We Shared a SWW...and more! Done...At Home! (10/17)

[SimmerBaggins]

Here is where we were to go:


Now, looking at this, it doesn't look too far. Just a few buildings down.

Our bus arrived and we were on our way to meet up with Vickie and her crew, but first we had to stop at Jambo house to pick up more people, including two on the motorized scooters. I felt like we were never going to meet up with Vickie....

You know, I thought you guys were further down (even though I knew what your room # was). This was another of my mistakes...I should have asked for rooms close together.

I remember your telling me that you guys were waiting on the scooters -- I forgot how much time that it took to get them in and strap them down...later, when we were on a bus watching the same action, I remembered your frustration!

 

[SimmerBaggins]

We got off the Safari and headed back into "town" and my BFF and her family hadn't quite made it to the park, yet (I had forgotten the timeframe). The girls were hot, and decided to do some shopping in the shop on the corner (can't remember the name). It's where I got my safari hat a long time ago. I purchased some fruit close by for some healthy snacking -- apples & caramel, yum!

The girls both had gift cards with some preloaded money for this trip -- they both found something they liked in the shop, here. Natalie bought a little safari-looking backpack, and Jordan bought some tan loafers with a picture of Mickey on the top, that were actually Crocs!

I kind of miss when Jordan was younger and would buy smaller, cheaper stuff! Their money doesn't last very long...

About this time, Melissa (or Jonas) texts & asks where we want to meet -- our suggestion is ITTBAB. It's so hot, that by the time we get to the front of the park, the girls will be wanting another cool spot!

Here, though, is where I'm bad. When we go to meet them, do I have my camera out? No...!!!! I'm hoping Melissa does...even my DH didn't get a picture of our meeting.

When we meet up, it's like we just saw them the other day. Melissa's already shown you a picture of all of us, fortunately! Although I had pictures in the dark of us sitting in the theater, they weren't good enough to share.

We watched ITTBAB, and Natalie really liked it -- we tried not to tell her anything!

The one thing that was weird was that we were seated on the FAR right side of the theater. When the spiders came down, we couldn't even see them. BUT -- we got REALLY wet from the spray!

After this, we told the Skinners that we still had our FPs for EE, and wanted to go again!

But first, we were hungry. I suggested Flame Tree Barbecue, which gives a lot of food and is pretty tasty. My BFF and her family had never eaten there!! I could NOT believe it. Well, it was somewhat close to where we were, so we headed that way.

Now, if you'll recall, we didn't get on a DP, so this was OOP. That was okay -- I think we all got barbecue sandwiches in my family, and then Melissa also got one (don't recall what Jacob, her DS, had), and Jonas (her DH) had a grilled chicken caesar salad. Which, after a moment, seemed appropriate -- he had lost some weight recently, and was trying to be good. Or, at least save up for our ADR that evening. Good, for us, being on a true vacation, was good food.

I borrowed this pic:

There are SO many places to sit around in this area, and people just don't know they exist. In fact, after we finished eating, our two groups lost each other!! I think we sat here:

After we ate, I turned to my DH and asked if he could call Member Services to see about the Dining Plan. We wanted the QSDP during our next few days, before we checked in to Concierge. He called and talked ... and talked. I really had no hope. Then, his voice got hopeful-sounding, and he began to give details on days... hurray!!!

We got our QSDP for the next 4 days!!

 

[jmskinner]

Have I run everyone away? Are you still here?

You know, I was so totally excited about the lion, and didn't even mention that -- and one of the MANE reasons was that I knew Melissa would be envious!! You don't know how many I took!! I really meant to say something about it, but it just got left behind in my thoughts, afterward.

Ok, I was going to be mad at you about getting the Lion photo, but guess what....





And look

They were both out.

Now I am just mad at myself for not bringing my zoom lens.

 

[jmskinner]

So, we made it to the park and were looking for Vickie and her crew. Of course, had to snap a pic of the tree:



While we were waiting on Vickie:



My first glance at the BFF and her family:


We hugged, met Natalie, and were on our way to ITTBAB. I, of course, had to snap more pics of the tree:




I love to take newbies into these attractions with surprises, so I found myself trying to watch Natalies reactions. I love it when the bugs leave before us.

And this is as you leave the theatre:




Now, Vickie mentioned EE next, but per my photos, we ate next (honestly, I could not do a TR without my photos):



we had never eaten here, I have wanted to. I forgot the food porn though, what was wrong with me?

Here is a snap from the table:


Is that not the best view ever? After eating, I wanted to get a pic with Vickie and we got up and I thought Vickie was following me, but we turned around and couldn't find them. We grabbed a couple though,




Finally found Vickie and everybody and were off to EE.

 

[SimmerBaggins]

Melissa, I think you missed the edited portion of my post!! You must have read it before I put in the stuff about lunch...! I do like the picture you got of us walking up to you.

That is pretty lucky to see both of the lions at once! I remember last year, I got a smidge of a picture of the lioness, and that was all.

Taking pictures of the tree is a great thing to do because you rarely have time to just sit and figure it all out -- there is just 'way too much to see.

Wow, this is weird. I feel like I'm commenting on someone else's thread!

 

[jmskinner]

Melissa, I think you missed the edited portion of my post!! You must have read it before I put in the stuff about lunch...! I do like the picture you got of us walking up to you.

That is pretty lucky to see both of the lions at once! I remember last year, I got a smidge of a picture of the lioness, and that was all.

Taking pictures of the tree is a great thing to do because you rarely have time to just sit and figure it all out -- there is just 'way too much to see.

Wow, this is weird. I feel like I'm commenting on someone else's thread!

Yup, I had missed your edit including the lunch. It was good. Jacob didn't eat, nothing new there. Ok, your turn to update.

 

[SimmerBaggins]

Now, I went back and found a picture we took of the girls. Weren't we somewhere really close to where Melissa's family took their pictures? And yet, we are not together!

Once we found each other, we made the trek to Asia to ride our favorite park ride. Or, at least, MY favorite AK park ride!! But first, a pit stop -- this country has the nicest, coolest bathroom, doesn't it? I took a picture of the rest of the group as we got back together to go to the ride. My DH thinks he's hiding.

All of my group had FPs for EE, as you recall. However, Melissa's group doesn't -- is it fair to ride with FPs when the rest of the group doesn't have them? Should I make a poll of this? Because, while I didn't feel good about this, it didn't stop us from using them...while they had to stand in the stand-by line!! But it wasn't that long...maybe Melissa remembers how long it was?

I still felt a little badly about it.

So, we gleefully (yes) went through the FP line and jumbled ourselves into the coaster for our 2nd ride -- it never gets old. Or, at least, not the few times I am able to ride it during one trip. But once again, no Yeti!! Okay, that upset me. When we got out, I asked the nearest CM: "Excuse me, do you know when the Yeti will be back?"

"They're working on it, no," she answered. Aha. Disappointing, but at least we know we didn't miss it out of being blind.

We saw ourselves in the pic, figured the first time was good enough, and wandered around the store for a bit. Melissa was going to send Jacob to the store when they got on the train, so we were kind of waiting on him. But, time dragged on. I went outside for some fresh air -- that's one crowded store, with EE riders constantly coming in.

I sat on the ledge of some stairs, and took pictures.

My DH came out, too, and found shade.

When I see these things, I can't decide if they look more like ice cream, or candles.

Soon, I got bored and went back inside to find the girls, and Jacob wandered in not long after. Robert, meanwhile, was trying to film Jacob's parents on the ride. Can you see them? I think not...

www.facebook.com/v/1327627073534" /...e" width="400" height="292"></embed></object>

 

[SimmerBaggins]

Don't want you to think I'm not carrying on after this -- I will be, but just had no time! Next installment will be about catching one show, then off to AKV!! (Wish I was going back to that room RIGHT NOW...)

 

[jmskinner]

While Vickie and her crew used their FP's, we went through the standby line. I'm trying to think if I have ever went through the standby. Maybe once, isn't that crazy. We have always gotten FP's. But that is ok, you miss so much details when you go the FP route. I had time for many photos:









You leave one building and then are able to see the FP distribution area:









Part of the que not being used.






We finally made it through the line and were ready to get on the train. Texted Vickie we were sending Jacob through the chicken-out exit. And we were on. Now, I normally take pics, but decided this day, to put the camera up and just enjoy the ride.

One note, while going up the mountain, I spotted Robert filming. When we came down the big drop, I was waving at him. I wish he had known and followed the train with the camera, because he would have seen all these people facing forward and one crazy lady turned sideways, just waving away.

We left the shop and found Vickie.

Now, what show did we go see????

 

[SimmerBaggins]

There are SO many great things to see for that queue!! I almost want to be able to take my time and see it. Did you guys ring the bell? Are there any hidden Mickeys??

Okay, I was hoping that I could do an installment tonight, but Melissa was able to do hers, and I ran out of time! I will do one tomorrow night...Hurricane Alex is barely touching us... ...I would like a few storms to make the night interesting!!

 

[SimmerBaggins]

When everyone was back from EE, I had one thing I had always wanted to do: Flights of Wonder!! I love birds. I think a lot of people underestimate them -- there are really smart birds out there. I probably could have easily been a bird-watcher.

And, they were just about to start another show!

WARNING!! For those of you who want to see the show without some of the give-aways, you may want to skip the rest of my post. The auditorium was hot, and people crowded in. Where's the air conditioning?

This is what my DD seems to be asking me.

The dude came out with this bird with a big beak. I think they have these big beaks because they cut open fruit & nuts with them.

There it goes, flying to take a dollar bill away from from a random guy in the audience! It then brings back the bill and puts it in his shirt pocket! Pretty funny stuff.

If the guy asks you to volunteer with your camera, do it. These people did, and see the owl behind them? It flew right at them and they (hopefully) got a picture of it. It looks funny here because it looks like they're looking somewhere else, and the little beastie has already landed behind their head!

This rather annoying woman comes in, acting like a guide -- it's comic relief for the kiddies, I guess -- and agrees to allay her fears of birds by dealing with a baby bird. The baby bird comes.

This crane came in -- she was beautiful. They have a lot of these cranes roaming the AKL savanna.

What patriot doesn't love the bald eagle? So majestic. This one didn't fly over our heads, although they did have quite a few other birds do that. They brought him out at the end of the show, with ooo's and aaaah's.

After the hot, sweaty, but entertaining show, we bustled our way out and wondered what we should do. Looking at the time and realizing we needed to check in to our room and get ready for our ADR FOR THAT NIGHT!!!, we decided we had had enough for the day. We took a quick break and then realized we were pretty much in the middle of the top of the loop of AK, and could go back, either way.

Knowing I didn't want to go through the crazy crowds that were going toward the biggest rides, I really wanted to go back over the African bridge. However, determining that the best way to go back to the front of the park was over the Asian bridge, Jonas and Jacob took off. It took us a second, after bathroom break and water refill, to realize they had left, but left they had, so we went on. And ran into -- someone I had NEVER SEEN!!!

She moved with such grace, and I was so excited to see her. People clambered around her in such a way, I wondered that she could move around like she did! But she went from one tree on one side of the sidewalk to another. I think my DH got a video of her.

We remembered we had sent our first EE picture to the front of the park, so we picked it up, met up with Jacob and Jonas, and caught the bus back to AKV!

 

[jmskinner]

There are SO many great things to see for that queue!! I almost want to be able to take my time and see it. Did you guys ring the bell? Are there any hidden Mickeys??

Sometimes I dislike Fastpasses. They hold up the standby line and you miss all the special detailing the Imagineers worked so hard to create.

Did we ring the bell......NO. The guy in front of us rang every bell we saw.

I'll post an update later.

 

[jmskinner]

I was happy with seeing Flights of Wonder, hadn't seen it since getting my DSLR and I wanted to try to get some good photos.

Vickie left out this little guy:


He was very entertaining:


And here is a shot of the bird taking the guys dollar:



Love the expression on his face, but I would probably react the same way.

And he looks a lot happier getting his money back:


And the tour guide got over her fear of birds:






Now, Flights of Wonder always make me think of my DMIL. She has a fear of anything that flutters/flys. So she would never see this show, literally she wouldn't see it because she would be under the bench hiding.

As Vickie said, after the show we ended up split up. Can't remember if I had mentioned it, but Jonas can not take it slow in the parks. Most of my pictures has his back in them. That is why we ended up split up, but was so glad Vickie got to see Divine:


And I will never forget one lady trying to get Divine's picture, she was yelling "Turn around! Turn around!" Seriously.

We also got separated in the crowd around Divine, but eventually found our little group.

Now, last year when we went on our trip, we were at two different resorts, so we always had to say "see ya later" at the bus stop, but not this time.

Jacob likes the back seat because it is nice and warm from the engine:




And just a little side story. Whenever the Sprint commercial comes on stating how people don't use their phones as just phones anymore, Jonas was always saying he does, which he was right until he got a smartphone:


Can we say Crackberry!

Back at the resort:


And this is the guy who greeted us with "Welcome Home" when we first arrived.



Ok Vickie, following your lead.

 

[SimmerBaggins]

This is what I love about our dual reports (even if it seems like everyone abandons us when we do it!!): we fill in each other's blanks!

It may seem like not a big deal to most, but it was a big deal for us to get to go "home" from the park, together!

I really love how Jacob works for the picture -- I think, Melissa, that it was good for him as well, that you got that camera. I love to see his personality come out!

The picture you saw me taking:

And I joined Melissa in teasing Jonas:

If it is kind of discouraging to be in the back of the pack, it's nice to see father & son together...

Well, maybe I wasn't the BACK of the pack. The one thing I didn't like is that people would smoke right there at the corner, under the eaves. If you were walking to the bus stop, you had to go right by them.

I was so excited to be coming to Kadani! We had seen it right after it opened to the public, and I had been determined to get a room there...

The littlest details...this is right inside the doors. Now, most of you know that Kadani is a much smaller foyer than Jambo house. That aside, I kind of enjoyed its less hectic atmosphere.

My DH always takes care of checking us in. This gives me the opportunity to either look around like an excited kid, or listen in and correct and advise, when necessary.

Melissa and her family had already said "good-bye, and meet you back here for the ADR." They went off to the left of the lobby.

This, behind the desk:

The gentleman who checked us in (I would have felt a little uncomfortable directly taking a picture of him) was EXTREMELY nice. It felt so good to be at our home resort. He looked at his computer and told us, WE HAD THE QSDP! I was so happy.

He told us our room was far, far away. I knew this could happen, having read other TRs on Kadani. The good news, he said, is that we had a GREAT view of the Savanna, and we were closer to Jambo House. You will note on the below paper (I'm glad Melissa posted hers, which encouraged me to post mine), my extra arrow across to the other side -- this was my thought, that her room was EXACTLY opposite ours, which of course, it wasn't.

As soon as we were done with the desk, I wanted to get my MUG!! That's right. Is the QSDP all about the mug? Not really, but I REALLY enjoyed having one.

I grabbed the girls and we went into Johari to get our mugs and get our drinks!!

Now, remember my saying that Melissa and fam went to the left? Robert thought we would be following them. I said, no -- we are on the opposite side. We argued for a minute, and then my DD saw a numbers sign on the wall that validated my claim. What is it with men & directions?

 

[SimmerBaggins]

And, Melissa -- I love the look on that guy's face, too!!!

 

[ScotsMinnie]

Been away for a week on a little holiday in St Andrews so missed lots of updates. The good thing is that I have had lots to catch up on tonight!

Loving the dual report again!

Love the Flame Tree BBQ aswell. The pulled pork sandwich is worth the airfare to the US alone! I think on our last trip we must have sat at the same table as you. The view is tremendous!

Can't wait to see the pics of the room. Would love to stay there with the views over the savannah. Have done the real thing when I was a child although sadly my memories are patchy as I was about 7.

Can't wait for more!

 

[TinksThree]

I love the lion picture! And so excited you got to see Devine!! As you know this was a highlight for me!

I have so many pictures of my DH on his I-Phone during our trip! I honestly think that may have kept him sane at times!!

 

[SimmerBaggins]

Been away for a week on a little holiday in St Andrews so missed lots of updates. The good thing is that I have had lots to catch up on tonight!

Loving the dual report again!

Love the Flame Tree BBQ aswell. The pulled pork sandwich is worth the airfare to the US alone! I think on our last trip we must have sat at the same table as you. The view is tremendous!

Can't wait to see the pics of the room. Would love to stay there with the views over the savannah. Have done the real thing when I was a child although sadly my memories are patchy as I was about 7.

Can't wait for more!

Good for you on your holiday! Yes, I would love to be sitting right there again, eating that sandwich...

The pics are coming up...but you went to Africa? That would be AMAZING!

I love the lion picture! And so excited you got to see Devine!! As you know this was a highlight for me!

I have so many pictures of my DH on his I-Phone during our trip! I honestly think that may have kept him sane at times!!

Yes!! We had some great highlights of this trip to AK. But I think it's hard to keep everyone engaged all the time...thank God for electronics!

 

[SimmerBaggins]

After a LONG walk down the corridor, we make it to our room! We are ALL excited! I didn't get a shot of the door, but backtracked pretty quick to get some other shots:

Our view of the savanna!

No Mickey on our bed, but what is that?

A little butterfly!

The girls were making over our AMAZING bathroom -- I love this room! A HUGE shower, with a huge jacuzzi tub...they were jealous. BUT -- they had their own bathroom! This is one of the best reasons to get a room at Kadani -- those 2 bathrooms. (sigh)

In fact, there were automated fans in the bathroom. When you walked in the main bathroom, the fan would sense you and turn on...likewise, there is a separate little room for the commode, and when you walked in there, another little fan would come on.

It was around this time that I tried to use the room phone to call Melissa, only to discover she had given me the wrong room number! Robert was like, "Just text her!" So, I did, got the right room #, and we made our "time" plans to meet for our ADR. We were a little discouraged that we were so far away from each other...it was, of course, my fault, for not trying to get them closer. I guess I "assumed..."

So, they had a few items they had brought for us (apples and water), and we decided to get those to us later. We rested and got ready for our ADR.

 

[michellem1118]

I'm still here... or rather, I'm back! I think our room at Kidani last summer was about where yours was on this trip... thats a LONG walk! Did you have a one-bedroom? We almost always stay in a studio (we're always borrowing next year's points, LOL), but I'm thinking after our spring break trip which is already booked, we'll probably move up to 1-bedrooms pretty consistently... I knew the 1-bedrooms at BLT had 2 bathrooms, didn't realize the same was true in Kidani....