faline
05-17-2011, 07:53 PM
May 5, 2011, Thursday
Who: Gene & Me
Plan for the Day:
Kusifiri Coffee Shop for breakfast
Sa'ana for dinner
Looks like I will need to do this report from memory. In the process of copying and pasting from my original document, I ran into some technical issues and somehow ended up cutting this day out of my original document before it got copied and saved here. Oh well!
Once again, the promised wake-up call did not occur. Fortunately, we woke up right around the time we wanted to get up.
Instead of heading to Animal Kingdom for breakfast, we ended up eating in our room. Before going to the bus stop, we went to the front desk. The line for concierge was really long so we spoke to a woman in the registration area. I explained the issue we were having with not getting wake up calls. She apologized and said we were in the system and everything was fine. When I persisted in asking how we could solve the wake up issue, she got really testy with me and said "Ma'am - I can't control what they do in the wake-up call area". I guess that was supposed to make me go away but I then said "Well, who can help with that area?" She then turned to a woman who was sitting not 2 feet away from her. I had already suspected this woman was a supervisor as I had observed several cast members come to consult with her and then return to the guests they were dealing with. Without getting up, moving, or checking our information, this woman informed us that they had some "computer issues" and now that the woman we had been speaking to had "refreshed" our information in the system, we would be fine and have no further issues. It was clear that nothing else was to be done but why do I still feel cynical?
We head out to the bus stop. I don't remember how long we waited for a bus but I don't think it was very long and I know we arrived at Animal Kingdom right around park opening.
Our first destination was Expedition:Everest. The stand-by time was 10 minutes but it was literally a walk on and we were on a train within 5 minutes. From there, we crossed the park and picked up a fast fass for the safari.
While waiting for our fast pass time, we walked the Pangani Forest trail. I really like seeng the gorillas and they did not disappoint this day as well. Gene got some great pictures of the gorillas including the youngest member.
For the safari, we were placed in the front row - right behind the driver. I believer her name was Stephanie and she did a very good job - enthusiastic but not over the top. One treat during the safari was that the cheetahs were actually walking around rather than lying somewhere in the very back of their area.
I know we went to the Greeting Trails and visited with a Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald. Our least favorite photo pass photographer was Cliff who was assigned to Goofy. When we asked if he could take a picture of us with our camera, his response was "If I have to". He then proceeded to take one picture with our personal camera and one picture on the photopass card. Thanks, Cliff! Somehow, I don't think we'd vote for you as cast member of the year!
By time we left this area, we were starving so headed to Pizzafari where we ordered the Italian sandwiches and a beer each. We could see our beers sitting on the counter but they did not fill the rest of our order. Instead, they proudly presented to us the tray for the guy in line behind us. When we pointed out that we believed the beers were for us, they needed to borrow our receipt in order to fill the rest of our lunch order. The sandwiches are good here but this is not the first time they've messed up an order!
We always seem to visit Animal Kingdom on weekends for some reason - that's when nothing is happening with animal visits etc. Since this was a weekday, we decided to go to Conversation Station which is typically not a favorite area of mine. There was a huge line to get on the Wildlife Expess and we needed to wait to the next train in order to board. Once we got to Conservation Station, we found that all animal procedures had ended at 11:30 and it was now around 1. Okay. Back to the train. Another huge line but we made it onto the second train and got back.
We stopped at Dawa bar - something I've long wanted to do except that it's usually been so hot that we don't want to spend time in this outdoor bar area. We saw part of the show which was neat but generally there was nothing here that would bring me back as a place to take a mid-day break at this park.
I don't remember the exact order but I know we went to see Flights of Wonder. When we arrived they were speaking about an owl and explaining that this bird can't smell so has no problem hunting and eating skunks. Who knew? We ended up near the stage area ane enjoyed the show.
I know we also saw Finding Nemo and this might be the last thing we did in this park this day. I also think we went back to our resort and swam for a while before changing for dinner.
Dinner tonight was at Sa'aana and I was really looking forward to dining here. I had heard about the wonderful views one has of the animals on the Savannah while dining and this was what I was expecting. Gene and I walked to Kidani Village from Jambo House. We arrive a bit early and were told that they were seating to actual reservation times though they would seat us early if a table became available. We went outside to check out the Savanna and we were impressed at the number of animals that could be seen in this area. After returning inside, we waited a bit to be seated.
I was quite disappointed to find that we could not see any animals from our table. In fact, in appears that only a small number of tables actually have a view of the Savanna. My view was actually of the bar. While Gene could see a window from where he sat, he said no animals were visible in his line of view. I recall we shared a appetizer of breads and dips which was quite tasty. I had salmon for dinner and it was good. Gene had a steak but said the steak we had from room service was better than what was served here.
As an aside, I visited the rest room and found it to be an extremely dark area - very strange.
We had considered going to the Magic Kingdom this evening but decided not to do that. After dinner, we walked back to Jambo House. I don't really recall but suspect we sat out on the balcony for a bit before heading to bed.
No wake-up call was attempted this evening as tomorrow was our "off" day and we didn't have a plan to be any place in particular in the morning.
Who: Gene & Me
Plan for the Day:
Kusifiri Coffee Shop for breakfast
Sa'ana for dinner
Looks like I will need to do this report from memory. In the process of copying and pasting from my original document, I ran into some technical issues and somehow ended up cutting this day out of my original document before it got copied and saved here. Oh well!
Once again, the promised wake-up call did not occur. Fortunately, we woke up right around the time we wanted to get up.
Instead of heading to Animal Kingdom for breakfast, we ended up eating in our room. Before going to the bus stop, we went to the front desk. The line for concierge was really long so we spoke to a woman in the registration area. I explained the issue we were having with not getting wake up calls. She apologized and said we were in the system and everything was fine. When I persisted in asking how we could solve the wake up issue, she got really testy with me and said "Ma'am - I can't control what they do in the wake-up call area". I guess that was supposed to make me go away but I then said "Well, who can help with that area?" She then turned to a woman who was sitting not 2 feet away from her. I had already suspected this woman was a supervisor as I had observed several cast members come to consult with her and then return to the guests they were dealing with. Without getting up, moving, or checking our information, this woman informed us that they had some "computer issues" and now that the woman we had been speaking to had "refreshed" our information in the system, we would be fine and have no further issues. It was clear that nothing else was to be done but why do I still feel cynical?
We head out to the bus stop. I don't remember how long we waited for a bus but I don't think it was very long and I know we arrived at Animal Kingdom right around park opening.
Our first destination was Expedition:Everest. The stand-by time was 10 minutes but it was literally a walk on and we were on a train within 5 minutes. From there, we crossed the park and picked up a fast fass for the safari.
While waiting for our fast pass time, we walked the Pangani Forest trail. I really like seeng the gorillas and they did not disappoint this day as well. Gene got some great pictures of the gorillas including the youngest member.
For the safari, we were placed in the front row - right behind the driver. I believer her name was Stephanie and she did a very good job - enthusiastic but not over the top. One treat during the safari was that the cheetahs were actually walking around rather than lying somewhere in the very back of their area.
I know we went to the Greeting Trails and visited with a Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald. Our least favorite photo pass photographer was Cliff who was assigned to Goofy. When we asked if he could take a picture of us with our camera, his response was "If I have to". He then proceeded to take one picture with our personal camera and one picture on the photopass card. Thanks, Cliff! Somehow, I don't think we'd vote for you as cast member of the year!
By time we left this area, we were starving so headed to Pizzafari where we ordered the Italian sandwiches and a beer each. We could see our beers sitting on the counter but they did not fill the rest of our order. Instead, they proudly presented to us the tray for the guy in line behind us. When we pointed out that we believed the beers were for us, they needed to borrow our receipt in order to fill the rest of our lunch order. The sandwiches are good here but this is not the first time they've messed up an order!
We always seem to visit Animal Kingdom on weekends for some reason - that's when nothing is happening with animal visits etc. Since this was a weekday, we decided to go to Conversation Station which is typically not a favorite area of mine. There was a huge line to get on the Wildlife Expess and we needed to wait to the next train in order to board. Once we got to Conservation Station, we found that all animal procedures had ended at 11:30 and it was now around 1. Okay. Back to the train. Another huge line but we made it onto the second train and got back.
We stopped at Dawa bar - something I've long wanted to do except that it's usually been so hot that we don't want to spend time in this outdoor bar area. We saw part of the show which was neat but generally there was nothing here that would bring me back as a place to take a mid-day break at this park.
I don't remember the exact order but I know we went to see Flights of Wonder. When we arrived they were speaking about an owl and explaining that this bird can't smell so has no problem hunting and eating skunks. Who knew? We ended up near the stage area ane enjoyed the show.
I know we also saw Finding Nemo and this might be the last thing we did in this park this day. I also think we went back to our resort and swam for a while before changing for dinner.
Dinner tonight was at Sa'aana and I was really looking forward to dining here. I had heard about the wonderful views one has of the animals on the Savannah while dining and this was what I was expecting. Gene and I walked to Kidani Village from Jambo House. We arrive a bit early and were told that they were seating to actual reservation times though they would seat us early if a table became available. We went outside to check out the Savanna and we were impressed at the number of animals that could be seen in this area. After returning inside, we waited a bit to be seated.
I was quite disappointed to find that we could not see any animals from our table. In fact, in appears that only a small number of tables actually have a view of the Savanna. My view was actually of the bar. While Gene could see a window from where he sat, he said no animals were visible in his line of view. I recall we shared a appetizer of breads and dips which was quite tasty. I had salmon for dinner and it was good. Gene had a steak but said the steak we had from room service was better than what was served here.
As an aside, I visited the rest room and found it to be an extremely dark area - very strange.
We had considered going to the Magic Kingdom this evening but decided not to do that. After dinner, we walked back to Jambo House. I don't really recall but suspect we sat out on the balcony for a bit before heading to bed.
No wake-up call was attempted this evening as tomorrow was our "off" day and we didn't have a plan to be any place in particular in the morning.