Lesson learned. Need more days in Disney!!! Aug 2010 (NEW 1/20-COMPLETE)

[YukiPhnx]

Omg that is way awesome that you guys got to be in the parade! It's good to know that there is a chance to be chosen to do that, even if you don't have a small child.

Yeaah!!!! I was so surprised! I always thought I wouldn't get a chance to be a special Disney family because we're just a couple, but this goes to show ANYTHING can happen at Disney!

What a great gift, Yuki! Happy Birthday!

I gave the same thing to DS on his college grad, and he gets small dividend checks every once in awile!

Thanks Tammie!

Oooh, a small dividend check, haha. I can't wait to see what else I'll get as a shareholder.

Oops, forgot to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aww, thanks Mel!

 

[YukiPhnx]

DizneyDawn I was catching up on her most recent TR.

Woah Heather, that was fast!

Ohhh, Dawn!!! You've got great taste

 

[kirrrby]

Woah Heather, that was fast!

Ohhh, Dawn!!! You've got great taste

Oh trust me, it's really hard to grab my attention without Pictures in a TR. I've gotta feel like i'm actually at Disney!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Oh trust me, it's really hard to grab my attention without Pictures in a TR. I've gotta feel like i'm actually at Disney!

I know exactly what you mean! Yet, Dawn manages to do just that, with all her words.

My fave pictures are not the close-ups or the scenic ones, but the photos of crowds and like...eye-level shots you know?

 

[jordanyosh]

Grand Marshal in the parade...? i hope there are pix!

 

[englishrose47]

Grand Marshal in the parade...? i hope there are pix!

Me too Yuki !!And are we doing another Meet after the holidays ??????

 

[YukiPhnx]

Grand Marshal in the parade...? i hope there are pix!

Me too Yuki !!And are we doing another Meet after the holidays ??????

My family's moving this week, so I promise to have an update up by next week!

I can't wait to share all the pictures too!~

In other news, even though this is not Disney related, I just have to share this with my DIS friends because I'm so excited for it. I just booked a cruise on Royal Caribbean for the end of Feb/beginning of Mar for Andrew, my bff and her boyfriend. We're going to the Western Caribbs and I'm SO EXCITED!!! I know it's not a Disney cruise, but I'll work my way there!

 

[kirrrby]

I know exactly what you mean! Yet, Dawn manages to do just that, with all her words.

My fave pictures are not the close-ups or the scenic ones, but the photos of crowds and like...eye-level shots you know?

I like the silly ones, and the ones that relate with people my age (or those who act like it. Haha.

Also, I hope you don't mind but I kinda referenced you in my PTR about the Tiger Balm stuff you talked about. I had never heard of it before you mentioned it.

 

[YukiPhnx]

I like the silly ones, and the ones that relate with people my age (or those who act like it. Haha.

Also, I hope you don't mind but I kinda referenced you in my PTR about the Tiger Balm stuff you talked about. I had never heard of it before you mentioned it.

Haha, no I don't mind it at all! It's a very popular herbal balm with Chinese people. I hope it helps with your dad and whatever you use it for!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Me too Yuki !!And are we doing another Meet after the holidays ??????

And yes, I would love to do another Meet! I've been wanting to hop across the river for some more Gulden's and awesome COACH deals, haha.

 

[YukiPhnx]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO MY AMERICAN DIS FRIENDS!!!!!​

I hope nobody gets injured during Black Friday madness!

 

[__disneygirl]

Hey Yuki!! I'm finally all caught up on your TR. Seems like such a great anniversary at AK! I am soooo jealous they picked you guys for the parade but so happy for you, that is AMAZING!

I especially loved what you wrote about Rafiki's Planet Watch, can you believe I've never been there? It is a must do for our next trip!!!

Can't wait for more

 

[YukiPhnx]

Lia: I'm more jealous that you're in WDW RIGHT NOW!!!

Enjoying your tweets, hope you visited Rafiki's and can't wait to hear back from you!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Ok, I'll be starting a new chapter in my life soon, so I figure I need to start ending things. Such as finishing this TR!

Sooo, I will try my best to finish this TR...TONIGHT.

Also, I have very exciting news. I've told you guys that I booked a cruise for Feb. Well, the port we're sailing out of is Tampa Bay and since Tampa Bay is only 1.5 hours away from WDW....we'll be taking a side trip there!

Well, at least we'll be on property! I'm looking into making an ADR at one of the resort restaurants and am looking forward to strolling around DtD. I'm so excited!!!!!! I'll be getting my dose of WDW next year after all!

 

[dizneeat]

That's wonderful news, Yuki!!

When will you be at WDW? We are going back in February too ........ just wondering if MAYBE ....... we would overlap!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Chapter 29. Day 6 pt.6- Like real trailblazers

On my first trip to AK, I only went on the Jungle Trek, so I was real eager to check out the Pangani Forest Trail. Unfortunately, we didn't go on the Jungle Trek this year.

During the day, it would shower on and off. We had so much pixie dust that we were able to avoid most of it!

I really like these monkeys. I can't remember what they're called though.

I'm not sure why I took this drawing. I think it was very cool? Real informative? You can be the judge.

And here's the skull of a giraffe. It's HUGE!

I love AK's theming. I know I say that a lot, but I just how detailed everything is and how you really feel like you're not in a theme park anymore.

Hey there Mr.Frog. Watcha looking at?

Hey look, it's Rufus' family!! They're so cute!

I actually took a video of this lizard being stuck between a rock and a hard place(the glass of the tank).

Ok, I can't really explain it, but I love seeing large tanks filled with fish. Maybe I was hungry, or maybe I just like how colourful they all are.

These leaves are ginormous! They could probably be umbrellas or something.

As demonstrated by Andrew here. He actually asked me to take this picture because he wanted to pose like a kappa.

Which animal does this skull belong to?

And why is it trying to eat me???

Oh...it's Andrew's. Now it all makes sense.

Do you ever have the urge to open all those boxes that Disney has littered around as props?

Wow...those are real impressive antlers.

We then came to a clearing where you can kind of see Safari vehicles pass by and these meerkats are just hanging out everywhere!

Hey meerkat!

We had FPs for Soarin' and DIDN'T use them!

After our wonderful time with the meerkats, we rushed through the rest of the Trail because I wasn't sure how much more of it was left and if we'd have enough time to get to the meet-up to board the parade vehicles. I kind of regret it now because we had enough time!

Coming up next: Being grand marshals!

 

[YukiPhnx]

That's wonderful news, Yuki!!

When will you be at WDW? We are going back in February too ........ just wondering if MAYBE ....... we would overlap!

Our cruise starts at the end of Feb, so we'll actually be in WDW in March. March 3rd, to be exact.

I would SO LOVE if we could overlap, but I don't think your dates extend to March, does it?

 

[YukiPhnx]

Chapter 30.Day 6 pt.7- An experience of a lifetime

It started raining a bit when we left the Trail, so I was getting worried that the parade would be cancelled. We stood around under a covering and just waited for the rain to stop. Lucky for us (and every one else of course!) the rain stopped just in time for the meet-up!

We met around the exit of the Safari. There's a large gate there that the floats come out of. We chatted a bit with the other families that were chosen. Word of advice, if you want to be on Mickey's float, your group should have at least 6 people. Mickey's float has the biggest group!

We were all given a little sheet of paper congratulating us for being chosen and were also given a PP code for all the photos a PP photog would take of us. All those photos were free! The photographer told us what to do and where to expect him so we can look and wave at the camera.

When we walked behind the gates, we were given Safari vests and hats to wear while on the vehicle. EXCEPT, Andrew and I were the exceptions. The guy that recruited all these families told the other parade people that he wanted us to keep our ears on, because they were so cute. So, not only were we the grand marshals of the parade, we were also the only family not wearing the Safari Mickey hats! I love being special.

After we had stored all our stuff away, we were all brought to the vehicles we would be in. No photographs of the behind-the-scenes area ofcourse. That's where we got to meet Rafiki, King Louie and Baloo. They were the ones in the front of the parade. They were hilarious! Baloo strolled over to the side of the gates and sat down on a stump with a sign that said "No animals allowed" over it. Haha, it was so funny. Rafiki was also very entertaining. We had our very own private interaction session with these three. It was like.....we were dumped with a bucket of pixie dust. I couldn't have asked for more. Definitely my favourite character interaction of the trip, and maybe even of EVER?? We'll see.

We were also given ear plugs to wear. The music would be blasting from behind us and we were very thankful for them. They were actually very good earplugs! We brought them home...

The music started and we were off!

We can take pictures now!

Asian "V"~!

We tried to get a better photo of Rafiki behind us, but all we could get was his butt.

Now, the rest of the photos are from PP.

In the next 2 photos, Andrew motioned for us to kiss for the camera, but I was too slow and we missed our chance. Oh wells.

Here, I was pointing out the spot where I first saw this parade from.

Andrew's arms are up because we were actually dancing along!

We had SUCH A BLAST and my face hurt from all the smiling. I smiled even bigger every time we spotted an Asian family. I mean, those are pretty rare at WDW!

Like I was saying, we danced along with the dancers walking in front of us. Yes, we learned it because the song repeats itself. It was a lot of fun. I just loved waving at everybody and seeing how happy the kids got when I waved at them! You'd think I was Santa Clause or something! It totally made my day and our whole vacation. I already liked this parade from my first visit, but now it will forever have a place in my heart.

Coming up next: The rest of AK and BOMA.

 

[YukiPhnx]

Chapter 31. Day 6 pt.8- Man, that's some good Kool Slai

After the parade, the sky looked like it was threatening to rain again. We wanted to go back to POP to get ready for our dinner at BOMA, so we decided to leave the park at 4:30pm. The park was going to close by 6pm anyways.

So we made our way towards the exit and took some more pictures of the Tree of Life.

I really loved these designs! I was hoping to get an airbrush tattoo on my trip, just like on my first trip, but I forgot how pricey they were....

We passed by these cutouts, so we HAD to stop to take pictures!

They actually go really well side-by-side, but I don't know how to do that.

OMG, this croc has my hand!

As promised, the Tree of Life.

This is when we saw something that Lia (_disneygirl) has already mentioned in her TR. AK has KANGAROOS??????

Oh my gosh, what??? How come I've never heard ANYTHING about this??? I've read a ton of TRs before AND after my trip and still have not heard anyone other than Lia mention seeing them in AK. What are they DOING near the Tree of Life? Can you even find them in the countries featured in this park? OMG, it's a kangaroo!!!!

Remember those FPs we were able to grab? Well, it felt like a waste to not use them so we spotted another couple around our age and gave them our FPs. We told them that the CMs will most likely still accept them even though there were "expired". They seemed happy enough. I guess I won't be able to really re-test my courage on Dinosaur until our next trip.

My, look at that gloomy sky.

It started POURING as soon as our bus pulled out of the stop. So glad we missed that!

When we got back to our room, we were surprised with this!

It was so nice of our Mousekeeper! I made a mousekeeping envelope tip for every day we were there, and made a note of what we were celebrating each day. I thought it was a really nice anniversary "gift".

We both showered and dressed up for our anniversary dinner and headed out at 6:30pm. We jumped on the first bus to arrive at POP (which was to MK), then hopped on an empty bus to AKL. Having the bus to yourself is just.....way awesome. It feels like your own private ginormous Disney limo.

It was pouring when we got there, so we ran in. I was really hoping to bump into Nicole (Nicole786) and her brother on their way out of AKL. It was going to be there first night and their ADR happened to be about 2 hours before ours. Unfortunately we didn't really see each other, but we have a feeling we may have passed each other on my way to AKL.....

Anyways, first thing I noticed were these lamps. They're so pretty!!!

And then I saw this.

My jaw just about dropped. It was expansive, beautiful and just......WOW. Sorry the lighting is so bad. It was really gloomy because of the rain, which is why I MUST return when it's sunny!

This lobby is so cool.

We checked into BOMA at 7:30 and was told the wait was about 30 minutes. Which is ok because our ADR was for 8pm! We grabbed some very comfy seats in the lobby and I caught up on my notes while Andrew played on his DS. After that, we strolled around the resort and checked out the store.

I want these chandeliers. Is there anywhere I can buy them? I mean, I'm sure my home isn't big enough for it but I'm ok with constructing a room JUST FOR THIS and call it the awesome AKL lights room.

Andrew was really interested in this shirt at the store.

I'm really tempted to buy it for him. Maybe I will when we're at DtD next March....

These signs for the washrooms are so cool! Wait, I mean restrooms. I had to correct myself everytime I asked for them. I always get a, "What?" when I ask for the washroom/bathroom.

We were checked in by 7:50pm! It was a VERY busy night. The whole place was bustling and very crowded. We were seated at a small table and my elbow could literally touch the table next to ours. It was pretty cramped. We had a nice server and ordered our drinks.

The table to my right had a big group and they were actually from Toronto! It was great chatting with them. One of them was celebrating a birthday. And then.....a mother/son combo sat to my left and THEY were from Toronto too!!! It was like they knew we were from Toronto and decided to seat us all together. The mother/son were very nice. They were having their own night while the dad/daughter were having THEIR night. That sounds so nice!

We didn't take any pictures of the food (SHOCKER!~) because there really was no space for it....I was afraid of either getting food on the camera, or squashing it with my butt or even forgetting it on my seat. I'm very afraid of that happening...I DID however keep notes on what we ate and made a list of the foods we each really liked.

Here's mine:
-beef (recommended by Karin and Tom at our DISmeet)
-pork shoulder with Boma mustard (what is with Disney mustard that makes it 100x better than any other mustard??? Oh yeah, it's in Disney)
-kool slai (I love cole slaw.)
-banana bread pudding (I also LOVE banana bread AND bread pudding. Put them together and it's like my perfect dessert)
-artichoke salad (I was esctatic about this. I love artichokes but have never seen anyone use it in a salad)
-spinach pudding (also recommended by Karin and Tom. This was surprisingly yummy)
-nameless pasta salad (that comes straight from my notes. It didn't have a sign but I love pasta salad)
-strawberries (they really know how to grow them at Disney. These were very sweet)
-seafood soup (I had 3 bowls of this stuff)

I tried the zebra domes and don't throw rotten veggies at me when I say...I'm not a fan. It was just WAY TOO SWEET. The caramel cheesecake was also too rich for my taste. The fufu was not bad.

Andrew's list:
-buttersquash soup
-beef

And it ends there....He wasn't all that impressed with the food. He liked the fruit and the two items above, but that was pretty much it. Maybe it just wasn't to his taste. He's much more of a wings and bbq kind of guy, but he's still open to trying new foods. He also thought the passion fruit pannacotta was too tart.

Before we left, we asked our server to take this picture.

See that anniversary button there? Well, almost everybody I know on the DIS are used to getting a little something extra when they bring up that they're celebrating something. Well...I think we're one of the few people that didn't get anything at our ADRs. Not even at Andrew's birthday lunch at WCC. I'm not mad or anything. It was probably because it was TOO busy. It was just worth mentioning because there are some people on the DIS that make it sound like they already see their treat coming and so aren't as surprised or pleased with it. I wouldn't have minded if we got some of that Mickey confetti though! Those are so cute.

Overall, I had a very good time at Boma. I hear the dinners have gone up in price, so I'm not so sure about returning, unless it was just the two of us again. It was just way too crowded and Andrew wasn't able to find anything he loved. It's still a place I'd love to bring a friend to.

And for my Girls of the DIS, I DID get all drunk with Boma food. So drunk in fact, that I stuffed a bunch of their cookies into a zip-loc bag I had in my purse....Those were probably the best choco-chip cookies I've EVER HAD.

We got home around 9:30pm, took a bath with a bath bomb (it was VERY good) and went to sleep. We only had one more day in Disney and I was starting to really feel the blues.

Coming up next: ToT mania!

 

[glennbo123]

Wow, AWESOME updates Yuki.

First, congrats on owning a piece of Disney.

Then, how AMAZING is it that you two were GRAND MARSHALLS of the AK parade?!! Your interaction with Baloo and Rafiki sounded like a lot of fun. And it's so neat to hear that kids along the parade route were excited when you waved to them. You must have thought, "hey, a few minutes ago I was just another park guest, like everyone else." So cool though!

The AKL lobby is pretty spectacular when you first walk in, no doubt!

I'm glad you liked Boma, but am surprised that Andrew didn't find much to his liking. We love that place. Oh yeah, their pasta salad is the bomb, isn't it? What the heck could they possibly do to make pasta salad so good???