Imagine, Just One Birthday Every Year ~ October 2018 ~ Day 5 ~ Animal Kingdom and Flights of Passage

[DisneyDaffodil]

"How high does the sycamore grow? If you cut it down then you'll never know." -Pocahontas

Index here

Our plans for today had been to go shopping in Vineland Outlets and then come back and go to Animal Kingdom in the evening. However, we hadn't considered how exhausted and achy we'd be after all the walking we had done over the last few days, especially at MNSSHP the night before. I woke up around half past seven and could feel how tired I still was, but I thought I'd leave it up to Georgia to decide if we were going shopping today or not, as she's the one who most wanted to go. I woke 45 minutes later and immediately decided I couldn't go shopping that day. We had another shopping day planned later in the holiday so it wasn't as if I wasn't going shopping at all. So, instead, we decided to spend the morning around the pool at French Quarter and go into Animal Kingdom a little earlier than we had originally planned.
We were both a little hungry this morning, after two quite early meals yesterday, so decided to have breakfast in the food court. I'd fancied the beignets before we went, so after showering and changing, we went to Sassagoula Floatworks for breakfast. We used a snack credit to share the three beignets with mocha dipping sauce and got coffees using our resort mugs. I was a little disappointed in the beignets as although they tasted nice, they weren't very different or interesting. I did really like the mocha dipping sauce though and I was glad that we had tried them as they had been on the list of things I wanted to try before we came. I enjoyed the taste of the beignets and the dipping sauce but thought the icing sugar was very overpowering and sweet.

We went to sit around the pool for the morning but unfortunately for us it started to rain consistently. However, we decided to stick it out as the rain wasn't too heavy most of the time and we were under an umbrella I was mostly under the umbrella other than my one leg which was soaked when we moved later. Neither of us really did much at the pool today. We sat around, listened to music, I called Rob and I revised a few pages of psychology (this was the only time on the holiday that I actually revised any of the work that I was supposed to. Whoops.)

It was nice to relax around the pool this morning after the four busy days that we'd had so far. After MNSSHP I think we both realised that we needed to slow down a little more and we knew that we'd have time to experience as much of the parks as we could.
Another thing that we found useful this morning was the resort mugs. As well as our coffees for breakfast, we were able to have drinks around the pool and as we went back to the room to change for the afternoon and evening in Animal Kingdom. As I've said before, these drinks were especially useful for me, as at home I often only drink water as I don't like fizzy drinks. The variety and flavours of drinks were excellent and I loved being able to choose different flavours of still lemonade each time I wanted a drink.

We went back to the room and took a few photos of it to send to Rob.

We hadn't eaten since our beignets that morning and it was now around 2pm so we ate the cakes from Georgia's 50's Prime Time meal yesterday that we'd taken with us. They weren't the most aesthetically pleasing now, as we'd carried them around Hollywood Studios with us yesterday, but they still tasted delicious.
After changing, we caught a bus to Animal Kingdom by 3pm. We had some Photopass photos taken as we went into the park.

While we were having one of these photos taken, the photographer got really excited about my t-shirt. It was a bit awkward as she was so overwhelmingly excited but I do think it's really nice that they're so friendly.
It had brightened up now that we were in the park, which we were grateful for. We watched some of the animals for a while as we walked into Animal Kingdom.

We slowly wandered over to Expedition Everest. Last time we came to Disney we chose not to ride this as I thought that it would be too much of a thrill ride for me as it went backwards. This time, I really wanted to ride it though and I was able to convince Mum to at least try it once, as I was brave enough to ride ToT (I don't really know if I was brave on ToT but the effort was there) We all know how Georgia's attempt at riding ToT had turned out, so I was quite nervous about this ride still. However, I loved it. It was so exciting and I thought the theming of the ride was brilliant. I even loved the bit that went backwards.I had been a little nervous too, as I knew the ride was supposed to be one of the bigger roller coasters in Disney, but it was so exhilarating and became one of my favourite rides in Disney. The dad with his child in front of us was really nice, as I think he could tell we were nervous, and prepared us at the going backwards part and checked that we'd enjoyed it afterwards. I love how friendly most people are at Disney, it brings such a nice atmosphere to the parks.

We had a little time between our Everest FP and our Yak and Yeti ADR and we considered doing the Gorilla Falls. We did walk over there but decided not to do it, as we wanted to go to our ADR a little earlier, as we had two FPs after and wanted to watch Rivers of Light that evening. Instead, we walked back to near Yak and Yeti and sat and waited for a while.

We were able to go into Yak and Yeti about 10 minutes before our ADR and were seated quickly. It took me a while to decide what I wanted to eat here, as the menu was so vast and it all looked different to other meals we'd planned this trip.

We ordered our drinks first. I had the sangria, which was delicious, and I had the non-alcoholic wild berry daiquiri. This drink was sweet and had a strong berry flavour to it but was the most refreshing drink I had on the trip.

I changed my mind about what food to have a few times as it all looked so good but finally decided on the Korean BBQ meatballs. I found it quite easy to decide here, as I don't like rice and a lot of dishes were served with rice and I thought they may not work with another side. I chose the chicken lo mein.

My meatballs were amazing. They had a great meaty flavour and the meal was so large that we had our desserts to take away. Overall, the whole meal tasted really good. My meal was fine, but wasn't anything special. It was like chicken and noodles that I have in the UK. I did really enjoy the vegetables in it (as there were lots of beansprouts, which are my favourite) which isn't something I usually say
Our one real complaint about Yak and Yeti was our service here. The waiter was slow and at one point, a different waitress came to our table as we had been waiting so long for our receipt. We would understand this if the restaurant had been busy but it had been busier in most of the restaurants we had been to so far and the service there had been much better. The meal would have cost $86 and we paid 15% as this was the suggested tip here and we didn't feel that the server deserved a larger tip.
We had our desserts to take away, as we were so full. I chose the mango pie and I had the New York Cheesecake. Georgia took photos of them while I called Rob again.

It was now time for our Kilmanjaro Safari FP. We had booked this but had been unsure if we'd be able to fit it in before our Flights of Passage FP. As the meal had been quite quick, due to us going in early and having dessert to go, we were able to do Kilimanjaro Safari.
As it was dusk, the animals seemed more lively than they were in the day time on our previous trip. My favourite animal on the safari was the lion, even though the male lion was asleep as usual. I like seeing the animals on the safari but I don't really enjoy the rangers' commentary. One time we had a really engaging ranger, who asked us questions and included us but the one we had this time just recited information which nobody seemed to listen to. She seemed bored and it made her information boring to everyone else.

After the safari, we quickly walked over to Pandora so that we'd be there for the beginning of our FP time for Flights of Passage. As we were walking over, we predicted that we'd have enough time to ride Flights of Passage at 6:55pm and then be back at Rivers of Light for 7:30pm.
We were both so excited for Flights of Passage, as we'd heard such great things about it and it certainly didn't disappoint. If you don't want any spoilers for it if you haven't rode it, I'd stop reading this paragraph and skip onto the next one. However, Flights of Passage was so much better than I had even expected. It was magical and I was so absorbed into the world and the feeling of the banshee underneath me. I've never seen Avatar and so I expected not to find the ride so exciting but it was. It was so brilliant that I actually cried on it. It was really emotional to me because of the sheer beauty and the immersive-ness. I agree with Georgia that this ride is completely original and I was also immersed into the land. As a few others have said, the 3D isn't too good if you look to the sides but as long as you try and immerse yourself, it's easy to be drawn into the world. I couldn't believe how they'd managed to create the breathing effects of the banshee,I actually felt as though I was riding an animal not just sitting on a plastic motorbike-like seat.
We did have one problem that meant it took a lot longer for us to actually get on the ride. We had heard before riding that some people find the seats too small or claustrophobic and were a little worried, as I am larger and Georgia gets quite claustrophobic. The queue had taken quite a while and there's a few rooms and information before the ride. Once we were in to the ride itself, both of us found that the seats didn't seem too restrictive and we were comfortable and ready for the cast member to check that we were in securely. It was a long wait. The girl next to me started to panic. She kept telling the cast member that she couldn't be trapped in and every time the cast member moved the back restraint to the set place, she'd make her loosen it again. The cast member was also asking the girl to move her feet in, so that she was sat as though riding a motor cycle. She wouldn't do this either which meant we had to wait even longer. This girl was only around a size 12/14 so definitely wasn't too big for the ride but insisted it was too tight for her. I understand that some people are claustrophobic in different situations but I really just wanted for the cast member to check everyone's restraints and let us ride. This took around 15 minutes of the girl changing her mind about riding it and then not riding it. Her family were encouraging her to make her mind up and eventually she did decide to ride it with them. I was really worried as I thought that the girl's panic might make Georgia worry, as our restraints hadn't been checked yet and I wasn't sure if they needed to be made any tighter. However, when the cast member checked ours, she didn't move them at all and the rest of us were seated correctly. I don't think the girl could have enjoyed the ride though after how much she had been panicking, which makes me wonder why she rode it at all. This didn't stop us enjoying the ride though and we'd definitely FP it twice on another trip.
It had taken much longer than we had expected to ride Flights of Passage so we started to rush over to Rivers of Light. Due to our exhaustion from the day before and aching legs, we weren't able to rush for long. I was so hot and once we got to Africa we decided to stop rushing and not watch Rivers of Light that night. We hoped that we could rearrange a different evening so that we could have more time in Animal Kingdom than we had planned, as this was supposed to be our last evening in Animal Kingdom. On our last trip, there had been so much less to do in Animal Kingdom and we'd underestimated the time needed on this trip.

We started to wander towards the entrance of the park, buying some drinks on the way, using two snack credits. On the way over one bridge we saw Rivers of Light on the lake. It wasn't the perfect view that we'd planned but we stopped here to watch the show. We really enjoyed it from here and we knew that we needed to return to see it another night. I teared up stood on the bridge watching it. The music was so emotional and I was still a little teary from Flights of Passage. It was so beautiful.

After watching Rivers of Light, we joined the crowds leaving the park. We stopped by the Tree of Life to watch one of the projections. This was also something new, that wasn't there on our first trip and is a great addition to Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom is a much better park now, especially in the evenings because of the shows that they've introduced. On our previous trip, all of us had come to the conclusion that Animal Kingdom was probably our least favourite park but this year it most certainly wasn't. I love everything that Animal Kingdom stands for, with it's aim on conservation of nature and animals. I think the new additions really highlight this and it makes the park much more enjoyable. The projections on the tree are a great example of this, as they link Disney and nature together so well. They're so unique compared to the other 'entertainment' at the parks and have an excellent message. I like the chilled out atmosphere to Animal Kingdom in the evening. It was the perfect park to visit after how busy the previous night at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party had been.

We left Animal Kingdom after this and caught the bus back to French Quarter. As we walked back to our room, we noticed that there was a film playing on the grass behind our building. I instantly recognised that the Movie Under the Stars that night was Nightmare Before Christmas and so we went to watch it for a while. This is one of my favourite films ever and as I was wearing the Nightmare Before Christmas ears that I had made, I felt very themed

After watching about half an hour of the film, we got drinks from the food court using our resort mugs and then went back to the room to eat our desserts from Yak and Yeti. Neither of them were particularly exciting or memorable and probably the most disappointing desserts we had on the trip. Overall, neither of us thought Yak and Yeti was exceptional and don't think we'd visit here on another trip. I did like trying a fortune cookie for the first time! Although it tasted like cardboard and my fortune was weird 'If you're feeling down, try throwing yourself into your work.' I was on a Disney holiday, so I most definitely wasn't feeling down and was trying to avoid doing any of the homework that I had been set I think it was reminder to tell you that you should have been doing more revision
We went to bed after sitting around and chatting for a while. It had been a lovely day and much more relaxing than the one before.

Step Count: 18,490

[Goldia]

Hurrah, the bonus for me not keeping up to date on the trip reports is that I get a double whammy. Plus I love being right, I'm gloating about correctly predicting a relaxed day by the pool. I think it was the right decision to not go shopping even if it was a bit rainy.

Lots of fun at AK. FOP is an awesome ride, a shame the other girl didn't like getting fitted into her seat. You still managed an impressive amount of steps for a chill out day!

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Hurrah, the bonus for me not keeping up to date on the trip reports is that I get a double whammy. Plus I love being right, I'm gloating about correctly predicting a relaxed day by the pool. I think it was the right decision to not go shopping even if it was a bit rainy.

Lots of fun at AK. FOP is an awesome ride, a shame the other girl didn't like getting fitted into her seat. You still managed an impressive amount of steps for a chill out day!

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You were definitely right, we were so tired we barely chatted to each other by the pool, just relaxed. It was the best thing to do as we felt fine later when we went into Animal Kingdom.

FoP was stunning and magical, we only wish we could have got another fast pass later in the holiday, but sadly we couldn’t. The girl was irritating as she wasn’t that young, possibly a year or two older than Georgia, and although we had sympathy at first eventually we just wanted her to decide whether she was going to ride or not 😂

[Palm trees]

What a lovely day! I agree that AK is great at night. Due to time management issues we also saw Rivers of light from the bridge (part of it anyway!) and I'm determined to go and see the show properly next trip.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Palm trees

What a lovely day! I agree that AK is great at night. Due to time management issues we also saw Rivers of light from the bridge (part of it anyway!) and I'm determined to go and see the show properly next trip.

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The bridge view wasn’t too bad, but it made us realise we really wanted to see it properly. Bit of a spoiler but we did manage to get to see it later in the holiday 😀

[caitlinsmummy]

Another great day, I think the pool day was much needed

Yak and Yeti food looks lovely, it's a shame about the service though.

That view of RoL looks quite good, we didn't rate it that much xx

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy

Another great day, I think the pool day was much needed

Yak and Yeti food looks lovely, it's a shame about the service though.

That view of RoL looks quite good, we didn't rate it that much xx

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We always find mid-holiday that we have to give in and rest up a bit. It just doesn’t make sense to just do something because it’s on the plans, eventually we realise we overplan 😀

Yak and Yeti was just average for us. I know a lot of people love it but we found the food was good but not as memorable as many of our other meals.

We didn’t have a bad view from the bridge but we couldn’t hear the music from there well, but we did return another night and we really loved RoL but I guess it doesn’t appeal to everyone

[collybird]

I agree about the icing sugar on the beignets being overpowering; I also hate the mess of them.

Well done for braving Everest!

Movies Under The Stars looks so relaxing, a lovely way to end your day.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by collybird

I agree about the icing sugar on the beignets being overpowering; I also hate the mess of them.

Well done for braving Everest!

Movies Under The Stars looks so relaxing, a lovely way to end your day.

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I felt a "Dibb failure" for not enjoying the beignets more as everyone seems to love them, I'm pleased I tried them though, but I think they were just too messy and sweet for me.

Everest is probably my favourite ride at Disney now, along with FoP of course

We liked Movies under the Stars on our first trip. It is a lovely relaxing way to end the day, I'm surprised more people weren't there.

[Fuellady]

Lovely relaxing start to the day by the pool. It's a shame it rained a bit though. Well done on riding Expedition Everest, it's one of my favourites.

I've heard so many good reports of Yak & Yeti, it's a bit disappointing that it didn't live up to your expectations. Glad you enjoyed FOP, I thought it was amazing too. Bit of a carry on getting started with the girl next to you though. All in all, a fabulous evening at AK. I wish I could feel the AK love, but it's just not one of my favourite parks, although many people including yourselves seem to have a great time there.