"Circle of Life" themed Photo TR 6/19-6/29 UPDATE:9/24 On the Path Unwinding

[mermaid764]

Awesome updates, it's sad that your cousin's had to leave, but luckily they had a great time while they were there.

Looking forward to hearing about AKL

 

[DLR29]

Awesome updates, it's sad that your cousin's had to leave, but luckily they had a great time while they were there.

Looking forward to hearing about AKL

Oh, they had a blast! They live in Southern California so they've been to DLR a lot, so WDW was something different. It was a great experience for them because they don't get to travel very much.

 

[donac]

It was amazing what you got done one the last morning with the cousins.

 

[NaLisa]

Enjoyed the latest update and hearing about a fun last morning with the cousins.

And forgot to mention before how great your pictures look. Seeing them makes me feel like I'm already there.

 

[DLR29]

It was amazing what you got done one the last morning with the cousins.

I know! We got in 9 attractions and Dole Whips! Definitely worth it to get there at rope drop.

Enjoyed the latest update and hearing about a fun last morning with the cousins.

And forgot to mention before how great your pictures look. Seeing them makes me feel like I'm already there.

Thanks NaLisa! I hope you like the next update coming right now!

 

[DLR29]

Evening:
This is a relatively short update with some AKL pics. We left DTD and checked into AKL. The lobby was amazingly beautiful. I loved the architecture here! Everything went smoothly and we got into our pool view room with no problems. Our bags were even there already after being transferred from SSR. I took a nap and then we explored some of the resort. Here are some pics…

Beautiful architecture

Our pool view

Towel animal!

We checked out a side savannah

We wanted to take it easy that night because we wanted to wake up early the next morning. But we still had our last QSDP credits (didn’t have any dining plan for the last 3 nights), so we decided to use up the remaining snacks for breakfast items for the following two days. We went down to the Mara and grabbed muffins, pastries, and I even got a thing of zebra domes (so om nom nom!). Then we decided to use up the final CS meals at MK at Cosmic Rays. It was also nice because we had earlier picked up Space FP just in case we were returning to MK. So once we got to MK we rode Space.

Then we had dinner at Cosmic Ray’s. If we had known about this place before, we probably would have come with DCs because there is a HUGE variety of food at this place. After dinner we just packed it up and headed back to AKL. That drive from MK to AKL is pretty long!

 

[DLR29]

Through Faith and Love (Morning-BB)

Having never been to a WDW water park, we were all excited about this morning. Since our Premier Passports got us in for free, we said “might as well go”! So we got our swimsuits and sunscreen on and were at BB by 8:45. Surprisingly there weren’t that many people there at rope drop

But ok by me! I was the only one in our family to want to do Summit Plummet. So they all went to get beach chairs while I ran up the mountain. I was the second person to the slide and I was getting kind of nervous, but not nervous enough to chicken out. The ride operator at the top reassured me that I would have a blast and down I went! :scared1 What a rush! It was so much fun that I just had to do it again before the line got longer, so I ran up again and slid down for the second time (this time I had to wait about 5 min). So much fun!

Finally I met up with my family and we hiked back up the mountain to ride Teamboat Springs, as that was one thing that we could all do. Definitely the best family raft ride that I’ve ever been on! We had to do it again since the line was short still. Both times we walked on! The thing is with this ride it’s different every time who will be at the top on the curves and who will get the wettest, etc.

Some queue theming

Some on-ride shots!

The end

So now the crowds were beginning to come in, but I had already ridden Summit Plummet and Teamboat Springs twice each! Then me and DB rode Slush Gusher with a 15-20 min wait. It was his first “big” body water slide so it was a big step for him. He certainly had to have a lot of faith to go down that slide. It was fun and had lots of airtime. He did enjoy the ride but still hesitated at trying Summit Plummet.

Having done all of the “green slopes”, we headed over to the “purple slopes”. First up over there was the Toboggan Racers. DM was unsure about this and DD was concerned about his knee, but they ended up riding and liking it! I think DB was the winner at the bottom of the run. It’s so much fun with all of the bumps.

Next, we did the Snow Stormers, which were similar in that you ride on your stomach on a mat, but these were zippier and curvy! Everybody again enjoyed it. And the wait was very short! I guess everybody was over at the big slides and we had beat the crowds!

 

[DLR29]

By now, DM and DD were tired of the mountain climbing, so they went to go relax in the Cross Country Creek and just sit out in the sun. DB and I were still wanting to do slides, so we queued up for the Downhill Double Dipper. Unfortunately, when we were in line something broke and the slide shut down (maybe the conveyor belt?) so a bunch of people got out of line and into the line for the two stomach mat slides that we had just done. We got out of line and down the mountain when we realized that the slide had just reopened! So we climbed back UP the mountain and got back in line, which by now had not gotten back to its original length, which was good. We rode after a somewhat lengthy wait. It was fun but not amazing! DB beat me by milliseconds.

Going around the mountain, we rode the last major slides: Runoff Rapids. These slides are tucked in the back, but are actually some of the most fun ones in the park! So there was no line for either of the double tube slides and a small line for the enclosed single tube slide. We just rode both of the double tube slides, which were pretty fun and fast! Definitely a hidden gem of the park!

Having completed all of the major slides, we were finally ready for some relaxation. So we hopped in Cross Country Creek and took it for an entire loop around the park. There’s some great theming along the way (especially the sneezing alligator in the cabin!), and it was by far the longest, most relaxing lazy river I've ever been on!

Oooh, so artsy

After a trip around the park, we realized that it was still pretty early. I went back to the beach chair to find DD taking a snooze. DM and DB decided to hop in the wave pool while I went around and snapped pics.

We grabbed lunch at Avalunch (delicious hot dog wrapped in a pretzel), and headed back to AKL. The thing was that when we got to the bus stop outside of the park, the AKL bus was just pulling out, so we waited for a long time. We still got back to the hotel by 1:45. A very accomplished morning at the water park! :

 

[Whisker Biscuit]

Great TR and awesome pictures!

 

[jmm476]

Love the pics at BB! It looks like a lot of fun.

 

[wdwfan22]

I have been on the DLR forum for a long time *** I am going there in Nov with my 21 yr old son, and have read a lot of posts from you.

I saw you had this TR, and since I am a WDW vet and lover as well, thought I would read it.

I have really enjoyed reading it today!! You remind me of my son, another Disney lover, and very articulate and organized for a young adult.

Hope you are doing good and enjoying college.

Looking forward to the rest of your trip report!!!

 

[DLR29]

Sorry for such the hiatus in updates as settling into college has been very busy. Hopefully this weekend I will have an update! Thanks everyone for reading!

 

[DLR29]

Til We Find Our Place (Evening-MK EEMH)

After our morning at BB, we crashed at AKL and explored more of the resort. We just relaxed until 6:05 which is when we had Boma reservations! I was so excited for this meal because I had heard many many good reviews. Needless to say, I think I did find my place. All of the food was so delicious. I especially like the cut of meat with the tamarind sauce. Yummy!

Throughout the day we had been joking about going to MK that night because of evening EMH. But by dinner it was beginning to look like an actual possibility! So after we wrapped up dinner, we left for MK and got there around 8. EMH started at 11 and went until 2, but we were not sure how long we could last.

It was crowded so we went for the high capacity stuff first. We took another relaxing ride along the TTA. Such an underrated attraction.

Then we hopped in line for Buzz again, which was actually really short (like 10 min).

One more thing before the 10PM fireworks and we chose another show at Monster’s Inc. The second time around was not as funny because we had just heard the lines early that week, but it was still fun

We wanted good seats for Summer Nighttastic fireworks (we didn’t even see Wishes last time we were there), so we found some on a rail right in front of the castle. The fireworks were wonderful! I really liked them and the castle looks great in all of the different colors. Here are some select shots I took

We could not go through the castle immediately after the fireworks, so we trekked all the way around it to get to Mickey’s Philharmagic. Our theater was very full. Definitely one of the best 3D shows ever!

Then I had the idea to see something that we had never done before: the Hall of Presidents. We made it in for the last show of the night (11:00) and it was interesting. I can’t believe how cool all of those audio-animatronics are. And DM liked it a lot too because she loves American history.

 

[DLR29]

So by the time we exited, EEMH had already started. I ran over to get PPF FP for later, as the machines had reopened at 11. Then, since we were over there, we hit up the Haunted Mansion. It’s cool to go on at night because your eyes are more used to the darkness. I don’t know, it’s hard to describe, but I definitely noticed more details riding at night.

Next up was a night ride on Jungle Cruise, which is a completely different experience. The only issue was that we had a very weird skipper. I couldn’t really understand him. Oh well. Another must-do ride at night is Big Thunder, so that was what we did. It just seems so much faster and cooler in the dark! Our PPF became valid, and we walked over to FL to use it. Thank goodness we had the FP because the line was one of the longest we had seen all night.

By this time, DM and DD were getting tired, but being the teenagers that we are, DB and I were still running on energy! They decided to leave but we stayed to ride more stuff! We joined the line for Space which moved quickly, but was relatively long (30 min). Then we rode Buzz again. But since there was no line, we rode twice without getting off! By the end of our third ride of the night, I was actually getting much better at aiming and hitting the targets.

Usually the Astro Orbitor has a ridiculously long wait for the experience that you get, but since it was nearly a walk-on, we tried it out. It was definitely a better experience than DL’s because it is high up on top of the TTA platform. I got a cool onride pic too!

That's DB two rockets ahead

For the last ride of our night we hit up Space one last time. This time, the line was like 10 min and super short. By the time we got off it was past 2AM so the rides were all closed. I did get a couple pics at night though on our way out.

Proof that we were there past 2!

I definitely could have fallen asleep on that long AKL bus back, but I waited until we got back to the room at about 2:45. Yeah…we were gonna sleep in that morning!

 

[jmm476]

I love the night pictures you took! Mine never come out that well.

 

[ben1993]

Love reading your TP

 

[Dizneydaz]

Glad you had such a great time at BB! We love both waterparks and try to go to each one while there. Last year we did TL twice and BB once!

Get photos-very impressive!

Love AKL. We've stayed there for 2 (short) stays. I would stay there every time if we had the $$. Nothing better than sitting on your balcony in the early morning eating your breakfast while the animals are eating theirs. It's so quiet out you can hear them pulling out the grass and chewing.

 

[DLR29]

On the Path Unwinding (Afternoon-TL, Evening-DQ)

Finally, I have some free time to try and wrap this up. College life has been great but just so busy!!

So where was I? After an extremely late night at MK, we slept in a lot! Eventually we woke up and gathered ourselves. We left AKL at around 1PM and got to TL by 1:45. When we got our Premier Passports we were wondering which water park we should try to go to. In the end, we chose BOTH! And I'm glad we did as both were fantastic!

So many things to do!

Even though we got there at like the hottest part of the day, the crowds weren't really there. Maybe because it was on a Monday and more people are at the big parks. Anyway, we found a chair and first headed for a round trip around the park on Castaway Creek. It was so relaxing. In fact, the entire park had a very peaceful, relaxing vibe!

After almost falling asleep in our inner tubes, we got out and joined the line for Gangplank Falls. This is the family raft ride here but it pales in comparison to BB's. This one felt more like a Kali River Rapids kind of ride in a giant rubber tube. It was still fun but not worth the 15 min we waited. Since we were right there, we also rode Keehaul Falls and Mayday Falls. Both were fun but short. Mayday Falls got pretty fast but the weird vibraty things at the bottom of the slide was weird. (It's hard to get pics of these slides)

So far we hadn't encountered a very long line. It was very very hot, so we decided to go cool off in the freezing salt water pool that is known as Shark Reef. After snorkeling in Hawaii and Costa Rica, our family has become pros at this thing. It was so cool being in a controlled environment where you are guaranteed to see cool fish. It was rather cold though!

Next up was what I was looking forward to the most: Crush 'n Gusher. DM and DD were slightly hesitant but really liked it in the end. DB and I rode the Banana first. It was so cool getting shot uphill by water! Amazing ride!

The line was too long to go on the others but we wanted to come back to try all three. DD and DM went back to the river (of course) while DB and I tried out the body slides. First were the storm slides. These twisty turny body slides were fast and a hidden gem of this park I think. We rode two out of three of them; each of them different.

The last set of slides that we rode was Humunga Kowabunga! These speed slides are such a rush, although not as much as Summit Plummet. Still, they are thrilling and a must-do at TL!

DB and I went back to ride the other 2 Crush 'n Gusher slides and we were happy that we did. One of them was amazing! I think it was the pineapple one, but I can't remember. It had a bunny hop in the middle that gave us some good airtime. This is definitely the best thing in the park!

Seeing the clouds coming in, we weren't sure how much longer until the thunderstorms started rolling in. Quickly, DB and I hopped in the massive (which is an understatement) Surf Pool to experience these incredible waves that I had heard about. Wow, these waves are enormous! It's definitely a very cool, unique attraction.

After successfully getting drenched by the waves, we met back up with DM and DD. Packing everything up, we got back to AKL at 6. A pretty successful afternoon at TL.

 

[DLR29]

DM and DD decided to go out to dinner at Fulton's Crab House that night, so DB and I chilled at DisneyQuest. It was a new experience for both of us, but since we have Premier Passports we said "why not?" Unfortunately, though, I did not get pics from DQ. After getting back from TL we were all tired, so we didn't get to DTD until around 8. Unfortunately, DQ closed at like 10 that night so we had limited time. Hungry, DB and I's first stop in DQ was Foodquest.

After chowing down on some pretty average food we went and tried our first "virtual reality experience": Alien ExtraTERRORestrial Encounter. It was actually kinda lame. It was basically a giant version of a video game that was slightly immersive. And I'm not a big video game fan; however, DB was really good at it.

Our next experience was the Mighty Duck's Pinball Slam which was really cool! It was so much fun riding on the pucks and trying to score your puck in the goal! Probably my favorite thing that we did at DQ. Fortunately the crowds in DQ were pretty much non-existant. The line for Buzz Lightyear Astroblaster was slightly long but moved quickly. This was also a lot of fun. DB picked up the balls and I navigated. Since we're both very competitive, we both enjoyed it.

Our final "ride" was the Aladdin virtual magic carpet thing. It really wasn't that fun. My helmet kept slipping and it was difficult to steer. It even made DB a little queasy, so we left after that even though we probably had time for one or two more rides (I would have liked to try the Jungle Cruise boat). But he just needed some fresh air. We got out of DQ and went to Wetzel's Pretzels where I got a yummy pretzel. Then we walked around DTD. We went into the T-Rex Cafe to see what that was about. Looks cool. We sat outside of Fulton's waiting for DM and DD, but then we went back to Wetzel's so that DB could get some ice cream.

Finally, DM and DD finished dinner and met us by Wetzel's. We got back to AKL before 11. Another enjoyable evening. The next update will be the last 1/2 day of our trip. I will be writing it right now because I just want to finish this up. It's pretty short.

 

[GottaLuvMickey]

Actually, we did miss out on Flights of Wonder (which I really wanted to see), which proves that there truly is more to do than can be done (in 10 days).

First off - I just found your TR (read your dining report first!) and am LOVING it!

Second - You say there's more to do than can be done in 10 days... I did the Walt Disney World College Program (Fall Advantage '04) and was there for 8 months and didn't get it all done! There's no way to do it all in 10 days! But like I said, I sure am enjoying reading about you attempting it!