Imagine, Just One Birthday Every Year ~ October 2018 ~ Day 9 ~ Shopping and Animal Kingdom

[DisneyDaffodil]

'You want thingamabobs? I got twenty. But who cares? No big deal. I want more.'~Ariel, The Little Mermaid

Index here

Today was the day that Rob would have hated the most if he was with us: the girly shopping day. We took it slow this morning when we woke up, as we weren't in a rush to go shopping early. I had taken ages to fall asleep the night before because I was very achy from falling over that day. We woke up around 8am, got ready and went down to the food court to fill our resort mugs with coffee.

We ordered a Lyft so that we would be in Orlando International Premium Outlets at around 10am, when the stores opened. Lyft worked really well for us and only cost around $15 to the mall. Our driver was friendly and doubled checked that it was the mall we wanted when we got in the car, which was reassuring as we all knew that we were going to the right place.
Our first shop when we reached the mall was Disney Character Warehouse. I had found out about this a few months before we went to Disney and I knew that I wanted to go there. We had heard that it can get quite busy in these shops but when we were there, it was quite quiet and there were no queues to pay.
We spent ages in here and were really thrilled with the discounts and the variety of items in here. Both of us got great bargains and I also managed to buy some Christmas presents for Rob and Georgia.
I bought a Disney World three quarter length sleeve American flag themed t-shirt which cost me $7.99. I also bought a Mickey animal print beach towel for $9.99, which I thought was a great price for this and I can't wait to use it on another holiday this year Finally I bought a WDW 2018 fridge magnet that Georgia spotted at the till for only $0.99.

For Christmas presents, I bought Rob a Man United football shirt that was on sale in Character Warehouse for $26.99. I was really thrilled with this and I knew he would be too. We did spend a long time looking at the different sizes and figuring out which would fit him. Thankfully we bought the right size and it fits perfectly. Georgia chose three t-shirts for herself that I paid for her and gave her as Christmas presents. The first was a long sleeved grey Alice in Wonderland top that says 'Lost in Wonderland' with Alice falling on it. This cost $14.99 and was originally around $40. The second one she chose was a Black Widow t-shirt (which I had looked for in my size and unfortunately they didn't have) which cost $9.99. Finally, she chose one of the Epcot 35 t-shirts with the world flags on the Epcot logo. This cost $8.99 and was originally $27.99

I paid (with tax) $85.13 for all of this and I was really pleased as it included Christmas presents.
I went a little overboard in here. I bought two t-shirts. The first was a yellow Figment Epcot 35 t-shirt that cost me $9.99. I was very excited about this one, as I love Figment so much and hadn't expected to see anything like this in the Character Warehouse. The second one was a maroon Mad Hatter long sleeved t-shirt that I paid $14.99 for and was originally around $40. I bought a lot of pins here. I bought 5 of the Shanghai Disney Opening Day pins for $0.99 each: Goofy, Tigger, Daisy, Chip and a snowglobe style pin with Daisy and Donald. I also bought a Splash Mountain Laughing Place pin for $6.99, which I loved as we had gone on Splash Mountain for the first time the day before. The final pins I bought were the Nightmare Before Christmas lanyard set of 4 pins. I only paid $14.99 for this set and it would have originally cost $30. This was my favourite thing that I bought as I had wanted to buy a Nightmare Before Christmas pin in the parks and now I had bought 4 of them that I really loved for about the same price of one pin. The last three things that I bought were an Avengers mug for $5.99, a Mickey and Minnie postcard for $1.99 (originally $5.99) and Frozen Magic-Band its for $0.99 (which I could only fit one of on my Magic Band as I have very small wrists). Overall, I paid around £50 for all of this
(I've lost my receipt so can't remember how much it was in dollars)

We had spent around an hour in Character Warehouse, which we were very grateful that Rob hadn't been with us for as he would have become very bored The Nautica store was across from Character Warehouse and I wanted to look in here so we went there next. There was lots of nice clothing in here, for men and women. I did buy myself a hoodie with a boat on the back for $41.70 and it would have originally cost $69.50 without the 40% sale discount.

We looked in Skechers but we didn't really like anything. I then went in to Tillys and bought a black t-shirt with cherries on it for $7.48 which was originally $17.99. I also bought a set of 9 pairs of earrings for $2.39 (originally $8.99)

Next was the shop that I was looking forward to most (after Disney Character Warehouse of course): Forever 21. We had been to a Forever 21 on our second trip to Florida and I had bought only a skirt and socks but I was really excited to go there this time. I wish we had Forever 21 stores in the UK nearer to us, as I like actually trying on clothes before buying them instead of online shopping. As Georgia bought two skirts, two jumpers and four pairs of socks here, we decided to split it and I would buy her half for Christmas. I bought myself a black jumper with a small red heart cut out ($14.90), a red and black check zip up short skirt ($19.90) and a pair of corgi socks and a pair of turtle socks ($1.90 each).

I paid for her to have a red and checked Yokohama race hoodie ($19.90), a black and white dogtooth short skirt ($17.90), panda socks and fox socks ($1.90)

Georgia had spent a lot of time in here too, trying on clothes and looking around and by this time I was really starting to ache down the whole of the right side of my body as that is where I had hurt when I had fallen the day before. Georgia had been carrying all of the bags of things we had bought as she didn't want me to hurt myself carrying them (Which was hard work as we had bought a lot. I now understand how Dad feels when he carries the bags when we're out shopping at home) We decided that we were both starting to get tired and hungry, so we decided to go to the food court for lunch and a rest.
We decided to get food from Charlie's Philly Steaks, as we had ate here when we had last visited a mall in Orlando and had loved it. This is one of the foods I miss most at home. They're so delicious and taste like nothing we have over here. I had the chicken philly steak, fries and I think I had the strawberry lemonade. I had the Philly cheesesteak, fries and the blueberry lemonade. These were delicious and very filling but we managed to eat it all. The lemonades are really unique here, as they have whole pieces of fruit in them to create the flavours and this makes them refreshing. This meal cost $22 for both of us, which was great value for how much food we had.

After lunch, we went back to shopping. Our next two stops were Vans and Converse, where we didn't find anything that we were looking for (I was trying to find Vans sunglasses for my son but they didn't have any of the style he likes) We then went to Charlotte Russe where I bought two t-shirts. The first one was green and stripey which was originally $19.99 and I paid $9.99. The second one was a short sleeved hoodie which was originally $15.99 and on sale for $9.99 I bought a vanilla scented perfume in here for around $5.

I tried on two dresses in DKNY that were hugely discounted to around $20-$30 each, however they did not look nice on which was disappointing. I browsed around Tommy Hilfiger and was tempted by a backpack but realised it wasn't actually big enough to carry all of the things I would need it to. We looked around a few more bag shops and clothes stores but didn't find anything else we liked.
We finally went in to Bath and Body Works. We spent a long time in here, smelling everything. I was disappointed afterwards that I didn't buy more in here but I was starting to get too tired to shop so I only bought a warm vanilla hand soap, which smells amazing. I bought the Velvet Sugar body mist which is usually $14 and I only paid around $7. I wish I had bought another one of these, as they had different scented ones.

I was now loaded down with bags so we decided it was time to go back to French Quarter. We used the free wifi outside Starbucks to order our Lyft then walked out to the front so that he could pick us up. This was really easy to do and the driver picked us up almost immediately. We travelled a different route back to our hotel this time but we really enjoyed it as we travelled along International Drive and past the hotel where we had stayed near Universal the year before.
Our driver was quite confused when we got back to French Quarter, but we had to show our Magic Bands to the security man at the gate and when my band wouldn't scan, he just asked our name and room number and confirmed it that way. It was very simple and we were easily dropped off by the lobby.
We went back to our room to get our resort mugs and to drop the shopping off. We got drinks from the food court and looked at the pumpkins that had been decorated by the Cast Members at French Quarter.

We then sat on the bench outside of the Food Court to drink our drinks while I phoned Rob. I was really thirsty as I hadn't had much to drink so entertained myself by going back and forth the food court and getting different flavoured lemonades. By the end of the day I had drank 5 different flavoured lemonades that day: blueberry, peach, raspberry, strawberry and pink lemonades.
After sitting around here for a while,we showered and changed and caught the bus to Animal Kingdom for the evening.

This was the evening we had originally planned to spend in Epcot but had changed as we wanted to see Rivers of Light. We had changed our FPs to Kali River Rapids, DINOSAUR and Expedition Everest. We had checked for Flights of Passage FPs but unfortunately, they hadn't been available (as we had expected really).
When we arrived in Animal Kingdom around 5pm we had some Photopass photos taken outside and by the Tree of Life.

We had to walk quite quickly over to Dinoland for our first FP for DINOSAUR. However, when we got over there we found out that the ride was closed. We were really disappointed and we weren't sure what to do now. We wandered around Dinoland for a while, trying to decide and watching a few of the Duck Tales meet and greets. We decided to have food now and see if DINOSAUR was working after our food. We knew that we would have to miss our next FP for Kali River Rapids but our FP for DINOSAUR had changed so we could use it on anything (expect the Pandora rides). If DINOSAUR hadn't been running again, we would have used the FP for Kali River Rapids.
We didn't really know where to eat but Restaurantosaurus was nearby. I fancied chicken nuggets and they served them so we decided to go here, even though we hadn't read great reviews about it. I thought the theming inside this restaurant was cool and my 7 year old cousin would have loved it because of the dinosaur theme.

I ordered the breaded shrimp and chicken nuggets and a Bud Light to drink.I had the grilled chicken BLT with the iced mocha to drink. We both went to the toppings bar where I was very excited and got lettuce, mayo, ketchup, ranch dressing and the thing I had really wanted but not expected to find in Disney: fried onions. I think Mum was a bit confused that I filled one of the sauce tubs with fried onions and brought them back to the table to just eat as a side I just got rocket, mayo and ranch.

I really enjoyed the chicken and shrimp but the fries were a bit cold. My meal was underwhelming, as the chicken was hard on the outside and not very tasty. I did love my sides and sauces though. My iced mocha was also delicious.
We decided to sit outside on the veranda to eat here and it was a big mistake. The music playing here was very loud and very annoying. It was all dance music and they even played a dance remix of 'Let it Go' It was strange to say the least.
After our meal we went back to DINOSAUR to see if it was open again and luckily for us, it was. So, we used our FP to ride this. I asked Georgia if she would sit on the outside instead of me, as I find this more bumpy than the inside and as I was still a bit achy from my fall I didn't want to make it worse. This was more terrifying than I had expected it to be. I've never sat on the outside before and although I didn't find it any more bumpy, I was petrified as I was so close to the dinosaurs and everything happening around us. If you've never sat on the outside on DINOSAUR, you really should as it's so different to sitting in the middle and I just can't explain why. It was really fun and more intense than usual.

After we left DINOSAUR, we had quite a lot of time before our Expedition Everest FP. We watched the Dinobash dance party with Chip and Dale in their cute little dinosaur outfits! We then went on Triceratop Spin, which we'd never been on before as we hadn't thought it was worth doing as two adults. However, we did find it really fun and enjoyed the views over Dinoland.

After this we walked over for our FP for Expedition Everest. It was just starting to turn dusk and we stopped to have our photos taken by a Photopass photographer. This was another really interesting photo as they had a lantern to have photos taken with and the photographer was very interested in taking the photographs.

We then joined the FP line for Expedition Everest. We were really excited to be able to do this ride again as we had loved it so much the first time we'd rode it this trip. However, this time seemed more frightening than the first time. As we were heading up the mountain, we saw the beautiful sunset all over Animal Kingdom and further out over Epcot and Hollywood Studios. It was stunning and I wish I'd been able to take photos of it but I didn't have my camera out obviously. Then, just as the ride was about to go backwards, it stopped. We were waiting for about a minute for the ride to start again and we were anticipating when we were actually going to start going backwards. When the ride did start up again, it seemed to go a lot faster and a lot scarier this time (although it was probably exactly the same it just seemed it as we had been waiting for it). Again, we loved it and came off of the ride laughing and grinning.

It was now time for us to go see Rivers of Light. It was a little early, but as we had missed it on a previous visit to Animal Kingdom, we wanted to be sure that we would get to see it this time and get good seats as it looked so beautiful. We first stopped off to get ice creams to eat while we watched the show. I had the Mickey ice cream sandwich and I had the Mickey ice cream bar. In retrospect, it was too early to get these ice creams, as we had to walk around to the entrance to Rivers of Light and they had already started melting when we got to our seats.

It took us a while to find where to enter the Rivers of Light seating area but when we went in there wasn't many people in there. It was around 7pm, so we had half hour to wait for the show. It didn't really feel like half hour though as we ate our ice creams, chatted and had a nice sit down.
We also spent quite a bit of this time cleaning my handbag and realising that my dress was covered in chocolate. Those melty ice creams had caused a bit of a problem and Georgia had managed to drop some of the chocolate of hers onto my bag and dress. Luckily for her, she'd not dropped any on herself. I was a little annoyed as this was the second bag this trip that had been ruined (as the chocolate stain did not come out of the bag or my dress completely) and this was a more expensive bag than the Primark one earlier in the holiday I was upset because I'd lost chocolate off my ice cream.
It was now time for Rivers of Light. Before our trip we hadn't known what to expect really from this show, as we'd heard so many mixed reviews and we don't watch videos or look at photos before we see it ourselves. I was really glad I hadn't seen anything before for this show as it really amazed me to see it for the first time. It was so colourful and had such a good message. Personally, I found it very emotional as the whole concept of caring for and appreciating nature is very important to me, as this is what I want to do for a career in the future. I loved the music in it, and I felt it had a similar vibe to Lion King. I agree with Georgia that the colours of Rivers of Light were stunning. I also found it very peaceful and calming as this show is so visually beautiful as it displays the wonders of nature. I understand why it might not be to everyone's taste and why it may not appeal to some small children, but it brings a whole new experience to Disney's night time entertainment that we loved. It still has that classic warm-hearted feeling of Disney, but doesn't have that magical 'Disney' story to it such as Happily Ever After and Fantasmic have, which is why it might not appeal to everyone.

We were so pleased that we had changed our plans to watch this tonight. This show would be a must-do on any future trips as I loved it so much.
We slowly wandered out of the park, stopping to watch the lights show on the Tree of Life. This particular show was about a fox and it continued the same relaxing theme as Rivers of Light.

After this we made our way out of Animal Kingdom. I was really sad to be leaving here for the final time of the trip and there were a few tears in my eyes. On our previous Orlando trip, I hadn't really appreciated Animal Kingdom and would probably have said it was my least favourite park but this time was totally different. With the new additions of Pandora and Rivers of Light, and the rides that we tried for the first time, I really loved Animal Kingdom and now that I'm home, this is the park that I wish I was back in.

When we arrived back in French Quarter, we went to the shop for me to buy a Budweiser. We were a little hungry when we were there so used a snack credit for a bar of chocolate to share. I then went to the food court to fill up my resort mug.
We sat in the room, drank our drinks and ate our Waffle Cone Caramel chocolate bar (which was delicious and we decided we needed to get one to take home with us too with snack credits that we had left at the end of the holiday)

We went to bed around 10:30pm, ready for our day in Magic Kingdom tomorrow.

Step Count: 21,700

[collybird]

Love seeing all your purchases, I especially like the grey Epcot t-shirt.

[collybird]

Georgia, I finally sorted out my pins. I have these from the Couples set.

[Palm trees]

You got some great bargains. I'm glad you enjoyed rivers of light, I'm looking forwards to seeing it on my next trip as we had a timing fail last time which meant we only caught some of it from the bridge

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by collybird

Love seeing all your purchases, I especially like the grey Epcot t-shirt.

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Georgia just needs some sunshine now to wear the t-shirts 😂

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Palm trees

You got some great bargains. I'm glad you enjoyed rivers of light, I'm looking forwards to seeing it on my next trip as we had a timing fail last time which meant we only caught some of it from the bridge

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That’s what happened to us on our first day there, we are so pleased we made the time to go back though (even though it meant missing our Test Track fp in Epcot 😀 ) I think RoL is totally different from any other show and as you can tell, we loved it 😀

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by collybird

Georgia, I finally sorted out my pins. I have these from the Couples set.

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Georgia would love to trade if you want one of her trader pins. She isn’t very well this weekend, we spent yesterday at hospital as they suspected she had appendicitis but thankfully she hadn’t, but she still feels unwell.

If she feels well enough she will take a picture of her pins and put on here tomorrow. Thanks Collybird 😀

[collybird]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

Georgia would love to trade if you want one of her trader pins. She isn’t very well this weekend, we spent yesterday at hospital as they suspected she had appendicitis but thankfully she hadn’t, but she still feels unwell.

If she feels well enough she will take a picture of her pins and put on here tomorrow. Thanks Collybird 😀

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Absolutely no rush at all.

Get well soon Georgia! xxx

[Goldia]

What a great haul. I'm loving the look of the yellow figment t shirt.

I was worried you weren't going to get on dinosaur. I'm glad you made it in the end.

Sorry to hear that Georgia has been poorly. I hope she's feeling much better by now.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Goldia

What a great haul. I'm loving the look of the yellow figment t shirt.

I was worried you weren't going to get on dinosaur. I'm glad you made it in the end.

Sorry to hear that Georgia has been poorly. I hope she's feeling much better by now.

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We had a brilliant shopping day, so many bargains too 😀.

We love Dinosaur so was concerned we wouldn’t get to ride that day too. It did mean missing Kali River Rapids (unless we had rushed back and for) but we prefer Dinosaur.

She has felt quite ill over the weekend but feeling a little better now and is back in college 😀