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29 Jan 18, 10:03 PM |
#1
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Imagineer
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A Not So Scary, Very Merry, Not So Solo, Solo Trip. Oct/Nov 2017. Day 3 – Animal Kingdom
Today was Animal Kingdom day and I was so excited. I couldn’t wait to see Festival of the Lion King and explore Pandora.
First though…breakfast at Boma. Julie-Anne actually recommended this breakfast to me and so I sent my parents there in August to see what they thought and they loved it. My parents can be pretty hard to please when it comes to food so the fact they loved it told me it must be good. I got an uber from POP to Animal Kingdom Lodge. From then on uber became my new best friend for getting around easily. I was a little nervous getting a taxi on my own but uber makes it safe. I always sent the details to my parents so if they didn’t hear from me for the next few hours they knew who I got in a car with haha. I was absolutely fine though. Animal Kingdom lodge is just amazing. It’s definitely top of my must stay list if I ever win the lottery. I would love love love to stay there. Boma was lush! I loved the atmosphere and design of the restaurant and the food was fab! My server was very helpful and friendly and made a good effort of chatting to me as I was on my own. I left suitably stuffed! As I walked towards the bus stops an Animal Kingdom bus was pulling in. perfect timing and I was animal kingdom in minutes. My first stop was the Wilderness explorers lodge place. I’d been talking about doing this for so long. BUT it ended up being way more effort than I’d anticipated and after earning 5 badges I gave up lol. This is a great activity to do with kids though and if you have plenty of time. The work book you collect your badges in is really cute. I got some obligatory pics in front of the tree of life. I went to the first Festival of the Lion King show of the day. This show gives me all the feels. I just love it. The Lion King soundtrack is my favourite. My parents has told me when they watched it in June the tumble monkeys didn’t do their act but they were in full force today. So much fun. From here I went to Kilimanjaro Safari. STILL didn’t see the lion. Ive never seen the lions move lol. But did see the hippos completely out of the water which I’ve never seen before and had some giraffes come up close to the vehicle. My mum and I both love giraffes. Next I got the train to Rafikis Planet watch to meet Rafiki. It was there where I earnt 3 of my 5 wilderness explorer badges lol. I like getting to see some of the backstage areas on the train. The family in front of me had a disabled son (approx. 16 years old) he was terrified of Rafiki at first, but the cast member was fantastic and ended up sitting on the floor with the guy and they had a picture. His mum was all teary eyed… Disney magic was happening right in front of me. From here I went over to Expedition Everest. Another of my favourite rides. Next – PANDORA. I was so excited to explore this new part of the park. Today I had a fast pass for Navi river journey so would only be riding this today as I had a fast pass for flight of passage another day. So my verdict on Avatar land. It is stunning, so well done. Loads to look at and some great photo opportunities BUT it was so much smaller than I was expecting. I’m not a massive Avatar fan so other than to ride flight of passage again (which I thought was awesome) I probably wouldn’t be too fussed about spending too much time in Pandora. I’m not saying I wouldn’t visit because I totally would but I’d still spend more time in Africa and Asia than I would here. Anyways… I had a good wonder around, stopped for all the photo pass opportunities and had myself a night blossom drink. SOOOO sweet but I really enjoyed it and would certainly have another on a future visit. By the time I finished my drink it was time for my Navi river fast pass. A beautiful, stunning ride but no thrill factor for me. Not a ride I would worry about getting a fast pass for in future and not one I’d queue more than 20 mins for. It’s a nice relaxing ride and I’m not saying its rubbish… it just didn’t do a lot for me. I’m sure big avatar fans are cursing me now haha. It was early afternoon now and getting hot. I’d done the main things I wanted to and wasn’t hungry for any lunch yet so decided to head back to POP for some more pool time. I learnt on this trip how much a couple of hours rest and relaxation was needed. Full park days are getting harder to handle. (I know I must sound like I’m getting so old). An Art of Animation bus was pulling up just as left the park so I hopped on that and walked through to POP. The bridge across was half boarded off as they’re working on the new skyline station there I believe. Grabbed myself a drink in my refillable mug and a sugar cookie snack and plonked myself on a sun lounger by the bowling pin pool again. I wanted to go back to Animal Kingdom this evening to watch Rivers of Light, so made sure I was washed and ready to head out again in time to get seated for the show. There was a street party kind of thing happening near the tree of light when I entered AK which was quite cool. Guys on stilts dancing with kids etc. It gave off a really cool vibe. As I arrived at the standby seating area entrance a queue was just starting to form so I grabbed a drink and joined the queue. We only waited around 10 mins and then we were let in. I actually quite liked how they had cast members telling you where to sit so you weren’t hunting for spaces and I honestly don’t think any seat in that stadium is a bad seat. The show was very pretty and very clever. Its no happily ever after but I really enjoyed it and would definitely like to see it again. Kylie had arrived today so I messaged her as I was leaving animal Kingdom so see how she was doing and what her plans were for this eve. I was going to get some dinner at Everything POP food court so told her she was welcome to join me if she needed some company. I lost wifi during the journey but received a message when I got back at POP saying that’d be great… so I had myself a dinner date lol. I headed straight to the food court and let Kylie know I was at the pizza/pasta station. She greeted me from behind by poking my sides and making me jump! Then obviously the excited hi and a hug followed. Kylie went off to decide what she wanted to eat and I went and paid for my food (well scanned my magic band and dining plan paid) and found us a table. Kylie was taking ages! And I was starting to think she’d done a bunk. I must’ve made a great first impression haha. But no, she was having magic band and pin number drama. Eventually we were both seated, Kylie with a big messy looking burger and fries and myself with a buffalo chicken flatbread. Desserts were red velvet whoopee pie for kylie and a tie dye cheesecake for me. We sat chatting for a while about what I’d done so far, kylies journey, and plans for the rest of the trip before calling it a night. We were both shattered so it wasn’t a mega late one. The walk back to my room took less than a minute and it wasn’t long before I was in the land of nod. … with my nicely bruised leg which I know you’re all dying to see. Tomorrow – my first visit to Food and Wine and dinner at the Boat House. |
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29 Jan 18, 10:57 PM |
#2
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VIP Dibber
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Ooh another fab day and I adore your top, how funky.
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30 Jan 18, 11:30 AM |
#3
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Apprentice Imagineer
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Love the lion king and the tumble monkeys that flatbread looks lovely.
Another great day
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Emma |
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30 Jan 18, 11:41 AM |
#4
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VIP Dibber
Join Date: Nov 12
Location: Scotland
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Glad to hear you enjoyed rivers of light. I'm looking forward to see it
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Sammie! Former Great British Mickey Waffle Presenter My First Ever Pre-Trip Report - Sept 2015 My 2nd Pre-Trip Report! - Sept 2016 My Orlando 2019 Trip Report My Orlando Feb 2022 Trip Report DLP - May 2013, May 2018 Florida - 1998, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 |
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30 Jan 18, 11:18 PM |
#5
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slightly serious Dibber
Join Date: Nov 07
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A great trip so far I'm really enjoying your trip report, great night time reading.
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30 Jan 18, 11:29 PM |
#6
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Excited about Disney
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Another good day. We liked ROL too and would watch it again. Agree about Navi river ride. We were in AK the day Pandora opened so it was totally rammed. Disappointed with the Navi ride, the wait time was 240 mins standby, when we came out I wanted to tell people in the queue it wasn't worth waiting that long for!
Looking forward to the rest of your days 😊
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1991 - Villa in Buena Ventura Lakes, 1993 - Villa in Davenport area, 2010 & 2012 Staybridge Suites LBV, 2015 - CBR, 1st time on site, 2017 - CBR We're going back - Oh no we're not, just moved to POR! 2020 - So excited, birthday celebrations at POR July 2020 - COVID CANCELLED , 2022 - Belated celebration trip - staying at CSR |
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1 Feb 18, 07:56 PM |
#7
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VIP Dibber
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Some great photos of you at AK today, sounds like Boma was a hit.
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Abby New pre trip report - Summer 2024 Link to all my completed trip reports 2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston. 2018: Orlando. Berlin. 2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC. 2020: DLP. 2021: Jamaica. Rome. 2022: Orlando. 2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto. |
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11 Feb 18, 10:50 PM |
#8
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Imagineer
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Boma is the best, we love it! The night blossom drink is definitely one of my must haves on my next holiday.
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Holiday Inn I-Drive (Honeymoon!) Oct2003 /Quality Inn Plaza Feb 2005 Sheraton Studio City International Drive Oct 2010/2012/2013 Animal Kingdom Kidani Village Oct 2014/2016/2018/2023 Atlantis Palm Dubai? 2024 |
13 Feb 18, 09:28 AM |
#9
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Very Serious Dibber
Join Date: Apr 07
Location: Southampton
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😂 imagine if I’d done a bunk! Ouch that bruise! That night blossom drink is yum! Love your piccies, your phone camera was so much better than mine! Xx
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18 Feb 18, 04:56 PM |
#10
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Imagineer
Join Date: Jul 09
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Another lovely day and so glad you were able to meet up with Kylie for dinner, I'm sure she was just as grateful for the company after a travel day as you were!
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