"So what do you want to do next?" An April '10 TR...final thoughts 8/2 p. 63

[wdwgirl03]

Sarah I'm jealous of your safari pics! How cool you were able to see so many animals.... the lion and the baby gorilla!

LOL, thanks. It was awesome finally getting to see the lion out and alert!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Friday, April 9, 2010 cont'd (part 2)

After starting our morning off in Africa, it was onto Asia for—what else?—Expedition Everest!

As I mentioned we usually do EE first and then backtrack to the safaris so it was going to be interesting seeing if the wait was any longer. Fortunately it was still pretty short. We might have waited 10 minutes at most and I don’t even think it was that long. We did get to soak in some of the queue...

Before long we were on our train and ready to battle the yeti! The sky was starting to get kind of dark like it might rain a little bit. Keep in mind this was the ONLY day of our whole trip where there was rain anywhere in the forecast, and of course it was the day of our tour. We were hoping that if it did end up raining it would pass by the afternoon. Anyways…back to the ride. I had always wanted to get some pictures of the view you get climbing the mountain because it’s pretty impressive. I love how much you can see. Well, mission accomplished. I just made sure I held onto my camera…that would not have been good to lose it.

Going up!

After the ride we stopped in the gift shop to pick up an Expedition Everest pin for Claire. Oh yes, and I also donated a dollar to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund and got a button that now shows that I am a Conservation Hero. I should also note that even though the pictures look kind of dreary, all we got was literally two drops of rain. But apparently that is enough to send some people into a frenzy...Dad said he saw some people buying ponchos and the CM selling them was like, "oh, I didn't even know it was raining!" Turns out they still needed them to go on Kali River Rapids...haha!

Then it was off to Dinoland to see if we’d have some better luck this time getting on Dinosaur. Remember our first afternoon it kept breaking down. But before I get to Dinosaur another little treasure we found near the restrooms in Dinorama. Anybody know what the 498 reference is? Yep, it’s the month and year that Animal Kingdom opened (April 1998). Nice.

OK, back to Dinosaur. When we got to the building there weren’t many people around meaning another short wait. I noticed that there was a big group in front of us and three of them had on Brewers or Packers shirts. Fellow Wisconsinites! This is going to sound really weird but I was hoping we’d get to ride with them. After all Dad and I both had on Marquette t-shirts so it would be like the Wisconsin car. Haha! Luckily this time there were no technical problems so we were able to go back and chase those dinosaurs. And sure enough we did get put into the same car with the Wisconsin people. I think I might have said something like Go Brewers but none of them heard me. Boo. It never fails, that one at the end just freaks me out. I always end up covering my eyes. LOL! But I was excited to see our ride picture afterward…I had to take a picture of our “Wisconsin car.”

Another shot in Dinoland...

And some random pictures from around Everest. I guess we passed by again and got to admire some of the theming in the area.

Here's the shrine they talk about in the Hidden Magic book. If you line up the shrine and the peaks of the mountain just right they should match up!

We also did Primeval Whirl before heading over to walk through the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

I’m telling you, if you want to see a lot of animals get to the park early because once again we got to see a bunch of animals! More picture overload!!!

Komodo dragon...

A tapir...

I think now whenever I go into the bat part I am going to think of the second Kingdom Keepers book!

When we got to the aviary we got to see something pretty cool. There was this blue bird (sorry, I have no idea what it was called) who was kind of rummaging around for some sticks.

One of the cast members told us that he was picking out sticks because the female was making a nest up on some of the rocks. The male would then take the stick up to the female to see if she’d either accept or reject it. Very interesting! Oh, and in case you’re wondering the female did accept the stick he brought up.

Up next: Meeting the characters!

 

[onelilspark]

I just started the second Kingdom Keepers book. The bat made me laugh

 

[MHTeacher]

Great pictures, Sarah.

Didn't know that about the 498 reference--Very cool.

I really liked the story about the birds building the nest. It reminded me of something that we saw during our recent trip. But I'll share that on my TR later.

 

[wisblue]

As Sarah has said, one of the best parts of this day was being able to take our time enjoying some of the wonderful detail of DAK. We usually can't do that because some of our other family members have no patience for it. This time, because we knew we were doing the tour at 1 PM, and we got to the park at opening at 8 AM, we had several hours to explore. On the trails I actually picked up the guide cards and tried to find as many of the birds as I could.

 

[stace208]

I'm glad you got to ride EE with such a little wait! Glad it didn't rain on ya!

I've always loved the bats but after Kingdom Keepers I will be keeping a better eye on them!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Nice update! You did so much already at AK for that day! My family had never done half that stuff until I worked there and I forced them to do it all when I was working there, including the train to Conservation Station. We'd typically go to WDW in the summer so after a few rides, show, and meal, we were usually out of there by 1, not to mention the heat. They had never even seen the parade! That is changed now of course lol.

I just bought Kingdom Keepers at BnN tonight. I had borrowed it from the library but it's due this week and I already renewed it once but I've been too busy to read it. I'm hoping next week while I'm on vacation that I will have tons of time to read! I only got to chapter 3 or 4 in the library copy!

 

[jwwi]

Love the EE ride, you got some great pictures too. I like to try to find the birds on the guide cards, makes for more interesting touring. Sounds like you were having a fun morning.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Finally caught up! I wish I was brave enough to ride EE. I still have not had the nerve to do it!

You got some great pictures!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[SoonerGirl]

That 498 reference was one of our bits of trivia on our countdown chain that we used for our December trip. WDW is loaded with neat stuff like that!

I don't think I've ever noticed that 'you have to be 1 yeti foot tall to ride' sign out in front of EE - how cute!

 

[tinkgurl]

Love the update! That's great that EE still had such a short wait time!

Wow, it looks like it could start pouring any second! Sis and I rode EE in the rain a few years ago and the rain hurt!

I love the 498 reference. I remember reading about it in the "Hidden Secrets" book and forgot to look for it when we were there!!

 

[RachelNinja]

Catching up on the last 2 installments!

Awww, what a nice bus driver letting the kids take a pic at the front of the bus! Love those things that aren't planned.

Haha, that height sign for EE is so cute! I love how they make everything interesting! I mean, why not throw in some theming for something that's usually mundane!

The Komodo dragon scares me because of the 2nd Kingdom Keepers book too! When it was chasing one of the girls about to go in that room that looked like a tree stump? Scary! Haha, at least I think it was a komodo dragon.

The tigers will remind me of KK too! I want to see where the trap door is or where it's supposed to be.

 

[wisblue]

Wow, it looks like it could start pouring any second! Sis and I rode EE in the rain a few years ago and the rain hurt!

We knew from checking the weather forecast in the morning that any rain would be light and brief (which it was) and that the sun would be coming out by afternoon (which it did). So, we almost welcomed the clouds because it kept things cool while we explored the jungles of DAK.

We always laugh at how some people scurry for their ponchos when the first drop of rain falls. When it's hot and humid out the plastic makes me a lot more uncomfortable than the raindrops.

 

[Angies1274]

Great pictures on EE!! I still haven't been brave enough to take my camera out while going up the hill. Great job getting those shots!! Glad you were able to ride Dinosaur! I love that ride! I know what you mean about seeing the bats at AK. I always think of Kingdom Keepers II when I see them!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Great update and pictures Sarah! LOVE the ones on Everest, I always think to take pics but we usually leave our bags with my parents so the camera is in the bag and not with us! That bluebird was really pretty! Cool thing about it taking the sticks up to the female, glad she accepted it!! Good thing you made it on Dinosaur, I didn't have any luck getting on it this trip!

 

[Cat0727]

Love the pics you took on Everest, they came out really good! Last time I rode EE I was finally brave enough to whip my camera out and take pics while going up but I forgot to zoom in. I am going to try harder next time!

What's Kingdom Keepers? It sounds interesting!

 

[jenniferkeala808]

love those pics you got from riding EE! Great pics! That Komodo Dragon gave me the chills but you did get an awesome pic of it! LOL! Can't wait for more!

 

[jojosmom23]

love this thread

 

[MarieTheCat24]

I love the Everest pictures! The view from up there is AWESOME.

And how fun that you wound up with a Wisconsin car! I've OH-IOed with quite a few Buckeye fans during my trips. And then there was the time a HS marching band marched through the World Showcase playing Hang on Sloopy...Good times.

 

[wdwgirl03]

I just started the second Kingdom Keepers book. The bat made me laugh

Those KK books are so entertaining. Can't wait to start the 3rd one.

Great pictures, Sarah.

Didn't know that about the 498 reference--Very cool.

I really liked the story about the birds building the nest. It reminded me of something that we saw during our recent trip. But I'll share that on my TR later.

Thanks Michelle!

Ooh, cool...can't wait to hear about what you saw on your trip.

I'm glad you got to ride EE with such a little wait! Glad it didn't rain on ya!

I've always loved the bats but after Kingdom Keepers I will be keeping a better eye on them!

We were glad it didn't rain too. That would have been such a bummer if it washed out our tour!

haha, I know. Reading those books sort of makes you wonder...what if that stuff was real?!

Nice update! You did so much already at AK for that day! My family had never done half that stuff until I worked there and I forced them to do it all when I was working there, including the train to Conservation Station. We'd typically go to WDW in the summer so after a few rides, show, and meal, we were usually out of there by 1, not to mention the heat. They had never even seen the parade! That is changed now of course lol.

I just bought Kingdom Keepers at BnN tonight. I had borrowed it from the library but it's due this week and I already renewed it once but I've been too busy to read it. I'm hoping next week while I'm on vacation that I will have tons of time to read! I only got to chapter 3 or 4 in the library copy!

We usually don't spend a lot of time at AK. It was nice this trip since it was just me and dad. As I've said before I LOVE the Animal Kingdom and seeing all the animals.

Enjoy the Kingdom Keepers book!

Love the EE ride, you got some great pictures too. I like to try to find the birds on the guide cards, makes for more interesting touring. Sounds like you were having a fun morning.

Thanks...we had a good morning and an even better afternoon!

Finally caught up! I wish I was brave enough to ride EE. I still have not had the nerve to do it!

You got some great pictures!! Thanks for sharing!

Aww, you should try EE. It really isn't all that bad.

That 498 reference was one of our bits of trivia on our countdown chain that we used for our December trip. WDW is loaded with neat stuff like that!

I don't think I've ever noticed that 'you have to be 1 yeti foot tall to ride' sign out in front of EE - how cute!

Yeah, I read about the Yeti foot tall sign in the Hidden Magic book too (surprise surprise...I wonder how many times I've mentioned that book in this thread...).