Thursday--catch up day

Our room at Port Orleans--Riverside was in this building.


Thursday (January 7) was our last full day at Disney so it was errand day. Paul had decided he liked the soft fleecy throw blankets with the Disney castle on them that Jade, Jarrah and I had bought so we headed off back to the Magic Kingdom to get him one. And, since these were 'bonus' purchases which were discounted after you'd spent a certain amount, of course we had to buy more stuff.

The day before the kids and I had started buying Disney pins. We'd resisted up until that point then I guess we got in the mood for them after seeing so many people wearing them. So that was what we bought--more pins.

Then we went over to the photo store to get prints of our 'in front of the Magic Kingdom' photo. Well that took quite a while because the photo that had been taken on Monday that week had people standing right behind us and just didn't look good. So we went out to the front of the Magic Kingdom again and had another set of photos taken. Neither the cast member in the photo shop nor the photographer were very happy about this. In fact the person in the photo shop told me a couple of times that I could look at my photos online and have them sent to me. They obviously didn't want the extra workload of serving me. Anyway, I didn't want to do that because if anything goes wrong I'm back in Australia and it's a real hassle to contact anybody in the States, especially on the East Coast with the 16 hour time difference. So I just ignored the grumpiness and got my prints. I'm really happy with them.

After we did this it was lunch time so we took a bus first back to the hotel to dump the stuff then to Downtown Disney to Planet Hollywood where we had a booking. Lunch was great and not overly filling. After lunch we went to Disney Quest which is a 5 story indoor amusement center just near the Cirque 'tent'. We all played video games and the kids did bumper cars too. It was fun.

Then we went back to the hotel to pack for our journey the next day.

Wednesday--Animal Kingdom

I'm still finishing off this blog. Apologies for not getting these posts done earlier!

Wednesday (January 6) we finally had a day to spend at Animal Kingdom. We'd already been in the park on our first day at Disney World to go to dinner at a restaurant called Tusker House in the Asia part of the park. By accident that day we'd also seen (and been held up by) the end of day parade which had a Christmas theme.

We arrived early as usual and Dad and Jarrah ran to get fast passes for Expedition Everest while Jade and I headed for Dinoland USA. The boys soon met up with us and the three intrepid riders went on the Dinosaur roller-coaster. Jarrah said the ride was cool! It was really loud, you went into a lab where a scientist sent you off to get a dinosaur. Then the ride went into a search where they were chased by dinosaurs, finally catching one before a meteor exploded. The ride ended back at the lab where they were congratulated for catching the dinosaur. Jade said the ride was too loud.

The kids (and I!) then went on an easy ride called Triceratops Spin which basically was the same as the Dumbo ride they'd waited over an hour to go on at the Magic Kingdom except you sat in a triceratops instead of an elephant. Fun especially as there was no waiting! Then the kids and Paul joined the line to do the Primeval Whirl roller coaster. The sign said there was only a 10 minute wait. Wellllllll they waited about 45 minutes to get on the ride. I waited outside listening to the 60s music that the ride was playing. the music was great but after 25 minutes or so I began to wonder where they were. Especially as I had wandered off to go to the toilet and do a bit of shopping nearby. Each time I came back I couldn't see them on the ride or in the line! Finally, I saw them just as they were getting on so I was able to photograph them.



After this ride we decided to head for Expedition Everest which was going to be Jade's and Paul's highlight of this park. Jade had been really looking forward to going on this ride which is a real wild roller-coaster. I asked her about the ride and here is her explanation:

Dad and I rode the Everest ride. They sat next to each other. First the ride went up a lot, then it went down part-way, then a sharp turn so they were almost vertical, then it kept turning and went down. Then they went up a lot to a dead end. They stopped then went backwards down past the Yeti pulling the tracks apart on the side. Then they went down more with turning both ways. then it stopped and then went forwards and turned a different way before ending.

In short, I'm glad I stayed on the sidelines and watched!

We were booked in for a late lunch so the next stop was a wild river ride called Kali River Rapids. First Paul, Jade and Jarrah rode it (and got wet). I was enjoying reading the names of the boats on the ride. They were really cute. Of course now I can't remember them. Then the kids convinced me it was OK so the four of us went on it another two times. I really enjoyed this ride and could have gone on it again except that Jade was really wet by this time so we got off to dry off.

After trying to dry her clothes under the hand dryer in the ladies room we walked through the Jungle Trek with me hoping her clothes were going to dry. They weren't and she was miserable so I ended up taking her to a shop to buy some replacement clothes--lovely soft Mickey track pants and a Disney World t-shirt. I got one for Jarrah as well.

Then it was time for lunch at the Yak and Yeti. Despite having a reservation we still had to wait with a whole bunch of people. Anyway, it was worth it as the food (Asian style) was fabulous.

After eating our time was running short as we had to get to Downtown Disney for the 6pm performance of Cirque du Soleil. We took the Rafiki's Planet Watch train and walked through the conservation station and affection section (basically a petting zoo). There was nothing spectacular about this attraction but I guess it is there for families with younger kids.

We returned to Africa to go on the Kilamanjaro Safari--a bumpy ride in a large safari bus looking at animals. It also wasn't that good. The driver tried to make it exciting by driving wildly and telling jokes that weren't funny.

We left quickly after getting off this ride and bussed back to our hotel, got warmer clothes then bussed to Downtown Disney. We made it to Cirque with about 5 minutes to spare! Wow!

Cirque (La Nouba) was fantastic. We had great seats in the 'A' section much closer to the stage than we've sat at Cirque performances in Melbourne. There was virtually no speaking (even in French) connected with this performance also unlike other cirques. I guess this is so that the show appeals to European visitors who may not know English or French. Dunno. It was a great show and a real highlight of our visit to DW.