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04-16-2006, 08:04 PM
| #61 (permalink) |
| Community Rank: Legend   Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: North Central Ohio
Posts: 17,680
| Re: & Larry’s Semicentennial Birthday Jaunt (Day 2, Part 2 Up!) Great updates Larry! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]         |
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04-16-2006, 08:33 PM
| #64 (permalink) |
 Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Columbia, SC
Posts: 5,287
| Re: & Larry’s Semicentennial Birthday Jaunt (Day 2, Part 2 Up!) Flying Fish -- another restaurant I am dying to try (had a PS on a trip when I was pregnant with Mary Devall, but ended up cancelling due to being worn out [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]). The meals and the wines sound absolutely delicious! And I love Caymus Conundrum! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img] Now I'm interested in the Evolution #9. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] Another great day! Jill |
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04-17-2006, 01:45 PM
| #66 (permalink) |
| Doofy4Goofy  Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: New York
Posts: 3,923
| Re: & Larry’s Semicentennial Birthday Jaunt (Day 2, Part 2 Up!) Excellent updates, Larry! I really must learn not to read your TR on an empty stomach! But I enjoy so much reading your restaurant reviews! Looking forward to more!   |
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04-17-2006, 09:43 PM
| #67 (permalink) |
 Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: North Alabama
Posts: 1,460
| & Larry’s Semicentennial Birthday Jaunt (Day 3, Part 1 Up!) Saturday, April 8, 2006 – Part 1, Off to the Animal Kingdom I woke up about 7 minutes before the 6:30 a.m. wake-up call. I did the usual things and hit the OFC for a repeat of yesterday’s breakfast. I sat overlooking the courtyard and the lobby on the courtyard side. I have a couple more pictures of the lobby area looking toward the check-in side:   This next one was taken looking toward the Whispering Canyon Café side. At the top you can see the staircase on Floor 7 1/2 (seriously—that’s the way it’s marked), which leads to the roof. This route is used daily by the Flag Family for access to raise the flags.  I am scheduled for the Wildlife Discovery Excursion through the WL Concierge this morning at the Animal Kingdom at 10:00 a.m., so I am allowing plenty of time to get there. I want to at least obtain a FP for Expedition Everest (EE) for later; better would be a ride first, then the excursion, and then use the FP. When I reached the bus stop, I saw the family that I spoke to on the bus last evening returning from Epcot. They were headed for the Studios, so I wished them a great day and they were off on their bus. On my bus to the AK, I spoke to a family that has been spilt up by Katrina—the husband is working in New Orleans, and his wife and daughter have been staying in Virginia Beach, Virginia. [I am originally from Richmond, Virginia.] The time passed quickly and we were soon disembarking at AK.  While I was in line at the ticket gate, I spoke with a couple from the Washington, DC area and ended up walking back with them to Asia and EE. Because I am supposed to be at the assembly point for the Excursion at 9:45, I decided not to risk getting in line first, so I made my way to the FP line. Here, ironically, I stood and let people go by me until I felt that the FP time had cranked up to a point that would allow me a sufficient cushion after the end of the Excursion. Afterward, there was only a 20 minute posted wait for standby; unfortunately I had no clue as to how long folks were waiting in line to get to that point because the lines stretched way back in the direction of Africa—where they were for the AP preview in January. The weather is beautiful with a stiff breeze, thankfully. We may actually get some rain later today or tonight, which will be the first measurable rain in this area in about 42 days! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] I wandered along the path from Asia to Africa, and stopped from time to time to soak in the ambience. I got to the Mombasa Market Place a bit early, so I strolled around and looked at the wares, and talked to one of the CMs. The store was pretty empty—everyone was busy going on EE and Kilimanjaro Safaris (KS), I guess. The CM told me that the tour would assemble on the front porch, so I made my way out there and sat on the bench until our guides appeared. Walter, who I gather is the AK manager for mammals, conducted the tour with assistance from Olivia, and Marc drove our minibus. There were about 10 people on the tour and, after a few preliminaries, we exited near KS to board our vehicle. [This was the location where the Backstage Safari reentered the park to board our KS truck back in February.] The bus was air conditioned and we were told that by virtue of the grab bars mounted all around, we were allowed to stand up when we wanted to. We had a brief ride backstage, where of course we were asked not to take pictures. We then intercepted the KS track, where we traveled some of the course [hippos, Nile crocs, mandrills] before passing the Baobab Tree, descending to the savannah, where we turned off the track and parked for a while.   Note the pickup far left that has stopped to drop off some browse.   After quite a lot of very interesting information from Walter (who obviously loves his job) and many questions, we moved on around to the elephant area, where we pulled off and parked parallel to the KS track. Here was our view, which was occasionally blocked by passing KS trucks. The most interesting phenomenon at this point was that invariably when the trucks passed, the Guests would look at us even though there were many elephants on the other side! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]  The baby elephant is closest to the Baobab tree. We moved back along the track and then pulled off where we overlooked the savannah from the back side. Along the way we saw the zebras.  We saw the cheetahs [they never prosper, you know [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]], and the lioness was out on the rock and sitting up as if she was posing for us. [Sorry, I was on the wrong side of the bus and decided it would be impolite to crawl over the father and his son on the other side of the bus just to take a picture.] Anyway, this was a very different sort of experience from Kilimanjaro Safari or the Backstage Safari. It was very personalized and leisurely, and there was a lot of great information. Being able to stand up and take pictures was a nice treat. The cost of the 75-90 minute tour was $45. Coming Up: Great Moments with Mr. Yeti |
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04-18-2006, 01:28 PM
| #71 (permalink) |
| Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire   Join Date: May 2004 Location: Ohio Football Hall Of Fame
Posts: 38,510
| Re: & Larry’s Semicentennial Birthday Jaunt (Day 3, Part 1 Up!) Sounds like a really wonderful tour Larry and the pictures are beautiful!!!! Can't wait to read more!!! |
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04-18-2006, 01:55 PM
| #72 (permalink) |
 Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Philadelphia suburbs, PA
Posts: 2,688
| Re: & Larry’s Semicentennial Birthday Jaunt (Day 3, Part 1 Up!) Larry, I'm reading on my lunch break and my work computer can't support the photos, so I can't wait to get home and see them. Sounds like you had a great tour too. I just loved all the time you get to spend observing the animals on this tour. |
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04-18-2006, 02:52 PM
| #73 (permalink) |
| Doofy4Goofy Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: New York
Posts: 3,923
| Re: & Larry’s Semicentennial Birthday Jaunt (Day 3, Part 1 Up!) Great update, Larry! That tour sounds really interesting! Looking forward to your moment with the Yeti (and to see if you got to ride it more times than I did) [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] |
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04-18-2006, 05:55 PM
| #74 (permalink) |
| Tinkerbell's Aunt  Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: NW Chicago Burbs
Posts: 10,108
| Re: & Larry’s Semicentennial Birthday Jaunt (Day 3, Part 1 Up!) The tour sounds great! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] I'm enjoying your trip report and looking forward to the next installment! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] |
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04-18-2006, 06:02 PM
| #75 (permalink) |
| Living Seas wannabe  Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 25,450
| Re: & Larry’s Semicentennial Birthday Jaunt (Day 3, Part 1 Up!) Great update Larry!! |
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About This Page: This is a discussion on & Larry’s Semicentennial Birthday Jaunt (Complete!) within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Message Boards and Forums; Great updates Larry! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]...
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