p around 7:30AM and a breakfast of toast and
Twinkies. Lovely!DAY 11 – SAT 17th NOV
p around 7:30AM and a breakfast of toast and
Twinkies. Lovely!
We get the bus to the Animal Kingdom and
meet Sharon and Evan at the gate for 9:00AM entry.
Evan has bought India a plush Tigger and a Minnie for Georgia.
This is a lovely gift from a very thoughtful, polite boy. The
girls are well chuffed and carry their new toys with them all
day. They also have great fun trying to teach Evan to speak
English, while he tries to teach them Texan y’all. I’ll
have him saying ‘Good show old boy!’ properly before
they leave or die trying!
Our first ride is the Kilimanjaro Safaris. We have an excellent guide and see loads of animals. I’d forgotten just how good this attraction is.
We walk the Panganini Forest Trail straight after and have fun with the gorillas as always.
Next we head for Kali River Rapids.
Everyone rides and Tam and Sharon get soaked. Deep joy! The two
nagging woman get their comeuppance both at the same time.
Don’t worry about me complaining about Sharon, she knows me
well enough by now to ignore my teasing. I only tease people I
like.
Tam and Sharon drip off to a corner while the rest of us run
round to ride again. This time we ALL get soaked, but even
Granny(J) and Grandma(D) come off giggling like teenagers.
A trip to the bathroom (pronounced baaathrume, if you’re Texan) to ring out shorts and shirts and we are off to the Maharajah Trail. It is still relatively early so the tigers are active. Usually they just lie around like stripy doormats, but today they seem to watch us with disdain as we crowd around to get a glimpse of them.
It’s Tough To Be A Bug is next. India and Georgia sit this one out. India doesn’t like the bee sting and Georgia works on the theory that if India doesn’t like it, then she won’t either! Granny(J) has fun here and I must say that I enjoy it enormously too. It helps to have a packed house screaming and laughing all the way through.
We are going to meet Kev and Trish (old friends from Florida) for lunch in Tusker House, so we wander over early and enjoy a cocktail while sat out in the warm sunshine. A beer is $4.50 and a cocktail is $6, so I decide to have a girly cocktail. I can’t remember the names, but mine was red and Tam’s was green. Does that help? Tam can’t remember what hers tastes like anyway, as she knocked it over and spilled most of it. She glances enviously at mine, but a growl soon puts her off any attempt to drink it.
Kev and Trish arrive and we all eat. The food in Tusker House is very nice as long as you like chicken. They have about half a dozen recipes for chicken on the menu, all of which are quite good. We should know, we have most of them between the 10 of us.
I catch up on news with Trish and Kev
about WDW and their new home in Florida before we all set off to
watch the last show of the Festival of the Lion King at 2:00PM.
It seems a bit early for a last show, but the park shuts at
5:00PM today.
It is a very crowded show and they keep trying to pack more
people in even after the show has started, which isn’t
really very good as we have lots of people walking in front and
blocking our view.
I ask Granny(J) what she thinks of it afterwards and she says she
enjoyed it, but wasn’t keen on the people dressed as
characters. There goes any lingering hopes of her running up Main
Street with arms outstretched to meet Mickey!
After the Lion King we all ride Dinosaur, except India and Georgia who play in the Boneyard. Granny(J) is not too keen on Dinosaur as it is very dark and bumpy.
The girls and Evan then want to do the new
dinosaur themed Dumbo type attraction. I think it’s called
Triceratops Spin. I go with them and we all ride.
Now, I really like most of the changes that Disney has made
recently, but this is not good. It is garish and too much like a
fairground ride. I realise that this is part of the supposed
themeing, but it definitely seems out of place to me. Please
remove it quickly Mr Eisner, I know you read my trip reports.
After this we leave the Animal Kingdom and
head across to the MGM Studios for Fantasmic!
Evan and Sharon want to ride Rock ‘n Roller Coaster, so the
rest of us walk to the Fantasmic! Stadium 1 ½ hours before it
starts to stake out good seats. We are half way back and smack in
the centre. Perfect.
I take the opportunity to write up my trip report with a couple
of beers. Well, 3 if I’m being honest.
Evan and Sharon return from riding Rock ‘n Roller Coaster 3 times. Sharon is pleased that Evan likes it so much as he had never ridden it before this holiday. Now he has ridden it 10 times and can’t get enough!
Fantasmic! is as brilliant as ever. The crowd is up for it and this helps the atmosphere.
On the way out Evan wants to ride Rock ‘n Roller coaster one more time. All of us go through the pre-show so that the ladies can see the ride before we take the chicken exit. I would like to ride but 3 beers and an inverted coaster do not seem like a good combination. I ask Granny(J) if she would like to do it. ‘Not for a million pounds’ is the reply. I can’t blame her for that.
Leaving the MGM Studios, we get the boat
back to the Yacht and Beach Club where we disembark to have
dinner at Beaches ‘n Cream. Burgers are shared and a large
sundae is attacked by all. All the adults at least, as the
children are busy playing air hockey in the games room.
A slow walk round to the Boardwalk and we say goodnight to Sharon
and Evan. They are sad as they are going home tomorrow, but at
least we will get to spend some time with them in the Magic
Kingdom tomorrow morning before they go.
Back in the room the ladies enjoy the whirlpool bath. Not all together, you understand.
I partake of a couple of glasses of red
wine on the balcony and do more trip report writing. See!
I’m not completely one-dimensional. I like beer AND red
wine.
By the way, the wine we bought at the supermarket is by Robert
Mondavi, the same company that ran the wine seminar in Epcot
yesterday. At this point I should be congratulated for not making
any ‘Small World’ references.