This pretty much sums up how well I slept…@#%^$@#!$&^ thumb!!!
The wake-up call was for 6:30, and I was up well before that…somewhere around 5:45. About 6:15, I hopped out of bed, mainly because Aaron was also up. Aaron and I decide to head out to the balcony to see if anything was out there:
Yeah, we love the place. As an FYI, you might want to have headphones for this video as we're almost whispering for some of it.
A minute or so later, a giraffe walks up towards us.
I hold my coffee cup out to him...
We get our wake-up call as we're outside looking around, so we finish getting ready and start the journey. We must not have tipped our sherpas enough yesterday because they are nowhere to be seen. Grudgingly, we start walking ourselves to the lobby and head out to the bus stops. As we're walking up, we eat the exhaust of an MK bus.
Uh oh…according to ancient bus lore, the day will go to Hell really soon for us.
We wait...
(Thanks to a family waiting for an Epcot bus for taking this one)
Luckily, another bus (MK again) pulls up in less than 5 minutes.
We're on our way for our 2 minute trip to Jambo house for our ADR at Boma. The boys seem perplexed that we're getting off here, but they agree to let us go our way, secretly hoping that we have no idea what we're doing (so they can hold it over our heads later on). We head in and are once again breathless at the sight of the atrium…totally beautiful. We look around for a few minutes before heading down to the lower level. We left quite a bit early for our 7:40 reservations, since we didn't know about the bus situation. Boma doesn't open until 7:30, so we hang out for a bit and people-watch until it's time to enter. While we're waiting, Sheri decides to take a pic of our wonderful view:
Oooooooookkkkaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy........?
We're the 3rd group seated and are tasting Frunch in no time (yeah, it really was good, though not as ambrosia-like as I anticipated…our vacation is now ruined).
The boys are already nearing spaz mode, so we do the veiled threats earlier than normal this morning.
Stomachs full, dining plan credits deducted, and servers tipped, we hit the bathrooms and head out to catch the AK bus. A few minutes later, here it comes. As we hop on, the folks from Magical Express yesterday, who are in the 7660's, look at us and wonder why the hell we got on at Jambo. I jokingly said we got off at the wrong stop before telling them about eating at Boma. The boys (of course) say that we have no idea what we're doing. We make the short jaunt to Animal Kingdom and are here in plenty of time for the opening. It's about this time we realize that it's going to be a really hot one…"Animal Kingdom hot", as some podcasters would say. While looking around and trying to decide where exactly we should line up to get in go through the turnstiles, Sheri and I argue about getting a map/times guide. She wins, and I head over to grab a times guide. Sheri then asks where the park map is. I tell her that we've been here so many times that the boys can guide us around. Then I notice that Aaron is reading the times guide and that Eric is staring at a leaf on the ground. Sheri gives me this look that all husbands know and hate…that "didya figure it out yet, Moron?" look. I mentally flip her off and head back to get a park map. After a few minutes of waiting, we notice about 50 people craning their necks upward. My initial thought was that one of the birds from the Oasis was attempting the great escape – I was fully expecting Disney security to appear in a glider nearby and hitting it with a tranquilizer. Alas, it wasn't a macaw yearning for freedom…it was an extremely zealous Christian who was skywriting above us about God's love.
The turnstiles open, and we, of course, pick the line with everyone on property who doesn't understand the finger scan. FINALLY, we make it through the turnstiles and head left…just out of sight of where they do the opening. No prob…the boys see the characters drive by at the end. In no time, we are heading to Kilimanjaro Safaris. We get in line………right behind the folks in the 7660s at Kidani. We talk with them, and they introduce us to their extended family (daughter, son-in-law, kids, and other in-laws). I strike up a conversation with the son-in-law, who was a Naval Academy Alum. As we near the queue (almost a walk-on), the daughter tells us that they are adopting us, and she tells the CM that they are a party of 14.
I love my adopted family!
We all hop on (taking up about 75% of the vehicle) and are off for our trek into the wild.
It's the typical two-week trip, only this time, the animal conspiracy is in full force. The giraffes were testing out methods to stall the tour for eventual attacks by the crocodiles (can you tell I've been reading The Kingdom Keepers while listening to Tim Bedore (Google him if you don't know about the animal conspiracy)?)
Okay, I have to admit that it was pretty cool seeing it that close.
We continue the journey, and I grab a couple more videos (actually, I grabbed a ton, but I'm only posting a couple).
For the Lodgers (behave, Dan!)
This one captures the only known images we have of our adopted family. Oh, and the laughing about 10-15 seconds in is all thanks to Sheri, who uttered a comment about my not getting a video of the ostrich eggs on the right-hand side.
We finish up our safari, separate from our adopted family, and start to make our way over to Expedition Everest. We take the left and know immediately that we'll be experiencing a short diversion for the boys:
Continued HERE.
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