TammiMcMan
Ohana
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2002
- Messages
- 6,310
Cast of Characters: Tammi & Jim (mom-dad), Meg (16), Colin (12) and Casey (6). Our 13th trip to WDW
Thursday 8/1: Animal Kingdom Day. We know we made the right choice when we woke up and saw the overcast skies. I know that many will disagree, but AK is probably my least favorite park. The layout makes it seem much smaller and the only way to get from one area to another is the main walkways. They become so crowded by early afternoon, that we only plan 1/2 days for this park. Plus, it just seems to always be a few degree's hotter in this park. We took the bus over from GF and arrived at the entrance by 9:30am. Jim went directly to Africa for the safari fast passes, while I took Colin and Casey to Dinoland. (Meagan chose to visit Epcot on her own this morning) Casey just made the height requirement for Primeval Whirl, so they did that ride followed by the Tricerotops spin. For those who haven't gone on this ride yet, to make it go up and down, pick the back seat. Front seat controls the tilt. We hooked back up with Jim and decided to try Dinosaur while we were in the area. A five minute wait and we were on the ride. This was our first time on the ride and I'm still not sure if I liked it. It was very loud and very bumpy. I think if they slowed it down and made it a bit less jerky, then it would perfect.
Close to fp time, so we headed over to Kilimanjaro. We've been on this many times, but never before have we seen so many animals. I carried the camera this time. Jim has a habit of going through at least 48 pictures each time we've been on this ride. I already have one photo album containing nothing but Kilimanjaro photo's. As we were leaving Africa, we noticed a walking vine. It was the coolest thing. A CM with long handles attached to her hands and walking on stilts. She was twisting her body into shapes, looked like a climbing vine. We had to stay and watch the whole performance. Stopped for snacks, frozen banana's are my favorite, and headed to ITTBAB. No line for this ride either, only had to wait about 5 minutes for the previous show to finish up. Even though we've seen this one before, we still jumped and screamed.
It's not in the guidebook, but Kali River had fast pass distribution set up when we were there. It was a 45 minute stand by, so we decided to fp it and grab some lunch. Went to the Flame Tree bar-b-que. Jim was second in line, but I couldn't figure out what was taking him so long to get our lunch. When he finally made it back to the table, he said that the CM taking the food order was also trying to see lunch vouchers. Had to go through entire explanation of what it was with the people in front of him. I got the bar-b-que chicken sandwich and I could only finish half, Casey got the pb & j sandwich and Colin got the fruit plate. Colin and I shared with each other.
Headed back over to Kali with our fp. They don't have a good set up yet. There was a piece of tape on the ground seperating stand by line from fp line, so we had to jostle our way around some people in line and suffered some dirty looks. This got us about 3/4's of the way to the front and then we were merged in with everyone else just prior to walking over the bridge. Still cut a 60 minute wait, into about 10 minutes. Colin and I sat together and we got drenched. Jim and Casey made out okay and the people across from us stayed dry right up until the last of the falls, then they got the worst of it. The sun was just starting to come out, so it felt really good.
By now it was close to 2pm and with the sun and crowds starting to overpower the park, we decided to head back to the GF. Meagan was waiting for us in the room, complete with a bag full of treasures that she had purchased in Epcot. They were able to swim for about 2 hours before the afternoon storms rolled in.
Jim took Meagan and Colin to see Cirque du Soleil. They had dinner at Wolfgang Pucks before the show. They just love the bar-b-que chicken pizza. They all came back with rave reviews. Jim said that there were so many things going on at the same time, that you just couldn't take it all in. Colin's dream would be to join the show someday.
Casey and I decided to head back into MK for the night. She loves Splash Mountain, so we took the train from Main Street right over to Frontierland and got FP's. Then we hiked back to Fantasyland so that she could meet Ariel. We rode the tea cups together and went to Toon Town next where she got to meet Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Chip and Dale. We rode Goofy's Barnstormer twice and hopped on the train again for Splash Mountain. She had a blast. We grabbed some snacks and found a good viewing spot for Spectromagic. After the parade, she really wanted to see Tinkerbell fly down the castle, so we walked over and stood on the Tomorrowland bridge. Didn't have enough pixie dust I guess, because Tink didn't fly tonight. It was probably because of the heat lightning, but we were disappointed. The fireworks were wonderful as usual and we caught the first boat back to the resort. We shared a pizza from Gasparilla's before snuggling together in bed and watching tv.
Thursday 8/1: Animal Kingdom Day. We know we made the right choice when we woke up and saw the overcast skies. I know that many will disagree, but AK is probably my least favorite park. The layout makes it seem much smaller and the only way to get from one area to another is the main walkways. They become so crowded by early afternoon, that we only plan 1/2 days for this park. Plus, it just seems to always be a few degree's hotter in this park. We took the bus over from GF and arrived at the entrance by 9:30am. Jim went directly to Africa for the safari fast passes, while I took Colin and Casey to Dinoland. (Meagan chose to visit Epcot on her own this morning) Casey just made the height requirement for Primeval Whirl, so they did that ride followed by the Tricerotops spin. For those who haven't gone on this ride yet, to make it go up and down, pick the back seat. Front seat controls the tilt. We hooked back up with Jim and decided to try Dinosaur while we were in the area. A five minute wait and we were on the ride. This was our first time on the ride and I'm still not sure if I liked it. It was very loud and very bumpy. I think if they slowed it down and made it a bit less jerky, then it would perfect.
Close to fp time, so we headed over to Kilimanjaro. We've been on this many times, but never before have we seen so many animals. I carried the camera this time. Jim has a habit of going through at least 48 pictures each time we've been on this ride. I already have one photo album containing nothing but Kilimanjaro photo's. As we were leaving Africa, we noticed a walking vine. It was the coolest thing. A CM with long handles attached to her hands and walking on stilts. She was twisting her body into shapes, looked like a climbing vine. We had to stay and watch the whole performance. Stopped for snacks, frozen banana's are my favorite, and headed to ITTBAB. No line for this ride either, only had to wait about 5 minutes for the previous show to finish up. Even though we've seen this one before, we still jumped and screamed.
It's not in the guidebook, but Kali River had fast pass distribution set up when we were there. It was a 45 minute stand by, so we decided to fp it and grab some lunch. Went to the Flame Tree bar-b-que. Jim was second in line, but I couldn't figure out what was taking him so long to get our lunch. When he finally made it back to the table, he said that the CM taking the food order was also trying to see lunch vouchers. Had to go through entire explanation of what it was with the people in front of him. I got the bar-b-que chicken sandwich and I could only finish half, Casey got the pb & j sandwich and Colin got the fruit plate. Colin and I shared with each other.
Headed back over to Kali with our fp. They don't have a good set up yet. There was a piece of tape on the ground seperating stand by line from fp line, so we had to jostle our way around some people in line and suffered some dirty looks. This got us about 3/4's of the way to the front and then we were merged in with everyone else just prior to walking over the bridge. Still cut a 60 minute wait, into about 10 minutes. Colin and I sat together and we got drenched. Jim and Casey made out okay and the people across from us stayed dry right up until the last of the falls, then they got the worst of it. The sun was just starting to come out, so it felt really good.
By now it was close to 2pm and with the sun and crowds starting to overpower the park, we decided to head back to the GF. Meagan was waiting for us in the room, complete with a bag full of treasures that she had purchased in Epcot. They were able to swim for about 2 hours before the afternoon storms rolled in.
Jim took Meagan and Colin to see Cirque du Soleil. They had dinner at Wolfgang Pucks before the show. They just love the bar-b-que chicken pizza. They all came back with rave reviews. Jim said that there were so many things going on at the same time, that you just couldn't take it all in. Colin's dream would be to join the show someday.
Casey and I decided to head back into MK for the night. She loves Splash Mountain, so we took the train from Main Street right over to Frontierland and got FP's. Then we hiked back to Fantasyland so that she could meet Ariel. We rode the tea cups together and went to Toon Town next where she got to meet Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Chip and Dale. We rode Goofy's Barnstormer twice and hopped on the train again for Splash Mountain. She had a blast. We grabbed some snacks and found a good viewing spot for Spectromagic. After the parade, she really wanted to see Tinkerbell fly down the castle, so we walked over and stood on the Tomorrowland bridge. Didn't have enough pixie dust I guess, because Tink didn't fly tonight. It was probably because of the heat lightning, but we were disappointed. The fireworks were wonderful as usual and we caught the first boat back to the resort. We shared a pizza from Gasparilla's before snuggling together in bed and watching tv.
