Disney 2019 day 9: 26-Aug-2019

Navi Boats are the Weest ala Beast

Due to the previous night’s fragmentation there was confusion about who was going to get up early enough to go to the Animal Kingdom Extra Magic Hours.

It was all of us.

Of course it was all of us.

It’s us.

Seriously, we should know better by now.

Confusion or no, we made it just about at Extra Rope Drop anyway. 

Go us!

Since the official ones don’t start during Extra Magic Hours, Aurora acted as our personal PhotoPass photographer to get my family’s shot in front of the Tree of Life that we missed during earlier in the trip Tree Photo Ninjaing. YAY!

Kim, Dave and Grandma took Morgan into Dinoland, on Triceratops Spin and stuff, while I took the girls onto Expedition Everest.  Rosa maintained her anti thrill ride stance and visited It’s Tough to Be a Bug.

You have to be one Yeti foot high to ride that coaster. 

Awesome! 

YAY!

We did two runs by the dirty Wampa. There was probably time for a third but this trip really drove home that as much as we love Expedition Everest, we do not love it quite as much first thing in the morning.

The whole purpose of going to Extra Magic Hours was to let the folks who wanted to ride Kali River Rapids be at the front of the line as soon as the park fully opened. 

If ANY of us noticed in pre-planning, passing the line entrance, times guides or any of the myriad other places it was posted that Kali opens at Ten AM, an hour after standard park opening, our plan would have been reevaluated.

Alas.

Instead we (eventually) got everyone to regroup in Dinoland to ride Dinosaur before lines built up.  Due to our initial scattering and Disney featuring a realistic “remote locations have crappy cell signals” in this park, it took a bit of doing.

Naturally, we found ourselves watching the pre-show movie multiple times before the Cast Members admitted there was a technical difficulty.

Luckily, once again Disney is awesome, and not only was the delay fairly short, but they gave us two free “use anywhere except for the Avatar rides, you fool” FastPasses, one entering and one leaving the ride.  After all the efforts to get everyone into Dinoland, a group cut off Rosa Anabelle and I while I fixed my shoelace and we ended up in a different car anyway.

Alas, some more.

We poked around the dinosaur gift shop, water fountains and general dinosaurness of the place for a bit. 

YAY!

Anabelle continued losing her extra cats by trading the Siamese ones for a Prince Eric Pin.  Morgan grabbed some Dino pennies in there as well. We’re an equal opportunity Disney obsession family.

Then it was time to return to Avatarland to try the other attraction. 

Somehow we all fit into one boat.  For newer attractions they’re usually better on throughput via large vehicle size, not short ride length.  The projections matched seamlessly with the surroundings, and the animatronics were unparalleled. If I’d ever seen Avatar, I’d probably feel like I was in the movie. As it was I felt like I was in an alien world…but briefly.  My guess is - if it wasn’t right next to the blow your mind simulator that will have long lines forever, “it’s a blue world after all” wouldn’t need FastPasses most of the time.

But that’s the awesomeness of Disney. Even what sounds like a negative review relative to other attractions was a truly gorgeous and immersive experience.

We split again as Kali River Rapids was finally opening. I never liked that kind of soggy making ride even when not compared to other Disney awesomeness, and Rosa obviously wasn't going.  Kim and Dave were fans of Roaring Rapids from way back, their girls liked the late night leap on experience last time, Morgan was older and less upset when soggy and Anabelle wanted to try it out. I think Grandma went with them with no intention of riding just to see them get hosed.

Anabelle used a poncho to protect her backpack instead of putting it in the lockers.  There was a refurbishment shortly after we left to fix a bunch of the water effects and visuals which may have led to her rating it as a “meh” overall.  Some things you have to learn for yourself.

Rosa and I had a nice romantic stroll together, taking PhotoPasses in Pandora and finding the “secret passage” along a river under a bridge that was a pretty nature walk to the back side of Africa.

Due to the Pooh fiasco we weren’t there for and the Dinosaur one we were, we had FastPasses coming out of our ears.  We went into the Lion King show FastPass and the rest of the gang was supposed to catch it in regular seating.  Not only didn’t we notice that Kali opened at Ten AM, we also didn’t notice that the weekday Lion King shows start an hour later than weekends meaning this was the first one.  Therefore it was overcrowded and our family didn't make it in.

Sometimes, even the Where Will We Go Next Guy forgets to read the schedules.

Or, in my case, all the time.

They all went over to let the kids play in the boneyard, having the first meeting with the terrifyingly large bird, Kevin from Up along the way. 

After the show we met up with Anabelle in Dinoland. While the rest played in the bones a bit more we went to see Scrooge McDuck.  He adjusted Anabelle’s pins so they were all in line and got excited about my pirate belt buckle. Once again it was time for more excellent duck mime (another unique Disney perk) as he implied he wanted a dollar sign buckle.  YAY!

Rosa loves the Dinosaur ride, but her system can only handle one a day. Therefore she met some of the other Ducks and Pluto in the Cretaceous Park area while the rest of us went on.

Grandma’s seatbelt didn’t lock at first, adding WAY more thrill to the ride than any of us was ready to handle. Thanks to us not only being so fun in public, but incredibly loud in public, we got the Cast Member’s attention before anyone was playing Jurassic Park the Home Game.

It turns out I can only handle one Dinosaur a day as well, and the ride left me somewhat dizzy and urpy.  I really should have a much better affinity for a Disney Dinosaur themed ride. There are issues here, people. We did a snack and drink stop at a stand and I took a couple sips from Anabelle’s Sprite for some stomach stability.  She’d been using that as an anti-dehydration staple like Kim and I used PowerAde.  We’re older and more brittle, meaning we need higher quality fluids

Rosa swapped her Dinosaur FastPass for the Nemo musical.  Thanks to the previously mentioned FastPass fiascos, we all had extras to catch the next performance.  It’s amazing how rapidly something in Disney World can transition from a “Never wanted to do this” to a “We’re doing this every time we come.”

Anabelle now sings, “Where’s my dAAAAd,” whenever she loses sight of me for more than three seconds.

It was filled with talent, beautiful sets, amazing puppets and fun music. 

There were also some scares.

Okay, one scare.

Okay, one scare for me.

I may have nodded off a bit in a slow part and suddenly a twenty foot pelican popped on from stage left and I screamed like a small child.

We’re so fun in public.

Righteous!!!

We curved back around to the front of Discovery Island just in time for the dance party.

The dance party runs almost all day, so any time before it closes for the evening is just in time. YAY!

Kevin made a pass and squawked at me, making two times I squealed in fright for a giant puppet bird in less than an hour. Gotta love those unique Disney moments.

The kids got into the dancing, although Aurora was comically stubborn in her refusal to be dragged in by Timon.  Morgan was busting some serious moves, showing the advantage Danceworks gives him over most boys his age. 

We’re so fun in public.

Anabelle had a true Disney thrill, getting to dance with Koda. He was pointing at her pins and looking sad.  When she explained that she didn't have a pin, but did watch Brother Bear about twenty times a year he gave her a big hug. They’re really not supposed to do that in the dance parties so this was an extra bonus Disney moment that ratcheted it to “best day ever” levels.  YAY!

The gang danced around through a couple changes of characters. We had the first sighting of Miko since the waffle incident*(see footnote), and the kids joined in Rafiki’s canoe conga line.

Aside- This is a picture of the floor, not Rafiki.  Often there are hundreds of pictures like this for every good shot.  With the selections coming only from my camera this time, even more often, there is no good shot. Be thankful for the ones there are folks.

Kim and Grandma were having the same headache problems they had in the Africa plaza and were also trying to figure out food.  Because we had a Floridian buffet dinner scheduled, no one wanted to eat lunch, planning only to snack.  Anabelle got the last pretzel in a stand, but luckily Gerardo and Hope were Awesome Happy Disney Pretzel Cast Members and helped them find more pretzels to get a set for everyone.

Given the running around and general confusion near the dance party I was all set to go along with the “no meal” idea, certain that I’d be able to remain calm and focused for the remainder of the day.

Cheah- right!

While everyone else was dancing and pretzel hunting, I walked up to the Flame Tree and grabbed a rack of ribs and a Safari Amber Ale.  In an Old Testament recreation moment- I gave Rosa a rib.  She doesn't like pretzels.

I have played the RAVING LUNATIC game far too often to play the "Skip a meal to enjoy a buffet" version of that game. The only down side to the Flame Tree gambit was not being able to high five Russel with my rib hands as he and Dug returned to their meeting area.

With at least my crazy timer reset, we formed up again to go see the Bugs Life movie!

YAAAAAAY!  Gross jokes and terrifying moments galore! A Disney classic!

We stopped outside the exit, next to our little rain proof cave from the last day here, to let the kids have their pretzel moment.

Those of us who ate before the grossness watched the Bollywood dance demonstration through the trees.

Because there is almost no place in Disney you can be bored. YAY!

By this point it was time for the FastPass to see Mickey and Minnie. I was having some Where Will We Go Next Guy self-doubt.  We saw both of them several times, and had multiple other character meetings coming up. Why waste a FastPass?

Then we saw them together again. 

Oh yeah, that’s why.

It was loads of fun. They were poking Ziggywig, fussing over Rosa’s Disney Nails, playing and goofing around with all the kids and dragging Grandma into frame. It was a hoot and a half.

Minnie set us all up for the shot, then stood in front of us and posed covering everyone.

They’re even so much more fun in public.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

On the way out Russel and Dug passed again, this time I got a rib-less high five.  He gave Anabelle a thumbs up for her Up shirt and ruffled Morgan’s head.  Not his hair, his whole head. Those characters have big hands.

It was getting close to time for the Four O’clock Lion King show.  During a group potty stop, Rosa and Anabelle decided they were going to see two Lion King’s in a row to end the day.  They ran to catch the FastPass line and ended up in the elephant section. I stayed behind to tell everyone else, and they decided to go too, making the show this time on the normal line and sitting in the Lion section.  I do like the show, but not as much as my wife and daughter. Honestly, I don’t think anyone does. I planned to meet them on the FastPass line for the second one in a row.  (Seriously how did we end up with so many FastPasses? It rained them that day.)

The big singing guy winked at Rosa again at the start, and big feather hat guy (I’m sure my family knows their names, as I said, “not as much as my wife and daughter”) nodded at Anabelle.

And where was I?

I was alone in a Disney park on purpose (not hunting for missing family members)  for an extended period for the first time in my life.  Yes, the Where Will We Go Next Guy had a rare moment alone without having to guide anyone else to a destination.

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

I considered using one of the FastPasses dripping off of me to go on the Bumpy Bus once more, since no one but me ever considers a second trip.

But instead I decided to do the walk through safaris.  I realized that, like World Showcase in EPCOT and Main Street in the Magic Kingdom, those are the places that let me simply “be” in Disney.

I even took a Magic Shot PhotoPass alone in Asia and have a picture with Kaa from my favorite The Jungle Book!

For such a momentous occasion, I decided to break my picture rules for this trip and add the Magic Shot.

There were still no bats and monkeys out on the Maharaja Jungle Trek, but the Komodo dragon was walking around, and a fancy pigeon flew at my head. YAY!

In between safaris, I grabbed an egg roll, just in case the ribs didn’t hold off crazy hungry enough.  I also dipped my hat in Anabelle’s fountain, because I think of my family even when I celebrate a bit of freedom from them.

Hey, there are game prints on the walking trails! Those are easier to notice when I’m not trying to make sure half the group hasn't wandered off into another land!

The Cast Members raved about my Tron shirt and Pirate hat.  It’s fun to return some of the entertainment they provide. A kid pointed out that one of the African Cast Members sounded like they were from Wakanda.  Well the popularity of Black Panther accomplished something, I guess.

The hippo was sleeping way in the back, meaning I needed to exert myself to be mooned by a large animal. But the whole gorilla family coming out to greet me was a nice gesture, one huge, hairy primate to another.

The rest of the gang went back to the boneyard and I met up to share my family’s Lion King addiction.

Thinking about it, after having seen it repeatedly, basically that show is a circus, isn’t it?

We were in the lion section again and early enough for the demonstration of how to do the motions along with the tumble monkeys. Thanx to my utter failure, my daughter banned me from performing the Hand Jive in public, no matter how fun I am.

What really impresses me about this show is how they use lighting variations of same costumes to inspire completely different moods for each number.

We exited the theater, because there weren’t any performances left and they made Rosa and Anabelle leave.  Finding ourselves rained on as we worked our way back to the front of the park, we ducked out of the wetness into a rest room. It had the added bonus of “Octopuses’ Garden” playing. Disney thinks of everything.

Kim and Aurora used their extra FastPasses to ride Everest, and make fantastically goofy faces at the camera.

We’re so fun in public.

Aurora had an extra extra one but Awesome Happy Disneyness prevailed and they let Kim go with her on the second round, instead of taking the single rider route.  YAY!

Morgan had hit the main store for some pennies as they passed through.  We stopped to get Rosa a Tree of Life mug and for Anabelle to do some trading. She got an 8 Bit Rescuers for the last of the snack pins. She also traded Prince Eric for a Horizons pin for me, because, “You talk about it all the time.”  She pointed out that I talk about World of Motion way too much to get a pin.   At home she made a pin meme, with one of my Tchernabogs (for I naturally have several) pointing at the Horizons logo with the caption, 

“When someone asks why Daddy is always cranky near Mission Space.”

In another great moment of Where Will We Go Nexting, I told everyone to meet at the bus at Six, when I meant meet at the entrance then. (Why am I capitalizing times? I have no idea.)

In a rare occurrence of on timeness, everyone else was on the bus and we were hiking through the rain to catch up while texting, “Go ahead, we’ll take the next one.”

As fate would have it - the gods of Disney sometimes smile on the clueless Where Will We Go Next Guy- the bus was changing drivers, delaying their departure until we caught up.

We all drove together across the whole world to the Grand Floridian!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

The entrance way made it clear we had entered the Deluxest of deluxe resorts by providing both a fancy umbrella wrapper and towels as we came out of the increasing storm.

To make up for the orchestra area upstairs in the lobby being refurbished, there was a fantastic swing band downstairs. Because Grand Floridian. 

Rosa and Anabelle posed for their standard snooty photos in this area. Veronica, who had already changed into a Cinderella dress, was a complete natural joining in.

We’re so fun in public.

This is also where Veronica decided she was going to eat Anabelle.   This may have also surfaced at the Snow White dinner.   I heard about this second hand and decided there are some stories I do not want to know any details about.

With a bit of time before dinner, we poked around the fancy stores upstairs.  Anabelle swapped her digital Rescuers pin for Bashful, her favorite dwarf.  She also spent time talking about favorite dwarfs with the Cast Member, because half the point is the fun interactions.  (The other half, as with everything there, is Disney selling merchandise.)

Note for grammar nerds, dwarfs is right, dwarves are only for Tolkien works.  

(I guess this note is for regular nerds too.)

I found an amazingly accurate Headless Horseman cartoon ornament.  When I brought it to the counter, we sadly saw it was broken.  I went back to get another one.  

When I brought it to the counter, we sadly saw it was broken.  

Then I pulled a third one off the shelf, and we sadly saw it was broken.  

Those horse legs were really skinny. 

Finally I found a good one and the Cast Member packed it super well to protect it.  We made sure to carefully locate it in the bags for the night and the suitcase to make sure it got home safely. Once it was home we put it in a super secure spot to protect it until it was time to hang it on the tree.

Christmas came and went and I still had no idea where the heck it was.

(Note- My wife informed be during proofreading that it is safely in the hutch with her Tree of Life Mug, which I also had no idea where it was.  I'm the Where Will We go Next Guy, not the Where Did It Go Guy.)

With all the Halloween stuff everywhere, it was a huge shock that it was still only August when we got home.

At check-in time, the eager Earning My Ears Cast Member had just finished dealing with a cranky group before us and was finding our reservation when a GINORMOUS lightning bolt and thunder blast went off outside.  The lights flickered a bit and I can only assume her screen went as blank as her face.  I said, “You just lost everything didn't you?” While she timidly replied, “yes,” I continued, “Take your time, I understand power failures.”

She was relieved, which expanded quickly when a more senior Cast Member with a battery powered tablet came by to check us in.  We did chat with her a little more and confirmed the large number of "Earning my Ears" folks we saw was due to preparation for StarWarsLand opening.  Oh well, maybe next time.

Having given up on both my old phone and my ability to remember my smartphone number, we were waiting in the lobby for the text on Anabelle’s phone.  For most of us read “waiting” as “napping sprawled in snooty chairs.”

Surprisingly quickly for our horde, the text beckoning us to be seated with Cinderella’s family at 1900 Park Faire came through…

At the same instant we realized Morgan’s BB-8 Magic Band was gone. 

The napping was replaced with a flurry of activity as the whole gang spread out across the Floridian to ask Cast Members, tell the restaurant we were on the way, and dive under couches. 

I did some quick checks on MyDisneyExperience to find the lost band protocol as we recollected and were led into the restaurant. 

Y’know, looking at families grouped together eating; I noticed most of their “matching shirts” were far more literal and less thematically based than ours.  We’re a highly advanced Disney Gang, which makes us so fun in public.

Our waiter explained that due to the Mega-Deluxeness of the resort (I’m paraphrasing) dinner came with two beverages.  After the Extra Magic length, multiple largest Disney Park in the world crossing, burning heat, torrential downpour, lost band type day we had, all the adults fully embraced the notion of alcohol on the meal plan, along with sodas and juices to adjust caffeine and hydration levels as needed.

Kim and Dave went with a mule of some kind and beer of some kind, Grandma and Rosa tried the Raspberry Pina Coladas, and I ordered a Mai Tai with more kinds of rum than Captain Jack’s island. 

It is the happiest place on earth.

Along with Veronica’s Cinderella costume dress, Kim made sure to have a villain shirt with Lady Tremaine on it. Anabelle used the Drizella bow from our last trip and a new shirt with the Step Mother and Step Sisters. Aurora, as always, had Ziggywig perched on her shoulder.

Lady Tremaine came to our table first, saw Anabelle’s shirt and dropped her super cool veneer for the first time since I’ve been coming to the parks, letting out an excited scream. She recovered quickly and called the kids by name to stand for a picture. 

In descending age order:

My Biggest Fan

Bird Girl

The Maid

And 

The Boy.

She also insisted on a picture with Grandma confessing, “Use pixie dust, it lifts everything.”

I love this place.

Anastasia was next, and was fascinated by Aurora’s “angry penguin.”  When she learned it was a Porg, and there was one on the pen as well, (named Jimmy the kids tell me) she started making a “Porg face” and showing everyone.

Literally everyone.

She’d come back to our table to grab the pen to show her mother, her sister, the wait staff, and random other diners.

I love this place.

Then the prince was announced and she let out a scream.

On one of the passes she reminded us that EVIL means, Every Villain Is Lovely.

I love this place.

Drizella produced a laser sharp sneer when Cinderella came out before reaching our table. She signed the picture of her with Anabelle from the last trip, and recreated the pose with her.  She also pointed out that she has a new dress since the photo, followed by:

“Compliment it now.”

Then she signed fully half of Grandma’s birthday card.

I love this place.

I’d gotten used to the buffets where each line is a mirror image of the other, but not the Grand Floridian, with twice as much goodness.  Anabelle was ready to move in next to the lemon cream penne alone.   It took until February to identify what it was, since that’s when AllEars updated its menu.  Makes ya wonder why I bother making that menu file, don’t it?  If it wasn’t for the pirogues in the Crystal Palace (which-yes I know- was her idea) this pasta would be her favorite food in all of Disney.

Dinner was briefly interrupted by hysterics as Drizella started screaming for help at a nearby table.

Turns out she needed a pen.

I love this place.

The Prince came by for a slightly lower key meeting and signing. He offered to set Morgan up with the Stepsisters.

Meanwhile Cinderella was under the table with the kid next to us.

I really love this place.

Reinforcing the magic, Cinderella was the same as she was in the Castle. 

Of course she was, why wouldn’t she be?

She was also far goofier than usual in this venue, starting by putting her hands over Veronica’s (the Maid’s) eyes and saying “Guess Who?

Then she jumped back when Anabelle stood up saying, “You’re much taller than expected.”  She spent a while with Aurora and Ziggywig as well, asking if she could help her teach Jacques and Gus to sit on her shoulders and poking and smacking Ziggywig nearly as much as Kylo Ren did.

I love this place.

I went up to Ryan, the character handler, to thank him for all the behind the magic work they do. He looked really touched and made me realize why I always do that.

At this point the Waltz played and Anastasia sang along by screaming at the top of her lungs. During the Bibbidy Bobbidy Celebration she was in full frolic while Drizella did a slow deadpan clap.

I love this place.

Specifically this time I love how one stepsister is aloof and the other is a lunatic but it varies by visit which is which.

Between the awesome fun and food, Dave stepped out and got Morgan a plain orange replacement band.  Morgan immediately turned to “Mother Hen” Anabelle to peel the extra part off and get it on his arm.

Birthday cupcakes came for everybody in little fancy cups.

YAY DELUXENESS!

Before we left, Captain Ryan came over to see us, and made various horse and car noises to demonstrate his role in transporting the royal family.

I’m fairly ambivalent about the movie the characters come from, but I do totally love this place.

Snow White may have had better individual food, but nothing tops this dinner experience all around.

We left over by the standard Glass Slipper pictures and penny machines. Grandma kneeled down to take a picture with the prop, and Disney Magic allowed her to stand up again.

Anabelle learned even the front desk pin collection was snooty. It was in a snazzy binder instead of on a board. 

As we were leaving the hotel, Morgan’s BB-8 band was turned in!  It couldn’t let him in the park or room anymore but at least he got to keep the fancy one.

YAAAAY!

Rosa and Mom had to finish the little bit of their “to go” pina coladas since no drinks were allowed on the monorail. The two ladies ahead of us had much larger drinks, but no problem finishing them after assumedly finishing several beforehand.  They were so fun In public too.

We asked to ride in the front cab of the monorail as we usually did…

And learned they stopped doing that about ten years ago.

We’ve been Disneying for a very long time, haven’t we?

After the Disney Springs changeover disaster following the Wilderness Lodge dinner, we took the monorail straight to the Kingdom and a bus to the All Star Sports.

It was Morgan’s turn to provide travel entertainment, first by singing the "small world" song. He followed that up with “We Will Rock You” accompanied by Veronica rocking out on princess dress air guitar.

We’re so fun in public.

I made some Minnesota instant Disney friends who complimented me on my Tron shirt and multicolor Chuck Taylor's.  The dad taught me a trick to extend shoe life by gluing furniture sliders to the bottom of sneakers. He noticed Aurora’s plethora of Star Wars related wardrobe (and Ziggywig) and gave her an extra Star Wars pin he had.

YAY INSTANT DISNEY FRIENDS!!!!

I went to the front desk to ask about late checkout times, and never quite learned if they gave it to all of us or just one of us. Anabelle traded out her spare Oliver Pin for Alan A Dale. 

On the nightly mug run, I used my vast Disney knowledge to teach another Instant Disney Friend how the RF drink fillers work. Before falling asleep I reflected that Disney, which is normally over ninety degrees, is pretty much the only place Anabelle drinks hot chocolate with any regularity.

Magic!

8.9 miles 
22,293 steps 
3 floors

*Footnote- the "Waffle Incident"  
Buckle up for an "Old Tale of Disney World"  

Back on one of my family trips to Disney, the character meal in the Castle was only for breakfast. (And you thought it was hard to book it now.)  It wasn't only princesses either. It was usually one or two of them and then semi related characters, like Peter Pan or Robin Hood.  On this occasion, Miko was there, and one over enthusiastic little boy got over excited, remembering Miko's obsession in Pocahontas.  The lad walked up to the unsuspecting raccoon, yelled, "HAVE A BISCUIT MIKO!" and slapped a syrup soaked Mickey waffle into the poor raccoon's hand.   

This was the same trip where afterwards I was sitting alone downstairs waiting for my family to exit the royal rest room.  A little girl in a group preparing to go up walked over and started talking to me, because kids just know.  She was telling me how excited she was to eat in the Castle and who she hoped would be there. When she asked who I saw,  I started to list, until I got to a certain dwarf.  Her eyes tripled in size, her jaw dropped and she stuttered out, "DOPEY!!?!?!?!?!!"  

I could not have impressed her more if God himself had been in that banquet hall.  

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