Sunrise Safari

[Samsma]

Thanks Lizzie - but I guess my next question is what time will the park open? Do you think 8:00 or 9:00 in early July? Does this have anything to do with the EE schedule, because I thought EE for AK was on Mon. That did clear up a lot though. I know an hour doesn't seem like much, but I'm pushing this with my DH, he wants to be on the road by 8:00 or 9:00 as we have a long, long, long drive back to Southern IL. and try to do it without another overnight stop. I don't mean to be a pain.

 

[lizzie64]

You're not being a pain. I just checked the park hours and projected hours for July are 9:00 - 6:00. So you'll have to go with the later scenario.

I know DH wants to get an early start, but even if you don't do the breakfast, I think you're looking at at least a 2 hour event between meeting and the actual safari.

Good luck

 

[lizzie64]

Originally posted by giatocj
I know what you mean...I think Christian (my grandson) was the youngest on the safari and quite better behaved than some of the older ones (which is saying A LOT about a 3 year old...LOL). I'm wondering if more appeal for the younger kids and maybe a bit boring for the older ones...Christian had his Mickey Binoculars and had a BALL looking for the animals...and we found a couple of Hidden Mickey's, too (with the help of the driver!!!).

giatocj,
Where did you find the Mickey binoculars? I think my boys would have a blast having those on the safari. Did you get them at WDW?

Thanks,
Liz

Have a great safari...we're already planning for NEXT March to go back.

Donna C.

 

[LvsTnk]

I asked the CM I worked with at the AKL Concierge about taking young ones on the Safari after reading some negative posts about the subject. I told her I didn't have a young one but a DS with special needs and didn't want to ruin the Safari for anyone, she put my mind at ease about how he would be welcomed.

We had an awesome time, we met in the lounge at 7:30 (first of May last year) breakfast was set up so we had a snack first and off we went. The only thing that was kind of a pain was since we AP holders we could not use FP without going back to the front gate to have our passes scanneed.

Oh, and if you sit by the tour guide make sure you fill your plate up high he was so interesting I didn't want to get up for seconds!

 

[giatocj]

Liz,

The binoculars were in the AKL gift shop down in back by the toys...across from the scrapbooking kits. Honestly, they were a life saver...and only $ 5!!! I would totally recommend them for the boys.

Donna C.

 

[lizzie64]

Originally posted by giatocj
Liz,

The binoculars were in the AKL gift shop down in back by the toys...across from the scrapbooking kits. Honestly, they were a life saver...and only $ 5!!! I would totally recommend them for the boys.

Donna C.

Thanks donna,

I will call concierge this morning, maybe they can pick them up for me and have them in their arrival goody bags.

 

[Puffy2]

Just wondering, if the safari starts by 7 or so and lasts only an hour, why is the breakfast not until 10am?? Can someone fill me in on a time frame for this event?

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by Samsma
We are checking out the day of our Safari (if we get in). What time could we expect to be on the road? I wasn't really counting on not even eating until 10:00 - then taking the bus back to AKL - then checking out. I figured leave at 6:30 start at 6:45 end at 7:45 eat and be back at the lodge around 9:00. Am I unrealistic? Maybe the sun rises later at WDW than what I call sunrise!

You have to meet in the concierge lounge at about 7:00am. You don't even leave the AKL until about 7:30, maybe even 7:45 by the time they get you loaded on the bus. It's well after 8:00 before you get on the safari vehicle, and the ride is close to an hour. Then you have to walk to Tusker House. When you get inside they stop for abit so people can use the rest room, then everyone is ushered into the school room. You do'nt go right to the buffet, you stop and wait for everyone to be seated, then they explain teh buffet foods to you. After that everyone is invited up to eat. So it's about 9:30 or even later before you actually have food in front of you.

The safari USED to start at 6:30, that stopped quite some time ago (2 years maybe?)--it was just too early for people, and they ended up waiting for a lot of people to show up.

Anne

 

[giatocj]

Liz,

What is the "Arrival Goodie Bag"??? I'd love to do something like that for Christian next year. This year I brought 2 pairs of PJs and put them in a Disney Gift Bag outside our door when he wasn't looking and let him find them...I had read that somewhere...and he LOVED it!!!

Thanks,

Donna

 

[lizzie64]

Originally posted by giatocj
Liz,

What is the "Arrival Goodie Bag"??? I'd love to do something like that for Christian next year. This year I brought 2 pairs of PJs and put them in a Disney Gift Bag outside our door when he wasn't looking and let him find them...I had read that somewhere...and he LOVED it!!!


Donna

Hi Donna,

I went through theperfectgift.cc and had them put together a goody basket for our kids for our arrival day.

Basically, autograph books, pens, a beanie, a t-shirt, some snacks, pins. Lots of stuff to get them going.

Cassie or <<^^>>, also told me about something she arranged through the concierge staff. Every night at turndown, housekeeping will leave an animal beanie for my 2 little guys as a surprise. I arranged it with concierge. They will go shopping about a week before I arrive at the gift shop. They will buy each of my sons a beanie for each night that we will be staying there. Then housekeeping will put one on each of their pillows each night for them to find.

Thought this was great and can't thank Cassie enough for the idea.

 

[giatocj]

Oh my goodness...I love BOTH of these ideas...I'm printing them out so when it gets close to our next trip (next March) I'll have them handy. Christian will LOVE this.

Thanks tons,

Donna C.

 

[lizzie64]

Originally posted by giatocj
Oh my goodness...I love BOTH of these ideas...I'm printing them out so when it gets close to our next trip (next March) I'll have them handy. Christian will LOVE this.

Thanks tons,

Donna C.

Your welcome,

Aren't they great. I also spoke to concierge about the binoculars and they will get them for me also.

I'll be sure to post a trip report about how all the goodies worked out.

 

[Princess49]

Was the basket that you did through Perfect Gift a Disney basket? I have another post about a honeymoon basket that I want to have there for friends of ours the night they check in but I have no idea how to go about it! We want champagne & the mickey & minnie champagne glasses, & the bride & groom ears-- not sure what else, all Disney stuff! we're not sure how to do it though- how to get the disney merchandise & how to get the basket there when the check in!! Any advice?? Thanks!

 

[lizzie64]

Yes it was all Disney stuff.

I actually got their name from another DIS'er that has used her in the past.

I pretty much told her what I wanted and she said fine. Each kid has a favorite character so those characters were to be worked in, along with the autograph books, pen and other stuff.

You might want to look at pixiegifts.com and disneyflorist.com

I am very happy with their service so far. They've been very cooperative and have called me a couple of times to confirm what was going in the basket and my arrival dates.

I gave her a budget and she stuck to it.

Give them a call and they'll give you an idea as to what they can do. I don't see a problem with the minnie bride ears or the mickey groom stuff.

 

[jillhou]

We just did this in March and we ate before 10 am. We were walking to the Tusker house at about the time all the people were being let in and they were hauling it back to the Safari ride. The park opened at 9 that day....so it was between 9:10 and 9:20 when we got to the Tusker house.

My boys are older - 14, 11, and 8 and they were not bored in the least. There were several small kids on board and they did great. We were pleased to have them.

There was a woman who was really irritating - I am glad she was in the other safari vehicle. We sat far awy from her at breakfast, too.

Some people are more sensitive the noises kids make, too. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Have fun.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by >>^..^<<
Well... there are those crocs to worry about

>>^..^<<

I don't know. I think I'd be more worried about Ducklite then some little croc! LOL!

 

[lizzie64]

Originally posted by jillhou
We just did this in March and we ate before 10 am. We were walking to the Tusker house at about the time all the people were being let in and they were hauling it back to the Safari ride. The park opened at 9 that day....so it was between 9:10 and 9:20 when we got to the Tusker house.

My boys are older - 14, 11, and 8 and they were not bored in the least. There were several small kids on board and they did great. We were pleased to have them.

There was a woman who was really irritating - I am glad she was in the other safari vehicle. We sat far awy from her at breakfast, too.

Some people are more sensitive the noises kids make, too. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Have fun.

Great Post Jillhou,

So glad to read another positive post about the kids on the safari. I was speaking to the concierge staff yesterday and they said the kids have a great time and absolutely "you must" take them.

My guys are so excited. They love giraffes, so I'm hoping we'll get lucky and have one real close.

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by skiwee1
I don't know. I think I'd be more worried about Ducklite then some little croc! LOL!

If you had gotten repeatedly whacked in the head and the back by a screaming brat behind you, ruining an experience you paid $100 for, I'm sure you would have been upset as well.

I should have demanded the parents of that brat give me a refund out of their pocket, although you can't get the experience back, which was what I was really PO'ed about.

Like I said, I'm sure you would have been equally upset had you been in my shoes.

Anne

 

[jillhou]

Originally posted by ducklite
If you had gotten repeatedly whacked in the head and the back by a screaming brat behind you, ruining an experience you paid $100 for, I'm sure you would have been upset as well.

I should have demanded the parents of that brat give me a refund out of their pocket, although you can't get the experience back, which was what I was really PO'ed about.

Did you ask the parents to have the child stop hitting you? It is unbelievable that some parents do not realize their child is hitting someone else - or that they do not care. You might have requested different seating from the host. Seems if you had raised your hand and said - is there another seat available somewhere as this child continually hits me and is ruining my safari - maybe everyone would have gotten the point.

 

[JOC]

It is unbelievable that some parents do not realize their child is hitting someone else - or that they do not care.

Unfortunately, some parents probably don't care that their kids misbehave and run amuck because they're at "Disney, the Most Wonderful Place in the World for Kids," which to them means that children should be able to run rampant and act like "brats."