I Can't See a Thing and Tiger Lady, Oh My! A Nov Mother & Daughter TR Update 5/7

[campinggal]

Thanks!


Glad you found my TR! How exciting that you will be surprising your daughter with the Trek. So how are you going to tell her? Ahead of time or just surprise her on the day of? I told Mom ahead of time because I wanted it to be her birthday present and her birthday was before our trip.

As for the zoom on my camera, no idea! I just have a little point and shoot. It's a Canon Power Shot SD1300IS if that helps you any. I've found it does great in the day time but not so good at night.

Good question on the 'how to tell her'...I'm trying to figure that out. She is actually turning 16 on the Monday after our Trek so the surprise will come before the birthday. I'll probably do something little ahead of time as she is one who likes to enjoy the anticipation of an event rather than just 'bam...surprise...event...done'. I almost slipped and showed her your pictures when I found them. I think I will at some point when I tell her- might do it on as a 'one month from today you will be...' kind of thing.

Thanks for the camera info- totally helps out my question about zoom!

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip. Thanks again!

 

[Pluto0809]

Good question on the 'how to tell her'...I'm trying to figure that out. She is actually turning 16 on the Monday after our Trek so the surprise will come before the birthday. I'll probably do something little ahead of time as she is one who likes to enjoy the anticipation of an event rather than just 'bam...surprise...event...done'. I almost slipped and showed her your pictures when I found them. I think I will at some point when I tell her- might do it on as a 'one month from today you will be...' kind of thing.

Thanks for the camera info- totally helps out my question about zoom!

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip. Thanks again!

I'm sure that however you tell her she will be excited! I had a blast putting the scrapbook together for Mom. It took a lot of time though because I'm not that creative. Plus finding stickers and other stuff with Hippos and Crocodiles was not the easiest.

I'm going to try to get an update done this morning as long as Photo Bucket is cooperating.

 

[Pluto0809]

After we left the Savanna area with the Giraffes, we stopped for a while in front of the Elephants. Both babies were out. My pictures:

Guides:

Love these trees; I always end up with pictures of them:

The little male was “playing” with a big rock. It was so cute and I managed to get a pretty good picture:

And one the Guides took:

Elephant butt!

We then drove to the Boma to have our snack.

While we were waiting for the guides to get set up, I took a few pictures of our view. Flamingos:

We could see the elephants:

Looking the other way towards the Savanna. Unfortunately, the Giraffes were pretty far away the whole time we were at the Boma.

Continued in next post.

 

[Pluto0809]

Then we sat down at the tables for our snack.

The tables were for four people so we sat with another couple, Brenda and Rich. We actually ran into them two more times later in the week!

When I booked the tour, I cheated a little and said that I was allergic to seafood. I really don’t like Salmon and that was the only way to get the meal without it. Here’s my bucket with the special tag:

The top of the bucket:

The top item was a fruit salad. I’m not big on melon but oh my gosh this was the best fruit salad I have ever eaten. I don’t know what they put on it but it was so good I ate every bite of mine plus half of Mom’s. She liked it too but gave me hers because I wasn’t eating much.

Next to the fruit salad was a yogurt with granola and dried fruit. I tried it but didn’t like either the texture or flavor.

The bottom one was cheese and dried apricots. I actually ate this. I can’t remember what kind of cheese it was but it was pretty mild.

The orchid was also edible and I tasted it. It didn’t have any flavor at all.

Here’s the bottom of mine:

And here’s Mom’s

The top item was Bruchetta. I put some on one of the pieces of bread but didn’t eat much. It was a bit too strong and I have to watch how much pork I eat. It’s another one of the foods that bothers my digestive system. I did finish off all of the bread since I wasn’t eating much out of the bucket.

The bottom one reminded me of an energy bar and was made with Dates. I barely got through the bite I tried. The texture was just too weird for me. I’m not even sure how it tasted!

The last dish was the only thing that was different between the two buckets. I had turkey pinwheels and Mom had Salmon pinwheels over (I think) a cucumber salad. I loved the turkey pinwheels and ate every bite. I think they were rolled with a mild cheese but I couldn’t taste it at all. Mom liked her salmon ones as salmon is one of her favorite dishes.

Mom was also fascinated by the little wooden spoons they gave you to eat with. She wanted to take it with her but the guide said they wash and reuse them.

We also got the special jungle juice to drink:

I was really looking forward to trying this as I’d read so many good things about it in other TRs. I was kind of disappointed because while I liked it, I wasn’t blown away.

While we were sitting there eating, we had a small visitor.

When we finished eating, we had a few minutes to look around. I didn’t take many more pictures because the animals were so far away.

One more Giraffe with lots of zoom:

We did some animal watching with the binoculars:

And the guides took some pictures of Mom and I:

There was also another walkway where you could go and see the Lions and the Rhinos. One of the guides walked down and said there were no animals out so Mom and I didn’t walk down.

Continued in next post.

 

[Pluto0809]

Once everyone was done eating, we loaded back up into the truck and left the Boma area. We passed by the Flamingos:

We stopped for a few minutes at the Cheetahs. They were pretty far away and my pictures did not come out well:

but the guides got a good one:

The next stop was by the Lions. They were pretty far away as usual and I didn’t get very good pictures. Here’s the best:

The Guides did a little better.

We drove by the Ostriches:

When we got to the zebras, we pulled over again and watched them for a while. I got one picture in:

And then my camera battery died. I had another one but unfortunately it was back in our locker. But the guides took a lot of photos:

After the zebras, the truck dropped us off on the opposite side of the road from where the Safari trucks unload. We walked back to the area we first started and stopped for one more group picture with both of the Stephanie’s.

At that time, we had a chance to decide which animal we would like part of our tour fee to be donated to. I picked Elephants and Mom picked White Rhinos. We got a special pin for donating that is only given to people on the WAT.

I went back up and got our stuff from the locker and then the guides lead us back out to Tusker House. We were done with the tour right at 11 am.

We both loved WAT. It was a really awesome, once in a lifetime experience especially since we are animal lovers. We really want to do the Trek every time we go to Disney!

Up next: The rest of Animal Kingdom

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Love reading about, and seeing the pictures from, the rest of your WAT!

The elephants were adorable! I love the babies, I got a lot of pictures of them this trip.

I really liked most of what you didn't like of the snack at the Boma. I loved the fruit salad like you, as well as the yogurt/granola mix and date bar. I wish I had asked for no seafood as I'm not a fan of salmon. I wish it was cucumber salad under it, as I would have eaten that. It is actually pickled jicama. I like jicama, but not pickled.

You should have walked down to the other end of the Boma to check out the animals! The lions are viewable from there, and since they were out you would have been able to see them from there. Unless they just came out between you leaving the Boma and getting over there We were lucky as we had several White Rhinos and Ostriches right there at the other end that we got great pics of, and the Lioness was out too.

So glad you both enjoyed it! I definitely plan on doing it again one day, it was so much fun.

 

[KatMark]

Wow...you are making this decision of mine very hard (dolphins v. Trek). Great shots by both you and the guides...especially the elephants. If I show Mark those pictures of the elephants, I know what decision he would go with.

I'm not sure I'd each much of anything out of your snack. I don't do yogurt or date or apricots. I am a very, very picky eater. But I'd drink lots of the juice and then I'd have to be using the facilities.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day at AK.

Oh, and how much was the Trek? Do you remember?

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Wow...you are making this decision of mine very hard (dolphins v. Trek). Great shots by both you and the guides...especially the elephants. If I show Mark those pictures of the elephants, I know what decision he would go with.

I'm not sure I'd each much of anything out of your snack. I don't do yogurt or date or apricots. I am a very, very picky eater. But I'd drink lots of the juice and then I'd have to be using the facilities.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day at AK.

Oh, and how much was the Trek? Do you remember?

I can answer the price question, it's $189 per person, though they were giving a discount of $50 off per person if you booked a tour later in the day (which also means different food since they have breakfast like Ariana's, or lunch, which you can look up). Don't know if they are still doing the discount or not.

Oh, and I don't think Ariana mentioned it but there are bathrooms at the Boma too, so drinking lots of the juice isn't a problem!

 

[katt789]

Eeee!! Elephants, the babies are SOOO CUUTTEEE. I love them, adorbs, especially playing with the rock! Ah! Good picture of you and Mom from the guide! Yay!

The meals look super interesting, not at all what I expected, but definitely fits into the “African” feel of everything. I have to say it does look tasty, but I’d want to sub out the pork stuff for some of the turkey & salmon, baha! I LOVE THE JUNGLE JUICE!! If it’s the same as Tusker House, I can only ever handle one glass of it though, haha. Those spoons are awesome!

Ah! Pictures of the cheetahs! EVERYTIME I try, but they’re either too far away, or we’re moving too fast so I don’t get a picture at all.

The Trek seems like an awesome way to spend a morning over in AK. How long was it all in total? I feel like even after the tour you still have so much time to do stuff at AK. That’s my big problem with so many of the MK/4 Parks tours, they go so long that there isn’t enough time to do stuff after! The next trip I plan WILL include a tour though, made that goal now!!

 

[Pluto0809]

Love reading about, and seeing the pictures from, the rest of your WAT!

The elephants were adorable! I love the babies, I got a lot of pictures of them this trip.

I really liked most of what you didn't like of the snack at the Boma. I loved the fruit salad like you, as well as the yogurt/granola mix and date bar. I wish I had asked for no seafood as I'm not a fan of salmon. I wish it was cucumber salad under it, as I would have eaten that. It is actually pickled jicama. I like jicama, but not pickled.

You should have walked down to the other end of the Boma to check out the animals! The lions are viewable from there, and since they were out you would have been able to see them from there. Unless they just came out between you leaving the Boma and getting over there We were lucky as we had several White Rhinos and Ostriches right there at the other end that we got great pics of, and the Lioness was out too.

So glad you both enjoyed it! I definitely plan on doing it again one day, it was so much fun.

I'm sure that most people liked the food on the Trek, Mom ate most of her's. I'm just too picky but at least I tried everything! Thanks for clearing up what was in the buckets. I am so bad at remembering those things. At one point I think I had "Date thingies" written in the TR. I may be calling on you later because I have more animal pictures without names!

Elephants have always been one of my favorite animals so I really enjoyed sitting and watching them for a while.

I probably should have walked down to the other end but they don't give you much time at the Boma! Several people did walk down there and came right back saying there was nothing to see. I guess there were just no animals out that morning in that area.

Wow...you are making this decision of mine very hard (dolphins v. Trek). Great shots by both you and the guides...especially the elephants. If I show Mark those pictures of the elephants, I know what decision he would go with.

I'm not sure I'd each much of anything out of your snack. I don't do yogurt or date or apricots. I am a very, very picky eater. But I'd drink lots of the juice and then I'd have to be using the facilities.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day at AK.

Oh, and how much was the Trek? Do you remember?

Good luck making that decision!

I think Stephanie answered all your questions (thanks!). I loved the elephants so much! It was really nice to get to sit and watch them for a while rather than the normal 30 seconds you get on the Safari.

And I can't believe I forgot to mention the bathroom at the Boma! Not having access to a bathroom for three hours was something I was worried about on the Trek. I'm pretty sure I asked Stephanie if there was one when she was writing her TR! Once you leave the Boma, I don't think it was more than 30 to 45 minutes before we were finished.

I can answer the price question, it's $189 per person, though they were giving a discount of $50 off per person if you booked a tour later in the day (which also means different food since they have breakfast like Ariana's, or lunch, which you can look up). Don't know if they are still doing the discount or not.

Oh, and I don't think Ariana mentioned it but there are bathrooms at the Boma too, so drinking lots of the juice isn't a problem!

Yep, totally forgot about the bathrooms! Probably because I didn't use them. Thanks for answering Kathy's questions.

Eeee!! Elephants, the babies are SOOO CUUTTEEE. I love them, adorbs, especially playing with the rock! Ah! Good picture of you and Mom from the guide! Yay!

The meals look super interesting, not at all what I expected, but definitely fits into the African feel of everything. I have to say it does look tasty, but Id want to sub out the pork stuff for some of the turkey & salmon, baha! I LOVE THE JUNGLE JUICE!! If its the same as Tusker House, I can only ever handle one glass of it though, haha. Those spoons are awesome!

Ah! Pictures of the cheetahs! EVERYTIME I try, but theyre either too far away, or were moving too fast so I dont get a picture at all.

The Trek seems like an awesome way to spend a morning over in AK. How long was it all in total? I feel like even after the tour you still have so much time to do stuff at AK. Thats my big problem with so many of the MK/4 Parks tours, they go so long that there isnt enough time to do stuff after! The next trip I plan WILL include a tour though, made that goal now!!

The Elephants were my favorite part, I love them!

The food was interesting. I wish you could do more subbing but they only do special meals for allergies. That's why I had to fib a little to get the turkey instead of salmon.

I've never eaten at Tusker House but I'm pretty sure it's the same juice, think I read that somewhere.

Those spoons were so cute. Mom wanted to keep hers so bad! The guides told her that they don't count them so I wouldn't be surprised if it somehow made it into her pocket. I wasn't going to ask!

It is hard to get those Cheetahs. I'm so glad the guides got a good picture.

The tour was a total of 3 hours. We started at 8 am which was actually an hour before the park opened and finished right at 11 am. Not too bad, we only lost two hours of park time.

 

[Pluto0809]

So just for fun today, I checked the Dining Reservations page and surprise, surprise, I was able to snag a Be Our Guest ADR!!!

It's on Friday at 7:30 so my plans for eating an early dinner at The Plaza and then catching MSEP and Wishes went out the window. I cancelled the Plaza reservation and got another one for Saturday night. I'll do Animal Kingdom in the morning and then hop to MK for dinner, MSEP and Wishes.

But now I have a small problem. I have 5 TS dinners with my plan and 6 reservations! I'm debating between three options. Rose & Crown, Mama Melrose, BOG, and Coral Reef are not negotiable so that leaves The Plaza and Viva Napoli. So I can:

1. Keep Viva Napoli and cancel The Plaza
2. Keep The Plaza and cancel Viva Napoli
3. Keep both and pay out of pocket for one

I'm leaning towards #2 right now because I have a Coral Reef lunch the day I have the Viva Napoli dinner and two TS in one day is a lot of food. I wanted to eat there because I never have but I can always catch it on another trip. Guess I got to do some thinking!

 

[KatMark]

How far out can you book Wild Trek?

 

[Pluto0809]

How far out can you book Wild Trek?

Hmmmm.... I'm not sure there is an exact time. Our Trek was on 11/27/12 and I booked it on 6/10/12. When I called that day, the CM said he would check but he was sure they weren't available yet because he had tried to book one the day before. He was pretty surprised that they were available. So basically 6/10 was the first day that I could book the Trek we took. Not sure if that helped or not!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

How far out can you book Wild Trek?

It used to be 3 months out, but I heard more and more people able to book it further out than that, so I'd call and ask!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I'm sure that most people liked the food on the Trek, Mom ate most of her's. I'm just too picky but at least I tried everything! Thanks for clearing up what was in the buckets. I am so bad at remembering those things. At one point I think I had "Date thingies" written in the TR. I may be calling on you later because I have more animal pictures without names!

Elephants have always been one of my favorite animals so I really enjoyed sitting and watching them for a while.

I probably should have walked down to the other end but they don't give you much time at the Boma! Several people did walk down there and came right back saying there was nothing to see. I guess there were just no animals out that morning in that area.

I'm pretty picky too, but was able to eat about half the food in my bucket, which worked out alright since it held me over long enough to make it to lunch once the WAT was over.

The lions probably just weren't out yet then, if no one else saw them either.

Feel free to ask me any animal names, I'm pretty good with remembering them all!


And for scoring a BOG ressie!!!!

 

[Pluto0809]

It used to be 3 months out, but I heard more and more people able to book it further out than that, so I'd call and ask!

It does seem that the time is all over the place. I just keep checking the DIS and calling a few times a week to check.

I'm pretty picky too, but was able to eat about half the food in my bucket, which worked out alright since it held me over long enough to make it to lunch once the WAT was over.

The lions probably just weren't out yet then, if no one else saw them either.

Feel free to ask me any animal names, I'm pretty good with remembering them all!


And for scoring a BOG ressie!!!!

We were both hungry when we got done and pretty much headed right to lunch. I think even if I had eaten everything (it was more of a snack rather than a meal) I would have still be hungry for lunch.

I think the lions either weren't out yet or were hidden behind some rocks and you couldn't see them from there. I was having way too much fun watching the elephants to worry about the lions!

I am so excited to eat at BOG for dinner. I was going to do lunch but there was nothing on the lunch menu I will eat without some modification. I've found that special orders at CS locations can be a nightmare so I try to pick instead of getting something special made. The Dinner menu has several items I like!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

It does seem that the time is all over the place. I just keep checking the DIS and calling a few times a week to check.



We were both hungry when we got done and pretty much headed right to lunch. I think even if I had eaten everything (it was more of a snack rather than a meal) I would have still be hungry for lunch.

I think the lions either weren't out yet or were hidden behind some rocks and you couldn't see them from there. I was having way too much fun watching the elephants to worry about the lions!

I am so excited to eat at BOG for dinner. I was going to do lunch but there was nothing on the lunch menu I will eat without some modification. I've found that special orders at CS locations can be a nightmare so I try to pick instead of getting something special made. The Dinner menu has several items I like!

I modified my sandwich for my lunch at BOG when I ordered, as did the family in front of me. The CM didn't even bat an eye at it!

 

[KatMark]

Congratulations on the BOG ADR! That is awesome. I'm not sure if you popped over to Nicki's dining reviews from our trip last month or not, but she has the review for BOG up. We LOVED it!

 

[Pluto0809]

I modified my sandwich for my lunch at BOG when I ordered, as did the family in front of me. The CM didn't even bat an eye at it!

I'm going to have to remember this for next time! I've always had such bad luck getting special orders at the CS locations. Once I waited almost a 1/2 hour to get a sandwich without the sauce.

Congratulations on the BOG ADR! That is awesome. I'm not sure if you popped over to Nicki's dining reviews from our trip last month or not, but she has the review for BOG up. We LOVED it!

Thanks! I have not started on her dining reviews but I need to! I haven't read a review for BOG yet.

 

[NiniMorris]

One thing about Be Our Guest. No matter how many pictures you have seen, you will not be prepared for it! Truly a place where pictures do it NO justice!

I read everything I could get my hands on, and saw every picture and video that was leaked...and I was still blown away!

I also believe it will be come a 2 credit meal...if just for the experience! Much more magical than CRT! When you leave...linger a bit! They invite you to tour the other rooms....and when leaving the Beast, his knights of armor have a wonderful 'conversation' as you leave!



Nini