MOUSEFEST 2004
OUR WONDERFUL TRIP WITH THE MOUSE
Day 6, Animal Kingdom and Illuminations
We staggered out of bed at 6:40, and prepared to face the day (which took a while...
). We drove to POR-FQ to pick up Pat and Linda for our 8 am PS at Donald's Breakfastosaurus. It was great to see Pat again, and to meet her friend, Linda
!
We arrived at Animal Kingdom (early entry day), and headed for Dinoland. The skies looked threatening, and it had apparently rained overnight, but for now we were dry
.
We posed for pictures while waiting to be called for breakfast, and found out how PhotoPass works. Your picture is taken by the WDW photographer
, and a card (similar to a credit card) is swiped in this little thingy strapped to his belt. You carry the card with you, and whenever a WDW photographer takes your picture, the new ones are added to the card, so all the photos are in one place. You can get pictures taken all over the parks: in front of the icons, with characters, etc., and there's a website
where you can look them over and/or share them via email...you can also purchase them there, as they remain online for 30 days. The neat thing about this is that you're not rushed into deciding whether or not you want the pictures - no more hasty "take it or leave it" decisions! I really like this new service
!
During our breakfast, we were met by Pluto, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey, and had a great time with the characters. I exchanged kisses with Mickey
, and Bob threatened to tell Minnie,but Mickey pointed to his ringless finger, indicating that he's not married
! Really funny
.
After the meal, we headed toward Africa and the KJS Meet. I met more of my online friends - Brian (tiggerguy) from WDW Trivia.com, and Bob (boBmouse), and Maggie (Maggiemay).
As Tracey, Matt, and Maggie approached, I noticed that they were soaking wet! I concluded (rightly) that they must have just done Kali River Rapids.
We all posed for a group picture, and while waiting to be allowed aboard our Safari vehicle, Deb asked what I'd won since leaving the ship...I told her about the Hidden Mickey hunt at Epcot....
Eventually, we boarded our Safari vehicles. Somehow, we'd lost track of Pat and Linda, but Bob(mouse) joined us to make a threesome. Our guide explained that once we set out on our tour, we wouldn't be stopping for anything, unless an animal was in the road, as the critters have the right-of-way. very prophetic, as it turned out.
So we set out on our trek, and wended our way through the KJS ride...there were lots of animals to be seen - rhino, cheetah, zebra, giraffe, etc. We caught sight of the new baby elephant, which was quite a treat! So cute!!
As we reached the spot where we were supposed to begin chasing the poachers, an ostrich decided that this was the time and place to begin a leisurely stroll down the road...So we waited.....and waited.....and waited....Finally this overgrown chicken got out of our way, and we were able to begin our pursuit of the bad guys. The poachers would have gotten away if this big bird had taken much longer, and we wouldn't have been able to rescue Little Red
!
We returned to base, and wandered through the Pangani Forest Trail back into Africa, where it was time to gather for the Hidden Mickey hunt. The Two Bobs and I met Steve behind Tamu Tamu, and received our pictures and questions. We found one of the items right where we were meeting, and another right outside, then rode the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. It was beginning to rain by this time, so we hurried to get from the train station to the building. I spotted Pipa, the walking, talking recycle bin doing his thing with the kids.
It took quite a while to find the HM's here, as some were really small, but we finally found what we thought were all of them, and headed to Camp Minnie-Mickey.
We found what we could, but were still missing a couple! Where were they? By this time we were all feeling the heat (made more uncomfortable by the intermittant rain
, so we three went to the tables outside Island Mercantile to find Steve.
We discovered that several people had already found all the HM's, so we gave up....We parted company from Bob, and did a bit of shopping before heading for Flame Tree Barbecue to do lunch with TheGoof and son, Pat and Linda, and Joy (Joy_J) and her spouse and son
.
When we got there, everyone was present except Joy and company....We waited for a bit, then started shouting, "Joy....Joy from Canada...."
Joy finally showed up, husband and son in tow, and we all did the "Huggy Glad to Meet You At Last" thing
, and we got our food
. We then looked for a place to sit together...This was where the real fun started
.
If you've ever been to Flame Tree, you know that there are several seating areas....It seemed that everybody went to a different one! We quickly got separated, then met, only to get separated again (TheGoof refers to it as a Keystone Kops routine in his TR)! We finally got back together to find that TheGoof had found a place that had two tables for two separated by a table for four, overlooking the river. Since the tables are all cemented into the floor, we made do - TheGoof and MaxGoof sat at one table, Pat and Linda by another, and Bob and I sat with Joy and her husband Kim, with another chair drawn up for their son (I can't seem to remember his name because I didn't write it down)
.
We enjoyed a nice lunch, and at one point a boat drifted past, with musicians playing and Chip and Dale dancing. This was lots of fun, but the time was drawing close for Pat, Linda, Bob, and myself to go to the MouseyMindboggler Hunt, which we'd preregistered for.
By this time, it was raining in earnest
- not heavily, but enough to let you know that the sky was falling...
We got to Pizzafari and when all were assembled, we were given the rules and our little booklet of riddles. There was one riddle to be answered for each area - Africa, Asia, Discovery Island Trails, and the Oasis, and each team had a ddifferent set of riddles. We were also to find a "hostess" in each area and collect a sticker on each page to prove we'd actually been there. The winner would be the team who returned in the least amount of time with the most correct answers. Okay, gang, we can do this!
We decided to sit down and figure out the riddles first - as a former zoo docent this didn't seem too difficult
, and there was only one animal I couldn't identify from the clues
...So we decided that since this was in the Oasis, we'd head there first to try to figure out what it was.
We found the Barbirussa (yeah, that was the one) almost immediately, then hunted for the hostess. We found her sitting on a bench in one of the protected areas, as it was still raining.
We then went to Asia to find the hostess there. She was easy to locate, right inside the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Off to Africa, where we found the hostess at the beginning of the Pangani Forest Trail.
The last one we needed was to be found in the Discovery Island Trails, and since our tablemate from the cruise, Doris, was one of the hostesses, and we hadn't found her yet, I knew who to look for.
I spotted her husband, Dennis, first and knew that she had to be close by, and sure enough, there she was! We had all our answers, and had found all the hostesses, so we hotfooted it back to Pizzafari.
We were pleased to find that we were the second team back, and that the first team had one answer wrong! I was elated!! My elation was short-lived, however, as there was one answer wrong in our booklet. What? How could there be one wrong? Which one? We'd have to wait until all the teams returned to find out!
Pat and I went pin shopping, then returned to Pizzafari to wait for everyone else got back so we could discover who the winners were.
Finally everyone was there, and the winners announced. The winning team had all the answers, even though they were w-a-a-y behind us, time-wise. I finally had a chance to find out what the correct answer was to the riddle I'd fail to guess the Asian animal rightly - the answer was the Siamang, instead of the Gibbon as I'd thought. Bummer! That's what I get for being too overconfident!!
The Jingle Jangle Jungle Parade was starting, but Bob and I didn't have time to watch it, because we needed to go back to POR to change for dinner at Bistro de Paris, also figuring that we could catch it later in the week
.
Pat and Linda went back with us, as Pat collects the refillable mugs from the resorts, and wanted to see if the Riverside mug was different from the one she'd gotten from the French Quarter. We dropped Linda off at FQ, then drove Pat to the Guest Services building at Riverside (she wanted to walk back to FQ, as it wasn't too far).
After changing, we drove to Epcot, and strolled to France. We found the entrance to Bistro de Paris, and sat in the small but elegant waiting room until it was our turn to be seated.
Our server was Brice, and he was a really handsome
young man. He was quite amused at my meager knowledge of French. Bob had an entree of scallops and caviar, while I had escargot and frog's legs. I don't know how his was, but my appetizer was wonderful (yeah, I know - snails - I love
'em
)!
Bob ordered lobster for his entree, and I opted for a veal chop. Bob's dinner was placed right in front of him (the lobster was pre-shelled), but mine included a "show".
Brice wheeled out a large cart, and brought a cast-iron pot to the table, removed the lid, and showed me a huge veal chop, "For Madame." He then returned the pot to the cart, where he proceeded to cut the meat from the bone and slice it. The sliced meat was then arranged on a plate and presented to me. It was lovely, but huge
! I ended up giving part of it to Bob.
Time for dessert....we decided on the dessert sampler, which was supposed to be for two, but I think that one person could have handled it nicely. It was delicious, as was everything else
.
We'd gotten two dinner vouchers as part of our MouseFest package from MEV, and had decided to use them here, as we knew that unless we won the lottery, we'd never be able to afford eating at Bistro de Paris. When the check was presented for our signatures, we found that our decision was a good one...the bill came to over $130 (including tip) for the two of us
! Maybe not a lot to some people, but overwhelming to us!
We had some time before the Illuminations Dessert Party (part of our MEV package), and ambled to Morocco and Japan. In the Mitsukoshi Department Store I found a stuffed Totoro, which I'd have purchased if the price had been reasonable
. There were several stuffed Miyazaki critters, which I'd have liked to have purchased, but they were a bit pricey for what they were. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Miyazaki is known as the Japanese Disney (he wrote and directed "Spirited Away", among others), and his works (for the most part) have been distributed in the USA by Disney. Totoro is a character from "My Neighbor Totoro", a movie that is absolutely charming
and which my two-year-old grandson loves
.
It was nearing time to be getting back to the International Gateway, so we made our way back. We found some friends from the cruise, and made some new ones. We were escorted to the UK pavilion, where the area just south of the Rose and Crown is - where you eat your fish 'n' chips in the daytime.
There was an array of desserts and soft drinks, so we got some munchies and sat with Ann and George, who introduced us to Pat and Ray. In the course of conversation, we discovered that Pat's maiden name had also been Ray, so we wondered whether she and Bob were related.
Soon it was time for Illuminations to begin....I don't think I have to describe the show, as it was the same as always - spectacular
! There was an added bit at the end, red and green fireworks to the tune of "Let There Be Peace on Earth." Really nice
.
After the show, we were going to exit Epcot with Ray, but somehow we lost him
.
We passed through the lighted arches between Future World and World Showcase, which changed colors and blinked off and on to the music which was playing.
Back to POR. In our room, I discovered that there wasn't a towel animal waiting for us, so made a monkey....Hint, hint!
And so, to bed.