Day 5 The Best Day I Would Say!
We start our day by going to Boma. Now people on this forum have been going on about it being the best breakfast and I was like yeah I am sure it be ok but never could it be the best breakfast. Wow was I wrong, this was not OK, it was not even good, it was excellent. Where do I start!!!!!
- Boma (Disneys Food Park LOL)
We arrive a couple of mins late for our booking, party of 8 is always fun to seat. They hand over a pager and I am like ok, and nerves kick in what if the people on the forum where a bunch of liars and its a crap breakfast, I am starving better be stuff I cant eat!!!
Anyways couple of mins pass and off we are to our seats, what a table, I am used to places cramming you in like they have a shoe horn, instead what we had was a massive table that could easy seat 8 people well 7 and pram pushed under one bit as our son was sleeping.
Now we are on dinning plan and I should have said to the waitress that day however I didnt until the end of the meal and in a trip report in a few days time you will find out why you should say (and yes we came back to Boma) ok so we order strange juice for all, that turned out to be very nice and with that over it was time to hit the counters to see what they had.
As we approach I noticed that it was not a line system, it was more a visit little sections and take what you like, of course if someone was in front you wait your turn but it was not like you had to queue all the way around until you got to what you like.
So I have a quick scan of the stations of food, they had carver with ham and pork, French toast (American Style LOL), strange African stuff that I didnt try but my mother and father-in-law did and liked, looked like porridge to me, yuck! Pancakes, waffles, syrupy stuff, scrambled egg, fresh fruits all kinds, cereals, different cakes, crispy bacon, omelette station where they make it for you and also toast if you want (however we didnt know that on the first trip) and my mind has gone blank but there was other stuff, loads of other stuff.. it was mental!
Anyways being as I like to stuff my face I was up like 4 times, my mind was thinking feed yourself you might be starving tonight with no table service LOL
ok poor excuse I was just loving it. I have to say everything was fresh, hot and very, very nice, you could tell it was professional real chefs that made this food, the type of chefs you get a posh dinner where making breakfast, I think thats why it was so good.
My son was a sleep but we keep him grapes and strawberries for later, he loves grapes.
Anyway enough about Boma Breakfast, all I can say is you have to eat at this place if you stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you would be nuts to miss it.. We eat 3 times in total it was that good.
- Animal Kingdom
So with everyone stuffed too bits it was off to Animal Kingdom for todays park. As we had Boma early we got to the park not long after opening and mission number one was to get on the spiny ride in Dino Land. So I head off with one of the girls, giving strict instructions that everyone meets us at the ride in Dino Land, I head off with Stephanie taking everyone park tickets. We get to the ride and get all the fast passes but would you believe it the return time was already later in the day, almost lunch time, I was like no way, however on closer inspection of the fast pass tickets I notice it says you can get more fast passes in 10 mins time, odd I thought it was 1 hour or so before the next ones come up.. so I think, lets get fast passes for a ride further in the back of the park, and we can come back here and everyone should be waiting.
So me and Stephanie head off to River Rapids ride and on the way walk past Everest .. I was like why cant that be open now
but soon moved on, we hit the Far East section and a Chinese woman said I can give you fast passes to the bird show, my son likes birds so I asked when is it on, it was 30 mins time so that was cool. So we take them and now have 2 full sets of fast passes and off to the river rapids, we get to it and had a couple of mins to go before we could stick our cards in, we put them in and out pop 7 more fast passes so the Dino Land spiny thing was right we could get more. I was tired at this point and was thinking, well at least I am burning off Boma breakfast. Anyway we rush back to Dino Land and we couldnt see them, I was like we left them 20 mins ago, they should have made it to hear by now.. but nope couldnt find them, and our mobile phones had run out of power so couldnt call. Anyway I am thinking where could they have gone!!! So I say to Stephanie, sit here do not move, I be back every 5 mins to check and I start looking for them, I start and 10 mins later I find them coming back from Far East section, I was like what where you doing, they where like we couldnt remember where you said so we thought we try the rides you talked about but not the one I said LOL
Ah well time ticking away for the first fast pass useage, we had to move it quick smart to the bird show, now fast pass for the bird show basically gets you in a queue that goes in first, its a trick to get you to see the early shows, but a nice trick as its a nice show.
I got some photos in and then my son starts to get bored, he loves birds and I thought that was strange, starts crying and my wife not wanting to spoil it for everyone sitting around takes him out, we stay on.. then disaster strikes, ok maybe not a disaster but right near end of the show a bee flys next to Amanda who freaks out and as she going mental squash the bee in-between her arm and her mums and Amanda get stung.. oh dear looked like that was going to be the end of that, could this bee another bad day (oh dear, shoot me now the jokes are getting poor). The show was ending as we go to leave, by the way I liked the show, only thing I messed up on was selection of the wrong lens for taking photos of the birds in flight, so I have no good ones, but if you like to take photos I recommend you try to get them as the fly over head.
Ok so something new for me, Disney First Aid. Never used it before, didnt know what happened or what to expect. I asked a cast member who told us where to find it, so off we went. We turn up and there was a boy who was going in to some kind of sugar type shock thing, lets put it this way it wasnt a bee sting as they where calling an Ambulance for him he was awake but you can tell it's not good. Anyway the nurse on duty was very nice, and one of the Security was in the place, I take it he took the boy and his mother in. It was upbeat and the way nurse and security person was talking to all the kids it was very relaxed and dont you worry type of chatter. Anyways Amanda's Bee Sting is cleaned, something out a mini bottle is put on a plaster, its put on and an ice pack and bandage put over. Nurse asks for name to be put on a register and then I ask, so how much is that then (well it is America) she kind of looked at me as if what kind of heartless people do you think Disney are! Well hey its America, nothing medical is free, well I guess being stung by a bee on Disney Property is free!
So back in to the park with one not very happy Amanda, I said do you want to go back to the hotel (ok was her mum taking her but at least I asked LOL), she was like no I want to stay (I am thinking good answer LOL) and we still had 5 mins before our fast passes to the river rapid thing runs out so we head for that. On we go and as you can see from the photo that cheered her up some, she is the one with the huge white bandage around her right arm. I stayed off this ride with Adam, and be honest I wasnt that bothered as we had a rider swap so I could go on later at any point.
One problem with having to many fast passes close together is that you have to rush about to get them all in, I can tell some of you are thinking, how is that a problem Anyways it was off to Dino Land and time for the Spiny Dino Ride thingy again I volunteered to stay off and watch Adam who was now sleeping as my wife had asked that this be the ride she done with her mum and dad before we even came on holiday. I think these photos explain what it was like better than I could in words Everyone in my wifes family have seen the photo with my Mother-in-law in it and think her face says it all
So at this point its lunch time and with Boma some 4 hours behind us and prospect of a late night with no table service we decided after much badgering from the kids that we eat at the McDonalds in Dino Land, now before you think what you doing wasting a counter service on McDonalds, its no ordinary McDonalds, its the type of burgers they should be selling Anyway you have all eating food like that so I not go in to detail other than to say we got very cool seats in fact its the only 2 tables in the whole place that are like this, and soon as we left other families snapped them up quickly.
Everyone headed back to the hotel however me, my wife and Amanda stayed back to use the rider swaps we had for 2 of the rides and fast pass Dinosaur as well. After we done them we also headed back to the hotel.
- Wishes Cruise
We head off to Magic Kingdom from our hotel, to then take the monorail to the Contemporary to meet the boat for the Wishes Cruise. You can pick from a few hotels to get picked up but this was the only one I knew was easy to get to from another Hotel and it turns out it was the correct choice in places to set sail from.
The Contemporary looks really nice, its not as themed like Animal Kingdom but it looks like a nice place to stay, anyways we head out to the marina and sort of just stand at the dock, we didnt know what to do or who to ask, so we looked for a Disney looking person and asked him, he told us who to see and then one of the captains says he go and check, our duded was not in yet but then we where early so not a problem we just waited, but not for long as he turns up we get the form signing out the way and then he says well we might as well head out early.
So head out we do, now keep in mind I only done this Wishes Cruises because people on this forum said it was cool and I was like, it better be worth $250 But if you dont try you do know.. Also one very odd thing of the 4 boats setting sail at around the same time, every single person was from the UK??? I kid you not.
The boat was nice and loads of room, we parked the pram on board and take Adam out and put on his life jacket, also Amanda gets one too but everyone else doesnt, I guess young kids are the only ones worth saving LOL So we talk a bit to the boat guy who then starts taking us about Bay Lake telling us about different things, pointing out the old river country water park they still have but is never used and some other stuff, then we head over to the Wilderness Lodge and he stops the boat. He says we will wait here for a bit, not having a clue what was going on we just sat, but not for long as we see these red lights moving along the water, still clueless to whats going on.
Then it starts, something called a Water Pageant, basically its a light show on water with music that you can see from each of the lake based hotels as it goes from hotel to hotel. I find out later after we leave the area that they have been doing it every night for 28 years, and here is the kicker, I have stayed at Wilderness Lodge and never once seen it or heard it, its amazing what you miss at Disney. Anyways it was actually really nice, must have been the floating on the water near it. After this it was off for a tour around the other hotels on the other lake "seven seas lagoon" I think it was called, now this was the strange part, our boat took us around Polynesian Hotel and the Grand Floridian and then off to sit in front of Magic Kingdom but I didnt see any of the other Wishes Cruise boats do that. Anyways our driver it became clear was right into his job, he got us a good position and we floated waiting for Wishes to start. At this point we got the drinks, crisps and popcorn out and then Wishes started, the music was pumped straight in to the boat, the fireworks where amazing. It was really, really nice.. now we deliberately avoided seeing Wishes up to this point and I was well impressed, a great show and I loved the music, so much so I went and bought the CD a few days later.. It was the star bright, star light first start I see tonight part that really sticks in my head.
Anyway it was off back to the Contemporary after what felt like a really good time (not too long and not too short) on the boat, I guess it helped that it was a warn night for the end of November. Thanked the captain who clearly done a much better job than the other captains or at least it felt like that to me, tipped him $40 that I dont think he was expecting, not sure if people tip the boat staff. I only did it as I felt he made the effort to ensure we had a better evening, who knows all I know was it was so worth the $250 cost for the boat. I highly recommend if you can afford it and dont think $250 is too much to watch fireworks from a boat that you do it, I will do it again for sure.
And that was Day 5
A very good day by all accounts. My mother-in-law was very impressed and even said so on the bus back to the hotel, I honestly think she thought it would be a wooden row boat as she was well impressed it was big(ish) with comfy soft seats.
We start our day by going to Boma. Now people on this forum have been going on about it being the best breakfast and I was like yeah I am sure it be ok but never could it be the best breakfast. Wow was I wrong, this was not OK, it was not even good, it was excellent. Where do I start!!!!!
- Boma (Disneys Food Park LOL)
We arrive a couple of mins late for our booking, party of 8 is always fun to seat. They hand over a pager and I am like ok, and nerves kick in what if the people on the forum where a bunch of liars and its a crap breakfast, I am starving better be stuff I cant eat!!!
Anyways couple of mins pass and off we are to our seats, what a table, I am used to places cramming you in like they have a shoe horn, instead what we had was a massive table that could easy seat 8 people well 7 and pram pushed under one bit as our son was sleeping.
Now we are on dinning plan and I should have said to the waitress that day however I didnt until the end of the meal and in a trip report in a few days time you will find out why you should say (and yes we came back to Boma) ok so we order strange juice for all, that turned out to be very nice and with that over it was time to hit the counters to see what they had.
As we approach I noticed that it was not a line system, it was more a visit little sections and take what you like, of course if someone was in front you wait your turn but it was not like you had to queue all the way around until you got to what you like.
So I have a quick scan of the stations of food, they had carver with ham and pork, French toast (American Style LOL), strange African stuff that I didnt try but my mother and father-in-law did and liked, looked like porridge to me, yuck! Pancakes, waffles, syrupy stuff, scrambled egg, fresh fruits all kinds, cereals, different cakes, crispy bacon, omelette station where they make it for you and also toast if you want (however we didnt know that on the first trip) and my mind has gone blank but there was other stuff, loads of other stuff.. it was mental!
Anyways being as I like to stuff my face I was up like 4 times, my mind was thinking feed yourself you might be starving tonight with no table service LOL
ok poor excuse I was just loving it. I have to say everything was fresh, hot and very, very nice, you could tell it was professional real chefs that made this food, the type of chefs you get a posh dinner where making breakfast, I think thats why it was so good.My son was a sleep but we keep him grapes and strawberries for later, he loves grapes.
Anyway enough about Boma Breakfast, all I can say is you have to eat at this place if you stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you would be nuts to miss it.. We eat 3 times in total it was that good.
- Animal Kingdom
So with everyone stuffed too bits it was off to Animal Kingdom for todays park. As we had Boma early we got to the park not long after opening and mission number one was to get on the spiny ride in Dino Land. So I head off with one of the girls, giving strict instructions that everyone meets us at the ride in Dino Land, I head off with Stephanie taking everyone park tickets. We get to the ride and get all the fast passes but would you believe it the return time was already later in the day, almost lunch time, I was like no way, however on closer inspection of the fast pass tickets I notice it says you can get more fast passes in 10 mins time, odd I thought it was 1 hour or so before the next ones come up.. so I think, lets get fast passes for a ride further in the back of the park, and we can come back here and everyone should be waiting.
So me and Stephanie head off to River Rapids ride and on the way walk past Everest .. I was like why cant that be open now
but soon moved on, we hit the Far East section and a Chinese woman said I can give you fast passes to the bird show, my son likes birds so I asked when is it on, it was 30 mins time so that was cool. So we take them and now have 2 full sets of fast passes and off to the river rapids, we get to it and had a couple of mins to go before we could stick our cards in, we put them in and out pop 7 more fast passes so the Dino Land spiny thing was right we could get more. I was tired at this point and was thinking, well at least I am burning off Boma breakfast. Anyway we rush back to Dino Land and we couldnt see them, I was like we left them 20 mins ago, they should have made it to hear by now.. but nope couldnt find them, and our mobile phones had run out of power so couldnt call. Anyway I am thinking where could they have gone!!! So I say to Stephanie, sit here do not move, I be back every 5 mins to check and I start looking for them, I start and 10 mins later I find them coming back from Far East section, I was like what where you doing, they where like we couldnt remember where you said so we thought we try the rides you talked about but not the one I said LOL Ah well time ticking away for the first fast pass useage, we had to move it quick smart to the bird show, now fast pass for the bird show basically gets you in a queue that goes in first, its a trick to get you to see the early shows, but a nice trick as its a nice show.
I got some photos in and then my son starts to get bored, he loves birds and I thought that was strange, starts crying and my wife not wanting to spoil it for everyone sitting around takes him out, we stay on.. then disaster strikes, ok maybe not a disaster but right near end of the show a bee flys next to Amanda who freaks out and as she going mental squash the bee in-between her arm and her mums and Amanda get stung.. oh dear looked like that was going to be the end of that, could this bee another bad day (oh dear, shoot me now the jokes are getting poor). The show was ending as we go to leave, by the way I liked the show, only thing I messed up on was selection of the wrong lens for taking photos of the birds in flight, so I have no good ones, but if you like to take photos I recommend you try to get them as the fly over head.
Ok so something new for me, Disney First Aid. Never used it before, didnt know what happened or what to expect. I asked a cast member who told us where to find it, so off we went. We turn up and there was a boy who was going in to some kind of sugar type shock thing, lets put it this way it wasnt a bee sting as they where calling an Ambulance for him he was awake but you can tell it's not good. Anyway the nurse on duty was very nice, and one of the Security was in the place, I take it he took the boy and his mother in. It was upbeat and the way nurse and security person was talking to all the kids it was very relaxed and dont you worry type of chatter. Anyways Amanda's Bee Sting is cleaned, something out a mini bottle is put on a plaster, its put on and an ice pack and bandage put over. Nurse asks for name to be put on a register and then I ask, so how much is that then (well it is America) she kind of looked at me as if what kind of heartless people do you think Disney are! Well hey its America, nothing medical is free, well I guess being stung by a bee on Disney Property is free!
So back in to the park with one not very happy Amanda, I said do you want to go back to the hotel (ok was her mum taking her but at least I asked LOL), she was like no I want to stay (I am thinking good answer LOL) and we still had 5 mins before our fast passes to the river rapid thing runs out so we head for that. On we go and as you can see from the photo that cheered her up some, she is the one with the huge white bandage around her right arm. I stayed off this ride with Adam, and be honest I wasnt that bothered as we had a rider swap so I could go on later at any point.
One problem with having to many fast passes close together is that you have to rush about to get them all in, I can tell some of you are thinking, how is that a problem
Anyways it was off to Dino Land and time for the Spiny Dino Ride thingy again I volunteered to stay off and watch Adam who was now sleeping as my wife had asked that this be the ride she done with her mum and dad before we even came on holiday. I think these photos explain what it was like better than I could in words Everyone in my wifes family have seen the photo with my Mother-in-law in it and think her face says it all
So at this point its lunch time and with Boma some 4 hours behind us and prospect of a late night with no table service we decided after much badgering from the kids that we eat at the McDonalds in Dino Land, now before you think what you doing wasting a counter service on McDonalds, its no ordinary McDonalds, its the type of burgers they should be selling
Anyway you have all eating food like that so I not go in to detail other than to say we got very cool seats in fact its the only 2 tables in the whole place that are like this, and soon as we left other families snapped them up quickly.
Everyone headed back to the hotel however me, my wife and Amanda stayed back to use the rider swaps we had for 2 of the rides and fast pass Dinosaur as well. After we done them we also headed back to the hotel.
- Wishes Cruise
We head off to Magic Kingdom from our hotel, to then take the monorail to the Contemporary to meet the boat for the Wishes Cruise. You can pick from a few hotels to get picked up but this was the only one I knew was easy to get to from another Hotel and it turns out it was the correct choice in places to set sail from.
The Contemporary looks really nice, its not as themed like Animal Kingdom but it looks like a nice place to stay, anyways we head out to the marina and sort of just stand at the dock, we didnt know what to do or who to ask, so we looked for a Disney looking person and asked him, he told us who to see and then one of the captains says he go and check, our duded was not in yet but then we where early so not a problem we just waited, but not for long as he turns up we get the form signing out the way and then he says well we might as well head out early.
So head out we do, now keep in mind I only done this Wishes Cruises because people on this forum said it was cool and I was like, it better be worth $250
But if you dont try you do know.. Also one very odd thing of the 4 boats setting sail at around the same time, every single person was from the UK??? I kid you not.The boat was nice and loads of room, we parked the pram on board and take Adam out and put on his life jacket, also Amanda gets one too but everyone else doesnt, I guess young kids are the only ones worth saving LOL
So we talk a bit to the boat guy who then starts taking us about Bay Lake telling us about different things, pointing out the old river country water park they still have but is never used and some other stuff, then we head over to the Wilderness Lodge and he stops the boat. He says we will wait here for a bit, not having a clue what was going on we just sat, but not for long as we see these red lights moving along the water, still clueless to whats going on.Then it starts, something called a Water Pageant, basically its a light show on water with music that you can see from each of the lake based hotels as it goes from hotel to hotel. I find out later after we leave the area that they have been doing it every night for 28 years, and here is the kicker, I have stayed at Wilderness Lodge and never once seen it or heard it, its amazing what you miss at Disney. Anyways it was actually really nice, must have been the floating on the water near it. After this it was off for a tour around the other hotels on the other lake "seven seas lagoon" I think it was called, now this was the strange part, our boat took us around Polynesian Hotel and the Grand Floridian and then off to sit in front of Magic Kingdom but I didnt see any of the other Wishes Cruise boats do that. Anyways our driver it became clear was right into his job, he got us a good position and we floated waiting for Wishes to start. At this point we got the drinks, crisps and popcorn out and then Wishes started, the music was pumped straight in to the boat, the fireworks where amazing. It was really, really nice.. now we deliberately avoided seeing Wishes up to this point and I was well impressed, a great show and I loved the music, so much so I went and bought the CD a few days later.. It was the star bright, star light first start I see tonight part that really sticks in my head.
Anyway it was off back to the Contemporary after what felt like a really good time (not too long and not too short) on the boat, I guess it helped that it was a warn night for the end of November. Thanked the captain who clearly done a much better job than the other captains or at least it felt like that to me, tipped him $40 that I dont think he was expecting, not sure if people tip the boat staff. I only did it as I felt he made the effort to ensure we had a better evening, who knows all I know was it was so worth the $250 cost for the boat. I highly recommend if you can afford it and dont think $250 is too much to watch fireworks from a boat that you do it, I will do it again for sure.
And that was Day 5
A very good day by all accounts. My mother-in-law was very impressed and even said so on the bus back to the hotel, I honestly think she thought it would be a wooden row boat as she was well impressed it was big(ish) with comfy soft seats.
