BriarRose0708
11-09-2009, 06:36 PM
October 25th- Animal Kingdom and EPCOT!
I am not a morning person anywhere else but Disney. I don't like sleeping in too late and it frustrates me to no end when I get to a park an hour after opening. I don't like to waste time in gift shops. I need to have a strategy and plan for the day or else I get anxious. My friends who were with me on this trip liked all of the things I don't like. I should have re-named this trip report "Nikki tests her patience, and she doesn't have much patience to begin with."
You can imagine how I was feeling at 9:30 a.m. on this morning when I had been up since 8, ready since 8:45 and Kim was still in bed. :mad: But, I sucked it up because this wasn't my trip, it was ours. In the long run we got to Animal Kingdom at 10:15 a.m. and met up with our friend Dan, who works at Hollywood Studios and had the day off. Dan was a student we worked with in Residence Life at our college. He is now there on the college program and we couldn't wait to see him! We found him in front of Expedition Everest. After hugs all around we got fast passes and then went in the standby line for EE. The wait was about 10 minutes, so I guess it didn't matter much that we weren't there early. It was nice to have some space in this park after being crowded in the MK the day before! We then went over for a terrifying ride on Dinosaur, and then saw Nemo: The Musical. I love this show so much and it gets me every time I see it.
While we were waiting for the show to begin, Dan was texting his friend who works in AK and we came thisclose to being in the Jammin' Jungle Parade! We were so excited and wished with all we had that we could be in the parade, but unfortunately Dan couldn't make it happen in the end. But, we continued with our day. We used our Fast Passes for Yeti again and all six of us were in the same car. We bought the picutre because every ride on property was running a special of buy one package get one free. We got 4 for the price of 2!
We continued on to the Safari and saw lots of animals! There was about 45 minutes before our 2 p.m. lunch at Yak and Yeti and Zulela requested to look aroundthe gift shops. I spent about 4.5 seconds in a shop and then told them all to meet me at the Dawa Bar. I'd never had alcohol in any park before, but the Safari Amber was delicious. We all relaxed with our drinks and then finished them on our way to lunch. Yak and Yeti was delicious! We took another ride on EE after that and then Dan had to go. Disney offers leadership courses and since he is also in the running for a promotion, he is enrolled in the leadership program. So Dan took off and we also left to go back to the hotel and rest.
After a quick nap Vicky, Karen and I were getting antsy to go to EPCOT at 5:30. Kim and Z stayed to sleep some more and we decided to meet up for IllimiNations. The three of us got to EPCOT at dusk and got in the single riders line at Test Track. We then went over to Mexico for dinner and snagged a table on the water. After a disappointing meal made only better by a couple margaritas :marg: Kim and Z made it in time to save the table. While they ate dinner the rest of us went to explore the Mexico pavillion. We walked on Gran Fiesta Tour, but almost didn't get off! About half way through, the announcement that they were experiencing technical difficulties and a cast member would come assist us came on. We noticed that the air current in the water had stopped and we figured that was the problem. So even though we were still moving from the inertia we waited, and waited, and waited for a CM but they never came. We drifted to almost a dead stop and thought we'd be marooned when suddenly the water started bubbling again and we were on our way!
We made it out just in time to grab another :marg: and get back to the table for IllumiNations. Another favorite of mine and the first timers enjoyed it as well! After the show we walked allll around the WS to Canada and out the park. We wanted to go to DTD so we took a bus to Port Orleans and then grabbed another bus to Downtown. We didn't have much time to shop around because we got there at 10:15 and everything closed at 11. Z and Vicky got embroidered ears and I browsed the artwork. I came close to buying a cross stitch, but couldn't justify $50 when I can go to Michael's for the same thing.
We waited a few minutes for a bus back to POP, filled up our mugs, and then hit the sack! Tomorrow is Hollywood Studios to see Dan in action andmore shopping at Downtown.
Thanks for reading! :mickey:
I am not a morning person anywhere else but Disney. I don't like sleeping in too late and it frustrates me to no end when I get to a park an hour after opening. I don't like to waste time in gift shops. I need to have a strategy and plan for the day or else I get anxious. My friends who were with me on this trip liked all of the things I don't like. I should have re-named this trip report "Nikki tests her patience, and she doesn't have much patience to begin with."
You can imagine how I was feeling at 9:30 a.m. on this morning when I had been up since 8, ready since 8:45 and Kim was still in bed. :mad: But, I sucked it up because this wasn't my trip, it was ours. In the long run we got to Animal Kingdom at 10:15 a.m. and met up with our friend Dan, who works at Hollywood Studios and had the day off. Dan was a student we worked with in Residence Life at our college. He is now there on the college program and we couldn't wait to see him! We found him in front of Expedition Everest. After hugs all around we got fast passes and then went in the standby line for EE. The wait was about 10 minutes, so I guess it didn't matter much that we weren't there early. It was nice to have some space in this park after being crowded in the MK the day before! We then went over for a terrifying ride on Dinosaur, and then saw Nemo: The Musical. I love this show so much and it gets me every time I see it.
While we were waiting for the show to begin, Dan was texting his friend who works in AK and we came thisclose to being in the Jammin' Jungle Parade! We were so excited and wished with all we had that we could be in the parade, but unfortunately Dan couldn't make it happen in the end. But, we continued with our day. We used our Fast Passes for Yeti again and all six of us were in the same car. We bought the picutre because every ride on property was running a special of buy one package get one free. We got 4 for the price of 2!
We continued on to the Safari and saw lots of animals! There was about 45 minutes before our 2 p.m. lunch at Yak and Yeti and Zulela requested to look aroundthe gift shops. I spent about 4.5 seconds in a shop and then told them all to meet me at the Dawa Bar. I'd never had alcohol in any park before, but the Safari Amber was delicious. We all relaxed with our drinks and then finished them on our way to lunch. Yak and Yeti was delicious! We took another ride on EE after that and then Dan had to go. Disney offers leadership courses and since he is also in the running for a promotion, he is enrolled in the leadership program. So Dan took off and we also left to go back to the hotel and rest.
After a quick nap Vicky, Karen and I were getting antsy to go to EPCOT at 5:30. Kim and Z stayed to sleep some more and we decided to meet up for IllimiNations. The three of us got to EPCOT at dusk and got in the single riders line at Test Track. We then went over to Mexico for dinner and snagged a table on the water. After a disappointing meal made only better by a couple margaritas :marg: Kim and Z made it in time to save the table. While they ate dinner the rest of us went to explore the Mexico pavillion. We walked on Gran Fiesta Tour, but almost didn't get off! About half way through, the announcement that they were experiencing technical difficulties and a cast member would come assist us came on. We noticed that the air current in the water had stopped and we figured that was the problem. So even though we were still moving from the inertia we waited, and waited, and waited for a CM but they never came. We drifted to almost a dead stop and thought we'd be marooned when suddenly the water started bubbling again and we were on our way!
We made it out just in time to grab another :marg: and get back to the table for IllumiNations. Another favorite of mine and the first timers enjoyed it as well! After the show we walked allll around the WS to Canada and out the park. We wanted to go to DTD so we took a bus to Port Orleans and then grabbed another bus to Downtown. We didn't have much time to shop around because we got there at 10:15 and everything closed at 11. Z and Vicky got embroidered ears and I browsed the artwork. I came close to buying a cross stitch, but couldn't justify $50 when I can go to Michael's for the same thing.
We waited a few minutes for a bus back to POP, filled up our mugs, and then hit the sack! Tomorrow is Hollywood Studios to see Dan in action andmore shopping at Downtown.
Thanks for reading! :mickey: