Disney Jan 2018 ~ Animal Kingdom, Part 2

Soon after we returned from Rafiki’s Planet Watch it was time to return to Pandora to ride Flight of Passage again using our FastPass+ reservations.  We were excited to experience this ride again as truly it is an experience!!
The island of Pandora is nothing short of spectacular!!  It was designed by Disney’s Joe Rhode and Director, James Cameron so we knew it would be great but it is beyond that!!  When you are visiting Pandora, you are truly visiting Pandora!!

One of the portions of the preshow is the creation of a digital Avatar for each person.  LOL – can you tell who’s who?

Preparing to board our Banshees!

Another one of the quieter, educational things we did this time was many of the Conservation Stations in Animal Kingdom.  Hannah enjoyed these opportunities to learn about our planet and things we can do to take care of it and in turn filled up her passport with stickers.

One of the stations gave us a ‘new to us’ view of the Tree of Life.  So pretty!

Now that Animal Kingdom stays open later in the evenings something we enjoy doing is riding Kilimanjaro Safaris around sunset.  Many of the animals are more active around sunset and it’s neat to see them moving around.  We hoped to see the baby hippo who was only a few weeks old at the time but unfortunately he was camera shy.  But other animals were not!


Lions that are finally awake although daddy might be getting sleepy!

Later in the evening Hannah did some digging for bones and artifacts in Dinoland

and we ended our time in Asia with our traditional evening ride on Expedition Everest. Wheee!

We wandered back to Pandora one last time with hopes of riding the other new ride there ‘Na’vi River Journey’ with a reasonable wait and it worked out perfectly!  Even though the wait time showed 35 mins we were on the ride less than 10 minutes later.  Getting in line for a ride close to closing is a good tip for some of the busier rides.  Looking forward to visiting Pandora again another time!

Disney Jan 2018 ~ Animal Kingdom, Part 1

Wednesday was an early morning as we were both excited for the day ahead so we were up and out of the room before 7am!  We were on our way to Animal Kingdom  and going to check out Pandora – The World of Avatar, a new land that had opened since our last visit!  Pandora has been open for less than a year and one of it’s rides is the current hot item ticket at Walt Disney World!
We caught an early bus and arrived at the park around 7:15 for a 9:00 opening. 

We were able to go through bag check and security and were in line at the tap stiles before 7:30am.  By that point every tap stile as lined up about 30 people deep and the line continued to grow behind us.
I believe it was shortly before 8:00 that the tap stiles were opened and we quietly sauntered lightly jogged towards Pandora.  We had made friends with a family in the line and Hannah kept up with them as this mama isn’t used to moving at much more than that gentle saunter mentioned above.  We met back up on the bridge on our way to Pandora and the next wait began.
This was the group in front of us….

And the line extended further than the eye could see behind us….still about an hour before park opening!  And yes….95% of these people were all headed to the same ride!!!

The ride of choice, Avatar Flight of Passage! 
I will say I was surprised that the line did not start moving into Pandora until 9:00 as it’s common for Cast Members to begin the controlled walk towards the ride early.  I will say that Disney has mastered the controlled walk when you think of the thousands of people that were now in line and how they moved it forward slowly and from 25 people wide to single file without pushing, shoving and just moving forward.  It really is quite neat and while it would give my friend M heart palpitations to be in a crowd like that, it’s part of the excitement for Hannah and I. 
As we entered Pandora and made our way towards the ride I snapped a few pics of this amazing new land.  They really did a phenomenal job of theming it!!!


I don’t want to spoil the surprise but if you’re going to WDW, try not to miss Flight of Passage (FoP)!  It is breathtaking and unlike any other ride I’ve ever been on!  We were thankful to have FP reservations for later in the day so we knew we’d get to ride again.  Woot!
We exited the ride about 9:20 and by that time the standby wait was over 2 1/2 hours long!  Oh yes, arriving early was the key for sure!!
After FoP we made our way towards Africa to Tusker House for our character breakfast reservation.  The food at Tusker House is delicious and the character interaction great. 
Mickey told us Minnie was busy fixing her makeup so we didn’t see her but we did visit with him and some of his best friends.





Hannah had never been to Rafiki’s Planet Watch so we boarded an oh-so-crowded train and took the 5 hour minute ride to the Planet Watch area.  Yes, we had this entire car to ourselves.
Rafiki was there to greet her.  She was a little hesitant about greeting him at first but after a few minutes she warmed up to him and decided he was an okay dude to go see.

My niece Rebecca was the same when she was Hannah’s age and she exclaimed that she was not going to get anywhere close to ‘For-freekie!’
We took time to visit the small petting zoo before taking the train back to Africa.

A great day was under way and it was still only early afternoon. 
Tomorrow, part 2 of our day at Animal Kingdom.

Disney 2014, Day 4, Part I (Animal Kingdom)

(Tuesday, September 23, 2014)
Like many other mornings our group gathered for coffee in the food court at Pop Century.  As each family woke up some chose to head to the food court.  It was a different combo of people each morning.  This quickly became a fun part of our trip!  As expected the first couple of days we met shortly after 6 and by the end of the week it was 7 or later.
We had originally planned on meeting at 3:00 this day but we decided to spend the whole day together.   Riding the bus to the park with Makenna and Katelyn.
We all had the dining plan but many meals were booked separately.  This morning we joined Bonnie, Paul and their kiddos for breakfast at Tusker House in the Animal Kingdom.
Characters at this meal were:
Donald
Daisy
Goofy and
Mickey.
Since we were there last year Disney has built a new theatre to show The Lion King.  It was right next to our breakfast restaurant which was much nicer than the long walk to the old location.  It was as great as we remember!
Each year that we’ve been to Disney Hannah has been asked to be in the show.  This year as Paul, Hannah and I went in to get seats for our group the cast member seating us pointed to a spot in the 3rd row and offered it to us.  Sure enough it was the exact place where they choose the kids from and all 4 of our kids were invited to take part!  Nathan chose to pass but the girls were excited to help out with the dance!
When the show was over we found out that earlier in the day than normal the heavens had opened and our strollers were soaked!! Ugh!  Thankfully when it started a cast member went around and closed all the canopies on the strollers so with the aid of mommy’s rain poncho at least Hannah could sit for the day without getting a wet seat.  This happens to me at least once every single trip we’re away even though I try to cover it often.  The good news is that now the stroller is squeaky clean!    Sadly Tuesday was out day of rain as you’ll be able to see from the following pics.  It rained on and off the entire day and at some points broke records in the amount that came down in an hour!
One thing Hannah really enjoys is watching ‘Disney Parks’ videos on YouTube.  I like them because I know they are all safe and she can cruise through them watching what she wants.  This year she watched one for ‘Expedition Everest’ and decided she wanted to give it a try.  It’s a HUGE roller coaster and I was pretty sure she would change her mind before boarding.  I reassured her that I would support her whatever she decided.
I was wrong.  She was super excited to give it a try!  This is our before pic.  Check out that excited grin!
Unfortunately this one was a bit big for her.  I had pushed her bar down firmly and had my arm around her the entire ride but I found out later that she was concerned she was going to fall out.  Poor pet!  I felt bad that I hadn’t thought this might be a concern of hers or I would have reassured her that this couldn’t happen.  When we got off she announced, ‘Mommy, I didn’t cry but, I didn’t like it and I’m never, ever going to ride it again!  Not even when I’m a Mommy!’ 
After pic.  LOL!!
Cooling off with some frozen treats
Bonnie offered to watch the kids in the Boneyard while Dave, Trish, Paul and I rode ‘Dinosaur.’  This is a new ride for me and it was scary but fun!  (Pardon the hair.  I had spent most of the day in the rain and very quickly given up on trying to stay dry.)
Bonnie is a trooper and loves all the kids.  Our relationship is quite neat and I love the way God has woven our families together!  If you’ve been around here for a while you’ll know that Norma is my best friend from work (she retired last December) and that she travelled to China with me when Hannah and I became a family.  Bonnie is Norma’s younger daughter so I watched Bonnie grow up and now we’re great friends!  Bonnie also is the daycare provider of my brother and SILs children so the friendship they share is special too.   She is also my backup provider when Ange is on vacation so Hannah knows her well too.  Norma and I have remarked about how we had no idea 25+ years ago when we became friends the way our 2 families would weave together.  It’s really neat!!
This is where Bonnie and I differ.  It was a hot, sticky, rainy day and I was doing everything not to walk in the little beads of sand the kids were playing in.  When we returned from the ride Bonnie had allowed the kids to bury her legs in the sand!  You’re a trooper Bon!
Coming up next….dinner at ‘Ohana.  Yum!!!

Disney 2013, Day 8: Animal Kingdom

Friday was our day at Animal Kingdom (AK).  Hannah hopped up on Nana’s lap to enjoy an early ride and we were on her way.  Oh how I love to see the love between Hannah and her Nana!!
Our first stop was the food court at our resort for some brekkie and then we made our way to AK.  We had a FP+ for The Lion King which is a great show.  For the 3rd year in a row Hannah was chosen to participate in the show.  (2012, 2011) I think it helps that as soon as they begin looking for little ones to help them she’s bouncing on my lap and her little arm is flying in the air.

Tor, Josh and I rode Expedition Everest.  A great roller coaster that I can see Hannah being ready to ride in the next couple of years.  Disney brings out the kid in all of us.
My camera was acting up again so I missed pics on Kilimanjaro Safaris and The Nemo Show but then it was up and running again.  Thankful for that!
Bubbles, bubbles everywhere!!
Digging for dinosaur bones as we ride out today’s storm.
Meeting special friends at AK.
Hannah’s new little friend.  I’d tell you her name but she changes it daily.   
Another amazing day together!
From AK we made our way to Downtown Disney for supper at Wolfgang Puck’s Cafe, a bit of shopping and pre-bedtime splash pad fun.  This is why I always carry a ziploc of dry clothes with us when we’re at Disney.