Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom! 

Here is our plan for the day. This was another tricky day as it seemed like everything I tried to add, touringplans.com did not like. This is what we ended up with, not knowing how the Pandora stuff would go and I'll update you on it further on. 

Our Animal Kingdom day got off to a very early start as we were rope dropping Flight of Passage as we did not have a fast pass for it. We left our condo right at 7 a.m. and were parked and waiting in the ticket line in no time. We were definitely ahead of the crowd! They let us through the ticket turnstiles around 7:30-7:45 and then we were held at the bridge leading to Pandora. Our experience was exactly like in this blog post.

Scott did walk quickly ahead of us and we weaved up to him through the crowd. We were by this little kiosk so we could park the stroller and let the girls play a bit. We waited here just a little bit until they literally dropped the rope to let us into Pandora. It was actually a little bit fun and the crowd was fine (but we were also towards the front). 

It got a bit tricky as we all entered the pathway leading to queue together so we could do rider switch. The pathways were narrow and not really meant for a double stroller plus people trying to pass you. I was mostly worried about Margie keeping up as it was crowded. Scott and Denise had gone ahead, not knowing we needed our whole party together for rider switch but we caught up to them and could sneak under a queue rope to get together again. The rider switch process went smoothly and soon enough Scott, Denise, and Michael we were on their way to ride their banshee. 

The biggest tip I heard was that your whole party needs to be in the queue to get rider switch because there is quite a bit of walking in a line to get to that point. There were some people who walked up to the rider switch point but then they had to get back into the already formed lined afterward. I heard reports of people saying rider switch took a long time but as long as we had our tickets out to scan who was staying back and riding again, it went smoothly. I was glad I read up on this before because I had not used the program before. 

With the rest of the park in line for Flight of Passage, the girls and I enjoyed using the restroom and exploring the land a bit before literally walking right on to Navi River Journey. It is an awesome ride and it was so fun being in an empty Pandora for a bit. I should note at this time it was only about 8:30 in the morning- the park had not even "officially" opened for the day. 

We caught up with Scott and crew after their ride was finished so I could ride with Michael and Denise on the rider switch. The queue was awesome and it felt great to be breezing by on the fast pass lane. 

At this point we were all smiles, not knowing that we would soon be EVACUATED FROM THE BUILDING!!! Yes, you heard me right. We were right in the room, almost ready to link with our banshees when they said there has been an emergency and the whole building needed to be evacuated. The pre-show had been taking quite a bit longer than usual, so I had wondered if something had been up. I immediately thought of a worst case scenario type situation and so we hustled to make our way out of the building and through the backstage area until we were back in front of the ride. We hightailed it out of pandora, texting Scott we'd meet him at Dinosaur.

It turns out he was evacuated from Navi River Journey as well, I think the buildings are connected. I just knew if it was a real emergency, our job was to make sure we were out of the way. It turns out it was just a tripped fire alarm, but we didn't know that at the time. Lots of people were upset and I was, too. I'm happy that everyone got to ride it- I would have felt worse if I insisted I rode it first and made others lose out on their turn. Both rides ended up being down for the majority of the morning, making the rest of the park seem more crowded. 

I had never done Dinosaur before so it was neat to finally do it. Scott rode with the girls, too. Our ride photos didn't show up from photo pass so you'll just have to take my word on it that we really rode it. It was still a walk on at this time, later waits were up over an hour. 

We planned to ride the Triceratops Spin ride while we were in Dinoland but that was down as well. Primeval Whirl also had a very long wait so we took the extra time we had until Nemo started at 11 to enjoy the Boneyard play area. I had never been in there before and it was really fun. 

It was nice to have a bit of time in our plan to let the kids blow off steam, otherwise we would have totally skipped this. 

We queued up for Finding Nemo around 10:30 and Scott ran to get us some snacks. Our first Mickey Pretzel! This plus popcorn and cokes all improved our mood immensely. 

I had never seen the Nemo show either and it was so adorable. The kids loved it, too. Great music! 

Continuing in our circle around the park, we used our fast passes for Expedition Everest with rider switch. Michael rode it both times, with a bribe that he could pick out a toy afterward (he chose a yeti, of course). This coaster is one of my favorites, very intense and fun. I'm glad Michael was brave enough to do it, now that we are home he says it was his favorite. 

We had a bit of time before our reservation at Tusker House but not quite enough time to do another attraction or an animal trail walk. It was also evident at this time that the park was packed and the respite from the crowds at Tusker House was very much welcome! 

The kids loved meeting the characters although they were sad there was no Minnie. Daisy was a good substitute. All their safari gear was so cute! The good was very good at Tusker House although not much selection for kids. They filled up on fruit, beverages, and desserts and I enjoyed all the unique flavors that were unexpected. In contrast to our meal at the castle, we were the first table to be greeted so it was a hustle to get out of seats as soon as the character entered the room. We enjoyed it!



The safari was next although we had to push our way through the bottleneck right outside of the restaurant made worse by the seemingly continual African dancing band gathered in the street. Ugh! The fast pass line was long for this too but it moved quickly. I got a little short with a lady when I stopped near the front of the line and she told me the end was way back there. Like duh, I know it was a little busy in the park that day I was just pausing there for a second you are so helpful geeze. 

I loved how much the girls liked the safari and it was fun being in the back row of the truck (although bumpy!). I didn't take too many photos and just enjoyed the ride. Our tour guide (or was it a recording?) was awesome, so delightful and also informative. "If you see a lion at night, it means they have already seen you." and "Male lions are pretty much stay at home dads while the moms go out and hunt." 

Unfortunately, our timing of lunch, the safari and our fastpasses for Navi River did not line up with the right showing of Festival of the Lion King and we had to skip it. It is one of my favorite shows, I cried the first time I saw it. I had wanted to see it in its new location (if you still consider it new- I hadn't been there yet) but it just wasn't in the cards this time. We DID enjoy the secret path that goes from Lion King to Pandora, no crowds at all and it was very enjoyable. 

We used our fastpasses for Navi which in hindsight is pretty funny since the girls rode it a total of three times and Scott and I twice. It's a great ride! We had also promised Michael we'd look in the shop and Denise wanted her bubble tea (wowzas! it was probably the sweetest thing I'd ever had). 

Michael loved these banshees and a cast member was nice enough to let him try it out on his shoulder. They are really neat and you can control them with a little remote that works with air, no batteries needed. 

This was meant to be another "short" day but it was almost dinnertime by the time we got back to our resort thanks to a hold up at the front of the park at guest relations to retrieve Margie's bag the photographer took from her for our photo and then forgot to give back. We enjoyed some pool time of course and a nice dinner at our condo. 

 

We were pooped and had an early wake up the next morning for our second Magic Kingdom day! 

p.s. I was so happy to revisit my favorite photo location in Animal Kingdom where one of my favorite photos was taken of Scott and I way back in 2006. Things look a bit different these days! 

On our first trip, I never wore shorts because I thought my legs were "fat". It was also the first time I ever got a spray tan. I carried that huge bag about with me the whole trip because it had my unofficial guide BOOK in it that I carried around with me.  I also remember distinctly taking this photo with the timer on my Canon Elph camera, I loved that thing. 

Now I carry a bigger camera but a smaller bag, still love a good spray tan, and we have a few more people to include in our photo. :)