Who is on deck?! Including Srentmee trip report!

It was there when I was at WL 2 days ago

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Can we still use gardengrocer?

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Yes you can. A lot of DVC owners also use this company:

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Their website shows as still available, I just don’t think Bell services will deliver anymore. It might just be that you have to pick it up there instead of them bringing it to the room. After vaccines come out that may go back though.

Also, what’s nice about Bell Services is that they have a fridge/freezer so milk etc doesn’t spoil

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My friend works in Animal Kingdom and he is in the stroller rental area. He gets a collection of pins and had a small board for them.

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I believe reports on chat have confirmed that bell services will deliver to your room but you need to call from your room and there is a charge (added last year?).

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My daughter is 5 and my son is 3.5. He passed out yesterday for about an hour in the stroller but other than that no naps for either. He will usually take a nap at home and she will take a nap about once a week…but they’ve been sleeping like logs at night

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Just seeing this now but will snap pic tomorrow

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He wasn’t much better with his packing this time and I ended up pulling out of his suitcase: two big bottles of mosquito repellent, some subtraction flash cards (he can count to 30 and spell his name), a 100 piece lenticular puzzle (it was Disney themed in his defense) and his “binoculars” among other things. I was able to convince him that we didn’t need most of this but he insisted that he needed his “binoculars”

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As a former preschool teacher, I can speak to the importance of these binoculars. :rofl:

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Thanks for these resources! I did notice that they seem to be more on display/out and easy to see at AK today vs. the other parks so far. Also, both kids have gotten pretty confident about asking the cast members located at the entrance to whatever store we might be passing if they have a pin trading board.

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Tom Sawyer Island was not crowded. 3 parties per raft with the social distancing and we did not wait for the raft either direction. The kids enjoyed it…but with a lot of things, I feel like I’ll only know how much they enjoyed it about 6 months from now when they start some sentence with: “Mommy do you remember when…(event/place)… I really liked that, can we (go there/do that) again.”

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Also, to answer your other question, I was just trying for science as I remember hearing of plenty of instances pre-covid where people had scanned into HS and then left the park and gotten a boarding group from elsewhere. So I figured why shouldn’t that work with the 2 PM drop as well

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That seems completely reasonable

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Wed 9/23, Day 4
At the bus stop by 8 am for 9 am AK opening. First bus came at 8:20 am. We were having difficulties with the internet connection at the bus stop and ended up giving up on DD’s 8 am kinder zoom meeting after about 10 minutes. Through the gates and setting up rider switch at FoP by 8:50. I had forgotten to use rider switch for this ride when we were here two months ago because it was only a 10-15 minute wait, so DH and I both just waited through the line with DD and I didn’t give it. second thought until after. The crowds are definitely more than they were at the end of July. It is kind of nice because at times, the emptiness of the parks in July felt eerie. However, the increased wait times, while still totally not terrible, have me jonesing for the return of FP+. We also are not riding particular rides repeatedly like we did 2 months ago.

“The pterodactyl ride” (FoP) became DD’s favorite ride after she rode it for the first time in July. It is also my favorite as there is no other ride that so reliably makes me grin. I left DH, DD and Grammy to ride FoP while DS and I headed to KRR. This is the reward for heading to Kali River first thing in the morning.



Unfortunately KRR and EE were experiencing delayed openings so we headed over to Africa with the plan to have the others meet us for KS after they finished FoP. While the posted time for KS continued to read 10 minutes, the line grew quickly and once it turned the corner around Tusker House and started to extend down to The Lion King Theater, it was time to adjust the plan again.
We decided to get some WE badges and watch the bug show in the tree.


Then we did a couple more WE stations and watched the 10:30 bird show. Just as the bird show was finishing up around 10:55, KRR opened and so we went and rode that as a walk-on. Next it was time for an ice cream break and then Maharajah Jungle Trek. While on this trail, I proposed to my daughter that DH and/or Grammy could take her to do The Animation Experience while I took her brother on KRR a couple more times. She has loved this drawing class every time she has done it in the past. She informed me that she wanted to skip it this time and that the only thing she and her brother were interested in doing was WE badges and pin trading. Figured I could work with that. So I sent DH and Grammy to the sacred space for libations while I took the kids on the train to conservation station to do the WE stations out there, with a plan to meet up at Satuli for lunch afterwards. I’ve yet to visit the sacred space myself but with all the lips-zipped fanfare it gets here I figured it would be the perfect midday kid break for them. DH got the gin based drink and Grammy the rum based one.

Kids found a pin trading board in Africa once we arrived back from Conservation Station, and also determined that they both needed misting fans. Given that this was the last day of relatively nice weather before returning to highs of 89 tomorrow, I gave in. Met DH and Grammy at Satuli just as they were picking up our order. I like Satuli way better than Flame Tree BBQ.


After lunch, DD and I used the rider switch we’d set up earlier to ride FoP while the other went to ride Triceratops Spin. Caught winged encounters while heading over to Dinoland to rejoin the others.

Did the WE station there and pin trading in the Dinosaur gift shop.

They decided they needed to wash this dinosaur.

DS, who, just the other day claimed that Journey into Imagination and the Nemo ride at Epcot are “too scary,” decided that he wanted to ride Dinosaur.

By this time it was 4:15 pm with a 5 pm close and I wanted to ride EE so DH and I rode this (1st row yay) with a 10 minute wait while kids and Grammy did the Asia WE stations. Decided to ride KS and got in line 5 minutes before park close. Have always done AM safaris in the past and there were not as many animals as we are used to seeing but it was still good. Was stuck in one place for about 10 minutes due to rhinos in the road several safari vehicles in front of us so we did not get off this ride until 5:40. DD wanted to take one last photo with her brother on the way out.


Got to the very front of the park and DS dropped his misting fan and it no longer would work so I sent the others on to the bus while I jogged back to the nearest shop to see if they would let me switch it out for one that worked. The cast member had no problem with this so I jogged back to meet them at the bus stop with a working fan and got there right as the bus pulled up. I don’t expect these things to last long but had been hoping they would at least be able to use them for the rest of the trip. Kind of like bubble wands, they are fun, but made to break.

Changed as soon as we got back to the room and headed to SAB. Played for about 2 hours and then shower, late dinner in room and bed. The sand bottom/shallow sand area is so nice and my kids love it. They’ve been in the ocean in NJ and loved it and in lakes at home and I’m thinking I want to take them somewhere like Destin (for the long stretches of shallow water or Sanibel Island for the shells). I would love to hear other suggestions of good beaches for small kids. I should also probably mention that one of my top irrational parenting fears is “rogue wave.”

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Rogue waves or sneaker waves - eek! I don’t know that it’s irrational, I fear them also. We went to the US Virgin Islands (St. John) a few years ago. Heavenly beaches, beautiful water, no waves. Would love to go back!

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Sounds like a great day!

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Those binoculars are hilarious :rofl:
Wonderful pictures from AK!

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Got to show my family just how weird I am when I recognized @SteveBloom in the line in front of us today

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We have those same binoculars but they’re more beat up.

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