Nascfan
07-09-2008, 09:31 PM
Day 7: Thursday the 19th – part 1
Sorry about the hiatus folks, life got a little crazy the past week.
Thursday was Animal Kingdom day, and we planned to hit Studios afterward to finish what we didn’t get done on Sunday.
We got there early enough to be at the turnstiles before opening. Next to us was a guy who seemed to know the CM’s as they came out. He mentioned he had been at the parking lot very early that morning. As he was talking, we sort of joined in and came to find out he had was/is the current record holder for Expedition Everest, having ridden it 2,541 times! That’s not a typo – two thousand five hundred forty-one times. He had a clicker hanging around his neck and every hundred times he gets a little card signed by the CM’s at the ride. He’s there almost every day, working a day or two a week, and utilizes FP and Single Rider for most of his rides, allowing him to get on and off, on and off. He was amazing! Lauren got her picture with him, holding up the clicker. We just enjoyed talking with him, so he told us to follow his lead and he’d take care of us. When the turnstiles opened we went with him to the rope drop, where he asked the CM who was going to open the tip board if she had a volunteer to turn the crank. She said “no” so he said Lauren would do it. We got VIP seating for Festival of Lion King at the 12:30 show and a Priority Entrance for any one ride that day for all of us. It was so cool!
After he recited the entire opening act from memory with the characters (too funny), he said follow the left side of the rope back to Everest. He said he was going to grab an FP but it would only take a second, and he was right. Just at the entrance queue is an FP machine and he never had to leave the queue to get an FP. As we were walking through the queue line, he’s walking BACKWARDS showing us all the hidden Mickey’s! He never missed a step or turn, backwards. He said he usually does front car, but he’d put us in it since it was our first time and he’d ride behind us. I have to tell you, if you ever, ever get the chance to do front car on Everest, do it! That was and exhilarating, amazing, incredible ride that we’ll never forget. When you come up to the broken tracks and are waiting for the switchback to go backwards, he showed us all that you can see of WDW from the front. It was amazing. I think the only thing better would be if Joe Rhode himself were there giving us the tour. :thumbsup:
After we got off, we said our goodbyes, shook his hand, thanked him profusely, and made our way over to Africa where Kathy had gone to get FPs for Safaris. We had about 10 minutes until that time, just enough to tell her all about our experience in the Himalayas and the dreaded Yeti. It was just amazing and a dream come true that we didn’t even know we had.
We got on our safari with minimal wait, and had a good time looking at all the animals, taking pics, and waiting for one stubborn bird to GET OFF THE ROAD! Haha!
Next we took a trek back to Asia so Kathy and Lauren could get FPs for Kali River Rapids and we were able to see a hidden treasure of WDW, and another dream come true, Devine. Graceful, elegant, beautiful. That’s the best way I can describe her. I’ve never seen so many jaws dropped wide open in my life. She is truly magnificent.
Since it was still early, we decided to do the Maharajah jungle trek, as we don’t usually get to do the walk throughs until later in the day when it’s crowded and hot. We enjoy this one more than Pangini forest probably because of the theming, buildings, and artwork really make you feel as though you are walking through ancient ruins.
We stopped back in Harambe for a quick lunch since we wanted to be at Lion King for our seating at the 12:30 show.
For the Lion King, we had a bench right on the floor, front row. This is without a doubt one of, if not the, best shows in WDW and to see it from the front row, with the performers right in front of you, is just mind blowing. It was so neat, and so in the action, we were enthralled. Lauren got pulled out to “help” when they do their bit with some of the kids, and she was skipping around like a pro. I’m telling you, she belongs on stage. ;)
After Lion King, it was time for the girls to do River Rapids, and they were on and off like that (snap of fingers) while standby was about an 80 to 90 minute wait. Have I said how much I love Fastpass?
We then went to Pangini forest trail and went through somewhat quickly as the crowds were definitely out in full force that day. We think we’ve figured out the major problem with Animal Kingdom. It’s a nice park, don’t get me wrong, but there’s no easy way to get to anything. Everything is around something. Back this way to this, around that to get here, and all the pathways are, what seems anyway, narrower than MK or Epcot, or even most of Studios.
We still had our Priority Entrance to use though, so in an effort to do something for all 3 of us, we used it for Dinosaur. That darned Carnatour gets me every time! Haha! Fun ride though.
Kathy had had it with the crowds there, and the pathways, so we made our way out to hop to Studios, using the bus as our midday break.
To be continued………..
Sorry about the hiatus folks, life got a little crazy the past week.
Thursday was Animal Kingdom day, and we planned to hit Studios afterward to finish what we didn’t get done on Sunday.
We got there early enough to be at the turnstiles before opening. Next to us was a guy who seemed to know the CM’s as they came out. He mentioned he had been at the parking lot very early that morning. As he was talking, we sort of joined in and came to find out he had was/is the current record holder for Expedition Everest, having ridden it 2,541 times! That’s not a typo – two thousand five hundred forty-one times. He had a clicker hanging around his neck and every hundred times he gets a little card signed by the CM’s at the ride. He’s there almost every day, working a day or two a week, and utilizes FP and Single Rider for most of his rides, allowing him to get on and off, on and off. He was amazing! Lauren got her picture with him, holding up the clicker. We just enjoyed talking with him, so he told us to follow his lead and he’d take care of us. When the turnstiles opened we went with him to the rope drop, where he asked the CM who was going to open the tip board if she had a volunteer to turn the crank. She said “no” so he said Lauren would do it. We got VIP seating for Festival of Lion King at the 12:30 show and a Priority Entrance for any one ride that day for all of us. It was so cool!
After he recited the entire opening act from memory with the characters (too funny), he said follow the left side of the rope back to Everest. He said he was going to grab an FP but it would only take a second, and he was right. Just at the entrance queue is an FP machine and he never had to leave the queue to get an FP. As we were walking through the queue line, he’s walking BACKWARDS showing us all the hidden Mickey’s! He never missed a step or turn, backwards. He said he usually does front car, but he’d put us in it since it was our first time and he’d ride behind us. I have to tell you, if you ever, ever get the chance to do front car on Everest, do it! That was and exhilarating, amazing, incredible ride that we’ll never forget. When you come up to the broken tracks and are waiting for the switchback to go backwards, he showed us all that you can see of WDW from the front. It was amazing. I think the only thing better would be if Joe Rhode himself were there giving us the tour. :thumbsup:
After we got off, we said our goodbyes, shook his hand, thanked him profusely, and made our way over to Africa where Kathy had gone to get FPs for Safaris. We had about 10 minutes until that time, just enough to tell her all about our experience in the Himalayas and the dreaded Yeti. It was just amazing and a dream come true that we didn’t even know we had.
We got on our safari with minimal wait, and had a good time looking at all the animals, taking pics, and waiting for one stubborn bird to GET OFF THE ROAD! Haha!
Next we took a trek back to Asia so Kathy and Lauren could get FPs for Kali River Rapids and we were able to see a hidden treasure of WDW, and another dream come true, Devine. Graceful, elegant, beautiful. That’s the best way I can describe her. I’ve never seen so many jaws dropped wide open in my life. She is truly magnificent.
Since it was still early, we decided to do the Maharajah jungle trek, as we don’t usually get to do the walk throughs until later in the day when it’s crowded and hot. We enjoy this one more than Pangini forest probably because of the theming, buildings, and artwork really make you feel as though you are walking through ancient ruins.
We stopped back in Harambe for a quick lunch since we wanted to be at Lion King for our seating at the 12:30 show.
For the Lion King, we had a bench right on the floor, front row. This is without a doubt one of, if not the, best shows in WDW and to see it from the front row, with the performers right in front of you, is just mind blowing. It was so neat, and so in the action, we were enthralled. Lauren got pulled out to “help” when they do their bit with some of the kids, and she was skipping around like a pro. I’m telling you, she belongs on stage. ;)
After Lion King, it was time for the girls to do River Rapids, and they were on and off like that (snap of fingers) while standby was about an 80 to 90 minute wait. Have I said how much I love Fastpass?
We then went to Pangini forest trail and went through somewhat quickly as the crowds were definitely out in full force that day. We think we’ve figured out the major problem with Animal Kingdom. It’s a nice park, don’t get me wrong, but there’s no easy way to get to anything. Everything is around something. Back this way to this, around that to get here, and all the pathways are, what seems anyway, narrower than MK or Epcot, or even most of Studios.
We still had our Priority Entrance to use though, so in an effort to do something for all 3 of us, we used it for Dinosaur. That darned Carnatour gets me every time! Haha! Fun ride though.
Kathy had had it with the crowds there, and the pathways, so we made our way out to hop to Studios, using the bus as our midday break.
To be continued………..