Now a Trip Report!!! Will We Stay or Will We Go? A Thanksgiving Pre-Trip/Trip Report

[jillyb]

(continued from prior post)

After breakfast, I sent a text to Julie that we were heading that way. We were meeting her and her family so we could all go on safari together. They were on the Pangani Forest Trail and we met them near the FP entrance to the safari.

Waiting on Julie and family:

Julie was very sweet and had a gift for Hannah and Alison. I’m not sure if the girls remembered their manners and said “thank you” for their gifts so let me take this opportunity to say “Thank you!” Julie, her youngest DD, me, Hannah and Clay sat together on the back row. Time for the safari!

The only giraffe we saw:

Happy:

Not so happy:

She’s only 8. I can only imagine how it will be when she’s 13!

The company was great but the safari itself seemed a bit “blah” to me as there weren’t many animals out. (I still took a bunch of pictures though!) It may have been feeding time or nap time…not really sure why there weren’t many animals. We got stopped for a while due to an animal in the road ahead and we got to see the elephants and the baby elephant. The baby elephant was so cute! After the safari, we got a group picture and then went our separate ways. Julie and her family were super nice and I enjoyed meeting them and going on safari with them. If we’re ever in the World at the same time again, I would definitely like to spend a little more time with together and getting to know them.

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And this is where I leave you for now my friends.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Hurray for an Animal Kingdom update! You did two of our favorite things -- the safari and Tusker House -- and the pictures of the tree are gorgeous!

Sounds like a lot of fun with Julie and her gang!

 

[Poolrat]

Redneck Dinosaur pic:

I did not see Hannah right away and somehow I thought you might have chickened out!!! I went back i saw her hands.

She is doing the "Jackie" pose.

 

[jillyb]

I did not see Hannah right away and somehow I thought you might have chickened out!!! I went back i saw her hands.

She is doing the "Jackie" pose.

Yes she is! She did it in the official picture I bought later as well! LOL

No way I would chicken out. I LOVE Dinosaur! Although you can see by the picture that it kind of caught me by surprise.

 

[jillyb]

Hurray for an Animal Kingdom update! You did two of our favorite things -- the safari and Tusker House -- and the pictures of the tree are gorgeous!

Sounds like a lot of fun with Julie and her gang!

I love the safari too. I just wasn't feelin' it this time for some reason. I think we'll eat at Tusker House again. I was really pleased with how well my pictures of the Tree of Life came out. I took a bunch!

We definitely had a good time with Julie and family!

 

[Poolrat]

I love the safari too. I just wasn't feelin' it this time for some reason.

I have a safari like that. The good news it is never the same even if you are able to go 2 times right away. That and the gorillas.

 

[Charleston Princess]

She is doing the "Jackie" pose.

Yep! That's my pose!

 

[jillyb]

After our safari, we headed to KRR. Some sights along the way:

Eek at all these people!

I really didn’t want to ride this because I didn’t want to get wet. Yes…we had our ponchos but I didn’t want to take mine out. So, I guess you could say it’s my own fault….cause I’m the one that got SOAKED!! Clay and the girls thought this was the funniest thing ever. I hated being so wet but I was a good sport about it. We were going to try to find a pair of pants and a dry shirt but by the time we actually got to a store that had those things I was pretty much dry.

You can see Hannah’s hair got a little wet:

We went back to Expedition Everest and rode it two times in a row using our FPs.

Yes…I’m a glutton for punishment! LOL Once again Hannah and Alison rode together with Clay and I sitting behind them. Yes….I rode Expedition Everest three times in one day! LOL It was still a scary ride but not quite as bad as the first time since I knew what to expect. And Clay didn’t get anymore marks on his arm! LOL For me, the best part was watching Hannah and Alison putting their arms up in the air and enjoying the ride.

Alison wanted to ride Primeval Whirl again so back to Dinoland we go.

Clay and I decided to sit this one out and just let the girls ride. The posted wait time was 30 minutes and I asked the CM if that was the actual wait time. The CM told me it was 20 minutes. Yeah…it was more like 30 minutes! LOL Clay and I sat on a bench and talked and people-watched then I decided to walk over to ITTBAB to get FPs if needed. When I got there it was a walk on and the FP machines weren’t even being used.

Scenery along the way:

I think the 5 minutes was how long it took to walk to the actual entrance!

I called Clay and he and the girls met me over there.

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[jillyb]

(continued from prior post)

We saw this on our trip in 2008 and I didn’t really get the full effect because I wasn’t sitting in my seat properly because it was wet. This time I was sitting in my seat properly! Whoa! Clay got a good laugh out of some of my reactions! After ITTBAB we walked the trail for a bit.

We did a little shopping in the Island Mercantile. Hannah bought a Webkinz spotted Leopard. I just browsed.

Really wish I’d bought this shirt:

Gratuitous Tree of Life picture just because I think it’s a really good picture LOL:

It had been a while since breakfast so naturally Clay was getting hungry. Again, I wanted to just have a snack because we had a 5:30 dinner at Yak & Yeti. So, where do we go? Pizzafari! Now it was my turn to get grumpy. I didn’t want a repeat of our Epcot day where we ate too much too close to dinner and I really wanted to go to Yak & Yeti. Plus, it was getting close to time for the parade and I wanted to get a good spot. Clay and the girls got pepperoni pizza and I got the chicken salad. We all got chocolate mousse for dessert. I really liked the bright colors and themeing of this restaurant and the food was good. I just didn’t want to be eating there at that moment! (The time on the receipt is 3:01. EEEK!!)

This is the only picture I took inside Pizzafari:

As the meal is winding down, Clay and I are discussing “the plan”. He wanted to walk to Asia and find a spot for the parade. I wanted to stay where we were because it was getting too close to time for the parade to start and I was afraid that 1) we’d have a hard time getting to Asia because of areas being roped off for the parade and 2) we wouldn’t be able to find a good spot for the parade by the time we got to Asia. (This was an issue for a lot of scheduled things. He just doesn’t seem to understand (or care) that to get a good spot getting there early is a necessity). As I’m talking, Clay talks over me with his opinion, which results in me rolling my eyes because, once again, he’s not listening to me, which ticks him off and he gets up and walks out of the restaurant. Great. The girls are sitting there looking like deers caught in headlights. Oh well. We’ll just watch the parade without him. (Don’t worry. It all worked out in the end. Clay joined us after a smoke break.)

We got a spot across from here:

Waiting for the parade:

Hannah and Charlotte, her spotted leopard:

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[jillyb]

OK...ya’ll indulge me for a moment while I brag a little bit! While we were waiting for the parade, there were three ladies sitting on a bench a bit behind us on the right. Hannah was playing with Charlotte beside the bench and then going back to her spot. She was picking up leaves for Charlotte to eat. I thought she might be disturbing the ladies on the bench so I called for her to move. They said she was fine and they were enjoying watching her play with Charlotte. One of the ladies was a retired teacher and she commented that she was very impresses with Hannah’s creativity/imagination with Charlotte. They also complimented us on how well behaved both girls were while waiting for the parade. (OK….brag over! LOL) We talked for quite a while until….

Mr. Grumpy Pants returns:

The time stamp on this picture is 3:49 so he got there just in the knick of time because 8 minutes later this came in to view:

This parade was awesome! Enjoy it with me!

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[jillyb]

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Pluto getting’ down like a hound!

Hope you enjoyed the parade as much as we did!

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[jillyb]

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After the parade, we walked back over to Asia to see Flights of Wonder. I’m so glad we were able to see this. It was awesome!

WARNING!!!! IF YOU DON’T LIKE BIRDS DON’T LOOK!!!

Not a bird!

Hannah with the little bat she won at one of the games in Dinoland

Alison won one just like this only her’s was bigger.

This was my favorite part of the show. Just looking at this beautiful, majestic bird makes me tear up

After Flights of Wonder, it was time for our dinner at Yak & Yeti. We were a little early so Clay went ahead for a smoke break and the girls and I checked in.

Waiting:

[IMG

HAHAHAHA….It looks like Hannah has sampled the drinks!!!

And the aftermath:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I promise you she didn’t have any of our drink!

A happy Mama!

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[jillyb]

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Clay really liked this meal and said it was worth eating! LOL The food was awesome! Mama got a nice Yak Attack which was also very good! Clay doesn’t remember what his drink was. LOL Alison and I got the BBQ ribs, Clay had the mahi mahi and Hannah had the chicken bites, which she declared were “amazing”. LOL We took our time walking out and stopped to get a Photopass pic with the Tree of Life in the background.

My attempt at a night time pic of the Tree of Life

AHA! A picture of the Christmas Tree I didn’t know I had!! WOOOHOO!!!

We were back at Pop a little after 7:00 so Hannah finally got to go swimming. She was a very happy little girl! Even though the sun had gone down, it still felt very nice outside. I enjoyed sitting by the pool while Hannah swam. Clay needed new tennis shoes so he and Alison went to Target. The girls got showers and we were all in bed by 10:00. In spite of Clay and his grumpiness, today was a really great day.

Tomorrow it’s back to Epcot…or what I like to call “the day of now what the heck is going to go wrong??!!!”

 

[Poolrat]

Another Great day. I still have yet to see the Jingle Jungle parade in person.


PS . A good sport would have a soaking wet picture for her TR.J/K

I love that you rode EE 3 times. Even though you were scared!!!

 

[jillyb]

Another Great day. I still have yet to see the Jingle Jungle parade in person.


PS . A good sport would have a soaking wet picture for her TR.J/K

I love that you rode EE 3 times. Even though you were scared!!!

HAHAHA....I didn't even think about getting my picture taken! I couldn't think due to being so wet and all the ridicule I was getting from Clay and the girls!

Clay did give me props for riding EE as much as I did. LOL

 

[MeMom]

Thanks so much for the Jingle Jungle parade pictures!

 

[Charleston Princess]

What a fun-filled packed day you had! You must have just collapsed when you got back to the room! Love all the parade pictures! While looking at them, I realized I might need to deck myself out in some tinsel for Christmas like some of the CMs!

 

[jillyb]

Thanks so much for the Jingle Jungle parade pictures!

You are so very welcome! I thought about you as I was taking all of the pictures and knew that you would love "seeing" the parade.

I'm so glad we got to see it. It was originally supposed to start on 11/27, which means we would have missed it, but Disney changed the date so it worked out for us to see it. I love how this parade is so lively and joyous.

What a fun-filled packed day you had! You must have just collapsed when you got back to the room! Love all the parade pictures! While looking at them, I realized I might need to deck myself out in some tinsel for Christmas like some of the CMs!

It defintely was a full day! Except for the crowd we hit after the safari, it really wasn't that bad crowdwise. I'm surprised at all we got to do that day. I know that not being there in the sweltering heat was a big help. I would have been perfectly happy just hanging out in the room but it was very relaxing by the pool too. If we had hung out in the room instead maybe the next day would have been different.

You definitely need to deck yourself out with some tinsel And we want pictures when you do! :laughing:

 

[mousescrapper]

Ok I am all caught up...

this is so fun reading your report and seeing stuff we saw and stuff we missed plus even getting some questions answered...

but first I so enjoyed meeting you, Clay and the girls...it was a fun DISmeet on our Safari ride...

here are the pixs from that meet (sorry your group shot was blury)

you guys got a lot done in that first day and a half...I can't believe how empty WS was either...you certaintly picked a great day to go exploring...how did I miss you were on the deluxe dining either. Now did you ever eat at Rose & Crown ...I have heard mixed reviews about the new pizza place too.

So we were mostly in EP during the evening hours and in particular by the large tree entering into WS. we took some pix there too. but both Matt and I thought how odd and un Disney like that the bottom of the tree is out...meaning the lights out, cause that is sure how it looked

see what I mean?

but now that I see your pix of the girls in front of it...the bottom wasn't even lit...I feel all better

Love all your pix of the Christmas tree at AK too...we never looked at it close up and I am bummed, the details are so nice and now I know what the deal w/ the red box was (Stitch coming out)...I saw people holding that.

Also we saw the Jammin Jingle Parade too on Friday...but we didn't get to see it all like you. It was raining, so the parade was cut short in route and they didn't use the large puppets plus we missed the snow had no idea about that. This is Matt's fav parade so he enjoyed your pix a ton.

Looking forward to reading more about what you guys did!

J~

 

[disney<333]

What a fun day at AK! Great pictures! How fun-- meeting up with Julie and her entourage for the safari. This is the 3rd year Disney has started the parade before Thanksgiving. Hopefully they'll do it again next year. The parade looks like so much fun.