Up around 8 with our daughter out on the patio looking around the savannah and being disappointed that there were no animals.
Eventually did see some Roan Antelope (3) and a couple of them butted heads – got pictures of that.
roan antelope head butting Disney’s Animal Kingdom
We had bagels for breakfast in the room watching for animals.
Short tour of parts of the hotel and kids took part in one of the conservation activities that you can collect beads for doing. They did the jenga block type one talking about the ecosystem.
We had a couple of old Samsung S4 phones that still function for wifi and as cameras, etc – so let each of the kids use one to take pictures with. It was pretty fun watching them decide what they wanted to take pictures of during the trip. It was also cool to look at the pictures later to get a view from a different perspective.
sunlight through the trees waiting for the bus at Disney’s Animal Kingdom LodgeK selfie waiting for the bus at Disney’s Animal Kingdom LodgeDisney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge pool
We took the bus to Disney Springs and did a short wander there. There we checked to see if Planet Hollywood was open or not – we had gotten a reservation for that day a few weeks back but it had been cancelled as they weren’t quite ready yet and we wanted to check to see if maybe they might be open after all – they were doing a private event instead. Oh well.
fountain near AMC and Planet Hollywood Disney Springs
During this walk we got a call from our DVC client rep and we sorted out the timing to head over to Saratoga Springs DVC center to sign the paper work in a couple hours.
We ended up having a good lunch at T-Rex without any real wait. T-Rex is always fun.
After lunch and a decent walk around Disney Springs and Saratoga Springs Resort we were at the DVC center and finished up the paperwork and got our add on points. With the changes Disney made to DVC the previous year prior to us buying our points on the resale market we weren’t able to take advantage of some of the benefits that members that bought from them enjoyed. But with the add on points we now have access to the full benefit set. We had our new blue DVC cards saved to our phones and the points banked for next before we left the building!
We got some ice cream for the kids before we left and they also gave us 3 special fast passes to be used how we liked over the next few days. Bonus!
amphibicar near Disney Springs
We walked back to Disney Springs and did some shopping through several stores and then headed out to the buses.
Back to the hotel and took some time to rest at the hotel. We ended up missing our planned Nemo musical fast pass and Primeval Whirl fast pass because of the afternoon events but we wanted to make sure we got to our night safari right fast pass.
Once we got to the park we had to wait to get Heather and the kids’ annual passes set up and then we were in the park for a quick walk to the safari ride. Along the way we saw the lit up Tree of Life for the first time in person – very cool!
Animal Kingdom Tree of Life – lit up at night
We made it to the night safari ride with a half hour to spare in our window and it was a very different experience at night – but a lot of fun!
After that we saw we had about 35 minutes until the park closed – so we hit up Expedition Everest for our son and I to ride in the dark – that was a lot of fun – you can see so far at night. The night safari ride was fun but I think the dark ride on Expedition Everest was cooler.
Then we made it over to Dinoland to make up for our missed Primeval Whirl fast pass and quickly got on the ride (well, all of us but Heather who can’t handle the spinning).
Then all 4 of us got on Triceratops Spin and then a sprint to Dinosaur and we just made it in before the clock changed to 7:30 to indicate the park was closing.
We were the only riders getting on and got an entire car to ourselves (we were the last to ride that night).
At the end the staff had been doing a final inspection of the ride cars and we were left out in the final time tunnel for a few minutes as the cars were backed up. It was pretty awesome and a definite cool first for us but by the end the kids were getting a bit scared.
After that, it was a quick bathroom break and a walk to the front of the park – along the way we managed to catch the animated show on the Tree of Life. Fantastic. Leave it to Disney to turn an oil rig into a tree and then turn around and turn it into a movie screen.
Animal Kingdom Tree of Life – lit up at night
We left the park and caught the direct bus to Epcot as that park was to open to 11 that night.
The bus driver for that ride had a lot of fun joking around with everyone – made for a shorter ride.
After bag check we were into Epcot – we ended up walking right onto Spaceship Earth.
Heather and the kids had only had their annual passes for a little over 3 hours at this point and we were in our second park and had ridden 6 rides. We can be efficient at Disney World sometimes!
We then decided we needed to eat and hit up Electric Umbrella and got a partial view of Illuminations while we ate.
We checked out Test Track but the wait had jumped to 45 minutes, so instead we went over toward the Nemo ride. Along the way we looked at stopping for the Joy and Sadness meet and greet but the wait ended up being 20 minutes and the kids were a bit punch drunk so we needed to keep moving.
Onto Nemo and then did Soarin’ after a short wait. (again Heather did not ride) It was the kids’ first time seeing the updated Soarin’ so it was fun to watch their reactions.
After that we wandered out of the park and onto a bus (after a short wait) then on our way back to the resort.
Unfortunately this post is pretty light on photos as we didn’t take a lot of pictures for a few days. We did get a few photopass photos that are included below.
Feb 14th
Got up and did a short run this morning – I took a path that completely avoid the main building because the crowds in that area were insane!
Once I got back the room and cleaned up we all headed out for breakfast and headed over to the lobby to catch the shuttle to do the DVC tour. The tour occurs over at Saratoga Springs where they have a full area where you can view the different room styles all decorated in the styles of the newest DVC resorts.
The tour was pretty cool and the facility was great.
One very awesome thing was that our tour guide Mark is part of Off Kilter – the band that used to play at the Canada pavilion in Epcot. Sounds like they still play festivals and have a new album coming out. It was a great experience meeting Mark and it was a very good tour.
We are pretty sold on DVC but the Canadian dollar needs to recover before something like that could even be seriously thought about.
Another cool thing about the DVC tour was that we got 3 special fast passes for each of us that could be used at any time during the next few days at any parks and they didn’t need to be reserved. Pretty awesome! Because we also did a morning tour they also gave us a $50 gift card too. Nice!
The kids enjoyed the kids club area including the arts and crafts while we did the tour – our son enjoyed video games while our daughter made a bunch of stuff.
After the tour we were treated with ice cream at the tour center and then given a shuttle ride to where ever we wanted to be dropped off. We decided on Animal Kingdom figuring we maybe could use some of the special fast passes there.
So we got to Animal Kingdom and it was insanely busy. To the point that we were holding onto the kids to make sure we didn’t lose them.
We first tried Kilimanjaro Safari but the fast past line was huge and we didn’t want to wait – unfortunately this made this the only trip we have never made in on the safari ride. That is a bit disappointing.
We then went to Everest and the fast pass line was over 20 minutes for our son and I to make it through. So he and I had burned one of our special fast passes each so far.
We then had a normal fast pass time for Primeval Whirl and our daughter was finally tall enough to ride – she had a blast!
It was still pretty early but the crowds were just too much – so went back to the hotel to get ready for supper reservation at Narcoosie at the Grand Floridian resort.
Narcoosie was great – we all got a bit dressed up for Valentines Day – we had a window view of the boats on the Seven Seas Lagoon and of the monorails and the entrance to Magic Kingdom. While we were there it got dark and we were able to see everything get all lit up. A fantastic setting really.
We then did a tour around the gorgeous Grand Floridian resort before grabbing the monorail over to Magic Kingdom. We didn’t have park hopper tickets and we were all pretty tired so we decided to not bother to upgrade our tickets and instead head back to the hotel by bus.
That was a pretty full day.
Feb 15th
I woke up around 6-7 because my back was hurting – got up and took some advil and lay back down. Surprisingly fell back to sleep.
I then got up and started to run just before 10 – already pretty warm outside – seemed like it was going to be a warm day. I ran 3.6 miles – went the opposite direction than I had been going – that helped with the crowds near the main building.
Then after getting back to the room and shower and having a shower we went for lunch / breakfast at the hotel and figured we would go in the pool after. But after a wander we found it too cool due to surprisingly cool breeze so we looked at the updates to the main pool area and let the kids play on the play structure for a while before heading back to the room.
We grabbed sweaters and left the room and took the boat to Disney Springs – after some quick shopping (our daughter needed socks) and a snack (Wetzel’s Pretzles – jalapeno cheese dunk was phenomenal).
We then took a boat to Old Key West and did a quick wander around to check things out. Then took a bus from there to Hollywood Studios.
At Hollywood Studios we all did Rockin Roller Coaster – Heather was not feeling well after that even after having taken some of her meds for motion sickness – of course she got the front seat too to make it more interesting. It was also our daughter’s first time on the ride – she didn’t much like it either. I enjoyed it.
Then did the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show.
Next thing we had was the Frozen Sing a Long – it was actually very good – quite funny. Kids loved it.
Was raining a little bit after that but not too bad.
We all then did Star Tours before leaving the park.
We had supper reservations at Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club Resort – it is about a 20 minute walk and we just made it (3 minutes late). It was pretty awesome having the Symphony in the Stars fireworks going off as we wandered over.
Another great meal at Beaches and Cream – the Classic Root Beer float with the hard root beer was very tasty!
Walked around Beach Club and Beach Club Villas and then the Yacht Club.
Walked over to Board Walk and checked out the model villa – very nice.
After a bit more walking we grabbed a cab to Riverside ($10.80)
Put on the Duffy show for the kids and then we were off to bed. My calculations had us walking over 6 miles today – the kids did great!
Breakfast reservation this morning for the character breakfast at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. This meant we had to get up and moving quite early compared to what we had been doing – we were all out of the room by 8:30! Crazy.
We got to Animal Kingdom just after 9 and got our first indication that the park was going to be crazy – there was a very long wait for back check and we just got to Tusker House in time for our 9:25 reservation.
Overall the food was good – fresh and a very good selection. The characters took longer to come around then what I remember from other character breakfasts but it wasn’t a bad wait. I would go there with the kids again.
After breakfast we abandoned the park because the lines were already crazy.
After a few minutes back at the hotel we decided to try Blizzard Beach – it was the first day of the trip where it was warm enough to actually go to a water park and we wanted to hit Blizzard Beach at least once while we were there. Every time we have gone in the past Blizzard Beach has been closed for winter reno and we have gone to Typhoon Lagoon instead – this year we lucked out and they were switched.
We got to and in the water park at around 12:45 but surprisingly they hadn’t opened until 12:30 (was supposed to be 10). I’m not sure what the issue was but it did mean the park wasn’t that crowded and we were hit everything without too much of a wait.
In the end we did every slide and kids’ area except for the Downhill Double Dipper as it was closed for some repairs. Several of the slides we did more than once. It was a lot of fun and I think in the end we enjoyed it more than Typhoon Lagoon.
We left the park around 4:45 (after stopping at the med station to get a bandage for scraped toe) – we then waited for a bus until 5:30. That was a just plain irritating frankly. And then to make it worse the bus got stopped by some kind of weird traffic jam on the way back to the hotel – we sat on one of the roads for pretty long time. Once we got going though there were many cheers through the bus!
The bus stopped at French Quarter first and after a quick discussion with Heather, I decided to get off there and run to the hotel room while she continued on the bus with the kids. We would then meet up back at the room. I have been trying to run every day as part of a challenge to run every day of 2016 and I hadn’t run in the morning so I needed to get that run done. So I hopped off and met up with everyone after a couple miles of running.
After that we had supper at the resort and did a bit of shopping through the general store there.
Later I took our son to the arcade for a little while (whoops – found out later he had lost his resort mug there).
Then we went back to the room to crash and have a relatively early night for a change.
Feb 13th
I got up and out for a run at around 9 and man, were my legs ever beat up after the day at the water park the day before. Ouch. The run was fairly slow due to a lot of extra traffic at the resort.
When I got back to the room our daughter was up and all dressed wanting to come run with me – so back out we went and did a little tour while having some daddy-daughter time.
After a quick cleanup we all went and had breakfast before coming back to the room to get changed to do some more swimming. The main pool at the Riverside was closed for reno while we were there and we decided to go try the French Quarter pool today.
So we walked over to the French Quarter (there is a shuttle as well but we decided to walk down) and spent a few hours there swimming and the kids enjoyed the slide and doing a bunch of the pool side trivia games, etc.
They were in the process of building a new splash pad area at the FQ pool when we were there and it is probably open by now. They were also in the process of putting extra gates around the pool (I suspect to ensure that only hotel guests are coming into the pool areas such as what was done at Art of Animation).
We also took a few minutes to let the kids run around on the play structure before we caught the golf cart shuttle back to the Riverside.
We decided to head to Hollywood Studios to see if we could get into Fantasmic that night as well as see Symphony in the Stars. On the way to the bus stop we stopped and talked to the Disney Vacation Club guy there and decided we should probably just do a tour. We go frequently enough and with how we vacation at Disney it would probably make some sense for us to get into DVC. Granted the Canadian dollar was fairly awful at that point but we figured if we did the tour and got the info we would be in a better place to make a decision once the dollar gets better. So we booked an appointment for the next morning.
Then off to Hollywood Studios! Very busy there as well so we didn’t end up getting on any rides but we did manage to get into SciFi Dinner for supper. The last time we were there our son had gotten a bit freaked out by some of the movie shorts they had been playing and he really didn’t want to go this time but they had changed just enough of the movies that he had a blast.
After supper we did a wander around the Launch Bay Hanger to get a look at all the Star Wars merchandise – it would be easy to lose a fortune in there…
We watched Symphony in the Stars right in front of the Great Movie Ride – it was a beautiful thing. Fantastic fireworks but the power of the music was great.
We went then to see if we could get into Club Disney that I had heard about a while back but apparently it was no more – that didn’t last long…oh well.
So then we went and got a seat at Fantasmic and had a great time before heading back out of the park to catch the bus to the hotel.
At this point we needed to get some laundry done so I went down to the quiet pool and the laundry facility to see if anything was available. Found out about something I had never heard of before – there is a laundry tracking site for all the laundry rooms at Disney World. You go to the site, pick the hotel and the laundry facility and it will tell you which machines are free and where the active machines are in their cycles (including time to completion). That is a phenomenal thing! Super convenient. www.laundryview.com/disneyworld/
The theme of being up earlier than the rest of the family continues. Another quick run in the Boardwalk area this morning. The weather was a bit cooler and there were definitely fewer people out and about so I pushed it a bit faster. It felt good after several days of walking at a constantly changing pace to be able to just get out and move. I regretted not continuing longer after I got back to the room and the kids were still asleep! I could have kept going without feeling guilty. Oh well.
Breakfast in the club room again and then we walked to Hollywood Studios. Even at a nice leisurely pace and we beyond beat the ferry boat. Usually the boat versus walking is close but for some reason the boats were very slow that morning.
We started with a short standby line for Star Tours and then wandered over and I did standby line with T for Rockin’ Rollercoaster (this was a first time for both of us). T loved it.
T waiting for Rockin’ Rollercoaster
We then did our fast pass for Toy Story Midway Mania after a quick pretzel (and beer for me) snack.
We decided to try the Pirates of the Caribbean show and T and K were picked to be the audience members who held up the skeleton key at the start of the show. They enjoyed that and the show was pretty cool.
Then time for lunch at the ABC Commissary before doing a fast pass for Star Tours.
We checked several times during the day to see if we could get K on Tower of Terror but wait times were too long and we were out of fast passes for the day. So we did not get her on the ride but we still did lots of other fun things.
Decided to let T build a double bladed light saber (blue and red) as his treat to match up with K’s new Anna dress and then we walked back to the hotel.
After a quick snack in the Club room and I hung out in the room with the kids while Heather did some laundry while soaking in the hot tub by the quiet pool.
K relaxing
During this I decided we should do a bit of a special supper so I made 8 pm reservations for Akershus Royal Banquet Hall to have dinner with the Disney Princesses. K dressed as Anna from Frozen and was extremely excited to show off the dress to the Princesses.
So T wouldn’t feel too left out we picked him up a foam sword and shield on the way, similar to what I had grabbed as part of my half marathon running costume in January (see http://biggoofyrunner.com for more details on that).
We were greeted by Belle at the entrance and then saw Snow White, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Ariel (Little Mermaid) and of course Cinderella.
It was late magic hours at Epcot that night so after supper we did test track through the standby line – very close to end of magic hours and park closing at that point.
We started walk toward the Nemo ride but hit the Character Spot on the way to see if Mickey, Minnie and Goofy were still taking pictures – they were and we were the last family of the day. The characters were playing around and in the end the PhotoPass photographers got over 90 pictures with us and the characters – some even with all three characters together with us. That stop alone paid for the Memory Maker + we had pre-purchase. We were certainly glad we had it at that point!
And we still managed to get on Nemo and then walked back to the hotel through a mostly deserted Epcot. I had my DSLR with me and managed to get some cool photos on the way. Some examples are below – I will be adding a gallery on the site with more later as I get some time to process them.
Feb 8th – cool and rainy
We still had some laundry that needed extra drying from the night before so I took it over to the laundry facility early in the morning (while everyone else was sleeping, again). I had some issues with one of the dryers eating my coins which was unusual for Disney. While things were drying I got in a bit of longer run. I ended up having to dry a few things a bit longer and could have run further but the hot tub was right there by the laundry area so I decided that would be more productive instead. I sat in the hot tub for about 20 minutes in a light rain. Very peaceful.
We decided on Animal Kingdom to start the day again and hit the club room for a fast snack and then hit the bus to Animal Kingdom. Fast pass to Everest in the rain – makes for a different experience. There was only a light rain when we got in the cue – but when the ride started it was coming down pretty darned good! Second time in one trip I was getting high speed rain in the face. It was pretty funny. I don’t think the kids liked it by I laughed. Was still fun.
We had fast pass for Nemo musical next but had a wait so we hit Primeval Whirl (T and I) as a walk up, Triceratops Spin (all 4 of us), and then dinosaur dig play area. Then got in line for Nemo – Nemo was a first for all 4 of us – very cool.
Then had fast pass for Dinosaur but a bit of a wait yet – the rain picked up and we got a bit wet as we were waiting. Unfortunately it looks like the standby time clock was way out from what I could tell (said 20 minutes but looked like a walk on). We could have skipped our fast pass and just rode and not got as wet. Oh well – did the ride, had fun and then headed over to Asia for lunch.
Hit the quick serve food place near Yak and Yeti and found a mostly dry spot to eat. Rice seemed like a nice treat after many days of fries.
Then headed to the safari ride and it was basically a walk up as well – lions were very active in the rain – took many pictures – looks like some turned out pretty nice.
Then, back to the hotel for a quick snack and hit the hot tub.
On to Magic Kingdom probably around 6 pm and hopped on the steam train and rode around to the Fantasyland Station and tried to get on Barnstormer but it was not running so we got on Dumbo instead.
After that we wandered over to Tomorrowland and rode the speedway. K and I got a car with busted steering and they let us go a second time while Heather and T waited in the spectator / fan bleachers.
Decided to checked to see about Space Mountain but the line was too long, so we looked at Space Ranger spin, also too long, so we looked at People Mover…and it had a line? I have never seen a line for the People Mover? Very odd – we left Tomorrowland and went to Adventure Land instead.
Did the Jungle Cruise (T and K sat up front by the driver and participated, a lot), then did Tiki Room (saw 3 different families get up and leave during the show – never seen that before).
Next we rode Magic Carpets. The family in front of us wins the award for the worst ride load we have ever seen – they were supposed to go in car 9 but went to 12 instead and yelled at their kids when they tried to go to the right one. They wouldn’t move for the family that were supposed to go in that carpet – Heather let that family know which car was free because of the mix up and they took that one. The mixed up family also loaded with adults on the inside instead of the outside and were on the verge of arguing with the Cast Member who was helping to sort them out. All around pretty rough. And this was NOT a language barrier issue.
After Magic Carpets we went on Pirates as a walk on and got first row (both times through this trip has been front row which is cool).
We then ate at Pecos Bill’s and then went to head over to check out Big Thunder Mountain. As we were leaving the restaurant we saw that Electrical Parade was on and was just passing by the restaurant – we were able to grab a spot right near where the floats go back stage and saw the full parade from there. The kids were happy to see everything and wave at the characters. With the constant waving to the crowd that the Cast Members do K was sure that Alice and Cinderella and others had seen her waving and had waved back to her personally – very cute.
Once the parade was over we headed off to Big Thunder – there was a bit of a wait but not too horrible. T, K and myself were put in one car and we went for the ride while Wishes was going on. It was misty with low lying clouds so couldn’t see most of the fireworks but we could see several that were launched from closer to Cinderella’s Castle, so that was cool.
After that we wandered over toward Barnstormer again and did the Ariel ride and met Ariel in her grotto along the way.
At Barnstormer T got his own seat and I sat with K.
Then we headed into the Speedway again and this time I was with T. We then went and did Space Mountain (only about 15 minutes wait).
After Space Mountain we did Space Ranger spin and started heading for the exit, stopping for a few pics along the way.
There was a bus waiting for us when we got to the cue and we left shortly after getting a seat – bus pulled out at 12:42 am.
Both kids fell asleep on the ride to the hotel (go figure) – K laying against Heather and T sitting up with me hold his head in my hands so he wouldn’t fall over.
Quick wander up to the room and then to bed.
Sunday Feb 9th – last full day and it is a bit warmer and no rain!
At Epcot we did a tour of the countries and all the kidcot stations – we hit all stations but did no rides besides Living with the Land. We had lunch at The Land and during our wandering tour the kids got to test out the new beaker drinks called Doofenslurpers.
They are a blue raspberry slush drink in a large beaker cup with Doofenshmirtz on it. Kids loved them and we brought the cups home with us so I can only imagine what kinds of concoctions we will have to think up to put in them.
Then it was time for a bit of a slight rest at the room and then hit the pool for a while. On the way we were able to roast marshmallows on the beach so the kids had a nice treat. Once we got in the pool I was quite cold and was shivering quickly (the kids and Heather were fine but I think I got more heat on my shaved head that day than I thought and I really felt the sun setting pretty quickly), so I hit the hot tub near the pool and watched the kids play from there.
After a while we went back to the room and got changed before heading out to the Boardwalk to grab a pizza. Coming down the bridge over the canal the Friendship boats use to get to Epcot, K was power skipping at full tilt and tripped. She ended up with a pretty good goose egg and a bit of shiner out of it in the end too. Nothing serious but it obviously hurt and with how tired she was she kept starting to cry again after we would get her calmed down. We got some children’s Advil for her from the store on the Boardwalk and she was back to herself before too long. We also got some ice to put on it when we got our pizza from the pizza window on the Boardwalk which helped as well.
By the time we were done the pizza she was primed and ready to go see the Princesses in Magic Kingdom.
Everything seemed to be ok so we continued on – went through Epcot and saw some of Illuminations on our walk through to the monorail to Magic Kingdom.
Quickly into Magic Kingdom probably around 9:30 pm or so (magic hours to 1 am that night). We decided to go to Town Hall to confirm if we had one more day of tickets for the kids or not in case we wanted to do something in the morning. Plus we wanted to confirm the times for the Disney Princess greeting areas. We got a very cool cast member who confirmed everything and then gave us fast passes to see both pairs of Princesses and one for Space Ranger Spin for T. Very cool.
Wandered over to watch Wishes and after that made our way to see the Princesses. Rapunzel and Snow White first and then Cinderella and Aurora second. Fast Passes for these were awesome – really makes the little princess feel special coming out of a side entrance and walking through to the meet and greet areas while a whole line of people are waiting in the standby line. Almost makes the girl feel like everyone is waiting to see them. It was kinda neat.
After that we tried to pull out Excalibur (which we had never tried before) – it did not work.
We then went on the Carousel before wandering to Tomorrow Land.
Some of the rides still had longer waits in Tomorrow Land so we did our Space Ranger Spin fast pass (which we really did not need as the ride was a walk on and the fast pass cue path was longer than the shortened standby line cue path).
Did our ride and then decided to try one more thing before we left. We decided on Space Mountain which had a 20 minute wait but before we got there we saw a horde of cheer leaders and a bunch of others hit the line so we decided to try something else.
Decided on Laugh Floor – we got seated in the center along an aisle (or at least the kids did) and T ended up getting called on to be talked to by one of the monsters. After a bit K couldn’t contain herself and leaned into the picture and the show took a different turn after that. K wouldn’t speak but just did the craziest monster faces she could, just to see what they would look like on the big screen. Got a bunch of laughs from the crowd and gave the monster a bunch of material to work with like “did she get some evil candy?” and said that he was a bit scared of her. They both thought the whole thing was hilarious and the crowd seemed to enjoy it so that was good.
After that we wandered out to the busses – there was one waiting but we were able to get some seats for T and K (a man popped up quickly to let T sit – very nice) but Heather and I had to stand a bit away. Kids were good but K ended up falling asleep so at the Yacht Club a woman let Heather sit beside her to hold onto her for the remainder of the drive to the Beach Club. K woke up when we got there and we wandered to the club room for a quick snack and then headed to the room. Got off the bus at 12:20 am.
We let the kids watch a show while we did a bunch of packing and organizing and then got them off to sleep and we followed an hour or so later once we were organized.
Monday Feb 10th – check out day
I was up around 7:30 with everyone else sleeping – had a shower and got dressed, etc.
Did a bit of work on the computer and called the resort / airline baggage number to pay for our baggage and about 20 minutes later our luggage tags and boarding passes showed up under our door.
We finished getting ready and took the bags down to the baggage drop off area – quick and smooth.
Then back up to the Club room for a final snack and headed out. Inez (spelling?) had a little care package for Heather (some danishes and muffins).
Wandered downstairs and sat in the lobby for a couple minutes to get the final bit of ambiance and then headed out and sat outside for a few more minutes before the bus came. Bus had one more stop after ours and then we were off to the airport. We did a wander and had a quick lunch before heading through security. Security was quick – only delay was that I forgot to take out my laptop and they had to scan my carryon bag a second time.
Then on to our gate and got on to the plane fairly quickly – a small horde of cheerleaders got on too but they were quite subdued. Nice smooth flight and got off the plane in Minneapolis and grabbed our bags quickly with no hassle – bags were almost already waiting for us since we were in the back end of the plane.
After we got our bags we headed over to the hotel shuttle area and called the hotel. Shuttle was there in around 10 minutes and driver was very courteous and we went straight to the hotel. Once we were checked in we went to TGI Fridays for supper and after moving some stuff around in the van we wandered over to the Mall for some (more) shopping.
A few things were bought at the Disney Store and I picked up a flip phone case for my phone – had to get Best Buy to price match their own website? What the heck is that? Then went back to the hotel to watch some shows before bed.
Kids went to bed and Heather and I made sure everything was good to go and then went to bed too.
Tuesday Feb 11th
Organized a bunch of stuff and got some things out to the van.
Then we went to IHOP for breakfast – finished loading the van and off we went.
Next was a stop in Albertville Premium Outlet mall for some kids clothes and a major cash drop at the Nike store. Both Heather and I got a bunch of stuff and the kids also go some clothes items. Some very deep discounts on shoes – Heather got 2 pair and I got 4 – I also picked up a winter running jacket that retails for $300 in Canada for $105 – awesome!
Then got gas and some snacks and headed on.
There was some heavy blowing snow just around Fargo – we planned to stop there for lunch / early supper but K was asleep so we decided to keep going to Grand Forks instead. K woke up 5 minutes after we passed Fargo but we kept going anyway and the weather cleared up.
In Grand Forks we had supper at Ruby Tuesdays and then did a quick stop at the beer store and a craft store before getting gas and hitting the road. We were at the Canadian border by 9 pm and home around 10.
We let the kids play for a few minutes while we unpacked some stuff and got organized a bit and then got them to bed.
I woke up way earlier than Heather and the kids so I decided to suit up and go for a run on the Boardwalk. It was very foggy and pretty hot and humid already – ended up being a pretty warm day all around. I did 4 laps around the Beach Club / Yacht Club / Boardwalk area – the official running path maps say each lap is 0.8 miles but my running GPS app on my Samsung Galaxy S4 says each lap is a bit longer than that. Took it nice and easy and just enjoyed the peace and quiet.
fog at the Beach Club
After everyone else got up we went and had breakfast at Stone Harbour lounge (also known as the Club room or the Concierge lounge) that we had access to being on Club Level. Nice selection of pastries, hard boiled eggs, cereals (hot and cold) and juices, coffees and milk. Not a heavy breakfast but all you need to get a good start on the parks for the day!
We headed off to Epcot to sort out some issues with our tickets – for some reason Heather’s and my annual passes were not linking to the bands properly for the park readers – all the computers said it was ok but the readers would have none of it. We got things sorted out and got into the part about a half hour later than we intended but got complimentary passes for the kids for the day which was nice.
Tried to walk on Soarin’ but wait was too long – so we fast passed it with the app and got a spot about 45 minutes out! That worked!
We went on Living with the Land and Nemo to pass the time until the fast pass came up. We also tried Turtle Talk with Crush but we waited for 10 minutes and they told us it would be another 10 so we headed out and did our fast pass for Soarin’. It was a first ride for Heather and K and a second for T and I.
After that we did Journey into Imagination with Figment, Mission Space, Ellen’s Energy Adventure, skipped Test track because the wait was too long, Space Ship Earth, Club Cool ( this was the kids first time trying any of the drinks – they were not fans of Beverly), Three Caballeros and then tried Maelstrom but it was too long a wait. Hit lots of things!
We then headed back out the World Gateway and walked back to the room.
After a quick lunch / snack in the Club room we had a few hours swim at Storm Along Bay and then hit the snack room for supper.
At this point we decided Magic Kingdom for the evening – hit the bus and then the park about 7 pm.
We managed to do multiple rides here including Pirates of the Caribbean, we looked at Big Thunder but it was too long a wait, Haunted Mansion, watched fireworks near Pinocchio Haus restaurant (fantastic spot – everything lights up and you feel like you are in the middle of everything as it is happening – very cool), Small World, the Carousel, Tea Cups, Space Ranger Spin, Space Mountain (first for me, T and K – Heather did not ride), and then finished with Stitches Great Escape (first again for all of 4 us). By this point the park was closed and we wandered out to the buses.
We missed a bus just as we were coming up to the cue but another came very quickly and had a quick ride back to the hotel.
We were able to grab supper from the Market Place at the Beach Club right before it closed at 11 pm and ate outside as it was still very nice out.
Wednesday Feb 5th – hot again!
Once again I was up way earlier than everyone else (bit of a theme here) so I went for a run on the Boardwalk again – it was a bit cooler and less humidity which was very nice as I could actually see the scenery. I forgot my headphones on the run but it was still nice and peaceful despite the leaf blowers.
Beautiful morning at the Beach Club
Once everyone else got moving we had breakfast at the Club room again – and once again it worked well for to get us moving quickly without having to drop a small fortune on a too big of a breakfast.
The forecasts showed this likely to be the hottest day of our trip so we made the call to head to Typhoon Lagoon – we were a touch concerned when we got off the bus and saw hoards of teenage girl tour group folks.
Saw lots of these tour groups through the week – appeared to South American Quinceañera or Quince tours. Later in the week there were several cheerleader crews to contend with. They were all well behaved and not rowdy or crazy, but as they traveled in packs if they got in line before you at a ride, what was a 5 minute wait turned into a half hour very quickly. Basically at Typhoon Lagoon we had to move around the park staying ahead of them – if we saw them coming we would head to a different area of the park and when we saw them stop for lunch we hit as many slides / rides as we could before they came back out.
So we started with the lazy river for a while and then did Humunga Cowabunga with T (his first time). We then tried the storm slides but only got one run before being overrun by the hoard, so went and did the tamest (blue rafts) raft ride and then were overrun again, so we did the family raft and then headed to the main wave pool for a short bit.
Decided on some lunch at this point and we had some confusion on what we ordered but was ok in the end – they missed one kids meal (they hadn’t charged us for is so it not like we were short changed or anything like that but we didn’t want to go through the line again to order one more meal) but still gave us the fries, the grapes and the drink, and bucket – so we got enough food and shared everything around instead of going and paying for another kids meal. We still had plenty of each of us.
We then dodged the hoard and got on Crushin’ Gusher (first for T) – and did several runs of that with either me or Heather with T. Went back to storm slides and got a couple more runs of the slides and the Humunga Cowabunga (T did go one more time too and then Heather went with him for her first time (she had some delays as she built up her courage for it)).
Since K was missing out on several rides since she isn’t tall enough yet we decided to give her some time in the kids play area then headed out and got mini donuts and popcorn for a snack.
We then got back in the wave pool and did some bobbing waves before heading out.
Several firsts today! The kids on the Storm Slides, Heather and T on the Humunga Cowabunga, and T on Crushin’ Gusher. Very cool.
We then got changed and headed out to catch a bus back to the hotel and had about a 25 minute wait for a bus but it went directly back to the hotels on the loop and did not have to hit Downtown Disney first.
After a quick stop in the hotel room and a snack in the Club room we headed to Downtown Disney. We had intended to hit T-Rex for supper but the wait was just too long.
In the end we went to Planet Hollywood which we got into in around 30 minutes or so. We had never eaten there before so it was a first for all 4 of us – enjoyed it. The kids really liked the décor and pointing out things they were seeing on the wall.
Then it was shopping time. K and I built our own droids and T got some Lego figurines.
Then back to the hotel to sleep, sleep, sleep.
Thursday Feb 6th – bit cooler today and some light rain
I did not run this morning – I decided to sleep in a bit later to rest and recover.
Once again we had breakfast in the Club room and then headed straight to Animal Kingdom. K was wearing Anna dress from Frozen and got many compliments from cast members and other little girls. She enjoyed that, a lot.
We had a fast past for Expedition Everest – Heather did not ride but T and K sat together and I was right behind them. In all the trips we have had this was a first for all three of us – granted this is the first year K has been tall enough. K was pumped to do this ride as she wanted to see the yeti. Chants of “Yeti, Yeti, Yeti” proceeded us through the park on our way to the ride. In the end I think T enjoyed it the most but K liked it too and said she would do it again even though she was frightened in the dark areas.
We then wandered over to Kali River Rapids – we had a fast past for a while later but it was a walk up so we did it. It was a first time for all 4 of us and we only got a bit wet. Slowly dried off as we headed towards Kilimanjaro Safari ride but it had a half hour wait and we had a fast pass for later in the day so we decided to do lunch instead.
Rain Forest Café for lunch – only about a 15 minute wait to be seated and lunch went smoothly. No Blue Moon beer though as they are switching away from it. Very disappointed there.
Then back out in the park and went to the Safari ride and it listed a 10 minute wait and our fast pass still was about 15 minutes out so we did the standby line – it was basically a walk on. Animals were very active though which was super cool – hippos were out of the water (one came out just to relieve itself just as the truck went by before going back in the water – gave everyone on the truck a bit of chuckle) , the lions were awake, rhinos were walking around and the giraffes were close to the truck.
After that we went to the bird show which was just starting as we went by – the kids absolutely loved it.
Waiting for the bird show to begin
We then went back to Kali River Rapids as it was still a walk on – since it was raining at this point we figured that if we got wet it was not that big a deal – T got absolutely soaked. K got pretty wet as well (her Anna dress was drenched) but we all got wet. We were able to short cut back through for another ride as there was no wait. Since we were already drenched, why not go again? We ended up with our own family raft for the four of us and we didn’t end up getting too much more wet.
By this point the kids were getting chilled so we found a sweater for K at the Everest store and yeti plushes for the kids. T was still freezing and we still had to find him a sweater. Eventually found something at the main store on Discovery Island that he liked and started getting him warmed up.
We then headed out to the buses and there was one waiting when we got to the bus stop – straight to the Yacht and Beach. Whoohoo – although we apologized to the bus driver for the puddles where we were sitting.
To warm up the kids quickly we put them in a hot bath while Heather and I had an adult beverage from the Club room to warm up after we got changed.
Now we kids dressed warmer and headed into Epcot after a quick supper/snack in the Club room.
We went straight to Test Track and got on in the standby line after 30-40 minutes – rain was causing the ride to shut down occasionally but it went fairly smoothly. I have never done Test Track in the rain – it is a different sensation on the outside portion of the ride with the rain lightly falling and hitting your face at 60 mph. It doesn’t help when I am in the front row my head goes over the windscreen. Some of the interior parts of the ride seemed slower than normal – I suspect that was deliberate as they would have been worried about wet tires on some of the sharp corners. Still fun though.
We also did Spaceship Earth at the request of the kids, not sure why this is one of their favorites but I like that it is. The kids also like to ride this one together so it is one of the few rides Heather and I get to sit together on.
Headed out to the entrance to World Showcase and caught Illuminations (which T directed using the Force) – and got a bit of a reminder about all cultures being different.
There was a man standing on the edge of one of the planters / seating areas filming the show and K got up to stand too close to him and I was afraid she would bump him and cause either or both of them to fall. So I got her to move, seconds later an oriental family came up and planted their kids there and let them go wild while they had an extremely loud discussion about a wheelchair. Not sure what was going on but you could tell the man filming was getting a bit upset as he kept getting bumped and the adults were not supervising the children. Plus T’s view was partially blocked. Maybe it’s my size but I am always conscious of where I am, who is around me and if I am in someone’s way, etc but I am always surprised when I see people who don’t offer the same courtesy to others.
That family left part way through Illuminations and the man’s wife got up beside him to provide a buffer and T had an easier time seeing the rest of the show.
After that was over we headed back to the hotel and stopped to pick up ice cream to eat in the room. Then off to bed.
Today’s Wild Wednesday post is from Animal Kingdom. Specifically on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. It was a pretty hot day and one of the younger elephants decided to cool off in one of the ponds for the elephants in the area. I managed to grab a couple shots with just its trunk and tusks sticking up out of the water with a couple of its friends on the shore in the background.
Its tough to get to see something like this anywhere else really. Very cool – one of the reasons the Kilimanjaro Safari ride is one of our favorites or must dos when we get to Disney World.
swimming elephant on Kilamanjaro Safari ride at Animal Kingdom
This picture today was taken on our first family trip to Disney World (also our first Disney World Marathon Weekend). We spent the day at the Animal Kingdom and I was taking some shots of one of the gorillas when my wife snagged this shot…2 gorillas in one shot.
Kind of funny that I was in a black shirt that day to match the gorilla (plus I’m not a puny guy so the size comparison is there too).
So today isn’t really a picture of a real wild animal but one day I managed to catch a good clear shot of the tiger built into the big tree at the Animal Kingdom that I wanted to put up.
I see more and more details every time I look at the tree – the awesome part I like about this shot is that the tiger seems to be looking down at the Disney guests. As I mentioned in a previous Wild Wednesday post I really like the big cats and that may be why this picture speaks to me.
But once it again the whole tree points to the details that Disney puts into things – I am continually impressed.
Today’s pic comes from the Kilimanjaro Safari ride at Animal Kingdom. Sometimes the ride can be a bit of bust if the animals aren’t particularly active or hanging out close to the safari trail…but other times you can get the animals very close to the truck and get some awesome shots.
Probably the animals that we have had the most luck getting shots of are the rhinos – almost every time we have been on the ride we have managed to get good shots.
The shot below shows a rhino less than 10 feet from safari truck – pretty awesome.
The coloration on this thing is phenomenal. Saw this bird during one our trips to Animal Kingdom. It is in the bird house part way through the Maharajah Jungle Trek.
I just love the colors on the bird and I was ecstatic that it decided to perch on a pillar right beside and I was able to grab this pic.
I wish the flying rats here Canada looked that nice.
