Plex
04-27-2010, 08:57 PM
Sorry for the delay in posting the rest of the trip report! Could be worse though, Lauryn hasn't even started yet. :secret: Without further adieu...
Day 4 - Animal Kingdom
We used our first set of Give-A-Day fast passes for AK. After some minor confusion at the gates, we each got 3 Donalds and 3 Daisys!
We headed straight over to the Safari and got some awesome pictures! We used our first Donald for this one, which was definitely worth while - there was a pretty decent line and we weren't there exactly for park open.
We hit the nature walk on our way out of the Safari. We hadn't done it before, other than the birds, we weren't overly impressed. IMHO, it wasn't very Disney and not really any more impressive than the local zoo.
Next up was the Lion King show! This was definitely very cool. We happened to be going by just at the right time to pretty much just walk in and be seated when we got there. Once again, this was another thing at AK that I hadn't done before, and I was definitely missing out on this one before. I don't know where they find people for a daily show that can sing like that, or how much they have to pay them for it, but their singers were fantastic. Their performers were fantastic, the special effects and animitronics are fantastic... I was definitely impressed by the show, and this way made up for the relative lameness of the nature walk.
At this point Africa was already done for the day - we didn't really feel too compelled to do much else there, so we headed over Asia. On the way we stopped off at the centralized FastPass area to grab passes for the Finding Nemo show. by a stoke of Disney Magic, we just so happened to show up just after they restocked one of the machines with new tickets and printed out a few tests to make sure it was working. The CM that was there to assist people handed us 2 FPs for Nemo without having to swipe our cards! Next stop was heading straight over to Everest, grabbed FP's and immediately jumped in the FP line for Everest to use another Donald pass!
After Everest, we did a little backtracking to Kali River Rapids and used a Daisy pass to jump on immediately! We got just wet enough to cool down.
Honestly, after this the rest of the day was something of a blur. Needless to say we did Everest a total of 4 times, Kali twice, hit Dinosaur, saw Nemo and Flights of Wonder, and at some point grabbed some tasty Chineese at the QS in Asia. All before 5pm!
I didn't really immediately think of AK for using the GAD FP's, but once I looked at the ride list I realized the choice was clear - I needed to ride Everest several times and I'd rather not wait in the lines.
I'd just like to soapbox briefly about Dinoland. What the heck, Disney? This whole area just feels like a total cop-out to me. I've walked through before and I did it again, and really was not impressed enough to even get on a ride or play a game. I just kept walking.
Anyhoo...
Since we got done with AK so early we headed back to the Beach Club for a little resort time in the evening. We hit Beaches and Cream for dinner, which was definitely quite tasty. After that we changed into our bathing suits and hit the pool! The pool at the Beach Club is definitely fantastic if I hadn't mentioned that already! We enjoyed a hot tub for a while as well.
After a swim, we decided to hit the Boardwalk for the rest of the evening. We had planned on Jellyroll's, but we never quite made it. We checked out the DVC center on the Boardwald and made an appointment for Friday morning. We decided to rent a surry and take a ride around the lake for a while. It was definitely fun, but we nearly got taken out more than once by a group of teenage kids (lead by their mother!) racing around the lake. That bit of terror aside, I'd definitely recommend this experience for anyone who hasn't done it yet. It's not that expensive and on a nice night it's a really nice ride!
Day 4 - Animal Kingdom
We used our first set of Give-A-Day fast passes for AK. After some minor confusion at the gates, we each got 3 Donalds and 3 Daisys!
We headed straight over to the Safari and got some awesome pictures! We used our first Donald for this one, which was definitely worth while - there was a pretty decent line and we weren't there exactly for park open.
We hit the nature walk on our way out of the Safari. We hadn't done it before, other than the birds, we weren't overly impressed. IMHO, it wasn't very Disney and not really any more impressive than the local zoo.
Next up was the Lion King show! This was definitely very cool. We happened to be going by just at the right time to pretty much just walk in and be seated when we got there. Once again, this was another thing at AK that I hadn't done before, and I was definitely missing out on this one before. I don't know where they find people for a daily show that can sing like that, or how much they have to pay them for it, but their singers were fantastic. Their performers were fantastic, the special effects and animitronics are fantastic... I was definitely impressed by the show, and this way made up for the relative lameness of the nature walk.
At this point Africa was already done for the day - we didn't really feel too compelled to do much else there, so we headed over Asia. On the way we stopped off at the centralized FastPass area to grab passes for the Finding Nemo show. by a stoke of Disney Magic, we just so happened to show up just after they restocked one of the machines with new tickets and printed out a few tests to make sure it was working. The CM that was there to assist people handed us 2 FPs for Nemo without having to swipe our cards! Next stop was heading straight over to Everest, grabbed FP's and immediately jumped in the FP line for Everest to use another Donald pass!
After Everest, we did a little backtracking to Kali River Rapids and used a Daisy pass to jump on immediately! We got just wet enough to cool down.
Honestly, after this the rest of the day was something of a blur. Needless to say we did Everest a total of 4 times, Kali twice, hit Dinosaur, saw Nemo and Flights of Wonder, and at some point grabbed some tasty Chineese at the QS in Asia. All before 5pm!
I didn't really immediately think of AK for using the GAD FP's, but once I looked at the ride list I realized the choice was clear - I needed to ride Everest several times and I'd rather not wait in the lines.
I'd just like to soapbox briefly about Dinoland. What the heck, Disney? This whole area just feels like a total cop-out to me. I've walked through before and I did it again, and really was not impressed enough to even get on a ride or play a game. I just kept walking.
Anyhoo...
Since we got done with AK so early we headed back to the Beach Club for a little resort time in the evening. We hit Beaches and Cream for dinner, which was definitely quite tasty. After that we changed into our bathing suits and hit the pool! The pool at the Beach Club is definitely fantastic if I hadn't mentioned that already! We enjoyed a hot tub for a while as well.
After a swim, we decided to hit the Boardwalk for the rest of the evening. We had planned on Jellyroll's, but we never quite made it. We checked out the DVC center on the Boardwald and made an appointment for Friday morning. We decided to rent a surry and take a ride around the lake for a while. It was definitely fun, but we nearly got taken out more than once by a group of teenage kids (lead by their mother!) racing around the lake. That bit of terror aside, I'd definitely recommend this experience for anyone who hasn't done it yet. It's not that expensive and on a nice night it's a really nice ride!