Stitch and Crystal do WDW - FINALLY finished~!

[WDW Poly Princess]

Our Fabulous Cast:
Crystal- WDW Poly Princess- 23 year old solo traveler extrordinare. Front desk clerk, bellydancer, travel writer wannabe.
Stitch- Age unknown, small blue alien. His first trip back to WDW since I met him there last year.
Katie- Florida resident who I sucker into keeping me company. 25, with a job which will be constantly redefined on this trip!

Wow, is it already time to be writing a pre-trip report again? (And hey, ever notice that until you book your next trip, it’s been SOOOO long since your last trip! But as soon as the next trip is booked and approaching, it suddenly hasn’t been all that long since you were there?)

Let’s start out simply here. This is Stitch:

If you saw our thread on the Theme Parks board, you know that Stitch will be traveling with me to WDW.

Stitch has been doing his own research, and even took requests for things people wanted us to see or do on our trip. You can see that thread here.

If you’ve read any of my reports before, you know that I’m a big fan of the resorts, and a major resort hopper. 5 resorts on an 10 day trip? Sure! It’s the best way to hit your favorites, stay in deluxes without blowing the budget, and try out some new resorts all in one trip! So, this was the original resort plan for this trip!

Pop Century-Arrival night
WL (woods view)-4 nights
AKL (savannah view)- 2 nights
Polynesian (garden view)- 2 nights
POR- 2 nights

All of my favorites, the perfect trip! And thanks to AP rates, still affordable!

Then came Best Rate, and after a lot of trip planning crazyness, the above plan ended up as follows:

OKW Studio (rented from DVC member)- 4 nights
Swan- 3 nights ($129 + tax Mousefest Rate)

I can see you gawking. No WL? No Poly?! But they just refurbished the rooms! The Swan??? No way! Crystal’s been replaced by a Pod Person!

I thought so, too. But I did some rationalizing- I’ve always wanted to stay at OKW, and I’m only paying a little more per night there than I would at POR, so that’s pretty good, right? And although I’m convinced that the giant Swans are headquarters for some shady government operation, it’s still an Epcot resort, right? And who doesn’t love being by Epcot? They have chocolate mousse there!

So, after checking airline rates, I find that it’s about $100 cheaper if I fly on the 26th instead of the 27th. No problem! Just add on a value for a night! Only about $55 with AP rates! No big deal….err..wait. Best Rate. D’oh! Oh well, I’ll call Disney and see how much it would be for a night at Pop. $99!? No way! Really? Oh. Back to the DVC Rent/Trade board!

The whole DVC/Swan thing was still freaking me out. I even decided to stop at a travel agency, in hopes that they could find me a room at one of my favorites for a slightly less crazy price. The travel agent I talked to had Disney stuff all over her desk. Oh, yay! She will understand my problems, right?

“I’m wondering if you can help me with a room for December? The new AP rate program screwed up my plans.”

“New program?”

“Yeah, the Best Rate thing.”

“Oh, I hadn’t heard about that.”

(travel agent taps some keys on her Magical Computer of Travel Knowledge.)

“Which hotel? All Stars?”

“Um, Wilderness Lodge. Lodge View.” (She’s starting out with the cheapest? I guess because I’m going solo?)

(pause while she clicks on some things)

“Let’s see, for Fort Wilderness…”

“Um, no, Wilderness Lodge.”

“Huh? Oh. Nothing available there.”

“Port Orleans Riverside?”

(Travel agent phones Disney, on what I assume is the Super Secret Travel Agent Line. I wait eagerly, dreaming of a lagoon view Polynesian miracle room for ten nights for $50. It will look out to the castle, come with free room service, and entitle me to my very own monorail.)

“They have a standard view for $134.”

(sound of Crystal falling out of chair)

“Per night?!”

“Would you like to book it?”

“Um… can you ask about discounts? I know I can’t get AP rates this close, but…”

(to phone lady) “She’s wondering about discounts? Something about AP, have you heard of that? Or a new program? I haven’t heard anything about it, have you? Oh, okay.”

(to me) “No, no discounts.”

(imagine me with a far-off look in my eyes as I remember the beautiful days before Best Rate, where I could call up and get POR for $89).
“Can you check on a cruise for May while I’m here? We’ve been thinking about going then.”

“Sure…”

“7 night Western Caribbean, May 6?”

“And you want an inside cabin?”

“Huh? Um, verandah. Category 6.” (Who taught this lady how to market?)

(on phone again.) “I need to check prices for the May 6th cruise on the Wonder?”

(me) “Magic.”

“Huh?”

“The Magic.”

(phone again) “Yeah, 7 nights on the Wonder, Western Caribbean?”

A few minutes later, she hangs up the phone and quotes me a price. It’s big.

“That’s per person?”
“That’s for one person, yeah. They charge more if you’re by yourself.”
“But I won’t BE solo on that trip!”

I’m sure things were said after this point, some sort of faked politeness in which I thank her for her help, but I don’t remember it. In that moment, I was deciding that I really need to finish my Travel Agent course, and get a job as one. The people need me.

So, now comes time to book airfare. After watching all of the major internet sites for several weeks, it finally became clear that flying out on the 27th was out of the question ($630 to fly on the 27th vs $250 to fly on the 25th!) I hadn’t even thought about Thanksgiving when I had made my trip plans, but now it was having quite an effect!

Checking the airline websites, it seemed that if I booked to come home on the 4th as planned, I would be stuck on a 6am flight, so I considered leaving the 5th instead. Finally one morning, a fare for $229 leaving on the 25th and returning on the 5th popped up, and I snatched it up! I finally broke down and booked All Star Music through Travelocity for about $100/nt (I called CRO, but they said they had no value resort rooms left for my dates, but they were available through Travelocity- no rooms doesn’t always mean no rooms!) and I rented OKW again for the night of the 4th. I was ready to go!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I dug out my suitcases to pack, but anyone with cats knows the rule- leave a suitcase unattended for more than a minute, and the cats will do the packing for you!

Removing the cat from my suitcase, I then proceeded to use everything I ever learned from playing Tetris to smush all of my stuff in. I did the whole “suitcase inside a suitcase” thing so I’d have extra room coming home. Poor Stitch barely had room to breathe in there!

Because I work front desk at a hotel, I thought it would be fun to put something together for the front desk people at the resorts I stayed at. I found some cute holiday mugs at Wal-Mart for $1 each, and planned to buy some candy to fill them with just before my trip, since I wanted something that all of the desk staff could share.

I went to Wal-Mart the night before Thanksgiving to pick up some of the last minute things on my list, since I knew I wouldn’t be able to go on Thanksgiving, and there was no way I was setting foot near it at 5am on Black Friday!!! I got the usual vacation supplies (little travel sized toothpaste, new socks, etc), but as soon as I got home, I realized what I had forgotten- candy for the front desk gifts! I hoped that I’d be able to find something at the airport or WDW!

My final trip preparation involved leaving my mom instructions for feeding my fish. Somehow I always give detailed instructions about how fish really don’t eat much, and then I come home to tanks that look like someone’s been pouring a ton of food in every day. This time, I was prepared with visual aids:

I crawled into bed with my cat Tallulah around 2am the night before my trip. I had no idea how I was going to make it through more than a week with no big black and white cat sleeping by my side! Could you?

This is what I wake up to every day!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

The next morning started out splendidly with my oversleeping. My cat has magical powers of knowing when I need to get up, so she started shredding a piece of paper right next to my bed, one of the few noises that never fails to get me up. After a few ear scratches fail to make her quit, I look at my alarm clock and see that it’s been more than a few minutes since it first went off. I must have hit the snooze a little too hard.

I stumble upstairs to my mom’s bedroom (I live in an apartment downstairs from her house) where the neon green numbers on the clock glow that the current time is 5:20am. Mom had planned on getting up at 4:15 (she’s one of those people who needs two hours to get ready, even if she is just dropping someone off at the airport), and mom is still in bed.

“Mom! You overslept!” I call, and she wakes up immediately.

“There’s no way I can get ready in time!” she expresses, already halfway down the hallway. By the time I’ve stumbled back downstairs to get dressed, she is curling her hair. It takes me about twenty minutes to get ready, and I spend the time after that sitting with Tallulah near my mom’s bathroom door, spending some time with both before embarking on my adventure.

We somehow manage to leave the house at 6:20, a miracle considering we had originally planned to leave at 6:15, and we both overslept. I make a quick stop at the ATM, and then the gas station for bottled water, where I find that the guy who sells me my coffee each afternoon is already there.

The drive to the airport passes quickly, and we don’t run into any of the traffic we expected at all. It’s about 7:30 when we arrive at the airport. The man who checks me in at the American counter asks if I’m going to WDW, and when I tell him that I am, he says that he will be there next week, and that he’s already checked in two other people today who are on their way to the World. Apparently now’s the time to be going, he says!

While we’re sitting around, I discover that I’ve made a stupid mistake: I left my jacket at home. I had planned to wear it to the airport, but since it was so cold out, I threw on my leather coat instead, planning to put the jacket in my bag, but totally forgetting. There’s no way I can do WDW in December with no jacket- it’s a staple in my wardrobe, putting it on over a t-shirt every morning and wearing it till early afternoon when the sun begins to warm things up. Mom offers to send it to me at the hotel, but I decide I’ll probably just hit World of Disney tonight and pick one up. Goodbye, $40 or so! If I can’t find one there I like (or at least not one I like enough to spend the cost of a week’s worth of food on), however, I’ll call her and have her send it.

Mom and I decide to grab breakfast in the airport’s café not because we are particularly hungry but because we always end up eating there to kill time, because there’s nothing else to do at our airport, which has one restaurant, one gift shop, and ten gates. The food is good (and much too much in my case) and before we know it, it’s time for me to go through security.

I snap a picture of the tiny plane at the gate. It has ten rows, with two seats on one side and one on the other, making a total of 30. There isn’t even an overhead compartment.

As the plane is making its way through the labyrinth of paths leading to the runway, I think about how much I love this part- takeoff is one of my favorite things in the world. In this moment, I feel the rebirth begin, and I realize that I am doing what I am made to do, I am a traveler, and this is where I belong. It’s one of those few moments in life when you get the sense that you are exactly where you need to be right now. (Although it’s also said that there’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be. Also, all you need is love.) The flight attendant is wonderful, and he even offers hard candies just before we begin landing, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.

I stop in the airport bathroom to put on some makeup, partly because I don’t want to scare the small children I’m sure will be on the flight to Orlando, and partly because there seems to be an abundance of cute single men out today. At first I feel a little out of place standing at the mirror with my makeup spread out before me, painting away the evidence of lack of sleep, but then I notice that the woman to my right is brushing her teeth, and that the woman to my left is applying lipstick. Suddenly I feel less alone, and more a part of a community.

In need of some coffee (I only got about an hour and a half of sleep last night) I walk back to the Starbucks near C2, and they only have the bottled frappuccinos in the mocha flavor, which I detest, so I decide to walk down to the C17 SBux (Gotta love that they are only 15 gates apart.) I am distracted from my mission for a few minutes by the sight of a bookstore right across from SBux. Books! I search the shelves for the new Neil Gaiman, but I can’t find it. I do however find Eliot Hester’s new book, Continental Drifter, and am very tempted to buy it. I just finished his first book (Plane Insanity) about his experiences as a flight attendant last night, and I really liked it, so I’ve been looking forward to this one. Plus, I’ve been moving through the only book I brought to read much too fast. The $23 hardcover price seems a little too much of a dent in my cash flow right now, though, so I shelve the idea for the present time.

I cross back over to Starbucks, and Bingo! Vanilla frap in a bottle. I tell the girl working the register that she is my hero, and fork over about $2.50. Pricey, but sooo worth it.

I notice that there are only two people seated in the area near the gate right across from Starbucks, and decide to park myself there for a while. The cold coffee feels wonderful on my sore throat, and it’s half gone instantly. It’s 11am now, just over an hour till my next flight boards. My seat facing the window affords a good view of planes taxiing down the runway, but I can’t see the takeoff or landing from here. I’m tempted to walk back up to the area between C and B terminals where I noticed a lot of the flight crew sitting, probably on breaks or layovers, watching planes take off. (A cool looking military jet was taking off when I walked by, very Top Gun.) (Of course, right after typing that I can’t see take offs from here, a plane takes off right in my line of vision.)

I think I can see why people get into the airline industry, how they become addicted to flying. There’s an energy to it all, perhaps something to do with defying gravity itself. I find myself fascinated by the planes rolling past the wall of windows in front of me, marveling at the technology.

People begin to accumulate at the gate I’ve chosen, so I think about moving to a new one. My leg is asleep and although what I really want to do is get down on the floor and do some yoga and deep stretching, I instead stand up, stretch a little, and sit back down. Airports need yoga lounges- a nice quiet room where you can stretch and contort yourself silly without people looking at you funny.

I pack up my laptop and set off in search of a quieter gate, and make an effort to move back towards my actual gate in the process.

Back at C8 (which I have already nicknamed Cate), I notice someone laying by the wall, and deciding that looks comfortable, I plop myself down next to another wall, enjoying the luxury of stretching my legs out. Now THIS is good!

The flight from St. Louis to Orlando is mostly uneventful. I’m on a much larger plane this time, the kind with two seats on one side and three on the other. I’m by the window with two people between me and the aisle, which is great except for one small problem- about halfway through the flight, I really need to get to the restroom, and they are both asleep. I spend about half an hour just waiting, hoping they will wake up or the flight will magically be over, and my chance finally comes when a little bit of turbulence wakes them up. I feel a little stupid because they both stand up and get out into the aisle in order to let me out, and the process is repeated when I come back. Why do I like window seats again? (And why can’t anyone build a plane with enough legroom that you don’t have to befriend the people sitting next to you just to get out?)

After what felt like the longest flight ever (I tried being patient, but it took too long!) we arrive in Orlando. Mickey, here I come! I practically hug the monorail when I see it. The monorail! That means I’m here! We glide over to baggage claim where I grab my checked bag and then hoof it over to the Magical Express counter, approximately eighty-three miles away. (Because I booked DME so close to my trip, they didn’t have time to send me luggage tags, which meant I took care of my own luggage).

Checking in with Magical Express took only a few minutes, and I was given a voucher for my trip, and pointed towards the All Stars bus line. The wait for the bus was only about ten minutes, and we were on our way!

As we’re rolling along towards the All Stars, our DME bus driver tells us that of all of the land Walt bought for WDW, 1/3 is already developed, one third is available for future development, and one third can’t be developed (it’s swampland, etc.). This got me thinking- with the amount of available land, WDW can pretty much double in size. Can you imagine? Eight parks, six water parks, forty hotels, two Downtowns, six golf courses, four mini golfs… see where I’m going? I have enough trouble seeing everything I want to in a week, imagine how long you would need to be here to see all of THAT!

About a half hour later, we arrived at the All Stars, where we stopped at Sports first, followed by Music. There were only a few people in line to check in, and before I knew it I had my key in hand and started my trek out to Country Fair Building 6!

I think they call it the country building because “Yee Haw! It’s a long hike out here!” If you aren’t familiar with the Music resort, I’ll paint you a mental picture. In order to get to my building, you would walk out of the lobby, past the really really green Calypso buildings, past the pool, past the Jazz buildings, past the fountain, past the other pool, past the Broadway building, and then you see Country fair! It was kind of a long walk. In fact, the strap on my pretty new pink laptop bag actually broke on the way (somewhere between Jazz and Broadway, I think), which made carrying it plus my backpack plus my suitcase extra fun!

The marathon of getting to the room behind me, I decided to snap a few pictures before I messed everything up:

Welcome to ASMu!

I think the entertainment center at All Stars is so ugly!

Although the idea of walking back to the lobby so soon was a little daunting, I was starving, and Disney food was calling! The walk was much much easier without 40lbs of luggage, but still long! I always snap a picture of my room number in case I forget it.

(Um, Disney? It might be time for some touch-up painting at ASMu. Thanks!)

The sun was just beginning to set, so I snapped a few dusk pictures as I walked up to the food court.

The view from outside my room

back side of the country building

Broadway

...and Jazz

The food court

Yeah, long walk. However, waiting for me at the other side were things that made it all worth it!

For some reason, I found the napkins amusing:

After eating, I considered just going to sleep around 7pm, but I really wanted to go to World of Disney and buy a sweatshirt, so I hopped a bus to DD. On the way, I got a little misty-eyed as we passed Spaceship Earth, glowing it’s beautiful purplish color in the darkness. Epcot is my favorite park, and this was the first “icon” I’d seen on this trip, so it made me really happy!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I did a little bit of browsing in Marketplace, including the art store, which has some amazing stuff:

I stopped in Basin to buy a bath bomb, as I’ve seen recommended on the boards. What better way to start the trip than with a yummy smelling bath?

I went to World of Disney in search of my sweatshirt, but it was SO packed! I could barely walk around without stepping on kids or running into adults. It was only about 7pm, why weren’t they all out at the parks?? I only saw a couple of sweatshirts, and none of them suited me (plus they were $49!), so I gave up on World of Disney for the night, planning to come back when it was less crowded.

Nobody can pass up a picture of the dragon!

I decided to duck into the Adventurer’s Club for a minute (although since they changed the admission to where you have to wait in line at each club entrance, you can’t really just “duck in” anywhere anymore!”. I peered down into the club from the zebra mezzanine, and it looked like a show must be going on, because the main club area was mostly empty except for a handful of people at the bar who Hathaway Brown (a new one!) was talking to.

Not being a big fan of doing the club by myself, I decided to keep walking over towards West Side. Determined to do something tonight, I went into Disney Quest, where I walked around for a few minutes, and then suddenly felt really weak and lightheaded, and remembered that I’d been awake for almost 18 hours after only sleeping an hour the night before! It was time to admit defeat and go back to ASMu for some sleep.

I came back to the room, called home, and hopped in the bath to try out my bath bomb from basin. The peach/oatmeal smelled yummy, but the downside was that it turned the water a funky brownish-yellow color usually only seen after really bad Mexican food (no wait! It is also the same color as the Country building!), so that kinda ruined the mood.

Bath bomb before it liquified into an offensive color

I’m now in bed at 10:30pm, something that certainly hasn’t happened in a long time. The plan for tomorrow is to hit DAK for EMH, and then maybe Eppycot later in the day. If I can get a hold of Katie, I’ll see if she can take me to Wal-Mart for a hoodie.

Although I'm exhausted, it takes Stitch a little while longer to settle down.

Day 0 Summary:
The weather today was: Really nice, a little chilly after the sun went down
The best thing today was- seeing the Epcot ball
The worst thing today was- forgetting my jacket, crazy crowds, needing to pee on the plane
The funniest thing today was- Nothing, unfortunately
Today I tried- a chocolate croissant
And the result was- Yummy!
The most magical moment today was- first takeoff, seeing SSE
Solo Trip Lonelyness factor- not much at all, perhaps a 3
Worried that work has already fallen apart without me factor- much less than expected
# of photos taken: 76
Wakeup call set for: 7:35

Meals:
Breakfast-biscuits and gravy at airport
Lunch/Dinner- pizza and chocolate croissant from ASMu
Snack- brownies from home, snack mix from plane, Sbux

Surprising Thing- I wish I had packed my fuzzy slippers

 

[fizz13]

Great start to the report! I love threads with photos and you are doing a great job, I really felt the excitement of seeing that WDW signage. Will look out for more and give Stitch a hug from me

Claire xx

 

[agotta]

Sounds like a ton of fun and I love reading your report!! Can't wait for more (and to write my own! )

 

[swankybeth]

Great start! I love your report and photos, can't wait for more.

 

[declansdad]

Great report and pics! You are a very good story teller. If I had your talent I might have finished my last trip report.

I can't wait to read and see the rest.

 

[tubachick]

I Love all the Photos!!! Keep them coming.... so far you and Stich have had a great trip!!!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Sorry for the long time in between posts! I spent most of my shift at work today writing up days 1 and 2 and sorting/resizing photos, so at least part should be ready to post tomorrow!

Thanks for the great comments!

 

[BionicEar]

I am loving the pictures! Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[bbump]

Love your report and your pictures... it is helping me re-live our vacation. Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[Cinerama]

Great report and pics--I'll be looking for more! Thanks!

 

[Thumper's Tara]

Removing the cat from my suitcase, I then proceeded to use everything I ever learned from playing Tetris to smush all of my stuff in. I did the whole “suitcase inside a suitcase” thing so I’d have extra room coming home. Poor Stitch barely had room to breathe in there!

I crawled into bed with my cat Tallulah around 2am the night before my trip. I had no idea how I was going to make it through more than a week with no big black and white cat sleeping by my side! Could you?

This is what I wake up to every day!

Ahhhh! Thanks for the great report so far. I can't wait to read more!

I can totally relate to the cat in the suitcase. My cat, Trouble, is the same way. The hardest thing about traveling is not having Trouble to wake me up for some morning attention!

 

[ckmommy]

Please post more---I need my WDW fix!!!!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

We’re finally to the official “Day 1”! (November 26th)- Hooray!

Mickey (and Stitch) called to wake me up as planned at 7:30- it’s amazing what a difference getting some sleep makes! I felt sooo much better this morning!

I considered taking a photo of my feet before I left, since I knew they wouldn’t be looking so good by the end of the day. (Side note- it’s too bad I didn’t take a picture- I’m typing this two weeks after getting back, and my feet still don’t look normal!)

My plan was for Animal Kingdom to be my first park this trip- I usually don’t get there until two or three days into the trip, and by then my feet are already sore and I’m getting tired, so I wanted a chance to enjoy it fresh from the plane.

I made it to Animal Kingdom at 8:30, and stopped at the entrance to take a few photos of the tree:

I’d like to point out that most of these decorations are bigger than my tree at home is.

Hey look, a park entrance! I guess I might as well go in!

Now at Animal Kingdom, there seem to be two schools of people- the first rushes into the park and back to the safari, and the second group rushes into the park and does other stuff. And then there’s me. I like to go through every little trail of the Oasis, and make friends with every single animal.

I stopped at the first little animal area, and saw…nothing.

“There’s an anteater, down there” the CM said, pointing to something furry in a ditch. It was passed out.

“Wow, Mr. Anteater and I have similar early morning interests!”

“Actually, it’s a girl.”

“Oh! Sorry, Ms. Anteater! You have my humble apology. Have a nice nap!”

“Have fun, and be sure to tell everyone about the neat animals!” chimed the CM as I left.

Um, okay, but this is Animal Kingdom, I’m pretty sure most of them will notice the animals on their own.

Anyway, here I am telling everyone about the animals. They were neat!

The next little stop on the trail led to a black swan. He (or she!) was taking a bath, but I figured I could probably still get a decent picture anyway. Well, at least I tried.

Hey, could you hold still? Wait! Stop moving so I can take your picture! Can’t you bathe later?

Finally, a decent shot!

(according to the time info on the pictures, I spent three whole minutes taking pictures of the Swan. I figured I should be nice to him since I was staying in his hotel later in the week)

Continuing my “wandering slowly” theme, I went into one of the shops to look around. It was completely empty except for me and the CM, and I mentioned to him how nice it was that it was so quiet. He said it was usually pretty empty for the first hour or so that the park was open- everyone was rushing off to one place or another. We got into a conversation about all of the neat details in the shop- lamps at AK aren’t just lamps, they have llamas on them!

I also saw this cool looking frog basket hanging from the ceiling.

As much as I hear parents yelling at their kids “Hurry up or we won’t see anything!”, I’ve found that the opposite is instead true- slow down, or you’ll miss everything!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I made my way over to Africa…

This poster was too cute not to take a picture of, but it had the unfortunate quality of being on the wall right outside the men’s restroom door. I was afraid that everybody thought I was a freak for appearing to take pictures of the men’s room. I was really just photographing the poster, I promise!

This one was in a less embarrassing location.

The store in Harambe is one of my favorites- besides selling the usual park stuff, they also have some amazing African art.

Continuing the earlier theme of how cool the shops are, I snapped this picture of the back side of a merchandise shelf:

Anywhere else, this stuff would be in a museum. At WDW, it holds up t-shirts and goes overlooked.


Outside the shop, I ran into this guy:

He had a crowd around him, and was handing out various percussive instruments for the kids to play. He was hilarious, and really good at playing his xyleophone thingey!

The line for the safari was only 10 minutes long, so I hopped in.

I ended up being at the end of the bench in the safari vehicle, which is perfect if you’re planning to take pictures! I talked to the man seated next to me, who was from FL, and started pointing out good pictures to take. “Oh, you can get good photos of the giraffes up here!”

Hippos!

Rhino!

The cute bumper sticker on our vehicle:

Wildebeast!

I also have an extraordinary number of pictures of this guy, because I would turn around to take pictures, but my camera would focus on him instead of the animals:

About halfway into the safari, we had to stop, apparently because animals were blocking a vehicle up ahead. We eventually got to pull up further, and we could now see that a bunch of giraffes were responsible:

The finger in this photo seems to be saying “Hey! Look at that over there!” I have no idea what we are looking at.

We found Little Red, who had been kidnapped by poachers. Poor Little Red has such a traumatic life, he always seems to be in trouble!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Near the safari exit, I saw a building with these words painted on it. I snapped a picture so that I could come home and translate it, since my Swahili isn’t quite fluent, to say the least.

Unfortunately, words in Swahili seem to each have several meanings, and so it translates roughly as “no employers/older siblings can be here alone”. Unless someone can find a better translation, maybe?

Anyway! Up next was the….

I have no idea why this rock was on the trail. There are no buffalo at AK, and no water buffalo that I know of. I made sure to beware just in case, though!

I love how far Disney carries out the theming of these areas!

This is where the trip report gets a little creepy. If you don’t want your illusions about the cuteness of Timon-like meerkats shattered, I suggest you skip this part!

Over in the meerkat area, an unusual number of people were gathered. I assumed they were just watching the meerkat, and jumped into the crowd. It wasn’t until I heard a lady say “I don’t think I can watch this anymore!” that I figured out something was up. Instead of just the meerkat, there was also what looked like a bunny. Given that this is AK, it was probably some form of cool African bunny, but we’ll just call it a bunny for the sake of the story, okay? Well, the bunny was staring at the meerkat like she was awfully displeased with him. It was then that I figured out why- the meerkat had a baby bunny in it’s mouth, and was carrying it around. Baby bunny didn’t look too healthy.

Now wait a minute. Didn’t Lion King 1 ½ make a big deal about meerkats being at the bottom of the food chain? I mean, there was a whole musical number about it! So what was this meerkat doing with a baby bunny, looking like he was planning to EAT it? I didn’t want to stick around to find out.

After I got home, I looked it up:
“Meerkats eat mainly insects, spiders, centipedes, scorpions, eggs, small birds,
mammals, lizards, snails, and some plants.”

Uh oh. That said mammals! This is a report about Disney, so we’ll just say that this happened to be a vegetarian meerkat, and that the baby bunny is okay. Deal?

This is awfully blurry, but you can see the mother bunny and the offending meerkat. Um, I mean the vegetarian meerkat!

(I would also like Disney to maybe throw in a disclaimer on Lion King 1 ½ updating us on meerkat eating habits. That’s the last time I take my animal info from a cartoon!)

(Um, also, why the heck didn’t an AK CM jump in and do something about the situation? Did they not know there was a baby? If so, why did they put it in the same area with something that would eat it??)

-----This ends the disturbing part of the trip report-----

Up next on the trail were the gorillas, who were kind enough not to be eating anyone. They were even nice enough to make the video I shot of them interesting! No sooner had I started filming one of the males when he grabbed a tree limb and carried it off! I’ll post the video link for now, but I might have to take it down if I start going over my bandwidth:

Gorilla Video

Am I the only one who finds that really funny?

I was getting a little tired, and definitely ready for a break, so I started walking towards the front of the park. On my way through Africa, though, I heard drumming. After a couple of years of bellydancing, I am now physically incapable to walk past live drummers without stopping. I found a spot on the bench, and watched. Or at least that’s what I meant to do.

A minute later, I (as well as about six or seven others) was pulled up into the show! They showed us different dance moves, and we followed along. I’m sure my performance was enough to bring a tear to your eye, but since I was alone, I have no video to document it. (Whew!) I do, however, have this picture:

After my African dance stage debut, I decided to wander back behind the Dawa bar to a quiet little seating area, where I sat down for a few minutes to have some water and call my mom. I got the answering machine, so I grabbed my stuff and set out for the park exit. I was so worn out by now (the first day at WDW is always so long!) that I wasn’t sure I was going to make it all the way to the front of the park! I eyed the kids in strollers enviously, wishing I had someone to push me around. Or better yet, carry me around in one of those Cleopatra-type things, complete with the men with palm leaves… But I digress…

I decided to exit through the Rainforest Café to see if they had any cheap sweatshirts (hah!), and as I was leaving, I saw a person in the fish tank. A guy was scuba diving in there to clean! I reached for my camera to snap a picture, but my camera wasn’t there! I knew it must be back in Africa where I had stopped to sit down, so I had to run (really fast walk) back through the park to Africa. I was already totally exhausted, so I’m amazed that I made it, but I was also freaking out because I was worried my camera wouldn’t be there- I looove my camera, I just got it half a year ago, and there’s no way I could afford to replace it!

I got to the table I had been sitting at, and it wasn’t there. I asked a couple sitting at a nearby table if they’d seen anyone pick it up, and they said they had only been there for a few minutes, but they hadn’t seen anything. They suggested that I ask at the bar, which I did. The man I asked said nothing had been turned in, but then the woman working with him said that someone had just taken a camera to the restaurant! I dashed over to the neighboring restaurant (Tusker House, right? I think?) where I told them what kind of camera it was, and the CM disappeared back through the doors for a really, really long time. Time passed, the seasons changed, the 5th theme park opened, and the DIS-boards finally came to a consensus on the issues of resort mugs and pool hopping, and then finally the CM returned, carrying my camera! Reunited and it feels so good! Just to be sure, I clicked it over to the “play” function, just to make sure it was mine, which it was! Hooray!

Now it was time to exit the park yet again! This time I was so happy to be reunited with my camera that I totally forgot to go back through RFC to snap the picture of the scuba guy. Too bad I didn’t- if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have realized I lost my camera for at least thirty more seconds when I went to reach for it for some other reason!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I usually go back to my own resort for my afternoon break, but I was much more in the mood to go over to Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was nearby, way cooler to hang out at, and I really wanted to try the zebra domes!

I love that at AKL, if you’re walking up from the bus stop, you hit the gift shop before you even come to the lobby. The gift shop here is awesome, and I highly recommend a trip if you haven’t been. It seemed to have a little more generic Disney stuff and less of the cool African stuff than it did back when the lodge opened, but it still has some amazing stuff, like this art:

(the first time I saw that giraffe painting a few years ago, it took me forever to figure out that the purple thing was its tongue!)

Yeah, I’m too poor to buy the paintings, but I can take pictures of them! The shop also sells nifty watercolors of the lodge.

In my Stitch thread where I took requests for the trip, AussieTink asked for photos of the insides of shops, and so here is one of Zwadi marketplace! (The AKL giftshop, which I have mistakenly been calling Zwandi for years).

I really like the lobby at AKL, mostly because it feels a little like the lobby at WL (They were in fact done by the same designer.) I wandered around the lodge a little, just taking various photos:

And then I made my way down to the Mara. If you want some zebra domes, there’s no need to pay more than $20 for the Boma buffet- you can get them right here at the Mara- a combo pack of zebra domes and chocolate mousse thingeys sells for less than $4!

I was wondering if they still did the art tour of the Lodge that I’d heard about, so I asked the girl at the cash register at the Mara. “What lodge?” was her response, I kid you not. “Um, this one?” I asked. She finally got it, and told me that no, there was no tour. (I later asked another CM who also said no. Then I checked the events board on my way out of the lodge, and yup! There is a tour!)

This hippo is painted on the wall mural in the Mara. I won’t make any jokes about his nose being funny-looking.

I sat outside in a pool chair that was actually nowhere near the pool to get some sun and enjoy my zebra domes. I was surprised to find myself wishing that I was staying here at the Lodge- I liked it last time I was here, but it was never a favorite. Now I’ve got the urge to go back, though. Maybe second time’s the charm?

After eating all I could of my zebra domes (yum!), I decided to be stupid and see if I could take the leftovers with me. They were too yummy to throw away! I carefully set the package in my backpack, and hoped it would stay closed.

I decided to pick a hallway and wander down it, stopping at the windows to peer out at the savannahs.

How cute is that lion painted on the building?

I got all the way down to the end of a hallway (I think it was on the zebra trail?), but I didn’t want to look stupid and walk back past the housekeepers I had just passed, so I went out a door marked stairway, hoping I wouldn’t get locked out or something. Instead I discovered that from this open-air stairway, I could see animals! A few African cows (Ankole cattle, if I remember right?) and some giraffes. Free savannah view!

I was making my way down the staircase, getting better shots of the animals with each floor I went down, when suddenly one of the cows mooed. (Is that the word for “Moo” in the past tense?) For some reason, this cracked me up. I guess I had been expecting African cattle to say something more African- Moozwa!, maybe? Moo sounded awfully funny. Or maybe I had spent too much time in the sun today.

I went out by Arusha Rock to check out the animals when my phone rang. It was Katie, my friend who lives in Orlando, calling to make some plans.

“An African cow just moo’d at me!” I said as a greeting. Somehow it was hard to explain just why this was so funny.

Katie told me that she was busy today, but free tomorrow, so we made plans to meet up at MK.

(I snapped this one while I was on the phone with Katie)


I decided it was time to get back to my own resort and grab some lunch (Mara didn’t have the amazing breadsticks on the menu anymore!), so I walked back down to the bus stop, only after stopping to snap a picture of the line to check in.

(I planned to show these to my coworkers at home, complete with tales of the scary hotels that make front desk people do real work!)

I fell in love with this horse on the building near the bus stop. He was just cute!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Back at ASMu, I had to wait while they cooked my pizza, so I sat in the food court and looked through the pictures on my (beloved! Precious!) camera. It was then that I noticed that one of the dancers painted on the wall looked like Sarah Jessica Parker.

Wait a minute, so did one of the singers!

Please tell me it’s not just me who sees the resemblance?

I got my pizza and carried it back to the room so I could eat and watch TV.

In case you are wondering, this is what leftover zebra domes look like if you leave them in your backpack on a hot day for almost two hours:

The thing is, they still *tasted* yummy!

After eating, I spent some time hanging out in my room, and then decided to go over to Epcot.

When I got there, I took a few pictures of Spaceship Earth:

Living Seas had just reopened from rehab a few days earlier, so I went to check out the changes. Luckily I overheard someone say that you now entered through the old exit, because I probably would have gotten really confused otherwise.

The good thing about entering through these doors is that you don’t have to wait. Before you had to wait in the big round room with the pretty wave design (which I kinda missed), and then wait on the hydrolator, and then finally get there. Now you just walk in (which as to confuse the heck out of kids who actually bought the whole “our hydrolator is taking us way under water..” bit.)

The line for Crush was huge every time I checked on the trip- apparently word has gotten out about what a great show it is! Just last year the CM’s were standing at the entrance trying to talk people into going in to fill up space!

I went over and sat on one of the ledges by the glass. This is the best place to be, because fish swim right up to you, which is a kind of freaky sensation. I had just sat down when a huge school of fish came out of nowhere and swam right past me! Here, I’ll try to recreate the moment for you. Just stick your head right up to the monitor:

Look who I found!