I Don't Do Trip Reports.... **3 New Updates Added 9/04, Pgs 8 & 9 Linked on Page 1**

[Anc96]

Love the pigtails! Don't you love it when you're kid gets geeked out about something you never would have thought they'd be interested in? I bet it was worth the price of the tickets just to see her get into this.

Oh Yes! She said to me.. "mommy, it's really the astronauts talking"... and seemed amazed.
Last Saturday we got a bit bored and were driving around to see if there were any interesting yard sales. I passed a sign that advertised a living historical farm. It's a small tourist spot around here. A while back ( a year or so ) I had mentioned it to DD and she gave me the "are you kidding me?" look. Well when I mentioned it this time.. she was eager to get there! It was a brief history of a Pennsylvania German farming family who lived on the farm from 1780 to 1913, and a series of tours of the still working farm. All original furniture and everything. Can ya believe the child was rivited! She even milked a cow... ewww. Lol..
She's a math wiz... though never really showed any real interest in school (sigh), but so far she still an A student. This recent interest has me hopeful!

You gotta love people, don'cha?
This really made me laugh. I can imagine this. I make jokes with people like this, too, and when they don't think it's funny, my response is usually that it's gotta stink not having a sense of humor.

Scary thing is it seemed less like she ignoring the 'joke' and more like she was remembering when it happened...

Looks like fun! I wish we'd had time to go to the beach on our trip. We see the so cal beaches pretty frequently, but I've never seen the ocean up close on the east coast!

I've never been to the west coast! Send me some sand??

 

[Anc96]

Cool, I'm the first one to read it and post. I like the pics of the space modules. Pretty neat.

Jackpot!!!
Smashing Job!! Holy Moley only day 3. This is gonna be great.

I went right to the "last page" and missed your post Rer ( i feel funny calling someone rer ).

They had many space modules, maybe even all of them. I didn't want to post too many, it'd just be clutter.
They have a space shuttle outside too.. it looks like they may give tours of it, but they weren't that day.
I forgot to post a pic of the bathroom. How they 'go' in space. Looks kinda normal doesn't it?

Hehe...
It was really an interesting place...

Thanks for reading! I'll try to get the next installment up soon.

 

[DISUNC]

The parking lot looks kind of empty. But it’s now after 10 so I’m thinking it either opens really late or it’s really boring and no one wants to go there!

Great time to go there. We went after 4:00pm it was SO CROWDED!!!! We actually liked this place better than NASA!

This ride is enclosed in a large plexiglass box (I’m sure KSC gets bulk rate on plexi-glass).!

I was standing next to the solemn looking CM and tried to make small talk. I said, “have you ever left for a break and forgotten there were people spinning around in there?” hehe. She never met my eyes.. just kind of looked off towards the simulator and quietly said “yea, once”. She didn’t even smile, but I still try to keep some hope she was only kidding.

(I don’t do non-heated pools!).

I make sure I can keep DD in site while I go to the poolside bar.. and I wave like an idiot every 10ft or so to be sure she sees me. You know.. “the yoohoo.. I’m over here” wave

. So DD waves back and I do mime language

to tell her where I’m going…. In case the yoohoo wave wasn’t making me look dumb enough.

We chat a bit, but Tipsy was getting Smash-eed.. so it was mostly onesided. On her side. I only half listened and watched DD go on the slide, under the waterfall… just swim around and have a great time. After Tipsy had gotten up and returned for more drinks a few too many times, I decided to try and make a polite get away.
I call DD over, first with the

wave, followed up with a

wave. So DD comes over and Tipsey slurrs what a beautful girl she is. DD didn't look too complimented, or maybe she just had a hard time understanding the JackDanielnese Tipsy was speaking. I told DD I was ready to move to the heated pool so I could take a swim. Since it's on the other side of the pool 'complex' I was confident that Tipsey didn't have the mobility and balance it took to navigate that distance. I was right..

As with your old avatar, and these pics, Whenever I see your DD's pigtails, i ALWAYS think of Dorothy Gale!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEAT Update!

 

[Anc96]

Day 4


I wake on day 4 (after 8:00 !)… get up, do the usual routine, and decided to let DD sleep till 9:00. This will be our last night here and I want to be packed. So I had a cup of coffee, I’m not a huge Starbucks fan, but the ‘house’ coffee that comes in the rooms makes Starbucks seem absolutely gourmet. But I make do… and I start packing.
Since I didn’t completely unpack to begin with, it really didn’t take that long. DD wanted to hold the largest of her souvenirs, which was a beaver or sea otter or something from Sea World, but I packed everything else and they fit easily in the large suitcase with loads of room to spare.
At this point I know we’re doing good… we won’t need to buy a suitcase this year! I think. Then.

It was time to get DD up… and I don’t have much trouble. She’s very excited about today…. She knows it’s the last night here, and first thing in the morning we’re going to AKL… Disney here we come. But that’s tomorrow. Not now. Not Today...
Today we’re going to Sea World!
We didn’t see shows when we were there the first day, and I wanted to see the new Believe Shamu show.. and I wanted to see Pets Ahoy, which we’d never seen before. Only 2 major things on the agenda, then then we would see what we felt like doing.
Tonight we wanted to do the Pirate’s Adventure Dinner show, and I wanted the first show so I called early, as soon as they opened. No problem, made the reservations… and it’s not far at all from Sea World.

We get to Sea World and I ask again for the preferred parking. They said it’s sold out! Ahhh.. Ok, not acceptable. I say thank you and go through… straight to the row that will exit the park. When I get to what I estimate as the preferred parking aisles.. I turn the car so I can back up down the very narrow aisle.
Preferred parking has no attendants parking you. They tell you to follow the blue line and you park in a blue-lined spot. Many people skip spots for whatever reason.. and I know that I will find a spot somewhere… and I do. We’re right in front again. I do this. You don’t have to, you can walk. I walk plenty so I do this.

We enter the gates and after dodging the PTs (Picture Takers) we grab a schedule. It’s noticeably more crowded today than a few days ago.. although it’s about the same time of day we got here before. We figure out what we want to do first, and head over to Odyssea though we don’t think we’re gonna make it.. and we don’t, darn. We wind up missing that one all together this time.. but that’s ok.
Pets Ahoy starts soon and we start over.
We of course have to stop to feed those stingrays again. Today’s feast is some kind of small fish… which DD sticks between her fingers and lets the wet vacuum suck off her. She’s feeding an unusually large one.. and all these kids are gathering around her. I had to wedge myself between her and this one child, about 12, who was almost on top of her. I could see she was getting upset, and I was too. I can’t understand how people can let their children act in such a way. Well I’m used to disciplining children and had no problem telling them to back off.
“Yo… back up.. give each other room… You! Come on now.. back up or move away completely, you’re squishing people! “
I defy any parent to get offended that I’m correcting their child.. because I will have no problem correcting the parent too. They should be watching their children! I shouldn’t have to watch their child, but I do, since they’re not… So they back up, back off, no back talk from them, nor their parents. Yep.. good move… it’s hot, don’t PMO!
Whew.. I’m sounding grumpy. I remember feeling grumpy. Despite my big mouth, somehow my sweet DD is a bit reserved and unassertive. She would have backed away if I hadn’t been there.. which honestly annoys me a bit. She was actually starting to back away and lose her spot (and there were many spots other places… but DD had lots of food so that’s where the stingrays were)..until I put my arm around her and got rid of the intruders!

[size=-2]Flashback.. last year at Universal. There were the little squirting sprinklers little kids like to run in. There were little kids in it, and my DD. Several older boys, about 11-13 ish, came running through doing flying kicks at each other and other rough play. I couldn’t believe the parents of the little ones just stood there! I stepped in..
“YO! (it’s a Brooklyn thing, ask DU)…. What’re you thinking? There are little kids here… so walk through, or get out! “
I wasn’t nice about it because there were little kids there.. like 4&5! They immediately stopped, looked a bit unsure, then apologized. Good boys! I smiled and nicely said it would scare the little ones… The boys stayed a bit, playing very calmly, and even chatted a little with me. They were there with a camp.. and apparently no counselors to chaperone them?
See, kids need discipline, they want discipline.. and you don’t have to be all mean either! When they left they waved goodbye with a smile. [/size]

Ok.. so I had gotten a bit annoyed with the crowding stingray seekers… but DD really did enjoy feeding them and I had her finish up quick so we could get to Pets Ahoy on time.

We got there and got great seats… and loved the show. It’s not amazing.. but it’s very cute. DD is such a dog/cat (heck, any animal) lover… this show was made for her!
Unfortunately, because of my lack of experience with my new camera… I had very few decent pics… but here’s one that came out really clear:

We saw Blue Horizons, and now we had about 15 minutes till Fusion. We were undecided whether to see this or wait a bit longer to go see Odyssea, we chose Fusion. We hadn’t seen this before either.. so we hurry. We get great seats again… and the show starts. So a few people are dancing to very loud music.. some jet skis are zooming around the lake, and there are some kites flying. Umm.. nice, but is something going to happen? We watch, and I mention to DD that I keep waiting for something to happen.. and she says me too! Oh good, she’s not impressed either. So we left that one.
Too late for Odyssea, but "Believe" will start in a bit. We see the turtles, manatee, walk over to the penguins.. and really have a nice time. But I start to notice DD is getting pretty red. I had sprayed her well twice that day with the wonder-why-they.. blah blah sunscreen.. and she’s darker skin anyway.. so this is not that kind of red. She’s looking flushed, and really tired. There aren’t many places you can go to sit in the air-conditioning, so I take her in a store to stand there for a bit. I ask if she wants to leave, but she doesn’t want to yet. But I keep her in the store until she’s looking a bit better.. I had trouble getting her to drink some water too.. but I make her drink. Neither of us are hungry, probably because of the heat, but I wanted an early lunch because we’d be having an early dinner. I took her to the bakery.. and got her a chocolate covered croissant. Anyone ever having one of these knows they are sinfully delicious!! And god-awful messy! But she ate it and I was happy. She looked better too. And I had to clean her by squirting her off with a bottle of water, so she was giggly too. Ok, there might have been a better way to clean her off… but this way was much more fun to both of us!
So we go to make the new Believe show.. expecting magic. The old Shamu show was so beautiful and we couldn’t wait to see the improvements.
We got nice seats in the splash zone… and waited. Well we love Shamu of course, and it was nice. But it was disappointing too. We hardly got splashed.. we got splashed so much worse last year. And there was so much video about the trainers and things this time… and not as much ‘show’ with the whales. We still enjoyed it though… but we both agree the old show was much better.

Blue Horizons

Fusion

DD really isn’t looking well today. It is a very hot day. After Shamu she was back to looking flustered. And she was walking very slowly. We had planned on more shows and I think she was a bit disappointed.. but we did do a lot that day, we had a wonderful time and I pointed that out to her. So she said that she really would like to go… she was tired, and getting nauseous. We walked out taking the path through the gift shops (the only air-conditioned ‘path’), where DD took off last year’s Sea World fanny pack, and we purchased a new Shamu over one shoulder back pack. She needed something bigger. We also found a beaded necklace with DD’s name. Her first name is a bit unusual and we found it! No one ever has her first name and she was thrilled! We call her by her middle name, and though not an unusual name we spell it differently, so that can never be found either… and can you believe we found that too! Of course we got them both. Then she chose something for Daddy… my bf, and (umm, secretly) for me

We were thinking of grabbing a croissant for the morning, but there was no way it would stay good in the car.
When we left it was really only about 45 minutes or so earlier than I had planned to leave anyway… I hadn’t realized we were there so long! And we set off to find Pirate’s Adventure.

Now.. I heard horrible reviews about this show.. and I didn’t expect much. I warned DD too. I was originally going to do 2 dinner shows, Arabian Nights (which we’ve done every time we go down) and Medieval Times. But because of POC 2, I mentioned this one to DD and she said she wanted to try it anyway. Ok.. got tickets for all 3 then.
It wasn’t hard to find, even though I passed it twice It’s a nice looking building on the outside.. there’s a long line outside, but I don’t know if I’m supposed to wait in it, so I ask. No, I have tickets, I go to the window inside. I just have to give my name and then go out into the line to wait and be admitted. I ask about upgrades, since we always upgrade to VIP at Arabian Nights... I thought it might be a nice thing for our first (and possibly only) time. They give me a quick run down of all the upgrades. The upgrades at PA are pretty high! But.. since the tickets are prepaid it doesn’t feel like I’m paying much and I get the best upgrade. Then I ask.. can we get really good seats, like the best? And I smile overly nicely, joking with the PA CM. She laughs and says she’ll give us the best section. And she did.
With the upgrade you don’t go outside in that heat to wait in line. You go right in. Oh.. nice! You get free things, pirate’s souvenir cups, pirate headband, a program.. glass of champagne, and early admission with appetizers. There’s a maritime museum type thing you can walk through.. and gift shops of course, but only 2 of them.
I’d read the inside looked cheap and not authentic. I don’t know what kind of authenticity they were comparing it to… but it looked fine to me for what it was supposed to me. It was fun inside. The appetizers were.. well.. not good..lol. But I don’t go to the shows for the food. It’s always pretty bad. As a matter of fact we really just pushed the food around on our plates, and we ate at Denny’s on the way back to the resort.
We got GREAT seats! We were dead center… all the highest upgrades got the ground front row. But we had the best line of sight for the main parts of the show. The show was FUN! The audience really got into it (I think that’s very important for this show to work)… and even my demure, shy DD got into it. Shouting at the right times.. and cheering on ‘our’ pirate. She was chosen to participate in the show.. her and some other children donned red coats and shot the bad pirates. I loved watching that.. it was so much fun!
So, for what it’s worth.. I thought it was worth the price. But as I said, if you have an audience that’s not into participating… this show could be a dud!

[size=-2]I purchased tickets for all the shows via UnderCoverTourist.com though a Mousesavers newsletter link. DON’T pay front door prices Even other years I was able to get half off VIP prices of Arabian Nights using restaurant.com. FYI[/size]

I don’t think we left until about 8:15 or so. We ate at Denny’s, only appetizers for each as we really weren’t that hungry.. and we got back to the resort. We did go in the pool, but only for a very short time. I grabbed one of those drinks again.. and DD splashed around a bit. She looked tired. She came over before I even finished the drink and looked all sleepy. I asked if she was ready to go to bed… and she gave a big yes! Then a bigger smile and said, when we wake up we’re going to Animal Kingdom Lodge! Yep.. I couldn’t wait either!

Day 4.. done.

 

[Anc96]

Great time to go there. We went after 4:00pm it was SO CROWDED!!!! We actually liked this place better than NASA!

Yes.. we did too!

As with your old avatar, and these pics, Whenever I see your DD's pigtails, i ALWAYS think of Dorothy Gale!

Yes.. you only see the back of her, always...lol. It was actually DD that said she didn't want her pics posted.. I agreed I wouldn't post any of her face (that was agreeable to her), though I'm not really paranoid about that. I think there had been discussions at her school about the dangers of the internet.

She has great hair! Long... wavy, and little wisps of curls around her face. Whereas mine is also long.. but curly, and I strongly resemble a Q-Tip on humid days.

BTW... very surprised you remember my old avatar! I changed it only days after joining 'da club'.

I'm glad you're still reading DU... I don't 'see' you on the board much anymore.

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

Yipppeeeee ! I'm so excited, another great TR update. So um, when those boys goodbye to you did they use all their fingers? Just kidding, I hate uncontrollable kids too!!! Glad to hear dd wasn't effected too much by the heat & was able to cool down quickly. Can't wait for more!

 

[Anc96]

Yipppeeeee ! I'm so excited, another great TR update. So um, when those boys goodbye to you did they use all their fingers? Just kidding, I hate uncontrollable kids too!!! Glad to hear dd wasn't effected too much by the heat & was able to cool down quickly. Can't wait for more!

Thanks S'BelleM

There were actually a couple of times when DD seemed wiped out by the heat. I don't think the weather was much different than when we go in June.. but it just seemed to affect her more this time.
I kept a close watch.

I can't stress enough.. water, water, water! And rests in cool spots whenever your feeling over heated. No one needs heat stroke on vacation!

And the boys were nice by the time they left...lol. I don't believe in bad kids, just kids who do naughty things sometimes. And, when I see a child do a naughty thing with disregard for others, I see a bad parent (usually not present). IMO

 

[cynderella]

I can’t understand how people can let their children act in such a way. Well I’m used to disciplining children and had no problem telling them to back off. “Yo… back up.. give each other room… You! Come on now.. back up or move away completely, you’re squishing people! “
I defy any parent to get offended that I’m correcting their child.. because I will have no problem correcting the parent too. They should be watching their children! I shouldn’t have to watch their child, but I do, since they’re not… So they back up, back off, no back talk from them, nor their parents. Yep.. good move… it’s hot, don’t PMO!

I'm with you on this 100%. I have been known to be very outspoken when other people's kids (and people in general!) aren't behaving nicely. Once at DL, two BIG older teenagers cut into line in front of me, my best friend, and our girls, and I told them off and made them get out of line. lol No problem!

I had very few decent pics… but here’s one that came out really clear:

That one picture makes all the blurry ones worth it. Very cute!

We also found a beaded necklace with DD’s name. Her first name is a bit unusual and we found it! No one ever has her first name and she was thrilled! We call her by her middle name, and though not an unusual name we spell it differently, so that can never be found either… and can you believe we found that too! Of course we got them both. Then she chose something for Daddy… my bf, and (umm, secretly) for me

Isn't it great when that happens? My DD's name isn't super common either, so I know what a joy it is to find a gift or souvenir with her name on it. She's always so delighted!

I asked if she was ready to go to bed… and she gave a big yes! Then a bigger smile and said, when we wake up we’re going to Animal Kingdom Lodge! Yep.. I couldn’t wait either!

Woo hoo! WDW here you come!!

Love your tips on how to get the best seats. You're very assertive!

Looking forward to the next installment!

 

[ely3857]

Great time so far



Jodie

 

[PigletFairy]

subbing!!

 

[rer1972]

I defy any parent to get offended that I’m correcting their child.. because I will have no problem correcting the parent too. They should be watching their children! I shouldn’t have to watch their child, but I do, since they’re not… So they back up, back off, no back talk from them, nor their parents. Yep.. good move… it’s hot, don’t PMO!

You said it.

Unfortunately, because of my lack of experience with my new camera… I had very few decent pics… but here’s one that came out really clear:

Of course one of the good ones would have to be a pig butt . Great shot!

I purchased tickets for all the shows via UnderCoverTourist.com though a Mousesavers newsletter link. DON’T pay front door prices Even other years I was able to get half off VIP prices of Arabian Nights using restaurant.com. FYI

Never heard of them. Thanks for the tip.
One of these days I'm gonna have to take one of these extended vacations to Orlando. There's just so much to do.

 

[rosiejo]

Day 2
HOW THE HECK SHOULD I KNOW… WHAT AM I? WEATHER.COM????
(** Please note the above statement was only made in my head**)

More to come... soon(ish)

*wiping tears from my eyes*

I just found your TR, and can I just say for someone who doesn't *do* trip reports this is the best one I've read in a long time... your recount of day 2 literally had me in tears from the laughter... not that I mean to laugh at your misfortune, but you have to admit... it was funny

Now I'm off to find part 3

Oh and following part one I've just made a note in my trip planner (I'm a DISer of course I have a planner) to eat lunch there on our Sea World day

 

[Anc96]

I'm with you on this 100%. I have been known to be very outspoken when other people's kids (and people in general!) aren't behaving nicely. Once at DL, two BIG older teenagers cut into line in front of me, my best friend, and our girls, and I told them off and made them get out of line. lol No problem!

That one picture makes all the blurry ones worth it. Very cute!


Isn't it great when that happens? My DD's name isn't super common either, so I know what a joy it is to find a gift or souvenir with her name on it. She's always so delighted!
Woo hoo! WDW here you come!!

Love your tips on how to get the best seats. You're very assertive!

Looking forward to the next installment!

I can see the English Professor in you... what most people call a "big mouth" is "Outspoken"..... and "pushy" is "assertive". I like your versions better.
Now.. wonder what you got for the other word people call me... It usually rolls right off their tongue after they've already called be a Pushy Big-mouthed .......

 

[Anc96]

subbing!!

Great time so far

Thank you for reading guys!.. I'll try to get another update very soon.

 

[Anc96]

You said it.

Actually there was a lot I didn't say... after all they were kids

:Of course one of the good ones would have to be a pig butt . Great shot!

Big Pig Butt... DD's Daddy...
You say tomAto, I say tomOto

:Never heard of them. Thanks for the tip.

Undercover tourist is AWESOME! They responded to the 2 emails I'd sent them within an hour.
And, I had problems and questions which I posted here on the DisBoards.. and they most monitor the boards because I received a PM for them the day after I posted the questions.
Wonderful customer service.. fast shipping. I HIGHLY recommend them.

 

[Anc96]

*wiping tears from my eyes*

I just found your TR, and can I just say for someone who doesn't *do* trip reports this is the best one I've read in a long time... your recount of day 2 literally had me in tears from the laughter... not that I mean to laugh at your misfortune, but you have to admit... it was funny

Now I'm off to find part 3

Oh and following part one I've just made a note in my trip planner (I'm a DISer of course I have a planner) to eat lunch there on our Sea World day

It was really all fun.. no misfortune! I've read my TR to my DD and she laughs so hard saying.. Yeah Mommy, you looked soooo funny! So even when stuff like that happens, it's just more great memories!

You'll love the Shark's grille.. it's a bit dark inside, but that's so the tanks are more illuminated, and it's coooool! What a break from the outside heat!
And the food has always been very good too!

My TR is linked from the first page. You won't have to find the next update, just click on the part 3 link.

I'm glad you're reading and enjoying it. I'm hoping to have an update very soon.

 

[Anc96]

Sorry not really any pics for today... I'm just happy to get another installment out! lol.


Day 5

The day we’ve been waiting for! Disney!!! Yay!

We were packed except for what we were gonna wear that day. And I just had to throw our morning essentials in my carry-on… and go!

DD made vacation history by waking by herself when she heard me moving around in the room. She practically popped out of bed and rushed to get ready. She couldn’t wait to get to AKL.
I got my bill on the door knob and checked it all out… all correct. We called down for bellservices and waited impatiently for him to come.
So our luggage is on it’s way down to the front lobby… I get some starbucks, DD some water and a pastry from the lobby café. I found a nice group checking in and gave them my coupons for free yummy drinks at the bars.
Car’s packed, and we go straight to AKL. All of the 7.5 minutes it takes to get there.

We get to the gate, I show my ID and we pull up to the doors… I even ignored that DD unbuckled before we made a complete stop…. She was so excited! I was so excited!

I left the car to valet service, got my tickets for the valet, and for bell services since they would be storing my luggage, and we walk in the front doors. DD and I didn’t say a word. We were both just taking it all in. We LOVE AKL, and walking in the front is like coming home. I think I got tears in my eyes.
I went up to check-in, it was nearly empty. I asked the front desk CM if they were able to accommodate our room request, and she said yes. 3rd floor, Zebra trail, Arusha Savanna. Yay again!
We were checked in so now DD is anxious to get to the pool…. She has her swim suit on already of course. I wanted to have a print out of our reservations at the concierge, but there were 2 people on line, and my DD had puppy dog eyes, so to the pool we went.

At about noon time we went to the Mara for lunch. I had the African Stew, which I LOVE!! DD had pizza. It was there I learned how much you get with the dining plan. My African stew comes in a bread bowl… a LARGE bread bowl, and it’s over filled. You get a side with it too… I choose a fruit salad for later, and a drink (lg water) and dessert! I got the Zebra domes and chocolate something (comes 4 in a pack).. also for later. I couldn’t even finish all the delicious stew!
DD’s pizza was plenty big for her… she ate just over half. She got fries with it (since she gets a side), but neither of us really ate them, and the brownie paws dessert, and lg water.
That was lunch…lol. It was ridiculously big! But we enjoyed it all, and the fact it was at the Mara, at our beloved AKL! The total was $26.54.
We are on the dining plan and will note the bill total if I remembered to write it down. Dining plan for the 2 of us is $48.98
The CM serving us at the Mara counter was VERY friendly… making rather odd noises.. a high-pitched laughing kind of sound. It was a bit startling… but it made me and DD laugh. When we were out of earshot DD copied him until I had to scold her a little.

We decided to wander around the resort a bit.. we went into the gift shop, out to Arusha rock and just took in the resort. And then back to the pool.

It was about time for our room to be ready so we go back to the front desk. They give us our room number, and I realized it’s really close to the lobby… hmmm. Not sure if that’s a good thing.
So we go to the room, and it’s the first room after leaving the lobby. You might think this is a convenient thing…but when we went in the room my suspicions were right. I opened the curtains to the balcony, and saw people looking right back at us! One man even waved… uhhh.. “hi”. Eh.
DD looked out and was very disappointed… we were right across from the Arusha rock viewing area! It looked directly into our room! Not a place I want to relax in my nightie!
I told her not to panic.. I’d get a room change (I hoped!).. So we go back and explain what we wanted and why. At first they couldn’t accommodate the location… which made DD’s face scrunch up. She likes the animals on the Arusha Savannah. I tell the nice CM we want to be at least one building down, and we don’t mind walking in case we have to be all the way at the end… but we really want Arusha Savannah. She was really trying and looking worried. So I said, if we have to wait until tomorrow, that will be ok. We can change after room checkout time in the morning. She found a room being vacated the next day, on the 4th floor. That’s fine with me… 4th floor is almost as good.. good enough! So that’s what we did. The room was at the end of the next building, right near the elevators (very convenient), and we had a clear view of the Savannah, and no one had a clear view of us! DD was thrilled, and didn’t mind at all having to wait a day. We thanked the CM for helping us.

We had a reservation for Boma that first night (we always make ressies at the resort we’re staying at the first night)… and we got there about 20 minutes early. And who would be checking us in there but Laughing guy from the Mara. I guess he recognized us and started his special kind of laugh, which got DD giggling.. and I shot a warning look at her just in case she was feeling like a parrot. We got our pager and started up the stairs to Victoria Falls to wait.
On our way up the stairs, DD brushed her hand against her ear that had a magnetic flashing dolphin earring from Sea World on it (Laughing Guy made a comment about these too).Well the earring went flying into the babbling stream below the stairs… and there the dolphin floated to the bottom, still flashing. Flash. Flash. She looked at me like I was supposed to dive in after it. Uh yeah. So I went over to Laughing Guy and explained the situation. Apparently this happens often because he produced a long-handled net, seemingly out of nowhere.. and fished DD’s earring out of the stream. We were all pretty amazed it was still flashing, and seemed just fine. Thank you Laughing-Guy!

In about 10 minutes out pager goes off and we go down to dinner… OH… I LOVE Boma! I love the salads. DD doesn’t do salads, she likes the flat breads. I don’t do bread.. but yummm.. the soup. Only soup DD likes is chicken noodle, Campbell’s, thank you. You see we really have nothing in common food-wise (except chicken, we both love chicken), yet we both love Boma, and find lots of things to choose from. We go up together, then we take turns, and we ask each other to get something for the other “while you’re up there”…. And we eat!! I’m trying to eat as slowly as possible so we can enjoy and eat more. I didn’t really leave room for dessert but I found a spot to fit some anyway. DD left plenty of room it seems because she came back with one of everything… and a big smile.
We were there for a while and we decided that, as hard as we try, nothing else is gonna fit… so we leave a nice extra tip for our awesome server (I can’t remember his name), and start to roll down to our room.
Total was $47.29.
Total for the day $73.83… with our snack credits left over.

While rolling through the lobby, I glance at the activities schedule and see that a bead activity is starting at the sunset lounge. I don’t really know what a bead activity is, but I ask DD if she wants to stop by to see. I was hoping it wasn’t an active activity because I don’t think either of us could have moved faster than the slow roll we were managing at the moment. Luckily it was a game. I thought I would get to sit on the comfy sofa, but I was made to sit on the floor in the circle with the kids. Ok. I can do that. PLOP!.. I sure hope I don’t have to get up anytime soon.
So, what to my wondering eyes do appear? Laughing Guy! Who has a name, I think it’s Thrumbo. He’s part of the game, along with 2 other CMs, a young man named Cecil and a girl named CT (I find later that they are all from Botswana).
So we start the game. There are pictures of animals faced down on the floor with strings tied to them. The first person chooses an animal, faced down and doesn’t look at it. He puts it around his neck hanging behind him. Everyone else knows what it is. There is also a list of animals that it can be. The person who is ‘it’ has to look at the list and ask questions about his animal …Does it walk on 4 legs? Does it fly? Does it like water?... that the rest of us can answer only ‘yes’ or ‘no’ … until he is able to guess his animal. There are many animals to choose from so on the average I’d say the child had to ask about 7-10 questions. The one with the fewest questions wins.. but they all win. They don’t keep count anyway. Each time an animal is guessed the CM reads all interesting facts about the animal. Each child (and me :smile: ) earns a beautifully carved bead (or a glass one, depending on the activity that day)… and a rope to slip the bead on. The rope and row of beads makes a totem for the child (and me ). When the child is checking out of the resort, he gets his final totem bead. The CM has the child make a solemn promise to protect the animal of his choice.. and the CM ties the last bead to the totem. My DD treasures her totem!

[size=-2]Picture Quality Excuse! Picture taken at home w/cell phone[/size]


After the activity we go outside on the Sunset lounge’s viewing area and watch the ostriches for a bit. Then we went back to the room.

We shower then watch a little TV. We discuss that, although we used to have a ball making fun of her, we really do miss Krista. Or, maybe that’s why we miss her. We miss the fun. We’d make of her.
Who’s this new one? Not fun.. not even blonde!? Oh well.. but the countdown goes on.
DD takes a special interest in Expedition Everest. She can’t wait…. I can.

It’s not yet 8:00. We saw the animals from Arusha rock earlier… and now DD is dying to watch them for a while… and being stubborn, won’t go out on the balcony though we’re still dressed. So we go down to one of the viewing areas with big rocking chairs and watch the animals for a while… it’s so beautiful. Watching them is very calming… even with DD bouncing up and down with excitement pointing each one out in case I didn’t see them right there in front of me. There are binoculars there too (the stand up viewing kind).. and she peeps through them. They’re so close at it is, I guess she was checking for fleas through the binoculars. But she’s happy… so am I.

After a while we go back to the room and DD calls home. Tonight she’s on a bit longer excitedly telling daddy about our first day at AKL. Says “night” to all the critters too. Then we watch the Disney channel till we get sleepy enough for sleep.

A really great first day at our favorite resort.. It’s so good to be back!

End of Day 4

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

Yay, great update! Cool necklace!

Which animal did she pick?

 

[Nurse_Mommy4]

Cool totem! My oldest is an animal lover and wants to stay at AKL...she doesn't know it but I'm considering staying there for her sweet 16.

 

[cynderella]

Great update! Finally in DISNEY! I just love the resort activites. The bead session sounds like it was a lot of fun. Loved Boma! I am a big zebra dome fan, too...yum. Wish we had seen more of AKL while we were there, but we really didn't get to see it in all its glory, so I enjoy hearing you describe it.

You know, I think I must just be

from working too hard lately, but I went back and skimmed previous posts and still can't figure it out: who the heck is Krista? I must have missed a previous reference somewhere.