Trip Log:

Started off the day arriving about half an hour early from LAX, but of course no gate so by the time it opened we were more or less on time with a 6am arrival.  Headed for the Magical Express and was at the Riverside checking in by 7ish.  Checked in, ate, and was on my way to EPCOT before 8am (it was the early morning park).   Headed to guest relations to upgrade my annual pass to the Premiere pass, which ended up taking quite a while.  After exchanging passes I headed into the park.  Roamed out to the Land and grabbed a Fastpass for Soarin.  Worked my way back and around to Spaceship Earth.  Walked on and then decided to head to Animal Kingdom.  Walked out to Africa and grabbed a Fastpass for the Safari and then took the train out to Conservation Station.  They were giving a cheetah a routine physical.  Took the train back and used my Fastpass for the Safari, then walked through Pangani before headed toward the park entrance (by way of the path around the Tree of Life) to meet up with the rest of my group that flew in from the Midwest.  Gave them their passes and we headed back into the park.  I hiked out to get the group Fastpasses for the Safari and then time for lunch. Some at Flame Tree, some at Dinoland.  After eating we strolled around to Camp Minnie Mickey and took in the Celebration of the Loin King.  Next up we used our Fastpasses for the Safari then walked around Pangani for a while before heading over to Asia and the Jungle Trek.  Once done we headed back toward the entrance and watched the Jammin Jungle Parade from there.  After the parade back to the Riverside to check out the room, unpack a little, and grab dinner before heading back to EPCOT.  The group road Spaceship Earth and I stopped by the Gallery then we wandered out to World Showcase.  Stopped to see Off Kilter and then the British Invasion.   At this point some headed for the room, others to Illuminations, and I decided to continue on around the World Showcase.  Finished the loop and joined the Illuminations crew for the show.  After the show joined the masses heading for the bus then the room to call it a night.

Notes: This trip we took advantage of the free Dining Plan Promotion Disney had. So we had a standard DD plan.

Thoughts & Observations:

• I took the red-eye in from Los Angeles and we actually arrived about 20 minutes early.. of course the gate was occupied so we had to sit out on the tarmac and wait so in reality we arrived on time. The others arrived later in the day on AirTran and had no problems at all.
  
  
• We both used the Magical Express with no problems at all. I had a couple minute delay since the bus was still unloading but no real wait. The others reported that there were a fair number of people but still no more than a 5 minute wait when they arrived in the late morning. One difference this trip is we did not have to go to the counter. The CM at the beginning of the lines was taking the vouchers.
  
  
• Check in at the Riverside was quick and easy. No problems. But we did encounter one issue.. I never received a call when the room was ready.. not sure if it was my problem (namely wrong number) or theirs.. but in the end we did not head back to the resort until the afternoon so it did not matter. The room was not ready at checkin since we requested a specific building and floor, which they did accommodate.
  
  
• I headed out to EPCOT since it was the early morning park and I was on the road and ready to go early. I headed to guest relations to upgrade my Disneyland Annual Pass to a Premiere pass. I also wanted to use the Magic Your Way Tickets I had since we bought a package for the free dining promotion we had. The CM I was working with looked up a bunch of information then ended up calling someone. After several minutes, probably a good 5-10 he hung up the phone and said they usually only take one or the other and cannot apply both to the ticket purchase. But he said they would apply the Magic Your Way full value and then he would issue me a credit for half my Disneyland Pass (it expires in December so this seemed fair to me). I then had two other passes to upgrade for others, their Disneyland ones expired in June so I just wrote those off as lost causes and used the MYW upgrade only. In the end it took me almost 45 minutes but I walked away with the three Premiere Passes I was planning on getting and paid about what I expected. I found it interesting the system did not have my information in it from my old WDW Pass or from my current Disneyland one. One last note they take your Disneyland pass so if you are like me and collect them then your collection ends...
  
  
• I went out to Conservation Station to kill some time and see what was new, and to my surprise they were doing a check-up on a cheetah, this was great to watch! I wish they would list what was going on somewhere before you go out there. I almost did not go because there was only one train running and after a good 10 minutes no sight of it.. glad I was too lazy to move and went out anyways.
  
  
• Speaking of the Wilderness Express trains, when I returned to Africa the line was the longest I had seen, even the CMs at the entrance were commenting on it. It stretched almost all the way to the entrance sign/stroller parking area.
  
  
• Overall the park was not that crowded, same for EPCOT.
  

Pedometer Information for the day:

Enough with the text.. onto the pictures

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