Going Out in a Blaze of Glory - Summer of Sorcery 2019 - DAY 8- 18hrs, 3 Parks, Teppan Edo and more!

[walt4it]

Welcome back again - you made it...I hoped you would!

Thanks for your continued reading - really appreciate all of your comments, PM's , questions and nudges that I need to do something about having no countdown

Today is something of a Disney-fest, and possibly a tale of trusting your instinct when on your holiday. It is also a sign of our boys getting older, as there is no way we could or would have attempted anything like today while they were younger
A bit of a reminder that this is the last time too - we pushed everyone to the limit! Hope you enjoy reading.


DAY 7 is here if you missed it

The whole index is here if you have missed more or want to see all that has gone before!


Welcome to DAY 8

Wednesday 31st July 2019

Another early start, it was a struggle, but we made it to the bus stop for 8 am and boarded the bus to Animal Kingdom. Not for early opening but for regular park hours and hopefully a couple of visits to Flight of Passage.

The masses were queued and not even allowed into Pandora until 9 am (first bad sign of the day as they would usually start letting you into the area from 8.40)) this brought for a few pointed elbows and shoulders in the line and a man in front of us was particularly irked by the few who attempted to force their way further forward.

At 9 am the stampede began, it was not pretty, and to be honest there must be a better way of doing this at park opening, the mood in the queue this morning was as tetchy and unpleasant as we have ever found it ( I’m guessing others were feeling the same vibe I had)

The wait time as we entered the turnstiles was 240 minutes- another bad sign! Thankfully we were now in a queue and not having to listen to the guy who had obviously forgot he was on holiday and was making random threats against those who got into the line infront of him – I was awaiting the “ Do you know who I am ... question!)
We moved so slowly, it was painful and with no communication it became clear there was something amiss.
Time for a photographic interlude then!

We had already missed our first fast pass this morning as you would expect to be clear of FoP by 9-30 when here for park opening. So, our Everest FP was relinquished before the FP window ended at 10.45
After two hours of waiting we finally saw a cast member- we asked if there was a problem with the ride. They were having significant difficulties this morning - It had struggled since park opening with different screens having problems.

Our Flight of Passage fast pass window had now just opened, and in order to avoid missing anything else today, we left the standby line which still had at least an hour of extra queuing time ahead of us and headed up the pathway next to the CM.

What a waste of time and off an early start too - such a frustrating experience and we had achieved nothing, despite being in before the park opened.

The thing is, there was nothing you could do about it- we were a couple of hours ahead of the rest of the queue and still faced with a long wait. Our Fast pass came to the rescue.



Using it, we were quickly onto the ride and having once more enjoyed FoP we were out just before 11.30 Now which door did we go through?

Yes, you read that right -we cashed in a FP and still had wasted 2 and ½ hours after the park opened – possibly the worst use of park time we have ever encountered and in spite of all that holiday planning a need to just go with the flow when things go tech.

We needed to move fast in order to avoid spoiling our next fast pass- we grabbed a non- alcoholic slush and a Mickey cookie

and then boarded the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.
It was great to see this place open once again.

The newly opened animation art class here looks as if they are pulling in more people to the place, the train was busy and it was good to see just how many had made the effort to get here.


Having seen this place close last year, and lamented the loss of the animation classes in Hollywood Studios, this was a welcomed addition to Animal Kingdom and one I think we all secretly were looking forward too, despite 50% of the family being non artistic ( I’ll leave that for you to decide who are the arty ones!)

The class itself was great, the previous class had drawn Simba, so we had a couple of live birds as inspiration for our drawing of Zahzu - this was so similar to the old animation classes at Hollywood Studios but on a much bigger level.

They really had tried to get a lot of seats into the is place and I’m sure once the inquisitive start is over, there will be little need for a Fast Pass to enjoy this experience. It is well worth seeing and doing more than once, just to get a range of illustrations done.


This was such a fun way to end the morning and one that was a relief from queues and the frustration of Flight of Passage this morning.

We stopped off at guest services just to mention our frustration of this morning and to which we were given a couple of fast passes for Epcot later today – no need for getting cross but always worth just raising the point we had got out of bed for nothing – as it transpired we never made use of them , but keep reading to see what else happened!


It had gone 1-30 by the time we drew up to the bus stop at Boardwalk.

As we walked through the hotel and onto Boardwalk we stumbled across a very chance meet and greet with Minnie and Goofy – it was so much by chance that they were not really for stopping, but with a quick camera opportunity Minnie did us proud and then in the distance had a photo taken by the CM too.

As much as this was a chance meet, what happened next was even more incredible.

By the most insane chance we met with Karin ( Alison’s step sister) , her husband Chris their kids plus Chris and Jilly( Karin’s Dad and step Mum ) , it is a small world after all!

We never thought for a minute our holiday paths would cross (despite us looking at what we all had planned prior to flying out) so to be able to catch up with them albeit fleetingly was great although with the heat taking it’s toll on us all it was a shame we could not spend a bit more time together.

Chris (Karin’s Dad) did admit to becoming a bit of a new Dibber, so I hope he reads this and realises -We never got a picture It possibly shows just how hot we all were and aware that the aircon was calling us all.)

Was great to bump into them, but it was so hot we all knew we could not stand on Boardwalk for too long, We said our goodbyes and we headed for lunch at the Boardwalk bakery- See, that mission yesterday really did work.

It was a sandwich that was really good, it was an option that we knew would not spoil the evening and was somewhere we would think of using again- had never been here before, and with the range of sandwiches available and some rather delicious desserts too, it hit the spot.

Even this little fella was searching for some shade

Arriving without our refillable resort mugs, they provided a cup as they knew from the magic band scan we had them, but not with us- this was good to know and we managed to get three drinks in here without having our mugs in our possession. It also avoided having to go and get the mugs from the hotel! (you know who would have been landed with that job! )

By now, the hotel pool was calling and with the temperatures now up to 36 degrees with a feels like temperature of 42! The pool was much needed.

The pool was warm, but such a relief to enjoy to just simply cool down the body temperature amid a few trips to the drink machine for iced water.

By 4.30 we were so warm and felt the call of the air con in the room, it was one of those afternoons when air con comes into it’s own and those desserts that have enjoyed not being in the heat for a couple of hours

A little bit of a chill out (quite literally!) and snooze time enjoyed, we were ready to shower and get out again this time to Epcot for a meal at Teppan Edo.
We chose to sack off any though of the couple of FP’s we had been given this morning. We just tried to take time to soak up the atmosphere in Epcot and take a few photos too.

We arrived in time for our 7-10 reservation and, as usual, were kept waiting for our table.

This proved a noteworthy time, as we were finished 10 minutes before fireworks (just in case you are reading and trying to plan)

We were seated with a family from Wales who were staying at The Beach Club, they were fantastic dining company and between them and our chef there was not a moment of silence all evening.

We chose across a wide range of food on the menu.

I had scallops which were delicious and something I would not usually cook at home.
Alison had a melt in the mouth filet mignon, whilst boys had the chicken and steak combo option with loads of noodles and more- needless to say, none of us went hungry and amid the chat and whole atmosphere of the place the night passed so quickly.

Great food and great company- you can’t get better than that.

We said our first goodbye on the steps of the restaurant and we then quickly all committed to getting the next bus from Beach Club into Magic Kingdom- Joe had a great pin trade and chat on the bus – a lovely family and as we all said goodbye again, it was just as Happily Ever After was drawing to a close.

If you ever get the chance to read this – you know who you were, send us a message on The Dibb, was such a pleasure to meet you.
This was our first experience of entering Magic Kingdom post firework time, and the feeling as we walked against the tide of people on Main Street was not a pleasant one, especially when faced with a buggy or ECV (more of them later!)

It was raining and we had just missed the fireworks lull in the queues, we were going to be behind everyone in the park who was going to ride before park closing-we tried to think on our feet and soon recognised that the lengthy queue for Splash Mountain was not best use of our time tonight.

We headed to Philharmagic to get out of the rain and to gather our thoughts.

Somehow, this is a great place to reset at anytime of the day, usually it is for air con, tonight it was to get an ad-hoc plan together to get the most out of the night. There is most definitely something about the place, we got our plan together, enjoyed the show and…

We chose to focus our efforts in Tomorrowland.

We got to enjoy the Speedway in the dark, with us All in individual cars for the first time – no more blaming Joe for whiplash inducing driving, but it also meant for no photos!
Buzz as a near walk on

and then Space Mountain, without the aid of a fast pass (not managed that in a while!)

I think they knew you were on board Joe!

I’m sure the rain had helped persuade others to leave the park more quickly and this meant for a great use of Extra Evening hours to the full.


We then decided to play a big risk card – we walked across the park to see if we could get on Big Thunder Mountain – we just made it, to board the very final train of the day.

We set off with an empty station around us and got off to see a place in a unique state - With the station totally cleared of people, we then got to watch the empty carriages reverse out of the station and close for the night.

We soaked up an empty park, we were in no hurry even though all the rides had shut, Magic Kingdom takes on a whole new aura and with this feeling of being one of the last few left in the park. We just soaked it up.

Rather fittingly, I raced up the steps of Main Street Station to grab a few photos (Josh followed) and just as we were about to re-join Alison and Joe, we all then found ourselves watching the Magic Kingdom kiss goodnight.

What a perfect way to end a day that started in Animal Kingdom, with some 13.5 km walked since.

As we waited for the bus to arrive, the final act of the day played out with a lady in an ECV ( told you there would be more!) joining the queue for the bus, she thrust her vehicle in reverse with us standing behind, immediately running over Joe’s toe and with him desperately trying to get out of her way- as that particular toe, of that particular foot had been broken just a few months previously, Joe certainly didn’t fancy spending the next three weeks hobbling around on his holidays.

Admittedly, she was apologetic, which in itself was a start - however it is only a matter of time before someone does some serious damage to another person with one of these.

I will not have a rant about it now, but whenever you are in the parks and experiencing some kamikaze style driving, then please do get in touch and share the pain of someone who is not familiar with these things at home, having them for a holiday – without the experience or requirement to know how to control them.


The bus got us back just after 1 am and with the ECV staying on board to the Beach club ( a saved 5 mins there) Fast Passes for tomorrow were cancelled – the planned Magic Kingdom was not going to happen – it could not surpass the unexpected fun we had enjoyed tonight.

As the lights went out on us all at 1-30 (just 17 hours after we had stepped foot into Animal Kingdom this morning ) Sleep was quickly upon us, we were shattered but there was something about this whole day that we all still hold close to our hearts.

The rescue of Animal Kingdom with the animation experience, the fab afternoon on Boardwalk and in the pool then Epcot and that final decision to just go with something totally unexpected and go to Magic Kingdom for some more Disney magic.


See you real soon for Day 9 and thank you for reading our Park-fest day!

DAY 9 is just a click here away !

[flo-tinka]

What a packed day!
Loving the last train out of BTMR and Kiss Goodnight 😘

[Tinkermom]

17 hours😳 just 🤩

[yellowrose78]

What a brilliant day, shame about the wait at the start and that it knocked your plans a bit, but you done loads. Nice that you got to meet up with your family members, and bumping into Minnie Mouse, looking forward to more

[RachelE]

Always love your trip reports.

[mick]

Crikey you all have great stamina! a brilliant day shame about first thing though


Joan

[walt4it]

Originally Posted by Tinkermom

17 hours😳 just 🤩

See more...

The whole day flew, always good to go and do something completely spontaneous when you know there is so much still going on in all the parks- delighted to see you have caught up on the previous days too today - hope you enjoy the rest of the trip with us. 😎
Thanks for reading and posting a message too, much appreciated 👍

[Goldia]

Oh no what an incredibly frustrating start to the day with FOP going down and then waiting such a long time to eventually just use the FP.

What a coincidence bumping into relatives, it's funny how that sort of thing just happens out of the blue.

The dinner at Teppan Edo looks like it set you up for the evening at MK. The swimming against the tide to get up Main Street doesn't sound fun, but the rest of the evening sounds great.

We've never made it to the kiss goodnight, each trip I plan for us to stay until the end but we've never made it. Now the kids are older I'm hoping this year the kiss goodnight will be a first for us.

[Disneycraft]

What a fun day ,the fop debacle aside .i’ve never Made the kiss goodnight ,hoping to this year but we just get so worn out and bed starts calling

[Palm trees]

Wow, what a busy day! I'm glad you've fed back about the art class, I really fancy that on our next trip. I'm also really impressed with your stamina, we've managed 2 parks before (MK and Epcot) but my family won't consider 3 or more which I think could be great adventure!