Finally! A Four Week Adventure: Week 3

[mick]

Shame your son was not feeling great hope he is son back to normal

But you did get lots done

Joan

[Rac20]

Day 15: Morning in the Villa and Animal Kingdom

We spent the morning playing in the pool and playing pool so had a bit of a lazy morning really. DS16 still not feeling 100% so he decided he wouldn’t join us for our visit to Animal Kingdom.

We headed out at about 2:30 and the weather seemed several degrees cooler today and a little overcast which made it the perfect weather for walking round.

I was eager to ride Everest as it’s one of my favourite rides and it didn’t disappoint though it did seem to start off slower than I remember.

A kiss for DS13 - he looks thrilled! 😅

One of the things I love about Everest is the wait times. It was posted at 25 minutes but it was pretty much a walk on.

We then headed to Dinosaur as we weren’t able to ride this in 2016 as it was closed for refurbishment. Seemed to be having a major issue yesterday though - maybe it needs another one! We had just passed the buckle test when the ride went tech. We had a fifteen minute wait strapped in our seats whilst the engineers came and fixed it, only for it to break down again whilst we were on the ride. This time, they shut the ride completely and we had to be rescued, removed from the ride via a ladder and led through the ride on foot. It was all quite exciting! We were quite near the end of the ride much to DS13 disappointment - he wanted to see more of what it looked like in the light. I think the ladder was overkill - I’ve jumped off higher pavements. 😅 The delay did mean I missed the Lion King show which I’d been looking forward to. Hopefully, will catch it on my next visit.

We were given a free fast pass - oops lightning lane and we’re on our way. It’s tough to be a bug was just 10 minutes so we went in there. I was called after by a cast member as we entered the queue, “Excuse me madam, please be careful - your lace is untied.” Cue me looking down and realising I’m wearing flip flops. See - there are still funny and jokey cast members about. 🥰

Tough to be a bug is an oldie but a goody. DS13 couldn’t remember any of it from his last visit so got a shock from bugs under his seat etc.

We then decided to head to Pandora and Flight of Passage.

This was being built in 2016 so I was intrigued to see what it was like. I know it’s a very popular ride and judging by the queue time of 75 minutes - it still gets a lot of visitors. It was really good! I don’t know what I was expecting but it surpassed my expectations. Loved it. By the time we got off, there was only 25 minutes before park closing and so we used our free lightning lane on Navi River Journey. I wouldn’t ride this again. Earlier in the day, this had a wait time of 80 minutes. 80! Why?!? It was pretty but a place I’d go for a rest and a cool down.

I can’t believe how quick our time went. This is why I prefer getting there earlier but never mind. We didn’t see any animals apart from some parrots when we entered the park and some tortoises. We also didn’t make it to Africa at all.

We will definitely need to go back.

I have had a craving for fruit today so - not having eaten any in over two weeks- I think my body is trying to tell me something. So we stopped off at Walmart for fresh supplies. Wine counts as fruit right?

Also picked up the largest avocado I’ve ever seen! I honestly thought it was a mango.

Tomorrow, DH and DS16 are playing golf at the golf club. Should be interesting as neither of them have played golf properly before. 😬 DS16 is most excited about driving the golf cart. Let’s hope they come back in one piece!

[GroovyYvee]

Great report, thank you for writing it up every day 😀

[Rac20]

Golf

DH and DS16 were up at 6 this morning 🥱 in order to be on the golf course for seven. They got a bit of a shock when they got there as they were told that they had to go round with another pair. Fortunately for them, the other pair realising that DH and DS16 were not that great soon ditched them and they were left in peace to try and complete the course. I was in shock at how much it cost. $170😱

DS13 and I had a more leisurely start to the day.
Pancakes and fruit for breakfast.

And more pool time for us. This is the most pool time I’ve had on an Orlando holiday I think. I am enjoying the more relaxed pace of things but also feel like I’m missing out at the same time.

Five hours later, the boys returned feeling quite proud of themselves. They hadn’t crashed the golf cart and they’d managed to complete the course.

Advocado and houmous bagel for lunch with a glass of wine.

We spent the day playing games in the pool and I even sneaked in an afternoon snoozy (probably helped by the wine).

This evening we ventured out. We tried Cheesecake Factory but there was an hours wait and no one was up for that so we headed to Olive Garden. I do like the one on I. Drive.
Soup and salad to start but no breadsticks! Not even a mention of breadsticks.

Pondering the breadstick situation, I had to ask the server whether we should have had breadsticks with our soup/salad and she said yes but they didn’t have any then. A quick peruse of other tables told me that everyone else got their breadsticks. She said she could bring me some but I’d eaten my main and didn’t want them by this point. I think she just forgot. 😅 DS13 was mortified that I’d even asked. 😅😅

We are now having an early ish night ready for Hollywood Studios tomorrow. I’m so excited! Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land are both new additions since our last visit!

[ClaireNJ]

Originally Posted by Rac20

Day 15: Morning in the Villa and Animal Kingdom

We spent the morning playing in the pool and playing pool so had a bit of a lazy morning really. DS16 still not feeling 100% so he decided he wouldn’t join us for our visit to Animal Kingdom.

We headed out at about 2:30 and the weather seemed several degrees cooler today and a little overcast which made it the perfect weather for walking round.

I was eager to ride Everest as it’s one of my favourite rides and it didn’t disappoint though it did seem to start off slower than I remember.

A kiss for DS13 - he looks thrilled! 😅

One of the things I love about Everest is the wait times. It was posted at 25 minutes but it was pretty much a walk on.

We then headed to Dinosaur as we weren’t able to ride this in 2016 as it was closed for refurbishment. Seemed to be having a major issue yesterday though - maybe it needs another one! We had just passed the buckle test when the ride went tech. We had a fifteen minute wait strapped in our seats whilst the engineers came and fixed it, only for it to break down again whilst we were on the ride. This time, they shut the ride completely and we had to be rescued, removed from the ride via a ladder and led through the ride on foot. It was all quite exciting! We were quite near the end of the ride much to DS13 disappointment - he wanted to see more of what it looked like in the light. I think the ladder was overkill - I’ve jumped off higher pavements. 😅 The delay did mean I missed the Lion King show which I’d been looking forward to. Hopefully, will catch it on my next visit.

We were given a free fast pass - oops lightning lane and we’re on our way. It’s tough to be a bug was just 10 minutes so we went in there. I was called after by a cast member as we entered the queue, “Excuse me madam, please be careful - your lace is untied.” Cue me looking down and realising I’m wearing flip flops. See - there are still funny and jokey cast members about. 🥰

Tough to be a bug is an oldie but a goody. DS13 couldn’t remember any of it from his last visit so got a shock from bugs under his seat etc.

We then decided to head to Pandora and Flight of Passage.

This was being built in 2016 so I was intrigued to see what it was like. I know it’s a very popular ride and judging by the queue time of 75 minutes - it still gets a lot of visitors. It was really good! I don’t know what I was expecting but it surpassed my expectations. Loved it. By the time we got off, there was only 25 minutes before park closing and so we used our free lightning lane on Navi River Journey. I wouldn’t ride this again. Earlier in the day, this had a wait time of 80 minutes. 80! Why?!? It was pretty but a place I’d go for a rest and a cool down.

I can’t believe how quick our time went. This is why I prefer getting there earlier but never mind. We didn’t see any animals apart from some parrots when we entered the park and some tortoises. We also didn’t make it to Africa at all.

We will definitely need to go back.

I have had a craving for fruit today so - not having eaten any in over two weeks- I think my body is trying to tell me something. So we stopped off at Walmart for fresh supplies. Wine counts as fruit right?

Also picked up the largest avocado I’ve ever seen! I honestly thought it was a mango.

Tomorrow, DH and DS16 are playing golf at the golf club. Should be interesting as neither of them have played golf properly before. 😬 DS16 is most excited about driving the golf cart. Let’s hope they come back in one piece!

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Awww, brilliant pic with your son in AK brought a smile to my face this morning 🥰🥰🥰
Shame about the breadsticks in OG 😩😩they are lovely 😋😋
Enjoy your day in HS xx

[levtweeney]

What a fab trip report. Thank you for taking the time to write it. You have a lovely family. We to love our down time in the villa, we actually had our best times messing around in the pool with the kids BUT I totally get what you mean about fear of missing out

It’s like a real physical feeling of what am I missing out on while I’m relaxing here in the pool. But looking back now we really appreciate those times the most 💕

[Rac20]

Day 17: Hollywood Studios

Today was the day I was most looking forward to!

I was Star Wars ready.
T- Shirt:

And princess inspired hair:

I was awake at 6:45 in time to purchase Genie + for the four of us. This cost $60.

At 7am, I booked my first lightning lane. This was for slinky dog as this ride along with Toy Story Land and Galaxy’s Edge were not in existence in 2016. It was one of my must dos. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a time until 12:20pm. Sigh…

Never mind, we still headed for the park for opening and hot footed it to Rise of Resistance. A posted wait time of 125 minutes greeted us. Eek! Undeterred, we carried on and in the end it was only 45 minutes! Plus, we were constantly moving throughout. I really suggest you ride this early in the day. It seemed to break down a lot!

After, we headed to Rock n Rollercoaster and as we arrived, we noticed it was down. Slinky Dog was also down and our booked lightning lane had disappeared from MDE. 🤷🏼

Feeling uncharacteristically brave, I decided I would ride Tower of Terror. I did ride it in 2016 but only because DS16 (who was 10) was desperate to ride it and DH refused. I hate it. I hate drops. 🤢🤮
It was no better this time.
Look at my face! Does that look like the face of a person having fun?!?

Good news was though that Rock n Rollercoaster was now working and there was a 25 minute wait. Yay! When we came in 2016, DS13 was only little. He made it as far as the seat but then started crying and we had to get the attention of a cast member. Luckily, they saw before the ride set off. This time, he was absolutely fine and loved it. Though im not sure you can tell by the look on his face.😅 And… is that a small smile I see on DS16’s face?

By now we had ridden three rides and none of them were genie plus.
It was soon time for Slinky dog. Yay!

We got all the way to the front and they closed it due to inclement weather. 😩 They did say we could return at any time. It didn’t rain but there were dark clouds overhead.
We took the opportunity to have lunch as there was a 30 minute wait between then our next lightning lane which was Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
We ordered two brisket sandwiches, one grilled cheese and one tater tots with chilli and nachos plus a coke and a water and it came to approx $56

On our last trip we had ADRs for every theme park. However, before we came away I had a look at the menus and four adult prices seemed really dear plus the kids didn’t seem interested so we’ve just stuck to quick service this time.
After lunch we headed to the runaway railway ride. Another ride that wasn’t in existence on our last trip. It was a really fun ride. The wait times are always long it would seem so I’m glad we booked a lightning lane.

We then headed to Star Tours which posted a 25 minute wait but was actually more like 10-15 minutes. Most ride times posted were over what they actually were I found today.

DS16 - still not feeling 100%- was beginning to struggle at this point and so I suggested that we head to the Indiana Jones stunt show. This is a show I have seen several times before and on our last visit, declared is never watch it again as I’d seen it. However, I thought it would give DS16 opportunity to rest and recharge his batteries. There were two things wrong with this plan. 1) It was a full auditorium. I’ve never seen it so full and so we had to sit on the wall right at the very back and 2) It lasted less than 10 minutes. What on Earth have they done? No audience participation. No other actors. It was literally Indy dodging pointy sticks, lighting a stick and running away from the rolling stone. End of scene. It must have taken 4 times as long to fill the seats. What a disappointment. I mean, I wasn’t that bothered because I’ve seen it and vowed I never wanted to see it again but for those seeing it for the first time, it’s not a patch on the original.

Still needing to rest, i took the troops to Starbucks where I spent $30 on iced and regular coffees and two carrot cake cookies.

We had two lightning lane selections left. Toy Story Midway Mania and Smuggler’s Run. With still 20 minutes to wait, I made us all queue up again for a photo with a Woody statue. We’d queued up earlier and when we joined the queue, there was a cast member there taking the photos, five minutes later - she’d left! We got to the front and was like, “Where did she go?” 🤷🏼
So we were hoping that this would not be a repeat. Luckily, no disappearing cast member this time.

Speaking of photopass, we also queued to meet Chewie and BB8. There was no cast member for either taking photos. You need your own “device” as they called it so be prepared. They don’t tell you this until you actually meet the character. Chewie was great. He made fun of DS16 “beard”. 😂 And he liked my ears!

(I think I spy another smile)

So we finished our day at Hollywood Studios by riding Toy Story Midway Mania (where I lost by loads) and Smugglers Run. I was the gunner. I spent so much time pressing that blue button that I missed the ride! Both the boys enjoyed being pilots though!

I forgot to mention - we did see a mini kind of parade. Mr Incredible went up to DS16 and felt his muscles and shook his hand which again evoked a smile from DS16.

By 6:30pm, we were all pretty exhausted and there were no lightning lanes left - apart from the alien spinning saucers ride so we headed out.

We finished the evening by playing in the pool and relaxing in the jacuzzi.

All in all, we had a good day.
Just a couple of points to note. If you’re desperate to ride Rise of Resistance, I’d get there early and head over straight away. Don’t be put off by a long posted wait time - it might not be accurate.

Don’t rely on there being photopass photographers for the Star Wars meet and greets. I asked a cast member if it was the norm that there wasn’t one and he said he hadn’t seen a photopass person there at all. (This wasn’t the case in 2016)

Tomorrow, DS13 wants to go to Aquatica. 👍🏻

[Buggles94]

Looks like a fantastic day 😀 enjoy Aquatica tomorrow. Sounds like a perfect balance of downtime and park time given the summer heat and teenagers. I loved my lazy time round the pool in the villa whilst DS and DD enjoyed the a/c in the games room!

[ClaireNJ]

Great day what a lot of rides you did and short waits times as well 🤩 my face looks just like yours on TOT too 😱
That carrot cake cookie looks so yummy 🙊😋😋
Lovely family photos 🥰
X

[Rac20]

Originally Posted by ClaireNJ

Great day what a lot of rides you did and short waits times as well 🤩 my face looks just like yours on TOT too 😱
That carrot cake cookie looks so yummy 🙊😋😋
Lovely family photos 🥰
X

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Really short wait times. The park did seem pretty quiet. 👍🏻