The Unexpected Festive Family Trip – 2.1.19 - Day 9: “The Best Ride Ever”

[Rescuer]

The Unexpected Festive Family Trip – 2.1.19 - Day 9: “The Best Ride Ever”

2.1.19

Day 8 is here

Index

Animal Kingdom changed its opening hours for today and was due to open at 7am. This morning we had a breakfast adr at Tusker House at 8am with the Rivers of Light Package. This has always been one of our top choices of character meal. We decided that if we were going to be up early we might as well head there for 7am. We were at the bus stop for 6.30am but we had, I assume, just missed a bus so we had a 20-minute wait. There were scooters to be loaded which took a while so it was 7.10am that we arrived. The turnstiles were heaving.

We headed straight for Navi and arrived at 7.27am, it was showing a 60 minute wait although touring plans were advising that the reality was 20 minutes. Just as we were close to the loading area ds announced he had a sore tummy and needed the toilet. Luckily there was a cast member close by, we explained the situation as ds and dh were just wanting to leave the line, she obviously took pity on ds who was faffing between the toilet or the ride and told them not to be silly just to head to the nearest toilet and come back down the fastpass line where we should wait, this was so lovely of her as I’ve heard that on the Pandora rides there are not normally allowances made. We waited for them when another cast member came and got us and said that they were back and that they had just taken them straight to the loading dock. The cm put us back in line and we met up with them a few minutes later. Ds was all smiles again and had expressed his thanks to the lovely cast members. As I said before, we really enjoyed this ride this year, I would never prioritise it above FOP but it’s still good in its own right if you can manage both. Mil thought it was beautiful.

We were now a little late checking in by the time we walked up from Pandora. We checked in and were seated straight away. I like an early adr here as they seem to stagger filling the tables so it is much less noisy and hectic than later on. The character interaction was quick but nice.

A few photos of the buffet:

And some plates:

I noticed the corned beef thing has disappeared which is a shame as I loved that previously. Overall the food was all nice enough, the character interaction was good and our server was lovely. Ds wasn’t loving this for once though, I don’t know if he had overindulged on the desserts at the party last night but he didn’t really eat all that much. When I asked if he wanted me to book again for next time, he wasn’t keen. I have, not a ROL package, ds is now saying he might like to go again as long as he has not eaten his body weight in cake at dessert party the night before.

It certainly wasn’t cheap, $46 per head. Rivers of Light was packed later though so it was nice to have the reserved seating as we really wanted Mil to see this. Would I bother next time, probably not.

Next up we headed back to Pandora for our Flight of Passage Fast Pass. The line was 240 minutes. Mil was feeling pretty nervous about this ride. We kept reassuring her that she would love it. She did! She thought it was the most amazing ride ever. In fact, she loved the whole Pandora area. Ds made her watch the film a few times before the holiday.

I had been noticing people wearing ears I had never seen before so I tracked them down for my collection. I feel a new addiction starting…

not my picture

We had also booked a fast pass for the Lion King show. I now it’s not usually a great use of fastpass but it was a busy time. Loads of people were let in via fastpass and it looked like only a small amount of standby entered to fill it up.

After the show we left to have a bit of chill out time at the hotel before returning later this evening. We spent a bit of time watching the giant anteater, our favourite animal at AK and we eventually left at 12.30pm and luckily caught a bus straight away.

A bit of chilling out and a small amount of packing.

We headed out to get the bus back to AK. Seems like we were unlucky again with buses and waited 20 minutes. I spent my time taking pictures of the Beach Club.

First stop some food. We went to eight spoons café and ordered a plain, a chilli prawn and a pulled pork mac and cheese. (At least you get pictures before they started getting eaten this time)

Dug and Kevin passed us while we were eating and ds got a high 5. We didn't meet them this year but they are by far some of the best character interaction we have ever had, ds loves them.

Rivers of Light was heaving, the fastpass section looked completely full as did the standby. I was glad we had gone with the dining package. It’s the first time we have seen it since they have taken away the dancers and musicians. I do like Rivers of Light, however, the first time I saw it, I didn’t know where to look as there was so much going on so I wasn’t keen at first. There are far better night time experiences but I do like it.

We had a wee snack of Mountain Mix left over from our dining credits whilst watching. After we had wanted to go either to the Nomad Lounge or Satilu Canteen. However, Mil had had it with adventurous foods, she would have gone but it didn’t feel right to make her eat something she really did not want. We can go there in the summer so it's not a big deal.

It was chaos trying to leave Rivers of Light. You could hardly move. It was mental all the way around past Expedition Everest, next time I’d head the other way via Dinoland.

We went to the Yak and Yeti quick service instead and made a shocking discovery, the chicken fried rice which we love is now done in 2 sizes and they are a dollar apart in price but about half the size, it’s the teeny tiny one that is now a snack credit. It didn’t matter for us tonight but it’s one of my favourite snack credits.

We had 2 of the fried rice, the ones that are more than a mouthful and 2 of the honey chicken to share and drinks. It was all more than fine but I do love that rice. $46.

We decided to call it a night after our food as Ds and Mil were shattered. We walked through Pandora so Mil could see it all lit up at night. Flight of Passage was 215 minutes and Navi was 125 minutes so the park was still pretty busy.

We watched the Tree of Life shows before leaving.

The plan was for all of us to get the bus back to the Boardwalk for a walk around but Ds and Mil were not keen so we all got the bus back to the Beach Club and me and DH went for a walk around the boardwalk. We grabbed a beer and a pina colada at Joe’s, they only had the sweet cream cheese pretzels this evening though so I didn’t bother.

We grabbed a snack from Boardwalk to Go, mozzarella sticks. $5. They are not covered on the dining plan. So, had we had the plan we might well have just picked out something else.

I love the view around the lake so we just sat and chilled before taking a slow walk back and calling it a night.

21k steps today

[clochette]

Another great day, apart from DS feeling a bit wobbly. It was good of the CM to let him leave the line like that.
I love all your Disney t shirts by the way. Did you all have a different one for every day?

[mick]

Another great day


Joan

[sizzle]

I should think our paths crossed numerous times today as it sounds like we rode navi and FOP at similar times. Couldn’t believe the times and length of queue for FOP it was crazy. We did a full day at AK and managed everything apart from the Lion King. We fastpassed ROL about half an hour before it started and yes it was heaving in that section, first time we’d seen it and to be honest not sure i’d bother again.

[Joosebug1987]

Another great looking day - Tusker House looks really good! Love the pic with Donald.
Thank goodness you got a kind CM!x

[collybird]

MiL’s tshirt what a legend she is.

Funny that you noticed there wasn’t any corned beef hash, my mum did too.

I’d argue that Festival of the Lion King is actually a good use of a FP, we’ve actually been turned away from a show before.

We’ve only seen Rivers of Light once and I really didn’t get it, I’m going to have to make a point of giving it another go.

[Palm trees]

It's good reading your review of Tucker house, we're going for the first time on our next trip and I'm really looking forwards to it.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by clochette

Another great day, apart from DS feeling a bit wobbly. It was good of the CM to let him leave the line like that.
I love all your Disney t shirts by the way. Did you all have a different one for every day?

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Thanks. It was really nice of them, maybe if it had been one of us rather than a child it might have been a different story. He was prepared for not getting to ride though so I was pleased for him that they let him back in line.

I have a rather large bag of Disney and Universal tops which I constantly add to so I have more than enough for 2 a day now I just bought 2 new ones this week, one from Primark and a red nose day one from T K Maxx. I have a problem...

Originally Posted by mick

Another great day


Joan

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Thanks for reading along Joan, it was a nice day.

Originally Posted by sizzle

I should think our paths crossed numerous times today as it sounds like we rode navi and FOP at similar times. Couldn’t believe the times and length of queue for FOP it was crazy. We did a full day at AK and managed everything apart from the Lion King. We fastpassed ROL about half an hour before it started and yes it was heaving in that section, first time we’d seen it and to be honest not sure i’d bother again.

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Sizzle we were probably side by side in a line at somepoint. You did well doing a full day at AK.
You might like Rivers of Light better next time when you can focus on one thing. We've decided we are not going to bother with it in the summer.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Joosebug1987

Another great looking day - Tusker House looks really good! Love the pic with Donald.
Thank goodness you got a kind CM!x

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Thanks, I like Tusker House, its 50/50 for the summer trip. The characters are always super cute here in their outfits. Ds was very grateful that the CMs were so lovely on Navi.

Originally Posted by collybird

MiL’s tshirt what a legend she is.

Funny that you noticed there wasn’t any corned beef hash, my mum did too.

I’d argue that Festival of the Lion King is actually a good use of a FP, we’ve actually been turned away from a show before.

We’ve only seen Rivers of Light once and I really didn’t get it, I’m going to have to make a point of giving it another go.

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She bought that while we were there, she got more and more into it as the trip went on.

The corned beef hash was always one of my favourites, if there was none at your trip then it must be gone for good.

I'd go with a second go of ROL, I liked it much better the second time. I'm not sure we will bother next time though, I want to spend all my nights crying at Illuminations on the next trip

Originally Posted by Palm trees

It's good reading your review of Tucker house, we're going for the first time on our next trip and I'm really looking forwards to it.

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Hopefully you really enjoy it, I think it is one of the more interesting character buffets.

[Goldia]

I didn't realise they had stopped doing he corned beef hash at breakfast, I loved that! Oh well...

The cast members at Navi river seem great it would have been frustrating to miss your opportunity before breakfast.

It sounds like another fab day.