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/ Mary's Holiday Adventure, Part Three |
Mary
Cast Member
Posts: 465
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 01-02-03 06:05 PM
12/26 Animal Kingdom
Since I have never seen the parade at AK I figured we could do a late start today and close down AK. I think we ended up arriving there about 1:00. Don't remember exactly how the day went so I'll hit the highlights. We got fast passed for the safari and then wandered through the Pangani trail. The gorillas were quite fun to watch today. The CM said that they all seemed to be having issues with each other so they were pretty actively moving about to get away from each other. One was just sitting up by a tree glaring at the others to keep them away. It was very amusing. We then tried to catch FOTLK. Several times actually. Lines for that were extremely long. So we pulled out our cameras and autograph books and went to visit the characters in Camp Minnie-Mickey. Went to Tusker House and bought the meal deal. Food was very good. Found our way back to the safari and had a GREAT ride. Lots of animals out. Seemed all the elephants were moving in a pack. A hippo was out of the water. Zebras and giraffe were plentiful. The best part? I finally saw a lion awake. Not only awake, but moving about. Where to? Looking for the lioness of course! Driver stopped the jeep and radioed for the one behind to stop, told everyone to be quiet. A low purring noise from the lion became a mighty roar! Our driver just sat there the whole time so we could enjoy it. The lion was making his way toward his woman for well, you know. I swear she gave him a look that said 'No way, pal. I have a headache' because he stopped roaring, looked around and stalked off. I have not even looked at any of the digital pics but I am pretty sure I got a couple of good ones even though I had to quickly get it out as I had not planned to take pictures, just wanted to enjoy. Actually, I am not even sure it was the digital. It might have been the regular one. I'll have to wait and see. We came out of the safari to find the parade had already started. We let it go past and then found a spot to catch it on the return. We really liked this parade. Colorful and music to dance to. Got popcorn and drinks with our meal coupons and saw the last showing of FOTLK. Sat in the lion section and enjoyed it as always. Waited and sat with a family of five that called Christmas Eve and booked flights out of Hartford for early the next morning to get out of town before the storm. Managed to get rooms at GF (I think) for a night before moving back to the All-Stars for their real vacation. The father said he hated the GF. All deluxes for that matter. He felt the service was better at the All Stars and would not pay the money to stay anywhere else. I kind of felt that someone who could afford to pay for last minute airplane tickets for 5 people on Christmas Day could afford to stay where he wanted. CHOOSING to stay at the All Stars says a lot. Left AK. I could not fully express this thought legitimately until the end of the trip but I thought the Chrismtas decorations (with the exception of Osborne lights) at AK made the most dramatic difference. It was very pretty walking the paths with the Christmas lights on the trees. Maybe it was just because there are not really any lights at all since they close so early but it really was very nice. David and Dale share that opinion.
We headed over to Epcot for Illuminations. Left via the International Gateway to tour the Epcot resorts. We very much enjoyed the gingerbread village at Boardwalk. Took a bus Downtown and transferred to a PO-R bus. On the way back to Riverside, David said he would like to look into the DVC. I was shocked. He said after listening to John talk about it and then seeing the Epcot resorts he thinks he might be interested. Would I like to share it with him? Do you really need to know what my answer was?
Tomorrow's plans: It was supposed to be an off day but David and Dale's niece had given them passes she still had left from her just completed CP stint so we will go to MGM later in the day for the parade & Osborne lights.
Mary
First Mate, Good Ship Stickey Mickey and Keeper of the Ships Log
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inkydinkydoo
Cast Member
Posts: 112
Registered: Sep 2002
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Posted 01-04-03 04:35 PM
Wow! You are so lucky to have seen the lion awake. Every time we've gone, he's been napping. Maybe we're going too early. We'll have to take Dale with us next time. ;->
Pat
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Common
Ground / Goofy's HUGE!
/ Mary's Holiday Adventure, Part Three |
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