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Ape Family Vacation WDW Jan 2018


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We just got back yesterday from our first legitimate vacation to Disney World where we stayed at a Disney resort and took advantage of everything they offer to make the trip easier. I will do a full trip report in this thread over the next week or so with lots of pictures.

 

If you haven't seen my posts before I have kids aged 4 and 2. We did this trip for them as I am the type that prefers the big coasters and parks like Cedar Point over a ton of theming like at WDW. I was left with my jaw on the ground many times and felt like a kid myself while at the parks. We stayed at Art of Animation and visited Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. One park did leave me feeling underwhelmed but the other two I feel like I can't get enough of.

 

I hope to have the first part of the report up by the end of today and I hope whoever decides to read along enjoys what I have to offer.

 

Stay tuned...

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We just got back yesterday from our first legitimate vacation to Disney World where we stayed at a Disney resort and took advantage of everything they offer to make the trip easier. I will do a full trip report in this thread over the next week or so with lots of pictures.

 

If you haven't seen my posts before I have kids aged 4 and 2. We did this trip for them as I am the type that prefers the big coasters and parks like Cedar Point over a ton of theming like at WDW. I was left with my jaw on the ground many times and felt like a kid myself while at the parks. We stayed at Art of Animation and visited Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. One park did leave me feeling underwhelmed but the other two I feel like I can't get enough of.

 

I hope to have the first part of the report up by the end of today and I hope whoever decides to read along enjoys what I have to offer.

 

Stay tuned...

 

can't wait to see your report!

 

I'm a little surprised you didn't do EPCOT, since the kiddos would likely have loved Nemo.. . but I'm sure they enjoyed lots of the animals at AK.

 

looking forwards to the pics!

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Part 1 Travel Day

 

I never really know how to start these reports but I guess how we got there is an alright way to start. My kids have never been on a airplane and after the 17 hour long ride in the car last Feb after a cruise there was no way in hell I would do that again with two kids. I asked my 4 year old son Jamey how he would like to get there and he responded with "I wanna fly on a airplane dada!" this caused instant tears of joy knowing I would not have to live that special version of hell that is the long car ride. I had found a flight out of Indy non stop through Southwest round trip for the 4 of us for $500. At the time I booked this was literally half the price of what I was finding out of Cincy and those had layovers. I would rather drive the two hours and catch a non stop flight than deal with layovers having two young kids.

 

The airport in Indy was very easy to deal with and few people around getting through TSA and everything was a breeze. A note for this entire trip and to those that may read this that are gentleman with long beards, you will be selected for every "random" screening in existence.It did not matter if it was the airport or at parks I was selected at every single one. 1383.thumb.JPG.d89edb2b3c654e459cd9276f54c8dca7.JPG

A photo for your enjoyment to give an example of the beard.

 

I think our flight to Orlando was the only one people were there for, we had a full flight. I was curious how the kids would do and was dreading being that family that has their kids screaming the whole damn time but alas turns out my kids are pretty awesome and they loved every minute of it. They especially loved the turbulence and could not stop giggling at it.

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All smiles and ready to fly!

 

We Arrived to Orlando on time and we were ready to get on the Magical Express get to Art of Animation and eat some dinner as it was about 5pm at this point. We made our way through the airport and found where we needed to be to board the Magical Express. Once we got there and got scanned in it was 30-40 minutes before we were on the bus. For whatever reason this seemed like it took way longer than it should. Could just be my inexperience with it but it was hot in the waiting area (I think it was 30 degrees when we left Indy and 80 when we arrived in Orlando) and we were all getting hungry. The bus ride was nice though, my son loved sitting in the front row and looking out the front of the bus on the ride. My daughter Millie (yes named after what you're thinking) was indifferent and just fell asleep for a short bit. We made it to the resort though and it was much shorter than the 17 hours of hell from the year before and we were happy with that.

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Welcome to Art of Animation! Note the dark clouds...

 

We decided to just head right in to Landscape of Flavors and get food before doing anything else. Did you pay attention to the last picture? Those dark clouds meant lots of rain and some storms. This also meant that everyone staying at the resort decided to head back early and eat there. It took us about an hour to get food so some time around 7 we ate. We were a bit grumpy but oo well things happen. After this I went to get our room number since I couldnt seem to find it through the online check in. We were in the furthest possible building away in the Little Mermaid rooms. This wasn't an issue for me I knew how far it was but at the time we hadn't got our rental stroller yet and it was pouring down rain. We begrudgingly made our way to the room through the heavy rain. When we arrived we were absolutely thrilled to find out that our bags that were to be delivered to the room hadn't made it yet. No worries though I had the foresight to pack extra cloths for the kids in case this happened but what I was too dumb to do was pack extra cloths for myself and the wife. I tried calling to see if there was an issue and when to expect them to arrive. 40 minutes on hold led to them telling me they had just arrived and would be out ASAP. It was another half hour plus before they made it. It was 9:30 when we received them. I tell you guys all of this not as me complaining or being mad at anyone but as a cautionary tale to plan to not have your bags for 5 or so hours if you have the resort take care of them. In all honesty it wouldn't have mattered had it not been raining so hard and I had packed the extra cloths in carry on.

 

Not off to the best start for the trip.

 

The room was clean, the beds were comfortable, and the kids loved the theme.

 

Stay tuned... the next report up will be Magic Kingdom a 12 hour non stop day with a 4 and 2 year old? what were we thinking? oo well we were thinking Magic Kingdom is amazing and we should spend as much time there as possible, tantrums and tired kids be damned.

 

On to a few bonus photos from the resort throughout the trip.

 

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We absolutely LOVE this resort! In fact, this report makes me think we should go do a walk around there tonight as it's been a while since I've taken a lap around the property. I agree that Magical Express can take a while, but again, as an included service in the package it's probably still a bit easier than renting a car and having to figure out Orlando which can be a little confusing if you've never been. Honestly, a 30-40 minute wait doesn't sound that bad! We've waited at least an hour before for the Disneyland Paris version of the service...

 

And yeah, the resorts are fantastic when you can take them at your own pace, but when everyone is hunkered down due to weather...well, it is what it is. I'm sure the cast members were still hustling as fast as they could and even though sometimes take a while, I'm usually impressed with how many people they have to churn through. Bummed we missed you this trip! You'll have to make another visit out here!

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There was a lot I should have added to this first part about the resort but I was doing it as I got breaks at work. Yeah I went back for one day lol. It was busy.

 

We really really liked it there. It was a bit too cold for the kids to try out any of the pools and we didn’t make it over to the cars area. There really isn’t anything I would change I would still use Magical Express and let them take care of the bags but I’ll be better prepared for it next time and there will be a next time. I want to do one of the week long trips where we take a day or two off from parks and visit Disney Springs and enjoy the resort more especially the pools. I loved the random Mine! mine! mine! From the Seaguls at 6am when I was picking up breakfast half asleep.

 

I’m not sure when the next trip will be but I can tell you for sure whatever year Tron opens we will be there! I’ve been dying to try out the one in Shanghai but can’t afford that big of a trip right now.

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On our last 2 trips, we waited less than 15 minutes for Magical Express, but it was much earlier in the day. We were early enough to run and spend time in the parks and our luggage was in our room by the time we returned. My wife and I did an adult trip in August and I sprung for a preferred room at Pop Century. We were in the building next to the food court and less than a 5 minute walk from the bus stops. I'm not lazy by any means and we spend plenty of time walking while we're there, but the time savings were totally worth the small extra expense. We managed to almost completely dodge the rain on that trip. We were either indoors or en route to a park and we only donned the ponchos for about an hour one afternoon.

 

Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

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We just got back yesterday from our first legitimate vacation to Disney World where we stayed at a Disney resort and took advantage of everything they offer to make the trip easier. I will do a full trip report in this thread over the next week or so with lots of pictures.

 

If you haven't seen my posts before I have kids aged 4 and 2. We did this trip for them as I am the type that prefers the big coasters and parks like Cedar Point over a ton of theming like at WDW. I was left with my jaw on the ground many times and felt like a kid myself while at the parks. We stayed at Art of Animation and visited Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. One park did leave me feeling underwhelmed but the other two I feel like I can't get enough of.

 

I hope to have the first part of the report up by the end of today and I hope whoever decides to read along enjoys what I have to offer.

 

Stay tuned...

 

can't wait to see your report!

 

I'm a little surprised you didn't do EPCOT, since the kiddos would likely have loved Nemo.. . but I'm sure they enjoyed lots of the animals at AK.

 

looking forwards to the pics!

 

I admittedly don’t know a whole lot about EPCOT and we deicided to leave that one off this trip. Had I done basic research I would have taken the kids there because of Frozen Ever Afer and them being obsessed with the movie

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^ Wait till Ratatouille opens in France, at EPCOT. Then take your kids.

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The "Ratatouille" attraction in EPCOT, will look something like this. (o: This is the original, in WD Studios, Paris.

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Part 2 Magic Kingdom

 

Let me start out by saying last year when we did a single day trip at Magic Kingdom before getting on a cruise it was great but also kind of sucked at the same time. Most of what sucked had to do with the Monorail and getting to and from the park. Mid day on that trip we left the park to let the kids rest, when we tried to return the Monorail went down forcing us onto a ferry. It ended up taking us an hour in total just to go from Shades of Green to Magic Kingdom. Then when we were leaving it happened again this time with many more people involved it took longer and was around an hour and a half to get back to the room with two kids that had been grumpy for the last couple of hours so not very fun.

 

So going into this trip I knew I wanted to avoid the Monorail at all cost. We mainly stayed on property for the bus service and boy did it pay off. the bus ride from AoA to Magic Kingdom was 20 minutes and it dropped off right outside the gates so you didn't have to deal with ferry or monorail. Going ot and leaving the park there was a bus when we walked up so we were just able to hop on and go with little to no waiting around.

 

We booked our trip in August and I knew I wanted to get an early dining reservation so I could get us in the park before open. Nothing was available for the longest time. Every day for the month leading up to the trip I would check for reservations. Finally exactly one week before the trip we were able to get a reservation at Crystal Palace for 8:25am. I was happy even though I knew nothing about the place, at the end of the reservation it said character dining but didn't see who it was. When I asked and found out it was Pooh and friends I was thrilled because my son loves those characters. When we got in the park we took a few pictures then headed to Crystal Palace, we were seated right at our reservation time. My son quickly noticed Pooh and got really excited, my daughter also noticed and was not pleased... apparently in her little mind Pooh was some kind of spawn of Satan that she wanted to stay far away. Anytime he got near us she would lose her mind screaming. I was thinking well we are in for a hell of a trip if the characters scare her. Turns out it was just Pooh she was cool with the other characters. Only thing I can figure is Pooh is shady and she knows it but doesn't know how to tell us in detail. oo well. My wife and I were the only ones that ate and we each had one pretty light plate and some orange juice. Then I got the check (remember I didn't know anything about this place) Holy sticker shock! after tip that little amount of food that was pretty much just some eggs and fruit was $84. This stop was really my only regret of the trip one because I would have ate way more at that price had i done my research and two I wouldn't have booked if I realized how long it took for the characters to get around to the table. We only stayed long enough for Pooh and Eeyore as the park had opened and we had plans. If I do this next time and to caution others that might not know like me only book if you have an hour plus to spend there.

 

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A nice empty park to start the day.

 

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judging by my daughters reaction this is Satan. he seemed nice though..

 

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both kids liked seeing Eeyore but only my son was brave enough to approach.

 

After our breakfast we rushed over to Jungle Cruise since we missed that on our first visit. Actually we missed a ton of stuff last year but we got most of it in this time around. We all really enjoyed the ride and the cheesy jokes. I am a dad and I appreciate stupid dad jokes, I am not ashamed. The kids spend most of the time ooing and ahing to go with clapping. Fun ride and worth the walk on wait!

 

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We almost got ambushed but our excellent driver got us to safety!

 

If you have never been on Pirates of the Caribbean or live under a rock like me skip the next part if you don't want it spoiled.

 

Next up was Pirates of the Caribbean which was another new one to us. I had no idea I would like this ride as much as I did for the day this was one of two rides I couldn't quit thinking about how awesome they were. I had no idea about the little drop which caught me way off guard and I loved how each room had a different smell to match what was going on in the scene. The animatronics were way better than I expected given the age of the ride as well. As a family we all loved the ride, well I think my daughter did she was a little nervous but kept on pointing at various things and saying pretty. I look forward to riding again to see if I still feel the same knowing about the ride when I get on.

 

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Clearly we had no idea what was going on. (back row)

 

We then headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. My wife and Jamey rode first while I waited with Millie who is still too small to ride. We walked over and watched Splash Mountain test for a few minutes before heading back. I wish Splash Mountain had been open during our visit. I believe it opened the day we were headed home. Jamey came running off the ride with a big smile on his face, he loved it and I was proud. I then tried to take him on a second time as we had gotten a parent swap pass but he was content and said "no dada I already rode it is your turn" I don't think he understood he could ride more than once lol. I took it on by myself. Pretty fun coaster and longer than I expected it to be.

 

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I bet no one has taken a photo from this spot!

 

Our first Fast pass was still about an hour away and that was meeting Mickey. We did The Magic Carpets of Aladdin and decided to walk across the park to ride Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin since the app was showing a half hour wait and my son was asking to go ride it since he remembered it from last year. I am not sure what the deal was but I thought Fast Passes were limited to so many per time frame. it was a constant stream of people walking through the fast pass line and right in front of Standby. It ended up taking 45 minutes. The only frustrating part was that when we were the next to go at the merge point we got held up and waited a solid 5 minutes of them letting the constant flow of Fast Passes go in front of us. OO well ride was still fun and my son loves it.

 

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Cheesin

 

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Cheesin part 2

 

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cheesin thrice

 

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This is very serious stuff! Millie was in charge of spinning us so we went around a lot.

 

Now it was finally time to meet Mickey, something my son has wanted to do since last year and we missed out on it. As you can probably already tell from some of the photos we purchased Memory maker which is $169 if bought in advance and you get to keep every photo taken at the park during your stay. It was worth every penny and i mainly point to these pictures from Mickey and the Olaf pictures you will see in the Hollywood Studios report. Seriously if you're there multiple days and with small kids spend the money and get this. Jamey's jaw hit the floor when Mickey started talking to him.

 

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Let us at him!

 

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After the Mickey meet it was time for some lunch and our Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Fast Pass. We went to Friars Nook where last year we had some amazing pot roast mac and cheese. to my surprise that was no longer there and had been replaced with BBQ mac and cheese with coleslaw and bread crumbs. It was alright but no where near as good as the pot roast version. I was let down. The lady aslo let me know that the mac and cheese would be gone in the next month in favor of tater tots. I am going to have to find a different quick service to hit up next visit.

 

Last year my son absolutely loved Seven Dwarfs Mine Train this year for whatever reason he didn't like it. maybe it was the timing with just having ate but he said it got his belly and he didn't like it. Since the wife rode with Jamey on this as well I decided to still go it alone. I enjoyed it and I don't care if it is meant for kids the thing is just fun and crazy smooth.

 

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This is the face of fun okay!

 

Since it was a little after 1pm I knew the kids would wear down a little and realized this when booking our Fast Passes so I tried to make sure on all of our park days that the wife and I could enjoy the more adult rides and the kids would relax in the stroller while we took turns. This worked out well for us throughout the trip. My wife went first on Space Mountain and came off with a big smile on her face saying "okay that ride is awesome!" I was intrigued and went on about taking my ride. She was not wrong this coaster is legitimately great and I have updated my coaster rankings in the new poll to reflect my enjoyment of it. Every dip and turn in that crazy building had me laughing. I only wish I had done it again on this day but it never worked out. This was the other ride that left me thinking about how awesome it was ever since we got off.

 

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I had no idea where the camera was but I have a feeling the guy in the back did.

 

With the kids rested a bit we went to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor this thing is a hit with both of my kids laughing and clapping the whole time. I find it to be just alright but if it brings that much enjoyment to my kids then I can't help but like it. When we were headed to grab our stroller we noticed Buzz getting ready for another round of meet and greets and I ran Jamey over to the line while it was short. After meeting Buzz we relaxed on People Mover. I feel like I am not supposed to enjoy that ride as much as I do but i am entertained every time we get on it and there is never a line when we visit.

 

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Buzz is cool in my book.

 

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Jamey has a little Buzz toy in his pocket on his shirt.

 

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all smiles!

 

Now it was time to take a break and walk around some shops and grab a snack. We spent an hour or more doing this and ended up in front of the Castle as a show started. My kids got really excited when the Frozen characters showed up and started singing. They have been obsessed with Frozen since about November. While all this was going on I worked on Fast Passes since why should we wait in line even a small one if we don't have to. I got us Little Mermaid Under the Sea. we all surprisingly enjoyed the ride. It is nothing spectacular but it was fun. My kids liked it so much we went back and rode it again on another fast pass a little later in the day when I gave them the option of Winnie the Pooh or Under the Sea again. We rode Pooh last year so it was okay. We were also okay with missing out on Peter Pan's Flight this time.

 

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complete shock.

 

Dumbo is a ride my wife had dreamed of riding since she was a kid so we had to make sure that happened. What we didn't expect was that part of the way through the line there was a spot where we could just sit back and let the kids run around and climb through things. We took advantage of this and stayed in there for a half hour or more. It was nice. After that we maybe waited 10 minutes to get on the ride. It is what you would expect out of this type of ride but with the kids having so much fun it was hard not to enjoy the ride. Next time I am there and the kids start acting up I am taking them to Dumbo just to run around.

 

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To finish the 12 hours at the park out we did Mad Tea Party which I so badly wanted to spin as fast as possible but didn't want sick kids and the second ride on Under The Sea before we went and got a good spot for the first show of the night which I believe was Once Upon a Time. we all really enjoyed it but decided to head out before the big Fireworks show as the kids were reaching their limit for the day. After the bus ride and long walk back to the room the kids were asleep almost as soon as we put them in PJs. I wish I had known all I have to do to get them to sleep is not allow them a nap and be at an amusement park for 12 hours. It was so easy yet i never realized it!

 

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Thank you for reading this part. The next one up is Animal Kingdom!

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Also to anyone reading feel free to make suggestions or comments on things you would like to see me do different with the report or questions about the parks you want added to it. I still have Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom to do.

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I will try to add more food detail but I think we mainly snacked at the parks especially Hollywood Studios. We didn't do any other table service stops on our trip other than Crystal Palace.

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The character meals get a premium for sure, but if you think about the fact that you get food AND avoid standing in line for up to 5 different characters I think they are well worth the money! (If you have a kid who would want to stand in line for character pictures/autographs)

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^And also choosing one that has a meal you like!

 

For the 'character' dining, I like Chef Mickey's and Garden Grill a lot. At Chef Mickey's you're getting a pretty high end buffet (especially if you do Brunch) and ALL of the main characters. At Garden Grill you can just sit back and be served and get plenty of time with my rodents as well as a fun rotating restaurant! I'm not into the face characters or Pooh characters as much so that rules out a bunch of places.

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I didn't really research any of the places to eat. I only knew about a few quick service things here and there. One thing I have really enjoyed about Disney is I keep learning more and more each visit and it just makes me want to go back.

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Great report!

 

I agree that while character dining is expensive, it's a great way to see the characters without burning time waiting in line. I tended to prefer to book the character meals for dinner since I don't recall there being too large of a difference between breakfast and dinner, and the latter has a much larger spread of food.

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Part 3 Animal Kingdom

 

As you probably have realized by now I am very new to all things Disney. Going into Animal Kingdom I had all the basic info I needed to get us through our first day. I knew about Pandora and was looking forward to it because I oddly enough enjoyed the movie Avatar. I also was looking forward to Expedition Everest, This unlike some of the others I knew about the tricks involved with it and couldn't wait to try it. As much as I was excited to check this park out I was left pretty underwhelmed and so was the rest of my family to the point we ended up leaving after our last Fast Pass at 4:30.

 

After the long day we had at Magic Kingdom the day before we decided to take it a bit slower and not be up and at the park first thing in the morning. I think we ended up getting to the park around 9:45am. Still pretty early but this was thanks to the bus service from AoA being so great. Walk out to bus climb right on and be there about 15 minutes later. I cannot say enough about how happy I was with the bus service to and from the parks it made the trip that much better it was so easy and convenient. I do not see myself staying off property on any future visits due to this.

 

When we arrived at the park even 45 minutes after open there were still lines through the checkpoints for people with bags. Our first Fast Pass wasn't until 10:35 on Na'vi River Journey ( go ahead and roll your eyes since you probably know you have to choose one or the other with this and Flight of Passage but remember I have a 2 year old that can't ride FoP and wanted to include her in everything I could) So we decided to head to Pandora as soon as we got in and just look at all of the cool things they built in the area. Unfortunately my 4 year old decided to start the day with a random tantrum about nothing so us walking around and checking things out was spent trying to figure out how to snap him out of it. We ended up finding a random spot no one was in where he could climb around and that seemed to fix him. luckily there wasn't anymore tantrums the rest of the day.

 

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Walking in standard picture.

 

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Take a left at the big tree and end up here.

 

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I believe this was sitting at the random open spot we found.

 

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They enjoyed climbing around on this little spot.

 

Our first ride was Na'vi River Journey, a ride I thought would be really cool with the visuals. The visuals were really cool but wow did the ride feel short to me compared to everything else we did. I remember coming around the final turn and seeing the unload and thinking people are really waiting hours for this thing!? I might wait 30 minutes tops for it if it was a really busy day and everything was long but I now really have no interest in trying to ride it again. Jamey and Millie enjoyed it so not a complete loss but damn did I mess up I should have taken the FoP Fast Pass which even booking at the earliest possible time I could the earliest we could have got was 6:30pm. If you're going and plan to ride this make it your priority to get this Fast Pass first above all else.

 

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I definitely enjoyed the visuals

 

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I also enjoyed the sense of size this gave you to the characters in the movie.

 

After Na'vi River Journey we decided to stroll around the park and see some stuff before our next Fast Pass on Expedition Everest. I really enjoyed the Asia part of the park as it smelled wonderful over there and made me hungry but sadly I did not get any food from that area. We ended up in Dinoland USA and letting the kids run around a bit. We also rode TriceraTop Spin which I think is the third time for us riding this type of ride but with a different skin in the last two days. Either way the kids really enjoy it and I have no complaints. After a popcorn refill (if you have kids I highly recommend the $10 bucket with $1.50 refills. It shuts up kids quick!) we made our way to Expedition Everest. I knew everything about this ride going in but it didn't matter that I had it spoiled I loved the thing. I did not tell my wife about it going in and she came off so happy. I will gladly ride this and Space Mountain at any point they made their way into some of my favorite coasters. I can't remember exactly where I put it but its up there for my limited riding of coasters I think I am somewhere around 90 now.

 

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TriceraTop Spin

 

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Love this thing.

 

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So much so I give it two thumbs up.

 

Once both of us had ridden Expedition Everest we were going to take the kids back to Dinoland USA for the kids to play some more but we ended up walking up on the Finding Nemo Musical as the show was getting started. Jamey really enjoyed the show the rest of us were indifferent. It wasn't bad but I wasn't exactly in the mood for a musical after riding what I had just been on. I will admit is was pretty cool the way they handled the characters and enjoyed the shark portion of the show but I was let down when they didn't include the seagulls saying "mine!mine!mine!" lol. It seemed like most of the kids in the audience enjoyed the show.

 

By this point it was sometime between 12:30 and 1 so that meant time to feed the kids. We ended up at Restaurantosaurus, This place seemed to have all the basic offerings but one thing I noticed that I liked but din't take advantage of was the toppings bar. I like being able to construct my own burger maybe I am weird I don't know. I got us two of the chicken breast nugget meals to split between the four of us which ended up being plenty as we don't like eating large meals while at the park. I think the meals cost me $22 total which I didn't thing was bad since all four of us ate on it. The line for this place was huge and somehow I ended up as the lone bearded gentleman in a sea of foreign girls in matching outfits. Clearly something had gone wrong but I happily waited for about 3 minutes before what I assume was some kind of manager for that area came and got me and stuck me right at a register to order skipping me past the half hour long line. One thing about Disney I learned on this trip is that they do chicken nuggets right. Whether it was at AoA or in the parks they were excellent.

 

While the youngest and the wife were relaxing and finishing a meal I noticed on the app that it said Dinosaur was a 15 minute wait and being that we were right next to it I grabbed the boy and took him over to it. Another ride I knew nothing about, I knew it was Dinosaur themed and that Jamey was tall enough for it which was enough to check it out in my book. The pre show stuff was pretty ho hum and boring but the ride itself was a blast especially if you do not know what the hell is going on. I did notice it said something about shaking vehicles so when we boarded the ride I put my sunglasses in the loose articles bag, a move that would lead to me never seeing my favorite pair again(RIP sunglasses 2012-2018). We had so much fun on the ride and the Dinosaurs coming at us that I completely spaced after the ride and left them. In typical american human fashion whoever found them kept them as I have checked several times with lost and found. oo well we had so much fun on the ride I was too heartbroken about it.

 

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I thought we were goners but luckily Jamey kept me safe!

 

Millie had fallen asleep so we decided this was a good time to walk around and check out some animals. This part of the day was pretty entertaining and I was really happy to see the tiger cubs out and playing. There really isnt a whole lot to say here similar to most zoos is this aspect walk around look at the cool animals through glass. Ill keep this part short enjoy the photos.

 

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One of the cubs playing with momma.

 

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Stay back youngin.

 

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Colorful!

 

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I think he was sick of entertaining us.

 

After the animals and once Millie woke up it was time to check out It's Tough to be a Bug. 3 of the 4 of us loved it, Millie however was not cool with what was happening. She lost her mind at all attacks that were launched on humans for our sins against bugs. Definitely heed the warning of the show may cause issues for young ones i completely spaced and said nah she'll be alright to my wife. I was wrong. I thought it was a pretty cool show with all of the surprises they have. I would see it again that's for sure but maybe not until my daughter is a little older.

 

Now we were to the boring part of the day where we just kind of walked around checked out shops before our last Fast Pass on Kilimanjaro Safaris. At one point we just found a spot in Africa and sat down and waited for some time. We did really enjoy Kilimanjaro Safaris once it got around to riding it, once again I enjoyed the cheesy jokes. Watching the animals walk around and some times in front of the vehicles that was cool and I look forward to doing it again whenever we make it back to the park.

 

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Chillin

 

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Blocking the path.

 

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Lazy

 

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One of my favorite animals we saw.

 

We left the park after Kilimanjaro Safaris, we all felt pretty underwhelmed by the park. I wish I had enjoyed it more but I felt like it just didn't compare to the other parks. This all could entirely be my fault since I didn't know a whole lot going in and research could have made my day better. So for the people reading that have been I ask you to make suggestions on how we can make our next visit whenever that is better. I get the feeling there is a lot i am missing out on and I will for sure visit again just to ride FoP that we missed this time. Also this park felt really crowded to me maybe it was but I was thinking that the paths were just narrower and gave the illusion of it being really crowded. Most lines seemed to be a half our or so except for the stuff in Pandora that stayed around 2 hours for stand by.

 

When we got back to AoA I got us some food from Landscape of Flavors I had an Indian dish of some sort for $10 that I can't remember the name of but by the time I got it back to the room it was cold and I ended up only eating half of it. It was alright and I think I would have liked it a lot better hot. My wife had one of the Burgers she said it was alright but not worth the $14 price tag. We both loved the coleslaw from the spot with the burgers though!

 

Thank you for reading and I appreciate all of the comments feedback that I have already got and that I may get in the future.

 

Next up is Hollywood Studios!

Edited by Ape
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Great update!

 

It's interesting to me because I love Animal Kingdom, it is probably my favorite park at WDW. But there really isn't all that much that you guys didn't do. And I haven't even been since they added Pandora, River of Lights, or the Nighttime Safari.

 

The biggest thing you guys probably missed was Festival of the Lion King. In my opinion that's the best "live" show at the entire resort. So that might have been a better option than Finding Nemo. Then there's obviously Kali River Rapids and Primeval Whirl but neither of those are must do rides. They are what they are.

 

There are also some decent ways to kill time around the park while you were waiting for your fast passes. You could've gone to Rafiki's Planet Watch which is interesting if you're into conservation. They have some baby animals there and an animal hospital where you can sometimes look in on live operations. There's also a petting zoo and a few other interesting things over there. Plus it takes a train ride to get there which could be fun for the kids. Then there's The Boneyard which is a really cool interactive playground for kids in Dinoland USA where they can run around and dig up fossils.

 

But I think the reason I love the park so much has a lot to do with the great food and drink options they have, whether it be quick service or table service. Flame Tree Barbecue is a good option for a ton of food at a good price. Plus I probably enjoy the animal exhibits a bit more than the average guest. In my opinion between all the shows, exhibits, and great places to grab a drink it is the best park at the resort to "kill time" at. Then again I am not traveling with 2 and 4 year olds haha, so my pace may be a little different.

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I agree with Prospekt, Animal Kingdom is my favorite of the Disney parks. I am admittedly an animal fanatic and that certainly helps. The last time I was at Disney was 9 years ago so they've added and changed a lot since then, however I was able to spend 1.5 days at AK without being bored. I'm one of the few who really enjoyed Primevil Whirl so rode that multiple times, as well as Kali River Rapids which if you wear a poncho keeps you quite dry. Finding Nemo is my favorite animated film so seeing the musical is a no-brainer and done extremely well IMO. I also like the Lion King production there. Hearing your daughter's reaction to the A Bug's Life show made me chuckle because I felt similarly about it. Never again!

 

Interesting to hear you lost your glasses on Dinosaur because I also lost something when I rode it. Due to the jerking insane motion of the car and having dry eyes later in the day, the second we got off the car at the unloading platform one of my contacts popped out. I can't see without them and my glasses were back in our on property hotel room. I alerted one of the cast members but they rushed me off the platform saying I couldn't be there and need to exit immediately or they have to stop the ride, etc. I tried to explain what happened to no avail. I eventually found somebody else not far outside the exit and they must have been a higher-up because suddenly there was a team of people on the unload platform with flashlights and within 60 seconds the missing contact had been located on the ground next to where the ride vehicles unload! I couldn't believe it and could have kissed them all for their help. A bizarre occurrance with a magical ending.

 

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip! It's been an enjoyable TR to read so far. Your kids are just the cutest and remind me very, very much of a close friend's 2 kids.

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