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Old 21 Mar 19, 12:51 AM  
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walt4it
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:) A Mi11ion Dreams = 2018 - Day 13 - Mr Grumpy Gills rescued by Pandora and Nemo!

Thanks for clicking and having a read - hope you enjoy what comes along today - thankfully not unlucky 13!

If you are a first time reader -welcome

If you have been waiting ages for the next day Sorry work has got in the way, so much so I have managed to snag some midweek time to post this one.
Appreciate your continued posts , comments and those who click the like button too Thank you for reading along and we are not even at half way just yet

The whole index to all that has gone before is a click here away

Day 12 - which to be honest involved some seriously exciting golf is here


And a new item, by popular demand has now ensured that I include this link to every trip report previously written - just click here and you will see our magical journey and two boys growing up.


Welcome to DAY 13


Tuesday 7th August 2018



The bin man arrived in the dark- it must have been around 6.

Which was possibly a good thing as the bin was so smelly I struggled actually getting it out onto the street last night. It had been close to full when we arrived and amid the Florida heat – I would not like to think if it missed last weeks collection.

It was minging- each time I came back into from putting anything in it I was compelled to deep clean my hands whilst my nose still suffered the after effects.

Best left unwritten and thankfully now empty. Thank you to the waste management lorry !

Lets move on...

Anyway this morning, having enjoyed a scrambled eggs on toast breakfast, we set upon The Old Lake Wilson Road and then the Sherbeth Road to Animal Kingdom.

You probably know why by now! We were Pandora bound…again!

I always make a note on my phone of the parking row-
Peacock 6 today-might be insignificant as a reader, but for me this was bliss!




Now, there are often times when I really do enjoy having a good old moan about always being closer to DHS than to Animal Kingdom’s entrance - well today was payback time.

Payback for at least of handful of AK visits!

Just 8 cars ahead of us, the parking CM’s had just moved the cones and the left hand side of the car park that was nearly full was closed and we were directed to the row right behind preferred parking.

No additional cash necessary and it was noted we were possibly parked closer than the distance from the bus stops, we arrived at last week! RESULT!

The AK signage even had it as 112 elephant steps to the entrance- as one grumpy, paying for parking, person who had just paid a whole $22. This was a big result.

It made everyone else laugh if nothing else- for once we were one up on the parking!

Sorry, that should state I was one up on the parking , the rest of the car takes no notice, I do, and today was going to be the greatest day we had ever spent at AK, parking payback – WOO HOO – I’m now hoping they head across to Premium outlets for any future visits!

I had not brought the park backpack today( no camera then !) , so Joe chose to carry Alison’s bag for her – the true gentleman that he is.


As he entered the back check he smiled and they only had a swift look in the bag - all that furtling of my sack every time for me and now he was straight through in the blink of an eye.

Seeing as though I missed my parking rant, can I just take a moment to note all of those people who continue to make every trip to the Disney Parks that bit more difficult.

Usually from a South American country, they seem to lose all sense of consciousness as they enter any park-

• Yes, they need to see and scan your ticket,
• Yes, for everyone, including the child in the stroller who really could be doing with the walk.

Can you please just get out of my holiday !

Now I may appear to have had three days of being a grumpy ≈≈≈≈≈≈, usually about parking, but today was different, it made me so aware of the role of every CM and reminded me of the important job they do under some ridiculous scenarios that you can’t even begin to imagine happen, and do - my experience today was a matter of minutes, I dread to think what else they contend with!


Today it happened twice and fortunately my understanding of Spanish came in very handy!

The first at the entrance was a complete joke- they had the wrong tickets and were trying to blag their way in! And were insistent

As a result we moved across to another scanning point and were then on our way.

I was still on a parking high to really swear about their audacity. They did not actually possess any Disney Tickets, they had 3 park Universal tix and had thought they could get in here – they were trying everything, like I said my Spanish might be limited but I knew what they were asking the CM.

You seriously could not make it up - I hope they paid the parking though!

Maybe our Disney ticket will get us a couple of days with Harry Potter at Universal!

We, however, were Everest bound and FP used we travelled together in the back two rows.










We walked through Asia and Africa to Pandora- through the area where the morning queue line congregates but with another sense of excitement just like it was our very first visit.



I can’t explain it, yes the visual of Pandora remains stunning every time but the knowledge you are going to ride Flight of Passage is the indescribable element to the whole thing.

As we arrived close to the fast pass entrance, we were alerted to a couple of groups ahead - rude and totally clueless people who chose to give the CM a hard time.

A family who had mistaken the Flight of Passage fast pass queue instead of the Navi River, they were shown the direction to travel next.

Then, by possibly the most obnoxious family I have ever seen in a queue and not just at WDW!

Having had an aggressive go at another family behind us, for supposedly pushing in, the older male part of the family in front, then made those behind feel so uncomfortable with their finger pointing that those behind chose to just step aside for a few moments as they were definitely not getting much Disney magic.

I hope they saw what followed happen and I hope they shoved the finger as they walked. not that one

I do hope they were looking when the CM asked for their fast passes- party of 8 or 9- they had none, zero, zilch, f.all!

Karma works in many ways but as they were directed to the standby line, I knew everyone behind had the same two fingered salute that was rightly deserved.

Bang out of order and confined to the standby line for the next two and a half hours.

Can’t understand why anyone behaves like this, especially when they are totally in the wrong. To start taking it out on others really hits home as to how the shared experience of Disney, the history, meaning, ethos and all that Walt stood for has evaporated.

It lives within those who understand the past, yet I think all of that is lost in those totally in the now. (I could expand this into a full essay as to how Disney has changed and how the experience has altered too, will avoid my views on that for now- you will be glad to read some upcoming days when the Magic is there!

Anyway, we did enjoy a chuckle at their expense and took the proverbial out of them as we walked through the fast pass line.

Once again, we asked for the upper ramp that never seems to be offered to FP guests- it leads to the top or middle levels of the ride.

Today, we rode in the middle for the first time and remarked at how much water spray we enjoyed and also the dives and whole ride experience was superb.



Worth asking to be higher in the ride as it certainly does seem more intense and you really feel you are falling at a rate of knots when the banshee is cruising through the air.

We were once more speechless as we exited, if we could just ride this time and time again it would not be enough.

We took some pics around the ride and then found a photopass photographer - a lovely man from Chicago who just enjoys meeting people and taking photos- my kind of job!








A (free) water stop at Starbucks - hidden feature of Starbucks to avoid paying for water - if you ask for ice at the counter they do oblige too

A rest room break and then a walk through possibly our least favourite part of all the Disney parks- Dinoland. Now I knew you had to pay to play the ‘fairground attraction ‘ games but until I looked at the small price list I only then recognised why we had never done any of this stuff.
One voucher =$5
Two =$10 plus one free
Up to $30 for 6 plus 4 free!

The winning ‘prizes’ were not worth the $ and were basically cheap dinosaur plush from the dollar shop - I had never in possibly every visit before, taken the time to look at the details of the place before.

We all usually keep walking and beyond riding Primeval Whirl, it holds little interest and to be honest this is a part of Animal kingdom that needs urgent attention to improve the place so that it has the same theming and interest that the rest of the park holds.



Sorry I’m having a whinge once again - not deliberate but I think I have never mentioned it in any previous reports!

On the other hand, we had a very important FP to keep and that was with the 2 pm Nemo show.


I’ve said enough over the years but today was a new Nemo performer for us - and did she deliver, she was superb with a huge smile on her face throughout. Nailed the difficult songs and also added a few bits of her own personality too.










Pictures taken were without my camera and so the phones were on overtime. Alison caught some amazing video and also got the high 5 between Joe and Marlin.


It does not matter how many times we watch this show we still see something new or experience something different.

Today we were totally done for by the end, wonderfully timed and drawing every ounce of emotion from the scene.


They nailed it so much.

“Bye Dad”
“Bye Son”

Every single time





Josh did ask if we stayed where we were sitting , will anyone move us on, as we could just do the 3 pm show too!

We really wanted to as well.

Having previously watched every Nemo show in an Animal Kingdom day we are not immune to this!

Today we hauled ourselves away rode and headed into Dinoland once more- I had booked a FP for Primeval Whirl whilst awaiting Nemo starting.


Sorry not for another couple of weeks

We did stumble across a Goofy meet , which would have been our first character meet of the holiday, unfortunately Goofy disappeared for far too long and we headed to ride Primeval Whirl whilst a succession of photopass photographers came and went without anything to photograph.

The photographers were getting really irate as they had to keep trying to explain that Goofy was on a break – he never appeared which made for even better watching from afar



We called it a day at that and enjoyed that very short walk back to the car.


A late snack lunch was needed and with one kids happy meal and three cheeseburgers costing just $6.45 we had found a quick and easy snack option -amazing how many times a kids refillable Cup can be filled!

McDonalds handy snack tip here – as a family, we don’t do big meals during the day but a snack like this will tide us all over. We don't do McDonalds either but today it was needs must and as a cheap snack better than searching further.

We had intended on visiting a water park today, as we left AK, with all of our gear in the boot if the car, the thought of our own ongoing swimming pool volleyball competition seemed to be of more interest for the boys.

A Couple of McFlurry Oreo’s later we got in the car and hit the Wawa for cash again! That seems to happen more quickly off site than on it!

Then,as we got to the Villa,

I headed out for a drive, to see a possible golf opportunity, very close to Posner Park – it was shut by the time I arrived but is noted for the future.

I also popped into Posner Park and found a shirt in JC Penney reduced from $50 to $15 and a quick visit to Target for beer essentials – I also found a great back road that once again meant I could get to this place without being on the I4.


A pool evening together with the most gorgeous chicken curry- expertly cooked by Alison as I had a shave and shower.

It was Publix chicken, but we found the sauce to add to it. It was delicious.


Amidst all of the Pool time , food cooking time, baseball on the Tv and everything else an early bed for the boys now stands at 10pm!

We made a couple of updates to upcoming days on fast passes and where we wanted to be and see and recognised that in our plan for tomorrow with the mid-point of this whole trip.


Where does the time go?

Day 14 is here
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Going out in a Blaze of Glory- Our Summer of Sorcery 2019 - COMPLETE! 4 Weeks, from The Yacht Club for 10 nights onto much more Florida fun too

All of our previous Trip reports and escapades can be read here.

Edited at 11:09 PM.
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Old 21 Mar 19, 08:12 AM  
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Palm trees
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I'm glad to see a new day uploaded, I'm really enjoying your trip report. I love Nemo too, reading your day ramped up my excitement and anticipation for our upcoming trip! Sadly as staying offsite we can't get a fastpass and we won't queue for hours so I just read the bits about FoP with mild (not so mild in all honesty ) envy!
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Old 21 Mar 19, 08:38 AM  
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Old 21 Mar 19, 11:01 AM  
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I’m back on track now

Can’t believe the people you encountered today glad to hear the CM’s were on the ball.

A good day otherwise

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Old 21 Mar 19, 02:47 PM  
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My last day here today. Loved Flight of Passage and did it twice with Fastpasses, also enjoyed the aNavi river ride. Pandora was a good reason for me to do this trip and it didn’t disappoint. I laughed at your description of groups trying to blag their way into the Park and rides and I saw quite a few of the Fastpass would be queue jumpers too. I noticed there are two places to scan your band/passes in each of the ride sections here, presumably to stop people dodging into the fastpass line part way along. There were a few trying that the other day at the point where you are allocated to levels and they were sent back to rejoin a standby line. I hope they had to go back to the start of a 2 hour line.
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Old 21 Mar 19, 07:13 PM  
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Ignoring all the rude people, another great day at AK followed by a great villa afternoon/evening.

Can’t wait for day 14 and the rest 😁

Sivako my friends
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Old 21 Mar 19, 11:17 PM  
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Glad you had a good day despite the rude people in AK. Glad they got sent to the standby line!

Mind you, listening to podcasts about the early days of Disneyland, things weren't all rosy then either. Drunk people, protestors, stripping hippies - they had all sorts!
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Old 22 Mar 19, 11:16 PM  
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Originally Posted by Palm trees View Post
I'm glad to see a new day uploaded, I'm really enjoying your trip report. I love Nemo too, reading your day ramped up my excitement and anticipation for our upcoming trip! Sadly as staying offsite we can't get a fastpass and we won't queue for hours so I just read the bits about FoP with mild (not so mild in all honesty ) envy!
21 days
Hope you have a fab trip.
Staying offsite FoP is do able - I assure you.
You need to be there early for a non Extra magic morning day and just allow yourself to calm amidst the 20 across queue in the holding zone.

You will find that wide elbows and a quick walk works best once it narrows - you will also find yourself down to the bridge area - do not be despondent, the queue area of Pandora is shortest on these mornings .
Must admit that Easter will be rammed so get as much done when you can - especially in the morning

FoP can be done without Fp - just get a good plan together

Have a great time , and I hope the next few days will be posted by the time you leave
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Going out in a Blaze of Glory- Our Summer of Sorcery 2019 - COMPLETE! 4 Weeks, from The Yacht Club for 10 nights onto much more Florida fun too

All of our previous Trip reports and escapades can be read here.
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Old 23 Mar 19, 03:23 PM  
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Old 23 Mar 19, 07:30 PM  
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I'm aghast at the idea there are people who think it's a good idea to turn up to a park they don't have tickets for in the hope of blagging their way in. I could not do that to my kids. Do you think they told them they didn't have tickets , "Right, today we're going to AK, we don't have tickets, but we're going to pretend we do, then when they tell us we can't get in you start crying and I'll shout at them and we'll be fine" I just can't believe they had no clue they didn't have tickets, of course they were on a blag. Ooh I'm all cross now!

The rest of the day was lovely and of course the stupid no ticket and no fast pass people didn't affect your enjoyment of a lovely day. Sounds like you had a fun afternoon too with all the volleyball action going on and a curry.

Plus I clicked on the link to all the previous trip reports, so lovely to see all the photos over the years. There are too many to choose a proper favourite but I did like the one of just the 4 of you on Tower of Terror.
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