Day 4, Sept 13, 2006



Today is Disney's Animal Kingdom. We got to the park just after 9.



All the other Disney theme parks, I don't need a map as you can easily tell
where you are by just looking around to recognize landmarks. Not here as
all you see are trees. Even last year, I had a problem finding the exit.
So at every intersection I stop to make sure we are heading in the right
direction for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride.



I think this is only the second time I am riding this. This is the first
time I rode this when the creaky bridge meant to scare you was in operation.
Of course the ride ends with you scaring off the poachers. As it has been
reported, the person who comes out to thank us for helping trap the
poachers, is no longer there. No big deal for me. I never felt it was that
good, how the safari ends. I have watched all the programs when they talk
about how there are barriers out of your line of sight to keep the animals
away from each other. One thing I noticed, which I discussed after I got
back, the safari bus did go through some barriers, and crossed over some
chains on the ground. Not sure how this separates the animals. Do the
animals fear stepping on the chains? Or when the safari busses are not near
the barriers, the chains spring up to create a real barrier.



We then made our way back to the Tree of Life to see It's tough to be a bug.
The park doesn't seem that large anymore as it is getting easier to walk
around it. No line here.



Then we went on Dinosaur, at least my mother and I did. I felt this ride
might be a little too rough for my father, and he wasn't enthusiastic about
going on it anyway. Last year when I did this ride, I felt very bad after.
I always felt that was because I hardly slept on the way to Disney World via
train, and I did this attraction the first day. My theory is my body was
stressed out due to lack of sleep and the wild action of the ride was just
too much for me that day. That was the second time I rode it, and the first
time I was ok, so I wanted to 'get back on that horse and ride it again'
This time, no ill effects after.



It was still before
noon, but I was hungry, so we had a slightly early lunch
at Flame Tree BBQ. Enjoyed it, just like last time.



After lunch, about the only thing we wanted to do maybe that we didn't so
far was Kali River Rapids. We all weren't too enthusiastic about getting
soaked, so we said goodbye to DAK for this trip and headed back to our hotel
for a afternoon break.



The only negative part of staying at Pop Century, when leaving the parks, it
is always the last bus station. Well, guess what? At DAK, it isn't, if you
wanted to park hop from DAK to another park, you have to go past the bus
station for Pop Century. Yippee J.



This afternoon we are heading back to Epcot for the evening. Tonight is EMH
night at Epcot, so I actually slept a couple of hours in the afternoon so I
can stay up the whole night.



For the first time this trip, there is a bus sitting at the bus pickup for
Epcot. Great we thought, till we noticed the line wasn't moving, and people
weren't boarding the bus. We found out the bus was broken. It was leaking
out green liquid under by where the bus driver sits. I am not a bus
mechanic, but I would think this is anti-freeze, but since I hear the engine
still running, I always thought you couldn't operate a engine with no
anti-freeze and the engine would over heat and the engine seize. But maybe
the bus driver couldn't care less, didn't want to sit in the bus without the
AC on, so who knows?



The bus for Epcot is the second bus station when looking from the Pop
Century entrance, the first being just a drop off point. Well, a bus drops
people off there, and I inquire if that is the bus that will go to Epcot,
since the bus at the Epcot station is broken down. He says yes. I quietly
motion my parents to come to this bus. While the bus driver helps my father
on board with his ECV, other people notice we are boarding this bus, and
people start to run over to get on the bus.



We rode Mission Space, green team, the less intense version. For those who
are claustrophobic, I would think twice about riding this, as it is very
tight in there. To help simulate take off and pressing back into your
chair, I think they swing the capsule so you are laying on your back. To
simulate floating in space, they swing you so you are facing face down, so
you feel you are almost floating out of your chair. During the briefing,
they tell you part of the mission, you will be in 'hyper sleep'. To
simulate you are asleep, they turn off all the lights for a couple of
seconds, before they come back on. Don't want to totally ruin the ride, but
felt I should mention the above for people who may be too nervous to ride
this. There are lots of toggle switches and buttons to press. But you only
have to press two on cue from mission control. If you are missing one
person, you can or don't have to press the button in the station next to
you.



We went on Test Track next. For those who have a ECV, you enter the car on
the passenger side of the car, but exit from the driver side. At the front
end of the boarding queue, there is a elevator for the CM's to move your ECV
from one side to the other. At the end of the ride, you can add the ride
photo to your photopass. I thought all the rides that take photos, you can
do this, but I understand, this may be the only one that presently you can
do this. Last year, they had a little attraction here called Dream Chasers.
I understood from the CM in the building, that this recently closed.



I wanted my parents to try the sodas from around the world, but I couldn't
locate it on the map. I was pretty sure it was called Club Cool or
something, presented by Coke. We walked over to a nice cm manning a
souvenir booth by herself in the middle path. She wasn't sure, and used her
phone to call someone. She showed me on the map where it should be, which
turned out to be over our right shoulder, and we could see it from where we
were J duh. Everyone talks about
Beverly, so I tried that. First sip was
no big deal, but the second one, I tasted how bitter it was.



We went to
Mexico next and went on the boat ride. Instead of videotaping
it, I took still photos instead. Still hardly ever a line for this ride.



Next was
Norway's Maelstrom. This was the only line we had to wait on the
whole trip. About 10 minutes. I think the ride was broken, because the
lines hardly moved, and this is a fast continuously loading ride. As usual,
we skipped the film portion.



It was close to our ADR for Le Cellier. We still see people trying to get
reservations the last minute. They kept telling them they were fully booked
up till Oct, and this is the second week in Sept. I had the cheddar cheese
soup, NY strip steak (again) and Crème Brule for dessert.



After dinner, we watched O Canada.



Then Impressions de France.



Watched a little bit of Illuminations again, but I wanted to ride
Mission
space while my parents went back to the hotel by themselves.



After MS, wanted to go on Soarin again. The posted wait time said 15
minutes, but the line queue looked allot longer, more like 30 to 45, so I
and a bunch of other people just exited the long wait.



I went to the Electric Umbrella to get a Mickey bar for a snack. But they
don't sell any there. Found a ice cream cart right outside, got my Mickey
bar, went back inside and relaxed with my ice cream.



I went on Spaceship Earth as my last thing to do tonight. I have always
tried to videotape this, but this time, just sat back and watched it. Do
you know the printing press scene? It is with all those big wheels moving
around, with someone reading a book by it. Well, when I rode it, the
printing presses weren't turning and it looked like to me, the guy reading a
book, was trying to figure out how to repair it.



At the end of the ride, I told the CM, and she marked it down on a clip
board. From what I understand, it is or was Disney policy, if the
attraction isn't fully operational, they close it. Unless it is something
really minor and it may take them more then a day to fix it. I wondered if
what I told the CM, forced them to close SE the following day.



End of day, headed back to hotel.