Day 3 - Animal Kingdom:
Make plans for what you'll do in rainy weather. John includes this reminder for the campers: make sure your awning is at an angle so the rain will run off of it. We saw too many people who didn't do it and it messed things up!
Rainy plans tip
Summary of the day:
Shared "Dinosaur" with a great family, Irish twins on Primeval Whirl, the rain enhances the safari, and more Downtown
Our AK day
We started the day with breakfast at Boma's in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The Lodge is our 2nd favorite resort (first, of course, is Fort Wilderness. A close 3rd is Wilderness Lodge.). We stayed here for our 10th wedding anniversary and come back for a meal whenever possible. Some day, we'll stay here again.
We actually preferred dinner at Boma's over breakfast; dinner has more African choices than the breakfast did. But it's still a good meal because the restaurant is still a good one. And the coffee was fantastic! The only other time I had such good coffee on Disney property was at the old Jolly Holidays dinner. At the table next to us was people from Cherry Hill, not that far from our home town!
Everest looks so great and so close to being done! It has no theming on the back yet, but from all other angles, it looks ready and we even see them testing cars. I can't wait for it to open! We walk by it and through the village, stopping to use the rest rooms. The hand dryer in the Ladies room sounds like a monsoon hitting! Another woman and I laugh about it. It sure dries your hands FAST!
I know I mentioned some of this in the audio blog, but if you'd like something different than the usual burger fare, we would like to recommend:
- John heartily recommends the salmon at the Tusker House. It's one of his favorite, if not THE favorite, counter service meals, along with a piece of carrot cake. He says the salmon melts in your mouth!
- But if it's dessert you're looking for, absolute best, hands down no competition, is the key lime pie at Flaming Tree BBQ. Not only is it his choice for best keylime pie on Disney property, but off property too. (To be fair, we haven't been to the Keys yet, home of key lime pie.)
- While we talk about Flame Tree, their bbq sauce is wonderful. Being a french fry vegetarian (meaning I can consider them a meal), this is a favorite snack for me: fries with bbq dipping sauce! On this trip, John got me one of those souvenier animal topped cups, the cheetah one. I've been eyeing these things for years. Now the camper has another item in our "Disney dinnerwear line"!
We saw all the babies on the safari! Every little elephant and the baby rhino! I wasn't the only person going "AAAAH!" on the truck.
While we're standing in line for "Tough to Be a Bug", we meet the greatest family. While other guests complain about the wait or the heat, making their kids complain too, this couple made a game of pointing out every animal carving they could see. Their kids were thrilled to point out something they thought their parents had missed and they were rewarded with praise each time. If they said the carving was a favorite of theirs, they were allowed to use the expensive camera to take its photo themselves. Inside the theater, the parents then challenged them to shadow puppets and they all laughed at each other's antics. Those people are Magical and a great example of Disney attitude.
I got more of that great attitude in the movie. Our CM had a wonderful sense of humor while stressing to the parents that their kids could get scared SO HEED THE ADVICE! The woman next to me did nothing but laugh and shriek with pleasure, acting like I was her life long friend, sharing her joy with me. At the end as the bugs exit first, John whispered "Maggot just went under my seat!" continuing our inside joke! And I finally watched for the fireflies to leave and enter the Exit sign. I had a blast.
When we exited the theater, a couple was standing near the photo line for Stitch. The husband with this wonderful smile said to his wife, "You want to get in that line to meet Stitch, don't you?" They were in their late 30s at least, but she looked up with a smile like a child's. Still with that same wonderful attitude, he said, "Of course you do. Go." and she scampered off for the line. He saw us and laughed. "She waited for me when I wanted a picture with Mickey." That is a great couple of Disney people.
When we got back to Fort Wilderness, John volunteered to pick up our package at the Meadows. This means, John buzzed around the campground with the golf cart and did some shopping, all under the heading of "doing my wife a favor".
We had dinner at Kimono's in the Swan where I tried the red bean ice cream. John said it was gross and kept calling it Chili Ice Cream. LOL! And on our way there, we saw a car with a bumper sticker that said: I only break for hitch hiking ghosts!
We went shopping at Downtown and then back to the clubs. A personal note: a few weeks before the trip, my cat Saavah who I had as a pet for 19 years passed away. Since we got here to Disney, I keep seeing the Disney Tails sign with Pluto and Figaro. I'm glad Disney is finally catering a bit more to the pet owner, but it's bittersweet right now because I see happy Figaro and the kitty treats I used to bring home from a trip and losing Saavah comes back to me hard and fresh.
Favorite pictures (click on thumbnail for larger photo):