imbe@aol.com
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 22, 2001
- Messages
- 371
THIS was our earliest day's start yet - up by 5:30 am! LOL but no one minded a bit, not even the kids, because this was the day for the Sunrise Safari! We were down in (actually, up in) the Concierge Lounge by 6, where coffee and juice were available (no food yet, and even I didn't mind, because even I don't wanna eat THAT early! LOL 
The safari didn't leave until 6:40, but again, no one complained. It's soooo nice and quiet and peaceful, and quite pleasant to just sit and have coffee, and take the time to really look at the details of the hotel and watch it come to life in the morning. Early morning is my favorite hotel time anywhere, at any hotel, so I didn't mind this a bit.
Your room keys or passes to the park, are taken when you first arrive in the lounge, and are returned to you upon boarding the bus for the safari. We had two guides, one gal who did the talking for the most part, and a guy too. This was a full safari, with about 25 people or so.
As you're on your way, all sorts of interesting facts about the hotel, and AK, are pointed out to you. You enter AK through a "backstage" area, and see the backs of the housing areas for numerous animals, including giraffes & rhinos, and also go by the cast member dining building. Once the bus stops, you disembark and head to KS through a back way, and board the jeep.
The ride itself lasts about an hour, more or less, and it's SO MUCH more in depth than the normal safari ride. It stops at numerous points along the way, will stop if good photo ops present themselves, and it is just so worth the $34.50 for adults. It almost spoils you totally, and you will REALLY appreciate it when you ride the "regular" way the next time, trust me!! Truly, anyone staying concierge at AKL should give this a try!
Once you're off the ride and finished with breakfast, you're given FP's for your party to ride KS between 9-10 .. so we did that. We shopped around afterwards, I bought yet another hat! LOL I love hats, they come in SO handy for bad hair days (which I have a LOT of on vacations! <g>) and the prices are really not at all bad here -- before coming on this trip, I checked around the department stores at home and honestly, the hats I saw there (I'm talking about straw hats here) were easily $10-15 more.
We then headed down the Pangoni Trail, did Rafiki's Planet Watch and since the line wasn't too long, went for KRR too. That had a surprisingly short wait!! so we ended up doing it twice. I got medium soaked! LOL and was actually a little chilly!
Passing by the Chakawhateveritscalled! LOL chicken satay place, I had to have one! (even though I was full!!LOL) so we found a spot and sat and ate that .. that is, STARTED to eat that ... because ... I'm sitting, happily eating my satay ... hat on...... Dave looks over at me .. and says calmly (or tried to say calmly) "Take your hat off" .. but I ALSO saw Alec's face .. I was like "WHY??" "Take your hat off!" Alec: "Ohhhh you have a liz..." he didn't get any further than that and AHHHHHHHHHHHH I let out a SCREECH louder than Tarzan man!!! LOL That hat went FLYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I absolutely HATE lizards and am PETRIFIED of them!! I felt like the mean mom in Parent Trap! LOLOL Actually, I accidentally flung my purse too, with the hat (don't ask me how, I just did!!) so then had to retrieve both! LOL Of course, I made Dave dump the purse OUT and assure me that that creature hadn't gotten in there! LOL
Once that trauma was over, we made our way to Festival of the Lion King, which I adore!! Still the best show in any park, imho. NOW it was starting to get very hot again, so after one last sweep of the stores, we all decided that a poolside afternoon sounded very good! We had a 15 min or so wait for the bus back to the AKL, but once on, it took only 2-3 min to actually get there.
We all got suited up and went down to the pool. The guys got in, I laid in the sun, Swahili Colada in hand .. ahhhhhhhhhh
A while later, everyone was getting hungry, so we trooped into Mara and got some things to eat. I forgot to mention in the dining report that they also have a very good Sugar Cane Chicken here - nice sized portion, with veggies & polenta, and I believe it was only $6.50 or so??
NOT a bad price at all to me!!
I intended to do the lobby tour at 3:30, so I gathered up my things, put on my coverup and headed inside. I decided to leave the boys at the pool alone (they're both excellent swimmers and I felt confident doing so for a short while) because Dave was headed back to the room - he does NOT like the sun. Once inside however, though I was told where to go ... somehow I messed up! LOL and ended up missing the tour. So I "forced myself" <g> to go through Zawadi Marketplace again, and there ran into Dave .. who had his own little "adventure" to tell me about. Seems that when he went back to the room, he walked back into the MBR, got undressed to shower, and began walking out into the LR that way to get something .. WELL .. the maid walked in! LOLOL He said he screamed and she screamed!LOL but he zoomed back, got clothes on and it was all fine in the end
( I can't speak for her! LOL)
I went and retrieved the boys from the pool so that we could get a head start on packing up. There was sooooo much stuff to do, and I didn't want to be doing this late or last minute. It actually took less time than I thought it would though, because at this point, there was so little room left in the suitcases that I just had to shove things wherever they would fit! LOL
Once that was done, everyone got ready pretty quickly and we decided we'd head to Boma's for dinner about an hour before our PS. HA! HAHAHAH!! NOT happening. I have NEVER in my life seen SUCH a line of people waiting to check in for their PS and waiting to be seated .. EVER!! It was nightmareish!!! I did wait on line though, but when I got up to the podium and told the lady I was wondering if I could be seated earlier, I was told absolutely NOT, and don't even bother coming back to check again until the exact time of my PS!! Hmmmm ..
oooookay! We went to sit out by the pool bar and the boys played in the arcade again (they have a really cool game room) In speaking to the bartender while waiting, he was telling me that Boma was built to serve about 270 people per night, and has been serving between 700-900 a night!!! Well THAT explains things! LOL
We returned at the designated time, and had a 15-20 min wait and were then finally seated. The place was still positively overflowing with people however. I've written about Boma in my dining report, but let me comment here ... the food WAS good .. however, just MY opinion .. NO restaurant ANYWHERE is worth THAT LONG of a wait. Also, just so darned many people, all trying to get their food at the same time, crammed up in there .. well, it really took away from the dining experience for me. I'm not writing off Boma by any means, but can say that I would NOT wait if I'd happened upon it w/o a PS. It just turns me off when I'm at a buffet and millions of people have slopped the food all around, and then it's my turn to eat it! LOL
.. next, our departure day..
Judi
The safari didn't leave until 6:40, but again, no one complained. It's soooo nice and quiet and peaceful, and quite pleasant to just sit and have coffee, and take the time to really look at the details of the hotel and watch it come to life in the morning. Early morning is my favorite hotel time anywhere, at any hotel, so I didn't mind this a bit.
Your room keys or passes to the park, are taken when you first arrive in the lounge, and are returned to you upon boarding the bus for the safari. We had two guides, one gal who did the talking for the most part, and a guy too. This was a full safari, with about 25 people or so.
As you're on your way, all sorts of interesting facts about the hotel, and AK, are pointed out to you. You enter AK through a "backstage" area, and see the backs of the housing areas for numerous animals, including giraffes & rhinos, and also go by the cast member dining building. Once the bus stops, you disembark and head to KS through a back way, and board the jeep.
The ride itself lasts about an hour, more or less, and it's SO MUCH more in depth than the normal safari ride. It stops at numerous points along the way, will stop if good photo ops present themselves, and it is just so worth the $34.50 for adults. It almost spoils you totally, and you will REALLY appreciate it when you ride the "regular" way the next time, trust me!! Truly, anyone staying concierge at AKL should give this a try!
Once you're off the ride and finished with breakfast, you're given FP's for your party to ride KS between 9-10 .. so we did that. We shopped around afterwards, I bought yet another hat! LOL I love hats, they come in SO handy for bad hair days (which I have a LOT of on vacations! <g>) and the prices are really not at all bad here -- before coming on this trip, I checked around the department stores at home and honestly, the hats I saw there (I'm talking about straw hats here) were easily $10-15 more.
We then headed down the Pangoni Trail, did Rafiki's Planet Watch and since the line wasn't too long, went for KRR too. That had a surprisingly short wait!! so we ended up doing it twice. I got medium soaked! LOL and was actually a little chilly!
Passing by the Chakawhateveritscalled! LOL chicken satay place, I had to have one! (even though I was full!!LOL) so we found a spot and sat and ate that .. that is, STARTED to eat that ... because ... I'm sitting, happily eating my satay ... hat on...... Dave looks over at me .. and says calmly (or tried to say calmly) "Take your hat off" .. but I ALSO saw Alec's face .. I was like "WHY??" "Take your hat off!" Alec: "Ohhhh you have a liz..." he didn't get any further than that and AHHHHHHHHHHHH I let out a SCREECH louder than Tarzan man!!! LOL That hat went FLYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I absolutely HATE lizards and am PETRIFIED of them!! I felt like the mean mom in Parent Trap! LOLOL Actually, I accidentally flung my purse too, with the hat (don't ask me how, I just did!!) so then had to retrieve both! LOL Of course, I made Dave dump the purse OUT and assure me that that creature hadn't gotten in there! LOL
Once that trauma was over, we made our way to Festival of the Lion King, which I adore!! Still the best show in any park, imho. NOW it was starting to get very hot again, so after one last sweep of the stores, we all decided that a poolside afternoon sounded very good! We had a 15 min or so wait for the bus back to the AKL, but once on, it took only 2-3 min to actually get there.
We all got suited up and went down to the pool. The guys got in, I laid in the sun, Swahili Colada in hand .. ahhhhhhhhhh
A while later, everyone was getting hungry, so we trooped into Mara and got some things to eat. I forgot to mention in the dining report that they also have a very good Sugar Cane Chicken here - nice sized portion, with veggies & polenta, and I believe it was only $6.50 or so??NOT a bad price at all to me!!
I intended to do the lobby tour at 3:30, so I gathered up my things, put on my coverup and headed inside. I decided to leave the boys at the pool alone (they're both excellent swimmers and I felt confident doing so for a short while) because Dave was headed back to the room - he does NOT like the sun. Once inside however, though I was told where to go ... somehow I messed up! LOL and ended up missing the tour. So I "forced myself" <g> to go through Zawadi Marketplace again, and there ran into Dave .. who had his own little "adventure" to tell me about. Seems that when he went back to the room, he walked back into the MBR, got undressed to shower, and began walking out into the LR that way to get something .. WELL .. the maid walked in! LOLOL He said he screamed and she screamed!LOL but he zoomed back, got clothes on and it was all fine in the end
( I can't speak for her! LOL)
I went and retrieved the boys from the pool so that we could get a head start on packing up. There was sooooo much stuff to do, and I didn't want to be doing this late or last minute. It actually took less time than I thought it would though, because at this point, there was so little room left in the suitcases that I just had to shove things wherever they would fit! LOL
Once that was done, everyone got ready pretty quickly and we decided we'd head to Boma's for dinner about an hour before our PS. HA! HAHAHAH!! NOT happening. I have NEVER in my life seen SUCH a line of people waiting to check in for their PS and waiting to be seated .. EVER!! It was nightmareish!!! I did wait on line though, but when I got up to the podium and told the lady I was wondering if I could be seated earlier, I was told absolutely NOT, and don't even bother coming back to check again until the exact time of my PS!! Hmmmm ..
oooookay! We went to sit out by the pool bar and the boys played in the arcade again (they have a really cool game room) In speaking to the bartender while waiting, he was telling me that Boma was built to serve about 270 people per night, and has been serving between 700-900 a night!!! Well THAT explains things! LOL
We returned at the designated time, and had a 15-20 min wait and were then finally seated. The place was still positively overflowing with people however. I've written about Boma in my dining report, but let me comment here ... the food WAS good .. however, just MY opinion .. NO restaurant ANYWHERE is worth THAT LONG of a wait. Also, just so darned many people, all trying to get their food at the same time, crammed up in there .. well, it really took away from the dining experience for me. I'm not writing off Boma by any means, but can say that I would NOT wait if I'd happened upon it w/o a PS. It just turns me off when I'm at a buffet and millions of people have slopped the food all around, and then it's my turn to eat it! LOL
.. next, our departure day..
Judi
