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DAY
9: Saturday,
May 10th |
| Mickey
called at 6am to get us up in time for the Sunrise Safari. I took
a shower and then went up to the lounge to grab some coffee and
register us for the safari. There was already a pretty big group
of people up there. I picked up our nametags and was instructed to
be back in the lobby in a half hour. When I returned to the room,
Joe was just getting out of the shower. I told him we had some
time before we had to be back upstairs, so we drank our coffee out
on our balcony. There were many more animals out feeding this
early in the morning. |
| When
we got back upstairs there were even more people waiting in the
lobby. The concierge asked everyone to go downstairs where we
would meet our guides, get instructions, and board the bus. The
guides were already in the room when we got there. They introduced
themselves and then led us out to the buses. The bus ride was
really quick as we turned in to the employee entrance to the park.
I really like seeing the backstage areas and hearing details of
how the animals are kept. |
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| Sunrise
Safari |
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When
we exited the bus we were still backstage and had to walk to the
entrance of the safari ride. Joe and I got on the first safari
vehicle in line. We were both excited to get started! The animals
came very close to the truck and anytime someone in the truck
wanted to stop for a picture, the driver would stop. Our guide
told lots of great stories and facts about the animals. Aside from
the lions, we saw every animal on the safari. We had a great time!
After we got off the ride we walked over to Tusker House. The park
still wasn’t open yet and it was cool seeing it so deserted.
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Breakfast
was in a private dining area in Tusker House. The buffet was all
set up and it looked incredible! There were nametags on the
tables, so everyone knew where to sit. We were seated at a table
with three other couples. I thought that was really nice of them
to really think out the seating arrangements. We had a great time
chatting with the other couples at our table. Back to the
food…It was delicious! Between Joe and I, I think we tried a
little bit of everything. The guides were visiting with each table
and when ours came over, I asked him how one (I) could get a job
like his. He had originally worked at Discovery Island, and then
was moved to AK, then AKL. It was really interesting to hear his
stories! |
| The
sunrise safari experience was really amazing and I would highly
recommend it to everyone! It is too bad it is only offered to ALK
concierge guests. Maybe in the future they will make a change to
that policy. After breakfast, we were really stuffed. We had seen
everything at AK that we wanted to on previous trips, so we
decided to just go back to the lodge and relax. |
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| We
returned to our room and I started packing everything up. There
wasn’t that much to do since we hadn’t fully unpacked from our
move. Joe wanted to go and hang out by the pool, but I wanted to
take a tour of the entire resort. I really wasn’t very happy
here and wanted to see if there was something I was just missing.
I grabbed my camera and the map and headed out. I stayed on the
fifth floor and went to the end of the zebra trail. I walked out
on a public balcony (fire escape) and took some pictures. Next I
turned around and went all the way to the end of the next wing. It
was all pretty much the same, but we definitely had the best view
from our room! I changed into my bathing suit and met Joe down at
the pool. |
| Joe
was already hungry again and we decided to check out The Mara. I
really liked this place. It was nice that it was so close to the
pool. It was also great that it sold lots of snack and
grocery-type items. I decided on a Mickey pop for lunch! Joe had a
chicken sandwich. We took the food outside and ate on the patio.
We swam and relaxed at the pool until it was time to get ready to
head to the Poly. |
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| The
Polynesian |
| We
took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then got on the monorail to
the Polynesian. This was our first time on the monorail this trip!
We went inside and put our names in, but then decided to sit at
the bar and listen to the guy playing guitar for a while. The
hostess said she would hold our PS and just to let her know when
we were ready to go in, great! Joe tested out a bunch of Poly
specialty drinks and I stuck to rum and cokes. We discovered that
they had the 151 for $1 special here also. The guitarist was
really good and he played one of my all-time favorite songs. |
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When
we finally decided to get seated, we were given the same table we
sat at on our honeymoon. It had a nice view of the Magic Kingdom
and we watched as it was already changing colors. Our waiter came
and I asked for the vegetarian entree. Joe started in on the
shrimp. This is one of Joe’s favorite restaurants. The food here
is really endless and delicious. I love the pineapple with caramel
for desert and the hot towels. After dinner we walked around the
resort for a while. (We are planning on staying here for our 5th
anniversary trip in September 2005!) Joe wanted to get a Hawaiian
shirt, but we didn’t want to carry it around e-night.
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| E-NIght
at the Magic Kingdom |
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We
took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom and got in with no
line! We switched our e-tickets for bracelets at City Hall. Again,
there was no line! The parade had ended and everyone was waiting
for the fireworks to begin. I was really surprised that it
wasn’t very crowded. Joe and I walked over to the bridge to
Tomorrowland to watch the fireworks. Since the park was still
officially open, we got to ride on the speedway and Dumbo before
e-night started. Next we did Buzz and then headed for the
mountains. We rode on Big Thunder three times and then had our own
car on Splash. We strolled towards the exit. It was a beautiful
night, a bit humid, but not too hot. We took some photos and
watched the castle lights close-up. We had to be up and at the
airport early tomorrow, so we left for the bus back to AKL. I said
goodbye to Mickey for this trip.
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| It
had been a long, great day! I finished packing and fell right to
sleep! |
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