April 2013 - Our last hurrah! - Day 2

[Hannikins]

You would think that after our epic day yesterday we would be sensible and have a lie in today… but if you thought that, you’d be wrong!

We were up at 6.30 like the completely insane individuals we clearly are! I mean come on, we were in DISNEY, sleep was just wasteful :P

6.30 probably was a bit early though, it didn’t take us very long to get ready at all so we unpacked a little more and checked out the view.

Here’s the room, looks like all the other I’m sure.



and here’s the view from the balcony, the morning was shaping up to be rather nice, finally some sun!



ok, not very impressive but nice all the same, at 7.45 we decided to make a move and started the quick walk to the congress park bus stop, except we weren’t quick enough! An animal kingdom bus arrived just as we got to the end of the building, typical!

Expecting the worst after everything we’d heard about buses at SSR being rubbish we settled down for the long haul. The Disney gods however must have been smiling on us though since ANOTHER animal kingdom bus arrive a few minutes later, hurrah!

We arrived at animal kingdom just as the guy at the turnstiles was doing his welcome speech, we couldn’t have timed it better if we’d tried! Obviously this wasn’t an all systems go park opening, we were going to be stopped further down for ‘official’ opening. Knowing this we took our time, grabbing some nice shots and getting a photopass photo in the bag before joining the mass of humanity waiting to get in





Like everyone else in the park we were heading to one of two things, the safari, or everest.

Being the coaster junkies we are everest it was!

On our last trip we’d planned on doing the same thing but the route through Africa on the left had just seemed really long, this year we were going RIGHT, heading via Dinoland!

After another brief opening ceremony we were off!

I was surprised when pretty much everyone headed left while a small group of people set off with us. We’d soon set a pace and left the scrollers and parents with young children eating our dust

This way definitely felt quicker and as we turned the corner towards everest we saw “everyone else”, behind a rope, being slllllooooowwwllly led towards everest… BWAHAHAHA. The looks on their faces as we darted round the corner, grabbed a fast pass and got inline was comical to behold!

So ladies and gentleman, unless you want to walk at a snails pace towards everest along with the rest of humanity, go RIGHT!

LOVED the ride, I’d forgotten how much fun it was. In fact, it was so good we jumped straight back in line

I managed some photos this time around too





Having escaped the yeti a second time we headed over towards the safari’s, grabbing MORE photopass pics on the way





The wait said 20 so we decided to risk it, although I think it was more like 30 in the end!

While in the queue I tried for ages to get on the my Disney experience app, the thing is AWFUL, why Disney have built such a load heavy application designed to be accessed by lots of people on very ropey wifi is beyond me, I couldn’t get past the first screen! I wished I’d picked up a paper map instead ☹

We saw the usual on the safari, lots of these



some of these



and a rare glance at one of these



And no lions, obviously.

By now it was almost 10.30 and we were yet to eat breakfast, snack credits burning a hole in our pockets as we were yet to spend one we headed to the nearest cart to investigate!

As luck would have it they had one of my list items there (if you’re unsure of what “The List” is, head on over to my food report right now!).

I ordered two, since I was in no mood to share. The guy on the cart congratulated me on my choice and an excellent use of a snack credit. See first use and I was already a pro

The item in question was this beauty:



that’s right dibbers, after making regular appearances on food reports and loved by many I had to try one, the Jalapeño and cream cheese filled pretzel.

My. Word

This thing was amazing, I could have eaten one of these for breakfast every day.

I think Adam enjoyed it to



Full. For now. We headed back towards Everest to use our fastpasses. We did this and then grabbed another for later. As the queue was only 15 mins, we rode AGAIN for good measure, it would be rude not to

Next up we headed back to dinoland. I really hate this area of the park but I wanted to ride Dinosaur. I know we went on it last time and I think I remember it being scary but this time? Meh.

We then went on the only really decent thing left, primeval whirl before exiting the area as quickly as possible.

Sorry I just don’t get it, the sooner they flatten it and do something decent the better, and by decent I do NOT mean avatarland!

[Hannikins]

It was now HOT so we did the one thing we could think of to get cool, we went and got drenched!



Ok not massively drenched, but enough that it was a relief from the heat for a while.

Adam came off the worst I think :P



Now soggy we headed over to watch the gibbons, they were so active! I could have watched them all day.







There was a guy stood by them telling people all about the family group. He also had a stick of bamboo with him, which was obviously his “conversation piece”, not really an interesting object for discussion I didn’t think but when prompted he burst forth with a very enthusiastic tail about how tall it could grow, my he must enjoy his job!

While watching I spotted another photopass guy so we squeeze in another few shots. It’s like a game finding these guys





The stomach filling effects of this mornings pretzel were now wearing off so we headed towards food. I stopped off first to grab something from yak and yeti while I sent a panicked Adam (no idea how or what he could have on the dining plan) off to get his from flame tree bbq and grab us a seat!

I queued for ages behind a group of oldies, all paying separately, none of whom had decided on what they wanted before they got to the front of the queue and felt the need to have a long discussion about what they all fancied….. grrrr

In the end they all went with the sweet and sour chicken, but then that’s what I usually come away with after umming and arring in my local Chinese, everytime, so who am I to judge!

I eventually made it and struggled with my goodies over to Adam to see how he’d faired.

He was already tucking in and had a seat so I guess better than I had!

He’d gone for the chicken and ribs combo with coleslaw and beans



A coke and chocolate mousse for dessert



I on the other hand had gone for my ‘usual’

Sweet and sour chicken



and an iced tea followed by a frozen lemonade



I had really wanted to get the banana mousse but I thought the iced lemonade was probably better in the heat and I could carry it with me for a while, which I did.

[Hannikins]

While eating lunch I had finally gotten the mydisney app to work and found out that a flight of wonder show was due to start in a few minutes so we headed over.

We weren’t planning on doing any other shows apart from this one on the trip, well maybe festival of the lion king if we had time (we didn’t) but this one we’d missed last time so it was very firmly on the “to do” list.

They were just starting the preshow as we arrived so we settled down with our ‘desserts’ to watch before going in to see the show.



We thought it was very good! It’s only a small show and rather hidden away so it probably plays second fiddle to the likes of nemo and simba but it’s definitely worth a watch in our option.

Another area we’d not made it to on the last trip was rafiki’s planet watch so that was next on the list.

Oh course we passed more photopass ops on the way :P





I have no idea what Adam thought we were holding. I’m guessing a human baby by the look on his face. That’s his usual expression when I hold one, it’s a mixture of fear and revulsion all rolled into one.

We got to the train area just as one left so I was able to find a seat to catch up on my trippie notes.

Adam took this picture, which he find hilarious



…. Yep, exactly I cant think what’s hilarious either

When we arrived I realised there was a good reason why we hadn’t been here before…. It’s rubbish.

There’s nothing here! Well not NOTHING! There was a very dishy doctor giving a talk, you know, all bronzed with golden blonde hair, obviously played on his school football team….. but I couldn’t stay staring at him for very long, Adam was getting suss :P

I did manage to get a photo with the man himself though



I guess this is the only reason people come over here!

We did go outside to see the pigs, donkeys and goats but quite frankly why would you want to while in florida, in fact anywhere? I guess this area may be more fun with the kiddies…maybe

Rather underwhelmed we headed back on the train (on which you see very little!)

In need of some serious entertainment we headed to pangani forest trail to see the gorillas.

I LOVE these guys, they have such fascinating facial expressions and some of their mannerisms are so human

“The Thinker”





In the outside area this guy was having great fun guarding with his bin lid!



Having fun on the trails is one of our favourite parts of the park so we headed next towards the Maharajah jungle trek in Asia.

Time for the tigers!



They were stunning as always.





After a look around the rest of the trail we headed back out and watched the gibbons for a little while to rest our legs!





While stood there the sky started to get VERY dark and a big blob of rain hit my arm…

Nooooooooooo

We stuck it out for a little while but decided instead to join the 20 minute queue for Everest, it was bound to stop soon, just in time for us to ride hopefully!

But the queue wasn’t 20 minutes, it was 5 minutes and we jumped on the carriage just as the rain started to get a little bit heavier.

We got SOAKED!

Standing in the everest store waiting for the rain to stop we made a VERY bad decision, we decided to ride again, determined that rain was not going to stop our fun. I mean, we couldn’t get any wetter really!

There was now no queue, not surprising considering, so we jumped in and sat in the puddles from the rides last victim. I also popped on my sunglasses so I didn’t get too much rain in my eyes, and off we went…

DO NOT DO THIS!

EVER!

Rain is bad! And when it is torrential and it hits you in the face at 60mph it bloomin well HURTS. A LOT!

We were soaked before we got on but now rain had embedded itself into ever possible crevice we had. I’m convinced had I showered that morning fully clothed I would be drier than after that ride.

The woman at the photo bay thought we were barmy! I really wish I’d bought the picture. Adam with his face screwed up in pain, and me with my sunglasses on giving a thumbs up while also getting pelted with rain.

So in conclusion, a fun finger up to the rain…. But not advised.

As ‘luck’ would have it the rain stopped pretty much as soon as we left the gift shop, so we found a seat to observe the aftermath



It also gave Adam chance to let his socks drip dry.

I was wearing my crocs so not an issue, clever me!

[Hannikins]

We decided on one last ride before exiting the park, I chose the safari’s and I’m so glad we did. There was hardly any queue and now the rain had passed the animals were out in force!





We even saw the lions!



Well one of them. Even now I’m convinced a cast member just lays out a fake one as everyone’s pictures seem to look like this!

And that was it, we called it a day! Looking back I know we missed lots of things out, ITTBAB and the discovery island trails as the ones I was kicking myself later that we missed.

Unfortunately though we had an early dinner reservation at Sanaa so I didn’t want to be late!

We did get some photopass pics at the exit though.






Confident that there was no way it was a baby this time Adam managed to crack a smile… sort of



A bus for Animal Kingdom Lodge was just leaving so we had a little wait for another bus, not long though. Once on the bus I realised I’d forgotten which of the DVC properties Sanaa was in! Jambo or Kidani, eek!

Luckily the bus driver announced which stop we needed so I shouldn’t have worried.

We arrived with time the spare and were seated at 6.30 with a lovely view of the savannah.



The view on the other side wasn’t so great apparently ☹



This place was FREEZING! It may have been because I was still a little damp but I spent the whole of the meal shivering ☹

Our waitress came around quickly and as it was our first use of a table service credit she explained how everything worked and what we could have.

NOTE: I know I said I wouldn’t go into huge detail on the food in the main trippy but I can’t help myself! Feel free to skip my next 500 words of waffle if food is not your thing!

We both opted to start with two of the speciality drinks available on the plan.

A lemonade with wildberry foam



And a mango Lassi



The lemonade and foam was, for me, odd. The lassi was yummy but probably a bad choice considering the food we were about to eat, it was so filling!

We did look at the cocktail menu, it was in a lovely case! But I just wasn’t feeling it this early in the day, (I know what your thinking, after yesterdays 9am cocktail that’s rather contradictory but hey!)



We decided to share the breadservice to start.

We went for one of each bread and a selection of the dips that we liked the sound of. I ask our server to recommend the final one and we went with the pickled garlic.





I can’t remember what they all were, so for reference here’s the full list!





All the breads were amazing and out of the dips we like the coconut, the cucumber and the mango ones best. The hummus was ok but the pickles garlic was AWFUL! Far too strong for us and that’s saying something, we love our garlic!

While we ate the breads we decided on our mains. I was feeling a little full by now, 6 months on the 5:2 diet and my stomach was in no way ready for all of this food! I decided to go for something a little lighter than I had originally planned.

I went for the sustainable fish, there was no price on the menu but as we were on DDP I decided to throw caution to the wind!



It came with Shrimp and Scallops in a light curry broth.

And it was DELICIOUS!

I’m so glad I went for this, the fish was grouper and so meaty. The only let down of the meal was the scallops, they were hard and rubbery, which is not how I like them at all ☹ I left the shrimps as I’m not a big fan of large prawns, I’d forgotten to ask for it without.



Adam had the thai green curry with shrimp and the spicy Durban chicken.

He ate some of both, but only finished the chicken. He said he wasn’t keen on the shrimps as they tasted a little funny. I had a little of the sauce of each and thought them rather nice, not hot by our normal standards which was nice for me although I think Adam would have liked it a little hotter.

I already knew what I wanted for dessert, but we took the menus so Adam could decide.

I went for the trio of desserts but with a slight “alteration”



I swapped the chocolate cake, which usual gets panned, for a second chai crème.

Back in the uk I’m addicted to the chai tea latte’s at starbucks so I was gutted to learn they no longer served the large chai crème on it’s own anymore. They are obviously asked this a lot though as the waitress wasn’t fazed by the swap in the slightest. In fact I’ve seen some food reports where people sub everything for chai crème :P

It did not disappoint, pure spicy crème heaven. It did get a little much after a while but I managed. The third item on the plate, the kulfi, was nice to so I’m glad I kept it. It tasted what I imagine frozen lassi would taste like.

Adam went for the rice pudding. I warned him that I was sure I’d seen it on a food report and it wasn’t like ‘normal’ rice pudding but he tried it anyway.



As expected it was awful ☹ It was dry but they gave you some ‘juice’ to pour on, but it wasn’t enough. So you were left with very dry and runny rice pudding. Fine if that’s what you like, homemade rice pudding is sometimes like this, but if you’re expecting the consistency of the yummy stuff you get in a can back home, you’ll be disappointed!

[Hannikins]

By now we were VERY full after our first DDP meal so we head out onto the veranda to watch the animals. It was lovely out there. There was a big log fire so I could finally get warm and a very enthusiastic cast member telling everyone about the animals.







It really was a perfect way to end our day at animal kingdom. At 8pm we decided to make a move, not back to the room obviously, we had more parks to do!

The Kidani Village bus stop was deserted but as luck would have it the first bus to arrive when we got there was epcot, so we jumped on!

The plan for the evening was to go to epcot and grab a drink in world showcase before watching Reflections of Earth.

But I was overruled ☺

As we arrived earlier than planned we headed first to grab some photos of the entrance area, which was all decked out for the flower and garden festival.





and some photopass pics of course!





It was now 30 minutes before the start of the show so I started walking towards world showcase, however I made the mistake of going near Test Track, at which point I was informed there was NO WAY we was leaving until we’d been on it. With a 20 minute wait I gave in and we joined the queue.

On our last trip we only managed test track once and we weren’t in the least bit impressed (I don’t think the 40 minute wait because it broke down helped much).

This time it was a lot better! We enjoyed making a car and the fast bit at the end. The rest is still the same and as pants as ever but we weren’t expecting much from that bit. The only slight let down was we couldn’t get our car to ‘load’. We seemed to be driving with completely different ones, oh well we’d need to try again on another visit.

At this point it was 5 minutes until showtime and we needed to get a move on. I tried explaining to Adam that we needed to get to at least Italy on the other side of the lagoon for showtime and so we needed to go FAST. Adam wasn’t pleased about this (he was happy to watch from Canada again) and a few words were ‘exchanged’. I was moody now, after all we’d done what HE wanted to do, now it was MY turn. We reached Italy just as the show started, but I was missing something, MY DRINK ☹

I tried edging towards France but we were missing some of the show so we gave in. We ended up watching the show a little further near American, with NO DRINK grrrrrrr

[Hannikins]

After the show finished, (no tears this time, I must be immune. Either that or I was just to darn annoyed to enjoy it as much!) I was determined I was having my drink so started off towards France with a reluctant Adam in tow.

I had wanted to get the flower and garden edition of the grey goose slush but all the booths were already closed, obviously not staying open for EMH. Instead we ended up queuing to get the normal one instead. I tried to convince Adam to get the orange slush instead so we could try both but no, he wanted the same as me…. I’m sure he was just out to annoy me at this point!



We took a seat in France and soaked up the ambiance while drinking our slushes.



We probably could have shared one, they look small but they pile it on and it took ages to drink! I was getting a little tipsy, it had a lot more booze in it than I was expecting, queue boozy “selfies”.





It was now 10.30 and with EMH drawing to a close we decided to call it a night, the last few days were catching up on us.

The evening was not complete without a final photopass though of course!



And to prove how boozy those slushies are, and that we were friends again by this point…



CRINGE!

NOM OF THE DAY
Hard one this, I thought it would have been the pretzel, but after thinking long and hard the nom of the day goes to…

The Chai Cream!



NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM

Next time I’m ordering this x 3!



Spends Recap

Breakfast – two pretzels - $4.76 = $9.52 (used a snack credit)
Lunch - y&y – $17.14 & BBQ – $19.90 = $37.04 (used a QS credit)
Dinner – Sanaa - $85.88 + $15 tip = $100.88 (used TS credit)

Total for the day = $147.44
Total out of pocket - $15
Total saving – $132.44

[mick]

A long but brilliant day

[Hannikins]

Originally Posted by mick

A long but brilliant day

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thanks, yes I do like to witter on

[AdmiralJack]

Love this. As soon as you wrote that you went for your drink after illuminations, my Disney cast member radar went off-when I worked in Epcot, the start of illumination was the cue to pack up your outdoor food location,cash out and head for the hills (even during EMH, a lot of the shops and food places close at normal time- striking me as odd) !

By the time the show ended, every self respecting cast member was on the bus home, even during EMH

[Hannikins]

Originally Posted by AdmiralJack

Love this. As soon as you wrote that you went for your drink after illuminations, my Disney cast member radar went off-when I worked in Epcot, the start of illumination was the cue to pack up your outdoor food location,cash out and head for the hill! By the time the show ended, every self respecting cast member was on the bus home, even during EMH

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yep all the food and garden booths were shut. the main ones like the booth in france stayed open until 10ish, poor sods