JPL's June 2008 Safari Report

[chrisb26]

Still waiting...

Actually it was to Illustrate that I kept getting caught up by it

I had the same thing happening they have so many shows during the day it seemed like every time I went near the hat the show was going on.

[JPL]

Day 4 Part 1
June 23rd
Disney Studios

I got up extra early since I had to check out of AKL and move to Pop Century. I left my luggage with Bell Services and arranged to have it delivered to Pop Century and headed out to the Bus Stop. I wanted to try and ride Toy Story Mania again at the Studios and figured I still had a shot since it was early enough and I could always kill some time and wait for Block Party Bash. My plan was simple ride Toy Story Mania and ride Tower of Terror and maybe Rock n Rollercoaster since I was planning on going to the Animal Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours after checking into Pop Century. I got to the Bus stop about a half hour before park opening so I knew I would be cutting it close to make it to opening. I had no idea I would be waiting for a bus for over an hour. There were a bunch of people waiting and extremely unhappy as we watched bus after bus for all the other parks come and go. Finally someone came out and kept saying a bus would be any minute which only annoyed us more. It too a tootal of about 90 minutes before we saw our bus but there was what appeared to be a bright spot since we all received a FP good for any attraction at the park. I said Toy Story Mania here I come. We arrived at the park around 11:15 but I was in no hurry since I had my Fast Pass. I walk over to TSM and present my FP and they tell me it's not valid for this ride since it's new I said well it says any attraction and they send me to Guest Relations who said it was not valid for TSM. This really annoyed me and placed ina bit of bad mood. The woman at Guest Relations was very accomadating and gave me 2 FPs one for Rock n Roller Coaster and one for Tower of Terror. So I said ok I will just do single riders and bite the bullet at TSM. I walked around the park a bit and grabbed some lunch at the ABC Commisary. I decided to try the new Chicken Nuggets that replaced the chicken strips and it was a giant dissapointment. I got 6 nuggets about the size of quarter which in chicken strips terms would be equal to about one and a half strips. So needless to say I was not too happy. After lunch I took a look at some of the pins at the Hat and realized I was about to get caught in High School Musical 2 again and quickly headed down Sunset Blvd towards Tower of Terror. I used my FP and had a nice drop on the tower and then headed over to RNRC using the 2nd FP. After riding I decided to head over to TSM and use the Single Rider line. I was walking into the Single Rider line and this extremely rude CM Raul says FP please I said single rider he then steps infront of mye and abruptly says no more single riders while making a slashing motion across his throat very close to my face since I was still moving forward. I said no reason to be rude about it and now I was at the livid point at the way he spoke to me. I found another CM and asked to speak to a lead and complained about the way I was treated. I told her the story and then decided before I explode let me be on my way.
I saw her going to talk to him as I walked away. I then decided it was time to leave the Studios and go get my room at Pop Century and put the first part of the day behind me so I headed to the Bus Stop.

Up next Pop Problems, Yak & Yeti and Everest saves the day!

[JPL]

Day 4 Part 2
June 23rd
Pop Century/ Animal Kingdom EMH

I arrive at Pop and check in around 4. I was staying in the 50's building with the large Jukebox again but this time facing the pool which worried me a little. I go to get my luggage and they tell me it hasn't arrived from AKL yet which kind of annoyed me since they said it would be there no later than 4, add to that my day hasn't been going very well. Little did I know it was about to get worse. I walk to my room after arranging to have my luggage delivered to the room since I wanted to head out and have time to grab something to eat. Well I get to my room and there is a purple card in the lock saying this room is being serviced by a CM please return later. I gfound a Mousekeeping CM and asked them if someone just forgot to take the card out of the door since the front desk said the room was ready. He advised me to call the front deskand said they were still cleaning the room. I called the front desk and they said just enter the room and remove the card that the room was ready but they were very quick to also add if there is a problem give us a call immediately. I return to the room remove the card and open the door. The room had a really foul smell to it mixed with a perfume like smell. On the table was a machine called Rainbow Air running. I guess the best way to describe the smell was really bad Body Odor mixed with wet dog and perfume I went back to the phone rather annoyed at this point and called to have my room changed. They assigned me a new room over the phone but I had to return to the front desk to pick up a new key. I walked to the front desk and now had to wait in a line since a DME bus just pulled in. I got the new key and asked at the desk why would they assign that room if they knew it had a problem They said the system showed it as ready. I got my key and made the long trek back to my room so I could wash up and calm down a little before heading back out. I then realized that luggage assistance had my old room number so I called them back and they noted the change. While they took care of the problem in a somewhat timely manner, I felt it was a problem that didn't have to occur. Obviously if they felt the room needed a machine to filter the air to remove the smell and they had other rooms available why would they assign that room to a guest without further inspection. I settled into the room for a few minutes washed up in hopes my luggage would show up before I left but no such luck. I arrived at the Animal Kingdom at around 5 and went to the Yak and Yeti to grab some dinner. Fan and Queen had messaged me asking if I ate there and mentioned the fried Wonton Dessert so of course I had to try it. I sat at the bar and ordered the Tempura Shrimp and a Tiger Beer to start off my dinner. The shrimp was very good and I really enjoyed sitting there and relaxing after a rough day. After polishing off the shrimp it was time for the Main Event the fried wonton dessert which consists of Deep fried cream cheese wontons, pineapple, vanilla ice cream and some fresh strawberries.
I couldn't let Queen and fan down so when the dessert came out I took a picture of it with cell and sent them a picture message The dessert was delicious and absolutely worth the trip to Yak & Yeti ok I'm lying it's almost worth the price of airfare just to fly in eat and fly home. It inspired the 2 other people sitting at the bar to order it as well. After eating way too much I walked the jungle to see some tigers again. I was actually surprised to see the taper swimming around in the water in it's exhibit since most of the time I see it it is just sleeping in the corner. The tigers were out and active again which surprised me since it was getting close to the time they start takling the animals in for the night. My goal was to kill enough time to so I could ride the last safari of the day which I heard from a few people is really cool. It was about 6:30 when I left the jungle and the last safari was at 7:30 so I headed over towards Africa and a walk through the forest to see the Gorillas. I walked along the trail and stopped to watch the Meerkats for a few minutes and was watching as a rabbit was int eh exhibit and the CM said that they will attack and eat rabbits on occaision. Of course I wasn't lucky enough to see this. I got around the area where the Gorillas hang out but found out that they had gone in for the night. I left the trail and got in line for the safari hoping I had timed it ok but I was a little early. It was kind of cool to be able to ride the sfari later in the day and there were still alot of animals out although our guide told us that a good number of them were hanging out near the gates to the night houses backstage since they are conditioned to return there. It was around 7:30 when I got off the Safari and decided to get my wristband for EMHs near the Tree of Life. Since I was in the area I caught a showing of It's Tough to Be a Bug. I still think this is one of the better done 3D movies mixed with the in theater effects. After becoming an honary bug I decided it was time to conquer Everest. I got on line and really enjoyed my ride since it always seems faster later int he day. It wasn't quite dark yet more like sunset which gave the ride a cool effect. The Yeti was still not working properly which is always disappointing since it's such an incredible AA. After Everest i decide to see if I could find any 10th Anniversary merchandise but they had nothing and I was waiting for the sun to set and ride Everest at night. The sun finally set and the park took on a totally different feel. I headed over to Everest for my first of many rides at night. Let me say Everest at night is the single best attraction in all of WDW. The darkness adds an entire new dimension to the ride. The view from the top is breathtaking and the caves are pitch black with no light sneaking in. The ride even seems much faster in the dark much like BTTMR. I rode Everest int he dark a total of about 8 times since there was literally no wait at all. The only thing that stopped me was the storm off in the distance when I overheard a ride operations CM saying they were about to shut it down as I was going to get on line. This is when I decided to head over to Dinosaur since that's where they were about to send the Everest crowds and I wanted to get there before the mad rush. I walked onto Dinorsaur and enjoyed my adventure back in time. I will say that this park art night is truly a special place I even appreciated the way Dinorama looked all lit up. It was getting late and close to closing and the storm was still threatening in the distance so I decided to call it a night and head for the buses. The bus area was an extremely bizzare experience since they were using Cruiseline buses and other chartered buses to shuttle people back to their resorts. There was quite a bit of confusions amongst the guests and CM not to mention the poor bus drivers. We had a Cruiseline bus heading back to Pop and we off.

Next up my Last shot at TSM and Goodbye MK.

[chrisb26]

Okay I'm commenting on your report since you said I hadn't read your report since I didn't comment on it. Although do you really know if I really read both parts now?

Perhaps I did and perhaps I didn't you might never know.

I will say this though regarding the buses that is really crazy that they are running like that I've heard of a few others who have also had a similar problem lately something needs to be done.

[WDWfanatic742]

Lately I just refuse to ride the buses unless I have no other option. They have been run so bad lately and nobody seems to know why. It took at least 30 minutes wherever we were going on my last trip for a bus to show up. We can at least drive to the parks and such because we do drive up there. I feel bad for the people who have no other option but the buses.

[chrisb26]

Okay I put my report up and wasn't even asked so where is the rest of yours?

Oh and one other thing I forgot to tell you in my last post about your report. Regarding HSM2 some good news for you at least on your next trip you can look forward to the fact that you wont be stuck by HSM2 rally but HSM3 since I'm pretty sure it will debut before your next trip

[TinkRocks]

JP - lovin' the trip reports!

Can I / we ask a teensy little favor for your next trip report? Could you maybe break your report into sections?

Blame my old age, but it's becoming a little too easy to lose one's place when reading a big block of text...

Thanks...

[Patricia]

That stinks you had trouble at Pop.

I can't wait to try Yak and Yeti's. I've heard all good things so far. I dont' think it's fair to tell you a fast pass is good everywhere, only to change that in the park. I doubt it would have backed up the attraction that much.. bad PR.

[JPL]

Day 5 Part 1
June 24th
Disney Hollywood Studios


I got up early since I wanted to hit the Studios one more time and have a few more goes at TSM and see Block Party Bash. I arrived at the park in time for opening and watched the opening ceremony. I quickly made my way over to TSM and got a Fast pass and then got in the stand-by line. They had some sort of delay opening the ride so it was almost time for my Fast pass by the time I actually got on the ride. I had a fun ride scoring a repectable 116,000 points. After exiting I head over to Starring Roll for a bagel and coffee but before I did I grabbed a second Fast pass for the ride since my time was up to ride again. I finished up my coffee and headed back to TSM for my 2nd ride of the day. This time around I scores 127,000 and decided to look at the shop and saw they had very little merchandise for the ride. I decided I would ride the the backlot since all rumours have it's days numbered. I was a little disappointed that they didn't do the pre-show since they claimed they had no actors. However the queue area was pretty full and they had plenty of time to get a few people from the crowd. It seems to me the CMs working were just being lazy. It was really bad show since they walked us through what should have happened before letting us proceed to the loading area. This tour really is a shell of it's former self and I see why I rarely bother with it. The only cool thing on the tour was the set design shop where they were working on the sets for the Fairy area coming to the Magic Kingdom. I decide to ride the Great Movie ride after doing the tour for a little more Nostalgia. I enjoyed my ride through the movies. I then looked in the pin station for a few minutes to see if anything else was new. Before I knew it I was back on TSm but this time I didn't do quite as well scoring only 102,000. After exiting TSM I notice they were having a soft opening for the New Narnia attraction so I headed over and the Dream Squad was there handing out Dream Ears . I collected my ears and went into the attraction which was basically a preview for the new movie. however the room the showed it in was really cool the had a stone table in the middle and it looked like carved stone all around but in actuallity it was screens with the carvings projected on them. After Narnia I caught another shopwing of Muppets 3D and talked to cat while I killed sometime waiting for the Parade. I grabbed a frozen lemonade and watch Block Party bash. The parade was entertaining but I really wasn't in a great spot for the show stop. After the parade I decide to head back to Pop drop off my stuff and call my friend who was coming to pick me up the next day. I got back Pop called my friend who said he was coming earlier than originally planned and he wasn't going to go to a park for the day and we could just hit Downtown Disney for a while. So I pre-packed some of my stuff and got ready to head out to Epcot for EMH's. Before leaving I decide to Eat at Everything Pop and grabbed some Nacho's which were good although the portion was alot smaller than it was in January.

Next UP
Epcot EMHs and a Change in Plans.

[JPL]

Ok so it's not me finishing up the report just yet But I did add about 120 new pictures

[Patricia]

You have what looks like some great castle/fireworks but they are very small in your album this batch. For instance, this one..

http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x...urrent=902.jpg

Waiting for the rest of the story..

[trackbarroness]

Sounds good so far cookie, And no sightings of me.
Perhaps next visit you'll see me?

[chrisb26]

Waiting still for you to finish you should really go faster its taking you forever....

[Blue Genie]

U know I forgot all about finish reading your trip report JP.

[JPL]

I fixed the picture problem had to reupload them

[trackbarroness]

Oh cookie where's the next installment sweetie?

[JPL]

The Next Installment is on the way but until then I have added another 100 or so pictures I still have about another 300 pictures to finish and upload

[Patricia]

Thanks for fixing the pics.. I'll go have a look at them.

[Patricia]

And just to slow things down..

everything from image 919 ( a castle fireworks pic) is small again.

If you get it fixed, I'm stealing this one..

http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x...urrent=947.jpg

[terri.m]