Party Every Day - Updated 8/29/10

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

GIRLS! Do you have have 4 million dollars???

Well, if you do, I heard on the radio this morning that the house used to represent the Tanner house in the opening credits of Full House is on sale! And if could be yours for the low, low price of 4,000,000!

 

[UncleOrville]

GIRLS! Do you have have 4 million dollars???

Well, if you do, I heard on the radio this morning that the house used to represent the Tanner house in the opening credits of Full House is on sale! And if could be yours for the low, low price of 4,000,000!

Oh, darn! I knew we shouldn't have spent that $3 million on the Smash Club last year! We should have been holding out for this more iconic piece of Full House history!

I hope the person who buys it appreciates its wonderful past!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Oh, darn! I knew we shouldn't have spent that $3 million on the Smash Club last year! We should have been holding out for this more iconic piece of Full House history!

I hope the person who buys it appreciates its wonderful past!

You bought the smach club?? You better make sure it's up to CODE!

 

[VBsHustla]

You bought the smach club?? You better make sure it's up to CODE!

Oh man! We're not very good with memorizing health violation codes! Clearly we're just going to have to strategically place a cheat sheet inside of a sandwich.

 

[UncleOrville]

Is there a better way to get through a blizzard than remembering sunnier and warmer times? I think not. So, here is a little bit of Florida sunshine. I (Jen) wrote this portion - Laura will have to let us know if I made anything up

Today was our planned AK day. We always do just one half-day in the AK. We could fill up a full day if we saw all of the shows and such, but it’s always as hot as the surface of the sun in there, so we’re always ready to get out around noon – so, no need to budget for more time.

To maximize what little time I knew we’d be spending in the AK, I had made 8 am ADRs for a Tusker House breakfast so we could get right on the safari after we’d eaten. Now, I knew in advance that we’d be attending MNSSHP the night before, and had read lots of recommendations on the DIS to build in a rest morning after the party. I of course ignored this advice, thinking it was coming from and geared toward families with little kiddies, and that we would be invincible to this after-party exhaustion. In retrospect, perhaps I should have considered this advice before scheduling a before-park-open breakfast at the park that takes the longest to get to. But, we soldiered on, and made it out to the bus stop (we decided we’d give the Poly bus station a try since we weren’t sure if they ran buses from the TTC to the other parks as early as 7:30 am). Luck was with us and a bus for the AK was the first one that pulled up, and just a few minutes after our arrival at the station! We were also its only passengers, so that was good times.

We got to the AK with plenty of time to get back to Tusker House before our 8:05 am ADR (about 7:50), and then proceeded through the empty park to get back to the restaurant.

Let me say now that this meal was the worst of our trip. I’d heard that they had interesting food, and boy, had those safari outfit-clad characters looked cute in pics I had seen – but, oh my, huge disappointment!

And now for the details: We checked in and were ushered to a line, where we waited for about five minutes to have our photo taken in front of a wall. Okay – not an interesting shot, and a time waster for a photo we know we will not buy, but whatever. They did force us to take off our sunglasses, which we knew at the time would be a huge mistake. Here’s proof that we were right :

Then we were led to our table, and the buffet was pointed out to us.

 

[UncleOrville]

Our server came over pretty quickly and brought us juice, which was delicious. I’m not sure what was in it, but it was a delightful fruity blend. Liz and I thought it would make a nice cocktail mixer.

I also ordered some coffee, which was so gross. Nescafe, I’m assuming, but also super cold. For some reason I thought they might serve an African roast here – don’t they at some of the coffee kiosks in the AK? Anyway, this was so yuck and I drank about a sip.

When we went over to the buffet to get our food, there were two sides, both with very long lines. We each got in a line and got food, then noticed by comparing our plates that the two sides of the buffet had a few different options. Awesome. So some of us, like me, had to get into a second line to get the item that was missing from the first side but available on the second. After returning from two rather long lines, I was excited to dig in. Guess what, though? The food was really cold. Not just room temperature from my having stood in a second line with the original food, like perhaps refrigerated cold. Freezing eggs – really? On the plus side, the food tasted fine.

The characters here were dressed adorably, but unfortunately, we saw all but Donald (and Mickey for a quick second) from afar – some from a-very-far – there were two big rooms for seating, and some characters never made it out of the room that we weren’t in while we were there.

Here’s Mickey zooming through the room:

Donald finally came over to us before we needed to leave to get out to the park, so we had a nice 30-second meet and greet with him (not complaining here, but just pointing this out because most of the other people we saw with him also had very short meets – so why did it take so long for the characters to get around?!).

We could have stayed to meet the other characters, but we really preferred to get out and get on the first ride of the safari, so we peaced out. Maybe it was just an off morning, but Tusker House seemed to be running with inefficiency like I’ve never experienced in Disney. I think they need to get the managers of the Crystal Palace in there to school them on moving the characters through, ordering the buffet in a sane way, and replenishing / warming the food.

 

[UncleOrville]

Anyway, we will not be returning to the Tusker House, despite the best part about it – we got to stand at a rope with barely anyone around us that was about 50 feet from the entrance to the safari. Our little rope wasn’t dropped until the crowd from the big rope drop was right behind us, but we were still in front of them and never involved in that big crowd, so it was awesome.

We were, as per usual, the first ones down to the safari loading area and were directed to the back row. We thought it was odd that they didn’t put us, the first travelers of the day, up in front. Then we looked out the back and saw we’d have a great view to take pics, and then we started moving and realized just how much better the back row is! We were bouncing around (literally off of our seat) and having a grand old time! It was actually like a ride, rather than a trip in the car, in the back. For some reason, before this ride, we’d always been in the first or second row of the safari vehicles. Anyway, the back was tons of fun and we saw quite a few animals. Everyone’s seen millions of safari pics, so here are just a few.

After we bounced through the African savannah, we headed over to Asia. We grabbed FPs for Everest and then walked right through the standby line with no wait – loved it!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Oh that's terrible news! I booked an 8:05am ADR at Tusker House for our trip this summer! Yikes. I hope you are right and that it was just an off day for them. The last time we were in Tusker House was when it was a counter service. They had THE BEST fried chicken sandwich and we couldn't wait to go there again on our next trip...only ot find that it would be closed to be made into a sit-down restaurant.

Oh well....

 

[UncleOrville]

Oh that's terrible news! I booked an 8:05am ADR at Tusker House for our trip this summer! Yikes. I hope you are right and that it was just an off day for them. The last time we were in Tusker House was when it was a counter service. They had THE BEST fried chicken sandwich and we couldn't wait to go there again on our next trip...only ot find that it would be closed to be made into a sit-down restaurant.

Oh well....

I know, I loved Tusker House when it was CS! Their salmon with rice and green beans was the greatest CS meal I've had.

I think if you're not expecting much in terms of the food, it's worth it to keep an 8:05 ADR there just to be in the park first, especially during summer when it can be so crowded. If the food happens to be hot and you get to meet some characters there, added bonus to your early park entry!

 

[DisneyDaddio]

What an entertaining trip report! So many great pictures, especially of the Polynesian (sorry about the first day issue, though).

 

[UncleOrville]

What an entertaining trip report! So many great pictures, especially of the Polynesian (sorry about the first day issue, though).

Thank you! And thanks for reading!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Great AK pictures! It is such a beautiful park!

 

[VBsHustla]

In addition to that expose on the Tusker, I'd like to add that I thought that juice was horrid. They had no bowls, so I dined on some cold oatmeal off a plate. They also only had a nearly completely empty bowl of fruit available (which confused me as it was 8am, and most people don't seem to consume the enormous amounts of fruit that I do!) What a terrible spot!

 

[Stefy]

Yay another update and most defo needed in this yucky cold weather

Its a shame that your Tusker experience was v good, but on the plus side you got on the first safari ride of the day, rode Everest four times and got empty park pics. Looked like a peaceful morning too

 

[UncleOrville]

Great AK pictures! It is such a beautiful park!

Yay another update and most defo needed in this yucky cold weather

Its a shame that your Tusker experience was v good, but on the plus side you got on the first safari ride of the day, rode Everest four times and got empty park pics. Looked like a peaceful morning too

Yup, I love taking pics of the empty AK!

The Tusker House breakfast really was pitiful, but it was def awesome to be in the park and on the first safari of the day!

 

[UncleOrville]

And we're back with some more Animal Kingdom fun.

After leaving Liz and Laura to ride and ride Everest, I set out for the Maharajah Jungle Trek because it has an awesome name, some tigers, and was close to where I was. I’d walked through here last year and just loved the architecture of the fake ruins – ah, fabricated history. But, it really is pretty in there, so I took lots of pics. Here are a few:

 

[UncleOrville]

When we were finally finished with the wall right by the entrance, we walked in the main part of the building and were delighted to see our good pal Jiminy! I absolutely love Jiminy, so I got a couple of solo shots with him. Once I was done with my photoshoot, Liz and Laura got a quick pic and we were on our way to check out the animal hospital rooms and such behind Jiminy. We watched some super-fast white turtles run around their cage for a while. It was fun.

 

[UncleOrville]

Following our some-parts-terrible, some-parts-pretty-good lunch, we wandered over to the gift shops and out to the fourth floor observation deck to catch a glimpse of Bay Lake Tower. It looked lovely from the outside, and I’d love to check out the interior sometime.

After our Contemporary tour, we traveled back to the Poly via monorail, and Liz and I enjoyed a leisurely dip in the senior citizens’ pool (aka the quiet pool) while Laura watched her fav guy, Chad Dylan Cooper, on Sonny with a Chance. Once Liz and I returned from our exciting outing, we got ourselves ready for a night out at the World Showcase.

Sorry for such a short segment, but Laura was demanding something great to read - be back with more soon!

 

[VBsHustla]

Oh how I hated that Contemp spot! Their rudeness greatly affected my mood and depressed me!

I do adore the turtle and ostrich photos, though! Also, Liz is never forced onto the Dino ride. She insists on coming on her own volition!

 

[Neve]

What a SCARY day! Dinos, ostriches, potential poisonings for the peanut sensitive crowd!

The AK really did a dis-service to changing Tusker house into a character meal! Shame shame!

Sounds like you all had an exciting afternoon. Enjoying some Sonny and a little synchronized swimming with the geriatric set. I wonder if they would have joined in a little dance party