A quick recap:
Day 1: Plane trip down, towncar ride, check in at CR. DW and I had a wonderful, lightning-lit dinner at CG.
Day 2: Breakfast at CRT. Whirlwind tour of Fantasy and Tomorrowland. Disappointing dinner at Mexico. Toured the World Showcase. Illuminations.
Day 3: We started out day three on the early bus ride out to Animal Kingdom. Marched right through the park to get on the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride, which was excellent (even through a little light rain), as it was still cool enough for the animals to be very active.
A note here: for those who are avoiding the parks on the day of extra magic hour (and there is good sound reason to do so on most days) you might want to reconsider when it comes to Animal Kingdom. Getting into the park early means getting in while the animals are awake and active. The safari was very good for us this time out.
Spent the rest of the morning touring Animal Kingdom's trails and seeing the "Tarzan Rocks" show (which was excellent). DW really enjoyed the Kali River Rapids ride, and we spent about 10 minutes watching the kids soak the riders using the elephant push-buttons. All the rides were pretty much empty, with no waits greater than 15 minutes (Primieval Whirl). In just the morning, we'd seen almost all AK had to offer.
In an attempt to see ALL of WDW, we jetted out to several resorts during our trip. The first of these was mid-day Friday, when we hopped a bus over to AKL and enjoyed lunch poolside. What a beautiful building! Well worth the stop for us....I'm sure it is a wonderful place to stay!
After the brief stop, it was off to AK again to see It's Hard to be a Bug and various other sundry rides. At about 3:00 it was off to CR and the room for a break.
After a brief nap, we caught dinner at the Kona Cafe (another wonderful experience) before heading off to a soggy NoJ. Despite the bad weather, it was awesome to see the excitement and energy of the young adults at the park. I'd read alot of negative postings online about NoJ, and found some of them to be true: if you want to get a ride in on Space or Splash Mountain, do not plan on doing so during NoJ. THOUSANDS of kids are trying to do the same! If, however, you're there to see awesome Christian bands like Jars of Clay, Rebecca St. James, Switchfoot (my favorite), or Michael W. Smith, you're unilikely to ever get a better setting. I've seen all these bands multiple times, and I've never been as close to any of them as DW and I were at NoJ.
During the Switchfoot show, regrettably, the rain started coming down pretty hard. We caught the end of Michael W. Smith's first show, but the second show was delayed at about 11:30 p.m., and so we decided to bring an awesome (if slightly soaked) day to an end. We hopped the monorail back to CR, and immediately hit the rack to get ready for day 4.
Day 1: Plane trip down, towncar ride, check in at CR. DW and I had a wonderful, lightning-lit dinner at CG.
Day 2: Breakfast at CRT. Whirlwind tour of Fantasy and Tomorrowland. Disappointing dinner at Mexico. Toured the World Showcase. Illuminations.
Day 3: We started out day three on the early bus ride out to Animal Kingdom. Marched right through the park to get on the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride, which was excellent (even through a little light rain), as it was still cool enough for the animals to be very active.
A note here: for those who are avoiding the parks on the day of extra magic hour (and there is good sound reason to do so on most days) you might want to reconsider when it comes to Animal Kingdom. Getting into the park early means getting in while the animals are awake and active. The safari was very good for us this time out.
Spent the rest of the morning touring Animal Kingdom's trails and seeing the "Tarzan Rocks" show (which was excellent). DW really enjoyed the Kali River Rapids ride, and we spent about 10 minutes watching the kids soak the riders using the elephant push-buttons. All the rides were pretty much empty, with no waits greater than 15 minutes (Primieval Whirl). In just the morning, we'd seen almost all AK had to offer.
In an attempt to see ALL of WDW, we jetted out to several resorts during our trip. The first of these was mid-day Friday, when we hopped a bus over to AKL and enjoyed lunch poolside. What a beautiful building! Well worth the stop for us....I'm sure it is a wonderful place to stay!
After the brief stop, it was off to AK again to see It's Hard to be a Bug and various other sundry rides. At about 3:00 it was off to CR and the room for a break.
After a brief nap, we caught dinner at the Kona Cafe (another wonderful experience) before heading off to a soggy NoJ. Despite the bad weather, it was awesome to see the excitement and energy of the young adults at the park. I'd read alot of negative postings online about NoJ, and found some of them to be true: if you want to get a ride in on Space or Splash Mountain, do not plan on doing so during NoJ. THOUSANDS of kids are trying to do the same! If, however, you're there to see awesome Christian bands like Jars of Clay, Rebecca St. James, Switchfoot (my favorite), or Michael W. Smith, you're unilikely to ever get a better setting. I've seen all these bands multiple times, and I've never been as close to any of them as DW and I were at NoJ.
During the Switchfoot show, regrettably, the rain started coming down pretty hard. We caught the end of Michael W. Smith's first show, but the second show was delayed at about 11:30 p.m., and so we decided to bring an awesome (if slightly soaked) day to an end. We hopped the monorail back to CR, and immediately hit the rack to get ready for day 4.
