Hi everyone and welcome to Day 15 ~ Saturday August 30th
Today is "Sunrise Safari" Day and the wake up call comes at 6:00am. SuAnne was already up making herself look beautiful and I was up and soon ready but it was another story with the girls who refused to budge from their slumber. We practically had to shake them physically and drag them out of their beds
By 6:45am we were up in the lounge and there was coffee, juice, cereals fruits and within a few minutes muffins and danishes arrived. I am still not well... I keep trying to tell myself I'm fine but I could barely swallow coffee. The girls and SuAnne had a little something to tide themselves over until breakfast, soon there was quite a few people in the lounge.. way more than last year and later I saw there was two buses and two jeep safari vehicles.
After the concierge checked that we had park admission, they issued our name tags and we were sent down to the Arusha look out lounge just to the left on the lobby level. We had a brief talk by one of the animal handlers here a the AKL and then made our way across the lobby to the waiting buses.
Only a 5 minute drive to the back gate of Disney's Animal Kingdom and then another 5 minute ride through the backstage area - it is way bigger then you would think with many specialized buildings for particular animals, holding areas, hospitals, offices and the barns that house the animals during the night. Really a fascinating facility - worth of a tour on it's own.
After we stopped we had a short walk to the Kilamajaro Safari ride and boarded our vehicle with J.D. our driver and Tim our guide. The four of us sat in the front row and we also had MikeJ from the DIS and his family along with us in our jeep. It was an absolutely beautiful morning , sunny and clear and we saw quite a few animals and had many opportunities to take photographs as this safari lasts about 45 minutes and there is no set schedule. We had a great view of the hippos playing and a baby hippo submerged beside it's mother.
There was a giraffe so close to us feeding from a tall tree when we stopped beside him he turned and looked at us all really curiously for a moment and then almost posed for us ~ everyone was snapping photos of this beautiful animal and his funny expression.
We were able to see the lions & rhinos quite well but only had a glimpse of the baby elephant and his Mom in the distance. We had several young children along on this safari and never heard a sound from them - they were all very well behaved in fact I had to turn and see if we had any at all as I was thinking they were all on the other jeep.
After the safari we walked over to the Tusker Schoolhouse, it is a private function room off the regular restaurant. There was a buffet set up for us which included many american breakfast items like sausages, bacon, fried eggs and green tomatoes, hot cinnamon rolls etc.. but also some african dishes, fruits, breads, cheeses etc....
Breakfast was delicious and I actually was able to eat and enjoy my food
I was suddenly feeling much better. It was also good for both the kids who usually complain about the food anywhere we go and want macaroni and cheese. They actually ate a decent meal for a change.
Well this is sort of a bittersweet day as Hayley and SuAnne fly home to Toronto at 2pm - after the safari & breakfast we had time to walk over and do the girls favourite ride "Dinosaur" and then had our hugs and goodbyes.
Noel and I assured Hayley that we would not have anymore fun here at disney and be totally miserable for her sake so she would not be jealous - I think we may have even promised not to go on any more rides
The moment SuAnne and Hayley were out of sight Noel said we had to ride dinosaur again and Hayley would never know! We walked over to Dinosaur and there was this big line up (minutes ago it was a 10 minute wait) the CM told us the ride had broken down and he did not know how long it would be down... we figured it was the "Curse of Hayley" not letting us enjoy ourselves anymore.
Well.. Noel talked me into going on Primevil Hurl ~ if you have been following my reports you will know that I escaped that ride the other day and sat on a shady bench with SuAnne while the kids rode together twice. I officially hate this ride! Remind me never to go on it again - it is painful. After PH we walked over to Tarzan Rocks which I have never seen before... it was a good show - we sat near the front and Noel was singing along to all the songs... Tarzan has quite the body - Noel complained that she could see Jane's underwear.
Leaving the Tarzan show we realized it was 120 degrees out... a hot hot day... we decided to go back to AKL for a swim and planned to do Disney Quest and Planet Hollywood in the evening. I heard a voice behind me saying "There is that Cass and Noel following us around again" It was MikeJ - who had been in Tarzan too.... I didn't bother to point out to him that he was following us
Back at the hotel we had a rest in the room for a few minutes and changed for the pool - we stopped for a drink in the lounge and headed to the pool for a swim.
As I was walking in the pool I heard someone talking to me ~ someone in a lime green bathing suit ~ it was Scratch42 (Janet) from the DIS Board.. and her daughter Tanya We swam and chatted for a good 45 minutes and I learned that it may be 'Beyonce (formerly in Destiny's Child) who was staying onsite... not "BoDiddly" as SuAnne guessed. Soon Scratch had to leave to go get ready for "Hoop Dee Doo" and she was very disappointed not to have met MikeJ yet as she had lots of questions about DVC.
After Scratch left I was just relaxing in the water when I thought I saw a girl that looked like Hayley walk behind a tree by the pool... I just saw her back, but it looked so much like her... the next thing I saw was SuAnne walking along in her bathing suit too... !!!
I was in the middle of the AKL pool and I started screaming "SuAnne! Hayley!" They heard me and started waving.. I swam over, they waded in...and much hugging and laughing ensued - turns out their flight was overbooked and the Airline was looking for passengers to "volunteer" to stay another night. They were given $300.00USD each in the form of future travel voucher and Mears transfers back to AKL.
Noel and I were so happy they were back and it was no problem at all as I had booked my room for them too for staying 3 nights even though they were only staying one. Soon we were all swimming and it was the most perfect, fun afternoon.
Around 5pm we changed for dinner and I was actually hungry! We decided to leave the girls to their own devices again and have a nice adult dinner at JIKO. I called concierge and they were able to get us a PS for 6:30pm - so we headed up to the lounge for some appetizers and a glass of wine beforehand.
Tonight they had a great beef satay on skewers and some other nice dishes. I tried not to eat too much as were were heading down to Jiko soon. Noel and Hayley had chicken nuggets and some other things ~ I didn't really see as we were sitting in a different area of the lounge from them.
JIKO was wonderful but we did see some very "casual" people and a kid playing Nintendo at the table next to us where the sound was a little annoying. We had a Russian waitress who was very serious and had some interesting eye make-up.
For dinner we split the olive flatbreat which was OUT OF THIS WORLD - in fact we could have eaten 2 for our whole dinner! SuAnne had the monkfish and I had the Filet & mac and cheese and it was very good. We skipped dessert as we were full and also the lounge serves desserts at 9:00pm so we planned to go up there. I still could not beleive that SuAnne was back - what a great surprise.
After dinner we had a nice walk around AKL to see the animals and came back to the room to find that the girls were not here but there was a beautiful giraffe right below our balcony, we took some photos and then he started running away, they are so graceful when they run we were both ohhh-ing and awww-ing, it was a great moment.
Soon our peace was shattered by the return of the girls and we had another walk and went up to the lounge for coffee and dessert - tonight we had some mini cheesecakes that were delcious and the girls had cookies. It was an absolutely perfect evening - I was so glad SuAnne and Hayley were bumped off their flight, we had a great time together and now as I write SuAnne & Hayley are in bed as tomorrow their flight departs at the ungodly hour of 7:20am - this means they have to get up around 4:00am... ick! I am hoping they are bumped off again and maybe will end up on our flight with us on Monday.
Miracles do happen and Disney Magic is all around us ~ even at a crowded airport at 5:00am.
Until tomorrow...... Good Night from Animal kingdom Lodge
Today is "Sunrise Safari" Day and the wake up call comes at 6:00am. SuAnne was already up making herself look beautiful and I was up and soon ready but it was another story with the girls who refused to budge from their slumber. We practically had to shake them physically and drag them out of their beds
By 6:45am we were up in the lounge and there was coffee, juice, cereals fruits and within a few minutes muffins and danishes arrived. I am still not well... I keep trying to tell myself I'm fine but I could barely swallow coffee. The girls and SuAnne had a little something to tide themselves over until breakfast, soon there was quite a few people in the lounge.. way more than last year and later I saw there was two buses and two jeep safari vehicles.
After the concierge checked that we had park admission, they issued our name tags and we were sent down to the Arusha look out lounge just to the left on the lobby level. We had a brief talk by one of the animal handlers here a the AKL and then made our way across the lobby to the waiting buses.
Only a 5 minute drive to the back gate of Disney's Animal Kingdom and then another 5 minute ride through the backstage area - it is way bigger then you would think with many specialized buildings for particular animals, holding areas, hospitals, offices and the barns that house the animals during the night. Really a fascinating facility - worth of a tour on it's own.
After we stopped we had a short walk to the Kilamajaro Safari ride and boarded our vehicle with J.D. our driver and Tim our guide. The four of us sat in the front row and we also had MikeJ from the DIS and his family along with us in our jeep. It was an absolutely beautiful morning , sunny and clear and we saw quite a few animals and had many opportunities to take photographs as this safari lasts about 45 minutes and there is no set schedule. We had a great view of the hippos playing and a baby hippo submerged beside it's mother.
There was a giraffe so close to us feeding from a tall tree when we stopped beside him he turned and looked at us all really curiously for a moment and then almost posed for us ~ everyone was snapping photos of this beautiful animal and his funny expression.
We were able to see the lions & rhinos quite well but only had a glimpse of the baby elephant and his Mom in the distance. We had several young children along on this safari and never heard a sound from them - they were all very well behaved in fact I had to turn and see if we had any at all as I was thinking they were all on the other jeep.
After the safari we walked over to the Tusker Schoolhouse, it is a private function room off the regular restaurant. There was a buffet set up for us which included many american breakfast items like sausages, bacon, fried eggs and green tomatoes, hot cinnamon rolls etc.. but also some african dishes, fruits, breads, cheeses etc....
Breakfast was delicious and I actually was able to eat and enjoy my food
I was suddenly feeling much better. It was also good for both the kids who usually complain about the food anywhere we go and want macaroni and cheese. They actually ate a decent meal for a change.Well this is sort of a bittersweet day as Hayley and SuAnne fly home to Toronto at 2pm - after the safari & breakfast we had time to walk over and do the girls favourite ride "Dinosaur" and then had our hugs and goodbyes.
Noel and I assured Hayley that we would not have anymore fun here at disney and be totally miserable for her sake so she would not be jealous - I think we may have even promised not to go on any more rides
The moment SuAnne and Hayley were out of sight Noel said we had to ride dinosaur again and Hayley would never know! We walked over to Dinosaur and there was this big line up (minutes ago it was a 10 minute wait) the CM told us the ride had broken down and he did not know how long it would be down... we figured it was the "Curse of Hayley" not letting us enjoy ourselves anymore.
Well.. Noel talked me into going on Primevil Hurl ~ if you have been following my reports you will know that I escaped that ride the other day and sat on a shady bench with SuAnne while the kids rode together twice. I officially hate this ride! Remind me never to go on it again - it is painful. After PH we walked over to Tarzan Rocks which I have never seen before... it was a good show - we sat near the front and Noel was singing along to all the songs... Tarzan has quite the body - Noel complained that she could see Jane's underwear.
Leaving the Tarzan show we realized it was 120 degrees out... a hot hot day... we decided to go back to AKL for a swim and planned to do Disney Quest and Planet Hollywood in the evening. I heard a voice behind me saying "There is that Cass and Noel following us around again" It was MikeJ - who had been in Tarzan too.... I didn't bother to point out to him that he was following us
Back at the hotel we had a rest in the room for a few minutes and changed for the pool - we stopped for a drink in the lounge and headed to the pool for a swim.
As I was walking in the pool I heard someone talking to me ~ someone in a lime green bathing suit ~ it was Scratch42 (Janet) from the DIS Board.. and her daughter Tanya
We swam and chatted for a good 45 minutes and I learned that it may be 'Beyonce (formerly in Destiny's Child) who was staying onsite... not "BoDiddly" as SuAnne guessed. Soon Scratch had to leave to go get ready for "Hoop Dee Doo" and she was very disappointed not to have met MikeJ yet as she had lots of questions about DVC.After Scratch left I was just relaxing in the water when I thought I saw a girl that looked like Hayley walk behind a tree by the pool... I just saw her back, but it looked so much like her... the next thing I saw was SuAnne walking along in her bathing suit too... !!!
I was in the middle of the AKL pool and I started screaming "SuAnne! Hayley!" They heard me and started waving.. I swam over, they waded in...and much hugging and laughing ensued - turns out their flight was overbooked and the Airline was looking for passengers to "volunteer" to stay another night. They were given $300.00USD each in the form of future travel voucher and Mears transfers back to AKL.
Noel and I were so happy they were back and it was no problem at all as I had booked my room for them too for staying 3 nights even though they were only staying one. Soon we were all swimming and it was the most perfect, fun afternoon.
Around 5pm we changed for dinner and I was actually hungry! We decided to leave the girls to their own devices again and have a nice adult dinner at JIKO. I called concierge and they were able to get us a PS for 6:30pm - so we headed up to the lounge for some appetizers and a glass of wine beforehand.
Tonight they had a great beef satay on skewers and some other nice dishes. I tried not to eat too much as were were heading down to Jiko soon. Noel and Hayley had chicken nuggets and some other things ~ I didn't really see as we were sitting in a different area of the lounge from them.
JIKO was wonderful but we did see some very "casual" people and a kid playing Nintendo at the table next to us where the sound was a little annoying. We had a Russian waitress who was very serious and had some interesting eye make-up.
For dinner we split the olive flatbreat which was OUT OF THIS WORLD - in fact we could have eaten 2 for our whole dinner! SuAnne had the monkfish and I had the Filet & mac and cheese and it was very good. We skipped dessert as we were full and also the lounge serves desserts at 9:00pm so we planned to go up there. I still could not beleive that SuAnne was back - what a great surprise.
After dinner we had a nice walk around AKL to see the animals and came back to the room to find that the girls were not here but there was a beautiful giraffe right below our balcony, we took some photos and then he started running away, they are so graceful when they run we were both ohhh-ing and awww-ing, it was a great moment.
Soon our peace was shattered by the return of the girls and we had another walk and went up to the lounge for coffee and dessert - tonight we had some mini cheesecakes that were delcious and the girls had cookies. It was an absolutely perfect evening - I was so glad SuAnne and Hayley were bumped off their flight, we had a great time together and now as I write SuAnne & Hayley are in bed as tomorrow their flight departs at the ungodly hour of 7:20am - this means they have to get up around 4:00am... ick!
I am hoping they are bumped off again and maybe will end up on our flight with us on Monday. Miracles do happen and Disney Magic is all around us ~ even at a crowded airport at 5:00am.
Until tomorrow...... Good Night from Animal kingdom Lodge
We stayed at AKL a couple years ago and I have been dieing to get back.
