KylesMom
07-11-2007, 10:22 AM
Cast of Characters:
Me, 41 (Favorite Character Mickey)
DH, 41 (Favorite Character Grumpy)
DS, 9 (Loves Both Mickey & Stitch)
Day 5 -Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Even though we crashed late last night, we’re all up for Animal Kingdom and the Yeti! The wakeup call is a bit earlier today – 6:30 am – but it’s not a problem. AK has been growing on our family – especially with the addition of E:E – and we’re all very excited to begin our adventure! Quick showers, breakfast in the room, and we’re out the door around 7:30 am. We park in Unicorn & decide just to walk up to the gate.
Lord, but this place is a madhouse before rope drop! We make it into the entrance and up near the top of the hill before we’re stopped dead in our tracks, awaiting “The Awakening”. Like runners at the starting block, the rope drops & so does the crowd’s patience. With much pushing and shoving in front of, behind and beside us, we find ourselves at bottom of the hill. We opt to head around by Dinoland and walk up the back way for our FPs for E:E. Uh oh, not a good sign – Everest starts the day by being down! The return FP time is for around 11:00 already.
It’s exceptionally hot, so we take our time, grab a drink & head towards Kali – that’s Kyle’s next wish of the day. My mistake, Kali doesn’t open until 9 am, so we decide to hang for the 15 minutes before opening. Cool, it’s already time for another FP, so we get one for Kali for later on. At the end of our ride, DH and DS get semi-wet, but I’m still among the dry! Around to Dinosaur with a posted 25 minute wait, another drink, and then on to Camp Mickey-Minnie for our annual photo. Oops, the line for Mickey goes out past the queue line (we know from experience that this will be a LONG wait), so we decide to bypass. No one is ready for FotLK, either, so we head back towards Everest to see if it’s up & running. It’s not. Hmmm. Let’s go on over to Africa. We’re not making much headway today! On the way to Africa, we decide to hop in line for the Lilo and Stitch meet and greet. Kyle has a fascination with Stitch, and after a 20-minute wait he gets the opportunity for a few great photo ops. This helps curb everyone’s frustration. :thumbsup: We decide to grab a few FPs for Kilamanjaro Safaris and eat lunch at Pizzafari – nicely air conditioned! DDE discount is $5.42.
OK, refreshed, we decide we’ll check out E:E again to see if it is running. It is! :D Although the FP line is a bit long, we jump in anyway. Man, this coaster is awesome – especially in the back where we’re seated! I have delusions of grandeur, thinking about how Ian won the night in the castle, but no one was waiting for us when we returned! :blush: We utilize our Kali FP, where DS and I get the main blast of water this time - literally being able to wring our clothes out - then dry off a bit by walking the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Since we’re in the area, we decide to check out FPs for Expedition Everest. In addition to them being gone for the day, the standby line is at 180 minutes ~ no thank you! The Nemo show, although I’m interested in seeing, simply has too long of a line for us to wait in also. The queue is winding all the way into Dinoland. As previously posted, the guys really aren’t interested in the shows this time around, so I don’t make a big deal of it. DS wants to try Primeval Whirl (we’ve never done), but the posted wait time is 45 minutes also. As I’m a bit apprehensive about this attraction, :sick: I tell him we’ll try it another time.
We make our way over to Kilamanjaro Safaris, as our FP is ready. It takes us about 20 minutes to load (still single loading dock at this time), but we have a great tour & see lots of animals. DH laughs at me, ‘cause I told DS he was the sole picture-taker on the safari, and I just couldn’t put my camera away! Not sure how I feel about the change in the story line – as someone else mentioned, it seems like it is a bunch of little stories that doesn’t make sense all put together.
It’s now about 2:15 and hotter than Hades in the Animal Kingdom. It is time to vacate this park! Although it took a bit, we’ve been able to do all of the big attractions. We’ll be back to catch some of the things we missed today (FotLK, Camper Mickey, etcetera).
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mousekeeping is just finishing our room – thank goodness we can get in! A word about Mousekeeping . . . We miss our Mousekeeper from last year (Pam) on the 6th floor, but this crew seems to be efficient – if not a bit late each day - leaving plenty of towels and H20 products as I requested when we checked in and spoke with them. I have to say, this is a really nice touch. I’m used to getting generic lotions & shampoo/conditioner that is of low quality, so it’s nice to actually be able to use the bath products!
Anyway, we’re all dragging from the heat. Pool time! We swim for awhile, return to the room, relax for a bit & get cleaned up for our first ADR at Whispering Canyon. We check in promptly, and are seated shortly after our scheduled time of 6:00. Our server is Jesse Jamey. DH orders a yard-arm of Miller, and I order the Glow-tini to start. :marg: Good, but quite pricey at $9.25! We all have the skillet, and quite honestly eat more than we should! DS participates in the Pony Rides at 6:15 and 7:00, getting wooden nickels for his efforts. Quite funny, as he knows the whole drill from last year, and really has a good time. We order dessert (which we really shouldn’t have) and by the time we roll out of WC, it’s about 7:30 and we’re just too stuffed to head out to MK. DDE savings is $20.09. We opt to take some pictures in the lobby, walk around a bit to digest, and head up to the room. None of us can keep our eyes open tonight!
Although we weren’t able to experience a lot of attractions at AK, we had another delightful day. I remember when AK was truly a ½ day park – this is no longer the case, at least during the time that we travel! We’ll make up for the lack of attractions tomorrow at Magic Kingdom and morning EMH! :mickey: We also have an ADR for Ohana . . . and the big question is will service be improved, or will this be the last time we dine here for awhile? Stay tuned!
Me, 41 (Favorite Character Mickey)
DH, 41 (Favorite Character Grumpy)
DS, 9 (Loves Both Mickey & Stitch)
Day 5 -Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Even though we crashed late last night, we’re all up for Animal Kingdom and the Yeti! The wakeup call is a bit earlier today – 6:30 am – but it’s not a problem. AK has been growing on our family – especially with the addition of E:E – and we’re all very excited to begin our adventure! Quick showers, breakfast in the room, and we’re out the door around 7:30 am. We park in Unicorn & decide just to walk up to the gate.
Lord, but this place is a madhouse before rope drop! We make it into the entrance and up near the top of the hill before we’re stopped dead in our tracks, awaiting “The Awakening”. Like runners at the starting block, the rope drops & so does the crowd’s patience. With much pushing and shoving in front of, behind and beside us, we find ourselves at bottom of the hill. We opt to head around by Dinoland and walk up the back way for our FPs for E:E. Uh oh, not a good sign – Everest starts the day by being down! The return FP time is for around 11:00 already.
It’s exceptionally hot, so we take our time, grab a drink & head towards Kali – that’s Kyle’s next wish of the day. My mistake, Kali doesn’t open until 9 am, so we decide to hang for the 15 minutes before opening. Cool, it’s already time for another FP, so we get one for Kali for later on. At the end of our ride, DH and DS get semi-wet, but I’m still among the dry! Around to Dinosaur with a posted 25 minute wait, another drink, and then on to Camp Mickey-Minnie for our annual photo. Oops, the line for Mickey goes out past the queue line (we know from experience that this will be a LONG wait), so we decide to bypass. No one is ready for FotLK, either, so we head back towards Everest to see if it’s up & running. It’s not. Hmmm. Let’s go on over to Africa. We’re not making much headway today! On the way to Africa, we decide to hop in line for the Lilo and Stitch meet and greet. Kyle has a fascination with Stitch, and after a 20-minute wait he gets the opportunity for a few great photo ops. This helps curb everyone’s frustration. :thumbsup: We decide to grab a few FPs for Kilamanjaro Safaris and eat lunch at Pizzafari – nicely air conditioned! DDE discount is $5.42.
OK, refreshed, we decide we’ll check out E:E again to see if it is running. It is! :D Although the FP line is a bit long, we jump in anyway. Man, this coaster is awesome – especially in the back where we’re seated! I have delusions of grandeur, thinking about how Ian won the night in the castle, but no one was waiting for us when we returned! :blush: We utilize our Kali FP, where DS and I get the main blast of water this time - literally being able to wring our clothes out - then dry off a bit by walking the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Since we’re in the area, we decide to check out FPs for Expedition Everest. In addition to them being gone for the day, the standby line is at 180 minutes ~ no thank you! The Nemo show, although I’m interested in seeing, simply has too long of a line for us to wait in also. The queue is winding all the way into Dinoland. As previously posted, the guys really aren’t interested in the shows this time around, so I don’t make a big deal of it. DS wants to try Primeval Whirl (we’ve never done), but the posted wait time is 45 minutes also. As I’m a bit apprehensive about this attraction, :sick: I tell him we’ll try it another time.
We make our way over to Kilamanjaro Safaris, as our FP is ready. It takes us about 20 minutes to load (still single loading dock at this time), but we have a great tour & see lots of animals. DH laughs at me, ‘cause I told DS he was the sole picture-taker on the safari, and I just couldn’t put my camera away! Not sure how I feel about the change in the story line – as someone else mentioned, it seems like it is a bunch of little stories that doesn’t make sense all put together.
It’s now about 2:15 and hotter than Hades in the Animal Kingdom. It is time to vacate this park! Although it took a bit, we’ve been able to do all of the big attractions. We’ll be back to catch some of the things we missed today (FotLK, Camper Mickey, etcetera).
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mousekeeping is just finishing our room – thank goodness we can get in! A word about Mousekeeping . . . We miss our Mousekeeper from last year (Pam) on the 6th floor, but this crew seems to be efficient – if not a bit late each day - leaving plenty of towels and H20 products as I requested when we checked in and spoke with them. I have to say, this is a really nice touch. I’m used to getting generic lotions & shampoo/conditioner that is of low quality, so it’s nice to actually be able to use the bath products!
Anyway, we’re all dragging from the heat. Pool time! We swim for awhile, return to the room, relax for a bit & get cleaned up for our first ADR at Whispering Canyon. We check in promptly, and are seated shortly after our scheduled time of 6:00. Our server is Jesse Jamey. DH orders a yard-arm of Miller, and I order the Glow-tini to start. :marg: Good, but quite pricey at $9.25! We all have the skillet, and quite honestly eat more than we should! DS participates in the Pony Rides at 6:15 and 7:00, getting wooden nickels for his efforts. Quite funny, as he knows the whole drill from last year, and really has a good time. We order dessert (which we really shouldn’t have) and by the time we roll out of WC, it’s about 7:30 and we’re just too stuffed to head out to MK. DDE savings is $20.09. We opt to take some pictures in the lobby, walk around a bit to digest, and head up to the room. None of us can keep our eyes open tonight!
Although we weren’t able to experience a lot of attractions at AK, we had another delightful day. I remember when AK was truly a ½ day park – this is no longer the case, at least during the time that we travel! We’ll make up for the lack of attractions tomorrow at Magic Kingdom and morning EMH! :mickey: We also have an ADR for Ohana . . . and the big question is will service be improved, or will this be the last time we dine here for awhile? Stay tuned!