It's all about the mouse - 7th August 2018 day 7 AK and MK Incredibles Photoshoot!

[Goldia]

Welcome to the It’s all about the mouse trip report. We are a family of four and this is our 4th trip to Orlando. I'm Abby, my DH is Dave and our children are Max (13 at the time of the trip) and Kate (11). This trip is all WDW and we stay inside the Disney bubble for the entirety of our holiday.

If you haven't read the previous day it can be found here

The alarm went off at 7am, I’d been wake since about 6.40am. There was no EMH this morning and AK opened at 9am. I think we only have 1 more EMH this trip on the day we attempted the 4 parks challenge. Even so, I like to be in the parks first thing when it's not as hot and not as crowded so we headed out to the bus stop at 8, but we’d just missed a bus unfortunately.

However this meant that I could take lots of photos of the Peninsular Road area.

The buildings are beautiful and all the trees make it feel a lot more like a neighbourhood than a sprawling hotel.

Our plans for the day had changed a little, we were still keen to spend the morning at AK, but I had scrapped the ADR for Narcoossee’s as we wouldn’t have enough credits for all of us and I didn’t want to pay OOP for the kids. I know that sounds a bit tight, which I guess it is, but I couldn’t justify spending money on food when it was clear we would have spare credits at the end of our stay (in the form of QS and snack credits). So, I’d managed to get a reservation for Jungle Skipper Canteen and this meant we could go to MK in the evening which we hadn’t done yet.

The bus was due to arrive at 8.27am. It felt like the bus took ages to arrive, but it wasn’t too bad really. The bus filled up at the Turtle Pond stop so the bus driver went straight to AK and we arrived at 8.50am so quite good really. We were through bad check really quickly but then there was a long queue scanning magic bands before going into the park.

As soon as we made it through we went straight over to Asia and rode Expedition Everest.

I sat with Max and Dave sat with Kate.

Then it was time for breakfast over at Kusafari Bakery.

I love these elephant ears! They are so cute...

Speaking of cute and super tasty, look at Mickey!

Dave and myself also had a vanilla late each.

4 snack credits used for breakfast. I forgot to ask for some water when I did the original order so went back over and of course they were happy to give me a couple of cups of water.

Then we wandered through the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail before our fast pass for FOP opened up. It was a lovely walk and Kate took lots of photos for me here.

I'm not sure now why this wall was photographed, but she was really enjoying taking the photos.

Here are just a couple of photos of the pretty flowers that she took.

It's a lovely walk and a shame that we didn't end up doing the other trails this trip.

We walked from Africa through to Pandora.

The queue for FOP was huge, we couldn’t believe it as it was stretching right over across the bridge. The cast member holding the end of the line sign was telling everyone it would be a 3 week wait, the sign said 180minutes…we used our FP! It was great again!

Then we went back over to Kali River Rapids for our FP here. Unfortunately the ride broke down. We were in the boat quite near the beginning where the boat is going up the hill. So we all just had to wait in the boat until it started up again. It was about 10 minutes and it was pretty hot in the boat as we were out in the sun…although better to be stuck here as opposed to at the end where people can shoot water at you from the bridge!

We walked around to Dinoland and used our Dinosaur FP, we were in the middle row this time, another great ride.

Lunch was at Flametree BBQ, another first for us. These ribs were so tasty, much better than the ABC Commissary ribs, they were still BBQ flavour but weren't dripping in sauce like the ABC ribs.

We had a pulled pork, chicken and ribs platter with beans and coleslaw. I had an orange vodka lemonade as the drink.

We also had the same platter but without pulled pork, which is silly really as you don't get extra of the chicken and ribs, it's just minus the pork. Dave had a beer as his drink with this. The kids both had water.

We also had the fries, topped with pulled pork and cheese. These were really tasty.

This was all put through as two transactions. The platters and alcoholic drinks were 2 QS credits. The fries were a snack credit.

That was it for AK we went to the bus stop to go back for a swim. At the bus stop we were the third family in line. OKW and Saratoga Springs share a bus stop at the AK bus depot and and so we waited for the bus. I kid you not, 5 Saratoga buses came and went while we waited and waited and waited! Some of the other people waiting went and complained to the bus controller cast member, but I doubt it made a difference. Of course, eventually a bus arrived and we piled on.

We got back to the room at 2.08pm and discovered mousekeeping had been.

We went off to the main pool today and I took some photos of the kids in the pool and up the top of the slide.

We spent a couple of hours there and Dave and myself managed to fit in a cocktail! These Bourbon cocktails were our favourites. The purple one is called Smoked Turkey and the orange one is Whiskey Breeze.

The kids preferred the quiet pool I think, because the main pool was always so busy, even though there was no slide or entertainment at the small pool. The only draw back of the small pool as far as I was concerned was the lack of cocktails!

We started walking back to the room at about 4.30pm and we knew we had to get showered and changed quickly as I wanted to leave the room at 5.15pm. We were trying to walk really quickly as we could see there was a storm coming. We saw there was some lightning in the distance so we had to hustle back to the room. We made it back before the rain came in and then by the time we left the room after showering the rain had stopped – perfect timing!

Before going into MK we got a photopass at the train station. Looking at the clock on the station it was just before 6pm.

Then Max took a photo of me, Kate and Dave with Roy and Minnie.

This is one of my favourite spots for a photo. I try to make sure we get one here every time!

This is the one why Max and Kate from 2016.

We also got a photopass on Main Street in front of the castle.

By now we were pretty hungry and so we checked in for our meal at Jungle Skipper Canteen a little early.

When we checked in I asked for 2 childrens menu's - not so they could order food from these, but so they could play the games. Even though they were 13 and 11 both Max and Kate enjoyed these. One side was Star Wars, which they had already done, but the Incredibles 2 side of games was new to them.

We only had 5 minutes waiting to be seated though, so we took the menus in with us. It was a lovely atmosphere in here and there were lots of interesting decorations up on the walls.

Our server was called Michelle and she was lovely, really friendly and helpful and seemed to know exactly what we would want.

For drinks Kate ordered the Punch Line Punch fruit juice drink, it had a lovely mango flavour. Max had a coke, I had a sparkling white wine, Dave had a Malbec. We had a 2nd round of our drinks later in the meal.

My sparkling wine was listed as $16 per glass on the menu and was allowed as the dining plan drink. I couldn't see any restrictions on this menu. The only exception is with souvenir cups.

Both Max and Kate ordered the Taste's like chicken cos it is chicken. This was a fried portion of chicken with rice and stir fry vegetables.

When Max ordered Michelle asked him if he would like to swap the rice for fries, except she did call them chips! He gladly accepted, he still had the stir fry veg with his.

He also asked for some ketchup...

Dave and myself had the steak with rice, black beans and tomatoes. This was absolutely delicious. I very much enjoyed this meal. I don't have a photo of our steaks, which is really disappointing! Sorry, guys.

There were 4 options for pudding.

The Kungaloosh chocolate cake (which let's face it was all Max was going to want) had a dusting of coffee and also had cashew and caramel ice cream, so Max was a bit cross at that. But, once again Michelle came to the rescue! She said she would hold back the coffee and swapped the ice cream to vanilla.

Kate had the chocolate cake too and really enjoyed the cashew and caramel ice cream, apparently it tasted like salted caramel.

I had Bertha's Banh Bong Lan Cake with mango-lime sorbet. It was a chiffon cake, which again was delicious and beautifully presented.

Dave had the coconut bar.

Skipper Canteen was one of my favourite 1 TS credit meals. We had the wonderful Michelle as our server, which does help to make the meal more enjoyably. The food was delicious and I would definitely go back again. Another fab meal and another restaurant added to the list for next time I think we will need a whole month to fit it all in.

After dinner we walked over to Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. I rode with Max.

He scored over 100,000 and I was rubbish as usual with a score of 24,700!

When I told Kate I thought my gun was broken as it wasn't shooting in the right direction she said she thought the same thing about hers!

Then I booked us a FP for Barnstormer, Kate had been keen to go to the Laughter floor but I didn’t want to risk it again!

On the way around to Barnstormer we spotted that the Incredible photospots had no people waiting (unlike the daytime where the lines were long). This was really fun.

Here we all are being Frozone!

They got us to do strong poses.

Here we are running away!

I'm not entirely sure what we were supposed to be doing here!

After going on Barnstormer I wanted to ride on the railway around the park. But as it was after 8.30pm they had stopped running the train. It was starting to get quite dark so we walked around the back of the castle to the Tangled toilets and saw the Lantern photopass but the line was really long, so we didn’t wait. I had been keen to get this photo as I always think they look really cute in other people's trip reports, but the line was huge and I couldn't be bothered to wait just for a photo.

We went around the side of Sleepy Hollow and followed the cast members who were marshalling people for HEA. We ended up right in front of the castle 10 minutes before HEA started. This was a great spot to see the show. The kids were a bit whingy by now, as they were a bit tired, plus they aren't really that bothered about the fireworks shows...I know it's annoying to me too! Kate really likes Fantasmic and Max is sort of happy to watch it, I think the fact they get to sit down heavily influences their opinions about it. I was trying to ignore the whines and whinges as it was our first time seeing HEA and I didn't want to watch it listening to them.

Just a couple of photos as I was keen to just watch and not get distracted, plus my phone isn't the best camera for these sorts of photos.

I loved the show and even though I miss Wishes I do think HEA is a better show.

After HEA we followed everyone out of the park and just made it onto the bus. We had to stand and I let Kate sit on the steps near the exit doors halfway down the bus. I know the drivers don’t like people sitting on the steps but she was tired and I didn’t want to argue with her. We made it back to the resort without incident or being told off!

It was 10.14pm when we got back to the resort and I set the alarm for 7.45am. A lie in tomorrow before Blizzard Beach.

Statistics for the day:

Credits Used - 5 snack, 2 QS and 4 TS. Lordy, we are struggling still with these credits, that is 3 snacks down on the daily balance and 2 QS down.

Credits Remaining - So, we are halfway through the DDP part of the holiday as we check out of OKW on Tuesday 14th August. By now we should have spent half the credits, right? Well half of the TS and QS allowance would be 28 and half of the snack credits would be 56 remaining...what is our balance? 77 snack, 33 QS and 32 TS! That is a whopping 21 snack credits over what we should be for the halfway mark, it's like we're not even trying to eat the snacks. What were we thinking?

Parks: 2
Rides: 6
FP: 5
Characters: 0
Steps: 22,349

Tomorrow we are at Blizzard Beach and then Epcot in the evening to eat at one of our favourite restaurants – Garden Grill! Plus I was keen to watch Illuminations, but there was a bit of rain that somewhat scuppered our plans.

[DisneyDaffodil]

A great day Abby, almost exactly the same as our AK day except you did the Gorilla trail and we did the Pangani one (and didn’t have time for the others sadly either) We love Flame Tree too and had similar meals, although we didn’t have the pulled pork as we had the fries with pork and cheese and we aren’t too keen on the usual pulled pork sauce, however it wasn’t overpowering at Flame Tree so may go for it next time. I did enjoy the vodka lemonade here too

Seemed like a good idea to cancel Narcoosees for Skipper Canteen. Nice to have extra time in the park plus the food looked really good. I wanted to go there but Georgia doesn’t like rice and the menu is very rice based, hadn’t considered changing it for fries so that may go on our next trip plan too 😀

I agree about HEA, it is probably better than Wishes but I have a soft spot for Wishes so I don’t find HEA as emotional. I think I also prefer the sitting down shows like Fantasmic. The crowds and standing at the end of the day is hard work, I don’t blame Kate sitting on the bus steps on the way back 😀

I always think my gun doesn’t work properly on those type of rides too, strange isn’t it? 😂

[MrsSilverStar]

I’ve heard lots of good things about Skipper Canteen, glad you all enjoyed it.

Excellent timing with the fireworks - how nice to get a good spot without having to camp out for ages.

Looks like it was a lovely morning in AK too, and a swim squeezed in! I need to come on holiday with you, there’s no way Mark will cope with that pace much to my annoyance!

[GALE88]

Sounds like you all had a great day. Great photos by Kate in AK!

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

A great day Abby, almost exactly the same as our AK day except you did the Gorilla trail and we did the Pangani one (and didn’t have time for the others sadly either) We love Flame Tree too and had similar meals, although we didn’t have the pulled pork as we had the fries with pork and cheese and we aren’t too keen on the usual pulled pork sauce, however it wasn’t overpowering at Flame Tree so may go for it next time. I did enjoy the vodka lemonade here too

Seemed like a good idea to cancel Narcoosees for Skipper Canteen. Nice to have extra time in the park plus the food looked really good. I wanted to go there but Georgia doesn’t like rice and the menu is very rice based, hadn’t considered changing it for fries so that may go on our next trip plan too 😀

I agree about HEA, it is probably better than Wishes but I have a soft spot for Wishes so I don’t find HEA as emotional. I think I also prefer the sitting down shows like Fantasmic. The crowds and standing at the end of the day is hard work, I don’t blame Kate sitting on the bus steps on the way back 😀

I always think my gun doesn’t work properly on those type of rides too, strange isn’t it? 😂

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I'm glad it's not just my gun that's faulty

It's funny how similar our days turned out at AK. Flametree is one of my favourites especially with the seating out the back which is a lovely area, although I'm not a fan of the birds that wander around out there as I do have a bit of a bird phobia.

I'd decided the rice heavy menu at skipper canteen wouldn't kill Max as he'd had so many fries, he's not a big fan of rice but it's not like any of us would have starved. It was lovely of Michelle to offer chips. I hadn't seen them anywhere on the menu so I wasn't going to ask to substitute the rice. Max certainly appreciated it.

I think it's much nicer to be able to sit and watch the night time shows, inevitably you're tired after a long day on your feet. It's funny how HEA doesn't have the emotional attachment for us. Perhaps after another 10 years it will?

Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar

I’ve heard lots of good things about Skipper Canteen, glad you all enjoyed it.

Excellent timing with the fireworks - how nice to get a good spot without having to camp out for ages.

Looks like it was a lovely morning in AK too, and a swim squeezed in! I need to come on holiday with you, there’s no way Mark will cope with that pace much to my annoyance!

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The kids don't like waiting for anything...our max wait is about 30 minutes and even that is begrudgingly for a ride they absolutely must do. They would would never wait for fireworks. I've not bothered to stake out a spot for the shows...I know lots of people do, but as the cast members tend to ask people to move forwards or sideways or shuffle up it seems pointless to me as I figure people must end up having to give up their perfect spot. Perhaps they have more willpower than I do and just ignore the cast members when they tell them to move. I'd never be able to ignore them and I always have to do what I'm told, way too much of a goody two shoes!

You're more than welcome on my holidays. I reckon Dave and Max and Kate have just given up arguing with me now and they know it's not worth it. They go along with my plans.

Originally Posted by GALE88

Sounds like you all had a great day. Great photos by Kate in AK!

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Aah, she'll be really pleased that you liked her photos. She's thinking she wants to do photography as a profession so she's keen to try and take photos of wildlife when we're out for a walk.

[caitlinsmummy]

The pics of the resort look lovely.

It doesn't sound tight at all. At the end of the day you've paid for all your food before you went (technically) so no point in spending more on it! I'd have been the same too.

Max's face on Everest he's determined not to smile isn't he haha.

Lovely breakfast items although that elephant ear looks rather small, unless it's just the photo.

3 week or 3 hour? that's madness. I don't think we ever seen the queue come out of the queue line for FOP. Great morning in AK and lunch looked lovely too.

That saucer of Mickey ketchup looks awesome! What a fab little touch. Having a great server really makes a difference doesn't it. Think I'd definitely add Skippers to our to do list.

What a fab score well done Max!

I love The Incredibles photo's, I forgot you went as the film came out they're fab little photos to look back on, looks like you had so much fun.

I'm gutted we didn't get the lanterns photo either I forgot all about it, but it's an excuse to go again isn't it!

I'm sure you'll get caught up with the credits eventually. We did the same approach barely used them to start with then realised we had to many and needed to use them up

Another lovely day, I love how you get so much done in a day! xx

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy

The pics of the resort look lovely.

It doesn't sound tight at all. At the end of the day you've paid for all your food before you went (technically) so no point in spending more on it! I'd have been the same too.

Max's face on Everest he's determined not to smile isn't he haha.

Lovely breakfast items although that elephant ear looks rather small, unless it's just the photo.

3 week or 3 hour? that's madness. I don't think we ever seen the queue come out of the queue line for FOP. Great morning in AK and lunch looked lovely too.

That saucer of Mickey ketchup looks awesome! What a fab little touch. Having a great server really makes a difference doesn't it. Think I'd definitely add Skippers to our to do list.

What a fab score well done Max!

I love The Incredibles photo's, I forgot you went as the film came out they're fab little photos to look back on, looks like you had so much fun.

I'm gutted we didn't get the lanterns photo either I forgot all about it, but it's an excuse to go again isn't it!

I'm sure you'll get caught up with the credits eventually. We did the same approach barely used them to start with then realised we had to many and needed to use them up

Another lovely day, I love how you get so much done in a day! xx

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Max is determined not to smile, when I'm looking a photos it makes me smile more!

I think the elephant ear was a bit smaller than the Mickey head pastry.

We've still not seen the incredibles 2 movie! We will have to rectify that over the holidays...It was a lot of fun doing all those photos, once we all got over the fact that we looked a bit silly doing the poses.

Definitely got to go back to get the lantern shot, that's just what I was thinking

[Palm trees]

Love The "three week wait" for FOP! Your food photos look lovely, we had a great meal at the Jungle skipper canteen on our last trip, I seem to remember that our server was lovely too but can't remember her name. I'm looking forwards to eating there next time.

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Palm trees

Love The "three week wait" for FOP! Your food photos look lovely, we had a great meal at the Jungle skipper canteen on our last trip, I seem to remember that our server was lovely too but can't remember her name. I'm looking forwards to eating there next time.

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Ha, I know he was a really cheeky, happy cast member joking with everyone. I'm not sure I'd have quite seen the funny side if I'd been waiting in line though!

It's funny how a good or bad server can make all the difference to your dining experience. Skipper Canteen is definitely one I want to return to.

[collybird]

I hope Narcoosee’s will be appearing next year, we can talk about that in the pre-trippie.

We saw the line for FoP at rope drop in September and I cannot believe that anyone waits in it, so much of it was outdoors.

We’re definitely going to give Flame Tree another go next year, it was our very first QS meal on the DP and we’ve never been back since. I used to really hate barbecue but it’s grown on me a lot.

Be honest, you really wanted the lantern photo but you didn’t want to face the family’s wrath when they realised they waited in a huge long line for a poorly lit photo, as that’s exactly what happened to me.