I'm Celebrating: Being Awesome - An October 2016 Solo Trip Report - Update 7/24: Hiatus Over! Sorta.

[SarahDisney]

If you're basing your feelings on Star Wars on the the 2 prequel films, no wonder it's not your favorite. Those are notoriously the worst of them!

I actually liked them when I was younger (I saw 1 & 2 when they came out) ... I know, I'm literally the only person who liked the prequels.
And I've seen 4 & 5 now (I watched 5 on Sunday!). I liked 4, 5 was kinda whatever. I have 6 on the DVR, and I'm waiting for Force Awakens to be on TV so that I can DVR that one too. So I'm almost all caught up ... just in time for Rogue One to come out and put me further behind.

 

[Elevationist]

DAY 3
October 22nd, 2016 - Saturday
Animal Kingdom, Part 1

After an absolutely AMAZING night's sleep in my Beach Club bed, I was up at the buttcrack of dawn to get myself ready and rarin' to go for another day of Disney fun! I headed down to the Beach Club Markplace for the breakfast (quickie review located HERE), and then found a lovely little table in the hallway leading to the Solarium to sit and eat.

My breakfast view. It was barely dawn yet, as you can see!

I had some time to kill so I browsed a bit in the gift shop, getting ideas for things I might like to buy later. I also checked out the refillable mugs, but they only had two colors in stock, both of which I already have. So I decided to wait and see if they got any others in later in the week.

Finally I made my way down to the bus stops...

Obligatory bus stop selfie!

Finally my bus pulled up, and I was super excited! But... it didn't last. The very sweet CM that was working the bus stop apologized and told me the bus was too full to take me and my scooter, and that I would have to wait for the next one.

I suppressed my moment of panic... THIS was my biggest fear about booking the Beach Club. I knew going in that this could be a possible scenario, since it shares buses the Yacht Club, and those buses pick up there first then come to BC. I was cool about it, though, at least on the outside. I did ask her casually what if the next bus is also too full? She said at that point she would radio for them to send an empty bus straight there for me. Phew, that diffused at least some of my anxiety. While not ideal to have to wait, at least I wouldn't be sitting there indefinitely (as I was afraid of)!

But my worries were for naught, as I was able to get on to the next bus just fine. And this was the only time all week at the resort that I had to wait for the next bus to come around, so not so bad!

Finally, I arrived at my destination for the day...

Animal Kingdom! I was so excited that I forgot where to look in the camera! WHOOPS!

Once I was through the tapstiles, I wanted to take my time exploring the Discovery Island trails, rather than rushing right through them. But that ended up not really happening, because NOTHING was out to see! So I went in search of one of my favorites... a wild Photopass Photographer!

Puttin' them claws up...

After my photo session, I headed into an attraction I haven't done in ages... It's Tough to be a Bug! It's so super cute. And on the way in, I snapped this shot of the Tree of Life...

After exiting ITTBAB, I just happened to stumble open a meet & greet that I've been wanting to do for ages...

YOU GUYS. YOU GUYS. IT'S DUG. I FINALLY MET DUG. I seriously do not even care that this is a horribly unflattering photo of my back flab and that I look like a big red blob. Because DUG!

Oh yeah, Russell was there, too.

All the pics!

Dug legit hugged me like 12 times. IT WAS THE BEST.

Afterwards I made my way over to DinoLand USA, where I pouted a little bit in passing at Dinosaur... It's refurbed got extended so they switched my FastPass to Primeveil Whirl. Which I don't ride. Because spinning and Billie do NOT get along. HMPH. (I switched it to a showing of Finding Nemo later in the day!) I thought about playing some of the games, but ended up wandering through the shops instead. And then to what do my wondering eyes appear, but a Facepaint stand! I thought the only one was over in Africa! HOORAY!

This was, unfortunately, my first and only BAD facepaint experience. I picked out my design, paid a very very nice CM, who turned me over to another CM to do my face. And I'm not going to lie, ya'll... Something about the guy gave me a bad feeling from the start. He didn't speak to me at all, not even hello. He seemed really nervous and unsure of himself. But as always, I was cool and told myself it would be fine. Then he started painting my face. Now, I knew exactly what design I chose. And where paint should and shouldn't be. So. Um. Yeah. I was wondering just what was indeed happening on my face at that point.

When he was done, and held up a mirror, it for real was everything I could do not to lose my **** laughing. YA'LL. IT. WAS. AWFUL. I am kicking myself soooooo hard for not taking a photo of how terribad it was. I wish I could show you. Like... It literally looked like a 1st grader had drawn all up on my face. In the dark. Blindfolded. It was HOT MESS.

I walked back to the display with all the designs, and I called the first CM over to me (thank GOD he wasn't working on anybody at that moment). And I was just like, "Okay, I don't mean to be a pain, I'm a REALLY easy to please customer, I swear... But I just have to ask: Does this *points at my face* look like that *points to photo on board* to you?" He looked at me, looked at the photo, looked at me again... And immediately apologized profusely, and offered to completely re-do it for me. Which I very gratefully accepted. And I'm glad I did, because HE did an awesome job...

Butterfly in the skyyyyyyyyyyy! I can fly twice as hiiiiiiiigh!

I was a happy girl.

After all of that facepaint drama (who knew such a thing existed?), it was time to go enjoy my first FastPass of the day... And enjoy I most certainly did!

Note the guy behind me who looks like he's poopin' his pants. That's two of them now, folks!

Normally I Single Rider line this ride and just take what I can get for seating, so I can use my FPs elsewhere. But since I had two days planned at AK on this trip, I could spare the FP, and made good use of it by even waiting for the BEST seat on the train... FRONT ROW, BABY! Nothing beats that view. And it was fun, the kid next to me had never ridden it before and was peppering me with all these questions before we boarded and got going. (Don't worry, though... I didn't give away the secrets of the Forbidden Mountain to the young explorer!)

Afterwards, it was getting close to time to report for my lunch ADR, but not before stopping for some more PhotoPass pics first, of course!

My dorkiness is serious next-level stuff.

And on that note, I'll wrap up this post. Going to make an effort to try and get these updates rolling in faster, hopefully 2-3 a week. So I should be back with the next installment sooner rather than later. Thanks for sticking around, ya'll!


Up Next... Animal Kingdom, Part 2!

 

[soniam]

I feel bad for the face paint guy, but they shouldn't put inexperienced people doing that. I volunteer as a face painter sometimes, and I am not very good, actually sort of bad. However, this is at neighborhood parties or charity events where the face painting is only a couple of bucks or free. So, I know how that guy felt. If someone was actually paying good money for my work though, I wouldn't do it. I am glad that you got it redone. I bet the first guy actually felt bad and was glad that someone redid it right. It looks great

I also know how that kid felt, because July was my first time to ride Everest. I actually liked it.

Glad you were able to get on the next bus easily. That's always tough for everyone around, the passengers, the driver, and especially the person in the ECV. Dug looks fun

 

[xlsm]

Yessssss!! Face paint time!! It's my favorite part of your reports. Some day I will be brave enough to do it, but I'm scared I'd end up with the new, nervous guy with no nice person to re-do it for me! I think I'll tiptoe into the shallow end and start with henna on my hand, and see how I manage.
It always looks so pretty on you!!

Russell and Dug are some of my favorites to meet!! They are so enthusiastic and Dug is ADORABLE. Gah! I love him!

 

[Ladyfish77]

OMG, I was totally rolling on the floor with your Dessert (drinking) party and finding your room!

Facepainting definitely is an art, so I wonder who called in sick and stuck that poor CM with a job he had no clue how to do! Glad you got it redone!

Enjoying following along!

 

[KathyM2]

Love your shirt! It's perfect for AK without being over the top!! Sorry about the face painting fail...but glad it worked out in the end, and looked awesome BTW. You make EE look like so much fun...sigh...but I am such a chicken...

 

[Chicago Mo]

Phew! Glad you got on the next bus!!
So sad you didn't get on Dinosaur! Im excited to see the bright colors! and working dinos!

So yeah. face looks great... I need to see the BAD paint job.. You have failed miserably.

 

[SarahDisney]

I suppressed my moment of panic... THIS was my biggest fear about booking the Beach Club. I knew going in that this could be a possible scenario, since it shares buses the Yacht Club, and those buses pick up there first then come to BC. I was cool about it, though, at least on the outside. I did ask her casually what if the next bus is also too full? She said at that point she would radio for them to send an empty bus straight there for me. Phew, that diffused at least some of my anxiety. While not ideal to have to wait, at least I wouldn't be sitting there indefinitely (as I was afraid of)!

I'm glad the CM was able to diffuse some of your anxiety. It makes sense for them to have some sort of procedure in place for scooters on buses that stop at other resorts first ... it would not have been cool if you had to wait there forever!

YOU GUYS. YOU GUYS. IT'S DUG. I FINALLY MET DUG. I seriously do not even care that this is a horribly unflattering photo of my back flab and that I look like a big red blob. Because DUG!

DUG!!! Dug is so awesome, and your pictures are super cute! All the hugs!!

I walked back to the display with all the designs, and I called the first CM over to me (thank GOD he wasn't working on anybody at that moment). And I was just like, "Okay, I don't mean to be a pain, I'm a REALLY easy to please customer, I swear... But I just have to ask: Does this *points at my face* look like that *points to photo on board* to you?" He looked at me, looked at the photo, looked at me again... And immediately apologized profusely, and offered to completely re-do it for me. Which I very gratefully accepted. And I'm glad I did, because HE did an awesome job...

I'm glad the nice CM fixed the other CM's bad face paint ... the redone facepaint looks awesome!

 

[Dentam]

Missed two updates again, dangit!

We need to see the bad face painting job! Although I trust your description that it was pretty bad, lol! Glad the other CM was able to fix it for you!

The dessert party looks like fun - and yummy!! Too funny on the drink spillage - totally something I would do, and I would do it sober, lol!

 

[LindseyJo22]

AK looks like so much fun! And I have to say, I'd love to see what a bad Disney facepainting looks like - but I'm glad you got it all sorted out, because those are not cheap, and you should definitely get the thing you wanted in the first place.

Love the Photopass pictures too I need to remember to ask for more magic shots the next time we go; they are my favorites!

And so glad you finally met Dug! He's on my list, but we never seem to actually do any character stuff at AK. Maybe this January we can try - our friends have a daughter that's about 5 or so, so she might be more interested in characters

 

[ariane37]

I am peeing my pants at the guy pooping his pants behind you on EE I think the lady next to him is smelling it........
Your face turned out adorable but like pp's I SO wish we could see the "oops" version! Poor inexperienced CM lol. If it were me getting my face done and I knew he wasn't doing it right, I think my face would've looked like that guy behind you
We did ITTBAB last month after having not done it the last few years. We all enjoyed it and had forgotten it's actually really cute!

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Oh, Billie, I just love you I was 4 pages behind and have had such a blast reading and catching up. I'm seriously laughing so hard at all the pants pooping, drunken scooter driving, bad CM painting, etc. I CANNOT wait to see what else you've got in store

 

[cinderkelly]

My breakfast view. It was barely dawn yet, as you can see!

I'm completely impressed that you can get your drink on ar the SW dessert party and wake up all bright eyed and bushy tailed to go the next morning before dawn! Props girl

The spilling your drink story cracked me up, I would have done the exact same thing

But my worries were for naught, as I was able to get on to the next bus just fine.

Cool!

So I went in search of one of my favorites... a wild Photopass Photographer!

Loving all your photos!

YOU GUYS. YOU GUYS. IT'S DUG. I FINALLY MET DUG. I seriously do not even care that this is a horribly unflattering photo of my back flab and that I look like a big red blob. Because DUG!

Oh yeah, Russell was there, too.

Dug is awesome

When he was done, and held up a mirror, it for real was everything I could do not to lose my **** laughing.

I'm so upset you didn't get the before and after photo!

And I'm glad I did, because HE did an awesome job...

Nice that you had it done over right though. It would be awful to have to scoot around with butterfly blob on your face all day

Note the guy behind me who looks like he's poopin' his pants. That's two of them now, folks!

So funny

I am peeing my pants at the guy pooping his pants behind you on EE I think the lady next to him is smelling it........

You guys are killing me

 

[kastoney]

My breakfast view. It was barely dawn yet, as you can see!

Beautiful view, but way to freakin' early

I suppressed my moment of panic... THIS was my biggest fear about booking the Beach Club. I knew going in that this could be a possible scenario, since it shares buses the Yacht Club, and those buses pick up there first then come to BC. I was cool about it, though, at least on the outside. I did ask her casually what if the next bus is also too full? She said at that point she would radio for them to send an empty bus straight there for me. Phew, that diffused at least some of my anxiety. While not ideal to have to wait, at least I wouldn't be sitting there indefinitely (as I was afraid of)!

Glad to hear it all worked out for you. We had a similar experience at AKL before when Kidani picked up first and buses were full. I've heard they have 2 sets of buses in the morning now. Sounds like maybe Yacht and Beach should think about something similar.

YOU GUYS. YOU GUYS. IT'S DUG. I FINALLY MET DUG. I seriously do not even care that this is a horribly unflattering photo of my back flab and that I look like a big red blob. Because DUG!

AWESOME!!!!!! And even better 'cause I read recently that Russell just meets my himself now.

Afterwards I made my way over to DinoLand USA, where I pouted a little bit in passing at Dinosaur... It's refurbed got extended so they switched my FastPass to Primeveil Whirl.

Wow, it was closed a long time as it was closed when we were there in August. Looks like it finally reopened though. Think we're gonna let Casey try it for the first time on our next trip. Hopefully its not too scary for her

When he was done, and held up a mirror, it for real was everything I could do not to lose my **** laughing. YA'LL. IT. WAS. AWFUL. I am kicking myself soooooo hard for not taking a photo of how terribad it was. I wish I could show you. Like... It literally looked like a 1st grader had drawn all up on my face. In the dark. Blindfolded. It was HOT MESS.

Why oh why oh why in the name of good trip reporting did you not get a picture. I'd seriously pay money to see that.

walked back to the display with all the designs, and I called the first CM over to me (thank GOD he wasn't working on anybody at that moment). And I was just like, "Okay, I don't mean to be a pain, I'm a REALLY easy to please customer, I swear... But I just have to ask: Does this *points at my face* look like that *points to photo on board* to you?" He looked at me, looked at the photo, looked at me again... And immediately apologized profusely, and offered to completely re-do it for me. Which I very gratefully accepted. And I'm glad I did, because HE did an awesome job...

Looks great and I'm sure it was much improved. What did the other guy do when you asked for it to be redone?

Note the guy behind me who looks like he's poopin' his pants. That's two of them now, folks!

I think its 3. No chance that woman next to him isn't joining in

My dorkiness is serious next-level stuff.

You saw dorkiness, I say Billieness. You clearly would fit in very well with Jason and Casey

 

[KGeeLovesDisney]

After an absolutely AMAZING night's sleep in my Beach Club,

OMG, that room is amazing! Love the balcony, great view.

Note the guy behind me who looks like he's poopin' his pants.

Lol, you totally called it. The YETI must really be terrifying.

 

[DVCGloria]

Beach Club is a great resort! Looks like you had an amazing time .

 

[Elevationist]

I feel bad for the face paint guy, but they shouldn't put inexperienced people doing that. I volunteer as a face painter sometimes, and I am not very good, actually sort of bad. However, this is at neighborhood parties or charity events where the face painting is only a couple of bucks or free. So, I know how that guy felt. If someone was actually paying good money for my work though, I wouldn't do it. I am glad that you got it redone. I bet the first guy actually felt bad and was glad that someone redid it right. It looks great

Don't feel bad for him, he was a jerk on top of being crappy at his job. I don't handle people well who can't even be bothered to say hello to me. Eff that.

I also know how that kid felt, because July was my first time to ride Everest. I actually liked it.

I'm so glad you decided to be brave and that you enjoyed the ride! That's fantastic!

Glad you were able to get on the next bus easily. That's always tough for everyone around, the passengers, the driver, and especially the person in the ECV. Dug looks fun

Yes, I was glad they had room for me on the next bus, I was worried!

Yessssss!! Face paint time!! It's my favorite part of your reports. Some day I will be brave enough to do it, but I'm scared I'd end up with the new, nervous guy with no nice person to re-do it for me! I think I'll tiptoe into the shallow end and start with henna on my hand, and see how I manage.
It always looks so pretty on you!!

Just jump in a do it, girl! It's fantastic, and will make you feel super whimsical all day long!

Russell and Dug are some of my favorites to meet!! They are so enthusiastic and Dug is ADORABLE. Gah! I love him!

Dug was PRECIOUS. I just loved him!

OMG, I was totally rolling on the floor with your Dessert (drinking) party and finding your room!

It was quite a night, lemme tell ya.

Facepainting definitely is an art, so I wonder who called in sick and stuck that poor CM with a job he had no clue how to do! Glad you got it redone!

Enjoying following along!

I wish I could say it was a one-day gig for him. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Stay tuned for AK Day 2, haha.

Love your shirt! It's perfect for AK without being over the top!! Sorry about the face painting fail...but glad it worked out in the end, and looked awesome BTW. You make EE look like so much fun...sigh...but I am such a chicken...

Thank you, Kathy! I actually bought the top specifically wit AK in mind!

Phew! Glad you got on the next bus!!

You and me both!

So sad you didn't get on Dinosaur! Im excited to see the bright colors! and working dinos!

Bright colors? Are the repainting everything Day-Glow?

So yeah. face looks great... I need to see the BAD paint job.. You have failed miserably.

I know, I know. But in the moment I was more concerned with FIXING MY FACE.

Following along here--love your report!!! Love that Disney sent an empty bus over. That's the service we all expect!

Yep, love that legendary Disney service!

Also so sad you didn't get to go on Dinosaur!

ME TOO!

I'm glad the CM was able to diffuse some of your anxiety. It makes sense for them to have some sort of procedure in place for scooters on buses that stop at other resorts first ... it would not have been cool if you had to wait there forever!

Yeah, it would have been a SUPER crappy was to start my day. I was so relieved when it all worked out fine.

DUG!!! Dug is so awesome, and your pictures are super cute! All the hugs!!

ALL the hugs indeed! He was awesome!

I'm glad the nice CM fixed the other CM's bad face paint ... the redone facepaint looks awesome!

Yes, I was pretty happy with the finally results!

Missed two updates again, dangit!

Girl, I'm like 2 months behinds on folks threads. Take your time, lol.

We need to see the bad face painting job! Although I trust your description that it was pretty bad, lol! Glad the other CM was able to fix it for you!

Maybe I'll try to draw a picture to replicate it, haha.

The dessert party looks like fun - and yummy!! Too funny on the drink spillage - totally something I would do, and I would do it sober, lol!

The dessert party was super fun, even if I did make myself look like a drunk idiot, haha.

 

[Elevationist]

AK looks like so much fun! And I have to say, I'd love to see what a bad Disney facepainting looks like - but I'm glad you got it all sorted out, because those are not cheap, and you should definitely get the thing you wanted in the first place.

I know, I'm kicking myself for not thinking to take a photo of the original paint job. I was just so intensely focused on getting it OFF MY FACE, haha.

Love the Photopass pictures too I need to remember to ask for more magic shots the next time we go; they are my favorites!

I did stalk a lot of PP photographers on this trip. I never did asked for any Magic Shots though, I just rolled the dice and let them set me up for them or not.

And so glad you finally met Dug! He's on my list, but we never seem to actually do any character stuff at AK. Maybe this January we can try - our friends have a daughter that's about 5 or so, so she might be more interested in characters

I normally don't stop for characters in AK either, but this one I couldn't resist. Because DUG!

I am peeing my pants at the guy pooping his pants behind you on EE I think the lady next to him is smelling it........

BAHAHAHA. I think you might be right!

Your face turned out adorable but like pp's I SO wish we could see the "oops" version! Poor inexperienced CM lol. If it were me getting my face done and I knew he wasn't doing it right, I think my face would've looked like that guy behind you

I don't know if he was inexperienced or just gave zero craps. He certainly acted like it.

We did ITTBAB last month after having not done it the last few years. We all enjoyed it and had forgotten it's actually really cute!

It really is!

And this is why you're awesome. Or crazy, the lazy part of me can't figure it out. I mean, the nightowl in me admires people who can forgo sleep, but I just can't seem to get there. Yet. Maybe one day...

I sleep the day away at home on my off days from work, but when I'm at Disney, that ALL changes! I didn't pay all that good money to sleep in when I can do that at home for free!

I'm glad you can laugh about it, and certainly glad that they were able to fix this for you.

Yeah, I wouldn't have been laughing if they hadn't fixed it. Or at least given my money back. I think my facepainting days would have been over at that point. Thankfully, in typical Disney fashion, they did make everything better!

Again, I admire you. I'd be the pooping in her pants expression I suspect...

Bahaha! Oh come on, it's FUN!

Oh, Billie, I just love you I was 4 pages behind and have had such a blast reading and catching up. I'm seriously laughing so hard at all the pants pooping, drunken scooter driving, bad CM painting, etc. I CANNOT wait to see what else you've got in store

Bahaha, I'm so glad you're enjoying, Jackie! It's almost time for you to head to Disney, isn't it?!

I'm completely impressed that you can get your drink on ar the SW dessert party and wake up all bright eyed and bushy tailed to go the next morning before dawn! Props girl

Only at Disney, girl. Only at Disney.

The spilling your drink story cracked me up, I would have done the exact same thing

RUN GO GO GO. Haha. So wrong.

Loving all your photos!

Thanks! I harasses about a million PP photographers on this trip.

Dug is awesome

HE IS!

I'm so upset you didn't get the before and after photo!

Me too!!!

Nice that you had it done over right though. It would be awful to have to scoot around with butterfly blob on your face all day

If they didn't redo it, I was going to ask for my money back then go to the bathroom and wash it off, haha.

So funny

You guys are killing me

Poop jokes are always quality entertainment in my reports. That's just the kind of crowd I gather.

Beautiful view, but way to freakin' early

I was on DISNEY TIME, baby. Ain't payin' Beach Club money to stay in bed all morning! (Well, except for one day, but we'll get to that later.)

Glad to hear it all worked out for you. We had a similar experience at AKL before when Kidani picked up first and buses were full. I've heard they have 2 sets of buses in the morning now. Sounds like maybe Yacht and Beach should think about something similar.

I would guess they probably do during busier times. But since I refuse to travel then, I'll probably never get to take advantage of it!

AWESOME!!!!!! And even better 'cause I read recently that Russell just meets my himself now.

Say whaaaaaat! OMG, I'm so glad I got to see Dug when I did then!

Wow, it was closed a long time as it was closed when we were there in August. Looks like it finally reopened though. Think we're gonna let Casey try it for the first time on our next trip. Hopefully its not too scary for her

I hope she loves it!

Why oh why oh why in the name of good trip reporting did you not get a picture. I'd seriously pay money to see that.

In the moment I was busy trying not to have an anxiety attack about the colorful pile of **** all over my FACE.

Looks great and I'm sure it was much improved. What did the other guy do when you asked for it to be redone?

Couldn't tell you. I avoided eye contact with him AT ALL COSTS.

I think its 3. No chance that woman next to him isn't joining in

You're right, I forgot ToT! And I agree with @ariane37 , I think the lady next to him is smelling it.

You saw dorkiness, I say Billieness. You clearly would fit in very well with Jason and Casey

I completely agree! Your family really just need to adopt me. Nevermind that I'm 36 years old.

OMG, that room is amazing! Love the balcony, great view.

Yes it was! I couldn't believe my good luck!

Lol, you totally called it. The YETI must really be terrifying.

He's pretty fierce!

Beach Club is a great resort! Looks like you had an amazing time .

I sure did! I loved it there SO MUCH!

 

[Elevationist]

DAY 3
October 22nd, 2016 - Saturday
Animal Kingdom, Part 2


Okay, so when I last saw you guys, I had just conquered the forbidden mountain, and was heading off to my hot lunch date with... myself.

Along the way, I saw this sign. (Any of you who have read my previous trip reports will understand why this was extraordinarily relevant to me...)

SHUT UP, SIGN. YOU DON'T KNOW MY LIFE.

Finally I made it to my lunch locale, Yak & Yeti! Where I was checked-in SUPER speedy, thanks to the magic of my Landry's Select Club card. I was lead upstairs to a little table, where I actually for once had a decent little spot:

Of course, I jumped right back into #vacationlush mode... Drinking-Before-Noon, Day 2:

Everybody, meet my new best friend, Big Bamboo! (Parrot Bay Coconut Rum, Don Q Cristal Rum, Banana Liqueur, and Tropical Fruit Juices.)

Did I actually order the Wontons this time, or did I decide to pass over them again? Well, you'll just have to read my Dining Report (located HERE) to find out! The meal was pretty delicious, though!

Just as I was finishing up lunch, I got a text from @IowaTater . We knew our FP times for Kali River Rapids overlapped, and we wanted to try to ride together. At that point I was only waiting on the check, so it looked like the timing was going to be perfect, hooray! I quickly settled up my bill, and off I went to find her and her hubby!

It didn't take long before we all bumped into each other. I'm so glad they wanted me to join them for this one because I have a really weird habit of booking a FP for it, then skipping it. I don't know why! I love it, but on my last 3 trips, when it came time for my ride, I just was kinda like, "Meh... Naw."

This time, though, they held me to it... And it was a blast! (Though she told me later she was disappointed that we didn't get more soaked than we did... CRAZY WOMAN.)

Oh, and another pic was taken, of course!

Sober faces! (Also, my frizzy hair claims that we DID, in fact, get plenty wet. Harumph!)

After Kali, we also did the Majarajah Jungle Trek together... Which apparently I took NO photos on. Huh. Weird. (Ya'll know by now that I have a bad habit of taking far fewer photos when other folks are with me, though.) Also, my sweet baby tiger lovie-dovies weren't actively out and about, which made me super SAD. So maybe next time!

After surviving the jungle, the quiet jungle, there were hugs and we said our last goodbyes (or so we thought... ooooooh, foreshadowing!) and took off on our separate ways again. As I wandered back through the Asia section of the park, I came across these boss dudes:

Lemme tell you, man... These bros were JAMMIN on that sitar and those drums. I was feelin' this so hard, and stayed to listen through to the end of their set. It was most excellent, ya'll!

It was about time for my final FastPass of the day, so I made my way past EE and back towards DinoLand to get over to the Theater in the Wild for my first ever viewing of Finding Nemo! But even the best-laid plans go astray...

Yeah, Nemo did NOT happen. My timing must have just been completely horrendous or something, because as I made my way down the path from EE, suddenly I found myself in the middle of a complete and total gridlock of people, through which I saw a MASSIVE line for the show. It took me so long to get through the herd of people-cows that by the time I finally broke through the throng at the other in the path, I was just DONE with the whole idea. 110% percent over it.

But it wasn't a total loss, though. Just when I was starting to contemplate taking off early to my dinner reservations and just relaxing and hanging out for while, I stumbled upon a Nemo-themed merchandise cart, and found the PERFECT gift for my co-worker Tyler (who surfs and who loves Crush):

So I texted a photo of it (which I can't find now, hence the stolen photo from the Shop Disney Parks app) to our boss Rachel (who I forgot also surfs) to get a second opinion on what size I should buy him, and her text back was "I WANT THAT." So. I got one for each of them. I had already planned on getting her a little plushie Stitch (who she loves) for her desk at work, so she just ended up with two gifts! (I like parenthesis.)

With my purchases acquired, I decided to go with my afore-mentioned plan of going ahead and heading out early to my dinner ADR so that I could just relax and spend some a little time exploring. So I made my way out of the park and over to the bus stops, and caught my ride over to Animal Kingdom Lodge!

It was still far too early to check in for my dinner, plus I just kinda wanted to chill out and relax, maybe even doze a little bit. My late night of drinking combined with my super early morning kinda caught up to me a bit, so I just curled up in one of the big comfy armchairs in the lobby for a while. I messed around on Facebook, replying to comments on the photos and updates I'd been posting, then even read my book a little. Because nerds do books in ALL the places.

While I was sitting there, I realized that it was highly unlikely that I would be up for my late night dinner reservation at Homecoming (I think it was scheduled for 11pm), so I went ahead and called Disney Dining to see if I could get out of it. I told the CM that I wasn't feeling well, and she could plainly see it was for a Party of 1 so it's not like the rest of my family/group could still go without me. She was super cool about it, and cancelled it for me and waived the penalty. Score!

I chilled out for a while longer, just resting, then decided to head out and take a peep around the Arusha animal overlook:

Look at the PRECIOUS WITTLE BABY!...

And these giraffes feel like a swell place to leave you guys for tonight. I think they'll take good care of ya'll!

Until next time... SEE YA!

Up Next... Animal Kingdom, Part 3!