suserphone
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 9, 2003
- Messages
- 6
DAY FOUR: ANIMAL KINGDOM/DOWNTOWN DISNEY/HOME
Our last and final day would be spent in Animal Kingdom. This was our least favorite of the parks. The safari was neat, we ended up riding it twice and took lots of pictures that you can barely make out the animals (disposable camera with only a 15-foot range). The Tree of Life is really cool and It's Tough to be a Bug is fun (similar to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience and Muppet Vision 3-D). We rode Dinosaur which was the thrill ride of the park. That was lots of fun. Behind us in line was a father and his two sons. The older one, eight or nine, was crying and vehemently saying he didn't want to go on the ride. The father seemed to be ignoring him or telling him to suck it up. The younger brother seemed psyched. At one point, we heard the older one sniffle out, "I don't want to have nightmares!" Poor kid. At the end of the ride, he said, "I guess that wasn't too bad. I wasn't scared." But when we saw our picture taken at the scary part, he had his head in his lap with his arms wrapped around his head, covering his ears. Another funny picture we decided not to buy.
We just kind of wandered around the rest of the time. The bird show was cool. But we decided to end on a high note and head back to MGM and try Tower of Terror again. No, wait, we did that the night before. Whoops! Okay, so apparently before we went to the Boardwalk to try the ESPN club, we went over to MGM and rode ToT again. That's right. I had my henna tattoo and a little girl in front of me asked about it. Then we stopped at the Villains shop so Mike could get his Jack/Santa hat. Then we went back to Epcot and he put it on because his ears were cold. Oh yeah, I'm remembering so much now. We went into the Coke attraction, "Ice Station Cool," and Mike broke his self-imposed embargo of not drinking soda (except in mixed drinks) that he'd had for ten years since he was on his high school cross country team. I felt bad but Mike seemed enthusiastic about trying all the different flavors and said he could start another ten years when we left Disney. I really liked the watermelon one from China. I think it was touted as making you smarter. And Mike actually liked the one I had been warned not to try on the fan sites, the Beverly. It's some sort of bitter aperitif from Germany or Italy or somewhere. Blech! I couldn't believe Mike drank soda, but I guess it was a very special occasion.
Okay, back to the last day. We decided to hit Downtown Disney one more time and visit the Ghiradelli shop and have some ice cream before we hit the road. We got in line for the bus to Epcot, thinking we remembered there was a connection to DD from there. We ended up being wrong but it turned out for the best because when the bus pulled in and the people inside got off, there was a little girl in the back screaming her head off, and several family members were frantically gesturing to the bus driver to help them. She had somehow gotten her arm wedged between the back of the bus and the seat. There wasn't an emergency door or anything to open at the back to release her arm and no trick to opening a window either. They would basically somehow have to pull it out. More screaming ensued. By this time we were all riveted to the drama unfolding. I remembered that I had lotion in my back pack and thought about offering that as a way to "grease up" her arm, and right about that time one of the family members got off the bus and asked if any of us had any lotion or Vaseline. I raised my hand and handed it over. I don't know if it helped because by this time, two very large men who were also waiting for the bus had stepped in to see if they could use their bilk/strength to help pull the seat away from her arm. Maybe it was a combination of all of that, but she was freed soon after. So, after all that drama and waiting to get on the bus to Epcot, we found out there was no connection to DD from there. But if we hadn't been waiting there in the first place, I wouldn't have been able to offer my (hopefully) helpful lotion. See? Even the bad stuff turned out for the best on this magical trip.
Well, we decided to hop on the next resort bus we saw and take a DD bus from there. We ended up on the Animal Kingdom Lodge bus. There was also a bright side to this because I was curious to see what the Lodge looked like after hearing so many good things about it. We finally got to DD and we were starting to feel exhausted. We ended up getting off at the wrong end of the bus line and had to walk all the way to the other side to get to the Virgin megastore, which Mike had never seen. I of course had to make a stop at the Candy Cauldron to pick up some cotton candy (tradition). Then we walked back across DD and found the Ghiradelli store. Mmmmm. We each ordered a treat and went outside to the patio to sit and wait for our order. We had a lovely view of the lake and the Lego statues and all the colorful buildings. I was feeling kind of melancholy because our trip was almost over and no amount of ice cream would make me feel better (well, maybe a little better). After we ate and wandered around in a few more stops (Christmas!) and took more silly photos, we headed back to All-Star Sports, got in our car, and headed home.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I know normally people end their trip reports with things they liked and things they would change about how things went. I can honestly say I wouldn't change a thing. I don't have a single complaint. It felt like the most magical and perfect Disney trip in the world. Even things that might have been an inconvenience or a dark spot worked out for the best. Another example of this: Mike and I used our passes to go back in February and we decided to give Test Track another shot. The ride went off without a hitch and when we pulled into the loading/unloading zone, it was empty and the cast member told us we could ride again since they hadn't let the next throng of people in yet. Yay! I told Mike that was the Disney magic making up for our bad experience on our first trip.
I highly recommend visiting Disney in the fall/winter when there are no crowds. It is such a different experience than during the crowded, hot summer months. The weather was beautiful, with a slight chill, so we never felt tired and hot after walking around all day. There were barely any lines to speak of, and we used Fast Pass for any that did. We never had to wait for a table in the restaurants, either. It was wonderful.
Money-wise, I highly recommend the Florida resident passes to anyone in Florida who thinks they will be visiting for more than three days in a row and/or thinks they may be able to visit again during the year. For about $200 each, Mike and I had the freedom of park hopping all over the place for the four days we were there, we used them again in February, and plan to use them again for the Food and Wine Festival in October.
Also, don't forget to write down the names of cast members who made your trip special. I sent a letter to Disney to let them know what a wonderful time we had and praised the cast members we met, and I received a very nice phone message from someone at Disney thanking me for writing and telling me how much he enjoyed reading about my trip. I wish I'd kept it. It was very sweet.
I hope you enjoyed my trip report and if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at suserphone@yahoo.com
Thanks!
Our last and final day would be spent in Animal Kingdom. This was our least favorite of the parks. The safari was neat, we ended up riding it twice and took lots of pictures that you can barely make out the animals (disposable camera with only a 15-foot range). The Tree of Life is really cool and It's Tough to be a Bug is fun (similar to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience and Muppet Vision 3-D). We rode Dinosaur which was the thrill ride of the park. That was lots of fun. Behind us in line was a father and his two sons. The older one, eight or nine, was crying and vehemently saying he didn't want to go on the ride. The father seemed to be ignoring him or telling him to suck it up. The younger brother seemed psyched. At one point, we heard the older one sniffle out, "I don't want to have nightmares!" Poor kid. At the end of the ride, he said, "I guess that wasn't too bad. I wasn't scared." But when we saw our picture taken at the scary part, he had his head in his lap with his arms wrapped around his head, covering his ears. Another funny picture we decided not to buy.
We just kind of wandered around the rest of the time. The bird show was cool. But we decided to end on a high note and head back to MGM and try Tower of Terror again. No, wait, we did that the night before. Whoops! Okay, so apparently before we went to the Boardwalk to try the ESPN club, we went over to MGM and rode ToT again. That's right. I had my henna tattoo and a little girl in front of me asked about it. Then we stopped at the Villains shop so Mike could get his Jack/Santa hat. Then we went back to Epcot and he put it on because his ears were cold. Oh yeah, I'm remembering so much now. We went into the Coke attraction, "Ice Station Cool," and Mike broke his self-imposed embargo of not drinking soda (except in mixed drinks) that he'd had for ten years since he was on his high school cross country team. I felt bad but Mike seemed enthusiastic about trying all the different flavors and said he could start another ten years when we left Disney. I really liked the watermelon one from China. I think it was touted as making you smarter. And Mike actually liked the one I had been warned not to try on the fan sites, the Beverly. It's some sort of bitter aperitif from Germany or Italy or somewhere. Blech! I couldn't believe Mike drank soda, but I guess it was a very special occasion.
Okay, back to the last day. We decided to hit Downtown Disney one more time and visit the Ghiradelli shop and have some ice cream before we hit the road. We got in line for the bus to Epcot, thinking we remembered there was a connection to DD from there. We ended up being wrong but it turned out for the best because when the bus pulled in and the people inside got off, there was a little girl in the back screaming her head off, and several family members were frantically gesturing to the bus driver to help them. She had somehow gotten her arm wedged between the back of the bus and the seat. There wasn't an emergency door or anything to open at the back to release her arm and no trick to opening a window either. They would basically somehow have to pull it out. More screaming ensued. By this time we were all riveted to the drama unfolding. I remembered that I had lotion in my back pack and thought about offering that as a way to "grease up" her arm, and right about that time one of the family members got off the bus and asked if any of us had any lotion or Vaseline. I raised my hand and handed it over. I don't know if it helped because by this time, two very large men who were also waiting for the bus had stepped in to see if they could use their bilk/strength to help pull the seat away from her arm. Maybe it was a combination of all of that, but she was freed soon after. So, after all that drama and waiting to get on the bus to Epcot, we found out there was no connection to DD from there. But if we hadn't been waiting there in the first place, I wouldn't have been able to offer my (hopefully) helpful lotion. See? Even the bad stuff turned out for the best on this magical trip.
Well, we decided to hop on the next resort bus we saw and take a DD bus from there. We ended up on the Animal Kingdom Lodge bus. There was also a bright side to this because I was curious to see what the Lodge looked like after hearing so many good things about it. We finally got to DD and we were starting to feel exhausted. We ended up getting off at the wrong end of the bus line and had to walk all the way to the other side to get to the Virgin megastore, which Mike had never seen. I of course had to make a stop at the Candy Cauldron to pick up some cotton candy (tradition). Then we walked back across DD and found the Ghiradelli store. Mmmmm. We each ordered a treat and went outside to the patio to sit and wait for our order. We had a lovely view of the lake and the Lego statues and all the colorful buildings. I was feeling kind of melancholy because our trip was almost over and no amount of ice cream would make me feel better (well, maybe a little better). After we ate and wandered around in a few more stops (Christmas!) and took more silly photos, we headed back to All-Star Sports, got in our car, and headed home.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I know normally people end their trip reports with things they liked and things they would change about how things went. I can honestly say I wouldn't change a thing. I don't have a single complaint. It felt like the most magical and perfect Disney trip in the world. Even things that might have been an inconvenience or a dark spot worked out for the best. Another example of this: Mike and I used our passes to go back in February and we decided to give Test Track another shot. The ride went off without a hitch and when we pulled into the loading/unloading zone, it was empty and the cast member told us we could ride again since they hadn't let the next throng of people in yet. Yay! I told Mike that was the Disney magic making up for our bad experience on our first trip.
I highly recommend visiting Disney in the fall/winter when there are no crowds. It is such a different experience than during the crowded, hot summer months. The weather was beautiful, with a slight chill, so we never felt tired and hot after walking around all day. There were barely any lines to speak of, and we used Fast Pass for any that did. We never had to wait for a table in the restaurants, either. It was wonderful.
Money-wise, I highly recommend the Florida resident passes to anyone in Florida who thinks they will be visiting for more than three days in a row and/or thinks they may be able to visit again during the year. For about $200 each, Mike and I had the freedom of park hopping all over the place for the four days we were there, we used them again in February, and plan to use them again for the Food and Wine Festival in October.
Also, don't forget to write down the names of cast members who made your trip special. I sent a letter to Disney to let them know what a wonderful time we had and praised the cast members we met, and I received a very nice phone message from someone at Disney thanking me for writing and telling me how much he enjoyed reading about my trip. I wish I'd kept it. It was very sweet.
I hope you enjoyed my trip report and if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at suserphone@yahoo.com
Thanks!
