Hey,
Lego, remember this?
your TR?
TR??
Hmm, TR
.. Nope, not-- OH, my TR!!! Yeah, I remember that! Something about our trip to Disney and all its ups and downs and in-betweens.
Yep, thats the one. And know what?
..
its still here
..unfinished.
Oh, well, yeah, sorry about that. Its just that life has been
.well, not so good lately. I mean, its hard to reach deep down inside and pull up some funny when everything around me seems to be crashing to the ground.
Sure, I understand. But youre up to your Animal Kingdom day on here. That was just a great day, wasnt it?
Absolutely! One of the best that week.
Then I think you can find it in you to whip out another chapter. You have loyal followers who are patiently waiting, after all. At the very least you can fill a few pages with your photographs.
Dude. Youre so right.
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Its Saturday!
..Animal Kingdom day!!
This was one of those days that, looking back now, was just about perfect. It was a day when most of our plans worked out for us, we had no major delays or detours, and everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
Which sounds great, but makes for a rather boring trip report chapter...
But I have pictures.
We arrived just after opening. Immediately upon entering the park, we spotted a CM carrying one of those small plastic clear containers. It had something in it. Being naturally curious folk, we wandered over to give it a look-see. And immediately I turned my skin inside out and did the heebie-jeebie dance.
It was a Huntsman spider...
Now, it was not as large as I know they can get (I once worked with a gal who was from Australia, and the stories of Huntsman spiders that she regaled us with were just something else entirely). But it was a heap bigger than ANYthing we have up here in New England. The nice CM told us all about it, but the only factoid that stuck with me was this gem: "They do live in Florida...." This is important to someone who is in the early planning stages of
moving there....
(For all you arachniphobes out there, stick with me....At least there are no pictures of THAT!)
*deep breath*.....
Okie-dokie now! Moving on.
We headed first for Asia. There were two reason behind this: first of all, I never saw that part of AK on our last trip, and, we wanted to hit EE before the lines built up. I loved Asia. Disney was spot-on with the the theming and the feeling is very authentic.
Our strategy for EE paid off; when we arrived there was a 5-minute wait, so we made our way through the queue and walked right up to the turnstyles.
Expedition Everest is one of those rides that I had really, really wanted to ride the last time, but due to all manner of hoopla in our party that day, I missed out on it. SO disapointing. But I was here today, and there was no line, and the mountain beckoned...
It did not let me down! WOO-FREAKIN'-
HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! What a wild ride!! LOVED it! And when we got off at the end, we went right back around to get on again! Well, four of us did. DH likes the ride, but the backwards part is one of those "once was enough, thank you very much" deals. So when the boys and I reached the turnstyles and were asked how many in our party, we were directed to the
very front row!!! SWEET!!! DS11 and DS8 took the very front seats, with DS6 and I right behind. Let me tell you, the very front is a whole different experience! For starters, when you stop at the broken track, you can just about look straight down...
We also saw the Tower of Terror, the Orlando skyline, and quite possibly Cuba.
After two fantastic turns on what has become my new favorite ride in all of Disney World, I was on some kind of high and ready for whatever else the day brought. We crossed the bridge over towards Dinoland, and fortunately for us the kids showed no interest in the whole Dinorama amusement area. Blar. Primeval Hurl was closed for refurb, and there was nothing else of interest so we continued on to Dinosaur.
DS8 opted to sit this one out. I know this child, so I was trying to give him an honest assessment of what to expect on this ride, based on what I'd read and heard from others. He chose wisely. And since we all know that Animal Kingdom pumps in additional heat even in September, he and I went off in search of some ice cream while the others were chased by the Carnotaur.
Consulting my handy-dandy park map, I set my sights on this little place for a cool refreshing respite:
DS8 ordered an ice-cream cookie sandwich. I wish I'd taken a picture of that thing - it was hand made to order with two
ginormous cookies!! This kid can pound down a snack with the best of them, but even he couldn't quite finish it. And hot though it was, I seized the opportunity to finally order a churro.... oh sweet ribbon of sugary cinnamon goodness...
To beat the heat I did get a large Diet Coke, which was equally as ginormous as the ice cream cookie sandwich. Yum - O.
On our way back to Discovery Island, we were sidetracked by The Boneyard. The kids took off running while DH and I sat in the path of a ginormous fan.
Come to think of it, there are lots of things at AK that are really, really big.
But the fans placed strategically throughout the park were one of Disney's better ideas. It felt so good to sit there, matter of fact, that we may have been happy to spend the rest of the day right on that faux rock.
Alas, we started to get our hunger on, as did the boys, so we pried ourselves off our breezy perch and headed out for Discovery Island.
Where we were greeted by my most-anticipated counter-service eatery of the whole trip!!!
I love, love, LOVE the Flame Tree Barbecue. And not because I'd eaten there and loved the food (although I admit that the menu from AllEarsNet looked mighty tasty...
). No, I love FTB because of the background music they play. Which I hear all the time on various Live365.com stations, and they have become sort of an audio icon for me. Listening to the Flame Tree BGM puts me in my Happy Disney Place, so I was beside myself to finally have the chance to actually hear the music "in context" if you will!
Come to find out, only two out of three kids wanted to eat. Here. Now.
Dude.
DH was hungry, so he and the Hungry Children got in line to order, while I took DS6 back over the bridge to Dinoland to the ice cream cart on the other side. We agreed to meet in the seating area, come to find out that it is
ginormous! Dude!...I'm not kidding! There have got to be like 4 different levels and all these windy paths that go back and forth and up and down and around.... It would have been annoying except that the entire confusion is lined with speakers piping in that blessed beat that I've come to know and love.
And I got this picture of the Best Ride Ever:
We finally found them up on the first level, about 15 feet from the ordering windows....
We enjoyed our lunch with the ducks and the Ibis, and an Egret even swooped in for a peek at the action.
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To be continued.....
Up next: monkeys.....
.
So now we had a snake among us. And the cutest thing was, he carried it front-and-center all day long, so it could "see" everything at Animal Kingdom. The parade would be no different. He pulled up his little patch of pavement, set the snake on his lap (duly christened "Slithers"), and waited for the parade. This is important. Remember this.
