*Wish*Upon*A*Star*
Mommy of an Angel
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2001
- Messages
- 490
*Pre-Trip Planning and Information*
*Day One- Airport, Magic Kingdom, and Chef Mickeys*
*Day Two- Epcot, Garden Grill, and Rose & Crown Pub*
Cast of Characters:
Marsha ~ *ME!* ~ 23 years old, trip planner, 4th trip to Disney World
Alex ~ *DH* ~ Turned 24 years old on trip, 3rd trip to Disney World
JR ~ *My Brother-in-law, Alex's brother* ~ 18 years old, 1st (real) trip to Disney World
Special Appearances by:
Carol ~ *my Mom* ~ age withheld, 3rd trip to Disney World
Bob ~ *my Dad* ~ age also withheld, 3rd trip to Disney World
*Day Three- Animal Kingdom, DisneyQuest, and Rainforest Café*
Planned Itinerary:
Breakfast- Intermission Food Court
Lunch- counter service at Animal Kingdom
Dinner- Rainforest Café Downtown Disney
Park: Animal Kingdom
We have yet another early morning. Today our plan is to visit the Animal Kingdom and catch an early morning Kilimanjaro Safari.
We get the wake up call this morning at 7:00am, and this time we make JR answer the phone. He listens and then hangs up. Mickey says we have to be up and at em, so I guess we should get up, he says with a little smirk. So, we get up and get ready and grab a quick breakfast in the food court. We
head out to the bus stop and wait for the bus. This is the first time we have had to wait, and it was only for a few minutes.
It is only a short ride there, and we get there aroud 8:25 or so. We are on the lookout for Devine because we didnt see her last year. As we walk through the Oasis, we head over to Africa to catch the safari. We want to go on one where all of the animals are awake
and rowdy.
The posted wait time was 20 minutes and the boys didn't want to wait- they wanted to get a fastpass- but, I insisted that we wait. And so we got in line, and the wait was only probably ten minutes or so. We were lucky enough to get a backseat bench on the jeep, and I took lots of great pictures of the animals. Last year, Alex and I went on Kilimanjaro Safari's during the afternoon and most of the animals were sleeping... This one was so much different than last year. We saw the giraffes, lions, zebras, flamingos, elephants... It was great!! 
JR thought that the poacher story was kind of silly, but he enjoyed seeing all of the animals.
When our safari ended, as we went through the exit, we headed over to the waterfall just past the exit, and we got to see a gorilla rolling around and playing in the grass. It was so much fun just watching what he was doing. I could just sit and watch animals all day if
Alex would let me
When Alex and JR started getting antsy
, we decided to do one of the walking trails. Alex only wanted to do the Mahrajah jungle trek, so we headed over into Asia. On our way there, we stopped near the river and JR took some pictures of the Tree of Life. It is just awesome. We also passed the entrace to the Kali River Rapids and decided to stop at the bridge near the exit so we could squirt people with the elephants. Well, since it was a cool day (probably around 70 or so), noone was on the ride!! 
It was still fun, though...
After our fun with the elephant squirter things, we walked over to the Mahrajah Jungle Trek, where we encountered bats lazily hanging in their little bat room... After we got tired of watching the bats, we walked up to the ledge where you can see the tigers... and... they were right there on the fountain!! It was so cool to see them just hanging out. A few minutes after we got there and were watching them, they started to play (or maybe fight, I couldn't tell)... What a difference from when Alex and I were there last year and they were all sleeping! We got some great pictures of them- if I can get someone to scan them for me, I will post them. They are just beautiful creatures. They are another animal that I could just sit and watch all day long.
When the boys broke me away from my tiger-watching, we walked through the aviary section and saw all of the birds. Alex really surprised me here- I thought that he would be bored, but he really enjoyed searching for all the different kinds of birds. There was one bird in particular that really liked Alex (I think)- he (or she, maybe) kept following him... when Alex would walk away, the bird would jump from branch to branch to follow him. It was really funny, but Alex loved it.
When our jungle trek was over, we decided to head over to Dinoland and catch Dinosaur. There was virtually no line for the ride, so we hopped right on. It was great- the picture of the three of us was hysterical, but we decided against purchasing it. We debated as to whether we should ride it again, but decided against it when we went out and saw that the line had jumped from a 5 minute posted wait time to a 35 minute wait time!
We headed back to Safari Village, and decided we would check out "It's Tough to Be A Bug" and then hit the road. So, we hopped in line for the show and waited and waited and waited... I think this was the longest wait we experienced the whole trip (I would say we waited probably 30 minutes or so). Not a big deal, though, because we had fun identifying all of the animals on the Tree of Life. Once we got into the theater and put our bug eyes on, we had a fabulous time... The show was great, as always, and we all walked out of there with big smiles.
The boys (and I, too) had had enough of the Animal Kingdom, and we decided that we would head over to DisneyQuest, grab a quick lunch and check out some of the attractions there. When we headed over to the bus stop(s), we were under the impression that we could catch a bus directly to Downtown Disney, but that was not the case. We had to catch a bus back to our resort and then wait for a Downtown Disney bus from there. Which was fine because our resort wasn't that far away (and an All Star bus was already there).
Two bus rides later, we found ourselves walking towards DisneyQuest. This was JR's first glimpse of Downtown Disney, and he was really surprised at how large it is. We had our backpack checked inside the entrance to DisneyQuest and then hopped into our cyberlator. The Genie brought us up to the fun, and we decided we wanted to grab a bite to eat before we played. We hiked up the stairs to the Cheesecake Factory and got two individual pizzas and one pasta platter and we sat at the ledge overlooking the Buzz Lightyear ride.
After consuming our delicious lunches, we headed down to try our hand at Buzz Lightyear. JR and I got a car together and Alex went by himself. Needless to say, both of our cars spinned more than a few times... We still need some practice at that one!
After our Buzz ride, we went to check out the Mighty Ducks pinball game... JR decided to opt out of this one, but Alex and I tried!! Alex did really well, coming in 2nd place... I, on the other hand, came in at 8th or something!
I don't remember the order in which we did everything after that, but I think I can remember what we did: CyberSpace Mountain (JR got to ride twice- Alex and I each created our own and then JR got to ride both), Ride the Comix, Alien Encounter (we lost- we always lose!), and the Treasure of the Incas (where you operate remote controlled cars to get the treasure).
By the time we had done all that, we were pretty tired and needed a break, so we hopped a bus back to our resort to freshen up and get ready for dinner.
When we are finally ready (I can't believe how long it takes a teenage boy to get ready... he was all excited because we were going to Pleasure Island later that night- and he had to dress to impress!!
), well, we catch a bus to Downtown Disney and meet my parents (as previously scheduled with them) at 7pm in front of the Rainforest Café. Apparently, they had arrived 1/2 hr earlier than us and they put their name in when they arrived, thinking that it would be a long wait... well, their name had been called twice already and we weren't there yet!!
We had some time to kill before our name was called, so my mom and I walked across to the Mickey at Home store to look for a gift for my brother's girlfriend. We found a nice candle and my mom got it for her and we walked back to the boys. We then walked around the RFC store, where JR found a shot glass he ended up buying. When the CM was ringing up his purchase, our name was called (perfect timing!), and we headed over to the elephant booth.
We were seated in an alcove in the gorilla section, and we ordered our drinks and looked over the menu. I can't remember what we had, but I do remember that everything was excellent. The Rainforest is actually one of Alex's favorite restaurants in Disney World. This was the first time my mom and JR had eaten at a Rainforest Café, and they both said it was quite an experience!!
After our bellies were full, we headed out towards Pleasure Island. This is where we said our goodbyes for the night to my parents, who took the boat back to PO-R. Alex, JR, and I took the bus over to PI, where we showed JR all of the clubs and gave him the choice to hang out with us or go on his own for a while. He said he wanted to check out Motion himself, so he headed over that way, and we hopped in line at the Comedy Warehouse. We enjoyed the show- they are always so funny- and we got out just in time for the New Year's Eve celebration. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!! We had told JR to meet us at the Comedy Warehouse around 11:45 and he was nowhere to be seen (watches aren't fashionable on teenage boys, you know), so we headed towards Motion and met up with him halfway there.
We were all pretty tired by then, so we walked out of PI and caught the next bus to All Star Music. All in all, we had a great day three.
*Day One- Airport, Magic Kingdom, and Chef Mickeys*
*Day Two- Epcot, Garden Grill, and Rose & Crown Pub*
Cast of Characters:
Marsha ~ *ME!* ~ 23 years old, trip planner, 4th trip to Disney World
Alex ~ *DH* ~ Turned 24 years old on trip, 3rd trip to Disney World
JR ~ *My Brother-in-law, Alex's brother* ~ 18 years old, 1st (real) trip to Disney World
Special Appearances by:
Carol ~ *my Mom* ~ age withheld, 3rd trip to Disney World
Bob ~ *my Dad* ~ age also withheld, 3rd trip to Disney World
*Day Three- Animal Kingdom, DisneyQuest, and Rainforest Café*
Planned Itinerary:
Breakfast- Intermission Food Court
Lunch- counter service at Animal Kingdom
Dinner- Rainforest Café Downtown Disney
Park: Animal Kingdom
We have yet another early morning. Today our plan is to visit the Animal Kingdom and catch an early morning Kilimanjaro Safari.
We get the wake up call this morning at 7:00am, and this time we make JR answer the phone. He listens and then hangs up. Mickey says we have to be up and at em, so I guess we should get up, he says with a little smirk. So, we get up and get ready and grab a quick breakfast in the food court. Wehead out to the bus stop and wait for the bus. This is the first time we have had to wait, and it was only for a few minutes.
It is only a short ride there, and we get there aroud 8:25 or so. We are on the lookout for Devine because we didnt see her last year. As we walk through the Oasis, we head over to Africa to catch the safari. We want to go on one where all of the animals are awake
and rowdy.
The posted wait time was 20 minutes and the boys didn't want to wait- they wanted to get a fastpass- but, I insisted that we wait. And so we got in line, and the wait was only probably ten minutes or so. We were lucky enough to get a backseat bench on the jeep, and I took lots of great pictures of the animals. Last year, Alex and I went on Kilimanjaro Safari's during the afternoon and most of the animals were sleeping... This one was so much different than last year. We saw the giraffes, lions, zebras, flamingos, elephants... It was great!! JR thought that the poacher story was kind of silly, but he enjoyed seeing all of the animals.When our safari ended, as we went through the exit, we headed over to the waterfall just past the exit, and we got to see a gorilla rolling around and playing in the grass. It was so much fun just watching what he was doing. I could just sit and watch animals all day if
Alex would let me
When Alex and JR started getting antsy
, we decided to do one of the walking trails. Alex only wanted to do the Mahrajah jungle trek, so we headed over into Asia. On our way there, we stopped near the river and JR took some pictures of the Tree of Life. It is just awesome. We also passed the entrace to the Kali River Rapids and decided to stop at the bridge near the exit so we could squirt people with the elephants. Well, since it was a cool day (probably around 70 or so), noone was on the ride!! It was still fun, though... After our fun with the elephant squirter things, we walked over to the Mahrajah Jungle Trek, where we encountered bats lazily hanging in their little bat room... After we got tired of watching the bats, we walked up to the ledge where you can see the tigers... and... they were right there on the fountain!! It was so cool to see them just hanging out. A few minutes after we got there and were watching them, they started to play (or maybe fight, I couldn't tell
)... What a difference from when Alex and I were there last year and they were all sleeping! We got some great pictures of them- if I can get someone to scan them for me, I will post them. They are just beautiful creatures. They are another animal that I could just sit and watch all day long.When the boys broke me away from my tiger-watching, we walked through the aviary section and saw all of the birds. Alex really surprised me here- I thought that he would be bored, but he really enjoyed searching for all the different kinds of birds. There was one bird in particular that really liked Alex (I think)- he (or she, maybe
) kept following him... when Alex would walk away, the bird would jump from branch to branch to follow him. It was really funny, but Alex loved it. When our jungle trek was over, we decided to head over to Dinoland and catch Dinosaur. There was virtually no line for the ride, so we hopped right on. It was great- the picture of the three of us was hysterical, but we decided against purchasing it. We debated as to whether we should ride it again, but decided against it when we went out and saw that the line had jumped from a 5 minute posted wait time to a 35 minute wait time!
We headed back to Safari Village, and decided we would check out "It's Tough to Be A Bug" and then hit the road. So, we hopped in line for the show and waited and waited and waited... I think this was the longest wait we experienced the whole trip (I would say we waited probably 30 minutes or so). Not a big deal, though, because we had fun identifying all of the animals on the Tree of Life. Once we got into the theater and put our bug eyes on, we had a fabulous time... The show was great, as always, and we all walked out of there with big smiles.
The boys (and I, too) had had enough of the Animal Kingdom, and we decided that we would head over to DisneyQuest, grab a quick lunch and check out some of the attractions there. When we headed over to the bus stop(s), we were under the impression that we could catch a bus directly to Downtown Disney, but that was not the case. We had to catch a bus back to our resort and then wait for a Downtown Disney bus from there. Which was fine because our resort wasn't that far away (and an All Star bus was already there
).Two bus rides later, we found ourselves walking towards DisneyQuest. This was JR's first glimpse of Downtown Disney, and he was really surprised at how large it is. We had our backpack checked inside the entrance to DisneyQuest and then hopped into our cyberlator. The Genie brought us up to the fun, and we decided we wanted to grab a bite to eat before we played. We hiked up the stairs to the Cheesecake Factory and got two individual pizzas and one pasta platter and we sat at the ledge overlooking the Buzz Lightyear ride.
After consuming our delicious lunches, we headed down to try our hand at Buzz Lightyear. JR and I got a car together and Alex went by himself. Needless to say, both of our cars spinned more than a few times... We still need some practice at that one!
After our Buzz ride, we went to check out the Mighty Ducks pinball game... JR decided to opt out of this one, but Alex and I tried!! Alex did really well, coming in 2nd place... I, on the other hand, came in at 8th or something!
I don't remember the order in which we did everything after that, but I think I can remember what we did: CyberSpace Mountain (JR got to ride twice- Alex and I each created our own and then JR got to ride both), Ride the Comix, Alien Encounter (we lost- we always lose!), and the Treasure of the Incas (where you operate remote controlled cars to get the treasure).
By the time we had done all that, we were pretty tired and needed a break, so we hopped a bus back to our resort to freshen up and get ready for dinner.
When we are finally ready (I can't believe how long it takes a teenage boy to get ready... he was all excited because we were going to Pleasure Island later that night- and he had to dress to impress!!
), well, we catch a bus to Downtown Disney and meet my parents (as previously scheduled with them) at 7pm in front of the Rainforest Café. Apparently, they had arrived 1/2 hr earlier than us and they put their name in when they arrived, thinking that it would be a long wait... well, their name had been called twice already and we weren't there yet!! We had some time to kill before our name was called, so my mom and I walked across to the Mickey at Home store to look for a gift for my brother's girlfriend. We found a nice candle and my mom got it for her and we walked back to the boys. We then walked around the RFC store, where JR found a shot glass he ended up buying. When the CM was ringing up his purchase, our name was called (perfect timing!), and we headed over to the elephant booth.
We were seated in an alcove in the gorilla section, and we ordered our drinks and looked over the menu. I can't remember what we had, but I do remember that everything was excellent. The Rainforest is actually one of Alex's favorite restaurants in Disney World. This was the first time my mom and JR had eaten at a Rainforest Café, and they both said it was quite an experience!!
After our bellies were full, we headed out towards Pleasure Island. This is where we said our goodbyes for the night to my parents, who took the boat back to PO-R. Alex, JR, and I took the bus over to PI, where we showed JR all of the clubs and gave him the choice to hang out with us or go on his own for a while. He said he wanted to check out Motion himself, so he headed over that way, and we hopped in line at the Comedy Warehouse. We enjoyed the show- they are always so funny- and we got out just in time for the New Year's Eve celebration. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!! We had told JR to meet us at the Comedy Warehouse around 11:45 and he was nowhere to be seen (watches aren't fashionable on teenage boys, you know
), so we headed towards Motion and met up with him halfway there. We were all pretty tired by then, so we walked out of PI and caught the next bus to All Star Music. All in all, we had a great day three.
