Got to park by 3:30 and went to ticket counter to trade in our Military Salute ticket vouchers for the real thing. Quick and painless…except that when I asked about getting the tickets added to our Magic Bands she seemed to panic and quickly said I needed to ask at Guest Services and they would do it for me.. (Which seemed a bit strange, since I knew they could be added once I had the actual tickets in my hand)
Then we went to Guest Services to get Mr D his DAS. My first tip for the trip is to have a copy of your OLD DAS with you when you go to get a new one. They can simply renew the old one without you having to go through the whole story. Again, quick and painless!
We headed towards the back of the park to get a DAS pass for Expedition Everest. We tried to get some Fast pass+ but there was none really available. I could only get Triceratops Spin and Primeval Whirl…both of which had a current wait time of 5 minutes! So after getting the DAS pass for EE we went over to Dinosaur so the three of them could ride (I cannot ride due to my neck issues), then Mr D had to ride Primeval Whirl twice before back to EE. They grabbed another DAS pass for EE and we headed over to the Safari.
The parade was still going on, so we had to go through all the back ways to get to the safari. We were actually moving faster than the parade at times…and some of the performers were joking with us about the good time we were making!
After we finally got through and into the ride…well…there was NO ONE there! To say it was a walk on would be putting it mildly! I mean the first thing I saw was a vehicle leaving completely EMPTY!! (that will play in very important in a minute)
After boarding, I felt the driver was less than enthusiastic…but I was determined to enjoy this as it was my only time I would be able to ride this trip. When he took a short cut through the first animals…I was starting to get a little upset. Until….we got to the giraffes.
Remember that empty vehicle I told you about? It seems that vehicle wasn’t exactly empty, it just had no people passengers…it was loaded with FOOD!! The giraffes came right up to the vehicle and stuck their heads in. We got some really up close and personal views. She stayed there about 5 or 10 minutes before she started leaving. When our vehicle came up to them, they did not stick their heads in, but gave ups great views on both sides of the vehicle. The baby was so cute! We very slowly crept along with the giraffes walking beside us…less than 3 feet away. We were cautioned to keep our hands inside since they had been known to nip a bit when expecting food.
We spent a good 20 minutes with the giraffes…then on to the zebras. Where we got a repeat performance of the giraffes! Truly spectacular! The absolute greatest Safari experience EVER! It lasted over an hour!
We waited just outside of Tusker House while Mr D and Dad went back to
EE for another ride on the DAS. When they came back we were told they
got to ride twice! Mr D was happy beyond belief. Being able to do this
is something that not having the GAC took away from him. The CMs there
went above and beyond for him on that day!
We were an hour early for our ADR at Tusker House, but we were all
exhausted. So I took a chance that they would let us in early and it
paid off. This was our first trip to Tusker House and we were not
disappointed. We LOVE Boma and found it to be just a scaled down
version of our old favorite. My only complaint would be the noise
level. It was really LOUD and hardly anyone there! I can only imagine
how loud it would be if it were full!
Walking out of Tusker House after the park closed … with no one around, was surreal. I can not wait to do this again.
Over all low crowds and great weather made for a fantastic short visit. We did not get a lot done, but we did get everything we wanted to do!
We then went back to the room and zonked out. I seriously do not remember even going to bed. Of course at this point I had been up for 36 hours with just a few naps.
What is up tomorrow?
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