Zawadi
12-15-2013, 09:07 AM
Thurs 12 Dec 2013 - Animal Kingdom & Epcot
Today was an early, and the earliest of the week, start since we had to be at the Animal Kingdom by 08:45 for the Wild Africa Trek. It was much colder this morning and the fleeces came out. In fact it was boarding on whether to wear long trousers but we stayed with shorts. We approached the turnstiles, we were asked if we had a breakfast reservation. When we replied that we were for the trek, we were directed to CMs and guests who had congregated behind the ticket kiosks. We were the last of the six guests to arrive, and we thought that we would be early. The CMs advised us to use the restrooms before we set off. We then scanned our bands to enter the park and proceeded to the entrance of Kilimanjaro Safari. The Trek used to start behind Tusker House but this is where the new Lion King theatre is being constructed.
We emptied our pockets, including magic bands, into the lockers before signing our lives away and being weighed and finally fitted with the safety vests. Out of the six guests, only two had not done the trek before. Our guides were Lauren, who we had on our previous trek, Frank and trainee Craig. So we had two photographers on this trek. On our last trek, the photographs we sent out on a CD. Now you download them.
We set out on the Pangani Trail, as far as the Meerkat area, where we diverted into the wilderness of the banks of the Safi river. We ended up above the the area of the father and son hippos, Hans and Henry. We were shown how to undo the carabiner of our "monkey tail" so that we could be attached to the cliff edge safety rail. A hippo's open mouth looks like a bottomless pit!
As we continued along the Safi river, we saw the female hippos. Now, on the safari the collective name is given as a "bloat". We were told that due to hippos being a distant relative of whales the collective noun was now a "pod". We came across a hippo skull. They can open their mouths 120 degrees. We, humans, are lucky if we can reach 45 degrees.
We then had to cross the Safi river, to get to the Nile crocodiles. This means using the fragile rope bridges. A word of warning.... When the start of the trek was behind Tusker House there was a training bridge. Now you just see the real thing and if you freak out then that is the end of your tour with no refund! The minimum age for the trek is eight. Now some of the treads a a good three foot apart and the bridge slopes from left to right. It is also a great deal more bouncy that last year. As we were crossing the second bridge, one of the crocodiles almost grabbed a vulture. After crossing the bridges, we were again tethered to look down at the crocodiles.
After leaving the crocodiles we had a instant 10 pound weight loss as we took off the safety harnesses before boarding a small safari truck to head through the savannah. Several good photo opportunities. The snack lunch was at the Boma observation post by the greater flamingo pool. In September, you are given an ice towel to cool down. Today, it was warm tea and blankets!
Afer the trek, we returned to Jambo house to drop off our goodies before heading off to Epcot for our FP+ at Soarin', Mission Space and Test Track. We arrived at Epcot well before the start of the FP+ for Soarin' so took at trip on Spaceship Earth first.
We had over an hour between the Soarin' and Mission Space times so walked to China's Lotus Blossom Cafe for lunch, where we shared a counter service. We continued our walk to try a first for us. Funnel Cake. As we started to walk way from the kiosk, a gust of wind collected the powered sugar and deposited it on me. I was a snowman in Florida! We continued our walk to Morocco and realised that we were getting to the end of the FP+ window for Mission Space. We took the ferry across to Canada, but couldn't make it in time. Instead we just went on Test Track before returning to Kidani Village to see if we could see the baby zebra. All the giraffes, zebra and waterbuck were in the savannah. All of a sudden there was a stampede. This originated to the right of to savannah, by the service area between Kidani And Jambo, when the waterbuck started to gallop past the giraffe and zebras who then joined in.
We returned to Jambo house to relax in the hot tub before having diner in Jiko. We had short ribs and treated ourselves to a bottle of wine. We ended the evening with some photographs by the Christmas tree in the lobby, once the Disney photographer had packed up.
Today was an early, and the earliest of the week, start since we had to be at the Animal Kingdom by 08:45 for the Wild Africa Trek. It was much colder this morning and the fleeces came out. In fact it was boarding on whether to wear long trousers but we stayed with shorts. We approached the turnstiles, we were asked if we had a breakfast reservation. When we replied that we were for the trek, we were directed to CMs and guests who had congregated behind the ticket kiosks. We were the last of the six guests to arrive, and we thought that we would be early. The CMs advised us to use the restrooms before we set off. We then scanned our bands to enter the park and proceeded to the entrance of Kilimanjaro Safari. The Trek used to start behind Tusker House but this is where the new Lion King theatre is being constructed.
We emptied our pockets, including magic bands, into the lockers before signing our lives away and being weighed and finally fitted with the safety vests. Out of the six guests, only two had not done the trek before. Our guides were Lauren, who we had on our previous trek, Frank and trainee Craig. So we had two photographers on this trek. On our last trek, the photographs we sent out on a CD. Now you download them.
We set out on the Pangani Trail, as far as the Meerkat area, where we diverted into the wilderness of the banks of the Safi river. We ended up above the the area of the father and son hippos, Hans and Henry. We were shown how to undo the carabiner of our "monkey tail" so that we could be attached to the cliff edge safety rail. A hippo's open mouth looks like a bottomless pit!
As we continued along the Safi river, we saw the female hippos. Now, on the safari the collective name is given as a "bloat". We were told that due to hippos being a distant relative of whales the collective noun was now a "pod". We came across a hippo skull. They can open their mouths 120 degrees. We, humans, are lucky if we can reach 45 degrees.
We then had to cross the Safi river, to get to the Nile crocodiles. This means using the fragile rope bridges. A word of warning.... When the start of the trek was behind Tusker House there was a training bridge. Now you just see the real thing and if you freak out then that is the end of your tour with no refund! The minimum age for the trek is eight. Now some of the treads a a good three foot apart and the bridge slopes from left to right. It is also a great deal more bouncy that last year. As we were crossing the second bridge, one of the crocodiles almost grabbed a vulture. After crossing the bridges, we were again tethered to look down at the crocodiles.
After leaving the crocodiles we had a instant 10 pound weight loss as we took off the safety harnesses before boarding a small safari truck to head through the savannah. Several good photo opportunities. The snack lunch was at the Boma observation post by the greater flamingo pool. In September, you are given an ice towel to cool down. Today, it was warm tea and blankets!
Afer the trek, we returned to Jambo house to drop off our goodies before heading off to Epcot for our FP+ at Soarin', Mission Space and Test Track. We arrived at Epcot well before the start of the FP+ for Soarin' so took at trip on Spaceship Earth first.
We had over an hour between the Soarin' and Mission Space times so walked to China's Lotus Blossom Cafe for lunch, where we shared a counter service. We continued our walk to try a first for us. Funnel Cake. As we started to walk way from the kiosk, a gust of wind collected the powered sugar and deposited it on me. I was a snowman in Florida! We continued our walk to Morocco and realised that we were getting to the end of the FP+ window for Mission Space. We took the ferry across to Canada, but couldn't make it in time. Instead we just went on Test Track before returning to Kidani Village to see if we could see the baby zebra. All the giraffes, zebra and waterbuck were in the savannah. All of a sudden there was a stampede. This originated to the right of to savannah, by the service area between Kidani And Jambo, when the waterbuck started to gallop past the giraffe and zebras who then joined in.
We returned to Jambo house to relax in the hot tub before having diner in Jiko. We had short ribs and treated ourselves to a bottle of wine. We ended the evening with some photographs by the Christmas tree in the lobby, once the Disney photographer had packed up.