And Then There Were Three - the big (double) surprise

[Dixiechic]

And Then There Were Three - the big (double) surprise

Sunday 8th May 2022 - animal kingdom

Day 6

I woke up at 5 and quickly checked my phone - my mum and dad’s tests are negative so they will be flying out tomorrow to join us.

I haven’t done any laundry for 2 whole days and I’m getting anxious! I really must get some done when we get back today.

I get some rolls made to take as breakfast snacks and then get showered. The plan today is to leave at 7 as park opening is 7.30. We don’t quite make it and leave at 7.10.

Nice easy journey in, the I4 is a lot emptier at this time of day.

We entered the park at 7.42 and once again forget to pick up maps as souvenirs. We speed walk round to flight of passage which is currently a 60 minute wait. We join the back of the line at 7.48 and go through the proper entrance to the ride at 7.57. The plan is to ride flight Of passage then move straight to expedition Everest and then see what the wait times are for the safari and kali river rapids

I think this is the first time we’ve ever seen the whole queue theming. Previously we’ve either had fastpass or have been at early entry/non early entry park opening so gone through a shortened line. The attention to detail is incredible. It took 55 minutes to get to the first pre show. Incredible ride as ever. I’m sure there was a lot more spray than normal.

We then headed straight round to expedition Everest as that was showing a 10 minute wait.

We entered the line at 9.15 and it was exactly 10. We went straight round to ride again as it’s still only 15 mins. Entered at 9.31 and we’re on in 20 mins.

We then walked round the corner to dinosaur as that was only a 10 minute wait. We entered the line at 10.08 and were in the ore show by 10.10. Feel like we’re achieving something today - the early bird definitely catches the worm! On the ride in less than 5 minutes.

Quick restroom stop on the way to kali river rapids which is posted as a 25 minute wait
We entered at 10.39 after getting 2 lockers and we queued fir 20 minutes. Jas got the brunt of the water with me a close second.

It was now 11.15 so we thought we’d get some lunch to beat the rush, chicken strips for Jas and honey sesame chicken for Phoebe - this is where she breaks her not eating chicken lifestyle.

We’re just finishing up and see that the next lion king show is at 12 so we hot foot it over to the theatre and are seated by 11.55. We love this show and it will be interesting to see what changes have been made post covid - interesting, it’s a complete socially distanced performance so no acrobats and the birds just dance rather than do the hanging from the ropes performance. I had the misfortune to sit behind someone who committed the cardinal sin of keeping their ears on and then every two seconds lifted her phone up to take another photo or video clip. I really enjoyed watching the performance through her screen!

After that the safari is showing 85minutes and Jas doesn’t want to wait that long so we go to it’s tough to be a big. This is a classic. The number of children that get distressed just increases as the performance goes on. Jas still refuses to wear the 3D glasses and won’t sit back in the chair.

We pop to the loo after this. I feel that I’ve neglected to mention toilets and toilet paper so far this trip! Dolphin hotel - reasonable thickness of toilet paper. Disney Dream, first trip to the toilet - oh yes, I remember, the Disney toilet paper has been getting thinner over recent years. First trip in to a Disney park and it seems to be the same quality as the last trip in 2019. To be honest, I don’t think it could get any thinner. Took a little photo of the door gaps.

We decide to call it a day and head for the car park. I think we’ve achieved a reasonable amount today. The safari was the only ‘main thing’ that we didn’t go. The nemo show hasn’t yet returned. The i4 is particularly bad this afternoon

We get back I go and find the laundry room - no machines free - this could get annoying.

Go back 20 minutes later and there’s one free. I faff about downloading the app but I’m not getting the verification code by text. Try it 3 times and think I’m going to have to go and cry at reception as I can’t cope without clean clothes and then I spot a contactless thingy and a coin slot! Why does the big sign on the wall tell you to download the app?!?!

Go back up to the room and get ready for the pool. Jas is going to take a nap. We head out via the laundry room to get my next load in. The first one still has 10 mins and that’s when I decide to become a machine hogger and will let it sit while the other one finishes as the dryers are plenty big enough for 2 loads.

The pool area is deserted. It’s not a very big pool/pool area but totally adequate for what we need - a quick dip and a sit in the sun. We’re going to wait until the dryer has finished and then walk round the corner to 711 and cvs

711 has a multitude of goodies but we manage to come away with just 2 doughnuts, a pot of cookie dough and an orange cheese string!

Into cvs and I treat myself to a bottle of wine. I get my sister some paracetamol and my friend a tide pen. I’m on the hunt for antibiotic cream but all I can find is cortisone cream. I’ll have to have a google to see what I’m looking for. We also pick up a crate of 24 waters ready for my mum and dad coming tomorrow. Muggins has to lug it back across the street in 90° heat

The next mission is dinner, I haven’t eaten a proper meal since we left the ship and we’re getting Chinese. We go into Uber eats and find one that does chips. Get all the way through to the payment and it says we’re ineligible for the promo code and to unselect it to proceed. We didn’t select it, it selected itself and there’s no way to remove it. We try on a different phone and have the same problem. Even google how you get rid of a promo code but the steps aren’t there in real life. By now I’m getting annoyed. We wanted a reasonably early dinner and it would have been around 6.30 if all had gone to plan. We then try door dash but it won’t accept the zip code when trying to add the payment card. Grub hub is the same. I’m raging by this point. We just want to eat abs everyone rise manages to use these apps with no issues. There’s no other choice I’ll have to go and get it. I don’t want to go to the one that was going to be delivered as it involves the I4 so I drive to the one near the Publix we went to the other day.

Place the order and then pop in to Publix to get some other bits for my mum and dad’s arrival. So I have managed to kill 2 birds with one stone. Drive back home where Phoebe has cleared the kitchen properly and we tuck in to a yummy Chinese.

We’re all still totally shattered. Still had a little bit of sea legs today when we were queuing in ‘cave’ type areas. 20,000 steps today but in bed by 9pm

Phoebe’s point of view:

Day 7 -

I wake up for the first time at 1:40am and then in and out of sleep for the next few hours until I’m up fully at 6:15am. I FaceTime Connor and then get up and ready for the day at Animal Kingdom.

We plan to leave at 7am as the park opens at 7:30am and we leave at about 10 past. 0 incidents with mums driving today and we make it in one piece. Mum points out that the iron tablet/vitamin thing I took Friday night might be the reason I wasn’t as exhausted yesterday. I didn’t take one last night as they taste vile so we’ll see how I get on today!

Park up and walk to the entrance of the park and through bag check and we’re in the 60 min queue for Flight of Passage at 7:48am. Not long after I started to feel a bit weak so Jas fed me the emergency fruit pastels and some cranberry juice. After 50 minutes we’re at the loading bay and waiting to go through. The attention to detail again is incredible and so well thought out. The ride is amazing as usual and another favourite. Once off we head to Everest as that’s a 10 min wait. Exactly 10 mins and we’re on. I can feel myself falling asleep already and it’s not even half 9, maybe I do need the iron! We quickly go round to ride again as it’s brilliant and this time it shows as 15 mins. Just as we get there it jumps us to 25 but we’re on within 20.

Next up is Dinosaur as this is only a 5 min wait and is a walk on. On the way I eat my roll and soon regret this as you get chucked around on Dinosaur so much!

It’s starting to get hot now so we make our way to Kali River Rapids, store our stuff in the lockers and join the queue which is also 25 mins. I already know I’ll be cold once I’m off! Some people are walking past drenched and some are bone dry. No one wants to sit next to mum as she’s always the one who gets wet! It looks like it’s going to be mum but last minute turns slightly so gets Jas too but all of us end up wet somewhere! Back out into the sun to get the stuff from the lockers and dry off. Jas declares she needs two rolls going forward as she’s hungry still so we decide to stop for a snack which then turned into lunch at Yak & Yeti. She had a kids chicken strips which came with water, grapes and a cookie and we ordered some other fries for her. Mum and I shared the honey chicken which was okay but not as nice as last time I remembered it.

We saw there was a showing of the Lion King at 12 so quickly walked over here to join the queue. They’d adapted the show slightly to make it social distanced but it was still fab. There was a family in front of us who were loving it, Jas pointed to one of the family and said I think she’s excited, to which I replied and said I think it’s a boy, turns out she was a little old lady bless her. It’s dark in there and my eyes are struggling to stay open!

Quick restroom stop and then onto It’s tough to be a bug as this is a 10 min wait but again pretty much walk straight on! Once we’re out of this we decide to call it a day as the Safari is 85 mins and the only other thing we’ve not done is Navi Riverboat Journey and Triceratops Spin but neither of these we’re too fussed about so back to the car at half 1 and home by 2pm. We then lounge around for a bit and then mum and I get changed to go down to the pool and put some laundry on. It’s boiling outside so we just sit and chill and catch up on life. We then go back up about an hour after to sort the laundry out and decide to pop out to 7/11 and CVS to see what goodies we can find! I pick up some peanut butter M&Ms to bring back for Dais 🧡we pick up a giant thing of 24 waters which I can’t carry to save my life so mum takes it off me.

Once we’re back upstairs we start looking at the Chinese deliveries on Uber eats. Mum gets it all in her basket and goes to pay but the card doesn’t work. She hands me my phone back and I get in the bath. About 15 mins later she comes in to say she couldn’t get any cards to work so she’s going to order and pick it up. Once they’re out I have a quick tidy up and sort out some bits in the room and get plates etc out ready. They return with the goods and we tuck in! They’ve also been to Publix to pick up some more stuff for Nanny and Gdog ready for tomorrow whilst they’re waited for dinner. We stuff the chinese down us and play a few games of cards and then get into bed at 9pm 😍

See you in the AM kids x