Finally a Ford! Our Disney Wedding & NYC Trip August 2014 - Day 19 - Animal Kingdom, Movie night POR

[juliab]

Index

Today we were going back to one of our favourite parks Animal Kingdom. After some breakfast we headed on over there arriving just after 9.30. Parked up the Peacock car park. It was yet another sunny and hot day with barely a cloud in the sky, just as it should be in Orlando. We'd not seen rain for a couple of days now.

Decided to walk up to the park entrance as it was so much easier than waiting for the tram. The path up to the park was in the shade so it was a nice stroll, oh how we love to walk

Clear blue sky

It was fairly quiet as we approached the gates and we hoped that it would be nice and quiet inside the park. We had no real plan today apart from the fast passes we'd booked, we just wanted to go with the flow.

As we walked over the bridge we noticed the Wilderness Explorer kiosk. We approached the cast member and she explained all about the book, both Poppy and Jamie had one and she also gave them a sticker. There were various stations located all around the park which involved the kids doing some kind of activity to which they received another sticker for their book. Some of the tasks looked more involved than other but Jamie and Poppy were very keen to take up the challenge.

We continued walking round finally ending up in Africa.

Of course the kids wanted to go on the Safari, it is one of their favourites so we joined the line. Only a short wait before we drove round the African savannah We didn't see as many animals on this occasion, I wondered if it was because of the weather? It was really hot today. We still enjoyed the ride never the less.

We came across our first wilderness station as we came out from the safari We thought that all the cast members were very enthusiastic and very engaging with the children at these wilderness points.



Noticed that the cranes that had obscured the view of the Tree of Life had moved slightly, we had a few photo's took at the photo pass point before heading on over to Asia.

Next up for us was Expedition Everest and I was so thankful that the boys wanted me to ride with them this time...yay! Scott took Poppy to the wilderness point near Everest for another task.

Is this ride amazing or what! I screamed the whole way round but managed to keep my eyes open the whole time as well This is the boy's favourite ride here, it was just a bit too busy for us to ride it again though. Once Jamie had seen that Poppy had acquired a few more stickers in her book - Poppy was keen to show then off - Jamie wanted them too!

Walked back through Asia and stopped off for a few cooling drinks and also a cola float which we drank in a shady spot nearby.

It was feeling hotter and hotter today and we were glad that our next fast pass was for our second favourite ride in Animal Kingdom, yes Kali River Rapids My word the standby queue was so long probably due to the fact that it was so hot. We waited about 15 minutes but still a short time considering. I did try to get a photo of the wave but unfortunately it didn't really come our way.






The one time when we could've done with a right good soaking because of the heat we only managed to get a few splashes haha Never mind we had a laugh at our fellow riders who got soaked through to the skin

Looking a tad bit dry

Spotted a few more wilderness stations as we walked through Asia. Some of these were a little more testing, we had to do some currency conversions on one of them!

Hayden suggested for us to have our lunch at Restaurantosaurus, we all agreed it was a great idea as it's a nice cool air conditioned restaurant. We crossed over the bridge towards Dinoland where the quick service restaurant is located.





Even though it was now lunch time the place wasn't at all busy, we were straight to till ordering our lunch which consisted mainly of burgers and hotdogs. There's also a toppings bar here which is quite good and you get your own drinks from the soda dispensers We found a nice table in the trailer part of the restaurant, it was lovely and cool and a little out of the way so was really quiet. Felt good to sit down for a while

There was an interesting dinosaur badge to be collected on the way out which involved the exploration for dinosaur fossils!

We should have planned the next part of the day a bit better only the kids wanted to visit Rafiki's planet watch which meant a walk back across the park to Africa Actually it didn't bother us too much, we like walking. As we arrived a train had just pulled out but we only had a short wait till the next one arrived





There really is so much to see and do in here which kept the kids busy for ages. They so loved getting involved with all the different tasks, I thought it added a different element to this area and one which we all thoroughly enjoyed

Continued below...

[juliab]

Continued from above...

Poppy wanted to go outside to the petting zoo to see the goats and sheep. Of course they gave the goats a gentle brush whilst there







As we left the affection section Jamie and Poppy picked up another badge for their handbook earning the hand washing award. It was time for us to leave Rafiki's watch, our next fast pass was approaching, we'd all had a lovely time up here and had seen and done lots. The wildlife express train soon came to take us back to Harambe.

It was time to take our first look at the new area Harambe area where the Festival of the Lion King is now located. This is another favourite show of ours, how can it not be with all that fab music.

We joined the fast pass queue which was quite long even though we'd arrived fairly early. Also there wasn't any shade left so we had to stand in the full sun. Had I mentioned how hot it was today - yes I think I have

looking just a little bit hot - and not in a good way

I told the kids to stand in our shade to stop them from getting too hot, we still had a while before the show started. Eventually they opened the doors and the lines started to move.



It was total bliss feeling that cool air as we entered the theatre. We were directed right to the back so had yet another rubbish view, we don't seem to be doing well with the shows and I really can't see the point in having fast passes for them!

At least the kids could see, well they could until the show started. The family seated in front of us decided to sit one of their children (not a toddler) on their knee which totally blocked out Poppy's view :angry:. I tried moving a little over but we were packed in like sardines so couldn't. A cast member must have seen the look on my face as she came over and directed Poppy and me to a couple of seats a little further down. She'd seen what had happened and thought it was unfair for Poppy, how kind was that We might not have all been sat together but at least Poppy could see the show, we were very grateful and we told the cast member so

The show was just as brilliant as ever, the singers are all amazing, the acrobats incredible and the vibrant costumes and set are stunning! Disney at their best



Once outside we found the nearest kiosk, we were in need of some refreshments. I am totally boring and drink water most of the time, well we all do mostly. Jamie spotted these snacks which made a nice change for us



The park felt quite busy now, it was mid afternoon and we were starting to feel that we'd had enough for one day. The heat had definitely took it's toll but before we left the boys wanted to ride primeval whirl as we didn't have time to ride it on our last visit. I took Poppy on her favourite, Triceratop spin





Managed to sneak a couple more photopass photo's on our way out.

We'd had such a fab day in Animal Kingdom but we all agreed that we were in need of cooling swim back at the resort Didn't take long for us to change and we were soon stepping into the lovely main pool at Port Orleans, felt so good

Had a lovely time splashing around and the kids really love the slide there. It was busy but not too much so. Love to hear all the music poolside and there's plenty of pool games and quizzes to join in if you so wish.

After about a hour or so we heard the life guards shouting for everyone to vacate the pool, we were a little puzzled as it wasn't raining, the sky was still clear blue so no lightning nearby? Then I fellow swimmer remarked to us that it was being closed for unscheduled maintenance Thankfully we'd not had a swim in that area of the pool

Poor man, didn't fancy that cleaning job

Told it would be at least an hour until the pool would be properly cleaned and ready for use again so we dried off and went into the food court for some tea.



I had the create your own pasta which was really good , massive portion though, the dessert's are so yummy here too. Kids favourites were the ice creams, I swear you got about 5 giant scoops in each portion, there was always too much for us to eat but we always tried our best

Got showered and changed then came back to have a look round the General store, I couldn't believe that I'd not been in here yet! I was certainly slacking in the shopping department this year! at this point we still had a lot of snack credits left so we set about looking for bags of sweets and other treats which would use them up. We came back home with quite a bagful of goodies.

Poppy checking out the toy turkey legs!

It was a nice change not to be going to either a park or an adr that evening, not that we mind but it was a nice change. We really wanted to have a relax in the resort as it's so beautiful here. There's a movie on every evening so we thought that we'd have a watch of whatever was on. Filled our mugs up first then had a meander over to the viewing area over in the mansion side. We could see the lights and also hear talking, the movie had just started. Turns out that Tuesday night was Frozen night and i thought Hayden and Jamie were going to start moaning about it, but much to my surprise they were fine. Saw the cage with all the towels in so we each picked one up then went to find a spare piece of grass to sit down on.

Well what a lovely experience it was watching the movie under the stars. I noticed that a few people had brought their ice buckets out with a bottle of wine in it. Now why hadn't I thought of that! For some reason I thought that there would’ve been lots of kids running around or people being a little noisy and restless but to my delight everyone stayed sat down and watched the film in relative silence. It’s not like that when we go to the pictures back home lol. Sitting there on the grass and feeling a bit relaxed I started to drop off to sleep! If I'd have laid down that would've been it haha.

Movie finished we took a slow walk back to our room finally getting into bed at 11.00. What a lovely relaxed night we had had, perfect end to the day

Tomorrow - back to Magic Kingdom, Poppy is going to be a princess for the day

[Disneyloverz]

Another fabulous day, it looked super hot and the pool looked like a lovely way to cool down.

Movies under the stars sounds like the perfect way to relax

[mrsdjh]

Another great day - nice to see you got some relaxing time at POR - we are hoping to fit some of that in too.

Diane

[Megandllsmum]

Another brilliant report. . . We enjoyed movies under the stars a couple of times when we went in October, one in our hotel was frozen too that was very popular lol, a lovely experience but at the end of October it got quite chilly towards the end on the movie. . . Nothing a hot chocolate cured though

[collybird]

This is one of my favourite days of your whole trip! Love Animal Kingdom and love your evening spent back at the resort. We often spend our evenings in the room but should really make the effort to go out and catch the movie.

[cdavenport]

Another great day, I could just drink one of those minute maid lemon drinks! A nice chilled out evening, a movie under the stars.

[Lisa29]

See, the snakes are why I have never been over to the Rafiki's bit! I know they can be in the Oasis bit but I always dash through there! Was it out of the way with the handler or was it obvious and something you walked past?

You have made me want to add Restaurantosaurus to my list of places to eat now.

Great day and a very good movie to watch at the end of the day.xx

[jocat]

Sounds like a pretty perfect day all in all. I love the days where there's a bit of relaxation too.

Your photographs are just fantastic by the way. You must have a really hard job deciding which ones to frame now you're home. There's just too much choice!

[Guest]

WHat a fantastic day, I would have cried at seeing that snake though!