The Magic 3 - Day 5 - Animal Kingdom

[MrsSilverStar]

Day 5 – Monday 21st October – AK

The Magic 3 are Tara, Mark and Heath and this is our first trip to Florida.
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My original aim when planning the holiday, had to been to hit the Pandora rides at rope drop this morning, but as we’d already been on Navi and had a fastpass for FOP, we decided to let Heath have a lie in, rather than make the 7am park opening.

It was nice to explore the hotel a bit this morning

We had breakfast at the Mara, we shared a bounty platter and a kids’ waffle platter. This was yum and plenty for the three of us.

We saw a CM feeding the flamingos

We got a bus to AK at about 8.30am. The bus had a host – this is the only time we saw this but he was lovely. Paul from Anaheim. He had stickers for everyone and we made sure to tweet a cast compliment for him.

More character meetings were on the cards this morning. We queued up for Russell and Dug first. This was so fun, they are adorable! They’re clearly prepared for everyone shouting “squirrel” at Dug, because he had a toy one ready to show off He also licked us all, the autograph book and pretended to eat the pen!

We got to see the parrot show fly past while we were queuing which was fun.
The walk out from the characters was round the Tree of Life so we got to have a good look at the carvings and see the kangaroos.

Next up were Rafiki and Timon. They went on their break right before us but Timon gave me a flower on the way out. Mark said he thought it was for him and Timon had broken his heart – so Timon pretended to snap a heart, throw it on the floor and stamp on it It was so funny!

We headed into DinoLand to do some more Wilderness Explorer badges and have an explore. We also met Goofy here.

I like these little borders they added to some of our photos

We had a fastpass for Dinosaur. I have no idea why my eyes are popping out of my head in the ride photo Poor Heath was winding himself up again so I don’t think he enjoyed it.

We headed into Asia to do another badge and spotted the Nemo theatre on our way. I asked if the queue had closed as the show was due to start but they just sent us through the fastpass queue and there was plenty of space inside. Really enjoyed the show, it was very sweet and the puppets are amazing quality.

It was time for another go on Kali, Heath loved this ride and it was nice to be on one that wasn’t traumatising him! It was boiling so he enjoyed sticking his head in the fountain near the lockers.

We stopped for food at the Yak and Yeti QS, I can’t remember much about it so it can’t have been too bad! (I think we had Flametree BBQ on our first AK day when I said I couldn’t remember what we’d eaten…that was dry and not nice…which may be why I’d blocked it from my mind maybe I’ll remember today’s food the next time I’m writing a report!)

Six more of the Wilderness Explorer badges were in Gorilla Falls so that was our next destination. It was really hot today and we probably wouldn’t have bothered with this if we weren’t trying to complete the book, so I’m really glad we had it as it would have been a shame to miss the gorillas. We had a great chat with the CM about them.

We stopped at Harambe Market for a frozen lemonade, Mickey bar and a boozy slush. It was lovely to just sit down and relax with some refreshing drinks.

Then we headed into Pandora, two more badges ticked off. And it was finally time for our FOP fastpass – oh wow, what a ride! We all absolutely loved this. It is properly breath-taking. That swooping feeling is just immense.
Mark managed to get a fp for Navi after this but sadly we had a screaming baby behind us in the boat, who cried the entire way round. I was glad it wasn’t our first time on the ride! Mark then scored another FOP! But it was two hours away at 5.20pm and we had dinner booked at Sanaa for 6pm, so we left it.

We had some photopass pics done on the way out

The bus arrived at the stop as we did and we had it to ourselves. The heat and humidity were brutal today and I noticed I’d developed a heat rash on my ankles where my thick sports socks were. Luckily I had others with me so didn’t wear that style again. My blisters, from the first day at AK when I was wearing my flip flops in the rain, were quite painful today too so I was pleased to get back to the room to wash the day off and rest for a bit.

They hadn’t replenished our toiletries so I called housekeeping for more, came back later to giant bag full!

I was wearing sandals to dinner, rather than my park trainers, but I had to hobble quite slowly due to the blisters! We got the shuttle bus over to Kidani because I couldn't face the walk on my poor, sore feet. Dinner at Sanaa was lovely.

Cocktails were nice although Mark’s second one was Smoked Turkey and he said the smoky flavour was very artificial so he wasn’t a fan of that. We all managed a few bites of pudding (love the spice candy bar) but were too full to eat it all.

Back to the room for bed. Heath had this weird thing of running ahead to the room so he could lie in wait for us...quite literally...

Another lovely day. Tomorrow, we’re rope dropping HS and trying to get on Smuggler’s Run. Coming soon.

[jothp]

Another lovely day. We really love FOP too and try to get a ride on every trip to AK. You managed to get loads done again considering you had a lie in. Dinner at Sanaa is great, we've done it twice now so we're not going to do it in the summer which makes me a bit sad.

[MrsSilverStar]

Originally Posted by jothp

Another lovely day. We really love FOP too and try to get a ride on every trip to AK. You managed to get loads done again considering you had a lie in. Dinner at Sanaa is great, we've done it twice now so we're not going to do it in the summer which makes me a bit sad.

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I did chuckle to myself when I called it a lie in, but it was still dark in our first photos at the hotel and we were at the park by 8.30am!
I was a bit of a drill sergeant about getting stuff done, I had my plan and was determined to get it all in!
Aw, maybe you could just pop over for bread service in the bar or something. It’s impossible to squeeze it all in though isn’t it?

[jothp]

I tend to be a bit like a drill sergeant at Disney too, especially in the mornings. You can get so much more done that way. Sadly I think there will be no time to fit in even the bread service. I'm already planning to book three more ADRs than I have credits for because I couldn't narrow it down!

[Tinkermom]

FOP is fantastic, another full day!

[disneywiseowl]

Loving your trip report. Thx for posting but I have to ask: is Spike the Vampire (Buffy) a special MM effect or was he actually on your Dinosaur ride? 😀

[MrsSilverStar]

Originally Posted by disneywiseowl

Loving your trip report. Thx for posting but I have to ask: is Spike the Vampire (Buffy) a special MM effect or was he actually on your Dinosaur ride? 😀

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OMG I hadn’t spotted him until now! That’s so funny, Spike hiding in the bushes 😂 I loved him back in the day, Buffy was a great show!

[mick]

Another busy but great day


Joan

[Goldia]

Your poor feet. I hope blisters clear up soon. Lots of fun today collecting the character signatures and wilderness explorers stickers. I love that you're remembering the other days food today! It's only been a couple of months but it does all slip away. You'll have the memories to look back on though when you've finished writing the report. There are things that I know there's no way I'd have remembered if i hadn't written it in a report. I reckon Heath deserved a lie in today and a Disney breakfast. Well done Mark for getting the extra Navi FP even if you had the baby crying. Dinner at Sanaa looks so tasty I'm going to force everyone to head over there for the bread service. We have to try it.

How did you feel about AKL? I know at the moment you can only compare it to Royal Pacific, but what did you think? Did you make it to the pool? I don't think you've been there yet? Surely you had a cocktail and a nice dip in the hot tub...oh oh I bet that would have helped your feet.

[MrsSilverStar]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Your poor feet. I hope blisters clear up soon. Lots of fun today collecting the character signatures and wilderness explorers stickers. I love that you're remembering the other days food today! It's only been a couple of months but it does all slip away. You'll have the memories to look back on though when you've finished writing the report. There are things that I know there's no way I'd have remembered if i hadn't written it in a report. I reckon Heath deserved a lie in today and a Disney breakfast. Well done Mark for getting the extra Navi FP even if you had the baby crying. Dinner at Sanaa looks so tasty I'm going to force everyone to head over there for the bread service. We have to try it.

How did you feel about AKL? I know at the moment you can only compare it to Royal Pacific, but what did you think? Did you make it to the pool? I don't think you've been there yet? Surely you had a cocktail and a nice dip in the hot tub...oh oh I bet that would have helped your feet.

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Thankfully, the blisters were well-cushioned in my trainers so didn’t get in the way of our park touring. I’d have been so cross with myself otherwise. But they didn’t fully heal until we were home!

I’ve realised how important notes are - it’s amazing how much you forget! Or muddle up with other days. I’m loving looking back through our photos so am really pleased I’ve started the report.

We really liked AKL. We never had any problems with the buses or feeling too far out. We went to both pools but never a hot tub because I was always too hot 😄 and we did have some cocktails poolside! The animals and theming were fantastic.