lovewalt
05-15-2009, 11:59 AM
Cast of characters:
Me~ Holly aka lovewalt
DH~Corey
DD~Maura age 6
May 1-10 Pop Century Resort ~Magic Your Way Plan w/Quick Service Dining
Day 4 Monday May 4th, 2009
The 6:30 wakeup call came too soon this morning.”I’m tired” were Maura’s words to Mickey and Stitch when they called. I got up and showered first and Maura was up and ready too soon after. We did our usual run to the food court for a snack credit breakfast and fill up the mugs. We opted for lighter fare of fruit and yogurt this morning since we had a 10:30 ADR at Tusker House. We ate and were on our way to AK for EMH.First stop, Expedition: Everest.As I explained in my Pre-Trip report Maura and Corey are not thrill ride people but Corey has a fascination with the Yeti. He has toyed with the idea of riding Everest just to see the Yeti since it opened but has always backed out. But he did agree to try it this trip. And Maura agreed to go on if she could sit with Corey and hear him “scream like a girl”. Both were hesitant but they did it! Neither one wants to go on it again but at least they tried it. We commemorated they event by buying a stuffed yeti from the gift shop. He was a round white ball and much friendlier looking than the yeti we just encountered. After E:E we headed to Africa to ride Kilimanjaro Safari. After about a 15 minute wait we were boarding the last row of the safari vehicle. The last row is extremely bumpy. The animals were out and active this morning, except for the lazy lions of course. We didn’t see any zebras this trip which was a little disappointing to Maura since they are her favorite animal. After the poachers were deterred and the elephants safe, we took a walk along the Pangani Forest trail.We took our time checking out the animals. There was a new litter of baby naked mole rats born just a few days before. I think they are pretty creepy looking but Maura thought they were “cute”. We also got a good look at the Hippos in the tank. After we finished looking at the animals we popped into a gift shop to see if we could find a new carved animal for our collection. We have quite a few and have had trouble finding new ones recently so we thought we might have to start collecting something new this trip. But we were in luck, they had a mama and baby cheetah which we did not have. It now resides in our living room with the rest of the gang. After we shopped it was just about time to check in for our ADR for Donald’s safari breakfast. There was a huge line to check in. Just as we reached the front they brought a second person out to check people in. After we waited in line we waited for our table. Our ADR was for 10:30.We weren’t seated until 11:00.They took a family photo before we were seated and then brought it to our table later. We did end up buying it. Our server (who’s name I’ve forgotten) seemed a bit frazzled. She poured us some guava juice and we asked for some coffee. We got our first plates of food and she came back a few minutes later with more juice but no coffee we reminded her that we wanted some and she said “the buffet is switching over to lunch soon so you’ll have to hurry” and walked off. We weren’t sure if that meant she wasn’t bringing any coffee? Or that we would be asked to leave when they switched the food over? Another CM was circulating the tables asking people how everything was. She came up to us and we inquired about the lunch switch over and she assured us we would not be kicked out and we were welcome to have the lunch offerings as well. Eventually our server came with the coffee. The characters were getting close to our table so we had opted to not go back to the buffet line so we wouldn’t miss them. She reminded us again that they would be switching to lunch soon and asked if we were finished. We had only been there for about 15 minutes! We told her no we wanted to wait for the characters before we went back up to the buffet. And she reminded us for the THIRD time that breakfast was ending soon. So I reminded HER that our ADR was at 10:30 and that we were seated late. She seemed to take the hint and stopped trying to rush us out. We did manage to get one more trip to the buffet before they switched over to lunch. By then we were too stuffed on breakfast food to partake of the lunch offerings, except for one chocolate cookie that Maura spotted. So our server got herself all worked up over it for nothing. I usually tip pretty well, having been a waitress myself back in the day, but I didn’t feel she deserved the 18-20% tip they recommended. She really made us feel uncomfortable. It was more like a 10-12% tip and I think that was generous. Poor service aside, we did like the restaurant. The food was good and the characters were fun .I think we will give it another try in the future.
After breakfast, we decided to check out Kali River Rapids. Uh-oh ,40 minute wait and no Fast Passes. We had a bad experience last trip with a 40 minute wait time that turned into about 2 hours! We didn’t want to risk missing the next Nemo show so we decided to try back later. Off to Dinoland,U.S.A instead.20 minute wait for Primehival Whirl. Maura has been wanting to ride this ride since she was 3.But has not been tall enough. This year she finally made the 48” height requirement. So Maura and I got in line. I remembered that I really didn’t like this ride much but couldn’t remember why. I was soon reminded why as I was being tossed and thrashed around. It’s downright painful! Maura however thought it was great fun. From here we went to check out the wait time on Dinosaur.20 minutes. Hmm we have had good luck with the wait times being shorter but would we be cutting it too close for the Nemo show that was starting in 45 minutes? We decided to chance it. And we were given another red “timekeeper” card. Luck was on our side and we were boarding our ride within 10 minutes. The ride photo was so funny. Maura completely disappeared from it. She must have ducked. There was no trace of her at all. We joked that the dinosaur must of grabbed her and she didn’t make it back with us.We then made our way to the Nemo show. The lower seating section was full but there were still plenty of good seats left above. We love this show even if “the Big Blue World” gets stuck in your head the rest of the day. After the show we headed back to Kali.45 minute wait. Well, we had nothing else in the park we wanted to do that day so we queued up. The trend held it was really only about 20 minutes until we got on our raft. It was another really hot day so I was actually hoping to get wet. We did get wet but not soaked. I think this was the first time I’ve ever ridden Kali where I didn’t get a complete soaking. Corey and Maura got a little more wet than I did but they weren’t too bad. By the time we walked to the park exit we were completely dry again. Like I said, it was super hot and sunny today. We headed back to Pop and Maura wanted to go swimming. Corey offered to take her while I did a couple loads of laundry. They decided to try out the bowling pin pool and found it to be much less busy and noisy than the main pool(hippy dippy).I visited between loads but didn’t swim. No matter how much sunscreen I use, when I’m in the water and the sun is this intense I will burn in about 5 minutes. While I was folding the last load of laundry, my phone rang.It was my co-worker,Aaron.He and his BF,Justin, had driven to FL from Maine and had arrived in Kissamee safe and sound. We made our plans to meet up the next day at Epcot.After the laundry was done we had another food court dinner. Then since the sun was going down, I took my turn with Maura in the pool. She made a little friend named Marlee and I got to hang out by the side of the pool while they played together. Finally, at about 8:00, I dragged her out of the pool and called it a day. It was an early night but still a pretty full day that left us pretty tired we had no problem getting to sleep!
Up Next: Fun and Friends at Epcot
Me~ Holly aka lovewalt
DH~Corey
DD~Maura age 6
May 1-10 Pop Century Resort ~Magic Your Way Plan w/Quick Service Dining
Day 4 Monday May 4th, 2009
The 6:30 wakeup call came too soon this morning.”I’m tired” were Maura’s words to Mickey and Stitch when they called. I got up and showered first and Maura was up and ready too soon after. We did our usual run to the food court for a snack credit breakfast and fill up the mugs. We opted for lighter fare of fruit and yogurt this morning since we had a 10:30 ADR at Tusker House. We ate and were on our way to AK for EMH.First stop, Expedition: Everest.As I explained in my Pre-Trip report Maura and Corey are not thrill ride people but Corey has a fascination with the Yeti. He has toyed with the idea of riding Everest just to see the Yeti since it opened but has always backed out. But he did agree to try it this trip. And Maura agreed to go on if she could sit with Corey and hear him “scream like a girl”. Both were hesitant but they did it! Neither one wants to go on it again but at least they tried it. We commemorated they event by buying a stuffed yeti from the gift shop. He was a round white ball and much friendlier looking than the yeti we just encountered. After E:E we headed to Africa to ride Kilimanjaro Safari. After about a 15 minute wait we were boarding the last row of the safari vehicle. The last row is extremely bumpy. The animals were out and active this morning, except for the lazy lions of course. We didn’t see any zebras this trip which was a little disappointing to Maura since they are her favorite animal. After the poachers were deterred and the elephants safe, we took a walk along the Pangani Forest trail.We took our time checking out the animals. There was a new litter of baby naked mole rats born just a few days before. I think they are pretty creepy looking but Maura thought they were “cute”. We also got a good look at the Hippos in the tank. After we finished looking at the animals we popped into a gift shop to see if we could find a new carved animal for our collection. We have quite a few and have had trouble finding new ones recently so we thought we might have to start collecting something new this trip. But we were in luck, they had a mama and baby cheetah which we did not have. It now resides in our living room with the rest of the gang. After we shopped it was just about time to check in for our ADR for Donald’s safari breakfast. There was a huge line to check in. Just as we reached the front they brought a second person out to check people in. After we waited in line we waited for our table. Our ADR was for 10:30.We weren’t seated until 11:00.They took a family photo before we were seated and then brought it to our table later. We did end up buying it. Our server (who’s name I’ve forgotten) seemed a bit frazzled. She poured us some guava juice and we asked for some coffee. We got our first plates of food and she came back a few minutes later with more juice but no coffee we reminded her that we wanted some and she said “the buffet is switching over to lunch soon so you’ll have to hurry” and walked off. We weren’t sure if that meant she wasn’t bringing any coffee? Or that we would be asked to leave when they switched the food over? Another CM was circulating the tables asking people how everything was. She came up to us and we inquired about the lunch switch over and she assured us we would not be kicked out and we were welcome to have the lunch offerings as well. Eventually our server came with the coffee. The characters were getting close to our table so we had opted to not go back to the buffet line so we wouldn’t miss them. She reminded us again that they would be switching to lunch soon and asked if we were finished. We had only been there for about 15 minutes! We told her no we wanted to wait for the characters before we went back up to the buffet. And she reminded us for the THIRD time that breakfast was ending soon. So I reminded HER that our ADR was at 10:30 and that we were seated late. She seemed to take the hint and stopped trying to rush us out. We did manage to get one more trip to the buffet before they switched over to lunch. By then we were too stuffed on breakfast food to partake of the lunch offerings, except for one chocolate cookie that Maura spotted. So our server got herself all worked up over it for nothing. I usually tip pretty well, having been a waitress myself back in the day, but I didn’t feel she deserved the 18-20% tip they recommended. She really made us feel uncomfortable. It was more like a 10-12% tip and I think that was generous. Poor service aside, we did like the restaurant. The food was good and the characters were fun .I think we will give it another try in the future.
After breakfast, we decided to check out Kali River Rapids. Uh-oh ,40 minute wait and no Fast Passes. We had a bad experience last trip with a 40 minute wait time that turned into about 2 hours! We didn’t want to risk missing the next Nemo show so we decided to try back later. Off to Dinoland,U.S.A instead.20 minute wait for Primehival Whirl. Maura has been wanting to ride this ride since she was 3.But has not been tall enough. This year she finally made the 48” height requirement. So Maura and I got in line. I remembered that I really didn’t like this ride much but couldn’t remember why. I was soon reminded why as I was being tossed and thrashed around. It’s downright painful! Maura however thought it was great fun. From here we went to check out the wait time on Dinosaur.20 minutes. Hmm we have had good luck with the wait times being shorter but would we be cutting it too close for the Nemo show that was starting in 45 minutes? We decided to chance it. And we were given another red “timekeeper” card. Luck was on our side and we were boarding our ride within 10 minutes. The ride photo was so funny. Maura completely disappeared from it. She must have ducked. There was no trace of her at all. We joked that the dinosaur must of grabbed her and she didn’t make it back with us.We then made our way to the Nemo show. The lower seating section was full but there were still plenty of good seats left above. We love this show even if “the Big Blue World” gets stuck in your head the rest of the day. After the show we headed back to Kali.45 minute wait. Well, we had nothing else in the park we wanted to do that day so we queued up. The trend held it was really only about 20 minutes until we got on our raft. It was another really hot day so I was actually hoping to get wet. We did get wet but not soaked. I think this was the first time I’ve ever ridden Kali where I didn’t get a complete soaking. Corey and Maura got a little more wet than I did but they weren’t too bad. By the time we walked to the park exit we were completely dry again. Like I said, it was super hot and sunny today. We headed back to Pop and Maura wanted to go swimming. Corey offered to take her while I did a couple loads of laundry. They decided to try out the bowling pin pool and found it to be much less busy and noisy than the main pool(hippy dippy).I visited between loads but didn’t swim. No matter how much sunscreen I use, when I’m in the water and the sun is this intense I will burn in about 5 minutes. While I was folding the last load of laundry, my phone rang.It was my co-worker,Aaron.He and his BF,Justin, had driven to FL from Maine and had arrived in Kissamee safe and sound. We made our plans to meet up the next day at Epcot.After the laundry was done we had another food court dinner. Then since the sun was going down, I took my turn with Maura in the pool. She made a little friend named Marlee and I got to hang out by the side of the pool while they played together. Finally, at about 8:00, I dragged her out of the pool and called it a day. It was an early night but still a pretty full day that left us pretty tired we had no problem getting to sleep!
Up Next: Fun and Friends at Epcot