Howdy All -
Part 3 of my trip report as Mrs. Bubba, Bubba Jr (age 10), and myself are enjoying the hospitality of the Mouse and all of his minions. Yesterday was Animal Kingdom day for the family and it was just chocked full of adventure and antics.
So, it's not an EMH day - we finally figured out that if you are going to have that extra 15 minutes of sleep and a second cup of coffee at the Roar'in Fork in the morning and miss rope drop, you best hit another park. So instead of hitting the Magic Kingdom we jaunted off for Safari in Animal Kingdom.
So we got there about 9:15 and made a straight-line mad rush for the River Rapids. You see, that is all Bubba Jr has been able to talk about since receiving his Disney DVD propoganda tool in the mail 6 months ago. So we had to make sure we hit that ride.... whooooo doggie! What a ride. The Disney Gawdz must have been smiling on us as we walked up to the ride and there was like a 5 minute wait in standby. So we took and and essentially walked on to the ride. It was awesome, we got soaked, and my leather chaps got sticky and squishy. As if Mrs. Bubba was not embarrassed enough already...
So we were a little hesitant about Everest.. as my 10 year old son had never experienced a roller coaster. So, while we debated, we headed over to the safari and walked on to this "ride". Ladies and gentlemen, I have to tell you this ride was a big disappointment. Sure, there were lots of critters to look at.. for an instant! Let me explain. Our tour guide decided she was going to practice her Tony Stewart driving instead of letting us look at some critters. Oh sure she would slow down when we would pass by some Elk or some other form of deer meat that should be in my freezer and not a part of a Disney attraction. But heaven forbid we even slow down with a damn elephant and the baby elephants are close by! Oh no, we gotta keep rolling through this mess so we can see some more damn deer meat off in the distance for the soccer moms to "oooo" and "aaww" over. I tried to shoot photos of the elephant and all I got was a bunch of shots of the top of the damn truck we were in 'cause I was bouncing all over tarnation because the bus driver was trying to catch up with some more elk.
Ok and that ain't no Safari truck neether. That is a old yellow dog school bus with the top cut off.
I especially loved the "drama" when we "found" the "poachers" camp and "helped" the patrol stop the poaching. There was so much cheese dripping off the school bus after that bit I broke out a box of Triscuit to share with the others in the school bus. Plenty to go around.
So after that big ride we decided to subject the 10 year old to Everest. We went to pull a fast pass and found the standby line at under 30 minutes. Before you know it, the Bubba family encountered the Yeti at a high rate of speed. That is one big hairy critter! Reminded me of my 4th grade math teacher.. All teeth and hair and she would bite you if you poked her with a stick.
After the ride was over, my 10 year old Bubba Jr looked up at me and said "Dad, I am not supposed to say it, but I am a gonna. That ride scared the crap out of me!" I was so proud.
We then trolled through the park and saw the sights, laughed at people, and sweat buckets. I mean there was lots of shade and all, but the humidity was pretty brutal.
In the interest of time, some general observations on Animal Kingdom:
People, part 1: No, stupid, you cannot get McDonalds French Fries in Animal Kingdom.
People, part 2: TxBubba, you stupid redneck, you can get McDonalds French Fries in Animal Kingdom. Is nothing sacred?
People, part 3: I finally understand all the brew-ha ha about kids in strollers and all the debate going on here. Parents, if your kids aren't crapping in a diaper anymore then they cannot ride in a stroller anymore. That rule works both ways too so that if Grandma is crappin a diaper, she gets a stroller. That's just plain elementary.
Weather: HOT - again. Even by Texas standards, it was hot. Whoever the Imagineer was that created Dinoland with no stinking trees to keep the kids out of the direct sunlight needs to have his Mickey ears ripped off and shoved down his or her throat. How do you parents tolerate that miserable heat with no shade? You must love your kids.
Crowds: Not as bad as Hollywood Studios, but it got worse as the day wore on. No tour groups sighted.
Food: We ate at the BBQ place for lunch and found it adequate, the service good.
Food, part 2: We ate at Ohana's at the Poly resort. The food was good, but the service was slow (not our server's fault... she just had too many tables), and the restaurant needs a face lift. Heck the whole resort from what we saw needs a facelift. It had that "someone put a waterfall in an office building" smell to it throughout. yeah. You know what I am talking about. Kind of a mix between decaying plants and 3 day old gym socks in the sun.
The poly in general just seemed way to "crowded" to me. There was just too much going on, all of it crammed on to the second floor, not to mention the ever present long monorail line that seemed to wind into the hotel every 15 or 20 minutes. How do I know this? Well we were about 45 minutes late being seated. Yucko.
Saw a couple at Ohana's having dinner after just being married. Had a party of about 16-20 people at the table, and the bride and groom were in full blown dress and tux. It was just so nice. The Hawaiian Hula Singer Entertainer girl tried her best to make it a romantic evening complete with a singing of the "Congratulations Song" to the music of Its a Small World on her yuke-a-lay-lee (sp.), topping it all off with all of the kids in the place rolling coconuts around their table with brooms for about 15 minutes. Aww.. true romance. I about spit turkey through my nose watching this spectacle.
So, at the end of the day, we had conquered much, and returned to the Wilderness Lodge in time to see that loud, Christmas light parade on the lake for the 4th time. How many times do people need to see that thing? I mean really.
That's enough. Magic Kingdom report tomorrow.
-TxBubba
Part 3 of my trip report as Mrs. Bubba, Bubba Jr (age 10), and myself are enjoying the hospitality of the Mouse and all of his minions. Yesterday was Animal Kingdom day for the family and it was just chocked full of adventure and antics.
So, it's not an EMH day - we finally figured out that if you are going to have that extra 15 minutes of sleep and a second cup of coffee at the Roar'in Fork in the morning and miss rope drop, you best hit another park. So instead of hitting the Magic Kingdom we jaunted off for Safari in Animal Kingdom.
So we got there about 9:15 and made a straight-line mad rush for the River Rapids. You see, that is all Bubba Jr has been able to talk about since receiving his Disney DVD propoganda tool in the mail 6 months ago. So we had to make sure we hit that ride.... whooooo doggie! What a ride. The Disney Gawdz must have been smiling on us as we walked up to the ride and there was like a 5 minute wait in standby. So we took and and essentially walked on to the ride. It was awesome, we got soaked, and my leather chaps got sticky and squishy. As if Mrs. Bubba was not embarrassed enough already...
So we were a little hesitant about Everest.. as my 10 year old son had never experienced a roller coaster. So, while we debated, we headed over to the safari and walked on to this "ride". Ladies and gentlemen, I have to tell you this ride was a big disappointment. Sure, there were lots of critters to look at.. for an instant! Let me explain. Our tour guide decided she was going to practice her Tony Stewart driving instead of letting us look at some critters. Oh sure she would slow down when we would pass by some Elk or some other form of deer meat that should be in my freezer and not a part of a Disney attraction. But heaven forbid we even slow down with a damn elephant and the baby elephants are close by! Oh no, we gotta keep rolling through this mess so we can see some more damn deer meat off in the distance for the soccer moms to "oooo" and "aaww" over. I tried to shoot photos of the elephant and all I got was a bunch of shots of the top of the damn truck we were in 'cause I was bouncing all over tarnation because the bus driver was trying to catch up with some more elk.
Ok and that ain't no Safari truck neether. That is a old yellow dog school bus with the top cut off.
I especially loved the "drama" when we "found" the "poachers" camp and "helped" the patrol stop the poaching. There was so much cheese dripping off the school bus after that bit I broke out a box of Triscuit to share with the others in the school bus. Plenty to go around.
So after that big ride we decided to subject the 10 year old to Everest. We went to pull a fast pass and found the standby line at under 30 minutes. Before you know it, the Bubba family encountered the Yeti at a high rate of speed. That is one big hairy critter! Reminded me of my 4th grade math teacher.. All teeth and hair and she would bite you if you poked her with a stick.
After the ride was over, my 10 year old Bubba Jr looked up at me and said "Dad, I am not supposed to say it, but I am a gonna. That ride scared the crap out of me!" I was so proud.
We then trolled through the park and saw the sights, laughed at people, and sweat buckets. I mean there was lots of shade and all, but the humidity was pretty brutal.
In the interest of time, some general observations on Animal Kingdom:
People, part 1: No, stupid, you cannot get McDonalds French Fries in Animal Kingdom.
People, part 2: TxBubba, you stupid redneck, you can get McDonalds French Fries in Animal Kingdom. Is nothing sacred?
People, part 3: I finally understand all the brew-ha ha about kids in strollers and all the debate going on here. Parents, if your kids aren't crapping in a diaper anymore then they cannot ride in a stroller anymore. That rule works both ways too so that if Grandma is crappin a diaper, she gets a stroller. That's just plain elementary.
Weather: HOT - again. Even by Texas standards, it was hot. Whoever the Imagineer was that created Dinoland with no stinking trees to keep the kids out of the direct sunlight needs to have his Mickey ears ripped off and shoved down his or her throat. How do you parents tolerate that miserable heat with no shade? You must love your kids.
Crowds: Not as bad as Hollywood Studios, but it got worse as the day wore on. No tour groups sighted.
Food: We ate at the BBQ place for lunch and found it adequate, the service good.
Food, part 2: We ate at Ohana's at the Poly resort. The food was good, but the service was slow (not our server's fault... she just had too many tables), and the restaurant needs a face lift. Heck the whole resort from what we saw needs a facelift. It had that "someone put a waterfall in an office building" smell to it throughout. yeah. You know what I am talking about. Kind of a mix between decaying plants and 3 day old gym socks in the sun.
The poly in general just seemed way to "crowded" to me. There was just too much going on, all of it crammed on to the second floor, not to mention the ever present long monorail line that seemed to wind into the hotel every 15 or 20 minutes. How do I know this? Well we were about 45 minutes late being seated. Yucko.
Saw a couple at Ohana's having dinner after just being married. Had a party of about 16-20 people at the table, and the bride and groom were in full blown dress and tux. It was just so nice. The Hawaiian Hula Singer Entertainer girl tried her best to make it a romantic evening complete with a singing of the "Congratulations Song" to the music of Its a Small World on her yuke-a-lay-lee (sp.), topping it all off with all of the kids in the place rolling coconuts around their table with brooms for about 15 minutes. Aww.. true romance. I about spit turkey through my nose watching this spectacle.
So, at the end of the day, we had conquered much, and returned to the Wilderness Lodge in time to see that loud, Christmas light parade on the lake for the 4th time. How many times do people need to see that thing? I mean really.
That's enough. Magic Kingdom report tomorrow.
-TxBubba
