Disney Trip - Jan 2013

1/29/13
After working a full day, Doug and I found ourselves at Logan Airport at 6:30 for a 9pm flight.  Flying out on a Tuesday night was fantastic as the airport was deserted.  We grabbed sandwiches at PotBelly’s, which is my favorite sandwich shop.  Even though my birthday dinner may have been lacking in atmosphere, it certainly was delicious.  Doug kicked off the vacation with a chocolate shake along with his sandwich.  We boarded the flight on time but then sat there until 9:40 waiting to depart.  Apparently there was a “paperwork” delay which was quite annoying, especially since they never updated us on what was going on.  The plane was at most 2/3 full and we were able to move and get our own row which was nice.  The flight was uneventful and thank goodness JetBlue offers satellite television because I was too tired to read.  We landed a little after midnight, grabbed our bags, and jumped in the rental car.  I can’t tell you how wonderful stepping out into that balmy evening felt.  Luckily, Orlando rental cars are on site so we didn’t have to schlep on a shuttle to the car.  We arrived at our resort for the night, Disney’s All-Star Sports, around 1:15am or so.  We were the only ones checking in but it still seemed to take too long.  I’m not sure why checking in at Disney properties always seems to take so long but all I wanted to do was sleep at this point.  Once in the room, we quickly organized ourselves for the next day of park touring and fell right asleep.

1/30/13
After we had been asleep for what felt like just a few minutes, the alarm went off at 7:30.  Our plan for the day was to meet Mom and Sue at Epcot a little before 9.  We packed up and headed over to the food court for a light breakfast.  The day was sunny and warm -- simply glorious.  We arrived at the parking lot around 8:15 and were directed to the first row of cars.  A quick walk had us at the bag check area.  There was quite a wait already at bag check as they seem to be more thorough as they have been in the past.  Once through that mess, we found a wall in the sun to sit and wait for Mom and Sue.  I received a text from Mom just then and they were waiting to get through bag check.  After a few minutes, we saw them arriving in matching yellow shirts and they hustled right past us.  We had to jump up and chase after them.  The park had just opened up so we caught up and got in one of the long entrance lines.

Epcot

Once through the gates, Sue and I handed Doug our tickets and he hustled off to get Fast Passes for Test Track.  In the meantime, we went straight to the Land Pavilion and headed for Soarin’.  Once Doug arrived, we road Soarin’.  Since we were right there, we rode the Living with the Land boat ride next.  By then it was just about time for our Test Track Fast Pass, so we headed across Future World.  Mom found a bench in the sun while the rest of us enjoyed Test Track.  This is the first time we had ridden it since the upgrade and I found it very disappointing.  They have removed all aspects of the car actually being on a testing ground and made it more like a car just zipping through the dark.  The final speed part is still fun but the attraction, once one of my favorites, is just not as fun anymore!  Next up was Mission: Space.  While Mom continued to soak up some rays, Doug joined the “Orange Team” (aka the “Vomit Team”) and Sue and I joined the “Green Team.”  The pre-flight video of this ride starring Gary Sinise is quite fun and it makes me feel like I’m really about to blast into space.  The Orange version of this ride is a centrifuge that simulates a blast into space.  It’s wicked fun but also nauseating.  The Green version doesn’t spin but the capsules do move and Sue and one other lady in our flight crew did admit to feeling a bit sick.  After returning from space and collecting Mom we walked back to the other side of Future World and entered the Seas with Nemo and Friends.  The ride itself is lame but once you’re inside the aquarium it’s pretty awesome.  We saw the dolphins, sharks, huge sea turtles, and an interesting tank filled with seahorses where we witnessed feeding time.  Unfortunately the manatees were not out.  We also experienced Turtle Talk with Crush which is always totally righteous.  Sue got a mention from Crush when she clapped for the NH dudes.  It was now about 11:30 or so and we decided to head over to World Showcase.  We entered on the right and started with Canada.  We tried to catch a showing of O Canada but we didn’t think we’d have time before our lunch reservation.  We wandered into the United Kingdom and caught a few minutes of the World Showcase Players’performance of the Holy Grail (It was rubbish!).  Then it was off to France where we previewed the selections at the pastry shop for a future visit.  After brief looks at Morocco and Japan, and a peek at the American funnel cakes, we arrived in Italy.  We had 12:45 lunch reservations for the new pizzeria, Via Napoli.  It’s a bustling, airy restaurant with three huge pizza ovens shaped like mouths.  Doug and I split a pepperoni, and Mom and Sue had a prosciutto melon.  The pizzas were huge but we managed to do quite a number on them.  They were spectacular!  Via Napoli quickly became a favorite and I do believe a requirement for all future visits.  On the way out of Italy, we stuck our heads into the new Wine Cellar with plans to return some evening.  We continued our way around World Showcase on our way to the front part of the park.  We stopped in Norway for a ride on Maelstrom while Doug waited outside.  Mom and Sue stuck around for the movie after the ride and I went outside to find Doug enjoying a Norwegian beer and soaking up some rays.  We made a brief stop in Mexico and took note of the Tequila Bar inside the Mayan pyramid before heading back to Future World.  We decided we had time to ride Ellen’s Energy Adventure.  The dinosaur part is worthwhile but the rest of the ride is way too long.  Before exiting the park we rode Spaceship Earth which is a lot of fun with the addition of the interactive part and the photos of you at the end.

We all drove to Port Orleans Riverside, our home for the next four nights.  Mom and Sue headed back to their room while Doug and I checked in.  I had requested a room near them and it took some time to assign us a room in the same building.  I’m not sure what the issue was, but it really should not take so long to check in.  We did get a very nice building in the Alligator Bayou area with lush landscaping all around and it seemed like a pretty quiet area.  We quickly unpacked and I took a nap while Doug went for a jog.  I awoke a while later to a knock at the door.  It was Doug, who had lost his room key while jogging. (Note from Doug: This post will now get the “Doug’s a Moron” tag.)  While I got ready to go out that evening, he walked over to the main building to get a new key.  Since this involved another visit to the front desk, it took way longer than it should have.  (Note from Doug: Also, I got lost going to the front desk, which seemed to be a theme for the stay.)  Once he returned, the key didn’t even work!  He decided to worry about that later and we headed out.

Mom decided to stay in that evening but Sue joined us on the bus to Magic Kingdom.  Our plan was to wander around, get a snack, and watch the Wishes fireworks at 8pm.  I noticed that they pipe in the sound of crickets and a banjo on the bus to add to the Deep South feel of the resort!  We arrived at the Magic Kingdom a little before 7 and headed straight for Adventureland and the Dole Whip stand.  After enjoying the pineapple goodness, we wandered over to Pirates of the Caribbean and since there was no wait, we decide to ride.  By this time it was around 7:30 or so and since the park was pretty crowded, we decided to find a place to stand between the castle and Main Street to watch the fireworks.  At 7:45 they did a little projection show on the castle called “The Magic, The Memories, and You” which was kind of cute.  Wishes kicked off shortly after that but since it was a bit windy that night, Tinker Bell did not fly!  Oh well, Wishes was still magical.  After the show, we were perfectly situated to head out of the park with not much of a crowd.  We got to the bus stop and there was a bus waiting.  Once back at Riverside, I went back to the room and Doug and Sue stopped off at the main building.  Doug needed to have his room key fixed and Sue wanted a snack.  Of course it took a long time for Doug’s key to be fixed but he finally got back and we hit the sack after a magical day.

Wishes fireworks

1/31/13
Today was Extra Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom so the plan was to arrive by 8am for some crowd-free touring.  We all drove over to the main resort building to grab a quick breakfast.  The choices at the food court are pretty good; they have pastries, hot breakfast, and yogurt and oatmeal with mix-ins.  With full bellies we drove over to Magic Kingdom.  Once again, we were parked in the first row of cars.  The early bird gets the worm!  We arrived at the gates just as they were opening the park and the train was pulling into the station full of singing characters.  We hustled right over to Tomorrowland where we hopped on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.  Doug and Mom shared a car but Sue and I had our own.  Doug got the highest possible score: 999,999!  I earned it on the last trip too but this time there is photographic evidence.  Doug and I then rode Space Mountain so Mom and Sue tried Buzz Lightyear two more times.  Next we made our way to the new Fantasyland which is quite impressive.  They are still building the Dwarf’s Mine Coaster which is due to open in 2014 but the Beast’s Castle with the Be Our Guest Restaurant, Gaston’s Tavern, and the Little Mermaid attraction are all open.  Disney did a great job with the theming here, even bringing in full sized pine trees for the Beauty and the Beast area.  We popped into the restaurant to have a look and it’s very nice.  On our way out of Fantasyland, Mom, Sue and I grabbed Fast Passes for Peter Pan’s Flight.  We stopped at the Haunted Mansion but the ghosts were not quite ready to receive guests yet so we continued on to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Doug and I rode while Mom and Sue watched.  Then we wandered over to Pirates of the Caribbean but the pirates were cranky too so we walked through the Swiss Family Tree House before heading back to the Haunted Mansion.  Doug took off to play golf and the rest of us went into the mansion.  It was now time for our Fast Pass at Peter Pan’s Flight and we all fit into one ship for the flight over London.  Since Mickey’s Philharmagic had no wait we took in a performance.  We had one more stop for the morning, the Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor which is always good for a few laughs.

Cinderella Castle

Since it was just about lunch time and we were getting hungry, we decided to hit up Morocco in Epcot for lunch.  Rather than take the monorail to Epcot, we saved ourselves a few walking steps by taking the bus to the Beach Club and entering World Showcase through the International Gateway.  On the bus to the Beach Club we noticed the sound of seagulls and ocean waves, just some more of that Disney magic! As we were driving past one of the golf courses, Sue spotted Doug!  He was wearing an orange shirt and maroon hat so was easy to spot.  World Showcase was empty when we arrived and we enjoyed a leisurely lunch at Tangerine Café in Morocco.  We had our eye on the tangerine margaritas but decided it was too early in the day for that.  We all agreed that there is something very appealing about those Moroccan guys.  We got especially silly when Mom stood up to bring her trash to the bin and one of the guys magically appeared to sweep it all away for her.  We ogled the Moroccan pastries on the way out but decided we really wanted to try something from France so we headed next door.  We ended up being a little disappointed in the selections (no cream horns!) but we stuffed in some things anyway.   Sue did a little shopping in France and then I wanted to check out the Japanese gift shop so we walked over to Japan.  We were able to see the Kyoto Drummers and the Candy Artist (lion, platypus, dragon, and flamingo) so it was well worth the trip.  On our wait out of the park we caught the very end of the French balancing act and watched a showing of O Canada.  We made one stop to grab some hot nuts and two fast passes for Soarin’ for later that night before catching the bus back to the resort for some R&R.

Doug returned from golf shortly thereafter and we decided to head back out to Epcot for some pre-dinner merriment.  We went straight for the Tequila Bar in Mexico and grabbed a couple of margaritas to enjoy as we wandered World Showcase.  We did one circuit before it was time to head for our Fast Pass time at Soarin’.  After the ride we went back to World Showcase and met up with Mom and Sue who had just arrived and were in very good spirits.  Quite literally in fact, as Sue was slurping down one of those tangerine margaritas.  Mom had bought some troll horns filled with cream in Norway to share later.  It was now a little before our 7:20 reservation at the United Kingdom’s Rose & Crown Pub so we went into the pub and Doug had a beer.  We checked in and were seated a short time later at a great table next to the railing.  It was a rather chilly night so the plastic screens were pulled down but they promised to roll them up later for the fireworks.  We had a nice young lady serve us from Bristol who was in her last week of employment at Disney and was quite sad about it.  We had a very enjoyable meal and the best part was being able to watch Illuminations while seated at the table with our hot drinks.  We felt the show was a bit shorter than we remembered; perhaps the wind had a factor in shortening the show?  After the fireworks we exited the park leisurely and drove back to the resort.

Dinner at Rose and Crown Pub

2/1/13
Doug left early for golf and the rest of us were at the bus stop around 8:15 for Animal Kingdom.  I had planned to eat breakfast from the Tusker House walk up pastry window that morning but I had tried a bit of the troll horn and somehow polished the whole thing off first thing in the morning!  We were let into the park around 8:45 but they held us in front of the Tree of Life until 9.  We were itching to go!

Tree of Life

At 9 we joined the hoards heading for Kilimanjaro Safaris.  It was a great ride, lots of animals out and active. After the safari, Mom and Sue grabbed some pastries and then we walked through the Pangani Forest trail to get to the gorillas and it was just packed, really uncomfortable.  We saw the family group, including the 3-year-old, and some members of the bachelor group.  There was still no wait for the Safari so we rode again.  This time we spotted the baby rhino which was blocking the safari truck in front of us.  After our second safari, Doug had arrived and we decided to grab some egg rolls in Asia.

(Note from Doug: I feel like I need to talk about my golf experience this day, as I found it extremely odd, and perhaps a bit funny.  I arrived at the Osprey Ridge golf course at Disney around 6:40 am in weather that was about 42 degrees. And I wasn’t really prepared for this cold weather, as I was wearing shorts and a light long-sleeve shirt, because, you know, it’s Florida.  Anyway, I found out my tee time at 7:10 am was the first of the day, and they had paired me up with 2 older men who introduced themselves and told me they were brothers.  They were probably in their late 50’s or early 60’s, and were really friendly to start out with.  Not OVERLY friendly, but they smiled, made small talk, but for the most part left me alone, which was fine by me.  I actually prefer to play golf by myself, and I’m not much into going into long stories with strangers, so we pretty much kept to ourselves.  So I could tell these two guys liked to play fast, which is another thing I like.  They played ready golf, so none of this “Oh, you’re away, go ahead”, things that turn rounds into 4 ½ hour slogs.  So for 8 holes we’re moving along really fast, and since we’re the first group of the day there is no threat of being held up by anyone in front of us.  Then, between the 8th and 9th holes, I stopped to use the restroom.  I pulled my cart over to the bathroom building, did my business, and came back out.  At MOST I was in there for about 60 seconds.  I then get back in my cart and drive to the 9th tee.   Strangely enough, their cart isn’t there.  I looked around, I thought maybe they stopped to use the bathroom as well or made some other detour.  I don’t see them at all…and then I notice a cart with 2 people in it driving just past the 9th green – the hole that we were about to play.  Since we were the first group of the day, I know this isn’t some other twosome that’s ahead of us, but I’m still not 100% sure if that was the twosome I was playing with. Maybe they’re just going to look at the green or look to see if there’s a hidden water hazard somewhere, I think to myself.  But then they drive right past the green and disappear over a hill toward the next hole.  Still confused, as they didn’t say anything to me about wanting to play ahead, I decided to wait a couple of minutes, assuming they’d come back.  They don’t, so I hit my tee shot.  (Right down the middle, by the way.) I then wait a couple more minutes, as I’m thinking to myself, I’d love to play the rest of the round by myself, but I don’t want to start to play and then have them come back and make me look like the bad guy that I didn’t want to wait and continue to play with them. But with no one in sight, I take off on my own.  I played the next 2 holes when the beverage cart woman showed up.  She says to me, kind of jokingly, “Did you say something to those other 2 to scare them off?”  I said no, and explained what happened.  Her face began to harden as I told the story, and said, “They just took off without even SAYING anything to you? Well that’s not right at all!” and gets in her cart and takes off!  About a hole later she comes back and says she asked them what happened. (Apparently they were 2 or 3 holes ahead of me.)  They told her that they had to finish up early to make some other appointment and they decided to skip a couple of holes.  She said she gave them a piece of her mind about them doing that without even telling me, and seemed to be much more bothered by it all than I was.  So at the end of the day I guess they just wanted to play faster, but they never once told me in the 1st 8 holes that they had somewhere to be and might be leaving early, AND it would have only taken them 30 seconds to wait for me to come out of the bathroom and just say, “Hey, we’re in a hurry so we’re going to skip ahead a couple of holes.”  And to make it most strange of all, they were older guys.  If this was 2 20-something kids, I could see them doing it.  But this was just very strange.  Anyway…that’s the end of my golf story.  Back to Animal Kingdom.)

On the way to Asia we ran into DeVine, a lady dressed like a vine.  It sounds strange but it is really cool.  After some really delicious egg rolls, we wandered the Maharajah Trek and saw the tigers.  Next it was back to Africa where Doug and I visited the gorillas again while Mom and Sue did some shopping.  Then we all rode the safari one more time.  Then it was on to It’s Tough to be a Bug which was a new attraction for Sue.  We made one final stop at Dinosaur, which Doug and I enjoyed while Mom and Sue rested.  Then it was back to the car for the short drive to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our 2:10 lunch at Sanaa.   I requested a window seat but they didn’t have any available.  We were able to see a few ungulates from our corner seat if we moved our heads and squinted.  We had great service here and some really good meals.  Sue got one of the glow cocktails.

Lunch at Sanaa

After lunch we explored the animal viewing areas at Kidani Village as well as Jambo House, the bigger section of the lodge.  We bought a few souvenirs as well.  One of the cast members from Uganda was impressed with Doug’s knowledge of the Crested, or Crowned Crane, the Ugandan national bird. (Note from Doug: I’m wicked smaht.) It was then time to return to the resort for a brief rest.

Doug and I freshened up and headed out pretty quickly to Epcot.  This was an Extra Magic Hours night for Epcot, and with the park open until 11pm, I knew it would be pretty crowded.  We arrived around 6 and stopped to watch a performance of the British Revolution in the UK.  One of my favorite Epcot activities used to be the British Invasion band that performed hits of the 60’s.  The British Revolution sings hits from the 60’s-90’s and were nowhere near as good as the old guys.  Doug enjoyed an English lager during the show.  I decided not to get some chips as I was hoping to have a bite at the Wine Cellar later.  After the show we wandered through World Showcase and finally ended up in Italy.  We entered the wine cellar and decided to wait at the bar for Mom and Sue to arrive.  We both enjoyed a wine flight, which is a sampling of wines from different regions of Italy.  We got a text from Mom that they were on their way over so we asked the host if we could have a table.  While they don’t take reservations and its first come, first served, he told us we could have the next one that opened up.  A while later, just as we were finishing up our wine, a table for 4 was offered to us.  Almost simultaneously, we received a text from Mom that said they were not letting them in because it was a 45 minute wait.  Doug claimed the table while I rushed outside to tell Mom and Sue that it was actually a 0 minute wait for them. There were a few minutes of confusion on everyone’s part, but the host was very welcoming and accommodating to us all.  And then we met the Fabulous Fabio.  He was our server for the evening and was an absolute delight.  Funny, charming and accommodating, he simply made our week.  We decided we wanted a selection of cheeses and we had Fabio decide for us.  Everything tasted amazing -- no surprise there.  He must have thought we had deep pockets after that because he offered us a very special wine that had been uncorked that night, a highly unusually occurrence according to him.  We declined although I am sort of surprised we didn’t get swept away on the excitement of the night and say yes.

Dinner at Wine Cellar, with Fabio

Once we finished our food and drinks, we were pretty reluctant to leave but it was almost 9 and we thought we might be able to catch Illuminations.  After bidding Fabio a fond farewell, we were on our way.  We wandered through World Showcase and made some shopping stops along the way.  I was on the lookout for some dessert and when we got to Mexico we all indulged in some churro bites dipped in caramel while we watched Illuminations.  We all agreed that this night the fireworks were a lot better and more plentiful.  As we made our way to the park exit, Doug and I decided to ride Test Track by using the single rider line which was only a 10 minute wait.  Luckily, we were placed in the same car.  After that it was back to Riverside and to bed.

2/2/13
Today was Extra Magic Hours at Hollywood Studios.  We planned to take advantage of the extra hour to get a jump on the crowds heading to the most popular ride at Disney, Toy Story Mania.  Once again, we were in the first row of cars being parked.  We arrived shortly before 8 and situated ourselves in line at the front gate.  The crowds really started to build behind us so the early arrival was definitely in our favor.  They opened right at 8 and we joined the mob heading straight for Toy Story.  We got right in with no wait.  This was Sue’s first time on the ride.  It was a complete blast as always and I was the high scorer.  After we exited we grabbed Fast Passes for later, the return time was already more than an hour away.  Next we decided to hit the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror so Mom and Sue walked over and waited outside while Doug and I rode that.

Hollywood Tower Hotel

After that there was a posted 20 minute wait for Rock n Roller Coaster so we got in line and Mom and Sue went over to Animation Academy to see when the first drawing class of the day would be.  The wait to ride the coaster was only about 10 minutes so afterwards we met up with the ladies to wait for the 9:30 drawing class.  Once we were situated at our drawing tables, we found out we would be drawing Mickey!  A new character for us as last time we did Donald twice and Chip (or was it Dale?).  We all did quite an excellent job with our drawings but agreed that Doug’s was the best.  Animation Academy is one of those magical Disney gems.

Getting ready for Animation Academy

After the drawing class it was time to use our Fast Passes at Toy Story Mania.  The guy taking our tickets remembered Sue’s name from when she collected her Fast Pass a few hours earlier -- those cast members are pretty amazing!  And I was the high scorer once again!  Next Doug and I wanted to try Star Tours, a simulator ride that had been refurbished since our last visit, so Mom and Sue decided to ride the Backlot Tour while we did that.  Star Tours is much improved now; it’s a 3D simulator ride aboard a Star Wars rebel ship.  Supposedly there are several different random ride experiences you can have; our voyage took us to the Wookiee planet with Chewbacca.  After the ride we made our way to the exit area for the Backlot Tour and happened upon Mike and Sully from Monster’s Inc.  They gave us hugs and posed for some photos.  Doug told them he couldn’t wait to see their new movie and they were pleased to hear that.  Our timing was perfect because just then Mom and Sue were exiting their ride.  We had time for one more attraction before lunch so we watched a showing of Muppet-Vision 3D.  It was just about 11:30 by now and time for lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater.  We were seated in a car with a pair of hitchhikers in the way back.  Mom and Sue sat up front.  Last time we ate here we really enjoyed shakes and burgers so that’s what we ordered again.  The shakes were fabulous but we didn’t love the burgers as much.  It’s a fun atmosphere though and the old movies and advertisements are fun to watch on the big screen.  With full bellies we headed over to the Great Movie Ride.  After our ride through the history of movies, it was just about time for the Lights, Motor, Action stunt show to start so we hustled over to grab some seats for the show.  This is an attraction that I like probably more than I should, it’s just really cool.  After the show we wanted to take the drawing class one more time so we headed over there.  This time the instructor started to draw but did not tell us which character we would be doing which we really liked.  Someone guessed correctly that it was Grumpy very quickly.  He was a lot of fun to draw and once again Doug’s was the best, however all of our drawings came out great!

At this point Travis reported that he had arrived on property and would meet us in the Riverside lobby.  We headed over there.  When we met up with him we decided we would try dinner at Paradiso 37 at Downtown Disney since there is a boat between there and the resort.  Doug and I secured a reservation at the concierge desk and were told to allow 45 minutes for the boat ride over.  We all freshened up and then walked over to the boat dock.  We waited a short time and the boat arrived.  Of course when it came time for us to board, the boat was already full.  We inquired on the time of the next boat and stated that we had a dinner reservation.  Zach, the boat driver, helpfully called the restaurant for us to tell them we may be late.  It was super annoying to have to wait so long for the next boat but it was nice of him to make it right.  Finally our boat came and we inched along to Downtown Disney.  There are 3 boat docks at DD but for some reason this night the boat was making only one stop which proved to be the furthest dock from our restaurant.  DD was packed with idiots too, making it slow going on the walk to the restaurant.  We finally made it and were seated right away.  I think we all liked our food but agreed we don’t feel the need to visit Downtown Disney anytime soon again.  On the way back to the resort, we smartly decided to take the bus which proved to be about 10 times quicker.  Sue and Travis headed back to their room while Mom, Doug and I got ice cream sundaes at the food court.  Departure day tomorrow, so we packed before turning in.

Dinner at Paradiso 37

2/3/13
Last day!  We packed up the car and then drove over to the main building for breakfast.  Travis, Mom and Sue met up with us and it was off to Animal Kingdom by 8:30.  Upon arrival at the main gate, Mom and Travis got in the long line for park tickets.  We should have thought to purchase Travis’ ticket the day before!  Sue, Doug and I went in and headed right for the gorillas.  Mom was really irritated but it didn’t slow us down too much as the rest of us were really enjoying visiting with the gorillas.

Lily in Pangani Forest

Travis and Mom finally met us and we walked over to ride the safari.  It was a 15 minute wait already but soon enough we were enjoying the animals.  This was Travis’s first visit to any Disney park and he admitted to being surprised at how much he liked it!  After the safari we enjoyed It’s Tough to Be a Bug once again and then headed towards Dinoland, USA.  Travis and I rode Dinosaur while everyone else had a rest.  Then Doug joined us for a spin on Primeval Whirl.  Then it was off to Asia, where Travis picked up a Fast Pass for a later ride on Exhibition Everest.  The crowds were pretty bad here but we pushed our way over to see the tigers.  Doug had had enough of the crowds by this point so he made his way back to Africa and the Dawa Bar where he enjoyed a Tusker Beer.  The rest of us enjoyed some noodles, rice and egg rolls for lunch before catching up with Doug at the bar.  Travis had a beer also and too soon Doug and I had to say our goodbyes and make our way to the airport for the journey home.  Not before stopping for a Mickey ice cream bar, however!