thegirlyarwood
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2005
- Messages
- 57
10th February 2006
ANIMAL KINGDOM
Today was the first day that we would hit the parks. I ( as trip organiser) had decided that we should visit Animal Kingdom first as this would hopefully ease us into the park 'regime'.
It was also DS 6th b'day today so there was lots of mega excitement on board the people carrier on the way to the park.
We had been very fortunate with the location of our villa and found that it was a mere 15 minute drive to Disney!! Excellent with 2 kids and Grandad on board ( and also DH who kept vereing into the right hand lane causing me to wince a little).
I must admit I felt quite excited when I saw the entrance to the park and once inside even though we had a plan of what to do first etc, this seemed to go straight 'out of the window'. We did firstly visit 'Killimanjaro Safaris' in the hope of seeing more animals first thing in the morning which we did. The boys were so excited when they saw the elephants and even more so at catching a glimpse of the new baby elephant - very sweet.
I can't quite remember in which order we did the rest of the rides as everything seemed so exciting. I particularly enjoyed ' It's Tough to be a Bug' i thought this was wonderful, especially the walk down to the attraction which takes you under the 'Tree of Life' - marvellous. I must admit though my DS (6yr) thought this was scary and shut his eyes for the majority of the time - this just goes to show how good the effects are!!.
The Kali River Rapids were also a big hit and DH and DS went on this fully ponchoed out. I was not aware of the 'squirters' system until a kind american lady informed me whilst i was happily watching them from the viewing bridge. This gave me and Grandad minutes of amusement, Grandad got a little carried away and began squirting everyone which was unlucky for him as DH and DS went on 3 times in a row causing the previously squirted passengers to pass by and pick out Grandad for an ear bashing ( in jest of course). It was lovely to see everyone having so much fun and even my young DS got involved in the squirting. There were absolutely no queues here and we were able to pretty much walk straight on to any ride we wanted.
Dinner was a cheap and cheerful event of chicken nuggets and chips - this seemed to be where the majority of crowds were hanging out.
Did have a slight embarrassment at dinner, I was left on my own with both kids when my DS (2yr) decided it was toilet time (he had developed a phobia about going to any toilet in america - i think this was due to the rather swift flushing system that is going on there and he was in fear that he, or rather his winkie was going to be sucked down the toilet). Anyway he peed all over one of the aluminium seats making it rather hard to disguise - thankfully i had come prepared as all mothers do and cleaned up the situation rather swiftly!!
Following dinner myself, DH and DS (6) decided to go on 'Dinsosaur'. "is it scary Mum?" this sentence will haunt me forever, together with my response of " no it's only pretend." I must say that being greeted by 'Claire Huxtable' in the briefing room monitors before the ride made me feel quite warm and confident that the ride would be anything but scary ----WRONG-----.
At first, well for about 3 seconds, everything seemed ok then all manor of beasts start jumping out at you. DS was already cowering after 1/2 a minute and towards the end i could see the distant dark figure approaching the car I (shameful as it was) closed my eyes and cowered with him. All i could hear was the noise of this beast (who by now had convinced me he was real). The pictures at the end of the ride just show me and DS blithering in a heap at the front of the car and DH rather unsympathetically laughing in the face of anhialation. SCARY!!
We took younger DS on Triceratop Spin which was great for the young ones. DS (6) also had his characature painted which was really good and good value for the amount of time and effort taken with it.
We saw a little tea booth and stopped for a cup of tea (as the english tend to do). I would recommend that you skip this one. The tea options available to choose are too confusing and we just asked for regular tea but it was very very weak and not refreshing at all. I would have rather had a juice.
We had also picked up a birthday badge on entry to the park which meant that all the characters and crew kept coming up to DS and wishing him Happy Birthday - every time they did he looked at them for a split second as if to say 'how do you know?' This was great and made sure he had a very special birthday.
We caught the parade which was thoroughly enjoyable for everyone and left Animal Kingdown just before closing. I think you do need a couple of trips to fully appreciate this park as there were areas we did not visit but i will ceratinly do this next time.
Tea was at TGI Fridays, we did intend to have something special for DS b'day but we were all shattered and just needed food. TGI's was exceptional for value and quality of food and service (unlike in the UK). I still had not got used to the large portions of food you were given which meant we had to take our desserts home. We had managed to purchase a lovely birthday cake from Walmart the day before so enjoyed this for supper after a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' and we all went to bed at 9pm.
Tomorrow was 'Islands of Adventure'.......
ANIMAL KINGDOM
Today was the first day that we would hit the parks. I ( as trip organiser) had decided that we should visit Animal Kingdom first as this would hopefully ease us into the park 'regime'.
It was also DS 6th b'day today so there was lots of mega excitement on board the people carrier on the way to the park.
We had been very fortunate with the location of our villa and found that it was a mere 15 minute drive to Disney!! Excellent with 2 kids and Grandad on board ( and also DH who kept vereing into the right hand lane causing me to wince a little).
I must admit I felt quite excited when I saw the entrance to the park and once inside even though we had a plan of what to do first etc, this seemed to go straight 'out of the window'. We did firstly visit 'Killimanjaro Safaris' in the hope of seeing more animals first thing in the morning which we did. The boys were so excited when they saw the elephants and even more so at catching a glimpse of the new baby elephant - very sweet.
I can't quite remember in which order we did the rest of the rides as everything seemed so exciting. I particularly enjoyed ' It's Tough to be a Bug' i thought this was wonderful, especially the walk down to the attraction which takes you under the 'Tree of Life' - marvellous. I must admit though my DS (6yr) thought this was scary and shut his eyes for the majority of the time - this just goes to show how good the effects are!!.
The Kali River Rapids were also a big hit and DH and DS went on this fully ponchoed out. I was not aware of the 'squirters' system until a kind american lady informed me whilst i was happily watching them from the viewing bridge. This gave me and Grandad minutes of amusement, Grandad got a little carried away and began squirting everyone which was unlucky for him as DH and DS went on 3 times in a row causing the previously squirted passengers to pass by and pick out Grandad for an ear bashing ( in jest of course). It was lovely to see everyone having so much fun and even my young DS got involved in the squirting. There were absolutely no queues here and we were able to pretty much walk straight on to any ride we wanted.
Dinner was a cheap and cheerful event of chicken nuggets and chips - this seemed to be where the majority of crowds were hanging out.
Did have a slight embarrassment at dinner, I was left on my own with both kids when my DS (2yr) decided it was toilet time (he had developed a phobia about going to any toilet in america - i think this was due to the rather swift flushing system that is going on there and he was in fear that he, or rather his winkie was going to be sucked down the toilet). Anyway he peed all over one of the aluminium seats making it rather hard to disguise - thankfully i had come prepared as all mothers do and cleaned up the situation rather swiftly!!
Following dinner myself, DH and DS (6) decided to go on 'Dinsosaur'. "is it scary Mum?" this sentence will haunt me forever, together with my response of " no it's only pretend." I must say that being greeted by 'Claire Huxtable' in the briefing room monitors before the ride made me feel quite warm and confident that the ride would be anything but scary ----WRONG-----.
At first, well for about 3 seconds, everything seemed ok then all manor of beasts start jumping out at you. DS was already cowering after 1/2 a minute and towards the end i could see the distant dark figure approaching the car I (shameful as it was) closed my eyes and cowered with him. All i could hear was the noise of this beast (who by now had convinced me he was real). The pictures at the end of the ride just show me and DS blithering in a heap at the front of the car and DH rather unsympathetically laughing in the face of anhialation. SCARY!!
We took younger DS on Triceratop Spin which was great for the young ones. DS (6) also had his characature painted which was really good and good value for the amount of time and effort taken with it.
We saw a little tea booth and stopped for a cup of tea (as the english tend to do). I would recommend that you skip this one. The tea options available to choose are too confusing and we just asked for regular tea but it was very very weak and not refreshing at all. I would have rather had a juice.
We had also picked up a birthday badge on entry to the park which meant that all the characters and crew kept coming up to DS and wishing him Happy Birthday - every time they did he looked at them for a split second as if to say 'how do you know?' This was great and made sure he had a very special birthday.
We caught the parade which was thoroughly enjoyable for everyone and left Animal Kingdown just before closing. I think you do need a couple of trips to fully appreciate this park as there were areas we did not visit but i will ceratinly do this next time.
Tea was at TGI Fridays, we did intend to have something special for DS b'day but we were all shattered and just needed food. TGI's was exceptional for value and quality of food and service (unlike in the UK). I still had not got used to the large portions of food you were given which meant we had to take our desserts home. We had managed to purchase a lovely birthday cake from Walmart the day before so enjoyed this for supper after a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' and we all went to bed at 9pm.
Tomorrow was 'Islands of Adventure'.......
I'm glad your son had a nice Birthday - I would be happy with TGI Friday's for my birthday 
