The Unnamed Trip Report. September 5-8, 2014

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

Hows everyone doing?

 

Hope all is well in FF land.

 

I know we had a big outage a couple weeks ago, and it has since been resolved, thats good. Thanks to all who work behind the scenes to keep this site going.

 

How am I doing?

 

Busy.

 

I’m sure you can tell, because I haven’t updated this TR in 2 1/2 weeks.

 

Little out of hand, sorry.

 

That seems to be the trend with me on these TRs, I come out of the gate swinging, then peter out. 

 

Sorry again.

 

So lets move on and try to ramp up this TR again.

 

Tug and I had just completed our morning loop and we were headed back to the camper to grab my fiancee and start our day.

 

Today’s plan was to take Tug to Best Friends for daycare, go check out the AKL, as neither of us have been there, shoot over to AK to ride a couple rides, then play it by ear after that.

 

Off we go to Best Friends.

 

Pluto was there

 

 

Once we dropped Tug off, who was very excited to be there, we headed west.

 

The drive in is nice

 

 

 

We missed the turn for Jambo House and ended up over at Kindani Village.

 

Uh oh, another DVC.

 

Was this going to be on lockdown like BLT?

 

Drumroll please....

 

Nope.

 

Parked in the parking garage and walked right in.

 

Nice.

 

So of course when I saw the animals in the savannah, I was too excited to try and find a better vantage point and I just started snapping a few pics through the first window I could find.

 

Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked around to try and find a better spot, and found and outside balcony, just off of the main lobby, and from there I saw an outside viewing area at ground level.

 

I must check this out.

 

But first, we have to walk through the lobby.

 

It is nice.

 

 

 

 

 

As we were walking by the bathrooms, I came across this throwback.

 

 

Those things are few and far between now.

 

Anyway, on to the outside viewing area.

 

Guess what I did out there? 

 

What everyone else does.

 

Snapped pics.

 

Mainly of the giraffes, because they were the only ones close enough.

 

 

There were some Watusi Bulls in the distance enjoying the day

 

 

You know the chain mail that Disney puts on the trunk of the trees on Kilimanjaro Safaris? 

 

Does anyone know the purpose of that?

 

I think I found out. I didn’t get a good picture of it, but this guy was actually chewing on the chain mail, I would assume trying to get to the bark.

 

 

 

We decided to head over to Jambo House to take a look at that, but one last look at Kindai Village lobby from the outside.

 

 

Off to Jambo.

 

 

 

 

This place is cool, but its Disney, was it not going to be cool and over the top?

 

More pics of the house.

 

 

 

The suspension bridge is pretty cool too.

 

 

Oh boy, someone had a bad day.

 

 

I used to call that balloon to the moon, but in this case it would be balloon to the ceiling.

 

We took a walk outside to checkout the animals.

 

Just like the Treehouse Villas, there are informative signs located throughout the property. This one is about the flora of the area.

 

 

 

Backside of the Jambo House

 

 

We were informed that the animals were not out, as they were eating lunch, no big deal, we will still explore a little bit.

 

These rooms with the savannah view look awesome. We might have to stay here one time.

 

 

Look heres a giraffe.

 

 

Upon closer inspection it looks like it has a hidden mickey.

 

 

You see it.

 

The guide outside told us there was another hidden mickey just around the corner from the giraffe. 

 

We took a look and couldn’t find it.

 

He was nice enough to come around a point it out to us.

 

 

Pretty cool.

 

Well that it the picture limit, so I’ll stop right there.

 

Next up we will be heading inside to explore a little bit, then head over to AK.

 

 

Cody

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Yup, AKL is on my list of things to do. 

I am afraid you will have to break out the purple crayon.  I can't see the second mickey head.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Way to hang in there, Cody.  I'm glad you're still working on this trip report.  Great job with the AKL photos.  I love that place.

 

 

 

Yup, AKL is on my list of things to do. 

I am afraid you will have to break out the purple crayon.  I can't see the second mickey head.

 

 

I don't know if Cody has a purple crayon, but I do, so here you go:

 

 

I didn't know about these Hidden Mickeys.  I do know of some inside the lobby and the bar area off of the lobby.

 

TCD

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Thank you.  I would not have seen it otherwise.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 595]

Caught up.

The more pictures I see of AKL the more I would love to go check it out.

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

Yay Cody is back to his TR.

 

TCD, I could see the second hidden Mickey, but could you get out that purple crayon again and show me the one hidden with the giraffes.

I do 'see' a face just under the bend of the large giraffe's neck and above the smaller one's head.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Yay Cody is back to his TR.

 

TCD, I could see the second hidden Mickey, but could you get out that purple crayon again and show me the one hidden with the giraffes.

I do 'see' a face just under the bend of the large giraffe's neck and above the smaller one's head.

 

Oh, man that one is easy- it jumps right out at you!

 

I can't believe you didn't see it:

 

 

TCD

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

Thanks.  Looked right at it and still couldn't see it until the magic purple crayon showed it.

[alexwyattmommy 181]

So this means Gretchen and I need to team up to find the hidden mickey heads.

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

Sure Annie, it's fun looking.  We just need that magic purple crayon.

[The Troll 67]

This trip report kicks ass.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

So I have to tell you, we tried to take Sanford on our cart. He wasn't impressed. I think looping is out for him. 

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

 

Oh, man that one is easy- it jumps right out at you!

 

I can't believe you didn't see it:

 

 

TCD

 

Thanks TCD. I'm afraid I have yet to get a purple crayon.

 

 

Caught up.

The more pictures I see of AKL the more I would love to go check it out.

 

I recommend it. AKL is absolutely awesome

 

This trip report kicks ass.

 

A response from the famous Troll! Awesome! Glad you are here.

 

So I have to tell you, we tried to take Sanford on our cart. He wasn't impressed. I think looping is out for him. 

 

Thats too bad. But I can see how that is not for all dogs.

 

Cody

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

Okay folks, update time.

 

Leaving from out back of the AKL, we headed back inside.

 

Where did we go once we were inside? 

 

Straight to the gift shop.

 

Damn....

 

Good job Disney.

 

They have a cool lion head thing

 

 

You know how they offer a monorail play set?

 

And a Cinderella Castle play set?

 

And a Spaceship Earth play set?

 

And a Contemporary Resort play set?

 

Well now they offer this.

 

 

A Tree of Life play set.

 

Wow.

 

Whats next?

 

Oh I know, a BAH play set.

 

I think I’ll buy that one.

 

While we were looking around I found these for Lou.

 

 

Since he is no longer a bus driver, maybe he can get these a play with them at his kitchen table.

 

Next I wanted to walk across that cool suspension bridge.

 

Here we are about to walk across it.

 

 

The bridge led to a hallway with rooms.

 

Not much to see besides some Hidden Mickeys in the carpet.

 

 

 

We were almost done with AKL and Jambo House, but first we wanted to walk out by the pool.

 

Here we are outside. Fiancee is in this picture.

 

 

Heres a bird viewing area.

 

 

And then we found a bar.

 

With drinks.

 

And we each had one.

 

 

Those were good.

 

They hit the spot.

 

BUT, they also hit the wallet.

 

Hard.

 

Disney drinks are not in the budget.

 

At least for this trip.

 

How much were those drinks in that pic you ask?

 

Before tip.

 

$19.42

 

Yikes.

 

We proceeded to finish those drinks, mine in an exaggerated fashion if you know what I’m saying and moved on.

 

To this place we go.

 

 

But alas, we get through the gates and no much further due to this.

 

 

 

That sucks, but it was over quickly.

 

I would venture a guess that this was around the same time that TCD had come by our site when the sky opened up on him.

 

We had FP+ for the safari and wanted to get over there, so off we went.

 

But first a Tree of Life pic.

 

 

You know that play set I just mentioned?

 

Looks just like the real thing.

 

Those Disney toy designers are pretty damn good!

 

Heres a pic of water and one of a plaster mountain with a big stuffed animal lit up with a strobe light inside.

 

 

 

We made it to the safari without incident.

 

You guys have been on this ride, so no need for narration.

 

Sit back and enjoy the pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These concrete termite piles still look good after 16 years

 

 

This giraffe saw something he liked in the back of the pick up

 

 

Heres where the Imagineers elephants carved up with red clay.

 

 

They eat that stuff for nutrients.

 

Did you know that?

 

Heres a pic of a lions @$$

 

 

That is the most I’ve ever seen of a lion on the safari ride.

 

In 16 years.

 

That sucks.

 

Moving on.

 

Heres a gorilla

 

 

The look on his face is similar to mine when I saw the bar tab at AKL

 

 

We left the safaris and headed over to Asia so we could eat and ride Kali River Rapids.

 

We walked by the Tree again

 

 

Lunch is next.

 

Cody

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

Ouch on the drink price!  You were lucky that the rain ended so quickly.  This year, September was a tad wet.

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

All caught up and The Troll couldn't be more right about this TR!

[Lou... 3,118]

While we were looking around I found these for Lou.

 

Since he is no longer a bus driver, maybe he can get these a play with them at his kitchen table.

 

I've bought many of the bus play sets, I give the buses to Fiend kids.

And yes, of course I play with them on my kitchen table.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Great update. And great pix.

We really enjoyed our stay at AKL this past summer

Here's a trick I use to avoid the sticker shock when I get my bill at a Disney resort bar. I just tell the bartender to add 20% and I don't even look at my bill. Lol.

Keep the pix coming.

[Beckers 1,136]

The worst thing you can ever do is thinking about what you could have gotten for $20 in the real world. like buying fruit at Disney. What they charge for a cup of grapes at home I could get a lb for that price. Which reminds me I have a cup of grapes in my diaper bag.

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

Time to eat some lunch at AK.

 

I’m hungry.

 

We just got off the safari ride and had some time to kill before our Kali River Rapids FP+ were up.

 

So off to the Yak and Yeti counter service restaurant we go.

 

Want was for lunch that day?

 

Good question.

 

Its been a while since we ate there, and I seem to have forgot what it was.

 

If I didn’t string out this TR for so long, I probably would remember.

 

Give me a second while I look it up.

 

.....

 

...Jeopardy Music...

 

.... 

 

Found it.

 

 

For lunch we had Sweet and Sour Chicken, Beef Lo Mein, 2 egg rolls, 2 beers, and a water.

 

Look how patient fiancee is being while I take this pic.

 

Notice my phone in the pic?

 

That means I took that pic with a camera, like a real one.

 

Go me.

 

Getting better at trying to provide good content to FF.net.

 

Food was great.

 

Beer was good.

 

People are crazy.

 

Oh, wait, sorry. Wrong thing.

 

(The country music fans will get that)

 

We still had 15 or so minutes before our FP+ was up, so we went over to the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail to waste some time.

 

You like how I can remember the timeline but not remember what I ate?

 

Priorities people.

 

On the way over to the trail we came across the Street Party in Africa.

 

 

 

I wonder how I missed this when we left the safari 25 minutes ago?

 

Blind with hunger I suppose.

 

Again, priorities.

 

Heres the trail

 

 

Heres us on the trail with our beers

 

 

We dodged another little squall of rain and then headed over to Kali River Rapids.

 

Love the details in the queue

 

 

 

Are that guy's sunglasses on upside down? 

 

Selfie time on the rapids

 

 

Going up

 

 

Some burnt trees and that plaster mountain in the backround

 

 

 

Those kids had a blast on that ride.

 

The TETAK truck is STILL stuck.

 

 

Still stuck, since 1998. 

 

Those poor guys.

 

I know they’re robbing the rain forest of Central Florida, but could you imagine being stuck in that truck since Clinton was in office?

 

That sucks.

 

We got soaked on the ride, no pics of that.

 

Next up we had a FP+ for Everest, but still had an hour.

 

So off to this ride we went

 

 

I don’t have any pics inside or around there.

 

But I did find this throwback in the gift shop

 

 

I think that one is for decoration rather than for real, like the one I found at AKL.

 

Okay, so now you guys will have to bear with me on this.

 

There is a huge hole in my picture taking here.

 

I’ll just show you the next pic I have, then I’ll explain where I’m at and what happened in between.

 

 

So if I’m not mistaken, that picture was taken on Clementine’s Beach at The Fort.

 

It was taken at 7:48 pm

 

The throwback pay phone pic was snapped at 2:46 pm.

 

Quite the gap.

 

After dinosaur we walked back over to Everest as our plan was to hang out for the remaining 15 minutes of our wait time before the FP+ would open. 

 

Well when we got there, the ride was closed.

 

I believe it was for lightning in the area, but not positive.

 

So we decided to hit the road and head back to the camper.

 

I’m not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but the day before we were in the camper during a good downpour and my fiancee noticed a leak through our TV antenna. So with more rain coming, I wanted to check my redneck repair on the fly job.

 

Off to The Fort we go. 

 

We get back and the rain was coming down.  However, the repair was holding, so I was a happy camper (literally) 

 

The rain kept coming and coming and coming, so we stayed in the camper.

 

To be honest it was really nice just to relax for a little bit.

 

Once it slowed a little we made the decision to head over to MK because we hadn’t been there yet this trip. 

 

We didn’t make that decision until 7:30ish, hence the pic on the beach at 7:48 pm

 

The boat pulled up and we would be on our way shortly.

 

 

I know theres always a debate/discussion about how long it takes to get to MK from The Fort, so I decided to check for myself.  I took a screen shot with my phone when we departed The Fort’s dock, and another one when we were alongside the MK’s dock.

 

 

 

13 minutes.

 

My favorite Disney Halloween Decoration

 

 

Main Street, as seen from Town Square

 

 

We took a left

 

 

And headed for POTC

 

 

 

Guess what?

 

The drunks still want the redhead.

 

 

The plan was to head over to HM next, but it was closed and they were turning guests around at the entrance.

 

Boo. Thats my favorite ride. 

 

So we went to the other side of the park to fiancee’s favorite ride.

 

This is the only pic I got

 

 

Love it when that ride is that empty.

 

We were hungry again, and for whatever reason, fiancee picked this place.

 

 

I did not take a pic of my food because I did not want to remember it.

 

Sorry, thats just the truth.

 

I know a lot of people like that place, but not me.

 

Maybe it’s because we use the shops for a short cut or to get around the crowds as we go up and down Main Street, and we always exit through the northwest door of Casey’s Corner, and the smell always gets me. Not in a good way. 

 

After the food we decided it was time to go. We got to the park at 8:14 pm and the Casey’s Corner pic was snapped at 9:08 pm. We got our MK fix and wanted to get our boy before too late. 

 

I snapped a couple of pics on our way out

 

 

 

 

 

Tug was happy to see us, and we were happy to see him.

 

We got back to the camper and passed out.

 

Good day in the books.

 

Cody

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

Ouch on the drink price!  You were lucky that the rain ended so quickly.  This year, September was a tad wet.

 

Tell me about it. Oh well. This was a pretty wet September for us, even out on the coast.

 

All caught up and The Troll couldn't be more right about this TR!

 

Awesome! I'm glad you guys are enjoying it! Theres still another update to come. And I'm taking a page right out of TCD's book. I have some bonus content!

 

I've bought many of the bus play sets, I give the buses to Fiend kids.

And yes, of course I play with them on my kitchen table.

 

Thats awesome! Do you have a whole fleet?

 

 

Great update. And great pix.

We really enjoyed our stay at AKL this past summer

Here's a trick I use to avoid the sticker shock when I get my bill at a Disney resort bar. I just tell the bartender to add 20% and I don't even look at my bill. Lol.

Keep the pix coming.

 

Just sign and drive right? I'm going to try that next time!

 

 

The worst thing you can ever do is thinking about what you could have gotten for $20 in the real world.

 

Yes, you are correct. Maybe I'll start BYOB when resort hopping!

 

Cody

[DaveInTN 3,247]

So they don't serve food at Yak and Yeti counter serve in those Chinese takeout containers any more?  

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Disney drink prices suck. It's time to admit how many toys you bought yourself.

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

Disney drink prices suck. It's time to admit how many toys you bought yourself.

What do you mean? How many toys I bought myself?

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

So they don't serve food at Yak and Yeti counter serve in those Chinese takeout containers any more?  

This was my first time eating there, but that is how it was served to us.