Today was the first day we set the alarm. AK closes earlier than the other parks, so I wanted to get there earlier than we'd been getting to the parks. We had breakfast at the hotel, the boys made washcloth animals inthe lobby with castmembers and then we took the bus to AK. We met Brer Bear and Meeko right outside the entrance. Brer Bear was very funny and had great interaction with the boys. We walked right up to Africa and while Jim went for Safari FastPasses, the boys stood in line to meet Baloo and King Louie from The Jungle Book. They were new characters to meet this time for us and we took some funny pictures with them (arms in the air!). While standing in that line, I finally saw D-vine walking around. I was freaked out to realize it was a human totally covered in vines when I first saw her, even though I had read about her. The boys already wanted ice cream, so we got them each one and then got Pina Coladas for ourselves since the Dawa Bar was *right* there. Couldn't resist! Pops & Pina Coladas - a Scrapbook page in the making.
We had to kill some time before going on the Safari, so we walked on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail - another first for our family. While on the trail, we were stopped by a castmember and told that it was a little crowded, so we needed to wait a bit. The boys were getting anxious, but finally the castmember let us go. We walked up a very short bit, turned a corner and there were other cast members standing there handing out DREAM FAST PASSES! Score! What a great, magical moment and our whole plan for the day was changed now that we had instant fast passes for The Kilimanjaro Safari, It's Tough to Be a Bug, Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, Dinosaur, & Primeval Whirl. We got off the trail and went right on the Safaris since we now had the Dream FastPasses and didn't have to wait for the time on our original fast passes. We saw the baby giraffe who was born in AK last year and saw other giraffes very close to the vehicle. Last year, the giraffes were always further away and harder to see. I really love the Safari Attraction!
It was time to walk over towards Asia. We saw the Hidden Mickey on the Tree of Life while walking over - it's over the Hippo's eye on the back side of the tree. We decided to split up - Jim took Andrew on Kali River Rapids (I did *not* want to get wet) and I took Matthew on Expedition Everest (Jim had no plans on riding that attraction). Then, we switched FastPass badges and Jim took Matthew on Kali River Rapids and I took Andrew on EE. I was *so* glad that Andrew changed his mind and decided to ride EE and the Dream Fast Passes really made this happen. He ended up loving it, of course! Matthew and Jim got really wet on Kali River, which was kind of funny.
We left Asia and walked towards DinoLand. The boys went on Primeval Whirl by themselves and then we all went on Dinosaur. Matt doesn't love this ride (it scares the begeezus out of him), but he was a trooper and got through it. He said it helped knowing the dinos would jump out and it would be dark/loud. It was time to grab a bite to eat and we tried out the Flame Tree Barbeque. We sat all the way down by the landing/lake and were lucky enough to see the boat carrying Goofy & Mickey. We even saw an alligator right by the landing (in the water, of course).
After lunch, we walked right into "It's Tough to be a Bug" (3D movie) and then trekked on over to see the new Nemo Musical. We thought it was a good show, but we all agreed that we love the Lion King show better. It was almost parade time, so we walked back towards Discovery Island and staked a claim at a spot near the rope. We hadn't seen the Jammin' Jungle Parade yet, so we wanted to be sure to catch it this year (it ended up being our only parade experience for this trip). We thought it was very fun & festive - loved the "floats" and the animals. After the parade was over, we headed out of the park and we were able to get Terk's autograph near the entrance. I gave the original Safari Fast Passes to a family of 4 who was just going into the park (the man thought I was looney at first, then he was very grateful). Took the bus back to WL.
We took the boys to the Cub's Den at 6pm and then headed off to the Yacht Club for a "couple's night out". We ate at the Yachtsman Steakhouse and both got Rib Eye steaks. Extremely yummy & expensive dinner. I had a "Raz Tini" this night, which had raspberry vodka in it. After dinner, we walked over to the Boardwalk Hotel and strolled around. We checked out the inside of the Boardwalk hotel and all of the stuff/shops out on the Boardwalk area. We got coffee (Baileys in mine) and headed back to the YachtsClub to get our car. We were really impressed with the "Epcot Resort Area" and would like to stay there on our next trip (maybe Dec. 2008). We picked up the boys by 9:45pm and had enough time to grab ice cream and head down to the beach to see Wishes (the fireworks) from the Magic Kingdom through the trees.
From Andrew's Journal - Favorite AK ride was Expedition Everest. Favorite Land is DinoLand. Favorite animal was the Yeti and his favorite show is The Festival of the Lion King.
From Matthew's Journal - Favorite ride in AK was Kali River Rapids and his favorite Land is Asia. His favorite animal is the Siamangs and he learned they don't have tails, which makes them apes, not monkeys. His favorite show is also Festival of the Lion King.
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