|
Day Three: Friday, December 20, 2002
Cast of Characters: Marissa (me-Chief Planner), Rory (my husband-Chief Financier), Lee (one of our two best friends-Ex-WDW Cast Member)-all in our mid-twenties
Orlando Weather: Cloudy/rainy in the morning, clear/sunny later, High 72º, Low 55º
Agenda: Animal Kingdom, dinner at Boma, Cirque du Soleil
We were up at 7:30, grabbed a quick breakfast from our snack stash, and headed out in our rain gear to the Animal Kingdom. It didn't take very long to get on a bus and go through security at the park. I took a few pictures of the Animal Kingdom Christmas tree and we were on our way.
Since Rory and I had never seen it before, we went first to It's Tough to Be a Bug. It wasn't crowded at all and the theater wasn't even near full for the show. The bug glasses were fun and the show was great. I already knew some of the surprises from reading them on The Mouse For less list, so I knew to be prepared, but Rory was quite surprised by some of the effects. It was really fun and I'll certainly do that one again.
Then we went over to DinoLand and got on the Primeval Hurl.I mean.Whirl. It was lots of fun, although quite dizzying. We had next to no wait for the ride and decided to go on a second time right away while the line was short.
Dinosaur was next, and Lee insisted that we sit in the front of the car. We had to wait for the next ride, but we didn't mind. It was so much better in the front! You really feel like you're driving through the jungle and the dinosaurs are so close, especially that T-Rex! Yikes! It was lots of fun.
By the time we got off Dinosaur, the rain had pretty much dissipated and the people that had decided to sleep in had made their way to the park. It wasn't very crowded all day long, but once the rain stopped we did encounter moderate lines for the rest of the day. This was the last day of our trip that we got to enjoy low crowds.
We saw the Tarzan Rocks show next. It was pretty good. I especially liked the skaters. Afterwards, Lee suggested the Flame Tree Barbecue for lunch, so we went over there. Rory and Lee shared the Smoked ½ Chicken and I had the Smoked Chicken Breast Sandwich. It was really good! We got a great table near the water and were only the second group in that seating area the whole time we were eating.
With full bellies, we went over to Kilimanjaro Safaris and walked right on. There were lots of animals out. We got to see a rhinoceros and giraffe close up and saw lots of elephants. The hippos were lazing around in the pool, the lions we all hiding, and the cheetahs were lounging in the shade. I think I could do without the whole poacher thing, but I love the ride for getting to see so many animals.
By this time, we had seen most of the things we wanted to see, but we had to be back for the 2:45 Festival of the Lion King show and we had dinner planned at Boma, so we didn't want to head all the way back to our resort. We decided to go to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and check it out.
After getting off the bus, we walked into the lobby and saw the Christmas tree and the Lodge décor. I liked the resort and would love to stay there someday, but I thought all the dark wood made the resort seem kind of gloomy and closed-in. It was very pretty, though. Our Priority Seating for Boma was scheduled for 7:00, but we knew we would be ready for dinner before then, and I was a little worried about making our 9:00 Cirque du Soleil show. We went down Boma and asked the CM if we could change our PS time. We were offered a 5:50 PS and we took it.
We were hungry again, so we went down to Mara and got some snacks. We took our food out to the pool area and sat by the pool and talked for a while. It was a nice little break and the pool was pretty. Then we took the bus back to the AK.
On our way to the theater for Festival of the Lion King, we met up with Lee's friend Christopher, who was controlling Simba in that day's shows. Lee had told him that we would be at the 2:45 show and he was getting us VIP seats. Lee was so happy to see him after not seeing him for four years, so we hung out with him for a while before it was time to go in for the show.
We had seats in the second row of the Warthog section and could see everything very well. I loved this show! The music was great, the dancing was wonderful, and the floats were amazing! I had never seen the show before and I was so impressed! It's now my second favorite show, behind only IllumiNations.
We saw Christopher again after the show and invited him to join us for dinner. He said he would meet us at Boma, and we went to Africa to get seats for the Jammin' Jungle Parade. We got to sit right at the tape line for the parade and we were only about 15 minutes early. Spaces filled quickly, though, and there were soon many people waiting for the parade. I really enjoyed this parade and especially liked the music and the big animal floats. The largest crowd we experienced all day was after the parade as we were trying to leave the park. Everybody else apparently had the same idea to leave right after the parade. Once we got out of the park, though, it wasn't too bad.
Lee got her picture taken with Mushu and we went to wait for the bus to the AKL. We had just missed one when we got to the bus stop, but it didn't take long for another one to come along. Fortunately, there were only a handful of people waiting for the bus, so our ride was a pleasant one.
At Boma, there were tons of people waiting to get in. We checked in and our restaurant pager went off almost as soon as we got it. Within a few minutes we were seated and looking over the wonderful food spread out on the buffet. It took a little while for our server to get to us to take our drink order and explain the buffet, but with as busy as the restaurant was, I could understand.
We finally got our chance at the buffet, and what a buffet it was! Everything was so good! I really liked the "potatoes with Afritude (African-spiced potatoes)" and the marinated steak. The chicken corn soup was excellent, and I had two helpings of the fried sweet potatoes. The desserts were absolutely heavenly! I loved the zebra domes! The whole meal was so good and I can't wait to eat there again. I think I could eat there every night!
Christopher joined us about halfway through dinner and he and Lee chatted about the days they worked together. When we were all done, Christopher showed his CM ID to our server and she applied a 20% discount to our bill, which was very nice. Rory and I had to head to Downtown Disney for Cirque, so Lee decided to spend the evening with Christopher.
After stopping by World of Disney for a few things, we went to the big tent on the West Side. La Nouba was just as good as we remembered it, and I can confidently say that it's my favorite Cirque show of the ones I've seen. All of the acts were incredible.
Rory and I went back to our room and were in bed around midnight and asleep in no time. We never heard Lee come in during the night and found out the next morning that she had crashed at Christopher's house.
High Points: Practically no lines at AK in the morning, Festival of the Lion King, dinner at Boma, Cirque
Low Points: The rain, fighting the crowds leaving the AK
Day: 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7,
8, 9, 10
|
