Princesses don't hit, kick or spit! A May/June TR Update 10/17 Snow White Theme Night

[Becc1]

Our fourth park day took us to my one of DH's favorites, Animal Kingdom! It was an AM EMH so even though we had a somewhat late night we were all up and ready at the parks at 8am. In the past we have totally taken advantage of the AM EMH and have gotten so much done in that hour, but to be honest I feel like we wasted that whole hour on this trip so I'm not sure if I even want to do them anymore, that day I would have loved that extra hour!

When we first got there you can guess what we did

Safari Sam is ready to see some animals!

Made our way into the park, now guess what we did?

After our mini photoshoot you'd think we should be ready to see some animals or go on some rides right? Nope, first we had to stop because MIL needed batteries for her camera, of course this stop turned into an all out shopping spree for DN. They were in there forever or at least it seemed like forever. The rest of us waited outside, I took pictures of our surroundings and DH and DS15 went and got some bagels to snack on.

Finally done with shopping we make our way over to the safaris. The wait time wasn't bad so we got in line and waited and waited and waited some more No clue what the hold up was but we waited so long and we were in the bridge are thingie which was ungodly hot!

Picture of DN wearing her new purchase

Yay we finally make it on!

Now time to bore you with some pictures of animals that I'm sure you've seen dozens of times,

Love this picture, that is a hippo those birds are standing on!

When our safari was over we decided to go through the Pangani Trail

Up Next, more pictures of animals

 

[Kari-B]

Great Animal Kingdom pics!

 

[Kat in GA]

I am back and catching up!!

I have such empathy for you in trying to finagle a day with 16 people! Traveling with 7 for our trip was often a pain. We didn't really split up - but sometimes I thought we should. But it didn't seem right telling two 10 year olds to go do their own thing

I am still laughing about the thong being hung on your door handle. Who would do that? Unless they are the ones that left it for you in the first place. But I'll say, some of the clothes people wore. Oh my. Did you know that there are shorts that are similar to thongs in the way they ride over the butt?? Me either, but women were wearing them at the MK!

Animal Kingdom was our best day as far as crowds go. But I don't think we shopped at all! Your DN always looks so put together. What kind of make up does she use that it is not all sweated off???

And your pictures of the cheetahs - amazing! Mine is just of one WAYYYY OFF in the distance.

 

[BelleTinkMom]

Yay we finally make it on!

I love this picture. You daughter is looking to the left and your son sitting right next to her is looking to the right.

The underwear story is hilarious. Who would do such a thing?

 

[basketkat]

Love all of the animal pics...looking forward to more!

 

[momabaarjo]

I love Emily's outfit! So perfect for AK!

Wasting EMH-AM in gift shops...I would so be! Gift shops really worry me at Universal, it seemed like every ride or attraction dumped you right into a gift shop. I am trying to come up with a plan to avoid this trap with the kids! First of all the budget is tight and second of all time in gift shops is not on my touring plan!

Your pictures of the Safari are making me excited for AK. Touring plans suggest Everest first for FP runner, then to Dinosaur and FP Safari til later in the day. What are your thoughts on where to start...

 

[Shannon84]

Cute photopass pics!! Did you ask for the different things added into the photopass pictures like Stitch or did the photographers suggest them?

I love the picture with the bird on the hippos back

 

[teekathepony]

Feeling the Animal Kingdom love! Doesn't matter how many times I see those animals, I still love seeing them again!

 

[jason4024]

This is a great trip report so far. Cant wait to read more!

 

[Becc1]

Great Animal Kingdom pics!

Thanks, even though AK is the park we spend the least amount of time in, I tend to take a million pictures.

I am back and catching up!!

I have such empathy for you in trying to finagle a day with 16 people! Traveling with 7 for our trip was often a pain. We didn't really split up - but sometimes I thought we should. But it didn't seem right telling two 10 year olds to go do their own thing


I am still laughing about the thong being hung on your door handle. Who would do that? Unless they are the ones that left it for you in the first place. But I'll say, some of the clothes people wore. Oh my. Did you know that there are shorts that are similar to thongs in the way they ride over the butt?? Me either, but women were wearing them at the MK!

Animal Kingdom was our best day as far as crowds go. But I don't think we shopped at all! Your DN always looks so put together. What kind of make up does she use that it is not all sweated off???

And your pictures of the cheetahs - amazing! Mine is just of one WAYYYY OFF in the distance.

Glad your back and can't wait to hear all about your trip!

I was loving the zoom on my camera for the safari, I usually don't get great shots of the cheetahs either. And this time on the safari mmost of the animals were so far away it seemed. I can usually get great pictures of the giraffes but didn't really this year.

I'll have to ask my neice what kind of make up she wears, I know it's not the cheap stuff that I wear (Cover Girl, Maybelline, etc.) I know she loves Sephora because they don't have one near where they live so whenever she is here she likes to go to ours.

I love this picture. You daughter is looking to the left and your son sitting right next to her is looking to the right.

The underwear story is hilarious. Who would do such a thing?

Don't you know when trying to take pictures of more than one child they will never be looking at you at the same time? I take like 10 shots of the same pose in hopes I will maybe get 1!

 

[Becc1]

Love all of the animal pics...looking forward to more!

Thanks, I think I could probably fill up a huge album with just safari pictures alone that I have over the years!

I love Emily's outfit! So perfect for AK!

Wasting EMH-AM in gift shops...I would so be! Gift shops really worry me at Universal, it seemed like every ride or attraction dumped you right into a gift shop. I am trying to come up with a plan to avoid this trap with the kids! First of all the budget is tight and second of all time in gift shops is not on my touring plan!

Your pictures of the Safari are making me excited for AK. Touring plans suggest Everest first for FP runner, then to Dinosaur and FP Safari til later in the day. What are your thoughts on where to start...

Thanks, I love Emily's dress too! I had another outfit all planned for that day but saw that dress at Sam's Club of all places and knew it would be perfect for AK

Yes my idea of spending my precious EMH is not shopping! Unfortunately most ride dump you into a gift shop area and also unfortunately my DN takes after her mother and is a shopper. Now don't get me wrong, I love to shop but when the time is right ,which is NOT 8am during EMH!

I've never followed the touring plans but from my own experience we like to hit up the safari first, they say that the animals are always most active first in the morning. Also you are going at a busy time so it probably is different but we have never had any problems getting FP for Everest and in fact on our last trip there was like a 20 minute standy wait and that was in the early afternoon. Same thing with Dinosaur, we only waited like 10 minutes for that.

Cute photopass pics!! Did you ask for the different things added into the photopass pictures like Stitch or did the photographers suggest them?

I love the picture with the bird on the hippos back

We didn't ask for Stitch, believe it or not I had no idea he was going to be coming out of the box until I saw our pictures! The Simba one I had seen on the boards here so I asked about that one. There is a list of magic shots the PP will do somewhere on here, I didn't see it until after we came back from our trip but I'm definately going to print out the list for next time!

Feeling the Animal Kingdom love! Doesn't matter how many times I see those animals, I still love seeing them again!

Thanks, I tried to be good and not put too many up. I do the same thing with the Tree of Life, take a picture of every animal carving I see!

This is a great trip report so far. Cant wait to read more!

Thanks for joining in!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Great AK pics! Yay on making it on the safari!

 

[Monknmom]

Oh how cute is Emily's dress!?!?And you found it at Sam's? That's a really nice find!
The pictures from the safari came out nice! I don't think that I have seen many good pictures of those animals! I love taking pictures so I will probably take a 1,000 pictures of animals as well!
I'm sorry about the shopping spree! Maybe next time set limits? Like we'll shop at the end of the day? I know it's sorry that you have to tell it to a teen (they should know), but sometimes people need friendly reminders! I think that I am going to follow your plan and head to the safari first thing and then begin everything else after that! I am excited about photopass! I was thinking maybe it's a waste of money, but seeing the shots from these TR I changed my mind! With that-- did you buy ahead of time?

 

[Becc1]

Great AK pics! Yay on making it on the safari!

Thanks, the safari is always a favorite to do at AK!

Oh how cute is Emily's dress!?!?And you found it at Sam's? That's a really nice find!
The pictures from the safari came out nice! I don't think that I have seen many good pictures of those animals! I love taking pictures so I will probably take a 1,000 pictures of animals as well!
I'm sorry about the shopping spree! Maybe next time set limits? Like we'll shop at the end of the day? I know it's sorry that you have to tell it to a teen (they should know), but sometimes people need friendly reminders! I think that I am going to follow your plan and head to the safari first thing and then begin everything else after that! I am excited about photopass! I was thinking maybe it's a waste of money, but seeing the shots from these TR I changed my mind! With that-- did you buy ahead of time?

Believe me after that I would tell my MIL and DN that they could shop or whatever but we were going to go do something else and we could meet up. I really didn't think I was going to have too much of a problem with my DN because she usually isn't too bad, her mother on the other hand is a nightmare, lol. When shopping with her, I totally just walk away and tell her to text me and we'll meet up!

 

[Becc1]

So we finished up our what was supposed to be a 2 week safari and decided to head through the Pangani Trail, for some reason I didn't take a ton of pictures here, it was pretty hot and I was getting a little cranky. And remember I don't let DH use my camera The gorillas weren't very visble anyway and that's my favorite part about the trail!

Timon is that you?

I love the way these guys eat from the trees

See what I mean about the gorillas?

When we were done with the trail we checked the guide times and saw that a FOTLK showing was coming up so we went over towards Camp Minnie Mickey.

Like I said it was hot outside so when we spotted an ice cream cart we couldn't pass up some Mickey bars

Sam didn't want any ice cream but he found a Kids Discovery Club to keep him busy while we are ate. This was alot of fun for the kids and after reading another person's TR (Lidian) I wished we had sought the rest of these locations out in the park. One more thing to add on the list for next time!

We came across my DH's favorite "princess" Pocahontas with a relatively short line. This little guy hopped across the walkway while we were waiting, how fitting right?

We got to the show just in time, thankfully they had plenty of space left in a handicapped section for us down front. Once again I'll bore you with some pictures that I know you've seen a million times. I was hoping to get some better than usual shots with my fancy new camera but since I didn't read my fancy new cameras manuel all of the way through, by the time I got the right setting the moment was over

Continued in next post

 

[Becc1]

More FOTLK pictures

After the show we had a potty break and when we came out we saw these two cuties! I was so excited because I was really hoping we'd find them here.

Then King Louie came over, this time it was Sam who got excited! The Jungle book is one of his favorite movies!

Our next stop was going to be the the Conservation Station but when we went over to ride the train, there was a ton of people over there in line so we decided to pass. One day we'll get over there! We were all getting pretty hungry so we decided to go find something to eat. Plans were to eat at the Yak and Yeti CS but because it was so hot we wanted to eat somewhere with air conditioning so we made the trek over to Dinoland to eat at Restaurantosaurus.

DH got in line to get food while I took the 3 little ones to get a table. The front area was packed but in the back there were plenty of empty tables. Emily had a little meltdown while we waited, she was mad because Ben was sitting next to me and not her. She calmed down when everyone came over with the food and she could go sit next to my DN. DS15, DN and I got the burgers, DH got the shrimp po boy, MIL got the salad and I think the kids ate burgers as well. Food was ok, nothing spectacular but we've eaten here before so we knew what to expect. The bucket that the kids food came in is cute.

After lunch Sam wanted to ride Dinosaur so we made our way over there. MIL sat this one out with Ben, he rode it years ago on his first trip and hated it so I don't know when or if we'll ever get him on it again. I thought Emily might be a bit afraid on this one but once again my fearless girl loved it!

I hate the ride pictures because I always look horrible in them but I'll share the redneck picture we took because I think the rest of our group looks funny!

Christian and DN wanted to ride Dinosaur again so MIL went with them while the rest of us went over to Triceratop Spin, once again Ben wanted to sit out so I sat with him.

The kids played a few games, we did a little shopping, contemplated seeing the Nemo show but decided to pass. Primeval Whirl was closed and I knew if we did the Boneyard we would never be able to drag the kids out so we made our way out of Dinoland and headed towards DH's favorite ride.

 

[momabaarjo]

I hope you remembered the extra Mickey Bar for me! My boys saw these and were licking their lips! Our family are ice cream fanatics...even in December...so can't wait. I wonder why I did not eat one last summer...oh yeah I was going for the adult stuff!

Sorry about the gorillas...I hate that, and it always seems to be my luck that they won't cooperate with my camera! Hey this is Disney right...why did that CM in costume not cooperate?

Can you tell I am in a mood today?

I am adding the Kids Discovery Station to my list for touring. They look like fun! Whenever we go to a National Park the kids love doing the Junior Ranger programs, so I know they will love this!

 

[MickeyReeds]

We missed dinosaur again on our last trip. I think I'm a bit afraid of it (without foundation of course) so I haven't made it a priority. Next time, I'm going to give it a try! I ride Everest, which I'm not crazy about, but have fun once I'm on it! Seeing your daughter riding dinosaur makes me want to give it try!

 

[Kari-B]

Loved all the pics, but especially the FOTLK shots. I can't wait to see that show again when we go!

 

[Kat in GA]

I need to start working on my own trip report - and updating my ptr - but life is getting the better of me as I deal with 2 weeks worth of "stuff."

I can't imagine a line at conservation station - we actually rode over this year. But...we never managed to get over to see FotLK. My group just wanted to go back and forth from Everest and Kali!