Chim Chiminy
stale marshmallows sting when they hit you
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2003
- Messages
- 1,861
So, we have had a memorable breakfast. All of us are stuffed, including Brenne and pasta wasn't even on the menu!
We waddle out into the sun, it is still a little cool out, and check out the wait time for Dinosaur. 60 minutes. Fastpass returns are for really late in the afternoon, so we take a pass. After all, we plan to return later in the week.
Hester and Chester's Dinorama is really busy too, so we let the kids play in the Boneyard for a while instead.
The kids have a blast here. DH chases them all over, high up into the air on the dino-bone bridges and down the slides. There is only one way to enter or exit, so we don't really worry about them getting lost, out or seperated from us and we let them run wild.
We let them play here for at least 45 minutes. They really had a blast.
I checked our times guide and saw that Tarzan was going to be starting soon, so we thought maybe we would go see that again. We got in line for the show, but DH wanted to see something new. So we decided to go to Asia instead and see Flights of Wonder.
We crossed the newly built bridge connecting Dinoland and Asia, sneaking a peak at the construction taking place for Expedition Everest. Like everything in Animal Kingdom, the bridge and new pathway is highly themed. The pathway looks like mud, with footprints and tracks in it. We stopped for a break to use the restroom and encountered something that impressed us all.
Now, this will sound silly, but the restrooms have the strongest hand dryers we have ever seen. They were super sonic, actually made the skin on our hands fold back and dimple. Brenne was too scared to use it!
OKAY! We are dorks!!!!!
We rounded a bend on the pathway and could hear music coming from the river. Neth and I stopped to watch. A boat was winding its way around with African musicians playing some great music and waving to all us guests. I thought that was a nice touch.
We reached Asia and Neth really wanted to ride Kali River Rapids, but like the other major attractions, the wait time was crazy long. Two hours! He said he didn't care, but I know thirty minutes of standing later and he would be ready to get out of line.
Flights of Wonder didn't start for another 45 minutes, so we decided to go on the Maharajah Jungle Trek.
It was packed as well. A sea of people. We wound our way through the trail, seeing tigers, some kind of antelope looking animal, giant fruit bats and a bird aviary. The fruit bats were impressive......
Once we made our way out, DH mentioned getting ice cream. Bad idea. We had just eaten. So I said they could wait, but the kids didn't like that idea.
We went and got in line for the Flights of Wonder show. The wait was only seven minutes.
We were seated on the left side of the stage near the center aisle. Brenne was right on the aisle. Neth wanted to sit next to her, but I knew they would start fighting, so he had to stay where he was. He had a harder time seeing than she did.
The show was amazing. We all enjoyed it and are looking forward to seeing it again. We had a hawk fly right over our heads, just a few inches above us. I really can't describe the whole show. It was incredible.
After the show was over, DH and the kids got their ice cream. Brenne had to have her own Mickey bar!
Since we hadn't seen it before, we took the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch and Conservation Station. The train ride was nice, you get to see some backstage areas such as the animals night houses. Once off the train it is a hike to get to Planet Watch though! But worth it.
We took the kids to Affection Section, an area where they can pet and groom some smaller animals.
Both kids really liked this. Brenne loved being able to brush the goats and pigs! They had a show going on featuring snakes and giant spiders you could touch as well.
While Brenne was brushing a goat, another one walked up near me and decided that was a good time to use the bathroom. Thankfully, I can be quick when I need to be!
DH got a good laugh over that.
I decided I better escape while I could......so I left and washed my hands and waited for everyone else.
When they had enough affection, everyone washed up and we went into Conservation Station.
No operations were taking place while we were there, but you can view the OR and some of the more interesting swallowed objects are on display. We saw a neat x-ray of a snake who had swallowed a golf ball. A CM standing near the windows complimented my son on his scrub top and said that another CM there who worked in the OR had the exact same one. I said thank you, I made the shirt for him. He picked out the fabric.
I thought it was neat that someone there has the same shirt.
We watched a mini-theatrical production starring a mermaid puppet and her friend, the manatee. Brenne remembered the Manatee's from Seaworld last year, so she really liked this little show.
As we were walking around near the front again, we got a nice treat.
Stanley, from Playhouse Disney walked up, and Brenne got to accompany him to his meet and greet spot! She was grinning from ear to ear.
Brenne absolutely loves Stanley!
We searched around for Neth, who had found something to focus his attention on also. A talking, roaming trash can was teasing him and another boy. They were chasing the trash can around, trying to figure out how it worked. ( Neth thought a really small person was inside controlling it!)
Brenne got her autograph book out and went up to get Stanley's autograph. Then she got a picture with him. He even had his goldfish Dennis with him.
Then Rafiki came out, so we got in line to see him. Neth joined us, he likes Rafiki.
Brenne got his autograph, both kids got a picture with him and then he hugged Brenne and gave her a kiss! DH and I heard the "smmmmck" , and Brenne was smiling like crazy.
The Cast Member who was assisting the two characters was really sweet with the kids too.
We decided to do one last thing at Conservation Station.
Go into the Rainforest Sound Booth. What a wonderful idea.
You sit in complete darkness with headphones on and listen to sounds of the rainforest. It was so relaxing, we had to do it again.
Feeling very relaxed, we thought it was time to make our way out of the park. We hadn't intended to spend as much time here today as we had.
We took the train back to Africa and people were getting reading for the parade.
We started winding our way to the front of the park.
As we passed It's Tough to Be a Bug, we noticed that the wait was only 30 minutes, so we thought we would give it a shot and hope the line was faster.
The line wound down and around the Tree of Life, and gave us plenty of time to actually view it up close. We made a game of seeing how many animals we could find.
Our wait time really was about 30 minutes, but it was okay.
A lady in front of us made me laugh when she commented on one of the movie posters. "Claire de Room? I don't get it." (the poster had a picture of a big ol' stink bug on it). Her friend explained it to her, but she was still a bit confused.
Once we were inside the Tree, we grabbed our bug eyes.
Last time we saw this movie, both kids had been scared by it. So we were hoping that they handled it better, now that they knew what to expect.
Well, let's just say that Brenne did better than Neth.
She is turning out to be a bit of a daredevil.
Seriously though, we all enjoyed the show. It is very funny and full of surprises.
Now, we were ready to head back to the resort.
When we exited the turnstiles, several characters were out greeting people, but there weren't many people out at that time.
So Brenne got to spend several minutes with Wendell from the Country Bears. She really enjoyed the one on one attention without feeling rushed. And Wendell is very silly!
Back in our room we all decided to rest for a little bit. Kids were still a bit wound up, but we managed to lay down for a little while.
Feeling rested, they were ready to go for a swim. They wanted to go check out the main pool.
So, that was our destination.
The sun was starting to set and it was getting cooler again. Neth didn't care. He jumped right into the pool.
Brenne wanted to play in the playground, so I took her over so she could climb all over the giant sandcastle.
But after ten minutes, she decided she really wanted to swim. So into the pool we went.
Bbbbrrrrrrrr!!!! The water was cold! It really didn't feel heated like the Turtle Pond pool had. I was freezing. Brenne wanted to stay in because she had found a friend to play with, so I had to tough it out. DH had escaped to the sauna......
We stayed in for about twenty minutes, but I was so glad when we finally got out.
We were all hungry, and DH had run over to Olivia's to see if they had any available seating. They did, but we wanted to change.
So quickly back to the room, change, then to Olivia's.
What a charming restaurant! The walls in the entry are covered with photos of DVC members.
We were seated and quickly ordered.
I had the conch chowder and lump blue crab cakes, DH had prime rib, Neth had a cheeseburger and Brenne had Mickey pasta.
The conch chowder was very good, although I wasn't sure what to expect since I have never had conch before. Couldn't finish the crab cakes. They were huge. Brenne fell asleep before she could finish her pasta.
Going back to the room, we stopped in the General Store to see if Pal Mickey could be re-set. All he was doing was telling jokes. The CM was really nice, gave him new batteries free of charge, and gave Neth some hints for helping Pal Mickey learn new info. Then he set him up to tell a three part joke, a new one! Neth was happy!
Time for bed, because we really did have to be up early the next morning.
We waddle out into the sun, it is still a little cool out, and check out the wait time for Dinosaur. 60 minutes. Fastpass returns are for really late in the afternoon, so we take a pass. After all, we plan to return later in the week.
Hester and Chester's Dinorama is really busy too, so we let the kids play in the Boneyard for a while instead.
The kids have a blast here. DH chases them all over, high up into the air on the dino-bone bridges and down the slides. There is only one way to enter or exit, so we don't really worry about them getting lost, out or seperated from us and we let them run wild.
We let them play here for at least 45 minutes. They really had a blast.
I checked our times guide and saw that Tarzan was going to be starting soon, so we thought maybe we would go see that again. We got in line for the show, but DH wanted to see something new. So we decided to go to Asia instead and see Flights of Wonder.
We crossed the newly built bridge connecting Dinoland and Asia, sneaking a peak at the construction taking place for Expedition Everest. Like everything in Animal Kingdom, the bridge and new pathway is highly themed. The pathway looks like mud, with footprints and tracks in it. We stopped for a break to use the restroom and encountered something that impressed us all.
Now, this will sound silly, but the restrooms have the strongest hand dryers we have ever seen. They were super sonic, actually made the skin on our hands fold back and dimple. Brenne was too scared to use it!
OKAY! We are dorks!!!!!
We rounded a bend on the pathway and could hear music coming from the river. Neth and I stopped to watch. A boat was winding its way around with African musicians playing some great music and waving to all us guests. I thought that was a nice touch.
We reached Asia and Neth really wanted to ride Kali River Rapids, but like the other major attractions, the wait time was crazy long. Two hours! He said he didn't care, but I know thirty minutes of standing later and he would be ready to get out of line.
Flights of Wonder didn't start for another 45 minutes, so we decided to go on the Maharajah Jungle Trek.
It was packed as well. A sea of people. We wound our way through the trail, seeing tigers, some kind of antelope looking animal, giant fruit bats and a bird aviary. The fruit bats were impressive......
Once we made our way out, DH mentioned getting ice cream. Bad idea. We had just eaten. So I said they could wait, but the kids didn't like that idea.
We went and got in line for the Flights of Wonder show. The wait was only seven minutes.
We were seated on the left side of the stage near the center aisle. Brenne was right on the aisle. Neth wanted to sit next to her, but I knew they would start fighting, so he had to stay where he was. He had a harder time seeing than she did.
The show was amazing. We all enjoyed it and are looking forward to seeing it again. We had a hawk fly right over our heads, just a few inches above us. I really can't describe the whole show. It was incredible.
After the show was over, DH and the kids got their ice cream. Brenne had to have her own Mickey bar!
Since we hadn't seen it before, we took the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch and Conservation Station. The train ride was nice, you get to see some backstage areas such as the animals night houses. Once off the train it is a hike to get to Planet Watch though! But worth it.
We took the kids to Affection Section, an area where they can pet and groom some smaller animals.
Both kids really liked this. Brenne loved being able to brush the goats and pigs! They had a show going on featuring snakes and giant spiders you could touch as well.
While Brenne was brushing a goat, another one walked up near me and decided that was a good time to use the bathroom. Thankfully, I can be quick when I need to be!
DH got a good laugh over that.
I decided I better escape while I could......so I left and washed my hands and waited for everyone else.
When they had enough affection, everyone washed up and we went into Conservation Station.
No operations were taking place while we were there, but you can view the OR and some of the more interesting swallowed objects are on display. We saw a neat x-ray of a snake who had swallowed a golf ball. A CM standing near the windows complimented my son on his scrub top and said that another CM there who worked in the OR had the exact same one. I said thank you, I made the shirt for him. He picked out the fabric.
I thought it was neat that someone there has the same shirt.
We watched a mini-theatrical production starring a mermaid puppet and her friend, the manatee. Brenne remembered the Manatee's from Seaworld last year, so she really liked this little show.
As we were walking around near the front again, we got a nice treat.
Stanley, from Playhouse Disney walked up, and Brenne got to accompany him to his meet and greet spot! She was grinning from ear to ear.
Brenne absolutely loves Stanley!
We searched around for Neth, who had found something to focus his attention on also. A talking, roaming trash can was teasing him and another boy. They were chasing the trash can around, trying to figure out how it worked. ( Neth thought a really small person was inside controlling it!)
Brenne got her autograph book out and went up to get Stanley's autograph. Then she got a picture with him. He even had his goldfish Dennis with him.
Then Rafiki came out, so we got in line to see him. Neth joined us, he likes Rafiki.
Brenne got his autograph, both kids got a picture with him and then he hugged Brenne and gave her a kiss! DH and I heard the "smmmmck" , and Brenne was smiling like crazy.
The Cast Member who was assisting the two characters was really sweet with the kids too.
We decided to do one last thing at Conservation Station.
Go into the Rainforest Sound Booth. What a wonderful idea.
You sit in complete darkness with headphones on and listen to sounds of the rainforest. It was so relaxing, we had to do it again.
Feeling very relaxed, we thought it was time to make our way out of the park. We hadn't intended to spend as much time here today as we had.
We took the train back to Africa and people were getting reading for the parade.
We started winding our way to the front of the park.
As we passed It's Tough to Be a Bug, we noticed that the wait was only 30 minutes, so we thought we would give it a shot and hope the line was faster.
The line wound down and around the Tree of Life, and gave us plenty of time to actually view it up close. We made a game of seeing how many animals we could find.
Our wait time really was about 30 minutes, but it was okay.
A lady in front of us made me laugh when she commented on one of the movie posters. "Claire de Room? I don't get it." (the poster had a picture of a big ol' stink bug on it). Her friend explained it to her, but she was still a bit confused.
Once we were inside the Tree, we grabbed our bug eyes.
Last time we saw this movie, both kids had been scared by it. So we were hoping that they handled it better, now that they knew what to expect.
Well, let's just say that Brenne did better than Neth.
She is turning out to be a bit of a daredevil.
Seriously though, we all enjoyed the show. It is very funny and full of surprises.
Now, we were ready to head back to the resort.
When we exited the turnstiles, several characters were out greeting people, but there weren't many people out at that time.
So Brenne got to spend several minutes with Wendell from the Country Bears. She really enjoyed the one on one attention without feeling rushed. And Wendell is very silly!
Back in our room we all decided to rest for a little bit. Kids were still a bit wound up, but we managed to lay down for a little while.
Feeling rested, they were ready to go for a swim. They wanted to go check out the main pool.
So, that was our destination.
The sun was starting to set and it was getting cooler again. Neth didn't care. He jumped right into the pool.
Brenne wanted to play in the playground, so I took her over so she could climb all over the giant sandcastle.
But after ten minutes, she decided she really wanted to swim. So into the pool we went.
Bbbbrrrrrrrr!!!! The water was cold! It really didn't feel heated like the Turtle Pond pool had. I was freezing. Brenne wanted to stay in because she had found a friend to play with, so I had to tough it out. DH had escaped to the sauna......
We stayed in for about twenty minutes, but I was so glad when we finally got out.
We were all hungry, and DH had run over to Olivia's to see if they had any available seating. They did, but we wanted to change.
So quickly back to the room, change, then to Olivia's.
What a charming restaurant! The walls in the entry are covered with photos of DVC members.
We were seated and quickly ordered.
I had the conch chowder and lump blue crab cakes, DH had prime rib, Neth had a cheeseburger and Brenne had Mickey pasta.
The conch chowder was very good, although I wasn't sure what to expect since I have never had conch before. Couldn't finish the crab cakes. They were huge. Brenne fell asleep before she could finish her pasta.
Going back to the room, we stopped in the General Store to see if Pal Mickey could be re-set. All he was doing was telling jokes. The CM was really nice, gave him new batteries free of charge, and gave Neth some hints for helping Pal Mickey learn new info. Then he set him up to tell a three part joke, a new one! Neth was happy!
Time for bed, because we really did have to be up early the next morning.
