Nifty Fifty: The Great return of the Sauciers! - April 2022 TR

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We try to RD each park once and then do late starts the rest of the time

That is a good strategy!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Great trip report!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Thanks for posting. I enjoyed the great read.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Happy Saturday Everyone! So far I am doing good.. right?? 3 days in a row! My problem is, I have to collect photos for our next day and that is what holds me up. So, I will have to get started on that!

Did everyone hear the news about Splash Mountain's closing date. I think it was my first ride that I am truely sad that we won't get to ride again. I know why it needs to close and it's probably for the best. And I am sure the Tiana version will be great as well. But I was still sad we weren't going to ride one last time.

Day 5: Fun In Animal Kingdom

So, I left us off finishing up lunch.

We decided to try and get into the next Lion King Show. We left Santuli at 12:30 for a 1:00 show. Probably cutting it close but it was what it was.

We used the other exit from Pandora and headed over to Lion King
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We got in line with the que outside of the area. So, I wasn’t sure if we would make it in or not. But we gave it a shot.

While in line, A family behind us had no idea what the show was and were arguing if they should go in or not. And then I heard another family walk by saying the same thing. Not sure why people don't know what the show is.

The line started moving fairly soon, we JUST made it in! They let in another 15 people after us.
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We were on the end near where the "floats" came out. And it wasn't bad at all.

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This was great as always. At this point, the tumble monkeys and bird arials weren't back yet. But it was still a great show. And we reconized some of the same performers from before COVID. Which was also really nice to see.

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After a great show, we headed towards the Safari. I am not sure if we grabbed a LL or not. I am thinking we did, as we were to get on at 1:30.
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The Safari was slow today! We had a Giraffe on the road. I made the joke that there was Garaffick. Gwen thought it was funny Morgan rolled her eyes.

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Saw lots of horned animals.

Gwen took pictures of the ducks and squirrels.... Sigh...

I have the last Safari picture at 2:09. So, we were on the ride for 30 minutes! The slow moving truck for some reason made my stomach a little off. So, after our ride, we headed for a bio break before moving on.

Our next stop was Rakifi Planet Watch next. We timed it fairly well, we hopped on a train and off we went.
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We went to pet the animals . Molly on All Ears loves to go see the goats and Gwen wanted to “boop” a goat.
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Semi-Boop accomplished!

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She also wanted to see Popcorn the Chicken from the Disney Animal show. But there was no chickens there. And I had already known that Popcorn had died. But I didn't want to tell her that.

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She did get to pet a pig, a goat, a cow and a donkey.

I will say, we never bothered with this area until this trip. And it was actually kind of fun! It is quiet out there, not nearly the crowds which is nice and it was kind of relaxing chilling with the animals.

After we had our fill of animals, we headed inside to get in line for the animation class. This was top on Morgan's List for today.

The next class was at 3:15. Got in line 15 minutes before the class started. And had no problem getting seats. Drew Simba.
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We always love doing this and it's a great soviegner. we have hung our drawings in frames in our house.

After finishing our goals, we headed back to the main part of the park. We got on a train back to the main area.

We hussled over to Dinosaur next. We needed to use our LL and then hustle over to use our Navi LL before our dinner reservation.
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I was weirdly looking forward to riding this. I have opted out of riding the last few times, as Gwen was afraid to go on it.

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The wait was only 15 minutes at this point but we did basically just walk on and gave us enough time to ride Navi before dinner.

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Anybody know why hte pipes are these colors? If you watch Molly you def know! Gwen was excitied to see them. All of you tube view really upped Gwen's love of the small details.

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I think this ride gets a bit of a bad rap. It is a solid middle of the road ride. After riding we were talking how we wanted to ride Indian Jones in Disneyland again after riding this one again.

After dinosaur we hussled over to Navi River Journey.

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This was only the second time riding it. And it was the same... Pretty boring. I am glad we rode again but def not and every trip. Or every 5 trips... ha!

After our very short boat ride it was time for dinner!

Up next, Tiffins!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Thanks for posting. I enjoyed the great read.

Thanks!!!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Good to see you back again. Life has indeed been busy. Love all the marching band photos and your house looks so pretty for the holidays. We decorated here yesterday and I love it! Something lovely about watching a family movie with a sparkly tree in the corner. Definitely brightens a winters night.
Isn’t it lovely to be able to get together and celebrate with friends.
I’ve enjoyed reading about your AK day. Nice to have a lazy start to the day. Makes for happy teens.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Goodness, you have been busy! Marching band is really all-consuming, isn't it? I did it in high school as well (color guard) and really loved it. We even marched in Disney World twice. Does Disney still host high school bands? A day at Animal Kingdom is always a good day. Sorry Satuli didn't quite live up to the memory. That's always my go-to as well. Your drawings turned out great. Mine is always unrecognizable. Love all those Disney details. It's so fun to learn about them.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Love all the marching band photos and your house looks so pretty for the holidays. We decorated here yesterday and I love it!

I just love the way it looks. So, I am always ready to go when it's time!

Does Disney still host high school bands?

I believe so, they have had some issues with a new bands that have native american mascots for the school that they were talking about. I don't think our school does that, sadly... or at least they haven't talked about it yet. We will see.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day 4: A new dinner experience for us.

Luckily our dinner reservation was very close to where we left off. SO, we walked right on over to Tiffins!

This was our first time here. We usually go to Sanaa or Boma on our Animal Kingdom day. But I have read so many great reviews on the boards and Andy's sister and husband always rave about it as well. So, Andy requested this, for this trip.

We had to check in with a greater out front, he took a phone number and we grabbed a seat on the wall to wait. 3 minutes later we were texted that they were ready for us! Why? Why do they do this?!?!

We were seated in a side room and all of the families in there had kids, so I speculated that they were putting all the kids in this room.
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There was nothing wrong with the room we were in but we felt segregated for the rest of the restaurant. But it was beautiful and fine.

We started with drinks, of course.
I ordered the
Annapurna Zing
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Bombay Sapphire Gin, Passion Fruit Purée, Mint, Simple Syrup, and Lime Juice topped with Ginger Beer and a glowing Lotus Flower
This is very good and strong! I only needed one.

And Andy got the
Boto Rita (no photo)
Zignum Reposado Mezcal, Combier Grap
Andy said it tasted like a margarita.

Gwen ordered the
Balineze Breeze
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Mountain Berry Tea, Simple Syrup, Lemon Juice
She was totally jealous of my glow cube and of course stole it from me. She was pretty proud of herself.

And Morgan ordered a Lemonade.

We started with the
Honey-chili Glazed Pork Belly
Chorizo and Midnight Moon Cheese Biscuit, Quail Egg, Tasso Gravy
This was just ok... We had pork belly somewhere else this trip and liked that better.

Andy got the
Butter Chicken
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Chickpea-Rice Croquette, English Peas, Cauliflower, Pickled Onion
Andy liked this but said it wasn't as good as what we get at home. He did really like the Croquettes! I asked what they were and he said he didn't know but they were really good.

I ordered the
Tamarind-braised Short Rib IMG_1288
Parsnip-Potato Purée, Cauliflower, Cipollini Onion, Medjool Date Vinaigrette. Substitute Grilled Beef Tenderloin
This was really good. The short rib was cooked perfectly and the puree was really good. And it was def the better dish of the 2.

I also ordered Gobi Manchurian
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Crispy-fried Cauliflower, Manchurian Sauce, Green Onion
This was for all of us to share. And this was the star of the show! It was really good. I honestly could have just eaten that. Can you order this from the lounge?

Morgan and Gwen both decided to get the enhancement
Lobster Macaroni & Cheese
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Cheddar, Sherry, Orecchiette Pasta
This was technically an enhancement, but there was not problem of them ordering as there dinner. And it was MORE than enough for each of them. They both enjoyed there mac and cheese. Gwen said Le Celier was still better but this was now second. Morgan really liked it because it was extra gooey.

It was a good meal but we weren’t wow’d by it. We probably won’t go back. We just love Boma and Sanaa so much more! And I honestly wouldn't mind going to just the lounge and doing some of the stuff there.

Up next, a fun evening!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Happy Monday Everyone!

Everybody ready for another work week? I am NOT. But I am here to finish up this trip day!


Day 4: A fun evening!

I left us off finishing up dinner. At dinner we talked about what we wanted to do this evening. And the one thing the girls wanted to still do, was ride Kali River. As we were paying the bill I looked and saw that it was only a 10 minute wait. So, the girls wanted to go do that. So, off we went to the back of the park.

I decided to ride with them but used a pancho but Andy passed.

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I always love this que! I think it is more beautiful than the Everest que. We got in line at 6:43.

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This is me questioning my decsion to ride... (But I will say I have been big on living life. You know, not being the mom who goes in the pool cause she thinks she is too fat in her bathing suit. Or doesn't want to be in pictures, because they feel ugly today. These girls aren't going to be with me forever. They are getting older and just trying to cherise all the moments that I can!)

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And were done at 6:55! So, a walk on. Which I guess isn't surprising.. it was getting late and had cooled down a bit.

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The Poncho worked pretty well! And I probably lucked out with the splashing.

Morgan wanted to ride again, but we still had an anytime LL from yesterday and we had decided at dinner to use it on Rock n Rollercoaster. So, we needed to head over to Hollywood Studios.

I wanted to do ONE more thing while we were in Animal Kingdom, and that was stop in Zuri's Sweet Shop to pick up some dessert for later. As we headed that way, se passed one of the motorbikes and Gwen looked at the bike like she wanted to get on. There was a CM standing nearby and said it was fine for her to sit on it.
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The CM commented said how she looked so happy to just sit on the motorbike.

We got to Zuri's at 7:10, and were able to order some snacks fairly quickly.

Morgan got a Chocolate Carmel Apple
This is one of Morgan's favorite treats to get when at Disney.

Gwen picked a smores cereal treat
This looked really good. I don't have any pictures of the treats. I believe it was made with golden grahams instead of rice krispee treats.

And I picked out Carmel Shortbead for me and Andy to share.
Shortbread was SOOO good. Very sweet and decadent. But amazing. The 1 piece was a perfect amount for me and Andy to split. I have been dreaming of this lately and was seriously considering trying to make something similar for Christmas. I am pretty sure this is similar if not the same as what you can get in Germany?

With Snack procured, we headed out of the park. It was 7:20 once we actually left the park. We were on a bus at 7:34 to Hollywood Studios.

At 7:52 we got to HS. So, about 20 mintute ride. We headed straight back to Rock n' Rollercoaster to use the LL. We were able to use it with no problem!

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Andy got his name on one of the screens.

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I seriously can not make any other face for the ride picture than this.... Also, I think I am getting too old for this ride. And am too short for it. My head bangs around too much with the guard and I either spend the whole ride concentrating on keeping it from banging or I try to enjoy myself and have a head ache after. But again, I wanted to at least ride it once.

The girls were happy to have ridden Rockn' Rollercoaster without a wait. It was now about 8:30 and Hollywood Studios closed at 9:00 this day. So we didn't have a lot of time left. We decided to try and ride Mickey and Minnie’s again.

It was posted 25 minutes but probably took 35. The wait was a little torchoruous, to be honest. The one room inside, is kind of cramped and there were kids crying from exhaustion at the end of the day. And it was warm inside. And it was one of the few moments that I felt like this is a breading ground for germs!

But we stuck it out.
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We got in line at 8:24 and was ready to ride at 8:53.

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I love this ride! It is so cute! And I know if it was around when the girls were little, it def would have been one of there favorites.

When we were walking out, I just happened to turn around and noticed that there was this!
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So, I yelled for Morgan and Gwen to come back and get a picture!

Andy hadn't heard me yell to come back and just kept walking, so nice family offered to take the picture for us. Which was nice.

Morgan wanted the plush she saw the other day as her one thing. So, Andy went with her to purchase that. It was the Shang Chi Morris Plush or as Gwen called it, the butt plush.

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The night show was happening, and we were hoping to get on a bus before the crowd headed that way.

So, Gwen and I went to the bathrooms by the exit. And we met Morgan and Andy at the exit.

There was a bus at our stop, so we ran for the bus, which Morgan wasn't happy about but I wanted to get out of there before the night show was over and the rush came our.

So, I did take note to how long it took us to go all around the resort tonight. Being at the Tower, we were the last stopy and it took about 6-9 minutes to go all the way around resort. So, not great but also, at the end of the day, worth the wait to not walk to far.

We were back in the room at 9:50. We all relaxed. The girls wanted some youtube on there ipads and we all snacked on our treats!

Up Next... Eating around the World!

 

[NJlauren]

Looks at you and all your fancy updates!!

Looks like this was an amazingly successfully day overall!

I have never done Kali River, but I do feel old for RnR, I swear my photos of me on this ride are insanity! Always look like I think I’m about to die!!

I do enjoy MMRR, the line can get a bit insane but I understand it!

Ugh my kids love their iPads too I guess it doesn’t get any better as they get older?

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Looks at you and all your fancy updates!!

I am trying!!! I have to get photos lined up to start the next day. And that always takes the longest.

I do feel old for RnR, I swear my photos of me on this ride are insanity! Always look like I think I’m about to die!!

Glad I am not the only one! Have you done Guardians yet? I mostly attribute not really liking RnR because of the over the shoulder harness thing...

Ugh my kids love their iPads too I guess it doesn’t get any better as they get older?

Nope! Probably worse... but my girls barely use a real tv. It IS there TV. Not once has either of them asked for a TV in there rooms.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

50 Rides for turning 50
# of Rides: 29 of 50
Miles Walked: 8.64 Miles / 42.1
Total Rides: 9 New Rides / Day Total: 9 / Trip Total: 33

• Lion King Show
• Safari
• Animation Class
• Affection Section
• Raki’s Train Ride
• Dinosaur
• Navi River Journey
• Kali River Rapids
• Rock n Roller Coaster

Genie+ Thoughts for the Day:
Today was ok.... I really hated having to get up and get a LL even though the plan was to sleep in. Yes, I could have risked it but I just didn't want to risk it. It helped that we didn't need to get FoP or Everest today. We were able to grab other rides as needed. And it did allow us to ride Navi & Dinosaur so close together. And both were rides we skipped alot. So, today was a wash on whether I liked it or not.

 

[SEAGULL59]

This is me questioning my decsion to ride... (But I will say I have been big on living life. You know, not being the mom who goes in the pool cause she thinks she is too fat in her bathing suit. Or doesn't want to be in pictures, because they feel ugly today. These girls aren't going to be with me forever. They are getting older and just trying to cherise all the moments that I can!)

I love your thoughts about just living life! The COVID times and this past year (losing my father) have really changed my mindset about trying to stay in the moment and go out and do things. You are so right that these kids grow up so quickly and I want to embrace the time we have with them each day. If that means, traveling and spending the $$, I'm doing it!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Fun evening! I'm with you on Tiffins. I did a special event there and was blown away by the food but the regular menu I'm not very enthusiastic about. I know you used to be able to order the appetizers (and enhancements, I think) at Nomad Lounge but now I think it varies ... probably depending on how busy they are, staffing, etc. Nomad Lounge is fantastic! My Disney confession is that I don't really like Runaway Railway. I don't hate it and am happy to ride with people who do enjoy it but I could take it or leave it. I'm too scared to even try RnR!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

love your thoughts about just living life! The COVID times and this past year (losing my father) have really changed my mindset about trying to stay in the moment and go out and do things. You are so right that these kids grow up so quickly and I want to embrace the time we have with them each day. If that means, traveling and spending the $$, I'm doing it!

YES!!! I really wanted to try for a suprise short trip over winter break, but sadly... we do have to make sure we can afford it. And it's just not happening...

Getting a little wet is not what I will remember. I will remember riding with them.

My Disney confession is that I don't really like Runaway Railway. I don't hate it

it's ok. I just think, everyone needs a favorite ride. And it shouldn't be the same for everyone. That is the beauty of Disney!

I'm too scared to even try RnR!

It is the closest to a real roller coaster, so I don't blame you!

 

[NJlauren]

Glad I am not the only one! Have you done Guardians yet? I mostly attribute not really liking RnR because of the over the shoulder harness th

Haha I have, I enjoyed it a lot!!!

Nope! Probably worse... but my girls barely use a real tv. It IS their TV. Not once has either of them asked for a TV in their rooms.

Haha oh great news

 

[snikki]

I am right with you on RnRC. I am 5'3" and my head just bangs all over that ride. This past trip I had some jaw pain from a previous dental appointment and my jaw kept banging on the sides.

I agree on the whole living life and the kids only being small for so long. I did Kali River three times this trip with DD16. It's not my most favorite but she absolutely loves it. I didn't even wear a poncho and got soaked. It's worth the memories.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I agree on the whole living life and the kids only being small for so long. I did Kali River three times this trip with DD16. It's not my most favorite but she absolutely loves it. I didn't even wear a poncho and got soaked. It's worth the memories.

Glad to hear that I am not the only one. If it was warmer, I would have gone without the poncho.

 

[ambula603]

Loving the new updates. I chuckled when you said one girl took pictures of the ducks and squirrels! My daughters are similar ages and I agree, I am trying to be more of a YES mom and do the "fun" things they ask. Because the one who is almost 14 is asking less and less! But yay for you to get IN the photos instead of just taking them. It is hard but so worth it.