By this time we needed to grab lunch so we wouldn’t be too full for our early dinner. DD and I wanted to try Tusker House, so we decided they would go ahead and get their food while I tried for the Everest FP’s and then I would join them. Here is the fun part. I set off with my best GAT maneuvers, zigzagging around family groups and old(er) couples, dodging strollers and motorized scooters, cutting through corners, and working on my cardiovascular conditioning. Zooming past Kali River Rapids, I see my goal ahead. Where are the FP machines? Oh, no, they are roped off with a sign saying “No fastpasses”!
Have they all been given out already? Rats!
So now I am missing lunch, and I have worked up a pretty good appetite with my maneuvers. Back to Africa, I manage to get my lovely rotisserie chicken and join the crew shortly after they sit down. That was very good, but way more food than I needed at this point in the day.
We check our schedules, and realize that Pocahontas will be starting shortly. This is a really cute show for kids, and they have seating up front. Dreamboy and Wild Child really like it, and WC won’t leave until we snag a leaf keepsake for her. Lion King will be starting in just a few minutes – can we make it? Have they closed the doors? NO, we’re in luck. The CM is waving us on. We actually got quite good seats in the giraffe section. The kids enjoy the show even more than they did last trip.
The other “must-do” for this visit is the Finding Nemo show. We don’t have time to make it all the way over for the next show, but we can catch the 3:15 one pretty easily. We have some time to kill, so we take the Wildlife Express up to Conservation Station. There is so much there that we could have spent the whole afternoon taking it all in. The talking trash can was outside.
We ran into Rafiki himself.
We heard a presentation on snakes, saw a veterinarian do an exam on some rats, and the kids loved brushing the goats in the petting zoo.
We say a reluctant goodbye to the goats and catch the train back down so we can find Nemo. By the time we get there, the line stretches all the way back past the dinosaur carnival area. Omigosh, can we possibly get into the show? Thank goodness it is a really big theater. They have enclosed it completely now. The lines starts moving right after we get there, and we have no trouble finding a seat about halfway up. This is an interesting and kind of unusual presentation, and the kids enjoyed it a lot. They were a little surprised that there were people playing the characters, though!
And Dreamy was not happy that a girl was playing Nemo.
The adults really enjoyed sitting down and relaxing after all that walking.
We spent a little time in Chester’s (gift shop), made a short detour to the Dinosaur gift shop so Dreamboy could look for a certain T-shirt, and then started toward the front. The CM’s were giving out the EMH bracelets, so we got ours just in case.
We decided to skip A Bug’s Life, since last time the kids were pretty freaked out by the special effects. Maybe NEXT trip we’ll try again. So out to the busses and on to AKL.
We arrive at AKL very quickly, and head into the lobby to look for DH. No sign of him yet but we are a little early. DD and I want to check out the savannah, so we leave DSIL resting in the lobby and watching for DH and we take the kids out to look for animals. They are filming something in the back of the lobby so we sneak around the side and go to the animal overlook. We go out back and watch a while. It is getting closer to our ADR at Boma, so we go back inside to look for DH. No sign of him yet, so we decide to call him and see how far away he is.
Now, a note is in order here. When DH retired 6 years ago, he had been wearing a pager and carrying a cell phone that would reach him anywhere in the world for 35 years. He turned them in and swore that was the end of being accessible. So he normally refuses to carry a cell phone, and laughs at me for wanting to be available 24/7. But we had left my cell phone with him so he could get in touch with us if needed. THANK GOODNESS!
Here is the content of the call.
Me, “Hi, Honey, where are you?” DH “I’m here in the lobby, where are you?” Me, “We’re in the lobby watching for you. How long have you been here?” DH, “Oh, about 30 minutes.” Me, “Oh no, how did we miss you? I don’t see you anywhere, where are you?” DH, “I’m just here in the lobby.” Me, “What are you looking at?” DH, “The gift shop.” Me, “I’m looking at the gift shop, too. What does it say?” (Thinking maybe there is more than one gift shop) DH, “ Gift Shop, Wilderness Lodge.” Me, “ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I said Animal Kingdom Lodge!” DH, “No, you said Wilderness Lodge – I asked you twice.”
Now at this time, we will never know whether I said the wrong thing or he heard the wrong thing.
We had mentioned dining at Boma, but he skipped out on Boma last time we were here, so he didn’t really know where it was. The important thing at this point was that he was all the way on the opposite side of WDW, and we had an ADR in 5 minutes or so.
So we just told him to go out and grab a bus to AK, or to any other park, and then get the bus to ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE!!!!
After I stopped freaking out, I went down to Boma to tell the hostess what was going on. This was kind of weird, because I know normally they won’t even put you on the list until every member of the party is there, but she offered to go ahead and put us on the list. She said we could be seated in about ten minutes. Now, after DH ending up at the wrong side of the world, I didn’t think he would be too thrilled if we went ahead and started eating without him, so I declined.
I told her we would be back as soon as he arrived.
In order to entertain the kids, (and keep me from pacing) DD and I decided to go look for the other animal viewing area behind the pool. DSIL was enjoying resting his back in the lobby, so he said he would stay there and watch for DH. So we walked past the pool and discovered the neat play area back there, and Wild Child wasn’t interested in going any farther!
DD and Dreamy went on and looked for the animals, but none were stirring, so they came back and joined us at the playground.
At this point, DD and I decided we could use a little something to help us relax and de-stress, so I went off to the pool bar and picked up a couple of Bloody Mary’s.
They actually make a good Bloody Mary there, and a bit stronger than the “fancy” drinks we have sampled at the Pop pool bar. (Take it from me, the Hula Hoop tastes nice but NOT alcoholic!)
So the bartender got a good tip in gratitude! I came back to DD and the kids at the playground, and in a few minutes we decided to mosey on back and check on DSIL. We figured it would take DH a good hour to make his way back to us. To our surprise, DH had already arrived. He made record time!
And we didn’t even get in a “discussion” about who said what. We’re at Disney World, it’s all good!!
So onward to Boma we went. I think we enjoyed it even more than the previous time. We had an excellent server and a nice table out of the line of traffic. I love to try a little of everything, so I did! I wasn’t impressed with the prime rib, but all the “native” dishes were very good. That watermelon rind salad is very interesting! Of course, I tried a zebra dome to finish. Everyone enjoyed it, even the kids. Of course, they tend to like exotic food better than ordinary stuff anyway!
After dinner, we held a powwow about who wanted to do what while we traveled back to AK. DH had visited Downtown Disney in the afternoon before his aberrant trip to WL, and he was ready to go back to Pop. DD and I really wanted to try Everest, and DSIL said he really wasn’t interested, so he and DH took Dreamy and Wild Child back to Pop with them to swim. DD and I already had our bracelets, so we scurried back into AK and tried our best powerwalking over to Everest. Facing only a short line, we were soon loaded on and we were off for our adventure.
This was a really fun ride! It is not too rough, just scary enough, and the view up top is worth the whole ride. Afterwards, I could have ridden again, but DD decided that was enough for now, so we headed on over to Dinosaur. I always forget how rough this ride is. It is fun, and we love dinos, but it really jerks you around. When we are finished, we confer and decide we have done what we wanted to do, so we are ready to go back to Pop and rejoin the guys and the kids. We had to do some serious bribery to convince Wild Child that she didn’t want to join us, so we didn’t want to stay gone too long.
When we arrived back at Pop, we discovered the kids having fun in the pool but about ready to go get in those warm baths. So we went ahead and started settling in. Everyone was tired from a full and satisfying day. Tomorrow, it’s Epcot again.
Thanks for the review of LTT. I think it will be fun!
I was out of town overnight helping with the OTHER grandbabies while DS had lasix surgery. I will try to post something new later tonight!
ixiedust: The trip did go very well! My DH even complimented me on being more relaxed this trip and helping everyone have a good time. 
