I didn't get married, but I won the lottery and took a walk on the wild side at WDW!

To make a long story short, I was supposed to get married on September 21, 2012, but that didn't work out. I had planned part of my honeymoon to be at Disney World so when the engagement fell apart I knew I still wanted to go to my most favortie place in the world at what I knew was going to be a very difficult time. My friend Autumn agreed to go with me. For the longer version refer to my pre-trip report and when I figure out how to, I'll post the link.

Dates: September 21- September 26, 2012

Cast of Characters: Autumn, 34 and Me (Ty), 27

Hotel: Port Orleans French Quarter, Free Dining


September 21,2012
Autumn lives in Pittsburgh and I live in upstate NY, so we agreed to meet in Florida. Only bad thing is there was a 6 hour lapse between our arrivals. My flight landed at 10:31, I was on line for DME at 10:52 and on a bus at 10:55. I was slightly disappointed to get on a Cruise Line Bus, I have yet to be on an offical DME bus.Not that it really matters cause they all go to the same place.

French Quarter was the 3rd stop after Old Key West and Saratoga Springs. I checked in just before noon. I thought I made pretty good time. I quickly dropped my stuff off in the room.

View from just outside our room...

We got an excellent location. We were in building 4, 3rd floor right behind the bus stop. Before I headed to the bus stop, I picked up out resort mugs and bought a Disney bookbag to lug all our stuff around in. That thing was the best $30 I spent the whole trip.

As always my first stop was of course...

I just took my time taking in the atmophere as I slowly made my way down Main Street USA. Now, this was supposed to be my wedding day and the week leading up to the day had its fair share of ups and downs. I'm not ashamed to say I did some crying. Now I'm walking down Main Street alone and I see a show up on the castle and I see Mickey and Minnie dancing and holding hands on this platform and I get all teary eyed.

I think it was a combination of saddness and shear joy, but I quickly pushed back those tears and kept moving. I headed towards Frontierland and stopped to get a pretzel and water.

Sorry his ear is gone, I hadn't eaten all day and I couldnt wait.

While I was eating, I sat next to this elderly couple sitting in rocking chairs and holding hands. I couldn't help but smile at how cute they were, but I was sad too, hoping that I'll have that one day. Soon the rest of the family joined them, they had just gotten off splash mountain. They too thought grandma and grandpa were adorable, they took pictures and helped them back into thier matching scooters and drove off. People watching is quite fun sometimes.

By that time the birds that hangout in Frontierland and Liberty Square were starting to get a bit too close so I wrapped up the rest of my pretzel and threw my water in that handy bookbag and headed towards Pirates. Pirates was having technical issues and was closed, so I hopped on the line for the Jungle Cruise instead. It was a nice ride, but nothing fantastic. I did have a great skipper though. She tried to get everyone invovled, but no one was really responding. She told the most corny jokes that few laughed at. They were so bad they were funny, which was actually the best part of the cruise.

Afterr the cruise I was starting to get really hot. I didnt realize it would be so hot in late September. I still had a few hours before Autumn was set to arrive so I just wandered around in and out of air conditioned shops and ended up on Main Street again headed towards the exit. Before I left I took a leisure ride on the MK railroad. I caught the end of the 3:00 parade and lef the park about 3:30.

Autumn texted me she arrived at MCO about 4:30 and I went down to meet her bus about 5:30, just as a storm was about to roll in. I sat on a bench out front enjoying the nice breeze and trying not to think about the fact that at that very moment I was supposed to be walking down the aisle.

 

[YoungNY]

Still catching up here, but omg I LOVE those towel animals!! I remember getting those years ago when I was little (one time they dressed my stuffed animals in the towels and put them in the bathroom. They even put a shower cap on one haha!!) but nothing's happened since... maybe its time to start bribing the cleaning staff

Also, the mickey face in the sleep wool is the cutest thing ever!!! I may have to make a trip to the petting zoo next time too lol

You know I wasn't sure if the mickey head in the sheeps wool was cute or cruel, but I guess it didn't hurt the sheep.

Great trip report so far. I can't wait to read and see more pictures. And how exciting that you got to take the Trek for free. I want to do that so bad. I hope you had a great trip. It's nice that you had your friend that you took with you. It's always great to have a friend like that.

Yes, I was very lucky. The trek was beyond great and doing it with a good friend made it even better.

OMG how awesome is this!!!! Good for you!!!!!!!!! Can't wait for pics and updates

I can't wait for the photo disc to come in the mail and I can't wait to share them.

I'm in..and hoping to spot myself in a picture of yours..LOL

I thought of you everytime I walked past building 5, which was just about everyday since I was in 4. I did look for you.

wow!! i'm soooo jealous! looks so much fun! x

It was a lot of fun.

 

[Alison1975]

Did you see our uber decorated windows?

 

[YoungNY]

Ok, so when I left off we had just gotten off the last rope bridge. We had a few moments to collect ourselves while the guides cleaned and gathered the equipment. There was a jug of cold water waiting for us, most of us had drank a lot of water from the canteens they gave us in the beginning so it was nice to refill and have cold water again. Once everyone was ready we got hooked back up to a different pulley system and led out to another cliff. This time the cliff was over the crocs.

Unfortunately, no one was feeding the crocs, but that would've been really cool. The were moving, slowly but moving. Its something you don't normally see on the safari. One woman even said she always thought they were fake cause they never moved, but they were moving that day. We even saw a little lizard crawling around on the croc.

After a few more photo ops, we unhooked and ventured back into woods. They call that part of the woods the Fern Forest for obvious reasons. It runs along side the grassland part of the safari.

Unfortunately, we didn't see any animals from that location. It was a short walk more before the guides started explaining to us how to unhook our harnessess. We really didn't realize how tight they were until they came off. We returned all our equipment, but got to keep the canteens/ water bottles.

Then we piled into a private Safari truck and headed out onto the Safari. The truck takes the same path as the regular trucks, but pulls over a bit closer and lets the guests stand up and move around and watch for longer. First up was the giraffes.

This giraffe walked by not two feet next to the truck.

Not even zoomed in.

And there he goes.

We came around the next bin and there were literally giraffes everywhere. I think we saw a total of 7 out at the same time. They pulled the truck over and just let us watch for like 10 minutes. They were eating and running around. It was incrediably cool.

He was looking me right in the eye.

I had never been so close to the giraffes before on safari. We came along to the elephants next. We slowed down and pulled over, but the elephants weren't being overly friendly.

 

[YoungNY]

Since the elephants weren't playing along we zoomed up to the safari camp. It looks like a small house on a small hill across from the elephants.

This is the best picture of the camp I got. The guy in the green is the disney promotional guy and the guy with the camera is obviously the photographer.

The views from camp.

They let us do some sightseeing as they prepared the tables for our "snack". Autumn said to me at this time that she was starting to get little uncomfortable with all the picture taking. I mean as she's saying this to be the guy is taking a picture of us looking out into the savannah. I thought it was weird too, but I was starting to find it easier to ignore by that point. Soon they had our "snack" ready for us. Really it was more like a meal. They set each of us up at a table per party.

I cannot tell you in detail what everything was, but basically there was a Curry Chicken Salad, dried meats, a fruit salad, hummus with pita bread, cucumber salad with smoked salmon and curry shrimp ( I think). Autumn had something similar except it was vegetarian. She had rice and beans instead of the meat dishes. They served us a mix of tropical juices to go with it. I know it was orange and gauva, but thier was a third too that I can't remember. That juice was great and very popular after our excursions.

Both meals were served with a edible flower. I didn't have the guts to try it, but Autumn did.

She said it tasted like nothing. The rest of the food was pretty good. The hummus was great even for non-hummus lovers. The shrimp was ok and the dried meats were a bit raw and tough. I had like 4 pieces, but I think I only ate two. The salmon too was a bit raw for me, but everyone else loved the salmon and went on and on about it.

The view from our table.

During our meal we could hear the male lion roaring in the distance. His area was on the other side of the camp and when we were done we went out there to see him, but he had already settled down. But we did catch this ostrich running around.

 

[YoungNY]

OK, now the best and scariest part of the trek you would imagine was the rope bridge, but you would be wrong. As we left the camp the kids from the other family really wanted to see the Cheetas. The cheetas were laying down but the driver was going past them slowiy as the guides were telling us info. Then all of a sudden Autumn starts screaming and yelling "Those rhinos are running at us!" We all looked in the direction she was pointing and sure enough.

Rhinos were running straight at us.

Momma and baby were running right at us. The guides went on alert and told everyone to sit down and hold on cause Momma gets very protective when her baby is around and she could very well ram us. Autumn said that was the only part of the trek where she got nervous. Those rhinos are huge, but they can move pretty fast and for a few moments we really thought we were about to be rammed. But luckily as they got closer they verred to the right a bit. They came really close, but there was no impact. ( See daddy coming 'round the corner in that background? )

OMG, that baby rhino was so cute!

Soon daddy rhino joined them.

They just kept running back and forth and around our truck. We were all going crazy. I was trying to figure out if I wanted to get some pictures or just watch. I did a little bit of both.

Not a close up. He was right there.

It was funny with all the activity going on, the cheetahs suddely came to life.

So now we had rhinos running around everywhere and cheetas on alert.

 

[YoungNY]

Did you see our uber decorated windows?

I probably did. I was surprised by how many people decorated. We did too, but we had the cheap dollar store stuff.

 

[Alison1975]

I probably did. I was surprised by how many people decorated. We did too, but we had the cheap dollar store stuff.

see we didnt see anyone else that had decorated much.. ours were all done out..we were directly across from the door to the laundry room by the pool.

 

[YoungNY]

When the rhinos decided they had had enough of us we followed them around the hill towards where the lion is. We parked on a little side road when we saw the usually lazy lion wake up and strut his stuff.

It was funny cause our photographer was in love with that lion. He was talking to that lion like you would except the sterotypical photographer to talk to a model. He got all kinds of giddy. The more the lion moved around the more he got excited. It was great for us too cause everytime I've don't the safari the lion was always sleeping or sitting there with his head up. I've never seen him moving around and being active. Apparently male lions sleep 20 hours a day. Yes, I learned a few things on my travels.

The lion perked up for the same reason the cheetas did. Our old friends were back.

Mr. Lion was looking.

It really makes you wonder how these animals don't kill each other during the day. They all go in at night, but during the day most can roam. They can't go over the bridges though, but they can cross roads and rivers if they want to. They are obviously aware of each other. I should have asked why they don't kill each other or why they don't see up as prey.

As we were leaving the savannah the lion decided that was enough excitment for one day and gave us one last look goodbye.

With that our trek was over. The truck let us off close to the area where the train lets out cause that's were we walked into Africa from. We were guided back through Africa and to the area by the fence on the side of Tusker House again. This time it was much less stressful as we weren't strapped into harnesses and people weren't staring at us as much. They took us back around the river and to the little hut in the woods where we were allowed to get our things out of the lockers. Before we said our goodbyes we were each given a rock and told that we now had to think about the animals we saw and choose which foundation we'd like to donate to. The program would be donating money (I forgot how much) in each of our names and we got to choose where it went. He opened a box on the counter that have carvings of a lion, rhino,giraffe and I forgot the last animal. While out there the guides told us that rhinos are going exstinct in the wild and after all our fun with the rhinos the whole other family put thier rocks in the rhino box. I did too, Autumn chose big cats as well as did the photographer, the promotional guy and the models. We said our goodbyes and thanked the disney promotional guy and our guides a lot. We were given conservation pins and the guides ecsorted us out back to tusker house. The other family and us started talking about how glad and lucky we all were to be standing or walking where we were at the times we were. We all said we were so happy we got chosen and what a good time we had. I will say I was nervous and scared, but I am so glad we did. I realize the animals won't be that active on all treks, but if you've got the extra $150 per person to spend, I do highly recommend it. It was an experiance I'll always remember. I'm still nervous about what pictures of me they will use and when and where these pictures might show up, but I was so lucky to be chosen it was like winning the lottery. I felt special and it was that little bit of Disney magic that will keep me coming back. We said goodbye to the other family and started walking towards the exit.

The promotional guy said the tour was from 2:30 to 5, but it ended about 5:30 which makes more sense in the 3 hour time frame. My concern was that we had 6:30 dinner reservations at Boma. I didn't mind if we were late though, nothing could ruin that day for me. On our way out we stopped to take what turned out to be my only picture of the tree.

As we left and got on the longest long out of all the busses, I thought about how that was the best day I'd had at a disney park ever. I challenged myself to new things and overcome my fears. I got chosen to be in a campiagn for Disney's Wild Africa Trek, walked two 4-story high swaying rope bridges over hippos and crocodiles and came literally face to face with giraffes and rhinos. It was a fantastic, magical day.

 

[maryszhi]

i love your pictures of the animals, especially the rhino!!!!

 

[YoungNY]

We saw the other family get onto the French Quarter bus line. It really is a small world. The bus line to the AK lodge was the longest line, of course because thats where we wanted to go. We waited about 5 minutes before a bus and based on the amount of people in front of us, Autumn and I debated on if we were going to get on this bus. 10 people in front of us and the bus was full even standing room was full, but people kept getting on. 3 people in front of us and we knew the bus was packed, but he called the family on. We waited thinking he'd close the door now, but he called us on too. We got on and were barely able to fit over the yellow line. Then he calls for 4 more people. I thought he must be insane. He made us push up against each other until 4 more people were able to fit behind the yellow line. It was by far the most uncomfortable bus ride ever. And what made it worse was the driver was sort of singing about it. He kept chanting 4 more people, move back, move back. It was really annoying.

Anyway, we finally made it to AK lodge. We got to Sanna just in time for our reservations and while we waited for a table we went out onto the savvanah; like we hadn't had enough of animals that day already. The atmosphere at Sanna was nice, but I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be African or Indian.

I got Shrimp and Short Ribs.

I really have no clue what Autumn got. I forgot.

For dessert I got the rice pudding. It wasn't very good.

Autumn got the sampler. It was way better than the rice pudding.

Our dinner was slightly ruined by the table across from us. It was a couple with a little girl. The girl obviously had mental and/or developmental delays, but the way the man dealt with her disturbed Autumn and I both. I can understand that she was acting up and dealing with childern like her can be difficult, but he was downright mean. She's pick up her fork to play with and he'd snatch it away and slam it down on the other side of the table. She'd start dancing in her seat and he'd slap her hands down and yell at her to stop. He was yelling at her it seemed every 5 minutes and most of the time the little girl wasn't doing anything. It was very distracting. I used to work with childern and I know how sometimes you can just be at your witts end especially when it comes to childern with special needs. In situations like that, it's best to just walk away. All he had to do was say he was gonna have dinner alone the night or something. I don't know. I don't have kids yet, so maybe I'm wrong. I didn't say anything cause it wasn't my place, but it really bothered me.

Anyway, after dinner we hopped on a bus to DHS. But first we walked through the hallways of AK lodge. I must stay at a deluxe one day. I love that there doors are inside and they have real hallways. I always thought that was the difference between a hotel and a motel. The hotels have the room doors on the inside and the motels have the room doors on the outside.

Back to the park, we saw the little mermaid first. If you didn't know this already the little mermaid is my favorite movie. I always said if they had a live version of it, I'd be prefect to play Ursula. I used to dance around when I was younger practicing her moves and memorizing her every line. She's my favorite villian. And by when I was younger I meant last month. LOL. I sang along to every song and both Autumn and I were disappointed they skipped over so much and didn't do Kiss the girl. It should have been a 30 minute show and they should not have cut out so much.

After the little mermaid we quickly got on line for Toy Story. I didn't care how long the stand by line was, I was gonna wait as long as it took. I think the standby wait was posted at 40 minutes, but we waited maybe 25 minutes. I did the fastpass line before so I never got to see Mr. Potato Head. He was cool.

It was a great ride and Autumn loved it eventhough I kicked her butt.

We wander around bit after that, then I remembered we hadn't done the muppets yet. We saw that show then continued on to Star Wars again. Now, I've mentioned it before, but both Autumn and I work for those evil people at the airport. In fact that's how we met. So when we got to the part of the queue line where it's sort of like Outer space travel security, we both got a kick out of it.

Looks like the bag room at my airport.

Star wars the second time around was better than the first. It was partly because the ride was better, but also because we had this one woman in our car that was having a ball and she just made it more fun for the rest of us. It was sort of like when someone is laughing and you start laughing too even though you don't know what's funny yet. We were all laughing along and it was a lot of fun.

Autumn had been trying to talk me into getting on RnR, but I told her I had been brave that day, but unpside down roller coasters were still out for me. But I said I'd wait for her, if she wanted to go. We had heard the stand by line was 40 mins, but the single rider lane was only 10. I suggested we go take a look, but Autumn said she was ready to go and that was the end of DHS for that trip and the end of our day.

 

[maryszhi]

We saw the other family get onto the French Quarter bus line. It really is a small world. The bus line to the AK lodge was the longest line, of course because thats where we wanted to go. We waited about 5 minutes before a bus and based on the amount of people in front of us, Autumn and I debated on if we were going to get on this bus. 10 people in front of us and the bus was full even standing room was full, but people kept getting on. 3 people in front of us and we knew the bus was packed, but he called the family on. We waited thinking he'd close the door now, but he called us on too. We got on and were barely able to fit over the yellow line. Then he calls for 4 more people. I thought he must be insane. He made us push up against each other until 4 more people were able to fit behind the yellow line. It was by far the most uncomfortable bus ride ever. And what made it worse was the driver was sort of singing about it. He kept chanting 4 more people, move back, move back. It was really annoying.

Anyway, we finally made it to AK lodge. We got to Sanna just in time for our reservations and while we waited for a table we went out onto the savvanah; like we hadn't had enough of animals that day already. The atmosphere at Sanna was nice, but I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be African or Indian.

I got Shrimp and Short Ribs.

I really have no clue what Autumn got. I forgot.

For dessert I got the rice pudding. It wasn't very good.

Autumn got the sampler. It was way better than the rice pudding.

Our dinner was slightly ruined by the table across from us. It was a couple with a little girl. The girl obviously had mental and/or developmental delays, but the way the man dealt with her disturbed Autumn and I both. I can understand that she was acting up and dealing with childern like her can be difficult, but he was downright mean. She's pick up her fork to play with and he'd snatch it away and slam it down on the other side of the table. She'd start dancing in her seat and he'd slap her hands down and yell at her to stop. He was yelling at her it seemed every 5 minutes and most of the time the little girl wasn't doing anything. It was very distracting. I used to work with childern and I know how sometimes you can just be at your witts end especially when it comes to childern with special needs. In situations like that, it's best to just walk away. All he had to do was say he was gonna have dinner alone the night or something. I don't know. I don't have kids yet, so maybe I'm wrong. I didn't say anything cause it wasn't my place, but it really bothered me.

Anyway, after dinner we hopped on a bus to DHS. But first we walked through the hallways of AK lodge. I must stay at a deluxe one day. I love that there doors are inside and they have real hallways. I always thought that was the difference between a hotel and a motel. The hotels have the room doors on the inside and the motels have the room doors on the outside.

Back to the park, we saw the little mermaid first. If you didn't know this already the little mermaid is my favorite movie. I always said if they had a live version of it, I'd be prefect to play Ursula. I used to dance around when I was younger practicing her moves and memorizing her every line. She's my favorite villian. And by when I was younger I meant last month. LOL. I sang along to every song and both Autumn and I were disappointed they skipped over so much and didn't do Kiss the girl. It should have been a 30 minute show and they should not have cut out so much.

After the little mermaid we quickly got on line for Toy Story. I didn't care how long the stand by line was, I was gonna wait as long as it took. I think the standby wait was posted at 40 minutes, but we waited maybe 25 minutes. I did the fastpass line before so I never got to see Mr. Potato Head. He was cool.

It was a great ride and Autumn loved it eventhough I kicked her butt.

We wander around bit after that, then I remembered we hadn't done the muppets yet. We saw that show then continued on to Star Wars again. Now, I've mentioned it before, but both Autumn and I work for those evil people at the airport. In fact that's how we met. So when we got to the part of the queue line where it's sort of like Outer space travel security, we both got a kick out of it.

Looks like the bag room at my airport.

Star wars the second time around was better than the first. It was partly because the ride was better, but also because we had this one woman in our car that was having a ball and she just made it more fun for the rest of us. It was sort of like when someone is laughing and you start laughing too even though you don't know what's funny yet. We were all laughing along and it was a lot of fun.

Autumn had been trying to talk me into getting on RnR, but I told her I had been brave that day, but unpside down roller coasters were still out for me. But I said I'd wait for her, if she wanted to go. We had heard the stand by line was 40 mins, but the single rider lane was only 10. I suggested we go take a look, but Autumn said she was ready to go and that was the end of DHS for that trip and the end of our day.

tip: as long as you are ok being separated from your party, the single line almost always is short also loving your pictures as always

 

[stevehousse]

I am a parent and the way you described that dad and daughter just sounded awful! I understand special needs kids can be challenging, I have a cousin with special needs and I can say that didn't seem right the way the dad was treating her. If I had witnessed that I would have given him some pretty mean looks! I am very outspoken, but I would never confront someone on ther parenting if I didn't know them unless physical harm was involved. But my wife and I would have very much made it obvious that we didn't approve of his methods.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Ok so...

#1 - How cool is it that you guys were picked to do that tour for promotional purposes? I mean yeah getting to do it for free is awesome but just think... in a few months you may see yourself pop up on a website, or commercial or something. A whole different view of documenting your memories on that trip for sure! It looks like it was so much fun. We've seen that building from the safari before and trucks pulling up to it with guests so I at least knew it was for that tour but I had no idea about the other pieces of it that you got to do. Definitely a consideration as DS6 gets older, if he continues his love of animals!

#2 - The dad with the special needs child... I get it. I get how frustrating it can be when you have a child that is essentially misbehaving but doesn't know any better. DS6 has ADHD, a mood disorder and an anxiety disorder and it is very easy to lose your patience with a child who is acting out, even when you know they couldn't stop or control what they are doing. The key is to walk away and not let it get the best of you or you'll usually end up regretting your reaction later. I've been in those positions where you are getting upset and normally it's because you're worried that your child is distracting or annoying the other people around you. What people like that dad don't realize is, most people won't even notice... and what they do notice is when a parent starts being crazy like that.

 

[YoungNY]

I am a parent and the way you described that dad and daughter just sounded awful! I understand special needs kids can be challenging, I have a cousin with special needs and I can say that didn't seem right the way the dad was treating her. If I had witnessed that I would have given him some pretty mean looks! I am very outspoken, but I would never confront someone on ther parenting if I didn't know them unless physical harm was involved. But my wife and I would have very much made it obvious that we didn't approve of his methods.

I wouldn't and didn't say anything, but he did get some nasty looks from us. It was really sad.

Ok so...

#1 - How cool is it that you guys were picked to do that tour for promotional purposes? I mean yeah getting to do it for free is awesome but just think... in a few months you may see yourself pop up on a website, or commercial or something. A whole different view of documenting your memories on that trip for sure! It looks like it was so much fun. We've seen that building from the safari before and trucks pulling up to it with guests so I at least knew it was for that tour but I had no idea about the other pieces of it that you got to do. Definitely a consideration as DS6 gets older, if he continues his love of animals!

#2 - The dad with the special needs child... I get it. I get how frustrating it can be when you have a child that is essentially misbehaving but doesn't know any better. DS6 has ADHD, a mood disorder and an anxiety disorder and it is very easy to lose your patience with a child who is acting out, even when you know they couldn't stop or control what they are doing. The key is to walk away and not let it get the best of you or you'll usually end up regretting your reaction later. I've been in those positions where you are getting upset and normally it's because you're worried that your child is distracting or annoying the other people around you. What people like that dad don't realize is, most people won't even notice... and what they do notice is when a parent starts being crazy like that.

#1- You know it's funny. I come home and tell my dad about the trek and he starts yelling at me about how now my pictures are gonna end up all over the internet and why would I do that. He went on and on about how stupid I am for signing to let them use my pictures. I said "Can you just say I'm happy for you?" He goes "I'm happy you got taken advantage of." Then when I give him his 3rd grumpy mug, he asks me why I think he's grumpy. Lol. On the brighter side, everyone else told about my adventure was happy for me and thought it was amazing. The most important thing is I thought it was amazing and I couldn't be happier that I chose to do it.

#2- I know parents are worried about their childern bothering other people, but I wouldn't have even noticed the little girl if the father didn't behave the way he did. I think the father behaved worse than the kid.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

#2- I know parents are worried about their childern bothering other people, but I wouldn't have even noticed the little girl if the father didn't behave the way he did. I think the father behaved worse than the kid.

Exactly!! That is precisely my point... more often than not the parent overreacting to a situation is what gets the attention. I mean, you're at Disney... a place where there are kids everywhere... what's going to get your attention more? A child having fun and being loud or a parent flipping out and screaming? I rest my case. LOL!

 

[SweetEvangeline]

Your TR is awesome!!! What an amazing, magical experience to get to do the Safari Trek at no cost! Wow!

As for the Dad at dinner, I am not sure how you kept your cool. As the mother of a special needs' child, I know how easy it is to get frustrated with their behaviors. What scares me is, if he acts out like that in public, what does he do to her in private? So sad! Hopefully it was just a rough day and he was tired and grumpy.
We had a similar experience on our flight home a few weeks ago, only it was a mother of a toddler who was obviously tired and scared and didn't want to sit in her seat. The mother smacked that poor little girl numerous times...on the face, on the leg, on the arm... Which of course only made the baby scream louder. Finally the guy across the aisle spoke up and told her that her daughter wasn't bothering anyone else and she needed to please stop hitting her. It was so disturbing!

So glad you had a great trip!

 

[YoungNY]

September 25, 2012

It was our last full day at Disney. I was feeling sad, but excited for the Halloween party that night. I was also feeling really sore. I had a hip replacement when I was 12 and it takes its toll on me sometimes. The pain has been getting and I was told its time for a new one, but I'm gonna hold on as long as I can. All the walking was starting to slow me down, I was walking like an old lady and holding on to everything. I suggested we take a dip in the hot tub. I hoped it would releave some stiffness. We woke up later than we wanted to, but I kept hitting that snooze button. About 9 we got to the hot tub I stayed in for about 20 mins while Autumn ran back and fourth from the pool to the hot tub. We then stayed at the pool for about half an hour before heading back to get ready for our day. The hot tub worked wonders for my hip, I was ready to go. We knew we wanted to do Epcot that day and we'd already done future world, so we didn't have to get to the park until at least 11. We got there about 12. Our first stop was Mexico for the donald ride. I didn't even know it was there my last trip. It was cute. on our way out of Mexico we met up with this dude.

Next up was Malstrom. I was actually happy the film was down so I didn't have to feel guilty for skipping it. I've seen many pictures of the troll on here, but I guess I was just to busy to see him last time, but we definately took the time to see him this trip.

I should mention, my shirt that day was forshadowing of my costume later that night. We looked for drinks in Norway, but nothing looked good so we left. Our lunch ADR at Rose and Crown was proaching so we headed in that direction. We checked in and we're given a buzzer so we wandered around the UK for a bit.

Again with these weird things called...pay phone? Now in phone boxes?

We were walking through the shops and just happened to run into these two.

All Autumn wanted to do was bonce with tigger. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that. I'll have to see if she did. But the appearance of Pooh and Tigger in UK brought up a question. Is Christopher Robin british? Why'd they pick UK to put them?

We watched a street show for a few minutes, then our buzzer went off. I was hoping for a table inside. I wanted to see the inside of an english pub and I was hoping for a bit of AC, but we got seated outside. It was nice, we had a beautiful view.

I got some kind of tropical drink in a souvenir mug and Autum got a beer.

I wanted to drink around the world, but at that point I had only gotten to 3 out of 11. I wasn't doing very good, but my drink was very good.

I got the ruben sandwich. It was ok. I didn't like the bread too much and the chips were too fried. It wasn't horrible, just not something I'd order again.

Autumn got some kind of vegtable pie. She really liked it.

 

[YoungNY]

For dessert I had the Sticky Toffee Pudding. Probably the best dessert I had all week. It made up for the ok meal.

Autumn got the Queen's cake. She thought it was really good. We both got signed birthday crowns.

I was still sipping on my drink as we left the UK and headed into France. At that point we weren't really interested in France, but more looking for a bathroom and a smoking area. After we found those we continued on to Morrocco were we just happened to run into Jasmin and Aladdin as they were going on break. It was so sweet cause they were walking away holding hands. I love when they stay in character like that. Next up was Japan. We watched a woman make animals out of candy fo a while before going into the shops. I bought a ticket to pick your pearl. It was fun and I got a big pearl...I think. My first and only pearl, 7 1/2 mm. I think I'll start strand and add to it everytime I go back.

While in Japan I found the sake counter in the back. I order a plum wine sake. It was very sweet, almost too sweet. I still hadn't finshed my drink from Rose and Crown yet, boy did I have a delima.

Can't you tell how worried I was?

Ok, so me being the light drinker I am. Autumn thought it best if she finished my drink from Rose and Crown. In hindsight I think she made the right decision. I was still sipping my wine when we passed America and I saw the line up for the Eat to the Beat Concert series. I was crushed to be missing my favorite band. Yes, I'm in love with Hanson. I have been since I was 13 and I don't see the love affair ending anytime soon. All I can say is those boys sure did grown up into some fine men and the music is good too.

We zoomed through Italy, but we stopped in Germany and got pretzels. We had snacks and quick meals to burn. Those pretzels were horrible. If that's what "real" pretzels are supposed to taste like, I'll stick with the imitations thank you. We took a quick stroll through China, were I watched a little boy steal ice from the soda cart when he thought no one was looking. His father yelled at him when he caught him eating the ice. I thought it was adorable. We had finally gotten back to Norway and our trip around the world was over.

Now I've mentioned Autumn and I used to work together before she moved away. Well, the people at my airport still remember her fondly and when they found out I was going on this trip with her they wanted me to update them on everything about her. One elderly gentleman we worked with planned and adults only trip to Epcot in October. He told me before I left that he wanted us to hide something in Epcot for him to find when he went. We racked our brains the whole trip trying to come up with something that would last a month. So we came up with the idea that we would bury Autumn's earring and have him dig it up and mail it to her. She made sure they were earrings she wouldn't mind losing. So very discreetly I dug a small hole under a bush and buried her earrings there. Hopefully, Disney doesn't do any indepth gardening outside Mousegears in the next month.

Hopfully this picture is enough clue for him to find it. It would be really cool if I really did find it. Shortly after this, we left Epcot for the last time this trip and headed back to the hotel to change for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

 

[popcenturylover]

How lucky u were to be picked for the Trek! I'd love to do it but, don't know if I could justify the extra cost for it! Love ur TR, keep up the great work!

 

[YoungNY]

How lucky u were to be picked for the Trek! I'd love to do it but, don't know if I could justify the extra cost for it! Love ur TR, keep up the great work!

Yeah, I probably wouldn't pay for it just because I don't have that kind of money, but if I did, I might.