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cast: me and my mom
Hotel: Animal Kingdom Lodge, savana view
weather: chilly early in the week, before warming up
Day 1: thursday december 12th
Today was spent traveling from south bend indiana to orlando, with a stop in cincinnati ohio to switch planes. but the first flight was
late getting out of south bend and we missed our second plane. luckily we got on the next one out and ended up being only an hour
later into orlando then originally planned. Had made a PS at the boma, which we didn't make, got chicken strips and a refillable mug
for us both at the mara. food was good. After eating and enjoying the view off the balcony. headed for bed with plans for Animal Kingdom
early entry on friday.
Day 2: friday December 13th
awoke to Giraffes outside the room and rain that was coming down harder then anything i've seen in quite awhile. decided that we
didn't want to spend our first time at Animal Kingdom battling the rain so headed for MGM instead. The crowd was non-existant. there
were like 6 groups there and that was it. walked onto everything we wanted to. Got really wet even with the ponchos. went on catastrophe
canyon where they told us we may get wet on the ride. rode tower of terror which was cool and slightly more creepy because it was friday
the 13th. stayed for fantasmic and the left, heading back to the hotel for sleep. I had made a PS for the rainforest cafe at the
animal kingdom, but since we headed for MGM instead of Animal kingdom, we didn't make this PS either.
Day 3: saturday december 14th
went to Animal Kingdom today, was slightly cold so didn't do kali river rapids. but i think i got everything else in, was very happy
with how the park looked, this was a first time to this park, so everything was new. Bugs life was really cute and the jungle trek was
really cool. the hippos got out of the water for us and the giraffes were really close, which made my mom extra happy since thats her
favorite animal of all time. left when the park closed and headed for downtown disney for dinner at rainforest cafe, used my gift
certifcate of mypoints, so that was a free meal, then went to see cirque du soliel. which very cool, and definitly something that
shouldn't be missed.
day 4 and 5:
Sunday and monday december 15th and 16th both of these days were spent at Magic kingdom. rode the rides,
including a few things that i've never been on and am not sure how i missed, like snow white's scary adventures, like that last few days
the crowds were light and walked onto everything with less then a 5 min wait. did Mickey very merry christmas party on the 15th and had
dinner with tigger and pooh bear on the 16th, the food was great and spent alot of time playing with pooh bear. also saw pluto (personal
favorite) on the way to the crystal palace and danced with him and got a kiss. notice some thing that were different, like Mr. toads
wild ride is gone. :SIGH: always ride the stuff you really like one last time, cuz they might take it out when you miss a few years.
didn't ride splash mountain or space mountain, every time i thought about going on it, my stomache would think differently, so i figure
if you don't feel good before getting on it, your sure not gonna feel better when you get off it. don't know why i didn't feel like riding
it, i used to do the 2 rides back-to-back. saw maleficint (the villian from sleeping beauty) so i got my pic taken with her. very
cool, prince john was also there, so got my pic taken with him to... he's not really a villian, he more of a greedy moron. and i was
getting a good laugh watching him with the other kids.
Day 6: tuesday 17th
spent this day at universal studios, which was cool. The day started off a little rough, on the drive there, the road splits for 1-4 east
and west and we ended up exiting and going the wrong direction. got turned around and headed in the right direction. lost probably 10 min
on this, but it was ok, since we had left with plenty of time to spare just in case something like this should happen. felt slightly
confused, by the layout of the park, because i thought the hard rock cafe used to be over by back to the future and the kiddie play area.
maybe i was just remembering wrong, because it looked so much different then it did the last time i was there 4 years ago. islands
of adventure and citywalk weren't there back then, so the front entrance is different. Had to go back to pick up Jaws since the first
time we went by it was closed. but that day ran rather smoothly despite that glitch. watched the parade, felt the music that was
being played during the parade was too loud and my ear drums were ringing as we left the park. headed back to animal kingdom lodge,
spent the evening swimming, watching a little tv and enjoying the view of the savanna, no giraffes this time but there were some
gazelles running about.
day 7: Wednesday december 18th
today was spent at epcot, was early entry but didnt get there until 20 min before general entry. but it was enough to get me onto test
track and then my mom and i rode spaceship earth, before continuing to do everything that was in future world (or whatever name that is)
loved figment as always, had lunch at the electric umbrella, which was just as i remembered it to be. love the chilly cheese dogs there,
by that time the world showcase was open and we headed there with a stop at Italy for the cannoli, love cannoli and its hard to get here,
so i really enjoyed that. at 4 we headed for MGM to catch fantasmic again, i really love that show. i'm a big maleficint fan. after that
was over with, we headed back to epcot to see illumiNations. then back to the hotel for a swim and sleep.
Day 8: thursday december 19th
today was my free day, we started off at magic kindgom and rode many adventures of winnie the pooh, peter pan, haunted masion (somehow we
got the same ghost everytime we rode it) and stopped for pictures with maleificiant and prince john, before heading for animal kindom,
where i finally got to ride kali river rapids and did the jungle trek where the rhinos stepped onto the path in front of us and we followed
them down the path a ways which was really cool, also the crocodiles were up and moving about so i finally got to see one move, they
always are so still i sometimes wonder if they are really stuffed. then headed for MGM for a final ride on great movie ride and some
dinner at the toy story pizzafari, which was OK. not really great, but it wasn;t the worst thing i ever ate either. Watched Fantasmic
again, can't get enough of it, then over to epcot for one last cannoli and illumiNations. better seats this time, had a tree
blocking my view the night before. Then back to the hotel to figure out how to get everything crammed into a suitcase. and just in case
no one knows about this packing tip: Roll your clothes it makes them smaller and then you can cram more stuff in.
Day 9: friday december 20th
Got up late, then headed to get some breakfast. ate out on the balcony to get one last view of the savanna, before heading out,
dropped the rental car off, then went to the airport where we got some lunch and then got on the plane, with a stop in atlanta to
switch planes. this time the layover went very smoothly and made the connecting flight. got into south bend to find that it was cold,
snowy and the roads were icy. all in all it was a great trip, found everyone to be very nice. light
crowds, walked onto every ride with almost no waits, the longest i had to wait for a ride was 10 min on tower of terror and 5 min for
the elevator at the hotel the last day we were there. also no problems with using only Disney transportation for everything except
the unversal studios day. had almost no waiting on it, except for the first time going from fantasmic to epcot when the wait was 20 min and
they sent 4 buses at once, so once the buses got there no one was waiting anymore.
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