Dates: Wednesday, December 25, 2002 - Sunday, December 29, 2002
Players: Kimble (Me), age 30
Cathy (my sister), age 27
My Dad (60) and his wife Johanna (50s)
My Uncle (70)
Friday, December 27, 2002:
This day was slated to be Animal Kingdom then MGM...so right after our buffet breakfast at the hotel (today I discovered you can have soda at the breakfast too...I am a Diet Coke addict and drink it instead of coffee in the mornings, so this was a great perk!) we drove to Animal Kingdom. Dad and Johanna had gotten a special Diamond Parking pass from AAA before they left (I think because they bought the hoppers there)...so we were able to park very close to the entrance which was nice. We were at the park around 8:45 (the park opened at 8am) and we went to get fastpasses for the Safari and then went to ride Primeval Whirl. We waited about 15 minutes for this ride and we all thought it was fun. This area of the parks does look a little "cheaper" than the rest of the areas, but I understood the theming and actually thought it was very cute. Because it was still fairly empty in this section, we decided to play a few of the carnival games because we were guaranteed a win. We did a skeeball game (4 of us played for $2 each...if we were smarter we should have only had 2 of us play because we won the same size toy), then played a water squirt game, and a bang the dino on the head game. I won the "bang the dino on the head game" (obviously I don't know what it was called!)... playing against Johanna, but when she kiddingly told the CM she deserved a prize for doing so poorly...she got a toy too! So nice! So, for $16 of playing, we walked away with 4 cute dinosaur stuffed animals. We then took our dinosaurs to their favorite ride ... Dinosaur! Which is my LEAST favorite ride. I continue to go on it, determined to keep my eyes open, but it is just too scary! I could ride Rock and Roller Coaster all day, but I just don't like things popping out at me. (I think I was afraid of the Snow White ride until I was 12... that witch is frightening!).
We were walking back towards the Safari, when we were lured by CMs into the 10am Bird show. As a bonus, the CM at the front was handing out fastpasses for the safari that could be used any time that day, which was great. The Bird show was great (it was very moving to see the Bald Eagle) , and we immediately walked from there to the Lion King show (good thing we had those new fastpasses, because we missed our window from the earlier passes we had gotten). The Lion King show was fabulous (we were giraffes)... I think better than the broadway show...seriously.
It was now time for lunch, so we went to Pizzafarri and Cathy and I split the Certificate meal deal. For $11.99 you get a drink and an entree, plus a coupon for a drink at a stand and a coupon for a popcorn or ice cream at a stand. We chose the Hot Italian deli sandwich with chips and a large Diet Coke. I then ran out to the stand outside to pick up a regular coke for Cathy with the coupon. The sandwich was delicious...I could have eaten a whole one, but with the chips it really was plenty of food for the two of us. My Dad didn't love the pizza he got...not enough cheese.
After lunch, we used our Safari fastpasses. At first, I thought we weren't going to see any animals...there were no giraffes out on the great open area...but later on the ride we did see hippos, rhinos and lots of elephants. We then walked through the Pangani Forest trail and saw some awesome gorrilla behavior. The younger gorilla had a bunch of food and the large silverback male was running after him... lots of action...
We then felt we had seen everything we needed to, so we went back to the hotel for a rest. We all napped, and around 5pm we went to MGM. This park was extremely crowded...The next fastpass for ToT was 9:15 and they had stopped fastpass for Rock and Rollercoaster. We got the fastpass for Tot, and I stood in line for a good 30 minutes for a popcorn at a stand (all the lines were long, but this CM was particularly slow). We decided to go on the Great Movie Ride because we like it, and it only had a 25 minute wait. My 100 years of Magic pin went off like crazy during the Fantasia section of the ride!!
We were all starving (and a bit depressed over the sheer number of people in the park), so we decided to eat dinner. The ABC Commissary didn't seem appealing, so we went to our favorite Backlot Express where I got a cheeseburger and fries. This was very good...I especially like the honey mustard you can get here to dip your fries in..mmmm. I wish the fixin' bar was still here, but it still hit the spot.
After dinner, it was time to see the Osbourne lights, which were beautiful. I love the "snow" they make on New York street as well. After this, we went to Walt Disney: One Man's Dream.... I loved the displays and I had seen the film at Disneyland, but it was nice to see it again.
It was about 8:30 at this point, and some people in the group didn't have the energy to stick it out to our 9:15 fastpass time for ToT. So we decided to come back first thing in the morning to complete MGM and we went back to the hotel.
Day 4 to come...
Players: Kimble (Me), age 30
Cathy (my sister), age 27
My Dad (60) and his wife Johanna (50s)
My Uncle (70)
Friday, December 27, 2002:
This day was slated to be Animal Kingdom then MGM...so right after our buffet breakfast at the hotel (today I discovered you can have soda at the breakfast too...I am a Diet Coke addict and drink it instead of coffee in the mornings, so this was a great perk!) we drove to Animal Kingdom. Dad and Johanna had gotten a special Diamond Parking pass from AAA before they left (I think because they bought the hoppers there)...so we were able to park very close to the entrance which was nice. We were at the park around 8:45 (the park opened at 8am) and we went to get fastpasses for the Safari and then went to ride Primeval Whirl. We waited about 15 minutes for this ride and we all thought it was fun. This area of the parks does look a little "cheaper" than the rest of the areas, but I understood the theming and actually thought it was very cute. Because it was still fairly empty in this section, we decided to play a few of the carnival games because we were guaranteed a win. We did a skeeball game (4 of us played for $2 each...if we were smarter we should have only had 2 of us play because we won the same size toy), then played a water squirt game, and a bang the dino on the head game. I won the "bang the dino on the head game" (obviously I don't know what it was called!)... playing against Johanna, but when she kiddingly told the CM she deserved a prize for doing so poorly...she got a toy too! So nice! So, for $16 of playing, we walked away with 4 cute dinosaur stuffed animals. We then took our dinosaurs to their favorite ride ... Dinosaur! Which is my LEAST favorite ride. I continue to go on it, determined to keep my eyes open, but it is just too scary! I could ride Rock and Roller Coaster all day, but I just don't like things popping out at me. (I think I was afraid of the Snow White ride until I was 12... that witch is frightening!).
We were walking back towards the Safari, when we were lured by CMs into the 10am Bird show. As a bonus, the CM at the front was handing out fastpasses for the safari that could be used any time that day, which was great. The Bird show was great (it was very moving to see the Bald Eagle) , and we immediately walked from there to the Lion King show (good thing we had those new fastpasses, because we missed our window from the earlier passes we had gotten). The Lion King show was fabulous (we were giraffes)... I think better than the broadway show...seriously.
It was now time for lunch, so we went to Pizzafarri and Cathy and I split the Certificate meal deal. For $11.99 you get a drink and an entree, plus a coupon for a drink at a stand and a coupon for a popcorn or ice cream at a stand. We chose the Hot Italian deli sandwich with chips and a large Diet Coke. I then ran out to the stand outside to pick up a regular coke for Cathy with the coupon. The sandwich was delicious...I could have eaten a whole one, but with the chips it really was plenty of food for the two of us. My Dad didn't love the pizza he got...not enough cheese.
After lunch, we used our Safari fastpasses. At first, I thought we weren't going to see any animals...there were no giraffes out on the great open area...but later on the ride we did see hippos, rhinos and lots of elephants. We then walked through the Pangani Forest trail and saw some awesome gorrilla behavior. The younger gorilla had a bunch of food and the large silverback male was running after him... lots of action...
We then felt we had seen everything we needed to, so we went back to the hotel for a rest. We all napped, and around 5pm we went to MGM. This park was extremely crowded...The next fastpass for ToT was 9:15 and they had stopped fastpass for Rock and Rollercoaster. We got the fastpass for Tot, and I stood in line for a good 30 minutes for a popcorn at a stand (all the lines were long, but this CM was particularly slow). We decided to go on the Great Movie Ride because we like it, and it only had a 25 minute wait. My 100 years of Magic pin went off like crazy during the Fantasia section of the ride!!
We were all starving (and a bit depressed over the sheer number of people in the park), so we decided to eat dinner. The ABC Commissary didn't seem appealing, so we went to our favorite Backlot Express where I got a cheeseburger and fries. This was very good...I especially like the honey mustard you can get here to dip your fries in..mmmm. I wish the fixin' bar was still here, but it still hit the spot.
After dinner, it was time to see the Osbourne lights, which were beautiful. I love the "snow" they make on New York street as well. After this, we went to Walt Disney: One Man's Dream.... I loved the displays and I had seen the film at Disneyland, but it was nice to see it again.
It was about 8:30 at this point, and some people in the group didn't have the energy to stick it out to our 9:15 fastpass time for ToT. So we decided to come back first thing in the morning to complete MGM and we went back to the hotel.
Day 4 to come...
