The Drive, the Dream and DVC - A March 2011 Birthday Surprise TR(NEW 11/9 p. 32 END)

[Lovemy3babes]

Tusker House is so yummy! You are right though, it does seem to take a long while to actually get out of there. Wonderful animal photos Sheree! You took a ton! Love them all!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Hi Sheree! In answer to your turtle or tortoise question....
According to Harper, it's a turdis.

Oh, my goodness! It's our booking day for June! I must get to the phone!!!

 

[MEK]

Turdis - I love that!

So bummed I can't see pic right now, but it sounds like you had a wonderful morning and breakfast always sounds devine. It is one of the meals I have always wanted to try and never seem to be able to schedule it for one reason or another. I've had lunch there and that was pretty tasty too.

I love the safari - fun way to start the day!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

We do love Tusker House and managed to get a walk up this past June. Baylor professed himself "starving" then barely ate plate of food....

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Sheree and Leslie -- thanks for the info on the pull-out -- I am filing that away in my little trip planner brain.

Yeay for breakfast at Tusker House and some animal viewing! That is truly one of my favorite ways to start a day at Disney!

Jackie,

My son hated the pullout at AKL. I think it could have been our room but our bed squeaked as well. Be careful as we found out the air vent was over the pull out and Jeremy got sick very early into our trip.

Erika

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Love your AK pictures. I love seeing all those animals early in the morning.

I can't believe we missed the baby gorilla this trip. I completely forgot about that!

 

[Monny2AE]

Your sunrise pictures are gorgeous!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

coool pics!! I love the elephants and the giraffes the best--my faves!!! The very first one of the gorilla is almost creepy! It is sooooo tall!!!! It was shocking to see him from that angle,..and the baby one looks like a person in a suit almost!! I dnt remember seeing any gorillas when we were there.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Great pictures as always Sheree!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

great update - DH and I own at AKV but we've never been there! Must change that one day

Yes, you must!! I want more AKV points someday!

AK first thing in the morning is great!
I vacation food too!
I love your sunrise photos. So beautiful! Don't you wish you could wake up to that view everyday?

Yes I do! My view is not quite as pretty...

Cupcakes for breakfast!

We love the trails! What a smart use of your time to FP the safari and do the trail during your wait! That baby gorilla is so sweet. I hope we see her in October.

I want to see the animal examinations/surgeries at Rafiki's next time. I think that would be really cool! We had really good luck with characters back there last time too.

A lot of the rules go out the window when we're on vacation. The goal is usually to get DD10 to eat something other than chicken strips at least once! HA!
It seemed silly to stand in line when the return time was like an hour later. Turned out to be a good idea! I'm pretty sure it was DH's idea.
I'll be posting about Rafiki's Planet Watch next - it was pretty good.

AKL looks just so beautiful in the morning. I can never get the 2 trails right either.

Yeah, it's so relaxing and serene in the morning - I just love it!
Those trails - I read the park map listing to try to figure it out when I did the updates and still am not sure! Oh well.

I slept on the pull-out couch at Boardwalk and it was very comfy. I was actually surprised because my back can act up and it didn't at all.


I'm pretty sure both the gorilla and meerkats are on pangini, you did good with the multiple cameras.

Tusker House look so yummy! I want to eat there someday.

We always make the kids sleep on the pull-outs, so I really don't test them. My kids are pretty small, so I think they wouldn't notice if it were lumpy or whatever. I'm glad you did well with it at BW!
We had Paige's camera and mine, and for some reason, sometimes one wasn't working or whatever, so I just uploaded them all together and didn't really sort them out but by date. I wasn't actually using both at the same time or anything heroic!
I thought that both gorillas and meerkats were on Pangani. I remember most of what I saw on Maharajah, and that wasn't them.

Sheree and Leslie -- thanks for the info on the pull-out -- I am filing that away in my little trip planner brain.

Yeay for breakfast at Tusker House and some animal viewing! That is truly one of my favorite ways to start a day at Disney!

Anything we can do to help Jackie!
The only thing missing was some kind of iced coffee drink. But, a lot of the stands were not open yet, or they are not DDP, so I skipped it. I had coffee at breakfast anyway.

Tusker House is so yummy! You are right though, it does seem to take a long while to actually get out of there. Wonderful animal photos Sheree! You took a ton! Love them all!

Thanks! I had to just keep snapping and hope that the animals were cooperating!

Hi Sheree! In answer to your turtle or tortoise question....
According to Harper, it's a turdis.

Oh, my goodness! It's our booking day for June! I must get to the phone!!!

HA!! I'm going with Harper! turdis!
Did you get what you wanted??? Do tell!

Turdis - I love that!

So bummed I can't see pic right now, but it sounds like you had a wonderful morning and breakfast always sounds devine. It is one of the meals I have always wanted to try and never seem to be able to schedule it for one reason or another. I've had lunch there and that was pretty tasty too.

I love the safari - fun way to start the day!

Work always messes up the DISing doesn't it? I'm lucky that my work doesn't block anything - partly because we do use the internet for our jobs. But I don't always have time to do much DISing.
You need to get to Tusker for breakfast lady! It's yummy and such a good selection. I bet you'd take some AMAZING pictures around there, and being in the park early you could get some awesome ones!

We do love Tusker House and managed to get a walk up this past June. Baylor professed himself "starving" then barely ate plate of food....

Good to know you can walk up sometimes! Baylor - my DDs do that too, but you'd think a teenage boy would really be starving and eat 3 plates of food! Maybe he was too hot?

Jackie,

My son hated the pullout at AKL. I think it could have been our room but our bed squeaked as well. Be careful as we found out the air vent was over the pull out and Jeremy got sick very early into our trip.

Erika

Dang, that's too bad! You just never know sometimes!

Love your AK pictures. I love seeing all those animals early in the morning.

I can't believe we missed the baby gorilla this trip. I completely forgot about that!

Thanks! I remember hearing about the baby on the boards and wanted to make a point to try to see it. It was pretty big already!

Your sunrise pictures are gorgeous!

Thanks! I try. Never know what will happen since I don't know the camera enough to try new things with it. I just point, shoot and pray!

coool pics!! I love the elephants and the giraffes the best--my faves!!! The very first one of the gorilla is almost creepy! It is sooooo tall!!!! It was shocking to see him from that angle,..and the baby one looks like a person in a suit almost!! I dnt remember seeing any gorillas when we were there.

I always feel like the gorillas are watching us too and thinking they'd like to come through the glass and attack. A little scary! We have some at our local zoo and they often do come and pound the glass and scare people.

Great pictures as always Sheree!

Thanks Shelly!! More to come!

 

[jenjolt]

Tusker House...so yummy! I really enjoy their breakfast there!! SO GOOD!!

Loved your pics as always!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

We headed toward the train to the Rafiki's Planet Watch next.

We encountered this along the way.

Those birds are such pretty colors!
I have no idea what order we did things, but I know we saw characters, a presentation and we went to the Affection Section.

We'd never met any of these characters before!!

This guy didn't have much going on.

Then we went and sat at the little theater and waited for the "show".
They brought out a hedgehog first.

He's kind of cute, isn't he?

Then after a lot of warnings to stay seated and not make a lot of noise, they brought out this guy:

He had been "de-stinked" and trained to do a few tricks!!! It was pretty cute, but a little weird. I think he had been a rescued animal if I recall.

There were no surgeries or procedures going on today, so we hopped back on the train and headed toward Asia!
I know we went and got FPs for Kali River Rapids (hoping to convince Paige to go on it!) and got some Mickey ice cream bars for the kids.
Then it was time for the Maharajah Jungle Trek!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Sarah did her best imitation of a tiger!

Well, hello there!

Is that a log, or a komodo dragon?

We managed to get a picture with the Tree of Life. I know we have lots of Photopass pictures too, so I'll be doing a post with a bunch of them. I think we have some on the Maharajah trail, so they will be coming up!

photopass pics next...

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Tusker House...so yummy! I really enjoy their breakfast there!! SO GOOD!!

Loved your pics as always!!!

Jen- you were posting when I was! We've had breakfast there twice and enjoyed it both times!
Thanks - lots more pics to come!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I'll try to select a few good ones! I made about 4 copies of each one with different borders. I'll spare you!

I don't recall ever seeing this house or the little truck before!

It's kind of too bad the sun hit Paige's face there, but I really liked this picture.

We wandered over this way before (I think) heading to see the Finding Nemo show. No, we did NOT ride EE!! But it makes for a cool picture! We had to wait for this couple in front of us. They took about 40 pictures with them! It was rather ridiculous! But I am working on my patience (need it on trips during Spring Break!) so we just patiently waited our turn. I'm glad we did!

We went to see Nemo - I took no pictures. Then we headed to DinoLand and got some food for a late lunch. I know the girls had hot dogs from a stand and then we took them to Restaurantosaurus. DH and I split a bacon cheeseburger. No food porn. Sorry.

Anyone know where this would be? I have no idea! It looks like we took this in the afternoon before the parade.

There's more, but they will have to wait!
I checked my times guide and saw that the Festival of the Lion King show was at 4:30. I really wanted to see the Jammin' Jungle Parade, as we'd NEVER seen it before. That started at 3:45. So we went and strategically placed ourselves at the entry road to Camp Mickey-Minnie by Pizzafari and waited for the parade. The plan was to watch the parade and bolt to FOTLK.
Did it work? Stay tuned!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

You hit the character jackpot at RPW! Awesome!

I love that little hedgehog! He is adorable. They didn't have all that going on with the animals when we were back there. And a skunk!!! That's a first for me for sure. I've never seen that before!

The picture of Sarah in front of the Tiger painting is AWESOME! I love it! That's frame worthy!

You got lucky with the tigers up and moving around. They are usually being lazy!

Ok, what's the deal with the PP pics? I have NEVER seen those poses before??? Are they new? I love them! They turned out great! I've never seen the shack, the jeep or the waterfall. I want to know where that was???

I have those same pics from the prop things. When we were there, they were located along the parade route by CMM and they were under the DVC tent.

 

[Lady Lallie]

I wonder if that is the same little skunk they had doing tricks when Pocahontas had a show at Camp Minnie & Mickey. Hmmm. How long is a skunk's life span?

That first photopass picture, in my head I was all like "Wow, Animal Kingdom looks so lush, that vegetation is so pretty." Um. Yeah. It was a freaking border on the photo. Durrrrr.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Your pictures were so pretty that I scanned back through them again and I just noticed Paige's dress!! Oh my! That is sooooo cute! She is such a cutie too! I didn't even see the Mickey heads the first time! Where did you get it? I love it!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

You hit the character jackpot at RPW! Awesome!

I love that little hedgehog! He is adorable. They didn't have all that going on with the animals when we were back there. And a skunk!!! That's a first for me for sure. I've never seen that before!

The picture of Sarah in front of the Tiger painting is AWESOME! I love it! That's frame worthy!

You got lucky with the tigers up and moving around. They are usually being lazy!

Ok, what's the deal with the PP pics? I have NEVER seen those poses before??? Are they new? I love them! They turned out great! I've never seen the shack, the jeep or the waterfall. I want to know where that was???

I have those same pics from the prop things. When we were there, they were located along the parade route by CMM and they were under the DVC tent.

Thanks! This was BY FAR our best AK trip. We did things we'd never done, and lots of it!
I want to say those PP pics were on the jungle trek, but can't be 100% positive. I'd never seen it before either. They were all right in the same area, and the PP photographer just kept on going! It was really nice!

I also love that picture of Sarah being the tiger! I think I have two of the same one (maybe one's closer). I should frame it!

I wonder if that is the same little skunk they had doing tricks when Pocahontas had a show at Camp Minnie & Mickey. Hmmm. How long is a skunk's life span?

That first photopass picture, in my head I was all like "Wow, Animal Kingdom looks so lush, that vegetation is so pretty." Um. Yeah. It was a freaking border on the photo. Durrrrr.

The funny thing is, one of the waterfall shots did have a lot of vegetation in it! When I added a border, it was a bit much! Why not just show the real stuff I guess? In the past we'd only had PP with baby Simba and the Tree of Life when we entered. We'd never done any other ones.
Skunk's life span? Uh, you got me!

Your pictures were so pretty that I scanned back through them again and I just noticed Paige's dress!! Oh my! That is sooooo cute! She is such a cutie too! I didn't even see the Mickey heads the first time! Where did you get it? I love it!

Thanks!! We bought that on our Summer 2010 trip at AKL. Sarah got a t-shirt with the same pattern! She wore that dress ALL the time when it was warm! She loves it too! I think she's pretty cute too - Thank you!
AKL's store, Zawadi Marketplace is one of the best! Lots of cool Mickey Head patterns with animal prints on stuff! I've looked at the shirts and dresses there for myself numerous times. Haven't bought one yet. Don't know why. Next time...

 

[SoonerGirl]

Yikes! I would have been a little nervous when they brought out that skunk! Thank goodness it had been de-stinked

You got some really great photopass pics! I've never seen photopass photographers taking those kind of shots before either, I love them!

If my memory serves me correctly, those little things with the face cut outs are right before you head down the trail towards Camp Minnie Mickey