We woke up late that Saturday, September 15, Day 2.
We had plans to meet some old friends of mine at Animal Kingdom late that morning, as I haven't seen them in a few years, and they live only a couple hours away from WDW. It was good to see them again, and not once did they mind hitting all the bathrooms with us. They got to meet DH, which is funny when I think about it, because I used to sort of "date" my friend's brother when I was a teenager, as he lived up north by me, and was friends with my big brother, and.....yeah that's a boring story. Nevermind.
DH was enchanted by Animal Kingdom, and he only saw a few aspects of it, as we were only there a couple hours. We did "It's Tough to be a Bug," which malfunctioned. The fog machine BLEW UP, I think, because there was WAAAAAAAY too much fog. You couldn't even see the spiders dangling above your head. You couldn't even see the person sitting next to you. Even DH was all, "Oh MY GOSH! This is crazy!" But he was laughing when he said it, clearly impressed.
Then we got some food, and watched the African performers there outside of the restaurant in Africa. DH thought this was crazy awesome! He made me videotape most of it. And then later we saw another group of performers, and I honestly have no idea what type of music they were playing, only that one of the guys had what appeared to be an electric set of drums around his neck. Of course, DH being the musician and all, had to stop and talk to the electric drum guy for a few minutes. I think I videotaped that, too.
We finished the early afternoon with Festival of the Lion King. I was nervous about this, as DH doesn't care much for musicals. In fact, some years ago we went and saw The Lion King Broadway version, and we both didn't like it AT ALL. But I knew I loved FOTLK, and DH loves The Lion King, and the friends we were hanging out with like it, too, so that's where we found ourselves. Wouldn't you know it, DH thought it was great! I should have known he would. Who doesn't like FOTLK?! Who?!
After that, it was time to say goodbye to my friends. They had their own little group they broke away from to hang out with us for a couple hours, and besides - we're on our honeymoon! - so we didn't feel bad leaving them.
On our way out, this guy was being brave and getting up close and personal with everyone:
I didn't touch him, though. I raised birds - I know this guy could easily take a finger off.
We went back to Epcot, for some World Showcase, and attempt to catch Illuminations again, if the weather cooperated.
DH tried "THE BEVERLY." Neither of us thought it was as "bad" as people make it out to be, but it was still pretty bad and all. He thought it was cool that Disney lets you try drinks from around the world for free. DH is all about stuff being "free."
Some pics from around World Showcase:
We saw the new Canada movie. I was too young to remember what the old one was about, and honestly I was too tired to really pay attention to what THIS one was about, only that Martin Short was everywhere. And apparently, a lot of famous people are from Canada. I know one person from Canada, and he's famous for being married to a good friend of mine. That's all.
We ran into the Brother Bear bears! They were great. The little one tried to get in purse and steal food....or money, probably money. The CM took about 10 pictures before she finally got it right, which is why the first one is cutting off DH.
We still had time before our ADRs, so we went to Soarin'. DH was happy to see Patrick Warburton explain how to ride Soarin' properly. Patrick Warburton must get a big fat check from Disney all the time, for as many roles as he does ("Kronk" in case you don't know).
DH loved Soarin'! He has always wanted to hang glide, but he will never get to - because I don't want to be a widow - so this was as close as he gets! Soarin' makes you forget you have bladder issues!
Which reminds me, I haven't talked much about my bladder. That's because the meds made my bladder calm down. Now, instead of a potty break every half hour, it was more like every hour to 2 hours. Only downside was it made my pee turn BRIGHT ORANGE. Sorry for the visual, guys, but I have to be brutally honest here so you can get a full understanding of how unpleasant this was. It was more of an inconvenience, since I had to carry a plastic baggy of moist wipes around with me, so I didn't stain my underwear with BRIGHT ORANGE DYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that is not to say I didn't wipe myself thoroughly with toilet paper either. I am a very clean person.
OK, OK, that's enough of THAT!
We had ADR's at......Le Cellier!
I was worried about this place...after all, people seem to either LOVE IT or HATE IT, and I wasn't sure where we were going to stand on this issue. If I hated it, it would be OK...but DH had to LOVE it, if there was ever a chance I was going to get him back here.
This is what I ate:
And this is what he ate, their famous steak dish, the one they are known for:
And they gave us this, in addition to the dessert we ordered:
DH was impressed by this. Free dessert! Only we could barely finish it. That Dining Plan gives you WAY too much food!
So, the verdict? Well, if this tells you anything, DH still talks about "the best food he's ever had in his LIFE" there at Le Cellier! He LOVED it!!!! YAY!
After dinner, it was almost fireworks time. We found a good spot near the railing beside the water, and I whipped out my video camera. I love Illuminations...it always makes me think of my dad. We sure did have some good times leaving Mom behind at the resort and watching the fireworks. Mom's thought was, "I've seen them before, I don't need to stand in a sea of people and fight the crowds and the bus to see them again." But Dad and I - we were ALL about the fireworks and shows!
Sorry I have no pictures of them, as I was videotaping them at the time. But DH thoroughly enjoyed it! "So far," he said, "that has been my favorite thing. That and Le Cellier."
Score!
We went back to AKL and I took some pics. This is from the "backyard" of the resort by all the animals:
This is the fire pit for storytelling:
Day 2 was over, and not half bad! Every 4 hours the bladder spasms would come back, but a pill popped later and life was tolerable again.
Tomorrow - Blizzard Beach and 'Ohana...where we learned to tell our friends, should they ever eat there, to ask for A1 Sauce.