually worked this time, so our Fast Pass run came to an end! Oh, well, not too shabby for an early morning collection spree!

Up next: a safari, a snack, an expedition, and more!

 

[jc040404]

I love that Mr. Potato Head is eating a Mickey bar!

Sometimes reading TRs makes me feel like I must be walking around WDW with my eyes closed. I miss so much. That was adorable! Love all your pics!

We decided to send Dug through the FP line, in case they recognized me (since I’d gotten those FP not too long ago).

Genius! You had an awesome run of FP collecting this morning! Loved it!

 

[MeMom]

Nice picture.
That's a rare one, I would think.

I am amused at the people who get so upset about Dinoland's 'tackiness'. It is so perfect for what it is meant to be, if they know the story behind it. Also, Restaurantosaurus is becoming more and more a family favorite. We were pretty much married to Flame Tree, and although it still lures us in with its wonderful aromas, I do think the quality has gone down there in the past couple of years. We are fans of Pizzafari, too, but that old shack-type restaurant in Dinoland is definitely getting its points with our group these days. The fixins bar and being able to refill our own drinks are two perks we enjoy.

 

[Dugette]

Sometimes reading TRs makes me feel like I must be walking around WDW with my eyes closed. I miss so much. That was adorable! Love all your pics!

I feel the same way reading your TR. It's funny how different people (in different circumstances) notice such different things. So much to see!

Genius! You had an awesome run of FP collecting this morning! Loved it!

It was pretty cool. In one of the next updates, I should have a cool picture of our FP collection coming up.

Nice picture.
That's a rare one, I would think.

Hey, there! Yeah, I bet it is pretty rare! I'm trying to remember if there was ANYONE on that ride with us at all...and I'm thinking maybe not?

I am amused at the people who get so upset about Dinoland's 'tackiness'. It is so perfect for what it is meant to be, if they know the story behind it. Also, Restaurantosaurus is becoming more and more a family favorite. We were pretty much married to Flame Tree, and although it still lures us in with its wonderful aromas, I do think the quality has gone down there in the past couple of years. We are fans of Pizzafari, too, but that old shack-type restaurant in Dinoland is definitely getting its points with our group these days. The fixins bar and being able to refill our own drinks are two perks we enjoy.

You know, Dinoland is not my favorite of places, but once I learned about the backstory/theming, it made a lot more sense. And, as with the rest of AK, they did a great job of theming and little details. Same thing with Restaurantosaurus...we haven't eaten there, but we've wandered through just to check out the theming and details. The park being so empty this particular morning also helped to give us a nice chance to look around and notice some of the little details in the Dinoland area.

 

[Dugette]

We got on the Safari quickly and enjoyed many animals:

We found ourselves getting quite hungry as we walked past Tamu Tamu. Boma was coming up, but we needed a snack to tide us over. Tamu Tamu had Ham, Egg, & Cheese Bagel Sandwiches, so we got one:

(Notice Dug’s artistic shot. He took so many pics of this sandwich and I was just dying to bite into it!)

We took some pics with the scenery:

The mountain awaits:

There were hardly any people there, so we did not even use our two sets of Fast Passes, just got in the standby line. Such a cool queue:

Had a good ride on Everest and even caught a glimpse of the yeti!

At this point, Dug was ready for a warm drink. He went over to the Anandapur Tea Company and got a huge vanilla tea:

He said it was good, but super hot, so he had to drink it in tiny sips.

While he did that, I went to go collect another set of Safari Fast Passes, since our window had come up. On my way, I ran into a couple cool things: a Great Horned Owl and DeVine. I stopped for a few minutes to watch the owl demo and got a very close-up view of Twister the Owl. Next, I ran into DeVine with almost nobody around. It was pretty much me following DeVine around with my video camera. Pretty cool. Here’s some video of both encounters, if you’d like to see (about 3 minutes):



After this, I collected the Safari Fast Passes, met up with Dug, and we headed for the bus stops. When we got there, we saw a bus at the first stop (I think it was the stop that said AKL on it, but the bus said something else). We went over and asked if it was going to AKL. Sure enough! We hopped on and got what I think was a private bus ride.

Up next: Brunch at Boma! Yummy!

 

[Dugette]

We relaxed on the bus ride over to AKL. Nice to be out of the cold! First stop was Kidani. When our bus was ready to leave Kidani, we couldn’t, because we were wedged in between two buses. One had pulled up behind us and the one in front of us was unloading an ECV.

We waited. And waited. And waited some more. Time was ticking away and we wanted to make sure we got there before 11am, as that’s the end of the breakfast ADRs at Boma (our ADR was 10:55am). Just as Dug was going to ask the bus driver when we’d get over to Jambo House, the bus in front of us pulled away.

Once we got to Jambo, we power-walked our way to Boma and made it in time! Dug asked the person checking us in if there was any way to charge his dying iPhone and back-up battery. Sure enough, they were happy to charge it at the front desk. Nice!

We were seated and took a quick pic of the ceiling:

Love the atmosphere! But, more importantly, the food! We made our way up for our first rounds of yummy-ness!

This one was my first plate. It had a pancake and sausage (so I could make a pig in a blanket), some breakfast potatoes, the amazing scrambled eggs with goat cheese, I think that one in the lower left is the Bobotie, and a biscuit:

We also did the made-to-order omelets. I think mine is veggies and cheese (because I didn’t realize that meats were an option):

We, of course, got some of the yummy Frunch juice:

We also confirmed that this is the same juice (passion fruit orange guava) that is served at Kona and in the Poly Club Lounge. Yum!

Here’s Dug’s first plate:

I couldn’t really tell you what’s on it, but I’m sure he enjoyed it. He also had an omelet (meat, veggie, cheese of some sort, I’m sure):

Here’s my second plate:

I got some of their yummy strawberry banana yogurt, some sort of baked good in the back, a chocolate croissant, and a regular croissant.

Looks like Dug got some fruit:

This picture looks gross, but I’m pretty sure this was Dug’s quinoa porridge, covered in brown sugar:

Then Dug apparently got a plate full of meat:

I was getting full, but decided to get a couple more “light” things. Got some oatmeal with brown sugar and some more of the yummy yogurt:

We also took this opportunity to document our stash of Fast Passes:

Here’s a look around the restaurant:

After we had finished up our meal, we retrieved Dug’s iPhone and battery from the front desk. Turns out that the phone had charged, but the back-up battery had not. Oh, well. We wandered around the lodge for a bit after that:

We were pretty tired, after our busy morning of FP collecting and all, so we were happy to find the perfect place to take a little snooze. As you can see, the lady on the left had already set the tone:

There was a nice, cushy bench surrounding this area, so we grabbed one end and took a rest. Well, Dug found a nearby outlet and plugged in the back-up phone battery too. Then we rested. I was so tired that I laid down on the bench. We’re classy, I tell ya! Who chills in the Delta Sky Club, stays in the Hawaii building, has a personal concierge, has appetizers and drinks in the Club Lounge, AND lays down to take a nap (while borrowing their outlets for charging) in the lobby of a totally different resort than the one we’re staying at? Us, that’s who!

Dug didn’t sleep very well, as he was paranoid that someone was going to take his battery-charger thing. I was out, though. I was so tired I didn’t care if I was sleeping in a public lobby. Others were already doing it, right? And Len, from the WDW Today podcast we listen to, has talked about how much he likes taking naps on the couches in the Grand Floridian lobby, so it’s okay, right? It’s tough when your plans don’t allow you to get back to your resort and you’re exhausted. If only AKL would lend us a room or something…

Anyway, after we got a bit of rest, it was time to head back to Animal Kingdom. We took some pics of cool things in the lobby on our way out:

Up next: Time to cash in the Fast Passes!

 

[407-W-DISNEY]

Yeah - great update!
Haven't made it to Boma yet, but I have heard good things...we love walking around AKL...it's so neat.

Glad you got to take a nap in the lobby! I would have!!

good score on all the FP's...and good to know they dont work when its cold out...although, I hope next time I am there it's not as cold out as it was for your guys

 

[jc040404]

Love the FP stash! The arty shot of the AK sandwich was worth waiting a for a few shots, IMO. Looked awesome!

Boma looks nice. I keep forgetting about that one. Loved that you took a nap in the lobby.. With the borrowed outlet, of course! That was great.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Love that you took a nap in the AKL storytelling area LOL!


You guys look so frigid. Want a contrast to the average WDW trip

 

[Dugette]

Yeah - great update!
Haven't made it to Boma yet, but I have heard good things...we love walking around AKL...it's so neat.

Glad you got to take a nap in the lobby! I would have!!

good score on all the FP's...and good to know they dont work when its cold out...although, I hope next time I am there it's not as cold out as it was for your guys

We love Boma, definitely try it out if you get the chance. We've had two breakfasts there and one dinner and all were great. Food and atmosphere are so nice! We also love walking around AKL...it's such a nice place. We stayed there for a few days on our June 2010 trip and would love to stay there again someday! I'm glad someone else would have lobby-napped! As for the cold, I hope it's never that cold when we are in WDW again, either!

Love the FP stash! The arty shot of the AK sandwich was worth waiting a for a few shots, IMO. Looked awesome!

Boma looks nice. I keep forgetting about that one. Loved that you took a nap in the lobby.. With the borrowed outlet, of course! That was great.

I'm glad you enjoyed the fancy sandwich picture! We have like 10 of them, from different angles with different lighting! I was just getting so hungry watching the sandwich finish it's photo shoot! Glad you also approve of our nap. WDW is so tiring and when you can't get back to your bed for a break, well, you do the best you can...

Love that you took a nap in the AKL storytelling area LOL!

You guys look so frigid. Want a contrast to the average WDW trip

So that's the storytelling area? Who knew? I guess it's also a good nap area in the off times. Love that the other lady was already there taking a nap...she was there the whole time we were, sound asleep!

I still can't believe I was in Florida wearing my winter jacket, hat, scarf, and gloves...I rarely wear all that at home in Minnesota! (then again, I also don't spend the whole day outside when it's cold here)