January 27th:
I was up fairly early with a bit of an ear ache but I still needed to a run on the Boardwalk (one of my favorite things to do at Disney World actually). I wasn’t fast and the start was rough but after a half mile or so it was quite pleasant.
I did 2 long laps including the piece out to Hollywood Studios and then finished with one short loop around the Boardwalk itself to hit 5.5 miles in 55:53 minutes. Sun was rising around when I finished. Beautiful morning and I managed to get a couple shots of the sand bottomed pool at Stormalong Bay between the Beach and Yacht Club Resorts while it was dark out and the pool was all lit up.
Showered and got dressed and the kids were just starting to wake up around 8 am. I love going for a run at Disney World – it gets me up early and I use every minute of the day!
We had fast passes in Hollywood Studios starting around 10:30 and had to pick up the rental car we were getting for a day around noon. And then we figured the plans for the day were in the air after that.
A quick bite in the room before walking over to Hollywood Studios.
We went straight to Toy Story Mania and caught some of the First Order Stormtrooper march down the main street to the stage and back before heading over and using special fast passes to hit Rockin’ Roller Coaster (everyone but Heather again).
We then decided to skip our Star Tours fast pass (we would be back!) and go get the car.
Got the car at the Dolphin at around 12:10 and then we went to the ESPN area to pick up our race bibs for the Pro Bowl 5k the next morning. Huge number of people there for the events but things went quite smooth.
We headed over to McDonalds for lunch from there.
After lunch we went to Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village so that Heather and the kids finish up their bead collection for the conservation activities. They had 3 more beads to go to get the full set and get the Mickey’s clan bead and all 3 remaining were at Kidani Village that day.
Parking a car at Kidani was different…there is no normal large parking lot – instead the parking spots are under the hotel rooms following the pattern of the building. It was interesting!
We went to the pool area (very nice) to do one activity and hung out there for a while then hopped over to the lobby to do another one.
We also looked at a few of the overlooks and saw many animals resting and learned a few things about ostriches.
We saw some of their painted turtles that are in an enclosure near the lobby.
Then it was back to the pool area to wait and play around until it was time to do the last activity. While we waited the kids did some running and splashing around and also chalk drawing on the pool deck.
After completing everything and getting the special Mickey’s Clan bead for completing all the conservation activities, we wandered back to the car and decided to go off property for supper.
We went to TGI Fridays (5:30ish) on International Boulevard and then stopped at a grocery store after to bring some stuff back to the room for breakfasts and for drinks.
Then we made our way back to the hotel, parked, brought the stuff in and settled in for the night.
We saw some of Illuminations from our room before we lay down.
Kids were out early (for Disney) which was good as the Pro Bowl 5k was the next morning and everybody has to get up early.