Me, Muffin, Katie, Megan, the Adlers and Various Resorts!, - Page 11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Great day at the AK and you certainly got a lot in. Quite an active ride on KS and you had so many animal sightings! So hit and miss with that attraction. Glad you enjoyed Pandora so much and NRJ as such a great addition to the park.
Your meal looked very good at Jiko, but too bad you didn't enjoy it as much as you hoped. It just depends on what you ordered. Glad you enjoyed the Chenin Blanc as one of my favorite whites. Your nightcap with the African Grand Marnier sounds great and I know I'd enjoy it as I love GM! I always go to Victoria Falls before dinner at Jiko with the views and feel of the place. One of the best lounges in WDW along with Bellevue Lounge and Mizner's. I've actually dined at Jiko 7 or 8 times and love the food, wines and service here. Quite often I sit up at the appetizer kitchen, where the bread ovens are, Great talking to the chefs and learning from them.
It was an awesome day, Dave!! Even though Jiko did not live up to our expectations, it was still fine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
The ride pic from EE is hilarious!
Those were generous pours on your wine flight!
I’m guessing you slept well?
Muffin is just not that expressive on rides! . Oh, we slept great!!
We got up by 7:00 this morning and after showering and going to the Mara for coffee, we were ready to start our day. We headed out to the AK bus stop and caught a bus right away!! The saying on the front of the Animal Kingdom bus is now “Kaltxi”. This means hello in Na’vi!.
We arrived at AK at around 9:00 AM and stopped for a PP shoot!
When we got inside, who did we immediately see but DeVine!!
Then we saw this little guy:
We walked along the path to Discovery Island:
Then we walked towards Harambe for our breakfast ADR at Tusker House.
When we got to Tusker House, we checked and and were given a pager but we really couldn’t go anywhere with it. That would have been fine but we had to wait over 30 minutes before our pager went off and it was already pretty hot out. in any event, it finally did go off and we had a delicious breakfast with Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Mickey!
That was Muffin after I made him get his picture taken with everyone!
After breakfast, we stopped to see these guys:
Then we just strolled around for a bit:
Then we took the Gorilla Falls trail:
Then we took the Wildlife Express to Conservation Station:
Next was my favorite area! We had just missed a surgery being performed on one of the monkeys who had broken his shoulder. The procedure was much like a human surgery and it sounded fascinating. This OR looks just like the one we have at work. The animal guide here also told me that use this room for teeth cleanings. They take meticulous dental care of the animals in the Park and they all have to be have general anesthesia to get their teeth cleaned and have dental X-rays.
We took the Wildlife Express back to Harambe and continued our journey.
We headed to Pandora and explored until it was time for our first FP+ on Flight of Passage!! We were crazy excited about this attraction and it totally lived up to our expectations!! It was incredible!!! However! We both knew that Adrienne would not tolerate this ride and we had another FP+ booked for our AK day with the Adlers. We would definitely need to address this!! Then we walked around Pandora for a bit more and just drunk it in.
After Pandora, we were supposed to go to FOTLK but we decided to head back to AKL for a couple of hours and go swimming. It was just so hot and we would be seeing this show later in the week with Dave and Adrienne.
We got back to AKL around 2:30 PM and we didn’t have to be back at AK until 6:00. I told Muffin to go to the pool and that I would meet him there and I went to the front desk to explain the issue with our FOP FP+. The wonderful CM, Donna, could not have gone more out of her way to accommodate me. She said that they could not change anything at AKL but called guest services at AK and explained the issue. We were able to trade our FOP FP+ for a Na’vi River Journey one and I thanked her profusely for her help!! I then changed into my swimsuit and met Muffin at the pool. We enjoyed the pool for about 30 minutes and then came up to the room. We got showers and then took a nap. When we woke up, we sat on the balcony for a bit enjoying the animals:
Love your shirt, it's so cute! Great morning at AK. Your breakfast looks delicious and I really need to try Tusker House. That is awesome that they were able to switch the FP+ and a good thing to know!
Sounds like a fantastic day together at AK and AKL. My DH and I really enjoy sitting in Victoria Falls Lounge also. We sometime bring our wine up to the fire pit area in the lobby and enjoy our drink there. Glad you enjoyed your Navi River Journey ride. Did you also get a fast pass for Avatar during this vacation?
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Love your shirt, it's so cute! Great morning at AK. Your breakfast looks delicious and I really need to try Tusker House. That is awesome that they were able to switch the FP+ and a good thing to know!
Thanks!! I that shirt too!! Tusker House is a great breakfast!!
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Originally Posted by lindawdw
Sounds like a fantastic day together at AK and AKL. My DH and I really enjoy sitting in Victoria Falls Lounge also. We sometime bring our wine up to the fire pit area in the lobby and enjoy our drink there. Glad you enjoyed your Navi River Journey ride. Did you also get a fast pass for Avatar during this vacation?
We love Victoria Falls!! we do that too with the fire pit!! We did do both attractions and loved them both!!
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Originally Posted by purplegal
Another great and busy day, AK is such a nice park to just stroll around and enjoy.
Ak is my favorite park!!
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Originally Posted by chezp
Wow, it sounds like it really was hot for you to mention it so much - I guess I'd have been really suffering!
Great day apart from the wait to get into Tusker House. You've certainly packed a lot in so far.
It was hot but really nice, Cheryl!!. We were very busy on this trip!!
We returned to AK by 5:30 PM and had plenty of time to find our tour. It was just starting to get dusky out and we were really excited about seeing the Savanna at night! We made our way back to where Kilimanjaro Safaris is and right near the entrance is a little hut where there were CM’s standing outside to check us in.
They verified our names and, of course, had us sign a waiver and then let us into a closed off area in the back of the hut. There was just one other couple on this tour and they were already there. Katie, our tour guide, was very friendly and welcoming and the other couple was so sweet. I can’t remember their names but they were from Michigan and had also been to Disney lots. We had a pleasant chat while waiting for the Safari truck and Katie offered us all Pog juice.
After about 10 minutes, our driver arrived and we were off on the Savanna!!! It really is pitch black at night and the lighting is minimal to maintain the natural Savanna at night for the animals. Katie had a flashlight, though, and we were able to spot several animals along the way.
We followed the normal KS route for a bit, and even saw some trucks go by but then we veered off on our own little path. We stopped in a clearing where we were met by one of the night keepers, Rachel, who explained her job to us and told us a lot about what the animals do at night on the Savanna.
She explained that the only real nocturnal animals were lions, wildebeest and giraffes. She told us how the night shift had to watch the animals for healthy behaviors. She told us if they suspected an animal was sick, they had to follow it around and collect stool samples to analyze. I am pretty sure I would not want that job. Considering that the Savanna is so large, we asked how many people were on a shift and what they were responsible for. She told us that at night, there were only three people actually on the Savanna and that they drove around continuously. She said they also have cameras and there were another two people watching those. It was all very interesting!!
Then we were off again to what would be our favorite part of the tour!!! We arrived at a lookout boma, where we met Ebony and Olivia who would be our hosts for an hour while we ate, drank and watched the Savanna!! They even gave us infrared binoculars to see the lions and it was one of the coolest things I have ever done!!
Our food was served in tiffins. The first one had prosciutto,egg salad and fruit salad and the second had shrimp, a salmon roll and a delicious hummus.
When we were done our delicious meal, we again got into the safari truck and drove up to the lions area that looks like pride rock. It was amazing to see them that close!!
We finished our Safari after the Park closed and were told that we could take our time leaving, which was so fun!!
We also got these awesome coasters as a parting gift!! There are four of each kind and I already used them for Thanksgiving and got so many compliments on them!!
This was another amazing tour that I highly recommend!!!
When we got back to AKL, we again stopped at The a Jiko bar for a nightcap. Same drinks as last night and they were just the thing about o finish off another incredible day!!!
Great day at the AK from breakfast at TH and so many attractions! So cool you got to see Divine as quite a nice surprise! Nice tour of KS at night with a great meal at Tiffin's.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Great day at the AK from breakfast at TH and so many attractions! So cool you got to see Divine as quite a nice surprise! Nice tour of KS at night with a great meal at Tiffin's.
It was a terrific day!!. Our meal was actually in a Boma on the Savanna. They served the food in Tiffins.