Disney World 2022 day 2 August 3- Hak-oompah Matata

In their continued quest to grind my family into dust, Disney shifted the Animal Kingdom opening time an hour earlier in the morning shortly before we arrived. This meant, following the near sleepless night to travel the day before, we needed to assemble in the main hall at what would become our bench at a quarter to Seven. Remarkably, using willpower and a heap of Disney Magic we succeeded and were on line for the bus at Seven in the morning. (Yes, I am blaming Disney for the schedule I created. I hope no one noticed that.)

A short and groggy ride later and we arrived at Animal Kingdom for our first full day in a Park before the Extra Magic Hour Half Hour started. “I Wanna Be Like You” was playing at the entrance, as it does every time I visit that Park. It’s nice to be acknowledged.
YAAAAY!
 
There was the normal amounts of entry complications for us. (Translation- A whole, huge, heaping pile of complications.) This brought us through security and had us assembling to execute our plan. We would hijack a stranger to take a picture by the Big Tree in the pre PhotoPass time, then Grandma would wander on her own a bit, Rosa would ride the Avatar Boat, and the rest of us would use the Extra Magic Hour Half Hour to hit Everest.

Then we’d all meet up at normal Park opening time to ride the Bumpy Bus together.
 
As with all of our Extra Magic Animal Kingdom Plans…the Disney Gods laughed at us.
 
We found no hijackable stranger, and Everest was broken, (Of course it was.) with no listed repair time. (Of course it wasn’t.) The short Extra Magic Hour Half Hour worked in our favor this time. After only a brief bit of confused standing around, (as opposed to our usual extensive bit of confused standing around) we decided to head to the Bumpy Bus to be ready when the full Park opened.
 
Multiple phone calls and texts through the notoriously bad cellular signals at Animal Kingdom made it through and we attempted to meet up on the line for the Bumpy Bus.
 
This would have worked fine, except there were two lines.
 
A bit more confused standing around and forgoing electronics to put our New York Italian voice boxes to use yelling across the distances between us, and we assembled with virtually no wait for the Bumpy Bus.
 
So it was kind of a fiasco, but somehow it worked out anyway.
 
Daniel was our fun and entertaining driver. Due to the torrential rains the night before some animals were more hidden than normal, and our butts got wet because the seat was soaked. In any event, we all had fun. The kids did entertaining Antelope impressions, and Anabelle ad libbed in when Daniel mentioned one herd were social animals by chiming in:
“Unlike me.”
 

Anabelle also helped by providing the proper question response when the Wildebeest showed up and I said, “That’s a Gnu,”
We’re supportive of family members with personal problems like that.
 
The Ostrich eggs were in the exact same location they have been since Kilimanjaro Safaris opened in 1998. The reason for this is- they are plastic. I pointed this out and Anabelle yelled at me, referencing Daniel’s description of them as actual eggs, because, “I believed in him.”
 

After our ride, which featured a baby Rhino, YAAAAAAAAAAY! the rest of the gang suggested the walk through Gorilla Falls Safari Trail since it was next to us.
 
Fine…twist my arm.
 
Again, due to the flash flooding of the night before, as well as the earliness of the day, animal outness was limited. My brain kept thinking it was Nine o’clock when it was Eight because that’s when the Park is supposed to open. No part of my being, conscious or unconscious, deals with Disney change well. (*Exits humming the World of Motion’s “Fun to be Free” song*)
 

Anabelle was in the middle of describing Colobus Monkeys as, “the world’s most boring primate” given their normal total lack of movement in this Park, the Denver Zoo and the Bronx Zoo.

On this particular morning, however, they were hopping enthusiastically about their enclosure. Anabelle reacted by stating, “It is a magical place.”

It was nice of the Gorillas to emerge right before we left as part of large, furry primate professional courtesy.

Everest had finally opened. Grandma went on her planned wandering, but in the opposite direction. After her solo wander, she came back to the ride exit to wait for us, having a lovely close encounter with an Ibis that would not leave her alone. 

(Stunt Ibis from another day in the photo.) Rosa took some PhotoPass pictures (because she does that) and went to see It’s Tough to be a Bug. 

Jeff’s Disney World Philosophy:
Yes, the first full day was early to be splitting up. However, Animal Kingdom is large, hot, and has limited thrill rides which have the issues of not everyone liking them and lines that can build up uncontrollably yet randomly. Out of the four Parks, it is the one that splitting up best preserves sanity in. This is another reason why the Table Service meals were lunches - to assure we’d all assemble mid-day.
 
On line for the coaster we saw the new Lion King kite show that takes place via jet skis pulling them over the water. It was…
Kites. That’s what it was all right.

Moving on.
(Auntie Kim- “I liked it.”
Her kids- “That’s because you’re boring.”)
 
Also on that line, we all remembered the Backyardigans “Yeti Stomp” song, which we would all sing, clearly to the delight of other guests, whenever waiting for Everest. This is because that song is, and I quote, a “banger.”
(No, I do not know what that means either.)

We guessed what the technical issues were that morning based on the facts that the ride had no shadow of the Yeti shown and no lights over the disco Yeti. Plus the train stopped between the two for no visible reason creating a rather suspenseful bit.
 

Still, exciting coaster.
YAY!
 
Somehow, via Disney Magic again, with no phone signals to speak of Rosa and Grandma found each other in DinoLand. (The Ibis must have chased Grandma away. Alternatively, maybe it happened a different time she was waiting for Everest riders. We repeat favorites often; it is easy to forget when things happen. Especially, he added not pointing fingers or anything, when only one of us takes notes.) We learned this when Anabelle was on the phone with Rosa and the rest of us were trying to call Grandma. Rosa finally said, “She’s next to me,” reducing our frantic searching considerably.
 
So it was kind of a fiasco, but somehow it worked out anyway.
 

Aurora is allergic to the Dinosaur Ride and took a spin with Triceratopses while the rest of us entered the faux museum. 

Aside- Its impressive they went through the trouble of making the Carnotaurus skeleton look so realistic when, from a paleontology standpoint, it is horrifyingly inaccurate.
 
Grandma and Rosa have very specific seats they need to occupy in order to survive this ride with the ability to walk intact. I was told I could sit on the end, “So the Dinosaur eats you first.”
Thanks kids. 

After a prehistoric shake rattle and roll, although we had the same goal, we fractured again across the Park. During this time without signals, we couldn’t figure out where Aurora was. (Of course, she was in the Boneyard, where else would she be?) In addition, we lost track of each other, had random bathroom stops and mountains of general, “Wait, which way should we go?” above our usual levels.
 
We got to the Lion King show much later than originally planned, yet were ushered in to fantastically good seats. 
 
So it was kind of a fiasco, but somehow it worked out anyway.
 

Anabelle proclaimed the performers were the best cast she’d ever seen. The aerialist/ bird dancers both showed evidence of professional dance backgrounds based on a leg extension the woman did (without a bent knee on an arabesque, she says), and a move the man in the Cardinal costume did. (A temps du pappillon she says…but mostly just the way he existed.)
 
The Tumble Monkeys displayed some other kind of professional training by blowing many raspberries and shaking their butts a lot, I says.
 
She knows what she knows and I know what I know.
 
The “animal dancers” in front of us were both outstanding. Wildebeest Man was heavily into audience participation, cheering us on. Members of my family claim I was the reason he made fun of those not getting into the full two handed waving above our heads for the big closing number. Yes, I was only waving one hand unenthusiastically at the start. Like always, we were in a section that gets the high part, which I cannot sing. Not like I can sing at all, but I cannot sing in a low register much better than I cannot sing high notes. It continually makes me sad that I have never gotten into the “Weema-weh” section. There was also my personal issues with “The Hand Jive,” but that would rear its head more forcefully later in the trip.
 

We also had Cheetah Girl with a Snake on her Head in our section. She had Danceworks quality enthusiasm and showmanship, which I have learned to spot through years of experience. She went hard on every dance move, and hit her lines powerfully, fully extended and with great gusto. Her focus also made it look like she maintained eye contact with every member of the audience individually.
YAAAAAY!
 
(Almost sounds like I know what I’m talking about concerning dance doesn’t it? All those years watching and listening to Anabelle plus playing the music for Moving Company has paid off.)
 

Following the show, on the way out of Africa over the bridge to Discovery Island, we caught several of the new flotillas. Of course Rosa was at the bridge first, spotting and being spotted by Chip and Dale, leading Kim to ask if she had a homing device on them.

 
Rosa also danced a bit with Goofy at a distance. The whole crew had caught up by the time Timon passed on the next boat. Rosa made a heart with her hands to Timon and he responded. This is because Anabelle showed her how to make it correctly. Goofy did not respond as well to the rectangle Rosa made for him.
 
With limited time before our Tusker House lunch reservation, we crossed behind the Tree of Life. This is a short cut to avoid the front of Discovery Island crowd if you time it right and don’t hit the movie letting out.
 
Jeff’s Disney World Philosophy:
All Disney Short Cuts can be affected by timing, random events, unforeseen movement of weather or humanity, and (most importantly) individual perception. It’s best to come up with a different reason to tell people the path is going a certain way. Pointing out something is an ineffective short cut is easy. Contradicting, “We can pass animals on the Tree of Life you can’t see any other way,” is more difficult.
 

We curled around near the front of the tree to the entry of It’s Tough to Be a Bug. There were multiple stops for mugging in front of various animals on the tree, per usual family procedure. Anabelle posed in front of the Slow Loris, making it look like she was posing next to a trash can. Also, Anabelle and I took our traditional selfie in front of the giant Dung Ball, because we’re fun!
YAAAY! 

Due to being crammed into the front of the waiting area, which had no theater door access, we got stuffed into the front row of the theater. Chaining was not our friend this time. In theory sitting there should still have worked, because Disney is awesome. However, between several of us having vision issues, which invalidated the 3D at that range, some non-functional sprayers, and the fact that my seat fired off hornet stings every time ANYTHING happened on screen, this viewing was far less than ideal. In other words- it necessitated an eventual return trip.
Alas.
(I mean, “YAAAAY!”
that we would return,
but “alas”
to this particular viewing.)
 
Coming out, the line to meet Mickey and Minnie at the Adventurers Outpost had dropped. There wasn’t anything else we could squeeze in before lunch, and it was right next to us. By a semi-majority we decided to attend that meeting. (Semi-majority means most of the people paying attention and not randomly wandering along the path in a daze said, “Yes, let’s see them.”) Several kids asked the same appropriate question they did when we had FastPasses for this pair on older trips. “Why are we meeting Mickey right before having lunch with him?” The confusion grew on the line, since the wait time jumped up once we were in the room. (At least it was air conditioned.) As with most character meetings, the line didn’t move at all, until it did, making us wonder if we’d have to jump off to make lunch. There were also a significant amount of little gnats in the waiting room. Oh joy.
 
Jeff’s Disney World Philosophy:
There are times when the Where Will We Go Next Guy must calmly bear the brunt of questioning his choices while hoping they will eventually justified…especially when everyone is sliding into CrazyHungryLand. I have no advice for dealing with this, it is simply a fact.
 
Things (including the line speed) picked up and, like every other trip, everyone remembered why we do this meeting. Mickey and Minnie are together and ALWAYS hilarious.
 
So it was kind of a fiasco, but somehow it worked out anyway.
 

There was a continuous stream of mime from them both. Mickey and Minnie were excited by Rosa’s nails themed to them. They both showed surprise at how many of us there were, and Kim noticed for the first time that they don’t have enough fingers to count our group of nine.
This is simultaneously awesome, and yet very, VERY creepy. 

They made fun of Aurora’s stand offish pose, and Minnie gushed over Rosa’s ears. They both got excited over Veronica’s Sorcerer Mickey ears. When the kids all stood for a picture, Mickey signaled that Morgan didn’t have ears like rest of the kids and several adults. Morgan put his fists on his head, much to the Mice’s happiness and the picture was taken. We all had fun; even Grandma took a picture with them alone…WILLINGLY!

Of course... it seems to have vanished from everyone's camera.

And in all the group shots, she hid behind Veronica's Mikey ear. She's a sneaky one.

After a few more hugs, it was getting close to lunch time. I said I would run ahead to explain the two reservations and everyone else could work their way through the crowds and eventually catch up. When I got to the Tusker House, Aurora was directly behind me…
Because I am old and slow now.
Alas.
 
It was time for round two of “What lie with the Cast Member tell us about our meal timing?”

This day, she canceled one of the two reservations, upped the other to nine people and told us it would take about forty minutes until they had space ready for us. Kim’s family grabbed a table under the covering roof outside Tusker House and made rest room runs. (Having a base for that sort of thing is always a good idea.)  

 Anabelle wandered into Pandora to look at the pretty stuff and take some PhotoPass shots, while Rosa and I tried finding a quiet spot to call the guy who kept trying to come to our home when we weren’t there and fix the exercise bike.
 
Jeff’s Disney World Philosophy:
Finding a quiet spot in Animal Kingdom is rough because it leads Disney World in the “Park people like to loiter in” category. Even when the wait times are short, the place seems crowded because folks enjoy milling about in large groups any place guests who actually know what they are doing and have a place to be could use to get from one attraction to another.
 
As we hung up with Bicycle Repair Man, only a few minutes after we left the check in table, the Disney App notifications and text messages came blasting through, stating our reservation for nine was ready. Rosa and I ran back across Africa, and Anabelle originally attempted to book back up the secret passage from AvatarLand, panicked and went the wrong way almost ending up in DinoLand. Eventually we assembled and did a quick head count.
 
While I was explaining who we were, the last folks in outside bathrooms magically appeared, and Anabelle came running from an unexpected direction out of breath. A couple of the gang used the Tusker House rest room, which added a bit more chaos in assembling us in the cute little side room they gave us all to ourselves.  YAAAAAAY!
 
So it was kind of a fiasco, but somehow it worked out anyway.
 
As good as the buffet usually was here, (outstandingly good is how it usually was) I’d have to say the family style options were distinctly better. Plus, our waitress kept bringing bucketfuls of food. The character interactions remained top notch.
 

Daisy got hugely excited about Anabelle’s little stuffed Donald on her fanny pack and tried to steal it.

When she realized it was permanently attached, she tried to steal Anabelle.
YAAAAAAY!
 

Donald came into our room and tripped over Morgan who was trying to reset to his spawning point after the last photo ninja experience. He was excited about Anabelle’s Donald gear but still a bit flustered from the collision. Donald gave our youngest member a very stiff and apologetic handshake to wish him farewell before leaving. 
 
The largest disaster was with Mickey. (Setting a precedent that would be easily exceeded the following day.) The kids decided to get only one autograph from each character this time around. However, they decided this kind of last minute and when Mickey entered our little area, they grabbed the autograph books right out from under him, causing a bit of a droop in the world’s favorite rodent. Grandma simultaneously decided she wanted a picture with Mickey in her Mickey Shirt and also that she wanted to get his autograph to make him feel better.
 

She leapt up to grab her purse and fell over her chair and everything else that was stored in the back of the room. She got her photo after consoling Mickey for continuing his emotional roller coaster for the day.
 
Daisy was so excited by Anabelle’s Donald stuff; she came by for a second picture opportunity.
 
Naturally, I had to get up for my picture with Goofy. He held one of his ears out and I was encouraged to do something similar. Anabelle pointed out “That would have been better if you had hair.”
I replied, “You just described my whole life.” 

The food was outstanding! The main plate featured a mix of chicken, pork, beef and vegetables all with exotic spices. There was also a macaroni and cheese that came close to tempting me to get another stent, and a shrimp curry that was out of this world.
 
Rosa ate well from the largely allergen free plates and then stashed away an appreciable sampling of the gluten free rolls delivered directly to her as she delved further into how well Disney takes care of allergy sufferers.
 
Desserts were hit and miss. There was an awesome dark chocolate mousse thingy. (I know, “Very descriptive and helpful as always Jeff.”) Additionally there was a pretty good cupcake, and then there was the “bee custard.”
 
It was black and yellow striped, gluten free, with a little “sugar bee” on top…and that’s all we could figure out. Rosa joined both the “eating dessert with her hands” club and additionally the “I’m not sure what this is but I don’t want anymore” club. 

Because the kids started out splitting them for tasting reasons, the waitress assumed we needed many more plates of desserts. We did not. There were far too many Bee Custards for one table…or one lifetime.
 
Uncle Dave avoided any contact with the Bee Custard by deciding, ‘I’m having meat for dessert!” and frightening our server.
 
Finishing up, I went to stop at the rest room. There was a very long pause while I tried to ascertain how manly the generic fish shape was on the first door I saw…
Until I realized that was a kitchen entrance and there were doors on either side marked “Men” and “Women.”
 
Not satisfied with her only option…the dreaded bee custard, I went to a cart with Rosa to get her a Mickey ice cream before her dairy pill wore off while the rest of the family worked to figure out the fish door puzzle.
 
Jeff’s Disney World Philosophy:
Here, for the first time in our four trips together, I made a decision early on in the trip to save much heartache. (And other body part aches as well.)
 
The remainder of the day’s plans included attending the Nemo show and seeing the Lion King show again. Instead of using all my Where Will We Go Next Guy energy to fill in the spaces between them on the schedule as I had done in the past, I decided we would all have a much better (and saner) time if we had leisurely strolls between the shows instead.
 
Everyone was on board with this decision, and I’m fairly sure this mentality helped a great deal in preventing us from killing each other by the end of the vacation. I am definitely sure it helped a great deal in preventing everyone else from killing me before the end of the vacation.
YAAAAAAAAAAAY!
 

We leisurely strolled around Discovery Island, stopping to find a hijackable stranger, as PhotoPass lines were long. Next we passed through DinoLand to get to the Theater In The Wild for the “new” Nemo show. It was advertised as having elements from Finding Dory. The elements were the Tank Gang in the Marine Life Institute from that film providing narration. This allowed the removal of several musical numbers and the reduction of the show length to the Disney Half Hour Standard.  

That meant the cool jellyfish scene, the giant terrifying Pelican puppet, and, most importantly, the “Where’s My Dad?” song were removed along with other bits.
 
This is one time where I do not support improving throughput. Anabelle pointed out that the loss of “Where’s My Dad?” meant she didn’t have to ever go again. Rosa voted on the quality of the update by napping through the show.
Alas.
 
It remained pretty…but still:
Alas.
 
While we were waiting for various bathroom runs after the show, the Cast Member outside showed alarm and let Dave and I know we had Scars on our chests!  

(We were wearing Lion King shirts.)
Ha! Ha! I love Awesome Happy Disney People.
 
Jeff’s Disney World Philosophy:
No matter what is scheduled or where you think you need to be, never interfere with anyone’s stated need for a bathroom run. Learn from my past mistakes Junior Where Will We Go Next Folks.
 
While waiting we also discussed the plans for the second day in this Park. Everyone has different priorities but we figured Rosa would alternate between living in the Festival of the Lion King Theater, and enjoying gluten free churros. We weren’t too far off, but it was surprising how many joined her in that theater.
 
Anabelle led the kids off ahead of us, planning to see the Gibbons on their island.
 
They weren’t there. It wouldn’t be until the second day that we figured out there were TWO Gibbon Islands in Asia, explaining many odd communication issues.
 
The rest of us took our second leisurely stroll up to the Lion King Theater. Throughout this trip, August in Florida would hit us with both barrels in the late afternoon. The temperature would stay constant but the humidity would rise to levels causing most of us to leave large puddles in our wake as we transitioned to massive dehydration…
And lead Grandma to say, “I feel a tiny amount of discomfort with this heat.”
 

The kids grabbed a couple of PhotoPass pictures on the way, and our family got one with Everest in the background while we were puddling. The photographer loved Anabelle’s Flik shirt, continuing our job of making Cast Members happy with our vintage apparel.
YAAAAY!
 
We got to what is our whole family’s favorite show in the Park and likely “The World.” This time, the Cast Members did come around to teach the Hand Jive before it started, and the whole family brutally mocked my disability.
 
Even with step by step instructions, I am mentally, physically and genetically unable to Hand Jive.
Alas.
(“Genetically? The rest of us can do the hand jive… It’s just you.” – Aurora)
 
At least my family abusing me over my disability proved highly entertaining to the family sitting in front of us, allowing some to benefit from my misfortune.
 
Anabelle informed me that the aerialists in this show were much more theater trained than dance trained. We got the same Danceworks quality Cheetah Girl with a Snake on her head again, though.
YAAAAY!
 

Oh, and I made a mistake earlier, Wildebeest Guy, who was really excited about audience participation, was really Antelope Guy. Sorry about that. Sure, I could have corrected my first reference to him, but the whole point of these travelogues is getting to share the whole journey.
 
Checking wait times as we exited revealed the outdoor attractions were closed. A second day with an early evening downpour battered us as we ponchoed up with higher quality coverings to figure out what to do.
 
Remarkably, several members of our family showed a hint of self-preservation in Disney World. After virtually no sleep for two days, Grandma, Dave, Aurora and Morgan went back to the hotel. Upon arrival, Grandma learned the downpours on her new jeans had permanently dyed blue spots onto her socks and shoes, and semi-permanently onto her legs.
 
Rosa was determined, after an extended churro-less section of her life, to try her gluten free Churros. I walked her over to the Nomad Lounge on the edge of Discovery Island. One of the bartenders was a nice Awesome Happy Disney person and set us up with a to-go order. Rosa said they were all right but would have been better if they were not bathed in three pounds of sugar. There were what can best be described as “inadequate communications” with Anabelle to see if she wanted us to get her anything.

Anabelle and Veronica began their adventure together that evening heading straight from the Lion King over to Dinosaur. Kim followed at a “make sure I’m on a different car and don’t embarrass the offspring” distance.   

 
Since Rosa and I were heading out, and Veronica had neglected to mention her and Anabelle’s adventure to her parents, those of us remaining in the Park met up at the exit to Dinosaur to solidify everything.
 
Kim went off to the Bugs Life movie while the girl’s adventure continued.
YAAAY!

Then she took cute PhotoPass pictures as she left...which were all blurry because even Disney Magic is not fully immune to Florida Humidity. 
 
The two of them went over to the Nomad Lounge for dinner…
And were ignored by the distinctly less Awesome and Happy than when we dealt with her Cast Member, likely because they were kids in a bar.
 
Eventually Anabelle got her Impossible sliders and Veronica got mini-tacos and a brownie.  Veronica never had to get a receipt on her own before, adding to the bar borne confusion. Because the Cast Members continued to be less than awesome or happy (Kids in a Bar) everyone forgot to make sure the two of them had utensils. Anabelle tried to get them from Pizzafari, but apparently, that questionable eatery closes well before anything else in Disney World. Veronica was reduced to tearing a piece of cardboard off her container and using that as a scoop for her brownie. It was one of those extra fudgy desserts where a spoon (or makeshift section of packaging material) was a necessity.
 
Following their dinner, the rain had stopped shortly after four of our group had jumped ship. Many other guests must have thought that ship jumping was a good idea as well. The line lengths all plummeted allowing the girls to ride Everest three times. The final one was on the single rider line, and Anabelle ended up next to a British kid that she had to explain she and her cousin were doing “James Bond” poses for the photos, but in separate cars. The kid didn’t mind and quoted Stranger Things the entire ride.

Um…yay?
(“Definitely not yay.” -Anabelle)
 

The two of them went back to ride Dinosaur a third time for the day. Upon exiting, Veronica added to our family’s Official Silly Disney Names List by asking, "If we have time can we go on the Tipsy Topsy Triceratops?" Since the Park was readying to close, they had to run to it full speed. Since it was following the second afternoon downpour we navigated through in ponchos, they had the same experience with sitting in soaked seats that Kim experienced with Dumbo.

While they were adventuring, I decided I was not going to eat in our hotel movie named cafeteria with the Flame Tree Barbecue right next to me when we were exiting. I got an order of gluten free ribs to go, and a Safar Amber Ale.
That ale went…well before we left the Park.
I had to protect my wife from accidental gluten contamination, you know.
 

Rosa and I took some cute PhotoPass pics on the way out, because we do that, and bussed home afterwards. Then we cleaned up back in our room and went to the cafeteria to eat what we’d brought with us.
 
Rosa had a couple of the ribs and the cole slaw. I had the rest of the ribs, which was enough after the corn bread that I forgot to mention stuffing into my face shortly before the cute PhotoPass pictures and following the (oh so tasty) Safari Amber.
 
We met Aurora and Kim grabbing dinner in the World Premier Food Court. We also learned Morgan DEMANDED Grandma eat something when he had his pizza. This led her to getting a whole pie, the rest of which lived in her refrigerator and provided food on many nights she was “too full” to eat dinner in the Park.
Good Lad.
 

Anabelle and Veronica’s return came through the main building. As they passed through the cafeteria, the Chicken Dance was playing for reasons we would not learn for several days. The reason they didn’t learn then was Veronica insisted on Anabelle doing the do-si-do with her, and neither saw the source of the song.
 
When everyone had arrived at the resort from the early closing Park, over time we all met up in the pool. (Except Grandma, who should have been sleeping but was probably setting things up for the next day.) Dave and Morgan left first, followed by Kim and then Rosa.
 
The three girls had an exceptionally fun time goofing around together, until the threat of me falling asleep and drowning there was too real to be ignored. During their discussions, the kids came to the conclusion that they all hate the noise level of fireworks now. That was good to know for planning purposes, and fortuitous I was standing nearby when it happened.
 
Back in our room, we returned to find Rosa was watching the Must Do Disney channel. Its lack of Stacey turned what was normally a key part of our trip every evening to a one night experience.
We REALLY are not fans of Disney changes.
 
Anabelle came with me on the mug run to look for pins to trade. She got a cool little Luke Skywalker one for…something. Really, I can’t keep track anymore. Ask her.
 
I had a huge amount of mug confusion trying to make Anabelle’s hot chocolate. This was because we were there on this night BEFORE they shut everything down. I asked for both chocolate packets and creamer because they weren’t where I got them the previous evening. The confused, but still Awesome and Happy Cast Member brought me both.
 
Then I saw enormous piles of them on the cart that must have been put away before I got there the night before.
 
Proving how magic Disney truly is, there were individual little Jif peanut butter packets, at the same time when no supermarket at home had any Jif after the salmonella scare. It broke the horrific Peanut Butter withdrawal I was going through.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
 
Anyone trying to tell me there are other brands of peanut butter can leave right now. I have no time to entertain heathen beliefs like that. Thank you
 
Before we all passed out, Anabelle regaled us with her extended and detailed review of both Lion King shows.
 
Steps:
Me 20003 steps 8.7 miles
Anabelle 23000+ steps
She did spend longer in the Park, but had more steps even when we spent whole other days together. Maybe it was because her legs are shorter…or because I’m old and stand still more. Whatever the reason, I’m using my steps for the rest of the trip.  Please convert as needed.

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