Trip Reports
02-20-2007, 09:08 AM
Dianne M. Kueck -- April 2002 -- Walt Disney World (AKL)
Cast:
Your trip reporter, Dianne (age 31), 6th visit to WDW
Dianne's boyfriend, Kendall (age 32), 3rd visit to WDW
Hotel: Animal Kingdom Lodge
Dates: April 21-28, 2002
Transport: Frontier Airlines, Denver to Orlando
Tiffany Towncar
Pre-Trip Preparations
Sometime in December or the beginning of January, I became convinced that the only way I would make it through the winter was having a WDW trip to look forward to, despite the fact that we had visited WDW in May 2001. By mid-January, I succumbed to temptation, and we booked 7 nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Kendall's preferred choice of lodging. We chose savannah view, and started thinking about what we wanted to see this time, especially those things we hadn't had a chance to do in May 2001 or December 1999.
Rather than plan a tight schedule, we decided to make a few concrete plans and fit other things in as we felt like doing them. We made Priority Seatings for Boma on the evening we arrived, for the Mary Poppins breakfast (I always like at least one character meal), and made reservations for Cirque de Soleil and the Wild by Design tour of the Animal Kingdom. I quickly began reviewing Disney guidebooks, RADP, and various Internet sites to catch up on Disney news, driving everyone around me crazy. At long last, however, the last week of April arrived.
Sunday, April 21
Somewhat surprisingly, the direct flight from Denver to Orlando left nearly on time and passed pleasantly. We arrived at around 5:10 p.m. (darn those lost two hours heading east!) and immediately found Bryan from Tiffany Towncar waiting for us. Bryan was great, and we enjoyed chatting with him on the way to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Upon arrival at AKL, we were told that we had been upgraded from our original Savannah view to a Deluxe Savannah view, and assigned Room 5553 (at the end of the Zebra trail, overlooking the end of the Arusha savannah). Excitedly we trekked nearly to the end of the Zebra trail (catching glimpses of Ankole cattle, zebras, bongos, and others through the occasional windows on both sides of the hall), threw open the door, rushed to the balcony, and saw . . . one East African Crowned Crane. My first thought - hey, this must be where Larry from RADP was staying, and that's George! So we called him George. Sometime later, George was joined by Georgette. We weren't disappointed by the lack of fauna, but instead were disappointed at having a perfect view of a corral and an area of foliage protected by a themed fence, which together took up a good part of the viewing area. We decided that we might ask to be moved to another room, as I had not envisioned viewing an empty corral from my savannah-view window.
We then headed out to our 7:30 p.m. Priority Seating for Boma. What a great place! I especially enjoyed the several flavors of hummus; Kendall enjoyed the hummus, as well as the soups, the marinated beef, the potatoes with Afritude, etc. Although it was tough to find room, we also shared one of each dessert, including the famous zebra dome.
After returning back to our room and greeting George and Georgette, we left to go to DisneyQuest (might as well get some use out of those length-of-stay passes). We visited DisneyQuest often during our last trip to WDW, in May 2001, and were looking forward to battling for the pirate ghost's gold and shooting a few asteroids in the Buzz Lightyear game. We also tried out Ride the Comix and the Mighty Ducks Pinball game. By the time we got there, we only had about an hour, but managed to play quite a few games before being kicked out (politely) at the 11:00 closing. Anticipating an early start the next morning, we headed back to AKL.
Even though a giraffe wandered by, and a gemsbok and an eland, I was still bothered by the corral, and Kendall by the blocked off area. There was no way any animals were getting very near our room! So, about 1 a.m., we walked down to the desk and asked to change rooms on Monday, preferably to a room overlooking the main area of Arusha savannah. The desk clerk was very accommodating; while arranging for us to transfer, he noted that it was good that we had come down then, as the hotel was full for Monday. He also informed us that the "corral" was not for animals - it was for hotel guests, in case they had to evacuate the hotel, as Disney wouldn't want the guests to be injured by the animals. Human corral, animal corral, same difference as far as my view was concerned. Satisfied, we returned to our room to turn in for the night.
Monday, April 22
After repacking our suitcases and waiting for bell services to store them for us, we left for the Animal Kingdom. We wanted to try AK first for two reasons: (1) it had two new attractions, as well as our old favorite Kali River Rapids, and (2) it was close to the AKL, and we wanted to come back early and get ready for the 6:00 show of Cirque de Soleil.
We arrived at AK about 9:15, just missing the opening crowd and being admitted quickly, despite the bag search. Avoiding the crowd heading to Kilamanjaro Safaris, we went directly to Dinoland U.S.A., which was virtually deserted. We walked on to Primeval Whirl - an interesting combination of roller coaster and tilt-a-whirl. It was pretty jerky, but amusing. I wouldn't want to wait an extraordinary amount of time to ride it, but it wasn't too bad. We moved on to the Triceratops Spin and walked right on. Again, pleasant enough (especially for those of us who haven't ridden Dumbo or a Dumbo clone in years) but not worth a wait. Since there were only a few people in line at the end of the ride, we ended up going right through the line again and getting a second ride immediately.
Next up was Dinosaur, one of our favorite rides, also a walk-on. The first time we rode, in 1999, I seriously thought Kendall was going to fly right off, it was so rough! It seems like they've toned it down some since then, but we still enjoyed our time travel experience. Then, back to Primeval Whirl - but this time we had to wait a few minutes. While we waited with the CM manning the line, however, we discovered that it was Earth Day and the 4th anniversary of AK, so the wait was useful.
Regarding Chester & Hester's Dinorama, we enjoyed those "Disney details" such as the cars parked at the rest-stop area. You can also see the influence of McDonalds here if you look in the cars - they both have McDonalds leftovers inside along with lots of period items (like magazines). Though the asphalt and carnival atmosphere were perhaps not the best choice for AK, I thought the critics were overly harsh.
Leaving Dinoland, U.S.A. (where you pass a "Petrifries" stand, more McDonalds!) we wandered over to Asia for a snack of peanut chicken at the chicken stand near the entrance to KRR. Here we suffered a severe disappointment - they don't serve the peanut chicken anymore! A CM told us the supplier raised prices and it was too expensive to sell anymore, but they are looking for a substitute. Sadly, we settled for roasted corn and wonton soup, then went to the Flights of Wonder, which we had never seen before but enjoyed immensely. Next we continued over to Africa, got a Fastpass for Kilamanjaro Safaris, and walked the Pangani trail. Great views of the okapi, but no gorillas. (We found out later that the family group were being kept inside for a couple of weeks so that the newly-planted grass had a chance to establish itself before they came out.) We finished our walk just before our Fastpass time, and passed a long line of people waiting for the KS on the way to our safari vehicle. (See below for a commentary on the value of Fastpass.) A good variety of animals were visible, even around 12:30 p.m. - it's not necessarily true that you have to be there first thing in the morning (though the lions seem to hide a lot later in the day). We then backtracked to Asia, where we got a Fastpass for KRR. We were a little hungry from the lack of the peanut chicken, but could not face heavy barbeque at Flame Tree Barbeque. So (and this is hard to admit) we ended up at Restaurantosaurus. Yes, I ate at McDonald's at WDW. Yes, I am ashamed. AK really needs more food options for a 90-degree humid Florida day.
After our snack/lunch, we returned to Asia and walked the Maharaja Trail. I think this is one of the best-themed areas at WDW, and I absolutely adore the tiger areas. I also enjoy sitting in the bird area watching everyone walk past without looking up. (Um, they're birds, they fly, you may want to keep an eye on the sky....). Then it was time for our Fastpass for KRR. On a hunch, we checked the Fastpass kiosks, and got a second Fastpass since the return time was only 40 minutes away - just in case we didn't get wet enough the first time through. I escaped with only a slight dampening, but Kendall was soaked through on his left side. While waiting for the second Fastpass time, we watched the gibbons near the exit to KRR. The second time was the charm-we were both completely soaked, so it was good that we had finished what we wanted to do at AK that day and headed back to AKL.
Of course, we had to find out where our new room was. The desk clerk had indicated it would be off the Zebra trail, overlooking the main part of the Arusha savannah. To our shock, dismay, and horror, the afternoon CM indicated we would be overlooking the (24 hour) pool! NO! we both cried in unison (politely). We must have a savannah view! Although taken slightly aback at our dismay, the CM sorted it all out and assigned us Room 5373, off the Kudu trail and overlooking the main part of the Arusha savannah. Heaving several sighs of relief, we dripped our way down the hall, opened the door, rushed to the balcony, and saw mammals, and no corral! Happily, we settled on the balcony until we had to change and leave for Cirque de Soleil.
What to say about Cirque de Soleil? The show was fabulous; better than their traveling shows, since their permanent theater allows for awesome effects. In our opinions, they earned the $70 ticket price, and we'd like to go again on our next visit.
After the Cirque, we enjoyed dinner across the way at the House of Blues. Two words of warning - huge portions! After a "side salad" the size of an entree, I could only eat half of my pasta entree, but we had no way to save the extra. Calling it a night, we returned to the AKL, again to enjoy the balcony before turning in for the night.
A comment on Fastpass: why isn't everyone using it? We regularly walked past massive lines of people who started waiting in line just about the time we got our Fastpass. Rather than waiting in line, we experienced other attractions and breezed through to the front of the line with little to no waiting (with the exception of Test Track, which we experienced later in this trip). People stared at us, and actually made comments, like we were special - but they could have used their park ticket, same as us. Disney is trying to publicize the program, but I still get the feeling that many people don't understand the system.
Tuesday, April 23
After beginning the day with more balcony watching, we visited Mary Poppins at her breakfast at 1900 Park Faire in the Grand Floridian. Mary was joined by Alice in Wonderland, Pooh, and Eeyore. Can't get away from Pooh anywhere, we found out during the week. In a surprise appearance, the Mad Hatter swooped into the room just as we were finishing our meal.
On to the Magic Kingdom. Rather than rushing down Main Street, we enjoyed an omnibus ride and went into Fantasyland to avoid the worst of the crowds later. We rode Winnie the Pooh with no wait, then Peter Pan's Flight with only a 5-minute wait. It's a Small World was a walk-on, and so was the Haunted Mansion. Making our way through Liberty Square and Frontierland, we waited less than 10 minutes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Moving on to Adventureland, we first rode the new (since our last visit) Carpets of Aladdin - a Dumbo/Triceratops clone, but I enjoyed the spitting camel, which was a surprise to Kendall. Just before the carpets took off, Aladdin and Jasmine walked around part of the ride and greeted the waiting guests, a nice touch. Then an old favorite, Pirates of the Caribbean, and over to Tomorrowland, via the Hall of Presidents. This was closed last year for the addition of George W. Bush. Some impressive animatronics. (A side note: our Magical Moments pins were most active in the MK. They tended to go off in dark rides, which was a little disturbing to our vision.)
Securing our Fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear, we rode around on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. The first time around, the teenagers in the next car were obnoxiously distracting, so we rode again. This time, just as the doors were closing, a gentleman who had been unable to get into his family's car fast enough jumped into our car, so we decided to ride again. This time, we rode in lonely splendor and enjoyed the tour of various Tomorrowland attractions. Disappointingly, Tom Morrow was not paged on any of the 3 rides.
After attempting to save the world on Buzz Lightyear (with Kendall being much more heroic than I), we decided the stroller factor in the MK had become too high, and we escaped to EPCOT via the monorail. I always enjoy swooping over Future World upon arrival. Our first stop was the IBM game, The IBM Networked Living Challenge, located in Innoventions West. This is a game in which you race your car, trying to obtain certain electronic/technological devices (like GPS, MP3, auto translator, etc.) which work together to make the game easier and give you more points. After playing a couple of times, we decided to have lunch at the Rose & Crown in the UK pavilion.
We decided to take a path previously untaken, and exited the International Gateway for the short walk to the Yacht & Beach Club. Having admired those elegant resorts, we then caught the boat to MGM, where we visited the special Walt Disney exhibit. Immensely interesting, with lots of memorabilia, and definitely worth close attention. We caught the Disney Stars and Motor Cars parade - Kendall's favorite was the Star Wars car, while I liked Mulan in her warrior garb. The preshow entertainment consisted an upset mother's realization that her kids were sitting right behind the wheelchair area, and her protests when a CM directed a wheelchair party to sit there. All worked out fine, as the kids were allowed to sit in front at the edge of the wheelchair area, since no other wheelchair parties arrived.
After the parade, MGM seemed very crowded, so we went back to EPCOT (which always seems to be the least crowded, given its size and wide walkways). We walked on to Spaceship Earth (the new screens at the beginning really do help to destroy the mood) and then waited only a few minutes for the last showing of Ellen's Energy Adventure at the Universe of Energy. We suffered through the pre-show and excitedly took our seats in the very front row of the car (only a few people were in evidence) - only to be informed of technical difficulties that resulted in us being returned to the outside much more quickly than we had anticipated. (Not wanting to experience the preshow again, we didn't end up at the UOE again this trip.)
By default, we ended up back at the Networked Living Challenge. Kendall regularly beats the field at this game, and I occasionally lead the pack if his game is off and I can manage to secure the GPS. Kendall ended up getting the highest scores of the day.
After a snack at the Electric Umbrella, we headed back to the AKL. We picked up some soup at Mara, and relaxed on the balcony to admire the several animals before going to bed, since DisneyQuest was closed for a special event.
Wednesday, April 24
Today, we started the day at MGM. First stop was to get a Fastpass for Rock n Roller Coaster. Just after we secured our Fastpass, a guy announced he had two Fastpasses for immediate entry. Being quick on our feet, we grabbed the Fastpasses and headed on in. Neither of us had ridden the Rock n Roller Coaster before. We knew about the super-fast start, but it literally took my breath away! The ride was over almost before we knew it, and we were glad we'd have a second chance with our own Fastpasses. In the meantime, we visited Who Wants to be a Millionaire-Play It. A couple of times during this trip, Kendall was at the top of the audience scoreboard, but he never made it into the Hot Seat. It seemed like there were an awful lot of quick, smart teenagers at MGM - probably because of the FIRST Robotics Competition, the finals of which were scheduled to start on Thursday at EPCOT.
After a quick stop at Tatooine Traders to assure Kendall that there was no special Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones merchandise (there wasn't, with the exception of a Star Wars II beach towel which did not call to Kendall), we used our Fastpasses on Rock n Roller Coaster. Again, the ride was too short, and I barely avoided losing my glasses on the corkscrew. Then, back to Millionaire before having lunch at the Prime Time Café. Cousin Rob was upset that I blew the straw wrapper at Kendall, and wouldn't give me my S'more until I apologized, which I did insincerely merely in order to get to the chocolate. On our way out of the park, we enjoyed the Streetmosphere, having a conversation with a young wanna-be star who was on the lookout for the famous agent Mr. Big. Probably because we were relaxing on a bench and did not look in a hurry, we were approached by a WDW Research CM and answered a WDW survey, hopefully ensuring ourselves a postcard mailing for next year.
On to EPCOT, and of course the Networked Living Challenge (hmm, we're not obsessed, are we?). We then entered the World Showcase, stopping to watch the Chinese acrobats before visiting the American Adventure (last year, on our final day the AA broke down just before Will Rogers, so I was looking forward to seeing the rope twirling again). I wish Disney would update the ending montage, but do like the show overall. Kendall loves it. Upon our exit, we noticed Survivor playing, and were just in time to catch the opening notes of The Eye of the Tiger. This was particularly amusing because I had been teasing Kendall for weeks that I would make him watch Survivor by humming those opening notes!
We watched the early Tapestry of Dreams parade from near Japan and admired the bonsai trees. (We admired many aspects of the Flower and Garden show, but particularly the bonsai and a couple other exhibits.) We caught a Living Statue in France, then continued past the UK and Canada back toward Norway for dinner at Restaurant Akershus. Quite delicious, and plenty of choices for those of us who abhor herring.
Skipping Illuminations to beat the crowd, we returned to the AKL before going on to Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island. The 10:40 Comedy Warehouse show was pretty funny. Instead of visiting DisneyQuest, though, we went to the Comedy Warehouse show at 10:40, which was pretty funny. Then, back to the lodge and to bed (Too many activities and too much sun over the last several days, or increasing age? I maintain it was the former.)
Thursday, April 25
Thursday was our lazy day, starting out at Blizzard Beach around 10:15. We rode Cross Country Creek, then the tube rides and the mat rides. By the time we'd slid down about 6-8 times, though, the lines were becoming incredible, and there was a large group of rude teenagers dominating the area. So, a quick dip in the wave pool, and we were back at the AKL for lunch at Mara.
I was not very impressed by Mara. The soups are great, but the other African-themed dishes are only so-so. I'm used to expensive Disney food, but really felt ripped off at Mara, unlike most of the other places we ate during this trip.
After some deliberation, we decided to re-visit the MK for the Share a Dream Come True Parade. I was a little disappointed in this parade. They had lots of characters, but for some reason I expected more floats. I did like the CM portraying Walt at the beginning of the parade. Then we moved on to MGM. This time, we started with The Great Movie Ride, then caught two shows of Millionaire. At one point both Kendall and I were on the leader board, but no Hot Seat for us. Deciding against a third Millionaire show (the preshow is too much to take 3 times in a row), we took the boat to the Boardwalk. Before the boat arrived, we amused ourselves feeding the fish. We ate at Spoodles - again, a great meal! We then went to DisneyQuest, experiencing the Virtual Jungle Cruise, Pirates of Buccaneer Gold, Buzz Lightyear, Alien Invasion, and the old arcade games before closing.
Friday, April 26
This morning we had arranged to treat ourselves by taking the Wild by Design tour at the Animal Kingdom. This tour does not go backstage, but takes you through Discovery Island, Asia, and Africa and discusses the "Disney" story behind the theming as well as the real story. For example, it explains the relationship between the decrepit statue at the entrance to Asia, the towers where the gibbons roam (the day of our tour a new baby had been born only days earlier, in fact we had seen the mother roaming around the day before the birth while waiting for our KRR Fastpass time to come up!), the waiting area for KRR, and the ruins of the Maharaja Trail. Absolutely highly recommended - this was one of the highlights of this trip! Thanks to Deb Wills and her All Ears Newsletter for tipping us off to this tour. (By the way, this was the first time the tour had sold out and had a capacity 10 visitors.)
While we were waiting for the tour to start, we saw the Talking Palm Tree. Amusing, at least for a while, but it probably should have started picking on some other poor guest after a while, since it concentrated on one couple for a long time.
After the tour, we returned to AKL. I took a nap (lots of sun, remember? Not too old yet.) while Kendall took some photos of the AKL and the savannahs. After my nap, we returned to AK for the Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. Before the parade, as we wandered through the Oasis, we were approached by another research CM, who happened to be from Colorado, near where we live! We took the survey again, hopefully doubling our odds of getting a postcard next year. (We have no idea if responding to the survey has any effect at all, but figure it can't hurt to let them know that we have been to WDW for multi-day stays three times in three years.) We found a good spot for the parade, which happily included a seat on a bench for me. This was probably my favorite parade of the four parks. I loved the creative animal floats and costumes. At the end of the parade our Magical Moments pins were flashing up a storm. By then it was 4:30, so we decided to round out our visit by daring the KRR. There was hardly anyone there - we ended up riding four times, with virtually no waiting! In fact, we didn't even have to exit the raft the third time, and just went around again. By the second ride, we were drenched, so we had nothing to lose by taking rides 3 and 4. After the fourth ride, we were kicked off (politely) because the park was closed.
Having changed clothes (and of course having watched animals from the balcony), we ate dinner at Jiko. The food was excellent, but it was so slow! It was 15-20 minutes before they even took our order, and 20 more minutes before we saw a sign of our appetizer. The guests at the tables next to us were seated quite a while after we were, yet they got their food first and left before us. We were told it was a computer error, but still... I'm sure their trip report has a rather more glowing report on this restaurant.
We returned to Downtown Disney to do some shopping on the last day that the shops could ship items back to our resort. We attended the 10:40 show at the Comedy Warehouse, which has been admirably summarized by Sue Holland in her recent trip report. (It certainly was strange reading a trip report about something I had experienced!) Rather than wait for the next show, we headed back to AKL for the night.
Saturday, April 27
Our last full day at WDW for this trip! We started out at the FIRST Robotics Competition at EPCOT. This event was awesome, with hundreds of teens participating in the national finals with robots they designed. The competition essentially involved 2 skills: moving a large goal around and putting balls into the goal. Teams gained points by having the goals in their scoring zones and by placing balls into the goal. (Once we obtained a copy of the rules, the competition made a lot more sense.) The teams are given six weeks to create a robot from approved parts with the assistance and mentoring of experienced engineers. The teams were also competing for best spirit, and many had matching shirts, signs, mascots, cheers, etc. All in all, a fascinating event, and we spent more time there than I had anticipated because we were so interested.
Upon entering EPCOT, rather than going immediately to the Networked Living Challenge, we got a Fastpass for Test Track, rode the Maelstrom with no wait, and had a slightly late lunch at Nine Dragons in China. After taking in another showing of the American Adventure, we stopped in France for a chocolate croissant and continued on to Canada. Having just missed a showing of O Canada, we relaxed in the coolness of the cellar before the next show. After leaving Canada (which had a fabulous topiary peacock whose tail was the flower beds in the gardens) we took the Rose Walk back toward Future World. It was time for our Test Track Fastpasses. To my recollection, this is the only time we waited more than a couple of minutes for a Fastpass appointment, and was probably the longest wait of the entire week. While I will readily admit 40 minutes is better than the 75-minute standby line, I would not have gone in had I known the wait would be that long. The queuing area is well-themed, but too bangy and clangy for my taste. For Test Track, the single rider line is absolutely the way to go, since it moved much more quickly than even the Fastpass line.
At last, time for the Networked Living Challenge! This time, neither one of us were on our game (I missed that darn GPS every single time), so we only played a couple of times before heading out the front gate to take the bus to MGM. After two games of Millionaire (the first walk-on, and the second via Fastpass), we rode Star Tours and visited the Tatooine Traders again. This time Kendall found Attack of the Clones and Star Wars merchandise that had somehow previously escaped his attention, and ended up buying an autographed picture of Ewan MacGregor as the young Obi Wan Kenobi. (This makes perfect sense when you know that last May, during our last trip to WDW, Kendall wore his Obi Wan outfit for Star Wars weekends. He was a huge hit, and we could hardly move 10 feet without him being asked to pose for a picture.) We closed down MGM by walking on the Rock n Roller Coaster with only a couple of minutes to wait.
Back at the AKL, despite my previous resolution not to go back to Mara for anything but soup, we ended up getting a Tandoori chicken pizza and chicken fingers to take back to the room. Since we had to pack and Kendall wanted to take some nighttime pictures of the AKL, we reluctantly decided not to go to Downtown Disney. That turned out to be a wise choice, since we didn't get to bed until 12:30 that night as it was!
A tip: ride a popular ride in the last 15-20 minutes a park is open. On Friday, there was no wait for KRR multiple times, and on Saturday there was no wait for Rock n Roller Coaster.
Sunday, April 28
The last day! With sadness, we finished packing our bags and took a last look from the balcony. After arranging for bell services to store our bags until the afternoon, we headed to the MK.
This morning, our first stop was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. We walked on twice in a row, with my scores improving with practice. (Not as much as our last trip, though, when the ride stopped part way through and we had a good twenty minutes to practice our aim.) When we finished the second time, the line was already getting long, so we grabbed a Fastpass for a little later and rode the TTA. Only once around, and we wandered toward Fantasyland. We walked on the Mad Hatter's Tea Party with minimal waiting, then went to get a Fastpass for Peter Pan since our BL Fastpass return time was coming up. Strangely, the Fastpass machine I first tried would not give me a Fastpass. Kendall got one from another machine, but every time I tried it informed me I already had a valid Fastpass and could not yet get another. I think the first machine believed that it had already given me a Fastpass even though nothing was printed. The CM I asked to help informed me that I could not get another Fastpass while my BL Fastpass was valid, and would not be persuaded by evidence that the other machine had given Kendall a Fastpass with no problem. Finally, though, she gave me a pass, and we carried on to Snow White. I can see why small children are scared: that witch is mean! Then we went back to BL, showed our Fastpass, and walked in. But, the strange thing was that they never collected our Fastpass! Rather than go through again, since we'd already ridden three times, we stood in front of the Fastpass area and offered the passes to the first taker. I hope they were as happy as we were when we got our immediate Fastpasses to the Rock n Roller Coaster!
Back to Fantasyland, and It's a Small World because we still had a few minutes to our Fastpass return time for Peter Pan. Then Peter Pan, and over to Frontierland to get a Fastpass for Splash Mountain. By now it's 11:00 a.m., and the return time is 11:45 a.m., with a 45-minute stand-by time. Having gotten our Fastpasses, we headed to Adventureland and Pirates of the Caribbean, followed by The Tiki Room -Under New Management. These two attractions nearly filled up the time, so we returned to Splash Mountain. We'd never ridden this ride before, and I thought the queuing area was awesome! Of course, we didn't see much of it, since we walked straight through and had about a one minute wait to board the ride! Again, why not use Fastpass? This was one of those times when we felt the glares, but I just don't understand why people don't take advantage. Anyway, I liked Splash Mountain, and the drop wasn't as bad as I feared.
Time to leave the crowdedness of the MK and take the monorail to EPCOT. We were going to try to ride in the front with the driver, but someone else had already requested that privilege and, given our time constraints today, we did not feel comfortable waiting for the monorail after next. So, another experience to save for next time!
At EPCOT, we naturally stopped at the Networked Living Challenge. Lunch at Le Cellier in Canada (again, quite good, especially the cheese soup and the bread), then a last couple of games of the Networked Living Challenge. Finally, one last ride of Spaceship Earth, then back to AKL to meet Bryan from Tiffany. He was waiting for us (we were actually a little early, but he was even earlier!) and whisked us back to the airport in only 30 minutes. After we changed our Florida clothes for our Denver clothes (from shorts and Tevas to jeans and regular shoes), security took only 15-20 minutes and we had time to browse the airport shops, in case we had a sudden desire for Mickey or Pooh merchandise (we didn't). A relatively smooth flight back to the real world.
Hmm, only 362 more days till next year's trip...
Summary
Good Points
Fastpass!
Walt Disney: One Man's Dream exhibit at MGM
FIRST Robotics Competition
Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade
Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade
Wild by Design
Cirque de Soleil
Boma
Room 5373 & AKL generally
Bad Points
Slow Service at Jiko
Mara (except the soup)
Early closing of MK & DisneyQuest for special events
Lack of Early Entry
Lack of E-nights
Dianne M. Kueck
sophy1996@yahoo.com
Cast:
Your trip reporter, Dianne (age 31), 6th visit to WDW
Dianne's boyfriend, Kendall (age 32), 3rd visit to WDW
Hotel: Animal Kingdom Lodge
Dates: April 21-28, 2002
Transport: Frontier Airlines, Denver to Orlando
Tiffany Towncar
Pre-Trip Preparations
Sometime in December or the beginning of January, I became convinced that the only way I would make it through the winter was having a WDW trip to look forward to, despite the fact that we had visited WDW in May 2001. By mid-January, I succumbed to temptation, and we booked 7 nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Kendall's preferred choice of lodging. We chose savannah view, and started thinking about what we wanted to see this time, especially those things we hadn't had a chance to do in May 2001 or December 1999.
Rather than plan a tight schedule, we decided to make a few concrete plans and fit other things in as we felt like doing them. We made Priority Seatings for Boma on the evening we arrived, for the Mary Poppins breakfast (I always like at least one character meal), and made reservations for Cirque de Soleil and the Wild by Design tour of the Animal Kingdom. I quickly began reviewing Disney guidebooks, RADP, and various Internet sites to catch up on Disney news, driving everyone around me crazy. At long last, however, the last week of April arrived.
Sunday, April 21
Somewhat surprisingly, the direct flight from Denver to Orlando left nearly on time and passed pleasantly. We arrived at around 5:10 p.m. (darn those lost two hours heading east!) and immediately found Bryan from Tiffany Towncar waiting for us. Bryan was great, and we enjoyed chatting with him on the way to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Upon arrival at AKL, we were told that we had been upgraded from our original Savannah view to a Deluxe Savannah view, and assigned Room 5553 (at the end of the Zebra trail, overlooking the end of the Arusha savannah). Excitedly we trekked nearly to the end of the Zebra trail (catching glimpses of Ankole cattle, zebras, bongos, and others through the occasional windows on both sides of the hall), threw open the door, rushed to the balcony, and saw . . . one East African Crowned Crane. My first thought - hey, this must be where Larry from RADP was staying, and that's George! So we called him George. Sometime later, George was joined by Georgette. We weren't disappointed by the lack of fauna, but instead were disappointed at having a perfect view of a corral and an area of foliage protected by a themed fence, which together took up a good part of the viewing area. We decided that we might ask to be moved to another room, as I had not envisioned viewing an empty corral from my savannah-view window.
We then headed out to our 7:30 p.m. Priority Seating for Boma. What a great place! I especially enjoyed the several flavors of hummus; Kendall enjoyed the hummus, as well as the soups, the marinated beef, the potatoes with Afritude, etc. Although it was tough to find room, we also shared one of each dessert, including the famous zebra dome.
After returning back to our room and greeting George and Georgette, we left to go to DisneyQuest (might as well get some use out of those length-of-stay passes). We visited DisneyQuest often during our last trip to WDW, in May 2001, and were looking forward to battling for the pirate ghost's gold and shooting a few asteroids in the Buzz Lightyear game. We also tried out Ride the Comix and the Mighty Ducks Pinball game. By the time we got there, we only had about an hour, but managed to play quite a few games before being kicked out (politely) at the 11:00 closing. Anticipating an early start the next morning, we headed back to AKL.
Even though a giraffe wandered by, and a gemsbok and an eland, I was still bothered by the corral, and Kendall by the blocked off area. There was no way any animals were getting very near our room! So, about 1 a.m., we walked down to the desk and asked to change rooms on Monday, preferably to a room overlooking the main area of Arusha savannah. The desk clerk was very accommodating; while arranging for us to transfer, he noted that it was good that we had come down then, as the hotel was full for Monday. He also informed us that the "corral" was not for animals - it was for hotel guests, in case they had to evacuate the hotel, as Disney wouldn't want the guests to be injured by the animals. Human corral, animal corral, same difference as far as my view was concerned. Satisfied, we returned to our room to turn in for the night.
Monday, April 22
After repacking our suitcases and waiting for bell services to store them for us, we left for the Animal Kingdom. We wanted to try AK first for two reasons: (1) it had two new attractions, as well as our old favorite Kali River Rapids, and (2) it was close to the AKL, and we wanted to come back early and get ready for the 6:00 show of Cirque de Soleil.
We arrived at AK about 9:15, just missing the opening crowd and being admitted quickly, despite the bag search. Avoiding the crowd heading to Kilamanjaro Safaris, we went directly to Dinoland U.S.A., which was virtually deserted. We walked on to Primeval Whirl - an interesting combination of roller coaster and tilt-a-whirl. It was pretty jerky, but amusing. I wouldn't want to wait an extraordinary amount of time to ride it, but it wasn't too bad. We moved on to the Triceratops Spin and walked right on. Again, pleasant enough (especially for those of us who haven't ridden Dumbo or a Dumbo clone in years) but not worth a wait. Since there were only a few people in line at the end of the ride, we ended up going right through the line again and getting a second ride immediately.
Next up was Dinosaur, one of our favorite rides, also a walk-on. The first time we rode, in 1999, I seriously thought Kendall was going to fly right off, it was so rough! It seems like they've toned it down some since then, but we still enjoyed our time travel experience. Then, back to Primeval Whirl - but this time we had to wait a few minutes. While we waited with the CM manning the line, however, we discovered that it was Earth Day and the 4th anniversary of AK, so the wait was useful.
Regarding Chester & Hester's Dinorama, we enjoyed those "Disney details" such as the cars parked at the rest-stop area. You can also see the influence of McDonalds here if you look in the cars - they both have McDonalds leftovers inside along with lots of period items (like magazines). Though the asphalt and carnival atmosphere were perhaps not the best choice for AK, I thought the critics were overly harsh.
Leaving Dinoland, U.S.A. (where you pass a "Petrifries" stand, more McDonalds!) we wandered over to Asia for a snack of peanut chicken at the chicken stand near the entrance to KRR. Here we suffered a severe disappointment - they don't serve the peanut chicken anymore! A CM told us the supplier raised prices and it was too expensive to sell anymore, but they are looking for a substitute. Sadly, we settled for roasted corn and wonton soup, then went to the Flights of Wonder, which we had never seen before but enjoyed immensely. Next we continued over to Africa, got a Fastpass for Kilamanjaro Safaris, and walked the Pangani trail. Great views of the okapi, but no gorillas. (We found out later that the family group were being kept inside for a couple of weeks so that the newly-planted grass had a chance to establish itself before they came out.) We finished our walk just before our Fastpass time, and passed a long line of people waiting for the KS on the way to our safari vehicle. (See below for a commentary on the value of Fastpass.) A good variety of animals were visible, even around 12:30 p.m. - it's not necessarily true that you have to be there first thing in the morning (though the lions seem to hide a lot later in the day). We then backtracked to Asia, where we got a Fastpass for KRR. We were a little hungry from the lack of the peanut chicken, but could not face heavy barbeque at Flame Tree Barbeque. So (and this is hard to admit) we ended up at Restaurantosaurus. Yes, I ate at McDonald's at WDW. Yes, I am ashamed. AK really needs more food options for a 90-degree humid Florida day.
After our snack/lunch, we returned to Asia and walked the Maharaja Trail. I think this is one of the best-themed areas at WDW, and I absolutely adore the tiger areas. I also enjoy sitting in the bird area watching everyone walk past without looking up. (Um, they're birds, they fly, you may want to keep an eye on the sky....). Then it was time for our Fastpass for KRR. On a hunch, we checked the Fastpass kiosks, and got a second Fastpass since the return time was only 40 minutes away - just in case we didn't get wet enough the first time through. I escaped with only a slight dampening, but Kendall was soaked through on his left side. While waiting for the second Fastpass time, we watched the gibbons near the exit to KRR. The second time was the charm-we were both completely soaked, so it was good that we had finished what we wanted to do at AK that day and headed back to AKL.
Of course, we had to find out where our new room was. The desk clerk had indicated it would be off the Zebra trail, overlooking the main part of the Arusha savannah. To our shock, dismay, and horror, the afternoon CM indicated we would be overlooking the (24 hour) pool! NO! we both cried in unison (politely). We must have a savannah view! Although taken slightly aback at our dismay, the CM sorted it all out and assigned us Room 5373, off the Kudu trail and overlooking the main part of the Arusha savannah. Heaving several sighs of relief, we dripped our way down the hall, opened the door, rushed to the balcony, and saw mammals, and no corral! Happily, we settled on the balcony until we had to change and leave for Cirque de Soleil.
What to say about Cirque de Soleil? The show was fabulous; better than their traveling shows, since their permanent theater allows for awesome effects. In our opinions, they earned the $70 ticket price, and we'd like to go again on our next visit.
After the Cirque, we enjoyed dinner across the way at the House of Blues. Two words of warning - huge portions! After a "side salad" the size of an entree, I could only eat half of my pasta entree, but we had no way to save the extra. Calling it a night, we returned to the AKL, again to enjoy the balcony before turning in for the night.
A comment on Fastpass: why isn't everyone using it? We regularly walked past massive lines of people who started waiting in line just about the time we got our Fastpass. Rather than waiting in line, we experienced other attractions and breezed through to the front of the line with little to no waiting (with the exception of Test Track, which we experienced later in this trip). People stared at us, and actually made comments, like we were special - but they could have used their park ticket, same as us. Disney is trying to publicize the program, but I still get the feeling that many people don't understand the system.
Tuesday, April 23
After beginning the day with more balcony watching, we visited Mary Poppins at her breakfast at 1900 Park Faire in the Grand Floridian. Mary was joined by Alice in Wonderland, Pooh, and Eeyore. Can't get away from Pooh anywhere, we found out during the week. In a surprise appearance, the Mad Hatter swooped into the room just as we were finishing our meal.
On to the Magic Kingdom. Rather than rushing down Main Street, we enjoyed an omnibus ride and went into Fantasyland to avoid the worst of the crowds later. We rode Winnie the Pooh with no wait, then Peter Pan's Flight with only a 5-minute wait. It's a Small World was a walk-on, and so was the Haunted Mansion. Making our way through Liberty Square and Frontierland, we waited less than 10 minutes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Moving on to Adventureland, we first rode the new (since our last visit) Carpets of Aladdin - a Dumbo/Triceratops clone, but I enjoyed the spitting camel, which was a surprise to Kendall. Just before the carpets took off, Aladdin and Jasmine walked around part of the ride and greeted the waiting guests, a nice touch. Then an old favorite, Pirates of the Caribbean, and over to Tomorrowland, via the Hall of Presidents. This was closed last year for the addition of George W. Bush. Some impressive animatronics. (A side note: our Magical Moments pins were most active in the MK. They tended to go off in dark rides, which was a little disturbing to our vision.)
Securing our Fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear, we rode around on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. The first time around, the teenagers in the next car were obnoxiously distracting, so we rode again. This time, just as the doors were closing, a gentleman who had been unable to get into his family's car fast enough jumped into our car, so we decided to ride again. This time, we rode in lonely splendor and enjoyed the tour of various Tomorrowland attractions. Disappointingly, Tom Morrow was not paged on any of the 3 rides.
After attempting to save the world on Buzz Lightyear (with Kendall being much more heroic than I), we decided the stroller factor in the MK had become too high, and we escaped to EPCOT via the monorail. I always enjoy swooping over Future World upon arrival. Our first stop was the IBM game, The IBM Networked Living Challenge, located in Innoventions West. This is a game in which you race your car, trying to obtain certain electronic/technological devices (like GPS, MP3, auto translator, etc.) which work together to make the game easier and give you more points. After playing a couple of times, we decided to have lunch at the Rose & Crown in the UK pavilion.
We decided to take a path previously untaken, and exited the International Gateway for the short walk to the Yacht & Beach Club. Having admired those elegant resorts, we then caught the boat to MGM, where we visited the special Walt Disney exhibit. Immensely interesting, with lots of memorabilia, and definitely worth close attention. We caught the Disney Stars and Motor Cars parade - Kendall's favorite was the Star Wars car, while I liked Mulan in her warrior garb. The preshow entertainment consisted an upset mother's realization that her kids were sitting right behind the wheelchair area, and her protests when a CM directed a wheelchair party to sit there. All worked out fine, as the kids were allowed to sit in front at the edge of the wheelchair area, since no other wheelchair parties arrived.
After the parade, MGM seemed very crowded, so we went back to EPCOT (which always seems to be the least crowded, given its size and wide walkways). We walked on to Spaceship Earth (the new screens at the beginning really do help to destroy the mood) and then waited only a few minutes for the last showing of Ellen's Energy Adventure at the Universe of Energy. We suffered through the pre-show and excitedly took our seats in the very front row of the car (only a few people were in evidence) - only to be informed of technical difficulties that resulted in us being returned to the outside much more quickly than we had anticipated. (Not wanting to experience the preshow again, we didn't end up at the UOE again this trip.)
By default, we ended up back at the Networked Living Challenge. Kendall regularly beats the field at this game, and I occasionally lead the pack if his game is off and I can manage to secure the GPS. Kendall ended up getting the highest scores of the day.
After a snack at the Electric Umbrella, we headed back to the AKL. We picked up some soup at Mara, and relaxed on the balcony to admire the several animals before going to bed, since DisneyQuest was closed for a special event.
Wednesday, April 24
Today, we started the day at MGM. First stop was to get a Fastpass for Rock n Roller Coaster. Just after we secured our Fastpass, a guy announced he had two Fastpasses for immediate entry. Being quick on our feet, we grabbed the Fastpasses and headed on in. Neither of us had ridden the Rock n Roller Coaster before. We knew about the super-fast start, but it literally took my breath away! The ride was over almost before we knew it, and we were glad we'd have a second chance with our own Fastpasses. In the meantime, we visited Who Wants to be a Millionaire-Play It. A couple of times during this trip, Kendall was at the top of the audience scoreboard, but he never made it into the Hot Seat. It seemed like there were an awful lot of quick, smart teenagers at MGM - probably because of the FIRST Robotics Competition, the finals of which were scheduled to start on Thursday at EPCOT.
After a quick stop at Tatooine Traders to assure Kendall that there was no special Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones merchandise (there wasn't, with the exception of a Star Wars II beach towel which did not call to Kendall), we used our Fastpasses on Rock n Roller Coaster. Again, the ride was too short, and I barely avoided losing my glasses on the corkscrew. Then, back to Millionaire before having lunch at the Prime Time Café. Cousin Rob was upset that I blew the straw wrapper at Kendall, and wouldn't give me my S'more until I apologized, which I did insincerely merely in order to get to the chocolate. On our way out of the park, we enjoyed the Streetmosphere, having a conversation with a young wanna-be star who was on the lookout for the famous agent Mr. Big. Probably because we were relaxing on a bench and did not look in a hurry, we were approached by a WDW Research CM and answered a WDW survey, hopefully ensuring ourselves a postcard mailing for next year.
On to EPCOT, and of course the Networked Living Challenge (hmm, we're not obsessed, are we?). We then entered the World Showcase, stopping to watch the Chinese acrobats before visiting the American Adventure (last year, on our final day the AA broke down just before Will Rogers, so I was looking forward to seeing the rope twirling again). I wish Disney would update the ending montage, but do like the show overall. Kendall loves it. Upon our exit, we noticed Survivor playing, and were just in time to catch the opening notes of The Eye of the Tiger. This was particularly amusing because I had been teasing Kendall for weeks that I would make him watch Survivor by humming those opening notes!
We watched the early Tapestry of Dreams parade from near Japan and admired the bonsai trees. (We admired many aspects of the Flower and Garden show, but particularly the bonsai and a couple other exhibits.) We caught a Living Statue in France, then continued past the UK and Canada back toward Norway for dinner at Restaurant Akershus. Quite delicious, and plenty of choices for those of us who abhor herring.
Skipping Illuminations to beat the crowd, we returned to the AKL before going on to Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island. The 10:40 Comedy Warehouse show was pretty funny. Instead of visiting DisneyQuest, though, we went to the Comedy Warehouse show at 10:40, which was pretty funny. Then, back to the lodge and to bed (Too many activities and too much sun over the last several days, or increasing age? I maintain it was the former.)
Thursday, April 25
Thursday was our lazy day, starting out at Blizzard Beach around 10:15. We rode Cross Country Creek, then the tube rides and the mat rides. By the time we'd slid down about 6-8 times, though, the lines were becoming incredible, and there was a large group of rude teenagers dominating the area. So, a quick dip in the wave pool, and we were back at the AKL for lunch at Mara.
I was not very impressed by Mara. The soups are great, but the other African-themed dishes are only so-so. I'm used to expensive Disney food, but really felt ripped off at Mara, unlike most of the other places we ate during this trip.
After some deliberation, we decided to re-visit the MK for the Share a Dream Come True Parade. I was a little disappointed in this parade. They had lots of characters, but for some reason I expected more floats. I did like the CM portraying Walt at the beginning of the parade. Then we moved on to MGM. This time, we started with The Great Movie Ride, then caught two shows of Millionaire. At one point both Kendall and I were on the leader board, but no Hot Seat for us. Deciding against a third Millionaire show (the preshow is too much to take 3 times in a row), we took the boat to the Boardwalk. Before the boat arrived, we amused ourselves feeding the fish. We ate at Spoodles - again, a great meal! We then went to DisneyQuest, experiencing the Virtual Jungle Cruise, Pirates of Buccaneer Gold, Buzz Lightyear, Alien Invasion, and the old arcade games before closing.
Friday, April 26
This morning we had arranged to treat ourselves by taking the Wild by Design tour at the Animal Kingdom. This tour does not go backstage, but takes you through Discovery Island, Asia, and Africa and discusses the "Disney" story behind the theming as well as the real story. For example, it explains the relationship between the decrepit statue at the entrance to Asia, the towers where the gibbons roam (the day of our tour a new baby had been born only days earlier, in fact we had seen the mother roaming around the day before the birth while waiting for our KRR Fastpass time to come up!), the waiting area for KRR, and the ruins of the Maharaja Trail. Absolutely highly recommended - this was one of the highlights of this trip! Thanks to Deb Wills and her All Ears Newsletter for tipping us off to this tour. (By the way, this was the first time the tour had sold out and had a capacity 10 visitors.)
While we were waiting for the tour to start, we saw the Talking Palm Tree. Amusing, at least for a while, but it probably should have started picking on some other poor guest after a while, since it concentrated on one couple for a long time.
After the tour, we returned to AKL. I took a nap (lots of sun, remember? Not too old yet.) while Kendall took some photos of the AKL and the savannahs. After my nap, we returned to AK for the Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. Before the parade, as we wandered through the Oasis, we were approached by another research CM, who happened to be from Colorado, near where we live! We took the survey again, hopefully doubling our odds of getting a postcard next year. (We have no idea if responding to the survey has any effect at all, but figure it can't hurt to let them know that we have been to WDW for multi-day stays three times in three years.) We found a good spot for the parade, which happily included a seat on a bench for me. This was probably my favorite parade of the four parks. I loved the creative animal floats and costumes. At the end of the parade our Magical Moments pins were flashing up a storm. By then it was 4:30, so we decided to round out our visit by daring the KRR. There was hardly anyone there - we ended up riding four times, with virtually no waiting! In fact, we didn't even have to exit the raft the third time, and just went around again. By the second ride, we were drenched, so we had nothing to lose by taking rides 3 and 4. After the fourth ride, we were kicked off (politely) because the park was closed.
Having changed clothes (and of course having watched animals from the balcony), we ate dinner at Jiko. The food was excellent, but it was so slow! It was 15-20 minutes before they even took our order, and 20 more minutes before we saw a sign of our appetizer. The guests at the tables next to us were seated quite a while after we were, yet they got their food first and left before us. We were told it was a computer error, but still... I'm sure their trip report has a rather more glowing report on this restaurant.
We returned to Downtown Disney to do some shopping on the last day that the shops could ship items back to our resort. We attended the 10:40 show at the Comedy Warehouse, which has been admirably summarized by Sue Holland in her recent trip report. (It certainly was strange reading a trip report about something I had experienced!) Rather than wait for the next show, we headed back to AKL for the night.
Saturday, April 27
Our last full day at WDW for this trip! We started out at the FIRST Robotics Competition at EPCOT. This event was awesome, with hundreds of teens participating in the national finals with robots they designed. The competition essentially involved 2 skills: moving a large goal around and putting balls into the goal. Teams gained points by having the goals in their scoring zones and by placing balls into the goal. (Once we obtained a copy of the rules, the competition made a lot more sense.) The teams are given six weeks to create a robot from approved parts with the assistance and mentoring of experienced engineers. The teams were also competing for best spirit, and many had matching shirts, signs, mascots, cheers, etc. All in all, a fascinating event, and we spent more time there than I had anticipated because we were so interested.
Upon entering EPCOT, rather than going immediately to the Networked Living Challenge, we got a Fastpass for Test Track, rode the Maelstrom with no wait, and had a slightly late lunch at Nine Dragons in China. After taking in another showing of the American Adventure, we stopped in France for a chocolate croissant and continued on to Canada. Having just missed a showing of O Canada, we relaxed in the coolness of the cellar before the next show. After leaving Canada (which had a fabulous topiary peacock whose tail was the flower beds in the gardens) we took the Rose Walk back toward Future World. It was time for our Test Track Fastpasses. To my recollection, this is the only time we waited more than a couple of minutes for a Fastpass appointment, and was probably the longest wait of the entire week. While I will readily admit 40 minutes is better than the 75-minute standby line, I would not have gone in had I known the wait would be that long. The queuing area is well-themed, but too bangy and clangy for my taste. For Test Track, the single rider line is absolutely the way to go, since it moved much more quickly than even the Fastpass line.
At last, time for the Networked Living Challenge! This time, neither one of us were on our game (I missed that darn GPS every single time), so we only played a couple of times before heading out the front gate to take the bus to MGM. After two games of Millionaire (the first walk-on, and the second via Fastpass), we rode Star Tours and visited the Tatooine Traders again. This time Kendall found Attack of the Clones and Star Wars merchandise that had somehow previously escaped his attention, and ended up buying an autographed picture of Ewan MacGregor as the young Obi Wan Kenobi. (This makes perfect sense when you know that last May, during our last trip to WDW, Kendall wore his Obi Wan outfit for Star Wars weekends. He was a huge hit, and we could hardly move 10 feet without him being asked to pose for a picture.) We closed down MGM by walking on the Rock n Roller Coaster with only a couple of minutes to wait.
Back at the AKL, despite my previous resolution not to go back to Mara for anything but soup, we ended up getting a Tandoori chicken pizza and chicken fingers to take back to the room. Since we had to pack and Kendall wanted to take some nighttime pictures of the AKL, we reluctantly decided not to go to Downtown Disney. That turned out to be a wise choice, since we didn't get to bed until 12:30 that night as it was!
A tip: ride a popular ride in the last 15-20 minutes a park is open. On Friday, there was no wait for KRR multiple times, and on Saturday there was no wait for Rock n Roller Coaster.
Sunday, April 28
The last day! With sadness, we finished packing our bags and took a last look from the balcony. After arranging for bell services to store our bags until the afternoon, we headed to the MK.
This morning, our first stop was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. We walked on twice in a row, with my scores improving with practice. (Not as much as our last trip, though, when the ride stopped part way through and we had a good twenty minutes to practice our aim.) When we finished the second time, the line was already getting long, so we grabbed a Fastpass for a little later and rode the TTA. Only once around, and we wandered toward Fantasyland. We walked on the Mad Hatter's Tea Party with minimal waiting, then went to get a Fastpass for Peter Pan since our BL Fastpass return time was coming up. Strangely, the Fastpass machine I first tried would not give me a Fastpass. Kendall got one from another machine, but every time I tried it informed me I already had a valid Fastpass and could not yet get another. I think the first machine believed that it had already given me a Fastpass even though nothing was printed. The CM I asked to help informed me that I could not get another Fastpass while my BL Fastpass was valid, and would not be persuaded by evidence that the other machine had given Kendall a Fastpass with no problem. Finally, though, she gave me a pass, and we carried on to Snow White. I can see why small children are scared: that witch is mean! Then we went back to BL, showed our Fastpass, and walked in. But, the strange thing was that they never collected our Fastpass! Rather than go through again, since we'd already ridden three times, we stood in front of the Fastpass area and offered the passes to the first taker. I hope they were as happy as we were when we got our immediate Fastpasses to the Rock n Roller Coaster!
Back to Fantasyland, and It's a Small World because we still had a few minutes to our Fastpass return time for Peter Pan. Then Peter Pan, and over to Frontierland to get a Fastpass for Splash Mountain. By now it's 11:00 a.m., and the return time is 11:45 a.m., with a 45-minute stand-by time. Having gotten our Fastpasses, we headed to Adventureland and Pirates of the Caribbean, followed by The Tiki Room -Under New Management. These two attractions nearly filled up the time, so we returned to Splash Mountain. We'd never ridden this ride before, and I thought the queuing area was awesome! Of course, we didn't see much of it, since we walked straight through and had about a one minute wait to board the ride! Again, why not use Fastpass? This was one of those times when we felt the glares, but I just don't understand why people don't take advantage. Anyway, I liked Splash Mountain, and the drop wasn't as bad as I feared.
Time to leave the crowdedness of the MK and take the monorail to EPCOT. We were going to try to ride in the front with the driver, but someone else had already requested that privilege and, given our time constraints today, we did not feel comfortable waiting for the monorail after next. So, another experience to save for next time!
At EPCOT, we naturally stopped at the Networked Living Challenge. Lunch at Le Cellier in Canada (again, quite good, especially the cheese soup and the bread), then a last couple of games of the Networked Living Challenge. Finally, one last ride of Spaceship Earth, then back to AKL to meet Bryan from Tiffany. He was waiting for us (we were actually a little early, but he was even earlier!) and whisked us back to the airport in only 30 minutes. After we changed our Florida clothes for our Denver clothes (from shorts and Tevas to jeans and regular shoes), security took only 15-20 minutes and we had time to browse the airport shops, in case we had a sudden desire for Mickey or Pooh merchandise (we didn't). A relatively smooth flight back to the real world.
Hmm, only 362 more days till next year's trip...
Summary
Good Points
Fastpass!
Walt Disney: One Man's Dream exhibit at MGM
FIRST Robotics Competition
Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade
Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade
Wild by Design
Cirque de Soleil
Boma
Room 5373 & AKL generally
Bad Points
Slow Service at Jiko
Mara (except the soup)
Early closing of MK & DisneyQuest for special events
Lack of Early Entry
Lack of E-nights
Dianne M. Kueck
sophy1996@yahoo.com