brewcrew26
04-25-2008, 04:35 PM
Day 4 – Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios
It was up early today to be at Animal Kingdom for park opening. Let me say: It was freakin’ cold! I was bundled up in a hoodie and long cargo pants. It took until at least 2 p.m. for the sun to burn off the chill. But, I’m glad we braved the Arctic!
Kilimanjaro Safaris was amazing! I’ve been on it once before when the park first opened in 1998. We barely saw any animals. But, this day animals were EVERYWHERE! Our truck even got stopped by a bunch of rhinos in the road. They had to call ahead to get them cleared so we could safely pass. The only thing we didn’t get a good glimpse of was the lion. So, score one point for it being cold that day because the animals like the briskness!
Brett was like a little kid on the safari. He took SO many pictures (this is why I have over 800 photos to go through now for a scrapbook). He got some amazing candids of the lowland gorillas on the jungle trek. And there are some other great shots of the tigers.
After the safari, we jetted over to Asia to grab Fastpasses for Expedition Everest. We had about two hours to spare, so we grabbed lunch at the new Yak ‘N Yeti counter service. The portions were ginormous! They serve up Asian-style food in take-out containers. I had about a quart of rice, veggies, and ginger chicken. I barely made a dent in it. But, it was still yummy. I was really nervous about riding EE so I took my ginger pills (someone on Intercot recommend I take that instead of Dramamine and, surprise, it worked wonders!)
Finally, the wait to ride was over. The CM in the loading zone made us wait so we could have the front row. It was amazing! The view from the front is absolutely incredible. We could see resorts, parks, miles and miles. It was so gorgeous! But, then…
The speed and ferocity of the ride took me by surprise. I barely caught a glimpse of the Yeti except for a claw, or maybe it was a leg. I still don’t know. By the end of the ride, my mouth was all dry from pure shock. Now, I’m not a huge coaster fan and I have a huge fear of heights, but I’d definitely go on it again, but I’d have to ride close to the front. I definitely recommend asking a CM to sit in front. It’s just amazing what you see!
My ear infection didn’t do too well with all the jumbling about, so we passed on Dinosaur. It was too cold to go on Kali River Rapids. But, we decided to take in The Lion King Show. Brett’s seen the Lion King on Broadway and he loved the AK show. I really liked the tumble monkeys. They were really fun especially when they did some of the tricks on the high bar. DH and I were both pretty beat from EE, so we decided to head back for naptime.
We watched some more cartoons before heading back to DHS for dinner at 50’s Prime Time Café. Man, it was packed! I’ve never seen the place so loaded. The hostess said a stand-by wait time would be three hours (and that was around 7 p.m.) The food was OK, nothing spectacular. You can read the whole in-depth analysis in the Dining section. I was just a little peeved that our waitress kept thinking we were from Michigan. Oh, well.
After dinner we strolled through some of the shops before beating the Fantasmic crowd to the busses. We made it a pretty early night since we’d be back to the Studios in the morning.
It was up early today to be at Animal Kingdom for park opening. Let me say: It was freakin’ cold! I was bundled up in a hoodie and long cargo pants. It took until at least 2 p.m. for the sun to burn off the chill. But, I’m glad we braved the Arctic!
Kilimanjaro Safaris was amazing! I’ve been on it once before when the park first opened in 1998. We barely saw any animals. But, this day animals were EVERYWHERE! Our truck even got stopped by a bunch of rhinos in the road. They had to call ahead to get them cleared so we could safely pass. The only thing we didn’t get a good glimpse of was the lion. So, score one point for it being cold that day because the animals like the briskness!
Brett was like a little kid on the safari. He took SO many pictures (this is why I have over 800 photos to go through now for a scrapbook). He got some amazing candids of the lowland gorillas on the jungle trek. And there are some other great shots of the tigers.
After the safari, we jetted over to Asia to grab Fastpasses for Expedition Everest. We had about two hours to spare, so we grabbed lunch at the new Yak ‘N Yeti counter service. The portions were ginormous! They serve up Asian-style food in take-out containers. I had about a quart of rice, veggies, and ginger chicken. I barely made a dent in it. But, it was still yummy. I was really nervous about riding EE so I took my ginger pills (someone on Intercot recommend I take that instead of Dramamine and, surprise, it worked wonders!)
Finally, the wait to ride was over. The CM in the loading zone made us wait so we could have the front row. It was amazing! The view from the front is absolutely incredible. We could see resorts, parks, miles and miles. It was so gorgeous! But, then…
The speed and ferocity of the ride took me by surprise. I barely caught a glimpse of the Yeti except for a claw, or maybe it was a leg. I still don’t know. By the end of the ride, my mouth was all dry from pure shock. Now, I’m not a huge coaster fan and I have a huge fear of heights, but I’d definitely go on it again, but I’d have to ride close to the front. I definitely recommend asking a CM to sit in front. It’s just amazing what you see!
My ear infection didn’t do too well with all the jumbling about, so we passed on Dinosaur. It was too cold to go on Kali River Rapids. But, we decided to take in The Lion King Show. Brett’s seen the Lion King on Broadway and he loved the AK show. I really liked the tumble monkeys. They were really fun especially when they did some of the tricks on the high bar. DH and I were both pretty beat from EE, so we decided to head back for naptime.
We watched some more cartoons before heading back to DHS for dinner at 50’s Prime Time Café. Man, it was packed! I’ve never seen the place so loaded. The hostess said a stand-by wait time would be three hours (and that was around 7 p.m.) The food was OK, nothing spectacular. You can read the whole in-depth analysis in the Dining section. I was just a little peeved that our waitress kept thinking we were from Michigan. Oh, well.
After dinner we strolled through some of the shops before beating the Fantasmic crowd to the busses. We made it a pretty early night since we’d be back to the Studios in the morning.