I'm thankful for...MICKEY!!! My Thanksgiving '08 TR!: TR Update, Last Day!

[Charleston Princess]

I love Animal Kingdom updates!!! Everest and Primeval Whirl are two of Chelsea's favorites -- you would get along very well!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

That is good to know about the cheaper kids meals. We are going to eat our breakfasts out of pocket on our trip and that looks like enough food for me!

I think you'll find your tummy and your wallet very satisfied with the child portion breakfasts!

Great that everyone was there at the bus stop all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!! Good for Dad! (I honestly find PW to be much rougher than EE!)

Those kitchy touches in DinoLand are such a hoot! I love looking at all the little details, too.

Hope you don't get soaked!!


Kathy



**Have you made a decision yet about which park you're going to on Sunday?? I can't wait to find out what you decide!

I was SHOCKED that everyone was at the bus stop on time!

I pretty much told my dad not to go on Primeval Whirl. Being a physical therapist, I am always worried about neck injuries on the rides and PW seems like prime potential for neck injuries!

I think we're going with Magic Kingdom. Even if it is crowded, the fact that we can be there till midnight is drawing me there!

Soo awesome that dad rode EE! I hope I'm as spry as he is when I'm 68

Me too!

Great update - we had so much fun at AK this year!!

Can't wait to hear what happened with your fam at AK on your TR...hurry up and update!

I love Animal Kingdom updates!!! Everest and Primeval Whirl are two of Chelsea's favorites -- you would get along very well!

Hi Jackie!!! Welcome back!!!

Maybe Chelsea and I will have to go to the parks together sometime. But we might have a fight over Bo!

 

[lisalonglash]

OK, I totally thought I'd posted here, but I can't see it! Anywho...

Fantastic that everyone was at the bus stop on time! I'm looking forward to riding PW this time - it sounds fun! Giggling on a ride is a good thing

I'm glad you all had fun - that's what it's all about!

 

[MeMom]

I think we're going with Magic Kingdom. Even if it is crowded, the fact that we can be there till midnight is drawing me there!

You can go to Magic Kingdom, ride the monorail 'into' Epcot (sort of, you know), and go to Downtown Disney. You could even eat a meal at a monorail resort, maybe a Captain Cook's breakfast out on the lovely patio of the Polynesian or something from Gasparilla's at GF out on the beach, packing in a little more Disney. That's a good little dose for a short journey there. I'd milk it for everything you can get out of it!

OK, I totally thought I'd posted here, but I can't see it! Anywho...
Fantastic that everyone was at the bus stop on time! I'm looking forward to riding PW this time - it sounds fun! Giggling on a ride is a good thing

I'm glad you all had fun - that's what it's all about!

I think posts occasionally get lost in cyberspace. You are not the first DISer to have a post disappear. Oooooooo-weeeee-eeee-ooooooo!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

OK, I totally thought I'd posted here, but I can't see it! Anywho...

Fantastic that everyone was at the bus stop on time! I'm looking forward to riding PW this time - it sounds fun! Giggling on a ride is a good thing

I'm glad you all had fun - that's what it's all about!

Well, I'm glad you reposted!

PW is fun! Just be prepared for a jerky, spinny ride!

You can go to Magic Kingdom, ride the monorail 'into' Epcot (sort of, you know), and go to Downtown Disney. You could even eat a meal at a monorail resort, maybe a Captain Cook's breakfast out on the lovely patio of the Polynesian or something from Gasparilla's at GF out on the beach, packing in a little more Disney. That's a good little dose for a short journey there. I'd milk it for everything you can get out of it!





I think posts occasionally get lost in cyberspace. You are not the first DISer to have a post disappear. Oooooooo-weeeee-eeee-ooooooo!

Okay, so I have to admit that I've been calling Disney reservations every day to see if there is a standard view Wilderness Lodge room open with the pin code that I have. No luck so far...

I think I will take your suggestion and we'll do a dinner outside of MK. NOw I just have to decide where...

 

[Charleston Princess]

Hi Jackie!!! Welcome back!!!

Maybe Chelsea and I will have to go to the parks together sometime. But we might have a fight over Bo!

Thank you!!!

We have decided that Bo is a big flirt -- always letting women hang all over him.

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

After Primeval Whirl, we all met up with my mom, who chose to skip EE and PW. Next up was Dinosaur! My dad decided to skip this one.

The first time I rode Dinosaur was on my last trip and I was shocked that I had never been on it before because I thought it was so much fun! We walked right up with no waiting and Mrs. Huxtable told us what was up.

Then we boarded the ride and it was SO much fun! I thought this ride was even more fun this time than last time I rode it. It's slowly creeping up on my list of favorites!

Here's our pic! I'm kinda hidden behind a plant. My mom was pretty scared on this ride!

Next, we walked over and grabbed some fastpasses for Kali. The skies were quickly turning to gray, ugly skies with the promise of rain. So even though there was NO line for Kali, we decided to hold off on it until we were already wet from rain!

We did the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I think this was my first time doing this!

We saw this guy

And this guy

WARNING: BIG SCARY BAT PICTURES COMING UP!!!!





Bats FREAK ME OUT and I had a hard time looking at the bats at first, but I tried to just look at them as God's creatures. And I looked long enough to take pics! My DH, brother, and SIL were saying the bats were CUTE. WHAT?!? CUTE?!? Maybe their brains got knocked around on PW and Dinosaur.

BAT PICS ARE DONE NOW!

Something funny happened while we were looking at the bats. One of the other park guests who was going through at the same time as us was complaining to the cast member about the cast member saying that bats don't have rabies. The guest said "You shouldn't tell kids that. Now they're all going to go around handling bats." The guest was pretty fired up about this. I couldn't believe it! He was really worried about kids handling bats.

Um, excuse me, but I don't know ANY kids who would go around handling bats!!! I felt bad for the cast member, but he took it in stride.

And now for some GORGEOUS tigers!

Just chillin by the pool

Two tigers chatting (or something)

Another view of the chillin tiger

Some scenery

I love these!

I had a few quick deliveries to make

Next up was the bird section. I have a pretty bad fear of birds, so I rushed through this section and waited for my family on the other side. Here are the chains that keep the birds in. Thank Goodness for those!

DH tried to pull the rickshaw (is that what it's called?) but he was sad that he couldn't lift it

I love monkeys!

I think they were grooming each other

Continued in next post...

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

Continued from previous post...

After our trek through the jungle, it was time to use our EE fast passes!

DH and I asked for the front row and we only had to wait a couple minutes for it. I love the front row on this ride!

The sky was looking worse and worse as we headed to the next attraction.

Next up was It's Tough to Be a Bug! Such a cute show. Of course, all the kids in there were terrified. I feel so bad for the kids that freak out during that show!

Everyone was getting pretty hungry at this point, so I asked DH to take everyone to Flame Tree BBQ and order some food while I ran to get everyone FPs for the Safari. On my way back to Flame Tree, DH called and said they had all ordered their food and they found a covered table for 6 right on the water.

DH and I shared a chicken meal with a large coke. YUM!!! I love the food here! We had more than enough to eat sharing this one meal.

Now, I LOVE the food at Flame Tree. What I do not love is the bird problem. I keep a watchful eye on all the birds as I eat here. At the beginning of the meal, I reached down into my purse to grab my hand sanitizer and there was a duck down there under the table. His beak was no more than 2 inches from my hand!!! I squealed and tried not to look down for the rest of the meal!

My family finds some humor in my fear of birds, so they kept telling me when the ducks were getting close! I told them I didn't want to know!

After a delicious, albeit scary, lunch, it was time for a safari!

We walked right up with our fastpasses.

Just as we boarded our vehicle, the rain began to come down. I was happy that we were covered!

A rhino booty

Are those crocs or gators?

EEK!!!

A Giraffe!

Looks like a baby!

Kinda hard to see, but there's a lion up there!

We had a great safari. We saw lots of great animals who weren't bothered at all by the rain!

As we got off the vehicle, we got out our ponchos. And despite my constant warnings, my mom and dad hadn't brought their ponchos! Mom had a raincoat with her, so she was okay. I gave my dad my poncho as I had my raincoat also.

Festival of the Lion King was going to start soon, so we headed out from the shelter of the Safari queue and it was POURING!!! We walked/waded over to FOTLK. My booty and legs got SOAKED because I didn't have my poncho. I had my crocs on, thank goodness! I would have been so sad if my running shoes had gotten soaked!

We finally arrived at Festival of the Lion King and DH decided that he didn't want to sit in the air conditioning while soaking wet, he headed back to Pop. The rest of us found seats and took off our rain gear and waited for the show to start.

She had such a great voice

Are they called tumble monkeys?

This was my first time seeing this show and I LOVED it! I will definitely be back!

After the show, we were still pretty soaked and decided to pass on Kali. We put our rain gear back on and walked to the bus stop.

The rest of the family wanted to head back to Pop to change and rest up, but I decided to head over to DHS. So we parted ways and I reminded them of our ADR at Boma at 5:55...

Next up...will this rain ever stop?!?!

 

[julezdisney]

Wooo! Way to fire out a big update! I'm enjoying the day at AK with you! FOTLK doesn't look like something that appeals to me- did everyone enjoy it?

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Julie, loved your nice long update! You got some nice pics of the tigers. I hadn't seen Maharajah until this year, either. I agree - the bats are really creepy! I feel bad for that CM - they are there to educate us - not lie to little children so the parents will feel better about things. And handling bats - what are these people, nocturnal?

I'm sorry your lunch was so scarey With all the healthy kids portions and enough food to split, I'm thinking we should skip the DDP next time and just eat less.

I'm glad you like Dinosaur- it is just like Indy in DL - with a different theme. Indy is my all time fav anywhere! I'm also glad you got to see FOTLK - not to be missed for sure! Looks like such a fun trip with your family!

 

[MeMom]

DH and I asked for the front row and we only had to wait a couple minutes for it. I love the front row on this ride!

I need to get a good front row picture at the broken tracks right before you go backwards.


Just the mention of Flame Tree stirs up the most awesome aromas for me. That place smells so good!

 

[mousescrapper]

Julie,


great AK update....sorry that rain came and you got a bit wet, but it didn't seem to dampen your spirits

Hope you got all your delieveries ran....that looked like a heavy cart!

Those bats would have freaked me out too

I'm not a fan of Dinosaur, but love EE! glad you had fun on both!

I can't believe that was your first time seeing FotLK!

that is like the best show in the world, I get chills each time we see it!

looking forward to what you do at DHS!

J-

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

Thank you!!!

We have decided that Bo is a big flirt -- always letting women hang all over him.

Yeah, Bo is probably just a big flirt. But who can blame him? All these fine DISers going to visit him all the time...who could resist?!

Wooo! Way to fire out a big update! I'm enjoying the day at AK with you! FOTLK doesn't look like something that appeals to me- did everyone enjoy it?

My mom, SIL, and I enjoyed FOTLK. My brother said he wished he had skipped it. My dad was so-so on it. So not everyone liked it. In my opinion, I would do the other things at AK and go see FOTLK if you have spare time!

Julie, loved your nice long update! You got some nice pics of the tigers. I hadn't seen Maharajah until this year, either. I agree - the bats are really creepy! I feel bad for that CM - they are there to educate us - not lie to little children so the parents will feel better about things. And handling bats - what are these people, nocturnal?

I'm sorry your lunch was so scarey With all the healthy kids portions and enough food to split, I'm thinking we should skip the DDP next time and just eat less.

I'm glad you like Dinosaur- it is just like Indy in DL - with a different theme. Indy is my all time fav anywhere! I'm also glad you got to see FOTLK - not to be missed for sure! Looks like such a fun trip with your family!

That bat guy was crazy!

I am always tempted by DDP, but I think we would end up wasting SO MUCH food. Also, I have a very hard time sitting in a restaurant at WDW when there is so much fun to be had!

I can't believe I never went to DL when we lived in Phoenix. I never got to experience Indy. But I'm happy to hear that it's just like Dinosaur!

I need to get a good front row picture at the broken tracks right before you go backwards.


Just the mention of Flame Tree stirs up the most awesome aromas for me. That place smells so good!

You mean a pic like this?

Writing about Flame Tree was making my mouth water this morning!

Julie,


great AK update....sorry that rain came and you got a bit wet, but it didn't seem to dampen your spirits

Hope you got all your delieveries ran....that looked like a heavy cart!

Those bats would have freaked me out too

I'm not a fan of Dinosaur, but love EE! glad you had fun on both!

I can't believe that was your first time seeing FotLK!

that is like the best show in the world, I get chills each time we see it!

looking forward to what you do at DHS!

J-

We had sooooo much rain on the trip before this one. It rained almost every day and some days it rained ALL day. We definitely learned how to have fun despite the rain on that trip. So I didn't let the rain stop me this time either!

I can't believe I had never seen FOTLK either! There were a lot of firsts for me on this trip and I loved all of them! I had chills when I watched FOTLK also, but I think it was because I was soaked and the air conditioning was blasting in there!

Yeah, that cart was heavy, but I got everything delivered on time!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

I was going to go for a run today, but it's POURING right now. All of my errands are done for the day, so I'm going to keep rolling on this trip report!

As we left AK, my family got in line at the bus stop for Pop and I got in line at the bus stop for DHS. I grabbed the poncho from my dad and bid them adieu. The Pop line was LOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG!!!! The rain wasn't letting up and everyone was escaping to their hotels from Animal Kingdom. The DHS line, on the other hand, had one person in it: Me!

I arrived at DHS and it was raining very lightly. There were hardly any people out on the streets of DHS. There were lots of people in the stores, though!

I headed right over to ToT and Rock n Roller Coaster.

I grabbed a FP for ToT and then got in the single rider line for RnRC. I hadn't yet been on RnRC on this trip and I was very excited to ride!

On RnRC, the freakiest thing happened...the music stopped right after we blasted off. I'm usually not scared on this ride, but without the music, it was super scary!!! I could hear everyone screaming and hear the super stretch limos zooming around. And without the music to listen to, all I could think about was turning upside down! I will take my RnRC WITH music from now on, thankyouverymuch!

After RnRC, I headed over to the candy shop and got myself a s'mores treat. I munched on the s'mores treat as I browsed through the shops. I didn't purchase anything because I didn't want it to get soaked, but I got some good ideas for souvenirs to purchase later in the trip.

Some pics from the shops...

Now it was time for Tower of Terror, my all time favorite ride at Disney World!

Only one side was working at this time, so the fastpass line took longer than usual, but it wasn't too bad. The good thing about the longer line was that i had more time to take pics of my favorite place!

I checked the times board at the front of the park and it showed the Toy Story Midway Mania wait as 80 minutes. That was too long for me! I knew we'd be back the next day, so I decided to head back to Pop so I could shower and put on some dry clothes before dinner at Boma!

I'll see you tomorrow, Sorcerer's Hat!

Continued in next post...

 

[Charleston Princess]

You were an updating machine today, Julie!!!

I have to admit that I was fascinated by the bats on our trip -- I could watch them hang there and eat their fruit for hours.

Flame Tree sounds so yummy -- your family was relentless in their teasing though, weren't they?

I can't imagine riding RnRC without music. Yikes!

Boma! Boma! Boma!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

Continued from last post...

I headed back to Pop and found a sleeping DH in the room. I quietly took a hot shower, put on some dry clothes, woke DH up, and we headed back to Animal Kingdom with the rest of the family. Once at AK, we caught the bus for AKL.

We arrived at AKL and checked out the Christmas decorated lobby. It was STUNNING! I think the AKL lobby is gorgeous normally, but this was just amazing!

I love these!

We checked in for our 5:55 reservation and roamed the lobby as we waited. The buzzer went off at 5:45, 10 minutes early! We were all starving, so we were happy about being seated a little bit early!

I had eaten at Boma the year before and I absolutely loved the food. I was hoping not to be disappointed and I wasn't! The food was delicious! I love trying all the different, exotic things.

Here's my first dinner plate, which includes falafel, hummus, flatbreads, and pita. YUM!

I must have been too hungry to take a pic of my second plate!

Here's my dessert, with the delicious zebra domes! All of the desserts were AWESOME!

I chose Jungle Juice as my beverage and it was yummy!

As I said, the dinner was great, but the service was horrible. Our server took forever to bring our drinks and to refill our waters. We waited super long for the check too. And we had a little surprise in our check...6 dollars extra per person due to the holiday! It was Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend and I had totally forgotten that they might charge extra. Oops! Bad DISer! The delicious food was worth it, though, so we paid up and moved on!

After dinner, it was still raining, so we decided to do a resort tour rather than go to a park.

DH headed back to the room to watch the Bears' game and the rest of us took the bus to Epcot and then got on the Monorail. And...we got so wrapped up in chatting that we forgot to get off! Oops again!

We eventually got on the resort monorail and headed over to the Polynesian. We walked around the Poly and took it all in. I definitely want to stay there at some point in my life!

A Poly Christmas tree

A tiki guy

Some super cool marine life on the ceiling

I want one of these for my house!

Next up was the Grand Floridian!

A small tree and a guy in suspenders

The big, beautiful GF tree!

The giant gingerbread house

The ceiling

I went into Basin and bought some Christmas gifts for some of my friends. Just the other day, I was going to buy some lotion and then I would wait and treat myself to some Basin lotion when I'm at WDW in 2 weeks!

We sat and listened to a wonderful band playing Christmas music as we took in all the beautiful Christmas decor.

It was time to head back to the hotel. I had been soaked all day and I just couldn't warm up! I was looking forward to getting into some dry, warm pajamas and curling up in bed with my sweetie!

When I got back to Pop, the Bears game was still on...BORING!!! I made a deal with DH...he could continue to watch the game if he would snuggle me so I would warm up!

Tomorrow would be a full day of DHS and I couldn't wait! I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow after my super fun, full day of Disney fun!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

You were an updating machine today, Julie!!!

I have to admit that I was fascinated by the bats on our trip -- I could watch them hang there and eat their fruit for hours.

Flame Tree sounds so yummy -- your family was relentless in their teasing though, weren't they?

I can't imagine riding RnRC without music. Yikes!

Boma! Boma! Boma!

It was such a rainy day here! DH and I cleaned the whole house top to bottom over the weekend, so there wasn't a lot of cleaning to do. I did all my errands over the weekend. So DISing just seemed right!

As the little sister to 4 older brothers, I have endured huge amounts of teasing in my life. I'm used to it!

Boma is the best!

 

[k_reile]

i'm sorry Julie's family....bats are NOT cute! Yuck!

 

[KathyRN137]

I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow after my super fun, full day of Disney fun!

It was such a treat to read all about it... I'm glad it rained today!!


Kathy

 

[mrsksomeday]

Great updates, I loved the AK pictures, they were great. The Christmas pictures were fantastic, I am loving your TR!!