The Birthday Trip

A quick report of the Wanyama Safari before I turn in for the evening.

This is out safari vehicle.

This is our safari tour guide.

Heading into the safari area.

We are going in!

But first, we have to get through this new guard that they just hired.

Next series of pictures are those on the savannah.

(Cont..... )

(....cont)

A giraffe, up close and personal.

We then head back to Jiko for the second half of this tour, which is a 4-course meal. This is a photo of the family-style mail entree.

Donald approves of the dessert sampler that we get.

To end the evening, we each get a gift bag.

It was a heck of an evening. Extremely enjoyable.

Zz.

I'll snap a photo of the content and will post it later. I'm late on getting to DHS this morning.

Zz.

These are the items in the gift bags we received at the end of the Wanyama Safari.

The roll is the menu. The card is the recipe for Jiko scented rice. The spices in the jar is Jiko aromatic spice blend that is an ingredient for the Jiko scented rice. There is pin in the small sash, and in the plastic bag is a couple of cookies.

We spent the day at DHS. Did Toy Story Mania twice. Also did ToT, Star Tours, and Backlot Tour (lame!). Had more fun ogling at the many things we are resisting to eat.

It was a fun day at DHS.

We then went to the contemporary, shopped at the Fantasia store, walked over to MK to get out Sorcerers cards, and then drove back to AKL. We are resting a bit before heading to Epcot for the evening for the birthday dinner at Chefs de France. I hope they have the birthday cake that I ordered or it will be a disappointing surprise.

Zz.

Llve report from chefs de France. Birthday boy was totally surprised by the cake!

Zz.

We are now sitting down at our favorite spot and the 1 hour wait for Illuminations. We haven't been able to be at this spot for almost a year. Hopefully the rain will hold off and I can snap pictures.

Zz

Oh, this is not good. The wind is blowing right in our direction. It is half hour till the start of Illuminations. It is too late to go looking for another good spot, so we are going to tough it out. It will be a smokey viewing this evening.

Zz.

We are back at AKL, with fireworks debris over us. It wasn't that bad, but we certainly has small pieces from the fireworks raining on us, and we were in the smoke.

Other than that, the evening was very lovely. Will post pictures later. But now, I need a shower to get all this muck off and then go to bed. Animal Kingdom is on the agenda tomorrow.

Zz.

It is a rainy morning here at the Most Magical Place on Earth. We were planning on going to DAK, but now may have to change our plans.

A quick report from yesterday's activities. We had the birthday dinner ar Chefs de France. Rely made an appearance.

Food was terrific. We then had the surprise birthday cake for the birthday boy.

He's a big Donald fan, thus, the Donald cake.

We then stayed for illuminations, with the wind blowing in our direction. Not the ideal condition.

The rain held off just long enough for us to get to the car. Then it came down in buckets!

Zz.

We are currently standing in line for tonight's pin trading night at ESPN wide world of sports. We are here 1 1/2 hours before they open the doors, and already the line is quite long. Bumped into people we know already.

We won't be staying here too long. Just want the pins they are releasing at this event, say hi to a few people, and then go.

Zz.

A short report from yesterday.

I know that squeal anywhere.

The former First Lady of DVC was spotted on the streets of DHS. while her character as Deevy Cee has been retired, it is nice to know that the actress playing her is still around at the resort.

Zz.

Thanks, everyone. We ARE having a wonderful time. My friend is having a blast. He got to do many of the attractions that he had never been on before. He also found our enthusiasms for Disney so infectious that he signed up for a DVC tour yesterday. He and his late partner are elite Hilton timeshare members, but he is definitely considering having some DVC points now.

Today is our last full day at WDW. The rain has altered a bit of our plans, so we will try to squeeze in DAK today. Tonight, there is a DVC members mingle at AKL which we will attend.

Will try to post photos from our activities from yesterday later.

Zz.

We started the day at MK yesterday. We took the ferry.

We did the Laugh Floor and buzz, before going on Splash. We saw a log full of ghosts riding the attraction.

I've always loved this view.

We then went on thunder mountain railroad.

Wheeeeeee!

We had lunch at Columbia Harbour House. I had the grilled salmon.

Of course, for dessert, we all had the Dole Whip float!

We then made our way to Wide World of Sports for the pin trading night.

The line was long. We stood in line in the baseball stadium.

Soon we were in. This is the pin trading area. We didn't bring any good pins with us to do pin trading. We just wanted to buy the LE. Pins they were releasing at this event. But we did spent some time meeting up with people that we know and had a lovely chat.

Went to Downtown Disney for dinner. Ate at Pollo Campero and had my favorite, the lime roasted chicken with black beans and rice, and a side of plantains. I also couldn't help myself and got their empanadas. Yum!

Then we went shopping, and it wasn't pretty!

Zz.

We are back at the resort right now, resting a bit after a fun day at DAK. It rained a bit, but that didn't stop us from riding EE twice!

We will be doing the DVC AKL mingle early evening. Then, if it doesn't rain, we will head out to MK for the evening shows.

Zz.

We spent most of the day at DAK.

We did EE.

After that we did the safari.

Walking out of the safari, I found a cart selling this Mickey soft pretzel. I had never seen this before.

We then had lunch at Flame Tree BBQ.

For dessert,I had a soft served ice cream at camp Mickey and Minnie.

We then sat thru Flights of Wonder. It was a lot of fun.

Back at AKL, we attended the DVC members mingle. It was another fun time.

They served plenty of snack food for everyone.

A couple of people in our group won pins and hats. It was a very nice time.

We pack tonight (fingers crossed). Our plane is late afternoon tomorrow.

Zz.