Just Back From The World...

[DeeDeeDis]

The reason i always record mini series and watch the whole story in one day and finish entire books in one sitting is I hate waiting to hear the end of a story - so how was animal kingdom.....AND how did he pop the question?????

 

[Kellylynn3]

Alrighty so where we left off was with a delicious and magical end to a first day.
Now were up to our first actually park day.

We had decided ahead of time what days would be devoted to what parks based on travel guides and touringplans.com. Using the info on what parks to avoid and what parks to go to on what days really helped so...
Animal Kingdom it was. Seeing as how I was only ten years old the first and only time I had been to Disney this was my first time visiting this park and it was amazing.

I should add that we got to all the parks usually right around 8:30am before rope drop at 9am which really helped avoid crowds.

Once rope dropped at AK we all headed straight for Expedition Everest. There was only a 15 stand by time so we all grabbed fast passes for later and grabbed a place in line.

Let me just say this... EE was awesome! It quickly became one of everyones favorites of the trip. However it did seem that the yeti was not working as we got version 2 of the ride for the whole trip. But even still it was a great ride. I think we rode it a total of 6 times the whole trip.

After EE we headed off to do the rest of the rides. First we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris where we had good luck with the animals. We had a few elephants be pretty close to us, saw crocodiles, sleeping hippos, and even the jungle king himself, the lion. I believe the wait for this was only like 20 minutes and it seemed like less.

Throughout the day we grabbed more fast passes for EE, grabbed a fast pass for Dinosaur and rode Primeval Whirl (which was walk on) while we waited. Had no trouble getting on Dinosaur with fast pass and even caught the parade. We were pretty much done riding everything except for Kali River Rapids (which we wanted to save for last) around noon so we just kept doing repeat rides on EE and taking our time walking through all the other animal exhibits. Also I should add that early on in the day we happened upon Baloo with only three people in line so we stopped for a quick photo op with him. We also stopped for a picture with Mickey at camp minnie mickey and the line was pretty long (about 15-20 minutes) but we were willing to wait.

Around 2pm Adam and I had reservations for lunch at Yak and Yeti and it was delicious. We both just had plain old boring tea to drink again. For our entrees I had Sweet and Sour Chicken which was perfect. Not very greasy at all, sauce was good and the presentation was very nice. In fact the presentation was very nice on all the meals I saw. Adam had a steak and tempura combo. The strip steak was wrapped around a mountain of rice with huge tempura shrimp stacked against it. He said the shrimp was really good but the steak (although cooked perfectly and very tender) was a little sweet for his taste. He said it tasted more on the Korean side. For dessert I ordered the mango pie and boyfriend ordered the sorbet trio. The mango pie was good but it would have been better if colder. Adam loved it so we ended up switching. The trio of sorbets was delicious. Raspberry with coconut shavings on top, lemon, and mango with raspberry sauce. You could tell it was made from fresh fruit (or at least it tasted that way) because it tasted like the natural sugars in fruit rather than artificial taste of store bought sorbets. I would definately recommend this especially on a hot day.

After lunch it had actually started to cool down a bit and looked like it was going to storm. It never did but it did leave a slight chill in the air. It was about this time that our Kali River Rapids fast pass time was up so we headed over there, got our ponchos on and prepared to get soaked. KRR was fun but not as long as I expected it to be. You did get soaked though so the ponchos were a good idea. I believe after this we rode EE a few more times and looked around in a bunch of shops.

For an early dinner we all ate at Flame Tree Barbecue which was very good. Boyfriend and I split the Pork BBQ sandwich as I'm pretty tiny with eyes bigger than my stomach, and he was still pretty full from lunch. The BBQ was very good though, really tender. I don't think anyone else ordered anything different than the sandwich so I can't speak more about how other menu items were but I would definately recommend this.

After we were done eating we headed back to the hotel (I believe it was around 6) to get cleaned up before EMH at Epcot. This was Adam's idea and I should have been getting suspicious then. But I was feeling pretty gross so I went along with it. They aren't lying when they say AK is the most humid of the parks. Earlier in the day before that storm threatened to rain on our parade, it was quite hot and everyone I saw was hot and sweaty. So back to the hotel it was.

Back at the hotel we quickly got clean, attempted to get cute again, and with a change of clothes we were ready to go.

I think we ended up getting to Epcot around 8:15pm and boyfriend had his heart set on seeing Illuminations right away (again I should have been suspicious I know) so we got through the gate, grabbed our wristbands and attempted to find a spot.

We ended up finding a spot in front of Norway kinda in front of a tree but we could see around it and we were late comers so it was better than anything we really expected to find.

Illuminations was amazing. Very creative and spectacular. And also apparently shorter than everyone was anticipating because the guys apparently weren't as ready as they had hopped to be because...

After the fireworks ended my boyfriend tapped me on the shoulder and when I turned around he was on one knee. I said yes of course and hugged him with as much force as I could. It was perfect. Also I don't really like being the center of attention so I think Adam tried to be as discreet as possible so many people wouldn't notice and it seemed to work. Everyone around us seemed oblivious to what had just happened.

After I calmed down and the ring was on my finger we decided we were hungry and went in search of those famous german soft pretzels. On the way we stopped and browsed and shopped but navigating your way through a dark Epcot on your first day proves to be more difficult than one may think. We finally found the pretzels and dug into their deliciousness. I vowed to never settle for a normal theme park pretzel again and eventually it was time to go back to the hotel, or as we now referred to it..."Home".

Next up: A full day in Epcot, naps on a grassy hill, and a Le Cellier review.
Stay tuned.

 

[aliwas]

WOW, what an absolutley perfect evening!!! Your ring is gorgeous! Here's many happy years with a sprinkle of pixie dust

 

[Karnak]

You stayed on the 7th floor in one of the buildings at the French Quarter?

I don't think so.

 

[SoosieQ]

Congratulations

 

[EpcotIsMyFave]

Awwww! Congratulations! A perfect enagement story! I'm loving your trip report - you doing great! Can't wait for the next chapter!

 

[Kellylynn3]

You stayed on the 7th floor in one of the buildings at the French Quarter?

I don't think so.

Sorry I meant to say we stayed in the 7th building on the 3rd floor. It's fixed now.

 

[LUVMICKEY]

Congradulation!!!!!! Your ring is just beautiful. I'm loving the story, keep it coming.

 

[shellbelle]

Congratulations on your engagement!

I'm really enjoying your trip report. Looking forward to reading more!

 

[disneydreamgirl]

Congratulations!!! That is such a lovely way to propose, so memorable!

I love your report, especially the stay tuned at the end.

 

[JoePa4Ever]

Congrats on your engagement - What a truly magical moment that must have been!

 

[ireland_nicole]

Congrats! Love the ring! Are ya gonna get married at WDW?

 

[Smile4Me]

Congratulations! I'm loving your report. Hopefully you were able to keep out of the rain!

 

[Lorelai]

Great report! Thanks for posting and congratulations.

I am anxious to hear if you went to Disney Hollywood Studios and if you were able to ride Toy Story Mania. There have been quite a few threads about 90-200 minute wait times in standby. Needless to say, many people with trips coming up quickly are getting nervous.

 

[karen2669]

Your fiance sounds like a real romantic!! Good luck to both of you!

Your ring is beautiful. And I can't wait to hear more about the trip.

 

[Kellylynn3]

Great report! Thanks for posting and congratulations.

I am anxious to hear if you went to Disney Hollywood Studios and if you were able to ride Toy Story Mania. There have been quite a few threads about 90-200 minute wait times in standby. Needless to say, many people with trips coming up quickly are getting nervous.

I probably wont get to our Hollywood Studios day today but I'll give you a sneak peek...We did get to ride Toy Story Mania but we used fast pass. Wait time was around 90 minutes all day but we did see it get to 110 I believe was the highest.

 

[ABBYSDAD]

Great trip report, and congratulations!

 

[Lovin Mickey]

Congrats!!! What a sweet man you have. I'm enjoying your report.

 

[scheddj]

Your ring is beautiful. Congratulations.

 

[Lorelai]

I probably wont get to our Hollywood Studios day today but I'll give you a sneak peek...We did get to ride Toy Story Mania but we used fast pass. Wait time was around 90 minutes all day but we did see it get to 110 I believe was the highest.

Thank you for the reply. So many folks are getting nervous about the wait times for this new ride. I am guessing that fast pass is the only way to go...for now.