The One With the Meteor Shower
Trip Start
Aug 03, 2007
1
13
24
Trip End
Aug 20, 2007
Orlando,
Florida,
United States
Thursday, August 9, 2007
The Animal Kingdom entrance
It was a quick drive to Animal Kingdom. We were out the door of the vacation home by 12:00 and were in the Animal Kingdom parking lot by 12:20. The funny thing is, though, that we went all the way down 192 and around to Disney property each and every time we went to the parks. It wasn't until our very last day that we noticed Sherberth Road, a road two stop-lights past the Davenport Estates Resort that lead right into Disney property near Animal Kingdom. Using this road would have brought us into Disney property in less than five minutes. Damn it! At least now we know for next time. We were through the parking gates in no time and quickly found a spot all the way in the back of the parking lot. It looked packed! We just hoped the lines wouldn't be too bad. Right as we got out of the car a tram left to bring guests to the front of the park but another one showed up two minutes later and it was a quick ride. I love the entrance to Animal Kingdom; it's so lush and tropical. Animal Kingdom is without a doubt one of the most beautiful theme parks anywhere! I snapped a quick picture of the Tree of Life before we made our way farther into the park.
The Tree of Life
Everyone always says that Animal Kingdom is the hottest park but ever since 2005 I've scoffed at the idea. When we were there two years ago Animal Kingdom had been the least hot park. It was breezy and cool and had been great! Well, my friends, the good luck didn't follow us into 2007. It was HOT out there. HOT, HOT, HOT! Unbearably and disgustingly hot. Not only was it the hottest day of the trip, but I can honestly say that it was literally the hottest day of my life. Oh man, it was going to be an interesting day... We made our way over to Asia since we wanted to get fastpasses for Expedition Everest. In 2005 they had really only started construction so this was the first time seeing any of it in person, and what a sight it was! It was gorgeous! And it was awesome to see a big snowy mountain right in the middle of Florida on a day in which it was literally a hundred and ten degrees. It almost made me forget about the fact that I was melting. I was definitely flagging in the heat so dad ran ahead to get us four fastpasses for the ride. Mom hadn't yet decided if she was going to go on it, but we got her a fastpass just in case. The return time was for 4:15 - 5:15 which was still three hours away.
Dinosaur
Expedition Everest fastpasses in hand, we made our way back through Discovery Island into Dinoland USA. One of my dad's favorite rides ever is Dinosaur. We all absolutely love it but he LOVES it. I'm not sure why he's so into it but it's one of the rides he always talks about at home so we headed over there next. Before we got to the ride, though, we had to run into a store to cool off. It was just unbearable out there. As soon as we walked into the store we felt... nothing. I don't think the air-conditioner was even on or if it was, it was just too hot to even feel it. So we figured now was as good a time as ever to take a quick bathroom break so we all ran into the bathroom,just to find that the bathrooms weren't air-conditioned either. It was insane! I love Animal Kingdom but there was just no relief to be found anywhere. I had never in my life felt so gross and uncomfortable. Ugh!
On line for Dinosaur
After a few minutes we finally made our way over to Dinosaur. There was a forty-minute wait listed but the line extended all the way back into the lush, tropical garden area behind the ride. It was even more unbearable out there than it was on the normal pathways around the park. We were in the middle of a lush garden that just completely stifled any air that may have actually been blowing around and I had forgotten to bring a water bottle from home, which made things even more fun. After twenty-minutes of just standing there and not moving, I couldn't take it anymore. I was about to pass out and needed some water. Dad and I got off the line and went in search of something to drink. What do you know... there aren't any carts selling drinks on that entire side of the park. We had to walk all the way back to Restaurantosaurus to get a drink and the place was PACKED. Absolutely mobbed. We waited on line for twenty minutes just to get a few water bottles. I know that Dinosaur is sponsored by McDonalds but making McDonalds the ONLY place to get anything to eat or drink on that entire side of the park is ridiculous.
Mom and dad on line for Dinosaur
And don't even get me started on the prices in there. It's MCDONALD'S. Disney's got a nerve charging what they do for a freakin' Big Mac. There was a camp of underprivileged kids in there and they were all the cutest things ever. There was one little girl on line next to us with her little brother. She ordered chicken nuggets for each of them and the bill came to almost $10. For chicken nuggets. The girl didn't have enough money so she could only get one order for her brother. I felt so bad. She looked so sad and I thought it was the cutest thing ever that a ten-year-old girl would care enough about her little brother to put him ahead of herself, especially at such a young age. I would have given her some extra money but I really didn't have any on me. I had forgotten my wallet (and water and keys and trip report notebook, etc.) when we ran out of the house that morning. She was there with camp, though, so I'm sure on of the counselors took care of her. Shame on Disney and McDonald's. OK, rant over.
On line for Dinosaur
Water in hand, we made our way back over to Dinosaur and mom and Mike were all the way up to the part of the line when you head inside, so although it had been a twenty-five minute ordeal just to get water, at least we bypassed a lot of the line. Five minutes later we were in the air-conditioned comfort of the room where different species of Dinosaurs are outlined and explained. It felt so good to get out of the heat! Now that we were inside I was finally was back to my old self and happy to be at Animal Kingdom and at Disney in general... despite their ridiculously overpriced McDonald's. When we got to the big round room with the T-Rex skeleton, a CM asked us where we were from after seeing Mike's Yankee hat. We told him we were from New York City and he said that he was from Jersey and was a huge Yankee fan! Yay, more Yankee fans!
Dad and Mike on line for Dinosaur
The line went by quickly and we spent the time talking about the Year of a Million Dreams celebration. I explained to mom, dad and Mike that Disney Dream cast members went around giving out free things - dream fastpasses, merchandise, nights in Cinderella's Castle, etc. They all loved the idea and hoped to get something! It would have been cool but we didn't have any "dreams come true" this trip; at least not from the Disney CM's. I don't even think I saw any Dream CM's the entire time!
Our Dinosaur ride photo!
After a half hour we finally made our way up to our Time Rover. Yes, the line was only thirty-minutes long. I did a whole lot of complaining in thirty minutes! It was worth it though, the ride's great! The scariest part is how dark it is. You just kind of hold on tight and hope nothing pops out at you, I love it! The big dinosaur at the end never scares me though. It just doesn't seem that big, at least compared to how huge people describe it. It was fun anyway and dad loved it just as much as he did in 2005. I took video on it but it came out too dark and I wound up deleting it. At least I got a good "Redneck" picture of our ride photo!
Winding around the Tree of Life
After Dinosaur we decided to just walk around and see what we could find, and we ended up by the Tree of Life. It's Tough to Be a Bug only had a twenty-minute wait so we got on line. I remembered this being one of my favorite 3D shows so we had to check it out again. We wound our way around the Tree of Life through the short line and I was DYING. It was so, so, so HOT. Hotter than ever! We were in the midst of lots of people and lots of trees and everything was just cramped and closed-in and fuming. Ugh. And to make it even worse, a woman a few people ahead of us was completely oblivious to what her young daughters were doing. They were both no older than six or seven, and both of them were a few families behind her, climbing on the tree and falling all over the people around them. Instead of telling them to stop and wait on line with her (no one would have minded if they were falling all over HER) she didn't even look at them. Lots of weird people in this world. At least I got some good pictures of the Tree of Life, and we made it into the air-conditioned pre-show room after only ten minutes.
Mom and dad in their bug-eye glasses
I love the pre-show room here. It really does feel like you're in a little underground cave. It's so cold in there, too! We walked in and were told to move all the way down and we did, but then the CM's just kept pushing us further and further down until they literally wanted us huddled into a little mass of sweaty people. No thanks! We moved back down towards the middle of the room where it was pretty empty. When it's so hot and gross out there's no need to be on top of other people. I know it's not the CM's fault but it got on our nerves to no end when they pushed us into overcrowded masses of people in the 3D movie pre-show rooms. We have no problem moving all the way down but there's no need to take it to the extreme. Anyway, on a brighter note, I love the posters they have in there, they always crack me up! We spent the ten-minutes in the pre-show room taking pictures of the posters and of ourselves in our bug-eye glasses.
Mike and I in our bug-eye glasses
We were let into the theater in no time and of course it was a mad dash. We just let people filter in and didn't care where we sat, and by doing so we wound up getting seats in the middle of the fifth row. Perfect view! I love this show! It's always so much fun and a little more exciting than the other 3D shows. I remembered it being clearer than it was, though. Some parts got kind of blurry but it's still a whole lot better than the older 3D shows and the special effects are awesome! I sat all the way up on my seat since, yes, I'm afraid of the stinger but it got my shoulder anyway and it scared the crap out of me! Fun stuff!
Festival of the Lion King
After the show we headed towards Camp Minnie Mickey. One of my must-do's for Animal Kingdom was the Festival of the Lion King. It's my mom's favorite Disney movie and one of mine, and it made us both cry ridiculously when we saw it in 2005. Who would have thought a show in a theme park would do that?! It's THAT good. So we headed towards the theater and we hadn't remembered to pick up a times guide so we were just hoping a show would be starting soon. Luckily the 3:00 show was starting in only ten minutes! At this point I had to go to the bathroom REALLY bad but they were ushering people into the theater and I had no idea where the closest bathroom was, so I didn't want to risk getting shut out of the show. So in we went!
The Grand Finale
First we sat on a flat bench on the floor in the Giraffe section but I'm really, really short (5'!) and couldn't see a thing above people's heads, so we moved over to the third row in the bleacher seats of the Lion section. It's a lot easier to see if you sit a little further up in the stadium-style seating. The show started soon after and it was great! I have to admit that it wasn't as great as it was in 2005, probably due to the fact that all I could think about was running to the bathroom, but it was definitely good. When they sang Circle of Life my mom and I got all choked up! The Tumble Monkeys were good, too, but after seeing Cirque Du Soleil and AntiGravity they weren't as amazing as I remembered. But still good! And the best part - the really cute kid on the stilts who I had loved in 2005 was still in the show! Yay! Haha, I got a good laugh out of that. He's CUTE. And then there was the same overly flamboyant guy dancing in front of us in his zebra costume and I loved him too! When the show was over I fought my way out of the crowds and booked it over to the bathroom which was a ridiculous long walk. It was worth it, though, I wouldn't have missed The Festival of the Lion King for anything.
Expedition Everest!
After the Festival of the Lion King and my mad dash to the bathroom it was 3:30 so we decided to head over to Expedition Everest. Our fastpass was for 4:15 so we still had forty-five minutes, but there wasn't much else that we wanted to do so we made our way over to Asia and mom was really thirsty so we looked all over for a drink cart but no one was selling water. It's ridiculously hard to find water at Animal Kingdom! Who would have thought? Anyway, we made our way over to Asia and soon Expedition Everest was looming over us. I couldn't wait to get on it!
On line for Expedition Everest!
We finally found a water cart right by Expedition Everest but the line was huge. The line seriously looked longer than any of the lines we had waited on so far, it was insane! Mom was really thirsty though, so dad got on line. Since we didn't want to just wait around in the heat we decided to get on the standby line for Everest. There was an hour-long wait listed but the line didn't look too bad. Plus, I had heard over and over again just how cool the line is and I wanted to check out all of the art and special details. So onto the line we went. Well, mom, Mike and I did while dad was still on line for water. I didn't feel bad, though, because mom wasn't going on the ride so dad would just take her place. The line here is so ridiculously cool! Unfortunately, not temperature-wise. It was HOT, HOT, HOT! All of the attention to details, artifacts and artwork helped to keep our minds off the heat, though. There was so much fun stuff to see! It really felt as if we were winding our way around the snowy mountains of the Himalayas. Awesome! I LOVED looking at the pictures taken in the actual Himalayas. My true passion is for travel and I have to see the world. I don't want to, I HAVE to. So I was fascinated by the pictures of the people, landscapes and hidden treasures of the Himalayas. Amazing. 
On line for Expedition Everest!
Finally, after twenty-five minutes of winding through the line, dad met us with three bottles of water. That's right... he was on line for twenty-five minutes just to get three bottles of water. It was crazy! But it just proved how great my dad is. How many guys would willingly wait twenty-five minutes in the insane heat in the middle of Disney World just to get water? I love my dad... and Animal Kingdom needs way more drink stands that sell water. Anyway, we were on line the entire time with three kids behind us - a guy who was around sixteen, and his two younger brothers who were around seven and ten. The whole time they were right up my butt! With it being so hot out I really didn't want them on top of me but we were at Disney and I promised myself that on this trip I wouldn't let things bother me and get all bent out of shape over stupid things. So I turned around, asked them to move back, smiled nicely, and all was right with the world.
On line for Expedition Everest!
Then, after only a half-hour, we approached the front of the line! I thought a half-hour was great considering Expedition Everest is the newest ride at Disney and we were there in the middle of the day in the middle of the summer. It wasn't bad at all! Mom took the Chicken Exit and Dad, Mike and I were assigned our rows... the last two rows! YES! I was hoping to get the last row because it's always the most fun on runaway train roller coasters, and I'd heard that this seat afforded you the best view of the Yeti. Everest, here we come! Mike and I climbed into the last row and dad sat in the row ahead of us with the sixteen year old guy who had been on line behind us (his brothers sat together in front of them).
On Expedition Everest! Such a cool ride!
Now I'll admit that I was a big critic of Everest before I'd ever even been on the ride. I watched a YouTube video and the ride didn't at all look as thrilling, exciting or innovative as everyone was claiming. I had no idea what all the fuss was about and I knew that the ride wasn't going to be that good... man was I wrong. What a ride!!! It was amazing. Absolutely amazing. Probably the best roller coaster of the trip. It was INTENSE! It may look like a regular runaway train roller coaster but it's definitely not. That bad boy was FAST. Really fast, and all of the special effects and surprises were great. I didn't think the part of the ride that goes backwards would be too bad but the train goes so fast in the complete darkness that I just had no idea what was going on. It was the best! And the last row really DOES give you the best view of the Yeti! I wasn't at all expecting him to be so big. I took video of the ride and when the Yeti jumped out all you hear is me screaming, "Whoa, that thing's HUGE!" And it was. That was one giant, awesome Yeti! Fabulous. Best ride at Animal Kingdom! So what's the moral of the story? As the old adage goes, don't judge a book by its cover. Or at least by it's YouTube video.
Mike on Expedition Everest!
When we got off the ride we met mom by the exit and raved and raved and raved about the ride. It was THAT good. By that time there were only twenty-minutes left until we could use our fastpasses for Everest and I really wanted to wait around and go on it again. No one else wanted to, though. Everyone was hot and tired so we started the long walk to the front of the park and out to the tram. Man, it really was the hottest day EVER. E-V-E-R. Holy crap.
A tram taking people back to the parking lot
We eventually made it and waited five minutes for the next tram, and were soon being driven out to our section of the parking lot. It had been a long and hot but very, very fun day. As hot and uncomfortable as it was, I loved Animal Kingdom. I hadn't even wanted to go in 2005 but was very pleasantly surprised. I had loved it back then and I still do. It's a great, gorgeous park with a lot of great rides and attractions. It's just too bad that we missed so much. I would have liked to go on the Kilimanjaro Safari, walked around the animal trails in Africa, seen the Finding Nemo show, and Mike's been wanting to go on Kali River Rapids for the past three years but we've just never gotten a chance. Next time... definitely next time.
Mike at Chili's
We were in the car by 4:00 and hadn't eaten since breakfast so we tried to think of a place to go for dinner. Dad had wanted to try Chili's since there aren't any near us, so we headed down to the closest one. There was one right near the house so we drove back there only to find that the restaurant was brand new and wasn't opening until the next week. Damn. I called Information and found out that there was one all the way on the other end of 192 on Marker 10 and we really wanted to try it so we just took the twenty-minute drive and were there by 5:00.
Mom and I at Chili's
We were seated right away and were happy with what we saw. It was busy but not crowded, and really bright and clean. We're very picky about our restaurants, any sign of grossness and we're gone! It looked great, though, and our waitress was really nice. Mom and I ran to the bathroom quickly and when we got back our drinks were already there, after dad had ordered them. He and mom got diet Cokes, Mike got a Sprite and I got pink lemonade. Dad had also ordered the nachos as an appetizer and they came out five minutes later. They were really good! They were no Margaritaville Nachos (the greatest nachos EVER!) but they were good. They were more like Friday's nachos where instead of everything being thrown in a big pile, all of the chips are individually covered in cheese, refried beans, guacamole and sour cream. Delish.
Dad at Chili's
Ten minutes later our food arrived. Mom and Mike got the Chicken Club Tacos which was three flour tortillas filled with mesquite chicken, chopped applewood smoked bacon, chipotle-ranch dressing, diced tomatoes, mixed cheeses and lettuce, and came with rice and black beans. The tacos were so good! Really, really delicious. On any return trips I would definitely get that. Dad got steak and ribs combination and he said that both were really good. I decided on the Chipotle Bleu Cheese Burger and it was really good... at first. With each bite it just got spicier and spicier until my mouth was on FIRE. I know "chipotle" was right there in the title, but I wasn't expecting it to be that hot. Man it was burning. I downed my whole cup of lemonade and then just couldn't eat anymore, so mom gave me one of her tacos. I'll definitely stick with the tacos next time or at least something less spicy!
My SPICY Chipotle and Bleu Burger
The bill came to $75 with tip. The food and service had been great! It was just a lot more money than I had expected. We could have eaten at a nice Disney restaurant for that much money. Mom and dad didn't mind it, though, since they had loved their food. Ugh, they don't mind dropping a hundred bucks at Chili's but Disney they can't do, haha! We were back at the house by 6:30 and we just hung out and relaxed. At 8:00 we watched Big Brother. My aunt's been watching it since season one but I just started watching it last year during the All Star season and LOVED it. I got my mom, dad and Mike into it this year and we're all seriously hooked. They still say that they can't wait for it to come back next summer! It's the best!
Mom outisde of Chili's
At 9:00 mom, dad and I decided to head out to Walmart. We went to the one five minutes from the house and it was a nice one. I wanted to check out the souvenirs and books and I wound up finding a really cute mug and photo album. Every year I get a new Disney mug to use throughout the year and a photo album to document our trip. For the past few years I've gotten photo albums in the parks (Disney in 2005 and Universal in 2006) but they had a really cute Disney one here that held two-hundred pictures for only $8. You can't beat that! And the mug was only $3 so the souvenirs were a great deal. I also picked out a cute Disney World t-shirt and Mickey Mouse shorts to wear as pajamas ($20 for both), two new books - "Romancing the Highlander" (yes, a cheesy romance novel) and "Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks.
Chili's
After shopping around for souvenirs we went to do some food shopping since it was a Super Walmart, another store we don't have near us. We picked up a case of bottled water, Teddy Graham 100-Calorie packs and ice cream. Dad got Dip'N'Dots in little containers (which I had no idea they sold!), we got peanut butter ice cream with a chocolate shell for Mike, and mom and I picked out Breyer's vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip, chocolate and peanut butter cookie dough. We paid and were back at the house by 10:15. We all had ice cream and played California Rummy and I totally won. Go me! Afterward I was way too exhausted to take a shower so I put my pajamas on and watched more of the Roseanne marathon on TV Land in my room before falling asleep by 2:00. 
