We Walked How Many Steps Between the Festival and the Fiesta? New 8/4, Day 2 Complete

[laur roo]

HELLO AND WELCOME!
To my first ever trip report!

I'm so glad you've decided to take a peek at my Disney trip!

Let's get the ball rolling! (just like the two people who roll Indiana Jones' boulder back up the ramp )

And now, let me present to you the cast of characters for this trip!

First off, there's me. I will be your narrator for this journey (into imagination? we'll see.) My name is Lauren and I am 27 years old. I hail from Ohio so I was very excited to be headed to Florida in January to escape some of the cold, even though we're having quite a mild winter. As you can see in this picture, our trip was quite...electrifying!

A bit more about me, I like to take silly pictures, try on hats at Disney (I once did a "hats around the world" with my friends on a previous trip), and I like to be at Disney!

My favorite park is Epcot, my favorite classic character is Mickey, favorite princess is Belle, and favorite Pixar character is Sulley.

Joining me on this trip was my mom. We have been to Disney 5 times together with my dad and sister when we were growing up, and I went once with her in 2009 for her birthday for a mother/daughter trip. So this was our second mother/daughter trip to the World. Here she is on the train at Magic Kingdom:

Her favorite park is either the World Showcase part of Epcot or Hollywood Studios, she can't decide. She couldn't pick a favorite character either.

We were at Disney from Saturday, January 21st until Wednesday, February 1st. We did a split stay between Port Orleans Riverside and Beach Club Resort. We were not on a Dining Plan, and we did one TS meal each day. We flew from CAK and took the ME for our transportation to Disney. I guess that's about all the basic facts about our trip. A few more pictures of us on the trip:

We took a ton of photos, so this TR will have lots of pictures, and lots of stories too! Maybe even a few questions will get answered too...like, was switching resorts mid trip easy? Did we get as good a view at the Beach Club as when we stayed at the Yacht Club in 2009? Would my vegetarian mom be satisfied with her food options? Would I get to ride TSM more than 2 times the whole trip? And just how were those tour groups affecting our trip...Stay tuned for the answers and I'm glad you've come onboard! Make sure to say hi! I love reading TRs myself, but I'm usually more of a lurker, so maybe I can bring a few people out of lurkdom with my TR too!
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[laur roo]

Day One - Travel Day
Part One: Travel Fun Times.


Day Two - Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom
Part One: Festival of the Lion King.
Part Two: Africa and Discovery Trails
Part Three: Out of AK and to Kidani Village
Part Four: Sanaa and back to AK
Part Five: Evening at Animal Kindgom
Part Six: A Night at the Magic Kingdom

 

[laur roo]

Also, I'm going to include a link to my Dining Report which is still in progress. I plan to include some of that information in my TR, but not as much in depth as on my Dining Report. So if you love Disney food, make sure to check this out as well!

One Veggie and One Not Eat The Whole World....Showcase That Is!​

 

[My sister's princess]

Sounds like a fun trip! I'm in

 

[mrtoffee]

Im in

 

[heaven2dc]

I'm definitely in! Sounds like a fun trip even before it gets started!

 

[dara00]

joining in!

 

[burly]

I will jump in!

 

[laur roo]

Okay, my apologies to those that jumped in to start reading my TR...I got busy with work. Like, super busy. Basically in the month of March, my job involves working 6 days a week, sometimes 9-12 hours a day. And 5 of those 6 days include travel, up to an hour or more away. So needless to say, I've been busy with that and very exhausted when I'm not at work! And since my boyfriend lives an hour away from me when he's at school (which is most of the year), when he gets a chance to come home for the weekend, I spend a lot of time with him. So life is busy for me like I'm sure it is for most of you too. But I want to start getting this TR on the road, so the first real update is coming today!!! I hope you all enjoy

 

[laur roo]

Sounds like a fun trip! I'm in

It sure was fun! Thanks for joining in! I think I've been reading your TR from time to time too!

Im in

I hope that's a jumbo sized popcorn you've got there, cause this TR will be a long one!!

I'm definitely in! Sounds like a fun trip even before it gets started!

Welcome! And thanks, it was a super fun trip, I'm happy to share it all with you!

joining in!

Hello and welcome!

I will jump in!

Yay, glad you're here to read along!

 

[laur roo]

Day one, Part One! Saturday, January 21st​

Our day started off pretty normally, except for it was snowing! Oh no! Luckily, it wasn't a lot of snow and our flight wasn't until about 6pm. Dad was driving mom and me to the airport in the afternoon so I had the morning to finish the last of my packing and say goodbye to my kitty for the next 10 days. My sister was kind enough to cat-sit for me while I was gone, so I knew she was in good hands! We left for the airport in the afternoon, and this was our view along the drive...snow, snow, and a little more snow.

We got to the airport and checked in and had Subway pizzas for lunch. We went through security (which took all of 3 minutes since we were in a small airport) and played rummy until it was time to board. Before I knew it we were off! Mom took a few pictures out the window while I watched Winnie the Pooh on my ipod on the plane and played a few games and pretty soon we were in Orlando, woo hoo!!!

We didn't take anymore pictures until we checked in because A) we were excited! Must get to Disney! No time for pictures! And B) because it was dark and you couldn't see much out of the Magical Express anyway. But we waited a short time in line for our bus, got on, and loaded up pretty quickly. Riverside was the first stop and I thought this was such a quick trip! I remember it taking longer...maybe I wasn't as excited since it was already dark??? I don't know, but once we got off the bus and got in the check in line, I was practically jumping up and down!

Originally we wanted to stay at POFQ for the first part of the stay, but it was full with the room only discount we had. So we had requested to be close to FQ so maybe we could walk over and check it out. Since they were working on the royal rooms, we were placed in Magnolia Terrace which ended up being the perfect spot! We were in room 8728 which was a refurbished room on the second floor with a pool view. It was right across the bridge from the main area of the resort and a short walk everywhere we wanted to go! Once we had our keys and were walking to the room I was pretty giddy!!! We got a little turned around trying to find the room but when we did we opened it up and of course, started snapping photos! Here you have your very own tour of Magnolia Terrace #8728:

And a couple goofy ones mom suggested, the version from both of our cameras:

And the view out of our window of the quiet pool:

We watched a little Stacy when we first got into the room to get in the Disney mood, and then headed down to Riverside Mill to grab some dinner and our refillable mugs. We both got the blue mug and then mom got a create your own pasta and I got a kids mac and cheese meal. I also got a Mickey rice crispy because I was at Disney and I was excited!!! It was also in the Riverside Mill where we discovered that the tour groups were staying there in mass. We never had too much trouble regarding them in either the resort or the parks so we lucked out I guess!

After dinner we headed back to the room and unpacked and watched a little TV before getting some sleep. The next morning we had a date with some animals and their kingdom!!!
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[kelleigh1]

Nice start!

 

[laur roo]

Nice start!

Thanks! Ready for another update? Cause I am...here we go!

 

[laur roo]

Day Two, Part One!
Sunday, January 22nd

I woke up super excited! I mean, who wouldn't be? Waking up at Disney, getting ready for your first day at the parks? Beyond excited!!! Mom wanted to do Animal Kingdom for our first day since I think it's her least favorite park. But judging by the amount of photos she took there (we ended up going two times on the trip), I think she really secretly likes this park. My idea for our first attraction was to go see Festival of the Lion King, so that's where we were planning to head first. We got to Animal Kingdom around 10:30 and mom started taking photos right away!

When we got into the park, I stopped in the restroom and when I got back mom was with one of those survey guys answering questions. He was from Ohio too, so it was kinda funny. I wandered off while she was finishing her questions to a little cart and found a card holder that hooks onto a lanyard (yes, I'm a pin trader!!) and mom bought that and a lanyard for herself to start trading pins. I had bought a lot of 25 on ebay before we left, so I had a lot of new ones loaded onto my lanyard to start trading right away and I gave mom 3 of my pins so she could start trading too. After she bought her lanyard, we were on our way to Camp Minnie-Mickey so we could see Festival of the Lion King! I love this show and I was happy we were going to start our trip off with this. (Hence the title of my TR...we started with a Festival and ended with a Fiesta...hmmm, any ideas what our last ride might have been???) We were early for the show, so we got to pick our spot when we got in. I crossed the room to the elephant section and we sat in the second row on the end so there was no one in front of us. Mom took a lot of photos during the show, so here they are!

We were right by the big door, so we could see the performers when they came in!

Did I mention I love this show? I think I might have teared up a little bit because I was so happy to be there and the performance was so amazing. I know a lot of people enjoy this show and it was just so fun to watch. This guy was even posing for my mom when he noticed she was taking pictures.

And a few thousand more pictures...

And one last pic of Pumbaa as we were exiting the theatre.

To Be Continued...
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[kelleigh1]

This is one of the shows I've never seen. There are probably quite a few we've missed, so I'm hoping we can cross a few of them off the list on our Oct. trip...including Festival of the Lion King.

 

[laur roo]

Day Two, Part Two!
Sunday, January 22nd

After that, we made decided to go get Safari FPs. But I saw a cool bench first and made mom take a picture of me there. And a few more plant and wildlife shots before we made it over to Africa.

And behind the FP machines was an area with a big turtle. Or tortoise. I didn't see a sign and I'm not sure which it was. But since it was so far behind a fence, it was hard to get the camera focused on him. But we tried our best! I think he's the guardian of the FPs!

We decided next to slowly make our way out of the park because we had a lunch ADR at Sanaa over at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. On our way out of Africa we saw some performers so we stopped to watch.

Then one of the performers started pulling people up to come dance with them. He put them all in a line and was blowing a whistle on the beat and showing off some dance moves for people to follow. And what should happen? Well, he made me go up there! I'm not one to get up and perform in front of people, but it did look kinda fun so I went up. But I got nervous and I'm not that big of a dancer so I ducked out after a couple moves cause I was on the end. But the tall guy in the hat a couple people down from me was way into it and he was really funny to watch cause he was doing some major dance moves!

We then went in some shops and browsed and took more pictures (it’ll be a theme of this trip…lots of pictures! Mom took most of them, but I did my fair share too. But then again, I’m posting on the Dis, and pictures of Disney are like, well, pixie dust. You can’t get enough!!!)

On our way towards the front of the park, I found an entrance to the Discovery Trails by the tree. I had never walked back here before, so I told mom we should check it out. We began to wander and up close that tree is amazing!!! I couldn’t believe how much detail there was in the whole thing or how big it actually was. I’ve seen it from far away in different areas around the park but this was a whole new story. If you haven’t been on the trails up close, you definitely should sometime!

Oh yeah, and there's even some animals hidden back in the trails too!

I even found a bird to feed, lol!

To Be Continued...
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[laur roo]

This is one of the shows I've never seen. There are probably quite a few we've missed, so I'm hoping we can cross a few of them off the list on our Oct. trip...including Festival of the Lion King.

Yeah, if you like the Lion King at all, you must go see this show! Maybe by the end of my TR you'll have a whole list of new things to try! We did a lot of different stuff throughout the trip so I'm hoping I can let people in on all the cool stuff we did. Stay tuned, there is plenty more to come, we're only on the morning of our first park day!!!

 

[laur roo]

Day Two, Part Three!
Sunday, January 22nd

Okay so we finished up the Discovery Trails and we browsed a few more of the shops and got a PhotoPass picture by the tree. And I couldn't resist trying on the most extravagant ears I have ever seen...

I couldn't resist, they were so silly! And it was the only place I saw them on the trip. Anyways, back to more of mom's nature shots!

This lil guy was right by where we got our PhotoPass photo, and right when mom snapped the picture, he ducked back in to his house.

By now we were up at the front of the park, and we were making our way to the bus stop to grab a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge for our lunch ADR. But first, we had to walk through the Rainforest Cafe! We used to eat here when we were younger, but not anymore. But we still like to walk through the gift shop and look at the fishies! And again, I couldn't resist being goofy a little bit!

Finally we were out of the park and on our way to Kidani Village for our lunch at Sanaa!!!

Disney bus! Gotta love that free transportation. And there was really only one day where we had to wait a long time for a bus. Can't beat that!

We got to Kidani Village very quickly and we were way early so what else to do than go see the animals out on the savannah! We stood and watched for quite awhile. We saw mostly zebras, giraffes, and birds that were sitting right by the windows to Sanaa. So here's a little photo overload...

And now I present to you................THE BACKSIDE OF A ZEBRA (buh-dum-ching!)

It was really cool to see the animals up close, and looking around the balconies of the rooms, almost no one was out on them. Just maybe 2 or 3 out of all of them. I guess they were all at the parks. I think if I stayed at AKL with a savannah view, I'd never want to leave the room if the animals were out! Guess I better stick with a resort without animals wandering around to distract me! Just ask my boyfriend, I watched giraffes at the zoo for about 45 minutes and I was so super excited. He's nice to put up with me. But I digress....I do love animals though!!! Up next will be our lunch at Sanaa and then back to the Animal Kingdom!


To Be Continued!
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[kelleigh1]

LOL! I tend to have pics of the backside of elephants. My first two trips, every elephant photo is its backside and it's not like those things move fast so it's not like they turned around. It was just that they were all facing the other way when we rumbled up in our safari jeep and if I wanted a pic of the elephant, that was my only option. Finally on our last trip, I got a side view.

 

[laur roo]

Day Two, Part Four!
Sunday, January 22nd

After our viewing the animals out on the savannah, we went in to be seated for our lunch at Sanaa. But first…the bathroom! I know it’s weird to take pictures of bathrooms, but there was no one else in there, I swear! And this bathroom is so pretty. If you’ve been in there, you know what I mean!

Then we were seated quickly, right near the windows. The place was pretty empty since it was lunchtime. Almost everyone was seated by/near the windows. The décor of the restaurant is so awesome too!

And we could see a few guys out of the window…

And my pins after only having them on for a day. Since I had bought 25 new pins, there were lots to trade!!!

And here’s our food, mom had the salad trio, and I had the lamb. Super yum! If you want to hear more about Sanaa, my review is in my dining report, which I finished up last month I think.

And this guy was so funny during our lunch. This was my famous pose of his!

After our awesome lunch, we said goodbye to Kidani Village…

…and hello again to Animal Kingdom!!

When we got back to the park, we decided to go use our Kilimanjaro Safari FPs. But the parade was going on, and even though I thought we would miss it because of our lunch, we didn’t! So we watched the second half of the parade go by. I snuck up closer to take a few pictures.

Even though it’s not so much of a standard Disney parade, I really like this one because of the music and the colorful animals and performers!


After the parade was over, we started to make our way towards Africa to get in line for the Safari. And it’s a good thing that we liked the parade, because before we could make it over the bridge, here comes the parade again!!! So what’s a Disney loving girl to do but take MORE pictures???

A not so hidden Mickey!

Pretty tail feathers!!!

And this performer was hilarious! Monkeying around with the best of them!

And we finally made it to the Safari after the parade passed by!



To Be Continued!
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