KaityBsMom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2003
- Messages
- 113
Cast: me (30), DH (30), DD (4)- huge Lion King fan
We got up (almost as early as we wanted) and decided to go for a quick breakfast at Old Port Royale, as CBR had not brought the refrigerator we requested until 10:30 pm the night before and we hadnt gone out to get any supplies so we could use our food stash. DD enjoyed having Mickey waffles and milk, while I had a croissant and OJ and DH had cereal and a side order of bacon.
We arrived at Animal Kingdom at 9:10 am (had hoped to make it for 8 am Early Entry, but that was not to be). There were more people at AK than we had seen in a park so far on the trip. It seemed particularly crowded when we were all making our way through the turnstiles, but it didnt turn out to be quite that crowded in the end (once everyone dispersed). We decided to do Its Tough to be a Bug first, after looking at the Tree of Life (awesome!). We enjoyed the bug show (except for the stink factor- LOL). DD was somewhat scared (she doesnt like Hopper and his gang in general), but was fine. Next we headed to Asia. (It still seemed crowded and we thought everyone may be heading for the safari first.)
We walked through the Maharaja Jungle Trek and really enjoyed seeing the tigers. They were mostly sleeping, but they are so beautiful, especially up close. Enjoyed the bird aviary, too. We decided to skip the Flights of Wonder bird show as we felt we have seen many bird shows in the past and were more concerned with making sure we got to do everything else. We also skipped the Rapids, as none of us relished getting soaked. DH dislikes water rides in general, while I like them but not to the point of getting completely soaked. Next time I think we will have to do this ride, though. I anticipate DD not letting us get away with that again.
We made our way to Africa next and picked up Fast Passes for the Safari. While we waited, we did Rafikis Planet Watch. This was a nice area. It was interesting learning more about how the animals are cared for and we particularly enjoyed the Sounds of the Rainforest 3D audio show. It got a little loud for DD and she took her headphones off, though. Inside the main building, we met Pocohontas, Stanley (we just love that show and he was so cute) and Rafiki (DD was particularly excited about this, as we have seen The Lion King approximately 4,823 times
). DD enjoyed going through the petting zoo next. She was very cute brushing a goat, a sheep (he was so soft and fluffy to touch) and a cows head. Wish I had taken pictures again- you are falling down on the job, Mom!!
We made it back just in time for our FP return time. We got in line and waited just 10 minutes with the FP, as opposed to the standby line which was listed as 30 minutes but looked like it could have been longer. Our safari was great. It got off to a slow start and I was wondering if we had made a mistake not coming there first (we were on the safari around 11:40 am), but we came upon more as we went. We saw a lion taking a naplaying on his back with paws in the air just like a cat- cute. We passed by alligators, some giraffes in the distance, the hippos which we got a pretty good view of, rhinos, and saw an ostrich egg. Next, we encountered a giraffe right alongside the road. He happened to be on my side of the truck and I got some great pictures of him. It was very neat. He almost stuck his head into the truck to say hello.
Afterwards, we walked the Pangani Forest Trail, where we saw a gorilla holding a baby. Cool! The bat exhibit was also interesting. DD liked the meerkat exhibit and insisted I take pictures of "Timon".
We wanted to catch the 1:45 Festival of the Lion King, so we went for lunch next. DD and DH got pizza from Pizzafari and I opted for Flame Tree Barbeque. They met me in Flame Trees seating area. I was disappointed with my Flame Tree experience. I had a less-than-stellar customer service experience (an employee giving me incorrect information to a question I asked and then being rude about it) and I thought my sandwich was only so-so. However, I realized later I could have selected Carolina style sauce and was kicking myself. I grew up with that style of BBQ and just love it. How I missed that it was there when I was 'saucing' up my sandwhich, I don't know. Lesson learned!
We made our way to Camp Minnie-Mickey after lunch and met Lilo & Stitch on the way. They had just come out and we were second in line. We got in queue for Lion King next, about 25 minutes before show time. We were let in about 10 minutes ahead of time and found seats. The pre-show where everyone learns the hand jive and what animal sound they should make (we were lions) was fun. Then the show started and it was just wonderful. DD especially like the float with Simba on it and seeing Timon walking around. We enjoyed it all; so much energy and talent and we love the Lion King music, so it was a very enjoyable show for us. We were just in time to get seats for the Pocohontas show after this. It was cute and the CM playing Pocohontas was very good, I thought. We decided to forgo seeing Mickey and Minnie, since we had met them already, although now I kind of which we had taken time- they are so cute in their safari garb! Another thing to do next time!!
Dinoland was next on our agenda. First stop was the Boneyard, which DD loved. She had a lot of fun on the slides and just climbing around. We tore her away from there with the lure of carnival games. We played 3 or 4 but never won one of the cute dinosaurs. Oh well. DD next noticed Primeval Whirl, which she was too short by far to ride. This did not go over well AT ALL and she pouted for some time. After a bathroom break and getting calmed down, we took her over to Triceratops Spin, which she normally would have liked (she loves dinosaurs), but she pouted throughout this as well. Oh well, Mommy thought it was neat riding in the big dino.
We headed for Dinosaur! next, which we had primed DD for. She initially said she didnt want to ride, but had changed her mind. She was a little disappointed that it was not a roller coaster type ride like PW, but was still excited. The ride was great. DD did get somewhat spooked by the mean dinosaurs, but she liked the gentle leaf-eating one and in the end said she loved the ride. When we went into the gift shop, she even went right up to a rubber dinosaur toy the same as the 'villanous' dino from the ride (the name escapes me right now) and said she wanted to buy it. Guess she wasnt scared any more. She changed her mind in the end to a Styracosaurus one since he was more squishy 
and she bought him with her money.
A happy camper once again.
The day was drawing to an end and we started to head for the exit, planning to stop for shopping and ice cream on the way out. We caught the end of the parade on our way, which was neat. Some refreshing ice bars later, we hit the Outpost gift shop. DD got a Simba plush keychain, a Donald Duck safari figurine, and a Mickey ears pen. I bought some postcards and a safari Eeyore figurine. We decided to sit and rest for a bit while we decided what to do for dinner. Meanwhile, DD had taken out the Donald and Eeyore figurines and was playing camping with them. It was very cute. She took small stones from nearby and made tents, food, campfires, etc. for them. Daddy was teasing her that she would have to give Mommy back her Eeyore soon. I told her I would share him and she said OK, and maybe Ill have a Goofy one day too to play with Donald. I wanted to go back to the gift shop to look for another item anyway, so I bought a safari Goofy figure for her while I was in there.
I had some more shopping I wanted to do at DTD, so we decided to head over there and eat at Rainforest Café (sort of ironic, since we were sitting right outside of the AK one while we were deciding this). But, we wanted to hit Ghirardellis for ice cream, too, so DTD it was. We arrived and got our names in at RC. The wait was around 50 minutes, so we wandered around and went to Downtown Disney for my shopping. I didn't see what I had in mind there, but my mission was accomplished in seeing what they had. Back to RC for our table. We were seated in the Gorilla room, which was neat. DH had a grilled chicken sandwich, which he liked. I had the tuscan chicken, which was excellent. It was garnished with cucumbers, which I love. The mashed potatoes it came with were good, too (but nothing can beat Chef Mickeys). DD had the kids mac & cheese and ate well. All of our food was very good and we enjoyed the atmosphere. I though DD might be bothered by the thunderstorms but she liked them and thought it was neat that the gorillas moved around. DH and I ordered drinks and we relaxed for a while.
Next it was off to Ghirardellis, where we waited in quite a line. DD and I got chocolate cones and DH chose a chocolate shake. We all enjoyed ours, but DDs was too big for her and she made quite a mess by not keeping up with the licking. Then it was back to the hotel and into bed (after washing DDs shirt out in the sink so it could be salvaged- more joys of parenthood at WDW!! 
).
Highlights of the day: the safari, Festival of the Lion King
We got up (almost as early as we wanted) and decided to go for a quick breakfast at Old Port Royale, as CBR had not brought the refrigerator we requested until 10:30 pm the night before and we hadnt gone out to get any supplies so we could use our food stash. DD enjoyed having Mickey waffles and milk, while I had a croissant and OJ and DH had cereal and a side order of bacon.
We arrived at Animal Kingdom at 9:10 am (had hoped to make it for 8 am Early Entry, but that was not to be). There were more people at AK than we had seen in a park so far on the trip. It seemed particularly crowded when we were all making our way through the turnstiles, but it didnt turn out to be quite that crowded in the end (once everyone dispersed). We decided to do Its Tough to be a Bug first, after looking at the Tree of Life (awesome!). We enjoyed the bug show (except for the stink factor- LOL). DD was somewhat scared (she doesnt like Hopper and his gang in general), but was fine. Next we headed to Asia. (It still seemed crowded and we thought everyone may be heading for the safari first.)
We walked through the Maharaja Jungle Trek and really enjoyed seeing the tigers. They were mostly sleeping, but they are so beautiful, especially up close. Enjoyed the bird aviary, too. We decided to skip the Flights of Wonder bird show as we felt we have seen many bird shows in the past and were more concerned with making sure we got to do everything else. We also skipped the Rapids, as none of us relished getting soaked. DH dislikes water rides in general, while I like them but not to the point of getting completely soaked. Next time I think we will have to do this ride, though. I anticipate DD not letting us get away with that again.
We made our way to Africa next and picked up Fast Passes for the Safari. While we waited, we did Rafikis Planet Watch. This was a nice area. It was interesting learning more about how the animals are cared for and we particularly enjoyed the Sounds of the Rainforest 3D audio show. It got a little loud for DD and she took her headphones off, though. Inside the main building, we met Pocohontas, Stanley (we just love that show and he was so cute) and Rafiki (DD was particularly excited about this, as we have seen The Lion King approximately 4,823 times
). DD enjoyed going through the petting zoo next. She was very cute brushing a goat, a sheep (he was so soft and fluffy to touch) and a cows head. Wish I had taken pictures again- you are falling down on the job, Mom!!We made it back just in time for our FP return time. We got in line and waited just 10 minutes with the FP, as opposed to the standby line which was listed as 30 minutes but looked like it could have been longer. Our safari was great. It got off to a slow start and I was wondering if we had made a mistake not coming there first (we were on the safari around 11:40 am), but we came upon more as we went. We saw a lion taking a naplaying on his back with paws in the air just like a cat- cute. We passed by alligators, some giraffes in the distance, the hippos which we got a pretty good view of, rhinos, and saw an ostrich egg. Next, we encountered a giraffe right alongside the road. He happened to be on my side of the truck and I got some great pictures of him. It was very neat. He almost stuck his head into the truck to say hello.
Afterwards, we walked the Pangani Forest Trail, where we saw a gorilla holding a baby. Cool! The bat exhibit was also interesting. DD liked the meerkat exhibit and insisted I take pictures of "Timon".
We wanted to catch the 1:45 Festival of the Lion King, so we went for lunch next. DD and DH got pizza from Pizzafari and I opted for Flame Tree Barbeque. They met me in Flame Trees seating area. I was disappointed with my Flame Tree experience. I had a less-than-stellar customer service experience (an employee giving me incorrect information to a question I asked and then being rude about it) and I thought my sandwich was only so-so. However, I realized later I could have selected Carolina style sauce and was kicking myself. I grew up with that style of BBQ and just love it. How I missed that it was there when I was 'saucing' up my sandwhich, I don't know. Lesson learned!
We made our way to Camp Minnie-Mickey after lunch and met Lilo & Stitch on the way. They had just come out and we were second in line. We got in queue for Lion King next, about 25 minutes before show time. We were let in about 10 minutes ahead of time and found seats. The pre-show where everyone learns the hand jive and what animal sound they should make (we were lions) was fun. Then the show started and it was just wonderful. DD especially like the float with Simba on it and seeing Timon walking around. We enjoyed it all; so much energy and talent and we love the Lion King music, so it was a very enjoyable show for us. We were just in time to get seats for the Pocohontas show after this. It was cute and the CM playing Pocohontas was very good, I thought. We decided to forgo seeing Mickey and Minnie, since we had met them already, although now I kind of which we had taken time- they are so cute in their safari garb! Another thing to do next time!!
Dinoland was next on our agenda. First stop was the Boneyard, which DD loved. She had a lot of fun on the slides and just climbing around. We tore her away from there with the lure of carnival games. We played 3 or 4 but never won one of the cute dinosaurs. Oh well. DD next noticed Primeval Whirl, which she was too short by far to ride. This did not go over well AT ALL and she pouted for some time. After a bathroom break and getting calmed down, we took her over to Triceratops Spin, which she normally would have liked (she loves dinosaurs), but she pouted throughout this as well. Oh well, Mommy thought it was neat riding in the big dino.
We headed for Dinosaur! next, which we had primed DD for. She initially said she didnt want to ride, but had changed her mind. She was a little disappointed that it was not a roller coaster type ride like PW, but was still excited. The ride was great. DD did get somewhat spooked by the mean dinosaurs, but she liked the gentle leaf-eating one and in the end said she loved the ride. When we went into the gift shop, she even went right up to a rubber dinosaur toy the same as the 'villanous' dino from the ride (the name escapes me right now) and said she wanted to buy it. Guess she wasnt scared any more.
She changed her mind in the end to a Styracosaurus one since he was more squishy and she bought him with her money. A happy camper once again.
The day was drawing to an end and we started to head for the exit, planning to stop for shopping and ice cream on the way out. We caught the end of the parade on our way, which was neat. Some refreshing ice bars later, we hit the Outpost gift shop. DD got a Simba plush keychain, a Donald Duck safari figurine, and a Mickey ears pen. I bought some postcards and a safari Eeyore figurine. We decided to sit and rest for a bit while we decided what to do for dinner. Meanwhile, DD had taken out the Donald and Eeyore figurines and was playing camping with them. It was very cute. She took small stones from nearby and made tents, food, campfires, etc. for them. Daddy was teasing her that she would have to give Mommy back her Eeyore soon. I told her I would share him and she said OK, and maybe Ill have a Goofy one day too to play with Donald. I wanted to go back to the gift shop to look for another item anyway, so I bought a safari Goofy figure for her while I was in there.
I had some more shopping I wanted to do at DTD, so we decided to head over there and eat at Rainforest Café (sort of ironic, since we were sitting right outside of the AK one while we were deciding this). But, we wanted to hit Ghirardellis for ice cream, too, so DTD it was. We arrived and got our names in at RC. The wait was around 50 minutes, so we wandered around and went to Downtown Disney for my shopping. I didn't see what I had in mind there, but my mission was accomplished in seeing what they had. Back to RC for our table. We were seated in the Gorilla room, which was neat. DH had a grilled chicken sandwich, which he liked. I had the tuscan chicken, which was excellent. It was garnished with cucumbers, which I love. The mashed potatoes it came with were good, too (but nothing can beat Chef Mickeys). DD had the kids mac & cheese and ate well. All of our food was very good and we enjoyed the atmosphere. I though DD might be bothered by the thunderstorms but she liked them and thought it was neat that the gorillas moved around. DH and I ordered drinks and we relaxed for a while.
Next it was off to Ghirardellis, where we waited in quite a line. DD and I got chocolate cones and DH chose a chocolate shake. We all enjoyed ours, but DDs was too big for her and she made quite a mess by not keeping up with the licking.
Then it was back to the hotel and into bed (after washing DDs shirt out in the sink so it could be salvaged- more joys of parenthood at WDW!! ).Highlights of the day: the safari, Festival of the Lion King
