34Angels
10-19-2008, 06:46 PM
Animal Kingdom & Mickey?s Not So Scary Halloween Party
Today is Extra Magic Hours for Animal Kingdom so up at 630 for me, head to the showers and start getting ready. Come back to the campsite, wake Jake up again (he never gets up the first time) and he heads off to the shower while I get the back pack together for the day. We need to be out of there by 745 (we drove to AK) to get to AK for the 8 am EMH and for whatever reason we?re not moving fast enough. I melt down. Yep, 3rd day in, first thing in the morning I end up bawling in the tent. Looking back I know why I melted, maybe only 5 hours of sleep, coupled with not hardly eating the day before (crappy donuts, a couple of sandwiches, a dole whip and half a cookie), as well as oh yeah, my fun week. So I?m in the tent crying, Jake?s trying to get me to stop and cheer me up (man I love him!) and we finally get on our way and if you can believe got there 15 min after 8. After a bathroom stop and a quick stop at a shop to get Jake a new shirt (the start of the meltdown was his shirt, I packed the wrong one) and a straw hat, we went straight to Kilimanjaro Safari and fast passed it, ran over to Expedition Everest and woo hoo! Love that ride! By the time we got all that done it was right at 9 am, park opening. We decided to ride Kali River Rapids so I would have the rest of the day to dry off. Now, ya?ll know there?s always that one person who gets totally soaked? I mean, everyone else gets wet (except the one that gets through the ride totally dry) but there?s always that one person who gets soaked, well, until today I was never that person, but today, I came off the ride looking like a drowned rat! At least the sun was shining that day so it didn?t take me long to dry out. We then headed over to the Safari and made our contribution to capturing poachers. By the time we got off the ride it was like 10 min until our Tusker House reservations, by the time the people in front of us figured out what they wanted to do it and we got checked in it was 5 min until our reservations. We were told 10-15 min max until we were seated. Okay, I still needed to dry off a little more so we hung out in the sunlight. Well, our reservation time came and went, no biggie it was only 5 min, then 10 min, 15, 20, 25? People who got there after us were starting to go in. Jake is getting impatient, we?re both starving, finally we go back up there and ask what was going on, they had our ticket in their hand and was about to buzz us. Already we?re not impressed with the Tusker House (I?ll have a full review up later). Long story short, the meal was okay, the service sucked as did the character interaction, Minnie never even came back to our section. I don?t think we'll be doing that meal again. Because all my ADR?s had the note that it was my birthday I did get a signed (by all the characters there) birthday card and a cupcake at the end of my meal, which was kinda nice.
After breakfast we try to catch Nemo but just missed it so went over to fast pass Dinosaur and went and did It?s Tough to be a Bug, went into some of the shops and Jake got a Jack Skeleton shirt for MNSSHP that night as his shirt didn?t get shipped in time for us to get it. By now it?s our fast pass time so we ride Dinosaur. After that we decide to go ahead and go back to the campsite and try and rest before the party that night. We were coming back the next day so planned on watching Nemo then. As we were leaving it started to sprinkle, by the time we got to the campsite it was raining pretty good. I got out the laptop and I entered into my spreadsheets what we had spent so far and was happy to see we were staying on budget. We made the last of our tuna into sandwiches and then decided to just lay down and listen to the rain. We had borrowed some folding cots from Jake?s parents and had them set up under the screened in shelter and Jake had taken a tarp and hung it up on one side of the shelter so really only 3 sides were open. We scooted the cots as close as we could the the tarp side and we both ended up falling asleep for about 2 hours while the rain turned into a thunder storm outside.
After our nap we got ready to go to Mickey?s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Because we had fallen asleep we didn?t get over there as early as we had talked about and it was still raining off and and on but it didn?t matter, we were going to MNSSHP! We had our 2 for $1 ponchos again but this time the wind was blowing and it kept blowing the hood off of me, Jake said it doesn?t matter as long as I wear a hat, well I didn?t have one. Guess what we did as soon we got in the park, yep, I got a new hat! We get over there and the first thing we do is go ride Space Mountain (are you catching on to what we like to do?) and then jump on Buzz where Jake proceeded to beat me, again. At this point we decided we should try and find a Sally shirt for me to go with Jake?s Jack shirt, well, we couldn't find one so I just got a Jack ?I?m Your Worse Nightmare? glow in the dark shirt and Jake came up with a good idea, we had seen some key chains that have a double clip in the shape of Mickey?s head. Well he said to clip one side to my backpack and then when we go on rides we can clip my new hat to it, that way I don?t have to refit it every time we got off a ride, so we got that key chain. By then we were starving and it was getting close to the first parade so we headed over to main street and to Casey?s for some corn dog nuggets and fries. I asked the girl if the Headless Horseman had come by yet and she said no, she lied. We got our food and went to the curb and waited and waited, no headless horseman but the parade came rolling out. So we watched the parade, loved it! Our grave diggers had a hard time with their shovels though because the ground was still wet but it was still pretty cool. I liked the Haunted Mansion float as well as the Villain float. After the parade we booked it over to Big Thunder and rode it. On the way back over to watch HalloWishes we saw the Cadaver Dans, we stopped and watched for a bit and one of them saw my birthday button (I had been wearing it since I got it on the first day) and they sang happy birthday to me which was pretty cool. We get over to watch the fireworks and they were better than Wishes, but still not as good as Remember Dreams Come True. After that we headed over to Toon Town Fair and rode Goofy?s Barnstormer and then started trick or treating. We did the tea party trail without stopping to see the characters, popped out by Space and then saw Buzz, so got his autograph, then started hitting candy spots, we went to ride Haunted Mansion when we got back to that side but the line was long so we skipped it. We made our way back over to Big Thunder and rode it again (I love that ride!), kept trick or treating into Adventure land and rode Pirates. The we came across the Adventure land characters so we got in line and it moved surprisingly fast. We saw Timon who made Jake come and be in the picture with us, King Louie, and Tarzan, but we didn?t get a good Tarzan. I mean, he was funny and was in character (he thought my nam was ?I?m your worse nightmare because it was on my shirt? I said ?no? and he said, ?You No, me Tarzan? it went on for a bit before we got it straightened out) but he didn?t look like I thought Tarzan did. This became a trend of the face characters we saw. Anyways, we popped out at Frontier land and got in line for Woody. We then headed back to the Tea Party trick or treat trail this time stopping to get autographs. After that we were trying to make the last Villain show of the night and saw that where Belle?s storybook usually was was a meet and treat with Lady Tremain, Anastasia, and Drizzila (spelling?) so I got in line for that, those face characters were perfect! They really played their roles well. We missed the first few seconds of the Villains show but we did make it over there for the majority of it. It was pretty much a song and dance and then the Villains come down and you get to take a picture with them, no autographs. By this time it was almost 1130 and we were about to pass out standing up so we got in line for Cruella DeVil to take a picture with as she?s my mom?s favorite and we were going to send her the picture. After that we headed out back to camp and to bed.
Some final thoughts on day 3, I love my coasters! We?ve pretty much hit everything we wanted to in the Magic Kingdom thanks to EMH the night before and then MNSSHP. Again, HalloWishes was good, but still not as good as Remember. Boo to You was an awesome parade and I feel the party was well worth the money and we?ll do it again if we get the chance, now we?re even talking about a Christmas trip (not this year though) and doing Mickey?s Very Merry Christmas Party! We like Animal Kingdom, very different from the Magic Kingdom but we did like it even though most of our day was hitting rides (and trying to dry out!).
Day 4 Trailer: Happy Birthday to Me and more magical moments.
Yep, still no pics, sorry but I had written 4 days of trip reports on the ride home and I'm just going to post them all up and worry about pictures laster.
Today is Extra Magic Hours for Animal Kingdom so up at 630 for me, head to the showers and start getting ready. Come back to the campsite, wake Jake up again (he never gets up the first time) and he heads off to the shower while I get the back pack together for the day. We need to be out of there by 745 (we drove to AK) to get to AK for the 8 am EMH and for whatever reason we?re not moving fast enough. I melt down. Yep, 3rd day in, first thing in the morning I end up bawling in the tent. Looking back I know why I melted, maybe only 5 hours of sleep, coupled with not hardly eating the day before (crappy donuts, a couple of sandwiches, a dole whip and half a cookie), as well as oh yeah, my fun week. So I?m in the tent crying, Jake?s trying to get me to stop and cheer me up (man I love him!) and we finally get on our way and if you can believe got there 15 min after 8. After a bathroom stop and a quick stop at a shop to get Jake a new shirt (the start of the meltdown was his shirt, I packed the wrong one) and a straw hat, we went straight to Kilimanjaro Safari and fast passed it, ran over to Expedition Everest and woo hoo! Love that ride! By the time we got all that done it was right at 9 am, park opening. We decided to ride Kali River Rapids so I would have the rest of the day to dry off. Now, ya?ll know there?s always that one person who gets totally soaked? I mean, everyone else gets wet (except the one that gets through the ride totally dry) but there?s always that one person who gets soaked, well, until today I was never that person, but today, I came off the ride looking like a drowned rat! At least the sun was shining that day so it didn?t take me long to dry out. We then headed over to the Safari and made our contribution to capturing poachers. By the time we got off the ride it was like 10 min until our Tusker House reservations, by the time the people in front of us figured out what they wanted to do it and we got checked in it was 5 min until our reservations. We were told 10-15 min max until we were seated. Okay, I still needed to dry off a little more so we hung out in the sunlight. Well, our reservation time came and went, no biggie it was only 5 min, then 10 min, 15, 20, 25? People who got there after us were starting to go in. Jake is getting impatient, we?re both starving, finally we go back up there and ask what was going on, they had our ticket in their hand and was about to buzz us. Already we?re not impressed with the Tusker House (I?ll have a full review up later). Long story short, the meal was okay, the service sucked as did the character interaction, Minnie never even came back to our section. I don?t think we'll be doing that meal again. Because all my ADR?s had the note that it was my birthday I did get a signed (by all the characters there) birthday card and a cupcake at the end of my meal, which was kinda nice.
After breakfast we try to catch Nemo but just missed it so went over to fast pass Dinosaur and went and did It?s Tough to be a Bug, went into some of the shops and Jake got a Jack Skeleton shirt for MNSSHP that night as his shirt didn?t get shipped in time for us to get it. By now it?s our fast pass time so we ride Dinosaur. After that we decide to go ahead and go back to the campsite and try and rest before the party that night. We were coming back the next day so planned on watching Nemo then. As we were leaving it started to sprinkle, by the time we got to the campsite it was raining pretty good. I got out the laptop and I entered into my spreadsheets what we had spent so far and was happy to see we were staying on budget. We made the last of our tuna into sandwiches and then decided to just lay down and listen to the rain. We had borrowed some folding cots from Jake?s parents and had them set up under the screened in shelter and Jake had taken a tarp and hung it up on one side of the shelter so really only 3 sides were open. We scooted the cots as close as we could the the tarp side and we both ended up falling asleep for about 2 hours while the rain turned into a thunder storm outside.
After our nap we got ready to go to Mickey?s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Because we had fallen asleep we didn?t get over there as early as we had talked about and it was still raining off and and on but it didn?t matter, we were going to MNSSHP! We had our 2 for $1 ponchos again but this time the wind was blowing and it kept blowing the hood off of me, Jake said it doesn?t matter as long as I wear a hat, well I didn?t have one. Guess what we did as soon we got in the park, yep, I got a new hat! We get over there and the first thing we do is go ride Space Mountain (are you catching on to what we like to do?) and then jump on Buzz where Jake proceeded to beat me, again. At this point we decided we should try and find a Sally shirt for me to go with Jake?s Jack shirt, well, we couldn't find one so I just got a Jack ?I?m Your Worse Nightmare? glow in the dark shirt and Jake came up with a good idea, we had seen some key chains that have a double clip in the shape of Mickey?s head. Well he said to clip one side to my backpack and then when we go on rides we can clip my new hat to it, that way I don?t have to refit it every time we got off a ride, so we got that key chain. By then we were starving and it was getting close to the first parade so we headed over to main street and to Casey?s for some corn dog nuggets and fries. I asked the girl if the Headless Horseman had come by yet and she said no, she lied. We got our food and went to the curb and waited and waited, no headless horseman but the parade came rolling out. So we watched the parade, loved it! Our grave diggers had a hard time with their shovels though because the ground was still wet but it was still pretty cool. I liked the Haunted Mansion float as well as the Villain float. After the parade we booked it over to Big Thunder and rode it. On the way back over to watch HalloWishes we saw the Cadaver Dans, we stopped and watched for a bit and one of them saw my birthday button (I had been wearing it since I got it on the first day) and they sang happy birthday to me which was pretty cool. We get over to watch the fireworks and they were better than Wishes, but still not as good as Remember Dreams Come True. After that we headed over to Toon Town Fair and rode Goofy?s Barnstormer and then started trick or treating. We did the tea party trail without stopping to see the characters, popped out by Space and then saw Buzz, so got his autograph, then started hitting candy spots, we went to ride Haunted Mansion when we got back to that side but the line was long so we skipped it. We made our way back over to Big Thunder and rode it again (I love that ride!), kept trick or treating into Adventure land and rode Pirates. The we came across the Adventure land characters so we got in line and it moved surprisingly fast. We saw Timon who made Jake come and be in the picture with us, King Louie, and Tarzan, but we didn?t get a good Tarzan. I mean, he was funny and was in character (he thought my nam was ?I?m your worse nightmare because it was on my shirt? I said ?no? and he said, ?You No, me Tarzan? it went on for a bit before we got it straightened out) but he didn?t look like I thought Tarzan did. This became a trend of the face characters we saw. Anyways, we popped out at Frontier land and got in line for Woody. We then headed back to the Tea Party trick or treat trail this time stopping to get autographs. After that we were trying to make the last Villain show of the night and saw that where Belle?s storybook usually was was a meet and treat with Lady Tremain, Anastasia, and Drizzila (spelling?) so I got in line for that, those face characters were perfect! They really played their roles well. We missed the first few seconds of the Villains show but we did make it over there for the majority of it. It was pretty much a song and dance and then the Villains come down and you get to take a picture with them, no autographs. By this time it was almost 1130 and we were about to pass out standing up so we got in line for Cruella DeVil to take a picture with as she?s my mom?s favorite and we were going to send her the picture. After that we headed out back to camp and to bed.
Some final thoughts on day 3, I love my coasters! We?ve pretty much hit everything we wanted to in the Magic Kingdom thanks to EMH the night before and then MNSSHP. Again, HalloWishes was good, but still not as good as Remember. Boo to You was an awesome parade and I feel the party was well worth the money and we?ll do it again if we get the chance, now we?re even talking about a Christmas trip (not this year though) and doing Mickey?s Very Merry Christmas Party! We like Animal Kingdom, very different from the Magic Kingdom but we did like it even though most of our day was hitting rides (and trying to dry out!).
Day 4 Trailer: Happy Birthday to Me and more magical moments.
Yep, still no pics, sorry but I had written 4 days of trip reports on the ride home and I'm just going to post them all up and worry about pictures laster.