MrScubaBHT
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2002
- Messages
- 40
The Big Family Trip to WDW Day 8
Day 8 Friday, July 12
I think you should have a good idea of how mornings go by now (if you've read my previous posts) so I won't bore you with the details.
This morning we are going to AK. Today it's my MIL, FIL, Mom, Dad, Niece, Nephew, and our family that is ready to go and at the bus stop by 8:30. My BIL and SIL will meet up with us later.
We arrive at AK in good time and make it through security and into the park before opening. We make it to the rope drop and have about a 5 minute wait. After the rope drops it's straight back to KS. Today it seems like everyone disperses to different areas of the park and there aren't that many people heading to KS this morning. Even so, we stop to get FP's for everyone and then we get in the Stand-by line. No wait and we are seated on one of the first Safari's heading out. I don't care what other's think, this is an awsome adventure/ride/tour. We saw tons of animals from Elephants, Rhinos, Cheetas, Lions, Giraffs, you name it. The Giraffs were almost close enough to reach out and touch. I take a full roll and a half of pictures and my wife records almost the whole ride on video. This trip in the Safari bus is very bumpy and those with back or neck problems should either avoid it all-together or make sure you are seated up front (we were on the last row). You really feel like you are on an African Safari. While the banter about Little Red and Big Red is a kinda corny, it's easy enough to ignore. We finish the Safari and immediately ride again with our FP's. See basically the same things, but I switch sides with my wife so I can take photos from the other side.
We then take about 30 - 40 minutes to walk the nature trail and to explore. In my opinion, you have to take your time at AK to really enjoy it. Don't just rush through everything. Think of AK as a Zoo with Rides and Attractions. So, take your time and read the signs and study the exhibits, you never know what you will see.
After KS it's time to meet up with my BIL and SIL. We meet them at the TOL and with just about a 10 minute wait we are seated for It's Tough To Be A Bug. This is a good 3D film and very cute for 5 - 12 yr olds. There really isn't anything scary about this film and is really quite humorous. The under 5 age might think the sounds and darkness a little frightening though.
It's now time to head back to see Dinosaur. The Stand-by line is about 45 minutes, so we get FP's for everyone. It's lunch time by now so we back track a little bit and eat at the BBQ place (can't remember the name). I had the BBQ chiken and it is very good, probably the best in-park meal I've had. We'll while we are eating the wind really picks up and it starts raining in buckets. Glad we got a table under cover. It's still raining after we finish our meal, but not as hard so we take out the umbrella's and head back to Dinosaur.
Dinosaur is totally awsome. Another fine example of Disney's ability to theme a ride. However, this is definately not a ride for any child or adult that easily scares as it is rather intense. Also I would strongly caution those with neck and/or back problems to avoid this ride as well since it is rather jerky and bumpy and since the track is level and the movemet is caused by the ride vehicle, you can't tell when it's going to turn or jerk or bump, etc... Both of my kids loved this ride (Age 8 and 10) and said that they wanted to do it again before we leave for the day.
There is some disagreement as to what everyone wants to do next, so it's time to split up. My parents are getting tired and decide that they are going to catch the Bird show and then head back to the motel to rest and relax by the pool. My wife's parents and her sister's family decide that they want to catch Tarzan and my kids want to do Kalli River Rapids................ So we all split up and decide to do our own thing for the rest of the day. Which is fine by me as it takes a lot of the stress off of me to keep everyone happy and leaves us free to do what ever we want to do. So off to Kalli we go. We decide to do the Stand-by since the wait is less than 20 minutes. Actual wait time turns out to be right around 15 and we are seated. Right off the bat the raft put me and my son with our backs to the rapids and the big water spout gets both of us soaked on one side. The fella opposite us get's totally soaked from head to toe. So I guess we lucked out a little..... This is the best rapid type ride I've been on, lots of dips, turns, rapids, great theming yet again.
Time for a side note: IMHO, Disney knows how to do theme parks and everyone else is left far, far behind. Granted, Disney doesn't have the Super Hyper Coasters like some other parks, but the overall experience is much much better. The park grounds were spotless (despite what other's might have you belive) the lines were managable for all but the most popular rides, and the park well staffed (again despite what other's might have you believe). The parks we have the most experience with are the Six Flags Theme Parks (so there might be other's out there that do just as good or better job, but I haven't seen them yet). At Six Flags Over Texas in DFW and Six Flags Fiesta Texas their parks are dirty with trash everywhere, the lines are horrendous since they never open up both lines to an attraction, there isn't any theming, just a ride, so the wait in lines are really boring. I just wish we had a Disney park closer
OK, back to AK. After KRR we decide to catch the Bird's Of Flight Show. We have good timing as the next show time is only 10 minutes away. Very good show and quite entertaining. The Bald Eagle was very impressive.
We then do the nature walk in Asia before heading back to Africa to catch the train. There isn't a wait and the train pulls up within a couple of minutes. We all decide that we will just ride the complete circuit and avoid going to Rafki's Planet Watch. To me this sounds like a bunch of envionmentalist mumbo jumbo and geared towards toddlers. I may be wrong, but it just didn't sound very interesting, so we decide to skip it. The train ride was OK, but not near as good as the MK RR.
The kids decide that they want to do the KS again. It's about parade time, so there isn't much of a line and we are seated in under 10 minutes. This must also be a good time of day as there are just as many animals out and about as there were early in the morning. We actually see a few that weren't there earlier (though I couldn't tell you what they were since I'm bad with remembering the names of exotic animals). By the time we exit the Safari and make it back to Africa the parade is about 1/2 over. We grab a couple of cold drinks and finish watching the parade. Good music and good parade floats. Probably should have caught this one from the start. But we're content with what we got to see and we really had pretty good viewing considering we walked up during the parade. I also think it helps that the AK Parade Floats seem to be a little bit taller than the MK floats.
The kids want to do Dinosaur again before the park closes, so off we go. Looks like a lot of the crowds are heading for the exits since Dinoland is pretty much empty. There isn't any wait for Dinosaur and we walk right on. Did I say this was a great ride! We all have big grins on our faces and since there is hardly anyone around we walk right on Primeval Whirl.
We actually end up doing Primeval Whirl 3 times back to back. For the best spinning action have the adults (or heaviest 2) sit together and the kids sit together. This will really get your car spinning. This ride is hillarious. If you don't want it to spin that much, do just the opposite and have the weight evenly distributed.
Since there aren't any lines, we get right on Tricera Top Spin. If there is a line for this one, skip it. We normally skip these types of rides since they are pretty much, how can I say BORING!
Unfortunately, it's 6 and the park is closing so we head to the busses and head back to All Star Music.
I may seem like we didn't do as much as in previous days, but we really took our time in touring the Nature Walk Areas and re-rode our favorites and skipped what didn't sound very interesting.
Well, all that is really left to do is Disney Quest and Typhoon Lagoon. Everyone is on their own for Saturday and Sunday so that everyone can have free days to do their own thing.
Our family decides to do DD and DQ Saturday and for Sunday we will pack up and revisit MK to close out our Disney stay.
Off to post Day 9......
Day 8 Friday, July 12
I think you should have a good idea of how mornings go by now (if you've read my previous posts) so I won't bore you with the details.
This morning we are going to AK. Today it's my MIL, FIL, Mom, Dad, Niece, Nephew, and our family that is ready to go and at the bus stop by 8:30. My BIL and SIL will meet up with us later.
We arrive at AK in good time and make it through security and into the park before opening. We make it to the rope drop and have about a 5 minute wait. After the rope drops it's straight back to KS. Today it seems like everyone disperses to different areas of the park and there aren't that many people heading to KS this morning. Even so, we stop to get FP's for everyone and then we get in the Stand-by line. No wait and we are seated on one of the first Safari's heading out. I don't care what other's think, this is an awsome adventure/ride/tour. We saw tons of animals from Elephants, Rhinos, Cheetas, Lions, Giraffs, you name it. The Giraffs were almost close enough to reach out and touch. I take a full roll and a half of pictures and my wife records almost the whole ride on video. This trip in the Safari bus is very bumpy and those with back or neck problems should either avoid it all-together or make sure you are seated up front (we were on the last row). You really feel like you are on an African Safari. While the banter about Little Red and Big Red is a kinda corny, it's easy enough to ignore. We finish the Safari and immediately ride again with our FP's. See basically the same things, but I switch sides with my wife so I can take photos from the other side.
We then take about 30 - 40 minutes to walk the nature trail and to explore. In my opinion, you have to take your time at AK to really enjoy it. Don't just rush through everything. Think of AK as a Zoo with Rides and Attractions. So, take your time and read the signs and study the exhibits, you never know what you will see.
After KS it's time to meet up with my BIL and SIL. We meet them at the TOL and with just about a 10 minute wait we are seated for It's Tough To Be A Bug. This is a good 3D film and very cute for 5 - 12 yr olds. There really isn't anything scary about this film and is really quite humorous. The under 5 age might think the sounds and darkness a little frightening though.
It's now time to head back to see Dinosaur. The Stand-by line is about 45 minutes, so we get FP's for everyone. It's lunch time by now so we back track a little bit and eat at the BBQ place (can't remember the name). I had the BBQ chiken and it is very good, probably the best in-park meal I've had. We'll while we are eating the wind really picks up and it starts raining in buckets. Glad we got a table under cover. It's still raining after we finish our meal, but not as hard so we take out the umbrella's and head back to Dinosaur.
Dinosaur is totally awsome. Another fine example of Disney's ability to theme a ride. However, this is definately not a ride for any child or adult that easily scares as it is rather intense. Also I would strongly caution those with neck and/or back problems to avoid this ride as well since it is rather jerky and bumpy and since the track is level and the movemet is caused by the ride vehicle, you can't tell when it's going to turn or jerk or bump, etc... Both of my kids loved this ride (Age 8 and 10) and said that they wanted to do it again before we leave for the day.
There is some disagreement as to what everyone wants to do next, so it's time to split up. My parents are getting tired and decide that they are going to catch the Bird show and then head back to the motel to rest and relax by the pool. My wife's parents and her sister's family decide that they want to catch Tarzan and my kids want to do Kalli River Rapids................ So we all split up and decide to do our own thing for the rest of the day. Which is fine by me as it takes a lot of the stress off of me to keep everyone happy and leaves us free to do what ever we want to do. So off to Kalli we go. We decide to do the Stand-by since the wait is less than 20 minutes. Actual wait time turns out to be right around 15 and we are seated. Right off the bat the raft put me and my son with our backs to the rapids and the big water spout gets both of us soaked on one side. The fella opposite us get's totally soaked from head to toe. So I guess we lucked out a little..... This is the best rapid type ride I've been on, lots of dips, turns, rapids, great theming yet again.
Time for a side note: IMHO, Disney knows how to do theme parks and everyone else is left far, far behind. Granted, Disney doesn't have the Super Hyper Coasters like some other parks, but the overall experience is much much better. The park grounds were spotless (despite what other's might have you belive) the lines were managable for all but the most popular rides, and the park well staffed (again despite what other's might have you believe). The parks we have the most experience with are the Six Flags Theme Parks (so there might be other's out there that do just as good or better job, but I haven't seen them yet). At Six Flags Over Texas in DFW and Six Flags Fiesta Texas their parks are dirty with trash everywhere, the lines are horrendous since they never open up both lines to an attraction, there isn't any theming, just a ride, so the wait in lines are really boring. I just wish we had a Disney park closer
OK, back to AK. After KRR we decide to catch the Bird's Of Flight Show. We have good timing as the next show time is only 10 minutes away. Very good show and quite entertaining. The Bald Eagle was very impressive.
We then do the nature walk in Asia before heading back to Africa to catch the train. There isn't a wait and the train pulls up within a couple of minutes. We all decide that we will just ride the complete circuit and avoid going to Rafki's Planet Watch. To me this sounds like a bunch of envionmentalist mumbo jumbo and geared towards toddlers. I may be wrong, but it just didn't sound very interesting, so we decide to skip it. The train ride was OK, but not near as good as the MK RR.
The kids decide that they want to do the KS again. It's about parade time, so there isn't much of a line and we are seated in under 10 minutes. This must also be a good time of day as there are just as many animals out and about as there were early in the morning. We actually see a few that weren't there earlier (though I couldn't tell you what they were since I'm bad with remembering the names of exotic animals). By the time we exit the Safari and make it back to Africa the parade is about 1/2 over. We grab a couple of cold drinks and finish watching the parade. Good music and good parade floats. Probably should have caught this one from the start. But we're content with what we got to see and we really had pretty good viewing considering we walked up during the parade. I also think it helps that the AK Parade Floats seem to be a little bit taller than the MK floats.
The kids want to do Dinosaur again before the park closes, so off we go. Looks like a lot of the crowds are heading for the exits since Dinoland is pretty much empty. There isn't any wait for Dinosaur and we walk right on. Did I say this was a great ride! We all have big grins on our faces and since there is hardly anyone around we walk right on Primeval Whirl.
We actually end up doing Primeval Whirl 3 times back to back. For the best spinning action have the adults (or heaviest 2) sit together and the kids sit together. This will really get your car spinning. This ride is hillarious. If you don't want it to spin that much, do just the opposite and have the weight evenly distributed.
Since there aren't any lines, we get right on Tricera Top Spin. If there is a line for this one, skip it. We normally skip these types of rides since they are pretty much, how can I say BORING!
Unfortunately, it's 6 and the park is closing so we head to the busses and head back to All Star Music.
I may seem like we didn't do as much as in previous days, but we really took our time in touring the Nature Walk Areas and re-rode our favorites and skipped what didn't sound very interesting.
Well, all that is really left to do is Disney Quest and Typhoon Lagoon. Everyone is on their own for Saturday and Sunday so that everyone can have free days to do their own thing.
Our family decides to do DD and DQ Saturday and for Sunday we will pack up and revisit MK to close out our Disney stay.
Off to post Day 9......
), stations where you can see vets working on animals, and even some Disney characters hanging out.
