Trip Report 50 Nifty United States....or at least 5 of them

Disclaimer: I have never done a trip report before. This may not be interesting to anyone. This might be ridiculously long and rambly. This might just be plain old ridiculous. So if you absolutely hate it...why are you still reading??

This trip was a long time in the planning. You don't go overseas for a month without a LOT of planning. At least -I- don't. I made lists. I made more lists. I read blogs. I studied menus. I made more lists. I bought books. I made more lists. Because that's what I do.
The first half of our trip was for me to go "home" to visit family. The 2nd half was to do Disney.
So we drove to my in-laws' house and spent the night there since they would be driving us to the airport in the morning.

We started out early in the morning on July 10th, with the in-laws and 2 cars to take us to the airport. Within 15 minutes, we were at a gas station fixing a flat tire. Good start. But, if that's the worst thing to happen, we're doing well, and we had allowed plenty of time for just such an occurrence. (Didn't I say I was a planner??) Good thing one of said in-laws used to be a mechanic...we weren't stopped long.

So we were off to see the wizard....er...the airport. Not exactly a yellow brick road, but we followed it anyway. We got checked in to our flight (with an upgrade to economy plus because the kids are not old enough to sit by themselves. Thanks, kids...stop growing. I want more of these upgrades.) While we were waiting for our flight, we went to McDonalds for breakfast and let the kids play on the interactive floor.

And this is where it gets boring and rambly because we had several flights, because otherwise we couldn't do both Disney AND home. So...we went Amsterdam to Chicago and Chicago to Orlando, Got a hotel room for a few hours of sleep and headed back to the airport to fly to Denver, then drove about 6 hours from Denver to Gillette, Wyoming where we were staying with friends. Just in case you were wondering (which if you were, I have to wonder about your sanity, because really, how could we NOT be exhausted?) we were SHOT after this and I would not recommend 36 hours of pretty much non-stop traveling by air and THEN have to get in a car. But...we made it. Yay.

 

[betty rose]

It is in Colorado south of Ouray to Silverton......

We live in Colorado, and have done that drive.

 

[betty rose]

Just enjoy the rest of your trip...this will be here when you get back. And it will be longer!!

I don't know how I missed your trip report. I'm loving all the pictures. You tell great stories. Sorry I am so late to the party.

 

[Songbird76]

I, too am surprised to find that people don't plan ahead. While we were waiting for our ADR at Sci Fi back in July, there was a man complaining loudly about how his party was going to have to sit at an umbrella table and not in a car just because he didn't make a reservation. I wanted to tell him that he was lucky to get a table at all, but I refrained. By the way, your daughter's smile is so adorable!

Thanks!
Yeah, I mean, I understand wanting to be spontaneous and not having to be tied to tight schedule. There were times where that was kind of a bummer for us, having to run off to make a fastpass or an ADR, but there is a downside to that, too, and that is that if you don't have those reservations, you will have to miss out on some experiences that are very popular. And I know not everyone is obsessive about list making like I am, but a FEW plans, or at least some research seems like it would be in order. If you are going to spend the amount of money that it costs for a Disney Vacation, I would assume you would want to do at least a little research to make sure you get the most for your money. I guess now that guy knows if he ever goes back, he needs to make an ADR!

 

[Songbird76]

Sounds exactly like my DD. I thought mine was the only one that ate like a bird. If it isnt "delivery type" pizza she wont eat it, and if it is, she doesnt like it with cheese . I am pretty sure she lived on french fries and pretzels the WHOLE time we were in WDW. Parents of picky eaters unite!

HA!! My son has one brand of deep-freeze pizza that he likes, and the only one in that brand he'll eat is the pepperoni , which he actually picks off anyway. He won't eat delivery. BUT, when we were staying with our friends, the guy works at five star pizza and so we ordered that and DS didn't have any other option, so he did end up tasting it because he was STARVING, and he actually liked that. So yay! But yep...he lived on French Fries the entire time at Disney. The only other thing I remember him eating was the fish at Typhoon Lagoon (until a bird stole the rest off his plate) and the hotdog at Blizzard Beach. I can't remember anywhere else that he actually ate something besides fries.

 

[Songbird76]

I don't know how I missed your trip report. I'm loving all the pictures. You tell great stories. Sorry I am so late to the party.

That's ok...it might be Christmas before it's finished, so you have plenty of time to ketchup!

 

[Songbird76]

Our meeting Anna was fantastic. She told the kids a great story about a giant marshmallow they had to roll down the mountain for Marshmallow's hot chocolate, because DD said she liked one big marshmallow in her hot chocolate instead of a lot of mini ones. It was very cute. So after we were through all of the Frozen stuff, DS was not wanting to see any of the world showcase, but I had been dying to see the Voices of Liberty in the American Pavillion. (I'm a singer myself, so I love good music) So we split up and DH took DS to go back to future world and DD came with me to watch the singers. I remember when I was just about DD's age and we went to Disney and the Voices of Liberty did a song called 50 Nifty United States in which they sing the names of the states and you cheer for your state. They got to Wyoming and we cheered and they stopped the song to come talk to us because they NEVER got people from Wyoming. I was really hoping they'd do that song so I could cheer for my extremely under-represented home state. We got to the pavilion just as they were finishing up their second-to-last set. So DD and I decided to stick around and wait for the next one. I talked to one of the members and asked if there was a time they were more likely to do that song and he said that they had to have a pretty big crowd for it to work...so I was hoping for a large crowd. And there was one for the next set....but they didn't do the song. I talked to another member, Kelly. She asked where we were from, and I said I was originally from Wyoming and her eyes got big. I told her I had been waiting for that song and she said she was so sorry, but if we were going to be back, we could always put in a request, which didn't guarantee they'd do it, but might help. So I was determined to come back again.
Here's DD with CM Kelly of the Voices of Liberty:

Kelly rocks, and she has great stage presence. I found out later that she also works at Universal Studios, though I don't know what role she plays there.
More on the Voices of Liberty later.
I tried to call hubby to find out where they were, but his battery was nearly dead, so he had turned off his phone, having forgotten to bring a charger. So DD and I walked around and happened to find Pluto at a photopass stop, so we had our pictures taken.

Just as we had our picture taken, DH called me so we met back up and decided to try Spaceship Earth ONE more time, to get our pictures finally, because there was no line anymore. So we did the ride, DD groaning about how many times we had done this ride. And....the pictures didn't work again. We had really bad luck with this ride!! DS was being a pill, DD desperately wanted a Minnie Ear Headband, and we had a giftcard to pick up as part of our package, and it had to be picked up in Disney Springs. So we decided to head there for dinner since we didn't have an ADR anywhere and our fastpasses for the day were done. Hubby had no interest in going back for Illuminations, so a Disney Springs evening it was. We took a bus and it was unrecognizable from the last time we were there, and not in a good way. It is no longer at all Disney-ish. Last time, it was almost like going to the parks...Lots of colors and characters and all sorts of fun stores with different Disney Merchandise. Now, it looks like any other street mall with upscale stores that have nothing to do with the Disney brand, but that you can find in every OTHER mall in the US. BORING. We went to the World of Disney, hoping to find Minnie Ears and to pick up the gift card...and then I read that you not only have to have the letter, which I brought with me, but also a photo ID. Because our magic bands had everything we needed to buy things, we had not been carrying around wallets or anything...so my ID was back at the resort. oops. No problem...let Mission Minnie Mouse Ear hairband begin! I will give Disney this....they do offer a lot of variety. DD found a pair of purple and white ones that she fell in love with. Until she saw the price tag. Now, it IS Disney, so I expect things to be way overpriced. I can get a hair band at any drug store for probably $1 and sew my own ears onto it and the cost of all the supplies and time and everything would only be less than $5. So I expected a $10-15 price. My friends....$27....FOR A HAIR BAND! It was even more than the t-shirt I was looking at. I don't know what Disney executives pay their kids for allowance, but a kid shouldn't have to save up for 6 months to afford a hair band. DD had plenty of money saved up from birthdays and allowance and Christmas, since she had asked specifically for money for Disney instead of presents. But she saw that price tag and thought of all the things she could get for that much money back home, and how she could MAKE Minnie Ears herself for a whole lot less, and she decided it wasn't worth it. I can't blame her. She was so disappointed, but she knew that was an unrealistic price for an item that she wasn't going to wear outside of the 2 weeks at Disney. So we left empty-handed. We were hungry and I had heard good things about T-rex, so we got our names on the waiting list and parked it there on the bench outside. Our immediate thought when we got in was that it is impressive theming...VERY cool! And also VERY COLD. Holy Cannoli, Batman, I was freezing! We were seated right next to the fire pit and the ice age room, as close as we could get to the fire. It didn't help. It's also very LOUD. (Why does the ice age room turn pink?)

Given the massive portion sizes everywhere, we opted for just appetizers. Having experienced the MONSTROUS fried pepperjack sticks back in Laramie Wyoming, when we saw "MEGA Mozzarella Sticks" on the menu, DD decided to share. Bad idea....there's nothing Mega about them. We ended up ordering more, plus some onion rings.

It all tasted fine, but not a particularly great value for the price. But again, it IS Disney, so we never thought it was going to be cheap. I'd eat there again, but I'd plan a bit more money and actually spring for an actual meal, AND I'd make sure everyone brought sweaters!! DD and I were frozen by the time we got out. It was still hot outside, even though it was dark, but we finally got warmed up and then got on a refrigerated bus to go back to our resort.

 

[Songbird76]

This is a lot harder to do than I bargained for. But, I have a few minutes before choir, so I'll try to make it quick!
Thursday, July 28th was a HS day. I had not been there since our honeymoon back in 2001 and I really didn't remember much from then besides the Muppet 3D movie and that we went to the Indiana Jones show, and of course Fantasmic. We had fastpasses for TSMM, so we hot-footed it to the line to get DS signed up for Jedi Training as soon as the park opened. We didn't really know where we were going and there seemed to be kind of a split of people, I assume some heading to Toy Story and the others to Jedi sign up. We grabbed a map and followed the crowd headed in the direction we hoped was for the Jedis. As soon as we got him signed up, we split up because DS and DH wanted to do Star Wars stuff, which DD HATES and refused to do. So we noticed that Olaf had a 5 minute wait, so we got in line and we were the first ones in the day to meet him. We only had to wait for about 2 minutes for it to open and then we were let right in.

We met back up with the boys and headed to TSMM and on the way, caught a LOT of meet and greets.

On to Toy Story:

At this point I'm fuzzy on timing. I think DH and DS decided to do something star wars, but I don't remember what, and DD and I waited for them outside. Then we went to our Sci-Fi dine in lunch, which I unfortunately don't seem to have any pictures of. It was so dark and we didn't have the best seats. DS was in a mood and wouldn't eat anything on the menu, and we had opted just to do appetizers because really what we wanted was to experience the theming, and I was dying to try the Orbiting Oreos drink, which was great and I got to keep the light cube that was in it.
After lunch, we had a fastpass for the Frozen Singalong, which was amazing fun for DD and I, being singers. DS liked it, too, but I think Hubby had more fun watching US having fun. Then we had to rush to the Jedi training. I caught a lot of it, but DD decided she really needed to go to the bathroom right in the middle, so we did miss some. And thank Goodness they take pictures there, too, so I got some even though I lost my good viewing spot when I took DD to the bathroom.

Then we headed to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular which the kids both thought was awesome.
Then DD and I went to see the muppets while DH took DS back to meet Chewbacca and someone else star wars who I don't know.
After that we went to Dinner at 50s Prime Time. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get the full on family treatment because I had told them to please tell the server to go lightly with my son, who has some trouble with jokes directed at him and he doesn't understand it's all in good fun. I didn't realize that they would give our whole table the "light" program. But it was still fun and we had a lot of fun playing with our "cousins" at the table next to us. The first people were just finishing and had 2 little kids, so I put my elbows on the table and told the girl not to tell, just as the server walked by and the girl was just giggling with her "secret". And then later, another family with a teenaged boy was seated and he had been there before, so as they were reviewing the "rules" he was struggling with some of them, so I was very exaggeratedly braking the rules to help him out. It was a really fun and delicious meal. I was SOOOO excited about that potroast. Pot Roast doesn't exist here, and I haven't had it since before my mom got sick, and she passed back in 2002. So I could have cheerfully just eaten that and it would have made my dinner there amazing...all the other stuff was just icing on the cake.

Then we had fastpasses for ToT. Now...this is where I get to feel like the very worst mommy in the world. DH really wanted to go on this ride, and I don't do heights, but he wouldn't go on anything unless at least one of the kids wanted to do it, too, because it was a FAMILY vacation. So I booked the fastpass and we kind of worked on the kids...saying daddy would be scared to go on alone. So DD said she was nervous, but wanted to try it. DS was all excited about being braver than mommy, and I KNEW I should probably not let him go on it because he really ISN'T as brave as he wants to think. But I thought the idea that he was doing something that mommy didn't dare to do might help him enjoy it. So we got through the pre-show with little problem, and then I went down to wait for them, while the CM chided me for being a wimp and not doing the ride. (all in good fun) and DS was glowing with pride and laughter at mommy the wimp as I was led off. I saw already on the picture that he was scared.

But then when they came out, he was in tears. It terrified him. I should never have let him go on that ride! DD loved it, but had been complaining of neck pain all day and this did not help, so she was in tears halfway through Fantasmic that night and I thought we were going to have to find a doctor, but a good night's sleep and no bag to carry the next day helped her a lot.
We finished our night at Fantasmic and the kids had a blast handing out glow sticks to all the kids around us.
And it won't let me attach any more photos with this post, and I have to get going to choir, so I will leave you with this.

 

[littleroo]

All the pictures are amazing but the character pictures are worth a mint. Your kids look so happy and excited!! Love it!!

 

[Figgy1]

Thank you for sharing all you fantastic pics and your ds looks like he's having so much fun at Jedi Training. I'm a bit sad my ds aged out but so happy you got to enjoy it!

 

[Songbird76]

All the pictures are amazing but the character pictures are worth a mint. Your kids look so happy and excited!! Love it!!

My son's cheesy grin cracks me up. He really can smile for real, but when you tell him to smile, he gets this grimace instead. But they did love meeting all the characters.

 

[Songbird76]

Aaaaaand we're on to July 29th, our first AK day. If you are a huge AK fan, you may want to avert your eyes, because it's gonna get ugly. I started my day with laundry at 6:00a.m. and the machines that sell detergent weren't working. Kudos to the CMs who had the house keeping staff bring me detergent free of charge. Thank you!!
We got up and going and we had fast passes for Kali River Rapids for mid-morning, as I was hoping for a cool off. It was SO hot and muggy. Up to that point, I was convinced that all the blogs that say it rains all the time were lying, because we had been in Disney for days and hadn't had a break from the heat. I desperately wanted a good soaking. We had decided not to do rope drop at AK because the kids needed a day to sleep a bit after our rope drop to park close the day before. So we headed pretty much straight to Kali when we got there, with the exception of stopping for a couple of pictures

and the kids getting books to be part of the Wilderness Explorers thing. So we get in line, and even with fastpasses, it took a while. There were 4 of us and we had 3 backpacks and they gave us ONE trashbag. Hubby asked for another one because no way were all our bags going to fit into one, and the CM made a big deal about how he didn't have many left, etc...well, if you give single riders each one, we should at LEAST get one per adult. How much does a trashbag cost, Disney? With the amount we're spending for a 10 day vacation there, you can give us a freaking trash bag! (And some 2 ply toilet paper in the bathrooms.)
We hit the first splash and everyone else on the ride was cringing and I was like "Come on!! You can do better than that!" because no one got wet. Then we hit the next one and I was soaked. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. Yeah, baby! And then my DS starts to cry....he didn't WANT to get wet! Are you kidding me?? It's like 95 degrees out here, and I'm pretty sure it's about 99% humidity and you DON'T want to cool off?? And unfortunately, this was the HIGHLIGHT of our AK day...as in, this was the BEST part of our day. We get off the ride and DS is in a mood and he's crying and saying it's the worst day of his life, and why did HE get wet? (The rest of us were way more soaked, by the way) We were hungry, so we decided to find some food. We went to Yak and Yeti cafe, which turned out to be really good. But DS wouldn't eat anything on their menu and he was still crying about being wet to the point that DH finally said enough was enough...he wasn't having any fun, let's just go back to the resort. And I said I'd stay with DD because I didn't think it was fair that SHE missed out because DS was being a poop and putting DH in a bad mood. DS was suddenly feeling much more positive and didn't want to leave. So we went on a quest to find fries. Restaurantosaurus to the rescue!! And somehow, in the 45 minutes that we took to get him food and have him eat it (could he BE any slower??) it started to POUR. I mean...the kind of rain that will soak you the second you step out in it as though a barrel of water was dumped over your head. An hour before, we were soaked to the bone and quite happy about it thank you very much, because it was unGodly muggy. Now the skies had opened up and dumped an ocean on us. And even with our disposable ponchos and umbrellas, we did not dare go out in that...and so we missed our fast pass for Nemo. Well...I changed it. So instead, we waited it out and then when it started to die down enough that we could walk through it, we looked to see what else was available inside. We decided to go to It's tough to be a bug. And we will never ever go back. DS freaked the heck out. If you've never seen this show, it is NOT designed for small children, or children with any sort of anxiety/emotional issues. If your child is prone to those kinds of things, DO NOT GO TO THIS SHOW!!!! DS was SCREAMING in fear, and it was a good thing we were sitting on an end so DH could rush him out. 5 minutes later, when it was over, we came out and he was still in panic mode. It freaked him out that much, and we weren't even sitting in the section that got the worst of it. So when we got out, it had stopped raining and we had seen a character spot across the way so we decided to go meet Pocahontas. There was very little line. So we wait in line and JUST as we get up and it's our turn for pictures and signatures, they get word that there is lightning and they have to close ALL outdoor attractions...so we did not get to meet Pocahontas. A CM did take the kids' autograph books to get signed, though. And then, because all the outdoor stuff was closed, we had to find something indoors to do...they recommended It's tough to be a bug, as it's close. Um, no way in a very hot place. But, we had a fastpass for the Lion King at 4:30...and it was only 2. So we changed the fastpass for the next showing and then booked one for Nemo, which we had missed earlier in the day. We get into Lion King...I love musicals. I'm a singer myself, and have a degree in music, so this is something right up my alley. And I fell asleep. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying it, so maybe I was just worn out because I had gotten up so early to do laundry. Then we headed to Nemo...we pass several bathrooms and no one had to go. Until we got into the line for Nemo. They advised us to go in, get our seats and have DH take her to the bathroom really quick, but then we wouldn't have to search for seats together. And they said that if you wanted to play with bubbles, these sections were the bubble sections, so that's where we headed. The show was FANTASTIC...really spectacular and WAY better than I had expected. And then right at the end, they send a cascade of bubbles down....and then DS had a meltdown because he didn't catch a bubble. By this time, we were pretty done. We had missed almost everything because of the rain, DS had had multiple meltdowns (not all of them his fault) and we were just not feeling it, but we had booked a dinner package for the Jungle Book Alive show with a Tusker House dinner that I had been looking forward to for MONTHS, and it was almost dinner time anyway, nothing outside was open, we had done all the indoor stuff already, and we had to eat somewhere. So we headed to TuskerHouse, though it was 30 mins early. And they wouldn't let us check in yet. It was still raining steadily, there were no more tables under the overhang, and I was a bit upset when I wasn't allowed to check in for another 15 minutes, but a family without an ADR was welcomed after a 20 minute wait. If I had put my name on the waiting list instead of using our ADR, we could have been in sooner. We get to our table and DD and I are once again freezing. It's raining outside and has cooled down and they have the air co cranked up like it's 110 degrees outside. We order hot chocolate...which tastes like hot water...no chocolate taste to it at all. So I informed the server and the next mug was slightly better, but still not good. The only thing on the entire buffet that DS would eat was chocolate chip

cookies. (mine are way better) We were not impressed...there wasn't much selection. I decided to try Hummus. Is it supposed to be cold?? Horrid. And the bathroom was filthy. And Goofy spent so much time at the table next to us and skipped us completely, so I had to go find a handler to have Goofy come to our table so we could get a photo before we left. We left with enough to eat, but not nearly satisfied, and we handed back our tickets to Jungle Book Alive, because we wanted nothing more than to just call it a day and go to sleep and pretend that nightmare had never happened. These are the only pictures I got of the whole day:

 

[Figgy1]

Aaaaaand we're on to July 29th, our first AK day. If you are a huge AK fan, you may want to avert your eyes, because it's gonna get ugly. I started my day with laundry at 6:00a.m. and the machines that sell detergent weren't working. Kudos to the CMs who had the house keeping staff bring me detergent free of charge. Thank you!!
We got up and going and we had fast passes for Kali River Rapids for mid-morning, as I was hoping for a cool off. It was SO hot and muggy. Up to that point, I was convinced that all the blogs that say it rains all the time were lying, because we had been in Disney for days and hadn't had a break from the heat. I desperately wanted a good soaking. We had decided not to do rope drop at AK because the kids needed a day to sleep a bit after our rope drop to park close the day before. So we headed pretty much straight to Kali when we got there, with the exception of stopping for a couple of pictures
View attachment 164116

and the kids getting books to be part of the Wilderness Explorers thing. So we get in line, and even with fastpasses, it took a while. There were 4 of us and we had 3 backpacks and they gave us ONE trashbag. Hubby asked for another one because no way were all our bags going to fit into one, and the CM made a big deal about how he didn't have many left, etc...well, if you give single riders each one, we should at LEAST get one per adult. How much does a trashbag cost, Disney? With the amount we're spending for a 10 day vacation there, you can give us a freaking trash bag! (And some 2 ply toilet paper in the bathrooms.)
We hit the first splash and everyone else on the ride was cringing and I was like "Come on!! You can do better than that!" because no one got wet. Then we hit the next one and I was soaked. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. Yeah, baby! And then my DS starts to cry....he didn't WANT to get wet! Are you kidding me?? It's like 95 degrees out here, and I'm pretty sure it's about 99% humidity and you DON'T want to cool off?? And unfortunately, this was the HIGHLIGHT of our AK day...as in, this was the BEST part of our day. We get off the ride and DS is in a mood and he's crying and saying it's the worst day of his life, and why did HE get wet? (The rest of us were way more soaked, by the way) We were hungry, so we decided to find some food. We went to Yak and Yeti cafe, which turned out to be really good. But DS wouldn't eat anything on their menu and he was still crying about being wet to the point that DH finally said enough was enough...he wasn't having any fun, let's just go back to the resort. And I said I'd stay with DD because I didn't think it was fair that SHE missed out because DS was being a poop and putting DH in a bad mood. DS was suddenly feeling much more positive and didn't want to leave. So we went on a quest to find fries. Restaurantosaurus to the rescue!! And somehow, in the 45 minutes that we took to get him food and have him eat it (could he BE any slower??) it started to POUR. I mean...the kind of rain that will soak you the second you step out in it as though a barrel of water was dumped over your head. An hour before, we were soaked to the bone and quite happy about it thank you very much, because it was unGodly muggy. Now the skies had opened up and dumped an ocean on us. And even with our disposable ponchos and umbrellas, we did not dare go out in that...and so we missed our fast pass for Nemo. Well...I changed it. So instead, we waited it out and then when it started to die down enough that we could walk through it, we looked to see what else was available inside. We decided to go to It's tough to be a bug. And we will never ever go back. DS freaked the heck out. If you've never seen this show, it is NOT designed for small children, or children with any sort of anxiety/emotional issues. If your child is prone to those kinds of things, DO NOT GO TO THIS SHOW!!!! DS was SCREAMING in fear, and it was a good thing we were sitting on an end so DH could rush him out. 5 minutes later, when it was over, we came out and he was still in panic mode. It freaked him out that much, and we weren't even sitting in the section that got the worst of it. So when we got out, it had stopped raining and we had seen a character spot across the way so we decided to go meet Pocahontas. There was very little line. So we wait in line and JUST as we get up and it's our turn for pictures and signatures, they get word that there is lightning and they have to close ALL outdoor attractions...so we did not get to meet Pocahontas. A CM did take the kids' autograph books to get signed, though. And then, because all the outdoor stuff was closed, we had to find something indoors to do...they recommended It's tough to be a bug, as it's close. Um, no way in a very hot place. But, we had a fastpass for the Lion King at 4:30...and it was only 2. So we changed the fastpass for the next showing and then booked one for Nemo, which we had missed earlier in the day. We get into Lion King...I love musicals. I'm a singer myself, and have a degree in music, so this is something right up my alley. And I fell asleep. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying it, so maybe I was just worn out because I had gotten up so early to do laundry. Then we headed to Nemo...we pass several bathrooms and no one had to go. Until we got into the line for Nemo. They advised us to go in, get our seats and have DH take her to the bathroom really quick, but then we wouldn't have to search for seats together. And they said that if you wanted to play with bubbles, these sections were the bubble sections, so that's where we headed. The show was FANTASTIC...really spectacular and WAY better than I had expected. And then right at the end, they send a cascade of bubbles down....and then DS had a meltdown because he didn't catch a bubble. By this time, we were pretty done. We had missed almost everything because of the rain, DS had had multiple meltdowns (not all of them his fault) and we were just not feeling it, but we had booked a dinner package for the Jungle Book Alive show with a Tusker House dinner that I had been looking forward to for MONTHS, and it was almost dinner time anyway, nothing outside was open, we had done all the indoor stuff already, and we had to eat somewhere. So we headed to TuskerHouse, though it was 30 mins early. And they wouldn't let us check in yet. It was still raining steadily, there were no more tables under the overhang, and I was a bit upset when I wasn't allowed to check in for another 15 minutes, but a family without an ADR was welcomed after a 20 minute wait. If I had put my name on the waiting list instead of using our ADR, we could have been in sooner. We get to our table and DD and I are once again freezing. It's raining outside and has cooled down and they have the air co cranked up like it's 110 degrees outside. We order hot chocolate...which tastes like hot water...no chocolate taste to it at all. So I informed the server and the next mug was slightly better, but still not good. The only thing on the entire buffet that DS would eat was chocolate chipView attachment 164123 cookies. (mine are way better) We were not impressed...there wasn't much selection. I decided to try Hummus. Is it supposed to be cold?? Horrid. And the bathroom was filthy. And Goofy spent so much time at the table next to us and skipped us completely, so I had to go find a handler to have Goofy come to our table so we could get a photo before we left. We left with enough to eat, but not nearly satisfied, and we handed back our tickets to Jungle Book Alive, because we wanted nothing more than to just call it a day and go to sleep and pretend that nightmare had never happened. These are the only pictures I got of the whole day:

View attachment 164118
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Sympathy like about your TH experience. We had the exact opposite happen for us. We got there early and were seated rather quickly and had no problems with the characters. It doesn't hurt my younger ds keeps and on eye for them and is right up when they're near our table. Sorry but hummus is supposed to be room temperature or cold.

 

[MomofPrincessGrace]

it started to POUR. I mean...the kind of rain that will soak you the second you step out in it as though a barrel of water was dumped over your head

We had the exact same luck with rain. For our 8 day vacation, the only day it rained heavy was on AK day. We were in the FP+ line for Kali when they announced closure due to lightening, we decided not to wait it out until the lightening passed because at that point it hadnt even started to rain. We were stuck for about 45 minutes under a covered seating area near Kali once the skies opened up. They gave us "come back later" FP but everyone decided to go try and ride it as soon as the rain passed. The line was back about 100 people deep waiting for the FP line to open. I asked someone in line if they had re-opened and the person said yes. Using my better judgment I went and asked a CM and they said that they had not been given clearance to re-open and that people were lining up for nothing. We went through Dino Land and just killed time for a couple of hours since there wasnt much else for us to do. I would have much preferred for us to be somewhere with indoor rides or covered waiting areas, but alas, we were stuck with not much to do.

 

[betty rose]

Aaaaaand we're on to July 29th, our first AK day. If you are a huge AK fan, you may want to avert your eyes, because it's gonna get ugly. I started my day with laundry at 6:00a.m. and the machines that sell detergent weren't working. Kudos to the CMs who had the house keeping staff bring me detergent free of charge. Thank you!!
We got up and going and we had fast passes for Kali River Rapids for mid-morning, as I was hoping for a cool off. It was SO hot and muggy. Up to that point, I was convinced that all the blogs that say it rains all the time were lying, because we had been in Disney for days and hadn't had a break from the heat. I desperately wanted a good soaking. We had decided not to do rope drop at AK because the kids needed a day to sleep a bit after our rope drop to park close the day before. So we headed pretty much straight to Kali when we got there, with the exception of stopping for a couple of pictures
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and the kids getting books to be part of the Wilderness Explorers thing. So we get in line, and even with fastpasses, it took a while. There were 4 of us and we had 3 backpacks and they gave us ONE trashbag. Hubby asked for another one because no way were all our bags going to fit into one, and the CM made a big deal about how he didn't have many left, etc...well, if you give single riders each one, we should at LEAST get one per adult. How much does a trashbag cost, Disney? With the amount we're spending for a 10 day vacation there, you can give us a freaking trash bag! (And some 2 ply toilet paper in the bathrooms.)
We hit the first splash and everyone else on the ride was cringing and I was like "Come on!! You can do better than that!" because no one got wet. Then we hit the next one and I was soaked. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. Yeah, baby! And then my DS starts to cry....he didn't WANT to get wet! Are you kidding me?? It's like 95 degrees out here, and I'm pretty sure it's about 99% humidity and you DON'T want to cool off?? And unfortunately, this was the HIGHLIGHT of our AK day...as in, this was the BEST part of our day. We get off the ride and DS is in a mood and he's crying and saying it's the worst day of his life, and why did HE get wet? (The rest of us were way more soaked, by the way) We were hungry, so we decided to find some food. We went to Yak and Yeti cafe, which turned out to be really good. But DS wouldn't eat anything on their menu and he was still crying about being wet to the point that DH finally said enough was enough...he wasn't having any fun, let's just go back to the resort. And I said I'd stay with DD because I didn't think it was fair that SHE missed out because DS was being a poop and putting DH in a bad mood. DS was suddenly feeling much more positive and didn't want to leave. So we went on a quest to find fries. Restaurantosaurus to the rescue!! And somehow, in the 45 minutes that we took to get him food and have him eat it (could he BE any slower??) it started to POUR. I mean...the kind of rain that will soak you the second you step out in it as though a barrel of water was dumped over your head. An hour before, we were soaked to the bone and quite happy about it thank you very much, because it was unGodly muggy. Now the skies had opened up and dumped an ocean on us. And even with our disposable ponchos and umbrellas, we did not dare go out in that...and so we missed our fast pass for Nemo. Well...I changed it. So instead, we waited it out and then when it started to die down enough that we could walk through it, we looked to see what else was available inside. We decided to go to It's tough to be a bug. And we will never ever go back. DS freaked the heck out. If you've never seen this show, it is NOT designed for small children, or children with any sort of anxiety/emotional issues. If your child is prone to those kinds of things, DO NOT GO TO THIS SHOW!!!! DS was SCREAMING in fear, and it was a good thing we were sitting on an end so DH could rush him out. 5 minutes later, when it was over, we came out and he was still in panic mode. It freaked him out that much, and we weren't even sitting in the section that got the worst of it. So when we got out, it had stopped raining and we had seen a character spot across the way so we decided to go meet Pocahontas. There was very little line. So we wait in line and JUST as we get up and it's our turn for pictures and signatures, they get word that there is lightning and they have to close ALL outdoor attractions...so we did not get to meet Pocahontas. A CM did take the kids' autograph books to get signed, though. And then, because all the outdoor stuff was closed, we had to find something indoors to do...they recommended It's tough to be a bug, as it's close. Um, no way in a very hot place. But, we had a fastpass for the Lion King at 4:30...and it was only 2. So we changed the fastpass for the next showing and then booked one for Nemo, which we had missed earlier in the day. We get into Lion King...I love musicals. I'm a singer myself, and have a degree in music, so this is something right up my alley. And I fell asleep. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying it, so maybe I was just worn out because I had gotten up so early to do laundry. Then we headed to Nemo...we pass several bathrooms and no one had to go. Until we got into the line for Nemo. They advised us to go in, get our seats and have DH take her to the bathroom really quick, but then we wouldn't have to search for seats together. And they said that if you wanted to play with bubbles, these sections were the bubble sections, so that's where we headed. The show was FANTASTIC...really spectacular and WAY better than I had expected. And then right at the end, they send a cascade of bubbles down....and then DS had a meltdown because he didn't catch a bubble. By this time, we were pretty done. We had missed almost everything because of the rain, DS had had multiple meltdowns (not all of them his fault) and we were just not feeling it, but we had booked a dinner package for the Jungle Book Alive show with a Tusker House dinner that I had been looking forward to for MONTHS, and it was almost dinner time anyway, nothing outside was open, we had done all the indoor stuff already, and we had to eat somewhere. So we headed to TuskerHouse, though it was 30 mins early. And they wouldn't let us check in yet. It was still raining steadily, there were no more tables under the overhang, and I was a bit upset when I wasn't allowed to check in for another 15 minutes, but a family without an ADR was welcomed after a 20 minute wait. If I had put my name on the waiting list instead of using our ADR, we could have been in sooner. We get to our table and DD and I are once again freezing. It's raining outside and has cooled down and they have the air co cranked up like it's 110 degrees outside. We order hot chocolate...which tastes like hot water...no chocolate taste to it at all. So I informed the server and the next mug was slightly better, but still not good. The only thing on the entire buffet that DS would eat was chocolate chipView attachment 164123 cookies. (mine are way better) We were not impressed...there wasn't much selection. I decided to try Hummus. Is it supposed to be cold?? Horrid. And the bathroom was filthy. And Goofy spent so much time at the table next to us and skipped us completely, so I had to go find a handler to have Goofy come to our table so we could get a photo before we left. We left with enough to eat, but not nearly satisfied, and we handed back our tickets to Jungle Book Alive, because we wanted nothing more than to just call it a day and go to sleep and pretend that nightmare had never happened. These are the only pictures I got of the whole day:

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Sorry about the disappointing day. I hope the rest of your trip, goes better. We have encountered some really nasty bathrooms at Disney.

 

[Songbird76]

We had the exact same luck with rain. For our 8 day vacation, the only day it rained heavy was on AK day. We were in the FP+ line for Kali when they announced closure due to lightening, we decided not to wait it out until the lightening passed because at that point it hadnt even started to rain. We were stuck for about 45 minutes under a covered seating area near Kali once the skies opened up. They gave us "come back later" FP but everyone decided to go try and ride it as soon as the rain passed. The line was back about 100 people deep waiting for the FP line to open. I asked someone in line if they had re-opened and the person said yes. Using my better judgment I went and asked a CM and they said that they had not been given clearance to re-open and that people were lining up for nothing. We went through Dino Land and just killed time for a couple of hours since there wasnt much else for us to do. I would have much preferred for us to be somewhere with indoor rides or covered waiting areas, but alas, we were stuck with not much to do.

And that's where the ADR and Fasspass thing is a curse. For the most part, I like having a general plan, but AK is a park where, if it's bad weather, you really want to be somewhere else, and the way the fastpass system is set up, you can't just hop over to another park and make fast pass selections there. And you can go to another park, but then you have to go back to AK for ADRs if you have them. For us, it wasn't worth going somewhere else and coming back, so we were just stuck.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Aww so sad your AK day was so terrible! It's Tough to Be a Bug really is quite scary. I don't blame you little guy one bit for being scared! Hopefully the next day was better for you guys.

I decided to try Hummus. Is it supposed to be cold?? Horrid.

hahaha yes, it is! It's a dip or condiment though, so if you just ate it by itself, then yeah that would be horrid.

 

[Songbird76]

Aww so sad your AK day was so terrible! It's Tough to Be a Bug really is quite scary. I don't blame you little guy one bit for being scared! Hopefully the next day was better for you guys.


hahaha yes, it is! It's a dip or condiment though, so if you just ate it by itself, then yeah that would be horrid.

No I ate it with some sort of bread...I don't remember what now. But I'm a real texture person, and stuff like that, if it's cold, I can't deal with it. It feels too weird. I could have handled it if it had been room temperature, but cold, no thank you.

 

[Gabe1]

Aaaaaand we're on to July 29th, our first AK day. If you are a huge AK fan, you may want to avert your eyes, because it's gonna get ugly. I started my day with laundry at 6:00a.m. and the machines that sell detergent weren't working. Kudos to the CMs who had the house keeping staff bring me detergent free of charge. Thank you!!
We got up and going and we had fast passes for Kali River Rapids for mid-morning, as I was hoping for a cool off. It was SO hot and muggy. Up to that point, I was convinced that all the blogs that say it rains all the time were lying, because we had been in Disney for days and hadn't had a break from the heat. I desperately wanted a good soaking. We had decided not to do rope drop at AK because the kids needed a day to sleep a bit after our rope drop to park close the day before. So we headed pretty much straight to Kali when we got there, with the exception of stopping for a couple of pictures
View attachment 164116

and the kids getting books to be part of the Wilderness Explorers thing. So we get in line, and even with fastpasses, it took a while. There were 4 of us and we had 3 backpacks and they gave us ONE trashbag. Hubby asked for another one because no way were all our bags going to fit into one, and the CM made a big deal about how he didn't have many left, etc...well, if you give single riders each one, we should at LEAST get one per adult. How much does a trashbag cost, Disney? With the amount we're spending for a 10 day vacation there, you can give us a freaking trash bag! (And some 2 ply toilet paper in the bathrooms.)
We hit the first splash and everyone else on the ride was cringing and I was like "Come on!! You can do better than that!" because no one got wet. Then we hit the next one and I was soaked. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. Yeah, baby! And then my DS starts to cry....he didn't WANT to get wet! Are you kidding me?? It's like 95 degrees out here, and I'm pretty sure it's about 99% humidity and you DON'T want to cool off?? And unfortunately, this was the HIGHLIGHT of our AK day...as in, this was the BEST part of our day. We get off the ride and DS is in a mood and he's crying and saying it's the worst day of his life, and why did HE get wet? (The rest of us were way more soaked, by the way) We were hungry, so we decided to find some food. We went to Yak and Yeti cafe, which turned out to be really good. But DS wouldn't eat anything on their menu and he was still crying about being wet to the point that DH finally said enough was enough...he wasn't having any fun, let's just go back to the resort. And I said I'd stay with DD because I didn't think it was fair that SHE missed out because DS was being a poop and putting DH in a bad mood. DS was suddenly feeling much more positive and didn't want to leave. So we went on a quest to find fries. Restaurantosaurus to the rescue!! And somehow, in the 45 minutes that we took to get him food and have him eat it (could he BE any slower??) it started to POUR. I mean...the kind of rain that will soak you the second you step out in it as though a barrel of water was dumped over your head. An hour before, we were soaked to the bone and quite happy about it thank you very much, because it was unGodly muggy. Now the skies had opened up and dumped an ocean on us. And even with our disposable ponchos and umbrellas, we did not dare go out in that...and so we missed our fast pass for Nemo. Well...I changed it. So instead, we waited it out and then when it started to die down enough that we could walk through it, we looked to see what else was available inside. We decided to go to It's tough to be a bug. And we will never ever go back. DS freaked the heck out. If you've never seen this show, it is NOT designed for small children, or children with any sort of anxiety/emotional issues. If your child is prone to those kinds of things, DO NOT GO TO THIS SHOW!!!! DS was SCREAMING in fear, and it was a good thing we were sitting on an end so DH could rush him out. 5 minutes later, when it was over, we came out and he was still in panic mode. It freaked him out that much, and we weren't even sitting in the section that got the worst of it. So when we got out, it had stopped raining and we had seen a character spot across the way so we decided to go meet Pocahontas. There was very little line. So we wait in line and JUST as we get up and it's our turn for pictures and signatures, they get word that there is lightning and they have to close ALL outdoor attractions...so we did not get to meet Pocahontas. A CM did take the kids' autograph books to get signed, though. And then, because all the outdoor stuff was closed, we had to find something indoors to do...they recommended It's tough to be a bug, as it's close. Um, no way in a very hot place. But, we had a fastpass for the Lion King at 4:30...and it was only 2. So we changed the fastpass for the next showing and then booked one for Nemo, which we had missed earlier in the day. We get into Lion King...I love musicals. I'm a singer myself, and have a degree in music, so this is something right up my alley. And I fell asleep. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying it, so maybe I was just worn out because I had gotten up so early to do laundry. Then we headed to Nemo...we pass several bathrooms and no one had to go. Until we got into the line for Nemo. They advised us to go in, get our seats and have DH take her to the bathroom really quick, but then we wouldn't have to search for seats together. And they said that if you wanted to play with bubbles, these sections were the bubble sections, so that's where we headed. The show was FANTASTIC...really spectacular and WAY better than I had expected. And then right at the end, they send a cascade of bubbles down....and then DS had a meltdown because he didn't catch a bubble. By this time, we were pretty done. We had missed almost everything because of the rain, DS had had multiple meltdowns (not all of them his fault) and we were just not feeling it, but we had booked a dinner package for the Jungle Book Alive show with a Tusker House dinner that I had been looking forward to for MONTHS, and it was almost dinner time anyway, nothing outside was open, we had done all the indoor stuff already, and we had to eat somewhere. So we headed to TuskerHouse, though it was 30 mins early. And they wouldn't let us check in yet. It was still raining steadily, there were no more tables under the overhang, and I was a bit upset when I wasn't allowed to check in for another 15 minutes, but a family without an ADR was welcomed after a 20 minute wait. If I had put my name on the waiting list instead of using our ADR, we could have been in sooner. We get to our table and DD and I are once again freezing. It's raining outside and has cooled down and they have the air co cranked up like it's 110 degrees outside. We order hot chocolate...which tastes like hot water...no chocolate taste to it at all. So I informed the server and the next mug was slightly better, but still not good. The only thing on the entire buffet that DS would eat was chocolate chipView attachment 164123 cookies. (mine are way better) We were not impressed...there wasn't much selection. I decided to try Hummus. Is it supposed to be cold?? Horrid. And the bathroom was filthy. And Goofy spent so much time at the table next to us and skipped us completely, so I had to go find a handler to have Goofy come to our table so we could get a photo before we left. We left with enough to eat, but not nearly satisfied, and we handed back our tickets to Jungle Book Alive, because we wanted nothing more than to just call it a day and go to sleep and pretend that nightmare had never happened. These are the only pictures I got of the whole day:

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Well at least you got some real cute pictures. *bright side*

You lost me at garbage bags? I never saw a garbage bag thing. We put all of our stuff in the free Kali Rapids lockers, we actually got two.
Animal Kingdom is my least favorite park. If I lived down there or frequented Disney more often I might enjoy it more cause I would approach it differently. We went only once on this trip. We were out in under 3 hours and that included lunch at Flame which was so yummy and it wasn't all that hot that day and in the shade we were very comfortable. And @Cesar R M the bird did come to visit me.

 

[Gabe1]

This is a lot harder to do than I bargained for. But, I have a few minutes before choir, so I'll try to make it quick!
Thursday, July 28th was a HS day. I had not been there since our honeymoon back in 2001 and I really didn't remember much from then besides the Muppet 3D movie and that we went to the Indiana Jones show, and of course Fantasmic. We had fastpasses for TSMM, so we hot-footed it to the line to get DS signed up for Jedi Training as soon as the park opened. We didn't really know where we were going and there seemed to be kind of a split of people, I assume some heading to Toy Story and the others to Jedi sign up. We grabbed a map and followed the crowd headed in the direction we hoped was for the Jedis. As soon as we got him signed up, we split up because DS and DH wanted to do Star Wars stuff, which DD HATES and refused to do. So we noticed that Olaf had a 5 minute wait, so we got in line and we were the first ones in the day to meet him. We only had to wait for about 2 minutes for it to open and then we were let right in.

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We met back up with the boys and headed to TSMM and on the way, caught a LOT of meet and greets.

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On to Toy Story:
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At this point I'm fuzzy on timing. I think DH and DS decided to do something star wars, but I don't remember what, and DD and I waited for them outside. Then we went to our Sci-Fi dine in lunch, which I unfortunately don't seem to have any pictures of. It was so dark and we didn't have the best seats. DS was in a mood and wouldn't eat anything on the menu, and we had opted just to do appetizers because really what we wanted was to experience the theming, and I was dying to try the Orbiting Oreos drink, which was great and I got to keep the light cube that was in it.
After lunch, we had a fastpass for the Frozen Singalong, which was amazing fun for DD and I, being singers. DS liked it, too, but I think Hubby had more fun watching US having fun. Then we had to rush to the Jedi training. I caught a lot of it, but DD decided she really needed to go to the bathroom right in the middle, so we did miss some. And thank Goodness they take pictures there, too, so I got some even though I lost my good viewing spot when I took DD to the bathroom.
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Then we headed to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular which the kids both thought was awesome.
Then DD and I went to see the muppets while DH took DS back to meet Chewbacca and someone else star wars who I don't know.
After that we went to Dinner at 50s Prime Time. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get the full on family treatment because I had told them to please tell the server to go lightly with my son, who has some trouble with jokes directed at him and he doesn't understand it's all in good fun. I didn't realize that they would give our whole table the "light" program. But it was still fun and we had a lot of fun playing with our "cousins" at the table next to us. The first people were just finishing and had 2 little kids, so I put my elbows on the table and told the girl not to tell, just as the server walked by and the girl was just giggling with her "secret". And then later, another family with a teenaged boy was seated and he had been there before, so as they were reviewing the "rules" he was struggling with some of them, so I was very exaggeratedly braking the rules to help him out. It was a really fun and delicious meal. I was SOOOO excited about that potroast. Pot Roast doesn't exist here, and I haven't had it since before my mom got sick, and she passed back in 2002. So I could have cheerfully just eaten that and it would have made my dinner there amazing...all the other stuff was just icing on the cake.

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Then we had fastpasses for ToT. Now...this is where I get to feel like the very worst mommy in the world. DH really wanted to go on this ride, and I don't do heights, but he wouldn't go on anything unless at least one of the kids wanted to do it, too, because it was a FAMILY vacation. So I booked the fastpass and we kind of worked on the kids...saying daddy would be scared to go on alone. So DD said she was nervous, but wanted to try it. DS was all excited about being braver than mommy, and I KNEW I should probably not let him go on it because he really ISN'T as brave as he wants to think. But I thought the idea that he was doing something that mommy didn't dare to do might help him enjoy it. So we got through the pre-show with little problem, and then I went down to wait for them, while the CM chided me for being a wimp and not doing the ride. (all in good fun) and DS was glowing with pride and laughter at mommy the wimp as I was led off. I saw already on the picture that he was scared.
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But then when they came out, he was in tears. It terrified him. I should never have let him go on that ride! DD loved it, but had been complaining of neck pain all day and this did not help, so she was in tears halfway through Fantasmic that night and I thought we were going to have to find a doctor, but a good night's sleep and no bag to carry the next day helped her a lot.
We finished our night at Fantasmic and the kids had a blast handing out glow sticks to all the kids around us.
And it won't let me attach any more photos with this post, and I have to get going to choir, so I will leave you with this.

Boy! I feel for you 2 as parents. My kids did Tough to be a Bug from young and loved and yet yours loved Indiana with all that action and stuff. All of the guessing has to be difficult for you. My DD was 4 years old the first trip on Tower. We bought the photo because I've never since seen that awful terrified look on her face that the photo captured. My shock, they turned around, got back in line and did it again. I can only do Tower once these days unlike years ago when I could do it multiple times in a row. Early on you dropped only once, pretty much straight down or a slight drop and then down. All this yo you up and down now limits me to once. Actually I liked the one big drop better, I found it far more exillerating.

And yes, Prime Time is pretty much an all or nothing type of stick it is a busy restaurant and trying to keep track of what each person wants at an individual table is kinda impossible to they flag tables with concerns. We also ate here this time and ate the samplier and it was so yummy. Actually we all got it. I feel for you with the lack of pot roast. Do you have COW over there on your side of the pond? There are so many cuts that work for Pot Roast you just have to adjust the cooking a bit as not to dry out the meat. The key is the steam.
If you have COW available just about any cut will do, let me know I can shoot you a PM sometime and give you some pointers. Life without potroast is sad.

 

[Songbird76]

Well at least you got some real cute pictures. *bright side*

You lost me at garbage bags? I never saw a garbage bag thing. We put all of our stuff in the free Kali Rapids lockers, we actually got two.
Animal Kingdom is my least favorite park. If I lived down there or frequented Disney more often I might enjoy it more cause I would approach it differently. We went only once on this trip. We were out in under 3 hours and that included lunch at Flame which was so yummy and it wasn't all that hot that day and in the shade we were very comfortable. And @Cesar R M the bird did come to visit me.

We didn't see any lockers, but there were CMs at various points along the line handing out trash bags to put your bags/backpacks in. But they only gave one to each group and if you have a larger group with multiple backpacks, you'll need more than one.
We did go back for a 2nd day at AK, but it's definitely my least favorite. I'd rather have an extra day at Epcot and skip AK.