Thursday December 11, 2003

I woke about 8:30, showered, skipped breakfast, and drove into Animal Kingdom. AK was the closest Disney park to my off-site hotel, so the drive was pretty short. I wasn't in a mood to run around the park fast today, so I started by browsing several of the gift shops for postcards, then moseyed on back to Africa, where I got a typically large and delicious breakfast at Tusker House. To digest my breakfast, I walked the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and took some pics of the gorillas and other animals along the way. Pangani is always a great way to relax at AK; since it's a walking trail, you move at your own pace, and it winds mostly through heavily vegetated areas, providing the most shade available in the Animal Kingdom park, which is very welcome on hot summer days.

After Pangani, I walked across the park to ride Dinosaur, and browsed a few more shops, picking up a wonderful Disney storybook (all the classic Disney movies, in large type, illustrated with scenes from the movies) and a Princess luggage tag for my niece. Always keep your eyes open when shopping the WDW gift shops! I had not seen this particular book before, and instead of the expected $35 price, it cost a mere $15. The luggage tag, too, was on special. I bought them both and had them sent to the front of the park so I would not have to lug them around all day.

While walking past an ice cream cart, I got a sudden craving for something sweet to compliment my breakfast, so I bought a Drumstick and sat down to listen to a live band that was playing nearby. When my ice cream was done, I headed into the Tree of Life to watch It's Tough to be a Bug, the wonderful 3D animated show featuring insect characters from the Disney movie A Bug's Life.

Since the train ride is not a particularly fast one, the journey to and from Planet Watch ate up a significant portion of my wait, and by the time I got back to Kilimanjaro Safari my FastPass window was upon me. I got into the FP line and was seated in a safari vehicle in about 5 minutes.

I have heard many theories about Kilimanjaro Safari over the years. Many folks believe that there are more animals out first thing in the morning, others think that evening is better. But never have I seen as many animals out and active as I did today in the colder weather. All the animals seemed to be running to and fro to generate more body heat, or perhaps they were simply excited at the lack of the typical summertime heat. Whatever it was, I got lots of pictures of animals that had always been reclusive or hidden on my past trips through the preserve.

After the Safari, I wandered to the front of the park. It was after lunch time, and I was getting hungry again despite my late breakfast. I picked up my purchases and went into the Rainforest Cafe.

It was getting close to 3pm, and I had done all in Animal Kingdom that I cared to do, so I jumped into my rental car and drove to Epcot. But before I did anything else, I spent 15 minutes in the Camera Center buying a lens cloth to clean my camera lens, which had somehow gotten crudded up.

Then I rode Spaceship Earth. Slow and peaceful, Spaceship Earth is a park icon for more than just it's impressive geosphere. SE shows the history of human communications, without which human civilization, such as it is, could never have existed. I love seeing writing, radio, and TV come about to the calming tones of Jeremy Irons, though I do miss the calming tones of Walter Chronkite a little.

By then I was ready for some speed, so I rode Mission: Space twice in a row by using the single riders line. Single riders lines are a great idea that are being incorporated into most of the new attraction built in the various Orlando theme parks, and they save a lot of time for all riders. The single riders get to the head of the queue much quicker, and this also allows the ride handlers to fill single seats, allowing the rides to run at their true capacity, all of which makes the queues move faster and makes the average person's wait time that much shorter.

I scoured MouseGear for close to an hour, even asking a CM to check for me, but no dice; the sweatshirt I wanted was not sold in MouseGear. Now, where did I originally spot it? Ah, yes, in the Gateway shops between Future World and World Showcase! I made a beeline there from MouseGear, only to discover that there were only 2 of the sweatshirt in question left in the shop, and both were XXXL. I only needed XXL. I resolved to keep looking; someplace else in Epcot had to have that sweatshirt in my size!

Before continuing, I stopped at the big Christmas tree on the walkway between Future World and World Showcase to watch the tree lighting show, which starred the Fab Five, a couple of hosts who were living Pixie Sticks, and a bunch of CMs from all over World Showcase, meaning of course, all over the world. The show was fun and sugary, and afterward I went back into the Gateway shop and bought the too-big sweatshirt. I figured if I found it in my size later, I could easily exchange it, but since there were only two left, I'd better grab one now. I don't mind if something's a little too big for me; I can always wash it a hundred times in hot water.

Next I hopped onto a Friend Ship launch to cross the World Showcase Lagoon. In all my trips to WDW, I had ridden the Friend Ships many times to the Epcot resorts, but never across the WS lagoon. In the dark, it was a wonderful, if brief, ride.

I got off in Morocco and headed toward the International Gateway park entrance, stopping along the way to watch the performance of an excellent comedic mime in France. The guy was hilarious, especially when interacting with members of the crowd surrounding him.

Rude, rude, rude, that's all I can say. While eating my dinner I counted at least 6 people walking all over the rose garden smoking. Now, there is a corner of the garden set aside as a designated smoking area, but these people were already smoking when they walked into the garden, meaning they had lit up while still out on the streets. Non of them ever even made it to the designated area. I finished up my dinner as quickly as I could and left.

On the way back to the front of the park, I stopped several times to take some pics of Spaceship Earth and the Epcot Christmas tree from across the lagoon. It's a beautiful subject, and it begs to be immortalized in pixels. I took a few more close-ups on my way past; Future World was deserted as all the Guests were staking out places to see Illuminations.