The Trip That Almost Wasn't - September 2017 - Day 4: A Galaxy Far Far Away

[DisneyDreamer81]

INDEX

Day 4 - 16th September 2017 - A Galaxy Far Far Away

Saturday began at the very respectable time of 7.40am for me, as I’d finally managed to get a decent night’s sleep – incredible! We blearily roused ourselves, had the usual breakfast of very healthy snacks (!) and then got ready for the day ahead. We didn't manage to leave the room until well after 9am (we are not morning people) and I’m really not sure how. Before we left I managed to snap a photo of the alcohol fridge. You’re welcome

Animal Kingdom was on the agenda for this morning and there had been EMH, although clearly we didn’t make it there in time We headed down to the bus stop and there were no buses at all showing on the screens as being on the way. Fantastic. We waited it out for a few minutes and finally an AK bus showed... as being 25 minutes away. So we opted to get the first of many Ubers, as we just couldn’t be bothered to wait. Franck was our driver and he was with us in about 2 minutes flat! He was a man of few words but he got us to AK quickly and safely, so I don’t think there’s much more we could have asked from him! It cost us $8.58 from YC to AK and I tipped him a couple of dollars on top.

We arrived at AK at just after 9.30 and were quickly through into the park. It was a perfect Florida morning – blue skies, the sun was shining and it was gloriously warm. Sigh. Take me back!

Our first FP window was already open so we headed straight to Kilimanjaro Safaris and walked pretty much straight on. As it was still early on, there were lots of animals out and about and even the lions made an appearance. We came off the safari and headed round to the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail. I've got a soft spot for the naked mole rats so we had to pay those little fellas a visit before we saw the majestic yet utterly terrifying gorillas. Those are some powerful lads.

Once we’d had our fill of animals, we headed off to our second FP – which was another ride on the Na’vi River Journey. Meh, we still weren’t wowed, but it was still a very pretty ride. Definitely worth a FP, not so much a big long queue. We then had a wander around Pandora again and I took approximately 4000 photos. It really is such a stunning area and the themeing is just amazing. I'm gutted we never made it back to that part of the park at night as I'd love to see the bioluminescence. Ah well, one for next time!

It was coming up to 11.30am now and we were both feeling a little bit peckish. As we were in Pandora, and as I am a SUCKER for some Instagram-able food, we decided to grab a meal to share from Satu'li Canteen. This was mainly for the novelty factor rather than expecting the food to be amazing but it was actually really good! And filling - one lot of the Cheeseburger Pods and a Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousse was a perfect early lunch for the two of us. We also had the Pandoran Sunrise as our dining plan drink, which was fruity and refreshing. Overall, two very enthusiastic thumbs up from us for Satu'li Canteen and I'd love to go back and try one of the bowls that they do some time.

It was then time for our final FP, which was DINOSAUR! We had a little bit of a queue but we were soon aboard our Time Rover and off to try and rescue the Iguanadon. I’m not sure if they’ve done something to this ride but I loved it a lot more than I did on our last trip. It was just really fun and definitely made me jump a couple of times. We had a look in the shop on our way out and Ainge picked himself up a Boba Fett MagicBand. Very on brand for Animal Kingdom! I don’t think I actually bought anything in that particular shop, which proves that miracles do sometimes happen.

Don’t worry too much though as I more than made up for it at the Discovery Trading Company on our way out of the park. We chose a towel each for using at the waterparks (two for $39.99), I bought the “I live in Fantasyland” t-shirt that I’d had my eye on and I also managed to pick up one of the “spend $40 and get it for $19.95” Mickey rucksacks, that I’d said I’d keep an eye out for, for the lovely sheluk. At the till, we were asked if we wanted to make a donation to the Disney Conservation Fund, which we did, and we were given a 20th anniversary button as a thankyou.

Having spent a fair whack of money in a short space of time, it was definitely time to head back to the hotel and recover. We left the park at about 1.30pm and managed to get on a bus without any dramas (rare tbh, when you're staying at YC! ). Ainge actually wasn't feeling great when we got back to the hotel so while he had a lie down I went and filled up our mugs at The Market and had a browse in the shop. I bought the Yacht Club pin and a deck of cards, as we love a game of cards on holiday. Yes, we are essentially OAPs When I got back to the room he was asleep so I had a shower and washed my hair. I then had a little catch up on Instagram, etc, while eating goldfish crackers and sinking into the amazing bed. I swear the beds at Yacht Club actually suck you into them, which makes it extremely difficult to get up!

After a couple of hours napping and relaxing Ainge was feeling better. We were both a bit peckish as we'd only had that shared meal in AK earlier and a few snacks so we had a wander over to the Boardwalk to see what we could find. It's such a nice walk over to the Boardwalk from YC, even when it is roasting hot and about a million percent humidity.

After a little stroll up and down we decided to get a large pizza (go big or go home) from the Pizza Window. We ordered half cheese and half signature (which at the time was Italian sausage, onions, peppers and balsamic glaze) plus two bags of Lays as our sides and two bottles of water. We paid using two QS credits and then perched at a little table while we waited for the buzzer to go off. We really didn’t spend enough time at the Boardwalk on this trip and I’m pretty sad about it. It’s just such a lovely place to sit and watch the world go by. After a few minutes, the buzzer went off and Ainge went up to the window to collect our mammoth pizza. It was far too hot to eat outside and so we opted to head back to YC and eat it in the room. The pizza was actually really good, although huge and there was no way we could finish it all in one go. We washed it down with a couple of Angry Orchards. Before we sank into a food coma, we got ourselves ready and then headed off to Hollywood Studios. I managed to dress myself as an overgrown toddler once again, which has apparently become my signature look.

I’m fairly sure we walked to Hollywood Studios, but it would have been helpful if I’d made decent notes. We grabbed a few Photopass pictures on the way down towards the Chinese Theater and I then got very excited when I spotted the "coming soon" poster advertising the new Mickey and Minnie attraction.

It was about 6pm by now and I'd managed to grab a FP for Toy Story Mania, which we'd never actually been on before! I was, predictably, utterly rubbish but we both loved it. SO much fun. We then wandered down Sunset Boulevard with Rock n Roller Coaster as our destination (being able to book extra FPs on the app is amazing - particularly when the parks are fairly quiet!) I absolutely love this ride, although my face in the ride photo seems to suggest otherwise.

Heads sufficiently rattled, it was then time to go and get checked in at the Launch Bay for our Star Wars Dessert Party. I really wasn't sure what to expect and had read a few mixed reviews but we loved it! I booked it as a surprise for Ainge as we're both massive Star Wars fans. Although, predictably, I told him about it approximately an hour after booking it because I got too excited and I am a rubbish secret keeper.

We were one of the first people into the room and managed to grab ourselves a table to stand at (or lean at, once I'd had a few cocktails). It was a bit chaotic at the various buffet stations to begin with but it soon quietened down and we went to work, despite the pizza we'd eaten a couple of hours previously. The Coateses do NOT mess about when it comes to buffets. I totally failed to get pictures of the buffet but there was loads of food. Brownies, bread pudding, fruit, olives, cheese, flatbreads with dips, cupcakes, little mini pistachio and cherry cakes, rice crispy treats and... freeze dried Nutella! There were also 4 cocktails on offer, which were mixed for you by a bartender, and they were STRONG. There were soft drinks too but they weren't on our agenda

Bonus image of a couple of Stormtroopers scoping out the sweet treats ...

I am not ashamed to tell you all that we definitely got our monies worth in cocktails alone and I was feeling extremely merry by the time we were given a ten minute warning and told to grab a drink for the road. I actually declined another drink (who even am I?) but my lovely husband definitely took advantage of the offer.

On our way out of the dessert party we were all given a (ridiculously, hilariously big) TIE Fighter souvenir popcorn bucket each (which we've actually used since we've been home - to watch The Force Awakens, no less) and were then marched by a couple of Stormtroopers to a reserved viewing area for the Galactic Spectacular. I was extremely giggly by this point and basically loving life. We had such a fantastic view of the projections and fireworks and we absolutely loved the show. I've read lots of reports which say it's not as good as the previous Star Wars fireworks but, as we didn't see them, I have no frame of reference

Although the dessert party cost $69 each, I actually think it was well worth it. Although, maybe not so much if you're not going to drink the cocktails We're never going to be the kind of people who stake out a spot hours before firework shows, etc, (actually, I probably would but Ainge would be bored and unbearable in minutes) so I'd definitely consider booking another dessert party at one of the other parks in future, particularly MK.

We headed out of the park along with the rest of the hordes and managed to power walk to the boat dock, meaning we were right at the front of the queue for the second Friendship boat, which arrived within a couple of minutes of the first one leaving. A short boat ride later we were back at Yacht Club and heading to bed, two very tired, tipsy little people. I was asleep by 11.10pm and Ainge had passed out long before that. Such a good day!

Steps – 21,131
Miles – 8.9
Active Minutes - 90

[Goldia]

I'm loving the look of your fridge, multi layers too as you couldn't fit it all in. I imagine the fruit is hiding at the back .

Fun times at AK and a good bit of shopping, you deserved a rest after that.

We haven't spent enough time at the Boardwalk either and I think we will have to try and rectify that. We have had the pizza from the pizza window though and like you thought it was delicious.

I love your dress and the RnR photo is awesome. Brilliant faces .

You did well to hold off on your surprise for so long. The dessert party sounds awesome, I'm finding it hard to believe that you turned down a cocktail though! They must have been strong. I'm glad you had such a fab time. It sounds like a lovely day.

[DisneyDreamer81]

Originally Posted by Goldia

I'm loving the look of your fridge, multi layers too as you couldn't fit it all in. I imagine the fruit is hiding at the back .

Fun times at AK and a good bit of shopping, you deserved a rest after that.

We haven't spent enough time at the Boardwalk either and I think we will have to try and rectify that. We have had the pizza from the pizza window though and like you thought it was delicious.

I love your dress and the RnR photo is awesome. Brilliant faces .

You did well to hold off on your surprise for so long. The dessert party sounds awesome, I'm finding it hard to believe that you turned down a cocktail though! They must have been strong. I'm glad you had such a fab time. It sounds like a lovely day.

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Oh yes, plenty of fruit hiding at the back of the fridge. In strawberry margarita form

The cocktails at the dessert party were ridiculously strong, and I'm a lover of strong cocktails! I think I must definitely have been feeling rather tipsy to have turned one down!

One of my favourite days of our whole trip (although I may well say that about all of them), it was just perfect.

Thanks for reading!

[collybird]

Haha I laughed at you letting Ainge in on his surprise an hour after booking, I’m hopeless like that too. I’ve managed it once (we were staying at the Disneyland Hotel at DLP instead of Santa Fe) but I was utterly convinced he knew all along .

[pinktraceb]

Such a great day! Thanks for sharing. I really want to do a Dessert Party but my kids would now pay 'adult' price and it just doesn't seem like good value if you don't have the cocktails!

[yellowrose78]

Great day, loving all the cocktails, I wouldn't have kept the surprise either. Lovely photos

[DisneyDreamer81]

Originally Posted by collybird

Haha I laughed at you letting Ainge in on his surprise an hour after booking, I’m hopeless like that too. I’ve managed it once (we were staying at the Disneyland Hotel at DLP instead of Santa Fe) but I was utterly convinced he knew all along .

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I'm absolutely useless! I just get too excited and can't not tell him! The only time I've ever managed it is when I booked a trip to NYC for his 30th. I kept it a secret for 8 MONTHS!

Originally Posted by pinktraceb

Such a great day! Thanks for sharing. I really want to do a Dessert Party but my kids would now pay 'adult' price and it just doesn't seem like good value if you don't have the cocktails!

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Thanks for reading!

To be honest, I've been looking at the MK Plaza Gardens one for Happily Ever After and I'd still be tempted to book it, despite the fact there are no cocktails and it's the same price as the Star Wars one! I think for us a prime viewing location with no need to stake out a spot hours before is worth it.

Originally Posted by yellowrose78

Great day, loving all the cocktails, I wouldn't have kept the surprise either. Lovely photos

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Haha, glad I'm not the only one who can't keep surprises a secret! Thanks for reading

[LostPrincess]

Another fab day. Your dress is very Minnie mouse, I love it! Being able to book more fastpasses is brilliant, it looks like you really made the most of it. And you definitely made the most of the dessert party! It all looks delicious too.

Thanks for sharing and I look forward to more

[lumosq102]

As a someone who looks like they got dressed via the toy box I say go forth with your fabulous toddler dress self - your dresses are lovely

Looks like you had a super day. You make a fine argument for the dessert party there too... we keep thinking about it, then deferring... but that view and those cocktails? Plus cheese? Might push me over the edge...

[DisneyDreamer81]

Originally Posted by LostPrincess

Another fab day. Your dress is very Minnie mouse, I love it! Being able to book more fastpasses is brilliant, it looks like you really made the most of it. And you definitely made the most of the dessert party! It all looks delicious too.

Thanks for sharing and I look forward to more

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Thankyou! Minnie Mouse is the ultimate compliment in my book Thanks for reading!

Originally Posted by lumosq102

As a someone who looks like they got dressed via the toy box I say go forth with your fabulous toddler dress self - your dresses are lovely

Looks like you had a super day. You make a fine argument for the dessert party there too... we keep thinking about it, then deferring... but that view and those cocktails? Plus cheese? Might push me over the edge...

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Hurrah, glad I'm not alone in rocking a toddler style!

It was honestly brilliant - definitely one of the best things we did!