"Au revior...that's French for get out of here!" A Jan '13 AoA TR COMPLETE

[emilyindisney]

It's always fun to read a well-written TR, and when I saw you not only made chocolate chip Mickey pancakes but were an avid runner, as well, then I just had to subscribe. I should explain that I make chocolate chip pancakes for my young teen daughter every other weekend (I've perfected the recipe with a key ingredient substitution that is both healthy and tasty), and I've been running for decades. One of my favorite things to do while at the World is run between WL and FW as I've seen some lovely wildlife while rejuvenating myself after being around crowds all day. Good start on the TR!

Thanks for joining me!

I've heard the jogging areas around FW are really awesome. Nicely shaded and quite scenic! I'd love to camp there but that's a tall order when I'd have to drive all my own camping stuff down from New England.

 

[vicceja]

Great Start - Love the Pics

 

[emma212010]

I love your PP pictures! I love doing the magic ones with Stitch or Simba or Tinkerbelle! Cute! I'm glad you enjoyed your breakfast! Goofy is great!

 

[emilyindisney]

Great Start - Love the Pics

Thanks!

I love your PP pictures! I love doing the magic ones with Stitch or Simba or Tinkerbelle! Cute! I'm glad you enjoyed your breakfast! Goofy is great!

We were sort of bummed we didn't get the Simba one. If/when we do PP again, I want to make more of an effort to try and grab magic shots. There are so many fun ones! I love the balloon one too!

 

[disneyhorselover]

The jungle juice was my favorite part of the Tusker House breakfast...so good!

Here is a picture of part of my breakfast that day...

I can't resist those Mickey waffles! I know I had more because everything was so delicious, but this is the only picture. I did have this other great pic from that meal though...

Both Emily and I went into this vacation fully intending to take pictures of all of our food and document it all....then we were usually so hungry by the time it arrived that I forgot!

 

[emilyindisney]

Both Emily and I went into this vacation fully intending to take pictures of all of our food and document it all....then we were usually so hungry by the time it arrived that I forgot!

That's a good point- a fair amount of my food pictures are of half eaten entrees

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Both Emily and I went into this vacation fully intending to take pictures of all of our food and document it all....then we were usually so hungry by the time it arrived that I forgot!

That's a good point- a fair amount of my food pictures are of half eaten entrees

This made me smile

I had the same problem from our trip. Too hungry to remember to take pictures when the food first came out. Then halfway through the meals I realize that I had forgotten. Or in some cases not until I'm about to take my last bite!

 

[arbolita]

Tell me about this PhotoPass share thing you guys did! We've never pre-ordered the pictures, simply because when it is just the two of us, I don't think we'd get our moneys worth (and even more so with the recent price changes).

 

[emilyindisney]

Tell me about this PhotoPass share thing you guys did! We've never pre-ordered the pictures, simply because when it is just the two of us, I don't think we'd get our moneys worth (and even more so with the recent price changes).

I had the same thoughts before I we got it. It just seemed like a lot of money for two people without kids who didn't plan on doing a whole lot of character greets. I posted on DIS asking for opinions and a couple people pointed me in the direction of the share.

Essentially, you use this facebook group to find someone who is hosting a share during your travel dates. The group of people in your share split the preorder cost and upload all their pictures to one account. The host will take care of ordering and getting everyone their pictures. It obviously takes a little bit more time but I think the savings is well worth it. I'm in a share with 6 other people and we paid $24 each. Some people host larger shares where everyone may pay only $20 each so there is a little room for bargain shopping.

I was slightly wary about having to send money to a stranger but 1) it was via paypal which put my mind at ease and 2) it wasn't a ton of money so if I lost out I figured I would just consider it a lesson learned. However, everything has gone very smoothly and I'd definitely recommend the experience!

We didn't think we'd end up with that many but after editing we had well over 100. If we got it again, I'd want to try and get even more.

 

[sleepydog25]

Thanks for joining me!

I've heard the jogging areas around FW are really awesome. Nicely shaded and quite scenic! I'd love to camp there but that's a tall order when I'd have to drive all my own camping stuff down from New England.

I'm not so much the camper anymore. Since we own at VWL, however, it's easy for me to hop right out to the trails. If you're interested, you should try them out while at the World. The more well-known trail is the paved one that starts off at the bus stop at WL and takes you to FW coming in around where the stables are. As that distance is roughly only a mile, I usually head back into the FW area and run the streets there. The traffic is minimal, and during the Christmas holidays, many of the campers have put up decorations, some quite elaborate. Just as often, however, I take the nature trail that starts out beside the bike rental at WL. It hugs the lake shoreline, and after 1/3 of a mile, the path diverges to the right where it soon hooks up to the main, paved trail. Or, as I most often do, I continue along the original trail until I get to the back side of FW and then work my way through a CM parking area until I come out, once again, close to the stables. That route is slightly under a mile. Again, you can then run around FW to your heart's delight until heading back. Looking forward to more of your report.

 

[emilyindisney]

I'm not so much the camper anymore. Since we own at VWL, however, it's easy for me to hop right out to the trails. If you're interested, you should try them out while at the World. The more well-known trail is the paved one that starts off at the bus stop at WL and takes you to FW coming in around where the stables are. As that distance is roughly only a mile, I usually head back into the FW area and run the streets there. The traffic is minimal, and during the Christmas holidays, many of the campers have put up decorations, some quite elaborate. Just as often, however, I take the nature trail that starts out beside the bike rental at WL. It hugs the lake shoreline, and after 1/3 of a mile, the path diverges to the right where it soon hooks up to the main, paved trail. Or, as I most often do, I continue along the original trail until I get to the back side of FW and then work my way through a CM parking area until I come out, once again, close to the stables. That route is slightly under a mile. Again, you can then run around FW to your heart's delight until heading back. Looking forward to more of your report.

Good to know- sounds like there's lot of great running areas!

 

[emilyindisney]

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! Thought some of my fellow runners might like to know that I just signed up for two half marathons this year. One is in April and one in September. I'm hoping to run 12 races this year so this is definitely a good start!

Also, our PP disc was ordered this week! Our share leader isn't sure how he's going to distribute the pictures (dropbox, usb, cd, etc.) but says we should be getting them soon!

Now, on with the show!

After Tusker House we wandered towards Kilimanjaro not really in any type of rush. It was still early, but the park was dead and we were really excited. These were the Janaruy crowds we'd heard people raving about! No wait times, no need for fast passes- it was great!

We walked right on to the safari and had the whole bench to ourselves! Was it a 'private' safari? Not quite, but it felt pretty darn close. I took one end of the bench and Cait took the other which was great was picture snapping.

Overall, we had great views of the animals. Our only disappointment was that we didn't see any lions. Since we were coming back to AK the next morning we figured we would just ride again then.

The elephants are my favorite so I ended up with lots of pictures of them!

After this I think we walked through Pangani Forest Trail though I can't exactly remember and didn't seem to take any pictures either!

Satisfied with Africa for the morning we made our way to Asia and Expedition Everest. We grabbed fast passes and hopped in the stand-by line where we pretty much walked on. We got in the stand-by line again because our FP window wasn't open yet and only waited five or ten minutes for the front car. After two rides we decided we could pass on a third and tried to pass the pixie dust by giving our FPs to someone else.

continued in next post...

 

[emilyindisney]

We had already decided that we were going to pass on the Nemo show this trip so we made our way to Dinoland USA. Even as the morning passed the crowds were still nonexistent so we hopped on Primeval Whirl. We rode with a chatty, older couple who was actually a lot of fun!

In making our way to Dinosaur we stopped to take some pictures.

Wrangling dinosaurs is no easy task! But, she made it!

Following the theme of the morning, we walked onto Dinosaur where we scream, grabbed each other's arms and overall thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The people behind us commented on us 'being the screamers' when we got off!

At this point it was time for some regrouping and a snack. DSis grabbed a mickey ice cream bar and we sat down to try and decide what we wanted to do today, and what we would do when we came back tomorrow morning.

Next update: Meeting a silly old bear and some jungle royalty

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Great update! Those lions are the most difficult to get a good look at even early in the morning. Even when they're out on their rock, they take naps laying very low to the surface so I usually have a difficult time seeing them from below.

I can't believe I have yet to have seen that dinosaur you and your sister took pictures on! Just goes to show no matter how many times we've been, there are things that we've yet to have seen especially at AK!

 

[emilyindisney]

Great update! Those lions are the most difficult to get a good look at even early in the morning. Even when they're out on their rock, they take naps laying very low to the surface so I usually have a difficult time seeing them from below.

I can't believe I have yet to have seen that dinosaur you and your sister took pictures on! Just goes to show no matter how many times we've been, there are things that we've yet to have seen especially at AK!

Agreed. The lion shot you've got in your TR is fantastic! I've never seen to much action out of those lazy cats, haha!

There was a dino path to the left of the Dinosaur entrance and that's where we found our friend.

 

[disneyhorselover]

Wrangling those Dinosaurs was harder than it looked!

I couldn't believe how quickly we got onto EE. I was almost disappointed that we moved through the line so quickly, looking at all the Yeti displays is one of my favorite parts!

 

[floydfamily4]

Besides my family and friends my biggest "miss" is the D'Angelos sandwich. #9 please!! Oh, how I miss it

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Wrangling those Dinosaurs was harder than it looked!

I couldn't believe how quickly we got onto EE. I was almost disappointed that we moved through the line so quickly, looking at all the Yeti displays is one of my favorite parts!

Which are more easier to handle - Dinosaurs or horses?

I feel the same way when I move through the FP lanes for EE and ToT. I want to look at some of the theming!

 

[arbolita]

I'm so jealous you got to see so many zebras! For whatever reason, they weren't out the day that we went to Animal Kingdom. I was pretty bummed not to see them.

 

[emilyindisney]

Besides my family and friends my biggest "miss" is the D'Angelos sandwich. #9 please!! Oh, how I miss it

I hear ya! That and the Caesar Salad wrap are my favorites!

Wrangling those Dinosaurs was harder than it looked!

I couldn't believe how quickly we got onto EE. I was almost disappointed that we moved through the line so quickly, looking at all the Yeti displays is one of my favorite parts!

Though I'm sure I wouldn't have been thrilled with standing in line it would have been nice to have the chance to read some of the displays, especially in the museum section of the queue.

I'm so jealous you got to see so many zebras! For whatever reason, they weren't out the day that we went to Animal Kingdom. I was pretty bummed not to see them.

I heard recently that the zebra haven't been out because they're reworking their habitat. Hopefully they'll return soon!