October 2012 - Spooky, Wild, Exotic and a lot of food!

[disneybarbie]

Wow! This tour sounds amazing! That rope bridge looks scary but exhilarating! I can't believe how old the crocs are!

It was an amazing tour, I'm so glad we did it! It really surprised us how old those crocs were, I didn't realise they lived such long lives either

This tour sounds really amazing. I would love to do this one day. Great pictures.

Hope you get to try it one day, it was one of the best things we've ever done at Disney

DW and I were considering the Trek during our trip this October...now I know we will do it! Great update!!!

Hi! Hope you do get to do the tour this October.. it was incredible

Love reading the little facts, like the crocodiles only eating once a week!

That bridge is one of the things that attract me to this tour, I love "obstacles".

Hi Mel, I love learning the little facts about all the animals, same with Kilimanjaro Safari attraction I hadn't really considered how high up the rope bridges were.. I just had to tell myself 'it's Disney, nothing bad will happen!'

So hard to believe that they only eat once a week. I thought you were going to say like once an hour! Crazy.

I was so surprised by that too! Overall we got the impression that the hippos were much more dangerous than the lions and crocodiles lol

The pictures on the rope bridge are so cool, but they gave me a bit of anxiety just looking at them!! I think I would be way too nervous to traverse that with crocs right under me, although at least they were fed so if you fell in maybe they wouldn't be coming right at you before you could be rescued. The pics your DH got of them from above is pretty awesome though. Not a perspective I get to see as a regular guest!

Hi! I was pleased DH was brave enough to take those photos, I really don't think I could have managed balancing on the bridges with a camera in my hand

I would LOVE to do that tour if we had the extra money to spare. Thanks for sharing your experience!

Hi Rachel! It was a great tour, it's nice to write about it and look at the photos again if you ever get a chance to do it, I'd highly recommend it!




Sorry for the long delay between updates.. we seem to have been pretty busy lately - I'll get on to the rest of the Wild Africa Trek asap



Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

.....

For the next part of the tour, we got to board a special jeep and head onto the savannah, where the normal Kilimanjaro Safari ride goes. The seats were arranged around the edges, which made it easier to view the animals – and we also made several stops and went on tracks that aren't on the normal safari!

We stopped on the savannah for a while, and our tour guides told us about a water buck called 'Bruce' – he used to live at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but a younger male joined the herd which meant Bruce had to retire... but he didn't want to just yet! So Disney added him to the AK safari, and he always hangs around with the animals that he must recognise from the lodge.

Bruce

Next we stopped to look at my favourite animals... the elephants.

There was a female stood on her own eating, the guides told us that she had been rescued after the circus she worked at closed down – apparently she liked to be on her own most of the time.

The guides also explained to us about a new initiative in Africa to help farmers – elephants often break into farms and eat all of the crops, so the farmers shoot elephants that come onto their land. Conservationists learnt that elephants really don't like bees – so, farmers are being encouraged to install bee hives around the perimeter of their land. If one elephant approaches the farm and realises there are bees nearby, they make a warning sound to let nearby elephants know about it!
That way, it keeps the elephants out of the farms and the farmers are able to sell the honey produced by the bees too

You can read more about it here... http://www.savetheelephants.org/dia...s-project-honey-harvesting-in-ngare-mara.html

And then it was time for breakfast!

We drove off the main safari route and to a small building – there was a covered dining area, look out points to view the animals, and restrooms.

We were served our breakfasts in tin pots – it felt very authentic and beautifully presented. The cast members explained all of the dishes (cured meats, cheese & dried apricots, smoked salmon roll, fruit with mint, yoghurt, brownie-like cake and an edible flower!) and there was the delicious jungle juice available to drink.

When booking our tour, I had let the CM know that I had a nut allergy – so my breakfast came in a tightly sealed tin with slightly different food items to the normal meal.

The food was delicious, it was nice to try some different flavours. After eating, we wandered around the look out points – it was a unique view of the savannah. The guides handed out binoculars which were really useful too!

......

 

[khertz]

More fantastic animal pictures! This looks like such an amazing tour.

That is really interesting about the elephants too. They are really beautiful creatures, so it's good that they are trying to protect them from being killed just for wandering onto the wrong land. Love the photos of you and Steve! You both look like you are having a great time!

 

[disneybarbie]

More fantastic animal pictures! This looks like such an amazing tour.

That is really interesting about the elephants too. They are really beautiful creatures, so it's good that they are trying to protect them from being killed just for wandering onto the wrong land. Love the photos of you and Steve! You both look like you are having a great time!

Thanks for reading! I thought the elephant/honey story was really interesting.

When we were being fitted with our harnesses at the start of the tour, one of the CMs was asking DH about his Saints shirt.. I guess he could tell from our accents that we weren't from New Orleans


Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

.....

We stayed at the savannah hut for about 30 minutes, once everyone had finished breakfast and taken a lot of photos, we got back onto the jeep and continued on the safari.

We stopped opposite the cheetah enclosure, the jeep was on quite a slope which gave us all a great view of the big cats... they were particularly active as an ostrich had wandered from another area of the safari!

Apparently ostriches brains are smaller than their eyes!

All three cheetahs were roaming around, and one of them looked ready to pounce at the ostrich. One of our group asked the guides if the cheetahs had ever tried to jump the moat surrounding their enclosure... apparently they hadn't, and I'm glad to say we didn't witness it during our tour either

After a few minutes, the ostrich just sat down.. I don't think it had any idea about the cheetah nearby!

The guides told us that male ostriches have black feathers, and females have grey. However, in Animal Kingdom they only have female ostriches... and over time, one of them has changed their feathers to black – to make them look the male/leader.

The cheetah decided that it probably couldn't make the jump across the moat..

Cheetahs catch their prey by running really fast and attacking, which uses up all their energy – so they usually have to have a sleep before they can eat! Unfortunately, other big cats/vultures will steal the prey of the sleeping cheetahs, so many of them have learnt to sleep on top of the dead animal.

It was lovely to see the three cats interact with each other – I think the guides told us they are all females...

We continued on around the safari route, next stopping near the lions.

They were not as active as the cheetahs had been. There are several sets of lions/lionesses at Animal Kingdom, one pair are brought out each day onto the safari attraction.

A few more photos of our safari...

Then, sadly, it was time to leave Harambe and make our way back to camp! Our guides told us to watch out for the dangerous 'stroller beasts'

Once back at the camp, we had a group photo – to prove that we'd all made it back safely!

One of our guides started to tell us about the conservation efforts that Disney has been doing, and it started to sound a bit like a sales plug as he said that donations were greatly needed. Then he said 'don't worry, we don't expect you to give us any money – this tour is quite pricey, and in fact part of that cost is a donation to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund! All you need to do is decide which animal group you'd like to donate to'.

We were each handed a pebble, and just had to place it in the box representing the animal we wanted our donation to go to (I think the choices were – big cats, hippos and elephants).

We were told that the photo cd would be sent home to us within 4-6 weeks (6-8 weeks for the 'overseas herds'!), and got our things out of the lockers.
One lady in our group had left some snack bars in her harness waistcoat when we'd taken them off during the tour, she was diabetic and needed the snacks – unfortunately the harnesses weren't back at the camp yet. A CM gave her a coupon for a free snack item in the theme park - I thought that was great customer service.

This tour was absolutely one of the best things I have ever done at Walt Disney World, and in the world too! I knew a little about it from reviews and podcasts, but we both learnt so much and have a much greater appreciation of Animal Kingdom and the animals.

It was about 11.30am when we headed back into the park, and it felt busy (it was a Saturday after all), so we decided to head back to the Boardwalk for some pool time.

We got to keep our name tags and water bottles as souvenirs – plus we got an exclusive conservation button to recognise our donations.

.....

 

[disneybarbie]

...

Once back a the resort, we put our cameras on charge (we'd both taken so many photos!) and headed down to the pool for a few hours of sunbathing and relaxing.

About 4pm, we got showered and changed and walked into Epcot – it was our last evening of the trip in WDW, and we still had some Food & Wine booths to visit!

At International Gateway, the stepmother and sisters from Cinderella were doing a meet & greet...

We could instantly notice the difference in the weekend F&W crowds compared to when we'd visited midweek. There were big lines for all the food booths, however most of them moved very quickly, there seemed to be a lot of extra Cast Members working too.

We started with Greece, I wasn't too excited about the choices here, but both dishes were delicious! We got the Greek salad and a chicken souvlaki in pita bread.

Next we had to return to one of our favourites... Hawaii! We got a pork slider with pineapple salsa and a tuna poke, and sat opposite Space Ship Earth in the sunshine... it was a perfect Saturday afternoon, I just started to get a little sad though that our trip to Disney was nearly over!

Next we went to the Argentina booth, we got a beef kebab with chimichurri sauce and an empanada. Both of the dishes were okay but not as good as other items we'd tried.

While in the queue, another guest asked me about my plastic tray.. she loved it!

.....

 

[disneybarbie]

....

Next we got some tacos from the Mexico stand (one beef and one shrimp), they were both very tasty. This was one of the longest lines we waited in for food, but it only took about 10 minutes to be served.

I took a picture of the crowds!

Next we stopped at China for pork pot stickers...

At the American Gardens theater, the winner of The Voice was performing...

We'd arranged to meet with my parents in the France Pavilion, so we met them there and tried to see the Impressions de France show – unfortunately we just missed a show time, so instead we walked to Morocco and got a drink at the Tangerine Cafe, we found a nice table outside and sat and chatted about our days.

We decided to do the American Adventure show together, I'd not done this for a while – it's an excellent attraction. The song 'Golden Dream' is so emotional, I always get a bit teary!

We stopped at the cheese booth, DH & DM got the trios of artisan cheese.

M&D went to see the Reflections of China show, while DH and I walked around a little more – it wasn't as busy now in World Showcase.

We stopped at Italy to try the cheese ravioli and sweet italian sausage dishes...

.....

 

[disneybarbie]

....

We went to the China Pavilion and waited in the shop for M&D...

We carried on walking around the lagoon, stopping at the desserts and champagne booth for a trio of panna cotta, lemon custard verrine and dark chocolate mousse with chilli (the latter was very unusual!) - and a glass of champagne to have while watching Illuminations :

We sat near a DVC booth in the Canada Pavilion, enjoying the pre-Illuminations music and atmosphere – it's definitely very lively in Epcot during the evenings of F&W!

We stood back from the main crowd around the lake, there were quite a few trees in the way – but it didn't really matter as we've all seen Illuminations many times. I really liked being able to experience it with my parents again, as I've not been to WDW with them for quite a few years now!

Once the show had finished, we wandered back to the Boardwalk and then I packed most of our suitcase, ready for the morning.

With the Wild Africa Trek, sunbathing (in October!) and an evening in Epcot – it had been one of the best Saturdays ever!


Emma x

 

[ronnmel]

Love love love the photos of the cheetahs cuddling!!

 

[OrangeJuice]

Love your updates. I showed a few of your pictures of the Wild Africa Trek to my wife and I might of convinced her to try it out in a future trip Also like your pictures of Food & Wine. We'll be visiting during that time this year so I like getting a preview.

 

[monica23535]

Great pictures Emma!


It definitely sounds like a pretty amazing day!

 

[Leshaface]

Wow lots of updates!

Your review really makes me want to do the Wild Africa Trek

I think i've asked you before, but how was the weather during your trip? We may be going for F&W around the same time you went last year. It's not like June/July weather is it?

 

[disneybarbie]

Love love love the photos of the cheetahs cuddling!!

They were such beautiful animals - I was so pleased we got to stay and watch them for so long, cheetahs were one of our guides favourite animals so she took a lot of photos of them for our CD!

Love your updates. I showed a few of your pictures of the Wild Africa Trek to my wife and I might of convinced her to try it out in a future trip Also like your pictures of Food & Wine. We'll be visiting during that time this year so I like getting a preview.

Hi! Thank you so much for reading, the Wild Africa Trek is amazing - hope you get to try it on a future trip

Great pictures Emma!


It definitely sounds like a pretty amazing day!

Thank you for reading

Wow lots of updates!

Your review really makes me want to do the Wild Africa Trek

I think i've asked you before, but how was the weather during your trip? We may be going for F&W around the same time you went last year. It's not like June/July weather is it?

Hi Lesha, the weather was perfect during our trip... it was raining when our plane landed at MCO, but after that we didn't see any rain for the 12 days we were in Florida! There was no humidity like we've experienced in the summer months, just nice and warm/sunny - it was high 80s most days.
It can be a tricky time of year, it's still hurricane season (although I think they're quite rare in October/November), and when we went in October 2008 there was definitely more rain, but not the heavy thunderstorms!

Fingers crossed you have a trip coming up for F&W!


Emma x

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics!

 

[Leshaface]

Hi Lesha, the weather was perfect during our trip... it was raining when our plane landed at MCO, but after that we didn't see any rain for the 12 days we were in Florida! There was no humidity like we've experienced in the summer months, just nice and warm/sunny - it was high 80s most days.
It can be a tricky time of year, it's still hurricane season (although I think they're quite rare in October/November), and when we went in October 2008 there was definitely more rain, but not the heavy thunderstorms!

Fingers crossed you have a trip coming up for F&W!


Emma x

I'm so relieved to hear this! You were pretty much wearing shorts the entire time right? What about at night? A little sweater or no?

I'm really hoping to go to F&W. I even booked a Studio Lake View at BLT! I know, probably not the best place to be if we're wanting to do F&W, but DH has been dying to stay here. I think i'm more concerned about the weather for DS if he comes with us. He already sweats a lot when he sleeps (even during our cold winter), so i'm not sure how he'll do.

 

[jojosam]

I'm all caught up on your report and my kids have been hanging over my shoulder looking at all the fantastic photos. You've given me a ton of things to add to my list of must-do's, so I guess there will be more than one future WDW trip for us!! The info you got on the animals was fantastic! We will be there for the soft opening of F&W this September, so I hope to taste just a few of those amazing looking treats!

 

[saintstickets]

Great TR!! Really love the pics. I especially like this one (Never would've guessed that with my screen name...right? lol)

 

[disneybarbie]

Great pics!

Thank you

I'm so relieved to hear this! You were pretty much wearing shorts the entire time right? What about at night? A little sweater or no?

I'm really hoping to go to F&W. I even booked a Studio Lake View at BLT! I know, probably not the best place to be if we're wanting to do F&W, but DH has been dying to stay here. I think i'm more concerned about the weather for DS if he comes with us. He already sweats a lot when he sleeps (even during our cold winter), so i'm not sure how he'll do.

Hi Lesha, yup I wore vests/strapless tops and shorts every day - didn't wear sweaters even in the evening... we really aren't used to the warm living here though, so to me anything over 70 is 'summer clothes' weather! We did notice other people wearing light jackets/sweaters in the evening
But there was definitely no humidity, compared to our August trip, which made it really great weather!

I'm all caught up on your report and my kids have been hanging over my shoulder looking at all the fantastic photos. You've given me a ton of things to add to my list of must-do's, so I guess there will be more than one future WDW trip for us!! The info you got on the animals was fantastic! We will be there for the soft opening of F&W this September, so I hope to taste just a few of those amazing looking treats!

Hi! Thank you so much for reading and commenting. I love writing these reports to share and re-live our trips to Disney, but it's even better if I can give other people ideas for their future trips
Very jealous you will be there for the F&W soft opening, it's one of my favourite times to visit WDW

Great TR!! Really love the pics. I especially like this one (Never would've guessed that with my screen name...right? lol)

Hi! Lol DH really likes to wear his Saints shirts when we're in the USA, a lot of other Saints fans talk to us!



Emma x

 

[Leshaface]

Thank you



Hi Lesha, yup I wore vests/strapless tops and shorts every day - didn't wear sweaters even in the evening... we really aren't used to the warm living here though, so to me anything over 70 is 'summer clothes' weather! We did notice other people wearing light jackets/sweaters in the evening
But there was definitely no humidity, compared to our August trip, which made it really great weather!



Emma x[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

Great thanks again Emma!

 

[disneybarbie]

Day 8 – Sunday 14th October 2012

Today was, sadly, our last day at WDW of the trip – but we weren't too sad, as we still had a few hours to enjoy at Hollywood Studios, and then five nights in Bradenton FL too!

We got up and finished packing, we decided to leave the chocolate-based sweets from MNSSHP for mouse-keeping, as we were putting the suitcases in my Dad's rental car while we headed to the park!

We loaded the car, then made our way along the canal to DHS.







It was just after 9am, we agreed that we all wanted to ride Tower of Terror more than Toy Story Midway Mania, so avoided the rush and turned right into Sunset Boulevard!





There was barely any queue at the Hollywood Tower Hotel, so after dropping in there we headed over to Star Tours! We got a Fast Pass for later, and then joined the stand-by line, it moved very quickly.



We went to the Writer's Stop for breakfast, we got coffees, pastries & muffins. Unfortunately there were no free table inside (I think there are only two!) so we went outside, and ended up sitting in what is normally a smoking area.. but there were no smokers there! It was nice and shady, in between the Sci Fi Dine In and Star Tours.

After eating, we went to see Muppets 3D!




We looked in the shop afterwards too.



We rode Star Tours again (that made four times for DH & I during this trip!), and then went to see the Art of Animation show.



It was nice to see all of the Wreck it Ralph sketches... the movie didn't come out here until February, so I had to wait a long time to finally see it!




We walked back to Hollywood Boulevard and spent some time in the shops. The citizens of Hollywood were out entertaining...



By then it was nearly lunch time, so we agreed to go to Downtown Disney for some food... and a little more shopping!



I had really wanted to find the Special Events cd that has the Boo To You parade music on it, I had looked in many shops during our trip but no where seemed to have it... in the World of Disney a cast member checked an online stock catalogue for me, she found the order code for it but said it was no longer available. Never mind!

For lunch, we walked over to Pleasure Island and went to Paradiso 37, we sat outside next to the water – it was a beautiful day. I had a salmon fillet with roast vegetables – we all really enjoyed the food there.



Then it was finally time to leave Walt Disney World. I was glad we still had 5 more days to enjoy in Florida though!



....