<Insert humorous title here> WDW Jan/Feb 2014: Day 12 - Finding Emo

[Stewboy]

Index

This morning we were off to Animal Kingdom. This could only mean one thing. Rain. Oh yes, the Animal Kingdom curse had struck again. As you may have gathered by now, we’re a very laid back family so we took it on our stride, in good nature and with no moaning…. (Disclaimer: some or all of the previous sentence may be untrue)

After a breakfast of Rice Krispies and muffins we left the room and arrived at Animal Kingdom at about 9.30. Not only was it raining but it was also cold; it appeared that the week of nice weather was over and the rubbish weather from the beginning of the holiday had returned.


"Yes, I know we left the ponchos in England."


"I don't care if it's raining, we paid good money for these Photopasses"

One advantage of the poor weather was that the park was pretty quiet which meant getting around this notorious bottleneck-filled park was much easier than usual.


A wet Animal Kingdom. An all too familiar sight for us

First stop was our first FastPass+ of the day: Adventurers Outpost on Discovery Island to meet Safari Mickey. Isabella was a little shy today but still loved meeting Mickey again. However, we suspect that using FastPass+ here actually made our wait longer and the only reason we used it was because there aren’t actually that many things to FP+ here and, you know, ya gotta use ‘em!








Isabella does love the big cheese!


And Jo loves a little cheese!


Drive through strawberries!


Ah yes, one of the logos. It's been a few days since I took one of these!

After this we headed over to Africa and stopped at the Harambe Fruit Market to spend some snack credits on Jalapeño Cream Cheese Pretzels for Jo and I (yum!) and strawberries for Isabella.

The rain had stopped by this point and it was actually warmer inside the park, so things were looking up. Hurrah!

Next up was Asia and Expedition Everest. Jo went and rode single rider while Isabella and I wandered over to Finding Nemo - The Musical. Isabella was calling it Finding Emo, which is a totally different show featuring teenagers in heavy eyeliner and ridiculous fringes. Despite being in the single rider line Jo ended up riding with the person who was behind her in the queue and only waited for 5 minutes, worth bearing in mind for future rides.

Despite being in the single rider line Jo ended up riding with the person who was behind her in the queue and only waited for 5 minutes, worth bearing in mind for future rides.

When she was finished she came and met us and it was time for our Finding Emo… er, Nemo… FastPass+. We really like this show, the songs are well written, the actors are good and the production is really well done. Isabella was unsure at first but eventually got into it.

It was now time for lunch so we popped back over to Discovery Island and paid a visit to Pizzafari. Although the park had started to get busier the restaurant was still fairly quiet.

We had the following, which we shared with Isabella:

Me - Cheese Pizza (w/side salad)/Cheesecake
Jo - Pepperoni Pizza (w/side salad)/Chocolate Mousse


Pepperoni pizza, side salad, cheesecake & chocolate mousse


Cheese pizza

After lunch we made a quick stop at the Baby Care Center to change Isabella’s nappy. We’ve visited all the Baby Care Centers in the parks and I think the Animal Kingdom one is our favourite…. now there’s a sentence I never expected to write!

The AK Baby Care Center is nice and spacious with lots of individual changing tables and private rooms for feeding, as well as a separate room with cartoons for older kids to recharge their batteries!

It was now time to go on safari. It had started raining again which actually turned out to be really good as loads of animals were out enjoying the cool wet weather. We even saw some giraffes running. Isabella absolutely loved seeing all the animals. I know some people miss the “Simba One” storyline, but I always found it cringeworthy and I’m glad they ditched it.


Going on safari!

Our driver was called Amber and she was really good and actually taught us a couple of things: there are two species of giraffe in Animal Kingdom - reticulated and Masai. You can tell which is which by their different patterns. I didn’t even realise there were more than one species of giraffe in the world let alone in AK. Thank you Amber

The other thing we learnt was that the white rhino is called that due to a mistranslation of the Dutch word "wijd", which means "wide" in English and refers to it’s wide mouth, compared to the hooked lip of the black rhino. Thanks again Amber!

Once our safari was over we decided it was time to head for home. As we left we noticed just how much busier the park was getting and were glad that we got there early!

Continued...

[Stewboy]

We arrived back at the resort and went through the usual routine: I popped over to Artist’s Palette to get coffees while Jo put Isabella down for her nap.

At this point in writing this report I asked Jo what she was looking at on her phone while we sat on the balcony: her reply isn’t suitable for this forum! Coincidentally I also asked her the same question on the voice memo 6 months earlier and got exactly the same response… which makes me wonder….


The maid left these for us


Our very own Sleeping Beauty

Eventually Isabella awoke… then fell back to sleep again! Once she was awake properly it was time to head to our evening destination, which was the Grand Floridian Resort for “Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner” at 1900 Park Fare. We headed there via the back way again which we found was much quicker than the usual route.

As we pulled up to the entrance gates the lady told us to drive round to the right. Unfortunately Jo hadn’t heard her say that and told me to drive round to the left (towards the self park car park), thinking that I’d misheard the lady and trusting my navigator I followed her instruction and turned left. Finding the car park shut we had to drive back round to the entrance and rather sheepishly admit we’d completely ignored her instructions!

Fortunately she let us back in and we parked in the correct place this time - in the Grand Floridian Villas car park.


1900 Park Fare

Our reservation was for 5.10 and we checked in at 5.09. However, they weren’t ready for us and we didn’t actually end up getting called until 5.45! By the time we got seated we were all hungry and a bit annoyed but fortunately we didn’t have to wait long for the characters to appear.

First up was Lady Tremaine and understandably Isabella was a little bit scared (as was I - she’s formidable). Cinderella was next but didn’t stay for long, which was probably a good thing as we hadn’t visited the buffet yet!


Lady Tremaine really had an effect on Isabella - just look at her face!


Obviously Cinderella got a smile and a cuddle

The food on the buffet was really good, I particularly enjoyed the Sushi Rolls and the Spicy Durban Chicken and Jo liked the Vegan Noodle Salad and the Pork Pot Stickers - Jo ALWAYS likes the Pork Pot Stickers!


Pot stickers, Durban chicken, ribs & rice. Yum!


I think that's Guinness stew at the front


Isabella tucks in


Did I mention the desserts were also really good!?

Next to visit us tonight were the Ugly Step Sisters, both of whom were very funny. Seeing them interact with the older kids near us was funny to watch too. We had Anastasia first and then Drizella, who was our favourite. Isabella was a little scared of Anastasia but really liked Drizella, who was really good with her and asked her if she was going to have Gummi Bears for dinner and talked about how they had similar sounding names.

It’s a bit harsh to be cast as an Ugly Step Sister but both of them were really funny and despite the stigma I imagine it’s much more fun than being a Princess.


Isabella meets Anastasia






Drizella was very funny

As mentioned, the food was really good and it’s another one I’d definitely recommend. We did the breakfast buffet last year which is also really good, and has characters from Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins.

With dinner done we had a little wander around the main building. It was really bustling and there was a nice atmosphere, helped in no small part by the band on the first floor. They were playing amongst other things, an instrumental version of “Under the Sea” from Little Mermaid which got Isabella dancing! It was really nice in there, the lobby is huge - even bigger than Wilderness Lodge and the Polynesian. One of the really nice things about eating at the different resorts is being able to have a little wander around and get a feel for the different places... you know, just in case…


"So anyway, I says to him..."


She took her shoes and socks off. I don't know why


Pretty flowers

Anyway, we were all tired and full and decided to head home as it was almost 8 o’clock, which means not that long till bed time!

So that’s another day done, not many left now unfortunately. Thanks for taking the time to read it.

[Milner]

Another great read and great photos.

[Happyhaunt1000]

I misread your title and thought it said 'finding Emu' and was going to be the Rod Hull Story!

Character meals fill me full of dread! Isabella pulled the same sort of face that I pull when they creep up behind me while I'm eating!

I'm interested in knowing exactly what it was Jo said to you!

Great read as always, and I thank you for sharing it with us.

#dibbafterdarkcrew

[miss_mouse]

You still all look happy despite the rain.
Glad it didn't ruin your day.

Thanks for sharing.

[mariechez]

I do really enjoy reading your reports and I said it before but will say it again, Isabella is soooooo cute . Im intrigued about what was going on, on the phone though

[Tartan Tigger]

Another lovely day.

[beck_loz]

Great pictures thanks for sharing x

[kerfromscotland]

Great day, lovely photos too

[Fuellady]

Glad you managed to enjoy your day at AK despite the rain. At least it brings the animals out if nothing else

Great character interaction at 1900 Park Fare, food looks good as well

Thanks for sharing