Jan 5-10 Me, Myself & I - Perfectly Happy On Our Own!

[shellbelle]

Enjoying your trip report!

As I read it, I dream of the day that I will take a solo trip.

 

[xominnieox2]

I love reading your TR, I can't wait until the next installment!

 

[Anne's Family]

Thanks guys! I see lots of new people here that didn't visit my pre-trip. That's wonderful! I guess the pressure is on now.

 

[Anne's Family]

Sunday, January 6, 2008
Day 2 of my 6 day extravaganza

Hoo, baby. 7:30 came earlier than usual this morning! You’ll note in my last post, I didn’t fall into bed until 1:30. As I said in my pre-trip… who needs sleep at Disney? My Mickey wake up call came right on time. However, it was pretty much the same wake-up call I’ve heard ever since they changed Alien Encounter into Stitch. That’s been years! Nevertheless, I get to hear Mickey and Stitch reminds me of my son—who does a killer Stitch impression. My alarm clock alarm goes off five minutes later—my insurance.

As I was getting ready this morning I could hear the showers in adjoining rooms, tapping of toothbrushes on sinks, etc. It wasn’t too awfully bad. For me, the rooms are too quiet at night. I like a little ambient noise, like a fan or something. Since the rooms have central air now and not the under-window units, there’s no moving air in the room. (And no place on which to dry your wet clothes, by the way.) So I wear these nifty little earplugs. They’re not the hard kind of the past. Now they have soft foam ones that you can squish really small, stick in your ear and they expand to fit your ear canal. They’re very comfortable. You can even get some flashy neon colors like orange or purple. Makes you look a little like Frankenstein with his plugs sticking out his neck, only yours come out of your ears. Actually, quite comical, but necessary.

As I’m getting ready, I’m drinking my milk (I had put it on ice all night) and munching on my blueberry muffin. So I throw everything on the other bed that I want to wear/bring today. The original plan is Animal Kingdom until closing, Epcot for the evening and DIS meet, Magic Kingdom for EMH. Yesterday, I had brought into the park with me my Magic Kingdom Imagineering book so that I could refer to it at particular times to really notice the details of the park and actually see things I’d only read about. Well, carrying it was not a problem, but I didn’t feel like stopping to leaf through it. I ended up just looking harder as I moved along. The book is not very big and it’s organized quite well according to the layout of the park. If you really want to look like a goofy tourist, I’m sure this is the way to do it. So I left these three books in my room the rest of the trip. So that was one less thing I’d be carrying in my pockets.

Here’s what I carried into the parks… mokeskin precut with rounded corners, labels with my cell number on them to attach to anything I buy, a couple of bandaids, my itinerary sheets, my laminated maps I copied from the Passporter book, my park pass/room card, my Disney Visa, my Disney Visa Rewards Card (has $118 on it!), my medical insurance card, an extra camera battery, an extra camera SD card, my cell phone, about $30 cash, dental floss (yeah weird, but I’ve had braces), pen, headache med, lip balm, a few trading pins, and an emery board. Yep, all that pretty much fit into a Ziploc and in one big pocket of my cargo pants (except the phone—which went in my back pocket). My maps and itinerary were in the other big pocket—easy to get to. I also wore my lined rain jacket where I put my ear warmers and gloves in the pockets there. It will be up to 80 degrees today, so I’ll shove it in a locker, but the predicted 59 degrees tonight is actually jacket weather for me. Most would still be in shorts, I’m sure. The only thing I forgot was my sunglasses.

I stepped out of my room and this is what I saw..

It was actually quite pretty. You could hear frogs and ducks somewhere out there.

By 8:15, I was waiting for the Animal Kingdom bus to arrive at Pop Century to take me to the land o’ de animals. Natazu. Of course, my good buddy Elvis is singing ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ at the bus stop. Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? At 8:32, a bus finally comes, big cheer from the little line of people in the MK line. At 8:45, I was off the bus and heading for Animal Kingdom’s front gate.

Gotta tell ya, this no-bag thing is great. I could really get used to this. It’s only possible going solo in the cooler months though, I think. When we go in August, we’ll need rain gear, water bottles and such. Some poor pack mule will be carrying the big stuff. The kids always want their belt packs. Maybe we’ll figure out a way around it. We used to carry snacks in the park… but when you’re faced with the decision to have a Mickey ice cream bar or that Fiber One bar squished in your bag, you do the math for a 10 year old. They never really wanted any snacks while we were in lines. Ok, back to the story.

The lines to get through the turnstiles were kind of long, so I backtracked a bit and went through Rainforest Café, through their gift shop and to the turnstile there. I was the only person there. It didn’t help much, but just a little. We still got backed up at rope drop. It was still foggy. I watched the opening show which still had a Christmas theme…

Upon looking back at this particular picture, it just shows you how things can be taken out of context. Caption…. “What are you calling me, Mickey?”

So… I headed toward Expedition Everest to get a Fastpass. As I’m coming up the path to Everest, the ‘mountain’ looks very authentic with fog around it.

By 9:16, I had my Fastpass in hand. The line moved rather slow. When I got in line, the return time was 9:30. By the time I got mine, the return time was 10:10am. I decided not to hit the stand-by line this morning and headed toward Dino-land. I figured there wouldn’t be very many people there since everyone heads for the Safaris and Everest. I get to Dinosaur at 9:28a and there’s only a 5 minute wait which pretty much translates into no wait. I’ve always loved this ride. Fun story, cool effects, rough ride, scary dinosaurs. The first time my son rode it, he was 5 years old. He covered his head with my jacket the entire time, got off the ride, and deemed it his favorite ride in all of Disney World. He didn’t see a single dinosaur.

At 9:40a, I was out of Dinosaur. I had wanted to hit the first showing of the Nemo musical, but it started at 10:00 and I’d wanted to get a front row seat. In hindsight, I probably could have made it. The front row seats aren’t as popular as I’d thought. So I decided to wait until the 11:30 show. I peeked at my pedometer and noticed I’d walked 2 miles already. Wow. It was starting to get a little warmer, so I walked to the front of the park to rent a locker. I shoved my jacket in there and moved on. It was a little after 10am.

I’m in no hurry at this time, so I walk slowly back up the trails. It’s unbelievable how lush it is in Animal Kingdom. It makes you think this park has been here for 50 years. I stopped into the Island Mercantile to look at the kitchen stuff. Since I wanted to outfit our next popup camper with Mickey stuff (much to the dismay of my husband), needed plastic things that don’t weigh much. I picked up some utensils like a whisk, spaghetti spoon, spatula and other stuff. I also got kitchen towels. I told the CM I wanted to send them back to my resort but I guess he didn’t hear me (he also didn’t speak very good English) so he had to re-run the transaction. Doing all this takes more time, but it’s worth it not to have to carry stuff through the parks all day or to your locker. Always make sure they understand BEFORE they ring you up that you want your purchases sent to your resort. FYI.

At 10:30 I headed for Kilimanjaro Safaris. However, hunger reared it tasty little head about that time. I felt Pizzafari was in order. We ate here last trip when we came with another family and it was pretty good. I ordered the hot ham and provolone sandwich.

I took it to the back of Pizzafari so I could sit out on the patio but they were setting up the back room for some event and it was closed off. I didn’t realize you could get to the patio from the outside, so I sat in one of the middle rooms with no view of outside. I love the theming in here, but I love to look outside more. It was a beautiful day. I’d give my sandwich a 7 out of 10. I love the paper straws they have now, takes me back to my childhood when they didn’t have anything but paper. By 10:47, I was done with my early lunch (17 minutes for lunch beats an hour or more for table service any day in my book.) So it’s time for Nemo.

At 11:05, I’m sitting in the left front row of Nemo. The theatre is already full to the gills (ha, pun). The CM sees about a 9” gap between me and the lady sitting next to me and asks ‘if that seat is taken’. We both looked at him like he’d grown another nose. Nine inches isn’t enough for a seat, sir. He still calls over this poor little girl that needs a seat. Her parents are two rows back and I’d say she’s only about 8 years old. She doesn’t want to squeeze between two old ladies and I don’t blame her. I don’t know how they resolved that one. They kept asking us to scoot all the way down. I understand they need more room, but they’re not taking into account any modicum of personal space here. You can see people blatantly ignoring the poor guy, but I don’t blame them. There was simply no where to go except to sit arm-in-arm with your neighbor whom you don’t know. We all settle in and I get my camera ready.

Great show, but if you didn’t know the story you wouldn’t be able to follow it. I’m sure most kids have seen the movie, but many adults haven’t. The puppetry and style is incredible. The voices are all real, the singing all real. It’s a very unusual show and definitely worth seeing at least once. This was my second time. Sitting up front, it’s very easy to get totally immersed in this show. It can be quite emotional and cause frequent goosebumps. The puppets are a bit like those in the Animal Kingdom Jammin’ Jungle parade and similar to the old Tapestry of Nations parade in Epcot. Outstanding stuff.

At 12:30, I headed up to Expedition Everest to use my Fastpass. I held back in the Fastpass line and let 15 or 20 people pass me by so I could take photos of the queue.

Now, I know Everest is a really big deal to most people. I had ridden it with my family last June for the first time and they thought it was awesome. I think I’d seen too much information on it before I rode it, so I wasn’t surprised by anything. Sometimes learning everything beforehand isn’t such a good think. So there were no surprises for me. I focused on the details of the attraction and enjoyed it that way. I think I need to ride this one at night sometime. It’s still a very cool coaster and not to be missed. I wouldn’t come to this park without riding it at least once.

At 12:30 I was off Everest and decided to try the single rider line. With a regular stand-by line of 50 minutes, the single rider line took about 16 minutes. I think that was worth it. As I was getting into the car that time, I found someone’s Annual Pass in the seat. They won’t be too happy. I gave it to the CM and enjoyed my second ride.

On the way to the Safaris, I stopped by a little shop selling wooden windchimes and picked up a small set for my backyard. I like these much better than the metal chimes, they sound very natural (duh) and soothing. The CM said they would do fine out in the weather, he had a set outside for 4 years already. I had them sent back to Pop Century to pick up there. As I continued to the Safaris, I reflected on how really photogenic this park is, but in a totally different way than the other parks. All the natural elements are amazing. They had to make things look old and crumbly instead of new and slick like at the other three parks. That’s got to be much, much more difficult. All the research that went into everything they designed is just tremendous. There are hundreds of authentic artifacts and even more that have been very faithfully recreated around here. This is the best place to look for details and find out the stories behind them. I’m looking forward to the Wild By Design tour on my last day.

Well, at 1:42, I walk up to the Safaris and I’m greeted with a 70 minute wait and no available Fastpasses. No way. I’ll leave that one for another time. As much as I adore Kilamanjaro, I won’t wait an hour for it. I decided on the Pangani Forest Trail instead. I took lots of pictures along the trail and really enjoyed it.

I spent about half an hour here. All the trails are worth the time, but I know that’s difficult especially if you’ve never been to Animal Kingdom. They just don’t hold the allure that the big rides do. And it can be a beating in the summer.

At 2:15, I headed to the train to get to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. I hadn’t been out there since I went with my kids in 2002. At 2:25, I was on the train to Rafiki’s and got there at 2:30. As I explore Planet Watch, I realize absolutely nothing has changed. I looked around at the windows into the veterinary areas, nothing happening there. I see Pocahontas doing a character greet and I get a few shots of her, but other than that, I was pretty bored with it.

Quite a few screaming kids. Time to move on and cut your losses here.

It was 3:00 when I got back to the ‘mainland’ from Rafiki’s and I felt it was time to go back to Pop for a little bit to refresh, having been up so late last night and planning on a late night tonight. I picked up a new lanyard for my camera on the way out, picked up my jacket at the lockers and I was on a bus back to Pop by 3:30. Back at my room, there was a small towel Mickey on my vanity. Very cute, but I could have done without the stickers. Boy, I sound very hard to please, don’t I? I guess when you’ve been to Disney 10 times, your view changes just a bit on things. It takes more to Wow you. I should just try to scale back a bit and let it all Wow me. The towel Mickey did make me smile. I set it next to my little towel dog next to my laptop so I could see them as I type.

I made a quick trip back to the Pop food court looking for that elusive Twinkie Tiramisu. None to be had. Why I never actually asked anyone about it is beyond me. I check my pedometer. I’ve hit 7.5 miles already today. I didn’t actually spend that much time back at my room, by 4:20 I was walking to the bus stop again to go to Epcot.

Until next time...

 

[xominnieox2]

Great update! Can't wait to read on!

 

[Paul (tigger fan)]

Hello there Anne

Enjoying your trip report, detail and pictures are excellent.
Looking forward to the rest of your report.(sounds like you had a ball)

Pity we missed you there, we were in the 50s area at the pool next to the
big juke box.

I think i saw the Australian grandparents from your pre-trip on small world , the reason i say this is there was a couple with what looked like there grandchild with yellow australian rugby tops on, but my nature is not to approach people in case i make a fool of myself and it was not them . (if i had asked them "are you the australians from Anne's pre-trip report " and they looked at me like i was crazy i would cringe , and being huckled out the park by security was also a consideration for freaking out of innocent aussies).

Paul

Ps looking forward to hearing about your meeting with fellow Disers.

 

[Quacktatty]

I'm really enjoying your report, it's fun to hear about other solo trips!

 

[Anne's Family]

Hello there Anne

Enjoying your trip report, detail and pictures are excellent.
Looking forward to the rest of your report.(sounds like you had a ball)

Pity we missed you there, we were in the 50s area at the pool next to the
big juke box.

I think i saw the Australian grandparents from your pre-trip on small world , the reason i say this is there was a couple with what looked like there grandchild with yellow australian rugby tops on, but my nature is not to approach people in case i make a fool of myself and it was not them . (if i had asked them "are you the australians from Anne's pre-trip report " and they looked at me like i was crazy i would cringe , and being huckled out the park by security was also a consideration for freaking out of innocent aussies).

Paul

Ps looking forward to hearing about your meeting with fellow Disers.

Yes, sorry I missed you too! I wasn't too observant in looking for other DISers out and about. I don't think I'd just walk up to anyone either. Having a single person come up to you with strange questions is a little more creepy than an entire family I would venture to guess. Hope you had a wonderful time, nevertheless!

 

[bensonmum]

I read your pre-trippie and I'm caught up on your TR. I'm loving it! Looking forward to your next installment.

Quite a long post, and I’m very detailed. If you don’t like details, move on to another thread!

The more details the better. The details make it "real" and give me a real sense of being there.

 

[mymainmouse]

Great trip update!

 

[sailors_wfe]

Hi Anne!
Enjoying your TR so far... so many details... Gotta get started on mine.. it was GREAT meeting everyone at EPCOT... can't wait to see those pics

 

[Paul (tigger fan)]

We had a great time thank you.

I might have been one of those joggers you seen around Pop, bit of a fitness addict myself.

I cannot believe were back less than a week , been working solid since we came back. We stay near the foot of a range of hills called the Campsies and at 7am on way to work today they had a dusting of snow on top, looked brilliant along the summit of the range, but as much as i love Scotland i was dreaming about the heat of Orlando. Had to scrape the ice off the car this morning(hate doing that).

Dont think i could live there mind u , would not like to lose that excitement of visiting disney by having it on my own back door.

Looking forward to the rest of your report, you have set a high standard with the quality of the posts so far . (how long do you spend typing and preparing each post ,if you dont mind me asking)

Paul

 

[Anne's Family]

Well..... I do spend quite a bit on my posts. It probably takes a little over an hour for each one. I'm in a slow time for my eBay business and the kids are in school, so now's the time to be doing it. Plus, I'm not perusing the boards quite as much right now.

I had to do a little ice scraping here in Texas a few days ago. That January Florida weather sounds real good right now. It's a bugger in August though, when we plan to go next.

 

[Tatania]

I agree with you on a lot of things including the trails and decor at Animal Kingdom. I mean, how many times can the same ride be interesting? Yet I can always watch animals for hours. The meerkats are so funny.

 

[randy4au]

Welcome back, Anne! That's bizarre that the DME line was SO long in January. It was quite short when we arrived in July, but we did arrive about 9:30am. Perhaps it's shorter in the mornings than it is later in the day.

Anyway, your trip report is off to a great start. Look forward to reading more!

WAR EAGLE!!!

 

[PolynesianPixie]

Hi Anne! I followed your link to this thread from the camping board! I am enjoying it so much! I am in the planning stages of my own solo trip and reading about yours is making me that much more excited!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[mnmrmustard]

WOW! So many wonderful pics and details! You are a TR-writing machine!!!!

Very brave of you to do MK on that first Saturday after the holiday, but worth it as far as what you were able to see We used that same walkway to the Contemporary to get to the marina there - not a bad little walk and a great way to avoid the crowds

We will have to take a trip when the holiday stuff is up - it looks very magical - both the Castle and the Osbourne lights at DHS.

Cool AK day - great shots of Nemo, which is a truly amazing show. Very funny about your DS's first time through Dinosaur. Our younger DD was 5 when we first went through the Indiana Jones ride at DL, which used the same car and uses the same type of over the top effects. She spent the whole ride with her head buried in DW's jacket

Too bad about the safari and the lack of change at Planet Watch, but overall it sounded like a nice-paced day

I look forward to hearing about your further adventures!

 

[Shmu]

uugghh. Missed you moving threads. Just figured it out. Now I have subbed. Need to go back and catch up.

 

[Anne's Family]

I'm here! I've got to be in New Mexico this weekend. My brother is being promoted to Colonel (USAF)! Pretty big deal around here. So I'll be posting again shortly after!

Thanks for reading everyone!

 

[buffy0214]

I love your trip report. It has a very relaxed feel. The liberty tree is one of my favorite (non-ride) things at DW. It would be nice to tour at a casual pace and be able to take in all those little details. Looking forward to more.