Are fireworks the best from the Skyliner?! An April 24 Trip Report - updated 5/08

[blabbermouth]

Hi everyone, welcome to our trip report! I haven't written one in many years, but I feel like now is the time to write again! I did medium-ok with taking pictures, I forgot quite a few food pics, but between my husband and I the google photo album has 522 photos so I think that will be enough to get us through a full trip report. We had a really really very good trip: we went hard at the beginning, and started sleeping in more towards the end and only had one morning that didn't go quite to my original plan. My 6 year old loves the podcast Ropedrop & Parkhop, so she was a bit disappointed we were never quite able to ropedrop, but we got to the parks early most days and found that we could accomplish a lot anyway and we did a lot of park hopping.

Dates and weather (I am old, nearly 40, weather is a talking point): We were there from April 19-26, with 6 day parkhoppers. We come from the west coast of Canada so it is a long day of travel each way to get to WDW and the time change was not in our favour. (Sorry for the Canadian spellings throughout, eh?) The first two park days (Sat and Sun) were super hot and not too busy, then Monday was cold enough DH had to buy a spirit jersey to make it through Fantasmic! The rest of the week was wavered between a bit too cold for us adults to swim and just warm enough to swim. This is a very technical measurement of temperature, right? I get confused going between C and F, so I just don't even try anymore. No matter what it was amazing to get away from chilly, drizzly PNW weather.

Hotel: We stayed at Pop, standard room, #7127. Will talk more about that later. DH and I have stayed there twice before (over ten years ago) and I have stayed at AoA once with my sister when we ran the Princess Half in 2015. We have been to DL twice with our DD as well, this was her first time to WDW. She knew about it for quite a few months and was super excited for the trip, enjoying watching some youtube videos and planning with me. She was most excited for: Slinky Dog Dash.

Here we are (one of very few family photos we took........) with one of our favourite rides in the background:


Ok, that sums up the intro, I'll put the travel day in the next post right away, and maybe get through Day 1 Part 1 as well. We got home after midnight PST (3am EST) last night so today is mostly a stay at home and relax day, although DD did get up and was ready for gymnastics this morning so we took her there and grabbed groceries while she was there. Plus we also had to pick up our dog! Gratuitous dog pic below, plus a bonus of her with her brother who was babysitting her while we were gone:

 

[blabbermouth]

April 19. travel day and arrival

We live in Victoria, BC, so we always have to fly with a connection, this time it seemed the best times and prices were with Westjet connecting in Calgary, AB (way way better than a Vancouver, BC connection!). Unfortunately we either had to leave super early or arrive super late. My theory is the earlier we leave the earlier we get there! And then maybe we'd be tired at a somewhat normal EST time. Thankfully our airport is small so arriving at 4:45 for a 5:45 flight was no problem and we had time to grab a coffee and cookie for breakfast. We could have got there later, but we were checking one large checked bag and just bringing a backpack each so we had to get there before the cut off time for bag drop!

I was quite pleased the 3 of us managed to pack in one checked bag, packing cubes for the win! Then we just took what we needed on the plane in an underseat backpack (since the overhead gets so full these days and sometimes you have to put your bag in an inconvenient section). We had a fairly short 1 1/2 hour layover so I wanted to be able to grab our carryons and get off asap if there were any delays.

Ok, for the sake of not blabbering on for too long without photos, the flights went great, both were slightly delayed, but made up time in the air and landed on time. DD was living her best life ordering pop and pretzels and watching lots of Bluey and Is It Cake? on the tablet that DH downloaded for her.



This flight was only an hour and a bit. The short layover was fine, we wandered and grabbed some yogurt and granola and some tall cans of Bubbly for the next leg. Plus a few super Canadian photo ops.



The next leg from YYC to MCO is a 5 hour flight. I think we all closed our eyes or napped for a while and we landed on time, or even early I think at 4:50pm EST. We were taking Magical Expr... oops, MEARS. Old habit.

It is a long walk from where you get your bags to the Mears desk! We got our bags at 5:15 and were on the bus at 5:45. It all felt like a long wait and drive after the long flight, but we arrived at Pop at 6:45 after stopping at Caribbean Beach first. DD made a friend in the line so they sat together on the bus and shared some snacks, which was nice as she was entertained!

We finally got our room assignment in the app at 5:50pm, I am glad we weren't there at 4, I would have been annoyed at the late check in. I was immediately disappointed (it had been a long day, ok?) that we were in building 7 aka middle of nowhere and a 1st floor room.



We had been in the 50s section the two other times we stayed at Pop and it was perfect I thought so I requested it again. I had to decide if I wanted to suck it up and check it out or try for a room change. I knew the resort was pretty close to fully booked from my searching for rooms a few weeks before, so I wasn't hopeful, but since the bus let us out at the main building anyway we went in to ask. No luck, they were fully booked, so we basically had to suck it up! We walked out the back towards the Petals pool and walked through the 70s section to our room (this is the long way, and we never went that way again).



If we were going to the bus we'd walk "through the parking lot" not quite, but through the middle of the 90s building and around the front of the building. If we were going to the food court we'd walk through the 90s building and around the curvy path of the 70s building past the playground. DD never got a chance to play here, but we did check out a different playground on our last day! Plus a couple visits to the Boneyard in AK.

To go to the Skyliner we'd follow the path along the water unless we were stopping at Petals Pool Bar on the way back to our room ... oh, or to fill our water bottle, right, that too. This worked out well, I brough a small/medium sized water bottle so we filled it a lot at the food court and in the parks at the quick service. Only yucky water was at MK, everything else was perfectly palatable. And as we learned in Canada at Epcot on Earth Day (Apr 22), Canada has 7% of the world's renewable fresh water supply! So we might be a bit picky. This fact my daughter had already learned this year in Grade 1, there was a ton of applicable learning in both Epcot and AK for her

The room turned out to be ok. It was still far away from everything. However, it was quiet, only ever heard toilets flushing (WHY does Disney have the loudest hotel toilets ever?!) and our neighbours in 7126 had pixie dust stickers and candy on their door (thank you!). I am just realizing now my daughter ate candy from a Disney-stranger, but eh, she is still here so I guess it was ok.

View from the room, better than a parking lot! It came with a lot of chipmunk visitors which DD liked. "Chippie" they were all called. Are the chipmunks or squirrels? Does anyone know? I feel like they looked more squirrely, but DD called them chipmunks so we went with it!



After a quick unpack we headed over to Everything Pop for spray sunscreen and dinner. I had the grilled chicken burger with mozzarella and a side of fries, it was pretty good, but the bun was a tad soggy. DD had the pulled pork sandwich with fries, he actually found this quite good but soggy bun again. DD was a bit "over it" at this point, but ate a piece of chicken strip and some fries and liked the chocolate milk!

I grabbed a Pina CoLAVA (Pop pool bar must have) and we took a look at the main pool as well as the computer pool and headed back to the room. We all showered (DH's latest idea for not getting sick on trips, shower after plane/travel days especially) and finished unpacking. DD explored the "Hey Disney!" and played some trivia and we caught a bit of Coco on the tv. We managed to fall asleep at a reasonable-ish time considering the time change, but none of us slept great this night.

Pop room review in general - it used to feel bigger with the old layout or maybe we were 10+ years younger and less discerning. It was squishy with the bed down if anyone was standing at the dresser, no one else could get past. However, everything was super clean and comfy. The bathroom space was well laid out, two people could stand in front of the sink at the same time and the mirror lighting was very flattering!!! (Important feature, haha). I like the H2O bath products, they work fine for my hair and skin. And I found the room coffee to be pleasant enough tasting warm beverage when I'm rushing out of the room in the morning.

Next up: Day 1 Part 1, we go hard in MK!

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Following

 

[blabbermouth]

April 20 - Day 1, Part 1

This morning I set my alarm for 6:30 with the intention of making it out the door in half an hour to get to MK for early entry at 7:30. I also bought Genie+ multipark ($29). At 7 I booked our first lightning lane for Big Thunder at 8:10am.

We ended up at the bus stop at Pop by 7:28 and walked right onto a Magic Kingdom bus. The first pic I have is in front of the ferry dock at 7:48, so we did make good time. Pic to send to my dad "Gramps" to show him the fishing boat in the background!



We had the Canadian ticket deal so had to pop by the ticket window to show our ID and she also gave us park tickets. Up to this point we were just using our phones (magic mobile) to open our door and charge to our room. This was super quick, with no line!

From there we walked with purpose and stopped for one quick photo of DD.





A few seconds after this we saw the fireworks go up and the park was officially open (8am). I had seen pics of the line at EE for Seven Dwarves and I knew we really wanted to ride it, but it looked SO packed and also it was SO early, so I decided to buy an ILL for it, but kind of forgot for a bit. Entering between 7:30 and 8 was actually quite nice, quick and peaceful, still quite quiet! It had been the 10k (?) that morning so I think that helped the morning crowds a bit. As we went to the bus we saw racers coming back to their rooms from the shuttle.



We wanted to ride Big Thunder, but also decided to ride Jungle Cruise on our way by because I know how busy it gets at MK (vs. Disneyland which isn't that crazy). So this was a walk on and we had a great skipper whose name I tried to remember, but of course didn't write down.



"So glad we finally got to see the baby elephant everyone has been talking about!" I text my sister with this photo, harharhar.



From there we went to the back of the park for our BTMRR LL at 8:40. And in line I booked a LL for Haunted Mansion while we were in that area. BTMRR was great, as always, a family favourite.

From there we went over and rode Pirates, my DD's first time since it was down when we went to DL in 2022. She liked it! She had no fear this trip which was great, there was only ONE ride she didn't like - any guesses?

Then we went to our Haunted Mansion LL, and we were off by 9! Pretty pleased with 4 rides in the first hour in the park. From there I took us in an awkward detour towards breakfast, I have no idea why I thought "Sleepy Hollow" belonged in Fantasyland, I think I was thinking it was Storybook something? Anyway, we did get to take a nice pit stop at the Tangled washrooms...



DD and I did some Cinderella inspired twinning this day. Forgive me for looking tired in all of my photos, I was! Well I felt great, but my face was tired lol.

We back tracked to Liberty Square and got the very amazing Nutella and Fruit Waffle Sandwiches and DD enjoyed her plain Mickey Waffle with powdered sugar.





Terrible shady food pic action pic above. The only table was of course in the sun and it was really heating up already by 9:30am! But the food was worth it. This was the only time we got QS water that was kind of gross, but it did the trick for the morning. From there we were refreshed and went over to our next LL on Space! Photo was taken exactly at 10am.



This was a ride I was a bit nervous that DD might be scared of, but it turns out she loved it! I kept checking on her by putting my hand on her shoulder and she kept brushing it off and saying "Mom, I'm fine!!!"

Around 9 I had bought a 7 Dwarves ILL for $12 each. So we headed there next.

Continued in next post...

 

[blabbermouth]

Day 1, Part 2, more MK

We headed over to 7D. DD really liked this one, I think it's cute, but too short. I'd really prefer if it was Genie+ of course, since I neither think it's worth paying for nor waiting an hour for, however as I mentioned earlier I also didn't really want to be in the sea of humanity that is rope drop EE for it either! So I shouldn't be so picky.

It was starting to get hot and we were already getting a bit tired, but wanted to knock off a few more things before leaving the park! After Space I had booked a pretty quick return time to meet Cinderella. I knew DD wanted to meet some characters and also that we were going to be heading out of the park soon, so this was a good option.

On our way there we rode Tea Cups (walk on), I love the theming here with the lanterns, especially at night, and also that it's covered/shaded.



And then DD and I rode Dumbo (walk on) while DH had a coke and relaxed.



You can tell how clear the day was and that it was getting hot already at 10:45.

We headed over to our Cinderella LL next, it was a cute interaction, and the other princess was Elena of Avalor.



We went into the store next door and DD used her savings to buy a necklace and the Wish ears (at 40% off, good deal!) with some money she had earned from a garage sale the weekend before we left. She then asked if she could get an Aurora ice cream cone she saw when we took our accidental detour through Fantasyland looking for waffles earlier. it's fun now that she can read she can just notice or pick up on things all on her own! For better or worse. Anyway, it was obviously way too big for her to eat, but she enjoyed it, strawberry dole whip flavour. And you can see her ears and necklace here!



While we were waiting for Cinderella before I booked our next lightning lane for Epcot knowing we wanted to go there that evening. My plan was to knock out one of the big three rides there and then not need Genie+ for our Epcot morning and save a bit of cash there. So I booked Frozen Ever After for 8pm.

DH's request was Enchanted Tiki Room and regular dole whip so we headed across the park "on the way out".

We happened across the Character Cavalcade in the hub which was cute and I didn't even know existed! I originally thought there would be a full parade at noon this day and had booked Tony's Town Square hoping for a seat on the patio, but I cancelled that once I realized there would only be a 3pm parade which we unfortunately never got the chance to see.

The cavalcade is a real smorgasbord of characters!!!







We went into adventureland. Tiki Room always seems like a big Dad show, all the dads in the room are singing along, haha. My fave is the singing flowers.



DD wanted to ride Aladdin's carpets, but she ended up ditching the plan after Tiki Room in favour of going back to the hotel for some pool time! So we headed out of the park (it was very hot and sunny by this point) and walked onto a bus at 12:30. We rode ten rides in four and a half hours, had one meal and snacks.

I forgot to mention that this morning DH had secured us a Tron LL, I think it was group 53 with an estimated return time of 11:40-ish. At that time we headed over that way, but knowing DD was too short to ride and we were all getting a bit burnt out we wanted to know the process for rider swap and also how long the VQ line was going to be. the CM said it was 45-1 hr and so one parent would use that line and then the next parent could use the LL. At this time we decided to just skip it since that would be another 1 - 1.5 hours of time that just wasn't going to feel worth it. We will save it for next time when DD is tall enough to ride (and wait with us!). We also considered riding Peoplemover on our way past, but the line was actually snaking quite a bit and in the sun, so we also walked by that one!

We were back at Pop quickly, went into the food court for some Greek Salads with chicken, a couple beer and a small lunch for DD of yogurt with blueberries and cookies and an apple juice. She also had her apple slices from her kids meal the night before. I guess she wasn't super hungry after the big dole whip cone! The salads were actually quite good, very fresh tasting and a big variety of toppings (chickpeas and pepperoncini!)

We swam and relaxed for a few hours to be fresh for Epcot that night!

 

[blabbermouth]

Day 1 - Part 3 - Epcot

We had a decent break, left the room refreshed at 4pm and hopped onto the skyliner for the first time! This is such an awesome addition and the fact they brought it to a value is so amazing, nearly can't believe they'd do that for "us"

We found our way down the path along Hourglass Lake, DH made DD pose by this sign...


She had an outfit change, wanted to wear a flower shirt for flower & garden.

We saw a crane... heron? Once again my animal ID skills are terrible.


This was the most exciting animal we saw in "the wild" this trip.

And by 4:10 we were flying along



We arrived at Epcot and it was HOT and BUSY (Saturday night, we should have known better), and DD was not having fun yet, so we went in search of a slushy drink (...for her....... riiiiight).

The first place we found that didn't have a massive line like Les Vin de France (don't worry, grey goose citron slush does happen!) was La Isla Fresca near Morocco. DD got the Tropical Slush: lemonade, grapefruit and simple syrup. She found it too sour, unfortunately. DH and I got the Tropical Breeze, same as above + Don Q Limon Rum. We both liked it, it certainly wasn't sweet! So if you hate sweet drinks this one is for you. I personally love grapefruit flavours so it was just right for me. It wasn't huge, but it was plenty refreshing and DH and I topped ours up with DDs leftovers as we drank.



DH was feeling generous, and we wanted DD to perk up a bit, so we stopped at the Morocco booth to get her a sprite, and we got the Frozen Mint Tea at Oasis Sweets and Sips (non-alc this time). DD actually really liked the mint tea, go figure, and I think it cooled us all down to a reasonable level.

We walked through the small Morocco store, it's too bad the pavilion is under such extensive renovation, it was so beautiful (ten + years ago). I took a pic of some glasses I thought I might come back and buy myself.



After this we browsed around Mitsukoshi, we bought DD a fan and they wrote her name on it I think it made an appearance in our family photo in my first post! She wanted a plastic spray fan thingee, but I talked her into a human power fan instead as it'd make a better souvenir and was actually quite effective at cooling us off!

At this point we were a bit loose on plans, but we had to be back to Japan at 6:20 for a Shiki Sai reservation. You can tell it was hot and busy because I have no photos of the next bit, but I know we got a Limoncello Spritz (prosecco, limoncello and cherry), borrowed a photo from disney food blog:



And DD found Kidcot for the first time in Germany while we were browsing there! We relaxed in the AC and let her colour for a bit and calm down. Nessa I think was the person running the station and she was so lovely, a standout CM for sure, very friendly and chatty with DD. Kidcot was great for DD, it was a goal "collect them all" as well as a calm spot for her to do something she loves and there was usually pin trading there too! And while there we saw the yodeling beer steins. <Did you know that existed? I didn't!!

We headed back and checked in a bit early for Shiki Sai, but were seated right at our reservation time, 6:20, at an AMAZING table. We had some decent luck with tables on this trip (which I feel is unusual for me).

...continued in next post due to photo limit...

 

[blabbermouth]

Day 1 - Part 4 - Shiki Sai and fireworks
Ok, so back to our amazing view:



We had a great server. I had the violet sake, it was good, but didn't blow my mind, but it was also the first time I've had sake! And DH had a Toki Highball with suntori whiskey, soda and yuzu juice. He liked it as well.


DD ordered miso soup and the snow crab california roll. I was nervous ordering her an $18 dollar roll (!!!!!!!) but she loooooved it. Said it was the best cali roll she's ever had!



Miso soup was good too and she was stoked on the chopsticks they gave her set up with an elastic. It made it SO EASY for her to use which added to the enjoyment for her. We all shared an order of edamame which she also thought was amazing and I don't think she had ever had before! I told her they were like snap peas, which seemed to convince her to try them. I didn't mention earlier when we were entering Epcot we were all a bit hungry, and we considered a snack before our dinner but we were too freakin hot to want to actually eat anything, so I think she was very hungry by this point.

DH and I shared three rolls, in order:
Spicy Crunch Roll - Spicy tuna and avocado, topped with smelt roe, tempura crunch and volcano sauce. This was my favourite! Everything came together in a perfect bite, the micro greens were an amazing addition to make it taste even fresher. All of the rolls had some of the best texture of sushi rice I've ever had!

Golden Philadelphia Roll - tempura fried and topped with salmon roe, eel sauce and spicy mayo. This one was more for DH, I don't care for cream cheese rolls!

Tokyo Negi Roll - Green onion tempura rolled with tuna tataki and topped with jalapeño aïoli, shredded carrot, and sliced jalapeño. So good and fresh tasting.





This was a great meal. It was a very peaceful setting which was a nice break from the busy park! We really liked some quiet down time at a table service meal each night, QS was often too hectic for us. The total for this was around $150, a tie for most expensive meal we had, and we felt it was worth it (as far as Disney dollars go).

From here we had to make our way over to Norway to ride Frozen Ever After at 8 with a LL, all part of my plan for the Epcot morning scheduled for Monday. We walked fairly quickly at this point, hitting a few sights we hadn't seen on our walk earlier. DH went into the store to buy the Geir cologne that he also bought 12 years ago, haha. DD did the Kidcot here.


We had a bathroom break and then rode FEA as soon as we were 5 mins out from our return time. This is a cute ride, but I can't believe how much busier it is than the old Viking ride was! Worth it with a LL. From there we continued counter clockwise with the plan to watch Luminous from the bridge between UK and France. We did a fairly quick walk as I wanted to be sure we could get a good view. Once we staked out a spot, I went over to UK for a Bombardier Amber beer for DH and I to split while we wait. Good beer!

This show was just OK to me. I remember liking Illuminations back in the day. This just didn't really resonate with me, maybe it was just the day/my mood! Random tip: don't stand too close to the lamps with flower displays as they attracted a lot of bugs. Also DD was finding the fireworks very loud which isn't something that ever bothered her before. She didn't complain per se, just covered her ears a lot. We slowly backed out of the IG exit as they were ending and I grabbed one photo and a short video.




This was the longest return line we had on the Skyliner, a lot of people were filing out through the entire show. I am pretty sure we were back in our room by ten, and we all slept great after a 24,000 step day!

Up next Animal Kingdom morning!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Hello! I’m really enjoying your trip report! I really appreciate your perspective of traveling with a six-year-old - we’re going on our first family trip later this month (just 22 days to go!) and I imagine our five (almost six)-year-old will be very similar to your daughter.

You had an excellent first day in the park! Also, thank you for reaffirming my thought that Luminous may be okay to skip - we only have so many late nights in us (we also have a one-year-old) and I want to prioritize HEA and Fantasmic.

 

[alohamom]

Such a fun trip report so far!

 

[jewels1916]

I'm enjoying reading your trip report! Sounds like y'all have had a great time so far and I can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

What a great first day!! Your daughter is adorable and I love the matching mother/daughter outfits for MK.

Do you use touring plans at all? I put in a room request through them before my trip (just a bit earlier in April than yours.) They allow you to actually request a specific room. I was able to get the EXACT room I requested - building 1, first floor, corner room. Just a tip for next time.

As far as animals, I couldn't see the chippie/squirrel in the first photo but...fluffy tail = squirrel. Flat tail (and usually brown with stripes and much smaller) = chipmunk.

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

 

[Jsharp13]

Enjoying your trip and photos too.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more

 

[awrites]

What a great first day! Also, your daughter has excellent taste in ears. Love the Turning Red ears and the Wish ones are cute too!

 

[kclark9830]

Joining in! It sounds like you had a great first day!

 

[blabbermouth]

Following

Thanks for reading!!

Hello! I’m really enjoying your trip report! I really appreciate your perspective of traveling with a six-year-old - we’re going on our first family trip later this month (just 22 days to go!) and I imagine our five (almost six)-year-old will be very similar to your daughter.

You had an excellent first day in the park! Also, thank you for reaffirming my thought that Luminous may be okay to skip - we only have so many late nights in us (we also have a one-year-old) and I want to prioritize HEA and Fantasmic.

Awesome, I hope your kids love it! Yes I would definitely prioritize the other two! It also felt the longest coming home on the Skyliner for some reason (long line and then there was quite a bit of stoppage that night).

Such a fun trip report so far!

Thanks for reading!

I'm enjoying reading your trip report! Sounds like y'all have had a great time so far and I can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!

Thanks for joining! I remember DH and I saying 'wow, I can't believe it's only Day ONE' after this night.

What a great first day!! Your daughter is adorable and I love the matching mother/daughter outfits for MK.

Do you use touring plans at all? I put in a room request through them before my trip (just a bit earlier in April than yours.) They allow you to actually request a specific room. I was able to get the EXACT room I requested - building 1, first floor, corner room. Just a tip for next time.

As far as animals, I couldn't see the chippie/squirrel in the first photo but...fluffy tail = squirrel. Flat tail (and usually brown with stripes and much smaller) = chipmunk.

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

Thanks! She is a trooper too, she wanted to stay for all of the fireworks/night time shows.

We haven't used touring plans! I think I was spoiled before always being in the 50s without asking, so I wasn't as concerned as I could have been.

Thanks, I think it was a squirrel. A squirrel named Chippie, haha.

Enjoying your trip and photos too.

Thank you!

Following along. Looking forward to reading more

Thanks! Another post coming right up.

What a great first day! Also, your daughter has excellent taste in ears. Love the Turning Red ears and the Wish ones are cute too!

I'll let her know She also brought purple sequin with pink bow, but never ended up wearing them.

Joining in! It sounds like you had a great first day!

Thanks for joining! We couldn't believe how good of a first day we had!

 

[blabbermouth]

Day 2, Part 1

This was our morning for Animal Kingdom. I think this was the park I was most looking forward to. There is nothing like it in Disneyland (where we've been more recently), and my DD is a bit animal lover! I was thinking it could be a bit of a slower day, but no... no matter how I look at it, it's still best to tackle all the rides ASAP in the morning, but my first few pics WERE animals, so maybe I wasn't TOO bad.

This morning I got up again at 6:30 to get ready and buy Genie+, I wasn't 100% sure about FOP, but I realized after yesterday there was no way we'd make rope drop, so I decided to just go for it and buy one. I knew we (aka I) wanted to eat at Satuli Canteen for lunch, so I booked it for around 11:20, so we could ride it just before lunch time and I hoped to get a LL for Nav'i River around that time as well.

DD was bright eyed and bushy tailed on the bus!



We had good luck again with buses, pretty much walked right on when arriving at 7:50ish. And we arrived here at 8:20!


I always feel like rope drop isn't a necessity, because I don't like waiting around before the park opens, but the earlier you can arrive the better. Especially today since it was a super early entry of 7:30 and the day of the 10-miler, so racers were just coming back to their rooms as we were going to the bus at Pop. Weather check: hot already, but overcast which kept the sun from beating down!

I had booked our first LL for Kilimanjaro Safari as I wasn't sure if DD would want to ride Everest first or not. She assured me she did, but it wasn't running when the park opened, so I left my LL for KS as is, with an 8:40 time, thinking we'd head straight there. We had a bit of time, EE was still closed so we stopped to see some animals:

Babirusa was so cute! They had tails that wagged just like dogs.


And it was the first time DD missed our dog at home.

I don't remember this one's name, but the mom, Betty the Babirusa (great name!!!) was sleeping right up against the fence.

We stumbled upon the Wilderness Explorer Headquarters, Jojo was sworn in and got her booklet. She was super excited about this too!




I kept checking EE and it was finally open! So we headed in that direction.

Look at this lucky buddy's breakfast!!


Scenery shot... Joe Rhode is a genius (I give him credit for the entire park, haha, please correct me). But the theming in AK is just above and beyond and so immersive!


Despite all those photos and stops, we made it to EE by 8:43! DD was excited for this one, it's awesome how you can see it as you walk towards it. We walked right on standby, rode it and walked right around again when DD said she LOVEDDDD it! The second time she says she just closed her eyes a lot, haha.


We were off by 9:05. DD and DH wanted to ride again, but I strongly suggested we move along to make our LL and book our next one. On our way we made a stop to watch the "monkeys" on the island that we quickly went and learned were actually apes (no tail) from a Wilderness Explorer stop.

This line felt a bit slow/long, but we were at the front at 9:20.


DD at first said she wasn't interested in this, but by the end she liked it a lot! She didn't want to ride it again the whole trip, but she did really like it, lots of "look!" and "wow!" I won't post ALL of the pics, but how about 1 to round out the post: Mom elephant and baby Cora. One of the highlights of my day, or whole trip?? I just wanted to stop the jeep there and watch for a few minutes!



Continued in next post...

 

[blabbermouth]

We really loved this Safari and got to see a good amount of animals. Our driver was OK, there is a lot of info for them to put out to us, so it was hard to listen to everything. From there DD grabbed her Safari badge for her book, the CMs here at AK are so amazing and passionate! Everyone wanted to talk to us for a long time about their topic. It was super educational for DD (and us!) and totally the right level for DD who was learning a lot of the topics already at school in Grade 1. I also booked our next LL for Nav'i River Journey, for just after our FOP ILL.



And then we were hungry, skipping breakfast or only having a small morning snack and room-coffee doesn't last too long. I had seen a pic of the pancake breakfast sandwich and thought that sounded like the best choice, so we had to trek over a bit to Drinkwalla. (the theming!! the humidity!!!) DD worked on a page in her workbook while we finished.


Sorry no pic of the sandwich, she wasn't very photogenic. But she was quite tasty and filling! DH demanded another later in the trip, haha. The parks don't have many breakfast options, but so far we are 2 for 2 on deliciousness!

DD had heard about Rafiki's Planet Watch, the petting zoo and the train, and really wanted to go. We had time before our FOP LL so off we went! Our first time there. Oh and apparently on our way to the train we popped into the store in Africa and bought DD this backpack. She was accumulating too many things (Epcot fan, WE booklet and pencil, bottle of lemonade) and I only had a small purse so couldn't carry it all for her.


It's a quick ride, 5 mins or less. We were there by 10:35. We walked down the path to the main courtyard and there was a WE booth there, a bonus sticker, for Earth Day! DD did some leaf art there. It was actually quite busy inside (I was surprised at this time of day) and I didn't take any photos. We did get to see a small surgery on a Metallic Starling to remove some worms, ew. There were a lot of spectators, we watched for a minute and then DD collected her stickers (there are 3 inside at Planet Watch).

The main reason to come over here was the petting zoo, DD wanted to pet some goats, and so she did!

I took a potty break, and loved the bathroom tiles, all different animals!

I sat on the bench outside the goats for a bit and texted with my mom while DD and DH finished up in the petting area. Temperature was still comfortable at this point, there are so many trees at AK it really helps (vs. MK the day before). No wait for the train and off we went back to mainland Africa. It was high time for a beer for DH and I so we had a Tiger's Eye IPA (think that's what it was called) and DD had a strawberry lemonade bar (she was feeling picky and didn't like the strawberry seeds.)

But we were excited for FOP and headed over to Pandora. Of course, with a stop to see some monkeys (see, tails). These guys were cute, mischievous and spunky.

DD could have watched these guys for ages!

It was noon, so we wanted to pick off the two Avatar rides and get some lunch! DD was starting to get a bit tired too, and ready for the pool, it was getting hotter again now.



This land is totally new to us, so it took a minute or two to find our way around to Flights of Passage. We used our ILL and waited a few minutes, plus had to switch rooms right before we went into the seating area (and watch the videos all over again). We quite liked this ride, DH felt a bit of nausea, but he was probably just hungry. I just personally don't care much for Avatar and so didn't really connect with the video itself, the ride was amazing, but I just didn't "care". Actually, maybe I was just getting hangry too (also taking a break from pics here apparently). Nevertheless we decided to use our LL for Nav'i before lunch, Satu'li looked really busy then too. Actually all of Pandora was pretty packed, which didn't make me like it any more.

Nav'i was ok, I think I'd like it more on a second go around maybe? It was nice and relaxing and I liked the music, but again don't really connect with the theme. I then booked a LL for Everest because DD wanted to ride again before we left, but it was still pretty early return times, so I kept an eye on it and bumped it back, because I had a plan for after lunch.

We mobile ordered at Satu'li: the Ocean noodle bowl for DH, kids chicken bowl for me and the Teylu hot dog for DD. We filled up our water bottle here with the self-serve jugs (just to the left when you walk in the entrance - outside). We got the very last table, squished into the corner outside by the front entrance, in the sun. So this affected my opinion a bit as well! There was also a crying kid next to us the entire time. Anyway, DH really liked his bowl, mine was ok, needed some sauce that the kid's version didn't come with, so I used packaged hot sauce, and DD ate her whole hot dog, but didn't like how the dough was sticky. Also, ALSO, I really wanted to see the 2:00 show of Lion King, because that was a big priority to me on my AK day!

My favourite show in all of WDW!!! 10/10, would watch again. DD LOVED it too, and DH also loves it. Get the "Circle of Life" chills every time!


I pushed my EE LL back so we went there next for one more ride, about 2:45 at this point. And we collected two more stickers for her WE book. We decided to head out for our afternoon break, seeing a few sights on the way out.

Kevin!


And the surprise (to us) parrot flight show, amazing! We were in awe. Not the best pic, but gives you an idea of what to expect.


Great way to end the day in AK, back to the bus at 3:30. We had a bit of a wait this day for a bus, but nothing to complain about at all DD had a mickey sucker while she waited and was a happy camper. A quite go through Everything Pop for an ice cream sandwich instead of a beer for me today (gotta have one per trip!) and we headed for a dip and a rest.

Coming up... Disney Springs aka Downtown Disney!

 

[jrmint427]

Following along, really enjoying your report!

I get confused going between C and F, so I just don't even try anymore.

Me too haha, I appreciate the technical descriptions

I knew the resort was pretty close to fully booked from my searching for rooms a few weeks before, so I wasn't hopeful, but since the bus let us out at the main building anyway we went in to ask. No luck, they were fully booked, so we basically had to suck it up!

It's a bummer they couldn't move you, but it looks like you had a nice view!

"So glad we finally got to see the baby elephant everyone has been talking about!" I text my sister with this photo, harharhar.

Haha!

We rode ten rides in four and a half hours, had one meal and snacks.

you got a lot done that morning!

We had a decent break, left the room refreshed at 4pm and hopped onto the skyliner for the first time! This is such an awesome addition and the fact they brought it to a value is so amazing, nearly can't believe they'd do that for "us"

Haha, it is really nice they put the Skyliner out there!

This was a great meal. It was a very peaceful setting which was a nice break from the busy park! We really liked some quiet down time at a table service meal each night, QS was often too hectic for us.

We love having a TS each day for this reason, it's a nice way to sit and relax for awhile.

Beautiful picture!

Mom elephant and baby Cora. One of the highlights of my day, or whole trip?? I just wanted to stop the jeep there and watch for a few minutes!

Aww! I am still bummed we didn't get to see the baby on our March trip. So sweet!

My favourite show in all of WDW!!! 10/10, would watch again. DD LOVED it too, and DH also loves it. Get the "Circle of Life" chills every time!

Yes, Lion King is the best show! Maybe right ahead of the Frozen Singalong.

 

[blabbermouth]

Yes, Lion King is the best show! Maybe right ahead of the Frozen Singalong

We all loved that one too!