Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 17 - AK, DS, MK & Citricos

[Scruffette]

Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 17

Index

Saturday 15th September

Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs & Magic Kingdom

Breakfast at Boma, Lunch at Morimoto Asia, Dinner at Citricos

After two relatively late mornings, we were back to the early starts for Extra Magic Hours at Animal Kingdom. We had a busy day planned, mainly as were attempting three table service meals in one day!

We got up and got ready, sharing the nutritious caramel butter bar from Karamel Kuche for breakfast. The Disney Food Blog were right about this one – another hit from their recommendations.

Whilst I was getting ready (taking far too long as usual) Ollie called guest services to arrange more fresh towels and request a bin change. This was a nice easy process. Earlier in the week he’d bumped into some mousekeeping staff and was able to take some towels directly of their trolley.

Our reservations for today looked like this –








We left the room around 7am and had a 10 minute wait for a bus. Our bus driver this morning was on great form - my favourite joke was that the real Disney magic was air conditioning. He also pointed out different sights along the route and it made for a great start to the day.

This morning Animal Kingdom had Extra Magic Hours and the crowds were a lot busier than the last time we rope-dropped AK on a non EMH morning.

We were let in with the crowds to Pandora and were led into the land in an orderly manner, walked over the bridge towards Africa and looped pack towards Pandora.











We were off the ride by 8.40am, which I thought was respectable (although not as good as earlier in the week). I was loving this ride more and more every time. Despite having ridden it a few times, there was one particular part that made me jump every ride without fail!

I also had a little look away from the screen and towards the other riders at one point, to get an idea of how the ride worked.

I could talk even more about how well themed the Pandora area is, but I’ve probably mentioned it enough already!



















Na’vi river journey was listed as a 25 minute wait and we thought we would give this another go. The line was actually only 20 minutes which was a bonus, and we were off by 9.15am.



I do love this animatronic as the end of this ride –



After our chilled journey we took a restroom stop – although they looked a bit run down from the outside, I can confirm they were a lot more pristine on the inside!



We stopped in the Pandora gift shop and picked up a magnet for $6.99 plus tax. A lot of magnet buying happened this trip!

Our fastpass for Flight of Passage had opened up, so that was our next stop. We were very lucky to be able to ride twice today, and had already clocked up 4 rides this trip. Obviously, we loved the ride!

It was only really a flying visit to Animal Kingdom lodge this morning and we were soon leaving the park. We were definitely heading in the opposite direction to everyone else as we left Pandora!



There wasn’t too long to wait for a bus and we were soon on our way to Animal Kingdom Lodge. I’d worked up quite an appetite with all that banshee flying and was ready to tuck into a big breakfast!

We checked in for our 10.30am reservation and had a short wait for our table.





Our server took a long time to come round to take our drink orders. She assumed we would both want jungle juice, tried to leave a carafe and started to walk off.

I had to get her attention to ask for some waters for both of us and some chocolate milk for me. However, I had to ask her again when she turned up with some water but no chocolate milk. Maybe it was her way of telling me that it was a child’s drink and I shouldn’t be having something more sophisticated!



Ollie was very happy with his jungle juice, after missing out on this at Garden Grill.

I was really impressed with the breakfast selection and all the options were being replenished.



I started with my usual savoury plate, and went to town a bit on the sweet plate!



The bread pudding concoction was a thing of beauty!



Ollie’s first plate –



If we didn’t have so much food planned today, I would have done some serious damage here!

Although the service was slow (it took a while to get our bill), I couldn’t fault the food at all. I’ve not had dinner here since 2011 and this has made me want to revisit.

A trip to the Animal Kingdom Lodge isn’t complete without a look outside at the ‘savannah’.



We did spot this friend –



Ollie had only visited Kidani Village before, although I think Jambo house is very similar, just on a larger scale.

Obligatory photo of this piece of art. No idea what it is, but I have multiple identical photo from previous visits!



We took a quick look in the gift shop and headed outside to wait for a bus to Disney Springs.

No, we didn’t get The Incredibles bus!



We only waited around 5 minutes and it took around 20 minutes to get to Disney Springs. I don’t think I took a nap on this bus journey, which is rare for me.

I do think that Disney Springs looks great now all the work is finished. It was a shame we hadn’t allowed for an evening here, as I imagine the atmosphere is great.





We stuck our heads into The Edison, which hadn’t been open that long at this point.





Our next port of call was Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar. On our last trip in 2015, we got an ACE pineapple cider in Epcot from the African Outpost. Ollie loved this drink, but the only place we could find it in the whole of WDW was at Jock Lindsey’s, so a visit was a must!

The theming here was great and there was so much to look at.



We sat in this diving bell –



The food going passed looked delicious, but we had other food plans!





The ciders were $9.50 each. It was nice to take some time out of our day just to sit, chill and talk about our amazing trip so far. Often we are too busy rushing from attraction to attraction!

Our next stop was World of Disney, although we stopped to look at these amphicars en route for a bit.



World of Disney was still a work in progress at this point, so the shop was a lot smaller than usual.





They did manage to fit a fair amount of stock into the limited space though, even if it felt a bit crowded at times. Ollie appreciated the smaller size as it meant we were much quicker in the shop!

To help speed up things even more, we had a list of what purchases we wanted to buy. This had turned into quite a long list….

First up, I eventually bought the skyline mug I had been eyeing up ($13.99). This one had popped up in a lot of haul videos!



Ollie bought me the Disney attraction calendar ($24.99) to put up for Christmas. He normally buys me the Thomas Kinkade Disney calendar, which is also beautiful, but I fancied a change this year.



The only annoying thing about this calendar is there is no space to write anything on the days, which sort of defeats the point of a calendar! However, it does look gorgeous in the kitchen.

I bought Ollie two more metal earth figurines to put up for birthday/Christmas – a Haunted Mansion one ($16.99) and a Cinderella Castle one ($19.99)



We always really enjoy the Tomas Kinkade puzzles (Beauty and the Beast is framed in our bedroom) and I think they are good value. We picked up a night time castle one for my parents for Christmas for $21.99.



I bought two set of notelets for my Mum, a set for birthday and a set for Christmas. She only uses Disney post-its! These were $12.99 each normally, or 2 for $20.



Who doesn’t love a pair of Disney socks?



We got a ‘Mine’ pair for my Dad. He loves the seagulls from Finding Nemo and already has the mug and tshirt! We got a pair of Eeyore socks for Ollie’s sister for her birthday – they had tails! They would normally be $14.99 each, but they were on offer for 2 for $22.

I noticed Disney was doing a lot more ‘2 for x’ deals this time. There was one covering all the couple matching tshirts, although I couldn’t convince Ollie to get some!