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Old 20 Jan 25, 09:05 PM  
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#21
TigerLily8
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We caved and bought two-day tickets because I am weak, so this morning has been spent at Animal Kingdom!

I was awake at 5ish so I went for a wonder around the resort. It truly is so beautiful. I love exploring when everyone else is still in bed.







I brought an old refillable mug for coffee because I can’t stand the taste of drinking soft drinks out of a cup that has had coffee in. I’m not sure if this is technically ‘allowed’ but we have bought the QSDP which includes the refillable mug, so my conscience is clear 😂



Grabbed Dorothy a croissant and headed to AK. We were through security and heading to FOP for about 7.35.

We queued the first bit then signed up for rider swap. While David rode, I took Dorothy on Navi river journey, which she loved.

While we waited for David we headed for Satuli Canteen. You don’t hear many people talk about this place for breakfast but they had some nice offerings. I just got a kids French toast with milk for Dorothy but she wasn’t interested so me and David shared it. It was really, really nice. I paid OOP for this as it would have been a waste of a credit.



I swapped with David and headed on FOP. Still as good as always. We wondered over to creature comforts for a coffee but it was absolutely rammed so we gave it a miss.

Dorothy spotted another little girl having her face painted, so of course we ended up being fleeced $28 😂



We all tucked into a jumbo Mickey cookie!



After that we jumped on the train to Rafiki’s planet watch where Dorothy enjoyed petting some animals and I took part in the animation class. Pluto was the character for this particular class 😊





It’s the first time in 4 trips we’ve actually made it to this part of AK but we would definitely visit again! There was photo opportunities to meet Rafiki and Timone but Dorothy was getting hungry and tired at this point so wasn’t interested. I was a bit gutted but have learned to pick my battles!

We headed back to the main park and got a pizza to share from Pizzafari. Dorothy ate half and we were left with a slice each 😂 we all enjoyed this and thought the pepperoni was really tasty.



After food we hopped on the bus back to Wilderness Lodge. Dorothy is currently napping and David has gone to the gym so I’m just enjoying half an hour to myself

Back to AK soon as it is open till 7 this evening so we will get to see Pandora in the dark!
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Old 21 Jan 25, 02:29 AM  
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#22
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We had a lovely evening at Animal Kingdom. As we were waiting for the bus a young girl pixie dusted Dorothy with some pink ears. She was made up. She was also pixie dusted some monsters inc stickers by the bus driver.



We got back to the park just after 4. Dorothy ended up with a bubble wand; the same one she picked up 4 times today. Grandad gave her some money to treat herself so that’s what she picked. More tat



We had a walk over to the Boneyard playground and Dorothy played for a while. She didn’t want to leave but we wanted to try and get on Kilimanjaro Safari before it closed at 5.15. We made it there around 5.10 and waited less than 10 minutes. Unfortunately a lot of the animals were either hiding, or had gone to bed. Still, Dorothy really enjoyed it and was making some of the other passengers laugh with her inquisitiveness. She particularly enjoyed the ‘fingo mingos’ (see below).



We were all peckish at this point so headed to the Yak & Yeti takeaway. We got Honey Sesame Chicken, Korean chicken burger and chicken strips to share between us all. We all had a bit of everything. The sesame chicken was nice but the chicken burger was our favourite. It had quite a kick.



After food we walked over to Pandora to see it in the dark. Before we made it to Pandora we caught the Tree of Life Awakenings. It was gorgeous.


It is stunning and they should do longer hours more regularly at AK to let people experience this, especially in summer.







We bundled Dorothy up in the pram with a blanket and her hat and headed for the bus. We only waiting a minute or two. We swung by Roaring Fork for drink refills when we returned, then decided to call it a night as we are all shattered.

We are definitely having a non-park day tomorrow!
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Old 21 Jan 25, 03:12 AM  
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#23
Buggles94
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A fabulous first day! Those jumbo Mickey Cookies are the best! I’ve discovered the cookies from Summerhouse on the Lake this trip and highly recommend… possibly better than Gideon’s in my humble opinion. My favourite is the pink one😀
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Old 21 Jan 25, 07:50 AM  
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ClaireNJ
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Originally Posted by TigerLily8 View Post
We caved and bought two-day tickets because I am weak, so this morning has been spent at Animal Kingdom!

I was awake at 5ish so I went for a wonder around the resort. It truly is so beautiful. I love exploring when everyone else is still in bed.







I brought an old refillable mug for coffee because I can’t stand the taste of drinking soft drinks out of a cup that has had coffee in. I’m not sure if this is technically ‘allowed’ but we have bought the QSDP which includes the refillable mug, so my conscience is clear 😂



Grabbed Dorothy a croissant and headed to AK. We were through security and heading to FOP for about 7.35.

We queued the first bit then signed up for rider swap. While David rode, I took Dorothy on Navi river journey, which she loved.

While we waited for David we headed for Satuli Canteen. You don’t hear many people talk about this place for breakfast but they had some nice offerings. I just got a kids French toast with milk for Dorothy but she wasn’t interested so me and David shared it. It was really, really nice. I paid OOP for this as it would have been a waste of a credit.



I swapped with David and headed on FOP. Still as good as always. We wondered over to creature comforts for a coffee but it was absolutely rammed so we gave it a miss.

Dorothy spotted another little girl having her face painted, so of course we ended up being fleeced $28 😂



We all tucked into a jumbo Mickey cookie!



After that we jumped on the train to Rafiki’s planet watch where Dorothy enjoyed petting some animals and I took part in the animation class. Pluto was the character for this particular class 😊





It’s the first time in 4 trips we’ve actually made it to this part of AK but we would definitely visit again! There was photo opportunities to meet Rafiki and Timone but Dorothy was getting hungry and tired at this point so wasn’t interested. I was a bit gutted but have learned to pick my battles!

We headed back to the main park and got a pizza to share from Pizzafari. Dorothy ate half and we were left with a slice each 😂 we all enjoyed this and thought the pepperoni was really tasty.



After food we hopped on the bus back to Wilderness Lodge. Dorothy is currently napping and David has gone to the gym so I’m just enjoying half an hour to myself

Back to AK soon as it is open till 7 this evening so we will get to see Pandora in the dark!
I wonder why Dorothy didn’t want the French toast it looked good obviously she had the humongous cookie though 🙈
And it was $28 well spent her face paint looked beautiful 😍
Glad she liked Navi it’s a cute ride for kids
And you can’t beat a Disney wand, our Grandkids loved them so we had to buy 4 😳🤭
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Edited at 07:51 AM.
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Old 21 Jan 25, 10:23 AM  
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RockTheDots
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I've sometimes thought about just doing a DVC resort stay combined with a cruise but then I know I'd want to go to the parks once we got there so I completely understand you buying a 2-day ticket!

Looks like a great day at AK - I also wish it stayed open later, we usually go in May so it's been years since we've seen Pandora at night.
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Old 21 Jan 25, 11:49 AM  
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We're just doing Universal this trip as will only have 9 days staying at WDW due to spending time on the cruise, our UOAPs are still valid, they wouldn't let us upgrade our 14 day WDW tickets in September to APs and I'm not feeling the pull to spend another £1200 on WDW tickets for just a few days, so we'll be giving our money to Universal instead.

We do have Moonlight Magic one night so a little bit of Disney.
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Old 21 Jan 25, 05:59 PM  
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Originally Posted by Buggles94 View Post
A fabulous first day! Those jumbo Mickey Cookies are the best! I’ve discovered the cookies from Summerhouse on the Lake this trip and highly recommend… possibly better than Gideon’s in my humble opinion. My favourite is the pink one😀
Yeah we did really enjoy it! Ooh, we are at Disney springs as I type this so maybe I’ll have to give one of those cookies a try 😃

Originally Posted by ClaireNJ View Post
I wonder why Dorothy didn’t want the French toast it looked good obviously she had the humongous cookie though 🙈
And it was $28 well spent her face paint looked beautiful 😍
Glad she liked Navi it’s a cute ride for kids
And you can’t beat a Disney wand, our Grandkids loved them so we had to buy 4 😳🤭
Ah thank you Claire ☺️ oh my word - 4 wands! 😂 it’s a good job she the one and only grandchild so far haha.

Originally Posted by RockTheDots View Post
I've sometimes thought about just doing a DVC resort stay combined with a cruise but then I know I'd want to go to the parks once we got there so I completely understand you buying a 2-day ticket!

Looks like a great day at AK - I also wish it stayed open later, we usually go in May so it's been years since we've seen Pandora at night.
I really didn’t think we would do parks but at the end of a 10 hour flight, you start to question why you have travelled all that way 😂

Originally Posted by PoohBears#1fan View Post
We're just doing Universal this trip as will only have 9 days staying at WDW due to spending time on the cruise, our UOAPs are still valid, they wouldn't let us upgrade our 14 day WDW tickets in September to APs and I'm not feeling the pull to spend another £1200 on WDW tickets for just a few days, so we'll be giving our money to Universal instead.

We do have Moonlight Magic one night so a little bit of Disney.
The universal APs always seem such good value! I think DD is too young to benefit too much from universal at the moment but I’d definitely look into them in future.

Moonlight magic will be great! Which park is that for?
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Old 21 Jan 25, 07:50 PM  
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I was up a bit later at 6.30 this morning but I was the only one awake! I had another little wander around the resort, did some washing, and had half an hour in the gym.





I didn’t get any pictures of the gym because there was a few people in there and it felt a bit odd taking photos. But I did have a little nosey around the Boulder Ridge lobby. I’d like to stay there one day. Looks very cosy.





I went back to our room via Roaring Fork with our refillable mugs. I used a snack credit to get a bear claw for us to share for our breakfast. This was huge! We all enjoyed it but it got sickly very quick and there is still half of it in the fridge 😂





No parks today so we decided on Disney Springs. We took our time getting ready and headed for the bus. As we got out of the lift, Daisy and Dale were doing some impromptu meetings in the lobby. It was so nice and Dorothy loved Daisy.



(Blowing Daisy a kiss)




Dorothy clocked the arcade on the way to the bus so we spent 20 minutes playing in there. We then left and bumped into Chip just outside, so Dorothy now has both Chip and Dale in her autograph book.

After the character meets and arcade, it was gone 11 by the time we made it to DS and we were all hungry so we went to Eet by Maneet. I had been wanting to try here for a while. David and I both had the ‘build your own bowl’ with rice and chicken. David had tikka sauce and I had saag. We agreed this was our favourite thing we had eaten so far. Really delicious (and great use of a QS credit at $19.99 before drinks or tax).





Dorothy had a naan pizza but wasn’t in the mood for it and was getting tired so we headed back to the resort. She’s now fast asleep and David is in the gym, so I am once again having half an hour to myself and writing this up

I have just done some quick calculations and estimated that our total spend so far, if not on the dining plan, would be $219.79. It cost $236.56 in total, and we have one QS credit left, so as long as the last meal has a value of $16.77 or more, we have officially ‘beat’ the dining plan. I don’t think I would ever buy it for more than a two-night stay in future as I think it is just too hard to get value from it if you are not drinking beer or cocktails with every meal.
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Old 21 Jan 25, 08:47 PM  
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I've just found your report and caught up. It looks like you're having a fun time. Your little DD sure looked cute with her face painted and great that she has made a good start on collecting signatures. Have fun trying out all the different resorts it's one of the things I love about owning DVC.
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Old 21 Jan 25, 09:14 PM  
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ClaireNJ
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Originally Posted by TigerLily8 View Post
I was up a bit later at 6.30 this morning but I was the only one awake! I had another little wander around the resort, did some washing, and had half an hour in the gym.





I didn’t get any pictures of the gym because there was a few people in there and it felt a bit odd taking photos. But I did have a little nosey around the Boulder Ridge lobby. I’d like to stay there one day. Looks very cosy.





I went back to our room via Roaring Fork with our refillable mugs. I used a snack credit to get a bear claw for us to share for our breakfast. This was huge! We all enjoyed it but it got sickly very quick and there is still half of it in the fridge 😂





No parks today so we decided on Disney Springs. We took our time getting ready and headed for the bus. As we got out of the lift, Daisy and Dale were doing some impromptu meetings in the lobby. It was so nice and Dorothy loved Daisy.



(Blowing Daisy a kiss)




Dorothy clocked the arcade on the way to the bus so we spent 20 minutes playing in there. We then left and bumped into Chip just outside, so Dorothy now has both Chip and Dale in her autograph book.

After the character meets and arcade, it was gone 11 by the time we made it to DS and we were all hungry so we went to Eet by Maneet. I had been wanting to try here for a while. David and I both had the ‘build your own bowl’ with rice and chicken. David had tikka sauce and I had saag. We agreed this was our favourite thing we had eaten so far. Really delicious (and great use of a QS credit at $19.99 before drinks or tax).





Dorothy had a naan pizza but wasn’t in the mood for it and was getting tired so we headed back to the resort. She’s now fast asleep and David is in the gym, so I am once again having half an hour to myself and writing this up

I have just done some quick calculations and estimated that our total spend so far, if not on the dining plan, would be $219.79. It cost $236.56 in total, and we have one QS credit left, so as long as the last meal has a value of $16.77 or more, we have officially ‘beat’ the dining plan. I don’t think I would ever buy it for more than a two-night stay in future as I think it is just too hard to get value from it if you are not drinking beer or cocktails with every meal.
Awwwww Dorothy & Daisy 💕💕💕💕what a wonderful photo
Well done for doing the gym before the bear claw which indeed was HUGE 🙈😋
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