A 40th celebration to end the world! THREAD 2 COMPLETE AGAIN 4/27 About This Page:

[chezp]

Originally Posted by ilovedisney247

Mark's dish certainly looks "rustic" but I hope it tasted good! Your fish was just beautiful!

Mine was - I was very pleased with my choice.

I'm sad to hear that Mark didn't make the safari, but I know you took wonderful photos!

Well I tried my best... you can judge the results in a moment...

[chezp]

Wednesday 12 December – part seven: out on the savannah at night!

When I got down to the bus stop, a bus arrived almost immediately for Downtown Disney. I couldn’t believe how many people were getting on it, most of them for Kidani Village, which shows there are a fair few people staying there…



I headed into the lobby and got some photos…



… then went downstairs to Sanaa, and outside on to the overlook beyond, as I wanted to experiment with the camera settings to see how they were doing for the tour.



I wandered back in, and booked in at Sanaa, and was given a wristband to wear, and was told to hold it up to the light so that it would capture some light. I figured this was a key part of the tour, but actually it wasn’t, and to be honest, while it was a nice addition, and a good souvenir, I wish they’d explained that.

There ended up being nine of us in total, two couples, a father and son, and a mother and son. The two kids were, quite frankly, a bit irritating, as they both seemed to be real know-it-alls, telling everyone everything about giraffes. Thankfully, at least when we got out on the savannah, they quietened down, as obviously they realised they didn’t know it all after all.

Our guides for the night were Kim and Beth, and apparently they were the ones who first came up with the idea of a night-time safari tour here two and a half years ago. Despite a lack of advertising (I only found out about it thanks to a post on the boards and as you’ll remember, I struggled to book it), they told us that they’re sold out over Christmas and New Year, which is a good sign. They also said that they’re now offered on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, which is more than when I booked it. As far as I know, back then, it was only on a Wednesday and Saturday night.

We headed back to the lobby and outside to our safari truck. It’s covered, which I was pleased to see, as I didn’t know if it was going to rain. They do tell you to dress warmly, as it can be cold at night. I took a light sweater, and a sweatshirt, and I was pleased I had both of those, as without them, I think I would’ve been cold out there.

You have padded seats all the way round the outside of the safari truck, and they tell you that you can stand up or kneel on them to get a better view, just so long as you hang on to something on the truck with at least one hand at all times, which was fair enough.

We set off, and stopped at the start of the savannah, and from there, the Lodge looked pretty distant. It gave you a much better understanding of how big this place needs to be to accommodate the animals. We were given our night-viewing binoculars, although in truth, I didn’t use mine once. I found them a pain when looking at the savannah, as with the Lodge at the back of the shot, the light from that almost wiped out the night vision capability, and there was enough light to see without them.

Once everyone had binoculars, we were off, and we first drove past the pregnancy barns, where the pregnant animals are kept, so the keepers can check on their welfare. As Kim explained, they don’t want an animal to go into labour on the savannah, and then get into problems.

From here, we passed along what was essentially a driveway, with fencing either side. Kim explained that by law they have to have double fencing to keep exotic animals separated from native Floridian wildlife.

At the end of the driveway were gates, with the giraffe barns behind. Kim told us that one of their jobs on the night shift is to gather up the animals that don’t like the cold. One example she gave was the okapi, who don’t cope well in temperatures of less than 50 degrees. I did ask how they did this, given that they presumably couldn’t force the animals to come in, and she agreed that they couldn’t force them, but they persuade them, and usually when it gets that cold, the animals are glad to come inside. As part of their job, if the temperature drops during the night, then they have to make their rounds then to round them up, so they may be out at 3:00am in the morning, getting animals inside. Thank goodness the rooms have good sound proofing, and we don’t hear any of this!

We had to pass through a set of double gates, designed that if an animal does manage to get past one set of gates, they can’t then get any further, and then we were on the savannah. We basically took the trails around the savannah that you can see from both Kidani and Jambo (and the same one that we can see from our room), the ones that you see the vehicles driving on during the day.

The first animals we found were Ankole cattle, and I was pleasantly surprised with how my camera coped with the lighting.



Next, we found giraffe. Despite appearances, these guys were not sleeping. Kim explained to us that they tend to cat nap for five minutes or so, and very rarely sleep properly, although every two or three days, they may find one. The reason is that in the wild they can’t sleep, and if they do, they do it surrounded by a group of other giraffe, so that if there is a threat, they have plenty of warning, and aren’t caught unawares. It all made perfect sense when she explained it to us.



The next animal sighting we had were zebras…



We carried on around the savannah, and found an elderly eland. He’s been with Disney since Animal Kingdom opened, so he’s now almost 15 years old and where he was sitting, he was waiting for treats, although it was too dark to photograph him. Old age seemed to be a theme here, as apparently it’s a bit like a retirement community on the savannah! We were told that there were animals from other facilities who come here when they’re older, and of course any that were babies when Animal Kingdom opened will now be getting on a bit…


I promise he’s there at the bottom of the shot – it was just very dark

We passed the Maribou storks, which again, I couldn’t get, and there are three boys, all building nests to impress the ladies. The only problem is that there aren’t any ladies out here. One stork had built an amazing nest – both Kim and Beth said it was the best they’d seen so far in all their time here, but it’s all for nothing. It’s quite sad.

Soon we were rounding the area near our studio, and I could even see the light on it, but I knew Mark wouldn’t be out and watching.



Eventually, we headed back towards the savannah entrance, and made our way back to Kidani Village. All in all, we’d been out for over an hour, although honestly it felt nothing like it. I honestly thought we’d only been out there about half an hour. That’s always a good sign!



As we made our way back, Kim told us that they’re starting to put bat houses out. So far, they’ve done two, with another four to come. Each holds around 500 bats, and these are not the fruit bats, they’re the bats that eat mosquitos. Works for me!

As I walked down to the bus stop, I saw two buses leave, one from the Magic Kingdom, and one from Epcot. Ok, that’s a good sign – it means the buses must still be running then. I settled down to wait for another one, and waited, and waited, and waited. It was just me on my own, and I must admit had it not been Disney, there is no way I’d have been doing this. I was just starting to wonder how long I should leave it before going to front desk to check that there were still buses running (I’d left my details of the opening hours of the parks in the room ) when a Downtown Disney bus showed up. I knew he wasn’t supposed to go to Jambo, but I asked him, and he said he’d take me. What do you know? As soon as we left, a Magic Kingdom bus showed up…

When we got back to Jambo, I think I did a couple a favour. The driver told me they’d been waiting there when he was last at Jambo, but this time, they asked if he was going to Downtown Disney, and got on when he said

It was very surreal walking back to Jambo. I saw no-one on the walk up there, no-one outside, and apart from Cast Members, the lobby was completely deserted. Had it not been for the fact my camera battery had died as I waited for the bus (I was looking at photos to see how they’d come out), I’d have got photographic evidence of the scene in front of me…

The weather today was cloudy with sun rain in the afternoon, with temperatures in the high 70s.
The best thing today was the night time safari tour.
The worst thing today was the fact Mark was ill.
The funniest thing today was the guy exercising on the tennis courts at Bay Lake Tower.
Today we tried the new night-time safari tour at Animal Kingdom Lodge
And the result was it was wonderful, and I really enjoyed it.
The most magical moment today was seeing the four giraffes eating right in front of our room.

Next: “how’s Mark doing this morning?”

[ilovedisney247]

What a great experience! I can't wait to do this!

[Sweetpeama]

loved reading about the night time safari. I have an 8 yr old who would just love that. She would have been just the opposite of the other kids though instead of being a know it all she asks ten million questions. At least now the favorite one is can we look it up.

[lauriep]

The safari sounds wonderful-- a lot like the Sunset one. I'm so glad they're finally going to put up the bat houses. These were talked about when the lodge was first built as they can't use toxic sprays with the animals eating the vegetation. One little bat can eat 1000 mosquitoes an hour! I hope this long day's rest really helped Mark and he's ready to tour again in the morning!

[lfredsbo]

Thanks for sharing all about the night safari! We are considering it!

[MikeL]

Thanks for telling us so much about Night time Safari We have been debating doing this one but glow from Night Vision scopes have us on the fence but reading your description seems to indicate they may not be completely needed I'll have to check calender for phase of the moon and make a decision

[shazza]

You did well with the nighttime shots. I like the one withe sitting giraffes.

[Disneybine]

Oh no, I'm so sorry Mark missed the safari tour. I'm glad you still got to go, though, as you had some nice animal encounters!

[KHarrod]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the Night Time Safari! I agree, it's definitely a good sign when the time flies by. I had no idea that giraffes only take cat naps/have poor sleeping habits, but like you said...that totally makes sense!

[pamcarey]

Your camera did really well taking pictures on the Night Time Safari!

[lindawdw]

Glad Mark was able to go to dinner with you but sorry that he couldn't make the night time safari The safari sounded pretty interesting!

[num1DVCfan]

I really enjoyed reading about the nighttime safari. I had no idea that giraffes only took power naps!

[guerns17]

It would be a fun job taking care of the pregnancy barn and see all the babies be born!!

[Yelloweaver]

Loving this!