An Animal Kingdom State of Being with Cam and Fam COMPLETED 9/18 About This Page:

[KMB733]

The pool looks nice and refreshing! Great pictures from DHS and great purchases too. I love the Return of the Mouse poster!

[debrabrown]

Love the SW stuff!

[nalexander]

Wow I had a lot to catch up on.

Sounds like you guys continue to have a great time.

Love all the SW stuff.

[nalexander]

Wow I had a lot to catch up on.

Sounds like you guys continue to have a great time.

Love all the SW stuff.

[WeLuvTheWorld]

Out of town for a few days so I had some catching up to do. I love the picture of the bottom of Spaceship Earth that Luke took. Looks like your morning at the pool was lots of fun and a great way to cool off.

[Big Baloo]

How ironic that you took a picture of his feet, after all the trouble that he's been having with them this trip!
The pool looked so nice--almost makes me wish I liked swimming.
I know what you mean about being nervous/anxious about the new school year--I can't wait to get to know "my" new kiddos every year, but am always afraid that I will be hopeless/clueless and won't be able to teach them a thing. But they're always so smart, that I think they'd learn the material despite my best efforts! You're going to be great, don't worry.
Looking forward to the next installment!

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by PamelaK

Is that the pool at Kidani or Jambo? It looks so cool that it almost wants me to go back to WDW during the summer. LOL But I so love the weather in November.

It is the pool at Kidani.

Originally Posted by ilovedisney247

Great update Cam! And don't worry about your new classes--I just know you are going to be wonderful!

I'm feeling a bit better today about beginning this year, though I had to sit through 5 hours of information dissemination. I got very squirmy before we broke for lunch. :rolf:

Originally Posted by chezp

Looks like a really fun day, especially at the pool!

The pool was lots of fun!

Originally Posted by DaisynDonald

What a great relaxing day!! I hope I can do that when we are at the AKL in Dec., I'm usually on the go the whole trip!! This year will be alot different since my 2 year old grandson will be there. He is so excited to go see "grammie's castle"!!

That is so sweet! My DNephew believes that Luke, Stefanie, and I live in the castle.

Originally Posted by Coop

I know that long walk! We didn't count the steps but I know that it is long! Great day at the pool! (oh and DHS! hehehe)

Luke came up with idea of counting the steps because Stefanie kept asking us how far it was.

Originally Posted by WeRDisneyFanatics

What a fun morning at the pool! I love the Tangled bathing suit - adorable!

Stefanie does look adorable in it!

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by Linnynad

What a great day so far. LOVE those type of Disney days. So fun and relaxing. Cool purchases too!!

Relaxing at WDW one of my favorite things to do!

Originally Posted by Charlie97

That water looked really nice. I was at the beach with the family this past Wed, although it was nice, it was nowhere near as relaxing or tranquil as it appears in your pictures. It was nice to see the quotes up on the pool wall, and I have always been fascinated with reading quotes and proverbs. Nice shot of the feet; reminds me of the kind of shots DD would get of me. For some reason, she catches me in really weird poses or situations like that; which is why I don't let her take pictures of me anymore. Being a Star Wars Family, we are trying for the weekends next year, hopefully we can pull it off. DS is practicing his use of the force on me every now and then, and says he will fight Vader if he sees him at Disney next year. On that note; I love the SW stuff that you bought and also look forward to more of your trip.

Luke and I kept commenting on how beautiful the water was and it was very refreshing from the heat and humidity. We have been to SWW since 2003 and always find lots of fun stuff to do.

Originally Posted by Roxie2006

Really enjoyed the pool pics. It had to be nice just to really relax and enjoy!! All your pictures at DHS came out great. TOT makes a good pic so does RNR's upside down car. Everyone walked away with some very nice treasures. In all looked like a great day!!

I really liked Luke's upside down car shot!

Originally Posted by Cheeser

I love it so far...but I can't see the pics from the last post.

Weird as they are still showing up for me.

[3dogknight]

all caught up. what a great vacation . Thanks for sharing all the great photos from your room of the animals

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by BJ Wanlund

Holy cow, this is what I get for being offline for two months and a few days. (Being 109 pages behind, that is) I'm just flabbergasted at all the stuff you've gotten to do on this trip so far, so my thoughts are all scattered and in no particular order.

I must say, that Butterbeer is delish. I got the frozen variety (since I'm a total sucker for frozen slushie-type drinks) and frankly, I don't think there's any chance I'll get the other variety on return visits to the Wizarding World. It's basically a creamy cream soda w/ a nice butterscotch-y topping to it. Very delicious, and I'd highly recommend the frozen one, because it's perfect for a hot day.

The Stefanie-isms are hysterical too. "Coke grease"? That's a new one, LOL. And I definitely might have to use the term "saddlecrap" in my vocabulary. It looks like something that you could describe as being bad, or sort of disappointing. And I had to stifle some major laughter at "I'm NOT normal!", mainly because I never would've been so assertive about my non-normalness at her age.

And the parade. Holy cow, the parade. I had no idea that that parade actually used families in the cars (and especially YOUR family), now I will have to see it for myself on a return visit to The Bubble. In fact, AK will definitely need to be explored in much greater detail than I was able to get the first time through.

And I think taking pics of your purchases is a swell idea. Certainly might have to "borrow" that idea for my next trip! Speaking of "borrowing" ideas, I definitely will have to work on making goodie bags for the flight crew of my next flight whenever I fly again! That was so cool what Stef got to do there!

BJ

Glad you've joined in!

Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata

The picture of Luke's feet made me literally LOL. I'm still giggling, actually. It was the perfect shot, seriously. You couldn't have planned that.

Sounds like a nice relaxing morning. You sound like me with the multi-tasking, except I do that at night usually, before bed. Syncing the iPod, pulling photos off of the camera, writing up the TR, posting the pictures to Facebook, uploading them to Photobucket for the TR, and oftentimes posting for a live TR. Phew!

I wondered if some other PPers might get the multi-tasking!

Originally Posted by scrappyjae

Great updates! Looked like a very relaxing morning at the pool. I would love to be there right now!

If I remember correctly, today is your first day back at school. Hope it all went well. We still have a little over 2 weeks. This is the last year that I have to deal with Public School and to tell you the truth...I am very ready for it to end. It will be so nice to plan a vacation for when we want to go and not around days off of school.

Today was my first day back, without students though. We had a faculty meeting all day long, but we have lots of new stuff going on and needed the information.

Originally Posted by mousestruck

We absolutely love the pool at Kidani. It is a wonderful way to start the day. Sounds like you're off to more fun at DHS!

Samawati Springs is a favorite with us!

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by KMB733

The pool looks nice and refreshing! Great pictures from DHS and great purchases too. I love the Return of the Mouse poster!

I can't wait to get the poster framed!

Originally Posted by debrabrown

Love the SW stuff!

Originally Posted by nalexander

Wow I had a lot to catch up on.

Sounds like you guys continue to have a great time.

Love all the SW stuff.

We really had a terrific vacation!

Originally Posted by WeLuvTheWorld

Out of town for a few days so I had some catching up to do. I love the picture of the bottom of Spaceship Earth that Luke took. Looks like your morning at the pool was lots of fun and a great way to cool off.

Luke has an eye for very interesting shots!

Originally Posted by Big Baloo

How ironic that you took a picture of his feet, after all the trouble that he's been having with them this trip!
The pool looked so nice--almost makes me wish I liked swimming.
I know what you mean about being nervous/anxious about the new school year--I can't wait to get to know "my" new kiddos every year, but am always afraid that I will be hopeless/clueless and won't be able to teach them a thing. But they're always so smart, that I think they'd learn the material despite my best efforts! You're going to be great, don't worry.
Looking forward to the next installment!

for the encouragement!

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by 3dogknight

all caught up. what a great vacation . Thanks for sharing all the great photos from your room of the animals

You are welcome! I love photographing animals!

[Cam22]

Up Next: Who is that coming up behind me?

I had talked with June while getting JP’s shirt to make sure I got the right size and she wanted an update on all our Disney fun. As we came onto Hollywood Boulevard, we realized the new Pixar Parade was in full swing. We didn’t have the best spots as we were late to the party, but Luke still got a few good shots while Stefanie and I bounced up down with each new float.















Then we moved to The Magic of Disney Animation, watching the Mushu movie this time. Afterwards we only had tme for one autograph session. Stefanie at first chose Pooh, but then switched to The Incredibles. While waiting Mrs. Incredible left, but Mr. Incredible and Frozone were there to greet Stefanie.











Now we walked to Mama Melrose’s to make our 4:20 ADR with the Fantasmic Package, but they were backed up and running 35 minutes behind. The hostess suggested we come back in that amount of time. We walked through the Muppet Shop and right into Muppet Vision 3D for the pre-show. Lots of laughing at corny jokes and stunts!

When we left the Muppets behind, we returned to Mama’s, visiting the restrooms first and then I checked us in again. Within a couple of minutes we were shown to our table and Brahim took our drink orders. Brahim would prove to be an excellent server, the second best of our trip. When he realized Stefanie wanted a kid’s menu, he was shocked that she had not been given the princess treatment. After getting her menu, he returned with liquid refreshment and explained our meal deal with the Fantasmic package. We each could get any appetizer for one, any entrée, and any dessert for the fixed price, much better than the old limited menu. I had the Chicken Campello and Caesar Salad with Chocolate Amarettini Cheesecake. Luke picked the pork chop and Caesar Salad with Chocolate Cannelloni Cake. Princess Stefanie decided on Minestrone (actually her mom and dad ate this), spaghetti with meat sauce and an ice cream sundae (on Sunday). She made me eat a bite because as she said, “You have to Momma because we’re at Disney.” Now who can argue with that!

After paying, I checked the Lines app on my phone. Backstage Tours was showing a 5 minute wait, so it became our next goal. The first area of the tour was done totally without guest volunteers. A little weird, but I kind of liked it! I also like the new queue for the tram as we were all lined up in an orderly fashion to board, rather than everyone darting toward the tram as soon as it arrived. The automated narration is still just okay, but Catastrophe Canyon was as cool as always.

Our next goal was to retrace our steps to find Jedi Mickey and R2MK, but unfortunately they had already retired for the evening. Since we were near The Great Movie ride and the wait was practically a walk on we boarded. We had a Granny Gangster who was a little unsettling playing the tough guy, but it made the ride interesting.

Back outside, I wanted to check out the pins under the hat as they usually have some of the exclusives. I scored the D23 pin and while I was waiting to pay Luke noticed SWW characters coming up to be in the stage show in front of the hat. He got some great shots of everyone. So !































Princess Leia is waving to Stefanie.





















We attempted to move around to the front of the stage but it was too crowded as well as too hot to stand around for the next half hour. Instead we took a restroom break and then joined a quickly growing Fantasmic package line into the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater. Quite a walk and reminded us of the walk to our room each night.

We headed to seats between Ursula and Sebastian, finally finding ours places 8 rows from the front, seats 4, 5, and 6. Great view in the spray zone! I headed back up to get us more cokes, waiting in another more organized queue to reach the registered. The process seemed to make the ordering much smoother. We hadn’t seen this show since October 2009, so I chose to put the camera away and just absorb it all. this show! Amazing!

We waited out the initial mad exit from the amphitheater. But as we began moving toward the aisle, a foreign tour group stampeded up the bleachers, putting themselves and us in danger. Luke turned security CM blocking them and forcing them to use the stairs as the rest of us were doing. We got the strangest looks from them, but then the announcement warning against doing just that came on again and they turned into well-mannered folks. (Clearly, they did understand English !) From there on we walked out at a comfortable pace and with room to breathe. We came out by the station, turning right to attempt Toy Story Midway Mania. The street was a little congested at first, but thinned out considerably at the hat. Getting a bus right at the end of Fantasmic wouldn’t have been easy yet anyway.

At TSMM the posted wait was 60 minutes. I caught up on notes, while we walked the queue. We had loads of fun, but riding that late our arms an hand were tired out very quickly. Scores: Luke = 138, 200 beaver, Best in Car; Cam = 98,900 white rabbit; Stefanie = 12, 800 armadillo. As Stefanie told me, looking up with the biggest grin, “This game is FUN!”

From here at 10:50 we strolled through One Man’s Dream, pondering over each display, exiting about 11:10, ready to go home.

At the bus Stop, we decided not to ride standing, but to wait for the next bus. My knees have been swollen from arthritis and bracing to remain standing on a bus when I’m already tired was aggravating the problem. In the end we were glad we waited as we got to see Ann and Carly again, talking while waiting for the bus. We had a smooth ride back to AKLV with hugs and goodbyes before heading to our respective rooms.

Back at the room I sorted out a load of laundry for tomorrow as Stefanie wanted her black shorts for Tuesday. Luke got of his feet and took pain medicine while Stefanie and I got ready for bed. Before falling to sleep, I finished the day’s notes, though I realized typing this up that I had totally left out the Pixar Parade. Thank goodness for the pictures to jog my memory. Lights were out by 12:39.

Up Next: How does she make these?

[Colexis Mom]

Great pictures from DHS Cam! And what a yummy dinner! Sounds like a Fantasmic night!

[B.M.]

Great pics of the parade! Sounds like a great time at the Studio's!