So where was I? Oh. Mimi and I are finishing up a delicious lunch at the Tusker House and the rest of the crew calls again. They are on a standing-room-only bus that they waited 40 minutes for and now they find out it’s stopping at Blizzard Beach on the way to AK. OY!
Mimi and I decide to hit the Pangani Trail while we wait for them to arrive, debus (spell check likes it so I guess it’s a word?), and trek all the way to the back of the park to meet up with us which could take a while.
Now I just love these jungle trails….beautiful little places where all the wild animals are held in captivity for our pleasure. They are lovely habitats, however, if I do say so myself. Here’s the photographic evidence…..
Look at the cute little pygmy duck....
When you look down in the water you see these....
And it all seems so natural you wouldn't even notice the net if you didn't look up...
OK, about mid-trail, we get the call that DH, Emily, and DS have arrived at the Tusker House so they are going to grab some lunch and we’ll meet them there. More trail pix....hhhmmmm, more fish....not so interesting....
Aloof gorilla....
Why isn't he hangin out here in the beautiful gorilla habitat...
Lovely flower Mimi stopped to photograph...it was broken off later in the day.
We didn't get any pictures of the nekkid mole rats but I fear that image may be burned in my brain for many years to come. And may I just say....EEEEWWWWWW! We were sure some of the ones on the bottom of the pile must have suffered a slow death by asphyxiation but we were assured of their safety and breathability.
When we get back to the Tusker House we have to search and then finally place a call to locate them….this place is HUGE! (And rumor has it that Disney is turning it into a TS restaurant!? We’ll see.) I finally locate my husband and freshly tattooed children. DS is sporting a king cobra tattoo that stretches roughly from his elbow to his shoulder and Emily has a discreet little Eeyore. We toss the trash and head over at light speed to catch the 1:00 Festival of the Lion King at Camp Minnie-Mickey.
Now DS is feeling a little persnickety and uncooperative today (three late nights in a row) so he stops to look at….the rocks. Hurry up, man! The show is about to start! DH hangs back with DS and the girls and I head in to save some seats.
It’s about 2 or 3 minutes til 1:00 and we walk right in and get some great seats about 8 rows back in the warthog section. I look across and pity the fools that got there early and are sitting on the last row in the lion section. Guess it doesn’t pay to be prompt. DH and DS make it in just in time.
I LOVE this show. We saw it for the first time on the last trip and I was flabbergasted. The stage goes from absolutely nothing to colors, songs, lights, floats, costumes, and pageantry in less than 5 minutes. This is another show that makes me tear up….although I’m sure you’re not surprised to know that.
Anyway, when the show’s over, we decide to go burn up the EE fastpasses by way of the Discovery Island Trails on the front side of the Tree of Perpetual Crying Children. We spot some animals and fish so DS is feeling a little for amiable now since he is an animal lover. Here's a peacock...hope I have it matched with the right trail...
We swing around toward Asia and there’s a CM there yelling “It’s Tough to be a Bug!…unless you’re a love bug.” Yuck…how true! So déjà vu, we head in and watch the movie again. In fact most of the rest of the afternoon is actually déjà vu for Mimi and me but we head back over to EE.
DH and the kids ride (we only have 4 fastpasses) while I watch/wait in the bu-lazing sun. I get a frozen fruit bar while I wait. Here they come….everybody loved EE! Great! We decide to get more fastpasses. WHAT? ALL GONE! It’s only about 2:30. Drag.
OK, the (shady) Maharaja Trail is looking good. Apparently it’s too hot for the tigers. Now this is a real bummer since we got to see them up close last time and I know DS would LOVE to see them. Here are some more photos in the bat house where there was a creepy CM who knew way more about bats than the law allows….
Flying rats....
We got into a conversation with a nice older couple who was telling us how much they enjoyed Flights of Wonder. We tell them we’re looking forward to it since DS is, above all, a bird lover. (How many times have I looked at the Reader’s Digest Book of North American Birds with him?) Well, you’d better hurry, they say, the last show is at 3:00…and that’s in less than 5 minutes. WHAT?! How could I have miscalculated the last showing of Flights of Wonder?
We grab DS and head out of the trail toward Flights of Wonder. We run/walk back out into Asia before we notice that we’ve lost one member of the group….DH. OK, DS we would search for but not DH. Flights of Wonder is about to start and it’s every man for himself. We head straight up to the front and grab a seat on the row behind the handicapped row. Sweet.
DH calls. They’ve closed the gates to the theater….oops. Sorry. We watch the bird show sans Dad. It’s very cute and we did get to see lots of spectacular and talented birds up close….including a bald eagle, which I’ve never seen before. Here he is...sorry...I took this one.
When the show is over, we head out and folks are already lining up for the parade. We walk to Harambe since that is the source of the Jammin’ Jungle parade. We figure there may be just enough time to save Little Red again before the parade starts since there’s no wait….and we do…a-gain.
The parade is about to start and everybody wants a frozen lemonade. Here comes the parade….LOOK! They absolutely couldn’t care less….nope….don’t even want to stand on the parade route. OK, then….the Pangani Trail ONE MORE TIME for the late comers. Turns out that boring fish tank actually contained HIPPOS....in heat.....
They went on like this for about 10 minutes...
and then back to the hotel to rest…because I’ve been waiting for tonight….
DO….eat at Tusker House. IMHO, it was one of the best CS meals all week. Do eat before noon….the line at Tusker House was horrible when we went back in to find the fam at 12:45. Do visit the safari and the trails before lunch if possible. We saw more animals on our earlier trips. Do pay attention to the show schedule. Since AK closes so early, the shows also stop much earlier than you might expect. Do get your EE fastpasses EARLY in the day. If they are out by 2:00pm in September they must be out a LOT earlier when AK is busy.
DON’T….count on a quick bus trip from POR to AK. We did not see many AK buses all week…and don’t forget it makes a stop at BB on the way. Take your car to AK if you have one. Don’t sweat it if you show up last minute at the shows if you’re at AK during a not-so-busy season. You’ll get a seat…even the 1:00 FotLK show had plenty of seats available.
IMPORTANT DON'T-BE-A-SUCKER EDIT....I forgot to include in this AK afternoon episode, that Mimi ran out of room for more pictures on her SD card. We spot the Kodak camera booth in Harambe and inquire about the cost of a new 512 MB SD card.....$69.95!!! The CM didn't even smile when he said it although Mimi and I did laugh a little. NO thanks! (A quick google search turned up the exact same Kodak SD card for $21 on
amazon. Geez...you can get a 2GB Sandisk card for $49!)
DO NOT go to AK or to Disney World at large without plenty of digital media for your camera...purchased at a reasonable price at any store near you!
How cool is that??? 
for the next installment! Can't wait!!!
).
