Celebrating...first visit in 27 years!

[CeruleanMoon]

This trip was a special one for us, for many reasons. For me, it was the first time I had been back to Epcot and Hollywood Studios since 1991, when I was 18 years old. It was also our first major family vacation just the three of us, and the longest and most extravagant trip we had ever taken!

This is my first trip report! It took me a while to get this report ready, so it’s already been five months since our trip. Oops.

[Skip ahead to the Table of Contents]

Usually we do small day trips or weekend trips, or trips to visit family. In 2013 my mother-in-law gifted us with plane tickets to FL to visit her and and spend two days at Disney, something which we never could have afforded to do ourselves at that time. Quinn was younger then, and so we took it slow, visiting AK one day and MK the other, and we didn’t cram in a ton of attractions. MIL also planned the trip last time, and we were her guests, so this time I was very excited to try my hand at planning a trip myself, and wanted to visit all the parks this time. We had a wonderful time in 2013, but this trip would be entirely our own!

So...Introductions!

I’m Jen, a 45 year old librarian. I love Star Wars and Beauty and the Beast. I’m the biggest Disney fan in the family.


My husband, Matt, who is 51 and computer geek. He works for a hospital in their IT department. No strong opinions on Disney but was very excited about having such a special vacation!



Quinn, our 10 year old son. Loves: reading, writing, drawing, gaming, movies, nature, animals, science, trail hiking, collecting maps, and photobombing other people’s pics. Favorite Disney movies: Jungle Book and the Pirates of the Caribbean series.




We didn’t even notice that hidden Mickey right next to Quinn’s head until a nearby CM pointed it out!

So, one of my favorite family vacation memories as a child was going to Disney World at age 10 in 1983. I pored over the brochures my mom sent away for in the mail, studying every tiny picture until I had them memorized by heart. I was insanely excited in only the way that a kid can be. Epcot looked like some kind of futuristic dream filled with technological marvels I could barely imagine were real. I spent most of my time daydreaming with those tiny brochure pictures - the one with the dinosaurs from Universe of Energy, and the one with the rainbow tunnel from Journey into Imagination (with the color that followed you!) At night, I’d lay in bed pretending that I was aboard the train on our way from Massachusetts to Florida (flying was too expensive.) In the end, Disney (and Epcot) was everything I dreamed it would be.


Me with my mom, living the dream in 1983!

Our son Quinn is 10 years old now, the same age I was for that first trip, and I knew I wanted him to have an experience like I had of planning, dreaming and then experiencing a very special family vacation.


My family in 1983, when my first Disney memories were made! This picture was taken later in our trip, when we visited Sea World.

Other than our short trip in 2013, I hadn’t been back to Disney in 27 years! That means that Epcot and Hollywood Studios were still frozen in my mind the way they were in 1991, when I last saw them back in high school. ( I was very lucky and got to visit Disney both in 1990 and 1991, first time with family and the second time with my high school marching band.) I expected to see big changes from how those parks are now! Quinn of course had never been to either of those parks, and Matt had never been to Epcot (and for HS it had been 12 years.)


Us on our 2013 trip

During past trips to Disney with my family as a child, we usually stayed around 4-5 days total, but this time I knew we’d need more time if we were to see everything we wanted to see. I calculated that we’d need at least 4 days to start - one for each park. Quinn and I both wanted to try out a water park, so we added a day for that. Then Matt and I agreed that if we were going to stay that long, we’d need a rest day, which would also be a nice opportunity to enjoy our resort! So that made 6 days of Disney time, plus two bookend travel days. I figured we’d need 8 days total. I realized that we couldn’t go all the way to FL and not visit MIL, so we made plans to add 3 more days to our trip to spend some time with her. So that’s how we ended up with the longest vacation we’d ever had at 11 days!


Quinn at age 5 in 2013, making a “prickly” face, like a cactus. Unfortunately, he says he remembers very little from that trip now. Time to make some new memories!

When to go? I joined this board a year before and began my extensive research into the subject. (Have I mentioned that I am a librarian? I live for this stuff.) I consulted weather sites, Disney crowd data sites, and stories from people’s experiences on this board. I decided I wanted to avoid winter - those months are too unpredictable where we live and the constant snow can really mess up travel. That eliminated Dec - March. Then I took out the fall. Fall’s a busy time for us, with school starting up and clubs and karate and yes every single year we always get sick. So that eliminated Sept - Nov. One time of year was starting to really stand out for me and that was early May. Then I looked at Quinn’s school calendar and saw that only one week earlier, he would have spring break. From what I could deduce from my searching, the last week of April was not a popular week for spring break, especially so with Easter falling on April 1st. The weather is normally beautiful in Florida during spring, and April is one of the lowest precipitation months of the year for Orlando. Bingo! I had our vacation week! I was also pleased that we would only need to take Quinn out of school for 3 days.

We planned our trip for April 18th - 28th.

Where would we stay? I knew right away that our “pie in the sky” choice would be Animal Kingdom Lodge. I’d looked into this resort 13 years ago for our honeymoon, but a Disney honeymoon was out of our budget at that time, so I put it on the bucket list instead. Then we ended up with a son who LOVED animals, nature, and zoos, so bringing AKL back to the table was no-brainer. I wasn’t sure if it would take up too much of our budget though, so I looked into the moderate resorts. With all the construction going on that severely limited our choices...I kept coming back to AKL. We decided we could splurge a bit on this, so I started hunting for the best rate I could get.


The Days Inn in Kissimmee, where my family stayed for our 1983 trip.

Fast forward to June 2017 and I heard on the Dis that the 2018 rates were due to come out soon. I stalked the website and the day they went live I found a Value Studio at AKL that was a good price and even had a little kitchenette! I was sold. I called that night and booked it. Score!

Next up...our dream vacation begins!

 

[CeruleanMoon]

April 18-28, 2018 Trip Report
Table of Contents
(Work In Progress)​

Days 1-4: Plane trip, Chilling out in FL, Arrival at resort, Fantasia Mini-golf.

Day 5: Animal Kingdom, Earth Day and AK's 20th Anniversary!

Day 6: Hollywood Studios, no more MGM!

Day 7: Resort, Disney Springs and the VOID: Stars Wars - Secrets of the Empire

Day 8: Epcot, will it live up to my memories?

Day 9: Magic Kingdom, the happiest place on Earth

Day 10: Typhoon Lagoon or the Practically Empty Park

Day 11: It's a sad, sad day. Time to go home.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

April 18, 2018 - First day of our Big Dream Vacation!
​

Weather: High of 41 degrees. Rainy. We’d had a pretty horrible spring in New York, with nothing but snow and freezing temperatures right into the month of April. We were ready for a Florida getaway!



Our flight was at 2:42 pm, so we hit the road around 9:30 am since we had a 2.5 hr drive ahead of us.



I bought Quinn a journal, because he’s been reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid and now he’s obsessed with writing a journal of his own. He spent every spare moment jotting down a rather dramatic rendition of our trip to the airport.

Plane flight was uneventful, although I am discovering that my already sensitive motion sickness seems to be getting even more sensitive as I get older. I felt a little iffy during the first half of the plane flight, but thankfully it went away with the help of some peppermints.


Who do you think is the most excited?

MIL picked us up and we ate pizza at the airport. Matt and Quinn were both still suffering a bit from blocked ears from the flight. We went outside and were almost blinded by that big yellow ball in the sky which we hadn’t seen for months. The first thing I noticed was how the cars in the parking garage were all so CLEAN! No salt and grime anywhere!

April 19th, 2018
​

We spent the next day with MIL, relaxing in the pool and sending pics to family. Our hometown was getting SNOW that day!


Nothing like swimming in the pool while your classmates are suffering in the snow!

April 20, 2018​

On Friday the 20th, we went on an airboat tour. We saw lots of alligators of all sizes, from babies to one adult that must have been at least 10 feet long!


Headphones were essential because the giant fan that powered the airboat was LOUD!

April 21, 2018. Saturday​

We left at 10am for the drive to Disney! I put in my order for Amazon Prime groceries. It was very easy! Got 21 items for $65, plus a suggested tip of $6 for the driver. We got breakfast foods, drinks, bread, milk, and fixings for sandwiches. I set our delivery window for 4-6pm.


Oh my gosh we are almost there!

We arrived at Disney at 11:30am. This was much earlier than I had initially planned. I had figured that we’d arrive around 4pm since that was check-in time, but MIL had weekend plans so she dropped us off early. An extra day at Disney, I’m not complaining!


The room wasn’t ready, so we went to the Mara and got lunch. If you are expecting lots of food pics you will be disappointed, sadly, since I just didn’t remember to take pics of most of the foods we ate. I had some nice falafel dish though that was quite tasty, Matt had a chicken sandwich and Quinn had pizza. We sat by the pool drinking our Jungle Juice slushies and just feeling in awe that we were actually there at AKL.



Jambo House was incredible! Music and drumming greets you through the speakers before you even step through the doors, and the amount of detail put into this place is nothing short of amazing. Music and art everywhere, the hallways are practically like a museum. We saw flamingos but no other animals yet.


The impressive lobby. Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore!


It even had a “suspension” bridge.

I’d heard that since value studios were so few in number at the resort that they usually can’t accommodate room requests, but I put one in anyway through Touring Plans, asking for a room on Ostrich trail, which would have been a partial Savannah view. Got a text while we were walking around enjoying the lobby around 1:30pm. Room was on Giraffe trail, not Ostrich, so that meant we were by the pool. Well, at least it wasn’t the parking lot!! We were in room 5016.


Ooh, let’s step inside…

Looks like I've reached my magic number of 10 photos this post, onto the next post!

 

[CeruleanMoon]

April 21, 2018...continued​

So, we were about to step inside and get our first view of the room!


Looks great! We only got to see the room like this for a few hours though because pulling out that couch was a pain. It was folded up like a pretzel and was hard to pull apart, so once we got it open it stayed that way! Looks like someone had already jumped on the bed by this point, but I tried to get pics of the room "fresh!"

I really love the theming at this resort, and I love the fact that it has theming! I’m sad to see so many of the resort rooms being stripped of their theming. The pics remind me of cold, sterile hospital rooms. I know some people love the “clean” look, but for me the strong theming is what makes these hotels say “Disney.” I love how our room had nice soft carpeting, African decor and a ceiling fan! (Something else which I hear they’ve been taking away from the rooms, sadly.)

We had a lovely little kitchen, good size fridge, and our balcony had a very pretty view! Pool ended up being quite loud, which I anticipated and was one of the original reasons why I didn’t really want a pool view. The sliding glass door was practically sound proof, however, shockingly so! We even managed to sleep one night while a movie was playing right outside.

It was this good, I swear.


Our kitchenette!


With a little Simba to watch over our paper towels.



The view from our balcony was very nice! The trees shielded us from view but still allowed us to see out. We quickly discovered though that there was probably a bees’ nest on the balcony roof near us because of the number of bees flying around. Quinn reminded us that AKL was supposed to be a place to showcase animals and a love of nature, so we decided that as long as they weren’t bothering us, we would let them be. Thankfully they kept to themselves the whole time and never once crossed over the balcony railing towards us. Even the bees at Disney are friendly!

We still had the rest of the afternoon, so I laid out some options for everyone. Explore the resort and the animals, or mini golf, or...now that we had more time than we expected, buy an extra day ticket and visit a park! What did the family choose? Quinn: “Oooh, ooh, ooh, pool and mini golf!” Matt: “That sounds good.” Me: huh? So pool and mini golf it was!

I guess water that cool and blue was simply too good to pass up. I’ve heard and seen pictures that the pools at AKL used to actually be painted green, so the water had a green hue, which was supposed to make it look like a water hole. I’m not surprised they changed it. Green makes people think of algae and stagnant water, so I’m guessing it didn’t end up being a popular choice. I’m glad for the blue now. It looked so refreshing!



The pool water was just right, so I think it was heated. I liked how it wasn’t too warm though. You know how some heated pools make you feel like you are even more hot when you come out than when you went in? Well, not this one. Quinn and I enjoyed splashing around and going down the waterslide, while Matt had a drink at the pool bar.



You could see our room from pool. It’s on the on the top left.



After the pool, we decided to head to Fantasia Gardens mini golf. We didn’t want to deal with the buses, because I wasn’t sure how to even get there on a bus! So we figured we’d give the new Minnie Vans a try.


Taking our first Minnie van ride!

We had a very friendly CM driver who seemed surprised at our destination and commented that not many people asked to go there. That must have been true, because we got a regular Lyft ride back and had two drivers get lost trying to find the mini golf place! The first one actually gave up and dropped us, so the app assigned us a second driver. We watched him drive in circles a bit on the Lyft map until he finally found the entrance!

Fantasia gardens is a nice course, and there was practically nobody there when we went! This became a pattern all week with the crowds being less than what we had anticipated. While there was no line to get started for our course, the second, more “serious” course next door had a waiting list. The course never looked crowded, but I heard them announcing parties over a loudspeaker when it was their turn, so it must have a much lower capacity for people.


Just walk right in folks! No line!


I love how the “green” was actually many different colors throughout the course. This hole played music as the ball rolled through the chimes and then down the stairs, which also played notes.

To be continued...

 

[CeruleanMoon]

April 21, 2018...continued​

Fantasia Mini-golf ​

Did I mention our son likes to photobomb people?


Snowflakes and cold? I’ve had enough of that!


So close!


Pan played his flute whenever the ball went in the hole. Behind us were two HUGE empty tents, which I assume are for events or maybe even weddings?


This hole had a cave with some video and sound effects.


There’s the cave from the outside behind Matt.


This was the final hole, where the whirlpool devoured your ball.

Back at the lodge, our Amazon Prime Now groceries had arrived and were being held at bell services. With a quick phone call they brought them up. We had a relaxing night in the room with sandwiches made from our grocery run. I was already thankful for that kitchenette! We planned to have most all our breakfasts in the room, and maybe a extra meal or two here or there.

Coming up next...our first park day at Animal Kingdom!

 

[PrincessP]

What a great start to this long-awaited vacation! I am close to your age. My grandmother lived in a small home in Kissimmee so we always stayed at Days Inn or Holiday Inn when visiting so your pic from 1983 brought back memories. We visited Epcot the year it opened so I remember that futuristic feeling, too. And the jumping fountains are a favorite memory!

I love Quinn’s enthusiasm. He is at the perfect age for this trip!

We visited Fantasia Gardens in 2009 when my son was 6. He looooved the mini golf outing. He got a few holes in one and fellow vacationers were cheering him on. He was so proud.

Great room at AKL. I am sure the kitchenette came in handy. I agree about the theming. We stayed one night at AKL in 2017. My kids loved the bunk bed, and we all enjoyed the theming. That lobby!!! Wow!

Excited to read more...

 

[QueenJen]

Love all the 'throw back' photos. Sounds like you guys are off to a great start. We love AKL and there's nothing wrong with little pool/mini golf time.

He spent every spare moment jotting down a rather dramatic rendition of our trip to the airport.

Would love to hear a bit of his perspective...it's fun to see things from a kids point of view.

Nothing like swimming in the pool while your classmates are suffering in the snow!

Well yeah.

So close!

This pic cracked me up. It look like he just half heartedly swung with one hand.

 

[fallonkendra]

I don't read many reviews of the mini-golf courses at Disney, so thanks for all the pictures! Looks like a great start to your trip!

 

[CeruleanMoon]

What a great start to this long-awaited vacation! I am close to your age. My grandmother lived in a small home in Kissimmee so we always stayed at Days Inn or Holiday Inn when visiting so your pic from 1983 brought back memories. We visited Epcot the year it opened so I remember that futuristic feeling, too. And the jumping fountains are a favorite memory!

Epcot really was amazing in those early years I think. One of my strongest memories was of those jumping fountains too!

I love Quinn’s enthusiasm. He is at the perfect age for this trip!

We visited Fantasia Gardens in 2009 when my son was 6. He looooved the mini golf outing. He got a few holes in one and fellow vacationers were cheering him on. He was so proud.

Great room at AKL. I am sure the kitchenette came in handy. I agree about the theming. We stayed one night at AKL in 2017. My kids loved the bunk bed, and we all enjoyed the theming. That lobby!!! Wow!

Excited to read more...

I know most people say that younger kids ages 3-6 or so are the "ideal" age for Disney, but I think age 10 is a magical age that straddles childhood and teenagerhood rather perfectly. Quinn is old enough now to go on most of the rides and to remember the trip, but still young enough to feel that kid excitement! I was very surprised when he chose mini-golf and the pool over an extra day at one of the parks! I'm kind of glad he did now though, because it ended up being the only chance we got to swim in the pool, and seeing the mini golf course was something different and fun.

Thanks for reading!

 

[CeruleanMoon]

Love all the 'throw back' photos. Sounds like you guys are off to a great start. We love AKL and there's nothing wrong with little pool/mini golf time.

One of the reasons it took me so long to get this trip report ready was because I was determined to hunt down some old photos from my childhood vacations! I had to wait until we visited my parents over the summer, and I scanned dozens of photos into digital. It was really fun reliving those memories.

Would love to hear a bit of his perspective...it's fun to see things from a kids point of view.

Well, if you've ever read Diary of a Wimpy Kid, you'll know that bad and crazy things are always happening to the main character, often in over exaggerated ways. So I think Quinn's version of our trip to the airport had us getting lost in the parking lot (we only only had a little trouble, lol) and running around dramatically as if we were late (which we weren't!) I'll have to ask him what the rest of the journal looks like...

 

[CeruleanMoon]

I don't read many reviews of the mini-golf courses at Disney, so thanks for all the pictures! Looks like a great start to your trip!

Thanks! I don't see many pics of the courses either now that you mention it. Most people probably are too busy going to the parks. We also did Typhoon Lagoon on our week and I almost never see any pics of the water parks.

Hey guys? What's the etiquette on "double posting" here? I figure doing multiple posts in a row for a trip report should be ok, but should I be putting my responses to people all in one post or is doing them separately ok?

 

[CeruleanMoon]

Animal Kingdom - Sunday, April 22, 2018, Earth Day!​

TP crowd prediction: 7
Actual crowd level: 5
Total miles walked: 7.1
Weather: sunny and low 80’s.​

​

Our goal was to avoid the initial mad rush of rope drop and get there shortly after, avoiding Pandora and heading straight to Dinoland. We didn’t get a FP to Flight Of Passage, but chose Navi River instead for that afternoon. I knew that I would never survive such an intense simulation ride with my motion sickness issues, but I still offered to try and get FPs for Matt and Quinn. Oddly enough, they declined! (What’s up with these guys?)

So we hopped on the bus at 8:30am for an official 9am opening and got there maybe 10 mins later.



Did I mention that April 22 was Earth Day as well as the first day of Animal Kingdon’s 20th anniversary celebration? This was predicted to be our busiest crowd day at the parks that week and we weren’t sure what “busy” would feel like for us. Both my husband and I aren’t big fans of crowds. Matt gets anxious and just wants OUT and I get frustrated when I can’t see anything. Thankfully, the park never felt so busy that we were uncomfortable and the day ended up being much less than predicted!

We breezed through security and headed to Dinoland. They still had a rope blocking entry there so I guess that meant that we made rope drop! On the way to Dinoland we passed a huge line that wasn’t part of any attraction, so it took us a minute to puzzle out what it was for. All these people were using their rope drop time to wait in line for a gift shop! I can only assume they were after special 20th anniversary merchandise. Does stuff like that sell out that fast?

At Dinoland, we waited with a small crowd for the rope to drop. I’ll admit I kind of got a kick out of there actually being a real physical rope there. After hearing so much about the famed “rope drop” on the Dis, it was fun to finally get to experience it.


Waiting for rope drop behind a real actual rope!

As soon as the CM moved the rope, some little kid in front of us started yelling, “GO GO GO!” and people started booking it down the path. Lots of people headed left towards Asia, presumably to Expedition Everest. A smaller group of us continued on to Dinoland, apparently the last choice of most rope droppers!

We waltzed right onto Dinosaur. I think you may need to ride a ride more than once before you can get a solid opinion on it. My first time, five years ago, I spent the whole ride in a state of mild terror, expecting something terrible to happen to any moment, like oh, for the ride to suddenly morph into a crazy roller coaster in the dark or something. Hey, all I had to go on was the ride description out front, and that was vague and ominous sounding, filled with warnings about the ride being fast and having drops, so what else could it be other than a roller coaster with dinosaurs?

That’s us in 2013, front row on the right.

Well, second time around I decided that I loved this ride! I would have ridden it again - we even picked up a FP for it at the end of the day - but everyone was so tired we decided to pass. Quinn was nervous about Dinosaur but excited.

I’m still holding on for dear life, but I had a big ‘ole goofy grin on my face the whole ride. Quinn doesn’t look like he’s quite sure what to make of this...I think that family in the back is holding onto their kid so he won’t get snatched up and eaten.

Quinn tells me now that he loved the ride and that he could “name every dinosaur they saw before the narrator did.” Knowing how much Quinn is like a walking encyclopedia, I believe him!

Next up was Primeval Whirl. I had ridden this the last time we visited and decided that it wasn’t something I enjoyed enough to ride again, so Quinn and Matt went on alone. The sign said a 5 minute wait, but I think it may have been less.


Err...is that an old radio and a kitchen timer on the front of the car? Must be one of Doc’s earlier experimental designs before he perfected the the time-travelling DeLorean.


Here they come!

After this, we spotted one of those little automatic photobooths in an out of the way spot near the ride’s exit. Thanks to the Dis, I know that pics from those booths were included as part of Memory Maker, so we went in.


Eh, not the best quality photos but we got a laugh out of it!

Next up, we decided to hop on Triceratop Spin.


I had to grab a photo of this, never thought I’d see a big fat ZERO!


This was a cute ride. I liked the little dinos that popped out from the windows at the top.

From our vantage point high up on this ride, I actually documented something amazing. Ready for it? Here it is:


An empty park. Yup, apparently everyone really does all flock to Pandora.

After we got off this ride we overheard some family debating on how to pronounce “Dinoland.” They couldn’t decide between “Dyno-land” or “Deeno-land.” They finally settled on “Deeno-land.” Huh? I guess next time I’m watching Jurassic Park I’ll make sure to comment on the ferocious “deenosaurs.”

It was time for our first FP, so we headed to Africa for Kilimanjaro Safaris. I was using a homemade touring plan for the first time, care of the Touring Plans app, and so far everything was moving along smooth as butter.


It feels strangely indulgent to walk past everyone else in line when you have a fast pass!

More to come...

 

[CeruleanMoon]

Animal Kingdom continued...​

​

So we went on Kilimanjaro Safaris. And we saw...


Giraffe butt. I guess he wanted to show off his best side.


Our guide pointed out the hidden Mickey here in this little island.

We saw a little elephant that I believe was baby Stella, and also my favorite animals on this ride, the lions. I love how Disney gave them their own “pride rock” to sit around and look majestic on.


Looks like a little elephant..must be baby Stella!

After this ride, we continued down the Gorilla Falls Trail since that was so close. The gorillas themselves are my favorite part of this trail. They are always so expressive and active both times I’ve seen them.

Clever baby gorilla doing a balancing act!

I hear people say sometimes that there isn’t enough to do here, but just the fact that AK is a huge zoo seems like plenty! And for us at least there’s still surprises to be had.


Ah, look at all the pretty fish -- whoa hold on! What is THAT?

I thought I heard someone say that this hippo was still a baby? He sure looked big to us!

After this we started heading towards Flame Tree Barbecue for lunch, and on the way we encountered a huge crowd gathered in the front of the park. There were three photopass photographers there, each taking pics with “Party for the Planet” signs, and another long impromptu line had formed in front of the large 20th anniversary sign. It was a bit chaotic, but people were attempting to take turns in front of the sign. Matt grabbed a quick moment in between people to snap a pic of it.



Later we passed by it again, and there were FIVE CMs in front of the sign, blocking people from taking pictures and enforcing the line, so that only those who waited got a picture.

We decided to make a quick stop ourselves for a photopass pic nearby.


Poor Quinn forgot his sunglasses that day and looks like he’s in pain!

We made it to Flame Tree shortly before noon, and already there was a long line of people waiting to order. They had actually set up zig zagging rope lines like you see see on rides to keep everyone organized, and there was a CM standing at the entrance of the line holding up a sign that said, “enter here.” She was also yelling about the benefits of mobile order, but most people seemed to be ignoring her suggestion since the mobile order line was barely 6 people long. We sat on a nearby wall and casually placed out orders on the app. Ten minutes later it was ready. We had to wait another few minutes in the mobile line for them to get our tray ready but I’m guessing we spent no more than 15 minutes waiting total, and most of that was relaxing on the wall.

I’d been told there was nice seating in the back, and sure enough there was and tons of it. We ended up sharing a table with a group of ladies. They were just sitting there with no food, but I figured they had already eaten and were resting. We casually finished our lunch and just as we were packing up to leave, another woman showed up to join the ladies, carrying a tray of food. That’s when I realized that the entire time we had been eating, that woman had been waiting in line to order and get the food for the rest of the group! Remember, they were there before we even arrived, so who knows how long they had been waiting. I felt grateful and even rather guilty about mobile order then!

Food was awesome. (Sorry, no pics.) It was definitely one of the better CS meals we had on the trip though, so all the the accolades this place gets is deserved.

We stopped in to the store that had had the huge line at the beginning of the day and found it still crowded, and already rather picked over. Today was only the first day of AK 20th anniversary celebration, and there was still 2 more weeks to go. Yet they already appeared to be running out of stock on many items. If the demand is there, then why wouldn’t they have enough items for the full two weeks? Maybe they only restock once in the morning?

I bought this little thermos for myself:


So far I’ve been using it for homemade smoothies.

I also wanted to get Quinn a t-shirt, but wouldn’t you know, I had a heck of a time finding one. I finally settled on one which was a small in an adult size. The store was so chaotic and they only had a few left, so I grabbed it. It wasn’t until I got it home that I realized that it was intended to be a women’s shirt. It had a scoop neckline, scalloped hem and rolled sleeves. Duh! Of course it looked ridiculous on him (the neckline wouldn’t even stay on his shoulders!) I tried it on myself but nope, too small. So now I have this cute t-shirt that no one in our house can wear.


Oh well.

Next, we walked around Asia a bit and then got in the fast pass queue for our next ride, Kali River Rapids! I had bought cheap ponchos for us in preparation for the soaking I’d been warned that we’d get. I thought this ride was really enjoyable, but far too short! It was practically over before it even began, so I’d have a hard time waiting in a long line for this. Funnily enough we barely got wet at all!


Asia fun fact: In spite of its great height, bamboo is not a tree but a kind of grass, the tallest grass in the world!

We visited the Asia trails next. In our local zoo, I always enjoy watching the bats. The bats here are ridiculously huge, but all the vegetation around still made it a little hard to see them. I commented on the large decorative holes in the wall in front of us and how there was basically no cage between you and the bats, and a nearby CM told me that the bats’ wings are too wide to fit through. When I asked if they could crawl through, she said they don’t even have joints in their ankles and can’t crawl around, they can only fly!


Someone let out this poor screaming tree. I think it’s scared.

More trails ahead...

 

[Disney2019]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[CeruleanMoon]

Animal Kingdom continued...
​

I don’t know what the backstory is behind the Maharajah Jungle Trek, but I really love the theming Disney has done here. You really feel like you are walking among an ancient palace ruin and there are little surprises around every corner. It’s the most beautiful of their animal trails in my opinion.


I love the random artwork like this.

We got to see the two baby tigers, but they aren’t babies anymore, more like teenagers. It was after 1 pm and they were still lolling around looking sleepy-eyed. Typical teens.


On the way out we stopped for a break so Quinn could have his very first Mickey pretzel!

Next on the list was It’s Tough to be a Bug! I remember enjoying this show last time, and while Quinn doesn’t recall it now, he was rather frightened by the whole thing. I thought he’d enjoy it much more this time around.

I’d forgotten just how fun this show is! I love that it is not just a 3D show, but that there are good old fashioned animatronics like the grasshopper and the spiders. I can’t decide what part I liked best...just listening to the crowd screaming hysterically every few minutes was pretty awesome. I love the spider part, getting sprayed part, and this time I even got “stung” by a wasp!

After that rousing show, we walked the trail a bit around the Tree of Life, and then decided to head to the Animal Kingdom’s big attraction, Pandora!

No trip report is complete without an obligatory shot of the floating mountains!

I’m not sure what I love best about Pandora. Disney really outdid themselves with the theming here. I suspect they panicked back when Harry Potter was announced and just grabbed up the one IP that was making headlines at the time, because Avatar seems a strange choice now for a themed area. But it’s beautiful and impressive, filled with little details like insect sounds and painted swirls on the ground, which I’m sure sure must glow at night. I wish I could have seen Pandora in the dark, but we’ll have to save that for (hopefully!) another trip.

I love the strange, alien plant life and how they mixed them seamlessly with real plants.

I also love how they weaved a story into Pandora, so you feel like you really are entering an alien culture.


Navi have big feet!

We went on our Navi River fastpass around 2:30pm. Touring plans estimated 20 minutes but we only waited ten at most. We all really enjoyed this ride! Matt was particularly impressed. I love the way Navi feels like a traditional dark ride, yet still includes modern elements without blaring in your face that they are using screens. I hope Disney never forgets their roots and keeps making rides like this one! It was beautiful and magical, and yes the shaman animatronic was amazing. I couldn’t believe how smoothly she moved and just how many moving parts there were! Even her tail twitched! Disney has come such a long way.


The amazing Shaman. Don’t worry, no eyeballs were harmed by flash in the taking of this pic!

At this point, it was around 3pm, and we’d completed everything on our touring plan, which I had initially expected to take us until close to 7 pm! We were already wondering if the crowd estimates were off. I had no idea what a “7” should feel like, but while the park felt busy, it never felt out-of-control busy, so we suspected that it wasn’t turning out to be a 7 afterall.

We explored Pandora and sat around a bit. Our feet were not used to this degree of walking! We looked around for the mech robot guy who was supposed to be walking about, but couldn’t find him anywhere. A CM said just he’d just been out and pointed us to where, but when we got there he was nowhere to be seen.

Not quite the mech guy, but the next best thing.

We also stopped at the Pandora shop. Matt got into the hype about the shoulder banshees, and wanted to get one for Quinn. I knew exactly what was going to happen with this. Quinn would play with it for one afternoon, and then it would end up sitting on a shelf collecting dust somewhere. I know I sound like little miss sunshine with my prediction, but I’ve seen it with other things, and I just knew we’d regret spending 80 bucks on this, so I discouraged the idea.

Then Matt spotted the make your own Avatar doll and he wanted to do that! I gave the same speech. (Even though I thought the dolls were cooler.) Then, way in the back of the store, magic happened. Quinn discovered the banshee stuffed animals! He collects stuffed animals, particularly odd and unusual ones. (He has a dodo bird, an angler fish, and a pangolin, for example.) Well, it was love at fight sight, and so Quinn walked away the proud owner of a new banshee stuffed animal, and for the very reasonable price of $20! Much better!


Quinn took this picture at home since we forgot to take a picture of him at the park. He was using the blocks to prop up the banshee’s wings. I like how it looks like he’s smiling!

Around 4 pm we decided to have dinner a bit early so we dropped into Satuli Canteen. And guess what? I got a food pic this time.


Matt got beef and rice with black bean vinaigrette, I got the chicken with sweet potato hash and creamy herb dressing, and Quinn got the kids’ chicken and rice. Matt didn’t want any slaw or boba balls but I had them on mine. Only two tiny boba balls, unfortunately, but they were really tasty! I only wish I knew what they were!

After dinner, we decided we were beat and that it was time to head out. The one thing I had on my list that we hadn’t done though was to meet King Louie and Baloo. Now, you need to know the backstory on this one. Ever since Quinn was small, the original Jungle Book has been one of his favorite movies. Not just that, but the King Louie song was his ultimate favorite, and he knew every line, and every dance move by heart. He’d watch that scene over and over, dancing and singing along. So when I heard that King Louie could be found at Animal Kingdom, and that he was scheduled to be removed forever as a meet and greet in May, I knew we had to see him.

I had asked on the Dis where to find him, but he turned out to be very hard to locate even with the directions of “by the ticket booths.” We almost missed the spot entirely and were about to give up, when I spotted an out of the way path. We went down it and there was Baloo!

But no King Louie.

We got in line anyway, which was very short, and seconds later King Louie appeared from a door nearby! Jackpot!

Now Matt didn’t really think he’d be into the meet and greets. He had no real interest in characters, but he knew how much this meant to Quinn. Even I wasn’t expecting the transformation that occured when we started getting close to Baloo. Matt got all excited. “It’s Baloo and King Louie! Quinn’s really going to meet them!” I swear he actually started getting teary-eyed. Then it was our turn and Matt jumped out there, crying, “Baloo!” and gave him a big hug. I think he even sounded choked up.


No kidding. There really is magic here folks.

I told King Louie just how much this meeting him meant to Quinn and he covered his mouth in shock and looked very happy. Now I’m sure all the characters act thrilled when you tell them you love them, but I’m also going to guess that maybe King Louie isn’t one of the more popular characters.


Quinn dancing with King Louie. Does Quinn look happy or what?


Truly a magical ending to a magical day.

We all agreed that we had probably used up all our good luck on day one (how could this day possibly get any better?) and that surely no other park day would be able to beat this one. Other than missing the mech guy, everything went right on our Animal Kingdom day!

 

[DisneyMichele]

​

View attachment 356300
Quinn dancing with King Louie. Does Quinn look happy or what?

View attachment 356301
Truly a magical ending to a magical day.

True Disney magic! So special he got to meet them!

 

[heaven2dc]

Loving your TR! How fun that Quinn got to meet King Louie (loved Matt's excitement too!). The smiles on your faces says it all Perfect AK day!

 

[CeruleanMoon]

True Disney magic! So special he got to meet them!

Loving your TR! How fun that Quinn got to meet King Louie (loved Matt's excitement too!). The smiles on your faces says it all Perfect AK day!

Quinn's at the age now where he knows the characters aren't real, but just seeing King Louie and Baloo like that, all larger than life, is still special. I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying meeting characters this trip too!

 

[SweetSerenity]

Gosh, I love your report! Where to start?

I love your nostalgic pictures. We don't have children yet to share the magic with, but I remember the first time I took my husband back in 2008 with my mom and grandmother. I was about 5 or 6 when my mom took me to Disney for the first time back in 1990 or 1991. I don't remember everything, but the moment I remember the most was walking down the hot streets of MGM Studios holding my mom's hand with one hand and my grandmother's with the other. My eyes were closed, but I was so happy to be there with Mickey and Minnie. We didn't stay on site back then nor did we eat on property, but it was still so magical.

Maybe that family was thinking about Dino from The Flinstones so they called it Deeno-land for Dino?

AKL is just gorgeous, isn't it? It's like being immersed into a whole new world. I love it there.

Quinn is adorable. I love how happy he is meeting the characters and having fun. You see so many meltdowns at Disney that it's nice to see kids who genuinely have a good time.

We are going to try mobile ordering for the first time. No reason to stand in line if you don't have to! We are Flame Tree fans as well.

Can't wait for more.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

Maybe that family was thinking about Dino from The Flinstones so they called it Deeno-land for Dino

That's an interesting possibility!

Quinn is adorable. I love how happy he is meeting the characters and having fun. You see so many meltdowns at Disney that it's nice to see kids who genuinely have a good time.

He still talks about the trip and how much fun it was. He can't wait to go back someday and so can't I!

We are going to try mobile ordering for the first time. No reason to stand in line if you don't have to! We are Flame Tree fans as well.

Can't wait for more.

We were there at a pretty good crowd time, so I don't know if mobile order is always that good. But several times we just waltzed on past long lines of people to pick up our orders. It was awesome. No wait. It was terrible, don't anybody ever do it!

I'm glad you enjoyed the report so far!