Love the Safari photos!
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Go for all the rides you want!
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You made an honest mistake. Someone once bragged that he knowingly bought middle seats counting on someone changing seats so that person wouldn’t have to babysit their 3 year old.
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There is a story behind this picture that I’ll tell later.
Not right next to the window, but close enough to see the animals (when they’re out there). We’ve seen zebras and those funny looking birds (no offense).
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Be sure to go out to the viewing area after dinner! Usually there is a CM there with info on the animals. I love it, but my kids just shake their head at me because I will talk to anyone.
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Ok here goes.
We stayed on track with our touring plan all day today - not following it exactly, but everything was taking the right amount of time to finish on time.
But we arrived to our last ride (FoP) just a little later than I had hoped. Since we have to do rider swap, we always need a bit extra time. Unfortunately, the queue was exactly how long Disney said, not shorter as TP was indicating. We had a Sanaa reservation for 5:05 and I was hoping to be heading for the bus stop by 4, but in reality we didn’t head there until 4:20.
We walked as fast as we could but with four kids, a stroller, and throngs of people it was quite a hike. The AKL bus stop was the very last one. There was a bus there. I ran ahead of my family and arrived at the queue just as the driver closed the doors. I tried to flag him down but he pulled away. My family walked up behind me and we rued our bad luck.
We waited another tortuous 35 minutes before the next bus came, all the while ticking down the minutes till our ADR. The kids were growing impatient. Thankfully a thoughtful CM told us a bus was coming and even pointed out which on it was (it was turning around to go the right direction into our queue). The wait was made a little longer by two ECVs that needed to be loaded. The driver was a rookie being trained so he had help, but was also kinda slow doing things.
We were finally able to load and were seated and it was a few minutes after 5:05. I knew we had a 15-minute grace period. At about 5:11 we pulled away from the station and made the short drive to Kidani. All the while I was watching the clock and waiting for the very last minute to check in.
At 5:19 (the last possible minute) we were pulling into the Kidani bus stop (thank goodness it is the first one they come to). I checked in via the app (and was able to add the 8th person to my 7-person ADR! You can add up to one more upon Checkin) and we got off the bus.
As we were walking into the hotel, I got the “table ready” notification. We rushed to the elevator and went down the hall to Sanaa and were taken to our table. Phew! I sat down exhausted after a stressful hour.
On the one hand, if one thing had gone a little faster today (maybe not losing DD’s shoe?), we would have made it on that first bus. On the other hand, if one thing hadn’t gone as smoothly, we would have been late to our ADR and may not have been let in (who knows?). Two minutes one way or the other.
The bread service was totally 1000% worth it though.
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Yeah…I get SUPER grumpy pants when “two minutes either way” goes terribly wrong.
My marriage is only still a thing because I stopped trying to plan down to the minute years ago. Doesn’t mean I still don’t want to (or share anxiety when someone else’s plans cut it close, seriously I had a physical reaction of an increased heartbeat when I read that story!)
I am in constant awe of those of you who can plan without turning into complete a-holes! Especially with a carload of littles! There it is again…my heart can’t take this.
Totally making a special trip for the bread service somehow.
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I’m one of those that’s on the phone to the restaurant as soon as that bus pulls away without me. It drives my travel companions crazy, but I always want myself covered in case that two minutes does go wrong. I’ve never done that rush with kids though and I’m impressed by your abilities!!
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I should have thought to do that! Would have been less stressful. I was looking up bus phone numbers and trying to find on the app where it gives bus arrival times. The app only has departure times from the hotels to the parks, not from the parks to the hotels. And the next one coming to AK wasn’t leaving until 5:15 so I knew that one wouldn’t work for us if it arrived at AK at 5:25 or so.
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Your day has been awesome, filled with fabulous memories, smiles, laughter, and yummy food! Who’s vacation doesn’t have a few hiccups each day? Relax for tomorrow’s adventures.
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Oh man I hate being In Situations like that. So stressful! Seems like most Disney restaurants are flexible atleast.
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Wait! This is the sacred space??? I’m kidding. Were you able to find the mythical “Jafar” that @OBNurseNH keeps talking about?
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I am so late to this thread. Hopefully can keep up going forward. Excited to follow along.
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Just when I was thinking I could be friends with you, too.
Shame.
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You know I’m kidding! I do want to go to the Sacred Space now that I know more about it.
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Technically, @OBNurseNH did provide a photo of Jafar in the Rock during her recent trip.
Although, I could be wrong. Could have been the Back Side of Rock.
I’m old, I get confused…
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Me too. I neglected to make time for it last trip, but plan to make it next time!
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Your pictures are great! Glad everything is going so well. I can hardly wait for your HS days!!
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