A “Food and Non-Alcoholic Drink” Festival For Me! Aug. 30-Sept. 6, 2017! *COMPLETED 10/1/17*

[Capang]

I LOVE the party pics! I've never been but will be there Friday the 13th. The 7 dwarves meet looks really fun!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I LOVE the party pics! I've never been but will be there Friday the 13th. The 7 dwarves meet looks really fun!

Well, that is definitely a scary date to go! Have fun!

 

[lucas]

Love the detailed report! It was fun spending time with you at the party. We all did get pretty soaked at that one point! Ha ha!

(Please don't be sorry about the parade! Ever! I know you felt bad about the timing being off, but we had ourselves a great time. Perfect in our eyes!)

I love the picture of you and the Seven Dwarfs! Definitely worth the wait. That one is a real keeper!

 

[rteetz]

What an awesome day in the Magic Kingdom! That is so cool that you got that magical moment! Only magical moment I have gotten is like a free soda or snack or something. I have never gotten a Fastpass.

 

[TNGirlwCamera]

Enjoying your pictures! Also your Food and Wine and Halloween Party experience. We are doing both, new to us, in two weeks!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Love the detailed report! It was fun spending time with you at the party. We all did get pretty soaked at that one point! Ha ha!

(Please don't be sorry about the parade! Ever! I know you felt bad about the timing being off, but we had ourselves a great time. Perfect in our eyes!)

I love the picture of you and the Seven Dwarfs! Definitely worth the wait. That one is a real keeper!

That picture definitely is!...Ok. I won't be sorry anymore lol.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

What an awesome day in the Magic Kingdom! That is so cool that you got that magical moment! Only magical moment I have gotten is like a free soda or snack or something. I have never gotten a Fastpass.

It was a long day, but it was great. It had been a while since I had spent most of an entire day in the Magic Kingdom without hopping to/from another park...I have gotten the drink/snack one before. I think this was the 2nd or 3rd time I had gotten a fastpass. But yeah, magical moments are rare.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Enjoying your pictures! Also your Food and Wine and Halloween Party experience. We are doing both, new to us, in two weeks!

Glad you are joining in and enjoying my report! Keep an eye out for some more Food & Wine updates in the future.

Also, have fun! Food and Wine and the Halloween Party are definitely two great reasons to go to Walt Disney World this time of the year.

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

I am enjoying your report. Your pictures are great.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I am enjoying your report. Your pictures are great.

Thank you! I'm happy that you're joining in!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Day 4: Animal Kingdom - Part 1!​

Welcome to day 4 of my vacation! On this day, my Dad and I would make our way over to my favorite theme park at Walt Disney World, Animal Kingdom!

This day started rather interesting. I would wake up for a 2nd day in a row later than I was wanting to. I didn’t have fastpasses for Flight of Passage or Na’vi River Journey on this trip, so I knew I would either have to show up to the park when it opened or wait a couple hours. So, I would decide to take Lyft again and this time to Animal Kingdom. This drop off would end up being a lot better than where they dropped me off for the Magic Kingdom the day before.

On this morning at Animal Kingdom, it was Extra Magic Hours. If you want to know how popular Pandora is right now, here is the crowd after I entered Animal Kingdom just to get in for Extra Magic Hours. I was waiting right in front of the main entrance to the park. This was all Resort guests. Non-Resort guests were told to go down the other pathway.





When the park opened for Extra Magic Hours, everyone was heading for Pandora. So, that’s where I was heading. As everyone was walking, I began hearing Cast Members say something that made me a little nervous. That was, “Both Pandora attractions are currently closed. We do not know when we will open. We recommend going and experiencing the rest of Animal Kingdom at this time.” Well, that didn’t stop a lot of people as I would get in line for Flight of Passage. I would also be waiting in the Africa exit to Pandora.



Well, the whole hour went by and Animal Kingdom opened. At this time, the Pandora rides still hadn’t opened. We also began to hear cast members saying that we are “not in a line.” I found that rather confusing because we were in a line. I think the cast members were not allowed to say we were in a line due to safety reasons.

Another hour would go by, and I had moved up a bit as people were starting to leave the line. Cast Members still would go up and down the path saying that this is not a line and that they still didn’t know when they would open. At this point though, there was a mob that had formed in front of the attraction when EMH started. That mob was then told an hour and a half into the park being opened that they would not be allowed to stay there and to go to the “line” that had formed in the Africa exit.

Picture of the mob:


At this point, it was really starting to be a game for me and those of us around me in line to just stay and wait. We had already waited 2 1/2 hours in the hot and humid sun. At this point, we would also have a CM come up to our area, but instead of the Cast Member repeating the same thing over and over, we started to repeat what there announcement had been for the last couple hours. The CM would then say to us, “Thank you for not having me repeat that.” She would then literally stand there and talk to us for the next 20 minutes. Because of this, I would later go to guest services and fill out a Cast Member Recognition Form.

Another hour would go by, and we would finally get some good news. At 11:45 a.m, the Pandora attractions were finally opening. At this point, I was about 10th in line due to the amount of people that decided to not wait any longer throughout the morning. So, after 4 hours of standing in line, I would make my way onto the attraction around noon.





If you ever enter the A or B ride loading rooms, make sure you check out this detail in the exit after the ride. There are 3 handprints on the wall with JC, JD, and JR on the wall. These are the handprints of James Cameron, John Landau, and Joe Rohde. You won’t see this if you go into the C or D loading rooms.



So, my day at Animal kingdom began at 11:45 a.m. even if I had been in the park since 8 a.m.

My Dad would then join me since he came to the park later, and we would get lunch at Satu’li Canteen. I really like this quick service, and it has turned into one of my favorite quick service restaurants on property. I would get the beef, rice, and the onion chimichurri sauce.



I was really grateful Flight of Passage opened since my fastpasses for the day were quickly approaching. We would then make our way to our first fastpass!

The Tree of Life in Animal Kingdom is one of my favorite Disney Theme Park icons to look at. Everytime I look at it, I always notice a new detail.



So, it’s Florida and it is hot. What better way to cool off than by having a fastpass for Kali River Rapids.



I really like the detail in this queue.



After a ride on Kali River Rapids, I would make my way to one of my favorite attractions at Walt Disney World. That would be Expedition Everest. I would also have a fastpass for this attraction and would eventually ride it twice since my Dad didn’t want to use his fastpass for it.





Up next would be our final pre-planned fastpass of the day. That would be seeing my favorite show on Walt Disney World property, the Festival of the Lion King!



When you are in the fastpass line, you might notice this plaque. Now, most people might not realize that the date on this plaque of 22.04.98 references the opening date of Disney’s Animal Kingdom which was April 22, 1998.



I really love this show!



My Dad and I would then have some time before we had our dinner reservation, so we made our way to the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail to see some animals. We would come across Timon on a rock! I mean a meerkat. We also hit this part of the trail at the right time since the meerkats would be getting fed soon. Meerkats are actually one of my favorite animals.







We would also get a great view of the gorillas before heading to dinner!



We were off to our dinner reservation at Tiffins! This was also a great time to eat since the rain was beginning to come down.

Part 2 of my day in Animal Kingdom will be uploaded tomorrow!

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

So, my day at Animal kingdom began at 11:45 a.m. even if I had been in the park since 8 a.m.

Yikes. I don't know why these attractions would be closed for soooo long! That seems pretty ridiculous. Usually, when I've been to amusement parks, they can get rides up and running in an hour or two. You are far more patient than I would have been. I'm pretty sure I would have given up on getting to experience the Pandora attractions. But it seems like good planning for you that your fastpasses for the day weren't scheduled until later anyway!

Satuli Canteen always looks so good in pictures. I'm re-thinking my decision to have Flametree on my AK day on my upcoming trip...

 

[Capang]

Satuli is delicious! I never knew that about the handprints. That's pretty cool!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Yikes. I don't know why these attractions would be closed for soooo long! That seems pretty ridiculous. Usually, when I've been to amusement parks, they can get rides up and running in an hour or two. You are far more patient than I would have been. I'm pretty sure I would have given up on getting to experience the Pandora attractions. But it seems like good planning for you that your fastpasses for the day weren't scheduled until later anyway!

Satuli Canteen always looks so good in pictures. I'm re-thinking my decision to have Flametree on my AK day on my upcoming trip...

It definitely was a crazy morning. For me, this was my 6th trip in a year. I've done everything several times so in many ways, I just like being in the parks. I don't need to experience everything, and I don't get upset if something is closed. I was also raised going to Disneyland 3 times a week where wait times can get pretty long on any day of the week. I remember I have waited 3 hours for a special version of Space Mountain at Disneyland before. I'm just used to waiting in lines and I just spark conversations with people around me. It helps pass the time, and it honestly didn't even feel like 4 hours.

Also, about the Pandora attractions being closed...The night before there was a really bad storm that rolled through in the late evening. It actually shook our room at All-Star Music a couple times. When we arrived that morning, the rumor going around was that the building the rides are in got struck by lightning. All we heard was it was an "emergency" technical issue. None of the Pandora Cast Members were even allowed in the building so they were stuck outside with all of us as well. It was definitely a crazy morning. Of course, Disney will never say what is wrong with an attraction.

I wouldn't go to Flametree even though I personally have never tried it. I really recommend Satu'li. To me, if you want something that is good and on the healthier side, Satu'li is a great place to eat for quick service. I also live in Kansas City so it is really hard for me to eat barbecue anywhere else in the world lol. It is your vacation, but Satu'li has become a must-do whenever I go to WDW since it opened.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Satuli is delicious! I never knew that about the handprints. That's pretty cool!

Yes it is! I never noticed the handprints either until the CM that talked to us in the FoP line for 20 minutes pointed it out. So, when I knew what loading area I was going in, I knew to look for it.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Day 4: Animal Kingdom - Part 2!​

We would arrive at Tiffins in time before the heavy rain started to come down.



I really like the room we were sat in. I can’t remember the name of the room, but I really like the decorations that were on the wall and throughout the dining room.





My Dad and I would be getting the Rivers of Light Dining Package which included an appetizer, entree, dessert, and a non-alcoholic beverage. We would also be given bread.

The bread definitely had an interesting taste with the olive oil and vinegar given on the side.



I would order the soup. I honestly can’t remember the name, but it’s the only soup on the menu. They also changed the soup from the last time I was here. So, I really thought this soup had a very tangy taste. I thought it was good, but not as good as the last soup they had.



For my entree, I would order the scallops. I got the scallops last time, and I thought they were delicious. This time around, I still thought they were good, but I began to think if I would spend $35 for this scallops dish. I don’t know if I would. If I want to spend that kind of money, I would spend an extra $10 and get the scallops at the Flying Fish Restaurant at the Boardwalk. I only say that, because there isn’t a lot offered on the plate besides the scallops.



For dessert, I got the South American Chocolate Ganache (not pictured). This dessert is really good, and it has been the only dessert I have gotten during several trips to this restaurant.

Tiffins is still one of my favorite restaurants on property, but it is definitely for the adventurous type.

After a great dinner, the rain was really falling so we would go into the shops. I would also use this time to go to guest services and fill out the Cast Member Recognition Form.

We would then make our way to behind Flametree Barbecue and find a place to sit down. This was a nice area to escape the crowd that was in Animal Kingdom. There wasn’t a lot of people due to the rain, but it was a very peaceful area. It was also nice since I got to see Disney get ready for Rivers of Light.





While it was still raining, we decided to go on Kilimanjaro Safaris. I also learned that Kilimanjaro Safaris is one of the only outdoor attractions that will run in rain and lightning. This attractions will only close if flooding along the driving route takes place.















After riding Kilimanjaro Safaris, we made our way to ride Dinosaur. We were able to get a 4th fastpass for this attraction earlier in the day. It also worked out since the queue was longer than normal due to the rain.





Afterwards, we would make our way to the Rivers of Light seating area. We did have some good news that the rain began to stop.

Eventually, the lotus flowers would come out on the water.



I really like the pre-show of this show. The lotus flowers sail in a circle, you see projections on the trees on the other side of the lake, and I really like the pre-show music.

The show would finally begin!

















I find Rivers of Light to be a great show. It is definitely not on the scale of World of Color at DCA, but I really enjoy the soundtrack. I also feel like this show is a great fit for Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

After a great show, I would go to Pandora to see it at night, as well as, ride Flight of Passage again.







I have said before that I wasn’t as impressed with Pandora at night. However, this time around, I really began to get it. It really is a different experience in the evening. I still prefer to see it in the day, but definitely give nighttime in Pandora a try as well. If you want a shorter wait for Flight of Passage, get in line closer to park closing as well.

I would then make my way to the bus stop, and take a bus back to All-Star Music. My Dad and I would be heading to EPCOT the next day to experience more of the Food & Wine Festival!

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

I really like the room we were sat in. I can’t remember the name of the room, but I really like the decorations that were on the wall and throughout the dining room.

I love that wall decor! Great picture.

If you want a shorter wait for Flight of Passage, get in line closer to park closing as well.

How long did you end up having to wait at the end of the day?

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

How long did you end up having to wait at the end of the day?

About 45 minutes.

 

[wnwardii]

because there isn’t a lot offered on the plate besides the scallops.

I know what you mean. When I ate at Tiffins, I ordered the duo of venison. In looking at the picture I have, the venison was literally on less than 1/4th of the circular plate. The rest of the plate was empty. I am all for "presentation", but this is going a little extreme in my opinion.

 

[lucas]

You have so much patience when it comes to waiting in line!