4 Newbies and 1 Good-As: A February 2024 Lessons Learned TR COMPLETE 4/20/24

[awrites]

Day 5: Thursday February 22: Hollywood Studios (Part 3 of X)

Once we got off our successful Slinky ride, we were already in our Sci Fi check in window (official ADR time was 12:20). I thought the check in still worked for a bit after the ADR time, and I didn’t want to check in when we still had a ways to walk. But mindful of how badly it’d gone when trying to make the A&C ADR I didn’t go ahead of everyone else this time.

We got there at 12:36. Check in on the app obviously didn’t work. Not sure if it still would’ve at 12:30; I feel like I read somewhere you can check in on the app up to 10 min after? I suppose I still may not have wanted to try right at 12:30 if Sci Fi wasn't in view (and I can't remember if it was or not). I know there still usually is a bit of a wait to table-ready after you check in, but it does seem worse to check in and then still not be there when they say they're ready for you.

Anyway I talked to the checkin desk. They said they could get us a picnic-style table, but not one of the cars. We said that was fine.

Our view:


So, the Sci Fi Dine In was a nostalgia pick for me. I’d been to WDW twice as a child; the second time I was 10 and we only went because my aunt had won a trip for 4 people. She and her ex had recently got divorced. They had one child, my cousin, and my brother and I were the closest cousins to him age-wise. My family and aunt split the cost of sending my mom too so it wasn’t 1 adult to 3 kids (my dad stayed home and had the house to himself for a week, heh).

Anyway, the Tl;dr is that the Sci Fi Dine-In was one of the few things I remembered from that trip. I thought it’d be fun to go back.

Verdict: It was fine. I wasn’t expecting stellar food quality. I think the cars may’ve had radios you could play with; not sure if the picnic tables had the same. DD4 paid little attention to the 1950s B movies on the giant screen (which suited us just fine!)



I didn't get a picture of it but they also showed a video of Walt with a robot. After some internet sleuthing I figured out it’s Garco. Kinda neat!

The pictures make everything look much brighter than it was. It was so dim in there the menus were hard to read. We were all using our phones’ flashlights. I can’t remember if it was the same 30ish years ago or if maybe the cars' lights (visible in the above picture) were easier to read by.

Unsurprisingly I don’t remember meals. I had some pasta thing; DD4 surely went for mac & cheese; maybe everyone else got burgers?

But it was food, it was a break for our feet, and we were out of there in maybe 60 minutes. Can’t complain!*

After lunch DD4 wanted a Mickey Bar. We were decently close to GE and walked through there a bit, and I think maybe it was here that I spotted a PP photographer with no wait and made us stop for photos.


The sole picture in which all of us were looking at the camera at the same time.

DD4 was upset though at having her quest for a Mickey Bar delayed so was not enthused about stopping. Seeing she was Not Happy the photographer invited MIL and FIL for couples’ photos after the group but not me, DH, and DD4.



Also, I didn’t ask for any magic shots. This was our sole non-ride and non-character PP stop, so we did not get a single magic shot the whole trip.


Bart knows we don't even deserve this cake

With DD4 having barely tolerated pictures, we soon learned that, no, we couldn’t get a Mickey Bar in GE, but we could in TSL. We continued on, got DD4 her Mickey Bar, briefly caught the Green Army Men...



then did Alien SS standby, to the tune of a 45 minute wait.

DD4 enjoyed it! She smiled the whole time and said “it’s a gentle one” at the end.

We’d killed enough time for our 4:05 TSM LL.

Careful readers will note this was our second LL of the day, after needing to modify Aliens to hit Slinky.



DD4, revived via power of Mickey Bar, was willing to pose with the yellow 3D glasses! Though she still didn’t wear them during the ride.



She did like that the cars were big enough for her to sit between Mommy and Daddy; she didn’t mind not having a gun/blaster at all (are they still called guns on this ride?).

DH got best in vehicle again, I think. This one hurts my hand less than Buzz Lightyear but for the “sit in a car and shoot things” rides I prefer Spider-Man at California Adventure because I don’t suck at it.**

We were off the ride at 4:38, in plenty of time to make our last ADR of the day, Oga's!

...and that's where we'll continue next time.

Footnotes
*My nostalgia for Sci Fi Dine-In is satiated for, oh, at least 10 years, or until DD4 expresses active interest in eating there. Whichever comes first!
**Seriously, we rode twice and my score beat DH’s both times! Apparently I’m excellent at wrist-flingy-motions but not anything that requires true skill with aiming.

 

[awrites]

Day 5: Thursday February 22: Hollywood Studios (Part 4 of 4)

Oh, I forgot to mention that after TSM DD4 picked out an alien magnet toy in the gift shop.

But there wasn't that much time for shopping, because our Oga's ADR was at 5:00. We headed over and checked in maybe 5 minutes early. After maybe another 10 minutes we were called in. We knew that sitting room was limited but hoped that with a preschooler we’d luck out.

Nope!

We stood at the bar. CMs brought over a very, very tight high chair for DD4 because otherwise she had no chance of reaching the bar for her drink. We could barely get her in the chair; it's not designed for 4-year-old thighs!

We had a good view of DJ R3X, being on the bar-side that faces him, and could hear a few of the jokes, but unsurprisingly it was very noisy in there.




People’s drinks… ugh. I took no notes. DD4 got something with blueberry bobas. She liked eating those; picking them out kept her distracted and she handled the noise all right.

I got something fruity. It was tasty and I liked it better than the seasonal cranberry margarita I’d gotten at Epcot. I don’t remember DH, MIL, or FIL’s drinks.

Once we'd finishing our drinks, we headed to the other side to look at the creature thinguymmy* in the tank.



DH and I never lucked into an Oga’s ADR at CA when we were there so we were glad to make it this time, but we think we can pass on this for a while. We aren’t bar people to begin with and though we like SW, the theming wasn’t quite a big enough draw that we’d want to do it again every time, assuming the same crowds. I understand it's sometimes less busy in the morning, so maybe when we feel up for it we'll try for a morning slot.

Chewie spotting! He was outside not far from Oga's. But I think maybe he was on his way to a scheduled greet or something because he passed by us pretty quickly. Even the fellow guest who did a passable Wookiee imitation didn't garner much more than a half-wave of acknowledgment.

Too cool a Wookiee for the likes of us.

We then dithered a bit on what to do. Our last set plans were a 6:45 LL for ToT for me, DH, and FIL, but we still had close to a hour till then.

We wound up getting instant Star Tours LLs for me, DH, and FIL. (In the afternoon I did split us up for LLs, since I had time for it, but I know that the early LL grabs I kept us all together. See, here I am, still thinking about the MMRR LL weirdness!)

DD4 was tall enough but had had enough Star Wars for the day, and MIL was happy to sit it out, too.

The three of us headed over.

AT-AT spotting!

DH and I had done Star Tours at Disneyland in 2022, but he didn’t remember it. He enjoyed it here, though. ST is another “just fine” ride for me. As long as the wait’s not too bad I’ll ride, but I don’t find it a must-do by any means.

However! Exit into the gift shop means we paused a little to browse. My parents had given me a Disney gift card as a Christmas gift and I wanted to spend it before we left. I wound up picking out a Grogu (I’ve gotten used to his name I guess) Loungefly bag. The gift card didn’t cover the whole cost, but I don’t think I could’ve justified buying without the gift card. Thanks, Mom and Dad!



DH looked a tiny bit but didn’t see anything he truly wanted. Plus, we were getting closer to our ToT time and had already decided that after that, we’d leave HS.

We met up with MIL and DD4, had various bathroom breaks, then found a bench for them to park at along with the stroller somewhere along Sunset Boulevard. The three of us continued on and tapped in for the 6:45 LL around 7:08.

Drop rides generally aren’t my favorite; they tend to mess with my stomach. Not quite in a “I’m going to throw up way” but a “My organs’ gravity somehow isn’t keeping up with the rest of my body and I really don’t like it” way. I’d almost wanted to skip ToT until I reread and reminded myself about the theming. Excellent theming can make me overlook a great amount of negatives, which is why I overall prefer Disney to other theme parks (though I do think Universal stepped it up with WWHP).

I’m really glad I went! I’d also forgotten how ToT’s ride mechanic is different from DL’s now-Guardians themed drop ride. The entire room moving laterally is pretty cool. And I’m not sure if it was longer since I’d eaten or the drops weren’t as fast or what, but the drops here didn’t bother me nearly as much as the Guardians ride had at DL.

Edit: forgot to post the ride pic!


Anyway, it was a lot of fun (and I’m pretty sure I felt the same in 2008, just had forgotten), and I hope WDW keeps the Twilight Zone theming. Not everything needs to be Star Wars or Marvel, you know? And I say that as someone who's been a completionist for the movies of both properties, at least!

MIL and DD4 had kept themselves occupied with browsing shops and I believe Grandma may’ve treated DD4 to some sort of chocolate candy. Grandma prerogative!

We were leaving by 7:40. I took the opportunity to snap my last pic of the day:



Uncompleted item from Touring Plan: MuppetVision 3D; uncompleted maybe: Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular

My sore throat from the previous day had never really gone away, and I was glad to be headed back to CBR and bed. (So glad that once there, I went straight to getting ready for bed and forgot to eat any more of the Gideon’s cookies.)

Day 5 Lessons Learned

• Really, seriously, truly: plan to have 2 adults available at 7 am to try to make LLs, even if that’s the only task, with no ILLs, VQs, or any other extras needed. Further reasoning:
  • At a park like HS that has so few headliner attractions, and when one of those is also down for refurb, if you can’t get an early LL, that realllly affects your ability to use them efficiently, because by the time you’re eligible to make another selection many attractions will already be pushed into the late afternoon
  • If you have a young child in the party or otherwise know you won't be staying till closing, trying to stack is still undesirable/difficult (again, because the fewer attractions means many a young child is interested in will already be gone).
• If really planning to do Slinky, maybe accept a not-great LL time for it anyway. Use the time you save to catch a show or browse in shops.
• If you don’t really need a sit-down meal for a break, I think HS is a good park to plan on QS for maximum flexibility. (Considering our party I think sit-down was a good call, but when DD4 is older and if we don’t have senior adults included, I think I’d lean toward QS at HS.)

Up Next: Part 1 of Animal Kingdom! Might get it done in 3 parts; we'll see!

Footnote
*I'm sure this guy has a name but I couldn't easily find it. (Casual SW fan means I don't know all the details!)

 

[Araminta18]

DH and I never lucked into an Oga’s ADR at CA when we were there so we were glad to make it this time, but we think we can pass on this for a while. We aren’t bar people to begin with and though we like SW, the theming wasn’t quite a big enough draw that we’d want to do it again every time, assuming the same crowds. I understand it's sometimes less busy in the morning, so maybe when we feel up for it we'll try for a morning slot.

Yea, that's basically how I feel. Which is sad! I wanted to like it more. But the lack of seating, and the noise, and the lack of any food and the drinks just being kind of meh...such a bummer.

However! Exit into the gift shop means we paused a little to browse. My parents had given me a Disney gift card as a Christmas gift and I wanted to spend it before we left. I wound up picking out a Grogu (I’ve gotten used to his name I guess) Loungefly bag. The gift card didn’t cover the whole cost, but I don’t think I could’ve justified buying without the gift card. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

so cute!!

I’m really glad I went! I’d also forgotten how ToT’s ride mechanic is different from DL’s now-Guardians themed drop ride. The entire room moving laterally is pretty cool. And I’m not sure if it was longer since I’d eaten or the drops weren’t as fast or what, but the drops here didn’t bother me nearly as much as the Guardians ride had at DL.

yay! glad you enjoyed it - ToT is one of my favorites.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun (and I’m pretty sure I felt the same in 2008, just had forgotten), and I hope WDW keeps the Twilight Zone theming. Not everything needs to be Star Wars or Marvel, you know? And I say that as someone who's been a completionist for the movies of both properties, at least!

YES! 100% agree. I love the ToT theming - it's just so unique and cool.

• If you don’t really need a sit-down meal for a break, I think HS is a good park to plan on QS for maximum flexibility. (Considering our party I think sit-down was a good call, but when DD4 is older and if we don’t have senior adults included, I think I’d lean toward QS at HS.)

also hard agree - and HS has awesome QS with Woody's Lunchbox and Docking Bay 7.

 

[awrites]

Yea, that's basically how I feel. Which is sad! I wanted to like it more. But the lack of seating, and the noise, and the lack of any food and the drinks just being kind of meh...such a bummer.

It was a definite bummer! If there were a way to have it turned into a walkthrough attraction maybe I’d like it more…

yay! glad you enjoyed it - ToT is one of my favorites.

YES! 100% agree. I love the ToT theming - it's just so unique and cool.

Yeah, I was a little surprised I didn’t remember it better from my 2008 trip! I know I didn’t hate it, but my memory was mostly “Twilight Zone drop ride” without much memory of how immersive the theming really is. Oh well, I ought to remember it better now!

also hard agree - and HS has awesome QS with Woody's Lunchbox and Docking Bay 7.

Woody’s Lunchbox is definitely on my list for next time! I was sad I never got to try a lunch box tart, but the timing never worked out with my appetite.

 

[blabbermouth]

Thanks for the tips from this day! I haven't been in nearly as long as you so I don't have a good plan in my head for HS!

Your FIL looks like a serious guy so I'm glad he likes all the rides with you and DH!

 

[krismom345]

Loving this report and remember traveling with a portable potty seat and step stool. Don’t ask.
Taking notes from your Lessons Learned!

 

[awrites]

Thanks for the tips from this day! I haven't been in nearly as long as you so I don't have a good plan in my head for HS!

Your FIL looks like a serious guy so I'm glad he likes all the rides with you and DH!

I'm glad it's helpful!

Re: FIL, yeah, he has a thing about not smiling for pictures! But he overall does truly enjoy all the rides. (I always think it's funny when he has a very slight smile on some of the ride pictures!)

Loving this report and remember traveling with a portable potty seat and step stool. Don’t ask.
Taking notes from your Lessons Learned!

Ohhh, I considered packing a folding stepstool, at least to have in the hotel room! (Wasn't sure we'd want to carry it through the parks.) But finally decided DD4 could live with having us help her on the bigger potties, if she felt she couldn't climb on herself.

Glad the Lessons Learned are helpful!

 

[awrites]

Day 6: Friday February 23: Animal Kingdom (Part 1 of X)

My sore throat had gotten worse overnight and turned into a cough that woke me up frequently. But once again because my body sucks and I can’t sleep in, I was awake by 5-something.

After having so many struggles with Genie+ the previous day, and having read some assessments that it wasn’t necessary for Animal Kingdom, I decided to forgo it.

EE at AK was at 7:30, so it was a morning of rushing to get ready.



We’d decided the night before that due to the early start, we’d pass on the bus and order a Minnie Van. I’d checked early morning availability a few times that week; it consistently said arrival to CBR in 20-25 minutes. So I had 6:30 in mind to request the MV, with it arriving by 6:50-7, and us arriving to AK by 7 or a little after, leaving plenty of time to get through security.

As expected, the Lyft app estimated a 26-minute arrival for a MV. I ordered it at 6:30, when we still had a few things to do (wrap up breakfast for DD4 and DH; I wanted to switch things from my Beauty and the Beast Loungefly to my new Grogu one).

But a driver accepted the trip immediately, with an *8 minute* expected arrival!



Our connecting doors came in very handy, since they were already open and we could call to MIL and FIL the change in plans. We rushed through our last bits of prep, I skipped switching bags, and we made it out to the Buildings 44-46 traffic circle right as our MV was pulling up.

We really enjoyed it! Our driver, Daisy, was super helpful and installed the car seat for DD4, and even got it swiveled to front-facing (they twist for ease of getting the child in and out) when I had trouble with it. Including 20% tip the cost came to $48.11 for the ride from CBR to AK. So I wouldn’t want to do it every day, but especially considering that DD4 really ought to still be in a car seat, and that there were 5 of us, I think it was worth it.

Plus, they’re so cute!



My Lyft receipt was at 7:04, and I think it came a few minutes after we were dropped off. Pretty sure it wasn’t quite 7 when we arrived.

We made it through security easily. I’d debated getting me, DH, and FIL FoP ILLs since we weren’t doing Genie+ but figured we were so early, it didn’t matter.

We tapped in, wound up fairly close to the front of the pack, annnndddd…

I failed to account for the slight uphill walk, plus the distance, to get to Pandora. For Epcot, getting to France from the International Gateway isn’t that bad a walk, and the route is pretty well laid out to start a queue fairly early on, so we didn’t get passed by too many faster-moving people on the way to Remy.

Not so, walking to Pandora. Between our stroller and poor MIL’s leg (by this point she was wearing a brace for it) several other stroller parties passed us.

When we arrived at Pandora, MIL took DD4 to the gift shop (Windtraders, I think) while DH, FIL, and I got in line for FoP. By the time we arrived at the official entrance, the listed wait was already 90 minutes, though we were done with the ride in closer to 60.

The wait though meant we had plenty of time to enjoy the gorgeous queue.










Okay, if you're a FoP superfan you may want to skip this next bit. Here, I'll mark with asterisks:

***********
Regarding the preshow/storyline, it is nice to have a break from “something’s gone wrong, oh no!” But it’s definitely clear how there are attempts to address the white saviorism and cultural appropriation criticisms of the first film (and maybe the second? Still haven’t seen it), what with the focus on how the Na’vi graciously agreed to share their culture and how the goal was to help preserve their culture. Not wholly adequate attempts, in my opinion, but then again I find James Cameron somewhat eye-rolly so maybe those feelings are coming in to play.

As for the ride itself, I know we’re in the minority here, but both DH and I were underwhelmed. We were in the far-right of our group (I think spots 14-16), with DH being farthest right (16). He wears glasses, and the 3D glasses didn’t work well with his own; the 3D effects were all doubled for him the entire time. The doubling wasn’t as bad for me, but it was terrible for the cave scene.

Feeling the banshee breathe and bank was neat, but I distinctly remember thinking “People waited 6 hours for this?” since I’d read that when FoP first opened, there was no VQ and people did indeed wait 6 hours to ride.

When the ride was over, I said to DH, “I don’t think my level of immersion matched what the Imagineers envisioned,” and that kind of sums it up. Reading up on FoP later, we were also supposed to have some sort of scent at some point that I don’t think was working, and maybe the visual effects would’ve been better if we’d had banshees more in the middle rather than a far side. (Or if there’d been actual VR headsets, but I imagine that may be too logistically difficult/expensive to cycle between guests and keep adequately sanitized.)

Also, maybe it’d been too hyped for us. Our TA had said this was her and her husband’s favorite ride in the entire park, plus everything I’d read about it was universally positive. We also prefer coasters to simulators in general. But as our feelings were similar we’re well-matched! The secret to staying together: matching perceptions of the most-hyped WDW rides!

FIL enjoyed FoP more than DH and I did, but he wasn’t blown away either.

Final verdict: it was fine, but DH and I won’t be rushing back to this till DD4 is tall enough to ride and expresses an actual interest in doing so. (And we’ll do our best to avoid more than a 30-minute wait.)
************
Edit: I did really love the queue, though! The Pandora fauna and the level of detail in the research center are fantastic. Seriously Imagineering at their best!

Still, now that I have perhaps offended a very great many people with my FoP opinion, I'm about to hit the photo limit, and my daughter is getting whiny, I'll pause here.

 

[Lynne G]

Have to say, we aren’t a fan of that ride either. Maybe because it doesn’t seem like you are that immersed. And we did role drop, in middle of March, and had about a 30 minute wait. Next time we went, we made a bee line for the safari.

 

[Wood Nymph]

It was so dim in there the menus were hard to read. We were all using our phones’ flashlights. I can’t remember if it was the same 30ish years ago or if maybe the cars' lights (visible in the above picture) were easier to read by.

The light in the cars isn't much better. It was very hard to read the menu and the check.

DH got best in vehicle again, I think. This one hurts my hand less than Buzz Lightyear but for the “sit in a car and shoot things” rides I prefer Spider-Man at California Adventure because I don’t suck at it.**

I like reading your comparisons of the ride in WDW vs Disneyland. We will be in DL on Wed and anxious to check it out for myself. TSM is one of my favorites.

DH and I never lucked into an Oga’s ADR at CA when we were there so we were glad to make it this time, but we think we can pass on this for a while. We aren’t bar people to begin with and though we like SW, the theming wasn’t quite a big enough draw that we’d want to do it again every time, assuming the same crowds.

Oga's is a "one and done" for me. The drinks are interesting but much too expensive.

Drop rides generally aren’t my favorite; they tend to mess with my stomach. Not quite in a “I’m going to throw up way” but a “My organs’ gravity somehow isn’t keeping up with the rest of my body and I really don’t like it” way.

I feel the same way.

I’d also forgotten how ToT’s ride mechanic is different from DL’s now-Guardians themed drop ride. The entire room moving laterally is pretty cool. And I’m not sure if it was longer since I’d eaten or the drops weren’t as fast or what, but the drops here didn’t bother me nearly as much as the Guardians ride had at DL.

Is Guardians in DL only a drop ride?

FIL, yeah, he has a thing about not smiling for pictures! But he overall does truly enjoy all the rides.

My husband doesn't like to smile for pictures either.

As for the ride itself, I know we’re in the minority here, but both DH and I were underwhelmed. We were in the far-right of our group (I think spots 14-16), with DH being farthest right (16). He wears glasses, and the 3D glasses didn’t work well with his own; the 3D effects were all doubled for him the entire time. The doubling wasn’t as bad for me, but it was terrible for the cave scene.

Maybe being to the far right did change it a little.

Also, maybe it’d been too hyped for us.

I'm sure it was over - hyped. But it was so very different from anything at WDW when it first came out that it stood out as special.

I've ridden Passage four times but I not a huge fan.

 

[jrmint427]

By the time we arrived at the official entrance, the listed wait was already 90 minutes, though we were done with the ride in closer to 60.

It is a really long walk, but frustrating to have a wait like that after being so early for rope drop!

Final verdict: it was fine, but DH and I won’t be rushing back to this till DD4 is tall enough to ride and expresses an actual interest in doing so. (And we’ll do our best to avoid more than a 30-minute wait.)

I can understand that. I do love FOP but don’t think it’s worth waiting more than 30 min for (most rides aren’t for me). As I’ll share later in my trip report, we got an ILL and still waited 50 minutes, which I would never have chosen to do it (especially paying for ILL) if I knew what that wait was going to be.

The light in the cars isn't much better. It was very hard to read the menu and the check.

I agree, we had a hard time reading the menu and even seeing our food in the cars.

 

[awrites]

Have to say, we aren’t a fan of that ride either. Maybe because it doesn’t seem like you are that immersed. And we did role drop, in middle of March, and had about a 30 minute wait. Next time we went, we made a bee line for the safari.

I'm honestly glad we're not the only ones who weren't super-impressed! I might wait up to 30 minutes, because I really did enjoy the queue, but also making a beeline for Safari is a solid choice!

The light in the cars isn't much better. It was very hard to read the menu and the check.

Okay thanks--yeah, we definitely don't need to head back anytime soon!

I like reading your comparisons of the ride in WDW vs Disneyland. We will be in DL on Wed and anxious to check it out for myself. TSM is one of my favorites.

Oh glad it's been helpful!

Is Guardians in DL only a drop ride?

Oh--yes! The official name of the DL ride is "Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!" It's not a coaster at all; it's a drop ride with the "normal" mechanic of being in a room and raised/lowered for the drop. And the room never moves laterally like ToT does.

We went during October so it had the "Mission: BREAKOUT After Dark" overlay (I think that's the correct name) where it's a slightly different storyline; I've never seen the regular preshow or regular drop scenes.

I'm sure it was over - hyped. But it was so very different from anything at WDW when it first came out that it stood out as special.

I can appreciate that! After we'd ridden and I was checking reviews to see if I'd somehow missed something (weird way to treat reviews I know) I saw one that said they rode Soarin' after FoP and were really disappointed with Soarin'--but it never would've occurred to me to compare the two! I mean, the IMAX-style screen and occasional scents is the only thing they have in common. The banshee ride mechanic and preshow/queue is completely different.

Oh and I guess wearing glasses for it. I forgot to mention, my FoP glasses didn't stay on well so I couldn't do much looking up/down or else they would've fallen off. So that also made immersion harder.

It is a really long walk, but frustrating to have a wait like that after being so early for rope drop!

I can understand that. I do love FOP but don’t think it’s worth waiting more than 30 min for (most rides aren’t for me). As I’ll share later in my trip report, we got an ILL and still waited 50 minutes, which I would never have chosen to do it (especially paying for ILL) if I knew what that wait was going to be.

Oh I would've HATED to pay for an ILL and still have to wait that long! As I wrote above I'd be willing to wait 30 min for it because I liked looking at the queue, but more than that and I'm going to be very unhappy. *Especially* if I'd shelled out for ILLs! So sorry that happened to you.

 

[awrites]

Day 6: Friday February 23: Animal Kingdom (Part 2 of X)

When DH, FIL, and I got off FoP we soon discovered a Na'vi had joined our party!


DD4 has no idea what a Na'vi is. I suspect she liked these ears because of the flowers, and she knows how to pull Grandma’s heartstrings for a gift!

We also saw the exo-suit thingummy* humans use on Pandora.


After quick restroom breaks for the adults, all 5 of us went to Na’vi River Journey. Our wait wasn’t terrible, maybe 20 minutes or so, which I thought was okay for this ride. The shaman’s arms move really fluidly and it’s neat to compare the advances in animatronics to the earlier stuff at, say, the Tiki Tiki room, but this is not a must-do for any of us, either. In fact, I probably wouldn’t mind trading the queuing and riding time of both FoP and Na’vi for the chance to freely explore Pandora.

As we had no Genie+ and were relying on our custom touring plan from the Touring Plans app, we headed to Africa for Tamu Tamu snacks (and breakfast for DH, who’d skipped his entirely due to the early Minnie Van arrival), the plan being to do Kilimanjaro Safari after.

Only because we’re such a slow-moving party, by the time we arrived to Africa the estimated wait for KS was at 90 minutes.



DH still needed breakfast, though, and speaking of Tiki Tiki I hadn’t managed to get a Dole Whip this trip. So we stuck with our Tamu plans, DH got an egg sandwich, I introduced everyone to Dole Whips (which I’ve discovered I enjoy best as a swirl with either vanilla or chocolate to cut the pineapple; good to remember for next time that not many places offer swirls) and I took DD4 to the companion restroom as she’d found the Pandora restroom too loud/busy.

On the way back to our table DD4 and I caught the Tam Tam Drummers of Harambe



In most circumstances I would've liked to stay and watch some, but I was dealing with a sinus headache, and was trying to figure out how to salvage our touring plan after the various delays.

We decided to head toward Dinoland and just follow the next items on our touring plan.

On the way we stopped at Character Landing to meet Moana. (For some reason this meet didn’t show up in Touring Plans, but I’d taken note of it previously to do at AK—which is why we didn’t stop to meet Moana by Journey of Water in Epcot.)

There was no wait posted, and this meet is set up so that you can’t really tell how many people are ahead of you. We were at a standstill for at least 10 minutes. I chatted a bit with the CM queue minder who had an impressive collection of pens. “Are those the pens guests leave behind?” I said.

“Oh, nope, these are mine. When I found out I’d be assigned here I started to get a lot of pens.”

But of course I didn’t take a picture. The amount was something like this:



But collected together in a crossbody pouch and arranged so most of them were showing. Pretty cool of the CM to have those (I presume for guests to borrow for autographs.)

Anyway, we finally got our chance to meet Moana. DD4 appeared to have an excellent interaction with her. I heard Moana check with DD4 where she should sign her picture, on the oar or by her leg, asking if she liked boats, etc.



We also found out why the wait had been so long--Moana was so good with DD4, and then she also invited us for a family picture.

I said yes to this, thinking that if all the other guests were going to take their time we could, too! Plus, I felt we really hadn’t gotten the full value of our Memory Maker package, having gotten group pictures only the one time in Galaxy’s Edge.



Anyway, good experience with Moana! This left DD4 pretty happy. (And of course we did get several more pictures; I'm just too lazy to edit them to upload. )

We passed the Tree of Life as we continued on to Dinoland.





Since DD4 and I had used the companion restroom near Tamu we didn’t a bathroom break but others did.

I think while she and I were waiting, I checked some of the LL availability for funsies. Several were showing as immediate, or near-immediate—much closer to the experience DH and I had had with Genie+ in Disneyland.



I was irritated, but decided against getting it since we’d already lost out on nearly 3 hours’ worth of use. Plus, the park would be closing earlier than other parks, and with how spread out everything is I wasn’t sure even the “immediate” uses would’ve been that helpful, considering how slow we were.

Once everyone had finished in the restroom, we dropped MIL and DD4 at the Boneyard while DH, FIL, and I headed on to Dinosaur.

Out of pictures, though! TBC.

Footnote
*I'm sure there's an actual term for these, but Avatar is not really one of my fandoms! So I haven't looked it up.

 

[jrmint427]

Anyway, we finally got our chance to meet Moana. DD4 appeared to have an excellent interaction with her. I heard Moana check with DD4 where she should sign her picture, on the oar or by her leg, asking if she liked boats, etc.

That is a sweet picture/interaction!

I said yes to this, thinking that if all the other guests were going to take their time we could, too! Plus, I felt we really hadn’t gotten the full value of our Memory Maker package, having gotten group pictures only the one time in Galaxy’s Edge.

Always go for the family pictures! It's rare to get family pictures with everyone in them, and great to make full use of the Memory Maker package.

 

[Araminta18]

My sore throat had gotten worse overnight and turned into a cough that woke me up frequently. But once again because my body sucks and I can’t sleep in, I was awake by 5-something.

Oh no!! No fun at all

But a driver accepted the trip immediately, with an *8 minute* expected arrival!

oh no! run run run! Awesome that y'all were still able to make it. I've never seen such a short Minnie Van time - the couple times i've looked it's always been at least 20 min out.

We really enjoyed it! Our driver, Daisy, was super helpful and installed the car seat for DD4, and even got it swiveled to front-facing (they twist for ease of getting the child in and out) when I had trouble with it. Including 20% tip the cost came to $48.11 for the ride from CBR to AK. So I wouldn’t want to do it every day, but especially considering that DD4 really ought to still be in a car seat, and that there were 5 of us, I think it was worth it.

Nice! I've looked at doing a Minnie Van a couple times (especially at the end of a long day ) but with just me and my husband I can never justify the cost. But for 5 of you including a car seat, not too bad!

The wait though meant we had plenty of time to enjoy the gorgeous queue.

FoP really does have an amazing queue.

As for the ride itself, I know we’re in the minority here, but both DH and I were underwhelmed. We were in the far-right of our group (I think spots 14-16), with DH being farthest right (16). He wears glasses, and the 3D glasses didn’t work well with his own; the 3D effects were all doubled for him the entire time. The doubling wasn’t as bad for me, but it was terrible for the cave scene.

oooh yea being on the far end is sucky - you don't get a great view.

When the ride was over, I said to DH, “I don’t think my level of immersion matched what the Imagineers envisioned,” and that kind of sums it up. Reading up on FoP later, we were also supposed to have some sort of scent at some point that I don’t think was working, and maybe the visual effects would’ve been better if we’d had banshees more in the middle rather than a far side. (Or if there’d been actual VR headsets, but I imagine that may be too logistically difficult/expensive to cycle between guests and keep adequately sanitized.)

And your scents were broken?! bummer!

Also, maybe it’d been too hyped for us. Our TA had said this was her and her husband’s favorite ride in the entire park, plus everything I’d read about it was universally positive. We also prefer coasters to simulators in general. But as our feelings were similar we’re well-matched! The secret to staying together: matching perceptions of the most-hyped WDW rides!

Yea, the hype plus your having like the worst positioning and broken scents totally makes sense that you were underwhelmed. We really like it, but I'm at the point where I make a point of asking for a seat in the middle because it does make a difference. We also like to do the headliners at the end of the night - like hopping in line right before park close so you don't have any lightning lanes, etc. The couple times we've done that, we've only waited like 30 minutes.

Anyway, we finally got our chance to meet Moana. DD4 appeared to have an excellent interaction with her. I heard Moana check with DD4 where she should sign her picture, on the oar or by her leg, asking if she liked boats, etc.

aw, how fun! You guys got some great pictures!

 

[awrites]

Nice! I've looked at doing a Minnie Van a couple times (especially at the end of a long day ) but with just me and my husband I can never justify the cost. But for 5 of you including a car seat, not too bad!

Yeah, definitely hard to justify the cost when it's not that many people! I'm sure if it had been just me and my DH we might've seen if a regular Lyft/Uber was available instead. (But we still are glad we passed on the bus that morning!)

FoP really does have an amazing queue.

oooh yea being on the far end is sucky - you don't get a great view.

And your scents were broken?! bummer!

Yea, the hype plus your having like the worst positioning and broken scents totally makes sense that you were underwhelmed. We really like it, but I'm at the point where I make a point of asking for a seat in the middle because it does make a difference. We also like to do the headliners at the end of the night - like hopping in line right before park close so you don't have any lightning lanes, etc. The couple times we've done that, we've only waited like 30 minutes.

You know, whenever we do make it back I think maybe we will ask for a seat in the middle! (As long as it wouldn't add too much extra time.)

I have heard about the "headliners last" trick--our TA recommended it to us but since we weren't ever doing late nights we never tried. But with AK's earlier closing maybe it would've worked! Oh well; something to keep in mind for the next trip! Thanks.

 

[awrites]

Day 6: Friday February 23: Animal Kingdom (Part 3 of 3)
So after dropping MIL and DD4 at the Boneyard, DH, FIL, and I continued on to Dinosaur.

The wait was posted as 15 when we started toward Dinoland, was at 25 by the time we entered the queue, and more like 20 actual wait.

20 minutes was plenty of time for me to whip out my phone and take...

...one picture.



I had only vague memories of Dinosaur from 2008. I knew the ride vehicles were like Indiana Jones in Disneyland but didn’t remember much else.


Pretty sure the kid in orange knew right where the camera was!

This is fun! After reading @Keladry84’s report I was reminded how Indiana at DLR is pretty jerky. Pretty sure DH and I had the opportunity to reride it when we were there, but I didn’t want to after getting so jostled.

Dinosaur isn’t jostly at all! The preride show and ride animatronics are getting a bit dated, but I’ll take that over not getting my hips slammed into the vehicle and my seat companion.

I think FIL wasn't as enthused with this one, though.

After failing to catch the Iguanadon, we met up with MIL and DD4. Turned out MIL had been climbing the equipment with DD4, which had not been my intention! It’s true that DD4 will often want someone to go with her the first time she tries something, but I hadn’t clarified that it’d be fine to tell her “Wait till Daddy and Mommy are back” or, better yet, to try to encourage her to try on her own.

So I think the Boneyard and DD4 wore out Grandma a little.

But DH was game to go on some of the slides with DD4, so he relieved Grandma and they played a bit more.

By this point, though, I was getting increasingly tired. I’d had 6 nights straight of poor sleep (counting the night before our 2am wake up for our flight) and it was wearing on me. Plus, my sore throat/cough was worse. I was starting to feel more relieved than sad that we’d be flying home the next day.

And I failed to take any pictures of the Boneyard.

DH and DD4 finished playing. She wanted to go on Triceratops Spin so DH and I took her on that while MIL and FIL sat and rested.

Kevin passed by while we were in the queue.



Like on Carpets, DD4 wanted to ride with me in the back while DH took the front. The tilt mechanism seemed to be working better on our Triceratops than it did our carpet, so I amused myself with that while DH lifted/lowered us.

This was DD4’s favorite ride of the day, of course.* Eventually, she will appreciate the theming that goes into the more unique rides. Eventually!

Since Dinoland is “close” to Asia, and DH and FIL were interested in trying Expedition Everest, we headed that way. MIL had rejuvenated enough to take DD4 exploring while the other 3 of us joined the queue around 12:40 (estimated wait 40 minutes).

In 2008, EE had been my favorite coaster of all 4 parks. I was pretty sure Guardians had knocked EE off its pedestal for me, but was willing to ride again.



I’d forgotten how neat the EE queue is. (Once you get past the bells, anyway. One dude had to ring. Every. Single. One. And these weren’t gentle “tings,” oh no. He did his very best to clang them as loud as he could. Maybe it was because I was sick, but I found it incredibly obnoxious.)

But even though the queue is neat I wasn’t feeling too good and didn’t take pictures.

Verdict on EE: Still fun!

....But the ride photo is incredibly unflattering so I'm skipping posting it.

Let's just say our enthusiasm level, while not quite on par with this child, was pretty high.


I think I like the “story” and queue theming of EE better than Guardians, but in terms of the ride experience of the coasters themselves, Guardians wins, hands down. But the backwards bit in EE is still pretty fun.

We rejoined MIL and DD4. DD4 was enjoying her daily Mickey Bar. Another bathroom break, and we headed back to Africa because Kilimanjaro was down to a 35 minute wait.

Then by the time we arrived at 2:04 it was up to 55 minutes. :/

We had a 4:00pm ADR for Rainforest Cafe. This is the park one day we set the table service ADR for the afternoon/evening, and picking Rainforest was solely for DD4’s benefit since we don’t have any RCs close by at home. Since RC is close to the AK entrance, I didn’t see much sense in walking to the entrance midday and having to walk back into the park. I was hoping that by 4:00 we’d be ready to leave.

I knew KS might cut close to the ADR, but if the wait was accurate it’d be okay. However, I wished I’d checked my phone 4 minutes earlier, though, because there was plenty of availability (unsurprisingly) and I could’ve changed us to 4:30 with no trouble. But I ran afoul of the 2-hour-no-change window by 4 minutes.

3:00, our 55-minute mark, came and went. At some point there was a widespread announcement that rhinos were blocking the road and the safaris were delayed.

We had plenty of opportunities to take pictures in the queue. I took one.



I got the bright idea of trying to change our ADR via the chat function in the app. It connected to a person a lot sooner than the Disney Dining number had on Tuesday (which readers may recall was “never” as we had DD4’s bathroom emergency), but ultimately the CM wasn’t able to change the reservation because we were in the 2-hour window. I would’ve thought an actual CM capable of reaching the restaurant could’ve done it, but

The chat CM reassured us though that "the restaurants understand guests’ plans may change” and they’d do their best to accommodate us when we got there.

More waiting. I was feeling increasingly worse, and even though my line tolerance is higher than DH’s I was starting to agree with his suggestion that we jump the line and leave to make our ADR on time. Only we were stuck pretty far back with no easy way to get out. We spotted a chain up ahead and once we reached it I got so far as to undoing it before MIL finally spoke up that we’d waited this long already and she really did want to ride.

It was a point where I was physically and mentally exhausted and also just tired of making decisions for the group. So, fine, if someone wants to wait then let's do! We stuck it out and finally boarded at 3:36, a full 90 minutes after we entered the queue and 40 minutes more than estimated.

I did take a couple of pictures—my last of the day—and tried to point out animals to DD4 but was ready to be done with the park.





We made it to Rainforest at 4:22 and were seated right away with no issues. I think the adults once again selected some alcoholic beverages (though maybe MIL passed this time), pretty sure DD4 picked her beloved Mac & cheese, and I don’t remember what else anyone got. I took no pictures of the animatronics, which of course aren’t nearly so impressive as Disney’s.

Final verdict: food was adequate. Not one we’ll pick again unless we really, really want to make DD4 happy.

Oh, but I think sometime during dinner I learned I had a short story acceptance! That cheered me a little after spending so much of the day feeling ill and the frustratingly long KS wait.


Too tired for an excited fist-pump

Pretty sure we were leaving no later than 6 and quite possibly a bit earlier because I don’t think we hit the park closing rush. (Or we were a bit later and still missed the rush.)

Touring plan items not completed: Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail; Festival of the Lion King; Finding Nemo; maybe item: Maharajah Jungle Trek

We tried to get a Minnie Van but they were all listed as more than 20 minutes out. We kept the request active for nearly 10 minutes, but no one accepted the ride before the CBR bus came. So I canceled the request and we took the bus back.

I think we were back in our rooms by 7. We tried the 3 other Gideon’s cookies, Eternal Flame, Strawberry Delight, and the Coffee Cake. My favorite, of all five, was the Strawberry. Eternal Flame started out tasty, but then the chili hit and resulted in a burning tongue plus chili aftertaste. Coffee cake does taste as advertised! I just wanted something more cookie-like.

Then we did a bit of preliminary packing for tomorrow, and DD4 and I were in bed by 8 (6:00pm Colorado time; I was that tired). So we had lights out, but I know DH hung out in the split bath area for a while on either his computer or his phone.

And thus concluded our last park day.

Day 6 Lessons Learned

• If anyone in your party has low line tolerance or anyone is the “walking sick,” go ahead and get Genie+ even if at a park where you “don’t need it.”
• AK is a park where the theming shines more so than many of the ride attractions. Try as hard as possible to build in time for exploring.
• Young children are always, always going to be the most excited about the playground.
• Minnie Vans are great! But apparently not always available. If using one for something time-sensitive, be sure you have a backup transportation plan in place.

Up next: Topolino's Terrace and return home

Footnote
*DD4’s favorite AK activity however was a tie between the Moana meet and the Boneyard. Figures!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Hello! I'm really enjoying your very honest (and funny!) trip report! I'm glad your daughter enjoyed Slinky Dog after hating Barnstormer and found several other things to love on your trip.

I was debating whether Genie+ would be worth it at AK... thank you for convincing me to get it and save myself the headache.

I'm sorry you started to feel sick - that's tough on vacation, but especially at Disney World! I hope a solid night of sleep helped and you felt better for your Topolino's breakfast.

 

[Keladry84]

I'm really enjoying your report, and especially like your "lessons" learned at the end of each post!

I'm with you on the smoother Dinosaur ride mechanic over Indy - I hope they don't retheme it to Indy, or if they do, they solve the bounciness issue.

How was the ambience in Rain Forest? Was it noisy/chaotic or doable? I really want to eat here someday for the theming, but am afraid it would end up being too much.

Sorry to hear about your Safaris queue experience. That sounds quite miserable!

 

[Araminta18]

After failing to catch the Iguanadon, we met up with MIL and DD4. Turned out MIL had been climbing the equipment with DD4, which had not been my intention! It’s true that DD4 will often want someone to go with her the first time she tries something, but I hadn’t clarified that it’d be fine to tell her “Wait till Daddy and Mommy are back” or, better yet, to try to encourage her to try on her own.

So I think the Boneyard and DD4 wore out Grandma a little.

aw, Grandma is such a good sport

I’d forgotten how neat the EE queue is. (Once you get past the bells, anyway. One dude had to ring. Every. Single. One. And these weren’t gentle “tings,” oh no. He did his very best to clang them as loud as he could. Maybe it was because I was sick, but I found it incredibly obnoxious.)

It is super cool! I love it. And also that is super annoying, not just cause you were sick.

It was a point where I was physically and mentally exhausted and also just tired of making decisions for the group. So, fine, if someone wants to wait then let's do! We stuck it out and finally boarded at 3:36, a full 90 minutes after we entered the queue and 40 minutes more than estimated.

woof! 90 min!!!

Oh, but I think sometime during dinner I learned I had a short story acceptance! That cheered me a little after spending so much of the day feeling ill and the frustratingly long KS wait.

CONGRATULATIONS! That's awesome!!

• AK is a park where the theming shines more so than many of the ride attractions. Try as hard as possible to build in time for exploring.

100% agree. Absolutely.