Our 2014 Christmas Trip Report - Final installment and thoughts (updated 5/22) About This Page:

[princetoaprincess]

Dec. 15-Animal Kingdom
This is my least favorite of the four parks. I had told DW all along I wouldn't be going to this park. But I did. Kinda glad I did as I have always loved the Lion
King show. Here's the breakdown of the day

Here's the customary picture to start the day:



We got up and out the resort by about 9 or so as we had our first FPs at 9:15 a.m. We watched several buses go by before an AK bus showed. Once we arrived at the park, we took a picture before going in.



We started as everyone does by checking out some of the animals in the Oasis. We ventured over to Africa to Kilimanjaro Safari, which was our first FP. We got on Kilimanjaro about 9:50, which was good because our ADR was about an hour away. My favorite animal is the Lions mainly because I was a Lion growing up (it was our mascot). We didn't see but 1 Lion in the safari, but saw lots of other neat animals.





Kinda had to show this one because I'm from Texas.



After leaving the safari, we watched a band play in the street and danced a little to the African music (I won't be showing those pictures as I can't dance).

We had ADRs for Tusker House and like before they didn't have our reservation. The guy said they couldn't do anything since we didn't have our reservation. Another guy was standing beside and stepped in. We showed him DW's phone and the confirmation # and he was able to put us on the waiting list. We didn't wait but maybe about 20 minutes before being able to go to eat.

However, by the time we got sat down they were starting to switch over to lunch. So, we only got one plate of breakfast. DW loves breakfast (her favorite meal) and she was very highly upset that we didn't get much breakfast before they changed to lunch.

Here's some shots of our breakfast time...









Our next FP was for Festival of the Lion King. Since we were at Tusker House, we just waited around and sat and passed the time. We got into line at 12:30 for our 1 p.m. FP for Lion King. We met this couple who was from Michigan and were on their first trip. They had a cute little boy we played with and sang songs with. The CM that was waiting to lead us in even started singing some of the songs from Lion King. We saw quite the show before the actual show itself. Then it was time for the actual show, and it was a great show as always. We were on the 3rd row.

About halfway through, a baby started crying on the row behind us. It took about 30 seconds for the CM to get there and ask the lady to take the baby outside. I felt bad for the lady because she had waited in line for FOLK and had FPd it like us.







We got out of FOLK and made our way to the Asia land. On the way over, someone hollered out "Ax Em Jacks." As you can tell by my pics, I was wearing an SFA shirt, and that's their slogan. It was so cool that we ran into someone from the same college that DGD and I both attended.

We moved on to Expedition Everest. I hate roller coasters, so I sat this out even though I had a FP for it. After a potty break, DW and DGD went into the line. The FP line was as long as the standby line, even though it moved quite a bit faster. I sat by the store outside Expedition and waited on them. I watched the cars come down the hill, listened to people screaming, etc. I was trying to look for DGD and DW but missed them.

Here's DW and DGD on Everest:



After leaving Expedition, we went to DinoLand and checked out one of the stores there. They were just finishing some type of show in front of the store, so we had to work our way around the people at that show to get into the store.

In there, we bought a 2nd autograph book for DW, some pins and some pens. From there we made our way to our next FP, which was Finding Nemo.

This was another show we hadn't ever seen. It was cute, but I fell asleep just a few minutes into the show (hence no pictures). DW and DGD also loved it. It was about 3:45 or so when we made our way out of there. We stopped for a few more pictures on the bridge with Expedition in the background and by the big tree outside the park.







We also saw some more characters. In fact, we ran into Pocahauntus and Tarzan, and DW and DGD about drowned in their drool at Tarzan. I am not lying. All they could talk about was his chest and stomach. Her's a picture of them.





This is the final photo of the day as we exited the park.



We took a bus back to our resort. As CSR, there are 4 bus stops. We were located at the 3rd. Well, at the first stop (the 2nd location) a lady lost her lunch. She got so sick, so everybody got off the bus there and walked to their respective rooms. As we were walking, we realized she was right in front of us. Luckily we made it into our room without any problem. We got back into the room about 6 p.m. or so and were trying to figure out what to do for the night.

I had intended to go to the Boardwalk to check it out. But DGD was tired and was asleep within a few minutes. DW and I sat for a little while and we knew we didn't want to waste the entire night in the resort. So, DW and I made our way to the food court.

We both ate supper there. She had a cheeseburger and fries. I had a bacon cheeseburger and fries. We got DGD a Texas burger (BBQ sauce, bacon and fries). Everyone enjoyed their meals. In fact, it was probably the best meal I had all week. I know that sounds awful, but I love a good burger more than just about anything besides mexican food.

After DW and I ate dinner, we headed back to the room to just relax. We were asleep by about 10 p.m. that night, the earliest we went to bed all week. But that was good because we had planned to open MK the next day, and it was extra magic hours in the AM.

Up next: The imaginary castle? An empty Adventureland and lunch with a lady AND a tramp.

[chezp]

What a great day at Animal Kingdom! The title of your next instalment has me intrigued...

[Colexis Mom]

Love the pictures from your day at AK!

[Cam22]

Nice day at AK!

[TheAyers]

All caught up and ready to hear more!

[princetoaprincess]

Thanks. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of AK. But with it just being our 2nd trip, I figured there's some stuff we hadn't seen or done the first time (Everest, Nemo, Tusker House) because we had gone there for only a couple of hours on the last day of our first trip.

So I was willing to give it another try.

Originally Posted by chezp

What a great day at Animal Kingdom! The title of your next instalment has me intrigued...

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Love the pictures from your day at AK!

Originally Posted by Cam22

Nice day at AK!

Welcome aboard. As I said, I'm going to try to update more frequently even though we're planning our next trip already.

Originally Posted by TheAyers

All caught up and ready to hear more!

[OhToodles!]

Good day at AK.

[lfredsbo]

What a great day at AK! I love that park.

[llgmommy2]

AK is not a park we always make it to, but it looks like you really enjoyed your time there.

[shazza]

All caught up, and enjoying your report. Keep it coming

[princetoaprincess]

Ok, here's the next installment.

Dec. 16 MK
Part 1
This is going to be a 2 part story because we spent half the day in the park, went to the resort to rest for a couple of hours and then came back for the night-time festivities. So, here goes…

Here's the picture we took at the bus stop.



MK featured EM hours from 8-9 a.m. We were at the bus stop at 6:45 a.m., which meant a wakeup call at about 5:15 for DW and about 6:20 a.m. for me and DGD. We love the Magic opening show, so we got there about 7:25 a.m. and caught the show. Here's a couple of shots of the decor outside the main gate all decked out for Christmas.





On into the park we went. We turned down Main Street, and this first photo was our view. Like I teased in the last segment, you couldn't see the castle at all. The second was nearly to where the hub begins. It was very foggy and a little chilly on this morning. As a result, I think it was less crowded as well for the EMH.





AdventureLand was the first stop for us, and when we got there, there was literally no one there except for maybe a couple of workers. We were the only guests in the area as evidenced by these 2 pictures.






We first rode Pirates and were the only ones on the ride. Probably could've ridden again, but decided to do something else. We had a FP for Big Thunder Mountain from 8:10-9:10. When we got to BTMRR, there was no wait again.

So we hoped right on. We got off and then got right back on again. This is one of my favorite rides in all of MK, so I had no problem riding it twice in a row.

We left after the second time and went to Haunted Mansion. We walked right onto it with basically no wait. We had ridden 4 rides in the first hour and then went back and did our FP for BTMRR just after 9 a.m.

After the third trip on BTMRR, we decided it was time for something different. As we headed over to find something to do, we ran into Chip and Dale.



We followed Chip and Dale with a potty beak, then a snack/breakfast break and then a trip to Tom Sawyer Island. DGD and I explored the island as DW sat and took in the sights and sounds.

We then did Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It was probably the longest wait of the morning, about 30 minutes or so.

We had Peter Pan FPs set for 11:10 A.M. and lunch for 11:35. So we headed on over to Peter Pan after riding Winnie the Pooh. We rode PP and headed to our ADR at Tony's Town Square.

As always, we weren't in the system and had to wait about 30 minutes or so. Once we got in, DW took pictures of the place.













It was then time for lunch.

DW had chicken parmigiana, DGD had spaghetti with italian sausage and I had a shrimp scampi. Everything was so yummy. For desert, I had an Oreo Cheesecake (which featured a caramel drawing of Lady and the Tramp on the plate), DW had regular chocolate cake and DGD had pistachio creme brulee.











Stuffed, we headed back out as our next FP wasn't until 1-2 p.m. Well, about 1 or so, DW got to feeling really bad and actually got sick. She headed back to the resort to rest, and DGD and I stayed at the park.

DGD and I watched the stage show in front of the castle. At one point, Peter Pan (one of DGD's favorites) came out to the stage and she got all giddy. She loves Peter Pan (see the report from our arrival day on the PP ride for more evidence).







Our next FP was for 7 Dwarves Mine Train from 1-2 p.m., but since none of us had ridden it, DGD and I decided we didn't want to ride it without DW. So, DGD and I rode Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid. That's probably my other favorite ride at MK.

After we rode that, DGD and I decided to head back to the resort to check on DW, who had gone to the room and taken a nap.

Like I said, I'm breaking this day into 2 parts. Next up is another visit with Tinker Bell, an Owaf (as my nephew calls him) sighting and seeing the MVMCP.

[OhToodles!]

What a great morning! You got a lot done. Sorry DW wasn't feeling well, hope some rest helped.

[Cam22]

Sorry your DW became ill because otherwise a great MK morning!

[chezp]

Sorry your DW wasn't well. I love the shot along Main Street with the castle missing in the fog - wow, how weird is that?

[Colexis Mom]

Great day at MK, except for your DW! Great pictures!!