Day 8
Today we planned to go to Animal Kingdom. I was adamant on getting there early because we had not gone to AK last year and I really wanted to spend time seeing some of then things I had passed on in previous years. But my wife and mom both decided they didn’t want to go very early. So I went by myself and planned to meet them at 10am near the entrance.
I woke up early and went out to the busses to try to get the early bus, as I was walking over I saw a cab,,,Hmmm- so I got in the cab and had him bring me to AK. It was 6.50$ and I arrived early enough so I was #12 in line at the entrance. When they finally opened, I ran to the safari, then hit the Majaraji trail. I had a wonderful time seeing all the animals who were all pretty active. especially some creepy bats
http://www.bryangalloway.com/AK%20Bat%202.JPG I met my family at 10am, I then grabbed their tickets and ran to Everest to get FP. I got 3 for 12:00 ( my mom and wife don’t do Everest..) I had asked them to meet me at the Dino land , we rode the Dino spin ride , they didn’t sit us together, so mywife and I each took one child separately. they are on the left-
http://www.bryangalloway.com/AK%20Dinowhirl.JPG And then we got on Dinasour ( one of my daughters got very scared, I think because we had 1st row) Both were about a 5 minute wait. The trend has been early AM and late night low waits, but during mid-day , terrible waits.
We then went to see the
Nemo show. None of us had ever been to see it before. We all enjoyed it immensely. The entire musical was well done. I loved the giant pelican…
Next, we decided to go see the Festivle of the Lion King while the crowds were still fair, so we high tailed it over to Camp Minnie Mickey.
While we were waiting, we stopped bye the old Pocahantas and friends area, and Pocahantas was there with the bears from Brother bear , chip and Dale and Balou. There was maybe 15 people there except us. My daughter was even able to dance with Pocahantas.
http://www.bryangalloway.com/mackdancin.JPG It was a really private experience.
Now to the Lion King, Again we had never seen this show either. The wait was long( 25 minutes but it seemed like 80 because it was so so hot) , but we finally got in and got a very good seat.
This show was even better than Nemo. I was so impressed, especially by the women who sang “Circle of Life” She had an incredible voice.
http://www.bryangalloway.com/LK%203.JPG
After that we decided it was time for lunch, so we went to Flame Tree. I must say that this place Is a tremendous value. The ribs were very good. We all had a wonderful lunch (so much better than Hurricane Hannah’s) We also had some ducks that came to our table looking for food. But we didn’t give them anything but some bread.
Next, we went to see “Its tough to be a bug” my kids had not seen that before either, so it was a lot of fun to see them jump .
We spent some good time checking out the various animals, I think at times people don’t spend enough time doing that. There is a lot to see here, and its really a park that you need to take your time.
We then saw the parade, and went to Rafiki’s planet watch.
http://www.bryangalloway.com/Rafiki.JPG The train is very similar to those in Africa. I remember going on one for business . We also enjoyed this part of the park a lot, it wasn’t too crowded, and the kids had a lot of time to explore and learn. We had a CM tell us all about an operation that was happening on a flamingo, and he also explained to them the different characteristics of elephant, rhino and hippo poop !! (they had coated samples)
http://www.bryangalloway.com/AK%20poop.JPG The kids also saw Rakiki, Pocohantas #3
http://www.bryangalloway.com/AK%20Pocohantas.JPG and Jimmini Cricket.
http://www.bryangalloway.com/Jiminie.JPG
Next we went to Tusker House. We had never been there before but had heard good things. I really liked it and so did my mom and Taylor. My wife and Mackenzie gave it a
B- because there wasn’t a lot of variety. I disagree because I found a lot of great things. I can say it is different than most places. The service was Ok, our waiter wasn’t around much, but I would definitely go back.
Finally, now we decided to go to Everest. I had the FP so we wanted to use them before the park closed.
I left my mom and wife over near the bench area near Yack and Yeti- and told them we’d be back before 7pm-
The twins and I got on quickly, and it was as great as we remembered. Then, when we got off we saw the wait was (10 minutes) short, so we went back in line. It was less than 5 minutes before we were on again. Then again we hopped on… finally after 6 rides we ran back and got to them at 6:58.
Its so funny because about 3 hours ago the wait was 75 minutes.
We got home and walking over to the room from the bus we cut behind the "quiet pool area" shorcut- and we saw my neighbors barbequing...in all the years, i had never seen anyone use the barbeque grill there, i actually thought it was a prop...they were cooking up the Bass they caught. I got to meet their wives and they got to meet my family...we quickly husled to our room , laughing hysterically in the elavator.
We then went home and jumped in Stormalong bay and swam till 10:00pm.
The girls went to sleep but I went over to meet some friends at Epcot which had EMH – we tried to drink a beer around the world but couldn’t make it the entire way… I can’t drink beer like I used to. we started in Canada and made it to China- but i couldnt even finish my beer there...
2009 The Good, the Bad & the Magical - #8
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