The Cannings return to Orlando 2006 - Day Five - AK, DTD, DVC Tour & Wishes Cruise

[foxylady]

For those of you who are not familiar with my family, and have not read previous trippies and the pre-trip report, please let me do the introductions:

Myself (Catherine) (41) - loves anything Disney, especially Pooh and Mickey as Sorcerors Apprentice
DH (John) (47) - luckily loves disney as well, and is usually happy to agree with my plans
DS (Stephen) (14) - not too bad as a teenager, but doesn't like rides that go upside-down!

Monday 24 July 2006 - Day Five - AK, DTD, DVC Tour & Wishes Cruise

Up today at 6.00 am, showered, dressed, and again while waiting for DH & DS wrote up trip reports from previous day and read some more. Can you tell I love reading?

Animal Kingdom was the plan of action today, and we arrived in time for the opening ceremony - another first for us!

Walked over to Expedition Everest, and while DS & I stood in the normal line, DH went to get fastpasses. This proved to be a good idea as EE wasn't working due to technical difficulties, so at least we had the FP's to fall back on!

Went onto Kilimanjaro Safari and saw loads of animals as it was still early!

Hey - and guess what??? We actually saw the lion move! It is real after all

Well, we all wondered didn't we?

After saving Little Red, we felt some brekkie was in order, and went to Tusker House Restaurant. Again, we have never eaten here before, but it was really nice. DS & DH had the usual bacon, sausage, egg, type things, but I decided to be healthy and had the fruit cup with yoghurt. I really enjoyed it.

After breakfast we headed towards Dinosaur to get another FP and went via EE, which still wasn't working. We hoped we weren't going to have to wait until another day, as we were looking forward to trying this ride. FP acquired for Dinosaur, so then headed back to the Maharajah Jungle Trek to see the tigers, who were asleep as usual.

After wandering through the Jungle Trek, we walked back towards EE and could see that it had started working. Used FP and walked through to the ride without stopping. I made a mental note to use the normal standby line to look at all the theming.

What a ride?!? Absolutely brilliant . Loved it, especially the bit going backwards. We were lucky and quite near the front of the carriage so we got excellent views at the top of the mountain before the plummet backwards. I wish I had my camera out, but never mind. Decided it was one of my favourite rides, far better than Space & Splash IMHO. Bought the ride photo as well.

By this time the FP was valid for Dinosaur so went and rode that. I do find this a bit jerky though.

After this, it was getting really hot, so we decided to head over to DTD for a browse round. First stop was Ghiradelli's for an ice-cream - another first. This was absolutely yummy, but we didn't finish them. DS asked if we could hire a boat, so off we headed to Captain Jack's and duly paid up for half an hour's boat trip. Once out into the lake DS wanted to steer! After going round it circles a few times and then hitting the bank , he eventually got the hang of it.

We went up towards Port Orleans resort, and saw some accommodation that didn't look like it was part of a resort.

After some investigation on our return, we think this is used for staff accommodation, but if anyone knows any different, please let us know.

We also passed the back of Saratoga Springs where they are finishing off the next batch of DVC accommodation. As we have a huge construction site behind our house at the moment, it was just like being at home!

We headed back towards DTD and got back just in time! As we berthed the boat (is that the right terminology?), it started raining. And boy did it rain? It absolutely hammered down, but luckily (or not as DH said), we made it into the shops. A little bit of retail therapy was called for. The rain lasted for about half an hour, plenty of time for browsing and buying LOL. Puchased 4 lucky bags from the $10 or less shop. Two of these were going to be used as thank you presents for people (more on that later), and then one each for me and DS. We also took a good look round the Disney Art shop and spotted an ornament that I really liked, so made a mental note to come back later in the holiday to purchase it.

contd/...

 

[foxylady]

Contd from above

When the rain finally stopped, we decided to head back to the car. However, walked past the DVC stand, and had a quick look. Before we went on holiday I had had a look at their website and also requested the DVD. Got chatting to the cast member, and he asked if we were interested in a tour? Next thing we knew, a golf buggy had arrived to take us up to the resort (which we could have walked to be honest), and we were being introduced to our guide.

She explained how the DVC works, and also how much it costs, and then we took the tour of the apartments etc. They were abolutely lovely, and we could quite easily picture ourselves staying there. There was no real pressure to buy there and then, and we bought all the details away with us to think about when we got back to the real world.

After being taken back to our car, we headed over to the Contemporary Resort, as we had an ADR booked for Concourse Steakhouse. We booked in and were shown straight to our table. I feel we were a little bit unfortunate with our seats, as we ended up sitting to the right of the podium, where there are very few tables, and they are too close to the kitchen. Anyway, the meal was OK - we all had steak - but it isn't somewhere we would rush back to.

After the meal we still had a little bit of time to kill, so walked over to MK for an hour. How lovely must this be, to be within walking distance of our favourite park.

Some photos we took on the way.

As we still hadn't managed to got on POTC, we thought we would try there. We only had an hour as we had to meet at 9.00 pm for our Wishes tour. The waiting time was too long, so had a look round the shop and Stephen purchased a Mickey pirate hat

(He'll kill me for posting this photo, as it isn't his best side!)

Took the train back round to Main Street Station and then took a saunter back to the Comtemporary.

It you have read my pre-trip report, you will know that we were sharing this Wishes Cruise with Kaye and her lovely family (4 people), and another party of 2 which consisted of Wendy and her mum. Kaye had booked this Cruise and then advertised it on the boards, and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Consequently, this was another first for us. We could never had afforded to do this on our own, and we never thought of booking it and then offering the spare seats out to others. So, big thanks to Kaye for booking and arranging the cruise.

We met at the dock and it was introductions all round. We boarded the boat, and were told that we would get some money back as the sound system was not working on the boat. The boat cruised over to Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness and we saw the Electrical Light Water Pageant.

I couldn't get the hang of my new camera and the flash. DH suggested switching the flash off, and this was the result! I think it is quite arty though!

We got to the viewing spot and pulled alongside another boat, which only had two people in it. It turned out that they were a young English couple who had just got engaged that very evening! The young man had literally just proposed and she had said yes! How romantic a proposal it that?

Wishes started and it was absolutely fantastic. We could hear the sound from surrounding boats, so we didn't miss out at all. No craning of necks, it was lovely. However, the photos did not turn out too well as the fireworks were too far away for my camera.

These were the only ones that were anything like decent!

Anyway, Wishes over and it was back to the Contemporary to disembark. The young engaged couple also disembarked at the Contemporary, so it was congratulations all round and we admired the ring. Also reminded them that the Wedding Pavillion would probably be available!

Goodbyes were said, and thanks given to Kaye. I gave her the lucky bag as another thank you, and then it was in the car and back home, after an absolutely great day.

 

[Cyrano]

What a great day and photos

 

[jns]

Thanks again great report

The accommodition on the way to PO were once tree house which you could stay at , they look lovely at night when they are all light up

 

[natalielongstaff]

what a fantastic report thanks for posting

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[wicket2005]

Lovely report. Have you told your son you have posted a photo of him in a pirate hat? My two are threatening to post bad pictures of me on here after discovering the ones in the gallery! I have promised only to post good ones of them.

 

[florida sun]

Fantastic report and lovely piccies

 

[ely3857]

The Wishes cruise sounds brilliant



Jodie