First Timers Report – Day 5

[Guest]

The Crew:
Paul (31), loves his gadgets, aka young man (&#33.
Louise (39), planner extraordinaire, aka old girl

Friday, April 26th

The plan this morning was to arrive at Animal Kingdom before they opened so that we could do the Kilimanjaro Safari first thing, as we had breakfast booked at Restaurantosaurus for 10am. However, we were finding it increasingly difficult to wake up, so by the time we had sorted ourselves out it was a bit too late to do the safari. Instead, we wandered through Discovery Island Trails looking at the animals and around the Tree of Life into It’s Tough to be a Bug. This was good and I warned Paul that we would get stung, as I’d read it on the boards, but I think I had a jab by the Mike Tyson of the bug world! It quite hurt, and I was sure I would get a bruise!

By now it was time to go to our breakfast. We really enjoyed this, much better from our point of view than Cinderella’s. There was a good choice of buffet breakfast and the server told us which characters would come to our table and at what time too! We both rather liked the pancakes with maple syrup and I had to go back for three helpings!! Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Mickey all came to our table and we took photos of each other with them. The lady on the next table took a really good picture of both of us with Mickey, and we now have it in a frame at home. The breakfast cost $33.82.



After this, we were just in time to start queuing for the 11.30 showing of Tarzan Rocks. Poor Paul hates musicals anyway, and I have to admit, that I also thought that this show was a bit weak, and felt of all the things we had done on our holiday, only this show and the Jungle Cruise were a waste of time.

Next, we decided on some action, so over to Kali River Rapids, this was showing a 45 minute wait time, so we got a fast pass and went through the Maharajah Jungle Trek to fill in some time. Paul got a good picture and some video footage of the tigers. When we came out of the trek, the Rapids ride was down to a 20 minute wait time, so we decided to queue up. I had heard how wet we could get on this ride and was a bit concerned with my recent track record, however, we had a CM riding with us and it was him who ended up going backwards down the falls and getting drenched. We didn’t come off too badly! We enjoyed this ride and as we still had a fastpass slot, we immediately rode it again. Bad move! It was obvious we were going down backwards, and I mistakenly thought that by bending forward the water would go over my head! Oh no it didn’t! Of course, it went all down my back and most of my front and I was totally drenched from head to foot. When we walked off, one woman on the ride with us said ‘ I didn’t realise you got that wet!’ and the people queuing to go on the ride, were looking at me with their mouths open! We had to wring our clothes out and even after three hours when we got back to the condo, we still weren’t dry! Of course, if we hadn’t got drenched, we would have been disappointed!!
Next we did the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, but because it was quite hot and mid afternoon, we didn’t get to see too much. We just managed to see a male gorilla’s back! After this, we did the Kilimanjaro Safari, and given the time of day, we did see quite a few animals. It was a shame that the driver didn’t at least slow down or even stop very briefly so that people could get photos, but it was still enjoyable.

The park was closing at 5pm, so we only had time to do the Dinosaur ride followed by the Primeval Whirl in quick succession. For something that looked like the waltzer ride at the fairground, primeval whirl was surprisingly good, and both rides combined rounded our day at Animal Kingdom off very nicely.

Went back to the condo for a rest and just when we were thinking of going out again, the heavens opened. What followed was the most torrential rain I have ever seen, and Paul, being a geeky gadgety nerdy type, even videoed it!! But we are British, what’s a bit or rain? We went off to Wal-Mart, to get some breakfast stuff as we had run out. I don’t know why we were having breakfast in the room anyway, because we were supposed to be having an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast every day, but we never did, probably because we wouldn’t have got up in time! After the nice pancakes and maple syrup we had this morning, we decided to buy some so we could have them again. We searched Wal-Mart high and low, up and down the aisles three times, and there was only one brand of pancakes in the place, and they were frozen! We couldn’t believe it! We had no option though so we bought them, together with more muffins and cinnamon buns too.

We then headed over to the B-Line Diner in the Peabody Hotel. It was still raining although not so badly by this stage, good job I had really high wedged shoes on! This is a really nice place, it reminded me of the diners in The Sims game, except the booths in the B-Line were black and not red! Paul had a mushroom and cheeseburger with fries and coke, and I had pork fillet with rosemary and honey sauce, garlic mash and a chocolate milkshake. Both our meals were excellent and Paul said his burger was the best one of the holiday. Eagle eyed readers may note that we have eaten a lot of burgers this holiday, and also we have not had any alcohol!! Gosh, aren’t we dull? No room for pudding again unfortunately and the bill was $35.95.

By the time we got back to the condo, it was well gone 11pm, and I fell asleep whilst we were reviewing the days videoing activity!

Tomorrow, Paul’s flight in the Harvard and Epcot!

[Guest]

Just noticed, it should read Day 5, but I don't know how to edit the title!

[Guest]

Louise
Hi. I've loved reading your reports so far.
Animal Kingdom is my favourite park.
I loved the Kali river rapids and I too rode this twice. I must admit though I cheated and wore a poncho . .

Love the photo .

[Carole]

What a lovely photo. I can see why you're so pleased with it.

I really must get round to trying the b-line diner. Sounds nice. I can just imagine how it looks now you've said it's like the diner in the Sims.

[ANGEL]

thanks Louise, another good report! .
I like the sound of the Peabody diner too...must try it some time .

[AlisonB]

I think most Americans make their pancake mix up from a packet mix, don't they?

We brought the mix back with us last time - loads of it!

[Guest]

Great picture  .

[mapman]

Love the Photo - you are both very photogenic, and Mickey's not too bad either - LOL  .

We got soaked on Kali too - everything - including money etc - I still remember looking up (all in slow motion) at a huge spout of water that was just about to drop on my head from a great distance - magic

We really enjoyed Tarzan Rocks - funny how people's tastes are different for some things

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