Disney dangled the visual weinee & Mickeystoontown gobbled it up! 10/26

[sunnysideup3]

Glad you had a great time with your family! So good you got to see them, if even for a short time!

 

[mickeystoontown]

He looks like he could use some ointment! Ouchy!

After a fun day at Blizzard Beach, playing mini-putt at Winter Summerland, and dinner at T-Rex followed by a little shopping, we all slept like logs. I’m talking big old lumpy logs. Even still, we were up fairly early (at least for our family) and were soon walking across the parking lot to the bus stop. Today, we were going to the Animal Kingdom! Notice that ! At the end of the previous sentence. Yeah, well, that was typed by me. Had it been typed by John, it wouldn’t have the !. He’s not a big Animal Kingdom park fan. He likes animals and all but zoos and aquariums and stuff like that just aren’t his thang. That’s not to say that he dislikes Animal Kingdom, it’s just not one of his favorites.

The bus ride to the park was a semi-short one with no stop at Blizzard Beach first. We were soon walking from the bus stop to the park entrance where I had to go through bag check. Thankfully, the line was short and I was through with little wait.

Our first Fastpass+ for the day was for Kilimanjaro Safari so we walked quickly through The Oasis and straight to:



Wait a minute, I take that back, I believe that we stopped to have a Photopass picture made and then moved on. I also stopped long enough to take a picture of Expedition Everest off in the distance:



Then, we were in Harambe:



We could see the crowds at the entrance of Kilimanjaro Safari and I was glad that we had a Fastpass:



With our Fastpass, we basically walked right into the line with no wait. I’m talking walked right on down the queue, to a castmember, scanned our bands and we were shown to a line. Gotta love Fastpass! Look here comes our chariot for our two week adventure:



Our truck paused for about a minute before we were allowed to start the safari. First up was:



Yeah, hard to see anything isn’t it? We hoped that this was an indication how the rest of the safari would be. We moved on and I took an absolutely wonderful picture. I’m talking a show stopping picture. Wanna see it? It’s a picture of........................................................................











A freakin’ tree! What the heck? Lisa, honey bun, you gotta do better than pictures of a speck of an animal and a tree. Come on, gal, get with the program!

Here you go, at least this picture has an animal in it that you can actually see. It’s a rhino lazing around up against that wall of dirt:



Next up were the blobs in the water. Blobs in the water? Yep, this next picture was a loser as well:



The next one was a little better but not by much:



The truck inched forward and came to a stop. A full-on stop. After a minute or two, the guide/driver told us that there were some animals blocking the roadway and we would have to wait until we got the “all clear”. In the meantime, I could actually see a hippo. An actual hippo and not just a blob:



We could see a group on the Wild Africa Trek:



I’d love love love to do the tour but it’s so darn expensive that I just can’t justify spending so much for the three of us to book it. Our safari resumed but we were driving very slowly. So slowly that I was able to get a picture of the thorns on this tree. They were huge:



And, then we were stopped again right as we were getting to the crocodiles:





We had a Dismeet coming up and I wanted to let them know that we were on the safari but would be delayed. Their Fastpasses were for the safari also and I told them that the animals were acting up this morning so expect delays. After a couple of texts back and forth, I told them that I’d text them when we were done with the safari and we’d go from there. Ten minutes or so later, we were on the move again and finally out to what I like to refer to as “the good part” of the safari. The part where you see all sorts of roaming around animals and termite mounds:



Okay so termite mounds might not be that great but the roaming animals sure are.



Our driver told us that it was the giraffes that had caused the delays. They were so pretty that we forgave them and they rewarded us by coming fairly close to our vehicle:





**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

In all of our safari rides, the baboons or mandarin or whatever they are (you can tell that I’m not very monkey species savy), have always been semi hidden. So, imagine our surprise when we came upon them and I could actually spot one of them:



Not just one but several of them. Including Mr. Pinkbutt who looked as if he could use some ointment. Ouchy!



**On a serious note and before I get to the next set of pictures, I wanted to share a story of the elephant who used to live at our local zoo. Her name is Shirley and the following video shares part of her story that was shown on Nature PBS. Be sure to have a hanky handy before you watch the video ‘cause you may get teary eyed. The first link is to the video and the second is an article about Shirley and Jenny.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/vide...=p:s,v:v,m:sa&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=avast&tt=b

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bestofnature/update.html

**Back to the report. I’m sure that you’ve figured out that the next animal that we saw was an elephant and I, for once, was able to get a picture of something other than it’s behind:



We crossed the rickety bridge:



and could see more elephants to our left:





Our driver slowed down quite a bit but told us that she couldn’t linger since the trucks were backed up due to the animals that had been on the road earlier. Lots of flamingos were on the Mickey shaped island:





I turned to look behind us and I could see that a truck was very near us.



Rhinos and zebra:



And look who was up on the hill to our left. Yep, that would be a cheetah:



One was even walking around but you can hardly see it because of the big tuft of grass:



**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

It looked as if the warthogs had just been fed because one was standing right out in the open despite the fact that it was already starting to get hot:





These guys were lying right next to the trail/road:





**Up next: He looks like he could use some ointment! Part Doo-Doo! Huh?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Glad you had a great time with your family! So good you got to see them, if even for a short time!

We had a wonderful time! It was too short but at least we got to spend some time with them so it was worth a 10 hour drive (one way).

 

[debsters41]

Hello Lisa and happy December. It's great you spent Thanksgiving with your family!

I love looking at pictures of the animals on K.S. especially as I never seem to remember to take any!

I know what you mean about the Wild Africa Trek... so much money but I think I may do it to surprise DD this summer, if they have the afternoon discount like they had last year. I am already upset about the rise in price in MM that I didn't know about until too late, so we will see if I will be splurging at Disney this year.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hello Lisa and happy December. It's great you spent Thanksgiving with your family!

I love looking at pictures of the animals on K.S. especially as I never seem to remember to take any!

I know what you mean about the Wild Africa Trek... so much money but I think I may do it to surprise DD this summer, if they have the afternoon discount like they had last year. I am already upset about the rise in price in MM that I didn't know about until too late, so we will see if I will be splurging at Disney this year.

Like you, I didn't know about the Memory Maker price increase until it was too late. That's $20 that I didn't "have to spend" had I paid more attention. Oh well, it's done now. Oooh, what a great surprise it would be to splurge on the Wild Africa Trek for your DD.

 

[MEK]

I'm glad you had such a nice Thanksgiving.

OK - so you should have warned me I was going to need kleenex for the Shirley and Jenny story. I think I saw that movie before and it was so touching, but I didn't realize that Jenny died. OMG. I cried like a baby.

Isn't it great how no two safaris are ever the same? Don't you hate when those animals start causing delays! Seriously??? Nice pics.

I really love that first pic of EE in the distance. What beautiful perspective. Just lovely!

 

[Chicago Mo]

Hey nice tree.. and termite hill...
You NUT! your pictures are fine! Those dang animals stopping your ride! who do they think they are!
I would LOVE to take the tour too!! looks amazing!
I couldn't watch your elephant video.. I can't...

Crazy monkey things! i don't think i have even seen them up and around!

 

[amazingact21]

Animals have a mind of their own, and sometimes that means you're stopped on the tracks for what feels like forever. But, like you said, giraffes are so cute, how can you stay mad at them?


The Wild Africa Trek does look awesome. Talk about an upclose experience with the animals. There's a local zoo near Cape Canaveral that offers a "
tree top trek" similar to Disney's, except not nearly as immersive and Disney-fied, but it cost significantly less. My sister in laws do it all the time and give it rave reviews, so I figured if I'd start out with that one and work my way up to Animal Kingdom's.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Got to love the safari. Its one of the few things I truly love about Animal Kingdom.

 

[SoccerDogWithEars]

Wild Africa Trek is sooooooooo worth every penny!!!! Of course, I will put in a disclaimer that they only reason we could afford it was because we booked our trip with the dining plan, and then Disney released Free Dining so we got a good chunk refunded, and used that to book the tour. But it was absolutely fabulous. Probably one of the best things we've ever done.

Ahh being stuck on safari. I had the same thing happen, where I'd gone to AK by myself and my parents were meeting me later. They texted to say they were in the park, and my response was "stuck behind rhino." Only in Disney

 

[KatMark]

Disney is killing me with these price increases. I knew about the Memory Maker and forgot to purchase it.

I love your update. AK is one of my favorite parks (and Mark's too). I vaguely remember hearing about you having issues with giraffes blocking your way and you were fretting over a DIS meet.

Those animals that hide in the corners or back against the fences are very hard to get, but you got great ones of the other animals. And even some without the butt shots.

I would love to do the Wild Africa Trek. I thought we'd do it next year, but since we are splitting our time with Todd and Nicki there, I don't think it will be running on the days after they leave. Perhaps in 2016.

 

[Marsheliz]

I am really not a huge fan of AK myself but I can't go on a Disney trip without a trek through! I do enjoy the safari- JAMBO!!!

My boys really enjoy zoos, aquariums, etc but I get kind of bored after about an hour. LOL

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

He’s not a big Animal Kingdom park fan. He likes animals and all but zoos and aquariums and stuff like that just aren’t his thang. That’s not to say that he dislikes Animal Kingdom, it’s just not one of his favorites.

Animal Kingdom had to grow on me.

I also stopped long enough to take a picture of Expedition Everest off in the distance:

That's one of my favorite picture spots!

A freakin’ tree! What the heck? Lisa, honey bun, you gotta do better than pictures of a speck of an animal and a tree. Come on, gal, get with the program!

You'd really be upset if we were still using cameras with film!

I’d love love love to do the tour but it’s so darn expensive that I just can’t justify spending so much for the three of us to book it.

I know what you mean! I'm saving it for when I become independently wealthy.

I’m sure that you’ve figured out that the next animal that we saw was an elephant and I, for once, was able to get a picture of something other than it’s behind:

What do you get when you cross and elephant and a rhino?



Elephino. (Say it fast and you'll get it.)

**Up next: He looks like he could use some ointment! Part Doo-Doo! Huh?

Heh. She said doo-doo.









[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

 

[Clarf]

Your pictures are great! We also got slowed down by the giraffes and the adax (that white thing on the side of the road in your pics). I love the picture of the warthog! You don't always see them!

Um, I kind of hate you for posting that elephant story. I'm such a sap I watched the whole thing. I love elephants. They are awesome. I'm glad Shirley and Jenny got to be reuinited.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Those pesky animals stopping traffic like that. What were they thinking? I really want a safari that the animals cooperate. We shall see in a month. We are going to try the safari without a FP+ as we are doing another park in the afternoon. Guess you know where we will head 1st thing?

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Yay, AK! My favorite park! Ok, it's in a 4 way tie for favorite park, but it is one of them!

Love your wonderful animal speck and tree pictures! It's frustrating for sure when you sometimes get great pictures and other times the animals don't cooperate at all. I really hope you get to do Wild Africa Trek soon, it is definitely expensive but worth every penny.

Hmm, I wonder who the DISmeet was with? I'm sure she didn't mind hearing that giraffes were causing the back up!

 

[KatMark]

Hmm, I wonder who the DISmeet was with? I'm sure she didn't mind hearing that giraffes were causing the back up!

My guess is you are right.

 

[momabbate]

Great updates. One day I will make it to TRex. The food looks amazing.
Glad you were able to spend time with the kids for Thanksgiving.
Love you AK day. You took some great pictures that day. You know with all the trees. My favorite would be the EE.