Today was a little different for us, but still so much fun. We had planned from the beginning to take this morning and sleep in and take our time getting out the door since we had the late evening at the Christmas party the night before. While planning this trip, we knew we would probably be giving up one evening to visit with our local friends, but we didn't know which one yet. So, we planned one day in each park and two in Magic Kingdom. Since this was a bit of a floater day, we decided to pick up fastpasses at Animal Kingdom, because we knew the new Avatar rides would be the hardest to get on if our plans changed. We didn't get them too early this day though since we wanted it to be a more relaxing day. We ended up with Safari (10:25-11:25) Kali River Rapids (11:40-12:40) and Flight of Passage (12:55-1:55.) That morning however, we looked at the app and decided to switch our Safari pass out to instead meet Mickey and Minnie at the outpost. We knew they met in holiday attire here, so we decided we would all wear our new party shirts and get our pictures with them. After taking our time this morning, we arrived at Animal Kingdom shortly after 10:00
10:00
Once inside the park, our first stop was to use those newly obtained fastpasses to meet Mickey and Minnie, characters #1 and 2.
We had a lot of fun here, as they loved our holiday spirit!
While we were waiting in line before our picture, we realized that Littlecjc's new necklace wasn't lighting up. Since we had just bought it the night before we were a little saddened. The castmember working at the front of Mickey and Minnie's line heard us talking about it and he told us to go to any store that sells them and they will replace it. So, our next stop was a gift shop and sure enough they exchanged it out for a new one, no problem. We didn't need our receipt and she didn't really ask any questions other than "it just stopped?" She did look at it for a moment and tried turning it on herself, but then she pulled the tags off a new one and handed it over after making sure that the new one worked. I've always heard great things about Disney exchanging these lights, bubble wands, etc. but this was our first time experiencing that.
11:00
The outpost was a little too close to Dinoland for Littlecjc, so we then headed back there for attraction #1, Triceratop Spin.
One of the few attractions we didn't get done the other day was Everest, so we thought we would walk that way and check out the wait times. En route, we found a photopass photographer and stopped too take advantage of their presence.
I don't remember how long the wait was at Everest, but the single rider line was completely empty. You're unable to get a rider swap if using this line here, but since it was just the two of us we didn't need it since no one else was in this line. After that realization, I rode Expedition Everest, attraction #2 first and then Patrick rode making Expedition Everest (take two) attraction #3.
12:00
By now, we were in our window for our next fp at Kali River Rapids, attraction #4.
After soaking a few poor souls, we decided to walk through the Jungle Trek, attraction #5.
Even after our walk through the jungle, we still had a little time before we could use our third fastpass at Flight of Passage. So, while walking that way, we stopped for some Dole Whip and took a little time to enjoy that and put on a little sunscreen.
1:00
When we first arrived in Pandora, we decided to take another family photo.
After our photo, we went to the Flight of Passage line, where Patrick rode first and acquired a rider swap pass making Flight of Passage, attraction #6. While waiting, Littlecjc and I got to play a while at the drum circle, before being treated to another drum show.
By the time the show finished, Patrick had returned and I was able to take my turn and ride Flight of Passage, attraction #7. While I was on the ride, Littlecjc got some amazing pictures taken.
We actually purchased this banshee on our previous Disney trip, but we never got any pictures in the park with it last time due to rain. So, Littlecjc brought him back this day and they wanted some pictures. After taking the picture together, they came across a second photopass person and Littlecjc thought she would take her picture by herself.
As you can see, she quickly changed her mind resulting in this awesome photo, and a few more similar ones. Needless to say, Patrick had to jump back in again.
2:00
After we had all finished having fun in Pandora, we asked Littlecjc if there was anything else she wanted to do here. She was okay with leaving, so we decided to park hop, something we haven't done in a while. When we were at Epcot two days earlier, a castmember told Littlecjc that she really needed to see Belle since she was meeting in her Christmas dress. We didn't get around to it that day, but Littlecjc had reminded us of it many times since. So, we offered this as an option and she was beyond excited.
3:00
I know it was after 2:00 when we left Animal Kingdom, but I don't know exactly when. I do know, however, that we had successfully ridden a bus to Epcot, gone through security and made our way to Figment: Journey to Imagination, attraction #8 by 3:15.
Do you remember the surprised face from the other day? Well, here's the face you get when you remember what is coming.
After riding Figment, Littlecjc and I headed straight to the France pavilion to wait on Belle while Patrick stopped for some food. He stopped by the Yukon Holiday Kitchen in Canada for a traditional french canadian touterie and a maple buche de noel, both of which were delicious.
Since this was our only lunch this day, and the line was still pretty long, Patrick went in search for more food. He came back with this delicious dessert from Les Halles. I definitely think I'll be stopping here again, especially since this wasn't even a special kitchen or holiday treat.
4:00
So, I'm so glad Patrick thought to grab food now, because the line to meet Belle was no joke. It took about 1 hour before we made it to the front of the line. I was thankful for the food distraction, and Littlecjc made friends in line so it worked out. We also used this time searching for other fastpasses. We debated trying to get a pass for Test Track or something else in Epcot, but ultimately we decided on Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios, since we knew we wanted to catch the evening holiday shows there. At the end of our wait, we were rewarded with this beautiful picture with Belle, character #3.
Not to mention, that our little princess was happy. It was actually a little humorous how much she wanted to meet Belle here. It's not like Belle is her favorite princess or that she recognized this dress or anything, but ever since that cast member told her she needed to see it, she NEEDED to see it. With that finally accomplished, we tried something new. We hopped over to Hollywood Studios via the Friendship boat.
This seemed to take a while, but it was nice not needing to walk to the front of Epcot and it's always fun to do something new and different.
5:00
While I waited on the slowest bag checker ever (not complaining, I'm happy to see them do their job properly) Littlecjc decided to model for Daddy.
Once inside, we headed first to Tower of Terror, attraction #9.
Unfortunately, the couple right in front of Littlecjc decided to lean together for a kiss, so we can't even see her face. Although she's ridden this ride twice before, she decided this time that she didn't like it and she wasn't going to go on it again.
6:00
We thought it was a good time for her favorite ride in this park, and headed straight to Toy Story Mania, attraction #10 and used our fp.
We thought we better eat some real food, since we really only snacked on desserts for lunch, so we headed to the Backlot to eat. Littlecjc loved eating here, because she enjoyed watching the Jedi Training. We tried talking her into joining since we were starting our day here tomorrow, but she said she didn't want to. She loved watching though.
7:00
After dinner, we headed back to Sunset Blvd to take in the falling snow and the new holiday projection shows on the Tower of Terror. We really enjoyed these and watched them many times since it was a loop of four short clips.
They each had a little pre-show on the billboards down the street, that led into the projections.
At some point while playing here, we were sure to get another picture.
When we felt that Littlecjc had played in the "snow" enough, we moved back to the front of the Chinese Theater for Jingle Bell Jingle BAM! I had forgotten about the Movie Magic projection, so we were happy to see that start at 7:45.
8:00
At 8:00, Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! began. I had heard mixed opinions about this show, so maybe I really just wasn't expecting much, but I loved it! I thought it was fun and the storyline/song choices made sense to me.
This may not have been the most productive day in the amount of rides and characters met, but we had a great day. We felt like we accomplished a lot and we saw and did new things which is always a plus. Join me next week for more Hollywood Studios adventures and a little more park hopping!
No comments:
Post a Comment