A Very Disney New Year - Day 6: The Wilderness Must Be Explored!

[Stewboy]

Index

Monday 2nd January 2017

We were all up at about 8am this morning; today’s plan was to have a chilled out day at Animal Kingdom and sign up Isabella as a Wilderness Explorer.

After breakfast in the room we were out the door by about 9:45am. Once again we had underestimated the traffic and had to endure some long queues into the Animal Kingdom parking lot. Our expectation that the parks, and indeed the general Walt Disney World area, would quieten down after New Year’s Eve was completely wrong - if anything it was getting busier!


Let's go!

As we waited in the long line of cars, there came the realisation that breakfast had not been sufficient to keep us going, fortunately in car snacks were available.

Parking (eventually) a long way from the entrance, the plan was to tram our way to the entrance but faced with another queue decided to walk it instead. Noticing other guests taking a shortcut through the preferred (Peacock) parking lot we decided to follow; definitely a smart move as it was direct route straight to the entrance and we even arrived ahead of the tram: #GoTeamSear!


Arty queue shot


Follow them!

Once inside the park, despite the in-car snack and the fact it was only 10:45am, we were already thinking about lunch! It had been quite a trek to Animal Kingdom and we needed some major refueling! Rising to the challenge, intrepid explorer Jo quickly rustled us up a lunch reservation at Tusker House for 11:45am via the My Disney Experience app.

With only an hour till lunch we headed directly over to Expedition Everest for our first FastPass of the day, stopping en route to sign Isabella up for the Wilderness Explorers. Crossing into Asia we passed Baloo and King Louie on their way to work, fortunately they were from the animated Jungle Book rather than the new live action version - that King Louie is terrifying!


The wilderness must be explored!


She's a Wilderness Explorer


Looking for the bare necessities


The jungle V.I.P

Expedition Everest was busy today so we had a about a ten minute wait. This did give us the opportunity to witness another example of the RFID queue personalisation - Jo was proclaimed ‘River Guide of the Month’ on the Kali River Rafting Expeditions poster. Well done Jo!

Once it was our turn to ride, we got the front carriage. We were joined by a single rider who had the privilege of sitting next to me at the very front of the train - where the views over the park and beyond were amazing.


A busy expedition


Joanne - River Guide of the Month


Right at the front


Excited!


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As usual we all enjoyed it; as usual Isabella did a lot of screaming! We had a quick browse round the shop as we exited and Isabella treated herself to yet another pressed penny - an Expedition Everest design featuring Mickey Mouse and the Yeti himself!


Choosing her pressed penny


Pressed penny number 1,576!

It was now time for food, so off to Tusker House we went. After being seated quickly, we gave our server our drinks order and prepared to hit the buffet.The server was really friendly and attentive and told us to wait for a few minutes as Donald was on his way. Within 5 minutes Donald arrived. Isabella got a selfie with him and after a few other photos he left us and it was time to hit the buffet.










Tusker House






Meeting Donald

Jo got Isabella a plate of food which she managed to finish just before Daisy arrived. After an autograph, a photo and a cuddle, it was time for the main man himself… Goofy As usual, he didn’t disappoint and was lots of fun. I even got in on the act and got myself a handshake and a photo

Once Goofy was gone it was time to get down to business. Over the next half an hour multiple plates of food were fetched and consumed, it was good stuff. Stand out dish for me was the black eyed bean salad, Jo really enjoyed the prawn curry.








Daisy Duck






The Goof!

Now we were sated we were just waiting for the last character to show up: Mickey. We’d just missed him when we were first seated and were hoping he’d show up soon. The ‘friendly and attentive’ server had lost interest, having bought out our bill about 20 minutes into the meal!

He did pop by after about 45 minutes to tell us Mickey should be with us in 10 minutes. Whilst we had his attention we ordered a couple of coffees… which he decided to disregard.

Mickey eventually arrived - inexplicably we got to see Donald a second time - and as usual was gone again pretty quick. Despite the excellent food and the good character interactions (even taking into account Mickey’s flying visit), the extortionate cost of the experience plus the attitude of the server post-bill really but a downer on the meal. Coupled with the fact that despite the check-in person confirming Isabella was celebrating her birthday (we saw them stamp the slip) the server took no notice of it - if you recall our October/November trip I got multiple birthday cards and cakes and it was a month before my birthday! All in all a frustrating lunch experience.










Enjoying the buffet


Meeting Donald for a second time!

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Mickey finally turned up




Tusker House Christmas decorations

Leaving Tusker House, Isabella saw another opportunity to add to her pressed penny collection - this one was a hippo. It was now time our last FastPass of the day riding Kilimanjaro Safaris. There were a lot of animals out and about this afternoon and it was a nice drive out on the savannah. Isabella got to see cheetahs playing this time too - her favourite animals. She was really excited about that.




Another penny


Off on safari


Making a start on her Wilderness Explorers Handbook




I think he's forgotten!


Crash!

[Stewboy]

Do rhino you?

Saying “Kwaherini” to the safari it was time to do some Wilderness Exploring. We made a good start - as we exited the ride Isabella got two badges: the ‘Safari’ badge - for having been on safari, and the ‘African Culture’ badge - for meeting someone from Africa (Phil from Lesotho). As we passed the entrance to the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail (formerly known as the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail) she also got the ‘Ham Radio’ badge.

Heading through Harambe, we went in search of the stall with the drums - you know the one, everyone’s banged on those drums at least once right?! Following the instructions in the Wilderness Explorers Handbook, Isabella (with some help from Jo) played an African drum pattern, and then found the wooden African xylophone called a ‘balafon’ which turned out to be the secret code word needed for the ‘Music’ badge, which Isabella collected from the man at the African Hub stall.


Phil from Lesotho


Hammin' it up


Earning more badges


She bangs the drums




Earning the 'music' badge

Now it was time for the adults to do some exploring, we weren’t after badges though, we were after alcohol! As we were in Animal Kingdom the natural choice was to head to the Warung Outpost outside of Flights of Wonder and get a Triple Yeti Blast. Each. If you don’t know about the Triple Yeti Blast it’s made up of three layers - one of each of frozen margaritas that the cart offers:

• Kali River Mango Margarita - Sauza Gold Tequila, Lime Juice, and Mango Purée
• Bali Hai Strawberry Margarita - Sauza Gold Tequila, Lime Juice, and Strawberry Purée
• Maharaja Lime Margarita - Sauza Gold Tequila, Triple Sec, Agave Nectar, and Lime Juice

The triple yeti blast (x2)

It’s a lovely tasting drink, unfortunately one of the wasps that were hanging around the cart also thought so and proceeded to follow us. Now, I have an irrational fear/hatred of wasps (a result of being stung on the lip when I was about 7 years old - although I realise I’m not the only person this has ever happened to!) and didn’t take kindly to this pointless, vindictive winged irritant spoiling the enjoyment of my drink! Drastic measures had to be taken i.e. run away. At one point I even left Isabella in her stroller - still rolling - in order to get away from it. Definitely no dad of the year award for me

Once the yellow and black thug had tired of its pursuit we finished our drinks and headed to Discovery Island where Isabella got her ‘Insect’ badge (fortunately no wasps involved in this one!) from a really friendly and knowledgeable CM who chatted with Isabella for a while about butterflies and got her to choose her favourite - we even spotted the big moth (a polyphemus moth) from our October/November trip https://DIBB.in/12174370




Learning about insects

It was getting close to leaving time but we had a few more badges to get before we did so. Heading back into Asia, first up was the ‘Currency’ badge which Isabella got by making note of the exchange rates displayed on the currency chart next to Mandala Gifts. Then we stopped at the Wilderness Explorer Troop Leader Post (at the entrance to Asia from Discovery Island) where she got her ‘Forestry’ and ‘Animal Call’ badges - she was on a roll now and having a lot of fun.

Then we headed back over to Everest to pick up the badges we didn’t get time to get earlier: ‘Telescope’, ‘Mount Everest’ and ‘Yeti’. Unfortunately two out of the three (‘Telescope’ and ‘Mount Everest’) involved interacting with two really uninterested CMs, which was disappointing. Unsurprisingly one of them was English.








More badges



Fortunately they were the exceptions and all the others were really good. Isabella picked up her final badges of the day on the way out at the Wilderness Explorers Headquarters: the ‘Wilderness Explorer Call’ badge and the ‘Animal Find’ badge. We look forward to continuing our exploring on our next Disney trip!









After a fun filled afternoon we left Animal Kingdom and headed over to Mall at Millenia for some late afternoon shopping.

We made the 25 minute drive, resisting the temptation to turn left to the Holy Land Experience, arriving at about 4:00pm in our usual parking lot outside Bloomingdale’s.


Decisions decisions!

First stop was Starbucks - we were desperate for a coffee and Isabella was in the mood for a snack so we got her a cake pop to keep her going. A few doors away from the Starbucks was Bath & Body Works, so I looked after Jo’s coffee while she went in for a browse, returning about 15 minutes later with a variety of handwashes, hand sanitizers and even a Christmas candle - all bought in the sale!

Other shops we visited were Gap, Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch, buying a selection of clothing items - as you might expect!








Shopping is thirsty work






Granny Magnet


Staying out of the way with the bags!

By 6:30pm shopping was done and it was time to head back to the hotel and then across the road to Miller’s Ale House for dinner. We had a quick drink in the room while we got ready and then made the short walk across the road to Miller’s Ale House. Despite it being a Monday night it was pretty busy and we ended up sitting in the ‘outside’ bar.




Ready for a drink

[Stewboy]

We ordered some drinks, Jo had a margarita and I had a Flat Tire Amber Ale. For food, Jo and I both ordered the full rack of baby back ribs to eat as it was the day’s special and Isabella had a hot dog, followed by ice cream.

Another round of drinks followed, and the food arrived. We thought it was ok but nothing out of the ordinary. The bar was also really busy and we didn’t particularly like the surroundings. All in all not a great dining experience - it won’t be repeated.




The Many Margaritas of Jo






full rack of baby back ribs


Hot dog


Ice cream

We left at about 8:45pm and headed back to the hotel. We were all tired, despite our more chilled out day, and after baths and showers went straight to bed.

Tomorrow: Last full day

[Pumba75]

Another great report - thanks for sharing.

Agree with you on the Out of Pocket price at the Disney restaurants. We booked 3 originally at Xmas, went to Chef Mickey's on our first morning and then cancelled the other 2. Nothing wrong with Chef Mickey's, but couldn't justify the cost of the others.

Shame you didn't enjoy Millers, has become one of our favourites over the past couple of trips - although we've only been to the one on the 192. They can be noisy though.

Thanks again. Looking forward to the final instalment.

[nanasamboy]

Love Isabella's selfies

TFS

[Milner]

Another lovely day.

[EJSakaAnna]

The Triple Yeti Blast sounds delicious, I could go one right now!
Great day exploring AK

[dixonsontour]

Great Wilderness explorer day

[collybird]

I didn't realise Peacock was preferred parking now! That would explain why we always had to trek last year even when we were arriving early at AK. Sneaky!

You don't appreciate free dining fully until you pay out of pocket, it is eye-watering!

Can't believe how blase Isabella is on Everest! Looks like she's sitting on a bus. Her selfies are adorable, seriously one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

[Redrach1903]

Another great read Stu!

Totally chuckling at you abandoning Isabella to get away from the wasp! Hahaha!

Looked like the Wilderness was well and truly explored

Thanks for sharing! X