Two Aussie first-timers in Disney! Lots of photos! NEW- FINAL CHAPTER! - Ch 20, Pg 30

[AussieAngel]

Hey everybody!!

Guess what - it's Saturday, which means there's only 2 more days left of holidays! Boooo! Back to school on Monday. I keep having bad dreams that my class has turned evil over the holidays! I'm sure they'll be okay really. They're all lovely kids. It will be nice to see them again, actually! I'll just miss my sleep-ins!

Glendamax... Hey, that's a great idea about the shuttle from the World Showcase to the exit of EPCOT! We would have definitely hopped on!

Sue88... Interesting to hear that you had the same experience with the buses! We're thinking next time we'll stay at the Wilderness Lodge - I wonder if the bus lines will be different?! Who knows!

KathyRN137... Yay, we love rainy days!! And you're right - we did have lots of fun at Disneyworld!! Glad you're enjoying it!

NMAmy... You're right about being in fashion with my poncho! Most people were wearing them that night, so we didn't feel too silly! Thanks for your compliment about the Spaceship Earth photo!

Marion... I chucked about your, "I think of beer!" comment about Australia! Heee! You'd fit right in here! I don't drink beer though - I'm a vodka girl myself!! Anyway, don't write off Mission Space because of me - who knows, you might love it!! Or, you might hate it. Heee.

njbeachbum... Glad I could keep you occupied at work for two hours! Ha! Thanks for your nice comments!!

lisaj... It's funny that I inspired you to give EPCOT another go, because we didn't really love it either. Some of the rides were fun, but it definitely wasn't our favourite park. I think next time we'd go there first thing in the morning and do the big rides (Soarin, Test Track, etc...), then head somewhere else in the arvo. I also fancy going back to the World Showcase one evening and just having a few relaxed drinks at different places, but I can't imagine spending a whole day at EPCOT again... It just wasn't as fun as the other parks!

missmun52... Oooh, interesting to hear that you loved Mission Space on the non-spinning ride! I still don't know if I would like it, because of the small space that you're locked into, but I might consider it if I was feeling brave!

Marjol... Thanks for sticking with my trip report - nice to hear you're still enjoying it! And yay, your trip is getting very close now!! Lucky you!!

Sue88... Hi again!! I'll have more up soon!!

WDW Fan... Hey, thanks for your nice comments! You're right - my poncho was long, but only because I'm so short! It made things worse actually, because we were running through huge puddles and the water would splash up my legs, so the poncho would stick to my wet legs! In the end I just bunched up my poncho and held it up around my stomach, so it was easier to run!! Ha! The dramas!!

punkin43... Hmm, I had a big think about your Mission Space question! I think it was the enclosed space that made me panic a bit to start with. Being in such a small space made me nervous and my whole body tensed up, which made things uncomfortable before I even started. It was more of a psychological thing, if you know what I mean. BUT!! The spinning was bad too. Like you, spinning things don't generally worry me, and either do roller coasters. We went really, really fast on the teacups and I loved it and didn't feel queasy at all. But Mission Space is different in that it spins SO fast, that you feel the G-forces, or whatever they're called. It span so fast that my face hurt, and I felt like my cheeks were being sucked back into my skull! For me, it wasn't a queasy stomach feeling, it was really just that it actually HURT my face!! I didn't like that feeling!! Does that make sense!? Hope so!!

Anyhoo, I hope to have the next installment up very soon! We're off to a friend's housewarming party tonight, but hopefully I'll have some time either before or after that to post the next chapter.

 

[Marion]

Marion... I chucked about your, "I think of beer!" comment about Australia! Heee! You'd fit right in here! I don't drink beer though - I'm a vodka girl myself!! Anyway, don't write off Mission Space because of me - who knows, you might love it!! Or, you might hate it. Heee.

Australia is definitely on my 'must visit someday' list. Despite the freakishly large insects you have there. The whole jumping spider thing DID move Australia to the bottom of the list for a while but I figure a full suit of armour should deal with that.

Mission Space was never really on my list after reading Grammy's trip report and my realization of how enclosed a space it is. I'm terribly claustrophobic (can't even handle a blanket over my head) AND I get motion sick very easily. Fun date I'll be eh?

 

[Ricky's Girl]

Hi Aussie Angel - Thanks for the update! Great reporting as always. Loved the night time photo of Spaceship Earth.

Here's a poncho tip from another "shortee". I always tie mine up on each side. I just gather the loose ends and tie them up - pulling them in close and knotting them on each side. That way they don't stick to my legs and when it's really pouring the rain can't bounce up under you. Plus, you'll look so fashionable!

 

[edaymond]

I've just started reading your TR and it's just WONDERFUL!! We're leaving on Apr 24 and I've never been so excited.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Disneymooner07]

subscribing! i just caught up and i can't wait to read more

sorry to hear you didn't have the most fantastic time at epcot - maybe next time will be the charm? i think maybe it sort of grows on you when you have more time to explore the nooks and crannies, especially the world showcase! also, it's funny - i've been to epcot twice and both times it *poured* rain and we had to bust out the ponchos. guess that's just the fashion in epcot!

keep up the good work!

 

[edaymond]

Oh-oh! Sorry I’ve been a bit slow to get this new chapter up! Three things happened over the Easter weekend which lead to the delay…

1) My brother came to stay at our house, and we caught up with the rest of our families and ate way too much chocolate and drank way too much Baileys.

2) My brother bought me the Season 1 ‘Bones’ DVD for a belated birthday gift, and I’m obsessed with it, and can’t tear myself away from the television.

3) I’ve started wedding planning. Our wedding isn’t until December 29th, and we’ve booked all the major things (church, reception centre, photographer, limo, etc…), but I’m really not into the whole “bride” thing. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to get married and wear my pretty dress and have a big party, but also, weddings kinda make me barf. I’m not into the shmoltzy cheesy stuff! But just this past weekend, something happened and I can’t stop looking at bridal magazines and deciding how I’ll have my hair, and what party favours we’ll give out to our guests, and what colour our invitations will be, and all that girly stuff!! Augh! Am I becoming a girly bride person!? Help!

Anyway, I’ve torn myself away from Bones and from the wedding magazines and the Easter eggs to bring you…

Chapter 9… Our EPCOT day!!

After our big, exhausting, sucky day at Kennedy Space Center the day before, DF and I were back on track and definitely ready to get back to some Disney action! Yahoooo!

Except… when the alarm rang at 8am, we turned it off and went back to sleep straight away. Whoops! Zzzzzzzz….

At 9am, my inner-Disney alarm must have gone off, because that was the time EPCOT was opening, and that’s what time we woke up! Oh no! So late! We jumped up, threw on some clothes, and headed straight to the bus stops, where there was a massive line for EPCOT. Boooo!

Eventually though, we got there. It was 9.50 – only 50 minutes past park opening time. Not too bad, really! Here’s the big golf ball, and DF down the bottom in a stripy shirt…

We decided to head straight to The Land, where we walked straight onto Soarin’. Awesome!! I loved Puddy at the start with his helpful hints, and well actually… I just loved this whole ride. It was COOL! DF and I both adored everything about it, and said it was definitely the best non-fast ride ever – Rock’n’Roller Coaster still holds that title!

I’d like to say we looked around The Land for a while after that, but we didn’t. Eeeek. So I still really have no idea what The Land is, or why it’s called The Land. Whoops! Instead, we headed straight to Test Track and jumped on. Actually, I don’t remember if we jumped on, but we certainly got on somehow. Test Track was fun! I don’t remember loving it – DF definitely liked it more than I did. Maybe it’s a boy thing!

And then… it was Mission Space time. For DF, not for me. If there was one ride on our whole trip I said I wasn’t up for, it was Mission Space. I didn’t like the sound of the spinning, but mostly, I didn’t like the sound of the enclosed space. I’m not a full-on claustrophic, but I certainly don’t like small spaces that I can’t just walk away from. All week DF had been trying to convince me to go on it with him, and all week I’d been refusing. He tried the, “Well then, I won’t go on Tower of Terror with you!” technique, to which I would reply, “Okay. I’ll go by myself.” Heee. He did end up going on Tower of Terror, of course, and loved it, but I still wasn’t budging on the Mission Space thing.

So when the time came that morning for Mission Space, DF gave me one last pleading look and a last final beg – “Pleeeeease come on with me! It will make up for yesterday’s bad day at Kennedy Space Center!” Ooooh, the guilt! But no, I really didn’t fancy hyperventilating and passing out inside the tiny spaceship thing, so I took his photo instead, wished him luck, gave him a kiss, and told him I’d wait for him outside. I’m such a meanie!!!

While DF played on Mission Space, I went for a little walk around the Electric Umbrella area, and swapped my free bus pin for a Dumbo pin from a nice castmate who I bought a bottle of water from. Hahaaa, sucker!

About 20 minutes later, DF found me. He was grinning from ear to ear, and proclaimed his love for Mission Space about 642 times. He told me over and over that it wasn’t as intense as he thought, and that I’d be fine on it. The space really wasn’t that small, and the spinning wasn’t bad at all, and guess what else – Lieutenant Dan talks to you! Weeee! I gave him a cuddle and told him I’m glad he loved it, but I’m still not doing it. Go me.

We headed towards The Living Seas next (or whatever it’s called now!), and stood in the line for Turtle Talk, which was only a 5 minute wait. We LOVED Turtle Talk!! I still don’t get how they do it. I know I could probably ask someone, or look it up, but I don’t think I actually want to know. It’s just so cool!

After Turtle Talk, we had a little look around The Living Seas. At least, that’s what it says in my notes, but I don’t remember a thing about it. Hehee, oh well.

We went for a bit of a wander next, and in our wanderings, we decided we weren’t huge fans of EPCOT. All the rides so far had been awesome, but as a park, it seems to lack that fun Disney vibe. Instead, it feels very concretey and sparse and hot and kinda outdated. Like it was going to be an awesome park, but they stopped decorating it and just left it as it was. Or something. Hmm.

Anyway, at 11.14, we came to a crowd of people who were all looking up at the sky and cheering and taking photos. DF and I looked at each other and looked up at the sky. There was nothing startling in the sky, except for a long puffy cloud. We shrugged. “Weird,” we muttered to each other, and assumed it must have been some American tradition to cheer at the sky in EPCOT.

I know, I know. How silly are we!? It wasn’t until we were eating lunch an hour and a half later that it hit us. “OH!!! That was ATLANTIS!! They were looking at the space shuttle launch!!” Ohhhh, dear. Of course, if we had have realised it was Atlantis’ puff of smoke we were seeing, we would have taken photos too!! But no. Instead, we shook our heads at the weird Americans and moved on. Haaa! Whoops! Silly Australians!

DF was kicking himself, of course. They launched the day after we were there!! How frustrating! But… at least we can say we “saw” Atlantis take off! Well, kinda. It’s a funny story, anyway!

During our little wander around EPCOT, we stumbled across Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, and headed on in. Can I just say… WHAT THE!? What is with the 10 minute Kodak advertisement at the start?!! After the first 3 minutes, DF and I looked at each other and said, “Is this what we’re meant to be seeing?!” We giggled and kept watching. After 5 minutes, we started to get bored. After 8 minutes, we started to get mad. At least, I did. I felt a bit like we’d been tricked into coming into the theatre to watch an ad. It’s the only time I got cross with Disney marketing. If it didn’t finish soon, we were planning on walking out. Luckily, it finished after 10 minutes. Booooo, Kodak.

Honey, I Shrunk the Audience itself was kinda outdated and silly too. The footage itself is almost a sepia colour, it’s been played so many times. Seriously Kodak, couldn’t you add some more colour?! In fact, thinking about it now, I’d say Honey, I Shrunk the Audience is probably my least favourite Disney activity ever. Huh!

By this stage, we were both hot, a bit cranky, and getting hungry. Good news! We had a 12.40 ADR at Le Cellier! Woohoo!

I won’t go into huge detail about lunch at Le Cellier, but I will say it wasn’t our favourite. I know lots of people love it, and I think because of that, I was expecting something amazing. But it really wasn’t. We were squashed in next to other tables, our server was pretty rude and not helpful at all, and the food was okay, but not spectacular.

In fact, the thing I remember most about our meal at Le Cellier was that the server repeatedly called me “Sir”. Now, I had my hair pulled back in a ponytail, but I still don’t think I look like a man!! I so wish I had have answered him with a, “Thanks Madam,” just to see what would have happened. Heeee.

Anyway, here’s some photos of our lunch at Le Cellier…

My cheese soup, which was nice but teeny!!

DF’s shrimp, which he said was good –

We both had the petit filet, which we liked, but they don't call it 'petit' for nothing! This was a photo of my steak, which was butterflied (cut in half), so it actually looks double the size than it really was. It was butterflied so it could be really well-done, because I can't eat red meat if it's even slightly pink. Weird, I know. I feel like I'm biting into a living cow if it's pink!

My dessert, the crème brulee. The best part of my meal! –

DF’s dessert, the chocolate whiskey cake, which he said was “okay” –

So that was lunch!! It was great because it was free, but otherwise, nah. Not too flash really. Plus, hey server dude… I’m not a man!!!!

Up next… Our afternoon at EPCOT. Think I’ll go on Mission Space? Hmmm...

Oh my goodness!! My birthday is Dec. 29! What a lucky day for you guys. hehe.
I'm still totally LOVING your TR. Can't wait to read more!

 

[lawyergirl]

Am LOVING your Trippie!!! I also love the fact that you're telling us about your non-Disney adventures too - puts everything into context!!

Can't wait to read more, including about your trip to Montreal!!

 

[DebIreland]

Love the latest chapters. Great job.

it feels very concretey and sparse

I agree. Of course I would never say no to a day in any Disney Park but yeah, I'm not too keen on the concrety feeling in Epcot either. I get the same vibe in Tomorrowland in MK. Of course World Showcase......... aaaaah Different vibe altogether I think. I love it there but in the extreme heat? Anywhere would wear you down! I was doing this when you mentioned not going into the shops. I didn't either. Just the one in Japan to buy my Monchichi. Didn't bother with any other shops there. I just love the atmosphere.

In fact, the thing I remember most about our meal at Le Cellier was that the server repeatedly called me “Sir”.

OMG! What's with that??? You know, maybe some other poster could help me out here but I swear I remember reading another TR where the server at Le Cellier said "sir" to a woman. Am I going mad? Maybe it wasn't Le Cellier. I just got a huge deja vu thing there when I read that. The local taxi company here has one driver that, the first few times I rode with him, always said "okay so sir" or "thanks sir" or "that'll be 10 euro sir". Good God it drove me nuts. So one day after he said "thanks sir" I said "what?" and he said "thanks sir" and I said "sir?" and he said "er, yeah, thanks sir". Then it dawned on me that he was saying "so", "thanks so", "ready so?" but it sounded like sir. Anyway, that's my piece of mindless, irrelevant trivia for today.

Sorry about your crappy day at KSC. I liked it cause my boys liked it but if I was there alone or just with DH it would probably have been a yawn fest. I'd highly recommend DISUNC's TR chapter about his trip to KSC (well the whole TR's terrific anyway). If you haven't already read it, I think you'll get a kick out of it - click here

I worry that if there was ever an Australian section in the World Showcase, there’d be lots of photos of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, and people would think that’s what all Australians are like. Heeee.

Now I would've thought you'd worry about them obsessing about Kangaroos. DH's sister moved to Perth last year. So far she has sent our youngest child 3 toy kangaroos - for Christmas, her birthday and Easter. I love the little toys and it was sweet of her but, er, it's like she can't think beyond KANGAROO since she's lived in Australia.

Can't wait for more....

 

[AussieAngel]

Hey everybody!

Wah!! Sorry I didn't post my next chapter yesterday - it was a busy weekend, and I like to have everything done before school starts - like washing, and grocery shopping, and all that boring stuff. But school started again today, so things will be back to normal now!

Marion!!! We have freakishly large insects here in Australia!? Ahhh! And jumping spiders! Do we really!? I've never heard of Australian jumping spiders!! I thought jumping spiders were an American thing!! I know we have lots of venemous snakes, but that's mostly out in the country or the deserts, not here in the city! I've definitely never seen a jumping spider! Anyway, I had a good giggle about your message. Especially imagining you getting claustrophobic with a blanket over your head. Heheee! Sorry, that's just a funny image!! I'm so mean!

Ricky's Girl... Hey, thanks for the "Poncho for short people" tip!! Love it!! I did end up just lifting up my poncho and running with the poncho around my waist for a while! So attractive!

edaymond... I'm glad I helped you get even more excited about your trip! You're leaving so soon!! Lucky thing!! And yay, your birthday is on December 29, same as our wedding! It must be good luck!!

Disneymooner07... You're right - maybe EPCOT will grow on us next time! I'd like to spend some more time looking at the World Showcase, but probably in the night-time, when it's a bit cooler!

lawyergirl... HEY!!! I was so excited to see your reply to my trip report, because guess what!! You're the reason we went to Raglan Road! Remember mid-last year you posted lots of food photos on the Food Photos thread? DF and I looked at them all, and loved the look of Raglan Road so much, that we called and made a last minute ADR, just so we could try the Dalkey Duo and the Shepherd's Pie!! And we loved it! It turned out to be one of our favourite meals! So... a very big thankyou to you and your wonderful photos!! How funny that you just popped in here!

DebIreland... Ooh, good to know that you agree with me about the concretey sparseness of EPCOT! And you're right - I'd never say no to going to any Disney park! About the server calling me 'Sir', and you having Deja vu - I wrote about that in my dining report too, maybe you read that? Or maybe that guy just called everybody Sir! Ha! I laughed at your taxi driver story!! And also, cute story about your sister sending back lots of toy kangaroos!! I think people tend to think kangaroos jump around everywhere in Australia, but they certainly don't! Only in the country, really. Or the zoos. Heh. I'm really not a kangaroo lover - they're too big and tough for my liking!! Give me a koala anyday! Although they can be pretty vicious too. Anyway, I'm raving. Now pop over to your trip report and write another chapter, DebIreland!! We're waiting!!

Alrighty then, I'll have the next chapter up in a second!! Hold onto your hats!

 

[AussieAngel]

Chapter 11… Animal Kingdom!!

Wooooo, it was Animal Kingdom day!! I just had a feeling that I was going to LOVE Animal Kingdom!! I thought it would be my favourite park! I love animals, and I love zoos, and I’ve always wanted to go to Africa, and I was excited about going on the Safari, and about going on Expedition Everest, and the River Rapids, and about trying a frozen banana, and lots and lots of other fun things!

We’d planned to get up at 8.05am, and be at the park by opening time, 9 o’clock. Except, well… we were tired. We weren’t even tired really, we were exhausted. We’d been rushing around Disney World like mad people, trying to see and do it all, and we were having a fabulous time, but it really is exhausting! So our Animal Kingdom morning actually went like this…

8.05am – Alarm goes off. We both grumble and press snooze.
8.25 – DF gets up, showers, gets dressed, brushes his teeth. DF tries to wake me, and I grumble and possibly swear at him.
8.45 – DF goes back to bed.
9.45 – I get up and have a shower. Dressed, hair, make-up, teeth.
10.05 – I wake DF. He grumbles, swears at me, then finally gets up and gets ready all over again.
10.25 – We slowly and grumpily walk to the bus stop.

Aye, aye, aye!! I was guilty and grumpy at myself for not getting up in the first place, because we’d ruined our morning. But actually, a sleep was exactly what we both needed, so I shouldn’t have felt cross at all. We could have easily slept until noon if we let ourselves. But, as it was, we were both disappointed about the slow start to the day. Hmph.

So at 11am, we finally arrived at Animal Kingdom – 2 hours late! Grr! And ohhhhh, myyyyy, goodness. It was SO hot! And it was SO crowded! Nevertheless, we were finally here! Yay! Here’s me, in the nice shady Oasis area… (Oh yeah! I bought that Mickey top the day before, in EPCOT!)

So we decided to head straight to Expedition Everest. Which we did, slowly. Yowza, there were a lot of people there that day! Or it might have just been that the pathways are so much smaller than the normal wide walkways at Disney. Either way, we were stuck in the crowds and could only walk as fast as they were! Yuck!

We eventually arrived at Expedition Everest, only to discover it had broken down. Booooo! We picked up fastpasses for 1.25 – our first fastpasses for the whole trip! So that was a bit exciting, anyway!

So with no Expedition Everest, we headed to the Kali River Rapids. We’d been on a similar ride at SeaWorld in San Diego, and LOVED it! We got absolutely saturated that day, and were looking forward to a nice cold soaking at Animal Kingdom! Did I mention it was hot?! Yowza! That Florida humidity really hits you! When we arrived at the River Rapids, we discovered there was a 20 minute wait, which actually turned out to be more like 30 minutes. I know we’d been spoilt, but that was the longest line we’d been in so far! Booo!

But yay, we finally got to ride the River Rapids… and got dripped on about 8 times. Whaaaat? When did the saturation start? Hee! I loved the ride, but we just wanted to get wet!! And we really didn’t. Heh. Oh well. It was fun anyway! Here’s a shot of some random people on the River Rapids…

We made our way next to the Kilimanjaro Safaris – the thing I’d been looking forward to the most about Animal Kingdom! We ended up waiting in line again for around half an hour, behind a really, really loud family who enjoyed burping and swearing at each other. They were also terrible at moving forward when the line moved forward. Don’t you hate that!? The line would move forward, and they would just stand there, not noticing. I think I cleared my throat (loudly and purposefully) about 12 times, and tried to pass them about 6 times, but DF wouldn’t let me. Hehee. It was hot and we were tired and cranky. I got annoyed easily!!

But anyhoo, we loved the Safari! It was all very cute, and really well done! Plus, we got to sit in a different truck than the loud burping family, which was an added bonus. And also, it was a bit cooler in the truck, with the wind whizzing past us. Yahoo! Here’s DF and Mickey on the Safari…

At first I was a bit skeptical and didn’t believe the animals on the safari were actually real, but I guess I do now. Although I still have my doubts. Like this photo – doesn’t this elephants look pretend!? Heh! I think so, anyway!

We also saw some hippos, sleeping lions, alligators, giraffes, and these guys – zebras and a cheeky ostrich. Here they are!

By that stage it was around 12.45, and we were starving! So we popped into Tusker House, and had the best counter service meal of our trip! Maybe it was just because we were starving and it was so nice to be able to sit down, but the food tasted much more fresh and tasty than any other counter service meal we’d had that week. Yum!

I had the Fried Chicken Sandwich with big fries and a carrot cake, and DF had the Chicken Salad and a cheesecake. Oh, and some really big drinks!

Just around the corner of Tusker House, we stumbled across some very cool African drummers! There were some random girls dancing to their music, and a huge crowd had gathered around to clap and cheer the drummers (and the dancers!) on. It was ace! Here they are…

I know things were staring to pick up, but so far, it really hadn’t been the best day at Animal Kingdom! I was feeling a bit disappointed, since I was expecting big things from this park. I guess mostly it was the heat and the huge crowds of people that was getting me down. But also, we were still really tired, and I was feeling a little bit homesick! I think it was just me being tired and emotional, but I was just really missing our cat, Annie, and missing being at “home”. Now, of course, I look back at that and laugh, because who’d want to be at home when they’re at Disney World?!

But that day, I really was homesick! Weird, I know! Looking back, I really do think I was beginning to let the exhaustion in. It had been go, go, go for just over 3 weeks, and we still had 4 weeks to go on our holiday. It was all just a bit overwhelming – and it all seemed to hit me that day!

But anyway, our delicious lunch and the fun drummers had definitely perked us both us, and we were ready to tackle the rest of Animal Kingdom!

Up next… More Animal Kingdom and dinner at Spoodles! Yum!

 

[NMAmy]

Hey, am I first to reply? Woo hoo!

I'm sorry your morning at the AK wasn't all you'd been hoping for. Sometimes we have to get that one cranky, annoyed, got up late day out of the way.

I think feeling a bit homesick was totally natural. You were gone for a long time! We spent 2 weeks at WDW at Christmas time in 2004. It was the first time I'd ever felt that it was just too long. I was missing my own bathroom and my own bed by the time we were done. I NEVER thought that would happen at WDW. So, I understand.

Can't wait to read more! I'm hoping Expedition Everest cheered you up. There is nothing like being chased by a ginormous Yeti to get your adrenalin going!

 

[Glendamax]

Good Morning Aussie!

So sorry you got a late start at AK. Last year as I was trying to "escape" from that HOT park, I ran into 2 DISers. When I met up with them later on, they thought they scared me away because I walked off so fast!
They must have heaters hid in the trees and the walkways!

Glad you enjoyed your meal at Tusker House. That's where I ate also!

Loved your pics - and yes, the animals ARE real!

 

[edaymond]

Sorry to hear about all the sudden getting homesick. I can only imagine. We've got an Australian Terrier at home - she's our baby girl and I don't know what I'd do if we were to leave her for 7 weeks!
I hope your day at AK got better. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[REL1203]

Great Trip report so far.. I usually find these a little boring, but yours is great.. Its very interesting to see your perspective on WDW being from 'Down Unda'... Keep up the good work

 

[lawyergirl]

lawyergirl... HEY!!! I was so excited to see your reply to my trip report, because guess what!! You're the reason we went to Raglan Road! Remember mid-last year you posted lots of food photos on the Food Photos thread? DF and I looked at them all, and loved the look of Raglan Road so much, that we called and made a last minute ADR, just so we could try the Dalkey Duo and the Shepherd's Pie!! And we loved it! It turned out to be one of our favourite meals! So... a very big thankyou to you and your wonderful photos!! How funny that you just popped in here!

Woo hoo! Food porn does serve a purpose, aside from gumming up my keyboard with drool!!

I knew that the food you guys ordered looked familliar!!

Loving the latest installment - it's keeping me sane at work!! Thank you!! (like I said - make sure not to leave out your trip to Montreal/Toronto/Niagara... if only just to tell us your engagement story!!)

 

[Marion]

Marion!!! We have freakishly large insects here in Australia!? Ahhh! And jumping spiders! Do we really!? I've never heard of Australian jumping spiders!! I thought jumping spiders were an American thing!! I know we have lots of venemous snakes, but that's mostly out in the country or the deserts, not here in the city! I've definitely never seen a jumping spider! Anyway, I had a good giggle about your message. Especially imagining you getting claustrophobic with a blanket over your head. Heheee! Sorry, that's just a funny image!! I'm so mean!

Gah! You ARE mean! So here... just for you, taken from http://www.spiderzrule.com/jumping.htm

Australia has about 250 species of Jumping spiders. Tufts of hair behind their claws give the Jumping spider non-skid footing. A Jumping spider may high jump 20cm or more and can leap 25 times its own body length. Its trailing silken safety line keeps it stable in flight as well as catching it if it falls.

I think I saw it on a Discovery wildlife type show. I hate bugs. Swore NEVER to enter a country that had flying spiders. Someone also told me there are some states that have flying cockroaches. I'm scared to google that as it may be true and I have this niggling memory that 'Florida' was mentioned at the time... Please... nobody confirm this for me, I'd really appreciate it

Back on topic, I love reading about your AK adventures. This is the park I am MOST excited to visit, after MK of course. Do you think maybe you would have enjoyed it more if you had made it to opening? And not been so tired?

 

[Sue88]

Why did I go and read about the jumping spiders??!! I am not a fan crawly (and jumpy) things! I do still want to visit Australia regardless!

Looking forward to more report! I do enjoy the Animal Kingdom park and have had some really good experiences there but it was really crowded my last time too and it was less fun to explore with so many other people.

 

[Marjol]

I saw a jumping spider once, in Mexico. It was soooo creepy!

But back to your tripreport! I hope I won't have any of these "too tired to get out of bed" days when I'm in Orlando, because I really want to do everything I planned! But I'm glad you did eventually enjoy the rides and I hope your afternoon will be even better!

 

[lisaj]

Sorry you were disappointed with Animal Kingdom. We had a fantastic day there in 2004. Were there for the early opening at 8am and got straight on Kilamanjaro Safari with no wait. The ride sent DD to sleep and so I stayed with her while DH and DS went on Kali Water Rapids. Now this is the thing.......off they came dry as they went on. DS had on waterproof coat and wanted to ride again. I hand DD to DH and join DS. Do I need poncho? No look they're not wet, OK it depends where you sit, I came off dripping, cream shorts doing a nice see-through impersonation, dried out at about 4pm. We ate at Flame Tree BBQ, was also really good and watched little baby turtles playing in the water. Can't wait to go again.

Waiting for more! How did first day back at school go? we go back on Wednesday (I manage a pre-school so have to do that planning and organisation bit too! DS can't wait to return to school and DD is already dreading it but we will have had three weeks off so mustn't grumble)

 

[Boston5602]

What a fantastic trip report. I'm glad I'm just finding it, I don't know if I would have been able to wait long for all those installments < HINT HINT > I'm not going to have to wait long for the next one , AM I ? <G> !!!!

Will you ask you'r DF something, How were his crocks? Did he think them comfy and fashionable for a guy? Would he wear them on another trip to Disney?

Thanks and can't wait for more !