August 9th (part 1): Wild by Design!
We got up at 6:10 for our last full day at Disney.
We were just going to drive to AK but a bus was sitting at the bus stop so we just hopped on.
We got to AK, went through bag check and then found the spot where our tour was meeting. Yes, a tour so this chapter will include many feels. MANY FEELS.
There were about 8 people in our group, which was fine. Two people never even showed up so thanks random people!
We headed through the turnstiles and our APs just wouldnt work for some reason so the CM just let us right through.
Oh. I totally forgot to say what tour we were doing (if you didn't read the title...)! SO yeah. Wild by Design. LETS MOVE ON NOW.
We did introductions in the Oasis. Our tour guide was Timmy and he was good. Some of his random facts were wrong and I corrected him, in my head. But otherwise, he was good.
We moved on into Discovery Island and strolled on down into Dinoland.
We stopped at Flame Tree Barbeque first and talked about theming and such. Timmy said how the whole restaurant is themed on predator and prey.
Next: Dinoland.
And if you have no appreciation for Dinoland whatsoever, leave now cause we cant be friends.
BACK STORY TIME!
So the Dino institute came to town and set up a place for investigation (because they found some dino bones), which is Restaurantosaurus and you can see the details outside, like the chairs on the roof where they had a party and such.
And then Dinosaur is the ride where they are looking for some stupid dinosaur and
lets move onto the part of Dinoland that everyone hates. And I cannot stand those people.
Chester and Hester had this gas station (that giant gift shop in dinoland) and then the dino institute came to town. And they were like HEY! We can make some money off of this! So across the street from the gift shopwhich is route 498, get it?!there was an empty parking lot where they set up a carnival all themed to dinos to get some money from the people who came to town.
And you can see the old parking spots and license plates all around and HOLY CRAP THEMING. So next time you go into Dinoland, stop and look around. And thank moi.
Here is the picture of Chester and Hester in their gas station. Fun fact: It is the same actor playing both parts.
And here are the hitchhiking dinosaurs from Primeval Whirl.
Next, we made our way into Asia and looked at the Yeti Hotel and the only real bricks in Disney.
This truck comes right from Asia. They only changed two pictures on it.
Then Timmy was like look at this statue and tell me what you see and I was like I KNOW THE MOUNTAINS LINE UP OKKKK. I let someone else answer cause I am so nice.
Another CM came to our group next and talked to us about the white cheek gibbons. The baby was SO cute.
We made our way to the Maharajah Jungle Trek and it was the 9 Maharajahs hunting grounds and you can see 4 of them on the walls (I only got pics of three). And there are hidden mickeys on all of them.
Here is the komodo dragon.
Zee bats!
Then we saw the TIGERS! They were so cute. And if you put your hand on the side of the glass, you will find that it is heated. They do that so the glass wont fog up.
We made our way back into Asia and stopped by Kali. We looked up at the lights and
. Coke bottles! In asia, they use them as insulators. SO BASICALLY FEELS CAUSE DISNEY DETAILS.
We explored some trails by the Tree of Life next and they were dead. Like, no one was back there. We saw a lot of cool animals!
Next stop was Pizzafari cause it was breakfast time! They gave us fruit, pastries, and full size fountain drinks, or anything you wanted it. It was awesome and the food was really good. And I didnt even realize they serve breakfast there. A lot of the stuff sounded GOOD.
After breakfast, we looked around each room at the theming and then continued into Harambe.
BACK STORY TIME!
The British used to own Harambe and then let the people took independence in some year that I cant remember. I know the year is somewhere when you enter though.
You can see where the British wall once was. And that guy is standing right on it.
Tribute to my boyfriend ♥
You guys know the Baobab tree that is right outside of Kilimanjaro and on the safari itself? Yeah, its not real and made of concrete. It is Disney real to be exact. The real one is right near Tusker House, as you can see in this picture.
Last but not least, we explored the Pangani trail and talked to another CM that has to count every. single. bird. on that trail. Two times a day.
We looked at the gorillas next and there is a family group and a bachelor group. And sometimes they play with blankets or things like that and it is supposed to make it seem like they stole them from a campsite. Disney theming, my friends.
After that, the tour ended and WE GOT A PIN AND I WAS HAPPY.
The tour was great and I learned a lot of new things even though I am the AK queen. And I loved being able to talk to the other CMs about their job or about the animals. It was a lot of fun and I think the tour should be mandatory in order to step foot into AK to just appreciate the details and theming. Just sayin.
