He did a thing! June 19 - Day 2 - Animal Kingdom and Disney Springs

[Redrach1903]

Day 1 is here

Wednesday, 12th June

I first woke up at 2am, which is even more ridiculous than the previous night. I went for a pee and then back to bed and managed to sleep until 5.30am. Chris woke up at 6.15 and after having showers etc (good showers at the Dolphin btw), we were both ready to go by 7.40am.

First stop was Picabu's again to grab some breakfast



I asked for bacon, sausage, potatoes and a biscuit on the side.



Chris tried to ask for the sandwich he had yesterday, but with ONLY bacon. However, this caused much confusion and he ended up with a roll and the bacon on the side! Hahahaha! Americans can never seem to understand anyone wanting LESS food. No problem though, he just constructed it himself





Anyway, it was all very tasty and really good value.



With happy tummies, we made our way to the bus stop. Our good run of luck continued and an Animal Kingdom bus pulled up straight away, so at 8.02am we were on our way!



A short 10 minutes later we pulled up at AK and headed for security.



We then veered left to Rainforest Café to the "secret" entrance. It blows my mind that more people don't do this. I mean, look how empty it is! If this is news to you, don't share around too much please







Since it was still a fair bit away from 9am we expected to be held back here, but nope! We were unleashed!



We, along with the rest of the population of North America, headed for Pandora with high hopes of a short wait for Flight of Passage. LOL. God loves a trier, eh?



We figured once they dropped the rope into Pandora we'd be moving fairly quickly, but we did not realise the sheer size of the queue until it starting snaking around the land.



Ropey Pandora pics were taken while we shuffled along.





To our horror the line just kept moving and we felt like we were getting further away, not closer to the ride.



We eventually reached the end of the line and do you know where it was? Right beside the bloody Lion King Theatre! The CM there told us it would be approx. 2 hours from this point and even said "that isn’t too bad for this ride". Ha. No thank you. We were out. Byeeeeeeeeee! Thank god we had a FP for later in the trip. I feel really bad for people that can't nab one and have no choice but to wait in these ridiculous queues. I mean, it's an awesome ride, but 2 hours at rope drop?!

Instead we waited for them to drop the rope to Africa. It looked lovely and empty compared to the madness that was Pandora.







Once we were set free we decided to hot foot it to Asia to try and get on Everest. We had a FP for later, but why not have a couple of goes, huh?!



Asia was blissfully quiet. Poor Everest must feel left out nowadays









Everest was a 5 minute wait, which was actually a walk on









We noticed some new Dug and Russell statues outside the new bird show, so got some pics taken!







We then decided to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek while it was quiet! I stopped to cool off in the water jets first. It was extremely hot and humid today and we all know that it always feel about 10 degrees hotter in AK!







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[Redrach1903]

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Onto the trek!



We were pleased to see that the tigers were extremely active this morning!





We continued round to the other side where we saw them even closer up. Look at all the crowds. Bedlam





Some other sightings around the trek. No bat photos by the way. I skipped that part cos they give me the creeps.





I liked this little fat bird!



It was now time for our first FP and that was Kilimanjaro Safaris. It really was unbearably hot waiting to get on the vehicle and we were looking forward to a wee breeze once we got going. Thankfully it didn't take long and we were soon ready for our 2 week safari!

We got the front row and there was nobody put next to us, so that was pretty cool!





Here comes the usual bombardment of animals….



Love hippos









Scary crocs.



The giraffes were super close to us and they were following us when we moved on. Some of these pics are courtesy of Chris by the way. He took way more photos his year. He normally leaves it to me, but I was chuffed he got involved this year!













Flamingos



Next up were the elephants and a super cute baby one who was playing with a pile of dirt! So adorable!









And this one was cooling itself off with big sprays of water!



Leopard.



Lazy lions, as per usual.



Ostrich



Warthog



It was another enjoyable safari. I never get bored of this, but yes, I still miss the shoogly bridge and poaching malarkey.

It was high time we had a snack, so off we went to Harambe and my one of my fave sweet treat locations! I was torn between chocolate strawberries and a cake pop, but I eventually went for the former. I have no memory of Chris being with me at this point. I think he was maybe off to the little boy's room!





I donated some $ to the Disney Conservation Fund and was treated to a swish new badge. I am hero.



A Minute Maid was purchased at a cart too. I love these, so refreshing.



We now had a decision to make. The 12noon show of Festival of the Lion King or use our Everest FP? FOTLK won the battle as we knew we had another FP for Everest later in the holiday. We swapped out Everest for Its Tough to be a Bug instead.





While we were waiting to get in to the theatre (man it was sweltering), Chris got a phone call from his back to back in Oman. Ugh. Go away. We're on holiday man! Anyway, we were soon inside and took our seats in the giraffe section. I'm sure we are giraffes every damn year



There was a really cute wee girl sitting next to us. She kept tapping me on the arm and trying to grab my earring. She was super sweet. Her Dad kept apologising for her bugging me, but she was totally fine





Tumble Monkeys!



My fave section







I don't need to say how much I love this show, do I?



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[Redrach1903]

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We were meant to go and do It's Tough to be a Bug next, but hunger got in the way and it was ditched!

We were actually supposed to have an ADR at Yak & Yeti earlier today, but we took the decision to cancel it earlier in the day as none of us really fancied a proper sit down meal. I think it was maybe the heat! Anyhoo, Chris had never been to Flame Tree BBQ and I hadn’t been for YEARS, so we thought we would give that a bash. A mobile order was placed. This is so handy btw!

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On our way we stopped for a PhotoPass

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We are excellent actors.

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We went to collect our food, spotting Baloo and Koda on the way! How underrated is Brother Bear by the way? Cutest movie.

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As you could see from the mobile order screenshot, we had Ribs & Chicken Combo (him) and the Baked Macaroni with Pulled Pork (me)

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Hmmm it was all very tasty. I didn’t eat the pulled pork (cos I don’t get the fuss tbh), but the macaroni and the onion rings were delicious. Chris really enjoyed his ribs too.

The big scary white birds were kicking about here too!



The weather was starting to turn by this point. The wind was whipping up and there was definitely a storm brewing. We know this would come today because a) it was forecast and b) we were at AK and it ALWAYS rains when we are at AK.

I needed a pee so I scooted across to the toilets. On my way I saw Kevin from Up! I was gutted as I had left my phone with Chris! Baaaa! I asked the CM how long he'd be out and he said he was away inside due to the storm approaching

Sure enough, said storm arrived!



I wanted to run down to the next level to watch for any lightning, but Chris stayed behind. There he is….. hahaha!





It didn’t last too long and was soon easing off, so we managed to make our way to our final FP which was Dinosaur





The standby time was 105 minues! Whoa! Guess it's cos it's one of the few indoor rides at AK! We walked straight through with our FP. See ya later suckers



Now, Chris is not a fan of Dinosaur. I, on the other hand, absolutely love it. Thankfully it's not a Figment scenario though and he will indulge me in this one





I hope they never close this ride. It's so fun! Not that my face agrees in this pic, could I look more bored? I wasn’t, I promise! Chris, on the other hand, looks terrified He actually came off it and said he enjoyed it more this time and that maybe its cos the last twice we have ridden it we had Jake with us and he was too busy worrying about him! Ha!



We had a quick nosey in the shop upon exit.



And by then we were ready to call it a day and head for the exit.



There was a bus waiting (luck continues) so we ran to catch it and we were back at the Dolphin by 2.30pm. The rain had started again.



Some snacks and cups of tea were purchased from Fuel before heading up to our room. I miss our daily visit to Fuel



We realised we hadn't had a look in the hotel gift shop yet, so went there for a shifty. Nothing caught our eye, but it's a nice store with plenty gifts and general essentials like pain relief, toiletries etc.



We also went to concierge as Chris noticed a few pending payments on his bank from The Dolphin. Turns out this was the resort fees! Knew we weren’t that lucky! Haha! Oh well!

Since it was raining again, there was nothing else to do, but nap! Ha! Any excuse! We do love a wee nap I did enjoy my 3 Musketeers bar first though



Two hours later (whoops) we got up and ready for the evening. We were pleased to note that the weather had cleared up and it was nice and sunny again

Our plan for the evening was Disney Springs, so at 6pm we headed to bus stop. Our ridiculously good luck continued and a DS bus was just approaching when we got there!



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[Redrach1903]

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We arrived at Disney Springs at 6.23pm. The bus drops you behind the Town Centre, so that was handy for our plans.



Our first stop was of course this place….



We both did a "build your own". Mine consisted of chicken, onion, mushroom and spinach with balsamic glaze. Chris's had tomato, mushroom, jalapeńo, pepperoni and onion. To drink I had a dark cherry lemonade and Chris had a coke zero. Chris waited for the pizzas while I grabbed us a table outside.







I present to you, the best pizza in all the land!





And the happiest man in all the land



With very happy bellies we walked round to Uniqlo, getting some pics along the way.







Uniqlo didn’t have as much cool tops as last year, but I got 3 t-shirts. They are actually men's ones, but I just bought them in the smallest size! Chris also got some more of his easy shorts!







World of Disney was still being refurbished last year, so we wanted a look in there to see if much had changed. Well, it is so much better now! It looks lovely and feels more spacious! Chris bought 2 t-shirts.









Chris wanted to look in the Harley shop where he bought a sign for his garage and one for his mate Ewan too.



Outside the shop I met the cutest security dog. She was so cute! The CM told me that her job is to sniff out firearms and bombs (!) and that she had already detected 3 guns today. How scary? I'm sure its just a case of Americans exercising their rights, but damn, that freaked me out.





More pics from around Disney Springs. Isn't it just lovely here? I find it hard to remember what it was like as Downtown Disney.





There was a pop-up Toy Story PhotoPass opportunity, so we once again showcased our wonderful acting skills







Some pretty pics down by the water….





Posey posey!





If you've read any of my previous reports, I'm sure you can guess where we were heading….



House of Blues! Our fave bar at Disney Springs



We were happy to see there was live music (there usually is) and that it was a guy we had seen and enjoyed previously. His name is Ed Wright. We managed to bag a decent table and then Chris went to get us drinks.



Strawberry daiquiri for me and a Michelob Ultra + Electric Lemonade for Chris. I know that everyone is moving to paper straws for the good of the planet n all, but man a slushy cocktail is not easy to drink with one of those!





Disney Springs sunsets are always so pretty!



Oh to be sitting here right now…





We kept seeing a wee stray cat darting about. It was super cute. I hope he's ok!





Once Ed & co had finished, Chris bought them a drink. Ed came over to thank us and ended up sitting yapping to us for about half an hour. He was super lovely and told us all about his life. He has some tracks on Spotify and he said he only makes 14c for every play he gets! Don't think he'll be retiring any time soon!





We left at 10.35 and headed for the bus. On the way a very nostalgic smell hit me in the nostrils! It was CK1. Remember when CK1 and CKBe were all the rage? I remember in Orlando 1999 dragging my parents around the perfume outlets to find both. Funny how a smell can just transport you back in time, isn’t it? Good times



Yet again there was a bus waiting when we got there! Standing room only, but that was ok!



When I saw the Swan I did my "I saw the swan" song. Chris piped up with the next line…. "I opened up my eyes, my husband's gone". HAHAHAHA! Cheeky git

We got off at the Swan and walked over again. We were back in the room at 11.15pm and straight to sleep! Another fab day

Steps today – 19,832

Join us for the next day where we spend the morning at Epcot and the evening at Port Orleans Riverside. It's here

[GezzasGem]

Great day! Very well timed as well 😄

[EllieP]

Love reading your reports. Looking forward to tomorrow, we are staying in POR for the first time next July/August. We enjoyed Blaze Pizza last year also.

[Cinderella]

What a great day 👍

[The Genie]

Great report today and fab pics! thanks for posting!

[JoJo88]

Fabulous day!

[markpwa8]

The level of detail is brilliant. Great report so far (if you could hurry up with the rest please.. )