Day 4, Animal Kingdom, Sep 2017

We were so excited for this day.  This was going to be our first time in Animal Kingdom since the new Pandora land opened.  The park was open from 9-9:30 with a morning extra magic hour from 8-9.  We of course made plans to take advantage of this, especially since we didn't have fastpasses for Flight of Passage.  We did however have fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safari, Na'vi River, and Kali River Rapids.  We were prepared for our early morning, knowing that we wanted to be near the front of the pack heading to Flight of Passage when the park opened.

8:00

This was definitely the most crowded and craziest park opening that I've ever been at for extra magic hours.  However, we were right where we wanted to be at the front.  We made our way straight for Flight of Passage.  This would have been perfect, but unfortunately the ride did not open due to technical difficulties.  No joke, this always happens to us.  We usually like to wait it out, but they kept telling us that they had no idea when it would be back up.  In fact, both attractions inside Pandora were down.  Finally, about 9:00, some castmembers came to the front of the crowd standing at the ride entrance and informed us all that they had no idea when the ride would be back up and that we all needed to move.  Of course, everyone was a little hesitant since we were all right at the front of the huge crowd.  A few minutes later the castmembers tried again.  This time, they said that they had formed a line on the bridge leading into Africa.  At this point, the crowd around us started to get very upset that they had decided to start a line back there ignoring all the people in the front of this "line" crowd.  It wasn't really a line, but a large crowd blocking the entire walkway (not that you could go or do anything here, since both attractions were down and the restaurant was closed.)  I understood why they wanted everyone to move, but I also kind of agreed with the upset guests that they didn't really go about this in the right way.  Regardless, we decided to move on.

9:00

We walked back to where the castmembers said they started a line.  It of course was already extremely long, so we continued walking and made our way into Africa.  (Side note, this was a great decision as the attraction remained down until about 12:00.)  With this throwing our plans out of wack, we were a little unsure what we were doing.  When we made it to Kilimanjaro, we saw that the wait was only 20 minutes.  We had fastpasses for a little later, but we thought we would just modify that for something else.  However, before we even got in line, I looked at the app and started to modify and found fastpasses available for the safari at that time.  So, with our passes modified, we entered through the fastpass line and just like that, our 20 minute wait became just a few minutes as we walked through the fastpass line.  We finally were on attraction #1, Kilimanjaro Safari.

 

It is always an exciting safari when the Lion is up and about.  We even got to hear a few ferocious roars on this trip.

10:00

When we got off our safari, we decided to walk the Gorilla Falls.  After this, we were even more thrown in our schedule.  We had dining reservations at Tusker House at 10:50, so we didn't really feel comfortable venturing off to other areas of the park to attempt to get in any other rides.  So, instead, we decided to head back to Pandora to look around and get our picture taken.

They even have this fun magic shot here.

After walking around a little bit, we headed back to Africa and Tusker House.

11:00

We chose to eat here so that we could take advantage of the River of Lights dining package.  We always have fun here, but this time seemed appropriate for how our day was going.  First, they seemed to seat us at the wrong table.  Even after Patrick and Littlecjc had gone to get food, they were still trying to figure things out.  They didn't move us, but I think it would have worked out better for us if they did, because we were in the wrong place for the character rotations and it took forever to finally meet with all the characters.  Eventually, we did get them all in, including Safari Goofy, character #1, Safari Donald, character #2, Safari Daisy, character #3, and Safari Mickey, character #4.

We actually had our first major meltdown here, just before our picture with Donald, because there was some confusion between Littlecjc and us when Donald apparently signed with the wrong color marker.  

To continue with our luck of the day, we were unable to use our AP discount since we booked a dining package instead of just the meal reservation, even though we were able to use it here the last time with the same dining package.  It was fine, just another unexpected turn in our day.

12:00

After what seemed like forever, we left Tusker House and headed back to Pandora, to use our first fastpass at Na'vi River, attraction #2.

We were so grateful not to have to stand in this standby line.  Especially after disembarking the ride.  Yes, this ride was beautiful and the technology was amazing, but I can't help but admit that I would have been really upset had I stood in line for two hours to ride it.  From the fast pass line, we were able to get beautiful pictures of the floating rocks.

1:00

After our river journey, it was already time for our final fastpass at Kali River Rapids, attraction #3.

With all of our fastpasses now used, we got on the app and looked to see what else was available.  We were able to pick up passes to meet Mickey and Minnie, characters #5 & 6 immediately.

I really swear by using that app all day long.  It amazes me how often we are able to pick up fastpasses for an attraction within 5-10 minutes of when we are searching.  

2:00 - 4:00

By now, Flight of Passage was up and running and the line was of course extremely long.  We decided that this was THE new thing at Disney this trip and we didn't want to miss out.  Patrick decided that he would gladly stand in line if I entertained Littlecjc for the 150 minute wait time.  However, the joke was on him, as Littlecjc fell asleep while we walked back to Flight of Passage, attraction #4.  Patrick took many pictures in line, but the most interesting is the one of this life size avatar.

While Littlecjc and I waited, we walked around a while, talked to both Grandmas on the phone, and eventually ended up at Dinosaur where I found a nice shaded area to sit.  I ended up here, because I had picked up a fastpass for Littlecjc and myself thinking she would wake up and we would ride while waiting on Patrick.  However, even though I continued to push back our fastpass multiple times, I ended up hearing from Patrick before Littlecjc ever woke up.  She definitely caught up on sleep this day, which worked out for everyone.

5:00

I gladly made my way back to Pandora to meet Patrick after his flight so that we could eat dinner at the new Satu'li Canteen.  We really enjoyed this meal, and I was surprised at the lack of people inside since the park seemed so crowded.  We walked right up and ordered our food, and it was so good.

We shared everything and even splurged on a dessert since we had to try the signature blue dessert.

 

Littlecjc finally woke up as soon as we sat down to eat.  While here, I was eager to hear all about Flight of Passage, but Patrick didn't want to give anything away.  He did explain how he ended up with a fastpass for the ride though.  At Disney World, any time you are escorted off a ride, you are given a fastpasss to return at any time that day.  Patrick actually rode the ride without any problems, but apparently there was a problem with the seat restraints, as they did not release at the ride's end so he had to wait just a moment until a castmember could release his restraint.  This was the case for everyone in his room and even though their ride was complete, they were still given fastpasses for a repeat ride.  This worked out great for us.

6:00

When we finished our dinner, I took my turn on Flight of Passage, attraction #5.  This ride is exhilarating.  I literally had my mouth open the entire time in pure delight.  Even with a fastpass, this ride takes at least 30 minutes with two prepping rooms with videos before the actual ride.  When I completed my flight, I found Patrick and Littlecjc in the gift shop.  I later learned that they had explored a little and found a photopass photographer.

As a group, we made our way back to the ride entrance and Patrick used his fastpass to enter after obtaining another rider's swap pass.  Therefore, Patrick's second banshee ride was attraction #6, Flight of Passage.

7:00

While Patrick was on the ride, Littlecjc and I explored the gift shop.  She loved being able to show off everything that she found with Daddy.

She also thought she was going home with everything even though I kept saying "no."  However, I guess I was the one in for a surprise.  When Patrick returned, I used the final rider swap pass for my return ride on Flight of Passage, attraction #7 and returned to the gift shop to find Patrick and Littlecjc in line to adopt a banshee.  I was stunned.  I thought she would probably get something small since she was behaving while stuck in this store while Patrick and I enjoyed this awesome new ride that she couldn't go on, but I didn't imagine she would get a banshee.  I think Patrick may have actually wanted one for himself, especially since she didn't even seem to notice them while I was in the store with her.  It had started raining while we all were hanging out here, so we left the banshee in it's box until we got back to the hotel.  Since I'm sure you want to see, here's Flappy (she gave him this name since his wings flap.)

8:00

When we finally left Pandora, we ventured into Dinoland.  I think I still had fastpasses for this ride, but honestly it didn't really matter as there was no line.  This isn't a ride either Patrick or I really love, and honestly one that usually gets skipped.  However, this was the first time that Littlecjc was tall enough to ride it and we were excited for her to experience it.  Out of all the new attractions she was able to go on this trip, this was the one I was most worried about.  I probably talked too much about it being scary, because although she said "ooh scary" when she got off, I know she was fine the entire time.  She was holding our hands, but she never squeezed them and check out her face in the picture.

My little girl was did not even care that the large dinosaur was coming for us.  With Dinosaur, attraction #8 checked off, we had to stop (per Littlecjc's request) at Triceratops Spin, attraction #9.

Thankfully, it had stopped raining by now.  At this point, we needed to make our way to the River of Lights viewing area.  

9:00

I really like this show.  I was impressed the first time we saw it, but I think I enjoyed it even more this time.  I don't know if we had better seats, or if I was just able to enjoy it more this time for some reason, but I left feeling great.

I love being able to end a day in the parks with a nightime show.  In my opinion, this is a great addition to this park.  I know it seemed like a lot went wrong this day, which maybe would have ruined some other's day but we still had an amazing day.  We loved exploring the new land of Pandora, and even though we didn't see the amazing shows in this park or ride Everest, we still really enjoyed our day.  Our goal this trip was to experience Pandora and we loved it!

Day 3, Magic Kingdom and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, Sep 2017

I'm going to start this post by saying that I was really bad about taking pictures this day for some reason.  I know during the party it did storm, so obviously I wasn't carrying my phone around in the pouring rain taking pictures, but I have no idea why my pictures are lacking during the day.  However, on our third day of our September trip, we opened Magic Kingdom with their extra magic hour at 8:00.  We were there with the morning rush and followed the mad dash down Main St. to the bridge on the side of the castle leading back to the Mad Tea Party where we waited a little longer for that final rope drop and mad dash to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

8:00

As our luck always goes, the ride was having some technical difficulties.  I suggested that Patrick at least take Littlecjc on Winnie the Pooh while I waited for the ride to open, but we discovered that Pooh was also having problems opening this morning before they even left.  We debated leaving for another ride, but we were so close to the front of the line, and the back of the line stretch out further than we could see wrapping around the mine train towards Storybook Circus so we decided to wait it out, at least until the park actually opened at 9.  At about 8:45, the ride finally opened up and we quickly boarded Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, attraction #1.

9:00

With this all important ride taken care of, we checked in on our favorite honey loving bear.  He was up and running again, so The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh became attraction #2.

We wanted this day to be more about Littlecjc's picks than us trying to lead her places, since we had just had a successful day in this park yesterday.  So from here, we headed to Mad Tea Party, attraction #3.

She suggested Goofy's ride next, and we knew that a friend was working Circus attractions this morning, so we happily obliged and were able to chat briefly with our friend before riding attraction #4, The Barnstormer.

And of course, since these two always seem to go together, we then rode attraction #5, Dumbo.

10:00

After Dumbo, we journeyed Under the Sea, the Adventures of the Little Mermaid, attraction #6, and grabbed a quick drink at Gaston's Tavern before using our first fastpass for Flight of Peter Pan, attraction #7.  I think at this point we made our way to Thunder Mountain, but for some reason, we ended up not riding it.  I don't remember if it broke down or if the line was just really long so we decided to wait.  Either way, I know we circled around Adventureland and ended up at the Skipper Canteen.  We didn't have reservations and I don't think anything was listed on the app, but I asked if they were taking walk-ups and they said yes and that they could seat us in about 10 minutes.  We decided to go for it, since we had never eaten here before.  We took a seat under their big fans and discovered the restaurant didn't actually open until 11:00.

11:00

Right at 11:00, they opened the doors and started calling names.  We were immediately seated and our server was great.  If you've never been here, you should check it out, especially if you like the Jungle Cruise.  The servers are all skippers and they stay in character the entire time.  It was a lot of fun, and the food was really good too.  If you've read some of my reports before, you probably noticed that we don't do many table service meals that don't involve characters, so I was also pleasantly surprised with the prices.  We're not great photographers, but here's a few pictures if you've never been.

12:00

By the time we finished eating, we were coming up on our fastpasses for Thunder Mountain, so we decided to stay close, and take our chances on the Pirates of the Carribean, attraction #8.

After a much faster wait today, we then headed to Big Thunder Mountain, attraction #9.

 We decided to sit all three to a seat this time, and it worked.  We weren't sure, but one cast member asked and we watched others and decided to give it a try.  

1:00

When we got off the ride, we decided on another repeat making Big Thunder Mountain, attraction #10.

 Afterwards, there was a photographer outside the exit and we decided to get our picture since this was Littlecjc's new favorite ride.  

It was then time for our final fastpass, a repeat ride on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, attraction #11.  Since we didn't want to carry our Halloween costumes around with us all day, and Littlecjc usually falls asleep on the bus, we decided to head back to the hotel before returning for the Halloween party.  Before actually leaving though, we stopped on Main Street to attempt a picture in our Halloween shirts (from last year's party) but Littlecjc was not in the mood.

2-4

So, we left the park about 2:00 and of course Littlecjc was wide awake all the way back to the hotel and was really not into any resting.  Eventually, we gave in and got dressed for the party and headed back.  

Of course, Littlecjc fell asleep on the bus ride back to the park, right after we took this picture.  In all honesty, this worked out pretty well for us.  We really wanted her to take a nap and even though it was a little later than we wanted, it was okay.  When we arrived back at the park, we shopped the party merchandise, which is always better to do when she's asleep.  We did our shopping at the Big Top and since she was still asleep when we finished, we decided we might as well sit under the big tent in line to see the Seven Dwarfs.  

5:00

I don't remember exactly when we got in line, but probably somewhere between 5:15 and 5:30.  At this point, there definitely was already a line, but we were able to sit down under shelter since it looked like a storm was blowing in.  It did rain some while we waited, but thankfully this rain stopped for a while.  Cast members were great while we waited as well, passing out bags of candy and keeping us informed with when the Dwarfs might make their appearance after the rain.

6:00

When the dwarfs came out, everyone started cheering, while we started trying to wake Littlecjc.  We probably should have started a little earlier, but I didn't want to wake her just to stand in line.  However, she was still pretty sleepy by the time we made it to the front of the line, which was just before the Seven Dwarfs, characters #1 finished their first set.

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

We actually finished meeting the Seven Dwarfs right before the party began at 7:00.  However, by this time, there were already long lines all around Storybook Circus for the special meet and greets, with the exception of Goofy.  For some reason, no one was in line to meet him and we decided why not take that advantage, especially since he was in his pirate outfit this year instead of his Barnstormer, regular costume.  So, Goofy became character #2.

I'm so thankful that we decided to do this, because the rain fell shortly after, and this is now the best family picture we have of the entire evening.  Now that Littlecjc was awake, it was killing her to be so close to the Barnstormer and not ride, so since there was already no line at this point, we rode The Barnstormer, attraction #12.  After getting this in, we were able to move out of Storybook Circus, but we got stopped again at The Little Mermaid.  Littlecjc really wanted to ride, so I agreed to ride with her making Under the Sea, Journey of the Little Mermaid, attraction #13 while Patrick visited Gaston's Tavern to try the party treat offered here, a pumpkin cheesecake.

While this treat was tasty, I didn't think it was amazing and it definitely wasn't my pick.  I was however, happy that Patrick still shared with me so that I didn't have to miss out on anything.  With snack in hand, we made our way to the Haunted Mansion, attraction #14.  This ride is so fun to ride during the party.  Unfortunately, we missed the entertainers that perform here, as we watched them walk away down the hill as we entered the queue.  The sign said 15 minutes, but we walked right into the mansion.  The reason this ride is a must during the party, is the cast members.  They go all out here and wear full make-up, staying in over-the-top character the entire time.  So fun!  When we left the mansion, we hit up the trick or treat stations nearby en route to Big Thunder Mountain, attraction #15.  As we were standing in line for this, we could see the storm moving in, and we knew it was only a matter of time.  Well, that time came while we were on the ride.  We were wet by the time we got off the ride, and we were pretty soaked by the time we made it back to the stroller and our ponchos.  We covered up anyway and headed to the trick or treat station by Splash Mountain where we were able to take cover and regroup a bit.  Since the storm was in full swing by now, we weren't really sure what to do.  We figured any characters meeting outside wouldn't be meeting, and any inside ride would be packed.  So, with ponchos on, we decided to hit up some more trick or treat stations.  We went by Tom Sawyers first, then looped around Adventureland and stopped in at both the Pirates and the Tiki Room stations.  After exiting here, we saw that the Aladdin and Abu were still meeting under their awning, so Littlecjc and I got in line while Patrick stopped at Aloha Isle to get another party special treat.

This was my choice! It was so pretty and yummy.  Before we ever really moved in line to see Aladdin, we were informed that they were taking a break, so we decided to jump ship.  A lot of people were still lining the street like a parade was actually going to step off in the rain, so we walked that way just to make sure we weren't missing anything.  I thought it was crazy, but I was so impressed with how well the cast members were keeping the street cleared that I stepped out to speak with one of them.  She of course just said that it was delayed and that they really didn't have any idea.  I had read reviews that if it rained on a party night, there might only be one parade, so I really didn't want to miss it if it was going to happen, but I didn't see how there was any way this parade was stepping off any time soon.  Patrick was in search of a Big Thunder Mountain pin for Littlecjc so we stopped in at the Pin Trader store there in Frontierland.  Patrick had no luck here, but Littlecjc had fun playing with some cast members that thought she was cute in her Jessie costume.  When we left the store, it was still raining pretty good, so we moved on to Tomorrowland.  We walked through the trick or treat station at Stitch's which was kind of fun since it's been years since I've been inside that building, and then Littlecjc noticed that Astro Orbitors was running.  Neither Patrick or I seemed thrilled with this idea, but you know who's the boss.  Thankfully, the rain was slowing down a little by the time we boarded Astro Orbitor, attraction #16.  When we were back on the ground, we stopped briefly by the Monsters, Inc dance party.  Littlecjc was intrigued to see the characters, but she wouldn't actually dance with any of them so we told her we were moving on.  We thought the fireworks would probably go off in the slower rain that was happening by this time, so we made our way to Main Street.  We were surprised to see the parade going on when we got there.  At first I was heartbroken and then a little better after realizing we only missed the first unit.  As the parade progressed, I felt even better since non of the dancers were actually dancing.  If you had never seen this parade before, you may not have known since they were still having fun with their characters as they walked the route, but I knew since that is my favorite part.  As we saw more of the parade we realized even some of the floats were empty.  So, I appreciated Disney providing any parade, but it definitely wasn't the Halloween parade I expected.  Since the parade was still passing the castle when the fireworks were suppose to go off, that show was then delayed as well about 20-30 minutes.  Thankfully, about this time, the rain actually did stop, but unfortunately we were already soaked.

As usual, Littlecjc fell asleep at the end of the fireworks show.  We ended up back in Frontierland, just in case the second parade was going to step off.  We were rewarded with an announcement that the parade was delayed and not canceled, so we hung out.  We found a spot to sit down and just waited since Littlecjc was already asleep and I didn't want to miss the parade.  It was 11:45 before the 11:00 parade finally started this evening.

Watching the parade from here, we were able to cut through Adventureland once the parade ended and make our way to the front of the park.  We didn't beat the parade, but we did reach the front before the end of the parade, so we still beat the crowd out.  We stopped for our picture out front with the best magic shot ever.

Thankfully I had bought the new party shirt this evening, because once the rain stopped and I took off my poncho, I was freezing until I changed into this dry shirt.  Even with the rain, we still had a great time and I would do it again in a heartbeat!