I've fallen in love with the VGF - TR (pics from Jan. trip, 2/23, p.22)

[PrincessInOz]

As I said at this place it was anticlimactic. I could taste the the flaky layers of croissant and "got" the donut part, but didn't find this one "all that". Perhaps we should do a Yelp search before trying again.

I'll be counting on you to find somewhere worth trying.

 

[MEK]

OMG - He's so cute!!!!!!! He has the coolest face!

Pangani Trail is always a winner.

Those fake bugs - OMG - I would die if I found one of them.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

As I said at this place it was anticlimactic. I could taste the the flaky layers of croissant and "got" the donut part, but didn't find this one "all that". Perhaps we should do a Yelp search before trying again.

yes sorry I read that after what a shame! Maybe the perfect donut should be just left alone it is after all worthy of it's own food group.

 

[Pinkocto]

The one that we had we certainly anticlimactic. It was good, and I could taste the butter of the croissant part, but it wasn't incredible, and something I had to eat again. My jelly donut was better and It wasn't even the best jelly donut I'd ever had.

That's sad and disappointing.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I had not realized that they had Okapi on the Pangani Forest Trail. I love those. It has been a little while since we did the trails. The photos from the Flights of Wonder show look great. I have never seen that show, but now that I know that it involves a Bald Eagle, I have to make the effort.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

Oh Flights of Wonder I love that! Love Pizzafari also one of our favourites ;-)

Great re EE FP+ one of my best rides I laugh like a 5 year old! Got that little Yeti on my rollator I got from that store as you come out of EE. I am wonderi g if your pizza stays down when you go backwards on EE!

That was my first time at Pizzafari, it was quite tasty, I'll be back.

Well not to give anything away, but when Jessica saw EE she decided she wasn't up for it.

 

[Pinkocto]

Love the update with the Flights of Wonder. And Pizza!! YUM.

Those bugs are so realistic.

You know boys would love to scare their moms and sisters with those bugs!

 

[Pinkocto]

OMG - He's so cute!!!!!!! He has the coolest face!

He looks so interested in what's going on

Pangani Trail is always a winner.

Those fake bugs - OMG - I would die if I found one of them.

I think it's too funny somone thought to make something like that. I bought a very similar item years ago, it's a magnet, and put it in the fridge. Unfortunately I don't have very exciteable parents so they weren't too scared to see it in there

 

[Pinkocto]

I had not realized that they had Okapi on the Pangani Forest Trail. I love those. It has been a little while since we did the trails. The photos from the Flights of Wonder show look great. I have never seen that show, but now that I know that it involves a Bald Eagle, I have to make the effort.

Corinna

The Okapi are the first habitat on the Pangani trail, easily overlooked because at first it doesn't look like there's anything back there.

The Flights of Wonder show is really worth seeing. I have tons more photos but I didn't want to bore anybody. They bring out the eagle at the end, she's so beautiful.

 

[Pinkocto]

We continued on to EE and as we got closer my friend started getting nervous. I figured we could postpone EE a little longer and enjoy the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

One of mom's favorites is the kimodo dragon, but as we walked up to the enclosure all we saw were these guys



I asked the keeper where the big guy was and with a very sad face and almost tears in his eyes he told us the kimodo dragon had died on December 31st. He was 20 when he died and they usually live to be 25. They did an autopsy and found nothing wrong, so ruled it as old age. I really thought the CM was going to start crying. Apparently most of the keepers have been there since park opening and care for the same animals for years, so I imagine they get very attached.

After this sad story we continued on



the bats are one of my favorites at AK













look at those fabulous feet!







I love the theming in here











It started to rain so we made our way to some cover.

 

[Pinkocto]

Totally off topic but I'm excited so want to share:

Yesterday I made the final payment for the Mothers Day Cruise that I'm taking mom on in May so I was able to book my extras.

The highest on my list was to book Remy for actual Mothers Day and it was still available so I booked that at 7:10. That way we should still be able to catch the evening show at 6:00 and not get out of dinner too late. It says it's a three hour event so I'm curious how that will go. Super excited since mom and I love delicious food. I called DCL to ask them to put her as a vegetarian but there was nothing special they could do specifically for Remy, just put her as a vegetarian meal for the whole cruise. Usually I would have done that when booking but it got past me this time. I've heard so many fabulous reviews of this place I know we'll enjoy it whatever they serve us. I have not told her about this, I'm hoping I can keep it a secret until we walk up to the restaurant.

I also booked our excursion for Cozumel, it's a ruins and beach tour. We'll have an hour tour of some amazing ruins, then a 40 minute drive around the island while we make our way to a beach club where we'll stay for 90 minutes. I've been to Cozumel before and have seen the ruins we'll be seeing, I know mom will love them. And we'll also get in a little swimming so that will be great. This excursion starts at 11:15 so we'll still be able to sleep in and have a relaxing morning.

I also booked Palo for Pirate Night at 7:30 so we'll be able to catch the fireworks afterwards. Mom really enjoys seeing the CMs dressed up but neither of us find much to eat on the Pirate menu so this will be great. She does know about this, I called her before making the reservation just to make sure she'd be ok missing the MDR.

Probably the biggest thing I did yesterday was change us from a 5E to a 9C. It saved $350, mom was ok not having a balcony for $350. That might not seem much for some but it was a bit when I needed to make a big last payment. Now we're at the bow which is right below Satelite Falls and the spa where we intended to spend a lot of time anyway so this will be great.

I also booked the flights which I had been putting off for a while. I figured I should nab them before the prices went up. We'll be arriving at 8:30 Friday morning and spending that night at BCV. So we'll have the entire day to enjoy SAB and the F & G festival. I have Via Napoli booked for dinner, we enjoyed that so much in December.

Going home I booked us 8:20 so will also have most of that last day to enjoy as well. The only thing left to do is buy DCL transfers to/from the port.

This trip and the one I'm doing in March are only 32 days apart so lots of excitement going on

 

[Pinkocto]

double post, oops, guess I'm really excited!

 

[rentayenta]

Wonderful photos. I'm so glad your Mother's Day cruise plans are falling into place. What an amazing daughter you. Happy you got Remy for Mother's Day dinner. And your Cozumel excursion sounds great.

 

[eandesmom]

Finally make it over here to catch up and...you are done!

Figures.


Your poor mom, she was a little bit high maintenance the last day, between the crinkling, bubbling never ending percolating pot and packing while you were still sleeping to the Dole whip fiasco. Glad you were able to switch and save the day!


Weird about SW. I checked in at 24 hours in Jan and they took our bags just fine. Interesting though, only half of our group got a packet. I figured it was due to the first half only being there one night but maybe not? It's a little freaky to NOT get one, you want to know for sure when that bus is leaving.

Totally off topic but I'm excited so want to share:

Yesterday I made the final payment for the Mothers Day Cruise that I'm taking mom on in May so I was able to book my extras.

The highest on my list was to book Remy for actual Mothers Day and it was still available so I booked that at 7:10. That way we should still be able to catch the evening show at 6:00 and not get out of dinner too late. It says it's a three hour event so I'm curious how that will go. Super excited since mom and I love delicious food. I called DCL to ask them to put her as a vegetarian but there was nothing special they could do specifically for Remy, just put her as a vegetarian meal for the whole cruise. Usually I would have done that when booking but it got past me this time. I've heard so many fabulous reviews of this place I know we'll enjoy it whatever they serve us. I have not told her about this, I'm hoping I can keep it a secret until we walk up to the restaurant.

I also booked our excursion for Cozumel, it's a ruins and beach tour. We'll have an hour tour of some amazing ruins, then a 40 minute drive around the island while we make our way to a beach club where we'll stay for 90 minutes. I've been to Cozumel before and have seen the ruins we'll be seeing, I know mom will love them. And we'll also get in a little swimming so that will be great. This excursion starts at 11:15 so we'll still be able to sleep in and have a relaxing morning.

I also booked Palo for Pirate Night at 7:30 so we'll be able to catch the fireworks afterwards. Mom really enjoys seeing the CMs dressed up but neither of us find much to eat on the Pirate menu so this will be great. She does know about this, I called her before making the reservation just to make sure she'd be ok missing the MDR.

Probably the biggest thing I did yesterday was change us from a 5E to a 9C. It saved $350, mom was ok not having a balcony for $350. That might not seem much for some but it was a bit when I needed to make a big last payment. Now we're at the bow which is right below Satelite Falls and the spa where we intended to spend a lot of time anyway so this will be great.

I also booked the flights which I had been putting off for a while. I figured I should nab them before the prices went up. We'll be arriving at 8:30 Friday morning and spending that night at BCV. So we'll have the entire day to enjoy SAB and the F & G festival. I have Via Napoli booked for dinner, we enjoyed that so much in December.

Going home I booked us 8:20 so will also have most of that last day to enjoy as well. The only thing left to do is buy DCL transfers to/from the port.

This trip and the one I'm doing in March are only 32 days apart so lots of excitement going on

$350 helps pay for those excursions and Remy too! It's a trade off. You are going to have such a lovely cruise filled spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Pinkocto]

Wonderful photos. I'm so glad your Mother's Day cruise plans are falling into place. What an amazing daughter you. Happy you got Remy for Mother's Day dinner. And your Cozumel excursion sounds great.

I'm so excited about Remy, mom is going to flip! and I know she's going to love the ruins.

 

[Pinkocto]

Finally make it over here to catch up and...you are done!

Figures.

Thanks for reading, that's all that matters, not when

It was a short trip so easy to cover, and I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I did.

Your poor mom, she was a little bit high maintenance the last day, between the crinkling, bubbling never ending percolating pot and packing while you were still sleeping to the Dole whip fiasco. Glad you were able to switch and save the day!

I am so glad I'm not the only one that was thinking this. I hate complaining about mom but she was a bit out of sorts that last day! She was literally like a little kid with the dole whip, holding it out while it melted and giving it a sad face.

Weird about SW. I checked in at 24 hours in Jan and they took our bags just fine. Interesting though, only half of our group got a packet. I figured it was due to the first half only being there one night but maybe not? It's a little freaky to NOT get one, you want to know for sure when that bus is leaving.

I think I've had to call them three times now to get my MDE time. It's a bit unnerving not knowing when your time is. I mean you kind of know when but I need to know for sure. And the bit about the luggage, that's super frustrating. We've decided that it's more important for them to take the bags at the resort rather than getting low boarding numbers, but it adds to my stress level big time.

$350 helps pay for those excursions and Remy too! It's a trade off. You are going to have such a lovely cruise filled spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's what my thought was too, that'll cover all three extras. I find with a balcony we spend more time in the room, and not having one forces us out to enjoy the ship. Both are wonderful for different reasons.

I feel totally overindulgent with cruises so close together but that's how the cookie crumbled this year. It's a bit surreal.

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a shame about the komodo dragon, but how lovely that the animal care staff cares about the animals so deeply. I also absolutely love the theming of the tiget enclosure and your photos have come out so well.

Corinna

 

[jedijill]

You will love Remy! I ate there for dinner twice and once at brunch on the Dream last year! It is truly amazing!

Jill in CO

 

[Pinkocto]

What a shame about the komodo dragon, but how lovely that the animal care staff cares about the animals so deeply. I also absolutely love the theming of the tiget enclosure and your photos have come out so well.

Corinna

It was so sad when he was telling us about the dragon, you could tell his feelings were totally genuine. The animals at AK are definitely in a good place.

Thanks about the photos

Can I ask a question about Chankanaab? I'm not sure if I'll do an animal swim or just go to swim in the ocean. I know I'd have to pre-order the animal swim but do I need to pre-order a plain entrance ticket?

 

[Pinkocto]

You will love Remy! I ate there for dinner twice and once at brunch on the Dream last year! It is truly amazing!

Jill in CO

I've read that they are very accomodating but do you think they'll have enough for a vegetarian to eat? She'll be happy with the cheese and dessert selections but I'm wondering about the rest. I know I'm over thinking it and we'll have a great time.