Escape From Craziness to Pandora, Po Boys, and Oppressive Heat - Finished & New TR Link 12/28
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cstorm65
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Just wait...DS1 smiles like that this entire trip!
I think it's the second time we've been in the this spot as well. Love sitting where we can see the pool and out onto the lagoon.
Definitely, instead of a college fund we may have to start a "Poly Fund".
Oh wow! That may seal the deal for us as well!! I may never eat anywhere else if I can order noodles and potstickers for every meal!
Thanks for reading along!!
cstorm65
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I am with you re: the noodles and pot stickers!! I swear I could eat those 3 meals a day/365 days per year.
No Doubt!! I love the bread pudding as well, but those two are definitely the winners!
cstorm65
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Day 2 Part 5 - Happy 4th of July...Oh Wait, It’s July 3rd!
Well, we were finishing up our fantastic dinner at ‘Ohana. The boys were really good at this meal. DS1 loved his grilled cheese and didn’t ever really get fussy for sitting a little while. DS5 also enjoyed his hot dog and then when he finished he ended up watching the iPad like this:
We don’t let the kids watch the iPad much at home. We have a strict limit on screen time they get each day, but when on vacation we relax that a little. When we are doing sit down meals and things like that it just helps keep them occupied, not to mention they are so much more tired than normal and so giving them something like this can work as a nice reward.
We headed out of ‘Ohana and saw where some of the magic happens!
We headed outside at about 8:25 and towards the boat dock and DW got this sunset picture.
We got all the way out to the boat dock and found a sign that said the boats were closed from 8:15-9:00. I’m not sure why this was, but we were planning on riding the boat across and watching the fireworks. We were going to watch the 4th of July fireworks, but it was only July 3rd! They are usually a lot easier to watch on the 3rd, but for whatever reason they had the boats shut down so we had to walk back to the monorail.
We were onboard by 8:45 and heading around towards the Magic Kingdom.
We were at the Magic Kingdom by 8:55, just in time for the fireworks. We walked over near the bus stop and found an empty park bench to sit on while the fireworks show took place. I didn’t take a ton of pictures of the fireworks, but they were really awesome how they were in all directions, not just behind the castle.
We saw a Pop Century Bus pulling in at about 9:10 and we decided to go ahead and jump on. My first thought was that it would wait until the fireworks finished to leave so they could get a bus full of people out, but we decided to go ahead and get on it and it was a good decision. The bus let us and about two other families on and it left to head to Pop with very few people on board. We watched the final few fireworks, which was only about 2-3 minutes as we pulled out of the bus station, but we wanted to make sure we got the boys in bed at a decent time because we had an early morning tomorrow.
Up Next: I Love Mountain Everest
Well, we were finishing up our fantastic dinner at ‘Ohana. The boys were really good at this meal. DS1 loved his grilled cheese and didn’t ever really get fussy for sitting a little while. DS5 also enjoyed his hot dog and then when he finished he ended up watching the iPad like this:
We don’t let the kids watch the iPad much at home. We have a strict limit on screen time they get each day, but when on vacation we relax that a little. When we are doing sit down meals and things like that it just helps keep them occupied, not to mention they are so much more tired than normal and so giving them something like this can work as a nice reward.
We headed out of ‘Ohana and saw where some of the magic happens!
We headed outside at about 8:25 and towards the boat dock and DW got this sunset picture.
We got all the way out to the boat dock and found a sign that said the boats were closed from 8:15-9:00. I’m not sure why this was, but we were planning on riding the boat across and watching the fireworks. We were going to watch the 4th of July fireworks, but it was only July 3rd! They are usually a lot easier to watch on the 3rd, but for whatever reason they had the boats shut down so we had to walk back to the monorail.
We were onboard by 8:45 and heading around towards the Magic Kingdom.
We were at the Magic Kingdom by 8:55, just in time for the fireworks. We walked over near the bus stop and found an empty park bench to sit on while the fireworks show took place. I didn’t take a ton of pictures of the fireworks, but they were really awesome how they were in all directions, not just behind the castle.
We saw a Pop Century Bus pulling in at about 9:10 and we decided to go ahead and jump on. My first thought was that it would wait until the fireworks finished to leave so they could get a bus full of people out, but we decided to go ahead and get on it and it was a good decision. The bus let us and about two other families on and it left to head to Pop with very few people on board. We watched the final few fireworks, which was only about 2-3 minutes as we pulled out of the bus station, but we wanted to make sure we got the boys in bed at a decent time because we had an early morning tomorrow.
Up Next: I Love Mountain Everest
StarWarsMomofGirls!
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Amazing Picture!!!! Just beautiful!
absolutmey
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Beautiful pictures! I'm loving your report and reviews.
Newcastle
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Ha ha!! We love the bread pudding too. Last year, we ate too much during dinner and could barely touch the bread pudding. We did manage to order some through the Tambu Lounge later during our trip...made for a filling late afternoon lunch/early dinner (a move straight out of the bad parenting manual)
. Hope you enjoy your upcoming trip!
missiloveslouie
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Awesome report so far! Your family is just adorable. Thank you for all of the great info on Ohana. We will be making our first trip there in July this year. I loved watching the July 3rd fireworks from outside of the park. I don't think a lot of people know how well you can see them from the boat dock area.
cstorm65
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I love this picture. I am by no means a photographer and we used only our iPhone cameras on this trip, but got lucky with a good pic here!
Beautiful pictures! I'm loving your report and reviews.
Thanks for reading and following along!
Ha ha!! We love the bread pudding too. Last year, we ate too much during dinner and could barely touch the bread pudding. We did manage to order some through the Tambu Lounge later during our trip...made for a filling late afternoon lunch/early dinner (a move straight out of the bad parenting manual)
Hope you enjoy your upcoming trip!
The bread pudding is so good. I didn't know you could get through the lounge though, may have to try that!! And...no parenting judgement at Disney World here. Our kid was under the chair with an iPad!! ha
The boys love it for sure! Shrimp nights are Sunday and Wednesday, although I'm sure that's subject to change, but it's held true for our last two trips I think.
Thanks for reading along! We will have a few challenges with him, but the key for us is to take the longer trip which I know most people don't have the luxury of doing, but as two teachers with summer breaks we take advantage. Being able to slow down really helps us keep the kids rested which is a big key.
Thanks for joining in! Those fireworks from outside were awesome, especially since they were in all directions, not just behind the castle. And we were able to jump right on the bus without battling any crowds. It was great!
cstorm65
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Day 3 Part 1 - I Love Mountain Everest
After getting a good night’s rest we had to get up early as we were heading to an 8 AM opening at Animal kIngdom. I’m not sure if it was an EMH or just an 8 AM opening because Pandora was still so new, but either way we were heading to the park early. We were up at 6:30 and at the bus stop just after 7:00. Our bus came at 7:15 and we were all happy and ready to experience Pandora this morning.
We arrived at Animal Kingdom at 7:30 and the gates opened just as soon as we got in line so we were in the park by 7:35.
We followed the mass of people heading to Pandora. It was definitely crowded, but I didn’t have a problem navigating the stroller. We got our first view of the tree!
DS5 was very interested in looking at the map of the park as you can see.
We were at the Pandora entrance by 7:40 and it was crowded.
They opened the Pandora area right at 7:45 even though the park wasn’t supposed to open until 8:00. Our plan was to head straight to Na’vi River Journey since we had FP’s for Flight of Passage later in the day. We got all the way to the entrance pretty easily since most of the people were headed to Flight of Passage only to find out the ride was closed. We obviously understand this can happen, but it was disappointing considering we got up early and battled the Pandora crowd to do that ride. Oh well, we will fit it in later, that’s one of the benefits of a long trip. Also, just a note the ride still wasn’t open when we left the park at lunch time later that day.
We spent a little time looking around the Pandora area. DS5 thought the floating mountains were pretty cool, but the big hit was the area where the boys got to play on the big drums. They would have stayed here all day!
After playing for a few minutes we headed out so we could do Everest. We took the paths around the Tree of Life though and it was pretty neat to look at. That is something we had never done before, but the level of detail on the tree trunk is just amazing.
By about 8:15 we were over at Expedition Everest. DS and I had talked about this ride and he said he wanted to do it, but he kept telling me he was just a little scared. I think the main thing he was scared of was this:
Yes, the Yeti. We had watched the YouTube video and the Yeti is what he was scared of, not the ride itself. We rode without any wait this early in the morning and DS5 did really well and enjoyed the ride. So much so that he wanted to go again. For some reason I don’t have ride pics of the rides on this day. I may have forgotten to download them from PP site or they just didn’t work. Anyway on this ride DS kind of ducked a little at the picture spot so you couldn’t see him. So, being the smart, quick thinking dad that I am I said, “Let’s go again and I’ll tell you where the camera is this time!” So, he agreed to ride again right then! So, I got a selfie this time, but still no ride pics.
We did get a good pic this time. I’m going to have to go check my PP account, but not right now! I did snap a quick pic of DS5 as we were getting off the train and we were able to do it quick enough I didn’t even get in trouble.
We were off of the second ride by 8:30 and headed towards Dinoland.
Up Next: “Daddy...There’s Your Favorite”
After getting a good night’s rest we had to get up early as we were heading to an 8 AM opening at Animal kIngdom. I’m not sure if it was an EMH or just an 8 AM opening because Pandora was still so new, but either way we were heading to the park early. We were up at 6:30 and at the bus stop just after 7:00. Our bus came at 7:15 and we were all happy and ready to experience Pandora this morning.
We arrived at Animal Kingdom at 7:30 and the gates opened just as soon as we got in line so we were in the park by 7:35.
We followed the mass of people heading to Pandora. It was definitely crowded, but I didn’t have a problem navigating the stroller. We got our first view of the tree!
DS5 was very interested in looking at the map of the park as you can see.
We were at the Pandora entrance by 7:40 and it was crowded.
They opened the Pandora area right at 7:45 even though the park wasn’t supposed to open until 8:00. Our plan was to head straight to Na’vi River Journey since we had FP’s for Flight of Passage later in the day. We got all the way to the entrance pretty easily since most of the people were headed to Flight of Passage only to find out the ride was closed. We obviously understand this can happen, but it was disappointing considering we got up early and battled the Pandora crowd to do that ride. Oh well, we will fit it in later, that’s one of the benefits of a long trip. Also, just a note the ride still wasn’t open when we left the park at lunch time later that day.
We spent a little time looking around the Pandora area. DS5 thought the floating mountains were pretty cool, but the big hit was the area where the boys got to play on the big drums. They would have stayed here all day!
After playing for a few minutes we headed out so we could do Everest. We took the paths around the Tree of Life though and it was pretty neat to look at. That is something we had never done before, but the level of detail on the tree trunk is just amazing.
By about 8:15 we were over at Expedition Everest. DS and I had talked about this ride and he said he wanted to do it, but he kept telling me he was just a little scared. I think the main thing he was scared of was this:
Yes, the Yeti. We had watched the YouTube video and the Yeti is what he was scared of, not the ride itself. We rode without any wait this early in the morning and DS5 did really well and enjoyed the ride. So much so that he wanted to go again. For some reason I don’t have ride pics of the rides on this day. I may have forgotten to download them from PP site or they just didn’t work. Anyway on this ride DS kind of ducked a little at the picture spot so you couldn’t see him. So, being the smart, quick thinking dad that I am I said, “Let’s go again and I’ll tell you where the camera is this time!” So, he agreed to ride again right then! So, I got a selfie this time, but still no ride pics.
We did get a good pic this time. I’m going to have to go check my PP account, but not right now! I did snap a quick pic of DS5 as we were getting off the train and we were able to do it quick enough I didn’t even get in trouble.
We were off of the second ride by 8:30 and headed towards Dinoland.
Up Next: “Daddy...There’s Your Favorite”
StarWarsMomofGirls!
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Glad he liked it! Gwen was a little afraid by the Yeti and replacement Yeti but Morgan LOVED it this last trip! And awesome pic of the two of you on the ride!So, I got a selfie this time, but still no ride pics.
cstorm65
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He was a little worried, but ended up loving it!
cstorm65
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Day 3 Part 2 - “Daddy...There’s Your Favorite”
It was still early in the day on the 4th of July and we had already had two rides on Everest and it was 8:30. We headed towards Dinoland:
Once we got there we headed to take a ride on Triceratop Spin. There was no wait here and both boys loved it!
We spent a little time perusing the carnival area before heading over for me to ride Dinosaur. Not very crowded in this part of the park yet.
I took a ride at 8:55 and there was no wait on this as well.
DW and the boys looked at the dino by the entrance and then went over to a little play area to wait for me to finish. The boys loved this little area where they had a dinosaur they could play on. I had a picture there, but can’t find it right now.
At 9:20 we headed up to ride Everest again. DS5 and I did it and waited about 10 minutes. I found the Photopass pics this time:
PP PICS BY EVEREST
After we finished with Everest it was time to head back to Africa and use our FP for the Safari. We of course had to stop and let the boys play on the drums on the way into Africa. DS5 loves doing this every trip, but now it looks like DS1 enjoys it even more!
We got on the Safari at 9:50 and used our FP, but the ride looked like it was still a walk on. So, I’m going to finish this post with our Safari pics.We had a great Safari and got a really nice view of some of the animal. On our last trip I had told DS5 my favorite animal was the Okapi and he has never forgotten that, so of course that’s the first animal you see on the Safari. Well, before the driver said anything about it DS5 sees it and says “Daddy...There’s Your Favorite!” A kids memory astounds me some time. Anyway, here are the rest of our Safari pic. I’m probably going to run out of room for all the pics and have to do more in the next post.
Up Next: What A Ride!!
It was still early in the day on the 4th of July and we had already had two rides on Everest and it was 8:30. We headed towards Dinoland:
Once we got there we headed to take a ride on Triceratop Spin. There was no wait here and both boys loved it!
We spent a little time perusing the carnival area before heading over for me to ride Dinosaur. Not very crowded in this part of the park yet.
I took a ride at 8:55 and there was no wait on this as well.
DW and the boys looked at the dino by the entrance and then went over to a little play area to wait for me to finish. The boys loved this little area where they had a dinosaur they could play on. I had a picture there, but can’t find it right now.
At 9:20 we headed up to ride Everest again. DS5 and I did it and waited about 10 minutes. I found the Photopass pics this time:
PP PICS BY EVEREST
After we finished with Everest it was time to head back to Africa and use our FP for the Safari. We of course had to stop and let the boys play on the drums on the way into Africa. DS5 loves doing this every trip, but now it looks like DS1 enjoys it even more!
We got on the Safari at 9:50 and used our FP, but the ride looked like it was still a walk on. So, I’m going to finish this post with our Safari pics.We had a great Safari and got a really nice view of some of the animal. On our last trip I had told DS5 my favorite animal was the Okapi and he has never forgotten that, so of course that’s the first animal you see on the Safari. Well, before the driver said anything about it DS5 sees it and says “Daddy...There’s Your Favorite!” A kids memory astounds me some time. Anyway, here are the rest of our Safari pic. I’m probably going to run out of room for all the pics and have to do more in the next post.
Up Next: What A Ride!!
StarWarsMomofGirls!
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It is funny what kids remember. My husband told the girls once that the daddy don't do anything when the baby is born. And they repeat it all the time. He regrets ever saying it! Ha!
I think I say this every time you post pictures. But that smile!!! Those Dimples!!! So cute!
cstorm65
DDC #699
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I know. The specific things they remember make me laugh.
I know! Sometimes we make him laugh just to see that smile!!
cstorm65
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Day 3 Part 3 - What a Ride!!
When I left off we were still on our fantastic ride on the Safari and I have a few more pictures to document the rest of our trip!
We were off of the Safari at about 10:25 and headed over to Meet Minnie & Mickey. I had rescheduled our Everest FP since we had ridden it three times already. Of course we walked through the shop to cool off and DS fell in love with the candy so we let him get a little bag.
We headed to see Mickey & Minnie at 10:40 and had a nice meet and greet! DS1 was in awe!
DS1 at least got up the courage to give a high five this time. Better than meeting Mickey yesterday when he just backed away!
When we finished we had one more major thing to do in the park this morning and that was to use our FP’s on Flight of Passage. Of course the scenery of Pandora was once again stunning!
I had FP’s for all of us, but DW couldn’t ride as she had surgery about 10 days before our trip. She was super bummed! We all agreed I would ride first and see if DS5 would be ok on the ride. I really didn’t know what to expect as I like to avoid spoilers when something new opens and just experience it myself. I had FP’s for another day later in the trip so if he could do it we would do it then.
I headed into the building and walked right through to the 2nd FP checkpoint. I mean I encountered not one single person in the FP line, which means they probably weren’t giving away many FP’s at the time.
I did have to wait about 10 minutes for a theatre to open up once I got sent into a line, but wow was it worth the short wait. The pre-show is really cool I think and kind of sets the back story a little, which is much needed since the ride itself doesn’t have a ton of “story” elements. But the pre-show takes the place of that and explains the purpose of your ride.
The ride itself was unbelievable. I enjoyed it a whole lot more than Soarin’ and I like Soarin’, but I think the 3D adds a lot as well as the actual seat you are in. The entire experience took 25-30 minutes even with a FP mostly because the pre-show is several minutes long and ride is quite long, but the ride was fantastic. I couldn’t wait a few more days until our next FP. I definitely thought DS5 would love it so he would be riding it with me the next time.
As I came off of the ride I ordered a Pandora Sunrise drink from the Canteen in Pandora. I really just wanted to see how the mobile order worked as it was pretty new at this point. It was a $5 drink that I forgot to take a picture of, but it was good. Not sure I’d pay $5 for it again, but the mobile order worked great and it was ready as soon as I walked in.
We left the park at 12:00. It wasn’t really very crowded today, but being July 4th all of the people are at Magic Kingdom or Epcot. So the theory to visit Animal Kingdom on a holiday worked for us!
We were heading to lunch at one of our favorite places and I’m sure you can tell where by reading the title for the next update. Until next time!
Up Next: Two Words...Bread Service!
When I left off we were still on our fantastic ride on the Safari and I have a few more pictures to document the rest of our trip!
We were off of the Safari at about 10:25 and headed over to Meet Minnie & Mickey. I had rescheduled our Everest FP since we had ridden it three times already. Of course we walked through the shop to cool off and DS fell in love with the candy so we let him get a little bag.
We headed to see Mickey & Minnie at 10:40 and had a nice meet and greet! DS1 was in awe!
DS1 at least got up the courage to give a high five this time. Better than meeting Mickey yesterday when he just backed away!
When we finished we had one more major thing to do in the park this morning and that was to use our FP’s on Flight of Passage. Of course the scenery of Pandora was once again stunning!
I had FP’s for all of us, but DW couldn’t ride as she had surgery about 10 days before our trip. She was super bummed! We all agreed I would ride first and see if DS5 would be ok on the ride. I really didn’t know what to expect as I like to avoid spoilers when something new opens and just experience it myself. I had FP’s for another day later in the trip so if he could do it we would do it then.
I headed into the building and walked right through to the 2nd FP checkpoint. I mean I encountered not one single person in the FP line, which means they probably weren’t giving away many FP’s at the time.
I did have to wait about 10 minutes for a theatre to open up once I got sent into a line, but wow was it worth the short wait. The pre-show is really cool I think and kind of sets the back story a little, which is much needed since the ride itself doesn’t have a ton of “story” elements. But the pre-show takes the place of that and explains the purpose of your ride.
The ride itself was unbelievable. I enjoyed it a whole lot more than Soarin’ and I like Soarin’, but I think the 3D adds a lot as well as the actual seat you are in. The entire experience took 25-30 minutes even with a FP mostly because the pre-show is several minutes long and ride is quite long, but the ride was fantastic. I couldn’t wait a few more days until our next FP. I definitely thought DS5 would love it so he would be riding it with me the next time.
As I came off of the ride I ordered a Pandora Sunrise drink from the Canteen in Pandora. I really just wanted to see how the mobile order worked as it was pretty new at this point. It was a $5 drink that I forgot to take a picture of, but it was good. Not sure I’d pay $5 for it again, but the mobile order worked great and it was ready as soon as I walked in.
We left the park at 12:00. It wasn’t really very crowded today, but being July 4th all of the people are at Magic Kingdom or Epcot. So the theory to visit Animal Kingdom on a holiday worked for us!
We were heading to lunch at one of our favorite places and I’m sure you can tell where by reading the title for the next update. Until next time!
Up Next: Two Words...Bread Service!
cstorm65
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Day 3 Part 4 - Two Words...Bread Service!
We were out of Animal Kingdom 12:00 and on a bus within minutes.
As you can see DS1 was ready for a nap. Unfortunately for him it was only about a three minutes drive until we got off at Kidani Village.
I love the lobby at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We will stay here one day, just not sure when that will be! We had a lunch reservation at one of our favorite places, Sanaa, at 1:00 PM. With the bus right there waiting for us when we left the park and then the short drive we were at Sanaa by 12:15. I went ahead and decided to check in so we could get done as quickly as possible and get the boys back for a real nap. We were expecting to wait a few minutes, but when I check in they said they could seat us right then! Great!!
Before long I was checking this out:
We got a great table right by the window which was good for the boys, especially DS5.
There wasn’t a ton of animal activity which was a little disappointing, but it kept us a little busy looking for animals. DS1 was ready for his lunch!
It was time to eat and there is no other way to start a meal at Sanaa than with the bread service, so that is of course what we did.
We’ve done this before and it was just as good as ever. The Naan was cooked perfectly and the sauces are all good. Of the nine sauces there is really only one I’m not a huge fan of and even that is just a personal preference. I especially love the green salsa type sauce and then there is also a brown sauce that is kind of sweet. I’m not sure the exact names of all of them, but I love those two.
DS5 got pizza on naan bread off the kids menu and he loved it! He ate every bit of it and had most of it gone before I even thought about taking a picture. DS1 got just a side of mac ‘n cheese, not a full kids meal. It was like $4 while the kids meals were $10 or $11, and the amount of mac ‘n cheese was plenty. Well, it would have been plenty, but it didn’t eat a whole lot. You see this boy likes the fake mac ‘n cheese, the heat up for 3 and ½ minutes in the microwave type stuff and when you give him real mac ‘n cheese he acts like you are making him eat mud. I mean we all three tried it a loved it, but it just wasn’t for him!
DW and I shared a meal since we had the full bread service. We chose the Potjie Inspired with braised beef and cilantro-coconut vegetables. This also came with Basmati Rice. The waitress was nice enough to bring us a second plate so we could split things up.
I loved the beef, although DW didn’t love it. She is not a huge fan of the African/Indian flavored food and so she really just eats the rice and loves the bread service. But, I loved this meal. The veggies were very interesting with the creamy sauce that was on them, but I did enjoy them. We also got two extra pieces of naan with our meal. We always end up with sauces left and I also thought the naan would be good with the braised beef. Well, this was the best thing we did. She brought us two pieces of naan of our choice and I think we got charged $3 for two pieces.
DW also got a smoothie and would not quit talking about it. She said it was the best smoothie she’d ever had. It was a great meal at a place we love and then we got to spend a little time looking at animals and exploring the lobby.
Up Next: A Little Relaxation on Vacation
We were out of Animal Kingdom 12:00 and on a bus within minutes.
As you can see DS1 was ready for a nap. Unfortunately for him it was only about a three minutes drive until we got off at Kidani Village.
I love the lobby at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We will stay here one day, just not sure when that will be! We had a lunch reservation at one of our favorite places, Sanaa, at 1:00 PM. With the bus right there waiting for us when we left the park and then the short drive we were at Sanaa by 12:15. I went ahead and decided to check in so we could get done as quickly as possible and get the boys back for a real nap. We were expecting to wait a few minutes, but when I check in they said they could seat us right then! Great!!
Before long I was checking this out:
We got a great table right by the window which was good for the boys, especially DS5.
There wasn’t a ton of animal activity which was a little disappointing, but it kept us a little busy looking for animals. DS1 was ready for his lunch!
It was time to eat and there is no other way to start a meal at Sanaa than with the bread service, so that is of course what we did.
We’ve done this before and it was just as good as ever. The Naan was cooked perfectly and the sauces are all good. Of the nine sauces there is really only one I’m not a huge fan of and even that is just a personal preference. I especially love the green salsa type sauce and then there is also a brown sauce that is kind of sweet. I’m not sure the exact names of all of them, but I love those two.
DS5 got pizza on naan bread off the kids menu and he loved it! He ate every bit of it and had most of it gone before I even thought about taking a picture. DS1 got just a side of mac ‘n cheese, not a full kids meal. It was like $4 while the kids meals were $10 or $11, and the amount of mac ‘n cheese was plenty. Well, it would have been plenty, but it didn’t eat a whole lot. You see this boy likes the fake mac ‘n cheese, the heat up for 3 and ½ minutes in the microwave type stuff and when you give him real mac ‘n cheese he acts like you are making him eat mud. I mean we all three tried it a loved it, but it just wasn’t for him!
DW and I shared a meal since we had the full bread service. We chose the Potjie Inspired with braised beef and cilantro-coconut vegetables. This also came with Basmati Rice. The waitress was nice enough to bring us a second plate so we could split things up.
I loved the beef, although DW didn’t love it. She is not a huge fan of the African/Indian flavored food and so she really just eats the rice and loves the bread service. But, I loved this meal. The veggies were very interesting with the creamy sauce that was on them, but I did enjoy them. We also got two extra pieces of naan with our meal. We always end up with sauces left and I also thought the naan would be good with the braised beef. Well, this was the best thing we did. She brought us two pieces of naan of our choice and I think we got charged $3 for two pieces.
DW also got a smoothie and would not quit talking about it. She said it was the best smoothie she’d ever had. It was a great meal at a place we love and then we got to spend a little time looking at animals and exploring the lobby.
Up Next: A Little Relaxation on Vacation
cstorm65
DDC #699
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2011
- Messages
- 1,447
Day 3 Part 5 - A Little Relaxation on Vacation
As we finished up at Animal Kingdom Lodge we headed to the bus stop. Of course we now had to get back to Pop which meant connecting at a theme park so we were just going to hop on the first bus that came to either Animal Kingdom, Epcot, or Hollywood Studios and it turns out a Hollywood Studios bus came in about three minutes at about 1:30. We would probably have done an uber to save time here on the connection, but uber with car seats are not always that good for a 18 month old, so we passed.
We waited about 10 minutes at Hollywood Studios on a bus to Pop and were back at Pop century by around 2:05. ON our way back to the room DS5 finally decided on a souvenir he wanted. He had been wanting a monorail and he liked this one in the Pop gift shop so he got it.
We were back in the room by 2:15 and had the rest of the day to just relax. It was the 4th of July and while everyone else was running around the parks or waiting in lines in the parks we were going to relax!
While the boys napped I went to refill our drinks and to get a little one of these:
One of my favorite things at Pop, the tie-dyed cheesecake. It is still something I really enjoy.
After the nap we headed out to do a little swimming, but there was a little weather, but we finally got to swim around 5:00 for about 30 minutes before it started lightning again. We headed into the food court for some dinner.
I got the Benedict Burger - lettuce, Canadian bacon, fried egg, Hollandaise sauce, and a choice of two sides for $14.99.
I enjoyed my burger. The meat was pretty standard for a Disney quick service burger, but the canadian bacon and the egg were good and hollandaise sauce was actually very tasty. April got the Fried Chicken - House made fried chicken with two sides for $12.29.
She said this was pretty good, although not standout fried chicken. She said it was something she would definitely order again if staying and eating here. DS5 enjoyed a hot dog and DS1 got Mickey waffles as you can see in the picture above. Hey, when you’re at Disney you can have waffles for dinner!
After dinner we went exploring around the resort a little bit and took some pictures by the lake.
And we found a bug:
DS5 and I went swimming again as the weather had moved out of the area, but we just spent the evening resting a relaxing. Our first two park days were over, but we wanted to be ready to go for rope drop in the morning. We had the boys in bed by 8:30 tonight and DW and I followed them soon after!
Here is a pic from Animal Kingdom. Not sure how this one got out of order.
Up Next: Come On… This is Not Six Flags!
As we finished up at Animal Kingdom Lodge we headed to the bus stop. Of course we now had to get back to Pop which meant connecting at a theme park so we were just going to hop on the first bus that came to either Animal Kingdom, Epcot, or Hollywood Studios and it turns out a Hollywood Studios bus came in about three minutes at about 1:30. We would probably have done an uber to save time here on the connection, but uber with car seats are not always that good for a 18 month old, so we passed.
We waited about 10 minutes at Hollywood Studios on a bus to Pop and were back at Pop century by around 2:05. ON our way back to the room DS5 finally decided on a souvenir he wanted. He had been wanting a monorail and he liked this one in the Pop gift shop so he got it.
We were back in the room by 2:15 and had the rest of the day to just relax. It was the 4th of July and while everyone else was running around the parks or waiting in lines in the parks we were going to relax!
While the boys napped I went to refill our drinks and to get a little one of these:
One of my favorite things at Pop, the tie-dyed cheesecake. It is still something I really enjoy.
After the nap we headed out to do a little swimming, but there was a little weather, but we finally got to swim around 5:00 for about 30 minutes before it started lightning again. We headed into the food court for some dinner.
I got the Benedict Burger - lettuce, Canadian bacon, fried egg, Hollandaise sauce, and a choice of two sides for $14.99.
I enjoyed my burger. The meat was pretty standard for a Disney quick service burger, but the canadian bacon and the egg were good and hollandaise sauce was actually very tasty. April got the Fried Chicken - House made fried chicken with two sides for $12.29.
She said this was pretty good, although not standout fried chicken. She said it was something she would definitely order again if staying and eating here. DS5 enjoyed a hot dog and DS1 got Mickey waffles as you can see in the picture above. Hey, when you’re at Disney you can have waffles for dinner!
After dinner we went exploring around the resort a little bit and took some pictures by the lake.
And we found a bug:
DS5 and I went swimming again as the weather had moved out of the area, but we just spent the evening resting a relaxing. Our first two park days were over, but we wanted to be ready to go for rope drop in the morning. We had the boys in bed by 8:30 tonight and DW and I followed them soon after!
Here is a pic from Animal Kingdom. Not sure how this one got out of order.
Up Next: Come On… This is Not Six Flags!
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