Shopping and Eating Our Way Around the World. Feb 2018 Mother/Daughter TR Updated 7/10!

A Soggy Afternoon and Evening

After lunch, we walked across the path and headed into the Hall of Presidents. Mom hadn’t seen the new show and neither had I. Jim did see it in January but I wasn’t with him. That of course is a story for my other TR.




When we exited the show it had started to rain. Luckily the Chicago gang did get their Mine Train ride in before the rain got too bad. This picture portrays the three kids pretty well. Maddie in the back of the first picture and Lewie in the front of the second picture were fearless and loved everything. Raymond (first picture front) on the other hand was terrified by a lot of the rides.





We put on our cheap dollar store ponchos and headed up to Fantasyland. Our Mine Train FP wasn’t available yet so we ducked into IASW for a cruise around the world. I took a lot of pictures but I will only torture you with a few of them.













Still dodging between the rain drops, we stopped to see Mickey’s Philharmagic. Funny thing, Mom was not happy we went there because she said she really disliked the show. But when we exited she realized she was mixing it up with Fantasmic at HS. She does like Philharmagic but not Fantasmic.

It was still raining and not supposed to stop so we decided to ditch our Mine Train FP and headed towards Tomorrowland instead. Neither one of us wanted to ride 7DMT in the rain.


We stopped at an ice cream cart and then found a small dry spot on a bench under the TTA tracks. I got my usual ice cream sandwich and Mom got her usual ice cream bar.





Since we were right there, we took a spin around a soggy Tomorrowland on the TTA.





Next up was another one of our shopping sprees up and down Main Street. As we walked towards Main Street from Tomorrowland, we passed the Purple Wall. There were lots of people getting their pictures taken and Mom was confused by the whole thing. So I had to explain the whole wall picture thing that's going on right now at WDW. She thought this was awesome and has already decided to get pictures there in October.

I know Mom bought some stuff as we shopped up and down Main Street but don’t ask me what at this point. I ended up with just one item. I found a Disney Traditions by Jim Shore Stitch figurine that I wanted in the art store. What I didn’t realize was how long it would take to get the item. Apparently the store’s stock is kept somewhere else and the CM that helped me had to radio someone to bring one for me. This took a good 20 minutes before the item arrived. I think from now on, I’ll skip buying from the Main Street art store and get my items either at Epcot or DS where the storerooms are attached. I did get him eventually. Here’s some pictures.








When we finished shopping, we still had a good hour and a half before we needed to check in for the Happily Ever After dessert party at 6:45 pm. So we found a dry bench down the side alley off of Main Street and planted ourselves for a bit. I took our packages to the locker to drop them off and also pick up our heavy duty ponchos. I should have grabbed my sweatshirt too because I got cold later that night. Mom was fine because she had on long sleeves.

Once I was back, Mom ran to Casey’s and grabbed us each a hot dog so we had something savory before the dessert party. I feel bad because while she was on her way back, the skies opened and it poured for a bit. She keep our hot dogs dry by carrying the to-go box under her poncho.




And here’s a few pictures taken from our bench.







While we were sitting there, the Rainy Day Cavalcade went by and I managed to get a couple of very blurry pictures.





We sat there so long, we got to watch the lights come on.



Finally at about 6:30, we got up and headed towards Tomorrowland Terrace. We actually ran into a PP photographer and realized we hadn’t gotten any pictures that day. She tried to get the castle in the background but you can barely see it.



Oh, and meantime, the Chicago gang had left the park around 4 pm and headed back to the room for a break. We didn’t see them again that day. That evening, they had dinner at 1900 Park Faire which they loved.





Mom and I checked in for the Dessert party and were seated quickly. Unfortunately Mom won’t eat chocolate at night because it keeps her awake. She wasn’t too impressed with the non-chocolate items. Oh and I do have pictures of the entire buffet that I took in January. Haven’t quite gotten that far in that TR.

Here’s Mom’s first plate:




And my first plate. I think Mom was a little envious of my chocolate choices.



I really enjoy the choices at this dessert party and you can't beat the viewing area in the Plaza Garden.

It was while we were eating that I got a bit cold. I had taken off my poncho to eat and it was quite chilly where we were seated. I was OK once I put my poncho on.

Once it got closer to the time for HEA at 8 pm, we headed down to the garden area. We found a pretty good spot along the back railing so we could lean on it. I was hoping that we could sit on the grass but it was just too wet. Here’s our view.




And some pictures of the Plaza Garden area around us. Not crowded at all.





Those were the last pictures I took that evening because it was still sprinkling and I didn’t want to risk ruining my camera.

I was really nervous as to whether or not the fireworks would even take place. And sure enough, an announcement came on at 8 pm that they were delayed. Thank goodness it turned out to be only 5 minutes. I really enjoyed HEA in January and did so again on this trip. It’s not quite Wishes for me but it still makes me tear up so I guess that’s good. I think my only complaint is the fact that there is just too much going on to take it all in. But that just means I’ll have to watch it again and again to catch everything. Oh and Tinkerbell didn’t fly on this night but I wasn’t surprised with the wind and rain. Mom also loved the show. She doesn’t normally like to stay and see the night shows because of the crowds so the dessert party worked out really well.

Magic Kingdom was open for another 45 minutes after the show but we chose to head out. After a brief stop at the locker we headed to the bus stop. This may have been the night we waited for a second bus in order to get seats but I really don’t remember.

When we got back to the room we watched the second half of the Super Bowl and then headed to bed.

I only ended up trading for two pins that day.




And my Fitbit stats for the day.



Up Next: The “New” Purple Wall
 
I'm sorry the rain put a damper on your afternoon and caused you to miss out on Mine Train!

Lucky to find a covered bench to eat your hot dogs and sit for a bit!

Thank goodness the fireworks didn't get cancelled!
 
She does like Philharmagic but not Fantasmic.
I'm with your Mom, though I did enjoy the Fantasmic VIP seating dessert package. Snacks and a glowing blue drink did wonders for my enjoyment of it this time, even in the rain and cold! LOL


IMG_6571-L.jpg
Oh, goodness, I love him!!!! He was totally worth the wait, but I agree, I wouldn't wait again unless they have something you couldn't find at the other locations.


I had never wandered down Center Street until my KTTK tour and found that I just love it!! A tiny bit of quiet out of the hustle bustle on Main Street. Such a great spot to hide out!

This is seriously adorable! We've only done breakfast at 1900 PF. Do they always have the glass slipper out here or is it usually a character to pose with?
 
I'm sorry the rain put a damper on your afternoon and caused you to miss out on Mine Train!

Lucky to find a covered bench to eat your hot dogs and sit for a bit!

Thank goodness the fireworks didn't get cancelled!

It was kind of a bummer of an afternoon. I don't think I've ever spent a day at MK and done that few rides/shows. But at least Mom and I go a lot and can catch stuff the next trip.

I was surprised to find that bench empty. We had that whole area to ourselves except for the occasional CM heading towards the back.

I was seriously worried about the fireworks since I had paid for the party and special viewing area. I was a big relief when they started up.


I'm with your Mom, though I did enjoy the Fantasmic VIP seating dessert package. Snacks and a glowing blue drink did wonders for my enjoyment of it this time, even in the rain and cold! LOL

Oh, goodness, I love him!!!! He was totally worth the wait, but I agree, I wouldn't wait again unless they have something you couldn't find at the other locations.

I had never wandered down Center Street until my KTTK tour and found that I just love it!! A tiny bit of quiet out of the hustle bustle on Main Street. Such a great spot to hide out!

This is seriously adorable! We've only done breakfast at 1900 PF. Do they always have the glass slipper out here or is it usually a character to pose with?

Yeah, I'm not the biggest Fantasmic fan. I do like the show a bit but the wait before hand and the crazy crowds after make it not really worth it to me. I only see it every three or four years.

I love my new Stitch. I'm almost to the point where I can start putting things back in the Pluto room. I put up some additional shelves this last weekend and I plan to make an all Stitch shelve or two.

I was a great spot to hang out and quiet too. I think we heard the dance studio loop about 10 times.

I've never seen photos with anything other than that mural and the slipper so I think all of the characters are in the restaurant. 1900 Park Fare is actually one I've never done myself.
 


The “New” Purple Wall

I sat down last week and finished writing this TR. Now I just have to copy and paste the updates. I'll probably continue the pace of one update a week so people can keep up. This week I plan on doing the same with the January one. Then I will finally be able to take some time to get caught up on everyone else's thread. So here's the next update for this one.

On Monday, February 5th, 2018 Mom and I headed to Epcot for the day. The Chicago Gang started their day at HS then hopped to Epcot so we would not see them until much later that evening. We had a big lunch scheduled so we went with a light breakfast. Mom loved the pineapple from the day before so she got some more of that.





Looks like we made it to Epcot a little after rope drop because my first photo was taken around 9:30 am. I know we weren’t in any hurry because we had Fast Passes for all the rides we wanted to do. We did have a FP for Spaceship Earth from 9:10 – 10:10 but I moved it till after lunch so we didn't have to hurry to make that time.

We stopped as always for a locker and this was where my Mom discovered the “New” Purple Wall at the back of the locker room. She made me pose for a picture in front of it.




The previous day we saw this very pretty girl at the Original Purple Wall doing this sexy pose where she was facing the wall, looking over her shoulder in a bit of a seductive way. So Mom decided I needed to recreate that pose. I’m pretty good at laughing at myself so I’m going to post this for you. I am definitely NOT quitting my day job to take up modeling.



The park wasn’t too crowded yet.



So what did we do with our valuable uncrowded morning hours? We went shopping of course.



I was on the hunt for a new lightweight hoodie and I wanted to check out the Mouse Gears stock before it got picked over. I had been looking for a few days and I finally found one I liked that morning. I didn’t see this pink one anywhere else so I’m glad we stopped early before it sold out in my size.



I also picked up some dog toys to take home to my babies. They played with these for about 30 seconds so kind of a fail there.



Finally, I got a few magnets to add to my collection. The waffle one came to work for my file cabinet and the Stitch one is on my fridge at home.



Once we finished shopping, I ran our purchases back to the locker and then we headed to the land building for our first FP for Living with the Land.



The FP was definitely needed at that time of day.





All of my photos from the indoor portion came out blurry so here’s a few from the outside area.













Next we headed out of the Land building and over to our favorite place to spend time, The Seas! The line for Nemo was really long so we skipped that and just headed into the building to check out the aquarium. Our main goal was to spot the Sea Turtles but I tend to take pictures of a lot of the sea life in this building.





Odd thing, we could see a wedding cake in the window across the aquarium. I wasn’t sure but I was guessing that maybe they had a room for receptions where you can watch the fish?





We finally spotted one of the turtles.





There’s actually a turtle in this next picture on the floor right below the sting ray. I tried to zoom in on him but it came out blurry.



We could have spent hours watching the turtles but it was getting close to the time of our ADR so we headed out and around the building to Coral Reef. We checked in and I asked to be seated near the aquarium. The CM said she would note it but it wasn’t guaranteed. We didn’t wait for long before our name was called and we were lead to one of the big booths on the bottom tier!

Mom was tired of being in the pictures so she volunteered to take a picture of me at the table. She still can’t quite figure out my camera.




This was our view.



Probably one of the best seats in the house because we had comfortable seats with a straight ahead view of the aquarium.

First up was the rolls. They aren’t anything special but they were fresh and I enjoyed them.




I took pictures while we waited for our food.



We spotted several turtles during the meal.



I love the lobster bisque here but wanted to save room for dessert so I skipped it. I ordered the Seared Mahi Mahi with Jasmine Rice, Coconut and Cilantro-Lime Sauce and Avocado-Mango Salsa. I got it without the sauce and didn’t touch the salsa.



I think Mom’s dish was Salmon over risotto but it doesn’t appear to be one the menu any more. There is a salmon dish on the menu right now but it sounds very different from this one.



Both of our dishes were delicious and we ate every bite (minus the salsa on my part although I’m sure it was very good to a non-picky person).

For dessert we both got the Baileys and Jack Daniel’s Mousse. This is tied with the BOG chocolate cupcake as my favorite dessert in all of WDW. I’ve had this multiple times since I first ordered it in 2010. The presentation has changed a number of times but it was just as good as always this time around.




Mom really liked it too and was happy it was lunch time so she could have chocolate.

Up Next: The Quest for Figment
 
Sounds like a nice morning at Epcot! Love the "new" purple wall pics ;)

Funny spotting the wedding cake on the other side of the tank!

Looks like a good lunch, glad you got such a good seat!
 


Sounds like a nice morning at Epcot! Love the "new" purple wall pics ;)

Funny spotting the wedding cake on the other side of the tank!

Looks like a good lunch, glad you got such a good seat!

We did have a nice relaxing morning at Epcot just glad I can laugh at myself over the wall pictures.

I'm still curious about that wedding cake. That would be an awesome spot for a reception if you love aquariums.


I love reading your trip reports!

Thanks! I'm glad you are enjoying them.
 
The Quest for Figment

As we exited the restaurant and came around the corner, we noticed a PP photographer in front of The Seas sign. Since I was wearing a Nemo shirt and sporting my Crush bag, I decided to get a picture. This turned out to be an epic fail as the CM cut off my bag in all of the photos. This was the best one of the lot.




We moved on and used our second FP for Spaceship Earth.





Mom kind of missed the photo op so she looks like she’s mad at the world in the photos.







It was finally time to head back into World Showcase. We were there during the Festival of the Arts and we were anxious to check everything out. First though we stopped and watched the living statues for a while.







I was fascinated by how still they stayed. Every once in a while one of them would move and change position. I don’t think everyone realized they were real people. A couple of girls were getting their picture taken in front of the Bronze guy (or girl?) and he jumped down right behind them and scared them pretty good.

Right before World Showcase there was a photo op for the Festival so we stopped.




My first stop in World Showcase was to pick up a Figment Scavenger hunt map. I loved doing the Easter egg one the year before so I wanted to try the Figment one. You basically had to find the painting that matched the stickers in each country. Once you completed the map, you brought it back to the store to get a prize.





Next we stopped and painted some squares on the mural. I didn’t get very good pictures of us doing this because I was terrified of the paint. The CM that handed it to us said it wouldn’t come out if we got it on our cloths so I carried that sucker with two hands and left my camera in my bag! The mural was basically paint by number and we were told to find our number and paint six squares each. I think we both had the same bluish green color.



When we finished up, the CM handed us a postcard which showed what the finished mural would look like.





Mom ran to the restroom afterwards and I took some pictures of the booths in that area. I managed to take pictures of the first few booths but then got distracted by the scavenger hunt. Mom and I had planned on trying some of the stuff from the booths but we never did get hungry again till much later that night.









There were also lots of booths around WS selling art. I could have purchased many, many Pluto pictures but I really don’t have a lot of hanging space in the Pluto room so I passed all those up. I did find this Mickey and Pluto paperweight at one of the very first booths.





Another food booth.





We headed into Canada and looked around for the Figment picture. I did find it pretty quickly in the store but forgot to photograph it. I think Mom bought some notepads while we were there.

The picture in UK was also fairly easy to find. As you can tell, each painting was altered to include Figment. Some were very obvious like the UK one but others were very subtle. I really started looking mostly for those white tags with the purple writing. They helped find the pictures a little easier.




We stopped on the bridge between UK and France for some PP pictures.





The picture in France was way up in the store near the bakery.



That was OK though because I wanted to look in the wine store to see if there was any new Ratatouille merchandise for Jim. I was excited to see a metal sign so I grabbed it for him. He loves signs and has been slowly decorating the garage with them. Considering Ratatouille is his favorite Disney movie, this was a perfect souvenir to take home for him.



When we exited France, I decided I wanted to try a drink from the festival booth.





In case you can’t read that, the drink I got was the Frose – Frozen Cotes de Provence Rose Wine with Grey Goose Vodka and Peach Puree.



Unfortunately after one sip, I knew I didn’t like this drink. The overwhelming flavor was peach and after an unfortunately peach schnapps incident in college, I don’t really like peach flavored drinks. I drank about ½ of it before I gave up. Mom took a sip or two but didn’t like it herself so the rest went in the garbage. I should have stuck with the Lemon Grey Goose Slushy that I like so much.

Up Next: Where is that Darn Figment?
 
Festival of the Arts is one of those things I hope to do someday. It always starts right after I am there. Looks like a ton of fun though!
 
Hiya pal! Just joining in to your amazing TR :-) looks like you had a wonderful time can’t wait for more updates. Have a magical day/night!!
 
Sounds like a nice time exploring the festival of the arts! I'm sorry the drink wasn't a winner!

It was a fun afternoon! There was definitely a lot of art to see and I could have bought a lot more.

Festival of the Arts is one of those things I hope to do someday. It always starts right after I am there. Looks like a ton of fun though!

I was excited to give it a try since it was new to me. I didn't even realize when we booked this trip that it would be going on. I definitely want to go back and spend more time someday.

Hiya pal! Just joining in to your amazing TR :-) looks like you had a wonderful time can’t wait for more updates. Have a magical day/night!!

Welcome and thanks for joining in! Glad you are enjoying the TR.

This is hilarious!!! I love that your Mom found this wall AND made you do this :) Such a fun start to the day!!!

Yeah, Mom's make us do crazy things sometimes! :rotfl:
 
Where is that Darn Figment?

We continued around WS looking for Figment. We spent an obnoxious amount of time in both Japan and Morocco looking for the Figment picture. Not sure what we were missing but we never did find either of them. One picture was vertical and one was horizontal so I hoped we would find the rest of them and then I could just fill in the blanks with the remaining stickers.

While we were in Japan, we did some shopping at the store there. I’ve been buying some of the little owls here and there so I got a green one this time.




Here’s all the ones I have so far.



I just realized I haven’t talked about what the Chicago gang was up too. They had arrived at HS later than planned and when they tried to sign up the kids for Jedi Training, only late afternoon slots were open. The CM placed them first on the waiting list and by some small miracle, two kids chickened out and one didn’t show up for the first show. Just the three older kids did the training and they loved it.



The only other thing I know they did for sure was go to the Frozen show. This was one thing I told them not to miss and much to my chagrin, all 11 of them hated it. I was kind of shocked because I think the show is pretty good.

They arrived in Epcot after lunch and headed to the front to ride some rides up there and then they backtracked to Teppen Edo for a 4 pm ADR. We were to meet up with them at Frozen Ever After for a shared FP from 5:30 to 6:30.

OK, now that you are caught up with them, let’s get back to me and Mom. After not finding the Figment picture in Japan or Morocco, we moved on to America where I found that one easily.




We looked around the store quickly then headed to the lobby of the American Adventure to pick up our free Pass Holder lithograph which was Belle.



We moved on and found the Mona Figment in the very front of the Italy Store. I didn’t think it would be hard to find because there really aren’t a lot of stores in that pavilion.



We looked around Germany a bit and couldn’t find the Figment picture. We spent some time in the toy store looking at the Steiff animals. I collect them and was thinking of getting one. We ended up running out of time and decided to head back after our FEA ride.

Unfortunately, one of the kids, Raymond, had thrown up at dinner so he and the rest of his family had left the restaurant early. We found them waiting in Norway because Ray didn’t want to leave without riding FEA. Luckily he wasn't actually sick, it was probably just all the weird foods and excitement that got to him.

Their Mom took a picture of me and my Mom with them.




The rest of the gang soon arrived and we headed towards the ride. The FP wait was not bad and we all ended up in the same boat. Somehow I ended up next to the puker and fervently hoped he didn’t throw up again. I did manage a few pictures.







Once again Maddie and Lewie loved the ride and Isla and Ray were a little scared. Surprisingly the youngest one, Emmett, loved this ride. He’s in the back with my Mom and Uncle.



It’s funny cause he looks so scared but afterwards he went on and on about the ride. He decided his favorite character was Marshmallow (the huge snow monster) and they bought him a plush version in the dump store.

I had been telling my uncle and cousins about the scavenger hunt and as soon as we exited the ride, we all spotted this.




I was hoping to take the kids to meet Anna and Elsa next but they were basically done at this point. They had been going nonstop for three days so they decided to call it an early night and head back to the resort. We said goodbye and headed back towards China. It was about this time that I realized I was getting cold but my sweatshirt was all the way at the front of the park in the locker.

We looked around the China store for a while and Mom found the picture pretty quickly.



If you guys think back a bit, you will remember that I bought a stone elephant out in California when we visited Disneyland last year. In January I bought another elephant at AK to go with that one. So on this trip I decided to get one from the China pavilion. My sorority mascot was an elephant so I’m a bit fond of them. They had some pretty expensive ones but I ended up picking out this simple green one. He looks like Jade but he’s really just plastic.





We continued backtracking to Germany and looked again in all the stores for the Figment picture with no luck. We went back to the Steiff store and I decided to get this bear because he is exclusive to WDW. But before I could buy him, Mom grabbed him and got him for me.



So instead I decided on this Steiff turtle since we ate with the turtles that day.



While we were checking out the CM saw my map and pointed over to a dark corner in the store. It doesn’t look that dark in the photo but it was really hard to see. I was grateful she had pointed it out to me.



We also spent some time in Arribas Brothers and Mom finally picked a ring to buy. I didn’t get a picture of hers at the time but here it is from shopdisney.com.



Does it bother anyone else that they photographed it with the Mickey heads upside down?

We stopped back at the Norway store because little Emmett’s birthday was coming up and Mom had spotted a Marshmallow shirt. She doesn’t buy the kids birthday gifts but I do so I grabbed it. For some reason though I never took a picture during our trip. I also got him a set of Funko toys that had Elsa, Olaf and Marshmallow. Here’s a picture his Mom sent me after he opened the gifts.




We stopped in at Mexico next and spotted the Figment picture right away.



For the life of me I can’t remember if we continued on into the pavilion to shop or if we decided to skip it. We were getting worn out at that point and we didn’t buy anything if we did go in. I do know that we stopped at the new Margarita stand Choza de Margarita because Mom wanted a drink. I wasn’t feeling in the tequila mood so I didn’t get one.



Mom got the Fiesta Frozen Margarita which is a combination of Mango, Strawberry and Lime.



Having found all of the Figment pictures except for Morocco and Japan, I was able to fill in the blanks and finish the map.



We stopped by the store at the beginning of WS and I claimed my prize which happened to be a Figment pin. There were a few different ones to pick from. I chose this one because I liked the hidden Mickey’s on the palette.



After that, Mom and I were done except we were finally getting a little bit hungry. We decided we didn’t want a full meal but instead wanted to grab a Mickey pretzel to take back to the room. We searched all around the middle section of Future World and then were directed by a CM over towards Test Track and there we finally found a pretzel cart. The CM only had three pretzels left and she said as soon as she sold out she could close down for the night. So Mom took pity on her and bought all three pretzels. She was very helpful and wrapped the pretzels up in napkins for us. She didn’t have any bags but we had quite a few so we rearranged and emptied one for the pretzels.

After that we headed to the locker and then out to the buses for the night. I think it was around 8-8:30 when we left because I took this next picture back in our room at 9 pm.




Our pretzel haul! Three was way too much for us and we ended up throwing the extra one out but at least we made the CMs day by helping her to close down a bit early. I think both Mom and I would have felt bad if we left her there with one measly pretzel.

After we ate, we called it a night and headed off to bed.

I traded for three pins that day.




Fitbit stats for the day.



Up Next: Introducing Mom to Pandora
 
Love those little owls from Japan! I have one too!

The passholder lithograph is really pretty!

I found myself having a hard time finding the Remys at F&W, so can imagine some of the Figments were tricky too! Cute pin you ending up picking out as your prize!

Love the stuffed animals from Germany!

That was sweet of you guys to save the CM and buy out her pretzels!
 
Love those little owls from Japan! I have one too!

The passholder lithograph is really pretty!

I found myself having a hard time finding the Remys at F&W, so can imagine some of the Figments were tricky too! Cute pin you ending up picking out as your prize!

Love the stuffed animals from Germany!

That was sweet of you guys to save the CM and buy out her pretzels!

Eventually I think I'll end up getting all of the colors of the owls. It's fun to pick out a different color each trip.

The Remy's I think will be even harder than the Figments because they look a lot smaller! Hopefully with five of us in October we can spot them all.
 
Introducing Mom to Pandora

My plan for Tuesday, February 6th was to make it to rope drop so we could experience Na’vi River Journey. I had not managed to get on NRJ in January so I didn’t want to miss it this time around. We only had one AK day on this trip so I got our FP for Flights of Passage.

Unfortunately, Mom woke up feeling a little sick to her stomach. I guess a margarita right before bedtime wasn’t the best idea. To be honest, I hadn’t been feeling my best the day before, Disney food always seems to get me at least once a trip. Reluctantly we decided to skip our first FP which was for Expedition Everest. It just didn’t seem a wise move that morning. I logged onto MDE and changed the FP for a Dinosaur one later that afternoon. I was able to coordinate the time with the one the Chicago Gang had.

Mom decided to stay in the room for a few more minutes so I headed over to breakfast on my own. I got my usual Disney breakfast.




Mom joined me after a bit and we headed out to the buses. We still managed to make it right before park opening. I took this photo at 8:52 am.





We stopped to get a locker and then joined the crowds streaming in to Pandora. Instead of turning right towards FOP, we went to the left and got in line for NRJ. The wait time said 30 minutes I think but I timed it and our wait was exactly 20 minutes. I took some pictures to pass the time.









Once we were on the ride, I decided not to take pictures so I could enjoy it for the first time. I couldn’t resist though when we got to the Shaman so I did pull my camera out for one picture.



So what did we think? It was a cute ride but definitely not worth wasting a FP on. It was just as short as people said it was. I timed it and it was exactly 5 minutes which I already knew but had to prove to myself. I would ride it again but wouldn’t use a FP or wait more than 20 minutes for it.

Mom was finally hungry so we headed towards Pongu Pongu so she could get a snack. We got distracted along the way by a PP photographer.






And by the amazing floating mountains. I took a ton of photos in January but couldn’t resist some more on this trip.









Mom ended up getting a coffee and the Pongu Lumpia which was a pineapple cream cheese spring roll.



It was hot and fresh and she really enjoyed it. Me, I wouldn’t have touched it but I am intrigued by the Colossal Pretzel from that stand and will probably try one in October. We found a seat under the awning of Satu’li Canteen. The Canteen wasn’t open yet for the day.



We still had over an hour until our FOP FP and we didn’t want to stray too far from Pandora so once again we went shopping. First though, another PP stop.







I was on the hunt for one specific item. When we were at DS a few days prior, Mom had purchased a hoodie. I was super jealous because the hoodie was so cute but they only had smalls and one medium. The hoodie was a men’s but the small was still too little on me and Mom snagged that last medium. I scanned the tag with the Shop Disney Parks app and the only other place it was sold was AK. I wanted to make sure and grab it early that morning before the size I wanted was sold out. And luckily I did find it.







When I checked out, I also made a donation to the Disney Conservation Fund and got an elephant pin.



Once we had gone through both stores at the beginning of Discovery Island, I ran our purchases back to the locker and then we headed back to Pandora to use our FOP FP. Mom was nervous about the ride but ended up loving it. This was my third time riding it and I loved it just as much as the first two times. Jim has declared it his new favorite ride and it’s pretty far up there in my book too.

We made our way towards Africa after our FOP ride. We had a Rivers of Light dining package booked at Tusker House. We were a bit early so we looked through the Africa stores and then backtracked to check in for lunch. I don’t think we waited too long to be seated and our waitress was the same one that waited on Jim and I in January. She didn’t remember me though.

We headed up and got our food. Here’s my first plate.




And Mom’s two plates.





My favorite thing here is the mac and cheese and for some reason it just wasn’t very good this time around. I’m not sure what it was but I just didn’t enjoy it like I usually do. I honestly think Mom and I had hit a food wall at this point because neither one of us was that thrilled with this meal.

The Characters came around and were just OK. I had to point Mom’s bag out to Goofy before he noticed it.










Mom ran up and got us dessert as I only wanted a chocolate chip cookie. It’s really the only thing on the dessert table that I like. I think the other item was some kind of chocolate cheese cake and was Mom’s choice.



More character photos.









Overall this was our least favorite meal of the trip. Neither one of us could pinpoint what we didn’t care for. The food was a little subpar on this day but not horrible. I really think we had just hit a food wall at that point. Also, when I ate there in January with Jim, we had a much earlier ADR and caught the end of breakfast which meant Mickey waffles for me. Not having those this time made it a little disappointing.

Up Next: Visiting Our Favorite Primates
 
I'm sorry Mom wasn't feeling well this morning. I can usually count on Disney food getting the best of me at least once a trip as well.

Great PP pics in Pandora! I'm glad your mom ended up loving FoP! And that you found the sweatshirt you wanted!

That stinks that Tusker House wasn't the best :( The character pics came out cute though!
 
Glad your mom liked Pandora! It is my favorite land in WDW. FoP is just a ton of fun. I agree that NRJ isn't worth the FP or a long wait. I do love the animatronic though. I also like the Lumpia.

That sucks that Tusker House wasn't as good. It has been a few trips since I have been. I have been hooked on Tiffins at AK.
 

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