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[Grammy Grumpy]

Ouch, sorry to hear about that safari ride, but that driver and the CM Thom spoke with really should have taken better care of the situation. You were hurt and MD was really scared. Someone should have said they were sorry!

Hopefully the rest of your trip was magical and uneventful.

[Luvsun]

Yikes!! That is just crazy! I am so glad that no one was physically injured! I am glad you ducked when you did Jill! I am sorry that Mary Devall got spooked by the whole ordeal!
Kudos to Thom for talking to the CM about the incident! It is a shame they didn't follow up on it though!
Maddie looks so happy with her mint chip ice cream!

[zacksmom_1993]

Well I've finally got a bit of time to post some pictures and add some commentary to the dueling trip reports, but I'm flummoxed as to how to divide my time between the two. (And quiet all you in the peanut gallery who are saying, "You could just write quick comments like a normal person instead of trying to bogart two trip reports that will actually be finished... ) Anywho, back to the beginning. Zack and I were supposed to fly out of SFO and get into MCO right about midnight after a brief layover in Atlanta, which would have us sleeping soundly in our OKW room and waking up nice and refreshed in plenty of time for Jill and Maddie's arrival on Friday morning. But, a two hour weather delay, followed by a four hour mechanical delay meant that we landed in Atlanta at 3:30AM and got to get a couple of hours of sleep like this...



We were re-booked on a 7AM flight and were at the hotel before 9AM and checking in for a nice long two hour stay. How's that for classy? They did give us a late check-out and Zack managed to string together a good six hours of sleep. I can never sleep the night before vacation anyway, so no big loss. And, BONUS, I still had time to walk over to Port Orleans and buy some beignets for breakfast like I'd been planning for months. In case anyone's interested, there is a secret path if you cross the main road near the entrance. You walk along the shoulder for about a hundred yards and you'll come across a service road on the right that dumps you right in the Port Orleans parking lot. Yeah Google Earth! I ran into several CM's who never said I couldn't go that way and there's no signage indicating it's not allowed. So in case you're staying at OKW and you're jonesing for some beignets, now you know there's an easy way to get there!

Shortly after I got back, Jilly and Maddie were arriving. And after some quick hellos and a call to bell services to transfer our bags to the Wilderness Lodge, we were headed back out of the room and off to lunch at Olivia's. I was so excited to see Jill and Maddie. Both Zack and I really NEEDED this vacation. I mean REALLY NEEDED it. And this little face...



made it all the more special.

Olivia's was a first for me and everything was yummy, especially this...



Since I'd just shoved a bunch of beignets at Zack and it was only 9AM west coast time, he couldn't do much besides choke down a Caesar salad. Of course, I had to pressure him since we were on the deluxe dining plan. So he boxed up the vegetarian pasta and another serving of key lime pie. Ummm... not such a good idea, as some congealed grease running down my arm from the leaking box in Downtown Disney seemed to prove a bit later. The key lime pie made it to our next hotel just fine though! Even with the transportation difficulties of the to go items, I loved my lunch at Olivia's and our server was great. I think he fell in love with Maddie more than a little.



Doesn't it look like he's not going to let her go in this shot?

After lunch, we boated to Downtown Disney (love that ride) and did a bit of shopping at the Lego store and Goofy's Candy Company. A brief bus ride and we were checking into hotel number 2, the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. The kids played with Legos, I got the bags from bell services and chatted with Jill. Our whole vacation lay out in front of us. Don't you love that feeling?

We took a quick swim with Maddie and then the girls got spiffed up and headed out to our "double date" with Bob & Larry. I those two guys so much, and it was so good to see them again. They were gracious and charming (and ordered the perfect wine too!) Dinner seemed to fly by, but I'm sure the staff that was waiting for us to leave the restaurant so they could close the place down didn't feel exactly the same. We headed back to the WL via taxi and Sha arrived shortly there after with Flat LeeNee. The gang was all together again, well sort of...

[ilovedisney247]

Great update Karen--Nice to see you popping in! How's life?

[Cam22]

Jill -- I think my mouth was open the whole time I was reading of your KS misadventure. Poor Mary Devall! So scary! I'm not sure I buy the bamboo story and Disney should have definitely checked back with you all! Glad the rest of your day was a return to the magic.

[rlb38]

What a crazy safari driver.... poor MD that would shake anyone up.
Looking forward to more.

[Cam22]

Karen -- great addition to the highjacked TR! The way you write always make me smile.

[zacksmom_1993]

Saturday morning came fast, but we all managed to get out the door quickly. The fact that Zack slept in the closet probably helped since he didn't have a comfy bed to stay tucked into. We made it to Hollywood Studios before EMH was up, but we just couldn't seem to get it together. Zack and Sharon went off to ride Tower, but it was down. I went off to get in the line for Bobba Fett, but he wasn't out yet. Jill and Maddie went off to get FP's for Toy Story Mania, but they were too far out in the day. We ended up meeting up with Bob and Larry and kind of looking at each other with that, "I don't care, whaddya want to do" attitude. I blame it on Flat LeeNee. Actually, I probably should blame it on the lack of food since once we stopped for a snack at the Writer's Stop, we all seemed to get back into the game a little bit.

Refreshed, we headed out to Star Tours and then Zack, Jill, Maddie, and I went to find the Jawas. Zack and I had discovered these characters last year and had found out that they would trade for various prizes. We had good luck the prior year when we'd brought trinkets and toys versus scraps of trash like other people were doing. Last year, Zack had even gotten a valid Fastpass for Toy Story. Gold, baby! Anyway, I'd come equipped this year with toys from the Dollar Spot at Target and I thought I'd gotten really clever with some silk flowers. Zack traded first to show Maddie how it was done...



But Maddie was a quick learner, and was soon trading for some green beads. I think in her second go around she got the button that Jill referred to, but she had to wait her turn with some kid who was trying to trade trash.



You can't see Maddie's face in this picture, but she was totally giving that girl the "you are lame" look. Zack and Maddie made out pretty good with a couple of strings of beads, a Star Wars pen and the coveted button. Zack wants me to point out how cool it is that the jawa's bag is actually C3PO's leg.

We also managed to see a couple of characters...



and a presentation on the Clone Wars show. So after a slow start, it turned into quite the successful Star Wars morning. After lunch back at the Contemporary where we hooked up with Thom and Mary Devall, we parted ways with our dear Koenigs until the next day...

[zacksmom_1993]

I just have to pause a minute to say whiskey tango foxtrot! Thom's lost 25 pounds SINCE you've come home. Isn't that like Biggest Loser rate weight loss? First of all, I didn't think he had anywhere near that amount of weight to lose. And, secondly, I'm super impressed. Not that I'd say that to his face or anything...

And now I feel like I can't make fun of you for making your Koenigs hour appearance at Animal Kingdom on Sunday since he was being all healthy and junk before hand. Sigh.

I will share a couple of pictures from the Maharajah Jungle Trek, however:



The aforementioned antlers.



A cute shot of Larry, Zack, Thom and the girls. I think we were going for the See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil theme, but Larry seems to be the only one who got the memo. At least I can make fun of Thom for THAT!

We left Larry & Bob (I'm trying to change it up since I'm sensing a complex from &Larry), Sha, and the Koenigs to head out for lunch at T-Rex, more of that in the other trip report. We came back after lunch, after shopping at Downtown Disney, and after an awful transportation experience getting back to Animal Kingdom and the crew (plus all of Monica's crew) was STILL at lunch. They totally missed this HUGE rain storm that blew through Animal Kingdom. It was absolutely pouring, with people hiding out in stores and trying hard to stay dry. Zack and I hopped from store to store with the rest of the huddled masses trying to make our way back to the gang. My supposed friends? They could care less. They were all chatting it up, dry and cozy, with Yak Attacks in hand. Harrumph!

Anyway, we rejoined the crew and chatted briefly with Monica's family before they went off to ride Kali (no comment necessary) with the Fastpasses they'd gotten earlier. I stole Maddie so the rest of the gang could ride Everest and we headed over to Triceratops Spin. We started to get in line when Maddie said, "Ms. Kawen? Can we play a game?" Now, especially because she hadn't called me Ms. Eileen as she was prone to, I was all about buying the affections of my sweet little friend. And then, cuteness, when I asked her how many games she wanted to play and she answered "one", I had to buy five tickets. That worked well because Maddie and I were the only contestants in a game of whack-a-dino, which meant that Maddie won. (See that all you Buzz Lightyear conspiracy theorists?) It worked especially well because we got smoked at the water guns and skeeball, and I had an unfortunate experience at the basketball game, as well. I mean really, really unfortunate. Like the CM kept handing me the ball and giving me free shots, over and over and over. But, Maddie had her Rexie, and I was her favorite (at least that's the way it was in my head.)

Since Zack and Mary Devall were single riding Everest, we decided to meet the group at the safaris and Maddie and I caught most of the parade.



I watching Maddie watch a parade. It's way more fun than the parade itself! The parade ended, our crew (minus Sharon) caught up with us and we headed into dun, dun, duh Kilimanjaro Safaris.

The ride started out funny enough because there was a non-English party who didn't understand the loading instructions. They tried to load our full truck and two of them crammed in with the party behind us, while another jumped in with Thom, Zack, and Maddie in front of us. Jill and I got the giggles because MD, Bob, she, and I were all luxuriously spread out and the row behind us was CRAMMED in. I mean, like need butter to get out, crammed in. Then, at first, I thought our driver was hilarious. He'd point something out and then in the middle of the sentence just stop talking. He turned the soundtrack on at the wrong time and completely missed the rickety bridge script. Towards the end of the ride he started muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "humina, humina, humina" when this little kid yelled out, "He's talking gibberish!" That was it, I completely lost it at that point. And as I wiped the tears away, I'm thinking, "This ride was a classic."

But wait! There's more! We crossed over the gates for the animal areas and into poachers land. The truck started getting a little out of control, but I didn't think much of it. We were trying to catch poachers! So we start heading around a particularly sharp turn and the sound of poacher gunfire fills the air. At that moment, I look up to see Jill diving across the seat towards me. All I could think was, "Jill they're not real! The gunfire is just part of the story." But as my brain is trying to process why I've got Jill in my lap all of a sudden, I notice that our vehicle is strangely filled with branches. I mean like there are leaves everywhere, a branch behind Mary Devall's back, and this little old lady in the seat behind us probably still has that leaf in her hair. When I finally processed that we were IN the trees, I just started laughing, my usual response to crisis. Reassuring isn't it? Well we were just trying to pull the foliage off us when the driver backs up sharply and guns it forward causing Jill to fall HARD back into the seat.

Without a doubt, the craziest experience I've ever had on the safaris. And even with us throwing all of the major debris out of the truck at the scene of the crime, this was how our vehicle looked upon return to civilization...



Crazy, huh?

Anyway, I'll leave off there and put my pictures from Sunday night into Sharon's TR (mostly because I'm depressed about Thom's weight loss and need to go eat a piece of cheesecake to feel better.)

[ilovedisney247]

Cheesecake Therapy! I personally like Shopping Therapy, but whatever works for you! Cheer up Karen! You are a supa star!

[chezp]

Great updates both of you! My goodness, I can't get over that safari ride - scary!

[Colexis Mom]

Great updates Karen! Thanks for chiming in!

[mommapants]

Great updates Jill and Karen. I can't get over the driver how unDisney like. very scary. I how MD has recovered. Kids can hold on to those sorts of things much longer than adults. I still remember a "tramatic" experience I had at Disney when I was 6.

More Please

[Marybeth]

Wow how scary on KS. I hope you guys have all recovered from that experience.

[HiddenMickey]

Man oh man.....that was some 2-week safari. Bet you're glad it really wasn't that long, with that driver at the wheel?! I am just amazed that he was so out of it that he didn't even realize that his passengers needed to be checked for damage. Geez.

Luckily, looks like everyone survived mostly in one piece, though poor MD, it might still be a problem for her, right? Or is she doing better?

What an afternoon!

Thanks for giving your perspective (and your mini-TR) here too Karen.