Mountains, Zombies & Disney Roadtrip - Day 10 - Girls Go Solo - Animal Kingdom & Resort Hopping

[miss_mouse]

Trip Report Index

US ROADTRIP – TENNESEE – ALABAMA – GEORGIA & FLORIDA
Day 10 – Sunday 15th July – Girls Solo Trip to Animal Kingdom (when we finally get there!) - Resort Hopping & Texas Roadhouse





Just to start, I'm Lisa - the planner and reporter. Ade is my hubby and he's our driver and there's Hollie who turns 19 on this trip and Louis is 16.


We started the day off with the usual.
Showers, getting ready and I worked for abit.
Today we were splitting.
It was the final of the World Cup, so the boys were staying at The Grove Resort and Hollie and I decided to take the resort shuttle to Disney.
It’s a free shuttle run by Disney, we had to book it the previous day and we got given a ticket each.



Ade and I sat outside and had a coffee before Hollie and I headed off.

The bus was due at 9am.



I was really intrigued to see how these shuttles worked.

3 -8.50 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/39740658@N08/]


I expected the bus to be packed, but we were the only hotel getting on and we didn’t make any other hotel stops.

Now this was the earlier bus we could take (I think there was another around 11am).
It only takes you to The Ticket and Transport Center.
We wanted to go to Animal Kingdom.
So we got dropped off at the TTC and it took 25mins.







We then had to get the monorail to Epcot and then the bus to Animal Kingdom.



I always thought there were buses at the TTC to the other parks, but there aren’t.
It took 1hr.30mins from The Grove to Animal Kingdom.



I got chatting to another family at the Epcot bus stop. They’d been on the grove bus too and were also staying there. They were from California and trying out the free shuttle for the first time and were also surprised at how long it took.
This was their only day here in Animal Kingdom. The bus goes back from the TTC at 8.30pm, so they would be missing all the night time attractions sadly.







We wanted to enjoy Rafiki’s Planet Watch without the boys, as they aren’t fussed and we really enjoy it.
We stopped at Harambe Market first for a snack but everything was closed.
Then we tried to get a cheese pretzel from the stand by the Safari but they didn’t have any yet.





So we headed for the train.



We love it here and it’s nice and quiet and in the air-conditioning.





You can watch the vets at work here.
They were doing so health checks here.
There’s large screens so you can see better and CM’s around so you can ask questions (I always have lots!)



Then out to the goats.
We picked up a bottle of water in the store here so that Hollie could have some change for the pressed penny machine.

We got on the train on the way back and we sat and sat…..

There were announcements made apologising for the delay which wa due to a hold up the other end.
Then we were really surprised that Disney practically named and shamed a visitor. Well not named but announced that the delay was due to a person on the inbound train refusing to fold up her stroller and until she did we couldn’t move.
So we sat and sat and sat.
The CM’s around us were all moaning too.
What a silly woman. Why can’t people just keep to the rules?!

She must’ve either folded or got off as we were finally underway.
We really needed something now so we stopped at the market again.



There were a few more people around this time and everywhere was open.
But….Hollie being a veggie this time was really putting a spanner in the works.
They just don’t cater well for veggies in some places.
So we ended up sharing a Frozen Flamingo instead.

delicious non-alcoholic frozen concoction with flavors of Strawberry and Passion Fruit - $5.99



It was so good and actually quite filling.

We headed off for our Everest fast pass next.



It was only a 25min standby which for a Sunday mid July/ mid day I thought that was pretty good.
Having a fast pass is even better though.
Love this ride!



We then wandered over to Dinoland and stopped here for a cheese pretzel, finally.



Hollie didn’t like the cheese dip (which was warm).
I didn’t mind but it was very very processed!



And again ..12.50 and really surprised at how quiet it was.
It was very stuffy here though.

We managed to get a 1pm fastpass for Dinosaur next.



The boys had messaged to say they’d be leaving soon.

We got in the fastpass queue. There was a 30 min standby queue.
But then the ride went down. We got taken through and were all given a paper fastpass to use elsewhere.



So we hopped on here….love this spinny one.
And the boys were now on their way.
We’d arranged to meet them out the front, I expected them to pull up in the pickup layby so we could go on somewhere. It was so hot and Hollie and I had really had enough.


Cont...

[miss_mouse]

Cont...


It was almost 2pm now and we waited out the front of Animal Kingdom.
They then appeared. They’d parked up and had got the tram in.
I felt so bad as we really wanted to leave.
Louis was really disappointed as queue times weren’t that bad and he really wanted to go in the park. I felt really bad for the misunderstanding, but as Ade said, it was their choice not to come out this morning, they chose to stay in and watch the football.

We headed back to the car and we decided to do a little resort hopping.



By 2.45pm we were parked at the Polynesian Village Resort.





Louis was happier again now.
We planned to wander here, get the monorail over to the Contemporary, then go for a steak on the way back later.



We love the Boutiki store here. We had a good look around.



And then went through the lobby and out the back to get a Pineapple Dole Float.





We really enjoyed relaxing here.



Then we explored. We’ve never really done that here before.
I do have a video on my YouTube channel (lollipop box club) and you can also watch this day in more detail).



We loved the music playing as we wandered around.


The Grand Floridian over there.













We then got on the monorail and went over to the Contemporary.
We nearly went without Ade.
He took so long at the security check before getting on the monorail.
He has so much crap in his pockets and so many pockets…the monorail arrived and the kids and I did contemplate getting on without him.
But he arrived just in time.



Now time to explore the Contemporary.





We went outside on a big balcony.
We spent quite some time looking around the stores.
We love just wandering around the resorts.



Ade picked up this for $10.



Then at 5pm we were pulling up outside here.
Texas Roadhouse. Ade’s favourite.



Hollie went with the fried catfish.



The rest of us had steaks.



With salads.



I really like the little post of chili here.



Excellent food and excellent price too!

We did all have snoozes when we got back (with the exception of Louis. He managed to watch every single American Office whilst we were staying here).

We got showered and ready and went to have a look at what was going on downstairs.



8.50pm. They all got gelatos.





It was really pretty sat out here.

And we just wandered and had a laugh.
Louis was on form tonight and was just so funny.



And went back up to our condo and played Uno with a bud.

It was such a fun evening after a really fun day.

Thanks so much for reading along.

[Zomax25]

What a great chilled day! We didn’t have Disney tickets last time so did our traditional Lilo and Stitch breakfast and then explored and it was such fun!
Thanks for sharing.

[Palm trees]

What a great day, although it sounds like a bit of a palaver getting to the park!

[Cinderella]

Loved the resort hopping!

[Jules32]

great day shame the bus took so long though. loving the look of texas road house i've watched a few vlogs of this place and always looks amazing

[Mad Hatters]

A great day with some nice and short wait times.

Texas road house looks lovely 😊

[i love jack]

Sounds like a lovely morning, just the girls 😊
Texas Roadhouse I my fave.

[Fuellady]

Nice to have some girly time at AK in the morning. Love the idea of resort hopping for a nosey, the Polynesian looks lovely.