Day 5 - Back once again like a Floriday Master - AK/Sanaa/Tiffins

[Man v Disney]

We all woke up a lot later today nearer to 7am– I think that Fantasmic tired us out last night! The plan today was for Animal Kingdom and maybe a bit of a chill this afternoon. Even with more rest we were still very slow to get up and ready. We decided we weren’t going to have any breakfast, as we were finally planning to use some of our snack credits to get use some bits to tie us over until our Sanaa lunch.

We headed out at 8.30 and were pulling into AK at about 8.40. Our first observation was that it was absolutely packed with cars heading in… the Flights of Passage effect! While Han & Josiah went to the entrance on the tram while Eliana and I walked, aiming to beat them (which we did). The weather was already very hot, well into the 80’s and it wasn’t even 9am yet.

We have planned to visit this park four times, so that we can enjoy it fully and so we don’t have to rush around and miss out on some areas that we haven’t seen before.

Our first stop was Expedition Everest, however I went to get a return time for FOP, which at 9am was already running at over 2 hours, our return time was past 11am. The queue time was already at 120 minutes as we left the area!

By the time I got to Expedition Everest, Eliana had ridden once as a single rider and was on her second single rider go! She was absolutely loving this ride and couldn’t get enough of it. While Han sat this one out the rest of us used our fastpasses and went on Expedition Everest.

Josiah had forgotten how quick this was and came off a little shaky, but still saying he had enjoyed it – but he only wanted to ride it once each visit to AK. Once we were off the ride, Eliana and I went and rode it again as single riders. She is being very brave on rides so far, Universal & Busch Gardens should be amazing for her. Not many people, myself included, can say they rode Expedition Everest 4 times in ½ hour!

We headed round to Pandora to have a look around and to get some snacks for breakfast. The whole area is brilliant and everything we had heard about how amazing this is are entirely accurate. Our breakfast entailed of three Pongo Lumpias (these are pineapple and cream cheese in a spring roll) and a Sausage and egg biscuit (with no egg) for Eliana.

For drinks we got a coke for Eliana and Han & Josiah got Night Blossom (a limeade, apple and pear slushy with passion fruit boba balls) while I had some water. The Pongo Lumpias were really nice and so were the Night Blossoms until half way through when they got a little sickly. This used 6 snack credits and we had to buy the Sausage on biscuits for $7.64. As we passed the FOP queue, it was sat at around 195 minutes!

Rather than sit around and wait we headed off over to ‘It’s Tough to be a Bug’ as this was showing only a 10 minute wait. This was a good show as always and there were clearly some people who by their reactions had never been in. Watch out for being prodded and poked!

We then took a slow walk back round to Pandora and had a few photopass pictures on the way, as well as taking some of our own in Pandora. The wait time for FOP was now at around 135 minutes. Navi was also 70 minutes, so overall Pandora was looking very busy.

There were some people who were unhappy at being unable to get a FP and were taking this out on Cast Members, one man in particular was complaining that he hadn’t been able to get one at 28 days out.

We went through and used our Fastpass for FOP. Our verdict: the hype around this ride is all true. It is the best ride that I have ever been on… incredibly immersive and you really do feel like you are there. Everything about this is so good. We all loved this and were blown away by it.

Even with the fastpass, it took us around half an hour so by the time we got off it was time to head to the car to Sanaa for lunch. We drove over to Animal Kingdom Lodge and this time headed to Kidani rather than Jambo where Boma was. Eliana hadn’t realised just how close to her beloved animals we would be and when she realised, she was mesmerised!

As we were a little early, a man called Marvelous checked us in and Han requested a table near the window. While we waited to be called through, we sat and watched the animals out of the window, then carried this on once we got to our seats.

Our server explained what we could have in terms of the dining plan and we soon ordered: Bread service for the table with tomato soup for Han and Josiah to share, lamb koftas for me and chicken soup for Eliana. Han and Josiah also got a speciality drink… lemonade with Wilderberry Foam.

The starters came and they were really good – we had to leave a bit of the bread as our mains followed quite quickly after. Han went for the tandoori chicken, Eliana the fish of the day and Josiah and I went for the Potjie inspired ‘journey’ with various curry dishes. I in particular was very impressed but Eliana also polished off her entire plate. Han had to leave a little as she had read ahead and knew what she was having for dessert.

Once we finished the entrees, we picked our desserts (Han got the Fairtrade Spice Candy Bar, Josiah the butterscotch mousse and the African Chocolate Mousse bar for me) and watched as a duck sat near us and was being fed as well as an antelope coming to watch us!

All in all we loved this meal and it was well worth the $187.73 it would have cost with tip of $35.25.

Food: 8.5
Service: 7.5
Ambience: 9
Total: 25

We headed back to CBR, after a small detour to Old Port Royale so Eliana could top up her hot chocolate, and we started to repack everything up so that we can head to our villa tomorrow.

Hannah & Josiah went out to Disney Springs to use a load of snack credits as gifts for friends and family back home… they came back with quite a haul! What should have been over $140 came to 27 snack credits.

I stayed behind and kept tidying up and getting the room sorted for tomorrow. It’s amazing how much you can spread out over five days, even when you are trying to keep things pretty tidy. This took me all the time that they were out, but at least it will be a lot easier in the morning when we need to go.

After sorting out our bags we headed out, back to Animal Kingdom and parked our car in Giraffe 49 (remember this for later! ). We were starting with the DAS pass we had set up earlier which could be used once throughout the day after the stated return time. It is worth noting that you can only have one DAS pass at a time so if you book for something with a long wait time, you can’t use it on any other ride until you have used it. This totally works for us as we said from the start we would only use it on something Josiah really wanted to do (and probably wouldn’t if he was in a long queue) and had a queue of more than 20/30 mins as he would probably be OK up to that point.

We headed straight to Pandora and the park seemed to be just as busy as it was before. We were under a little bit of pressure as we got there at about 5.35 and we had a 6pm reservation for Tiffins. Flights of Passage was just as good as before. In fact, I would recommend riding it twice as the first time is almost too much and very overwhelming. On the second ride I noticed so much that I hadn’t seen before. I have no idea how long it took the designers to create the world you fly through, but it is incredible! So much to see, hear and smell!

As we left and headed to Tiffins, I nipped to Navi to get a return time for that before our Rivers of Light dining package seating, which they gave as around 40 minutes. We ended up being 10 minutes late for Tiffins, but they were absolutely fine with this. As it was so hot, around 95 degrees, the aircon was so inviting!

We were shown in to one of their dining rooms and the host told us the decor was the inspiration for Rivers of Light and it really was impressive.
Chris our waiter came over and brought us water while we made our choices. He was very knowledgeable about the whole menu and drinks. On his recommendation I tried a speciality beer which he brought me a small glass of to try. It had distinct cinnamon flavour (which I am allergic to in the same way that Eliana is allergic to sand – I just don’t like it at all) and so went for an IPA which was lovely. Han, Josiah & Eliana all went for mocktails and we made our food choices; Han had the artisan cheese plate followed by Butter Chicken, Josiah got the bread service for the table then Surf & Turf, I had the charred octopus and the surf & turf and Eliana had tomato soup and wagyu steak, rice and broccoli which wasn’t on the menu but they were very accommodating!

Mine was incredible. The octopus was cooked perfectly and the surf (lobster) and turf (wagyu beef) were just right with lovely flavours. Han said the cheese was nice but not as good as at Le Cellier but the Butter Chicken was very tasty. Eliana was happy too so this was a success!
When it came to desserts, only I had room! I went for the Tiffins Trio of cheesecake, mousse and chocolate ganache and Han and Josiah had a bit each – but only a little as it was MINE! Han was feeling a bit ‘in motion’ still from Flights of Passage and Eliana was chomping at the bit to choose her very own banshee so they headed out as I settled the bill.
In total it would have been $335.48 and we tipped $62.20.

Food: 8
Service: 9
Ambience: 8
Total: 25

Now, what I hadn’t realised was that the girls had literally walked out into a monsoon… and I had the ponchos in my bag! We hurried to catch them up (donning our ponchos first obviously) but it was too late. We found Eliana swearing her oath to protect her banshee and the environment and getting her Banshee Adoption Certificate from a cast member, and her and Han both soaked thoroughly.

We realised at this point that Rivers of Light would be cancelled so we went to have our Navi ride and this was a lovely themed ride with lots to see. Eliana is now a self-proclaimed Navi expert due to being a Banshee owner so she was owning and embracing all the little nuances.

Coming out, we all put on our trusty ponchos and walked through physical rivers towards the car, all the while filming the spectacular electric storm happening overhead. Who needs ‘Rivers of Light’ when you have ‘rivers’ and ‘light(ning)’! Nature at its best.

What we didnt know was the size of this stoem. It lasted over two hours and was massive, even by Florida standards!

As you will remember, we had parked the car in Giraffe 49. We unfortunately did NOT remember and got off the tram (in the storm) at Dinosaur 38 and wondered why we couldn’t find the car! 5 mins later we found it and headed back to our room, via Old Port Royale to get hot chocs for all and find out what we needed to do for check out (nothing as it happens! Just leave by 11am). Han had one of those ‘small world’ moments when she bumped into a work colleague in the lobby who had arrived yesterday!

Back in the room, Eliana unpacked Sunset (her banshee of course) and gave us a demo before it was hot baths and bed for all.

A great day and we will catch Rivers of Light another time if we fancy it.

Tomorrow is check out, Epcot, Coral Reef, villa and California Grill.

[AJ86]

Sounds a great day, we got caught in one of those storms while watching the Hogwarts projections. Just as they announced slytherin lightning and thunder came really added to it!

Looking forward to the rest!

[mossy51]

Aww look at her face! She's loving her little banshee. I hope you get another chance to watch Rivers of Light... we absolutely LOVE it and can't wait to watch it again.

[kadypants]

More amazing food! It's making me hungry!

[OB1LukeLucas]

The thunderstorms were epic this year, I’ve never jumped so much in my life at the sound of thunder. Summer the banshee looks at home. Your meals today all look excellent-an impressive snack haul for presents too.