Five Fords Fifth Family Floriday Aug 18 - Day 17 - Typhoon Lagoon, Jiko & Animal Kingdom

[juliab]

Friday 24th August

Another wonderful day in Disney

After s really good nights’ sleep I was up and awake at 7.30. Scott went down to the small pool to pick some towels up as we were going to a water park later. Scott went back out to the food court to get our hot drinks and he also picked up some pastries and a couple of bounty platters. We so needed to be using our QS and snack credits!

Hayden and Jamie soon polished off the bounty platters and the rest of us devoured the pastries. After we’d all washed, changed and with sun cream applied we headed out to the bus stop.

We caught the bus over to Disney Springs then waited for another bus to take us to Typhoon Lagoon. It actually worked out ok and we arrived at the water park at 10.10 so not long after it had opened - the park is only down the road though we’ve been spoiled with always having a car.

Plenty of beds still available and we found a couple that were in the shade of some palm trees. We put our bag and towels down and headed out for some fun.

First slide was Crush n Gusher just because it was so near to us. We managed to go on all the 3 slides as it was still fairly quiet. Only issue was Poppy wanted to ride with Scott every time which of course meant I had to go on the single tube flume – coconut – never mind I still had fun.

These slides are brilliant I love how they shoot you up and down the tube!

Went over to the new family ride next Miss Adventure Falls as it was close by and of course we were very keen to try it out.
Loved how we didn’t have to carry the raft up unlike the other raft ride. The boys went on ahead whilst we three seated ourselves into a raft.

It turned out to be a really good ride with lots of twists and turns but nothing too extreme. As we exited the line was still quite short we decided to go back on it again! This time the kids went in the raft all together whilst Scott and I had a chilled ride in a raft all to ourselves.

Headed over to the main pool as Poppy thought as Poppy thought the big wave was on? They must’ve have finished as we arrived as we saw lots of people coming out of the water. We still had a swim around in there though.

Looked above and we saw that the sky was getting a lot darker, looked like we would be getting some rain today.

Decided to have a little relax on the lazy river and we floated gently around the park. Great way to chill out!

We’d left the river near to Humunga Kowabunga so I took the boy’s down this slide. I really do love this one it’s just the right level of extreme for me. I was the fastest one down too!

Next up was the Storm Slides which we all went on even Poppy. We had a longer wait for these but nothing too long. I chose the wrong slide to go down as it was quite slow, apparently the middle one was the fastest as it’s enclosed but then that one had the biggest line!

Afterwards the boys and I went back on Humunga Kowabunga as it still looked quiet, in fact we walked straight onto it with no wait, how fantastic! Jamie was the fastest of us three on this occasion. Poppy and Scott went back onto the Storm Slides.

We could hear the big boom noise in the wave pool so we went over there next and this time the big wave was happening.
Now Poppy absolutely loves this and so too Hayden and Jamie. We waded out a little and waited for the big wave to arrive!

The boys headed out a bit further intro the deeper water to ride the wave so to speak whilst Poppy stayed with us two in the shallower part. Only issue is you need to be careful not to get knocked over by someone!

After a few exhilarating waves we noticed the lifeguards shouting to everyone, we had to get out of the pool due to lightning in the area. Poppy wasn’t very pleased about this but we told her it was for our safety!

It was 1pm so we decided to get some lunch as we were starting to feel a little hungry. Of course a lot of other people headed in the same direction because of the pools closing so the eateries were very busy.

We eventually ordered some food then luckily found a table to sit and eat our lunch.

Afterwards we went back to our sun bed literally moments after we sat down the heavens opened up! We decided to leave then as we’d been on all the slides that we wanted to do.

Luckily we got on a bus to Disney Springs straight away but we waited ages for a bus to Port Orleans. Once one finally came we got off at the French Quarters as we wanted to try some beignets. Oh my word they were so good!

I also couldn't resist this delicious looking Tiana cupcake

By the time we had finished the delicious snack it had stopped raining so we walked back over to Riverside – this is such a lovely walk along the river.

Put a wash on down at the launderette and sorted though all our clothes. We all showered and changed in which time the load of washing had been dried too.

Had a treat tonight and instead of waiting for a bus we had a Minnie van over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, it was a lovely way to travel there!

Now we’ve never been to this resort before and wow we thought it was so beautiful, even though we had the briefest of looks due to us having an early evening ADR at Jiko.

Of course we got a little lost trying to find the restaurant but eventually we asked a CM and we were directed to the right place.
We had a lovely table near the window, we thought the restaurant was quite beautiful too - I would love to stay at this resort one day.

The restaurant was fairly quiet with there just being a handful of other families eating. I’m glad we came early as I would think later in the evening the restaurant would be more of a grown up place.

Our server was very attentive but not in an intrusive way, she gave suggestions of her favourites dishes which were quite helpful and we chose a couple of her choices.

The food was divine, we loved the tea that was served at the start of the meal and the sweet potato bread with the maple butter was so delicious, quite subtle flavours.

My drink wasn’t particularly strong though there didn’t seem to be much rum in my rum runner!

The food portions were quite large and we all enjoyed our various dishes. Poppy did have a kid’s meal here as we felt it would’ve been a waste using 2 credits on this signature meal.

The desserts were very yummy too we didn’t realise that we’d been in there for over 2 hours.

We’d enjoyed a wonderful evening in Jiko and it was great to try a different restaurant. Glad we were on the dining plan as the meal would’ve cost over $300!

We had a fastpass booked for FOP but the time was getting on a bit. First we had to find the bus stop then wait for a bus to take us to Animal Kingdom. As expected a bus took a while to arrive. Anyway once in the park we still walked over to Pandora as we wanted to see this place in the dark. Even though we were well over our allotted time for FOP I thought I would ask. The CM said it was fine and not to worry about being a little late we could go through to the ride, how amazing was that just like the ride itself!

Seeing Pandora at night was something else too, it had started raining so we didn’t walk around for too long and because of the rain i didn't take any photo's. We also had another fastpass booked for the safari so we needed to get over to Africa.

We went straight through to the truck when we arrived as there wasn’t anyone else waiting. We did actually see some animals even though it was dark, saw White Rhino, Hippo’s, Giraffe’s, Elephants and we saw the Lion’s this time.

The night safari felt a little spooky riding around in the dark but it was interesting seeing it this way.

Afterwards we watched the Tree of Life show.

The time was nearly 10pm and we thought that we’d missed the ROL show so we decided to leave. It was only later that we realised that the show actually started at 10pm so we could’ve still watched it. Never mind we'll just have to make sure we see it on our next visit.

Had quite a wait for a bus and when it arrived we were all squeezed in like sardines.

We were back in our room at 11pm and the lights were soon out!
For a relaxed day we seemed to do a lot

[Fuellady]

Aw, you all look like you're having so much fun at Typhoon Lagoon. It's a shame you were rained off, although it seems as though you were almost done anyway.

Your meals at Jiko all look delicious, and it looks a lovely setting to eat in too. Nice way to end your day at AK... good bit of pixie dust getting on FOP after your fastpass time was over.

[juliab]

Originally Posted by Fuellady

Aw, you all look like you're having so much fun at Typhoon Lagoon. It's a shame you were rained off, although it seems as though you were almost done anyway.

Your meals at Jiko all look delicious, and it looks a lovely setting to eat in too. Nice way to end your day at AK... good bit of pixie dust getting on FOP after your fastpass time was over.

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Luckily we had gone on all the rides we wanted so the rain coming wasn't too much of an issue.

Really enjoyed eating at a new signature restaurant for us, good to try new places.

Thanks for reading

[Taffy1959]

Fun day at TL and your Jiko meal looks good.

[juliab]

Originally Posted by Taffy1959

Fun day at TL and your Jiko meal looks good.

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The meal was excellent, one of our best of the holiday