A Decade of Disney Dreaming - 2017- Day 25 - A Pandora finale and a night on the beer!

[walt4it]

Welcome back ( once again - I hear you cry!, if I typed at this rate we could have been completed by November! )

Three days in a matter of 48 hours is as good as I get!


Yesterday - is a click here away - a great night at the football


The whole index of days is here


The whole trip is drawing to a close and we are aware that we just wanted to have a finale that really sums up everything that has been so good this year... today did not disapoint


Welcome to DAY 25

Sunday 20th August

Planned FP's today

Na'vi River Journey 11:40 AM - 12:40 PM
Expedition Everest 1:05 PM - 2:05 PM .
Finding Nemo - The Musical 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM



Joe had a long lie in and when he woke at 10.39! He was complaining of a sore ear, both boys have a very, very high pain threshold, so if something like this is mentioned you know it is for real. The long sleep in also alerted us too.

We took the distraction route first.

First, We face-timed grandma and grandad and enjoyed the catch up and then got in the car to get some cash from the Wawa – I love this name of petrol station as it reminds me so much of King Tut’s Wawa hut in Glasgow (such a fantastic place to watch music)

We were then onwards to Animal Kingdom- we used our fast pass for the Navi journey which grows on you each time you ride it. It seems that you notice new things and discover the extra detail in the ride – not a patch on Flight of Passage though!

We then used our ‘golden ticket' fast pass from Epcot on Friday – hope you read about that! -to ride Flight of Passage for the fifth time this trip. Now this piece of paper, having been handed to us on Friday usually comes with certain stipulations – usually you can’t ride the most popular attraction in certain parks – Frozen and 7 Dwarfs are often listed as no goes.

We had nothing blacklisted and as a result we had an opportunity from Epcot that really was a bonus, unfortunately, the CM did not ask us to scan at the queue loading area and so we still had the Golden ticket it in our possession when we got off- we were going to tell ( Honest!) but we forgot that in the rush to get on the ride. We also had the very short preshow which helped.

By now Joe was feeling the pain in his ear so we went to the first aid post for painkillers. They were very helpful.

No USA calpol here , just proper big time painkillers -they did the trick


A Starbucks breakfast stop followed

and we then headed to Everest for our FP and then a single rider ride - at this point a long standing joke with Josh, whose name never seems to appear on the interactive boards on EE or RnR, not today though!

... and then to Nemo for the three o'clock show it was just 2-20 so we got a great seat again.

The show was as incredible, as always, and is our usual farewell to AK ( I did get a FP for Kali) but today, if not this whole trip, belongs to Flight of Passage.

The golden ticket was taken this time, and despite the sound of a screamer- now this was a child who was uncomfortable the very minute he got in the pre-ride video stuff, anxiety was high and so it proved when the ride started - throughout the ride he simply screamed the place down, I felt for everyone riding, if it was their one and only chance of riding they had it well and truly drowned out by a child who should never have been put through this.

Anyway, we bode farewell on a true high, as we were leaving we were taking a picture of the handprints a very helpful CM explained who the handprints belonged to.

We only wanted a photo as it contained the initials of three of us!


These handprints belong to the three creative minds behind the creation of Pandora — The World of Avatar. JC = James Cameron, writer/director of "Avatar," JL = John Landau, producer of "Avatar," and JR= Joe Rohde, executive designer and vice president, creative with Walt Disney Imagineering.

We lingered as long as we could, but with 5 o clock approaching we turned around a said our goodbyes to Animal Kingdom. This park had been given a totally different feel and vibe about it, no longer will it be a half day park like so many people tend to think, possibly because you will spend the other half in the queue for Flight of Passage!

Pandora was just amazing and will remain such a highlight of every holiday from now on. The technology involved in Flight of Passage is incredible, you yearn to go and ride and just marvel in the whole experience, we have been very, very lucky to manage to experience it quite so much on this whole trip. It is something I would queue up for (I don’t do queues!) and I would be prepared to wait more than an hour as the theming in the queue is so good.

Today we left Animal Kingdom and longed to go back one more time, that was not happening but it just showed the power of investing in new rides that immerse you in a film that we have to admit have not really watched that much!
The above photo does show an interesting moving on moment, Josh had taken to being the in park rucksack wearer today, a sign of his growing independence and his coming of age in a Disney way, it was telling though as he made a real effort and this Dad was no longer the sole shoulder bearer of the rucksack

We were heading out for dinner tonight at Miller’s at Championsgate and used a couple of Uber’s to get there – we need a couple as I had nipped out and picked up the Reetser family – who instantly fell in love with the villa!

We enjoyed a great evening with a lot of beers shared and I have to admit, it was good to know we could enjoy beers and then get an Uber back.

Tonight was the chat and talk we missed during the nail-biting of the football yesterday, once again time flew and the realisation that we enjoy our Florida days with our families in exactly the same way.
It was our farewell evening ( or so we thought at the time) it has been so good to see them again and rather fitting that after 10 years our chance illuminations cruise meeting has resulted in so much ever since. I even remembered to take some food pics, although we did have a tech free evening !

We knew our time was becoming limited , our farewell to friends and Animal Kingdom reiterated this. I know it sounds odd but even after 25 days we were not wanting to come home.


See you real soon for Day 26- just click here to read

[DISNEYLIZ]

Great day, shame that the golden ticket was taken from you

[mick]

A great day and nice to spend the evening in good company

Joan

[Palm trees]

fab day, great photos again, your food looks yum!

[Goldia]

Not one but 2 uses of the golden ticket on FOP, I hope you bought a lottery ticket today as well! Plus you squeezed in your favourite show.

It's a funny thing when your kids are growing up isn't it? My DS is now taller than me and his feet are a size 10 so much bigger than mine and then at times he still seems like the toddler he used to be...it's probably the strops he has .

You are doing very well to post 3 updates so quickly, I hope the next week or so isn't too hectic at work for you.

[mouselover22]

Delighted to see another day up so soon

Wow, how jammy were you to get 2 rides on FoP? I've now got the song 'I've got a Golden Ticket' from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory on my head

Lovely evening spent with friends

[flo-tinka]

Wow golden ticket double use
I noticed the rucksack in the pic too, sign of manhood!

[walt4it]

Originally Posted by DISNEYLIZ

Great day, shame that the golden ticket was taken from you

See more...

Shouldn't complain, we were very lucky to receive it in the first place, lucky it was not for restricted rides and lucky once more we got 2 rides from it

Originally Posted by mick

A great day and nice to spend the evening in good company

Joan

See more...

Thanks Joan

The evening was great, but we didn't take hardly and photos

[KittyBlackDog]

Poor Joe, I hope that was a recurring theme 🤒 😥

Another great day, not that we’ve come to expect anything less 😂

How many more days left for this trippy?

[collybird]

The picture of the boys waving goodbye to the Tree of Life made me a bit teary. A wonderful park that we never manage to dedicate enough time to.