No cats to herd this time! It's just the two of us!UPDATED 11/24-DIS Meet & Departure

[jillyb]

This picture is fantastic!!

Awwwww, I have never seen anyone do that for a ride picture before, that is adorable!!

Great installment, we love the FOTLK too!

Ditto!

 

[mom2mek]

FOTLK is definitely one of our favorite shows. So well done and fun to watch! A must-see on each trip....for sure!

I love the kissing pic! Too cute! (Married people really do kiss!! LOL!)

The picture of you holding your breath before the backwards plunge on EE is way cool! Good for Shawn for capturing that one!

Thanks Missy! Our kids will be mortified if we do that "kissing" thing when they get older! I will definitely have to remember to do it, right?

Ditto!

Thanks Jill!

Sara

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Thanks Missy! Our kids will be mortified if we do that "kissing" thing when they get older! I will definitely have to remember to do it, right?

LOL! That's when you do it the most!! My kids roll their eyes and say, "gross!". Honestly, I think they prefer it to a mom and dad who fight all the time...I keep telling them how blessed they are that we love each other so much!

 

[DisneyJo]

Awww look at you two kissing on EE, I'd be clinging on to the bar too hard to do that plus DH won't go on it again

 

[mom2mek]

LOL! That's when you do it the most!! My kids roll their eyes and say, "gross!". Honestly, I think they prefer it to a mom and dad who fight all the time...I keep telling them how blessed they are that we love each other so much!

So true!

Awww look at you two kissing on EE, I'd be clinging on to the bar too hard to do that plus DH won't go on it again

Thanks Jo! Don't be mistaken, I was holding on to the bar really tightly! The kiss kind of kept my mind off the drop too! (Well, a little....)

Sara

 

[mom2mek]

Day 1 - May 13, 2009
Part 9 - Chester, Hester, and Boma!

We made our way to the very tacky and intentionally campy area of Chester and Hester's Dinorama and on around to the ride DINOSAUR. The wait time listed said 30 minutes, but there were no people on the outside of the building, and I know that we stood in that line back in 2006 for about 30 minutes and it was outside the building, so with hopes of a wrong sign, in we went.

We were on our ride vehicle in about 15 minutes, having carried out the duty of handing off the little red pass to the CM so they could better gauge the timing....we take that job VERY seriously....LOL!

I know a lot of people find this ride to be too jerky, but I still really like it and Shawn does as well! We entered the preshow and listened to “Ms. Cosby” assure us that we would be fine. We managed to dip and swerve and bounce through time and return back just before meteor impact! Phew! That was a close one!

We didn't do any kisses for this ride picture, because I figured you would just basically see the back of my head. Plus I was still really holding on at that point and bracing my feet against the ride vehicle that I couldn't handle turning around to do it.

As the ride ended, our ride vehicle stopped momentarily (I'm guessing for a wheelchair load/unload) but what caught me off guard was it stopped pretty much in the dark and I thought that if I had a kid with me who didn't like the dark too much, this would probably be freaking them out. Then again, if I had a kid with me who didn't like the dark, they probably wouldn't be on DINOSAUR at all, right?

It seemed like a while that we sat there, but it was probably only 2 or 3 minutes or so before we were allowed to exit our ride vehicle. We left the Dino Institute after checking out our ride photo and then decided we should probably head towards the exit and out to the buses as it was about 7:30.

(A dinosaur with BLING!!!)

(Did I mention that Shawn was obsessed with the light fixtures in the parks and resorts? - You'll be seeing a lot more of them!)

We were exiting the park around 7:40, so in 3 1/2 hours, we did the following:

* Took lots of pictures
* Rode an extra-long Safari (with about a 15 minute wait at 4:10 on an EMH evening)
* Saw the Tree of Life up close and leisurely strolled around taking pictures
* Drink break
* FOTLK at 6:00
* Everest (waited about 10 minutes)
* Dinosaur (waited about 15 minutes)

So, pretty much everything we had set out to do. Not a lot compared to a Rope Drop day, but for our 1st EMH, I think it worked out pretty well!

We exited with mass amounts of people and headed to the bus pick-up area. The line for AKL was long, but not as long as a lot of the other lines...wowzers!

I knew it would be bad, but geez....but no worries....we figured we had plenty of time before our 8:30 ADR at Boma and we were sure that another bus for AKL (one was pulling out just as we got in line) would be along shortly. But we waited for quite a while....I want to say it was about 8:10 or 8:15 before another one pulled up. We hopped on and packed ourselves in like sardines to allow for as many people from the line to board. We left and headed to AKL with a stop off first at Kidani Village.

Seriously? Oh no! We are going to be late!

I think 5 people might have gotten off at Kidani since it is so new. And I was surprised that they made no mention of the fact that it would be stopping at Kidani on the outside of the bus. It was another 5 or 10 minutes before we were getting off at AKL.

We arrived at Boma right at our ADR time....phew.....got our buzzer and had a seat.

It was then that it hit us....we were STARVING!!!!


Unfortunately, it was also a long time before we would be eating!

(It actually ended up being the longest time we ever waited for anything)

We weren't seated until a few minutes past 9:00. Well, I kind of expected that (I always try for early ADRs but figured on this trip since we wanted to get the AK EMH in, we would eat late), but Shawn was not used to this kind of waiting. Guess he is kind of spoiled, huh? Considering that the last thing we ate was the Chick Fil-A on the bus ride in, we were quite ready to eat!!

Of course, the wait was well worth it...and afterall, it is a buffet, so you can start eating almost immediately upon being seated. We both ordered a cocktail - Shawn had a mojito and I had a pure-tini....very, very delicious and refreshing - and then we went ahead and hit the buffet! I love the set-up of the buffet at Boma. Instead of one long buffet table (and line) it's divided into stations, so you never have to wait very long for anything.

The food at Boma was fabulous as expected (this was Shawn's first time here...I ate here in December on the trip with my girlfriends). I was sad to see that the soup I really enjoyed last time was not out this day, but it was ok because they had some other really great ones. I swear I could make a meal out of just the soups!! Delicious!!!

Shawn had 2 or 3 bowls of a seafood soup (I can't remember the name) that he absolutely loved! The down side was that we stuffed ourselves so full and so fast that we were very uncomfortable. We did our best with desserts, but unfortunatley we were both to the point where you just can't enjoy anything anymore because you are too full. Having said that, we both thought the pineapple cheesecakes were the best of the desserts. (We love cheesecake - our wedding cake was even cheesecake)!

The zebra domes, albeit very tasty, were just too sweet for us to fully enjoy. We also forgot to take pictures of the meal and the restaurant, but that place is beautiful. I love the open marketplace feel of the restaurant and the "huts" you sit under.

We settled our bill (gotta love the 20% off with the Tables in Wonderland card) and rolled ourselves out of there and back into the lobby of the Animal Kingdom Lodge (boy those steps were hard to go back up after we ate all that food...) LOL! We headed outside to take a look around at the Savannah, although we weren't able to see much due to the darkness, but we did catch some glimpses of zebra and a lot of sleeping flamingos. After a few more minutes, we made our way back to the lobby and out towards the resort entrance.

(We loved the ostrich lamp….looks like an egg!)

Shawn was very impressed with this resort….maybe we will stay there one day….

We walked outside to the valet and asked if they could call a cab. Luckily for us, there was one sitting just down the driveway - it was a big old taxi VAN, but we climbed aboard and he took us back to the Poly! One of the best uses of $20 the whole trip! Well worth it!

We got back to the Poly around 10:30 and hit the sack around 11:00. Epcot rope drop in the morning….woo-hoo!

There....finished Day 1!!!!

Sara

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Woo Hoo! A Sara update!

Isn't Animal Kingdom at night great! I guess it didn't get too dark while you were there but still a different feeling than being there during the day. You guys got so much done!

And now I'm hungry after reading about Boma. You guys should stay at AKL someday if you do another couples trip (or with kids too). Such a neat experience there.

Can't wait for day 2!

 

[jillyb]

Dinosaur was my absolute favorite ride in AK. I'm thinking if there had been any kissing on that ride somebody would have lost a tooth! I hate it when I eat so much that I'm miserable; but that's what happens when I wait to long to eat and then I'm starving. Sounds like ya'll had a good first day. Can't wait to read more!

 

[Happydog]

Hi! I just stumbled upon your TR and am totally loving it! I can't wait to catch up!!! We had trips solo before kids, so I know how much fun they can be!!!!

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

We love AK during EMH...we've done both AM and PM and been very pleased.

I LOVE the pictures of all the light fixtures. It's so cool that Disney takes the time to give each park and resort a different look and feel...right down to the lighting! Tell Shawn good job!

We've yet to visit AKL...even to take a look around. But...Boma is definitely on my radar for our next trip!

Looking forward to hearing about Epcot! And seeing the pics....WOO-HOO!

 

[mom2mek]

Woo Hoo! A Sara update!

Isn't Animal Kingdom at night great! I guess it didn't get too dark while you were there but still a different feeling than being there during the day. You guys got so much done!

And now I'm hungry after reading about Boma. You guys should stay at AKL someday if you do another couples trip (or with kids too). Such a neat experience there.

Can't wait for day 2!

Nope, it was still totally light when we left AK. I don't know why it didn't dawn on me sooner than that....that it would still be light out at 8:00! Duh!!


I would love to stay at AKL someday....Shawn would not like the bus situation, so we would have to have a car if we stayed there! That's the only thing with that resort...it's deluxe but you still have to get on a bus to get anywhere - just not quite as convenient as the monorail resorts! So fun though!

Dinosaur was my absolute favorite ride in AK. I'm thinking if there had been any kissing on that ride somebody would have lost a tooth! I hate it when I eat so much that I'm miserable; but that's what happens when I wait to long to eat and then I'm starving. Sounds like ya'll had a good first day. Can't wait to read more!

That's exactly what happened....waited too long to eat, so we were starving, and ended up eating too much and too fast! Ugh....it was so good though!

Hi! I just stumbled upon your TR and am totally loving it! I can't wait to catch up!!! We had trips solo before kids, so I know how much fun they can be!!!!

Looking forward to reading more!

Hi! Thanks for joining in! Yes, this was a first for us - going without the kids! It was different, but great in it's own way!

We love AK during EMH...we've done both AM and PM and been very pleased.

I LOVE the pictures of all the light fixtures. It's so cool that Disney takes the time to give each park and resort a different look and feel...right down to the lighting! Tell Shawn good job!

We've yet to visit AKL...even to take a look around. But...Boma is definitely on my radar for our next trip!

Looking forward to hearing about Epcot! And seeing the pics....WOO-HOO!

I think I would really like an AK morning EMH. It would be nice to do that and then leave after a couple of hours and do a water park or something! I might have to keep that in mind for our next trip!

Definitely put Boma on your list....I wasn't sure I would like it when I went back in December, but it is fabulous! AKL is stunning!!!

Sara

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

Yummy update Sara! I can't wait to try Boma someday!

Good news to share ~ we sold our house!!! We are moving at the end of July!!! FL resident discounts here I come!!!

AND.... we are pretty sure we are going to WDW in August! It will be my family, Uncle John (you remember UJ, right?) and my sister, and my other sister and her family. We are taking advantage of that awesome code that went out last week! Stay tuned for one really fun trippie!


And back to your regularly scheduled TR...

 

[mom2mek]

Yummy update Sara! I can't wait to try Boma someday!

Good news to share ~ we sold our house!!! We are moving at the end of July!!! FL resident discounts here I come!!!

AND.... we are pretty sure we are going to WDW in August! It will be my family, Uncle John (you remember UJ, right?) and my sister, and my other sister and her family. We are taking advantage of that awesome code that went out last week! Stay tuned for one really fun trippie!


And back to your regularly scheduled TR...

That's fabulous Nicole! I'm so happy for you guys! I can't wait to read all about your adventures (and the adventures of UJ!!!) It's not too early to start a pre-trip....you know, cause I'm sure you have nothing else to do, right? What with the move and all? LOL!

Enlighten me please....what great code? I didn't get a code....(I never get a code....) Was this a general public one and somehow I missed it?

Sara

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

It was an e-mailed pin code. I think you had to have stayed on property last year to have gotten it. Hence, I didn't get it either! But UJ did and therefore he can use it for up to 3 rooms. It was room only, 59 for values, 89 for mods and 129 for WL and AKL... I think. Totally awesome deal! We are leaning toward POR.

I'll the let you know if we start a pre-trippie!

 

[jillyb]

I think I would really like an AK morning EMH. It would be nice to do that and then leave after a couple of hours and do a water park or something! I might have to keep that in mind for our next trip!

Our AK day ended up having an EMH morning. Disney added it right before we left and, even though I know it's not generally recommended to do EMHs, that was the only day we would be able to do AK. I am so glad we did because the girls were picked to open the park and we got our very own safari! We really got a lot done that first hour: the safari, walked the Pangini Trail, ITTBAB, Dinosaur, PW and TS. I also had FPs for Dinosaur and while the girls rode TS Clay went to get EE FPs. It was probably around 3:00 or so when we headed back to Pop for a night in.

Only problem was TGM originally had it as a green park and while we were there he changed it to a red park due to the morning EMH. But it was all good! I'd definitely do it again!

 

[Kimberly815]

I just found your trip report today and I am really enjoying it! It seems like you guys had a wonderful time! I can't wait to hear more!

 

[DisneyJo]

You didn't kiss for the Dinosaur photo, Sara you do disappoint me I haven't done that ride as my girls refuse to go on it, maybe in September!

Wow you did have to wait a while and then had to wait again for Boma, glad you enjoyed the meal though!

 

[luvngoofy]

Great update. I am so hungry now! I love BOMA. We do not have that planned this trip.

 

[mom2mek]

It was an e-mailed pin code. I think you had to have stayed on property last year to have gotten it. Hence, I didn't get it either! But UJ did and therefore he can use it for up to 3 rooms. It was room only, 59 for values, 89 for mods and 129 for WL and AKL... I think. Totally awesome deal! We are leaning toward POR.

I'll the let you know if we start a pre-trippie!

Oh wait....I did get a code (how could I have forgotten...it was my one and only)...it was for 40% off...only thing is it was for this year and Shawn said no more to this year, but he is open to next year...we are thinking maybe February!

I've heard very nice things about POR. Is that where UJ stayed, I can't remember?

Our AK day ended up having an EMH morning. Disney added it right before we left and, even though I know it's not generally recommended to do EMHs, that was the only day we would be able to do AK. I am so glad we did because the girls were picked to open the park and we got our very own safari! We really got a lot done that first hour: the safari, walked the Pangini Trail, ITTBAB, Dinosaur, PW and TS. I also had FPs for Dinosaur and while the girls rode TS Clay went to get EE FPs. It was probably around 3:00 or so when we headed back to Pop for a night in.

Only problem was TGM originally had it as a green park and while we were there he changed it to a red park due to the morning EMH. But it was all good! I'd definitely do it again!

I remember reading about that Jill! How fun for them! Rope drops (EMH or not) are definitely the way to go....get so much done!!!

I just found your trip report today and I am really enjoying it! It seems like you guys had a wonderful time! I can't wait to hear more!

Thanks for joining in! Glad to have you along!

You didn't kiss for the Dinosaur photo, Sara you do disappoint me I haven't done that ride as my girls refuse to go on it, maybe in September!

Wow you did have to wait a while and then had to wait again for Boma, glad you enjoyed the meal though!

Sorry Jo! I will try to do better next time! September and December? Cool!

Great update. I am so hungry now! I love BOMA. We do not have that planned this trip.

Aww...well, there are so many good places to eat....sometimes you just have to skip some from trip to trip!

Sara

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

I've heard very nice things about POR. Is that where UJ stayed, I can't remember?

They've been so many times it's hard to keep track but I think they did stay there last time. Yes, now I remember... my sister thought they were staying at Pop until they got there and he drove the rental car to POR. It was one of her surprises.