Savor the Savanna - anyone been yet?

[TeresaWen]

I have this booked for early July. So excited!!! Any reviews yet?

Love love love the idea of wine and tapas while looking at the savanna!!

 

[beesly]

I have this booked for early July. So excited!!! Any reviews yet?

Love love love the idea of wine and tapas while looking at the savanna!!

I'm eagerly awaiting some early reviews with you! I have it booked for late July. I've seen several blogs advertising the basic info found on the WDW site and Parks blog, but no personal reviews yet.

 

[TeresaWen]

I'm eagerly awaiting some early reviews with you! I have it booked for late July. I've seen several blogs advertising the basic info found on the WDW site and Parks blog, but no personal reviews yet.

I'll definitely post one! Counting the days!

 

[Klayfish]

Wait, what? Please enlighten me, didn't know about this. My wife and I don't really drink (haven't had a beer in over 20 years), but on rare occasion we have a glass of wine. Sounds interesting.

**EDIT** Nevermind, just looked it up on WDW website. It looks really cool, but $169 a person? Yikes. I guess I'm a cheapskate, and I know we're missing out on some cool experiences, but I just can't bring myself to spend that kind of coin on short tours or dining experiences. We try to find things that are free or less than $25-$40 at most. For example, we'd love to take the family to some of the table service restaurants, but spending $200-$300 on one dinner is just way beyond comprehension for me (I know not all of them are that expensive, but for a family of 5 many of them would be). Oh well, we'll still find other fun things.

 

[Duckiedee]

Details! That sounds amazing!

 

[pryzeless]

I am waiting too but i am not sure if it started already. What I really want is to book after Labor Day and it has not opened yet.

 

[belleincanada]

So wait, what's the difference between this and the Wild Africa Trek, and the Wanyama Safari?

 

[TeresaWen]

So wait, what's the difference between this and the Wild Africa Trek, and the Wanyama Safari?

Wild trek is more physical and I do not think wine overlooking the savanna is part of that tour.

Also Savor is an evening activity.

 

[beesly]

Details! That sounds amazing!

Here are the links for Disney's website and the Parks blog. It looks like the first date it's available is June 26th, so we won't see reviews just yet.

Wait, what? Please enlighten me, didn't know about this. My wife and I don't really drink (haven't had a beer in over 20 years), but on rare occasion we have a glass of wine. Sounds interesting.

**EDIT** Nevermind, just looked it up on WDW website. It looks really cool, but $169 a person? Yikes. I guess I'm a cheapskate, and I know we're missing out on some cool experiences, but I just can't bring myself to spend that kind of coin on short tours or dining experiences. We try to find things that are free or less than $25-$40 at most. For example, we'd love to take the family to some of the table service restaurants, but spending $200-$300 on one dinner is just way beyond comprehension for me (I know not all of them are that expensive, but for a family of 5 many of them would be). Oh well, we'll still find other fun things.

I probably wouldn't do this if I were going on a family trip. However, I'm spending a day at WDW solo while I'll already be in Orlando for a conference, so I'm splurging on a couple of things I haven't been able to do or won't be able to do on upcoming family trips (for example, I'm doing the Keys to the Kingdom tour since I won't have to worry about what to do with my DD, who's too young for that one).

 

[beesly]

Just a heads up for passholders - according to the July passholder e-news, WDW is now offering a 15% AP discount on this event. I'm on hold now to have the discount applied to my existing reservation.

Edit: Success! 15% being refunded to my credit card.

 

[loves to dive]

I saw that in the newsletter myself, I'm toying with it. We did the Waynama Safari when we stayed at AKV, it was great but a lot more expensive then this. To answer the person who asked the difference, The Waynama is only available to AKL guests, it includes pre-safari appetizers, a safari on the resort savannah (not the park) and then a family style 4 or 5 course dinner including drinks. It lasts at least 3 hours. Special meal not on the menu. It's not clear if the one they are offering now is on the resort savannah or in the park and it looks like it's just appetizers and not a meal.

 

[TeresaWen]

We did this on July 7. It was awesome. Just us and one other couple. Nice ride through the savannah. We stopped several times and we were able to stand and walk around the truck with binoculars. Excellent views.

The food & beverages were great.

1) bread with olive oil
2) spiced nuts
3) 6 different appertizers. Shrimp, chicken salad, ham, salmon with cream cheese, hummus, one more that I can't remember.
4) desert - a smore like desert. Desert wine offered

Good wine. One red one white. Beer as well

We were very full after. Everything was delicious. Presented on individual serving plates (so you are not sharing)
We were seated at small tables but had a lot of time to wander around. Great views all around

We booked at 6:30 so we had a great view of the sunset.

Happy we did it!

 

[TeresaWen]

Oh and we received a code to download pictures. I'll get them at home. The gift was a set of wooden animal kingdom themed coasters. And a donation to animal preservation is made on our behalf. We got to choose what cause. Very nice.

Very well done event. Our guide was awesome!

 

[beesly]

Oh and we received a code to download pictures. I'll get them at home. The gift was a set of wooden animal kingdom themed coasters. And a donation to animal preservation is made on our behalf. We got to choose what cause. Very nice.

Very well done event. Our guide was awesome!

Good to know, thanks for sharing your experience! Did you notice whether the event lasted close to 3 hours (that's what I was told on the phone), or if it was a little shorter or longer than that?

 

[TeresaWen]

it lasted just over two hours.

 

[TeresaWen]

Good to know, thanks for sharing your experience! Did you notice whether the event lasted close to 3 hours (that's what I was told on the phone), or if it was a little shorter or longer than that?

I am pretty sure it is advertised as about two hours. And it lasted just over. It felt perfect!

 

[heidijanesmith]

We did the tour the second day it was open, June 27th. It was fantastic!!

The CM's are very knowledgeable and gave us a lot of good information. The private safari ride was great, we really enjoyed it. I loved the Boma area, there was a boardwalk area to the lion viewing area, we got to see the lions roaring. We had really good food and the African Beer was great.

It was well worth it and a great night.

 

[AngelDisney]

I wonder if there is any new review on this tour. Thinking of doing it in August. How will the opening of Pandora affect this tour? TIA!

 

[AngiTN]

We did it on my Birthday and it was wonderful. I am thinking of booking it again over Thanksgiving
Can't imagine how Pandora would affect the tour in any way

 

[AngelDisney]

We did it on my Birthday and it was wonderful. I am thinking of booking it again over Thanksgiving
Can't imagine how Pandora would affect the tour in any way