The 50th, 50th & 50th Disney trip - April/May 2022, Day 10 - Animal Kingdom

[sha9]

The dining report for today is here.


Today is Animal Kingdom again continuing the traditional "it used to be EMH day" theme. We often do AK on a Saturday as I find it the least busy park to do at the weekend. I set the alarm to book LL and booked FoP for 10.10 as Dad was watching football again. I tried to get the safari for late morning but it was challenging. It does bode well if you wanton early slot though. I eventually managed to get it for 10.35am.
Marie and I had the usual coffee and muffin. I noticed while having breakfast that more park availability had opened up. At the start of the trip we had seen minimal availability with mainly AK being available. MK and DHS in particular were booked most days. We switched the Sunday back to MK as I hadn't realised it would have been 2 days in a row when I changed it to AK.
Mum still wasn’t feeling great and Dad wanted to stay with her so Marie and I headed in to AK and cancelled them off the safari LL (lesson learned from Soarin') so they could ride it later if they decided to come. We had planned to head straight to FoP but it was down so we were given an anytime slot. This worked in our favour as it meant when Dad arrived later we were still all able to ride it and we hadn't wasted money.
It turned out the LL slot for the safari was later than I thought so we went for a cinnamon bun while we waited.
They were changing to lunch just as we ordered but we were fine. We sat across at Tamu Tamu again.

We rode the safari next. I didn't take any photos this time and just enjoyed the ride.

After the safari got a text from Dad to say they were waiting on the bus. We went on It's Tough to be a Bug while we waited. I do think they should do a better job of warning parents about this show. There was a child behind us clearly in distress and begging his Mum to "help him". .
Mum and Dad ended up being ages as there was an issue with the bus and it ended up also going to POR. By the time they arrived it was lunchtime and we were at the entrance anyway so went to Rainforest Cafe. If we hadn't all been so hungry this wouldn't have been our first choice. Mum and Marie had the chicken quesadilla starter and dad and I the burger. This was another disappointment as the burger was dry. Marie and Mum enjoyed the quesadilla though.

Mum and Dad rode the safari while we went looking for an ATM which turns out to be in Dinoland. We ended up paying cash for quite a few meals since they have to take your credit card away and really most restaurants had to do the same with my phone to use the dining credit. We kept the dining credit for QS/mobile order mainly.
After that we rode FoP and left the park. We hadn't paid for preferred parking as it was originally just Marie and I so we were hot and tired by the time we got to the car.
We rested in the room for a wee while and got ready for dinner.

Dinner was another resort restaurant for a Saturday night, Olivia's at OKW. We all have fond memories of OKW and Olivia's has always been a good choice.
Unfortunately we were sat in the side room next to a family group of about 20 people. They weren't being rude but just by the sheer volume of them they were loud. It wasn't the best experience we've had there. Usually it's really quiet and one of the reasons we chose it. Again I wish we'd asked to move but it would have seemed rude. Had we been in the main restaurant I think it would have been less noisy but we felt like we were imposing on a private party.
Anyway, on to the food. Sadly they'e changed their bread and no more pineapple bread. This was just ok.

I got a pomegranate lemonade to drink and I think everyone else got fountain sodas.

I fancied something different so choose the fish of the day which was mahi mahi with parmesan grits, crispy Brussels sprouts and a mango sauce.

This was nice. My first taste of grits and they weren't quite what I expected but I thought they were nice enough. I did get tired of them quickly though.

Everyone else got the buttermilk fried chicken and really enjoyed it.

Mum and Dad got a caramel apple tart to take away but Marie and I had pie to be having.

The food at Olivia's was nice but the experience not as relaxing as we've had before. I don't think it's put me off dining here again though.
As we left we saw Victoria from Disney in Detail just arriving. She was probably luckier than us as the large party were settling the bill at that point . We watched her vlog of that day the other day there and you don't see us but you see where we sat .

[Goldia]

I watch those vlogs too! The meal at Olivias looked good, a shame about the large group meaning it wasn't as relaxing and peaceful as you'd hoped. Also, good to know that park availabilty opens up a little bit nearer the time, so if we want to make changes we might be lucky. I guess it's like ADRs and people change their plans during their trips so it's worthwhile to check back.

[sha9]

Originally Posted by Goldia

I watch those vlogs too! The meal at Olivias looked good, a shame about the large group meaning it wasn't as relaxing and peaceful as you'd hoped. Also, good to know that park availabilty opens up a little bit nearer the time, so if we want to make changes we might be lucky. I guess it's like ADRs and people change their plans during their trips so it's worthwhile to check back.

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When she arrives there’s an empty table of 4 in shot - that was us .

I think Disney sometimes open up availability at parks too.

[Cinderella]

The pomegranate lemonade looks lush!

[sha9]

Originally Posted by Cinderella

The pomegranate lemonade looks lush!

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It was lovely but I miss the old Minute Maid light pomegranate lemonade you used to get at Disney.