Another Dose of Disney Dreams August 2016 - Day 9 - Animal Kingdom,Tusker's House & F/Quarters pool

[juliab]

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Saturday 13th August

Slept really well I woke up at 6.45 which is really good for me. Today we were heading over to Animal Kingdom and it was extra magic hours so the park opened at 8am. I was quite noisy as I got ready in the hope that someone else would wake up. This worked with Hayden and Jamie they were soon up and out of bed, but Poppy was still sound asleep, bless her.

I finally got Poppy up and we were out of our room and hour later. We were having a late breakfast at Tuskers House so we just munched on the magic cookie bars from last night before we left.

Another hot day with lovely clear skies, you always seem to feel the heat more in Animal Kingdom so we knew we’d be in for a scorcher. The car park was practically empty but we were still a fair distance from the entrance, a tram was waiting so we decided to jump on it, talk about being lazy!

Pretty sure we were the only people on this!



Looking nice and quiet that’s what we like to see

Headed straight over to Everest as we were hoping we’d get to have a few rides on here before the crowds got heavy.

Couldn’t believe that the time was showing a 25 minute wait when we arrived there! I know we weren’t the first in the park but I didn’t expect it to be that long. Never mind Scott took the boys on whilst Poppy and me took a few photos of a quiet Animal Kingdom.

This is new?

After our little walk we had a look in the shop before waiting in the Everest viewing area for the boy’s to return.

Poppy looking for the yeti!

Bit of luck that we actually spotted Scott and the boys on this train!

I was really pleased with how the ears that I’d made for Poppy looked in Animal Kingdom, think they fitted in very nicely.

Turns out we didn’t have to wait too long for the boys to return, the wait time had been a lot shorter. They were so hyped up about the ride and wanted to go on again, I got to ride with them second time round. We walked straight round there was no wait at all…yay.

Still walk so Hayden and Jamie went back for a third time with Scott! It had been a brilliant start to our day, Expedition Everest is such a brilliant ride and it definitely woken us all up!

Conquering Everest 3 times

The boys would have loved to have gone on a few more times but I pointed out that it wasn’t fair on Poppy to be waiting around all the time.

Walked over to Dinoland U.S.A. as Poppy wanted to ride Triceratop Spin. I volunteered to ride with her whilst Scott took Hayden and Jamie on Primeval Whirl. There is no way could I go on that particular ride way too much spinning for me lol.

Dinosaur wasn’t open on our visit so we’d finished with everything in here for the time being. As we walked over to Africa we had some photopass pictures taken whilst it was still quiet.

Our time for our Tuskers House breakfast was fast approaching, we sat outside once we’d checked in and waited for our names to be called. It was really busy outside but we didn’t have to wait long.

We were seated in a lovely table, our server took our order for drinks and we went to get our first plates of food. There’s the usual favourite’s here along with a few other dishes that are a little bit more different. The food here is very good

No sooner as we’d sat down when Donald came over to our table.

Went to get some more food, you can’t have too many Mickey waffles

Next to visit was Mickey

And then the lovely Daisy

Continued below

[juliab]

Had some more food! We’d had a late breakfast ADR and now they were starting to bring more of the lunch menu. I love the desserts they have here a particular favourite of mine was the bread and butter pudding

We just needed Goofy to come pay a visit and a short time after he duly arrived!

Admiring Jamie’s hair!



And a little kiss for Poppy

We left this fab character meal with really full tummies and walked round to our next ride – Kilimanjaro Safari.

I can’t remember if we had a fastpass for here or not, we usually do? Anyway we boarded our safari vehicle and we were soon out on the savannah eagerly spotting the wildlife.

I’m sure I’ve read that it’s best to experience this in the morning as the animals are usually more active. Not sure if it is the case but we did see quite a few animals and our guide was enthusiastic all through the tour.

Safari over we then took a walk over to our next fast pass, which was Kali River Rapids. This took us through the new area which we’d not seen before, the Harambe Market. We didn’t stop to take a good look but hopefully we’d get to have a walk round another time. It did look lovely here.

We saw the tree of life as we walked along the path, love it from this view.

There was a photopass lady a little further down the path and best of all, there wasn’t a line.

We were all feeling really hot now, you know how it is in Animal Kingdom. I was glad to be going on Kali Rapids to hopefully have a bit of a cool down!

It was really busy around the entrance and we had to wait just a few minutes for our fastpass time to come round. It was worth waiting for as the stand by time was really long, 80 minutes, thank goodness for fast passes.

Love this ride I just wish it was a little longer. I could’ve sworn the last time we came you were able to put your bag in a central compartment in the middle of the raft boat? Well it wasn’t there anymore so I had to quickly grab a plastic bag out to put my camera bag in, I didn’t want that to get wet.

Well Poppy and I got absolutely soaked but then I did ask for it didn’t I. The boys were practically dry! I could actually wring the water out of Poppy’s dress lol but the sun was shining so it didn’t take us long to dry off.

As we popped to the restrooms I noticed the lockers nearby, don’t know if it’s because we’ve had the pushchair previous years where we’ve left the bag in so a lockers not been needed. Any way a made a mental note to use the lockers on our next visit.

Had a sit down for a while next as we watched the Flights of Wonder show. It’s lovely to watchand we did all enjoy but we wouldn’t go out of our way to see it. It was just starting as we walked by the stadium so we thought why not.

Another photopass just outside the theatre

Our next fastpass time was available and it was for Expedition Everest, the boys wanted me to ride it with them on this occasion – lucky me.

I remember chatting to the young lady next to me, her and her family loved this ride and had been on the single rider queue a couple of times that day. It really is addictive this ride!

Whilst we’d been away Poppy had had a cola float. Took Jamie to get one and he chose an orange float, I also got loads of ice cold water whilst we were there as we so needed lots of fluids today.

Floats for the new night time show

Next up was a show Poppy was looking forward to watching, it had been closed on our last visit so it had been a few years since we’d last experienced it.

It’s tough to be a bug is so good, we’d forgotten about a lot of the effects so most of it felt unexpected and new again. It really is funny, a great family attraction.

Tree of Life

Now we were a little unsure where to go next, as we walked round Discovery Island we saw the Russell and Dug meet and greet. Having never met them before we thought it would be a great time to call over and say hello as the line was quite short.

As we approached the front the queue both Russell and Dug left for a break, a short time after Dug reappeared but there was no Russell? The CM did say he might come back soon but he didn’t come back for our meeting. Still we had a great time, Dug was so funny and incredibly cute. Jamie and Poppy couldn’t stop laughing at his antics.

Big hugs all round





DSC_0002
Dug being a bit cheeky with Poppy’s autograph book

This turned out to be one of Jamie’s favourite meet and greets, didn’t miss Russell but maybe we’ll get to meet him another time.

Continued below

[juliab]

Now again we pondered what to do, it was coming up to 3pm and the Festival of the Lion King was due to start. We power walked over but we got turned away as the show was full.

We had a look round some shops, we saw plenty of great things but we didn’t buy anything that day.

We wondered a little more before setting down for a few minutes in some shade. I grabbed a waffle sandwich in Dinoland which the kids soon made light work off. Still they had too as it was melting very quickly!

Couldn’t believe it was just 1 snack credit!

Thought we’d give Finding Nemo the musical a try, we were allowed in and the place looked pretty full. We were told to go down to the very front or to the back, we walked down only to find the odd few seats there was no way we could all sit together. Scott said he’d take Hayden and Jamie further up and me and Poppy stayed put near to the front.

The show soon started, I really love this show but Poppy doesn’t like me singing along to it! How can you not sing along to this superb show.

Yet another amazing performance, I could watch this musical time and time again. We met back up with the boys outside, they’d sat right up at the back but had still enjoyed it. Poppy said she wanted to have a play in the Boneyard, I did tell he it would feel incredibly hot in there now but she was adamant for a play.

Think we were in for around 15 minutes before Poppy and Jamie had said they’d had enough, it was just too hot in there. It’s also incredibly noisy in there too, don’t ask me why but I tend to come out of that place with a bit of a headache, probably something to do with there being a lot of kids in that place lol.

Anyway we decided to call it a day, it was nearly 5 o’clock so we’d had yet another productive day in the park and had done quite a lot. A cooling dip in the pool was in order too as it had been quite a hot one.

Time for another photo before we leave

As we made our way to the car we could see the sky turning darker and there was lightning in the distance. It started to rain but only lasted a little while.

Back at Port Orleans Riverside and once the rain had stopped we called on over to the food court again for our dinner. Ordered 4 meals between us this time and there was loads for us to share. Can’t remember exactly what we did but we must’ve subbed the drinks for desserts. We took some of these pastries along with the fruit back to our room as we were quite full, they’d be handy for breakfast in the morning.

Changed into our swimming gear then had a lovely gentle walk over to the French Quarter’s, although we’ve been to Riverside 4 times now this would be my first visit here.

It really was a lovely walk, a few boats passed by and we saw just a handful of people as we walked down. Wed done a fair bit of walking today but this felt laid back and unhurried.

We heard some voices a little further down and realised that there was children roasting marshmallows at the fire pit. As we got closer a CM came over and asked if the kids wanted to join in, they’d be closing it soon. Of course our kids were more than happy to join in on the fun.

Toasting over we carried with what was a short walk to the pool. There were plenty of sun loungers free where I parked myself for a short while. The kids were soon enjoying the pool.

I went to fill up a couple of our refillable mugs so had a quick look in the food court. It was being renovated so didn’t really get to see what it was like. Originally we’d hoped to eat here one night but decided against it once we’d heard about the food court being closed. You could still pick snacks and drinks up though form what I could see.

We carried on enjoying the pool but as it started to get to get darker Jamie and Poppy wanted to take a look at the new splash/play area for the little ones. The lifeguard came over to Jamie and told him he was able to play with his sister with the water squirter’s but he couldn’t go on the slides. I think ordinarily Jamie wouldn’t have been allowed in this area but because it was nearly empty the lifeguard made an exception. Glad he did as Jamie and Poppy had a brilliant time in there.

Waiting for the big splash!


Here it comes




Think somebody’s enjoying themselves

Enjoyed a good couple of hour’s down here, made a nice change from Ol Man Island and the splash area was a bit hit with Poppy and Jamie.

Now I thought we’d be able to catch the boat back to Riverside but I was wrong. Went down to the jetty and asked the captain as there was a boat waiting, he told me that they stopped running between the resorts at 4.30. He explained we could either walk back or catch the bus, we decided to walk.

Poppy was a little tired so Scott ended up carrying her a little way. We stopped off for some hot chocolate as we passed the food court at Riverside and drunk this back in our room. Watched a bit of the Olympics in between us all showering and changing and then we went to bed. We’d had a great day in Animal Kingdom, one of our favourite parks and finished it off with another fantastic swim.

Thanks for reading

[Minnie Mum]

Great day. Good fun in the pool! 😃

[DisneyDreamer81]

Aww you've got so many lovely photos of the 5 of you, you must be so pleased!

Another fab day - I loved Animal Kingdom last year (my first time ever as it didn't exist when I went as a kid) but we didn't do any of the shows. I'm definitely going to have to drag my husband to watch them on our next trip! x

[2littleboys]

You cant beat swimming at night in Disney, theres nothing like it, the splash area looks like so much fun!

I love Tusker House, its my favourite character breakfast! xx

[sheluk]

Fantastic day! That waffle looks amazing.

The French quarter looks so pretty - which one did you prefer? Have heard the beignets are good from there too.

Why are all my posts food related?! Lol.

Some lovely photos Julia - thanks for sharing xx

[MinnieMrsA]

Glad to hear you loved POFQ - makes me smile to know I was one of the few people you saw on your amble over ❤

[Tartan Tigger]

Sounds like a great day 😀

[mouselover22]

Fantastic memory maker photo's of you all, love Jamie dabbing on Everest

Perfect way to end a perfect day