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Old 19 Apr 19, 05:39 PM  
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Custancia
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The 3 Mouseketeers Non-Stop WDW Adventure (Aug 2018) Day 6 - DS/HS then Boma & AK

Day 5 can be found here.

I'll start with an apology - this is rather lacking in photos for the first part of today. I'm sure I took them, but can't find them anywhere on the computer! There's plenty of photos later on though

We’d not set an alarm last night, as we felt we needed a bit of a slower morning, so we woke up about 8am. We took a little while to get up, showered and dressed, and finally made it to the Foodcourt for about 9.10 am. DH had a Yogurt Strawberry Parfait, DD had a Chocolate filled Croissant, and I had a Hazelnut chocolate and Choc Chip Overnight Oats. I can't find the food photos , but I can find some pictures of our beautiful walk to the food court




Then we called into the Concierge to pick up a Birthday Badge for DD. It wasn’t her birthday, but we were going to a Cake Decorating Class at Amorette’s the next day. She had been desperate to do the Amorette’s class for ages, but it’s $150 so we’d agreed to it as a birthday present. Since it was her birthday treat tomorrow, it seemed appropriate for her to have a birthday badge.

Whilst we were at the Concierge desk we also checked what time the busses started for Disney Springs. The cake decorating started at 9am, so we needed to be there bright and early! The busses start running for Disney Springs at 8am, it’s almost like Disney plan this .

I should include a warning that the next few paragraphs involve explicit content of the “existential parental angst” type. For those who are not parents, or who already have enough parental angst of their own – please feel free to skip forward to the next photo!
We also added charging privileges to DD’s magic band. We’d deliberated on this for a while, as obviously there’s a level of risk in essentially giving our 14 year old full access to our credit card. MDE tells you what has been charged to your room, and by whose magic band – but there isn’t any way of putting a spending limit on a band (it’s all charging, or none). However, DD is sensible, trustworthy and very responsible – remarkably so for a 14 year old – so we gave her charging privileges.

DD was also very excited to discover that Disney allows unaccompanied park entry from 14 years old. As she turned 14 a few months before this trip, Disney would have no problem with her travelling on busses and going into parks by herself. Again, DH and I had deliberated carefully on what we thought of this – just because Disney are OK with it, doesn’t necessarily mean we have to be! We were mindful that she would be on her own (not with friends/ older siblings), and that we were in a foreign country. On the other hand, we trust her to go out and about at home, she could keep in touch via What’s App (or in a real emergency, actual phone) and Disney is a relatively safe place, with helpful cast members. Plus it was her 6th time in WDW so almost her second home .

So, knowing we were taking a carefully weighed up decision - at the bus station, we headed off on a bus to Hollywood Studios, whilst she headed off on a bus to Disney Springs.

Just in case you’re suffering the same level of anxiety that I did – I’ll write up her morning first! DD had a great morning in Disney Springs. She wandered round the shops. She visited the Vera Bradley shop



and saw a gorgeous rucksack (which would be just “perfect” for school).



She visited the Coach and Kate Spade shops



and met two “really lovely” shop assistants and had a good chat with one of them about a lovely handbag, only $500 and they could do a 10% discount as she was from the UK – but only for today.




She visited Sephora, where they have the “best” makeup. And she also went into the Disney Marketplace, where they have some “amazing” and “gorgeous” Disney clothes, that you just don’t see anywhere else.



Every so often, she was interrupted by a What’s App text checking she was still alive, and that everything was OK. She appreciated that we cared, but it did keep interrupting her time at Disney Springs.
And then a bit tired from visiting all these shops, she went to D-Luxe Burger and used a Quick Service credit - and definitely recommends eating here as it was great.



She even remembered to get a picture of her food for this trippie.




She found a table outside to sit and eat, whilst enjoying the theming of Disney Springs:



Then she came back to Riverside where she met us, and excitedly told us all about her morning. And because she is the BEST daughter in the world (at least, in my world ) the only thing she used her magic band for, despite some pushy sales tactics from the handbag shops, was getting her meal.

As well as sending texts to interrupt DD’s shopping, DH and I went to Hollywood Studios. We took full advantage of the photopass photographers (since we only had ourselves to please). Then we stopped for Cake and Drink and sat down at the tables behind Fairfax Fayre. We had a cup of (free) iced water:



And a blue Toy Story Cupcake - which looked really beautiful.



It tasted good too, but was really messy to eat (and stained our fingers!)



As we were nearby, we saw the Beauty and the Beast show. I really enjoy this, and think it’s cleverly staged and condensed storyline.




As we were heading out, we saw another photopass photographer, so decided to have more photos. It was a new photographer, who was being trained, and we recognized her as Sara the lovely member of staff who had put up with our PIN number ineptness at Discovery Cove (Day 4). She recognized us too, which was really nice!

We managed to intercept some stormtroopers passing by:



Then we had a new meet and greet – Olaf! There was about a 20 minute queue (about as long as we are willing to queue), but the interaction, and chance to meet a new character for us, was definitely worth it.

We then went over to the Indiana Jones stunt show. This is a much bigger show than Beauty and the Beast!



I really enjoy the feeling of ‘being behind the scenes’ and seeing how the stunts are set up (I used to love the Lights, Motor, Action show at WDW for the same reason). The show usually starts with Stuntdouble Indie being chased by the rolling ball, but due to technical difficulties, we didn’t get to see that this time. However, we saw a scene involving a jeep which we’ve not seen previously. I don’t know whether this is a new addition or a ‘fill in’ because we didn’t get the ‘rolling ball’ element - but either way, it was great to see something a little different.





We headed in a leisurely manner (too hot to walk quickly!) back out of the park – making the most of every photopass photographer that we passed, since we didn’t have DD with us saying “Not another one … we have already had SO many photos”.

My notes say we caught the bus back to the resort at 12.56pm (I’ve no idea why I recorded the time with such a level of accuracy!).



Once back to Riverside, I went back to our room to get our refillable mugs. At this point I realised that we’d failed to remove the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door which we’d put on the evening before in case we managed a really long lie-in. Mousekeeping had left a bag on the door with replacement towels etc, but we’d obviously missed the chance for mousekeeping to freshen up our room.

Meanwhile, DH headed over to the Food Court to order us some lunch. We’d decided to share the make-your-own salad (which they actually make for you, but you get to choose which ingredients). DH ordered it with chicken, chickpeas, and (according to my notes which are a bit less detailed about this part), lots of other stuff.



He also got us a chocolate ice-cream milkshake, freshly made from the ice-cream food station.



Both the salad and the milkshake were really delicious! During the meal, DD had texted us to say she was on her way back from Disney Springs, so we met back up in the room then went to the quiet pool nearby for a swim.

The quiet pools have a laundry room (with many washing machines and dryers) so we put our laundry into wash whilst we cooled down in the pool. I had a slight panic, when I realised I’d accidentally put our whites on a hot wash (which is really hot!), but everything was OK. You can check on the status of the washing machines and dryers via the LaundryView website – so you can see exactly when your washing or drying cycle has finished.



DH knows when I’m feeling really homesick for Riverside as he’ll find me checking the status whilst we’re back in the UK! Obviously, we didn’t check the website whilst we were in the pool!

With perfect timing, just as the clothes were finished drying, the heavens opened. DH had the inspired idea of covering up the dry clothes with a couple of pool towels, whilst we went back to our room. We were soaked by the rain walking back (but we were wet from the pool anyway), whilst the clothes stayed lovely and dry.

We’d read about the new Minnie Van service which had just been rolled out to all resorts (still charging a flat $25 fee at this point) so we decided to get this to our ADR at Boma. This was a much easier journey than having to get a bus to AK, and then another bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge – and the distance meant that the $25 fee wasn’t too unreasonable. I mentioned in Day 1, initially we’d not been entirely happy with our room location as it was ground floor and right next to car park roundabout. However, it was the perfect location today, as the Minnie Van pickup location was literally just outside our room! The Minnie Van was a great experience; spotlessly clean, with phone charging facilities, and a CM driver (Tom from St Louis) who was full of Disney trivia and some local history (eg why MCO is the code for Orlando airport). I’m certain I took a photo – but can’t find it anywhere!

We were in reasonable time for our ADR, so had a look around Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby, before we headed up to Boma.





I find AKL a little confusing with all the different levels, but it was all signposted very clearly.



We’d hardly sat down after checking in at Boma, when our table was ready.




I had a Margarita, DH had a Tusker Beer, and DD had a mocktail with berry foam topping. Personally, I think my drink was best!





It is a buffet, and the food was fantastic. There was a huge choice, logically laid out, and some really interesting, slightly unusual things to try, with great flavour combinations.







We really enjoyed our meal here - there was so much to try.



I also really liked being able to have the Zebra Domes again (although we'd only previously had them from the QS cafe at AKL)




You'll notice I added a bit of fruit to make it into a healthy dessert

I had my birthday badge on, and we got a cup-cake with a candle brought over by our server.



Then we caught the bus from the resort to Animal Kingdom. This was very quick and easy. When we arrived at AK, it was time for our first FastPass. We’d been really lucky with Fastpasses (helped by being able to book 60 days out and for the full length of our stay) so we had another Flight of Passage FP.




This was just as good as the first time, perhaps even better as I knew what to expect so could really settle back and enjoy the experience. I’m assuming that there were some slight technical issues, or else someone needing extra time to get out of the ride, as the pre-show was much longer than the first time we’d ridden. I wouldn’t have noticed, if I’d not had the previous experience to compare it with. We took time to have a good look around Pandora when we came out. It is stunning!




And it stays equally as beautiful as it gets a little darker and the lights start to come on





Then over to DinoLand for our next FP which is one of DD’s favourite rides, Primeval Whirl. She absolutely loves this ride. It’s a strange combination between a small coaster, and spinning teacups! I also enjoy it, but have to concentrate on not getting travel sick, as it whirls around and you are travelling forwards and backwards on various bits of the coaster. DH really hates the spinning teacups, so this ride is NOT his idea of a good time. However, he bravely joined us on it since he’d got a FP booked and didn’t have to queue for long. I find the queue theming a little strange (but I don't think that is what he meant!)




DH needed a bit of a sit down afterwards!

Then we were onto our third and final fastpass for the day – Rivers of Light. The FastPass seating area was quite cramped, but it was good to have the reserved seating. This was our first time seeing this show. DH really liked this – and surprisingly, he particularly liked that there wasn’t anything explicitly Disney-themed about it.





DD thought it was really pretty, with beautiful lights but felt that you needed to be looking everywhere at once. I love the fireworks shows, and obviously with the animals at this park that's not really ideal - but the water projections were a clever alternative for a show.




As always after an evening show, there was a long queue back at the bus stop. However, although we didn’t get onto the first bus, we didn’t have to wait too long for another one. Once we got back to Riverside, DD headed back to the room for a shower, whilst DH and I went over to the Food Court to get some breakfast items. It was 10.50pm when we got there, and we were really surprised by how busy it was! There wasn’t a huge choice of potential breakfast-suitable items at that time (not surprisingly). We got some grapes, some overnight oats and a cookie (it was a whole cookie, without the bite missing when we bought it ) This was conveniently 3 snack items, which we could use 1 QS meal to pay for.



Whilst we were choosing the cookie, the CM serving noticed my birthday badge and offered me one of the few remaining cupcakes for free (so I chose the beautiful Tiana one, as she is DD’s favourite princess).



It was 11.30pm by the time we all finally fell asleep in bed.

Day 7 - part 1 - can be found here.
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Edited at 08:38 PM.
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Old 19 Apr 19, 07:01 PM  
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GezzasGem
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I have to say am with your DH on the primeval whirl thing - I always feel dreadful if I ride it! 😄🤢 glad you enjoyed Boma, we love it and have 2 dinners and a breakfast booked there for our next trip 😊 glad your DD had such a good time, scary letting them 'off the leash' I can imagine - ours is only 7 so a while to wait yet! Thanks for sharing 👍
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Old 21 Apr 19, 05:43 PM  
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I didn't know about the age 14 thing for wdw. It sounds like your DD had the "best" time in Disney Springs doing some window shopping and yummy burger for lunch. We always put charging privileges on all the magic bands too, it's nice that you can trust your kids not to go mental.

Your morning at HS sounds fab too. I love both the shows you saw. Last time we went to the Indy show twice as the first one was rained off half way through and we wanted to see it properly. A couple of years ago our kids were picked to be the junior directors who start the show off. It was fab seeing them up on the stage even if it was only for a couple of seconds.

The dinner at Boma does look good, we will have to try it sometime. I can't believe how much you managed to fit in today. You must have been shattered by the end of it.
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Old 22 Apr 19, 07:09 PM  
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Custancia
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Originally Posted by GezzasGem View Post
I have to say am with your DH on the primeval whirl thing - I always feel dreadful if I ride it! 😄🤢 glad you enjoyed Boma, we love it and have 2 dinners and a breakfast booked there for our next trip 😊 glad your DD had such a good time, scary letting them 'off the leash' I can imagine - ours is only 7 so a while to wait yet! Thanks for sharing 👍
We enjoyed Boma so much - well worth heading out to AKL for!
Thank you for reading and commenting

Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
I didn't know about the age 14 thing for wdw. It sounds like your DD had the "best" time in Disney Springs doing some window shopping and yummy burger for lunch. We always put charging privileges on all the magic bands too, it's nice that you can trust your kids not to go mental.

Your morning at HS sounds fab too. I love both the shows you saw. Last time we went to the Indy show twice as the first one was rained off half way through and we wanted to see it properly. A couple of years ago our kids were picked to be the junior directors who start the show off. It was fab seeing them up on the stage even if it was only for a couple of seconds.

The dinner at Boma does look good, we will have to try it sometime. I can't believe how much you managed to fit in today. You must have been shattered by the end of it.
It was a good day all round, but you're right we were tired by the end! It feels like we do a whole holiday of excitement each day at WDW

How cool to get to be the junior directors - that's definitely a memory to treasure!
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Old 6 Jun 19, 10:36 AM  
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Another great day. I know all about the angst of letting your children have freedom. On our first trip our three girls were 12,10 and 7. We let them go into the queue for one of the slides at the water park on their own. The queue was much longer than it said and I was rather worried by the time they came off even though we'd put them in the queue and walked straight round the corner to where we could view them coming down!
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