Zawadi
12-11-2013, 09:46 AM
Mon 09 Dec 2013 - Animal Kingdom
It's a morning EMH in the AK. However, our minds was willing but our bodies weren't! By the time that we'd gone through the preening ritual, grabbed a cinnamon whirl from the Mara, it was 08:58 by the time that be entered the AK.
Today's FP+s:
10-11 Safari
11-12 Everest
2-3 Dinosaur
We headed straight for the Safari, collected a regular Fastpass and joined the zero minute standby line before the masses turned up. Great safari (better now the Simba-1 story has gone). The baby giraffe could just bee seen in the long grass. We exited and used our regular Fastpass, which wasn't collected at the merge point. This time the giraffes had moved to the area of the termite mounds. The baby giraffe was less than 20ft from the road. The cheetahs were walking around. An animal watchers delight! It was then we were cheeky and reused the regular Fastpass. EXTREMELY NAUGHTY but nice!
So, that was three safaris by 10:35. We didn't need our FP+ for it anymore, so asked a CM to change it to the 13:30 FotLK. This is where training on the Disney App. helps. To change the FP+ she first moved the timeslot then switch the attraction. This is to prevent the system from rescheduling because you can only change one thing (attraction or time) at once. That change was a lot easier on a tablet than a small smart phone.
On to Everest, again the regular Fastpass was only 20 minutes away, so we collected one and used our FP+. Blue lights again meaning reader error. So, again stand out of line and wait for my phone to download the reservations. Had the system messed up when the CM changed this for us? After a few anxious moments the screen refreshed and we still had our reservations. Phew!
With now having FotLK booked for 13:30, we decided to grab some lunch at Yak N Yeti CS outlet
So, that done we headed back to Everest via the Maharajah Trek. There was only one tiger visible, which was asleep against a wall.
We were still early for FotLK, so a slow walk via the Pangani Trail. We got to FotLK and there were around 50 people already waiting in the FP+ line. To our surprise our bands worked. This is probably the last time that we'll see this incarnation of the show. The only change that we noticed was that the floor is now cleared before Timon tells you to "Get out of here!". We are convinced that the show is going to have a major overhaul and take on a format of the Lion King story as in Hong Kong.
We decided to drop Dinosaur, as we'd only booked as a "best of the rest" and headed back to the AKL for some R&R in the hot tub. We hope to return to the AK, later in the week, simply to walk the trails.
It was fast approaching time for dinner. We needed to get back to Epcot for Le Cellier. Mushroom Fillet Mignon, Moosehead beer, then the very hard decision of what to have for dessert. Cappuccino mousse and the famous "Moose" cake.
To end the night, it was over to the Wilderness Lodge to see its Christmas decorations. As we were waiting for a launch over to the MK, we got a bonus of the Electric Water Pageant lighting up. We didn't go into the MK, Instead we fell asleep on a bus back to the AKL.
It's a morning EMH in the AK. However, our minds was willing but our bodies weren't! By the time that we'd gone through the preening ritual, grabbed a cinnamon whirl from the Mara, it was 08:58 by the time that be entered the AK.
Today's FP+s:
10-11 Safari
11-12 Everest
2-3 Dinosaur
We headed straight for the Safari, collected a regular Fastpass and joined the zero minute standby line before the masses turned up. Great safari (better now the Simba-1 story has gone). The baby giraffe could just bee seen in the long grass. We exited and used our regular Fastpass, which wasn't collected at the merge point. This time the giraffes had moved to the area of the termite mounds. The baby giraffe was less than 20ft from the road. The cheetahs were walking around. An animal watchers delight! It was then we were cheeky and reused the regular Fastpass. EXTREMELY NAUGHTY but nice!
So, that was three safaris by 10:35. We didn't need our FP+ for it anymore, so asked a CM to change it to the 13:30 FotLK. This is where training on the Disney App. helps. To change the FP+ she first moved the timeslot then switch the attraction. This is to prevent the system from rescheduling because you can only change one thing (attraction or time) at once. That change was a lot easier on a tablet than a small smart phone.
On to Everest, again the regular Fastpass was only 20 minutes away, so we collected one and used our FP+. Blue lights again meaning reader error. So, again stand out of line and wait for my phone to download the reservations. Had the system messed up when the CM changed this for us? After a few anxious moments the screen refreshed and we still had our reservations. Phew!
With now having FotLK booked for 13:30, we decided to grab some lunch at Yak N Yeti CS outlet
So, that done we headed back to Everest via the Maharajah Trek. There was only one tiger visible, which was asleep against a wall.
We were still early for FotLK, so a slow walk via the Pangani Trail. We got to FotLK and there were around 50 people already waiting in the FP+ line. To our surprise our bands worked. This is probably the last time that we'll see this incarnation of the show. The only change that we noticed was that the floor is now cleared before Timon tells you to "Get out of here!". We are convinced that the show is going to have a major overhaul and take on a format of the Lion King story as in Hong Kong.
We decided to drop Dinosaur, as we'd only booked as a "best of the rest" and headed back to the AKL for some R&R in the hot tub. We hope to return to the AK, later in the week, simply to walk the trails.
It was fast approaching time for dinner. We needed to get back to Epcot for Le Cellier. Mushroom Fillet Mignon, Moosehead beer, then the very hard decision of what to have for dessert. Cappuccino mousse and the famous "Moose" cake.
To end the night, it was over to the Wilderness Lodge to see its Christmas decorations. As we were waiting for a launch over to the MK, we got a bonus of the Electric Water Pageant lighting up. We didn't go into the MK, Instead we fell asleep on a bus back to the AKL.