snowflakegirl
08-25-2010, 11:32 AM
Day Six - August 9th
Cast: Jen (snowflakegirl), Disney Lover, looking to rediscover the magic after her last, not so great trip.
Joe, Jen's boyfriend, looking to experience the magic of Disney for the first time.
Again, we were forced to relinquish my newfound ability to relax at Disney World and get to the park early. We had breakfast with the Ankole cattle again this morning since it would be our last one. We'd stopped on our way out of Epcot the night before to pick up a school bread in Norway to have for breakfast. Nothing like starting your day with a sugar rush, but what else is vacation for?
We were in the Animal Kingdom by 7:55 so that we could check in for our tour which was supposed to leave at 8:30. I love the Animal Kingdom and I love animals, and Joe is equally enthusiastic about animals and loves learning, so I thought the Backstage Safari tour would be a great way to start our day at the Animal Kingdom. My parents had done the tour in June and just raved about it when they came home. We checked in for the tour and met our guide and the other tour guests. It turned out that it was just going to be us and one other couple, which was nice because it allowed for a level of comfort on the tour and with conversation that would have been more difficult in a larger group.
Marie (our guide) took us into the Oasis and talked a lot about how they set up the animal's habitats and how they encourage the animals to be in the public's vision. Afterwards she took us through a door and suddenly we were backstage, surrounding by signs reminding cast members to smile etc. We hopped into a van, and drove to the White Rhino night barn and watched as George, the animal caregiver there at the time fed Kendi some hay. We also got to see him feed one of the male white rhinos, but I can't remember his name.
After the White Rhino night barn, we walked across to the Elephant night barn and listened to Mike tell us a little bit about the elephants at the Animal Kingdom. Afterwards we rode the van over to the vet clinic and were onstage in some of the rooms at Rafiki's Planet Watch where you can see the vets and vet techs working. We got to meet a goat who had just had a procedure done and was walking off the anesthetics (he looked a little drunk) and a goat that was about to go under so that she could get some work done on her teeth. We also met a vet tech who told us a little bit about her job there (and made me wonder why I hadn't gone to veterinary school so I could be a vet at Disney World).
After the vet clinic we were given a tour of the Nutrition center, and shown the kitchens where they prepare teh food for the animals, shown how they do that, and shown samples of the kinds of food that the animals are given. It was really quite neat. We took a break next in an education center near the nutrition center (that happened to be being used for day camp that week) where we were able to use the bathrooms, have a snack and get a drink of water in our new souvenir Backstage Safari travel mugs.
After the break, we hopped back in the van one last time and Marie took us to a backstage entrance in to Africa. We went in the exit of Kilamanjaro safaris and we had a private safari led by our tour guide. It was just the four of us and Marie, and our driver and they turned off the spiel of the ride, and took a slower pace around the savannah stopping a bit more for us to take pictures and offering a lot more information and details about both the animals and the savannah.
After the private safari, the Backstage Safari tour concluded. It's a little pricey, but for anyone with a love of the Animal Kingdom, and of animals, and with a curiosity for learning, I couldn't recommend this tour highly enough! I had such a great time, and Joe loved it.
After leaving our group, we grabbed a fastpass for the safari so that Joe could see it with it's spiel intact. We took a stroll on Pangani and checked out the animals there, including teh absolutely ADORABLE baby gorilla. Then we rode KS the real way...Got a few more awesome pictures.
Strolling into Asia, we decided to grab a Fastpass for Expedition Everest before checking in for lunch at Yak and Yeti. We checked in at 1:45 for our 2:00 seating and were seated immediately. We had an incredibly delicious lunch, including the seared ahi tuna appetizer, the pan seared pot stickers, joe had the miso salmon and I had the maple tamarind chicken. We accompanied these with the Yak Attack and Big Bamboo drinks (the Yak Attack has a frozen mango daquiri base and is incredible...especially on a hot, hot day), and followed it up with the Mango Pie for dessert. A tasty mid day interlude.
After lunch we went to Rafiki's Planet Watch and spent about half an hour in the first room of the building on a Hidden Mickey Hunt with book in hand. It was fun...I've never really taken the time to just stop and do something like that. And that room is a minefield in which to do it in.
After exploring Rafiki's Planet Watch we took the train back to Africa so we could make our way to Everest in Asia.. We made our escape from the Yeti and loved every second of it! Afterwards, we went back in time and brought a dinosaur back with us after walking on to Dinosaur! We did a quick peek at the rest of Dinoland, but it holds no real interest for me, so we made our way back to Asia and strolled the Maharajah Jungle Trek. It was starting to rain as we watched the tigers, or as I affectionately call them KITTY! Because the rain was cooling things off a little bit, the tigers were up and moving around and far more active than I've seen them typically. It was nice. Of course then it turned into a downpour and we got soaked cause we were the idiots trying to get the best pictures of the tigers, not get under cover.
We caught It's Tough to Be a Bug and then strolled out of the park, stopping to do some shopping on our way. We hopped onto a bus to Epcot for our dinner reservations and were in the park by 7:20. We hit Germany first to pick up another glass of Riesling (are you seeing a pattern?). I had another glass of the Two Princes and picked up a bottle of that to bring home with us. Joe had a glass of the Graff Riesling, and after taking a sip of his, I wished I had bought a bottle of *that* to bring home. It was delightfully crisp with a hint of green apple that was just incredible. We sipped our Rieslings on our way to Canada for dinner at Le Cellier.
I had never eaten at Le Cellier, but after reading so many rave reviews I decided that that was a must for this trip. I am SO glad that I did. Our waiter was Jeremy who was incredible and had just the right amount of recommendations without seeming pushy. We ended up getting the Cheese Soup and the Mussels for appetizers. Both of which were absolutely incredible (as were the breadsticks). I had never had mussels before, but Jeremy described them well, and Joe thought I'd like them, so we figured why not. Loved them. For dinner, I had the coffee-rubbed Kansas strip steak paired with a wine recommended by Jeremy to go well with the flavors. Joe had the salt-crusted prime rib, also paired with a wine recommended to go with the flavors. Both meals were absolutely delectable, and the cream cheese mashed potatoes were divine. We got a maple creme brulee to go because there was no way we had room for it there, but both love creme brulee and I love maple, so we couldn't forgo it entirely.
We got to the line for the bus to the hotel and relaized it was quite long. The first Epcot night had taken us about 45 minutes to get back to the hotel, and this night we were both tired, stuffed and aware that we had to pack our bags before we went to sleep, so we hopped a cab and were back to the hotel in 15 minutes or less. It was about $20 and I wouldn't do it every time, but when we were looking at at least two buses worth of wait, it was well worth it.
We stopped by the store to pick up a couple packages, and grab a bottle of wine to bring back to our friends who were cat sitting, and then we went back to the room to repack our bags.
We finished our bottle of wine from the other day with a last glass of wine on the balcony with some Ankole Cattle and a zebra, and then headed for bed...A little sad that this was to be our last night at the hotel.
Pedometer count: 9.20 miles.
Next up: Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and leaving.
Cast: Jen (snowflakegirl), Disney Lover, looking to rediscover the magic after her last, not so great trip.
Joe, Jen's boyfriend, looking to experience the magic of Disney for the first time.
Again, we were forced to relinquish my newfound ability to relax at Disney World and get to the park early. We had breakfast with the Ankole cattle again this morning since it would be our last one. We'd stopped on our way out of Epcot the night before to pick up a school bread in Norway to have for breakfast. Nothing like starting your day with a sugar rush, but what else is vacation for?
We were in the Animal Kingdom by 7:55 so that we could check in for our tour which was supposed to leave at 8:30. I love the Animal Kingdom and I love animals, and Joe is equally enthusiastic about animals and loves learning, so I thought the Backstage Safari tour would be a great way to start our day at the Animal Kingdom. My parents had done the tour in June and just raved about it when they came home. We checked in for the tour and met our guide and the other tour guests. It turned out that it was just going to be us and one other couple, which was nice because it allowed for a level of comfort on the tour and with conversation that would have been more difficult in a larger group.
Marie (our guide) took us into the Oasis and talked a lot about how they set up the animal's habitats and how they encourage the animals to be in the public's vision. Afterwards she took us through a door and suddenly we were backstage, surrounding by signs reminding cast members to smile etc. We hopped into a van, and drove to the White Rhino night barn and watched as George, the animal caregiver there at the time fed Kendi some hay. We also got to see him feed one of the male white rhinos, but I can't remember his name.
After the White Rhino night barn, we walked across to the Elephant night barn and listened to Mike tell us a little bit about the elephants at the Animal Kingdom. Afterwards we rode the van over to the vet clinic and were onstage in some of the rooms at Rafiki's Planet Watch where you can see the vets and vet techs working. We got to meet a goat who had just had a procedure done and was walking off the anesthetics (he looked a little drunk) and a goat that was about to go under so that she could get some work done on her teeth. We also met a vet tech who told us a little bit about her job there (and made me wonder why I hadn't gone to veterinary school so I could be a vet at Disney World).
After the vet clinic we were given a tour of the Nutrition center, and shown the kitchens where they prepare teh food for the animals, shown how they do that, and shown samples of the kinds of food that the animals are given. It was really quite neat. We took a break next in an education center near the nutrition center (that happened to be being used for day camp that week) where we were able to use the bathrooms, have a snack and get a drink of water in our new souvenir Backstage Safari travel mugs.
After the break, we hopped back in the van one last time and Marie took us to a backstage entrance in to Africa. We went in the exit of Kilamanjaro safaris and we had a private safari led by our tour guide. It was just the four of us and Marie, and our driver and they turned off the spiel of the ride, and took a slower pace around the savannah stopping a bit more for us to take pictures and offering a lot more information and details about both the animals and the savannah.
After the private safari, the Backstage Safari tour concluded. It's a little pricey, but for anyone with a love of the Animal Kingdom, and of animals, and with a curiosity for learning, I couldn't recommend this tour highly enough! I had such a great time, and Joe loved it.
After leaving our group, we grabbed a fastpass for the safari so that Joe could see it with it's spiel intact. We took a stroll on Pangani and checked out the animals there, including teh absolutely ADORABLE baby gorilla. Then we rode KS the real way...Got a few more awesome pictures.
Strolling into Asia, we decided to grab a Fastpass for Expedition Everest before checking in for lunch at Yak and Yeti. We checked in at 1:45 for our 2:00 seating and were seated immediately. We had an incredibly delicious lunch, including the seared ahi tuna appetizer, the pan seared pot stickers, joe had the miso salmon and I had the maple tamarind chicken. We accompanied these with the Yak Attack and Big Bamboo drinks (the Yak Attack has a frozen mango daquiri base and is incredible...especially on a hot, hot day), and followed it up with the Mango Pie for dessert. A tasty mid day interlude.
After lunch we went to Rafiki's Planet Watch and spent about half an hour in the first room of the building on a Hidden Mickey Hunt with book in hand. It was fun...I've never really taken the time to just stop and do something like that. And that room is a minefield in which to do it in.
After exploring Rafiki's Planet Watch we took the train back to Africa so we could make our way to Everest in Asia.. We made our escape from the Yeti and loved every second of it! Afterwards, we went back in time and brought a dinosaur back with us after walking on to Dinosaur! We did a quick peek at the rest of Dinoland, but it holds no real interest for me, so we made our way back to Asia and strolled the Maharajah Jungle Trek. It was starting to rain as we watched the tigers, or as I affectionately call them KITTY! Because the rain was cooling things off a little bit, the tigers were up and moving around and far more active than I've seen them typically. It was nice. Of course then it turned into a downpour and we got soaked cause we were the idiots trying to get the best pictures of the tigers, not get under cover.
We caught It's Tough to Be a Bug and then strolled out of the park, stopping to do some shopping on our way. We hopped onto a bus to Epcot for our dinner reservations and were in the park by 7:20. We hit Germany first to pick up another glass of Riesling (are you seeing a pattern?). I had another glass of the Two Princes and picked up a bottle of that to bring home with us. Joe had a glass of the Graff Riesling, and after taking a sip of his, I wished I had bought a bottle of *that* to bring home. It was delightfully crisp with a hint of green apple that was just incredible. We sipped our Rieslings on our way to Canada for dinner at Le Cellier.
I had never eaten at Le Cellier, but after reading so many rave reviews I decided that that was a must for this trip. I am SO glad that I did. Our waiter was Jeremy who was incredible and had just the right amount of recommendations without seeming pushy. We ended up getting the Cheese Soup and the Mussels for appetizers. Both of which were absolutely incredible (as were the breadsticks). I had never had mussels before, but Jeremy described them well, and Joe thought I'd like them, so we figured why not. Loved them. For dinner, I had the coffee-rubbed Kansas strip steak paired with a wine recommended by Jeremy to go well with the flavors. Joe had the salt-crusted prime rib, also paired with a wine recommended to go with the flavors. Both meals were absolutely delectable, and the cream cheese mashed potatoes were divine. We got a maple creme brulee to go because there was no way we had room for it there, but both love creme brulee and I love maple, so we couldn't forgo it entirely.
We got to the line for the bus to the hotel and relaized it was quite long. The first Epcot night had taken us about 45 minutes to get back to the hotel, and this night we were both tired, stuffed and aware that we had to pack our bags before we went to sleep, so we hopped a cab and were back to the hotel in 15 minutes or less. It was about $20 and I wouldn't do it every time, but when we were looking at at least two buses worth of wait, it was well worth it.
We stopped by the store to pick up a couple packages, and grab a bottle of wine to bring back to our friends who were cat sitting, and then we went back to the room to repack our bags.
We finished our bottle of wine from the other day with a last glass of wine on the balcony with some Ankole Cattle and a zebra, and then headed for bed...A little sad that this was to be our last night at the hotel.
Pedometer count: 9.20 miles.
Next up: Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and leaving.