RobynPrincess
Looking around
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2010
- Messages
- 1,285
We had a super early start this morning for our Sunrise Safari in Animal Kingdom. Sadly I believe this safari has been discontinued now 
I'm glad I got to do it before it finished. The safari was open to club level guests only and then in 2014 they opened it to any DVC member staying in AKL on points. As soon as it opened up I called member services and booked it for all of us.
The alarm went off on Sy's phone at about 6am but he turned it off without waking me which resulting in him waking me minutes before we were due to go eeeeeek! Cue lots of mad dashing about to get ready. We left the room at 6:50am, this is almost unheard of for me back home as I'm a total night owl but with the time difference it didn't feel too bad. We parked at Jambo and went inside to check in for the safari in the hotel lobby. There were some drinks for us to help ourselves to while we waited for everyone to check in, after a short wait we were given the introductory chat and taken outside to the buses. As we were heading into Animal Kingdom security were there to check our bags as we boarded the bus.
A pic of us all looking bright eyed and bushy tailed... or something like that
There were 2 buses and each of us had our own tour guide. There was one guy and 1 girl, we had Ryan on our bus. He was amazing, not just because of his dashing good looks (think Bradley Cooper's thinner brother), but he was so enthusiastic about his job, we could tell just how much he loved it. The bus took us round to the back entrance of the park where we left the bus and made our way to the safari. The park was just opening as we arrived (I think it may have had EMH?) and the first few people were heading towards us hoping to be on the first safari of the day.
We boarded 2 safari buses through the normal queue line and started on our journey. The safari was so interesting, Ryan explained all about the animals and how they got there, how they looked after them, where they had come from, the breeding info, every question you could think of, he knew the answer. He also told us the next animals that were joining AK would be hyaenas (bit of inside info for you there!). We saw the lions out playing which was amazing, I think the female was flirting... she was play-fighting with the male trying to get him to chase her. The animal were all so active, was lovely to see them up close. I took loads of pictures so here are just a few highlights...
We were out on the safari for an hour, time went by so quickly though, we didn't get off till 9am. Included in the safari was a buffet breakfast inside Pizzafari so that's where we headed next, with Ryan leading the way. We were greeted at the door and shown to our table which had been decorated for our birthday's! This was the only time all holiday that any restaurant took notice of our celebration (including the table for our vow renewal meal, where we arrived in wedding attire and still didn't get so much as a sprinkling of confetti ). Unfortunately my mum's birthday had been left off for some reason, one of the waitresses (called Diane) noticed my mum had one of our specially made badges on (they were admired by SO many CM's!), and realised she didn't have a happy birthday sign so she went off and came back with a Duffy pin for her! It was so sweet and kind of her, my mum was so touched she got all teary. This is why Disney is the best. Disney would be nothing without its amazing CM's, such a small thing but meant so much to my mum. Mum isn't a pin trader or collector but she wore that pin all holiday as it made her smile.
Ryan came round to talk to us while we were eating to make sure we had enjoyed ourselves which we of course had
The lady who was on the other safari came round to chat as well. Breakfast itself was okay, nothing too special but very edible and plenty of it.
After we all had our fill we made our way out into the warm Florida sunshine, it was a beautiful day again. We decided we would watch the next Lion King show but we were early so we grabbed a seat in the sun and all nearly fell asleep haha! All these early mornings clearly were catching up with us! It was getting time for Festival of the Lion King so off we went to the new Harambe theatre. We stopped for a few selfies on the way...
We were shown inside and given seats on the ground floor as mum was in her scooter. One of my favourite moments of the trip happened next, Cliff was picked to help demonstrate how to be an elephant to everyone. He was so funny! He's a good sport though and had fun with it. (I have got it on film, one of these days I'll get round to editing the clips, honest).
The show itself was as wonderful as ever, my favourite show in Disney hands down. I always have to fight back the tears, am I the only one who gets so emotional watching FotLK? I love seeing the kids getting involved at the end, it always reminds me of the time I watched a 'zebra' push a young boy round in his wheelchair so he could join in, the look on his face - he was so happy. Still brings a tear to my eye now when I think of it.
After the show we were all seriously flagging so we decide to head back to the resort to chill for a bit. We had to get the bus back as we had got the bus there. I grabbed a mango slushie as we headed out of the front gate.
Back in the room we decided to go and chill by the pool. Sy said he needed to spend some time in the gym to combat all of the bad food he had been eating so I went to the pool with my mum and dad and he went to the gym with his parents with the plan that they would come for a swim after they were done. Sy's parents have a treadmill at home and his mum was worrying as she hadn't been for a walk since she got there so she was pleased to go as well. I did say we had been walking round the parks but she said that didn't count lol. So we left them in the room getting ready for the gym while we went to sun ourselves by the pool (I know who had the best idea ). At the pool I found us some loungers and spent the next 2 hours dipping in and out of the water, reading my book in between. I was a bit annoyed as Sy never came down to meet us at the pool, but I later found out that he had to wait for something in the room...
My lovely romantic husband had arranged for this as a surprise for me! What a sweetie I didn't stay mad for long after I saw that!
I'm glad I got to do it before it finished. The safari was open to club level guests only and then in 2014 they opened it to any DVC member staying in AKL on points. As soon as it opened up I called member services and booked it for all of us.The alarm went off on Sy's phone at about 6am but he turned it off without waking me which resulting in him waking me minutes before we were due to go eeeeeek! Cue lots of mad dashing about to get ready. We left the room at 6:50am, this is almost unheard of for me back home as I'm a total night owl but with the time difference it didn't feel too bad. We parked at Jambo and went inside to check in for the safari in the hotel lobby. There were some drinks for us to help ourselves to while we waited for everyone to check in, after a short wait we were given the introductory chat and taken outside to the buses. As we were heading into Animal Kingdom security were there to check our bags as we boarded the bus.
A pic of us all looking bright eyed and bushy tailed... or something like that
There were 2 buses and each of us had our own tour guide. There was one guy and 1 girl, we had Ryan on our bus. He was amazing, not just because of his dashing good looks (think Bradley Cooper's thinner brother), but he was so enthusiastic about his job, we could tell just how much he loved it. The bus took us round to the back entrance of the park where we left the bus and made our way to the safari. The park was just opening as we arrived (I think it may have had EMH?) and the first few people were heading towards us hoping to be on the first safari of the day.
We boarded 2 safari buses through the normal queue line and started on our journey. The safari was so interesting, Ryan explained all about the animals and how they got there, how they looked after them, where they had come from, the breeding info, every question you could think of, he knew the answer. He also told us the next animals that were joining AK would be hyaenas (bit of inside info for you there!). We saw the lions out playing which was amazing, I think the female was flirting... she was play-fighting with the male trying to get him to chase her. The animal were all so active, was lovely to see them up close. I took loads of pictures so here are just a few highlights...
We were out on the safari for an hour, time went by so quickly though, we didn't get off till 9am. Included in the safari was a buffet breakfast inside Pizzafari so that's where we headed next, with Ryan leading the way. We were greeted at the door and shown to our table which had been decorated for our birthday's! This was the only time all holiday that any restaurant took notice of our celebration (including the table for our vow renewal meal, where we arrived in wedding attire and still didn't get so much as a sprinkling of confetti
). Unfortunately my mum's birthday had been left off for some reason, one of the waitresses (called Diane) noticed my mum had one of our specially made badges on (they were admired by SO many CM's!), and realised she didn't have a happy birthday sign so she went off and came back with a Duffy pin for her! It was so sweet and kind of her, my mum was so touched she got all teary. This is why Disney is the best. Disney would be nothing without its amazing CM's, such a small thing but meant so much to my mum. Mum isn't a pin trader or collector but she wore that pin all holiday as it made her smile. 
Ryan came round to talk to us while we were eating to make sure we had enjoyed ourselves which we of course had
The lady who was on the other safari came round to chat as well. Breakfast itself was okay, nothing too special but very edible and plenty of it. 
After we all had our fill we made our way out into the warm Florida sunshine, it was a beautiful day again. We decided we would watch the next Lion King show but we were early so we grabbed a seat in the sun and all nearly fell asleep haha! All these early mornings clearly were catching up with us! It was getting time for Festival of the Lion King so off we went to the new Harambe theatre. We stopped for a few selfies on the way...
We were shown inside and given seats on the ground floor as mum was in her scooter. One of my favourite moments of the trip happened next, Cliff was picked to help demonstrate how to be an elephant to everyone. He was so funny! He's a good sport though and had fun with it. (I have got it on film, one of these days I'll get round to editing the clips, honest).
The show itself was as wonderful as ever, my favourite show in Disney hands down. I always have to fight back the tears, am I the only one who gets so emotional watching FotLK? I love seeing the kids getting involved at the end, it always reminds me of the time I watched a 'zebra' push a young boy round in his wheelchair so he could join in, the look on his face - he was so happy. Still brings a tear to my eye now when I think of it.
After the show we were all seriously flagging so we decide to head back to the resort to chill for a bit. We had to get the bus back as we had got the bus there. I grabbed a mango slushie as we headed out of the front gate.
Back in the room we decided to go and chill by the pool. Sy said he needed to spend some time in the gym to combat all of the bad food he had been eating so I went to the pool with my mum and dad and he went to the gym with his parents with the plan that they would come for a swim after they were done. Sy's parents have a treadmill at home and his mum was worrying as she hadn't been for a walk since she got there so she was pleased to go as well. I did say we had been walking round the parks but she said that didn't count lol. So we left them in the room getting ready for the gym while we went to sun ourselves by the pool (I know who had the best idea
). At the pool I found us some loungers and spent the next 2 hours dipping in and out of the water, reading my book in between. I was a bit annoyed as Sy never came down to meet us at the pool, but I later found out that he had to wait for something in the room...
My lovely romantic husband had arranged for this as a surprise for me! What a sweetie
I didn't stay mad for long after I saw that!
