Trip Report Expedition Pig Search, Whirlwind Sister Trip - Jan '17

Hey friends! We just got back from our sister trip on Sunday. I just now got my pictures on the computer, so it might take a few days to get them sorted out.

Figured I'd start the report while I am sitting here watching Hunted on CBS. Is anyone else watching it? A good friend of mine is one of the fugitives, and it's so surreal to see him on TV. But also the intense music they use on this show is making me anxious, so I need to do something while I watch.

Looking forward to sharing about all the fun we had!

 

[Doc Disney]

Yay!! I remember living through you via snapchat in jealousy! Excited to see the whole story!! I use the word fonorail on here but I'm pretty sure originally it came from Joe and Ashley from See Ya Reel Soon because I can not imagine that I came up with that on my own

 

[cgersic]

Yay sister trip!!! I'm all in!

 

[sheriffwoody]

We made our way over to Africa next. I saw Baloo and King Louie meeting on the way, but the line was about 20 people deep, so I figured it wouldn't be worth the wait. Someday! Our next FP was starting soon, but I figured we should have time to squeeze in the showing of Festival of the Lion King that was starting in the next 15 min. I wasn't sure if my sister would like it, but I certainly do! It's my favorite!



I'm basically a child. "Duty free" always makes me laugh. Sorry...I'm revealing too much about myself

We waited to go into the amphitheater for about 15 minutes I think. Sister was getting antsy, but once we started moving, she was fine. I could tell she did NOT like standing in one spot and waiting. She would always comment when lines were moving, like "oh this line is moving, that's good." That doesn't always mean a short wait, but thankfully it has that illusion. We got a decent seat in the elephant section, but there was a rather tall mother and father in front of us, so we kind of leaned around them.




I love this guy! He's been at all but once performance I've seen.








This tumble monkey is always there too. He's so animated! I love it!




Finally got a decent shot of the tumble monkeys! I have a hard time with the lighting and you know...they move kind of fast. I also don't bring the camera that I work with every day, so I'm always fumbling a bit.








For some reason I remember the girl in the zebra outfit from other shows of this that I've seen. She's really good!

I looked over to see if sister was enjoying it a few times. I think she was. She's not a super enthusiastic kid most of the time, so it's hard to tell if she likes someone. She said she enjoyed it, so I choose to believe her. It's always my favorite part of an animal kingdom day!

Up next: Safari time!

 

[Tiggerish]

This trip report is going to remind me of August 2015, when I took my 15-yo niece/goddaughter. She was always hungry, too, but for 3 bites at a time. Rather frustrating, I hate wasted food.

Love the t-shirts, and Sister's Sulley ears.

Fantastic views out the airplane window.
That burger looks really good, and Exitosaurus is very funny.

My niece was always hungry, too, but for 3 bites at a time. Rather frustrating, I hate wasted food.

Gorgeous pictures from the Pangani trail, I love that attraction, especially when the tigers are awake!

Eagerly awaiting safari pics!!

 

[abzoo]

Awesome pics! Following along!

 

[Ciara]

I've said it before and i will say it a million times, I LOVE YOUR PHOTOS!!!!

 

[DonnaOnTheRocks]

"Duty Free" Loving your photos! This makes me want to take my little sister to Disney... but she's 19 and probably "too cool" for it lol

 

[sheriffwoody]

Great photos. It must be a lot of fun for your little sister to get to spend time with her big sister, especially at Disneyworld.

I think she had fun! We get on each others nerves, but still had a great time. haha

Love that you took your sister. I took my niece to her first ever Disney trip back in September.

So fun! Yes, it was something I should have done a while back, but I'm glad we finally made it work.

Yay!! I remember living through you via snapchat in jealousy! Excited to see the whole story!! I use the word fonorail on here but I'm pretty sure originally it came from Joe and Ashley from See Ya Reel Soon because I can not imagine that I came up with that on my own

Haha, well I still tie it to you since that's probably the first place I saw it

Yay sister trip!!! I'm all in!

Thanks for following!

This trip report is going to remind me of August 2015, when I took my 15-yo niece/goddaughter. She was always hungry, too, but for 3 bites at a time. Rather frustrating, I hate wasted food.

UGH yes, the waste. She didn't waste a ton, but it was always the most expensive stuff that she ended up not liking...of course.

Awesome pics! Following along!

Thanks!

I've said it before and i will say it a million times, I LOVE YOUR PHOTOS!!!!

You're too sweet!

"Duty Free" Loving your photos! This makes me want to take my little sister to Disney... but she's 19 and probably "too cool" for it lol

Never too cool for Disney! I thought my sister would be too, but she was so excited to go. I wish I could have taken her at like 8 or 9 years old.

 

[sheriffwoody]

This safari was later in the afternoon (2ish I think) and I almost always do this first thing in the morning. I was curious how active the animals would be, and my suspicions were right, they were pretty inactive. We still had a few good sightings though. I let my sister sit on the outside, so I didn't get a lot of pictures, but here are a few.


Are these the spring bock? They're so little and cute! When they took off running, everyone was oooohing and ahhhhhing over them.




The guide made a comment about them rubbing their horns together. Apparently last time they did that, they were prepping for a more "inappropriate" activity. I just kind of rolled my eyes...inappropriate?! They're animals! Most little kids wouldn't even know what was going on, and if they ask, well...there's your window to have "the talk" when you get home from Disney. ha. Clearly I don't have kids


Hey Mr. Rhino, better watch out for that psycho bird behind you (alternative fact: ostriches are crazy)


Sweet little guy. My fav are the giraffes, but I couldn't get a picture of them, so the zebra is the next best thing. I guess I like bold patterns.

So after we had scanned our FP for the safari, I made one for Everest that was going to be starting pretty soon after we wrapped up the safari. Score! I'll get to that next. For now, I gotta head out of town for the evening. See you folks tomorrow!

 

[MinnieM123]

Loving your photos!! You and your sister are so cute together--very photogenic. (I never let people take pictures of me--I look too scary in pictures. )

Very impressed with your sister's drawing abilities -- she is quite talented.

Glad that you included photos of the Festival of the Lion King--that's my favorite show in all of WDW.

 

[fractal]

Your sister has some artistic talent. Must run in the family.

Love the detail AK photos!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Looks like a fun sister trip, definitely something that will be special to both of you! Love your pictures!

 

[amjt660]

Hi
I am enjoying the report
Great pictures
My last 3 WDW trips have been around / during Christmas so scoring a FP like Everest during your visit is unheard of.
It is great you could do that

Max

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

following along and loving the interaction between you and your sister
Your pictures are amazing. My Lion King pictures are always blurry, but I don't use a special camera.
Love following along. Will be at wDW in a week! yea! Until then, will live thru your trip report!

 

[sheriffwoody]

We headed back to Asia for the FP that I made for Everest. We stopped on the way for some ice water, because I was SUPER thirsty. Thankfully we got a full size cup, instead of those little tiny 5 ounce things. We had a few minutes before our FP, so we just found a place to sit and drink our water outside Everest.




As soon as we scanned our bands, I made another FP, which would start about 15 minutes later. Worked out perfectly!



We came around again after that ride and I checked to see if I could get another FP since sister was really enjoying this ride. The next one wasn't for another hour though, so we decided three rides would be enough. I was secretly relieved because I was starting to feel unwell after all those rides . Something about the backwards part really gets me. It feels like someone is pressing a huge weight on my chest!



Sister could have ridden all day, but I was over it! haha

By this time our room was ready back at the Boardwalk, so we headed back. I think it was about 2:30pm.




We saw this little concert/dance party a couple of times during the trip. Looked like fun! We stopped in a shop on the way out and traded some pins. We were still figuring it out, and we ended up getting some brand new cast member pins that had just come out that day. We tried finding more, but those were the only ones we ever came across.

Had to stop for some photos on the way out




Poor sister can't handle the bright sun



Up next: Boardwalk

 

[sheriffwoody]

There was a bus already waiting when we got to the stop. So far AK day was good for bus transportation! We arrived at the Boardwalk soon and headed to our room: 4300. By some miracle it was a very short walk from the elevator, which has never happened for my husband and I. We always have quite a trek from elevator to room.






We both loved the room! As you can see, the balcony was quite large. We booked a standard view, but this might have been an upgrade? I'm not sure, but it was more of what I would call a courtyard or garden view.









Sorry I went a little snap happy in the room

We both changed into our swimsuits and went down to the pool for a bit. Sister LOVES to swim, and I just like to check out the pools at the resorts. I was happy to have someone to go to the pool with me! We both slid down the slide twice, and then I decided to sit and read. She just swam around and went down the slide some more. I ended up getting a beverage to enjoy poolside. I wasn't planning on partaking at all this trip since sister was with me. But I figured sitting by the pool was an ok occasion for it.


Goose Island 312

Oh I forgot to mention that before we even left AK, I made a FP for another park. Epcot! I was so excited that we were going to have time to go there. I made a 4:45 for Test Track, but we were still enjoying the pool at 4, so I changed it for a 6:30 one. This trip was turning out to have WAY more flexibility than my trips in Oct usually do. I guess the smaller crowds help a lot.

Up next: epcot

 

[samantha788]

I LOVE your photos! So beautiful!! Still bummed we JUST missed each other
Can't wait to read more!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Loving your photos!! You and your sister are so cute together--very photogenic. (I never let people take pictures of me--I look too scary in pictures. )

Very impressed with your sister's drawing abilities -- she is quite talented.

Glad that you included photos of the Festival of the Lion King--that's my favorite show in all of WDW.

You're too sweet! I don't know about photogenic on my part, but sister is pretty cute for sure. Though she is in a stage where I have to BEG her to give me a real smile. She's too cool...haha.

Your sister has some artistic talent. Must run in the family.

Love the detail AK photos!

Thanks! Yes I'm impressed with her! I hope she sticks with it. I have never been able to draw unless I have a really good eraser . I made it through Drawing 1 and 2 in college, and that was hard enough. haha

Looks like a fun sister trip, definitely something that will be special to both of you! Love your pictures!

Thanks for following along!

Hi
I am enjoying the report
Great pictures
My last 3 WDW trips have been around / during Christmas so scoring a FP like Everest during your visit is unheard of.
It is great you could do that

Max

Yes, it was awesome to be able to make FPs on the fly like that! I haven't been able to on my October trips either, so this was a treat. Thanks for following!

following along and loving the interaction between you and your sister
Your pictures are amazing. My Lion King pictures are always blurry, but I don't use a special camera.
Love following along. Will be at wDW in a week! yea! Until then, will live thru your trip report!

Thanks for following along! The Lion King show is hard because it's pretty dark in there and they move fast. Even knowing the settings I need to use, I struggle to catch good moments of them. Hope you have a great time next week!!

 

[sheriffwoody]

I LOVE your photos! So beautiful!! Still bummed we JUST missed each other
Can't wait to read more!

Thank you! Yes, me too. Hopefully one of these days we'll get to meet up! It would be so much fun to meet some WDW Magic folks in person. Also, I noticed the Brickers actually went to Tokyo, lucky ducks. I'm sure you saw that by now. I have been stalking her instagram story and being super jealous.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I am sorry about your father's passing. It was super cool of you to take your sister to Disney World. I am sure she really appreciated it. She is definitely a talented artist. I hope she keeps it up.
I loved your shirts! Very original!