Some pics from our recent trip :)

[aurorafan]

Inspired by DVC Mike I thought I'd post a mini report and some pics .

This was our first trip home and we were very excited to stay there, especially since our first night was in a concierge room . We arrived around 12:30 or so, checked in, left our bags with bell services and went to Mara for lunch. I love this food court--so nice to have alternatives to hamburgers and nuggets! It's an easy way to try something new without spending a lot of money at a TS restaurant.

The lobby was gorgeous! The pics didn't come out as well as I'd like because of the light, but you still get the idea





Closeup of some of the tree decorations:


After lunch our friend Jill met us and we headed over to the TTC for a monorail tour of the Christmas decorations:

Contemporary:


GF (I could live here--I love Victorian Christmas!):


DH didn't get a close-up of the staircase decorations like I wanted










More later--have to get the kids off to school!

 

[aurorafan]

We called around 4 to find our room was ready, so we headed back as the boys were anxious to see what the room looked like . If I remember correctly we were in room 6205--pool view and towards the end of the hall from the lounge. Loved the lounge! I wish we'd thought to take pics of it, but we were too busy enjoying the goodies . The boys loved that they could go down there by themselves and get drinks/snacks and bring them back . We relaxed there for a while before heading to Mara for dinner and an early bed--we had the sunrise safari the next morning!

Here's a pic of the tree from the lounge the next morning while we ate before going downstairs. DH had a hard time with the settings on the camera this time, so a lot of the "night" pics came out blurry. I'm not sure what happened because last year he took great night shots with the same camera!


Here are me and my 2 guys waiting to head out:


We had a great if chilly safari--here are some of the highlights:










More to come...

 

[mooneyda]

omg those are great pictures and now makes me want to go home again the earliest I am going home is in may

 

[bobbiwoz]

Thanks for the report and the pictures!
Bobbi

 

[podsnel]

Thanks for updating us! Did you see alot more animals on the sunrise safari than on the regular one? We're going to do it this May-

 

[janni518]

Would love to go for the holidays one year. Thanks for sharing!

 

[keishashadow]

great pics, thanx for posting

glad to hear that the food was improved @ mara since our visit in mid Oct (was told a new chef in the kitchen was having issues)

 

[Lexxiefern]

Thanks for sharing the pictures! I would like to try the sunrise safari sometime. Just how early do you have to get up for it?

 

[Disney Spaz]

This is great thank you so much. We leave in 30 days and I can't wait.

 

[aurorafan]

Thanks for updating us! Did you see alot more animals on the sunrise safari than on the regular one? We're going to do it this May-

Well, we had a really good regular one last year (Oct. 07) and we even went in the afternoon. But this one was nice because they stop for several minutes each time they see an animal to talk about it, answer questions, and let you take lots of pictures. Definitely worth it in my book, plus the breakfast was fantastic!

 

[aurorafan]

Thanks for sharing the pictures! I would like to try the sunrise safari sometime. Just how early do you have to get up for it?

I'm guessing it might vary based on time of year, but our instructions were to go to the concierge lounge between 6:30-7:00 a.m. to check in and for juice and coffee. After that we met at the mask in the lobby at 7:15 where they made sure everyone was there, gave some basic info. and loaded us on the buses. We were off to AK by about 7:30 .

 

[aurorafan]

More pics from the safari:



This girl tried to eat our jeep! It was the funniest thing--she'd peck at the rubber around the pole for a bit, stop and look up at us and turn her head as if to say "what? You've never seen an ostrich eat a jeep before?"




I love this pic . The guide said giraffes often stare into space for hours, and that's just what she was doing:


After the safari we went to Pizzafari for an awesome breakfast! Again, I wish I'd had DH take pics before we started eating, but oh well . They had stuffed french toast, an omelet/quiche type dish, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, smoked sausage, ham with pinapple slices, french toast sticks, all kinds of pastries and a bunch of stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting . After we stuffed ourselves we headed out for a day in the park. Here are my guys in front of the restaurant:


One of the CM's who saw our group on the way to breakfast said "here come the giant sticker people!" which got a laugh out of us--my boys thought it was hilarious

Can you tell DH likes the Tree of Life?






We went to Flights of Wonder for the first time--what a cool show! We all liked Joe and his F.O.B.








Stay tuned! (hopefully I'm not boring anyone

 

[aurorafan]

After Flights of Wonder we went to lunch at Yak & Yeti. Surprisingly enough we were able to get in without ADR's around noon, which I was thrilled about as I love this place . I love the interior of the restaurant--we got to eat with this guy



After another yummy meal we headed off to Majarajah Jungle Trek. The first pic is Dave's favorite:






On to Rafiki's Planet Watch (another first) where Brendan and Dave explored the petting zoo:


After we came back from there (the boys are still trying to figure out the talking recycling bin we saw ) we went on Pangani Forest Trail (yet another first). We didn't get any good pictures of the gorillas because they were too far away, but it was very cool to see them! Then it was time to stake out a spot for the parade. Awesome parade! The pictures didn't come out very well, they definitely don't do the floats/animals/whatever you want to call them justice--they are gorgeous! My favorite was the peacock, but the monkey was cool too .

We went back to the hotel after that to rest for a while before our dinner reservation at Boma. That was very good, although Dave got an end piece from the prime rib that was really dry, so he wasn't as happy as I was . I saw someone next to us with another slice that was juicy and yummy looking, but he wasn't interested in going back. The boys were happy with unlimited nuggets and they loved the cookies. I loved the chocolate mousse! To bed after that because we had to get up early for Soarin'!

 

[Monte Cristo]

Awesome photos. Looks like you all are having a nice time!

 

[podsnel]

What a fun day you had! I just saw FoW this past year for the first time and was really surprised at how great it was- those birds are incredible!!

And thanks for the info on the sunrise safari!

 

[mcrabeck]

Great pictures! Looks like you guys are having a fun time- thanks for sharing your vacation!

 

[Tinkerbellcrafter]

Great pictures...when were you there? I think we saw you many times on our trip...we were there the 7th-13th.

 

[aurorafan]

Great pictures...when were you there? I think we saw you many times on our trip...we were there the 7th-13th.

We were there the 6th-12th. Were you at AKV also? There were a couple of families we saw several times in various places . I had nice chats with several on the bus rides also (usually during the day--at night everyone's too tired to chat )

 

[Tinkerbellcrafter]

We were not at AKV but SSR...however, I know I saw you and your family...I just can not remember when or where!! LOL!!

 

[aurorafan]

We were not at AKV but SSR...however, I know I saw you and your family...I just can not remember when or where!! LOL!!

Ian's Pluto hat does create some notice--for whatever reason they don't seem to be as plentiful as the Goofy ones . Maybe we were in line for a ride somewhere or ate at the same place? It could have been anywhere I guess .