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Old 22 Apr 18, 10:19 AM  
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LostPrincess
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Join Date: May 16
Garth and Louise's Graduation Celebration June 2017 - Day 16 - AK, Raglan Road and MK evening magic

Welcome to my trip report! The index is here, and day 15 is here.

Wednesday 28th June – Day 16

We woke to alarm at 6am today. Garth had 15 more minutes while I scrolled and went to the loo. Our clothes from yesterday’s wash out were hung all around the bathroom in an attempt to dry them out.

Even the backpack is hanging on the door! Everything was still rather damp. The 2nd alarm went off at 6.15am for Garth and we were soon both washed and ready. I was theming my socks this morning!


Garth cleared his phone down of photos and had a coffee in the room and we were leaving at 7am.

We were planning breakfast in Animal Kingdom today. The screens said a bus would be along at 7.10am but we were actually waiting a bit longer. It was the busiest morning bus we’d been on so far- people were standing and we were all really crammed in. I suppose Pandora was really encouraging people to make it in for the early starts. We arrived at 7.30 and it was sooo busy. I wanted to escape the crowds a bit so I went through the no bag line and Garth took the backpack through bag check. Everyone seemed to be heading towards Pandora but we were planning on going in the opposite direction this morning. We got a photopass and then waited at the rope to be let in towards Asia.



It was so quiet at this end and much better than the Avatar-scrum going on at the other side of the park. We took a slow wander round to Everest.



We walked on once and then went around for a second go, and I finally saw the yeti!

We waited for the front row the 2nd time.

I had been moaning at Garth because often on rides he'd put his hands in the air and his hand would go right over my face! So his bent arm was probably an attempt to stop the Mike "I'm on the cover of a magazine! " situation Garth bought an Expedition Everest tshirt from the shop on the way out. I don’t have the receipt but I think it was around $25 and they asked if we wanted to donate to the conservation fund. We said yes and got given a lovely little badge. We left the shop and took a minute to devise a plan. While we were chatting a couple came over and gave us these!

It was very kind of them! We put them away for later and decided to go looking at some animals. We stopped to use the loos and saw a lone photopass guy just loitering. We thought he was taking pics with the Rivers of Light lake in the background, so we asked for a pic but he told us to stand in the opposite direction!

So a very random picture We could hear the monkeys chanting really loudly so we went to watch for a bit. They were making such a racket!


As we were close by and Mickey and Minnie had a short wait we decided to meet them. These ended up being some of our favourite pics from the trip.



I love their outfits, I was unintentionally Disney-bounding Safari Minnie We were getting hungry now as it was slowly approaching 9am so we walked round to Creature Comforts. We knew we wanted a cinnamon mickey bun! I also got a medium double chocolate chip frappucino and Garth got a large strawberry acia. I was struggling with the big drinks and the sugar rush that followed It would have cost around $17.50+tax but we used 1 QS credit (for the pastry and a drink) and a snack credit for the 2nd drink.



We sat and ate outside. It was a lovely temperature again this morning. It was really yummy and not too filling to share it between us. When we finished eating we took our drinks and had a wander.





Our first fastpass for Dinosaur was active now. On the way we got more photopass pics. Some days we just seemed to get pics every 5 minutes!


When we got to Dinosaur there was only a 5 minute wait anyway! Pandora was really sucking up a lot of the crowds.

Garth finished my drink for me and we headed on. Garth LOVES this ride. I wish there was a lap bar but I do love it too.

We were wearing our ears on the way round and at the end the big gust of air blew them so they were round our foreheads (ie Garth looked like a unicorn). We grabbed them in a panic that they were going to fly off before bursting into laughter, it just took us completely by surprise We made a mental note not to wear ears on Dinosaur in future. My notes say Garth was a unicorn dalek?! We used the loos and as I was waiting for Garth I got a message from our friend's Mum. I can’t remember why but they’re all big Disney fans too and she was probably just asking how our trip was going bless her. I've known Hollie since preschool so I've grown up knowing her parents too! We’re very lucky to have such an amazing friend and her family are like an added bonus Primeval Whirl was showing 20 mins but Touring Plans reckoned it was 10 so we headed into the queue.

While we were waiting we played Heads Up on Garth’s phone and some teenage American boys started playing along with us. It was kind of awkward but also very funny, they were getting into it When on the ride we had a couple next to us, they must have been in their 50s. They were really funny and the lady kept screaming, I don’t think she expected the ride to be as jerky as it is! We were off at 10am so it had been a 20 minute queue after all, but oh well! Our Na’vi River Journey fastpass was active now so we walked round to Pandora, joining everyone else who had come to Animal Kingdom today!

We found this thing very odd. As far as I can gather from what we saw people doing, you rub it, and it kind of… erupts? Maybe it’s just us but the whole idea seemed slightly inappropriate

We got a better look at Pandora this time around, last time I was just too tired to appreciate it.


We got some more photopasses.

The standby queue was showing 80 mins. The views from the queue were great.




I think I was just trying to take a pic of the queue but looking at this I’ve realised that all you can see are people on their phones. What did people do before phones were a thing in queue lines? We thought considering the demand for these rides the fastpass queue was managed really well. We were on in a few minutes. We found the ride really pretty but definitely a bit of a let-down compared to Flight of Passage. The animatronic was creepy as well! It was a nice ride but I’m in no rush to ride again. Garth liked it though, but again, not as much as Flight of Passage. Garth fancied a drink so we went towards Pongu Pongu.


Flight of Passage was at 140 minutes which was no where near as bad as it got sometimes!


I wasn’t going to get a drink but I changed my mind last second and we both got Night Blossoms. They were the non-alcoholic option- limeade with apple and pear flavours and boba balls. They would have cost $5.99 each + tax but we used 2 snack credits.

You may have noticed throughout the trip that Garth and I are 12 year olds in disguise and are unable to behave like adults when presented with an opportunity to release our inner selves. Well these boba balls presented such an opportunity. I don’t know who started it but before long we were shooting each other with the balls using our straws Garth got a bit too enthusiastic and soon after I warned him he was going to choke, he sucked a ball up and started choking, while laughing at his stupidity! As pathetic as it is I hope we always laugh and have fun like we do now. The balls were really weird and I thought they were too sweet. In fact, the whole drink was a bit too sweet and sickly. I definitely should have just had a few sips of Garth’s! Our fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safari had become active so we wandered over slowly.

There was quite a hefty fastpass line. After we’d scanned in we booked another fastpass for the Festival of the Lion King. We also decided to move our Raglan Road ADR a bit later so we could fit a nap in this afternoon. They had availability for 6pm which was perfect. While we were on the app we made some plans for tomorrow too. We had a slower start planned with Celebration and Disney Springs on the cards. We decided to go to back to Hollywood Studios in the evening so booked some fastpases for Star Tours, Tower of Terror and Fantasmic.


We waited 20 minutes in the queue before being pulled forward as a party of 2. I’ll spare you most of the pics, apart from this one which is particularly cute.

When our safari was over we headed over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

When we got there some people stayed on the train, I don’t really understand why? Maybe they just enjoyed the ride. We had a good look around and stroked some pigs and goats.




When we got back to the main park we did the Gorilla Falls trail.



We took one of the bird spotting cards to take around with us.




It was fun identifying the birds and actually knowing what we were looking at!



The cast member at the gorillas told us that there was a Mum, Dad and baby gorilla in the enclosure.


The little guy was 3 years old and he’d grow as big as his Dad. We were a bit hungry now so checked out Harambe Market but it was pretty busy and our Lion King show was approaching so stopped briefly for a pic and then headed towards the theatre.


We had a bit of a wait in the sun and it was really busy but we were soon inside in the aircon. We booked a fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain for this evening while we waited.

The show was amazing of course! The tumble monkeys seemed to do less tumbling, but I think this was because of an incident that had happened recently. There was a girl on her phone in front of us during the show doing some very quick messaging, and I tried not to look but being right in front of us it was hard to ignore and she seemed to be having a rather heated argument with a significant other. She only looked around 15 years old, enjoy your holiday and put your phone away! I don’t know if it’s a fake memory but Garth and I thought they had sung They Live in You when we saw the show last time, but they didn’t this time? Maybe they never sung it in the original show.

We got out at 2.25pm and decided to head out the park. We’d had a really fun filled morning and got a lot done. On the way out our stomachs were still rumbling so we got some buffalo chicken wings from Terra Treats with a snack credit.

No picture of them, we ate them very quickly! They were delicious, Garth talks about them every day now even 10 months later! (how has it been 10 months ). They were super spicey and very messy, thank goodness for wet wipes. When we were waiting at the bus stop Garth was on his phone and suddenly told me that it had been announced that Ellen’s Energy Adventure was closing! We were shocked but I guess we should have seen it coming. It felt weird hearing about that when were in WDW, I felt obliged to tell everyone around us Soon enough we were on a bus and back in the room around 3.20pm. We went straight to bed! We had a good hour of sleep and then took it in turns showering and getting ready for our ADR at Raglan Road this evening. We were ready by 5pm.

We headed down to reception to pay off the room balance and confirm our Magical Express booking for next week. We were told it’d be a 3.40pm shuttle which gave us plenty of time to enjoy our last day. We got to the bus stop just as a Springs bus was pulling away Luckily another one was along soon and we were off at 5.15pm.

As soon as we arrived we picked up a map to help us navigate, we were a bit hopeless at getting around Disney Springs. We walked past the Pandora shop and we nipped in. My friend Hollie had asked us to look for the Mrs Potts charm as she couldn’t get it when she was here in May. Someone from work was also after a castle charm but wanted to know the prices. They said they only had 1 Mrs Potts charm I was unsure what to do as I wasn’t sure to just go for it now or check with Hollie first as she was unsure whether or not to spend the money. I decided to just go for it and if she said she couldn’t afford it we could wrap it up for her birthday. I took a pic of the castle charm for my work friend too and noted the cost. We went to sit outside Raglan Road and I messaged both girls. I said to Hollie “did you still want me to pick up that charm?” and she said “I’m not sure if I can afford it”… we told her the cost and she told us to go for it, at which point I said “Good because we’ve just bought it” I’m glad she decided to go for it because we had a different plan in mind for her birthday present! We went to check in to Raglan Road but they had the wrong time for our ADR! They still had 5pm instead of the rescheduled time of 6pm. It was showing up on our app as 6pm but it just wasn't on their system. It wasn’t an issue though we just had to wait a while. We had a little look in the shop and then went back outside to wait.


20 mins later we were in. We were seated towards the back which was quieter which we preferred really!

We had bought our graduation hats with us for pics this evening at MK and the person on the table next to us congratulated us which was very kind of them. Our server Luis was with us soon to take our drinks order. We both ordered cocktails- Garth went for the iced Irish and I went for the mixed berry margarita. We had our passports out ready for ID which I think he appreciated! He bought us water and our drinks.


Garth’s drink was like a naughty starbucks It was really tasty. Mine was really nice too.

Luis went over the specials with us- one of them was a pork belly and scallops gnocchi which Garth liked the sound of. I always knew that I was going for the shepherd’s pie though, that’s why we were here! I’m obsessed with shepherd’s pie I think it’s one of my favourite meals. Luis recommended I added extra cheese and I wasn’t going to turn down extra cheese! After we’d ordered we tucked into the bread with the Guinness reduction.

It was really nice, the dip was great. It all felt very quick and dinner was with us in around 15 minutes.


It was all delicious. Mine had so many flavours in it. Garth loved his too, it was really creamy and tender. I couldn’t finish all of mine but Garth ate all of his and some of mine as well. While we were eating some dancers came around to the back which was nice.

So we didn’t miss out on seeing the entertainment. After Luis came to take our plates he asked if we needed to see the dessert menu. We wanted to share the bread and butter pudding so we just ordered it straight away and asked for two spoons. He actually bought us a spare plate as well to make sharing easier.

This was AMAZING! The sauce made it. We absolutely loved it and it was just the right size. We were suitably stuffed. We asked for the bill and it came to $88.40. We left a very generous $20 as Luis had been so helpful and he bought us some takeaway cups with water in. We’d had an amazing meal here and it’s definitely on the list for future trips. It was raining as we left so we asked for a carrier bag from the shop to put our graduation hats in and popped our ponchos on. They only had paper bags but it was enough to keep our hats out of the rain. We were spending the evening in Magic Kingdom for late magic hours again so we went straight to the bus stop and hopped on a bus for the Contemporary resort. We stopped at the Wilderness Lodge en route, it looked huuuuge but really nice. We were soon at the Contemporary and walking along the short pathway. We’d never done this before, we thought it was great going through bag check on the path. We were into Magic Kingdom by 8pm. It was reaaally busy as we walked up Main Street. We used the loos and my hair had been well and truly ruined by the rain. I was really grumpy as I had my heart set on having a Tangled photo tonight and I felt I looked rubbish in one we had the other night because my hair had gone crazy! I admitted defeat with it though and just tied it all back. The hub was busy with people waiting for Happily Ever After but we walked past and into Tomorrowland. We nipped into a shop to get a plastic bag as we were worried about our hats getting wet in the Raglan Rd paper bag. All sorted we joined the queue for MILF. It was showing 10 mins but it was busy and more like 25. It gave me a chance to catch up on my notes though. I have no notes about the show but it was probably hilarious as always! We were off at 8.55pm. We went straight onto the People Mover.

Isn't Garth's shirt awesome?

Happily Ever After started while we were riding. It was great watching from the ride. When we were off we stopped to watch the fireworks. It was really nice watching them and listening to the music without the projections. I think the projections distract you from the fireworks a bit. It was quiet and obviously we weren’t all cramped in like in the hub or on Main Street so we had a bit of a dance

After they had finished we wanted to watch Once Upon a Time so headed towards the hub. They were redirecting everyone out the express transport area and then down to the park emptying path so we ended up at the bottom of Main Street! Not our intended destination at all. We walked back through some shops to get to the hub. It was easy to find a spot in the old fastpass area now everyone had cleared out. We had a perfect view. We loved the show, it’s amazing how the effects take over the castle. I loved the Peter Pan section the most but it was all so cute. We headed over to use the Adventureland loos and then went to Big Thunder Mountain to use our fastpass.

There was a 45 minute queue so the fastpass was a good use. It was so much fun in the dark, I wish there was a photo! We decided to do the Country Bear Jamboree next as we hadn’t got round to it yet.


A cast member told someone they couldn’t take their dole whip in so they walked off and then snuck back in past the CM! In my notes I called him a dole whip smuggler The show was funnier than I remember, Garth and I were in stitches in parts of it! It was good fun. We went to wait for the Tangled photo now. We waited quite a while! The photopass guy was very funny, when the photographer told us to look at each other the assistant said “you are my new dream” which made us laugh. Turns out these photos were great and we love them.



I can be a bit self-conscious but I am pleased with how they turned out. We walked on to Haunted Mansion next. There was quite a queue for our bands to get scanned as we were into Magic Hours now and people were getting VERY frustrated with having to wait. There was no queue once we were in though and we had fun spotting all the Mickeys that had been pointed out to us on the KTTK tour. After HM we went round to ride Big Thunder again as it was a walk on. It felt even crazier this time, probably because I was tired. Next we went on Pirates, but I must have been pooped because all my notes say are "Pirates. Tired. 10 minute wait". I’m so bad at staying up late! I wish I was better but I can’t lie in really so I just don’t have the energy. Maybe next time I need to have a coffee in the evening! At least I prepared for the pic this time.

I took some dodgy pics as we left just to show how quiet it was now.

Tried to pose for a pic but you can see the tiredness in my face

Of course Garth was still full of energy.

I put it down to those extra 15 mins he had in bed this morning We left the park at 12.22am. Unfortunately we were waiting at the bus stop until 1.10am, so we could have stayed in the park! If I was forced to stay out I may as well have been in the park We had a bit of misfortune with buses at night and I did find myself longing for a car. I did fall asleep while sat on the floor in the queue and again on the bus. We got back to the room at 1.30am and I crashed out straight away!

It was another long but amazing day.

Tomorrow we try and recover from the long day with a chilled out trip to Celebration and go a bit mad shopping at Disney Springs

Steps today: 25160

Edited at 01:10 PM.
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