Fun, flowers and firsts THREAD 2 OF 7 About This Page:

[DrDolphin]

WOW!! I definately need to add that tour to the list!! It sounds fanastic!! More please.

[Grammy Grumpy]

Thanks for the update, I will definately put this tour on my "Want to do" list.

[buckysmom]

What a great behind the scenes tour!
Sorry you didn't get to photograph Spike, guess that means I'll have to meet him myself

[BritDisFan]

Cheryl, I've just caught up with your TR, it's wonderful, so interesting to read, your dinner at Artist Point looked really yummy and your tour of AK sounded great. I can't wait to read the next part .

Karen

[2princessmom]

How exciting! I would love to do this tour if only my children were older! I just love animals! I am so anxious to hear about the rest of the tour! Keep it coming!

[ilovelilo]

Thanks for the awesome update! That tour sounds really fun and interesting (and I had no idea how big DAK really is! )

Looking forward to more!

[AngelOn9]

<font color="blue">
This DOES sound like a really GREAT tour! Hearing you tell us all about it is really making me psyched about taking it in August. I hope I can do as good of a job as you are in informing others on what its like.

I'm absolutely LOVING your entire trip report! Oh and the thing with the tea...that IS odd! Have they not been told that many Brits love their tea? So strange...so strange.
I guess I'm biased though...I like to consider myself a semi-adopted British person as I lived there for four years. Oh how I envy my mom living there now...I want to go BACK!

Can't wait to hear more! </font>

[chezp]

Friday 30 April – part three: the vegetarian ventures into the Animal Nutrition Centre and a different version of Kilimanjaro Safaris



Our next stop was the Animal Nutrition Centre and I have to admit I was a little nervous about this, being a vegetarian. I really didn't want to see what the lion was going to have for lunch, thank you. We first went into the grain store which was amazing and heard about the problems they had with the hippos. They were mating a little too much, so Disney asked its supplier of animal feed to find some way to stop them procreating and for a while, it did the trick. About a year later, more little hippos began to appear and it then became apparent that the feed only had a life expectancy of 12 months!



All my fears proved to be unfounded as we went into the preparation area. All that was on display was fruit and vegetables and boy those animals get good food! Basically they get exactly the same as you or me. If it's not good enough for humans, then it won't do for the animals either. They have recipes to make up and the food and those recipes change from day to day, depending on what the animal behaviour people recommend. It was fascinating to see and not in the least bit gory for me either, thankfully.



Finally after seeing all that food for the animals, it was out turn to be fed and watered. We were taken into one of the educational classrooms and offered water and snacks. We were later told to stock up on the water and save ourselves money in the parks, which we duly did. This was where Daniel left us for a few minutes in the capable hands of Shannon and a hornbill, who was known as Zazu from the Lion King. She took him out of his carrying box and for most of the time while she told us all about him, he just sat there on her hand. At one point, he jumped onto the floor and it was fascinating to see him hop around. He was a charming little thing and to see him up so close, literally a foot or so away from your face, was quite an experience.



As well as being a good opportunity to find out more about the real Zazu, it was also a good chance for me to take my antihistamine tablets and apply more insect repellent to the bites on my ankles, which by now were giving me real trouble. I pulled down my sock to look at them and I saw someone looking at them in horror. Yes, I know they're not nice, I can tell you that, because they hurt!



Suitably doped up and with new supplies are both water and snacks, we were off on the final part of our adventure and the one part where we could take photos, our own private Kilimanjaro Safaris tour with Daniel. Again we piled into the minibuses and were driven round to the Harambe entrance, all of us pausing to check our appearance in the mirror before going onstage! We weaved our way through the crowds and headed for the back way on to Kilimanjaro Safaris, via the exit.



On board fortunately Daniel turned off the Little Red storyline. We'd been on this attraction so many times now that it does become wearing after a while, so it was a relief to be away from it. We were taken on the regular tour, but had lots of little extras pointed out to us, like how drivers know when to proceed, the routes that the keepers take around the Safari and how they feed the animals. You really do end up soon Kilimanjaro Safaris in a whole new light after taking the Backstage Safari tour. One of the highlights was seeing Tufani, the little baby elephant, out, although in truth he’s not really so little now, all 750lbs of him! We were able to get some great shots of the little fellow.





One or two alligators enjoying the sunshine



A giraffe feeding





Tufani out on Safari!



Once the tour of Kilimanjaro Safaris was over, Daniel still had some surprises for us. We all headed over to the Tusker House restaurant, where he presented us with a few final thank you’s. Earlier on we had been given an Animal Kingdom guidebook which is no longer available, but now we also got our commemorative pins, as well as a survey to fill in about the tour. I think I marked everything down as excellent. I really couldn't fault this tour, it was wonderful and we learned so much on it. I thoroughly recommend this to anyone who likes Animal Kingdom or animals, it was worth every bit we paid for it and it was three very enjoyable hours for us.



After thanking Daniel and wishing him a Happy Birthday, we got Fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris and then came back to the Tusker House restaurant for lunch. At first I was going to go for the vegetable sandwich, but then Mark spotted the salmon, so I changed my mind and had that instead and I'm glad I did. It came with rice and French beans (as did Mark’s chicken) and it was excellent value for money. Including two drinks, all in all, it came to just $21.26, a real bargain for Disney, especially compared to the Mara!



Tusker House Restaurant – average score 8.50



Food 9 8 ½

Atmosphere 8 8

Value for money 9 8½



Next: so this is what they mean by changeable weather – and where’s that van got to?!

[BritDisFan]

Cheryl your tour sounds fantastic, I am going to show your post to Allan as I really fancy doing this tour and I hope I might persuade him. I love the pictures of Tufani , please hurry with the next installment.

Karen

[karmic]

Thanks for the update. The tour sound very interesting and something we might try in July.

[ariel1]

sounds like a great tour! i love your photos- especially the giraffe one. just lovely. more, please!

[buckysmom]

Cheryl, I did not mind my 3 year old waking me up before 7 AM today. Why? Because I was hoping for an update on your TR!
You did not disappoint.
Thanks for the wonderful pictures and peek at backstage

[chezp]

Friday 30 April – part four: so this is what they mean by changeable weather – and where’s that van got to?!



As we still had some time left before our Fastpass time opened up for Kilimanjaro Safaris, we walked through the Pangani Forest Trail. I know some people aren’t too keen on the trails, but I love them. It's great being able to explore at your own pace. Unfortunately, the gorillas were not cooperating today. We caught a brief glimpses of a couple of them and one (who must’ve been) male was sprawled out in the sun. It looked like he had had too much to drink!





It has to be a male gorilla, looking like that!



By now, it was 12.55 and time for our second visit of the day to Kilimanjaro Safaris. Mark was given a pass, so they could see how law it was taking to get onto the ride. I’m sure once they got the answer, the wait time would have increased, as we must’ve waited 10 minutes on Fastpass and there was a very long line for those without fast passes. This time, we didn't see that much, but we did get lucky with the hippo, who was out sunbathing and one of the elephants was really close to the truck. I'm glad we saw Tufani on our earlier trip though, as he wasn't in full view on our second attempt.





Sunbathing time for Mr. Hippo!





It doesn’t get much closer than this!



We were getting hot and it was starting to feel crowded on we came off Kilimanjaro Safaris, so we decided to take a walk over to Animal Kingdom's newest attraction, Expedition Everest to see how work was progressing. I was able to snap some photos of what they were up to.









Construction on Expedition Everest



A new “rest area” for travellers in the new part of Asia – some great theming from Imagineering at work here



The view back to the rest of Animal Kingdom from the new part of Asia



They’ve opened up a huge expanse of land with this attraction. There’s now a new bridge connecting Asia to Dinoland, which I’m sure will help with congestion in the future.



Daniel had earlier told us about the plans for the Evening Magic Hours, which of course I knew all about thanks to the boards, but what he also told us was that Disney is hoping with the opening of Expedition Everest that it will turn Animal Kingdom into more of an all-day park. This is why they're experimenting with the late opening in May, to see how well Animal Kingdom works when it’s open until 8.00, as that’s the eventual plan for the park. It's about time that they looked into making Animal Kingdom more of a long stay park. It’s always seemed crazy to me that it shuts at 5.00, when all the other parks stay open a lot later.



Continued in next post...

[chezp]

We walked back to Discovery Island, pausing only to get Eeyore’s photo with me again.





Once is never enough for me when it comes to photos with Eeyore!



There was no queue for him, Pooh or Tigger and as we left the park a few moments later, Tigger was waving at us as he still had nothing to do! I did feel sorry for him though, standing there with very little to do. It's a waste of the characters (and the CM's) time.



We stopped to look around the Oasis and this is the first time we had really done this, mainly because I have read so many good things on the boards about taking your time in this area. I'm glad we did that, as we saw some interesting creatures and it allowed us to just soak up the atmosphere of Animal Kingdom.









The inhabitants of the Oasis



Our timing as we left Animal Kingdom couldn't have been more perfect. As we exited, it got a lot more humid and suddenly started to rain a little. We had seen a few spots of rain while we were in the Pangani Forest Trail, but now it was coming down heavier. We made it to the car and the rain turned into bigger droplets, but ironically as we walked back from the parking lot at Aimal Kingdom Lodge, very few of them actually hit us, a bit like the ground on the Savannah the night before. This must be how it stays so dry.



By the time we were back in our room and I was nursing my insect bites (which appeared to be getting bigger if anything), the heavens really did open and we were treated to a torrential downpour, complete with thunder and lightning. It only lasted about 10 to 15 minutes and then the sun came back out again. The odd thing was that it was still just as hot outside. Usually when we get a quick storm like that home, the temperature drops by about 10°, but that wasn't happening here at all.



It was just as well the weather had returned to its norm, as we were due to head over to the Boardwalk to meet our new DVC rep. We had arranged to be picked up at 3.10, but by 3.25, when there was still no sign of the DVC van, Mark went to find out what had happened. It turned out they had gone to the Wilderness Lodge instead of Animal Kingdom Lodge.



Our driver was very apologetic when he arrived, which did make up for our wait. We were quickly at the Boardwalk and as our driver walked down with us to the DVC offices, we both spotted the Beach Club and said, at the same time, “home”. That’s really how we felt. Don’t get me wrong, staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge has been a great experience, but my heart is still very much at the Beach Club. It’s got a wonderful location (we found AKL very out of the way – the bus journey to Magic Kingdom and even the drive over here seemed to take forever, a lot longer than we’re used to anyway) and although the African theming at AKL is lovely, we prefer the ambience of the Beach Club and at that moment, I realised that I couldn’t wait to get home to the Beach Club Villas. Besides it’s the home to Stormalong Bay and Beaches and Cream – two very good reasons to stay there!



Next: joy and disappointment in just a few minutes…

[statelady01]

Cool report Chez- I am sure glad you were there to keep the little donkey company a bit!