2016 August Trip Report – 30th Anniversary

[jans2kids]

Day 2 Segway
Today we are headed back to FW for the Back Trail Adventure Segway Tour. After yesterday almost not getting there on time we gave ourselves lots of time. It started as a nice sunny morning. We had breakfast in the AoA food court and then hopped a bus to HS as it was only 5 minutes away. Once off the bus the supervisor walking around ask where we were headed & he pointed us to the right bus stop and said he was calling for a bus for us. We never saw him again and finally 45 minutes later a bus showed up for the Gran Floridian. He saw us waiting and told us he would take us there after a quick stop at GF. Good thing we left early, we still had enough time to get there without panicking like yesterday.
The Segway is offered twice daily at 8:30 & 11:30. If your not staying at FW don't schedule the 8:30 one. We arrived at FW and things started to go downhill from there. The sun has disappeared & just as we arrived to check in we could hear some thunder in the distance. It's not supposed to rain in the morning. Well 11:30 arrived and so did the thunder, lightning and rain. SEGWAY CANCELLED.
So we are stuck on the porch of the bike barn with no where to go. We are on the phone with Disney reservations trying to get a refund but they are of no help as they say they have no record of it being cancelled. Finally we reschedule for Friday morning and the employees at the bike barn are able to process our refund. Then if that's not bad enough our son sends a text from college saying he was ineligible to play on his soccer team since his tuition was not paid. So your 1000 miles from home with no paperwork and sitting outside in a T-Storm. We got the phone number of the school and were able to make the payment with a credit card in 5 minutes. Easier than getting a refund from Disney.
The rain had let up & since we didn't have anything else planned for the afternoon we decided to find the walking path from FW to WL. It wasn't the one we were looking for yesterday along the lake, it was a paved walking path through the woods. As we found out later its the same path the Segway's go on. The path starts down by the Circle D Ranch where they offer pony rides to kids and also have the barn that houses the large horses used in the MK. Half of the barn is open to the public that you can walk into and get a close-up look at the horses along with pictures from various events the horses were used in.
The rain had ended and the sun was back out as we took the 25 minute walk to the WL. We spent some time looking around the lobby and were going to have lunch at Whispering Canyon, but it was crowded for 1:30 and we needed to get to the AKL by 3:30 so not wanting to be late we took a bus to the AK and then another to the AKL. We ate lunch at the Mara and then walked around looking at the Savannas.
We did our research as to what some of activities the resorts offered and found a FREE tour offered daily at 3:45 called the Culinary Tour at AKL. It said it was to be 30 minutes but it lasted almost an hour. We had 2 cast members from South Africa guiding the tour that started in Boma. Boma is not open for lunch so at this time they were busy getting ready to open for dinner at 4:30. They tell you about the culture, the design and the food offered there. We were offered samples of carrot ginger soup and Zebra Domes. Then we headed over to Jiko where the chef talked about the breads and sauces they offer & again were given samples of 3 breads and 4 sauces.
As we headed back up to the lobby there were people everywhere & then we realized they were having character meet & greets all over the lobby. The characters we saw there were Donald, Pooh, Stitch, Baloo, Louie, Chip & Dale & Brer Bear. It was getting near the end of the time for the characters to leave so we only got pictures with Baloo and Pooh. We then took the bus to HS & back to AoA in under 30 minutes.
Back at AoA we spent an hour at the pool and then walked over to Pop for dinner in the food court. We had been trying to get reservations for the Pirates & Pals Fireworks cruise from the Contemporary for 45 days. We called almost everyday hoping for a cancellation but nothing was ever available. So I came up with the idea of just showing up and see if they had a waiting list. We took the bus to MK which we had to wait for as it was EMH night and there were a lot of people waiting for the bus. Once there we walked over to the Contemporary and found the check in area and asked. They said normally there are none but we can wait until 8:45 to see if anyone doesn't show up. No Luck, but they did take our phone number and said they would call another night if anything was available.
So now we got back to our original plan which was to go to the Gone Mad Fireworks party that they were offering Wednesday nights at the Grand Floridian in August. We took the monorail over to the GF and headed down near the dock where the party was going on. There was music and food & drink to purchase. Once Wishes started they played the soundtrack but it was not very good quality, a lot of static. I thought watching fireworks outside the park would be cool, but it really wasn't that good.
After Wishes we quickly left and got the monorail back to the MK in time to see the Electric Water Pageant before getting the bus back to AoA. Tomorrow we head to AK for our only day in a park.

[faline]

Very mixed day for you - some good; some not so good - but it certainly sounds like you made the best of it!!

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Sounds like a lot going on, thanks for the report

[princessgirls]

Happy Anniversary!!!!
You had a busy day, some went right,some did not. I hope it was still a great day for you! Thanks for sharing!
Julie