Oh what an adventure this year has been, and the journey only continued as we embarked on our 8th annual Walt Disney World trip together!
This trip report follows in the footsteps of the inspiration for my not-always-sunny pre-trip report: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/its-the-time-of-your-life.928664/
But we can skip that and get to the good stuff. A whirlwind of Disney, both the old and new, was just the thing we needed. A reminder that life is good, despite not always going to plan, and to never stop dreaming as we look to the future.
The cast: J - the husband. And myself. Goofy & Pluto Pook-a-looz babies.
Travel dates: September 2nd - September 10th...but Hurricane Irma changed that a bit. Returning home to All-Star Music.
Let the memories begin!
We arrived within the Disney bubble a little later than we were used to, and with an 11am - 12pm DINOSAUR fastpass that we were itching to get to, we barreled into Animal Kingdom around 11:45 desperate to make it. DINOSAUR is one of my favorite all time rides, and it was down for refurbishment last year, so it's safe to say I was going through a serious DINOdrought.
We powerwalked through the lush Oasis, taking in the familiar sights and sounds, maybe beginning to register that we were finally here at Walt Disney World!
Labor Day Saturday at Animal Kingdom probably wasn't the best idea. Especially when you see that both Na'vi River Journey and Flight of Passage were temporarily down on the My Disney Experience app, therefore inflating wait times at everything else. But we'd deal with that later. Must...get...to...DINOSAUR.
As we turned right and rounded the corner to the Dino Institute, there were CMs lined up in front of the entrance. Not good! We stood there panting and clutching the stitches in our sides as they announced the ride is down with no ETA of coming back up yet.
Ugh. Fine. We drowned our sorrows by splitting the Ribs, Chicken, and Pulled Pork Sampler at Flame Tree Barbecue. Food does solve a lot of problems.
This baby was definitely large enough to satisfy two starving adults...but it was a messy experience. At one point, J said to me: Um...you have meat in your hair.
The view didn't hurt either.
We took the time to reset our plans, as DINOSAUR would turn into a recovery FP, and Na'vi was our next one, but apparently down. Ah well, at least we had company! Look who stopped by during lunch:
Animal Kingdom is full of natural beauty.
And wildlife everywhere you turn.
As we cleaned up our colossal mess of a lunch and pulled up the app to see what we could do, J delivered the good news: Na'vi River Journey was back up. Whoopee! It's time to really get this party started.
This trip report follows in the footsteps of the inspiration for my not-always-sunny pre-trip report: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/its-the-time-of-your-life.928664/
But we can skip that and get to the good stuff. A whirlwind of Disney, both the old and new, was just the thing we needed. A reminder that life is good, despite not always going to plan, and to never stop dreaming as we look to the future.
The cast: J - the husband. And myself. Goofy & Pluto Pook-a-looz babies.
Travel dates: September 2nd - September 10th...but Hurricane Irma changed that a bit. Returning home to All-Star Music.
Let the memories begin!
We arrived within the Disney bubble a little later than we were used to, and with an 11am - 12pm DINOSAUR fastpass that we were itching to get to, we barreled into Animal Kingdom around 11:45 desperate to make it. DINOSAUR is one of my favorite all time rides, and it was down for refurbishment last year, so it's safe to say I was going through a serious DINOdrought.
We powerwalked through the lush Oasis, taking in the familiar sights and sounds, maybe beginning to register that we were finally here at Walt Disney World!
Labor Day Saturday at Animal Kingdom probably wasn't the best idea. Especially when you see that both Na'vi River Journey and Flight of Passage were temporarily down on the My Disney Experience app, therefore inflating wait times at everything else. But we'd deal with that later. Must...get...to...DINOSAUR.
As we turned right and rounded the corner to the Dino Institute, there were CMs lined up in front of the entrance. Not good! We stood there panting and clutching the stitches in our sides as they announced the ride is down with no ETA of coming back up yet.
Ugh. Fine. We drowned our sorrows by splitting the Ribs, Chicken, and Pulled Pork Sampler at Flame Tree Barbecue. Food does solve a lot of problems.
This baby was definitely large enough to satisfy two starving adults...but it was a messy experience. At one point, J said to me: Um...you have meat in your hair.
The view didn't hurt either.
We took the time to reset our plans, as DINOSAUR would turn into a recovery FP, and Na'vi was our next one, but apparently down. Ah well, at least we had company! Look who stopped by during lunch:
Animal Kingdom is full of natural beauty.
And wildlife everywhere you turn.
As we cleaned up our colossal mess of a lunch and pulled up the app to see what we could do, J delivered the good news: Na'vi River Journey was back up. Whoopee! It's time to really get this party started.
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