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Old 16 Feb 20, 09:15 PM  
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spencem
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Silver Anniversary Trip, Day 7

Saturday Jan 18th, Animal Kingdom

The Plan had us at Animal Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours this morning. When I’d booked our FastPasses I’d not been able to get us one for Flight of Passage today, even with booking 60 days in advance they had all gone to people booking for 60 days plus the length of their holidays. Instead I had got us an early one for Navi River, followed by the safari and Everest. We also had Tusker house booked for lunch on the Rivers of Light dining package to give us a guaranteed seat for tonight’s show.

We were out of French Quarter just before 7:30 and in the park just before the official 8am opening.


The timestamp on this is 7:57am.

We spoke about trying for Flight of Passage on standby, despite being in the park so late and decided to see what the queue was like when we got to Pandora. MDE was already showing it at 90 minutes, despite the ride not actually being open.


Sandra was very excited about the backdrop, something to do with Facebook groups of lunatics, I think.


The floating mountains look amazing in the low early morning light.


As we went to go down into the area by FoP’s queue entrance we found the back of the line, again with a sign saying 90 minutes. The line was moving very quickly and thinking they were only just filling the actual attraction queue we joined the back. As we got to the pathway to Africa we were directed along that way. The path is quite wide at this point and twists around, so we thought they just had a short loop in use. Everyone was basically still walking at a normal pace, not doing the slow queue shuffle so we didn’t get concerned at the diversion. I was only when we got to the point that you can see along the boardwalk that I realised this was going to be a much longer wait than 90 minutes.


Lots of people waiting, and a cormorant drying itself after a breakfast dip.

As the queue stopped moving so fast I decided to take a walk down the middle of the path and see where it was being looped back on itself, when I discovered that it was at the Africa bathrooms I went back for the others and we bailed out of the queue, walking up the middle of the path and into Africa. There was a cast member with a barrier across the path just before the bathrooms turning the line back. He was also trying to police people stepping out of line to use the restroom and then trying to re-join their families in line. The poor guy was not having a great morning, trying to do all that and keep people from just wandering down from Africa out of the Flight of Passage queue as well.

Brian went into the restrooms and I had a look at the new Club 33 buildings that have appeared down this path since I was last here.


It did take me a while to work out what these buildings are before remembering Club 33 has been added to the park.


It’s not just floating mountains that look lovely in early morning light.

As it was still so early and MDE was showing only a 5-minute wait for it we thought we’d try the safari once we had all taken the restroom option. As we walked through Africa I reminded everyone to look up at all the details above you as well as around you.


From the volume I’d guess the actual speaker is the box it is sat on and not the boom box.


I love this Simba statue on the Lion King building.

When we got there the Safari was still only showing a 5-minute wait and so we joined the line. We basically walked straight onto the disabled truck and just had a couple of minutes wait while more people joined us. I have to say this was one of the best safaris we’d ever done with loads of animals out and about and active as well. Sadly, the combination of deep shadows, digital zoom and the bumpy ride made getting pictures on a phone a challenge. I’ll spare you the blobs and blurs, not to mention the back of the seat or the hats in front of me, but here are a few that almost came out.


The rhinos were very close indeed, we had to wait for a couple to walk past us.


Not the best photo of a cheetah, but better than the one of the other cat laid under the trees.


The male lion was actually up and about munching on some grass.


Not quite sure what is wrong with this picture of the warthogs, but it looks better on a phone.

We did have a quick look at the end of the gorilla trail, but restrooms were needed again, not to mention breakfast. We did look to see if the Harambe Market did breakfast, but on finding it still closed up made our way back to Creature Comforts to brave the typical slow-moving Starbucks queue.


Looks great, doesn’t do breakfast.


Everest looks great, even backlit in the early mornings.


The ‘new’ Lion King theatre is such an improvement over the old Camp Mickey one.

When we got to Starbucks we were luck enough to see a family just leaving one of the outside tables. I was going to see what the options were for breakfast, but for some reason my lovely wife needed to join the queue to order her usual blueberry muffin and English Breakfast Tea and so I had to guard the table, Sandra and Brian not having a clue what was on offer let alone what they wanted. Rather than being able to check out the healthy options I just asked for the Mickey head cinnamon bun. Sure enough the queue was very slow moving but eventually Sandra and Brian appeared saying Julia was just waiting for our drinks. I went to find her and helped bring a Blueberry Muffin and an English Breakfast Tea back for her as expected. Some time later my food and a decaf Americano followed.


Just a snack.

As we sat enjoying our breakfasts we agreed that we didn’t need to ride the safari again in a couple of hours and so I went to change it in MDE. At first I could only see the option to change the time, which offered me no options at all. I then found the option to change to a different attraction, which had just the last showing today of the Nemo show and a couple of times mid-afternoon for Tough to be a Bug. That was it, five minutes after park opening. Make your FastPasses in advance people, or you won’t be making them at all. I took the option of a Tough to be a Bug for after lunch.

Once we’d all eaten our time was open for Navi River and so we walked back down to Pandora via Discovery Island, the other path still being closed. We had a look at wait times and sure enough Flight of Passage was now over 3 hours at 9:30am.

The Lion King backdrop now had a photographer in attendance, since she didn’t really have a queue we stopped for some pictures.


It is apparently vital to post this picture to Bookface/Instatoilet/Twapper, or you are not a real Disney fan. I must get around to that…


Floating mountains need photographing no matter what time of the day.

Sadly, the shaman animatronic wasn’t there on the river ride, but we all enjoyed it anyway. When we came out the drumming show had just started, having heard great things about it we stood and watched.


My what a big drum you have.

It is a good show with some clever touches, especially the call and response to the mountains and the sound effects in the trees behind.


Quite a few people around now.

Julia wanted to get us our anniversary badge and herself a birthday one. The actual date might have passes, but the whole trip was in celebration of our anniversary. This meant going all the way back down to the main park entrance, but we had nowhere else to be soon.

When we got to Discovery Island we saw a blue umbrella with Guest Experience Team on it. Sandra and I had a conversation about what this was, with me thinking it was for people checking in for tours, but Sandra thinking it was Guest Services. It turns out Sandra was correct, why they can’t have Guest Services on their umbrellas I don’t know.

Sandra and Brian had been talking about getting him a DAS (Disability Access Service) as following his major surgery he has to visit restrooms much more often and if he has to go then he really has to go right now. After this morning’s experience of needing to rush from restroom to restroom he realised there was no way he could stand in any of the current standby lines. 20 minutes was about his limit and every attraction was showing as 40 minutes or more. He and Sandra queued up to speak to the cast member while I wandered off to see if any of the nearby animals were around. I was soon called back as they needed to scan everyone’s bands in Brian’s party. The cast member had agreed that Brian’s condition was exactly what the DAS was designed for. You still wait the same time as joining the standby line, but do so away from the ride, say in a restroom or two. Normally you have to visit the ride entrance to get a return time, but for the first one Guest Services can set it for you. This they did for Brian, adding Flight of Passage for 3 and half hours later. This would be while we were eating lunch, but unlike Fast Pass you can return at any point after your time, up until park closing and so we planned to return after our naps this afternoon. Julia and I also picked up our anniversary badges and Julia’s birthday badge.

We wanted to try our luck getting into the next Lion King show and so went there sporting our new “25 Ears” Happily Ever After badges. The pathways were really busy now, making slow going for Julia on the ECV. At least they also slowed Sandra down, with her new upgraded digital heart she’d been zooming off and leaving Brian trailing in her wake all morning so far.


Was it July or January? The long sleeves give it away.

If Julia hadn’t have gotten us into the disabled section we wouldn’t have seen this Lion King show. The people in standby were already being told they’d wait at least one show 15 minutes before the next one had started. We took the last few spots in the Warthog section, another couple of minutes and we’d have been waiting for the noon show as well.


This show is amazing.


Can’t top a tumble monkey.


Finished now, half an hour’s break and then do it all again.

We all love this show and would rank it at the top of all of the WDW shows I think, it just has an incredible energy to it, no matter what time of the day you see it. How the cast cope with doing 6 to 8 of these a day I do not know. Some of them were new from when we saw the show last, but many were old faces that have been doing this show for years.

By the time we were out of Lion King our FP+ was open for Everest. Brian doesn’t ride this at the best of times, let alone a few weeks after surgery and Julia wasn’t keen on being rattled around after her own medical issues last week, so Sandra and I were planning on swapping Magic Bands with our spouses to get two rides each done.

As we walked over to Asia I glanced down at the path next to the river and saw a photographer with no one waiting. I had to chase after Sandra and her amazing mechanical heart, but we were all soon getting our pictures taken. This photographer was excellent, joining in with the banter among us and labelling me as ‘cheeky’. We passed her on the pathway some hours later and she asked Sandra if I was still being cheeky.


I don’t think I look cheeky.


She had us all in stitches.

A bit further along the path to Everest we came across another quiet photographer. This one was also very good, getting us in all sorts of poses.


Here we are showing 2 and 5 for our 25 years married.


Everest still fits behind the shrine.


Our FastPasses got us past a 95-minute queue, twice.


Bird on a Stick was back from his summer migration.


I don’t think the lady in front of Sandra is enjoying the ride as much as Sandra.

Julia and Brian had been waiting for us over by the River’s of Light entrance, which would explain why the person wearing a similar tee shirt to Brian hadn’t waved back at me and Sandra as we thundered past on the ride. An internet friend of Sandra’s was waiting for us when we came off and she and him chatted all the way back to Africa where we had a reservation at Tusker house. The other 3 of us were not included in the conversation, not being members of the ‘Extra Special Inner Sanctum Group Only For Extra Special Disney People By Invite Only’ Facebook group they are both members of. When we got to Tusker House three of us went to the desk to check-in, while the other person and their extra special sparkly friend wandered off in the direction of Lion King. I said to Brian we should let them go, but he decided to go and reclaim his wife for some reason. Not sure what happened to Rainbow Sparkles, I think Brian might have chucked him in the river, but he never said goodbye to us non-special people.

We were a few minutes early checking in for lunch, which just meant we were called to go and sit down at the time of our reservation, rather than 10 minutes after that time as normal. The staff were friendly, but our server was not great at all. She spent most of her time moaning about how busy she was, she actually told us they had put too many people in her section before she came and greeted us, calling over from another table. She did come and take a drink order and explain the buffet eventually, but there were no offers of drink refills. We saw her next when she presented the bill, thankfully with the tickets for Rivers of Light’s reserved seating area. Needless to say we ignored the suggested 20% tip and left $5 each instead. 20% is a lot of a buffet where servers only bring drinks, let alone when they don’t even offer to refill them.

I think it was because of where we were sat, but it was a lot noisier in the restaurant than the last time we visited, I don’t remember the kids all marching around making a racket last time either. The food was still very good, if a little plainer than I remember it and the characters that we saw were great. We never did see Goofy, but none of us wanted to sit waiting for him with the bills on the table.


Daisy was first past.




Mickey got confused who the couples were, despite mine and Julia’s badges.




Donald was kind enough to pose when I explained he’s my brother’s favourite.






The buffet had calmed right down by the time we left just after 2pm.

Julia and Brian had had enough by now, so I looked to change our FastPasses for Tough to be a Bug, but there was nothing else offered at all now, instead I just cancelled them and so hopefully someone else got lucky.

We made our way out of the park, pausing briefly to watch the flock of parrots flying around the Tree of life.


I think there was a cast member talking about the birds directly in front of the tree.

Continued Below

Edited at 06:03 PM.
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Old 16 Feb 20, 09:16 PM  
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Today’s nap was a long one, we left the park about 2:30 and didn’t leave the hotel until about 5:30. The trip back took longer than it should have done when I made a slight navigational error, that included the I4 and the 192. No matter we still made our seating for the 6:30 show, with a whole 6 minutes to go. The way Brian was limping, Julia’s tires were smoking and Sandra’s chest was lighting up with sparks off her pacemaker you’d have thought I’d rushed them.


No time to stop for a proper picture, this’ll do.


The mountain reflection needed photographing, even on the run.


I like the way they repeat the projection from the water screen on the boats’ sails, it make it much clearer what’s happening.


The internally lit sculptures are beautiful.


World of Color they might not be, but the lotus flower fountains are still lovely.


The tower of fire is quite hard to photograph as the flames are constantly changing.


A bit of everything.


Show over, please go now.

We all really enjoyed the show, maybe it would be better with a human cast? I’m not at all sure it would be and I know for sure that the Disney accounts department prefer not paying for a human cast. We’d gotten great seats right at the back of the disabled section, which let us lean back against the retaining wall and meant we didn’t have to worry about blocking anyone’s view behind holding up phones to take pictures.

At the end of the show rather than letting the bulk of the people go as normal we made a sharp exit as we had left the ECV in a bit of a vulnerable position at the top of the steps for our section. Unlike every other ECV I’ve ever seen this one doesn’t have a lever to disengage the motor, meaning it can’t be pushed around. We had to warn cast members all holiday about it and sometimes stop them trying to push it even after they’d been warned not to. I always offered to put it where they needed it myself when leaving it at attractions and Julia always ensured she put it against a wall when leaving it in stroller parking. This evening we’d been told to “leave it over there, it’ll be fine”. Thankfully it was still ‘over there’ when we got back to it and Julia soon saddled up.

Here we came across a rare bit of poor crowd control by Disney. We wanted to head back to Pandora and thought the quickest was would be to go around the DinoLand side of the lagoon. As we got down to where the path splits to bypass the land itself we were surprised to find ropes across the path and everyone being directed under the Concrete-o-suarus. This was bad enough, but to get back to Discovery Island everyone had to then exit the land under the bridge by the dig site play area, with other park guests who hadn’t seen Rivers of Light still trying to come the other way. As we went under a dad with a double buggy was trying to come the other way, chaos doesn’t cover it.

Eventually we made it back to Pandora where the size of the crowds diminished the effects of the bioluminescence somewhat and made the excellent evening sound track quite hard to hear.

Restrooms were used before we used Brian’s much earlier DAS to bypass the 200-minute standby line for Flight of Passage. Julia and I were sad to find that the FastPass queue bypasses the excellent lab scene of the main queue, it would have been nice to see the stunning animatronic in there again. Even with the DAS and using the FastPass queue we waited about 20 minutes for the ride, dangerously close to Brian’s tolerance. He’s not great with heights, which I’m sure helped enormously when his Banshee dived off the cliff to start the ride. Three of us really enjoyed the ride, Brian needed another couple of goes to appreciate it all. Capacity on this ride must be huge with the multiple levels and multiple theatres and yet it still has 3-hour long queues even in the quietest time of the year, that alone tells you how good it is.


Even if this was working it wouldn’t have stopped Brian getting to the restrooms behind after the ride.

For some reason none of us can work out we left the park after Flight of Passage, we only realised the park was still open when we got down by the entrance and saw people still coming in. By that point none of us could be bothered to go back and try to find something with an acceptable queue and so we left anyway.

Just outside we did pause for the last Photopass pictures of the night.


You can tell it was winter, we’ve added hoddies for the evening chill.

While none of us were very hungry we knew we’d need to eat something before bed. Sandra suggested we head over to Disney Springs to collect our $300 gift cards we’d got as part of the free dining offer. Julia was quite happy with just a bowl of Frosties before bed, so she stayed in the room when I went up to collect the paperwork for the gift shop.

Sandra, Brian and I didn’t wait long for a boat and were soon chugging down the waterway to Disney Springs about 9pm. As I said none of us were very hungry so we settled on Earl of Sandwich. On the way round from the boat dock to Earl we were rather shocked to see a woman singing and playing a piano drive around the corner.


I presume someone nearby was steering, but I never spotted them.

I remember there being something of a drama when Sandra and Brian tried to order and pay, but being on my own dining plan had ordered mine and was waiting for it to be made while they explained they didn’t want to use all their credits buying dinner for the whole queue.


I had a healthy Asian Chicken Salad, please ignore the pound of cheese and all those won tons.

Snack eaten we pushed on to try and find the gift card desk in the World of Disney. Last time I was in Orlando the shop was still undergoing the big refurb and was a fraction of its normal size, it was good to see it complete, even if that did make finding the right desk harder.


I’m happily surprised they didn’t change the sign.

Even in the old shop the right desk to collect your gift cards wasn’t easy to find, but with the new layout we couldn’t find it at all. In the end we asked a cast member, who looked blank for a bit before deciding they did know what we were on about and taking us to an anonymous, unsigned, unstaffed, single counter at the back of the shop and telling us he’d send someone “right over to help”.


I don’t know why we couldn’t find this ourselves really.

We thought we’d been stood up, but about 5 minutes later someone did indeed come over and issue our gift cards. The actual process of picking them up was easier than the last time I’d done this. Back in 2016 the woman on the desk had wanted all sorts of information from us, including inside leg measurements and our O’Level results. Tonight, the lady just wanted the voucher, some photo ID and a signature on a list before tapping away at her laptop and producing a card from a draw under the desk.

We did have a bit of a poke around the shop, but nothing really took our eyes and we were soon on our way back to the dock for a boat back to French Quarter. The boats of our resort go from the far end of Disney Springs, behind the Christmas shop, which means you get great views of the whole area as the boats go almost to the other end to enter the canal back to the resort.


Characters in Flight by night.



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Edited at 05:34 PM.
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Old 17 Feb 20, 10:59 AM  
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A brilliant day with lots done including a rest 😆


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Old 17 Feb 20, 11:58 AM  
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Originally Posted by mick View Post
A brilliant day with lots done including a rest 😆


Joan
Thanks, we enjoyed it.
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Old 9 Mar 20, 07:45 PM  
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Really enjoyed your trip report. Your photos are great, what phone are you using?
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Old 9 Mar 20, 08:06 PM  
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Originally Posted by Growled View Post
Really enjoyed your trip report. Your photos are great, what phone are you using?
Thanks, I've got a Samsung S10+ and Julia an S8. All of the pictures except a few at SeaWorld and Animal Kingdom were taken on these two.
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