Back ... to the other side of the park. A March 2020 TR (updated with Final Thoughts x2 - 2/14/2021)

[amyjoq]

Following!

Welcome! Thanks for following!

Between reservations and FPs, it's hard not to trek across the park sometimes.

Glad Haley was so happy with her droid!

That’s what I keep telling my DH!
Once she got that droid - all anxiety gone - she was so worried she’d miss her time.

Ugh that stinks! But gives you something to look forward to on you next trip

I read most of those a few years back and Ricky has them on his bookcase. I've been thinking of rereading them during this...........downtime, now I think I will! That's so cool you read them with your students.

Even during the pandemic online learning, we are sticking with it. I wear my ears in every video - it’s brought some joy. Haley read the whole series - she highly recommends it.

 

[amyjoq]

Arrival day Part ... 5

We changed up our pattern a bit and headed over to TSL by NOT walking back across the park and walk through the ‘back entrance’ to GE ... a much shorter path ... that’s just not our style

While the family ditched me earlier to create a droid ... I discovered that there was a very short line to meet one Edna Mode - we headed there first. When Haley agrees to a character meet - you drop everything and meet that character!





Favorite part of this CM was waiting on the other side of the wall and seeing only Edna’s hand appear and summon you over... and she liked my short hair.

Time was moving along and we had yet another FP to get to ... in TSL ... TSM!
Once again, being the third wheel in this family apparently, I rode by myself but in the same ‘car’ as these two cheaters.


By myself = I win ... right?


Our final FP was for Fantasmic, we had some time so we went to Haley’s favorite from our last trip - Muppets 3D - never disappoints.
Happy to see Miss Piggy back ... honestly didn’t know she was ‘missing’ till I read others joy on the boards here



We ate a nice enough slice of pizza at PizzeRizzo. Haley is in love with the simple Caesar salads here on property so this meal made her very happy.
We decided to go to the other side of the park - this time taking a few streets we hadn’t walked down yet (shocking, I know) and wait for our FP arrival time.
We had about an hour so we decided to check out Lightning McQueens Racing Academy. We walked up just in time for the show to start. Coming from a racing family (don’t get too excited, Drag racing local tracks but famous in our own minds kind of racing family) so Racing is in our comfort zone - we really enjoyed this cute show - the technology and audio-animatronics were incredible.




We sort of walked around the little area right out front - Jason got a call as we were walking out. While waiting for him - this happened - my favorite pic from the whole trip - Haley and I had not idea he was paying attention to us.


I don’t know how to rotate it but I love it so it stays

We just waiting a bit on the rock wall leading towards Fantasmic, waiting for our time to enter. This was a first for us and I was so excited. It was a long walk back, once we got our seats I got up and got us a snack.
Very impressed with the organization and the show itself. So fun!
My favorite part... Steamboat Willie!! Total surprise to us and we loved it! (Haley and I anyway - as a blasting technician, J was all about the explosives).



We were seating pretty far from the exit so we chilled and waited out the crowd. We chose to walk along the bottom the up the steps towards the exit.

Today was amazing - lots of firsts, lots of walking, and lots of fun.

We do not have the magic touch when it comes to the busses. We’ve accepted that Disney puts our resort at the end of every bus depot and that we will have to wait for the next bus - it is our fate and we’ve accepted it as such.
It was so nice have our room so close to the bus stop.

Day one ... done.

Up next ... Day 2 starts out with a mega character meet.

 

[KathyM2]

I'm a little late to the party but joining in!

Haley ordered the Homecomin fried chicken which came with mashed potatoes and in house donuts. She rolled her eyes with pleasure during this meal - huge compliment from our chicken nugget loving girl.

I really wanted to go there on our last trip which sadly got cut short. Next time! Those donuts look so good!

 

[amyjoq]

Day 2 - Epcot day

Finally we have teacher day 2 ... the one where
I make some mistakes but we make it to all the important places on time ... what more could you ask for?

We had an ADR for Ohana Character Breakfast. This was an important breakfast ... it is one of those rare moment Haley actually wants to meet a character. This meal happened to give her that chance with her #1 alien Stitch.

Getting there did not go as smoothing as my mind tricked me into believing it would. I had been dreaming of riding in one of these beauties no matter the cost :


I don’t have very much experience with Uber or Lift - by ‘don’t have very much’ I mean zero, zip, nada. I sat on the edge of the bed just 40 minutes till our reservation (mistake #1) and requested a Minnie van lift. The app tells me to head to the lobby so we head to lobby. I pull my attention away from the amazing artwork long enough to look at the app and see that no car is in their way...what!?!? Our time is dwindling y’all.
I may have stared at the screen in disbelief a smudge too long before going outside as asking the kind concierge for help. He was kind when he told me to basically give up the dream, they had taxis on standby, you have no price time woman.
So we rode to our amazing breakfast swished in the back seat of a taxi ... a first for us, one of many that day.
We made it just in time for our ADR, only one smallish group ahead of us - our waiter came and sat us right away. My view wasn’t too shabby.


I say ‘my view’ because I had to sit with my back to the room. Jason and Haley had this view as well but neither one like their backs to the room so this is all I saw. Well, this and the food in front of me.
This was a first for us and the food was not only delicious, the meet and greets were fun as well. I think we started off the day just right.









We left Ohana full and satisfied. This is where some more mistakes were made. I can’t help it, I’ve accepted it as my fate.

We shopped for a few moments - Haley purchased a few necessary Stitch items and we headed to Epcot via the monorail - easy right?





The monorail was conveniently on the same level as Ohana so we moved in that direction.
There was a sign declaring Epcot seekers to take the bus. Did we believe the sign OR the cast members telling us to take the bus.
No - don’t be silly.

We got on the resort monorail - which was enjoyable. Once we exited at the Ticket and Transportation Center we confirmed that yes, the Epcot monorail was down and we walked over to the busses. We are from Missouri - sometimes you have to show us for us to believe it.

Once in the bus, we sat back for the quick ride over to Epcot and I explained our morning strategy in order to ride either Test Track or Sourin - neither is which we had a FP for. To which Jason declared ... so back to the other side of the park? But of course!

Up next - which to get to ride... TT or Sourin??

 

[amyjoq]

I'm a little late to the party but joining in!

I really wanted to go there on our last trip which sadly got cut short. Next time! Those donuts look so good!

Thank you for joining! The donuts were good especially with the sauce. Definitely a must try!

 

[ariane37]

Jason and Haley had this view as well but neither one like their backs to the room so this is all I saw. Well, this and the food in front of me.

My DH is like this! I've learned over the years when approaching a table in a restaurant to just take a seat that doesn't face the door.

Glad you like 'Ohana breakfast! It's been awhile but we did that way back when.

 

[amyjoq]

Day 2 - Epcot - Continued...

We left off, many moons ago, pondering which would we ride first...Sourin' or Test Track.
The answer...



Yep, The Seas with Nemo. Cute as ever and entertaining CM being sarcastic with younger CM who didn’t understand the concept of helping people to their shell.
Why Nemo instead of the two more exciting rides we did not have FP for? We had a FP for Nemo. I know! Not necessary with the tier groups for FP and landing one for Frozen, add the small factor that my teenager wasn’t big on roller coasters but was working her way up...I chose Nemo as FP #3 today - or #1 as the times fell.

As we exited I checked the wait times for both TT and Soarin...Soarin won by 10 minutes and it wasn’t on the other side of the park. I don’t think we waited more than 40 min when the wait time said 55.

PSA : This is where I stopped taking notes ... for the rest of the trip. Working off pictures only ... proceed with caution.

We then ventured toward Spaceship Earth - a first for us.


We had a FP - good thing, stand-by line wrapped through the queue and out along the walkway. FP did as well but it was much shorter.
We really enjoyed this ride, I was extra excited about the garage having just read Bob Iger’s book and the connection with Steve Jobs. Happy we checked it off our list.


Single rider once again.


We had a specific lunch choice we were looking forward to today so we made our way over to World Showcase and the American Pavilion. There was a recent article in WDW Magazine that featured the newly opened Regal Eagle Smokehouse. There was very little wait and it was all very tasty. We compared it to Sugarfire - a BBQ/Smoked meat place here in the Midwest, only better.

Our FP for Frozen Ever After was up next. A first, Haley and I were looking forward to her dads reaction. Haley did not believe us that at 5 years old she had been on this ride, it just had a different theme. She didn’t remember - that’s okay.




By this time, we were getting hot and tired. We had a hours till our dinner ADR so we went back to our resort and swam, taking pictures on our way out.







Up next...
A swim and a new dining experience plus a surprise first.

 

[amyjoq]

Epcot Photopass pics from our

 

[amyjoq]

Day 2 - cont.

We left Epcot for a break from the heat. Jason got off the bus at our stop back at Coronado whole Haley and I rode around to the last stop by the main entrance. We were picking up our cups ... finally. Once filled we took the long walk back to our room - around the lake rather than across the center. We were still new to this resort and would find our way around soon enough.

A first for me ... we all changed into our swimsuits and I actually joined my family in the water. Lots of exercise for me as I was in constant motion with one eye on each of them - they were in awe of my participation and aimed to dunk me.



I loved this pool area. It wasn’t very busy, the hot tub had a wall separating the pool area from passerby’s. I was looking forward to trying out the slide but alas... it was down.
We spent about an hour / hour and a half cooling off before heading back to our room. We had dinner reservations and wanted to enjoy some of the atmosphere.

My plan was to walk around, enjoy our ADR then walk out and watch the fireworks. I thought it was a solid plan ... plans change.

Once we were back through security and bag check, we walked around to the World Showcase via Mexico. We rode Three Amigos - Jason survived the creepy dolls (skeleton small world dolls) and we successfully pulled Haley away from the really expensive beautiful art. She did pick up a small glass Stitch from the glass shop.



We had some time so we strolled through China Pavilion. Haley purchased a little tree in one of the shops and had it delivered to our resort. There were some acrobatic performers we paused to watch.





It was getting close to our ADR so we did a little speed walking over to Italy to Via Napoli. This was a bucket list restaurant for me the last time we went to Epcot back in 2015. We had an ADR during that trip but were too full from our lunch that we canceled it. Not this time!





We all loved everything about this restaurant - the meal, the waiter (so cute, so personable), the atmosphere. J and I both had the pizza, Haley has spaghetti and for desert we shared something chocolate - so good.



It was time to either watch fireworks or ... checking the phone for wait times ... ride Test Track for the first time!!!

Cont. in next post...

 

[amyjoq]

Cont. from previous post...

The wait time wasn’t too crazy - like 45 min. - it was our only day at Epcot - we all wanted to ride ... let’s go!!!
Love this one:


By the time we made it to the queue line the wait time had increased to 55 min but the CM said it would be less than 30. He was so right - less than 30 minutes we were loading into our car.





When I’m in a roller coaster or ride Intend to laugh instead of scream... I laughed and then outside ... I screamed! It was so awesome and Haley design won best overall.


A little friendly racing.



On our way out we enjoyed some of the fireworks as we made out way to our bus.



Back at school there a health challenge going on amongst the staff - clues were given for different locations around the U.S. then your steps were entered for the day as you made progress towards that location. I sent this on our group chat - too bad my steps didn’t count.



Overall it was a good day at Epcot. Many firsts were had, a lovely swim, and great food.
Tomorrow ... I give in and follow my nephews ‘expert after only visiting once’ advice at Animal Kingdom. Does it work ... .

 

[amyjoq]

Day 3 (March 4) - Animal Kingdom Part 1

We were finally on our third day - Animal Kingdom Day! We are all huge fans of Avatar and were excited to ride Flights of Passage ... without a Fastpass. We rode it twice. How? Following multiple key pieces of advice.

While planning, I read that it was better to select a Fastpass for Nav’i River and walk on Flights of Passage - Disney luck shines on me as I was able to secure desired FP relatively early in the day. A few weeks prior to our trip I had dinner with my nephew. He and his wife had just returned and they had rode Flights of Passage multiple times during their stay using the following advice : get to the park an hour before it opens - follow CMs signs to the left and after lots of walking - you will walk on the ride.
Okay - let’s see how this goes. (Luckily my DH was up for anything.)


Only ones in the bus...till the next stop .

We weren’t 100% committed to my nephews advice. We did arrive about 40 min before park opened, made it thru security and were walking into the park within 5 min. We immediately headed towards Pandora - as were way too may other people. I’ll never understand the runners - as we made it to the bridge to the rope - walking a normal pace - the runners were all around us.
Once the rope dropped (less than a 15 min wait) we walked, following the crowd to the right as the CMs thinned out the crowd into a line. Not going to lie, we were questioning our plan as we kept walking past others in line. Once we were in line as well...we walked ... for 25 minutes straight .... straight onto the ride.








Awfully kind of them to remove any parasites before we mounted our Banshees. (The pre-show rooms - I guess that’s what you would call them - were fun and really get you immersed in the experience.)



There is a bin behind your Banshee to store all items ... including cell phones. You mount the seat and move completely forward while padded bars move in to secure your back and your legs.
This ride was incredible- the entire experience was incredible - we walked out and J stated what we were all thinking : That was BadA**!
We did text my nephew thanking him for the advice and promising to never doubt his intelligence again. (That won’t last long - he’s kind of ornery - the family member you should r sit next to at gatherings as he gets you in trouble but it’s so fun you do it anyway). This time we were moving through the line queue at such a rapid pace I didn’t get a chance to take many pictures. While walking to our Nav’i River FP - we took our time and tried to take everything in.






Up next - Nav’i River and a very large tree.

 

[amyjoq]

So sorry for the long delay ... I’ve been wrapping up my masters program. Now that my final class is done I will try to post more often.

Day 3 - Animal Kingdom Part 2
We left off praising my nephew for giving us fantastic advice for riding Flights of Passage as a walk on first thing this AM.

We had a FP for Nav’i River at 9:25 - after our 25 min walk onto FoP - we had a few minutes to wait before we could scan our bands.
Ive never been one to try to scan in early for fear of being the one person they would turn away.

We took a walk to kill some time ... Haley played the drums



There were these interesting creatures... they may or may not spit on you ... that’s the risk you take standing so close.





Once we made it out of that area relatively dry - we went for our FP at Nav’i River.
We all enjoyed the ride - I particularly like the jumping frogs (?) overhead - it was a nice relaxing ride.





We exited just in time to enjoy some entertainment- calling out to the Banshees.





Our next FP wasn’t until 12:40 and Haley wanted to enjoy The Lion King before we grabbed some lunch. The line wasn’t too bad when we walked up - we almost made it into the shade along the building leading to the far left entrance. Just when I thought the heat was going to take me...we were moving into the building.

Disney is clearly brilliant and has a purpose for everything. The woman in front of me was convinced her child would not enjoy the show without her cousin whose family had gotten there late and were on the opposite side of the room. The CM kindly told her everyone had to stay where they were seated but she just kept motioning for them to come over, complaining to her husband that there was room and do it ‘all the time”. It was all my teacher heart could do not to tell her to follow procedure for the love of God. (and Disney). Once the show started - all was well.



I love this show. Love love love this show. The monkeys get me every time. I don’t mind sitting wherever- I don’t think there is a bad place to sit.

By the time we were out do the show - we were hungry. Pizzafari was our lunch choice today - Haley was so happy they served Caesar salad, she absolutely fell in love with it this trip - so much so she ate mine again.

We decided this trip we were going to view as much of the tree as possible. Almost right across from Pizzafari was this entrance :



We strolled through the paths and pointed out as many animals as we could find. The engineering and creativity of this tree deserves some praise.



Up next - we have a FP to get to and it’s quite the walk to get there...

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Great morning!

 

[amyjoq]

Day 3 - Animal Kingdom Part 3

After our post lunch stroll around the Tree of Life, we headed to Africa to catch a ride on the Kilimanjaro Safaris. We had a FP which came in handy, even the FP wait was a little while longer than anticipated - which was fine.




Didn’t take very many pics, we were busy enjoying the ride, trying to absorb. I couldn’t NOT take a picture of the disappearing hidden Mickey.



I think back in 2008 during our first trip it was still easily viewable.

Once we made it out safely from, you know, the poachers, we headed to the Rafiki’s Planet Watch via the Wildlife Express. Haley is an artist, planning on graphic design in college, so I reserved the Animation Experience at the Conservation Station.

We had a reservation at 2:10 and it was only about 1:30. The area wasn’t very crowded so visiting with the goats to kill some time didn’t really work out well. We washed our hands and headed into the Conservation Station early just in time for the Animation Experience ahead of our reserved time. The CMs waived away my concerns and we got ready to create some magic.

Today, we were drawing Bruce from Finding Nemo. It was pretty relaxing, all 3 of us enjoyed it a lot but Haley didn’t quite finish hers. I only took a pic as we were being rushed out so she could look at it later - as you can see she still hasn’t finished the shading.



We left Rafiki’s Planet Watch and headed over to Asia, getting a cool snack along the way. At this point I looked at our FP options and asked Haley if she wanted to add either of the two options that were available ... her answer SHOCKED me! Our girl, who just this trip started getting braver with the roller coasters, CHOSE Expedition Everest.

We only had a few minutes to wait for our FP time so I had no choice but to push my anxiety aside for my family. True sacrifice, y’all.

We all ... LOVED it! So excited Haley pushed aside her own fears and tried something new. As we walked out we got pictures but these were the only ones that did not show up on our PP pics. Only the ride photos were there.



That’s Jason in the red hat with Haley next to him. I was the single rider again BUT this time I wasn’t alone! Only ride the whole trip .



That’s me - front row - on the left. Look fairly casual for being scared out of my mind.

Next up, I saw that Dinosaur had a short wait and since we were trying new things ... why not.

Never again. Not that it was a bad ride per say - I had NO idea it jerked riders around so bad. Haley told me on the walk out that clearly she knew what she was talking about at 5 yrs old when we barely got to the Dinosaur outside she turns us around. We can check it off as one and done.


I’ll pause here as I’m too close to picture capacity to finish out our night.
Up next ... an amazing evening that had up wanting

 

[Raemama]

Disney Confessions:

I know I’m late to the game on this TR, but I like to save them up to read all at once (binge watcher at heart, I guess!). I’m also somewhat new to being a full-on Disney fan/follower and had no idea what Kingdom Keepers was until I read your TR.

Are the books written so adults can enjoy them as well? Thanks for putting the effort into writing a TR!

 

[amyjoq]

Disney Confessions:

I know I’m late to the game on this TR, but I like to save them up to read all at once (binge watcher at heart, I guess!). I’m also somewhat new to being a full-on Disney fan/follower and had no idea what Kingdom Keepers was until I read your TR.

Are the books written so adults can enjoy them as well? Thanks for putting the effort into writing a TR!

Welcome!! Thank you for following along!
As a Disney fan, I enjoy the Kingdom Keepers books as well. I have the first 7 and my daughter has the second series of 3 books (Same name) which follow the characters into college.
Disney gave the author access to parks us regular folk would not have. He includes a lot of interesting facts and descriptions into his books - I find them enjoyable.

 

[amyjoq]

Day 3 - Animal Kingdom - Part 3

After our very jerky ride on Dinosaur we stopped in at Reataurantosouras for some chicken strips and AC. First visit to this CS, we liked the theming and the food hit the spot for our needs at that time.

I had read that you couldn’t walk thru Pandora at night AND watch Rivers of Light show - you had to pick one or the other. Haley picked Pandora so we made our way over there.
It was still light out and FP had a 70 minute wait. Us girls both looked to J who looked at the bridge and saw no one waiting on it and declared ‘We’ve got nothing but time,’







We had a steady walk till we were fully indoors but it went fast. J always seems to find someone to talk to - this trip was no different. A single rider and J hit it off - we were thru the queue line, ridden the amazing Bamshees and walking out into the evening sky in less than 45 minutes.

Pandora at night = magical.







We were ready to head to package pick up and call it a night. Haley and purchased her own Banshee and was ready to take it back to the room. On our walk out we saw the Tree of Life coming to life and it was mesmerizing! We stood there for the longest time watching the deer and tiger and others stand, stretch, and settle back into the tree. Disney Imagineers are one of a kind!



Eventually the personal Banshee was calling for Haley, we headed out with a new fondness for AK. My only regret is our PP pic in front of Everest never showed up on our account. Good thing I have ride photos to show it happened .

Up next ... final day ... MK.

 

[Bama Mom]

Jumping in to follow along. Sounds like y'all had a great time so far, can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip.

I don't care for the jerkiness of Dinosaur either. I ride it, but can do without it for sure.

 

[Bama Mom]

BTW, My sisters, nieces, daughter and I have a girls trip for March 2021. How was the weather temp wise for y'all?

 

[amyjoq]

BTW, My sisters, nieces, daughter and I have a girls trip for March 2021. How was the weather temp wise for y'all?

Temps were good - I wore Capri pants everyday and had a light jacket with me - didn’t need it. We only had one day we felt it was excessively warm but that was it. The one day my daughter wore jeans () she regretted it. No rain which always makes for a better trip.