Tikibird Flies Over the Hill in the World: June/July 2002 WL - Completed w/photos About This Page:

[BostonTeaParty]

Hi Tiki,

As usual I'm enjoying your writing style and your sense of humor. I can totally relate to living with the male of the species as I too have two sons, and my husband. My youngest son is also named Chris. Looking forward to the next installment and wishing the best for your father's surgery. Your pictures are great too. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[tikibird]

You can find more information on the Connections meal vouchers on this site - Connections Info on Mousesavers.

Hee hee – I liked the comment about bashing Chris in the head with the Bible – good thing I didn’t think of it at the time!

Day Two – continued – Animal Kingdom and Slimy Chicken!

We arrive at AK around 11:00 a.m. The parking lot is not overly crowded, which is promising, given our late arrival. We stop and get our first picture ever in front of the Tree of Life.



Craig is anxious to try Primeval Whirl, so we break from tradition (safari first) and stop by Chester and Hester’s. Now this place still disappoints me. I just don’t think Walt would like the carnival atmosphere. Worse, the cool dino is not running around today, or at least we didn’t see him.



Next stop is Dinosaur. This is another ride that is growing on me. I was incredibly disappointed the first time I rode it, as the vehicles are the same as Indy in Disneyland, which is my favorite ride of all time. Dinosaur is not nearly the ride Indy is, but I enjoy it a bit more each time.



Everyone is getting hungry, but the Food Police wants to do ITTBAB before lunch, so we do. I enjoyed this much more than the last time I was there, and doing everything I could from puking in the theater! We sat closer to the front than we had before, and really enjoyed the show, although Craig still refuses to sit back in his seat (HATES the hornet part!)

Since we were breaking from tradition, we did not have lunch at Rainforest, as usual on AK day. Not a wise move! I wanted to try Tusker House, as I had heard really good reviews on it, and knew we could use the Connections vouchers here. Our average cost would have been $14 per person here – so still a good deal for the $11 price. Chris had peanut crusted chicken and rice, cheesecake and a med drink (they did not allow an additional side, or large drinks to be ordered here), Andy had a chicken salad, carrot cake, and a bottle of water, I had a veggie sandwich (which was kind of soggy – and too big – gave half to the Food Police) w/grapes, chocolate cake (which was yummy bug huge – couldn’t finish that either!) and a med drink. Now Craig did NOT like his food. He got rotisserie chicken, which looked kind of slimy, and he said it was kind of red inside, so he really just picked at it. He also didn’t like the fact that the mashed potatoes had the skins in them, so although he ate his cheesecake, and had a med. drink, this was not a good place for him to eat (no chicken fingers in sight!). I did enjoy the theming though, Tusker House really makes you feel like you are eating somewhere in Africa.

After the slimy chicken, we went on the safari, and surprisingly, saw more animals than ever before, even though it was the middle of the afternoon! I took too many pictures again, but did get a closeup of a zebra.



Next, we made a point to go on the Pangani Trail, as we had realized prior to the trip that we had never seen it. Just as good as the Maharajah Jungle Trek, we thought.



The waterfall is great!
We thought about doing the MJT also, but it was sprinkling rain, and we were hot, and the lack of sleep was getting to us, so we headed over to Primeval Whirl. Now, Craig really enjoyed this ride, but I thought it was CHEESE!!!! First of all we were smushed in the car (we determined that Disney’s fit five equals fits four Schuberts (us) if we’re lucky! – Chris tends to blame this on the size of my posterior!). I didn’t care for the spinning, either. Not a ride I would expect in the Disney Theme Park, for sure! Craig likes it though, so it was all good.

Dinosaur had a short wait again, so we rode it again. Chris was trying on masks in the gift shop, while Craig picked up a cool Dinosaur T Shirt.


We stop at the main gift shop, and Craig points out a really cool Tiki Room display to me. I realize the Tiki Birds will be celebrating their 40th anniversary next year!



It was 3:30 p.m. after shopping around, so we decided to go back to the Lodge and crash before our 5:30 p.m. ressies at Boma.

Next up – Boma and Downtown Disney

[ 07-20-2002, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: tikibird ]

[*Pixie*Dust*]

All of these great trip reports have inspired me to get my notes out of my Passporter and into my computer. I think I can have our short April trip posted by this evening.

[tikibird]

Originally posted by auntwargo:
All of these great trip reports have inspired me to get my notes out of my Passporter and into my computer. I think I can have our short April trip posted by this evening.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">EXCELLENT!!!! Looking forward to reading it! [img]graemlins/read.gif[/img]

[kadterp]

Loving the report and pictures! The one with the mask is crackin me up still!! Keep it coming! Cant wait for more!! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[iloverags2]

Tiki...thanks for posting all the pics of your adorable family during your report! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[tikibird]

Originally posted by iloverags2:
Tiki...thanks for posting all the pics of your adorable family during your report! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">Bet you never could guess I got a brand new camera and scanner for my birthday, huh? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[DreaminDisney]

Great Report and Great Pictures! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Tara O'Hara]

Tiki, I agree with everyone about the pictures! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] You are a great photographer and I especially love the one of all of you in front of the Tree of Life! Can't wait to hear about Boma and DD! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Tara

[tikibird]

Day 2 – Saturday, June 29, 2002 – continued – Boma and Downtown Disney

Exhausted, we get back to the Lodge. Ah, I love walking into the lobby! We manage to get down to Roaring Forks, and I take a couple of pics from the balcony, but then take a well-needed nap.


Note the detailing - the "wood" framing the balcony

When we wake up, around 4:45, it is POURING outside. We grab the umbrella we brought, as well as a couple of ponchos, and are on our way to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at Boma. As we drive up to the Lodge, we notice how strikingly similar it is to the WL, but obviously, with an African theming. Andy drops us off, as it is still pouring, so we walk into the lobby to wait from him. Breathtaking!!! (Not as breathtaking as WL, but I’m sure we can debate that to death!) This resort is also beautiful with its dark woods and tribal feel. Unfortunately, it is raining too hard for any animals to be out, so we were not able to explore the resort as much as I would have liked to.

We head downstairs for our PS at Boma, and have about a 10 minute wait. We are seated, and our waiter kindly explains the buffet to us.


We order a pot of French Press Kenya coffee, and check out the buffet. What an awesome variety of foods!!! Craig is disappointed there are no chicken fingers at the kids buffet, but finds some chicken wings. He later discovers the prime rib though, so is happy with that. I love the coucous – could have eaten just that and the sundried tomato hummus with the pita chips. Yummy! And the desserts – the Zebra domes are SO good, as are the little chocolate mousse tarts. The boys say they would have been just as happy eating at Roaring Forks, but Andy and I really enjoyed this meal. And the Kenya coffee was very good java! I’m ready to be rolled out the door, but manage to squeeze two oatmeal raisin cookies in my waist pouch for the road, since I couldn’t eat them there. I was not, however, able to stuff the mask made completely of chocolate into my waist pouch, though!



We looked through the gift shop, and picked up some shave cream for Craig and a newspaper for Andy. I ask the boys if I can take their pictures in the AKL lobby, as it is so well done, and this is the response I got. Guess they were getting tired of the new camera!




Now, Chris to this point, had done wonderfully well about not nagging us unmercifully about going to the Virgin Mega Store, as he has done so well at on past trips, but by the time we reach the Downtown Disney parking lot, he just about jumps out of the car! Andy lets the boys out and parks the car. I head to World of Disney, he joins them to shop for CDs.

The World of Disney is an awesome store. You name it, they have it there. Thinking I only had a half hour of so (silly me!) I pick up a Minnie antennae topper for my cell phone that blinks when it rings, a Mickey head thingy for my desk that changes colors when you turn it upside down, a Walt Disney World ringer tee in yellow that I had admired but not purchased last trip, and a Mickey Rocks tee, which is really cool! It has “Mickey Rocks” in jewels, and is black with gold glitter throughout. Had to have that – and still haven’t made that big of a dent in the $267 DH owes me for the speeding ticket warning!

So, I walk to some other stores, thinking I’m going to get the call at any minute to come meet the rest of the family. Nothing. I try calling Andy’s cell phone. Nothing. An hour goes by. An hour and a half. No answer on the cell phone. I’m thinking his cell phone must not be working and they left without me. I finally get his voice mail and tell them I will wait for another half hour, and if I don’t hear from them, I’ll take the bus back to the resort. I sit outside by the Lego store and wait. Finally, I get a call that they are still shopping! We finally get together, but they were in there two whole hours!!!! Not to mention the chunk of change they dropped! Oh well, boys will be boys!

I am now ready to go back to the hotel and call it a day, as are the men. We get back to the hotel right before 10:00 p.m. and I am thrilled to see that I can see the fireworks from the MK over the treetops from our balcony. Andy mentions that whatever is making all the noises under our balcony sounds like the aliens from Toy Story. This is a very cool ending to the day! After showers for all, it’s lights out, as tomorrow is

Day Three - Breakfast at Cindy’s, a haircut for Chris and wading through Epcot!

[ 07-20-2002, 09:30 PM: Message edited by: tikibird ]

[SMG]

What kind of camera did you get? It takes great pictures! Can't wait to get more of the TR!! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]

[Tara O'Hara]

I ask the boys if I can take their pictures in the AKL lobby, as it is so well done, and this is the response I got. Guess they were getting tired of the new camera!

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">I can't see those pics!~ [img]graemlins/cry2.gif[/img] -however, I can only imagine the faces you got! I get those faces all of the time now! ( But I don't care, I keep snapping away anyway!)

Tara
[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[tikibird]

Okay, think I worked through the technical difficulties on those AKL lobby shots! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

SMG - I got a Canon Rebel 2000 camera, and am using a Canoscan 1250 scanner - pics were developed at Ritz.

[BostonTeaParty]

Tiki, the minnie cell phone topper sounds way cool -- I want one!!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

That picture of the mask made out of chocolate is outrageous!!!

The pictures are really great. The picture you took of Chris is exactly the same as the one I took of my boys standing there. I called them in to come look at it. The Zebra is awesome, and your boys really are cuties (all 3 of them). [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Looking forward to more!

Nancy

[coffeechef]

Yeah.... More Trip report. I am Loving it. I really enjoy reading it & then reasing Gonzo's take on the same things. Exactly what kind of ride is Primeval Whirl???