I didn’t find them too sweet - not much is! - I just wasn’t keen on the flavour.
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Monday August 26 Day 11 (Disney day 4, and day 5 of our FP reservation window)
Today was our first and it turns our only Animal Kingdom day. We had a Fast Pass booked for Expedition Everest at 9:30 and late breakfast (effectively brunch, since lunch officially starts at 11) reservations at Tusker House for 10:30am. EMH meant the park was open at 8am and initially I’d thought we’d be there early to rope drop Na’vi River Journey, but by this point in the trip it was clear that feeling rushed in the mornings was not worth it and not going to happen. Plus the kids were generally fine with minor waits, so I was fine with the likely 20 minute wait vs. walk-on or 5 but getting up earlier and being stressed. We were off the bus and walking to the gates by 8:20am. I took a picture of the scene: a steady but not heavy stream of people.
I’m amused by the woman with the ear’s side eye, like she’s questioning why I would be selfie-ing my shiny forehead. I question it too.
Anyway, we were all in a good mood.
I liked how lush Animal Kingdom was, right off the bat, and how the plants got weird as we headed into the Pandora area. Neither DS11 nor DS7 wanted to ride Na’vi River Journey since they felt it would be a boring, alien version of It’s a Small World. I suggested the ambiance would be worth it. DS11 politely asked if he could wait for us at the Pandora drummers show instead so we agreed – we knew he wouldn’t take off and he knew who to ask for help if he needed to. DS7 also wanted to stay and skip the ride but we weren’t comfortable with that (at 7 vs. 11) and so he got figuratively dragged along with us.
The wait was about 15 minutes and for 10 of that DS7 was very vocally unhappy. I think we resorted to some sort of bribery but by the time we were on the ride he was quietly unhappy instead of crying.
Anyway, he’s right, it’s not that exciting, but I loved the ambiance and I think DH liked it too. DS7 did not.
We picked up DS11 and headed across Discovery Island to Asia for Expedition Everest, stopping for a few Pandora pictures.
By the time we got to Expedition Everest it was just after 9 and our Fast Pass window wasn’t open yet, but the wait was only 10 or 15 minutes. First I suggested we pick up Wilderness Explorers booklets from the nearby hut and the kids were completely not interested. I picked up a couple of booklets for later, just in case, but I think it’s a better activity for when it’s not so hot and muggy. Anyway, my next suggestion was much better received: we would line up, enjoy the queue theming, ride Expedition: Everest as plebes, and then ride it a second time with the Fast Passes. I’d packed left-over treats from previous days (thank you to whichever packing lists included zip-loc bags) so the kids had pre-breakfast cookies while we waited.
DS7 was scared so sat with me the first time through. It was now DS11’s turn to melt down – as we went to tap in for our Fast Pass, 5 minutes early, he said he only wanted to ride it again if DS7 sat next to him. After much browbeating by DS11, DS7 agreed to it. He ended up crying by the end of the ride. Both DS11 and DS7 are still convinced that in the part where you go backwards in the dark it goes upside down. DH and I really liked the ride, DS11enjoyed it but was done with it, and DS7 felt it was a parental-proximity-necessary ride, DH and I were annoyed with DS11 and told him we were disappointed because it seemed like he only cared about his own feelings and not his brother’s. (months later and writing this I regret getting cranky with him, but also kind of regret having the kids do the second ride. We could have given them the option of DH and I borrowing their Magic Bands and having two more rides together while they had a snack and waited. Oh well. I still like the ride. They both bounced back and Expedition: Everest wasn’t on their list of awful rides.)
Happily, the gibbons were nearby and de-grumpified everyone. We enjoyed watching them engaged in tightrope walking and swinging around, and speculated about what they would have to do to escape their enclosure.
We meandered the Maharajah Jungle Trek, especially enjoying the komodo dragon and the tiger area. There were no actual bats in the bat area – the cast member explained that every few years they get new bats and the new bats weren’t chill enough with the bat area so they were mellowing out behind the scenes. The kids refused to pose like bats but were willing to smile.
As we finished the trail it was almost 10 and I knew that Kali River Rapids would be opening soon. Taking a quick look at its rope drop queue I thought we wouldn’t have time to ride it and then get to Tusker House on time. But then it opened and the posted wait time was 10 minutes. I was skeptical about that wait time but DH wasn’t so he hopped in the queue while I went back to the fountain area nearby to get the kids, only to find that they had discovered they could stick their heads right in the fountain and still breathe. So their hair and shirts were soaked even before the ride and we might as well do it now.
I was right about the wait being longer than 10 minutes – it was closer to 20 minutes and I was stressing about getting to Tusker House on time but at some point had to just breathe and let go of the stress. One of the photos I took on the ride was at exactly 10:30. Kali River Rapids was no Bilge Rat Barges, because it’s not so unfair and it’s definitely shorter, but it was still good. We all really like this kind of ride.
We then speed-walked to Tusker House – I walked ahead with DS11 while DH and DS7 followed. The people at Tusker House made no comment on our being 10 minutes late and we were soon seated and heading to the breakfast part of the buffet.
The food wasn’t quite as good as at Boma, but it was still good. DS7 was particularly freezing in the a/c with his soaked shirt and hair, but brunch and the characters helped him deal with it. He might have ordered hot chocolate or tea as a drink. The kids didn’t want to pose with Daisy but agreed to pose with Donald. I think we met Goofy but didn’t get any pictures with him. We weren’t doing autograph books but we had Donald and Mickey sign postcards for their cousins and for some Fairy Godliner kids (I didn’t tell my kids about that part) and the kids were amused by the rivalry between Donald and Mickey. The characters were fun, but our server was even better – he was really excited about Galaxy’s Edge and we were speculating about how the opening on Thursday would go down and the kids were saying they were going to camp out over night. When we briefly explained our plans to move over to the Swan for easy access instead of overnight camping he told DH that he should not question any of my planning because I knew what I was doing. DH thanked him for confirming what he’d already suspected.
While we ate, before the 11:01 same day fastpass drop, DH and I discussed possibilities for the rest of the day. We could try to bump our 4:20pm Flight of Passage earlier, or we could bump our 12:15pm safari to after it and have an afternoon break back at Caribbean Beach. We both felt everyone could use a break and that the afternoon was likely going to be unpleasantly hot, so I found a 6:05pm Safari FPP.
After brunch we took some photos making mask-ish photos at the mask wall and then wandered through Africa. We felt all the trees and animals make the Disney versions of Africa and Asia better than the countries in World Showcase, but they still don’t really feel like the real deal. I did like the spinning metal suncatchers though and, even though we were heading back to the hotel instead of checking out Rafiki’s Planet Watch, DS7 posed with the sign.
It was now 11:50 and we all wanted to see the gorillas before heading back to the hotel. We ended up spending about on hour on the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail. We enjoyed the Colobus monkeys, the birds, the fish, the hippos, the zebras and the meerkats, DH and I also talked for a while with the South African cultural ambassador about the beaded Zulu necklaces and her experience as a cultural ambassador and her education plans. We also spent at least 20 minutes watching the gorillas. Baby Grace was adorable – I chatted for a long time with the Cast Member on that side of the enclosure watching the mum snuggle the baby, while DH and the kids mostly watched the young boy gorillas engaged in various antics. Most of the time you could barely see Grace but then the mother walked a ways with the baby hanging onto her belly! The Cast Member’s favourite was the naughtier young gorilla, who she said makes a lot of trouble but that the dad gorilla is very involved and only lets the nonsense go so far. The young one was carrying around a garbage lid like Captain America’s shield but the two mum gorillas encouraged him to stop and then the dad roused himself and the young one settled down. (Sorry, the photos below are in reverse chronological order.)
After that we were done so other than a brief stop for photo pass photos on the bridge (including a magic shot that would have been better if Khalil and Zazu weren’t blocking the head of someone behind us), we went straight to the bus stop.
Back at the hotel DH and DS11 decided to lounge/doze in the room, while DS7 and I went to finally check out the main Fuentes de Moro pool and its water slides. There were some sort of games going on that DS7 participated in for a bit, but mostly we just enjoyed the water and the slides.
After showering, getting changed, and doing a bit of packing up for the hotel switch the next day, we were back at the Jamaica bus stop by 4:11. Based on the time stamps on DH’s snap chat photos we had about a 15 minute wait for a bus.
We stopped for photo pass photos at the entrance and then by the tree of life. The photographer was amused when he told us to do our fiercest lion poses and DS7 chose to be a bunny rabbit instead.
Just after 5 we tapped into the Flight of Passage fast pass queue. At 5:20 I have photos of us in the pre-ride informational show areas, but I’m not sure if that’s from our first time around or the second. After going through the fast pass queue, getting assigned to a group, going through the 2 pre-show rooms/videos and filing into the room with the “banshees”, we saw a woman who looked a lot like Amy Shumer still leaning over her banshee. She looked up queasily at the cast member leading us in and quietly explained she’d been sick. The cast member quickly ushered the group of 16 of us to the exit and stayed to help her and we went back to the queue area . They put us in our own queue in the middle and got us in to a new room fairly quickly but we still had to go through the full 2 pre-shows again. This time many of us sat on the floor instead of standing for both shows – the scan for parasites or whatever it is still works. There’d been a woman in our group who also hadn’t ridden it before and was already quite nervous about motion sickness – she’d been relieved that the number she was assigned meant she’d have people on either side of her, which she was sure would help. I’m not sure if she ended up with that the second time, we were in different rooms of 8.
I was on the end of our row this time, with DS7 between me and DH. DS7 was now a bit worried about motion sickness but, other than feeling squeezed a bit tightly by the banshee, he was fine. I loooooved this ride and it totally lived up to the hype for me. I found the visuals of Pandora kind of blurry in parts, but soaring around and feeling the banshee breathe under me and smelling the smells and seeing this whole different world was amazing. DH and the kids found it to be like Soarin’ on steroids, which meant that DH liked it and the kids were one-and-done and weren’t sure if had been worth the double pre-show wait.
It had started raining while we were in Flight of Passage. I’d packed one poncho but not the other rain gear. The kids doubled up for a bit and then DS11 used it. The birds didn’t seem to mind. I’d considered using quick service credits at Satuli Canteen but no one was hungry yet so we headed towards Africa again for our safari, the fast pass of which was just opening up.
As we got to Africa the queue for the 6pm last-of-the-day Festival of the Lion King showing was filing into the theatre. DS11, who had been feeling badly about the Expedition: Everest thing in the morning, asked me if I really really wanted to go see it. I said yes, but that he’d been pretty clear he didn’t want to and I’d given it up. (I’d booked the FOLK Tier 1 experience for two days later and then cancelled it when it started to seem like it would not be fun for all of us). DS11 said he was willing to go and watch because it was important to me, and that maybe the rain would stop before our safari while we were in there. I was super grateful for his consideration. We asked the cast members outside if there was still room, and there was. We ended up in the 3rd or 4th row of the warthog section and the show started in less than 5 minutes.
I loved it, DH liked it, the kids said it was ok but they never needed to do that again. So basically Flight of Passage. But we all enjoyed the monkey acrobats and it makes me think we might be ready to go to Cirque du Soleil as a family.
It had not stopped raining while we were in the theatre. It was now pouring. We dashed as quickly to the safari as we safely could, and then, after a short wait during which I procured 7:30pm FPs on DINOSAUR that I wasn’t sure we’d be using. We had a super dramatic and wet ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris, accompanied by lots of thunder and lightning. The rain was pouring down the sides of the trucks awning and being blown inside. We didn’t get great views of most animals but two rhinos sauntered right by the truck, the whole thing was dramatic and we all loved it.
Most of the blurry photos are screen caps from videos DH took, I uploaded some of the segments to youtube too so you can experience more rain.
It was pouring even harder afterwards and a lot of people were huddling in the Kilimanjaro Safari offloading area while Cast Members told them for safety reasons they couldn’t hang around. We were resigned to getting soaked so just headed out. Our Tusker House brunch had been the Rivers of Light dining package to maximize the Table Service credits, but even if the storm didn’t cancel it we were pretty sure we didn’t want to wait around and getting back to the hotel and eating there seemed the wiser choice.
I thought it was worth checking in with Guest Services near the exit about the River of Light tickets – we had to wait a few minutes because there were a bunch of people in there (the kids huddled under the poncho in a corner for warmth in the air conditioning) and the cast member I talk to told me that we could come back any time in the next 2 or 3 nights and use our tickets. I didn’t feel like asking for more, though we weren’t planning to come back to AK and we already had plans for the next night that would conflict – if I’d actually paid for the package rather than using a table service credit I probably would have pressed a bit. But as we were waiting the DINOSAUR FPP converted to an anytime, any park FPP that was valid until the end of the next day and I figured that with the late night lotto possibilities the storm was giving us that we’d be set for the next day anyway.
The sky was yellow and there was so much thunder and lightning on the bus ride back to Caribbean Beach.
When we got back to the room we set up a quick service order at Spyglass Grill and then I showed DH how to play the late night lotto, starting with a Dumbo FPP. He was ready to grab another as soon as it converted to an anytime so I grabbed the car and drove (it was still pouring) to Spyglass Grill. I picked up our 3 quick service/2 snack credit order of 3 Lava Smoothies (1 with rum), 2 burgers with some sort of non-fries side, 1 chopped jerk chicken salad and 2 sides of fries. Then I drove over to the Port Royale lobby to get some stamps and, since we were checking out the next morning, to apply the gift card we got for refusing Mousekeeping Services to our bill. I don’t think anyone did come by the room to empty the trash over the 5 nights but we weren’t in the room that much and there wasn’t much trash anyway. I also popped into the Centretown Market grab-n-go quick service area to see what they had. I got a couple of hummus-and-veggie snack trays that were near or above the $5 price that made them a reasonable use of snack credits, and a mango tart or something like that that seemed like it would make a good snack that would keep for once our dining plan ended the next night.
Back at the room, we ate dinner – we probably could have skipped one of the burgers and one of the sides of fries, I think at least half a burger ended up in the fridge for later. DH had had great success with 3 Dumbo and 1 Space Mountain FP+s for 4 that had converted to anytime Fast Passes. The first 2 Fast Passes (the latest of those was an 8:30-9:30 window) had only converted to same day, Magic Kingdom-only FP+s, but the Dumbo FP for 9:05-10:00 PM and Space Mountain for 9:30-10PM both converted to any park, any time including the next day. We went to sleep happy to be set for the next day with: 3 anytime any park Fast Passes, 1 anytime 7DMT FP, a pre-park-open breakfast at Be Our Guest, 3 scheduled evening Fast Passes at Hollywood Studios plus a dinner that included Fantasmic! seats.
Summary:
Animal Kingdom crowd level according to Touring Plans: 3/10
Rides: 6 (plus 2 trails and a show)
Fast Passes: 3 used (Expedition: Everest, Flight of Passage, Kilimanjaro Safaris), 5 more acquired of which 3 could be used next day
Character interactions: 4
Entered park: 8:10am
Photo pass photos: 28
Photos taken on my phone: 166
Photos taken on DH’s phone: 54
Steps according to my phone: 15,226
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That last pic is gorgeous! As were your NRJ pics, but I’m with DS7, I don’t want to ride it (again) either! It’s too late for you but for anyone else reading who doesn’t know, if you refuse mousekeeping then you need to take your own trash out. You still get a daily security check but they don’t do anything while they’re in there.
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That B&W photo pass photo by the Tree of Life is a serious keeper. I’d use it for Christmas cards.
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Is the “late night lotto” where you get a FP for an outdoor attraction when it’s raining at the end of the day and hope it converts to anytime for the following day? At what time approximately does that become the case?
I’ve done the “rainy day lotto” at DLR but rarely if ever have I gotten a FP there from whatever method that was valid the next day, even if it was very late.
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Thanks! I suspected that about the trash but we were always too busy or tired to figure out where it went. Relatedly, I think we only used the mugs that came with the dining plan once or at most twice.
The magic of one of Google Photos’ filters getting rid of my shiny forehead! I was thinking the same, or that it’ll go on the cover of the photo album I’m sloooowly putting together.
That’s it! I think the time at which the FP converts to anytime that day or next day and any park instead of just any time same day same park is park-dependent and closing time-dependent. Our DINOSAUR FP was for 7:30-8:30 and I think park close was 9pm but had maybe originally been 8:30pm. Anyway, according to my email that one converted at 7:47, so getting close to the last hour before close. But MK rides only converted to include the next day if the whole window of the FP was in the last hour before park close.
I think I checked on chat or here that evening and MK had been a mess because the storm was messing with electricity on top of outdoor rides being affected, so a lot of rides were down. DINOSAUR had some sort of electrical problem too. I can’t remember if Rivers of Light actually happened in the storm or not.
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The end is in sight? I only have 3 more days to report on after this one.
Tuesday August 27 Day 12
DH and I woke up early to finish getting us packed up. By 6am I was taking down all the damp clothes I’d hung in the bath.
We were happy we’d brought the cooler and loaded it up last to keep our drinks and the snack credit stuff from the previous night cold until mid-day when we switched hotels. We debated taking the bus to Magic Kingdom and then coming back to get our car to transfer over to the Swan vs. just driving to Magic Kingdom and then from there directly to the Swan. Driving won out, partly because I thought it would get us to Be Our Guest a bit earlier.
At 7:49 we were pulling up to the Magic Kingdom gates, for the first time. We took a wrong turn because of being in the wrong lane near a gas station and ended up looping back in again through the same gate, tapping my magic band with the same guy to show we were (still) entitled to free parking. Then we parked and it seemed like it would be faster to walk forwards to the monorail area than backwards to wherever the parking shuttle pickup was. We never did figure out the name of the lot we were parked in (looking at the map now it was the closest row of Simba, just beyond the closest line of trees in the gigantic lot). By the time we got into the Magic Kingdom DH’s knees were already sore. At 8:23am we were in a Main Street Vehicle headed towards our pre-park open Be Our Guest reservations. The vehicle had to wait on the bridge into the Hub for some dancers to finish their routine which was fine as we were all just relaxing into the day.
I believe the reservations were for 8:25 and I’d hoped to get there at 8am (we’d pre-ordered our food) but with the anytime 7DMT fast pass the urgency to finish breakfast by 8:45 wasn’t there. The castle was extremely pretty and even though there was EMM that morning it was quite empty. We stopped for photos with Cinderella’s well on the way.
When we got to the Beast’s castle we happily proceeded in to the pre-order line and, after a short wait for a group or two before us to be sent in, when she asked for our rose I realized I hadn’t checked in at the booth outside the moat. She said it was ok but to make sure I checked in before we left so that we didn’t get charged as a no-show.
We found a table fairly quickly in the main room, which isn’t as atmospheric as the west wing but certainly has more light. As soon as we had the table I zipped back out to the check-in area to clear the reservation so I couldn’t forget it later. The server who cleared the table for us was walking by 5 minutes later as DS11 wondered out loud how they got the food to the right people. She answered him sweetly, “magic, of course!” Our food appeared magically fairly quickly and it was all good, though I think I liked lunch more.
We finished breakfast and the boys posed with the unicorn tapestry at 9:09.
After a quick bathroom break we were off to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. It felt like the merge point for the Fast Pass queue was fairly early and that they were trying to get reasonable flow through the standby line, but we still didn’t wait more than 10 or 15 minutes.
We all liked the ride but were baffled that people are willing to wait hours for it – we all thought BTMRR and Splash and Space Mountain are better. Only one of the two ride photos worked but I love how DS11 was channeling Grumpy but you can tell he’s actually Happy.
The Winnie the Pooh ride had a reasonably short wait but the kids weren’t interested in it except for posing in his house.
They did want to go on the tea cups though – that was walk-on and they liked it enough that we walked on a second time right after. DH sat that one out because spinny rides make him queasy – I just deployed my dormant ballet training and spotted like crazy when not taking photos. Spotting worked and the ride was still fun – possibly even more so because I felt triumphant.
We walked past Dumbo (no interest from the kids) and Barnstormer was also virtually a walk-on so we did that one twice – it’s definitely a kiddie coaster but a fun one. Everyone was in a good mood and it was starting to get hot but the sky was beautiful.
Seeing the Tron coaster construction from the Barnstormer queue area made us want to come back when it was done, and led to the decision to head to Space Mountain. We could have used one of the anytime fast passes but the wait was only about 20 minutes so we did standby and played the Disney Play app games instead. I liked it even more this time and at least we didn’t look away from the ride camera.
We also rode the Peoplemover and the Carousel of Progress – the Peoplemover wasn’t exciting but it was fun anyway. There was no queue until just as we were about to go up the ramp and they held us at the bottom as the start of a (short) queue because of some loading or unloading issue. I’m not sure if the kids would agree to do Carousel of Progress on a future trip but they didn’t complain. Afterwards it was getting very hot and as we headed back to Fantasyland the kids enjoyed Wonderland Slushes from the Cheshire Cafe while I grabbed a Peter Pan float from Storybook Treats – I liked it but not as much as the raspberry pineapple dole whip slush.
DS11 wanted to fight more Disney Villains so he and I did that while DS7 and DH tried to pull the sword out of the stone. One of the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom windows wasn’t working but we beat Ursula anyway. By this point, after the previous 3 days of visits to MK with us getting 4 packs each time, we had a nearly complete set of SotMK cards and a lot of backup cards.
We meandered over to Frontierland and took the boat over to Tom Sawyer’s Island around noon. I think we spent 30-45 minutes over there. The guns in the fort and the caves were the biggest hits but we also played checkers. DH and I sat in the shade in the fort for some of the gun and cave interaction, and even in the shade I felt like I needed a cooling towel. I didn’t find the teetering rocks that I remember loving at Disneyland’s TSI and just now learned they weren’t implemented in Florida.
Afterwards we rode Splash Mountain again (using an Anytime FP) and started heading back towards Main Street. The muppet’s show had started just as we got back to Liberty Square so we stopped and watched – I’d tried to fit it into our touring plans but abandoned that as being over-scheduled so running across it felt lucky. Any day with Sam the Eagle is a good one.
We got a few more Memory Maker photos with the castle around 1:30pm. The kids checked out a few pin boards on Main Street and we picked up one more set of SotMK cards on the way out and used 2 or 3 snack credits on popcorn and drinks (low snack credit value, but after dinner Monday we’d still had 11 credits to use up by midnight Tuesday) to fortify us for the monorail and walk back to our car. By the time we were checked in and up in our room at the Swan it was 2:30pm.
I don’t know what it is about (former) Starwood hotels but I like them better than other hotels. I liked how the Swan lobby had a table with some pieces of driftwood and maybe coral and a bunch of those giant naturalist books (that photo is from tripadvisor, I think the Coming Soon thing is already a giftshop) and water dispensers with lemons and cucumber infusing the water. I liked the light fixtures in the hall. I liked the smell of the lobby and halls. I liked the view we had from our “high floor” room request, even though the skies were significantly cloudier than in the morning. And I liked that our 3 nights were almost entirely paid for with “free” Bonvoy points from my formerly-Starwood Amex.
We had a quick vote on heading to Hollywood Studios right away to catch Indiana Jones (our FastPass was for 2:45pm for the 3pm show – I think it cleared but we still had 2 anytimes on top of our SDD and ToT FPs so I didn’t care either way) or chillaxing for a bit. Chillaxing won unanimously. At quarter to 4 we were in fresh clothes at the boat launch between the Swan and the Dolphin and ten minutes later we were through the bag check outside Hollywood Studios.
After a brief stop for photos on Hollywood Boulevard we moseyed over to Hollywood & Vine and checked in for our 4:05pm dinner with Fantasmic package. Shortly after the PhotoPass photographer was taking our photo with Minnie and we were being led to our table.
I’d initially booked this for the Friday night, then the Saturday night, and considered dropping it because the food got meh reviews, but it was a great value on the dining plan and ended up being our second or third favourite Disney meal food-wise (after Boma and Be Our Guest lunch). The food and the character interactions both vastly exceeded my expectations. It was comfort food, but it was well-executed and very fresh (the early dinner time probably helped). I really liked the salmon, DH liked the ribs and seafood mac & cheese, the kids probably had corn dogs and desserts and token servings of vegetables. We both liked our glowing Magical Star cocktails and how well DH coordinated with the wall behind him, especially once his drink arrived.
The food really wasn’t the point, though, because Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy in their costumes were so much fun. Mickey and Goofy both came by our table twice, Donald was pranking Mickey, and the costumes gave us a lot more to say to the characters so I got over my person-within-a-furry-suit problems through the extra magic of person-within-a-furry-suit-wearing-another-costume-on-top-of-the-furry-suit.
When we weren’t talking to the characters we were talking to our server about the approaching Hurricane Dorian (which at that point was still forecast to maybe hit Orlando directly) and about the upcoming opening of Galaxy’s Edge. I can’t remember his name but he was great. We also chatted with the couple seated next to us who were celebrating their 40th or 50th anniversary.
Our dinner took about an hour and a half. From there we headed to Slinky Dog Dash around 5:45pm to use our 5:35pm Fast Pass. We all loved it, though DH and DS7 found the bumpy bit a bit queasifying.
But no matter, we scooted over to Toy Story Mania to use another Anytime Fast Pass and boarded the ride just after 6pm. Loved that one too. I don’t think any of us got to 100,000 even but it was fun and, unlike on Buzz Lightyear’s ride, you can tell what you’re targeting.
We knew from Instagram that Equity Ben would be in the 6:30pm Frozen Sing-a-Long and DS11 wanted to catch it, so DH and DS7 agreed to indulge us and we walked at a moderately brisk pace getting into our seats 5-10 minutes before the show started. DS7 wasn’t shy about expressing his opinion of the songs from Frozen.
Some millennials behind us were wondering if Ben was performing and I told him he was, at least according to Instagram. They said he was their favourite and then one of them ruined the moment by saying “I don’t want to sound racist but I hope the white lady is the other historian. She’s just better.” Fun fact: if your sentence starts with “I don’t want to sound X but”, you’re sounding X.
The show distracted us, though, and our enjoyment of the show wasn’t dampened. Ben and whoever plays Aria were both hilarious and singing along was fun too. I recorded most of the between-song bits but you can find very similar things on youtube.
Our Tower of Terror fast pass was for 6:50pm and we were tapping in at 7:10pm. DS7 was a little bit pre-terrified and thinking he might take the sissy exit, but given that Dr. Doom was fine he thought it would be better to stay with us.
Someone really needs to talk to the cleaning staff.
At the point where the queue forks and you’re sent to the elevator on the left or the right we went left, because it looked shorter. But then it turned out that elevator was down (they’d only finished refurbishing and gone back to operating two shafts a couple of weeks earlier) – after we’d waited with no movement for a few minutes the cast members did a great job of telling everyone what was up and that we’d be escorted over to the other elevator. And We Dropped – DS7 didn’t love it but he didn’t hate it either.
It was about 7:50pm now and we were supposed to check in at Fantasmic by 8:15 but we thought we had time for DS11 and DH to use their last anytime Fast Passes on Rock n Roller Coaster and maybe there’d be time afterwards for DS11 to ride it a second time with me (using DS7’s magic band). DS7 and I sat across the courtyard and enjoyed the sunset while I read to him (hooray ebooks). And waited. And took some pictures. And enjoyed the sunset. And waited.
We started to wonder why it was taking them so long but I was holding both phones so I couldn’t text to find out. If I had I would have learned the ride had gone down once they were half-way through the FP queue. DS7 and I ended up walking over to the exit/gift shop to make for a speedier getaway to Fantasmic, and knew they were done before we saw them because their ride photo popped up on the screen. It gave DH a headache but he enjoyed it. DS11 used his breathing through a straw technique and loved it.
At Fantasmic the kids and I opted for front row seats in a section they’d just opened up to people with reservations, with only a pole blocking our view. DH chose to sit two rows back as he didn’t feel like getting splashed. We had the glow-with-the-show wand we’d picked up at the Character Warehouse outlet but I think we forgot to use it for much of the show because we’d put it away when everyone started doing the wave in the last 5 minutes before the show started.
The show was fun – this ended up being the only evening show we saw the whole trip and the villains and drama and the boats of characters were worth staying up for. DS11 approved of the lighter use of fireworks/pyrotechnics.
Climbing up the stairs afterwards we ended up talking to a family from Quebec who were having a great trip too – they laughed when they asked where we were from and we said “Toronto, but we’re really from BC.” (The rest of Canada mostly hates Toronto/Torontonians.) Walking back to the exit after the show there were a lot of people but the Star Wars fireworks had just started so there were still a lot of people staying in the park. I think we squeezed onto the first Friendship Boat or maybe we had a short wait for a second boat.
We still had two snack credits left so when we got to the Swan and Dolphin I pointed DH and the kids at the Swan (or so I thought) and walked over the bridge to Boardwalk to use the credits at the BoardWalk Bakery. After brief deliberation I went for the Mickey-shaped rice krispie treats with chocolate and sprinkles. I took a few photos. It was finally a bit cooler, though still humid – if I hadn’t had people waiting for me I might have stopped to watch the magician in front of the Screen Door. Just as I took the picture of the Dolphin thinking it was the Swan and started to notice “oh wait, that’s not a swan up there”, What’s App pinged me. But Mickey Rice Krispy treats are good peace offerings. And so ended a very good day.
This is funny because in university I rightfully earned the nickname The Navigatrix on road trips with friends, but DH has been skeptical ever since an attempt to use back roads for a short-cut in rural Tuscany (without a proper map, in my defense) not only didn’t get us to where we wanted to go but included driving the wrong way up a cobblestone alley that was so narrow we had to fold in our side mirrors.
Summary:
Hollywood Studios crowd level according to Touring Plans: 1/10
Magic Kingdom crowd level according to Touring Plans: 1/10
Rides: 14 if we include the boat to/from Tom Sawyer’s Island as one ride, plus two shows
Fast Passes: 2 of 3 booked (Slinky Dog Dash, Tower of Terror – didn’t make it in time to Indiana Jones), 4 of 4 anytime FPs (7DMT, Splash, TSM, RnRR) plus Fantasmic dining package
Character interactions: 4
Villains defeated in Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom: Ursula
Entered park: 8:10am (consistently not quite rope dropping)
Photo pass photos: 25
Photos taken on my phone: 194
Photos taken on DH’s phone: 64
Steps according to my phone: 24,519
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