Thursday, January 11th
The Plan:
Animal Kingdom in the morning
ADR-7:20-Dinner-Le Cellier-Sena/Chris
Boot Strap-Night out with Sorceress and Goofster-Fantasia Golf
Rest of the group on their own
Actual
Weather Mid 70s/Pleasant
I awoke to find my two smallest toes a very beautiful shade of purple and swollen. I decided that I should try and see what I would be able to do with my foot in its current condition. I started by sitting on the edge of the bed with my foot resting on the floor, not to bad, I then raised myself up and stood, still not to bad, there was some discomfort, but not more than a tough guy like me could handle, all that stuff from last night about calling for my Mommy was made up.
So I decided to see if I could walk on it, it wasnt easy going but after a few words that I am sure Mickey has never used I was able to head to the bathtub to run some warm water and stick my foot in it. After an hour or so of moving around and not feeling to bad I decided that I would get ready and try to make it to the parks today.
We were planning on Animal Kingdom this morning, I figured worse case scenario I could always come back if it got to be too much. So the final hurdle was getting my shoes on, the first pair of tennis shoes I tried were not going on so I pulled out my second pair and had better luck with them. So it was off to the bus stop to meet the rest of the group and then on to the Animal Kingdom.
We got to the park and headed back to do the Kilimanjaro Safaris, which was pretty much a walk on.
This had to be one of the best safaris I have taken, or driver was excellent; the weather was nice all of the animals were up and about, and the really special part was that the lion was standing up with his mane blowing in the breeze and roaring as we passed, our driver was really excited, telling us that he hardly ever saw this happen with the lion, he even stopped the ride vehicle so we could get pictures.
I remember hearing a lot of stories about the lion just laying there not doing anything so we felt pretty lucky to get to see this much action from him.
When we got off the safari, we had enjoyed it so much that we got back in line and went on it again, unfortunately we didnt get the same driver (she didnt slow down or stop for anything), but all the animals were still up and about, when we got to the lion this time he was lying on his back with his feet in the air, I guess he was spent for the day after his last performance.
You can see one of his legs sticking up next to the rock
Here are a few more pictures from the Safari trips
Heres most of the group after the Safari
After safely returning from the savanna we took the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail this was enjoyed by all. The gorillas were very active today there was one sitting in the sun with what appeared to be his Blue Blanket when another sprang from a bush and scared the day lights out of him then went scampering off.
After we completed the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail we headed for Asia and Expedition Everest.
After escaping from the Yeti, the group got Fastpasses for another ride later. We then continued to walk over to Dinoland U.S.A to catch the new Finding Nemo Musical. We had a short wait of about 15 minutes before the doors opened and we were let in. We sat on stage left, lower section two rows from the top. The seats were very good; we did have to turn around to see some of the action that was going on behind us. The show received two thumbs up from all of us that stayed awake for it (it turns out Nugget doesnt snore as loud as Flash, she is still claiming that she wasnt asleep so we will give her the benefit of the doubt).
After Nemo was reunited with his father we headed over to Dinosaur for Fastpasses and decided to grab some lunch at Restaurantosaurus for some typical McDonalds fare of burgers, chicken nuggets and fries. Wow 3,000 miles to eat at McDonalds, maybe because we were on vacation in Florida, but I felt that the McDonalds food here was just the same as it is in California nuff said.
After our healthy meal it was time to use the Dinosaur Fastpasses for a close encounter of the T-Rex kind. After the ride Indy1 and Boot Strap reenacted a poster located on the exit path,
Nugget and Flash were having their date night at Le Cellier tonight so they headed back to the Lodge to get ready, their reservations werent for a couple of hours yet, but believe me they needed to start getting ready now if they wanted to make it on time.
So this meant that Sorceress, Boot Strap and I would spend the evening together and we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom for the evening, we were joined by Swimlover and Eeyore. Indy1 and TinkerBoo went over to check out the Animal Kingdom Lodge, they really liked the savanna being right at the lodge; they headed over to Downtown Disney to have dinner at Planet Hollywood and then made a stop at the Disney's Wonderful World of Memories for scrapbook supplies. TinkerBoo makes a memory book after all of our trips; she does a very good job at putting them together.
So the five of us hopped the bus to the Magic Kingdom, got through security and the turnstiles and headed for Tomorrowland to get Fastpasses for Space Mountain, once we had those in hand Boot Strap wanted a Churro, so how hard could it be to find a Churro Kiosk? Well a lot harder than one might think. I inquired at a popcorn stand and the Cast Member directed me to Fantasyland just past the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, so we start walking telling Boot Strap that we would get one as soon as we found the stand. We passed the Speedway no cart, we head over by The Mad Tea Party, no cart, but Boot Strap would like to go on the Tea Party so Swimlover and Eeyore take him on the Tea Party, while he is distracted with that Sorceress heads over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh to look for a Churro cart, no cart, then to Dumbo and success sort of, she found the cart but no Churros, they are out and the Cast Member has no idea when they will get any more or where another Churro cart is located. So back she heads and we meet up and break the bad news to Boot Strap. We head over towards Cosmic Rays Starlight Café and come across the Enchanted Grove and get a couple strawberry swirls and grab a table outside of Rays place. At some point Sorceress goes and grabs a couple of pretzels from some where and we enjoy them. Swimlover and Eeyore go into Rays place and get themselves a hamburger and chicken strips. After we finish up our snacks we head back to Space Mountain using the Fastpasses, I passed and hung out in the arcade and played an old fashion pinball machine (Wow the memories), we then headed to check out Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin, which was sporting a 70 minute wait so we passed. Boot Strap had kind of been sniffling all day and it was getting cool so we asked Boot Strap if he would like to go back to the Lodge and maybe we could spend some time in the arcade downstairs, he said that was okay so we headed out of the Magic Kingdom for probably our last time this trip.
We took the launch back to the Lodge, Sorceress ran up and got our mugs for later and we went into the arcade, once there we discovered that you had to buy a play card to use the games so we invested $10 and got I think 600 points on a card. Boot strap and I played Air hockey and the kid is really good he took me 3 out 3 games, and then he shot some baskets with Sorceress and then discovered the Jurassic Park game. He liked this one, but why wouldnt he; it has Dinosaurs and guns, what more would a 5 year old boy want. I must say we did pretty good we were there for almost an hour and left with some points on our card.
I figure with the way Boot Strap was playing Hockey and Basketball that Nugget and Flash will be able to retire and live of his Professional Sports income, maybe I can be his driver.
I saw an interesting interaction between a father and son while we were in the arcade, the son who was probably 10 or 11 years old and was playing an interactive boxing game, the kind where you wear boxing gloves and stand on a pressure mat. The kid was doing pretty well, but I guess not well enough, the father grabbed the gloves, more like ripped them off his sons hands, then shoved him off the mat and told him he didnt know how to box and to watch him. This guy was jumping around like he was having some kind of fit, throwing punches like crazy as his son stood next to him with a look of disappointment on his face, the funny thing is the father really wasnt doing any better then the son had been doing. I figure that I will probably see this guy on the news captured on a home video at his sons sporting event charging out onto the field and showing everyone how it is done.
After our arcade fun we headed over to Roaring Fork for some snacks, while we were there Nugget and Flash showed up, they had enjoyed their meal at Le Cellier.. We sat there talking for a while before heading up to bed. Tomorrow is our last full day of vacation at Walt Disney World
Toe Update- It took me a few minutes to get my shoe off and when I took my sock off I found that now four of my toes had that pretty purple coloring. I really didnt have too much trouble with it today, I couldnt walk very fast, but since this group stands around a lot that wasnt a problem.
Had another soak in warm water and re-tapped it and off to bed. I took a picture, but my wife says I cant post it. In all honesty they were pretty ugly before I smashed them so it is probably a good thing that she saved all of your screens from liquid damage of one kind or another
Tomorrow is our last full day at Walt Disney World; I can see the depression headed our way