A Bash, a Benson, and a Banshee: A DIS 20th Event Solo Trip ** new Aug 2nd, 2017 - Complete! **

[debjk4]

Enjoy reading your TR and the DIS meets you are having! Looking forward to more!

 

[Texans_loyal]

Enjoying your TR!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

*** Photopass Picture Update ***​

Just a note that I got some of the photopass pictures from my time with Amber and Marie, I updated the posts to include them, but in case you already read those updates I thought I would add them here.

Had our ride photo from Everest (where I am behind Amber and Marie with a goofy grin on my face)

And then the ones from in Pandora that included a Magic Shot with a Banshee!

Quick story on the last one - I showed that to my son Peter but didn't indicate it was a magic shot - rather that "Isn't is cool what I got to see while at Disney!" - and he asked if he would get to see one when we go as he fully believes they have actual Banshees at WDW

#Parentoftheyear

Gotta love Peter!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Enjoyed your update. You took some glorious ROL pics, thanx for that!!

 

[pucknasty]

I love your sass in the pandora interactive convo LOL

 

[wdwnut61]

Love all the pics with fellow DIS'ers
Another great looking meal from Satu'li can't wait to eat there.
I had no idea they made a Dole Whip with Dark Rum
We really enjoyed ROL and your pictures are great.

 

[Raeven]

So I know the show has gotten some mixed reviews but I absolutely loved it. It is beautiful and has a nice message - and includes a ton of images of animals with their babies, etc. Plus the main song, We Are One, is just beautiful and very catchy. The ending isn't huge and so I get why people want a bigger finale, but I think overall the show fits Animal Kingdom really well and I would definitely see it again.

I felt the same way, and I loved the music!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Great update Phil! I was going to meet up with you guys at Nomad but decided to hit the line for NRJ instead. That rain really did come down for a while but luckily ended soon enough. I regret not getting into Satuli to try some of that food but there is always next time.

I can't believe you hadn't done Dinosaur! Test Track and Dinosaur are two of my favorites.

Great photos of RoL. I agree that I really liked he show as well and it has a nice message.

I think I will finally pop up in the next update

Thanks Ryan - definitely was hard to be everywhere at once. Definitely understand your thinking in going to NRJ

I know! it's another one where the family never wanted to wait on the line and we always had other rides that were higher priority. Now at least I can say I have done it My oldest did Indiana Jones with me at DLR (the other two were too short) so at leas she has done the better version

Yes, you are definitely in the next one!

Great update, Phil ! Love reliving the good memories!

Thanks GAN! Was such a quick trip and did so much it is nice to write it all down and keep track!

Getting out of the rain and into the lounge sounds like it was a nice break!

Well, at least you can cross off Dinosaur from your to-do list! Not one of my faves either.

Glad you enjoyed your meal at Satu'li Canteen!

Nice that you could all get together to watch ROL! Glad to hear a positive review of it!

It definitely worked out well - and we were trying to think of what we should do anyway

Yup - it is crossed off the list. If the kids (when they are all tall enough) ever want to do it I would ride it again, but definitely not something I would push for in the future.

They did a great job I think with Satu'li making the food different and healthier but I think still approachable to most people - having the bowls where you get to mix and match I think helps

it was nice to do it as a group and just take advantage of all being there together. I definitely like RoL, but at the same time can understand why others felt underwhelmed (especially if you are comparing it to Illuminations or Happily Ever After or something and expecting something that "big")

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Enjoy reading your TR and the DIS meets you are having! Looking forward to more!

Thank you! It was definitely a different trip but a fun one with all the DIS meets!

Enjoying your TR!

Thank you!

Gotta love Peter!

There is a reason we call him "Pistol Pete!" ... to which he normally responds with "I'm not Pistol Pete! I'm just Peter!" ... to which I respond "ok, sorry Just Peter"

Enjoyed your update. You took some glorious ROL pics, thanx for that!!

Thank you Heidi! My decade old point and shoot camera still get the occasional good shot! (a little post production editing doesn't hurt either )

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I love your sass in the pandora interactive convo LOL

I didn't intend for it to go that way, but was just getting frustrated ... there were often delays in the response so when it would finally come back and be a question that I had previously answered I'd be like "really?"

Love all the pics with fellow DIS'ers
Another great looking meal from Satu'li can't wait to eat there.
I had no idea they made a Dole Whip with Dark Rum
We really enjoyed ROL and your pictures are great.

Thank you! more of those to come!

I was really impressed with Satu'li - I hope it stays popular and shows Disney you can do "different" and still please (most of) the crowd

yes! They also offer it with coconut rum (which my wife actually prefers, while I like the dark rum). And they have a Boozy Dole Whip drink at the Poly (but that is for another update

Thank you - and glad you enjoyed RoL as well!

I felt the same way, and I loved the music!

Glad you enjoyed RoL - Definitely see some people underwhelmed but also see some people that really love it (guess that makes it fit Animal Kingdom even better)

 

[annie170]

I've never ridden Dinosaur either. We've skipped AK on a couple of our trips and the other times I've been there, I've been watching grandkids while their parents rode. Then we just moved on so everyone didn't have to wait for me. Good to know I've not missed out!

What a fun day you're having in AK with so many DISers! I'm drooling over your Dole Whip with rum!

Glad you enjoyed Rivers of Light. With so many mixed reviews, it's nice to read a positive one.

 

[amazingact21]

You've never ridden Dinosaur before this trip?! Wow. I completely agree with you, I don't enjoy the attraction. In fact, it's probably in my bottom 3. It's good to know that Indiana Jones is better, though. I had written it off since I don't like dinosaur.

The dishes your dinner was served on were really cool! I love how unique and authentic everything is in Pandora. I haven't had much time to look at a lot of Pandora-related posts, and so it's been fun seeing your photos and reading about your experience.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I've never ridden Dinosaur either. We've skipped AK on a couple of our trips and the other times I've been there, I've been watching grandkids while their parents rode. Then we just moved on so everyone didn't have to wait for me. Good to know I've not missed out!

What a fun day you're having in AK with so many DISers! I'm drooling over your Dole Whip with rum!

Glad you enjoyed Rivers of Light. With so many mixed reviews, it's nice to read a positive one.

Haha, yeah, I know some people love Dinosaur but just was disappointing to me - so I don't think you have missed that much

And if you prefer coconut rum they have it with that instead of the dark as well!

I can see why some people would be disappointed by Rivers of Light but I really liked it and thought it was different and really fit Animal Kingdom and had a nice message

You've never ridden Dinosaur before this trip?! Wow. I completely agree with you, I don't enjoy the attraction. In fact, it's probably in my bottom 3. It's good to know that Indiana Jones is better, though. I had written it off since I don't like dinosaur.

The dishes your dinner was served on were really cool! I love how unique and authentic everything is in Pandora. I haven't had much time to look at a lot of Pandora-related posts, and so it's been fun seeing your photos and reading about your experience.

Indiana Jones is sooooo much better, the setting is great and just so much going on. The ride vehicle is the exact same so if you don't like the jostling around, that would be the same in Indy, but other than that, the experience is totally different

Thanks for mentioning that, I forgot to mention that I appreciated that they used hard plastic plates and bowls and real silverware at Satu'li Canteen. Glad you have been enjoying the Pandora updates ... a few more to come!

 

[afwdwfan]

I still don't get why people throw ponytail holders on the sides here - but to each their own I guess.

I don't get it. I never throw my ponytail holders.

And then I actually got a pretty good shot of the Yeti shadow

That's a good one!

As the rains came down and then tapered off we were deciding what to do as we had some time before we were meeting up with other DISers for one of our "unofficial" events which was to watch Rivers of Light together and then head into Pandora. We were checking wait times and I asked if people would be interested in riding Dinosaur as I had never ridden it before

WHAT???

Hello Mrs. Huxtable! (I know she has done a bunch of other roles but that is the first thing I think of)

I also did love that when you exit the ride you can see on the monitors that the dinosaur you brought back with you from your trip through time (oops, sorry, should have mentioned "Spoiler Alert" I guess) is roaming the halls

It's only a spoiler for people like you who have never ridden it.

So what did I think of the ride now that I finally rode it? ... um, it's not my favorite. Maybe it's because I have done Indiana Jones in Disneyland and this uses the same ride vehicles and same exact track layout and Indiana Jones is just sooooo much better - but I just didn't think it was that great.

I really can't disagree with this. It's a fun ride and I'll ride it if I have a chance, but it isn't something I'd go out of my way or wait in a long line for. I've skipped it on past trips and I don't exactly lose any sleep over it.

So I know the show has gotten some mixed reviews but I absolutely loved it. It is beautiful and has a nice message - and includes a ton of images of animals with their babies, etc. Plus the main song, We Are One, is just beautiful and very catchy. The ending isn't huge and so I get why people want a bigger finale, but I think overall the show fits Animal Kingdom really well and I would definitely see it again.

Thanks for a positive review. I look forward to getting to see it. All of the negativity I've seen has made me question whether it is worth it.

 

[gryffindors]

Definitely going to have to start taking flatties of friends/loved ones on any trips I do in the future, so fun!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I don't get it. I never throw my ponytail holders.

That's a good one!

WHAT???



It's only a spoiler for people like you who have never ridden it.

I really can't disagree with this. It's a fun ride and I'll ride it if I have a chance, but it isn't something I'd go out of my way or wait in a long line for. I've skipped it on past trips and I don't exactly lose any sleep over it.

Thanks for a positive review. I look forward to getting to see it. All of the negativity I've seen has made me question whether it is worth it.

I know! Those ponytail holders aren't cheap ... why would I throw mine away?!?!?

I know, I know -you'd think one of these trips we would have gone on ti ... Guess just with the kids we pick and choose which of the rides that have height restrictions we do and always has been Everest - especially since Dinosaur seems to have decent waits a lot. but now I know what i have been missing at least

I definitely think Rivers of Light is worth it - at least to try it once and see if you like it. Just adds to the overall night time feel of AK which I love as well

Definitely going to have to start taking flatties of friends/loved ones on any trips I do in the future, so fun!

This is the first time I did that with the flatties but it was definitely fun!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

This is the first time I did that with the flatties but it was definitely fun!

And as an inaugural flatty, I am ENTIRELY grateful!!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Part 12: Nighttime Encounters with a Yeti and the FoP Queue
Wednesday May 31st 9:40 - 11:15pm​

After enjoying Rivers of Light the plan was to head back into Pandora for the Extra Magic Hours time for resort guests. We were going to meet up with additional DISers who were going to join us for that time but didn't come for Rivers of Light - but there was a little bit of time until we were meeting them so myself and one other person in our group decided to do a quick single-ride line trip on Expedition Everest. While I love this attraction during the day - it is even better at night (another added bonus of Animal Kingdom now having evening hours).

Last time I had done this there was next to no line for the single rider but there was a decent line this time - but it moved quite fast as it seems like ever train the need a few single riders

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After surviving (again) our encounter with the Yeti and the broken track we caught up with the larger group in plenty of time. Onward to Pandora!!!

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Once we got into Pandora there was a bit of discussion (disagreement?) on what we should do then. Some of us wanted to get into the standby line to ride Flight of Passage but others wanted to just walk around and take in the land at night first and do one of the rides later. At this point it was changing nightly how the lines for the rides were (as far as they were being handled by CMs and the length) and I was afraid if we wandered first and / or did the river ride first they would close off the line for Flight of Passage - and the best bet to get on both rides was to do FoP first and then the river ride, so I went with the group that was doing FoP first. When we got to the standby line they had just closed it down for the regular day but they said we could wait for them to open it up for the EMH hours, so that is what we did so that we would be first in line for that. There were about 20 of us DISers: "first in line selfie"!

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As an FYI - This happened at about 10:30 or so ... they then let us start to go in at about 10:45 or so, but then we were stopped half-way up the mountain (at this point the wait was listed as 70 mins)

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I will put up a *** Spoiler Warning *** at this point as coming up will be spoilers from the standby queue - for the rest of this post and then the next one



As mentioned they let us in the first part of the queue, but then stopped us about half-way up the mountain at the entrance to go into the mountain. They let us in there pretty much right at 11pm and we started our wait - which started out as more of a walk until we got to the end of the existing line which starts out going through caves

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Right about where we hit the end of the line, there was a water fountain along with water bottle fill station which I thought was cool

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Then we start getting into some cool details - including a sign warning us about loose rocks (though, given that the ride was only open for 5 days at that point, I hope it was just theming and not that stuff was already loose). Also a sign warning us we are entering into a controlled area that is part of the Banshee Mountain Project

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We then got into more of the man-made building - but even here you can see the detail in that nature was taking over the building - as evidence by this rather large plant

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Up next - more of the queue!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Part 13: More of the FoP Queue and post-ride group photo
Wednesday May 31st 11:20pm - Thursday June 1st 12:05am​

*** Spoiler Warning *** still covering the FoP Queue


We moved into the building more and approached the labs (which is the part I was very excited about - and it turned out to be cooler than I thought!). I definitely think it is neat how they try to tie in the ride to the message of Animal Kingdom about conservationism, care for animals, and knowledge of ecosystems, etc.

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In the labs they had a number of experiments and exhibits you could see. They really made it seem like an active lab as there were note books all around and a coat on a chair - really looked like a scientist had just been there and went to use the bathroom (since, you know there are none in the queue so he had to go all the way out to get to a bathroom) or something

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They also had a giant skull of a Banshee

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And of course, the piece that everyone is talking about, the floating Avatar animatronic - which is huge and very immpresive

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When leaving the lab, I noticed they had a Jane Goodall book, so thought that was a nice touch

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In the next room was probably the only part of the queue that wasn't super entertaining and more of a traditional queue. It did have this cool mural on the wall and also notice of entering "Utilidors" - not sure if that is also in the movie or just a nod to the utilidoors found under the Magic Kingdom

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At this point you are lined up and then led into the pre-shows and then the ride. Overall we were in the actual line for ~40mins after waiting ~40mins to get in the line proper - so not too bad considering waits the ride was getting at that point. And the verdict after a 2nd ride? I liked it even better the second time! This time we were definitely in the top row of seats and I think I liked it a little better from there and I think I just was able to "get into" it quicker. Just a great, great ride and I would definitely wait that long again to ride it

Afterwards we were able to get a group photo of everyone from our group that rode together. I again won't attempt to name everyone, but that is @rteetz in the front left since I know he commented that he expected to come up soon in this trip report

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Up next - some more time in Pandora, including the Na'vi River Journey

*** End of Spoiler Warning ..... for now at least ***

 

[rteetz]

Love the update! I really enjoyed the queue and will definitely try and see it again but not until wait times are a bit lower or during EMH. I thought it was really cool we got to be the start of the EMH line.

I should've sent you the group photo of ours that is edited so you can see everyone's faces a bit better. It really was a great time with like minded people.