Is this a vacation or a fun boot camp? ~ Our 1st time at Disney ~ June 2011 TR

[PixieMama]

So I booked us today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We will be back in Disney March 24th!! 8 months away!! Yay!!

Yay! Sooooo exciting!

I can't get my DH to agree to a WDW trip more than every 3 years, LOL! We've been in '07 and '10... so 2013, here we come!

 

[lbuzz52]

Yeah for another trip in the works!

 

[anjalee6]

That is so exciting that you are planning another trip! We are planning too, but haven't booked anything yet and we are going the surprise route this time. We will see how that works out.

 

[danceintherain]

The photopass photogs took tons of pictures of DS in the stroller on our last trip. He was only 3 months, so he was sleeping a lot.

It looks as if you had lots of fun, and it's always great to have a trip in the works! DH is always much more concerned about the money than I am, but the way I look at it, we have to vacation somewhere, and most places can be as expensive as or more expensive than Disney depending on your priorities, and I'm high maintenance!

 

[mrssmith06]

So Day 4 was our last full day at Disney... sad I know... But it ended up being my favorite day of the trip!!! AK had EMH this morning and we hadn't made it to EMH for any of the other parks yet! We missed MK's due to our breakfast at CM's and then on Epcot day we slept late... so I was determined to get there today, we only had a half day to spend at AK!

I forced everyone out of bed and pushed them to get ready. We had enough time to have breakfast at our resort food court so we walked over there first, stopping for a couple of pictures on the way...

The kids had cinnamon rolls and I wasn't very hungry so I just had a side of bacon. I think DH had some sort of egg sandwich? I didn't get a photo of his.

After breakfast, we walked back to our room, got our things and drove to the Animal Kingdom!

It was just a few minutes past 8am when we walked up, so we missed the RD but we were making it in for EMH! Yay!
Oh and a side note for those with double strollers: We had NO problem getting our stroller through the turnstiles at any other parks, except this one!! It's like AK's are just a tad more narrow. We got it in, barely, but had to take a wheel off to get it out!!! LOL.

We took a few minutes to admire the tree and then made our way into Africa. I was headed for the Safari of course!!

We had about a 10 minute wait and then got on board for our 2 week journey. It was a nice, fun ride and we enjoyed doing this first thing in the morning! I'll share a few highlights...

When our 2 week aka 20 minute journey ended, we made our way to Discovery Island. With a closer view of the tree, I had to take a few more pictures and get some close ups! It's amazing to look at the detail!!!

NEXT UP: MORE OF ANIMAL KINGDOM!

 

[mrssmith06]

Yeah for another trip in the works!

That is so exciting that you are planning another trip! We are planning too, but haven't booked anything yet and we are going the surprise route this time. We will see how that works out.

Good luck with the surprise!! We were able to make it up to the day before to surprise the kids this time... For our next trip, it'll be in March and we are thinking of telling/surprising the kids at Christmas? Not real sure yet.

The photopass photogs took tons of pictures of DS in the stroller on our last trip. He was only 3 months, so he was sleeping a lot.

It looks as if you had lots of fun, and it's always great to have a trip in the works! DH is always much more concerned about the money than I am, but the way I look at it, we have to vacation somewhere, and most places can be as expensive as or more expensive than Disney depending on your priorities, and I'm high maintenance!

That is true! Depending on where and what, many other vacations could cost just as much or more! Disney is the most we've spent on vacations but it's totally worth it to me! Our kids are only young once!!!

 

[TanzUnited99]

First off on getting to go to Disney again in March!!! That is great news!!!

Love the AK pics of the Safari and the tree! That is wierd about it being the only park where you had trouble with the stroller. I wonder why it is a bit narrow - is it so the animals don't escape?!!

 

[PixieMama]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who has photos of the elephant's backside!

 

[mrssmith06]

So we had done the Safari and were headed toward Discovery Island...
And I have to pause to tell a funny. I can't remember exactly when this happened but it was morning, sometime between 9-10a while we were walking, we heard a little boy somewhere nearby having a major tantrum!! I couldn't see him but EVERYONE could hear him... Suddenly he screams real loud "BUT I HAVEN'T HAD MY ICE CREAM TODAY!!!!!!!!!" This cracked us up!! Something about the way he screamed it and was demanding his Disney ice cream was just too funny. Or maybe we were just glad it wasn't our kid?? LOL... either way, we still laugh about it. I hope someone got him his ice cream!!!

Ok, so on to our touring...

We passed by Discovery Island and made our way into Dinoland. DD was begging to ride Dinosaur but I really wasn't sure about it. We walked over that way first because if I decided we would do it then I needed to grab some FPs.

Well, we walked up and I seen the "warnings" sign saying: Dark places and scary dinosaurs! High speed, turbulent ride, sharp turns, sudden drops! You should be free from high blood pressure (rules me out!), heart and back problems, motion sickness...expectant mothers should not ride.
Ummmmmm..... NO THANK YOU. Sounds horrible. I told DD, maybe next time, but I didn't feel good about it right now. Who's done this ride? How bad is it?

So, on to something less thrilling... Ahhh the Triceratop spin, yes, that's more my speed. hahaha! It was a walk on, no wait.

Now I did have some non-likings with this Dino Rama area... It's set up like a small carnival and there are venders for games and such that you have to pay for. I already paid to be in the theme park... Why in the world would I want to spend tons more money playing a bunch of carnival games? They should be included in park price, darn it!!!! There was also a little coaster in there that we wanted to ride but it was closed...
I realized later too that we completely skipped The Boneyard. I really wanted the kids to check that out... so it's a must do for next time!!!
We decided to head to Camp Minnie Mickey so we could get in line for Festival of The Lion King!! Somewhere along the way we spotted Flik and followed him! Glad we did, we were one of the firsts to meet and greet with him! I can't remember exactly where this was...

We made it to the camp around 9:30am and jumped in line for the first FOLTK showing, scheduled to perform at 10am!

The wait seemed to take forever, but finally the doors opened and we were led inside. We sat in the "Giraffe area", first front non-handicap row by the exit. Great seats!! I LOVED LOVED LOVED this show!!! I was so blown away. It'll be a must do for me every trip now I think. I took tons of photo's and video... I'll just share a few photo's, I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it!

BOOM. The End.

UP NEXT: Greetings, Rafiki's & Rainforest!

 

[PixieMama]

FotLK is such a great show... we love it!

We did not, however, love Dinosaur. We skipped it on our first trip, but last year the kids wanted to try it. So we did. And I'm happy to never ride it again! It's loud and way too jerky/bumpy for me.

Very cool to meet Flik! That's one character I've never seen out... I'll have to keep my eyes open for him when we're at AK!

 

[TanzUnited99]

I sure hope someone got that kid an ice cream!

After the way you described Dinosaur I was hoping you did ride it so you could let me know how bad it really is! I need to be prepared!

Great pics with Flik (yay on being first in line!) and of FOTLK - can't wait to see the show.

 

[mrssmith06]

FotLK is such a great show... we love it!

We did not, however, love Dinosaur. We skipped it on our first trip, but last year the kids wanted to try it. So we did. And I'm happy to never ride it again! It's loud and way too jerky/bumpy for me.

Very cool to meet Flik! That's one character I've never seen out... I'll have to keep my eyes open for him when we're at AK!

Note to self = Dinosaur IS awful....
I was excited to see Flik out!

I sure hope someone got that kid an ice cream!

After the way you described Dinosaur I was hoping you did ride it so you could let me know how bad it really is! I need to be prepared!

Great pics with Flik (yay on being first in line!) and of FOTLK - can't wait to see the show.

After reading several reviews on Dinosaur, I think I might just stay away from it...
FOTLK is a MUST!!!!

 

[mrssmith06]

If photobucket will ever work the way I want it to, then I'll have another update!!
I'm working on getting my next set of pictures uploaded right now... hopefully I'll have a chance to sit down and update this afternoon.

After lunch today I'm taking the kids to see Winnie The Pooh! It looks like it'll be super cute!!!

I can't believe my trip report is so close to the end. I've almost wanted to drag it out and make it last longer but then again, now with another trip in the works... I'm excited to start my next PTR!! Sad isn't it?

 

[mrssmith06]

Day 4 cont.

So after the wonderful FOTLK show , we took the kids for a potty break.
Then it was time for some meet and greets! All of the lines were filling up right then, so we jumped into Mickey's line! He took several breaks while we were in line but even so, we only waited about 15 minutes and it was our turn! DS didn't shy out this time, he was actually into meeting Mickey! Yay!!!

Mickey is trying to get DS to stand beside him for the picture lol

We have some photopass pics with Mickey too, I'll post those later
We decided to skip Minnie, her line was too long. On our way back we spotted Thumper!! I got all excited but just then the CM said he was going to break...Boooo!! So we just took a quick picture...He's so cute.

Who did we see next?! Pocahontas & Meeko! We were 2nd in line, they had just arrived!!! When we got in line, a group walked by and were all confused asking "WHO is THAT?" What are they doing at Disney?! Shame, Shame!
Both kids enjoyed this. DS loved Meeko but wouldn't go near Pocahontas hehe. DD loved both!

DD had heard about the "petting zoo" (as she calls it) in Rafiki's planet watch and begged to go there next, so we did...

There's our train!

At the Kids discovery station:

We finally made it to Affection Section! Gotta say, I was not impressed even a little... Kind of a sad really. That train ride and all that time it took, just to see a few goats and a cow and whatever else there was. Ehhh. I could skip this next time... DD wasn't too happy once she seen it either.

cont. in next post!!!

 

[mrssmith06]

After a few minutes there we sprinted back to the train! It was 11:50a and we had lunch reservations at Rainforest Cafe for 12:30p! Yikes! I thought for sure that we would end up being late but we were able to get back on the train, grab the stroller and then run to the front of the park much quicker than I expected.
We walked up to RC about 12:15p!

We only waited about 5 minutes and were seated!
I had printed off the reward calendar's from RC website, so the kids got their meals for only .99 cents......score!

We were seated right by this waterfall though and it was COLD!!! I was freezing through most of the meal and was seriously tempted to go by a shirt or something in the gift shop for warmth, but I refrained and made it out ok

I had the Tuscan chicken plate... YUMMO!!! It was really good!! I would totally order this again.

DH had the Caribbean Coconut Shrimp and he LOVED it!! His favorite part was the mango sauce, he made several comments about it while eating.

DD had the kids cheeseburgers with a banana

and DS had the kids dinosaur chicken nuggets with a banana

After our satisfying lunch and and a stop in the gift shop, we headed out of Animal Kingdom. Bye Bye AK...

Bye Bye Rainforest...

NEXT UP: Break time at the resort!

 

[mrssmith06]

A little side note!

I took the kids to see Winnie The Pooh today and we all LOVED it!! It was sooo super duper cute. Just thought I'd share that news... just in case your thinking about going to see it.... DO it!

 

[basketkat]

Oh I am so jealous you all met Meeko! And those people not knowing who they were??? Crazy!

All of your food at Rainforest Cafe looks very yummy!

 

[mtgirl29]

I all your PP pics!!! So great and such wonderful memories for you all. Night swimming looked like so much fun!!!
Your AK day looked fabulous. Sooo funny about the kid screaming about not getting his ice-cream for the day. It seems like WDW is full of kiddos melting down. I guess they are having toooo much fun!
My son had the EXACT same meal as your son at RFC. We didn't have a great time at AK, unfortunately. Glad you guys did, though!

 

[mrssmith06]

Oh I am so jealous you all met Meeko! And those people not knowing who they were??? Crazy!

All of your food at Rainforest Cafe looks very yummy!

I know, right?! I turned around and looked at them like WHAT?!

I all your PP pics!!! So great and such wonderful memories for you all. Night swimming looked like so much fun!!!
Your AK day looked fabulous. Sooo funny about the kid screaming about not getting his ice-cream for the day. It seems like WDW is full of kiddos melting down. I guess they are having toooo much fun!
My son had the EXACT same meal as your son at RFC. We didn't have a great time at AK, unfortunately. Glad you guys did, though!

Thanks! I guess every kid has to have their meltdown at some point, huh? I'm just glad my kids never broke down that bad or that early in the day
Aww sorry you had a bad AK day!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yay on DS meeting Mickey and Meeko - it's a shame he did not take to Pocahontas.

Oh no on not being impressed by Rafiki's Planet Watch - I was hoping to enjoy spending some time there on our trip. May still hop over and see what we think of it.

Mmm Rainforest Cafe food looks soo good and yay on the kids meals only being .99 cents!