The Many Adventures of an Aussie Disney Honeymooner

[pkondz]

It was well worth staying at BLT for that experience alone.

Some day.

But still smiling... what a trooper.

He’s incredible!

It was only at some of them. At the Snow White dinner, we had to line up for the Evil Queen. At CRT, obviously we met Cinderella on the way in. And then there was this one, where we had to line up for Pooh. I was under the impression that it's always been that way at WDW, at least for CRT, but it was something new to me.

I did know that about CRT. But it wasn’t that way last time I was at CP.

 

[zanzibar138]

Chapter 7: In which we come to the savanna and DH nurses an injury

7.2. Horsing around at the fort​

Having said our goodbyes to MK, we headed to the dock for the boat to FW.



At that time of day, there was a bit of a wait, enough for a small crowd to gather. We were at the front of the line though, so made our way straight to the deck. I was headed for the front row, but Ben preferred the look of the shade.



It was fun to see all the resorts from the water.







I also loved going over the ‘water bridge’.



Approaching FW, I observed with interest the work being started on the new resort. I’ll be very interested to see how this turns out!





We were excited to arrive at our destination!





Continued in next post…

 

[zanzibar138]

Who wants to guess the first thing I took a photo of???

…



We checked out the shop first, which actually had some fun merch! We spent a bit of time in there, and came away with a couple of t-shirts and a couple of drinks.



We had a specific point of interest for this visit.



The stable block was separated into public and non-accessible areas. There were several beautiful horses we could meet in the public area.







They were so beautiful, and reminded me so much of Violet (our beautiful wedding horse), I got a little bit emotional meeting them!

There were also a few interesting displays.







Then there was the non-accessible area.



Continued in next post…

 

[zanzibar138]

We visited the cute ponies that were on standby for pony rides. The CM kindly brought one of them out to say hello. We didn’t really have great interactions with CMs here. They all seemed to be very focused on what they were doing and not really interested in engaging with us too much. It was a little disappointing as I would have loved to talk horses with them, but I also understand they had real work to do



The ponies were presented beautifully!



A couple of little girls came along for pony rides just as we were finishing up. I seem to have neglected to take any photos, but there was a little track just outside that they were led around (like a lazy river lol!). They seemed to be having a great time!

As we were watching the pony rides, this big handsome guy was brought out for a bath.



Having had my horsey fix, we headed to the nearby bus stop to continue our journey. First we were headed to the outpost. We enjoyed seeing more of the grounds along the way.



At the outpost, our next bus wasn’t far away. In the meantime, we enjoyed looking around. We observed the large amount of golf carts (and wondered what happens when the ‘carpark’ overflows!).



We looked longingly at the trail rides area, and briefly considered asking if we could join the group we could see gathering. We would have booked beforehand, but we wanted to keep our options open that day and weren’t sure on timing etc. We decided to stick with Plan A though, and soon we were on the bus to AK.



We’d really enjoyed looking around FW, but given the amount of time it took to get around, we were glad we hadn't decided to stay there.

 

[pkondz]

DH nurses an injury

Uh oh!

Ben preferred the look of the shade.

Ben is smart.

also loved going over the ‘water bridge’.

That’s such a cool thing isn’t it?

Who wants to guess the first thing I took a photo of???

We had a specific point of interest for this visit.

Oh cool! Don’t think I’ve ever seen photos from there.

They were so beautiful, and reminded me so much of Violet (our beautiful wedding horse), I got a little bit emotional meeting them!

Awww

There were also a few interesting displays.

I’d like to have read the calliope one.

The CM kindly brought one of them out to say hello.

That was nice of him.

We didn’t really have great interactions with CMs here. They all seemed to be very focused on what they were doing and not really interested in engaging with us too much.

I’m okay with that. Focus on the horses.

there was a little track just outside that they were led around (like a lazy river lol!). They seemed to be having a great time!

 

[zanzibar138]

That’s such a cool thing isn’t it?

Very cool!

I’m okay with that. Focus on the horses.

Mostly I would have liked to find out more about the horse getting a bath. The others had info plaques on their stables so we could see their name, age, breed etc. Back in the day, I was quite capable of bathing a horse and chatting at the same time, and the horse was behaving very nicely for her, but perhaps she had some other reason why she needed to concentrate a bit more. Or maybe she just didn't want to deal with nosy tourists that she probably needs to watch like a hawk in case they have zero horse sense and try to do something stupid

 

[zanzibar138]

Chapter 7: In which we come to the savanna and DH nurses an injury

7.3. All our animal friends​

We arrived at AK mid-afternoon and, as always, enjoyed the walk through to the ToL.



We were on a mission for this afternoon. We wanted to tick off our ‘must meet’ characters. First, my absolute favourite, Dug! It was about a 20 minute wait for him and Russel, and of course they went for a break just as we got to the start of the line I showed him and Russel a photo of Evie (our dog), and told them she was very disappointed that she couldn’t meet them too.





Just as we were leaving, Kevin came to join the fun too.



We hadn’t eaten anything since lunch, and were starting to get a little peckish, so decided to stop for snacks on the way to the next characters. I was super excited to find a Vietnamese Iced Coffee at Isle of Java! We sat on a nearby bit of wall and watched the activity as we enjoyed our snacks. After a few minutes, Kevin came back through too and joined the party for a while.



Next stop, DinoLand!



We saw a short line for someone (maybe Goofy?) outside Restaurantosauros, but kept going to the Cretaceous Trail. There were only a few people in line for Daisy, so we met her on the way in.



Then we made our way around to Chip N Dale. There was literally no one else there, making me wonder if people knew about this. Ever since I saw that this was a thing, it was on my must do list! How cute are they in their dinosaur onesies??? And as usual, they were heaps of fun. Chip was scared of the bees on my Pooh ears and was hiding behind the CM.





We lingered to watch these musicians on the way out.



Continued in next post…

 

[zanzibar138]

The day was marching on, and the heat and crowds were getting a little intense.



But we still had more animal friends we wanted to see.



It was a much longer wait than we’d experienced previously, not helped at all by our safari vehicle breaking down just as it was coming into the loading area! They eventually did get it going, but it took a while for them to get it out of the way.



It really wasn’t the ideal time of day again to be attempting safari photography, but I managed to get a few reasonable shots.











We headed towards the exit, stopping here and there along the way. We didn’t have any luck spotting beavers or kangaroos (not that I really need to see kangaroos but it would have been fun to see them at the base of the ToL!). I’ve always been fascinated by flamingos though, so was quite happy to see a flock of them instead.



Soon enough, we were at the bus stop waiting for the next bus to AKL.

 

[zanzibar138]

Chapter 7: In which we come to the savanna and DH nurses an injury

7.4. Into Africa​

We had to wait a while for the bus. It was pretty crowded, we didn’t get seats, and by the time we stopped at Kidani Lodge first, it turned out to be a decent length trip. It’s not so far that they couldn’t put a walking path in just to give people the option. I would have happily chosen to walk half an hour or perhaps more over taking the bus, and it wouldn’t have taken any longer lol!

Anyway, we did eventually arrive at Jambo House, and entered the magnificent lobby. We had both loved the vibe at Wilderness Lodge, and we loved it here too.



For some reason, I never did get room allocations come through on my MDE app, so we had to check in the old-fashioned way! It gave me a chance to check the pin boards, and I actually found an Ortensia pin I was keen to trade for! I had requested a room overlooking the Arusha Savanna, as I liked the look of the photos that had part of the lodge in the background too, plus the Arusha Savanna didn’t seem to have any ‘refuges’ (the fenced off areas I think are for evacuations), which I didn’t want in our view. We were given room 5523, which was about halfway along the Zebra Trail. Once again, there was no acknowledgement of our honeymoon, but we were very happy with the room. It turned out to be a really great location, away from the hustle and bustle but easy access to the restaurants/pool area via a lift that was only one block of rooms down from us. Plus of course the great view over the savanna. We were super excited to see zebras and giraffes as well as wildebeest and antelope. I'd really hoped to be slightly earlier so we could enjoy sundowners on the balcony, but we just caught the last of the fading light and had a dinner reservation to get to.











As we were standing there taking it all in, we noticed this poor little antelope who’d gotten itself lost! It seemed to be quite distressed, trying to make its way back to the herd.



I called down to the front desk to report it and they said they’d send a ranger to the rescue!

Continued in next post…

 

[zanzibar138]

We actually really liked the room itself too. We thought the layout was the best, most practical use of space we’d seen yet (my only gripe was that my side of the bed didn’t have a side table). Plus, there was that nice bit of theming to it.





We checked in again on the antelope again before we left for dinner, and they all seemed to be happy so we assumed the ranger had been.

Then we headed downstairs for our reservation at Boma.



Boma was the only ‘normal’ restaurant I’d booked for the entire trip, but it seemed like a unique enough cuisine and ambience to be considered something special that we would only be able to do at WDW.

The food really was incredible! Definitely our favourite buffet. There was such a large variety, and everything we tried was amazing.





Dessert was equally impressive. I finally got to try bread pudding and zebra domes and now understand the hype. The bread pudding was sticky date flavour that nice, which was amazing!



As for the ambience, well that wasn’t exactly the best part of the dinner. We found it very noisy and chaotic. It may have been better if we’d been seated closer to the edge, but we’d been plonked right in the middle of the floor. It wasn’t exactly a romantic dinner, but still enjoyable nonetheless.

And of course, after we’d filled up on the buffet, we were presented with free cupcakes for our ‘anniversary’. This was probably the best perk we got. It was a smaller more manageable size, presented nicely, chocolate flavour (a fave for both of us), and because we were going straight back to our room, we were actually able to take them with us and eat them later!



We headed back to our room via the lobby, to see more of the wonderful theming.





It had been another quite big day, and we were both pleased to get back to the room for some much needed rest. And for the first time since we’d arrived at WDW, we went to bed not having anything specific planned for the following day!