Disney with the Dufflers - Take 2 - Jul 2019 - Day 11 - AK, Polite Pig and the Dahlia Lounge

[tracey1302]

Pre-Trip Report

Day 0 - Monday 1st July 2019 - Overnight at the Radisson Blu, Manchester Airport

Day 1 - Tuesday 2nd July 2019 - Travel day and arrival at Sapphire Falls

Day 2 - Wednesday 3rd July 2019 - Universal Studios and Hard Rock Cafe

Day 3 - Thursday 4th July 2019 - Islands of Adventure, Bahama Breeze and Bar 17 @ Aventura

Day 4 - Friday 5th July 2019 - Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure and our move to CSR

Day 5 - Saturday 6th July 2019 - Magic Kingdom and 'Ohana

Day 6 - Sunday 7th July 2019 - Pool day, Disney Springs and The Boathouse

Day 7 - Monday 8th July 2019 - Epcot and Tutto Italia

Day 8 - Tuesday 9th July 2019 - Typhoon Lagoon, Dahlia Lounge and Blaze

Day 9 - Wednesday 10th July 2019 - The Florida Open, Bon Voyage Breakfast and California Grill

Day 10 - Thursday 11th July 2019 - Le Cellier, Hollywood Studios and Fantasmic

Day 11 - Friday 12th July 2019 - Animal Kingdom, Polite Pig and Disney Springs

It was a relatively early start for us all this morning as we were planning to hit Animal Kingdom first thing. We had three FPs lined up for that morning, including FOP, which was a first for everyone but me and Neil. Knowing how INCREDIBLE this ride was had made me VERY excited for AK day this time around.

We headed in to AK, the skies actually looking promising...

The original plan was to head straight for Navi River Journey and get on this before our first FP on FOP, but when we arrived, the wait was already, somehow (!) 90 minutes. Neil and I explained that the ride really wasn't worth waiting that long for. I promised that we would keep an eye on it throughout the day!

So, instead of this, we traded our Kilimanjaro Safari FP that I'd acquired for 11.25-12.25pm for a FP for a showing of Festival of the Lion King and headed over to Africa to see some animals.

This was actually fantastic and I enjoyed it so much more than I usually do, because of the sheer amount of animals we saw!

I LOVE GIRAFFES so to get this close was amazing.

After this, and a little bit of shopping in Africa, we headed back on through to Pandora for FOP. I was absolutely buzzing when we tinkled into the ride and everyone else was really, very excited.

However, we got into the linking chamber and were all allocated our seats and the video (where the guy explains how it all works) suddenly stopped. I frowned. Something wasn't right. Maybe it was just a computer glitch?

However, to the back of the chamber, suddenly, a CM came in and told us that there was a problem and they were evacuating the ride.

WHAT?

I was devastated. We couldn't have been closer to getting on the ride! It was a nightmare! But, we dutifully followed the crowds and left the building via the fire escape and went round the back of Pandora

We all met up by the Satu'li Canteen as the evacuation had led us round there. We were all so disappointed. I went to make enquiries at the ride entrance but they said they had no idea of when the ride would be back up and running. They also said, however, that our FP would be valid for the day. Slightly encouraged by this, we headed back over to Africa to watch the Festival of the Lion King show.

This show still wows us, even though we've seen it so many times. The music from the Lion King has to be some of the best in Disney history, and the colours and magic in this performance is just fantastic.

After the show, we headed over to Asia for our FP for the Kali River Rapids. Despite the disappointment of FOP, the FP system did work really well for us this day.

The River Rapids was great, particularly because we could ride it all as a big group.

Selfie with my Mutti

My husband Love this man and his cheesy grin.

This was a lot faster and a lot wetter than I remembered!

We all got suitably soaked on Kali River Rapids and then headed over to Discovery Island to grab some lunch. I was still keeping an eye on FOP but it still wasn't back up and running yet

We hadn't planned to stay any longer than lunchtime, so we were pretty much forced to admit we weren't going to get on FOP. As we made to leave, I stopped off at Guest Services and told them what had happened. I wanted another FP for FOP.

The first guy that I dealt with essentially tried to fob me off. He scanned our bands and said that we were due to return to Animal Kingdom on Sunday and he could see that we already had a FP for FOP. I said, 'Yes, but we had one today and couldn't use it. So I want another for Sunday.'

Reluctantly, he said he needed to scan everyone's bands (or at least one band from each room) in order to sort it out.

I retrieved the rest of the gang accordingly, and we returned to Guest Services, dealing this time with another lady who was much more accommodating. She gave us a 'magic' FP for FOP which could be used at any time on Sunday. I was thrilled and thanked her profusely.

We left AK in high spirits with the promise of two goes on FOP on Sunday...

We returned to CSR and had showers and a bit of a rest. That afternoon and evening, we planned to head down to Disney Springs for another low key QS meal. Me and hubby headed down first and took advantage of happy hour at the outdoor bar at Terralina.

We then headed over to Polite Pig, which was where we planned to have dinner. We LOVED this place. I LOVED the sangria.

The food was also terrific. Neil and I shared a Butcher's Board.

After this, we had made plans to meet in the Dahlia Lounge for late drinks and to watch the surrounding fireworks. Neil and I (who were a little ahead of everyone else), headed back to CSR first and got the best seats in the house outside.

About half an hour behind us, the gang soon arrived.

And we soaked up the surrounding fireworks, managing to catch both elements of the Star Wars fireworks and Illuminations.

After this, we headed back down to the Barcelona Lounge and played some more cards, resulting in a tense stand off between Neil and Debsy.

It was here that I discovered that you couldn't get a coffee at the bar at this time of night. This was quite frustrating, as they had it on the menu board as though you could. Bit annoying! I had to go all the way over to El Centro.

Nonetheless, this was a great, chilled out day, but we were now, more than ever, absolutely desperate to get on Flights of Passage!

Day 12 - DHS and the Flying Fish is here.