I’m back! We are exhausted, but ROR nerves got the better of me and I did not sleep well. My family will probably never fully understand the weight I’ve placed on myself for this trip!
Day 3: 4/23: AK
Like I said, this was our first ever trip to AK and let me just say, WOW! The theming is out of this world!
I found myself overwhelmed by the scope of this park as a first-timer. I didn’t have the comfort of knowing the layout of the park as well as I did for MK. Even though I studied map after map, it did not help much once we were there, other than knowing which direction things were! We had to use the map often (not a problem).
I had been watching wait times for a few weeks leading into our trip, ran our TP with a few different start times, and ultimately decided a late start would be okay, so we headed for the bust stop around 9:45 and were at the park by 10:15 or so.
We started at the Oasis, soaked in the Tree of Life (hy amazing detail!), and waited about 30 minutes for It’s Tough to be a Bug, which we all REALLY enjoyed!
We then headed to KS and Gorilla Falls. The line for KS was incrediblyong, but it moved fast and the wait was under 30 minutes.
We then ordered lunch, me and my fam from Flame Tree and my mom and brother from Harambe’s. We had our first meltdown while eating - my kids and DH were both visibly crabby. DH was getting short with the kids, and he walked away to grab more BBQ sauce for his sandwich. This turned out to be a big, hilarious mistake. A giant white bird walked right up to his plate and snatched the top bun off of his sandwich. Me and the kids roared with laughter! Honestly, as stupid as it was, it literally wiped the craziness from everyone, even DH! Thank you bird!
After eating, we did Kali, another short-ish wait (under 20) and 3 rides on EE (the kids LOVED it). We waited about 30 minutes for Dinosaur, wandered Dinoland a bit, then headed towards Pandora.
The wait for Navi was minimal around 5:30. Less than 15 minutes. The posted wait for FOP was 55 minutes, but we were on the ride in 35!!!
I will stop right here because that ride took my breath away! Gorgeous and thrilling! Everyone in our party was enamored by the ride, and it is now both DD6 and DD8s favorite Disney ride.
Overall it was a good day, but we were immensely beaten down after. I’m wishing we’d have scheduled a 2nd AK day rather than a 2nd Epcot day, since I feel like we didn’t quite get to soak everything in. Regardless, I’m still glad we did the late start because 1. We still rode everything we wanted to ride with minimal waiting, and 2. We needed the extra sleep!
Day 4: SAB for mom and the kids, Epcot and shopping for me and DH
I won’t say a lot about thos day because we didn’t do much, but I will say our SAB cabana experience was worth every penny! I rented the cabana knowing it would mostly be my mom and brother with my kids for the day. It was perfect for them! They had a place to escape the sun, a refrigerator stocked with drinks and snacks, and a server to grab their lunches and anything else they needed.
The kids were perfect for her and they had an amazing time!
DH and I walked world showcase, then headed to DS for some kid-free shopping (can I just say how glorious it was? LOL). We went back to Epcot for dinner - La Hacienda. It was a wonderful meal!
Now I’m sitting here waiting to try for our BGs! I’ll be back to update!