Day One: Animal Kingdom AM/ Magic Kingdom PM

Monday April 2, 2007:
Monday morning we got up early to make the rope drop at Animal Kingdom. Even though the park was filled with Easter week crowds we still beat the rush and had a very enjoyable day!
Tom and Kacie headed straight for Expedition Everest first thing while I took the path from "Asia" to "Africa" to get Fast passes for Kilamanjaro Safari. I had my own private magical moment: While everyone else was rushing to the headliner attractions I had the path all to myself to enjoy the serenity! I encountered one CM and no other guests! Such a pleasant way to begin the day. :) Then the three of us headed to Dinosaur where we had a Certifiable Magical Moment as "Time Travel Specialists" meaning that we were chosen to go to the head of the line (though there was no line that early) and got a ride car all to ourselves. Of course that meant that I just had to buy the ride photo for my scrapbook. LOL Next we went on the Safari ride and were lucky to see many animals including a baby giraffe standing so close to the road that I could have reached out and touched it. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died and my spares weren't any good because the charger didn't work. :( My memory is already failing me and I can't remember if we did the Festival of the Lion King or It's Tough to Be a Bug next. Either way I enjoyed both! I love the music of the Lion King and thought the show was very well done. I thought the special effects for It's Tough to Be a Bug were well done, too, though I could have done without the jab in the back "bee sting"!
We had luch at the Tusker House. Tom and I decided to split a roast chicken meal and Kacie ordered a kids' mac & cheese meal and it was still too much food for us. I'm glad we didn't do the dining plan because it would have been wasteful for us.
After lunch I purchased a package of batteries for $16 (Ouch!) and we did the Safari again but didn't see as many animals later in the day. We intentionally skipped the character greetings at Camp Minnie-Mickey and the kiddie carnival rides in Dinoland and choose not to ride Kali River Rapids because we didn't want to get wet so that left plenty of time to explore while waiting for the afternoon parade. We took the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch/Conservation Station where Kacie got photos with Pocahontas, Rafiki, and Jiminy Cricket. Rafiki was just too cute flirting with Kacie and kissing her on the cheek!
After the parade we headed back to our hotel, The Ramada Maingate West, for dinner and some pool time. Since our trip wsa planned at the last minute, I couldn't get us into a Disney Resort but I was not at all disappointed in our hotel. The room was spacious and comfortable, included a fridge, microwave, and coffeemaker, had a nice pool, was only 10-15 minutes from the parks, and best of all- only cost $402 for six nights including taxes!
We headed to the Magic Kingdom around 8:00 to see the Wishes fireworks and the Spectromagic Parade. We arrived while the first parade was still going which did make it a bit difficult to get up Main Street but a little patience went a long way. We were able to get a spot in the Rose Garden to view the fireworks and, while the fireworks didn't live up to my expectations, Kacie got a thrill out of having Tinkerbell fly directly overhead! Most of the crowds either left or returned to the rides after the fireworks so we had no trouble getting curbside seats for the second parade which was spectalcular! All of the floats were beautiful but I especially liked the Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather floats. All in all we had a wonderful first day in Walt Disney World.

We're Home!

We arrived back in GR around 8:00 last night. Silly me I thought that I would have time to make daily entries while on vacation but I found that I simply didn't have the time. Now that I am home, I will make time to upload more photos and fill in the trip report by the end of the week.

Animal Kingdom III

Views of "Mt Everest" and the Tree of Life.

Animal Kingdom II

Rafiki was having fun with Kacie and kept kissing her!

Animal Kingdom I

Minnie and Goofy at the morning greeting.


Goofy, Donald, and Mickey in the Jammin' Jungle Parade.

Photos

The beautiful view driving through the mountains of Tennessee.



DH at the faire.


DD getting faerie ears at the faire.

Traffic Jam

I promised an explaination for why we were stuck in a traffic jam in Atlanta for 2 1/2 hours. It was all for the sake of vanity! I recently ordered some new garb for the faire season. Some of it is being custom made and I won't have it before mid June. So, when another vendor emailed that my order was ready and she just wanted to verify the delivery address, I was jumping for joy that I wouldn't have to wait weeks! I paid for Express mail delivery so I could have my new chemise, bloomers, and skirt to bring to Florida with me and wear this weekend at BARF. Our departure was delayed because I had to wait for the package to arrive and, since we were waiting, DH decided to get new tires on the car. We ended up leaving GR around 2:30 Thursday afternoon and only drove as far as Florence, KY before stopping for the night. We left Florence around 7:30 am Friday but DH did not sleep well because the hotel had been so noisy. We stopped at a rest area later in the morning so that he could take a nap but he couldn't relax and fall asleep. After crossing in to Georgia, we stopped at an antiques shop so that I could stretch my legs and I took my time so that he got about a 45 minute nap. I didn't want to be behind the wheel driving through Atlanta and I didn't want him to be sleepy! On past trips we've always driven straight through the city rather than taking the bypass. This time that was a mistake! We didn't hit Atlanta until around 3:30 on Friday afternoon and, even in the HOV lane, it was bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go traffic! It was nearly 6:00 before traffic was moving smoothly. By then we all desperately needed to get the heck out of the car so we stopped for dinner. With all the accumulated delays we didn't arrive at our hotel in Tampa until 2:00 am.
On the plus side, I did enjoy watching spring unfold as we passed through Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. (It was dark when we got to Florida LOL) At first we saw a few flowering trees here and there. The further south we got the greener the grass was and the more flowers we saw.

Yesterday (Saturday) I let DH and DD sleep in until nearly 10:00. We spent the afternoon at the Bay Area Renaissance Festival were we caught up with some friends from Michigan and met a few other members of the R/F forums. After a refreshing swim in the pool, we ate dinner in our suite and spent a relaxing evening just hanging out and watching tv.

Today's plan is to pack up our stuff, spend a few hours at BARF, then move on to our hotel in Orlando.

BTW- Wally World is a referrence to National Lampoon's Vacation, not Walmart! LOL