It's a SO-LO trip report! Oct 09, CR/YC, MNSSHP, F&W, and Independence! FINAL UPDATE!

[nursegirl]

Happy 2010 norybell and everyone!! Here's to all the fun Disney trips to come -- May sounds fab, when can we expect the PTR?



And welcome, DBF - my DH is an awesome guy, goes to WDW with us and indulges me - but doesn't get it, still - and he's been many times. So although I don't understand where you are coming from necessarily, I think just taking the plunge and seeing what all the fuss is about could be fun! That's my little bit of encouragement, anyway - and this TR has been so entertaining and with such lovely pictures, how could you not want to check it out?!

 

[norybell]

Happy New Year, everybody!

I have completely non-Disney news: BF and I got engaged last night!

 

[glennbo123]

Happy New Year, everybody!

I have completely non-Disney news: BF and I got engaged last night!

Wow!!! Congratulations!

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Happy New Year, everybody!

I have completely non-Disney news: BF and I got engaged last night!

Holy cow!! Congratulations!! What a perfect way to start a new year. You should totally mess with him and tell him that you'll only marry him if you can get married at Disney!

 

[preschoolmom]

Happy New Year, everybody!

I have completely non-Disney news: BF and I got engaged last night!

Ahhhhh! Congratulations! I've been following your report all along (I'm not sure where I followed the link from...). What a wonderful New Year's Eve!

 

[elizabethswan]

congratulations on your engagement! i read your report a while back and thoroughly enjoyed it. i also found it VERY inspiring because i have always wondered if a solo trip would be fun or not. now, does this mean that your fiance will also become a disney fan??? can you convert him??? also, have to tell you your opening (small world) lyrics keep getting stuck in my head. really great tr and congrats!

 

[ClareH37]

Happy New Year, everybody!

I have completely non-Disney news: BF and I got engaged last night!

Congratulation, that's lovely news

 

[hucifer]

I have completely non-Disney news: BF and I got engaged last night!

When I first read this, I gasped...out loud and everything. And then I said, "Awwwww."

This is wonderful news! I am so happy for you two!

How did the proposal happen? On one knee? At the stroke of midnight? Details!

 

[onelilspark]

Happy New Year, everybody!

I have completely non-Disney news: BF and I got engaged last night!

Congrats!

(this also means he is no longer BF, just F)

 

[Tribilín]

Great news! Congratulations norybell!

 

[If U Had Wings]

Congratulations!!! You definitely need to work on converting him now.

 

[norybell]

Thanks for the congrats, everyone!

I think, for the sake of continuity, I will continue calling him BF on this TR. F just looks too weird. Pretend his name is Boba Fett, or something, OK?

Details in a nutshell: I proposed. I decided what the heck -- I'm a thirtysomething, independent woman, we've been dating for almost 11 years, and it's 2010, for goodness sakes -- why should I wait for him to do it?

He said yes, obviously.

Now you know I'll get him to WDW eventually!

But I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that I've torn myself away from theknot.com for long enough to finally write an update! Coming this afternoon, I swear!

 

[glennbo123]

Wow! You are a "take charge" woman. Way to go!

Looking forward to the update....

 

[disney_mommy]

Thanks for the congrats, everyone!

I think, for the sake of continuity, I will continue calling him BF on this TR. F just looks too weird. Pretend his name is Boba Fett, or something, OK?

Details in a nutshell: I proposed. I decided what the heck -- I'm a thirtysomething, independent woman, we've been dating for almost 11 years, and it's 2010, for goodness sakes -- why should I wait for him to do it?

He said yes, obviously.

Now you know I'll get him to WDW eventually!

You go, girl!

But I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that I've torn myself away from theknot.com for long enough to finally write an update! Coming this afternoon, I swear!

This is my first time posting here, but I have been following you since the beginning. I am going to do my first solo in March, so I am enjoying your perspective.

Plus, your writing is amazing. So entertaining. More than once I've been caught laughing out loud at work while I was supposed to be you know... working.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[manntra]

Congratulations! What a great start to the New Year!! Have you convinced Boba to go with you in May?

Tracy

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Thanks for the congrats, everyone!

I think, for the sake of continuity, I will continue calling him BF on this TR. F just looks too weird. Pretend his name is Boba Fett, or something, OK?

Details in a nutshell: I proposed. I decided what the heck -- I'm a thirtysomething, independent woman, we've been dating for almost 11 years, and it's 2010, for goodness sakes -- why should I wait for him to do it?

He said yes, obviously.

Now you know I'll get him to WDW eventually!

But I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that I've torn myself away from theknot.com for long enough to finally write an update! Coming this afternoon, I swear!

I love it! Yup, why wait around, take charge! My sister did the same thing...she was dating her BF (now hubby) for 8 years and he still didn't pop the question. He had said over and over that she was the only one for him, blah, blah, blah. So, she promptly told him that he'd better get a ring on her finger pronto or else she was kicking him to the curb! Those were her exact words! She said that if she waited for him to do it, she'd have been 70 years old and finally getting engaged. So, she took matters into her own hands and now they've been happily married for 7 years!

Looking forward to the update. Did I mention that I told my DH that I'd love to do a solo trip sometime and he was sooooo offended? It was pretty funny!

ETA: Now I'll be thinking Boba Fett everytime you mention your fiance!

 

[norybell]

Wow, it’s been a while. Where was I?

Ah yes, I was on the verge of leaving the delightful kitschy-ness and terrifying prehistoric monsters of Dinoland. Feeling I finally understood, after my spectacularly line-free morning, the joys of Yeti-plagued mountains, I headed back to Asia for another Everest FP; the wait time was posted at 35 minutes; it must have been around 11:00.

On my way to lunch, I traded one of my Mickey pins with a CM for an AK pin that ended up being the nicest pin I traded for the whole trip.

About lunch: I have to say, I think it’s a shame that TS pickings at the AK are so slim. Since I wasn’t interested in meeting any characters (or in suffering through a buffet) at Tusker House, I’d made an ADR at Yak ‘n’ Yeti – really the only other option. I’d read such mixed reviews here on the DIS, I ended up with virtually no expectations of the place (in my brain, the good reviews cancelled out the bad reviews, I guess). So I was pleasantly surprised by the neat décor.

My dining companion. Boba Fett is far more handsome, I promise.

It was mostly empty -- come to think of it, everywhere I ate the entire trip was mostly empty, which I think really speaks to the problems with their online ADR system -- and the hostess led me upstairs, to a table overlooking the staircase. I wish I remembered my waitress’s name, because she was super-nice and helpful.

Nothing on the menu was calling to me particularly loudly; a lot of the entrees looked good, but seemed too heavy to me for lunch. And I was wary of ordering some greasy-yet-delicious strip-mall quality Chinese food (it's sad, how something that tastes so good can really ruin the rest of your day). So I ended up choosing two appetizers:
Wonton Soup - pork wontons, clear chicken broth and vegetables

This was very good, tasty and restorative. And, incidentally, cheap. If you’re a fan of brothy soups (as I am), I highly recommend it.

Lettuce Cups - minced chicken breast, chopped vegetables, maple tamarind sauce, crisp lettuce cups

This was solidly good, not remarkable, but I would order it again. The sauce was pleasantly spicy. I have no idea what crazy meat-to-lettuce ratio they intended, because I managed to get through almost all of the meat with only half of the lettuce. And my expertly handrolled lettuce wraps weren’t particularly meat-heavy, I swear…seems like if you made the chicken last for all six lettuce cups, you wouldn’t be able to taste anything but lettuce! And who wants that? (Other than hucifer.) But maybe I’m just too much of a meat lover (or have too large a degree of lettuce ambivalence) to approach this sensitive subject in an unbiased fashion.

In the end, I enjoyed Yak ‘n’ Yeti. It was no Brown Derby, but what is? It was a comfortable and peaceful enough spot for me to decompress for a while, content with my book and my TR journal. If I ever get to go on another solo trip, I’ll definitely be making a nice lunchtime ADR for each day, because it made such a huge difference to my energy levels.

After lunch, I traipsed back over to EE for, yes, yet another FP. I’ve lost track, but I think this means I had 3 EE FPs in my pocket at this point. Then I headed for the Maharajah Jungle Trek, in the hopes that it’d kick the Pangani Trail’s butt and I’d finally get some decent animal sightings.

Here is my visual warning for you – if the following photo sends you into paroxysms of terror, or makes you reach for the smelling salts, then page down through the following three pics as quickly as you can. I don’t want to give you nightmares, or anything.

And now the scary stuff:

I vant to suck your blood! MWA-HA-HA-HA-HA

Dare we get a little closer?

And now the glamour shot.

What is there to say about the bats, other than that they’re really, really cool?

I was excited about the tigers, because back in May, they were playing with each other just like cats, and pacing right up to the glass and staring at us. My mom and I had seriously regretted not bringing our cameras, and I was hoping to make up for it this time.

Look, a prancing active tiger!

The tiger I saw. Not so prancing. Not so active. Don’t you just want to curl up with him and take a little nap? Wait, no, maybe not…

I was beginning to accept that the animals hated me.

But hey, pretty flags!

I always get a kick out of this:

Do you think this sign has any subliminal effects that increase AK bottled water sales?

Next up, the bird enclosure. Not to sound like a broken record, but in May, we saw about a gazillion awesome birds. They were all over the place. This time, guess what happened?

The rarest bird in the whole world landed on my shoulder!

Just kidding. You didn’t really buy that, did you? After the spectacularly animal-free day I was having? No, I’m sure you guessed the truth: I had to look really, really hard, and I ended up seeing only a few birds. None of them particularly interesting, either. Oh well. I’m over it now.

Pretty bird.

Pretty bird in profile.

Pretty bird playing hard to get.

Ugly bird.

Sorry, ugly bird, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings! I’m sure you have a great personality!

Overall, the trek was a bust. But whatever. One tiny rant: there were so many people eating in there! Sheesh, it seems like if you’re going to follow just one rule, the no-eating-around-the-animals one would be it. It is pretty darn logical, after all.

I saw this guy on my way out of Asia:

He reminded me of the trauma I experienced on an early trip to WDW, back in the day when there was only the MK, so we’d go elsewhere in the Orlando area, too (shocking to consider now). My parents took us to some park that was filled with monkeys. I forget what it was called…Monkey Island, maybe? No, that was the name of a computer game I was addicted to in college. Does anyone else know about this crazy monkey park?

Anyway, all I remember is that the place was full of monkeys, and you could hear and see them up in the tree canopy. Who knew that in addition to being scared of dinosaurs, I would also turn out to be terrified of monkeys? Sure, they seem cute and nice when they’re cuddling with an actor on TV, but when there are hundreds of them directly above your head, how do you know they won’t jump on you? Or throw something on you? Or poop on you, for that matter? Gross. I think I cried the whole time we were there. My poor parents.

This is why, every time BF asks if we can get a pet monkey, I say no way.

Sorry, back to the AK. I tried to get a pic of this butterfly, but my photography skills weren’t up to the task.

Do you see him?

To make up for not having a real butterfly picture for you, I took this one:

I spent a few minutes taking different pictures of this butterfly – since he was being so obligingly still – experimenting with camera settings and stuff. Imagine my surprise when I turned around and saw a group of about 8 people standing there watching me. They asked me what was so special about that spot, clearly expecting me to tell them something really cool. I could see the hope in their eyes: maybe they were about to catch a glimpse of some ultra-rare, hard-to-spot animal, some creature they’d get to see truly in the wild, free of the confines of Disney’s invisible cages and carefully-placed watering holes! Of course, I didn’t want to explain that I was taking this random photo so I could write a ridiculously detailed trip report that I planned on sharing with thousands of strangers on the internet. So I said it was an inside joke.

They looked disappointed.

Coming Soon – A WDW-Show Virgin Decides It’s Finally the Perfect Moment

 

[manntra]

about your butterfly story....maybe they thought that Divine was going to appear in a parting of the trees or something!
I for one really love the bats...I think they are super cute and love their wings. I watch them for a good amount of time each visit. I noticed in your zoomed in picture there were some small holes in the wings.....wonder what that is all about
Pretty bird pictures...unfortunately most of the pretty birds are male. just kidding (although they really are.)
Lunch looked good....I really have to be in the mood for Asian food but that did look good


Tracy

 

[disney_mommy]

I spent a few minutes taking different pictures of this butterfly – since he was being so obligingly still – experimenting with camera settings and stuff. Imagine my surprise when I turned around and saw a group of about 8 people standing there watching me. They asked me what was so special about that spot, clearly expecting me to tell them something really cool. I could see the hope in their eyes: maybe they were about to catch a glimpse of some ultra-rare, hard-to-spot animal, some creature they’d get to see truly in the wild, free of the confines of Disney’s invisible cages and carefully-placed watering holes! Of course, I didn’t want to explain that I was taking this random photo so I could write a ridiculously detailed trip report that I planned on sharing with thousands of strangers on the internet. So I said it was an inside joke.

They looked disappointed.

 

[Tribilín]

LOL! A dog, a cat and a monkey... definitively no!

I guess monkeys and apes are the only animals I don't like (don't hate them either) they just look too much like humans.

Yeah, you could hear me referring to those bats as majestic, sweet talking to tarantulas and thinking really hard before getting rid of pests like mice and pigeons... LOL! I guess I only kill roaches and flies, all the other insects are courteously escorted to the front door.

Glad you like Yak ‘n’ Yeti I too have heard a lot of mixed reviews about the food there.