Park Day Four: Animal Kingdom (cont’d)
We didn’t have far to go for our ADR and were checked in at Tusker House at 11:57. I had heard that this was one of the places most likely to make you wait, plus there were several groups milling out front. When the host checked us in, he estimated a 15-minute wait and told us to stay in the area to be called. Given the restaurant’s reputation and the crowd, I asked if he could instead text us when our table was ready and he was happy to oblige. That would give us the chance to wander a bit into Africa instead of just staying put. In reality, by the time the kids all had water (ice water and cups were on a table for self-service) and pressed a penny, we got the table ready text. We were heading in at 12:02pm after only a 5 minute wait.
Our server came to take our drink order and warn us not to go up to the buffet quite yet because we would have special visitors soon. I asked about available specialty drinks on the
DDP, which included all of the adult beverages on the menu plus a few flavored lemonades for the kids. Hubby and I both got cocktails and the kids split between Jungle Juice and the flavored lemonade. Before our drinks could even come out, we were hit by a wave of friends.
All of the character interactions were fun. My memory with Donald and Mickey is a little fuzzy, as I was so focused on getting autograph books and pens in hands. I do know that Daisy drew a little heart next to Donald’s name before signing her own, which the girls really liked. She was very sweet when they said that she was B’s favorite. Plus, I was glad to have three of the four characters done in the first fifteen minutes. It would give us some time to pick and eat our food without jumping up too much. The server brought our drinks and told us to go ahead to the buffet because Goofy was having a rest.
This was our first of two buffet scheduled for this trip and the girls were very excited. We found out when we cruised for their fourth birthday that they adore buffets because they love seeing all of the choices and being able to pick exactly what they want. I think they may love them as much as Hubby and I disdain having to juggle plates of food and kids who want to look everywhere but where they’re walking. The fact that a plate of food hasn’t landed on one of their heads is downright miraculous.
As is our buffet custom, we had to first tour the whole spread and discuss options. When the girls saw the kid-height buffet section, they lost their minds. Bring them to a theme park, put them on world class rides, let them meet all kinds of characters, and they’ll tell anyone who will listen that there was a buffet down where they could reach! My feelings about the kid sized buffet are very similar to how I feel about the kid sized grocery carts at Trader Joes: the kids are in their glory and I’m gritting my teeth trying to let them do it themselves while every part of my being just wants to intercede so that things move faster and with less likelihood of injury or spills. We were on vacation, so I did in fact let them use the tongs themselves to pick each grape and cheese cube individually for their plates. I loaded in some chicken wings, corn dog nuggets, and rice for good measure.
Once their three plates were done up, we got them situated and Hubby went to make his plate while I started cutting food. It turned out that whomever ordered the lemonade didn’t actually like it, so that got moved to the adult section of the table and the CM brought extra jungle juice as a replacement. By the time Hubby made it back, the girls had eaten all of the fruit and cheese, so I made a quick fruit run to keep them happy before heading over to make my own plate. I grabbed a couple of sides and headed for the carving station when one of the girls came and told me she had to go to the bathroom. I put my half-done plate down, started towards the bathrooms, and quickly ran into an unwelcome sight.
There were two CMs letting people know that the restaurant bathrooms were out of order and that we could go out to the marketplace bathrooms instead. They had even posted another CM at the emergency exit door that fed out that way so that we could go straight out and back in without having to walk back through check in. In addition to the CMs, I could see several large tools and folks in construction uniforms coming and going, so this was clearly a big plumbing issue and one they were actively working to resolve. We headed out to find a line out the door for the marketplace bathrooms, which at least moved quickly.
Once we were back in Tusker, my lunch plans were derailed by the other two girls saying they had to go, too. Hubby took them this time, since I hadn’t seen a line for the men’s room, but it took him a while as well. Thus began our sitcom-worthy 5 trips to the restrooms over the course of one lunch. I went three times, Hubby went twice, and each trip after the first included two children saying they had to go. For anyone doing the math, that leaves each girl using the bathroom three times during the meal!! You see, it was a hot day, the girls probably started the meal a little dehydrated, and they each downed their entire jungle juice. Life lesson: if you find out a restaurant has drastically reduced bathroom capacity, take the kids drinks away ASAP. After the first two trips, we figured out that we were seated by an emergency exit door that dumped out to the Lion King bathrooms, which were larger and less crowded. Whomever stayed behind just had to watch the window to let the crew back in through the emergency door upon their return.
In between bathroom trips, I did manage to make and eat a real plate of food. I enjoyed it, but I couldn’t tell you what I had. The ridiculousness of the near constant restroom visits has blocked this meal from my mind, other than the bread pudding, which was phenomenal. As we were finishing up dessert, as I asked the server out the little parade that happens around the restaurant as well as our meeting with Goofy. She told me the next parade was 1:25pm and Goofy wouldn’t be far behind.
The girls were in their glory following Daisy with their maracas. You’ll be shocked to hear that, after their trip around the room, two of them needed the bathroom! I rushed them out the side door to the Lion King bathrooms, reminding them the whole way that we needed to move fast so we that we wouldn’t miss Goofy. Of course, we got out of the restroom at the same time that the show let out. I just had to hold on tight to the girls and shove through, as it seemed I was moving completely upstream of everyone else in that moment. Like I said, sitcom-worthy. We did make it back just in time for our visit.
We headed out and tried to regroup to see what to do next. I had hoped to do Gorilla Falls before lunch and Jungle Trek after, but the lost water bottle and safari FP delay hadn’t allowed that. Plus, despite being seated early, we still weren’t out the door until 1:45pm, or one hour, forty minutes past our ADR time. I had budgeted as much as two hours for lunch, so we still had some cushion, but not enough to do both trails. I asked the girls if they would rather see gorillas or tigers, but they requested bears. A quick google search got me nowhere, so I left Hubby and the girls browsing at a little booth and headed to ask the CMs back near the safari if there were any bears in the park. I didn’t have high hopes, because I figured google would have found them, and the CMs confirmed that there were no bears in the park. When I went back to give the girls the bad news, I found them deeply engrossed in pin shopping. Having acquired their two pins the day before, they wanted to buy a lanyard and just about every pin on display. Had I known that they’d be getting into pin trading, I would have purchased pins and lanyards on the cheap before our visit After considering it, I had actually decided we had enough going on without trying to add pin trading to our trip. The universe had other plans, so we let the girls use their gift cards to select one pin each and a lanyard to share.
Pins purchased, they wanted to play on the nearby drums and I needed to regroup. They didn’t seem all that excited about either of the animal trails, we had just blown our buffer time buying pins, and we needed to be in front of the tree of life in 30 minutes for an experience I thought the girls would really love. After thinking through our options, I landed on a new course of action: find Kevin, visit the Lion King dance party, and head to the Tree of Life. That’s exactly what we did.
Having never seen Up, the girls don’t know who Kevin is, but they were still very impressed by her. That is one intricate costume and it was cool to see it in action. They were much more familiar with Rafiki and Timon, whom they kept wanting to dance much too close to. I would back them up a bit, remind them that lots of kids want to have a chance to dance with them, too, and they’d back up for a bit before once again sidling up too close. I have to give a lot of credit to those CMs, it has to be hard to be moving around with a large costume and limited visibility in a sea of kids well below your eye line.
I had misjudged the popularity of our next item on the agenda, so we had time to take some family Photopass pictures and still get front row seats for Winged Encounters. The pictures of the show aren’t awesome, but this was fun to see in person. There are three perches that the birds can freely fly between while the CM is talking about them and then there’s a big flyover at the end.
After our flyover, it was time for our first attempt at rider swap. I had an EE FP and Hubby was taking the kids around to the Mickey and Minnie M&G on their 4 FPs. We crossed the bridge into Dinoland and headed around toward Everest. As we walked, I was very aware of how crowded everything felt. As a Disney rookie, I wasn’t sure if this was normal for this stretch of AK or if we were having a high crowd level day. After looking at TP the next day, they said that we had a crowd level 9, so it wasn’t just my imagination. This walk was also the first time that I had underestimated how far we’d be going between attractions. Up to this point in the trip, I felt like things on the map looked more spaced out on paper than they felt in person. Walking through Dinoland, past the Finding Nemo theater, and to Everest was a slog. Looking at the map after the fact, I don’t think going through Asia would have been any faster, though. Whichever way you swing it, EE is a hike from the tree of life because you have to go halfway around the Rivers of Lights stadium one way or the other.
We arrived at 2:46pm and I found the CM who was issuing RS passes. After pointing out my three too-short kids in the strollers, I told her I was riding FP and Hubby needed the swap. She looked at the trio and said that they would be tall enough to ride. Now, I had been monitoring their height very closely in the months leading up to the trip. C, my shortest by 0.25”, had measured 42.75” in December at the pediatrician, so I knew they’d be close to 44” once you factor in shoes. Just before our trip, I measured her in shoes against the wall and she was still only at 43.5”. If the girls were huge thrill seekers, I probably would have gone looking for cheap shoes with a thick sole. But, since they were hesitant on the more aggressive thrill rides at our local theme park, I wasn’t going to push it.
I had C hop out of the stroller to measure and, lo and behold, she was tall enough to ride. She didn’t have to try to stand tall or anything, either. Her head was clearly hitting the bar. Height aside, my girls weren’t going anywhere near a roller coaster that went backwards in a dark cave. They had gotten nervous in the backwards section of Spaceship Earth and, when I told the CM as much, she went ahead and loaded the RS onto Hubby’s band. I gave Hubby directions on how to get to Mickey and Minnie from Asia and sent him on his way while I hopped into the EE FP line.
While waiting, I started working through what C’s height would mean for the rest of the trip. The three rides we were RSing because of the 44” requirement were EE, FoP, and Space Mountain. Our EE swap was successful despite the kids being tall enough, Space was going to be a standby/4th FP for the first rider, anyway, but my FoP FP was for only 2 hours out and we had a problem. FoP was the ride that people had been given the most grief about when getting RSs. Now, not only did my 2nd party not have FPs but the non-riders were opting to skip despite being tall enough. My best hope was going to be trying to pick up 4 FPs for a time that overlapped mine in the next same day drop. Yup, that’s right ladies and gentlemen, my plan was now contingent on my ability to pick up 4 same day FoP FPs which would have to be valid in the next couple of hours before we needed to head for Rivers of Light. No pressure, though.
The next drop was supposedly scheduled for 3:01pm, so I was trying to gauge if I would be able to get on and off of EE by then. Otherwise, I could stay back a bit in the FP line, wait for the 3:01 drop, and then board the coaster. Thankfully, the FP line was moving well and my ride photo is time stamped 2:56pm.
After the ride, I quickly tapped for my pic, exited the gift shop, and found a section of curb where I could sit. I had more faith in the browser than the app, so that’s the route I decided to take and I was refreshing starting at 2:59pm. Right at 3:01pm, I was offered a party of 4 at 5:35pm. I booked it and immediately attempted to modify, since it only afforded us 5 minutes of overlap (plus grace periods) with my existing FP. Upon modifying, I snagged at 4:30pm for a party of 4, which was essentially a perfect match for my 4:40pm solo FP!
I practically skipped over to meet back up with Hubby and the kids. I had just ridden an awesome roller coaster but that didn’t even come close to the adrenaline rush I had grabbing those FPs. It felt like a validation of my year of intensive research for this vacation; this was the medal being draped around my neck at the end of a hard-fought race. I made it over to the M&G and found our strollers, but no sign of the family, yet. I was going to see if the CMs at the greet would let me try to find them in the line when my crew emerged.
Hubby was glad to see me and had done enough reading of his own to be psyched that I managed to pick up the FPs. However, his joy was a little more tempered given his experience in the 20 minutes since we parted. I had found the walk around to EE long and crowded with all three kids safely contained in strollers. He had to do it with a folded umbrella stroller resting on the canopy of the double and one girl “helping” him push the other two. Then, the FP line was a bit backed up because Mickey and Minnie needed a break, so he ended up hosting a small story time for our trio plus a few other families in line using the character encyclopedia. While he was excited about riding FoP together later, I think he was more excited to be back together as a unit and on our way to an air-conditioned show. The temps really weren’t that bad; we’re used to the heat and humidity during summer in NJ, but the contrast of leaving February temps and being dropped into the mid-80s was taking its toll.
We loaded the strollers up and made the hike back around to the Finding Nemo show. I understand why there’s no bridge from Discovery Island to that side of the park, it would be right in the middle of Rivers of Light, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. By the time we found stroller parking, the standby line was being let into Finding Nemo. Even with a crowd level 9 and our late arrival, we were able to get seats in the middle of the theater about two thirds of the way back from the stage.
I don’t have any pictures but, wow, what a good show! Everyone always makes such a fuss about FotLK which was, admittedly, gorgeous. Nemo, on the other hand, is one that people seem to think is fine, or good for a rest, but maybe a little boring. I came in with that mindset and was completely blown away. The production quality, the original music, and the puppeteering were so much more than a theme park musical has any right to be. Maybe it’s the original music that turns people off; these aren’t songs that they already know, love, and sing-along to. Hubby and I both walked out surprised that Disney hadn’t adapted the show into a full-length production and sent it on the road. The combination of puppeteering and performance was awesome. The large puppets especially, like the ray, shark, and sea turtle, were a sight to behold. Plus, fun fact: the composers for this show are also responsible for Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon, and Frozen. I mean, Robert Lopez is the first ever double EGOT winner. That’s a lot of talent to funnel into a show that isn’t going to NYC. Maybe there just wasn’t enough there to stretch it into a full length run time? Regardless, we were thoroughly impressed and the fact that it gave us 30 minutes to rest in air conditioning was an added bonus.
After the show, it was my turn to traverse the park with three kids in tow while Hubby took his swap on EE. We headed to the bathrooms behind Primeval Whirl and headed toward Triceratops Spin. The line didn’t look bad but the girls still weren’t interested in doing this particular spinner, so we continued onward to The Boneyard. They were off the minute we got through the gate and didn’t look back. Had they been younger, this would have been a very stressful stop for me. Luckily, we’ve made it to an age where I can be that mom messing around on her phone on a bench while the kids play. I remember chasing three two-year-olds around or pushing swings endlessly and being so jealous of the moms of older kids who got to have conversations without maintaining constant vigilance. It was with a sense of accomplishment that I lost sight of my kids and pulled up Facebook, knowing that they’d come find me if they needed something. While they were playing, Hubby was enjoying his encounter the Yeti.
Hubby met back up with us and we firmed up our evening plans. We had plenty of time to use our FoP FPs but I was worried that, if we let the kids play until the last possible minute, they’d come out insisting that they were hungry and we’d have to decide between eating and riding. Instead, I wanted to go use the FPs and then let them play without a deadline hanging over our heads. It was not a small project convincing the girls to leave the boneyard, but I eventually managed it. It wasn’t until I told them that a) we’d be able to use the fast line on b) the really cool ride that the twins from the bus stop couldn’t stop talking about and c) we’d come right back to the boneyard afterwards that they willfully proceeded onward.
We got to FoP at about 4:50 and the kids started tapping in and walking ahead before the CM caught them for a height check. A and B were fine, but C wasn’t quite measuring up. I figured she was slouching, since she had clearly hit the bar at EE two hours earlier, but no matter what we did, she was a hair too short. And, I mean a hair literally because her hair was touching the bar but her head was not. The CMs really tried to help us out; they told her to blow out all of her air and take a deep breath in at the same time that she stood as tall as she could, but her head just wouldn’t touch.
Internally, I was livid. The only reason that I had booked this FP and gotten her hopes up was because she measured up at Disney’s own stick on the other side of the park. If we were doing this as a parent-only swap, I would have told them it was a scary ride that they didn’t want to do anyway. Instead, I had sold this as the best thing in Disney just to get them out of the boneyard and now C had to watch her two sisters go ahead and ride while she couldn’t. Of course, I had to swallow that reaction and be there to console my on-the-verge-of-tears daughter. To add insult to injury, the kid who didn’t get to ride was already having an overtired, grumpy, off sort of day. The CM loaded RSs for me, A, and B, then gave me and C a NRJ FP to use while we waited. They also gave her a paper card that will be good for a FP for her whole party once she is tall enough to ride. A couple of tears were shed, but I managed to stave off a full melt down by reminding her that this meant she would get special time with Mommy in the park.
I was feeling guilty as hell and laying it on thick, so I offered a piggy back ride over to NRJ. That may not be a big deal for most kids but, since they outnumber their parents, my girls rarely get that privilege. We tapped into NRJ at 5:02 to a very short wait before enjoying another beautiful ride through Pandora. On the way out, we bumped into a PP photographer and decided to commemorate the occasion.
When we got to the FoP dump area, I told her she could get a special treat
before dinner and that she could pick from what was available in the area. I tried to sell her on the Pongu Lumpia or the Night Blossom, but she really wanted “the blue cupcake.” I warned her that it wasn’t a cupcake and it might have a weird texture, but she was sold the moment she saw the picture on the menu board. She was seated an enjoying a treat that she didn’t have to share (another rarity in our family) at 5:23pm. As I suspected, she only took a few bites before telling me that she didn’t really like it. I thought it was delicious, but the flavor and texture were a bit more nuanced than her five-year-old pallet appreciated.
The rest of the family were off the ride a few minutes later and A and B ran ahead of Hubby when they spotted us. I asked what they thought of the ride and they told me that they loved it while, behind them, Hubby’s eyes bugged out and he violently shook his head. Upon further questioning, they admitted that they got a little scared at times but that it was fun. In Hubby’s version, they got freaked out by the preshows, disliked how they had to sit on the ride, and screamed through most of it while frequently dropping their glasses. Needless to say, it wasn’t the most immersive experience for Hubby. I asked if they wanted to ride it again but they said that once was enough. We decided that Hubby would take the girls back to the boneyard and text me his and the kids’ dinner orders from whichever combination of Satu’li, Flame Tree, or Restaurantasaurus they wanted, as those were the places I’d be passing on the way to them.
I wasn’t about to let those two RS passes go to waste, so I grabbed A and B’s plastic tickets and headed for the FoP standby entrance. I flagged a couple down on their way into the line and brought them through FP instead. It turns out they were season passholders who had never managed to get FPs for FoP, so they’d only ever experienced it in standby. We didn’t encounter any resistance up to the merge point. Even better, as soon as we were through, the CMs were calling for a party of three, so we were sent straight into the first preshow room. The ride was as incredible as everyone says; silly as it may be, I think the matching smells were my biggest “wow” moment.
I was off the ride at 6:00pm and I had a text from Hubby requesting a beef bowl from Satu’li for himself and a burger for the girls. He hadn’t specified his base or sauce, so I had to give him a call, anyway. He said that the kids were still playing strong and had told him that, while they would want a burger for dinner, they weren’t hungry yet. None of the adult beverages from Satu’li were speaking to either of us, so I just got a soda to go with his bowl and put in a mobile order for a burger and a margarita at Restaurantasaurus. Pro tip: while Satu’li uses real bowls and silverware, they also have to-go boxes and disposable forks tucked under the drink station if you need them.
It was about 6:15pm when I met back up with Hubby. That only left us an hour to eat and get to our seats before Rivers of Light, so we told the girls it was time to go. I marked in the mobile app to begin preparing the girls’ dinner and we went over to grab a seat. I picked up our food, cut the burger in thirds, took a couple glugs of margarita, and put in my own mobile order. I wasn’t very hungry after the big lunch, so I decided to try the pulled pork cheese fries from Flame Tree as my meal. I clicked to prepare my order and headed back onto Discovery Island. The fries weren’t ready when I arrived but came out quickly thereafter.
By the time I got back to Dinoland, Hubby and the girls were done eating. They stole a couple of my fries and then he took everyone else on a bathroom trip so that I could enjoy my cheesy, fatty goodness along with my half of the margarita. Everything hit the spot and I was finishing up while he walked them next door to Dino-Bite for ice cream cookie sandwiches. Being responsible vacation parents, we told the girls they could each get their own treat although we knew it was going to end up being way too much food. Even the CMs at the food stand tried to talk Hubby out of ordering that many, but a deal’s a deal. Each girl was the proud owner of three scoops of ice cream piled between two huge chocolate chip cookies. At 6:52pm we were on the move toward the dining plan section of RoL, which is near the Nemo theater.
Despite being a short walk, our trip was rather cumbersome. I didn’t want to give the kids the ice cream until we were seated at the stadium, so I tried to balance all three treats on the parent console of the double stroller. It would work for a few moments until one of them melted enough that the balance of the tower shifted and started to fall. Thank goodness the walk was short! We parked the strollers and Hubby headed down with the kids each carrying her own sandwich. Meanwhile, I still needed to hit the Nemo restrooms before heading in myself.
Hubby got seats on the aisle about halfway down in the small section reserved for the dining plan. The girls were struggling to eat their treats because they were too wide for their little mouths, but we managed to break things up into smaller pieces and start passing bites around. We had chocolate and strawberry ice cream versions, and they were both delicious. A couple minutes before showtime, we had consumed half of the three sandwiches and I ran the remaining soggy goop up to trash cans while Hubby used my mom-stash of napkins and wet wipes to do his best to clean up the girls. I was back in the seat and the girls were as clean as they were going to be right in time for the 7:15pm show.
Once again, we came into this show with low expectations and were pleasantly surprised. A nighttime fireworks show it is not, but I thought it was beautiful in its own right. The projections on the fountains as they moved were a cool effect, something I hadn’t seen before. It certainly doesn’t have the high energy, grand finale feeling of the even shows elsewhere, but perhaps there’s a place for a chill, lower key end of night show at AK. It’ll be interesting to see how people feel about it after the announced update. Perhaps with the addition of IP, people will be more open to a non-fireworks show.
RoL was done about 7:35 and we were able to get out of the stadium quickly being on an aisle in a small section. Since the park didn’t close until 8pm and we were right there, Hubby and I decided to dash over and ride EE one more time in single rider. There was almost no line, and I was riding just a few minutes later.
This coaster is even better in the dark and I’m so glad we snuck these rides in! Hubby and the girls were waiting for me right at the exit where you can tap for your photo so that he could jet over to the line ASAP. I’m pretty sure the kids tapped every ride photo from our coaster; they just loved using their MBs. While we waited for Hubby, we found the EE pressed penny machine and the girls did a quick pin trade with the CM at the register.
He was off the ride at 7:56pm for an 8pm close, so we could have tossed a coin for one more ride if we really wanted to. Other families were speed walking through the exit to get right back on and I was a little bummed that the girls weren’t tall enough for us to all be grabbing in a few last rides together. When they’re a little older and a little more daring, we can be that family, too. For this trip, we decided to make the adult decision and start heading to the exit with our sleepy kiddos. We caught a little bit of the Tree of Life Awakenings while we walked. I thought about stopping for another set of PP photos, this time at night, but the long day was clearly taking its toll on the kids so we headed straight to the buses. There was another long back up at the Boardwalk bus, but Yacht Club pulled right up with no one waiting in the next line over. Once again, we opted to hop the bus where we knew we’d get seats and walk around Crescent Lake, rather than waiting an unknown amount of time for what was clearly going to be an overloaded bus. We were walking up to Yacht Club at 8:34pm and to our room just a few minutes later. We quickly showered the girls and they crashed as soon as the lights went out.
Our open-to-close day in Animal Kingdom was a success. In looking back at my plan, the only thing we missed was taking the time to see more animals. We did the safari and Winged Encounters, but didn’t do either of the main trails or any of the little parts of Discovery Island. We have passes to an excellent zoo here (the Philadelphia Zoo is actually the oldest in the US) but I still wanted to experience more of the zoo-like portions of the park. As it turns out, the kids wanted to spend that time buying pins and playing in the Boneyard, both of which made them very happy, so I’m not considering it a huge loss. I’m not sure how to recap our rides for the day, since we had 2 family rides, 6 rider swapped rides, and 1 Mommy-C consolation ride. I guess we’ll just call it 9 rides, 3 shows, 2 character encounters, 1 dance party, 1 nighttime spectacle, nearly an hour combined of playground time, and 1 exceedingly long bathroom break broken up by attempts to eat lunch.
). I started thinking of "Big Blue World" the minute I started reading about the show in your report!
