After a good night's rest, we were up at 7am, and out the door by around 8ish, trekking down the hallway to hop the bus to AK. I'm thinking that YC should have some rest stops in the hallways, you know, to fill our canteens for the long journey to the lobby and beyond. Whew! I think I had blisters before I even got on the bus!
We headed out along the boardwalk first and I snapped some more pics of BC this time....
I love the way BC and YC are connected, they're the same, yet different. So after roaming through BC halls for awhile, we headed out to catch the bus to AK.
Pic of BC from the bus stop....
I swear, we hardly even used the YC bus stop - we always took short cuts from other resorts.
We got to AK shortly after the park opened, not trying for any rope drops this trip, just taking it "easy." Yeah, right. I wore my pedometer the whole time just to keep track of steps. When we were there in May, our heaviest walking day was 19,000 steps. We killed it this time!
As soon as we got to AK, Jeff agreed to go on Dinosaur with me if I'd ride Mission Space at Epcot. I made NO promises, but still got him on Dinosaur. He HATED it 10 years ago when we honeymooned at Disney, about 2 weeks after AK first opened. And he hated it again!!!
He kept his face down throughout most of the ride because he knew what was going to happen.... I loved it! And I can hardly wait to take Ally on it in November!
After Dinosaur, we headed over to EE, which only had a 10 minute standby wait. I've never seen the queuing for EE cause we've always done fastpass, and it was pretty cool.
I snapped a couple of pics as we were going up the hill....
From here we headed back toward Nemo: The Musical. It was just getting ready to begin when we walked in. Score!
And this was an awesome show!!! In fact, the woman sitting next to Jeff was almost as entertaining as the show itself. She sat with her mouth hanging open from start to finish, except from time to time to utter, "awwww" or something along those lines. Jeff thinks she had never seen the movie so she was shocked when Dory got hurt, and I thought she was going to cry several times.
Seriously though, great show!!!
We then trekked across the park to hit KS before heading out. Even though we said we were going to give AK the time it deserved, we just didn't want to eat lunch there this trip, so we knew we'd have to head to Epcot for some good eats.
A few KS pics....
I think this photo might have been taken in my backyard, not sure....
I'm always amazed that Disney has changed the landscape of Florida to really make you feel like you're in Africa. Love to ride KS every time we're here! And did you know how the lion always seems to be laying on the rock off to the left when you pass by? Disney has air conditioned that rock!!!!! Love Disney strategery and trickery.
For the first time ever, we blew off Festival of the Lion King, which, IMHO, is worth the price of admission to AK. I love that show and hate that we missed it. And once again, we bailed out of AK early. But in 2 hours we were able to hit 4 headline attractions, including a 30 minute show. Not bad!!! The park seemed very empty, even compared to May when we usually go.
So now the debate comes in. Should we take a bus to Epcot, or a bus back to BC and enter through the International Gateway?
The walk to the resort buses was closer, so we headed over and hopped a bus to BC - waited no more than 5 minutes for the bus and off we went. Quick stop at the Mahi Mahi, then on to BC. The driver asked all 5 of us on the bus which resorts we were needing, so he didn't even stop at the others. Love that driver!!!
From BC, we headed through the lobby and strolled right into the World Showcase through the IG. I just love this part of Epcot. In fact, the WS is my favorite part of all of WDW!!!
The first thing we noticed was.... NOTHING! As in, there was nobody there!
This was at 12:30, so the WS had been open for an hour and a half by this time. And it was EMPTY!!!! Oh, did I mention that it was after 12:00 noon?
Time for this......
Ahhhhh! I had never had the Gran Marnier Citron Slush before and it was - 2 numbers and a word - 2 DIE 4!!!!! Tasted just like an orange creamsicle! Jeff got the Absolute Citron Slush, which was lemony and refreshing, too.
Since we were just passing through France, next stop Morocco and Jeff wanted to eat lunch at Tangierine Cafe. We ate at Restaurant Marakkesh 10 years ago and were very pleasantly surprised then, so figured we'd try the Moroccan counter service this trip.
But first, an obligatory photo in our fave country in the WS!
Who is that man and why is his hand on my knee??? Must be the gran marnier slush making me "easy."
Let me just say, this is now my new favorite CS in Disney!!! It used to be Cantina de San Angel or Yorkshire County Fish Shop, but I think Tangierine Cafe has surpassed those two.
I had the lamb wrap with lentil salad and couscous. I must find the recipe for the lentil salad - this was cold and refreshing, would be a great pot luck recipe in the summer!!!
Jeff had the Shawarma chicken and lamb platter.
And baklava for dessert.....
Now that our bellies were happily full, it was time to walk off lunch. And what better place than around the World Showcase? And we're off......
Next up, our afternoon at Epcot, and dinner at Le Chefs de France.....
You know now, I must add DTD to our "must do" list because of stitch!
