Steppesister
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2013
H is for: Having a Wild Time, but Very Slowly
Wakey, wakey!!
The sun is shining, (see?!)
and the birds are singing (see?!)
and it’s time to see all the things. Because we certainly weren’t going to ride all the things.
As you may have guessed, as is the customary order of operations while at AK, we made our way to FOP first thing. I was skating on thin ice by going on it myself in my condition, but it’d take a lot to keep me off of it. I was, as always, enchanted with my flight astride my banshee and happily surprised that the ride didn’t hurt… much. The wind in my face, that tickly feeling in my tummy, the scent of Disney shampoo during the underground grotto scene always gives me that feely good rush.
While I was giddy with Sivako, Marcia was in the process of having her day wrecked. She was clearly not well when we got off and had to sit down on the benches that are still inside the ride building. Sigh…. crap. My evil plan to make Disney a few thousand bucks more a year were dashed in 5 short minutes. After some time, she was able to drag her sick self out and we headed for Navi. I thought SURELY this would be fine. Right? Surely?
Nope, not even a little bit. That was the end of rides for the rest of the day and pretty much for the most part the rest of the trip. I did feel badly for her in that she couldn’t enjoy a lot of what Disney is, but also that I knew she felt badly for me. While I was feeling pretty crappy, I was still able to ride a fair amount and I did get a bit of solo time here and there when she slept in or went back to the room early. All in all, it was fine and because I had been to Disney not too long before, I wasn’t too sad about just wandering and enjoying the sights. I couldn’t ride EE or Dino anyway, and I think we ruled out the Safari in the end as well. At least I don’t have any photos from it, so that’s a pretty good conclusion.
Anyway, after completing destroying Marcia, it was time to grab some coffee. Luckily, there’s some close by at Creature Comforts- my lately/usual go-to for a morning cuppa and a (I know, I know…) Starbucks Ham and Cheese Croissant. Sorry, such a loser meal for a Disney Vacation; I don’t know why I keep landing on this one.
Clearly, we were going to have to take things slowly, so we watched the monkey for a while.
It was eating. And that’s all I have to say about that.
Okay, fine. It was cute. But that’s all.
I wanted to take it home and cuddle it.
K, I’m done.
When we’d gotten our fill of cuteness overload we meandered our way to the Harambe Trail, Gorilla Falls if you want to be technical, and I learned far more about Duikers than I ever cared to. The name means “diver” in Dutch and they dive into the bushes when startled by enemies. Their shape is wedge-like with a wide butt. I felt a deep connection with this animal.
They live in dense brush, and get this… they are omnivorous!!! Like these cute little Bambi things will hunt and EAT mice and small birds. Shocked! Shocked, I tell you!
<deep connection is shattered>
Don’t believe me, ask the dishes.
You’re welcome.
If those don’t give you nightmares, maybe these will. I know they make me shudder. Hey Kids, it’s Halloween, let’s go see the Naked Mole Rats!
Quick let’s duck-duck, duck-duck, hammerkop into the Aviary for some poops and giggles. Yep, I got crapped on. The souvenirs this trip were simply top notch, Folks! (Pro-tip: Let it dry for a bit, then just brush it off.) (Also, I wonder how long it’d sat there while Marcia drummed up enough courage to tell me. Or was finding sadistic satisfaction as payback for as long as possible for making her ride FOP .)
Those did not take a dump on me, but this little pecker did, while his buddy perched up there laughing.
“Good one, Joe! Nice aim!”
“Thanks, Frank, your turn!”
In hindsight, the gorillas are the highlight of every stroll through this trail. Baby Grace wasn’t around, but her silly brothers were acting like the doofuses they always are. Probably because the dads weren’t nearby to enforce gorilla decorum, butt who am I to know.
We bid farewell to our primate friends and made our way back to Harambe proper.
The bike repair shop was opening for the day and the shop keeper was just in time to catch this masked bandit trying to rip off one of his goods. In the spirit of
Hiding in plain sight is a giant Mickey. We stopped to say hello and learned that “fichwa” means hidden in Swahili. And there you have it, one of the most creative Hidden Mickeys on property.
I’m going to leave off there because I’ve already stayed up way too late and I’m going to regret this in the morning. I honestly don’t know if I’ll get another chapter up before I leave bright and early Tuesday morning for my big, fat road trip and move across the country. If you’d like to follow along, I have an entire TR up and running HERE. My goal is to put a couple of photos from each day’s adventures as a glimpse of the full monte TR to follow. Suffice to say, I am pretty busy with last minute errands and packing and goodbyes. So this may be it for a few weeks. One never knows!
But until next time, Kwaheri!
Last edited: