Bob & Larry Visit Walt Dinner World, February 3-9, 2004 (Completed 2/16/05!) About This Page:

[LLaffinPlace]

Watch this space!



[2/15/2004] Okay, okay, stop watching this space and see below--we're rollin'!

[luvnwdwgal]

Ok Larry!! I'll do just that!!

[MegglesMom]

Woo Hoo, can't wait!

[Colexis Mom]

Woo Hoo!! Another trip report from Bob and Larry Can't wait, you've got my mouth watering already about the delicious food you're going to write about Hurry back

[tikibird]

Ah yes, I've been WAITING for this one!

[CRCrazy]

I'm watching, I'm watching! (and I'm already drooling!)

[Kimber4444]

Too funny... I thought that Bob the Tomato, and Larry the Cucumber had been to DW (from VeggieTales). Sorry! but I did lol at myself

[DISNEYGOOF]

[ QUOTE ]
Too funny... I thought that Bob the Tomato, and Larry the Cucumber had been to DW (from VeggieTales). Sorry! but I did lol at myself

[/ QUOTE ]
Me too!

[LLaffinPlace]

I am indebted to my friend, Angelina, for the "Walt Dinner World" title, and she also graciously lent me her "Bob & Larry" tapes, which I found charming except for one thing: Bob does not eat raw tomatoes, and cucumbers don't like me!

[wdwlovers]

Can't wait!

[LLaffinPlace]

Dates: February 3 through 9, 2004



Adventurers:

<ul type="square">[*]Bob &amp; Larry , experienced WDW travelers last seen in "Bob &amp; Larry's Totally Non-Bogus WDW Journey" their way around The World
[*]Bob's sister Marti , last seen in "Bob &amp; Larry's Excellent WDW Adventure"
[*]Guest appearances by Marti's DH Mike, her DS Michael, and fellow Passporters Rich &amp; Kathy (AKA Two4Disney).[/list]
Resort/Hotel: Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (AKL)



Celebration: To escape the Alabama winter blahs and to get one more trip on our Annual Passes!



Previous Trip Reports:

Bob &amp; Larry's Excellent WDW Adventure (2002)

Bob &amp; Larry's Totally Non-Bogus Journey (2003)



Prologue:

Hi, Folks! Yep, we're baaaaaack! Because we planned such a nice long trip back in April, 2004, we purchased Annual Passes (APs; well, actually, Premium APs) at that time, and they were, like, burning holes in our pockets. Also, the only way to fight WDW withdrawal is plan the next trip, right? And, as with our trip in 2002, Marti's DH Mike had a softball tournament in Coral Gables, and she would tour the parks with us whilst he traveled further south to battle it out on the softball field.



As I reported in last year's Trip Report (TR), last April's trip occurred in the middle of a proposal effort at my workplace. The other folks working on the proposal were for the most part very understanding, and that trip went well And whaddaya know, we won the contract! Woohoo! Well, this was a happy thing for our future business in Huntsville, but I was uncertain precisely what my involvement would be in the new contract--I knew I would have to help with the transition--and since the contract start date was 1/1/2004, I did not know if I would still be involved to the point where it would be awkward--if not impossible--to bolt for Orlando at the beginning of February. So, while I am always interested in planning another trip, Bob could tell that I was not openly excited about the trip, which was pretty weird. The reason was, of course, that I was trying not to set myself up for disappointment. Obviously, as it turned out there was no problem and once this became clear I began to be excited as we started to plan the trip in earnest.



Firstly, Bob and Marti and I decided that we would go for the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Bob &amp; I had first visited the AKL in 2002 where we ate at Boma and did some exploring. Last year we had an exceptional meal at Jiko-The Cooking Place , where we enjoyed great food and a wonderful visit with our retired Cast Member (CM) friends, B&amp;D. As devotees of the Wilderness Lodge (WL), we were anxious to gain firsthand knowledge staying at the AKL so we could fully participate in the "Which Lodge?" debate.



Secondly, to Bob's and my mutual joy, since our aborted attempt to fly to Orlando airport (MCO) in 2002, Delta had added DIRECT FLIGHTS from Huntspatch (HSV) to MCO so we would NOT have to connect through Atlanta! Woohoo! After some discussion, we decided we would depart HSV on Tuesday night after work and depart MCO early Monday morning. This would give us five full days in Florida. The Monday morning departure surprised Bob a bit because I really don't like getting up early, but hey! This was for Disney!



Thirdly, we would be arriving MCO about 10:00 PM ET and departing 8:15 AM Monday morning, so after discussing the alternatives, we opted to try Tiffany Towncars for our airport transfers for the first time. While I know that many, many people would rather rent a car, Bob and I routinely avail ourselves of the Disney transportation during our stays. We felt that this arrangement would be the most expeditious plus not require us to get up on Monday any earlier than absolutely necessary.



I had made one Priority Seating (PS), for Flying Fish Cafe, because this was to be the site for our Passporter mini-meet with Rich &amp; Kathy, together with Marti and Michael.



As always, I am hoping that the other trip participants will chime in with additional information, reactions, corrections, etc., to make this TR as accurate and complete as possible.



Monday, February 2, 2004 - The Adventure Begins (B&amp;L Departure Day Minus 1)



Marti and Mike departed Maryland after work today and drove to Rocky Mount, NC to break their trip. They are headed initially for Daytona Beach, where their son Michael is a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. This turned out to be a smart move because it allowed them to slip south during a lull in some of the nasty weather the East Coast has been experiencing.



The other event of note this day is that in recent years I seem not to be able to schedule a trip to WDW without contracting sinusitis right before I leave. So, upon arriving at work this morning I called my doctor's office. They told me to come ahead. I actually asked my doctor if he thought that maybe there was some article of clothing that I only pull out for a WDW trip that might be infested with bacteria? Anyway, I got 2 Rx's, one for industrial strength decongestant (my ears were being difficult and I did not want them to stop up completey from the flight) and a fallback antibiotic (Pharmaceutical Weapons of Mass Destruction). As I did not seem to improve during the day (quite the opposite) I started taking the antibiotic that night while I did my almost final packing for the trip.



Coming Up: Day 1 - Captain Dumb, First Officer Dumber, and The Frat Party Plane

[BostonTeaParty]

Yay Larry! Your latest TR is shaping up to be another gastronomical extravaganza. Looking forward to every word!

[LLaffinPlace]

Tuesday, February 3, 2004 - Day 1: Captain Dumb, First Officer Dumber, and The Frat Party Plane

I got up and after showering and shaving stashed the shaving kit in the suitcase. At work I concentrated on making sure all the right people knew I would be away and that everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing. I left contact information with the person acting in my stead, knowing that he would not use it except in a true emergency.

Mike and Marti departed Rocky Mount, NC and drove to Daytona Beach to visit with Michael and spend the night.

I managed to get away from work about 4:15 PM CT, slightly behind my timeline, but not enough that I was concerned. I planned to arrive somewhat early at the airport because this was the first time I would be flying in 3 years (Bob, too) and wanted to allow plenty of time because of all the changes in procedures. Bob left work on time. As expected, we were at the airport early, and I was perhaps 10 minutes ahead of Bob. After checking in and checking a bag, I waited for Bob at the security checkpoint, where I got the full-on wanding treatment--and after I had removed my shoes and my belt! The flight was about 10-15 minutes behind schedule but we did not expect it to make a big difference in our arrival time. The airplane was a smallish commuter jet and we walked out onto the tarmac and up the plane's steps to enter instead of via the usual jetway.

The flight was not full, but the female flight attendant made much over the fact that she was the only female on the flight--all of the passengers and the rest of the crew were male. [Which did not seem to bother her, by the way. ] She asked if this was planned and we were all flying together. And the pilot said, "It looks like a frat party back there!". It was pretty funny whenever the flight crew made an announcement; there would be this little pause and the person would precede the announcement with "Gentlemen" instead of "Ladies and Gentlemen". When the flight attendant introduced herself, she went on to say that the rest of the Flight Crew was "Captain Dumb and First Officer Dumber"; apparently they had been cutting up since they left Orlando. My ears cooperated courtesy of modern medicine, and the flight was uneventful until we were on approach to MCO. We were waived off our first attempt because of a slow-moving small aircraft that was still on our runway. So we were delayed a bit as we circled around for another approach and landing. We arrived somewhat later than our scheduled arrival time of 10:00 PM ET.

We debarked and made our way via monorail to the baggage claim area. [I always feel I am getting close to WDW when I get on the shuttle from the gates to the terminal, don't you?] I my Mom to let her know we had landed, and lost the connection as we wended our way to baggage claim. There we were met by our Tiffany Towncar driver, who assisted us to the curb and then fetched the car. It turns out (as I found later when I checked) that I had transposed a couple of digits in our flight number when I made the reservation , but he and Delta worked out what flight we had to be on. The driver was extremely polite but quiet. It was a pleasant ride to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and I was certainly excited as we exited from the Interstate and drove by the Disney's Pop Century (PC) Resort; we could see the giant cellphone and Rubik's cube all lit up. While I was tending to the bill with our driver, Bob and Bell Services handled the luggage so that when I had handed the driver his tip envelope and noted that he would pick us up at 6:15 AM Monday morning , there was nothing left to do but head into the beautiful AKL and check-in.

We checked in around 11:15 PM, and--needless to say--it was very efficient at that hour. We were cautioned about how much the in-room phone costs, not to feed the animals or drop anything off the balcony, and to be sure to draw the drapes when dressing because of the video cameras. Room 2256 is on the second floor--one below the lobby level--and overlooks the Sunset Savannah. We headed to the room and called Bell Services to deliver the luggage. While this was in progress we scoped out the accommodations. The room is very nice and well-appointed. While some have said that they feel the AKL is "dark", Bob noted that he did not feel that way (and it was night, too!) and that the décor made the room feel quite comfortable. The mosquito netting on the wall over the beds and canvas-looking window treatments lent a safari feeling, and the carved wooden headboards and woven baskets lent what to me felt like authentic accents. We unpacked a bit and then retired for the night. We are expecting Marti and Mike around 8:30 AM tomorrow morning.

Next: Day 2 and Our Incredible World Tour

[Leah's Dad]

Very jealous here and biting my nails to see what happens next!!! If this TR is like your past, I am in for a great description. Can't wait!!!

[LLaffinPlace]

Wednesday, February 4, 2004 - Day 2, Part 1: Our Incredible World Tour



Mickey called us around 7:00 AM and told us "up and at 'em" because there were big doin's today. And right he was. Our 'Sunset Savannah view' strikes me as somewhat scruffy and small, with some obvious pens and buildings off to the far left; however, the latter turned out to be something of a plus. Nevertheless, we would not know this until later. The weather today would prove to be absolutely gorgeous, sunny with a high in the low seventies. Our plan is to hook up with Marti and Mike here at the hotel first thing, and then embark immediately on a whirlwind tour of the Animal Kingdom, Disney MGM, and Epcot parks. This is because the last time Mike visited the theme parks was a family trip long ago when Epcot first opened, and Marti is very interested in encouraging Mike to return as often as possible. Anyway, we only have today for this purpose because tomorrow morning he is off to Coral Gables for the softball tourney. After consulting with Marti, Bob made a 12:15 PS for 50's Prime Time Café at Disney MGM; they think that Mike will like the food and enjoy the antics. [That was 'antics', NOT 'ants', okay? Keep up, now!] Marti has an extremely ambitious list of attractions she wants Mike to experience, but we're nothing if not 'game' to try, so obviously the first place to go is AK, right?



After the usual preparations and setting out the first day's Lodgekeeping/Mousekeeping tip envelope, we headed to The Mara, AKL's version of a food court that is somewhat akin to The Wilderness Lodge's Roaring Fork (love that name!), but considerably more spacious. As usual, we picked up refillable mugs. Bob got Cheese Danish, OJ, and Diet Coke, and I had a delicious bagel sandwich (egg and bacon), OJ, yogurt, and coffee. It was relatively slow at Mara, fortunately, because the computers were down and the CMs had to write down what people got and use calculators to figure out the totals instead of relying on those handy-dandy touch screens. But they were pretty quick about it.



After breakfast, we made a quick trip to the room to drop the mugs and then headed down to the lobby to await the arrival of Marti and Mike. Marti called as they were turning in to the AKL complex, and it was about 8:45 AM when they walked up. [While waiting for them to park, I spent a moment trying out the GPS function on my new phone and, oh by the way, the AKL is located at approx. 28 degrees 21 minutes North Latitude, 81 degrees 36 minutes West Longitude.]



We headed immediately down to the bus stop to meet the AK bus. One of the reasons we are starting there is because it is so close and this will still put us there right at opening time. Marti and Mike grabbed some coffee just after we cleared the Oasis, and we headed directly for Kilimanjaro Safaris (KS). [We did however, have to avoid being almost bodily pushed in the direction of Camp Minnie-Mickey by a CM who was standing in the middle of the path to Africa shilling for the first show of Festival of the Lion King (FOTLK). And having once gone to the first show I must admit that my experience is [Tip] it is a really good show to shoot for, especially during crowded times, because it is easier to get in and much more efficient because wait time is minimized. But this was not our plan today.] There was a 15 minute wait posted for KS, so we went ahead and got in line, which gave M&amp;M time to finish their coffees. It did not seem to take that long. [Did I mention how hard it was to trudge by Tusker House and smell the Cinnamon Rolls?] Our safari was good, although I thought our guide's voice was a bit too 'sing-songy'; you know, that tone and cadence that guides everywhere can fall into when they've done something over and over again? You don't really encounter it that often at WDW. We saw a goodly number of animals but would have somewhat better luck later in the week.



When we were done with KS, we took the double secret path across Discovery Island that comes out just behind the Fastpass machines for It's Tough to be a Bug (ITTBAB), where we headed next, walking directly into the theater! This would actually be a preview of how this day would go: low attendance coupled with good timing on our part that would allow us to see an extraordinary number of attractions in one day. The secret path was one of the benefits from our 'Wild by Design' Tour last April. [Okay, okay, the other terminus is back of the Flick character meeting location, but don't tell anyone else, okay?]



After the cute and clever ITTBAB (fewer traumatized kiddies this time, too, but many parents have been 'stung' by this attraction), we hotfooted it to Tarzan Rocks! (TR) where the 10:45 show was just starting. We managed to get good seats--better than we had last April--and once again marveled particularly at the rollerbladers and their jumps.



After a pause for the cause, we went to Dinosaur, where we pretty much walked into the Preshow room. I wasn't sure what Mike thought about TR!, but it did seem like he enjoyed Dinosaur. Although I think Marti may have been skeptical at first--especially not favoring spinning rides--Bob &amp; I convinced M&amp;M to give Primeval Whirl (PW) a go. We snorted at the ride and chuckled at the recorded, "Buh-bye!" that greets you at the end, as well as puzzling as always over the instruction to stand up before exiting the vehicle. We're still trying to figure out how to do it any other way!



Having checked off the list for AK plus PW, we made our way to the AK exit and the Disney MGM Studios bus stop in hopes of making our PS at 50's Prime Time. Our luck was holding and the bus that was waiting departed immediately. We arrived within 5 minutes of our PS time. I do not think I have ever seen the Café less crowded, and we were seated in about 10 minutes.



Coming Up: You're Wearing a Baseball Cap at the Table?!