Rob, Cass & Kira - "This trip is NOT going to suck!!!" WDW & DCL

[Timon]

Day 2 - Part 1 - Ummm, where did all these people come from???

I was up around 6am, hopped in the shower and got ready before waking up the family.

Since we got in so late last night and went straight to the pool then bed, we had just left all of our previous night's purchases in the bag. Well, first thing Kira did was look for all her new goodies

After opening a few things, she just remained on the bed playing with her new toys, happy as a clam!

We got all ready for the day, made some breakfast for Rob & Kira and then while I was packing up our day bag, I put on Stacy's Top 10 on the TV for Kira and she LOVED it HAHAH! She kept telling us about all the stuff and asked us if we were going to do that. I've never liked the Stacy show until this trip!

All ready for Animal Kingdom!

Drove the 5 minutes it took to AK, parked and then she FREAKED out when she saw the tram LOL! She REALLY wanted to take it, so we hopped aboard! It was weird seeing doors on the trams! Last time I was here, there were no doors and I hadn't read any trip reports that had mentioned them so it was quite the shock to see them!

We arrived right at park opening, bag check was pretty quick, as was getting into the park.

This was our first experience with the new entrances, as opposed to the old turnstyles and it was pretty neat! We had no problems with the bands and Kira did great all on her own, tapping her band and using her finger for the scan.

The plan was to ride the Safari, head to the Boneyard while Rob and I would trade off to use our FP+ for Expedition Everest (10-11am). Sounded good, right?

Well, we got to the Safari, along with a few thousand others it seemed, and the line ended right under the sign!!! I went up close to see if it was just a big traffic jam but it wasn't! That is where the line actually ended! It was exactly 9:15am

I looked around and the place was PACKED! Normal season, my BUTT!!! So, I found a non-crowded spot in the shade (that wasn't easy with these crowds!) and checked the MDE app to see if I could change our FP's to an earlier time. BINGO! Not only was I able to change our EE FP to 9-10am but I also changed our other FP (Finding Nemo, which I knew we weren't going to use anyway) to the Safari for 10-11am

That is the walkway from near the Safari towards Expedition Everest...the one spot in the park that wasn't filled with a gazillion people yet!

We walked over to EE and while I used my FP, Kira and Rob watched. It was walk on for the FP return so 10 minutes later, it was Rob's turn to ride while I gave Kira a snack.

This kid doesn't eat much but she eats OFTEN!! Good thing I am a prepared momma

Once the big kids got their EE fix, we headed over to the Boneyard.

It didn't open until 10AM, which was 10 minutes away, so we took a quick ride on Triceratops Spin.

Headed back to the Bone Yard for 10 but they hadn't opened yet. While waiting, Kira got her groove on and was dancing to the music that was blaring nearby.

She entertained us until they let us in and then off she went...

She had tons of fun but was ready to move on after only 20 minutes. Told ya she gets bored

She had a great time and it was nice to just sit and chill in the shade for a bit. I just wished they would turn the music down a bit because the volume was ridiculously high and we both felt deaf by the time we left

 

[starousse]

Loving your report so far. Can't wait to read the rest. We're doing land and sea in May, so I'm curious to see how your trip panned out.

 

[cntkg1]

Love the tootsie polish, Miss Kira!

 

[Jillpie]

Nice start in AK...Jambo! (Which we said a million times in Africa, can't wait to speak the Swahili we learned when we get back to this park). Can't wait for more!

 

[jenseib]

Thats wild that the safari was so stinking busy that morning. Glad you were able to change things up though.

 

[MomsOf2boys]

Wondering if you saw that tree lady....in all my times there I have never seen her.

I'm a little surprised that Rob isn't eating more. Lolol

 

[Timon]

Day 2 - Part 2 -Wanna see Pooh?

We were headed back towards the Safari when I spotted the Character landing open. I thought I had read that it was closed so I was happy to see it open because it was a short line and it would be her first characters of the trip

She was super excited, she ran the whole way there LOL!

Both Tigger and Pooh loved her book and they spent extra time admiring it She actually got TONS of extra attention from every single character regarding her book. More about that later...

It's time for a Safari through Africa!

Suckered her Daddy into carrying her for a bit..

The last time we did this ride, she wanted NOTHING to do with the animals! It was a rather interesting and entertaining ride and I laughed through the whole thing. This time was very different and she loved seeing all of the animals!

It was really nice not to have to listen to that cheesy Wilson poacher script and we saw quite a few animals, including the baby giraffe.

It was a good ride and now it was time for our Tusker House lunch

 

[Timon]

Day 2 - Part 3 - A hundred bucks for that?

There was mass chaos when I checked in for Tusker House. I really wish Disney would have two separate check-in areas for sit down restaurants; one for people who have reservations and one for walk-ins. It would make things SO much easier!

Once we checked in, they sent us to another line...waited about 10 minutes there before they sent us to another line...in which I found the neatest palm tree! I love trees in general but the palm tree is my fave! When I look at them, especially the ones in Florida, they remind me of driving down from Montreal with my family back in the '70's and '80's. Mostly, though, they remind me of my mom I wish she was still around to enjoy them with us.

Waited about 15 minutes in this one. All to take a photo of Donald of which I refused to pay $30 for

The cast member did take one with our camera but I swear, they take crap pictures on purpose

Then Kira got Donald's signature. I felt terrible because Donald really took his time looking at the book I hated making all these hungry people behind us wait even longer!

After that, we were finally led into the restaurant! Couple minutes later our server came up and got our drink orders and then I told Rob and Kira to go up and grab some food while I watched our stuff.

Kira came back with breakfast stuff, which I was excited about because I prefer breakfast foods at a buffet.

It was another 10 minutes before Rob came back with his food.

Just as I was about to go up to get my food, Mickey and Daisy made their appearance...

Finally, it was time for me to hit the buffet! The lines were just ridiculous! It was about 6-7 minutes for the line to get pretty much the only thing in the whole line that looked appealing to me...

I scoured the buffet for any lingering breakfast items but they were long gone by then

I was not really impressed with the food here. People liken Tusker House to a mini-Boma (at Animal Kingdom Lodge) but neither the food choices or the quality were anywhere near what Boma offers! Even Rob was not really impressed with it and he is super easy to please!

Kira had one Mickey waffle, a bite of bacon and that's it. She did try several items but she didn't care for any of them, not even the desserts!

The characters did a little dance party thing...

And then it was time for Goofy! He was so tall, he kept hitting part of the roof!

I felt terrible because Goofy didn't realize that Kira had a retractable Sharpie and he was trying to get the lid off (but there was no lid) and he ended up drawing a line on his glove

We waited quite a bit for our server to grab our bill, so we could get the heck outta there.

I don't know if it was the waiting, the mediocre food, the loudness or what but we were all a little crabby by the time we were done. Normally, it's the other way around, the food and service perks us right up but this was not the case this meal

Kira wasn't even in the mood to use her band for lunch!

While we waited for the server to return so we could sign the bill, Mickey popped back around and gave Kira one last hug.

Oh man, $102 with tip! Probably the the worst bang for our Disney buck when it came to food. I don't mind paying the extra that Disney charges you as long as there is some value to it. I think we would have been much happier paying $30 for Flame Tree or just some chicken strips somewhere.

I've read good reviews of this place for all meals so maybe it was just an off day?

 

[jenseib]

We didn't have a great experience at TH either. We had breakfast, but it still seemed really limited on what we would eat. I think I mostly ate donuts and waffles and same with Claire. The characters were slow to come for us and we ended up asking to meet up with Goofy along the side so we could leave. And the lines to get in...good grief that was long and awful.
I doubt we'll ever go back again.

 

[Timon]

Loving your report so far. Can't wait to read the rest. We're doing land and sea in May, so I'm curious to see how your trip panned out.

I'm sure you will have a great trip

Love the tootsie polish, Miss Kira!

Nice eye

Nice start in AK...Jambo! (Which we said a million times in Africa, can't wait to speak the Swahili we learned when we get back to this park). Can't wait for more!

Jambo!!! Hahaha, that will be awesome! I wonder how many people will understand you

Thats wild that the safari was so stinking busy that morning. Glad you were able to change things up though.

It was crazy! Never seen anything like it

Wondering if you saw that tree lady....in all my times there I have never seen her.

I'm a little surprised that Rob isn't eating more. Lolol

Devine!! Nope, never seen her in all our trips to AK!

Ohhh, don't worry, Rob's food consumption increases exponentially every day

We didn't have a great experience at TH either. We had breakfast, but it still seemed really limited on what we would eat. I think I mostly ate donuts and waffles and same with Claire. The characters were slow to come for us and we ended up asking to meet up with Goofy along the side so we could leave. And the lines to get in...good grief that was long and awful.
I doubt we'll ever go back again.

Sorry you didn't have a good experience either Jen I doubt we will ever return either

For about the same price, we will head to AK for Boma! Now there is a great buffet

 

[southbound]

I see England, I see France, I see Kira's underpants!!!

 

[geckodani]

Day 2 - Part 1 - Ummm, where did all these people come from???

(

Okay, I love that the bag is almost as big as she is! Glad she was having such fun with her purchases!

I noticed you said you have RLS? I do too, and I actually stumbled across something really random that helped immensely. Coconut water. I picked some up on a whim at a store once just for fun, drank it for two days (just the little single serve cartons) and then woke up after day 2 and realized I had slept through the night. Without waking up to stretch. Or kicking my spouse. I thought for sure it was a fluke, went and bought a few more - no more RLS, as long as I drink it every day.

I'm not sure if it would work for you, but might be worth a try! My doc thinks it's something about the high potassium + the magnesium in the natural delivery method. I tried supplements and they didn't have the same effect. Just thought I'd mention it!

Can't wait to read the rest of your report!

 

[Timon]

I see England, I see France, I see Kira's underpants!!!

I've got so many photos of her where you can see her undies There is one precious shot from the cruise, remind me to share with you since I don't want to post it here

Okay, I love that the bag is almost as big as she is! Glad she was having such fun with her purchases!

I noticed you said you have RLS? I do too, and I actually stumbled across something really random that helped immensely. Coconut water. I picked some up on a whim at a store once just for fun, drank it for two days (just the little single serve cartons) and then woke up after day 2 and realized I had slept through the night. Without waking up to stretch. Or kicking my spouse. I thought for sure it was a fluke, went and bought a few more - no more RLS, as long as I drink it every day.

I'm not sure if it would work for you, but might be worth a try! My doc thinks it's something about the high potassium + the magnesium in the natural delivery method. I tried supplements and they didn't have the same effect. Just thought I'd mention it!

Can't wait to read the rest of your report!

Yes, RLS and Lupus, it's a lovely combination

Hmm coconut water...I've tried everything else, why not that! When I am a little healthier, I will grab some and I will let you know how it goes, thanks! Oh and good for you, no more RLS, it is a HORRIBLE thing

 

[cntkg1]

[

When did Rob lose his leg? Better yet, how did he get it to grow back before the cruise?

 

[Timon]

Day 2 - Part 4 -Sure glad we did FP+ for this one!

Sorry I haven't updated in a few days...it was Kira's 7th birthday on Saturday, then her birthday party on Sunday and I am still feeling like crap because of my cold

I will try to get more done this week

After breakfast, our goal for the rest of the day was characters. There wasn't much else to do in this park for us so we decided to cram as many characters in for Kira as possible.

First up was Dug and Russell...

Dug was rather playful with both Kira and Russell! Loved Dug's wagging tail

Up next was our Fast Pass+ for MIckey & Minnie at the Adventurer's Outpost but we were pretty early so we just hung around for a bit...

Finally our FP time arrived and we headed in...

to a long line! We waited oh about 10 minutes and then we all went through another door, to another line yay!! The room was small and stuffy! No fans, hot and humid, just what I like

This line took about another 15 minutes and I felt like I was going to pass out by the time we got to Mickey & Minnie! Others in line felt the same way and we were all about to riot

I will finish up AK tomorrow

 

[CJK]

It's fun seeing how much Kira enjoys the characters on this trip!! Was she as interested in characters on your last trip?

 

[Timon]

Day 2 - Part 5 - What rides???

Next up, we headed for Camp Minnie Mickey. We were on the hunt for Pocahontas who was scheduled to meet at 2pm. On the way, we ran into Governor Ratcliffe, which I knew was very rare so we joined the line, which was actually very short. I think it's because most people don't even know who he is . Three different people asked me who he was! LOL!

I think he was very pleased that he was actually in Kira's book, as was his handler! He took quite a bit of time with Kira.

First he bowed...

To which Kira replied with a...

He admired her sparkling jewels on her hat...

He looked at her book for a while

And then finally posed with her.

Kira was REALLY loving all the character interaction this trip! She had no problems waiting in line for any of them. Sometimes there was a really long line to see them and I always told her the approximate time she would be waiting to double check that she still wanted to wait and every single time she said yup and waited very patiently!

For the first couple of days, she would just stand and wait and then eventually she got bored and asked if she could draw in her autograph book. She is very artsy and loves to doodle so the last couple of days, she spent her time doodling while waiting in the character lines

Since we were already there, we hit up the rest of the characters in the area...

Pocahontas didn't actually get there until 2:20pm and the line was completely in the sun. It was the first time I started to feel ill. Kira was a doll and was trying to block the sun from me. But it was the heat and humidity, not just the sun that was bothering me. And I was doing so well too

I was D-O-N-E but I hung in there just a little longer so Kira could see the rest of the characters. I was originally hoping that I could make it to the parade but I knew that wasn't gonna happen.

She really loved the characters that spoke to her, and they were all so good with her!

I liked the meets that had more than one character. They were often the most entertaining as they played off of one another. It was really funny watching Chip and Dale show each other Kira's book!

Before we left, everyone wanted to shop so we hit up Island Mercantile before heading out.

Kira found several things she wanted and we found a few things too. We got new Disney car decals, which was bittersweet since our truck still has our old ones which included our cat Goofy, who passed away in 2010 and our dog Stitch, who passed away earlier this year. So, we only had to replace the three of us and one pet one for our dog Lilo.

I'm still not ready to replace them just yet but we have them for when I am ready.

Kira was on the hunt for a new princess notebook to doodle in and I was slightly disturbed when I saw the Cinderella one...

I'm sorry but she is scary looking! She looks slightly deranged and unbalanced, no?

A couple shots on the way out...along with a little treat and an attitude LOL!

The last time she was here...

And then we hopped back onto the tram!

As we were waiting to start moving, I spotted this family waiting for the next tram...seconds before I took this pic, all three of them had the same pose as the lady in the front. I just had to giggle and mutter "I hear ya!"

 

[Timon]

When did Rob lose his leg? Better yet, how did he get it to grow back before the cruise?

LOL! I don't know, it must be a trick! Him and Bendy are members of the one-legged Disney Trip Report Club

It's fun seeing how much Kira enjoys the characters on this trip!! Was she as interested in characters on your last trip?

Boy was she!!!

She was so taken with the face characters that she had a hard time looking away from them when I took photos

Last time, she was just wowed by them, she didn't care all that much about getting signatures but this year she took great pride in getting all the signatures

She's even using her book to get her "collection" badge in Brownies (Girl Scouts)

 

[Timon]

Day 2 - Part 6 - Downtown Disney Craziness

After a nice short trip back to Coronado Springs, we took a little break to recover (well, mostly just me!) and to freshen up.

Oh, I was going to show you how close we were to the quiet pool, wasn't I?

Well, Kira is standing very close to our room, the door you can see is ours, the one just behind her...

Here is the same shot, without my kid, taken a little further away. As you can see the quiet pool is right there. We never did go in it but the laundry was there so that was convenient later on in the week.

Once I recuperated a little, we went to Walmart over on the 535. Normally I find several things there I like but this trip I found exactly nothing! Everything seemed really cheap (more than usual!) and I didn't find most things on my list. The two main things I had wanted was some Excedrin Migraine and my Nexxus shampoo and conditioner. There was ONE bottle left of excedrin migrain and they didn't have my particular kind of shampoo

I picked up a couple of little things and then we got the Flex outta there!

When we got into the car, I texted my friend Mark, who I was supposed to meet up with (along with his lovely wife Mary) at Downtown Disney.

I had heard the parking there was really bad with the construction of Disney Springs so Rob dropped Kira and I off just next to the WoD store.

While we waited for Rob, Kira found the spitting Stitch and just had the best time!

Since we were right there, we decided to do a little shopping at the World of Disney store. Rob was only about 10 minutes behind, he said he found a great spot really close.

Into the store we went...holy crap there was a lot of people in there!

Maybe I am just getting old and crabby but I really hate large crowds like that. It makes it hard to shop and by the end, I feel all frazzled and stressed

I looked at everything but there wasn't a whole lot that interested me. They didn't have the iPhone 5 cover that I wanted (The HM wallpaper one) and the 2 shirts I liked were not in my size.

It was getting really stupid in there and my blood pressure was boiling so I took Kira outside to play in Stitch again while Rob finished up.

We were supposed to meet up with Mark & Mary for ice cream at Ghirardelli's but Rob and Kira had that ice cream bar at AK and I was not in the mood for ice cream so I texted Mark to see if we could meet somewhere else. Turns out they were close by so I told him to come find us at Stitch.

I've "known" Mark for over 3 years now. He reached out to me back in 2010 via email after reading my blog. (back when I had the time and motivation to have a blog)

He had just read about my near-death experience with Lupus pneumonia and wanted to let me know about a dear friend of his that was going/had gone through very similar events recently. Sadly, his friend did not make it but through many emails over the years, we became friends, so it's nice to know that something good came if it.

They live in Louisiana, so we've never had the pleasure of meeting face to face but they go to WDW often and when he found out about our plans, he said that they were thinking of planning a quick trip around the same time to maximize their soon-to-expire annual passes.

They were heading home in the morning, so our trips overlapped perfectly in order for a little meet and greet

They quickly found us at Stitch where we met with big warm hugs.

Shortly after, Rob found us and we were trying to decide on a good place to have a little sit-down but DD was crazy busy! Rob and Kira said they were ready for supper so I asked Mark & Mary if they wanted to join us for dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express, one of our must-do's on every trip.

They were game so we headed over through the crowds and grabbed some dinner!

The sweet and lovely Mary with Kira...oh and some weird dude who kept tagging along

They spoiled our little girl with presents!

We normally just get the pizza here but I wanted to try the meatloaf after reading so many wonderful reviews about it!

The meatloaf wasn't very good but I think mainly because it had BBQ sauce in it and I don't like BBQ sauce The potatoes and the onions rings were delish!

The pizza, however, was divine and I wish I had ordered two of them! Mark and Mary graciously shared their fries with Kira and we enjoyed their wonderful company!

Just as I figured, I felt like I knew Mark a lot longer than just 3 years and Mary was just as delightful as her hubby! We had a wonderful visit and I am so glad we got to meet up with them.

We said our good-byes and went our separate ways.

We walked to the car and drove back to the hotel. Rob dropped me off at El Centro while he took Kira to the pool for a bit. I did a little shopping in the store and walked over to the Dig Site to meet up with them. It was a pleasant, short walk but I sure wouldn't want to do it every day!

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Another long day for us. Seems to be on par for the whole week.

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I was doing better than I thought I would do but it was a huge struggle every day for me. For those of you who read my pre-trippie, you know I have been struggling with a Lupus flare-up and spent the last year dealing with some painful rashes on my face, neck and scalp. The meds I have been taking had cleared most of it up just in time for this trip but after being in the sun, heat and humidity, the rash was making an ugly reappearance

.

Unfortunately, it has only gotten worse since and I've had to up my meds. Like other chronic illness meds, there's always a good and bad side to taking them.

The good thing is that while it was a struggle, I was still able to get through it and we had tons of fun

A good night's sleep does wonders

 

[disneyfam]

Ouch Cass! That looks like it itches like crazy! I'm enjoying the report so far, can't wait to see the next installment.