Flores - December 2005

Day 2 - December 2, 2005

Park of the day: Animal Kingdom and firework cruise

Woke up at 6:15 AM, I can't believe I beat the wake up call. Grabbed the camera and refillable mug and went down to Everything Pop (restaurant at Pop). Got some pancakes and sausage and I was stuffed. I knew I had to catch the very first Animal Kingdom bus so I was out there at 7:15 AM and the bus showed up at 7:20. I was supposed to be at a meeting point for my backstage tour by 8:15AM It was kind of early so I just relaxed and chatted with cast members coming to work.

At about 8:15 our tour guides, Jen and Lesley, showed up and started to check us off. She handed us our receivers and we placed them in our ears. She put the microphones on and we turned to channel 4. I had some trouble keeping it in my ear and another guy looped in through my ear so it would stay. We walked behind the Rainforest Café and Jen talked to us about the rules. She said that we were going behind the scenes and seeing things the general public would not see. We could not take pictures, so I will have to draw from my memory.

We loaded in vans and Jen started describing Disney Animal Kingdom. The fist thing she said is that you can fit the other 3 parks inside of Animal Kingdom because of the vast area behind the scenes. A little secret we were told was that most Disney employee use a Nextel walkie talkie. Driving in the van we noticed the Nextel tower. Jen told us that they draped the antenna so that guest would not notice it.

Our first stop was the Elephant pen. There were none there which made me sad, but she said they had 2 male elephants and 8 females. Jen mentioned that 1 elephant was expecting a baby in about 2 weeks and so they had a RV stationed outside of the pen where a veterinarian would be waiting.

We entered the rhinoceros exhibit. The trainer called the rhino over and all of us got to pet the rhino. I was a little apprehensive at first, but seeing that the big guy was concerned about getting his Alp Alpha. They were currently preparing to send the rhino to another facility so they had started training the animal for the shipping process. They would place the rhino inside of the crate and make lots of noise and pick it up. The purpose of this being that the animal would not be frightened when it was time to ship out. All of us were told that the Rhino's biggest advisory is man poaching of there horn.

I asked why Animal Kingdom didn't have any marine life. Jen said that Epcot was a certified Marine life facility.

We went into Rafiki's Planet Watch and went inside the examination room. We were told to put our best faces on as we were now going on stage, as we traveled through the conservation center. Jen told us that they know have digital X-Rays, but some veterinarians still preferred the old fashion. I learned that animals get thorough exams every year. One of the guys asked how they examine large animals. There are special examinations areas built into the pins. They can raise an elephant and turn him 90 degrees to examine different parts of an elephant.

We walked out of Rafiki's Planet Watch and into the nutrition building. I found it interesting that they store all of there Aleph Alpha in big freezers, until it is needed. Jen told us that they prepare meals the day before. All of the meat is pre-killed. Each animal has a diet plan and they rotate what the animals get. We went to a classroom and got some snacks and watched a really neat movie to learn about what is done behind scenes at animal kingdom. All of the guests were told that when a new animal comes into Animal Kingdom they go straight to quarantine for a period of time to establish that there are no illnesses or diseases. When a trainer said we had a visitor I was pretty excited. Then she opened up the box and brought out a bag, and I nearly turned white. She brought out a boa constrictor and talked about it. I did not really pay attention. My eyes were glued to it. I am a phobic when it comes to snakes. When she said we could pet the snake, I thought it was all over and I could just step outside. But, I just mustered up the strength and touched it. It felt really scaly and smooth. I was happy when she put him back in the bag. We were told that he was not venomous but a snake is a snake.

Jen told us that we were going on Kilimanjaro Safari and she read the safety rules. We loaded up in the vans and went to the avian bird exhibit. I learned that an egg that has cracked can be saved if they place it in a special incubation machine. The curators will place fake egg in the nest of the parents if they have to take an egg out. We got to see some of the many birds that live in Animal Kingdom. I asked about the Flight Of Wander show. I was told that there is a bird pen very close by.

Next we went into Animal Kingdom and went into the queue for Kilimanjaro Safari. Jen told us she was going to have us in a truck in about 5 minutes. We went to a little loading dock and hopped in a truck. Jen told us she was going to turn the program off and she would narrate the tour, which I though was very cool. The safari was so much better when you have someone actually pointing out stuff to you. I learned that the giraffes will go to an access road at a certain time because they are ready to go back inside the pens. We took a side rode and got so see the herd of elephants. The tour ended and we were taken over to a bench area across from Tusker House. We filled out surveys about our experience and were given a Backstage Safari trading pin.

I thanked Jen for a great morning and walked over and ate lunch at Tusker House. I pulled out my map and I decided I was going to get a fast pass for Kali River Rapids. I did a little shopping as I left Africa and picked up a samba and a Animal Kingdom hat. I got to Kali and it said the stand by line was only 5 minutes, well I hoped in and boy it was fast. It was a quite soaking raft ride. I got off and walked toward Dino land. I walked by Tarzan Rocks and made a mental note of the next show, since I did not do that last time. I pondered about going on Dinosaur. I grabbed a fastpass, and then jumped in the stand by line, since it was only 20 minutes. Cast members told me that it was not a roller coaster, but it was done all in darkness. I kind of liked it but it was extremely jerky and way to loud. I felt like, "I did it once, and that is enough for me." I gave my fast pass to someone else and walked back to Tarzan Rocks.

I was extremely impressed by this show. It has acrobatics and people on roller skates. After the show I walked over to the bottom of the tree of life. I thought it was so amazing to see so many animals engraved in the tree. I wanted to see it's tough to be a bug. This show uses 3D glasses. It pokes people in the back and drops water on them. The stink bug made a bad smell in the air. The show was good.

Next my plan was to go to Camp Minnie Mickey to see the Lion King Show but I could not convince my feet to go that way. They kept pulling me toward the exit. I lost and I went back to the resort and took a nap and ate some dinner. I took a little nap and had to figure out how to get to Fort Wilderness for my firework cruise. I changed into a sweater since it was going to be cold and I was going to be out on the lake. I decided to take a bus to Magic Kingdom and then I would get on a boat. I got in the line for Magic Kingdom and waited. 30 minutes went by and the line was very full. A lot of us were starting to get ticked because the buses are supposed to run every 20 minutes. There was a Christmas party at the Magic Kingdom so the line was getting bigger. Well three busses pulled up for the Magic Kingdom and I was happy after 45 minutes of waiting.

I got to Magic Kingdom and they were closing it to the public. I got inline for the ferry boat, thinking that was the right line to be in. I was told that I needed to take a cruiser boat, and I went and got in another line. Well it took about 30 minutes to finally get a boat. I got dropped off at Fort Wilderness and started thinking about where we were supposed to meet at. I remember an email saying the dock to the right of the swimming pool. I started walking that away and I saw a ramp with a lot of boats, so I figured I was in the right place. It was getting pretty cold so I sat down and relaxed. I met Barb there and we started talking. A lot more friends showed up and we all started to visit. Nathan, the fireworks person, told us that we had three boats. I choose to go with Jonathan and he said that if I got on his boat I better know how to swim. I giggled and told him I could mange.

We all loaded up and started out on the lake. We got some nice snacks. Jonathan told us that there were blankets on the boat and I dived for one. I wrapped myself up. We pulled into the lake that is really close to the Magic Kingdom and we just cruised by some of the resorts. We settled in the middle of the lake and just drifted. The show was piped into our boat and we got to see the fireworks. It was very nice to see them from afar. We drove back to Fort Wilderness and thanked Jonathan for us not ending up in the water.

The group of us decided we better get inside before we turn into popsicles. A lot of us wanted pictures so we got in front of the big Christmas tree and got a few shots. I decided that I did not want to ride a boat back to the Magic Kingdom, I would take a bus. I got on the Magic Kingdom bus and just walked around the bus lines until I came to Pop Century. I went back to the resort. I was really tired and had a breakfast engagement tomorrow. I set my wake up call for 7:30.

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