Pinch me, did it REALLY happen????? - All wrapped up, and yes, it DID happen!

[franandaj]

We are here to do the Majarajah Jungle Trek. We like kitties.

First we stopped to see the bats. These freak me out a little bit, but since they are usually asleep when we come by, they're OK!

I like to take a picture of Fran in her scooter here since I did it back on the second trip when we stayed at AKL.

These cats are absolutely beautiful, I love to look at the power in their muscles when they walk. Gorgeous creatures!

We passed the tiger exhibit and moved on to the herbivores.

We found out that the Tigers have a pass thru to another area. Evidently Tigers are not “pack cats” The four or five that they have at AK “tolerate” each other because they grew up together, but they all keep their distance between each other. They are much different than Lions that grow up in a Pride and stay there or our cats at home who live as a herd. Most of our kids are “herd cats” and enjoy piling on top of us in bed at night. There are a few who prefer to be separate. They must be the descendants from Tigers.

I never knew that this other area connected to the Tigers on the other side of the trail. You learn something new each time. Thanks to this tiger who came over to this side and gave us a nice show.

 

[ACDSNY]

Beautiful big kitty pics!

 

[TruBlu]

Great update!

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

 

[lulubelle]

Just checking in on Sunny and her mamas.

Me too, me too.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I love the tiger pictures. They really are gorgeous animals.

Corinna

 

[dgbg100106]

Those are some powerful, beautiful, felines.

Let us know about the results on Sunny

 

[Pinkocto]

Those are gorgeous tiger pictures! I've never seen them so active before.

 

[dgbg100106]

Those are gorgeous tiger pictures! I've never seen them so active before.

I was thinking the same thing... Must have been the perfect time to see them.

Alison what time of the day was this visit?

 

[TruBlu]

They were really active for us too. Wonder if it's the cooler weather? We were there in the afternoon, about 70 degrees.

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

 

[franandaj]

Beautiful big kitty pics!

Thank you!

Great update!

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

Me too, me too.

We're hanging in there...

I love the tiger pictures. They really are gorgeous animals.

Corinna

Thanks, they were really good about posing for us that day.

Those are some powerful, beautiful, felines.

Let us know about the results on Sunny

They are very pretty. No news on Sunny yet, but they usually call me late in the afternoon.

Those are gorgeous tiger pictures! I've never seen them so active before.

They were really pretty active. The one kept pacing back and forth in the first viewing area.

I was thinking the same thing... Must have been the perfect time to see them.

Alison what time of the day was this visit?

We did practically the first safari ride, and then headed almost directly over to the Trek in Asia. It was definitely before 10AM because we were on our way elsewhere by 11AM and we made another stop that I'm about to post about.

They were really active for us too. Wonder if it's the cooler weather? We were there in the afternoon, about 70 degrees.

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

It was definitely cooler weather. With the exception of the two days we woke up at Universal, we barely saw a day warmer than 70 degrees.

 

[franandaj]

By this time we were starting to get hungry. We decided a little snack was in order. I realized as we were eating this meal how the dining plan just wouldn’t work for us. Here we technically ate three snacks. A couple egg rolls (each one considered a snack credit) and a chicken fried rice. I called this “Where’s the Chicken?” Fried rice as the chicken pieces were so small, I could hardly recognize them. Other than that, once I dumped a packet of soy sauce on it, the rice was pretty good!

This trip to Disney was all about “firsts”. One of the firsts was that I had not “Uber Planned” this trip. Yes we did have an ADR every day, but only one! There was a lot of wiggle room for counter service meals and snacks. Eating at Yak and Yeti counter service was a first. I’d heard it called “Yuk and Yeti”. I was thrilled when she suggested we get some fried rice as I wanted to find out if it was a bad as everyone said. Tasting a couple snacks was a good test. I think I would like to come back and try the Lo Mein and perhaps something else from this CS. It was quite acceptable to me.

Then we were on to our next “first”, so we headed to…

Chip and Dale were there, along with the lines for all the other characters. I had never been to this part of AK in the decade that the park has been open!

Fran loves her Trash can pictures.

I was really sad to hear that they planned to stop the “Festival of the Lion King” show due to the construction of Avatar Land. I read that it would close in November or December, but to my surprise it was still going on, so we made sure to make that our next destination. We had planned on the 11:30 show. It was just past 11AM, perfect timing!

We entered the queue and after about five minutes they opened up the arena for seating. We got a pretty good seat in the elephant area. They filled in our area first and then the other far side of the auditorium. I thought it was strange that they didn’t fill in the largest spot of the arena. However, up until the show started they were still filing people in until the whole place was completely full. I was amazed at how many people showed up just in the nick of time!

This was our host

Before the show started each group of bleachers was told about their animal guide. I believe that these are lions demonstrating their roar.

These are the four who helped each section out with their particular guide. As I said, we were in the elephant area, and our guide was the host of the show.

Once the show got going the dancers came out

The costumes were rather elaborate.

As were some of the other show parts.

These guys on stilts were pretty darned amazing! I would have been falling on my face!

And the floats for the other sections

Timon took over as Master of Ceremonies

These “monkeys” were quite entertaining.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Then we turned toward the somber part of the show.

Then we got back to our happy place with the big finale.

And with that we celebrated our first Festival of the Lion King.

 

[ACDSNY]

The Lion King show is my absolute favorite at WDW. The costumes are amazing and the monkeys are very fun to watch.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I love Festival of the Lion King. I have heard that if Avatarland does ever happen, this will move to Africa, where it would be a much better fit anyway.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

Great update. Glad you finally made it over there. I don't go to that show very often because the bleachers hurt my backside.

Also glad lunch was better than you've heard. Besides the practically nonexistent chicken.

 

[franandaj]

The Lion King show is my absolute favorite at WDW. The costumes are amazing and the monkeys are very fun to watch.

I'm surprised that it took me so long to finally go see it. I really enjoyed the show.

I love Festival of the Lion King. I have heard that if Avatarland does ever happen, this will move to Africa, where it would be a much better fit anyway.

Corinna

I forgot to mention that part. Fran was talking to one of the cast members about the show and they mentioned that they were planning on moving it to Africa, but didn't know when it was going to happen. It does make more sense to be there since it is set in Africa.

 

[PrincessInOz]

carching up. Great pics of the Lion King. Might I hope that they mean November 2013? (Its okay....I know I'm dreaming!)

 

[TruBlu]

I love that show, but we've only done it once.

I agree on the bleachers! I guess we can hope that they will change them if/when they move the show! =)

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

 

[franandaj]

Great update. Glad you finally made it over there. I don't go to that show very often because the bleachers hurt my backside.

Also glad lunch was better than you've heard. Besides the practically nonexistent chicken.

I was kind of hoping that they would let me stay in my scooter which is much more comfortable than the bleachers were, but I guess Fran told them I had no problem transferring. I don't think it would have made that much difference if they let me keep it. Oh well.

carching up. Great pics of the Lion King. Might I hope that they mean November 2013? (Its okay....I know I'm dreaming!)

The rumor I heard was November 2012. Perhaps they are constructing the new location before they end the show at Camp Minnie and Mickey.

I love that show, but we've only done it once.

I agree on the bleachers! I guess we can hope that they will change them if/when they move the show! =)

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

Perhaps we will check it out again once it moves to a new location. There is just too much to do in one trip, you have to pick your top things you want to do, just try and hit those, and not worry about the rest.

 

[lisaviolet]

Fran loves her Trash can pictures.

On the bold!

Love the Chip and Dale picture. Great shot Alison. I'm not a Disney girl a la characters and such. But I love me some funny, cagey chipmunks. -

Catching up Alison.

So sorry to hear about Sunny. Hard. Here's to some good news on the way.