Monday, December 27, 2021- Disney's Animal Kingdom

     We learned two things today.  Abby doesn't like rides but she will nap through just about anything.   

     We were up early this morning and Julie and her parents went for breakfast at Old Port Royale, where the main lobby and restaurant are at this resort.   Scott and Emma took their time and walked there, enjoying the nice weather.

     We then caught the bus to Animal Kingdom, and Julie used the Genii+ app to book our first Lightning Lane at the Kilimanjaro Safari.  Lightning Lanes are the new system that took the place of the free "Fastpass" service, and the system has only been in place for a few weeks.  It's one of the things that we had to learn about from YouTube while we were preparing for this trip.  This system is a paid system that Disney's "guests" have to buy in to.  Then you can pick a ride at a time that is available and make a reservation.  Then you can do other things, but when your window arrives, you can go to the attraction and skip the lines.  Then you can make another reservation for another ride.

     We arrived at Animal Kingdom and got a group picture taken by the Christmas tree outside the front entrance.  It was the first time that we had used the Memory Maker that Scott paid for, which is basically a system to get all of the pictures that Disney photographers take of you through out your stay.  We also had a chance to take pictures of our own as Goofy, Chip, and Dale rode a boat under the bridge we were standing on.  Abby seemed excited to see them, though she also wasn't sure what to make of them.  The costumed characters were themselves costumed- Goofy as Santa Claus and the chipmunks as other Animal Kingdom animals.

     Since our Lightning Lane for the Kilimanjaro Safari didn't come until 11:35, we went to Dinoland after we entered the park.  The dinosaur themed area is where we have usually started our stay.  The TriceraTops Spin is basically a ride like the Dumbo ride, although the riders have some control over how high the dinosaurs go.  It was a favorite of Anna's when we brought her here and she was just a little older than Abby is now.  We had to go on it with Anna four or five times because she liked it so much.  Abby was very interested in it while she was waiting in line with her dad, and seemed to be eager for her turn to ride.   Scott and Abby got on and strapped in, but once the ride started she screamed and stood up.  Of course, Scott had a tight hold on her and held her close, but she did not like being on the ride at all.   Meanwhile, Emma and Julie went to Dinosaur, which is a scary dark ride where a carnotaurus chases your time travelling vehicle.  Scott rode it once long ago and was not interested in going on again, but we had all re-watched the 2000 movie, Dinosaur, just a few days ago which features and iguanodon and a carnotaurus just like the ride does.  Emma and Julie were ready for it.  Scott wanted them to make sure that they scanned their wristbands as they exited in order to get their photo from the ride.  The woman at the picture counter was yelling to them, "They are all automatically uploaded! They are all automatically uploaded!"  That didn't seem likely since they never swiped their Magic Bands at any point in the ride.  Scott was certainly puzzled and a bit perturbed since that was one of the things he was paying for Memory Maker for.  It took a couple of hours for the pictures to work their way through the system, but sure enough, the ride did know who they were somehow, and it ended up on our phone.

     We were going to eat at Restaurantosaurus and Julie had put in a mobile order for our lunch for 11:00.  We let Abby have some play time at the Bone Yard, where she climbed and played on some slides that were her size for a while.  That playground and the nearby puddles that she splashed in were probably her favorite parts of the morning.  When lunchtime came we got a quiet table in the corner of the restaurant and our mobile order was soon ready.  The highlight of lunch was Emma's cupcakes.  Julie had ordered her one, but she told the server that her daughter was a "foodie," and he said "Oh, try this one too, then," and gave her a second for free.  The first was a "Menagerie Cupcake" which had a little polar bear on it, and the second was the 50th Anniversary Celebration cupcake like we've been seeing on the YouTube videos.  Emma said the 50th anniversary cupcake was very dense and too lemony.  She gave it a 7 out of 10.  In addition to it's lemon flavor and frosting, it had a chocolate medallion on top that had the 50th anniversary logo on it.  She saved the menagerie one for later by putting it in one of the beach buckets that came with the children's meal that Abby and Julie's parents got.  We didn't think about it attracting birds though, so we had to remember to keep it covered throughout the afternoon.

      Around that time we used the "120 Minute Rule" for our Lightning Lane.  You are usually only allowed to have reservations for one attraction's Lightning Lane at a time.  In a confusing and probably little known loophole.  After 120 minutes, though, you are eligible for a second Lightning Lane reservation.  We made one at Expedition Everest, though only Scott and Emma were going to ride it.

      Meanwhile, we did go to Kilimanjaro Safari ride by then.  It seems like this is the ride that Animal Kingdom is all about.  Riding a large truck through trails, you get to see live African animals.   We thought Abby would at least enjoy seeing the animals, but she fell asleep sitting on grandpa's lap in the wheelchair and stayed asleep through the entire ride, the break we took afterwards, and several transfers between people and the buggy.  Sleeping on the Safari truck is something of a tradition that her older sisters started, though.  It's bouncing seems to be able to put toddlers asleep. 

     After the safari, we took a break in the Africa section and had some drinks.  Julie and her mother surprised Scott with a refillable popcorn bucket.  This one is shaped like a Christmas tree and has Mickey and Minnie in front of it.  Not only does it light up, but it allows you to get refills for only $2, and lets Scott stick to his usual diet.  Scott also enjoyed listening to an Africa musician play a kora.  It is an impressive looking stringed instrument with 21 strings made of fishing wire and a huge goat-skin body.  The musician was jamming away on it and was quite a virtuoso.  (We also got to see a sitar player in the India section later.)  

     After the break we rode the train to "Rafiki's Planet Watch."  If Abby had been awake, there was a petting zoo there, but it's main purpose is to be the backstage place where the animals are cared for.  We knew from past experiences, though, that this train would probably keep her asleep and we could just ride it for the round trip without getting off.  We did get to see baby rhinos being cared for by their mommas while we rode.

     We then went to the "Feathered Friends in Flight" show which is a presentation that has live birds flying over head while two narrators explain the behaviors and training of the birds.  Abby had finally woken up and was eating animal crackers (appropriately enough) while we all watched the parrots, owls, hornbills, cranes and other birds as they swooped over our heads.

     By the end of the show, the time for Scott and Emma's Lightning Lane pass for Expedition Everest had come so they rode that together.  It is a pretty intense roller coaster that takes you both forward and backwards and even through the dark while a Yeti is chasing you and tearing up the tracks.  Scott doesn't remember the last time he was on  a roller coaster but it was probably at a Disney park somewhere.  He hasn't ridden one in a while because he didn't know if he would fit in the seats, but he was looking forward to riding with Emma since he has lost enough weight to do so.  This ride was a favorite of Anna and Emma on previous trips.  Scott liked the first half of the ride all right, but the second half got a little intense.  He felt his back pop a couple of times, but ended with smile on his face under his mask.  Emma told him he probably wouldn't want to take video on the ride, and he deferred to her experience.  It was a good call.  While they were on the roller coaster, the rest of the family tried to watch the nearby Kite Tails program, where large inflatable kites shaped like characters from the Lion King are pulled around a large lake by boats.  The seating was all in the sun, though, and Abby wasn't going to sit for it.

     We joined up again after the roller coaster and gathered for a "Superzoom" shot.  A Disney photographer poses you and takes a picture of the group.  It is put into a small movie that shows a wide angle view of the park and then zooms in on you.   It is part of the Memory Maker option that Scott signed up for.

      By then it was approaching our early dinner time, and we had a mobile order in at Pizzafari.  We made our way around to the front of the Tree of Life and on the way, we found the fourth golden statues.  There are 50 Disney characters that are placed throughout the four parks in the form of golden statues.  We had seen three statues this morning- Simba, Timon and Pumba from The Lion King, and Bambi and Thumper.  We hadn't seen them earlier, but Nemo and Dory were nearby, make a total of seven characters in Animal Kingdom.  We're on a scavanger hunt to get pictures of them all in the rest of the parks.

     While waiting for our pizza, Emma ate her other cupcake.  She said it tasted almost like gingerbread and was quite dense too.  She liked it better then the first one.  It was quiet inside and we were away from the crowds for this meal too.  We didn't know it at the time but Pizzafari closed at 5:00.  Julie got a specialty drink.  The blue drink was pineapple juice based and had two pineapple slices on the edges of the glass like Mickey ears.  She said it was really good.

     At this point, we had one more Lightning Lane reservation, at the Na'vi River ride, from the movie Avatar.  Most of us have never seen that part of Animal Kingdom because it's rather new (although Julie has seen it when she was here with the JFK seniors).  It supposed to be pretty amazing, but the reservation wasn't until after 7:00.  We decided we'd cancel that one and concentrate on shopping instead.  We split up and went through the shops near the entrance.  Abby ended up buying a stuffed kitten in a blanket (actually it's Marie, from The Aristocats, though she doesn't know that) and a Mickey wand that lights up and blows bubbles.  She loved both of them.  After shopping, we got a refill on Scott's popcorn and made our way out to the busses and went back to the Caribbean Beach resort and our rooms.  

     We dropped things off at our room, and Julie's folks decided that they were ready for a rest.  They volunteered to take Abby while Julie, Scott and Emma went to Disney Springs for shopping.  It was a nice break for us but not exactly restful.  There were mobs of people there, especially inside the World of Disney store.  It was hard to enjoy looking around, and Julie's hip was bothering her and she had to stop for sit breaks often.  We visited several stores, most of them Disney-related, but we didn't end up buying anything.  We had left for Disney Springs at about 7:20, and were back at the hotel by 10:00.

     We expected our delivery of pop, drinks, and bananas from Instacart, and were watching the texts from the shopper as he was picking things up.  When we got back to the room, it turned out that he had delivered the items to the front desk.  We were to tired to care and decided that we would get them tomorrow morning.  

 

Sunday, December 26, 2021- Disney Day!

    Disney Day is finally here.  We were up very early- even earlier than on a school day- and we left home in order to arrive at the airport by 6:00.  Julie's folks were already there at the gate waiting for us.  The flight went pretty smoothly and the plane touched down in Orlando by 10:15, well ahead of schedule.  It was Abby's first plane ride, and she did get a little nervous when she was boarding it.  She was looking out the window with her dad on the takeoff.  Then she and Emma took naps.  The Jet Blue screens in the seats in front of us were even more advanced then before giving us all sorts of options, including playing a trivia game.  When we were disembarking, other passengers commented on how good Abby had been.

    We took our time getting through the Orlando airport because we had a ways to go, first on the monorail, then to baggage claim at one end of the terminal, then to Disney's Magical Express bus at the other end.  We got a wheel chair for Julie's dad to make it through the terminal, but our bags were waiting for us by the time we got there.  Even though there were lines for the Magical Express bus, they moved us on to one very quickly.  This is the last week that the Magical Express is running.  It is a complementary service for resort guests, but Disney has announced it will be over at the end of this year, which is only a few days away.  In fact, when we take it back to the airport on our last day here, it will be its last day of operation.  Disney has not announced if it is being replaced or by what.  

     We got our "Magic Bands" on and boarded the bus.  By this point, Abby was getting  a little restless, but still was pretty good.  She cheered when she saw water by the bus, and Emma and Grandma both wondered if they each spotted some alligators as well.  Abby cheered when she saw pictures of Mickey.  We can't wait to see her response if and when she sees him in person.  It was about a half an hour trip to the resort at Disney World.

     When we got to the hotel it was after noon.  The "My Disney Experience" app on our phone was telling us that our rooms weren't yet ready.  Julie had checked in virtually, but her folks still had to do it in person.  By the time they were done, we were pretty hungry, so we checked our luggage in with the bellhop service, and had a lunch at the quick service restaurant in the lobby.

     Our resort is the Caribbean Beach Resort, and we are staying in the "Trinidad" section of it.  It is a sprawling resort, and our section is a distance a way.  We received word that the rooms were ready, so we went there to freshen up and drop our baggage.  Scott and Abby took a scenic walk there, and saw a turtle, a lizard, and lots of scenery along the way.  When Abby saw the white sand on the beaches, she said it was snow.  Scott and Abby arrived first, and saw the "pirate room" before anyone else arrived.  The beds are shaped like pirate ships, the decor is all pirate themed.  Yo ho ho!  Even the refrigerator is shaped like a large barrel and the dressers look like large East India Company crates.  Arr!  Meanwhjile, Emma, Julie and her folks caught a shuttle to our area- the Caribbean Beach Resort is that large- and we had the bell hop service bring us our luggage.  Grandpa and Emma took naps, but Abby wouldn't settle down enough.  Maybe she could sense that mom was excited too.  Either way, Julie took her out to the pool to enjoy some of the great weather.  It was gray, cloudy, cold and damp when we left Buffalo this morning, but it's in the high 70s and sunny here!

     After naptime and pooltime, we were refreshed and ready to head to the Magic Kingdom.  We got the Trinidad bus stop just as the bus to the Magic Kingdom was pulling up.  By then, Abby had relaxed enough that she was asleep in the stroller.  She stayed asleep after we transferred her from the stroller to the bus (when we had to fold the stroller up), from the bus back to the stroller, into the Magic Kingdom and all the way to Tomorrowland.  We got Julie's dad a wheelchair (though Julie was limping quite a bit now too), and Scott stopped at the "Chamber of Commerce" in the Town Hall to make sure the "Memory Maker" photo package they had paid for was linked to his Magic Band.  (It was, apparently.)   It was just 5:00 and the flag was being lowered with the marching band playing the National Anthem and God Bless America.  We started up Main Street and the Christmas tree lighting ceremony was beginning behind us.  We didn't see the tree lights come on, but we did see it start to "snow" on Main Street.  Scott and Emma both exclaimed "We didn't come all the way to Florida to see it snow!"  and we continued on to Tomorrowland.  

     There was no real wait at the Carousel of Progress, and it seemed like a good place to start.  Abby was still sleeping, and we got a chance to sit and watch the show as the audience revolves around the stage.  It's a nice attraction to start with if you like Disney history because it's got Walt's personal touch and the preshow features its history as an attraction at the 1964 World's Fair.  We got to see an encore performance of the last act because the theater didn't start rotating again.  The audioanimatronic characters just kept singing and started the scene all over again.  After the second time through the theater moved again.

    By then it was 6:00 and we were hungry.  We ate at Bay 1 at the edge of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland.  Then we thought we'd give Abby a ride on the teacups at the Mad Tea Party.  At first, she seemed to like it, but about halfway through the ride she jumped up into Mommy's lap.  As we spun past them, the attendants were yelling to tell Julie that Abby had to sit down, but Abby wasn't going to do that.  It's such a short ride that it ended up stopping soon anyway.   We then went to Mickey's Philharmagic which is a 3D movie that features some of Disney's greatest hits.  We knew Abby would know Mickey and Donald (and Donald is featured throughout it), but she didn't want to keep the 3D glasses on. Of course, she wanted to put them on as soon as the movie was over.  This movie has just reopened and they added a segment from Coco, which we just watched at home.

    We continued through the crowds in Fantasyland and had a stop at the Rapunzel themed restrooms that we've heard described as an attraction themselves.  That may be a bit of a stretch, but we were able to appreciate them a bit more because we had just re-watched Tangled.  Scott did stop short of taking pictures inside the restrooms themselves, thankfully.  We made our way to the Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square.   It wasn't running due to technical difficulties, but the 8:00 Disney Enchantment show was about to start.  It features songs from recent Disney movies and projections onto Cinderella's Castle.  We couldn't see the projections from where we were in Liberty Square, but we could see the fireworks well enough over the Hall of Presidents and we could hear the music.  Scott and Emma popped into one of the shops behind us as the fireworks were going off and Scott bought the now obligatory Disney pin for this trip.  He plans to get a Disney bulletin board when we get home to display all of our Disney pins on.  

     After the fireworks, Julie's dad looked beat, so we decided it was best to head toward the hotel and try to get to sleep.  Oddly, around the area of the Crystal Palace, the cast members were directing the crowd down an alley we had never been in before.  We followed the crowds and realized we were actually on the backside of Main Street's buildings.  It took the magic out of the walk out, but we did get to see the cast member side of things.  We saw where the old-time vehicles and double decker bus get parked when they're not in use.  We figure they were sending people this way to keep the crowds from choking at the Main Street bottle neck, but they must really have some big crowds if they don't care about sending you past the souvenir shopping.  We ended up back at the foot of Main Street by the big Christmas tree, turned in the wheelchair, and made our way to the bus.

     Back in Trinidad, we realized that we really needed some pop and a few other things, so we placed an order with a local grocery store to be delivered tomorrow evening.   Meanwhile, Scott took a walk to the main lobby area of the resort to see if he could get some drinks for tonight.  He figures it is probably a half-mile from where our room is in the far side of Trinidad to the lobby and restaurant area of Old Port Royale.  Unfortunately, he didn't have his mask with him to go inside, so he walked all the way back to the room again to get it and then went back again.  He figured that by the time he had made it back, he had earned a few slices of the leftover pizza that Julie had saved from lunch.

     BTW- For future reference- We did not pay for Genie+ today because we arrived at the park so late and so we didn't get access to the new "Lightning Lanes."  We probably would have done different things if we had, but we would it's unlikely that we would have done more.  Once inside Magic Kingdom, we didn't really use the Genie on the My Disney Experience app much, but did check the wait times to pick some relatively short wait times.  On the other hand, we have zero pictures taken by Disney photographers today, so the Memory Maker wasn't worth it today.  More on these things as we continue.