Here's my review:
We have APs, so we were in the park prior to the 7:00 stated check-in time. We were able to go to Dawa Bar by Tusker House for our bracelets, KS tickets, and game tickets. We got our wristbands at 5:30 or so. We then did EE and Kali with very short waits. We also met Minnie and Mickey in their normal safari costumes. Our KS ride tickets were for 7:30 to 8:00. I'm guessing we got an earlier time since we picked up our bands before 7:00. We saw a fair amount even in the dark, and at 7:50, the elephants were back out.
Younger DD and I did Triceratops Spin and walked by the games around 8:30. They were definitely allowing people to use game tickets prior to 9:30. At 9:00, CMs started checking non-party goers and pointing them to the exit. I didn't see anyone without a wristband past 9:15.
Older DD and DH rode EE a few times. It was completely walk-on. Younger DD and I did the dance party, and she got to dance with Judy Hopps. Judy and Nick were very cute, and Nick was getting down to "What Does the Fox Say?" We also grabbed a Mickey bar and Mickey ice cream sandwich. The cart right by DinoLand had a huge line, but the one by the dance party wasn't bad. The Dino area was definitely the busiest area around. For the classic characters at the dance party, I saw Daisy in her safari outfit. I think Donald was there as well, but they were just leaving as we walked up, so I couldn't tell for sure who else was there. The only Zootopia characters I saw were Nick and Judy.
Older DD and I did EE again and then PW twice without getting off the ride. We finally used our game tickets (lines for games were very long all night), and we ended up winning two little dinosaurs. We stayed right until midnight.
Here is the character info:
Up characters were in their usual spot. It was Dug, Russell, and Carl. Line was about 15 minutes, I would guess. We didn't wait
Jungle Book characters in their usual spot. It was Baloo and King Louie. There was no line when I saw them, so I popped over for a quick picture
Launchpad McQuack was near Harambe across from the drums. His line looked to be about 10 minutes.
Goofy in safari outfit was on the walkway near EE (coming from Discovery Island side). He had no wait at 10:30 or so
Lion King characters were by FOTLK. It was Rafiki, Timon, Pumbaa, and stilt walkers. The wait was about 5-10 minutes at 11:00
Bug's Life characters were by the First Aid station area. It was Slim, Flik, and Princess Atta. I think the wait was 10-15 minutes. Slim was super-cute, but little DD was not so sure about him, so we didn't meet them.
Mickey and Minnie met at the Outpost as usual. They were wearing green outfits. We walked right in with no wait at 11:15.
Chip & Dale as Rescue Rangers were in DinoLand, in Pluto and Goofy's usual spot. They definitely had the longest line of the night, with people starting to line up for them before 9:00
For snacks, there were at least five snack areas set up. Most had ice cream treats (Mickey bars, Mickey sandwiches, fruit bars, and orange/vanilla bars), but I saw two stations with water, lemonade cookies (chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and sugar free lemon) and bags of chips. By the time we got to them, the only chips I saw were regular Lays, but I saw other people with Doritos and other types of chips. The cookies were by Harambe and by Kali.
If you wanted to purchase food, Flame Tree was open at least until 10:30. I think it might have been open the whole time. Older DD got some ribs around 10:15.
We also watched two of the Awakenings. One had classic Disney movie scenes (Bambi, Lion King, etc.), and the other was a fox in winter trying to get someone to play with him. We thought both of them were really cute. There was no schedule for the Awakenings, and the CM we talked to said they come on randomly every 15-20 minutes or so.
We did watch a bit of the live entertainment as well. The singers in Harambe were very good, and we danced there for a bit. We did see stilt walkers by EE as well. They were really funny, and we enjoyed interacting with them.
We didn't meet with the
DVC executives.
If you have any questions, let me know, and I will try to answer.
Was hoping for something but it was an awesome night regardless.
