Lottie & Dickie visit Mickey - Oct 2016 - Day 5: Animal Kingdom, Yak & Yeti, DHS, MK

[lottie89]

<<< Day 4 - Typhoon Lagoon & Epcot

Day 5 - Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom

Wednesday 12th October 2016

Another new park day today - it was finally Animal Kingdom time! We got up at 7.30am and left the room at about 8.20am. We were lucky with the buses as an AK one arrived just as we got to the bus stop


Writing his shortlived food report notes on the bus

It was a lovely sunny morning and it was so exciting walking to the entrance, I remember that area so well from my trips as a child when the park was brand new. The plan was to head straight to Expedition Everest, but I was confused and surprised to find a big crowd of people in front of the Tree of Life and a bunch of multicoloured birds swooping in front of us. It took me a few seconds to realise we'd actually made rope drop - this was unexpected!


Tree of Life <3

When we were all released we joined the masses in heading to EE, but despite it seeming busy the queue was only 5 minutes. We requested to sit at the front which was great - it was actually a lot faster and generally better than I remembered. We were on a bit of a roller coaster high afterwards, it's a great way to start a day!




Some Photopass pics (These all have the same timestamp so I can't remember exactly where in the day they were taken, will just slot them in at appropriate times)


Expedition Everest


Wheeee


Another great Photopass

We headed towards Kilimanjaro Safaris next, and the African drummers playing made for such a great atmosphere. Breakfast was the next priority, so we gave the Kusafiri Coffee Shop a go. I fancied something savoury so I chose a 'cheese danish'. Turns out that this was actually sweet, cheese in the more cheesecake sense rather than cheese toastie sense. It was a bit odd, but edible! Rich had a wrap which I think had goat's cheese in it (which I hate), and he enjoyed it. I had a French vanilla iced coffee which was delicious, and Rich had a cappuccino. We had a nice little wander around the shops while we finished our coffees. The CMs in the shops were all really nice and funny, we didn't buy anything but we got to have a few chats!


Cheese danish (sweet!)


Rich's wrap


Great street entertainment

By the time we finished our coffees it was time for our safari FP+. We were shown through the disabled entrance and onto a disabled truck with space for wheelchairs (but there were no wheelchairs). It was great, the highlight was a giraffe just chilling in front of our truck for ages. We were soooo close to him.


Safari selfie


Giraffey


Getting in the way


Nelly

Next up was a stroll around the Pangani Forest Trail, loved it, the gorillas are so amazing. Although we did see one next to the window just pull a poo out of her bum, which was practically pressed up next to the glass. That was delightful.


Poop gorilla


None of our photos are in order so they're all just being randomly inserted

The weather was starting to really hot up now, which was good as our next FP+ was for Kali River Rapids. On our way over there we decided to stop for a 'quick' Photopass pic, but actually we had to queue for a while as the photographer was really thorough. Once we got to KRR, the queue was also quite long, even though we had an FP. Yet again we were ushered into the disabled queue, which took ages! We got very wet but not too uncomfortably soaked. We spent a fun few minutes on the way out soaking people from the bridge.


Pascal photopass

We had an Expedition Everest FP+ next, and this time we asked to sit at the back. It definitely felt faster! I was pleased we'd got to go on it twice that morning.


At the back!

Lunch was next at Yak & Yeti. I had a backup ADR but had also purchased a Landry's Select card, as soon as I flashed this we were given special treatment and seated immediately! While we were eating the manager kept coming to check on us, I don't think she was doing this to other tables, so it must have been the Landry's card?

I ordered a Pink Himalayan cocktail and Rich had a Safari Amber Ale. We shared some steamed pork pot stickers to start which were really good. For mains I went for the crispy honey chicken (as decided months in advance) and Rich chose the catch of the day dish, which was tuna. Mine was delicious, as expected, and Rich really loved his. He thinks it was one of the best dishes of the whole holiday! We shared the fried cream cheese wontons for pudding which were very nice but maybe a step too far with the fried stuff by this point. Overall we really enjoyed this meal, and it was a nice break from the heat. Although saying that, I was actually quite freezing because I was wet and the air con was intense! What was even better is that we had $50 of credit on our card, so the meal was a barg (we didn't use DDP credits for this).


Happy


Pot stickers


Rich's tuna


My fried chicken


Wontons

After lunch we passed Russell & Dug and I decided I wanted to queue for them as I was wearing my Wilderness Explorer t-shirt. This was a great interaction and Russell noticed my top! I love Dug, he's so fluffy.


Dug must've said something hilarious


Wilderness Explorers

Primeval Whirl was next. It was fun but really jerky. I don't think I really love this area of the park, it's a bit weird and incongruous. I was also really quite sad that Dinosaur was closed for our trip. It was meant to reopen today but they'd just put it back! It's one of my favourite rides in WDW so this was sad news. I'd even had an FP+ for it before they decided to keep it closed.


Rich in his ride

We decided to call it a day and made our way back to the buses, via a Tree of Life PP. We had to wait 10 minutes for a bus which felt quite long, but at least the bus stops are shaded.




Nice 'shocked' face from Rich


The photographers love a kiss

Back at the Yacht Club, Rich went for a nap but I wanted to make the most of the weather so I went down to the pool where I chilled out with a Sangria. Dreamy! I was loving the afternoon chill sessions, it was so nice to go out again in the evenings with a new burst of energy. On the way back to the room I asked for a copy of the bill so far, which was $540. To be expected with the amount of drinking we'd been doing.




My chill and sangria sesh

The plan for this evening was to head to Hollywood Studios to catch the Star Wars fireworks, then go to Magic Kingdom for EEH.

We managed to get a last minute FP for Rock'n'Roller coaster, so we headed straight there and got in the FP queue at 6.55pm. We were out of the ride by 7.20pm and found what we thought was a decent spot for the fireworks. They were great but actually we found that a lot of the show was obscured by the big hoardings around the lamposts. I'm not a big Star Wars fan but I enjoyed the show, Rich was more enamoured though as he actually understands all of the references!


Panoramic shot


Waiting for the boat


Second park of the day


Classic R'n'R pose


Best of a bad bunch

Afterwards we turned on our heels and marched out to the MK bus queue, but lots of people had the same idea. We waited for AGES. People were getting really angry - WDW must know that there are EEH that evening and people would be leaving DHS after the fireworks to get there. I can't remember how long we waited but I'm sure it was about 20 minutes for a bus to turn up. However, the queue was so big that we couldn't get on the bus! The driver radioed the depot to tell them to send more buses, and luckily we go onto the second bus 5 minutes late.

We finally got to MK, where Rich decided he needed a new plaster from his TL injury yesterday, so we went to first aid and restroomed before we did anything else. We then realised we were starving so got in yet another queue, this time for hot dogs at Casey's Corner! It was rammo. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs - a foot long hot dog and fries is a LOT of food.


Finally made it to MK


Must have got cold between the bottom and top of Main Street


Massive hot dogs

Celebrate the Magic started while we were eating, so we caught the end of it and then watched Wishes from very far to the left of the castle. This was a bonus viewing so I wasn't too worried about the perfect view. I still cried though. It's an unstoppable reaction!

We managed to get an 10.05pm FP+ for Splash Mountain, it's different at night, but very fun. However, I had a wet bum for the rest of the evening which just wouldn't dry! Not comfy!


Keeping my ears on

We decided to brave a 30 min queue for PotC, which actually turned out to only be 20 minutes, so wasn't too bad. It's quite a fast moving queue as well. Our boat was filled unevenly and was really leaning to one side. I was really worried we were going to capsize! However, we survived the voyage. The Jack Sparrow animatronics are so much better than all of the others.


My pirate

We crossed the hub next for an 11.15pm FP+ at Buzz. The hub was much emptier now that Wishes had finished and lots of people had gone home. I <3 extra evening hours. Rich obviously won at Buzz, not sure why I even try because I'm terrible.


Tomorrowland at night <3

We had a little sit down on Carousel of Progress next, I love this classic, although the combination of dark room and late night made me nod off a few times!

On the way past Space Mountain we saw that the queue was only 25 mins, so we got in line. It was actually only 20 mins which was good. It's very fun but feels old and jerky. It feels quite unsafe in a thrilling way! I'd love if they refurbished it and turned it into a modern, smooth coaster that actually felt like you were in space.

Next up was a first for me, Tomorrowland Speedway. The queue said 30 mins but we could tell it was short, it was actually more like 5 minutes. I let Rich drive, and it was hilarious. He was getting frustrated at the lack of speed.

Another little classic next, the teacups. Rich span our cup SO fast that I thought we might fly off the ride. I thought I'd been catching some brilliant GoPro footage but turns out I hadn't pressed record, idiot

Carousel next which was a walk on, and as we got off I spotted the 'Guy Behind the Castle' who I'd been chatting to on IG before we went. However I was too chicken to go over and say hi to him, he was talking to another CM and in my typical British way I didn't want to disturb him. I told myself I'd go and say hi another day but we never saw him again


Carousellin'

Small World was next, which by this point in in the night was an empty walk on and even more surreal than normal.

We noticed afterwards that 7DMT only had a 25 minute queue, which was very short considering the mammoth lines it usually has. We decided to give it a go even though we had an FP for a different day. It was a fun little ride, very smooth but oh so short. Great theming but over-hyped a tad I think!

We finally left the park at 1.55am. Strolling down a quiet, pretty, twinkly Main Street on the way out was magical, despite the aching feet. We didn't have to wait too long for a bus, and were in bed at 2.30am

Spends
Kusafiri Bakery: $19.56
Mombasa Merchandise (nuts & fruit): $5.37
Yak & Yeti: $54.56
Hurricane Hannah's: $12.02
TOTAL: $91.51

Day 6 - Epcot & Disney Springs >>>

[GALE88]

What a busy day! Thanks for sharing.

[globedust]

Great day! Love EMH at MK when the crowds clear out. Definitely my fav. BTMR at night is awesome, think we did it 4 times in a row last time during EMH.

[GandL]

Absolutely loving this trip report and glad someone else loves a cocktail as much as me! He he

Read your pre trip and saw that you love the cocktail bars in London too! I work in the city and my fave thing to do is check out the quirky cocktail bars around xx

[EJSakaAnna]

What a long day, you got so much packed in! Love that you still managed some chill time at the pool. Lunch looks delicious x

[sheluk]

Very impressive - rope drop to EMH! We've never used the evening hours very much but I may have to re think that now-it sounds so much fun & quiet!

I totally agree with your sun & sangria break as opposed to a nap

Such a successful day!

[Floridaagogo]

Beautiful photos x

[MissFortune]

I remember we were stood almost next to you guys in the queue for Expedition Everest on this day. We were in row 3 so at the start of the normal queue.

I'm not one to approach Dibbers as i'm shy lol.

[collybird]

What a busy day. Definitely a baptism of fire for Rich, he is a trooper!

[Bobsledwheels]

Wowzer - busy day!

You did pretty well with the queues not being as high as posted

Who is the guy behind the castle?! I did the same in Cali with a periscoper I enjoy watching - i was so sure it was her but didn't want to ask in case it wasn't. I'm normally the sort that would go straight up lol must have been an off day!