God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.
--Reinhold Niebuhr
"Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But, if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything."
---Muhammad Ali

"We are driven to create at this deep wordless level of the soul because we are all fashioned in the image of a God who is an Artist." - Michael Card, Scribbling in the Sand.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Friday I was up and at them early….I waited and waited for a bus and it didn’t come for Hollywood studios and it was early entry so I decided I would head to Animal Kingdom. It was one of those beautiful days in Florida with sunshine, no humidity and beautiful skies!

I got to Animal Kingdom and was the second person in line at one of the turnstiles; had a nice conversation with a lady, her husband and son while waiting. That is one of the wonderful things about Disney everyone is open and willing to talk…it’s just a different feeling.

They opened the park 15 minutes early and let us all make our way to the hub to wait for rope drop. At rope drop I followed the cast member to Expedition Everest Rode the ride with no wait and got off and got a fast pass. Then I took pictures around Everest, the tree and a few other places. By this time I could get a second fast pass and I got one for the Safari. I then headed back to wait for my ride time for my second ride on Everest this is where trouble started. I ride on an ECV while at Disney my hips and knees just will not take the massive amount of walking anymore; even with frequent rests I hurt so bad that I have to take a full day off to recover. So I was sitting under a tree waiting for the 5 minutes till I could ride Everest…the time comes up and I go to park my ECV and it won’t move. I get off and look trying to figure out what is wrong the engine will go but it won’t move. I decide I’ll try to see if maybe the switch in the back was juggled lose on the rough pavement and just move it over to the parking area. Well as I’m trying to move it the back wheel falls off ! Yep it broke…luckily there was a manager close by and he helped me out. He was awesome he made arrangements for the company I rent from to come in the back way and trade out my ECV, he also tried to get Disney to let me use one of theirs but because I didn’t rent with their preferred company they wouldn’t loan me one. He did make sure I got to ride Expedition Everest without even having to walk through the line. He took me in the back way and had the ride operator put me right on the ride! It took my company about an hour to make the trip and trade out my ECV but, it all worked out fine. After that I got mobile again I headed to the Lion King Show. By now my Fastpass was timed to go to the Safari, but for some reason the Safari had gotten backed up and even the fast pass had an hour wait.

So off I went and had one of the best fast food meals I had all week. I went to Flame Tree and had BBQ ribs. They were excellent, when I finished eating I headed back to the Safari and the wait was gone and I got on a safari vehicle in just a few minutes and enjoyed an awesome ride. We saw lions, hippos, elephants, ostriches up close and personal; and a bunch of other animals I promise to get pictures up soon. I’m still working on cleaning them up.

After the safari I loaded up and headed over to the Magic Kingdom. I got over there about 2:30 and found a hot but great place to view the parade. No shade at all but at least I had an awesome place to take pictures and I got a hug from Minnie Mouse! After the parade I went and got a Dole Whip (heaven in a cup, it’s pineapple juice frozen into a soft serve ice cream) YUMMMMMM!!!!!! Sat and ate it took a few more pictures and headed to the Monorail for a trip over to the Polynesian so I could meet Jim, Michelle and Madelyn for dinner. Tonight was Kona Café for dinner; this is an awesome restaurant in the Polynesian that has the best chicken in the world. It’s coconut crusted and macadamia nut and you get this awesome salad with lime vinaigrette.

After dinner we went over to the EPCOT and road a few rides Soaring, Crush, Turtle Talk and I took some fabulous pictures. All the time I was at EPCOT my stomach was feeling really strange. More on that with the next update!

Talk to everyone soon!

Love to all,

Jane

2 comments:

Alli said...

Sounds like a GREAT trip so far!!!! Does Epcot have Soaring over California???? or is it another Soaring????

Linda said...

Sounds like a wonderful day even with the trouble you had with the ECV.