Jumping, Dancing & Jamming Our Way Through Walt Disney World! I'm With the Band Now!

[Mom&RN]

Great pictures of you and the family Lisa. Your food pictures turned out really well, they make me hungry just looking at them

 

[KatMark]

Great updates, Lisa and great pictures. Looks like you had the pool to yourself.

I'm with your mama...the GF is too stuffy and high falootin (I've mentioned it before...Mark will NOT even walk in there to eat!).

If you hopped on a bus, you had to go to the park or DTD because buses don't go resort to resort? Unless I'm missing something.

 

[ronnmel]

Happy Birthday Lisa!

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Nice photos of the family, Lisa. I agree with your mom as well. I have always found the GF to be rather "Stuffy". Plus I am sure my son would knock over some high priced piece of pottery in there.

 

[ddstratton]

First of all -- Happy Birthday!

I'm loving the Caribbean Beach pictures. I wanna go back so badly... I don't currently have a trip planned for 2012, but am playing around with May 2013...

 

[deedeew80]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!!!!!!

Great update! We always do laundry while at WDW! Saves us from having so much to do when we get home! Being a CBR lover myself, I also like how the laundry room is right next to the private pools!!! Makes doing laundry more enjoyable! I agree with your mama about the GF. I have been there several times, whether it was just to visit or go to a restaurant, and it is definitely way too fancy for me!!! Looking forward to hearing about your day at AK!!!

 

[rndmr2]

Sounds like you had a nice relaxing "down day." Your meal at the Grand Floridian Cafe looked good, that dessert sampler looked yummy. Was that mickey solid or hollow? He was cute!

Happy Belated Birthday! Hope it was a good one!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Add me to those that think GF is too fancy-pants for me! It is beautiful, but I wouldn't want to stay there. But the food did look good!

 

[Caretames1]

The food looked good, but I think the pasta looked the best! I also agree with the GF being to fancy-smancy. We watch to beautiful brides and lots of fancy dresses people waking aorund while we were there. We felt a bit outta place in our regular park clothes and slight sweaty feeling

Happy Birthday!!

 

[aprilisis]

I definitely agree with you about GF. That food looks pretty darn good, though!

 

[mickeystoontown]

The steak you ordered looked really good! I agree with your mama about the Grand Floridian seeming a little hi-falootin'! It was pretty to look at but not a place I would want to stay! I wish we had a relaxation day on this trip! Had I forced one more day we could have done it but oh-well, lessons learned!

So was this Saturday? If so that was the night of our fiasco meal at 1900 Park Fare! I may never get Keith back to that resort!!!

The Grand Floridian is gorgeous! I've never been one who likes the fancy/victorian look but it is beautiful as is the landscaping.

This was on a Monday I believe. I remember the 1900 Park Fare portion of your trip report. You're right....you'll probably never get Keith back there.

Great pictures of you and the family Lisa. Your food pictures turned out really well, they make me hungry just looking at them

Thank you! I was doing my best not to look too scared standing that high up. To me, the food was really good.

Great updates, Lisa and great pictures. Looks like you had the pool to yourself.

I'm with your mama...the GF is too stuffy and high falootin (I've mentioned it before...Mark will NOT even walk in there to eat!).

If you hopped on a bus, you had to go to the park or DTD because buses don't go resort to resort? Unless I'm missing something.

The quiet pool was definitely "quiet" that day. I bet there weren't a dozen people in it when we first got there.

I solved the mystery of where we went after the Grand Floridian and will be posting about it soon.

Happy Birthday Lisa!

Thank you! It was a nice relaxing birthday which is the best kind.

Nice photos of the family, Lisa. I agree with your mom as well. I have always found the GF to be rather "Stuffy". Plus I am sure my son would knock over some high priced piece of pottery in there.

This was our second or third time to go the Grand Floridian and I feel a little uncomfortable walking around the decorative pieces there. I am like you and can just see myself knocking something over.

First of all -- Happy Birthday!

I'm loving the Caribbean Beach pictures. I wanna go back so badly... I don't currently have a trip planned for 2012, but am playing around with May 2013...

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I am missing the CBR right now too. I am definitely counting down the days until we go back. Our paths may finally cross if you go in May, 2013 since that's usually when we go.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!!!!!!

Great update! We always do laundry while at WDW! Saves us from having so much to do when we get home! Being a CBR lover myself, I also like how the laundry room is right next to the private pools!!! Makes doing laundry more enjoyable! I agree with your mama about the GF. I have been there several times, whether it was just to visit or go to a restaurant, and it is definitely way too fancy for me!!! Looking forward to hearing about your day at AK!!!

Thank you!

I try not to do laundry while on vacation but John has a few pair of shorts that are his favorite so I need to wash them. Like you said, it's nice to do laundry when you are in such a pretty setting.

Sounds like you had a nice relaxing "down day." Your meal at the Grand Floridian Cafe looked good, that dessert sampler looked yummy. Was that mickey solid or hollow? He was cute!

Happy Belated Birthday! Hope it was a good one!

The dessert sampler is the way to go. You have to use two of the dessert credits to get it but it's nice to have different desserts to sample. The Mickey was solid chocolate. We tried to bite his ear and it was too hard. I wrapped it up and took it with us though and the heat made it soft enough to eat.

Add me to those that think GF is too fancy-pants for me! It is beautiful, but I wouldn't want to stay there. But the food did look good!

I am not sure if I would ever want to stay at the Grand Floridian either. But, with the way my pocketbook is, I don't know if I'd ever even have to ponder that question anyway.

The food looked good, but I think the pasta looked the best! I also agree with the GF being to fancy-smancy. We watch to beautiful brides and lots of fancy dresses people waking aorund while we were there. We felt a bit outta place in our regular park clothes and slight sweaty feeling

Happy Birthday!!

Thank you for the happy birthday!

Thankfully, we had time to get all "gussied up" (as gussy as we get ) before we went to our dinner. Otherwise, we would have been sweaty messes at dinner.

I definitely agree with you about GF. That food looks pretty darn good, though!

I don't mind visiting the Grand Floridian and looking around but I think I'd feel a bit out of place staying there. The food was good and I would go back again but there are too many other places I want to try before we do.

 

[TeachLuvsDisney]

Howdy! And welcome to this here trip report! I love having new readers and hope that you'll feel free to post any of your thoughts along the way.

If you do decide to start a trip report, please post a link so we can all follow along.

A Disboard celebrity? Heck, I didn't really know that I was one. I have always been a "people person". You know, the one that starts a conversation with a perfect stranger or the one who just talks and talks and talks. Well, that's me.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I did want to say that your daughter's wedding was just lovely.

I think I will post my TR here. I posted it on another site but it hasn't received any comments and that kinda makes me sad. Part of the fun of posting a TR is being able to "meet" and share thoughts and ideas with others!

I'm one of those people too...the kind that can have a conversation with total strangers and just talks and talks. My mom is the same way. Guess that's where I get it from.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I did want to say that your daughter's wedding was just lovely.

I think I will post my TR here. I posted it on another site but it hasn't received any comments and that kinda makes me sad. Part of the fun of posting a TR is being able to "meet" and share thoughts and ideas with others!

I'm one of those people too...the kind that can have a conversation with total strangers and just talks and talks. My mom is the same way. Guess that's where I get it from.

I'm truly glad that you are here to read along. The wedding was hard to plan given the fact that it was so far away but I think it turned out well.

I used to post on another site as well but they didn't encourage any responses from other poster. I actually was told not to "chat" which I thought was unusual. But, like I said, I'm a talker so I thought others were that way too.

Please post the link to your trip report when you get started. I promise I'll be there to chat as much as I can.

 

[mickeystoontown]

As I was going through my Animal Kingdom pictures on Photobucket, I found a few pictures that shed light on what we did when we left the Grand Floridian. We made a quick trip to Downtown Disney. I now remember that Mama wanted to go back to Rainforest Cafe and buy my aunt one of the mugs that you freeze. I snapped pictures while there:

There were clearance racks out front and Mama also bought an embroidered Rainforest Cafe shirt for herself for less than $10.00 which was a real bargain.

From there, we walked over to World of Disney to browse a bit before going back to the Caribbean Beach Resort for the evening. Apparently, I only took a couple of pictures while there:

***Animal Kingdom in next post!

 

[aprilisis]

What are the mugs from RFC that freeze??? It sounds like something I'm going to want!
Those photos from World of Disney are really pretty!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Today was one of the days that Mama chose not to go to the parks with us. During our 2010 trip, she came down with a sore throat and laryngitis after our visit to the Animal Kingdom. I think it was a combination of the heat, the rain and the misting fans that had us dripping wet when it wasn't raining.

John, the kids and I went to the bus stop and a bus came in no time at all and we were off to the Animal Kingdom. Our bus driver asked if anyone was going to Blizzard Beach and no one replied so we went straight to the park which shaved off some travel time. We pulled into the bus stop about 15 minutes after we sat down on the bus in our resort village. I'm always baffled when people complain about the ride times to and from the CBR.

We started the walk down the bus terminal:

And soon saw the Animal Kingdom sign along the walkway:

Lacey and I went through bag check which took el-zippo time and joined John and Hunter who were standing near the turnstiles.

I remember visiting the Animal Kingdom park just a month after it opened and we were amazed at how beautiful the park was. To me, that beauty has, literally, grown over the years with all the landscaping now being fully mature and the canopy of the trees in the Oasis making a tent of sorts over your heads. I love it! As we emerged from the Oasis, we saw the Tree of Life and, as always, I was amazed at the tree. I've watched the television special that showed how they made the tree several times and the talent of the artists never ceases to amaze me.

We didn't linger too long looking at the tree (as is obvious from my two measly pictures) because we had a specific destination in mind. Kilimanjaro Safari! As you can see, the wait time wasn't bad. Well, to some of ya'll 30 minutes might be bad but it's not to us:

I have notta clue what I was trying to take a picture of in this one:

Cool carving above our heads:

I don't think we even waited 30 minutes before this little baby pulled up:

Oh wait, that's not our "little baby". That one was going to the right hand side of the waiting area and we were in the left side. I saw these markings on the handrail and wondered what it meant so I took a picture of it. I wondered it if were the date that the railings were installed. Only I would take pictures of something like that.

Our truck pulled up and we were all seated in one row. Animal spotting guide sign which is a bit blurry:

I love the safari and love spotting the animals along the way. Guess this one was a little tired as it wouldn't wake up and join the safari party.

It looks like the bird was trying to peck at it's face:

Hippos!

Crocs or are those gators? Choot 'em! Choot 'em Lizbeth! Not really....just a reference to Swamp People that films in my home State of Louisiana.

This gentleman was stopped near the main path. Notice how they took the brand name off the truck on both the front hood and on the side of the truck:

This is one of my favorite parts of the safari....the section where you see across the savannah:

**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

On to the "good stuff"....the animals that call the savannah their home:

Oops, not many animal pictures but I'll have more in a bit.

I wonder if there's really Spanish moss hanging from the trees on an African savannah? I kinda doubt it:

Oh no! We've got to cross a rickity rackety bridge! I hope that sucker can hold all of us!

As the bridge bobbed up and down, I took a picture of the most amazing sight.





























































The back of the seat in front of me.

We made it across the bridge safe and sound and were now on the lookout for more animals:

Look at what is peeking through the bushes! It's not one but two elephants! I think they were playing hide and seek with us.

This one seemed to have tired of the game and turned the "other cheek" to us

Our guide pointed out a baby to us:

Does anyone know if these trees are real or a product of the Disney imagineers?

Flamingos on Mickey island:

Rhinos resting themselves in the shade:

I can't say that I blame 'em. It was already hot!

***I need to stop here and go find a file for my boss. Be back to post more later.

 

[aprilisis]

I love your AK photos! I don't know if those trees are real- are they baobob trees? I always wondered if the termite mounds are real.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I'm going to answer your questions about the trees, so if anyone doesn't want to know, don't read the rest of this.

The ones on the safari are fake. They are made of concrete, as are the termite mounds. The ostrich eggs are fake too. They can lay eggs, but they don't leave them out there since the ostrichs come in at night and the eggs would all die without being covered at all times.

There is a real Baobob tree in AK, but it is not during KS. It is by Tusker House and was actually found living in Miami on a woman's property who sold it to Disney.

 

[Bethislucy]

Happy late b-day!