May 2011: The Year of Surprises! [TR]

[mrssmith06]

haha that is so funny, what a great memory!

 

[Lidian]

Iknowright?

Hey there! I am so far behind! Been without internet access for days. I think I am caught up reading!

It really was a pleasure to meet you and your family! We look forward to the next time too! I'm sorry Anakin gave you a scare on the TTA. He really doesn't like the dark!

Your food pics at Tony's and Teppan Edo, are making me hungry! I think I'd really like Teppan Edo, but my picky eaters probably wouldn't eat anything.

Too funny about crankypants!

Been missing ya Tink! Hope all is well on your end.

It's okay that Anakin gave me a scare. It was worth it. And I really don't like the dark either.

I was really impressed with Teppan's menu. Even the kids loved it. DH was just sad they didn't have any swordfish.

haha that is so funny, what a great memory!

Thanks! I just can't believe I forgot about it.

 

[mtgirl29]

That is so cool that the CM took the time to play with Seth. I can totally picture it and it puts a smile on my face. Glad you remembered that detail, it is fabulous!!!!

 

[lbuzz52]

Ah my friend, that is why you need to take notes while on the trip! I have a Disney notebook completely dedicated to trip notes. It holds all the notes from our 2007 trip and onwards. I just take a few minutes at the end of the day or during an afternoon break to jot the important events down.

I just jot mine in the notes section in my phone. I keep it short and simple and usually just do it while I'm standing in line. Its not the easiest way tp write, but I can get down rides, foods, maybe key conversations.. The notes section is set up to be emailed so I send it to myself when I'm ready to do the report.

that bug would have had me in a panic too! I really hate crunchy bugs!!!!

The hat story is awesome! And crush! Im so glad the rest of your day ended so nicely!

 

[Lidian]

That is so cool that the CM took the time to play with Seth. I can totally picture it and it puts a smile on my face. Glad you remembered that detail, it is fabulous!!!!

I was really pleased that the CM came over. We were just hanging out, trying to stay in the shade while waiting, and everyone was drinking their Ramunes. So it was great that out of all the kids, he picked my DS to play with.

I just jot mine in the notes section in my phone. I keep it short and simple and usually just do it while I'm standing in line. Its not the easiest way tp write, but I can get down rides, foods, maybe key conversations.. The notes section is set up to be emailed so I send it to myself when I'm ready to do the report.

that bug would have had me in a panic too! I really hate crunchy bugs!!!!

The hat story is awesome! And crush! Im so glad the rest of your day ended so nicely!

You know, I use the Notes section on my phone all the time, but I never thought about using it to keep track of things. I was updating Facebook some, so I refer back to it when I update.

I may try to remember to use the Notes section next year.

I can't say any of our days were bad, but I think if I had to pick the best day, it was Epcot. It was nice to get attention from the CM, and then Crush and DH sharing a moment.

 

[KatMark]

Happy Father's Day to your hubby.

 

[Lidian]

Ugh, before we begin, I need to go back again.

As we were riding the bus back to CSR from Epcot ... DS asked DH if we were ever going to meet Tinkerbell. (Yes, DS, not DD.)

DH said, "Well, we ran out of time." I chimed in that I never saw any postings of where she was located anyway. D'oh!

DH: "Why do you want to see Tink?"
DS: "Because she's really pretty."
DH: "Wait ... you want to flirt with her don't you?"
DS: "Ayup!"

ACK! Who is this child? lol Anyway, wanted to share, since I did forget about it.

I had mixed feelings with this day. I was glad we were still at WDW and our adventures weren't quite over ... but I was sad that we were checking out of CSR. I tried to make it easy for DH to take stuff down to the car, and piled what was ready near the door (on the ottomans) and what wasn't I left on the other side of the room. While I finished packing up, DH and DD started taking stuff down. Once I finished, DS and I helped. We all had solemn looks on our faces ... CSR was such a beautiful place. How could our new hotel ever compare????

Once we had the car loaded, luggage covered, and doors locked - we walked over to the bus stop. We were heading to AK for the day!

The AK bus was the first bus to arrive. HOORAY! We would definitely make it to the park within the first hour of it being open!

So we arrived to AK at 9:25. We had to purchase tickets for this day (well, add another day of tickets that is), so we went to the ticket window. We had our tickets within just a couple of minutes and proceeded ... to ... the amazingly long line to get into the gate. AHHHH! I was scouting for what seemed to be the quickest line, but none of them appeared to be moving.

Yes, it was nearly 10am before we got into the park. We waited almost 20 minutes to get through the ticket turnstyle. I was livid. I have no clue why it was taking so long.

Once inside, grab FPs for the safari. It already had a 40 minute wait. The FP machines ... I dunno if they were all broken or if they were running low on tickets or what ... but they were all covered but two. And they each had a CM next to it asking how many FPs you were getting. So I got in line, and when I approached he asked for one of my tickets, how many FPs, put my ticket in and wrote "good for 4 people" and his initials. Both CMs were doing this for anyone getting more than 2 FPs. I didn't question it, but accepted it, hoped they were valid, and kept walking.

We decided to do the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail ... since I never found it the previous years. I'm glad we did, we had a blast!

I left my camera off for most of it - I don't know why ... but then I saw Meerkats!!!!

This little guy was digging while the others were watching.

They decided to move on ... one at a time...

So I remembered I had the video camera! I was going to record some Meerkats! I went to turn it on, and it wouldn't work. It kept telling me to check the lens cover. The cover was off, but the screen was black. UGH! It did the same thing last year at AK. So I handed it to DH and asked him to use his Jedi trick and make it work again. He couldn't. He said that its unfixable. I'm almost in tears, and I look back, all the meerkats are gone. Great! So I get frustrated and I hit the camera (near the lens) and BAM! It comes on. WOOHOO! Yay for releasing anger! lol

Since the meerkats were gone, we kept walking. I decided to get a picture of DH!

Or ... a gorilla. Take your pick. lol Anyway, he was sitting when I snapped it, but by the time it went off he was up and walking. I struggled with my camera for some reason. It kept delaying. Turns out, it was on a different setting. We saw several gorillas, one kept trying to hide from the viewers. It was nice!

Then we saw a Kids' Discovery Club station! We only found two last year, so I was determined to find them all this year. She taught the kids how to track animals and guesstimate what kind of animal it was. Then they found a Rhino and got a membership card.

After we were done with the trail (or so I thought - never saw any hippos), we decided to board the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. As we're standing on the platform, DS goes into a hysterical fit. He's trying to run, and he's bawling. We're very unsure why he's upset - then we remembered. He has grown a fear of trains. We keep trying to reassure him that its a real train, like what we rode at MK, not a run-away one. He wasn't buying it. Finally the train pulled in and he stopped. He immediately stopped. It was a whole different child. He saw it was real, got excited and it was like nothing ever happened. I don't get it. I was thinking we weren't even going to get over to RPW, but we did. (And for the record, we only had to wait like 2 minutes for the train, so it wasn't a long fit he was throwing, and people were just starting to stare at us when he stopped.)

We began the trek up to RPW and stop for the few exhibits along the way. They had a CM out at the (Tamarind monkey's, I think is what she called them) monkey exhibit and was giving information and answering questions.

We also found another Kids' Discovery Club! WOOT! 2 down, 4 to go! Once the kids finished their scavenger hunt for animals in their own backyards, they got a Frog stamp and we continued on to Conservation Station.

We arrive and start to look around. JIMINY CRICKET! We've never seen Jiminy before! And there was NO LINE!

There was a very small line for Pocahontas.

And Rafiki!

After meeting the characters, we explore the center a little bit. I did most of my exploring with my back turned - as those creepy crawlies give me the jitters. However ... in the medical room, they had a monkey! They saw the crowd gathered and one of the ladies grabbed a mic and proceeded to walk the viewers through what was going on. She told us what kind of monkey he was and that he was getting a routine physical. She explained that since they can't talk to tell us if there's anything wrong, they get more invasive physicals than people. And for everyone's safety, they sedate the animal and draw blood and have the freedom to feel around on the animals body for any thing that might be wrong. They were in the process of waking the monkey up so he could go back to his friends.

The kids wanted to do Affection section, but I really didn't want to. I told them that they could go to a petting zoo at home, let's go do things we can't do at home. (The school brings in a petting zoo for their carnivals.)

We made the trek back down to the train station where a CM stops DH and asks him why he doesn't fly us back to the main area. It took me a minute to figure out what she meant ... DH was wearing his Superman shirt. It took DH a minute too, because the CM pointed it out and said that if he was trying to remain un-noticed, he should have changed in a phone booth first. She thanked him for taking time out of his busy day of saving people to join them at WDW. It was great! I was glad I packed his Superman shirt again. (Last year, he wore it to DHS and one of the starlets walked by and told "Superman" that he was so much cuter in person and flirted a bit before walking off.)

We only waited a minute before the train arrived and we boarded back to the main area.

Since our single FP ticket was available, we decided to head over to EE to grab FPs. I grabbed 4, so DD and I could ride twice. We decided it was time for lunch, so made our way to Flame Tree BBQ to use our final CS credits.

I don't remember what everyone had, I didn't take pictures. The heat was really getting to me and I was trying to not be cranky and have a good time. Plus, I was a little sad we were leaving CSR and was dreading our new hotel.

I remember I had the sandwich, but that's all I recall. We took our time with lunch and explored the map and the Times Guide to plan out the rest of the afternoon. It was nice to just sit and visit - so we did.

I think I'll call it here for now. Stay tuned for the next installment: Will we discover all the Kids's Discovery Clubs?

 

[Lidian]

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the daddies out there! Hope you have a super day!!!!

 

[Lidian]

Happy Father's Day to your hubby.

Thank you very much! Happy Father's Day to Mark! Hope you guys have a super day! Any plans?

We're going to be lazy and lay around in our PJs all day.

 

[KatMark]

Great update! We've not been to Pangani Forest Exploration Trail in awhile and hope to get there this year.

Too funny about your son wanting to see Tink.

Mark is umpping four baseball games and will hopefully be home around 6 p.m. for dinner.

 

[Lidian]

Great update! We've not been to Pangani Forest Exploration Trail in awhile and hope to get there this year.

Too funny about your son wanting to see Tink.

Mark is umpping four baseball games and will hopefully be home around 6 p.m. for dinner.

We really enjoyed Pangani trail. We had a blast exploring - lots of CMs around to answer questions and they all talked to the kids and said "Did you know..." stuff. I'll definitely have to go back!!

I would have been mortified if he had hit on Tinkerbell.

Wow! 4 games! Don't these people know its Dad's Day? They should only be watching sports, not participating. Hope no games run over and he's home in time for a great meal!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Too funny about your son and Tink.

Sorry you had such a crummy start to the day.

Sounds like you had a great time at Rafiki's so the day turned around at least!

 

[Becc1]

Love the story about your DS and the hat and him wanting to flirt with Tink, you better watch out for that boy, lol.

I'm jealous that you got over to the Conservation Station, it was one of the big things we wanted to do and ended up not getting over there I just know that my kids would love it over there!

 

[Corrine 1973]

Well of course AK was the first bus to arrive, you have 8 of them to every MK bus, right?

My DS and I had a lot of fun exploring both trails this year. It was real nice to take things at our own speed and just explore.

I was the same way with my video camera. So many times I could have used it and I didn't. Next time right?

I loved the pic of you DH. . . I mean gorilla.

Loved that you got to see all those characters there. We never got to go up there, I will have to make sure to make time when I go back with my DD.

I am just loving the CM interaction with "Superman", that would have just made my day. It's CM's like that that make Disney even more special.

 

[PixieMama]

I've been away from the DISboards for a week... whew! I've got some catching up to do!

 

[lbuzz52]

Did you ever find out what the issue was at the turnsryles or at KS?

The monkey checkup looks neat! We saw something fun there too. Between that and the short character meets I hope to go back there again!

 

[PixieMama]

Whew! I'm all caught up now! Just a few notes on what I've read...

The pic of your DS with his hook and sword in his ears was too funny!

Storybook Experience looks like a lot of fun. My youngest DD loves to read (Oldest DD, not so much) and I think she would really enjoy that.

Glad to hear the good things about Biergarten.... we've never been there. I considered that for my "girls only" trip but a friend suggested saving it for when the family goes, as the kids would enjoy it.

 

[mtgirl29]

It looks like you guys did a lot in AK. What did you get at Flaming Tree BBQ? BBQ? lol!!! I think that baby monkey is soooo sweet!
Great pic of the kiddos with Jiminy Cricket. I think you may have your hands full with DS. Too funny that he wanted to flirt with her. My DS still doesn't like girls except for mama of course.
We got rained out while we were in AK this year. We did get to ride EE, though. I will tell all about that in my TR. AK is still my least favorite park. DH and I are thinking about skipping it all together on our next trip.

 

[AKL LOVER]

Wow! Your DH is getting a ton of attention from CMs and characters this trip, isn't he?? So cute!

 

[Lidian]

Too funny about your son and Tink.

Sorry you had such a crummy start to the day.

Sounds like you had a great time at Rafiki's so the day turned around at least!

I'm not sure what I'll do with DS. I wish I had known he was crushing on Tink ... maybe I would have worked harder to find her.

It's okay ... we were still at WDW, so everything was still groovy!

We love going to Rafiki's. We missed it in 2009 and found it last year. It's so much fun for the kids!

Love the story about your DS and the hat and him wanting to flirt with Tink, you better watch out for that boy, lol.

I'm jealous that you got over to the Conservation Station, it was one of the big things we wanted to do and ended up not getting over there I just know that my kids would love it over there!

Oh boy, I dunno what I'll do with him.

I'm sorry you missed Conservation Station. It's such a great place and the kids love it!

Well of course AK was the first bus to arrive, you have 8 of them to every MK bus, right?

My DS and I had a lot of fun exploring both trails this year. It was real nice to take things at our own speed and just explore.

I was the same way with my video camera. So many times I could have used it and I didn't. Next time right?

I loved the pic of you DH. . . I mean gorilla.

Loved that you got to see all those characters there. We never got to go up there, I will have to make sure to make time when I go back with my DD

I am just loving the CM interaction with "Superman", that would have just made my day. It's CM's like that that make Disney even more special.

I agree Corrine, there's totally 8 AKs for every MK bus.

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the trails! The Pangani one was really a blast and I hate we missed it before!

And yes, next time, I'll get those pictures.

I packed the Superman shirt for a reason, and it totally paid off. Even DH was enjoying the attention!

I've been away from the DISboards for a week... whew! I've got some catching up to do!

Welcome back! I trust you had a great time?

Did you ever find out what the issue was at the turnsryles or at KS?

The monkey checkup looks neat! We saw something fun there too. Between that and the short character meets I hope to go back there again!

Not a clue what was going on. I think it was really just that many people trying to slowly go through the gates. I think people were just slower that day than most others.

We didn't see anything there last year, and I thought it was just a "show room". Just a peek of what their exam rooms did look like, not thinking it might be an actual working exam room. So it was neat to see the monkey physical.

Whew! I'm all caught up now! Just a few notes on what I've read...

The pic of your DS with his hook and sword in his ears was too funny!

Storybook Experience looks like a lot of fun. My youngest DD loves to read (Oldest DD, not so much) and I think she would really enjoy that.

Glad to hear the good things about Biergarten.... we've never been there. I considered that for my "girls only" trip but a friend suggested saving it for when the family goes, as the kids would enjoy it.

Glad you're all caught up! Hope it didn't take too long.

Oh, I HAD to catch that. It was hilarious! I told him to put them down and plug his ears. Nope. I even said I'd cover his ears for him. Nope. "I got this mom!" Well ... okay then! I did worry he'd hurt himself, but he was fine.

Both of my kids are bookies. They're constantly reading. DS is learning how to read now, so we sit with books a lot, and the kids even read with each other. DD loves to read to DS, and DS will return the favor. They take after me in that department ... I love to read.

I totally recommend the family meal at Biergarten! The kids were dancing around in their seats and then got up and danced at their chairs. I would have let them go down, but we were as high as you can get, and I was exhausted and wanted to just sit.

It looks like you guys did a lot in AK. What did you get at Flaming Tree BBQ? BBQ? lol!!! I think that baby monkey is soooo sweet!
Great pic of the kiddos with Jiminy Cricket. I think you may have your hands full with DS. Too funny that he wanted to flirt with her. My DS still doesn't like girls except for mama of course.
We got rained out while we were in AK this year. We did get to ride EE, though. I will tell all about that in my TR. AK is still my least favorite park. DH and I are thinking about skipping it all together on our next trip.

No, I totally didn't have any BBQ at FTBBQ!. I know I had the sandwich, just like last year, and it was YUM!

And I think that was an adult monkey. They told us all about him/her, but my mind forgets.

Well .... DS has a GF at school. They are absolutely adorable together. Her mom is one of the few PK moms I talked to. She said that her DD talks about my DS all the time as well. They'd sit together at breakfast and everything. Soooo adorable! Anyway ... but it did surprise me about Tink.

Sorry to hear about your rain. We know it rained some ... but never saw any rain. At least, I think it rained some. OH! I take that back ... we did experience rain. But that's coming.

Honestly... I don't have a least favorite park. If DH got to pick, he'd skip MK. The kids would skip EP. But me? I couldn't skip any of them. I love them all sooo much. To be honest, I wish I could have at least two days in each park - and some parks more than two. I hate that AK feels hotter than the other parks, but they just have soo much to see, and so many new experiences, even with the same attractions. It's just amazing! Plus, DH and the kids love the animals too much to let me pass it up.

You'll just have to go with me and you'll like AK more.

Wow! Your DH is getting a ton of attention from CMs and characters this trip, isn't he?? So cute!

I know, and I'm getting jealous.




I hope to update again soon. I promise! Real Life has been kicking me in the rump lately. Not to mention, we've had some pretty nasty storms here ... we were without power for most of the evening. I missed the first hour of The Voice, and then big chunks of the rest of it because the News kept interrupting ... it would be one thing if it was important information, but it was nothing new and nothing big - and it could all have waited for the 11 news. And the few times they did mention the weather, it was just restating what was being typed across the bottom of the screen. C'mon! So anyway ... yeah. Hi. Errands to run tomorrow, but hopefully I can toss an update in there somewhere.