One of my favourite things to do while getting ready for a trip is read about everyone else's on this board and another. I'm paying it back by posting my own trip report for the first time. I will be posting the exact same report on both boards
I love Disney and I think this is my 8th trip. DH had never been before he met me so I made him go before we had kids so he could see how awesome WDW for adults. He loved that first trip and has been back twice since - once for a week with our son when he was 5 and then last year for just one day before a cruise. This trip is just DH and I again (!!) - we have 8 nights at AKL - Jambo and 7 day park hoppers. We don’t have a dining plan and only a couple of ADRs to give us lots of flexibility. Our big splurge for this trip is the Keys to the Kingdom tour coming up on Saturday!
We did a lot. Like I said, we had 7 day park hoppers and used them to our full advantage with multiple visits to every park and a few days where we hit 22,000+ steps. A quick summary:
BTMRR (my fave) x2
TSM x2
FoP x4
Soarin x3
ROTR x2
MFSR x2
SDD x2
ToT (my other fave) x4
EE x3
RnRC
Star Tours x3
Nemo show at AK
Little Mermaid show at HS
SDMT
Buzz
Peoplemover
Safari
Maharajah Jungle Trail
Gorilla Falls (saw Baby Grace!)
Discovery Island trails
Dinosaur
HM
JC
Plus lots of food, drinks, some shopping, a couple visits to Disney Springs, the Boardwalk, and a lot more. Here we go!
Tagging along! When you did your DVC presentation, did you get the gift cards immediately? I have heard so many different things about how they are received.
Day 3 cont'd DAK
From Nomad’s Lounge, we headed to Africa to walk the Gorilla Trail. As we passed through Harambe in front of Dawa Bar, I paused to take it all in - I think this is probably my favourite area of WDW other than Main St USA. I just love the atmosphere there. There was a show going on with about 7 dancers and singers and they had a great crowd and were dancing with a group of kids. I love this about AK - the street acts are always so great and the theming is amazing.
On to the Gorilla Trail…the highlights from today’s walk were the meerkats who were all very intently studying the sky (the CM said one of them probably saw a hawk so they were all being vigilant) and the gorillas.
There are 9 meerkats and they were all out watching the sky - the other 5 joined them right after I snapped this pic
There were 6 gorillas right next to the glass. One was sitting up with her back to us and when one of the CMs went over to her and was talking, you could see the female recognized the CM voice and turned around. The CM touched her hand to the glass where the gorilla was looking and you could see they had a connection. The CM said she had just turned 23 the day before (the gorilla, not the CM).
Next to her, there was a very lazy young male - he was so chill! Laying on his back, ankles crossed, not a care in the world. But next to him was the big attraction - Baby Grace! Her mama was feeding her and you couldn’t see the baby, mama was curled right around her. But once she was done feeding, mama rolled over onto her back with the baby on her belly! What an adorable little face she has
We had our fill of the gorillas and our FP window for Everest had opened up so that’s where we went next.
The FP line was right out into the walkway but thankfully it moved quickly. We were assigned lucky row 13 - again with the luck this trip! We got married on the 13th so it really is a good number for us. As usual, super fun ride on Everest.
Does anyone know what these stone tablet things are when you exit Everest? They are on the steps that you go up leading you back to the main walkway through Asia
At this point, it was almost 2:30 and DH decided he needed a little rest back at the resort. I didn’t need the rest so I stayed and we would meet up a little later. He’s not overly enthusiastic about shows or shopping so this was a great chance for me to do both
The Nemo show was starting in literally 3 minutes so I walked right in and found an amazing seat at the end of a row close to the bottom of the middle section since there was just me. I find it hard to believe but I have never seen this show and it. was. awesome. I loved it! I told DH he has to go see it, I would gladly sit through it again.
After the show, I explored the Discovery Island trails. It was so nice to go through the trails at my own pace without feeling rushed or that I was boring DH. I saw the so many beautiful carvings, some I had never noticed before in my limited time exploring the base of the Tree of Life plus Galapagos tortoises, african porcupine, vultures, and kangaroos. I happened upon the vultures right when they were about to feed them so I watched that - they have trained them to stand on a stump if they want their food then the trainers can safely go closer to give them their food.
I love learning all these little things from the CMs when you slow down and watch, ask, and listen. If you've never explored the Discovery Island paths, you should
I stopped in Island Mercantile and browsed for a while. On my way out, I asked a CM if they had any pop sockets and sure enough they did! It’s not really a pop socked but a rubber ring thing to stick to the back of my phone to use as a holder and it’s themed with WDW 2020. I love it.
By this time, DH was almost back so I went to the front of the park to meet him at the locker and change my shoes. I did the same thing the day before and it worked out well. I started the day in sneakers and socks, then switched into my Merrill sandals.
Next: More AK!
By this time, DH was almost back so I went to the front of the park to meet him at the locker and change my shoes. I did the same thing the day before and it worked out well. I started the day in sneakers and socks, then switched into my Merrill sandals.
Now that DH was back we had to figure out a plan for our time before our 4:35 FP for Safari. We decided this was a good time to use that extra FoP FP for our second ride of this trip. I enjoyed this one even more than our first one! I don’t know what it was, maybe the position of our group to the screen, maybe i wasn’t so overwhelmed with all of it and was able to take more in, but whatever it was, I thoroughly enjoyed this banshee ride. Also, the pre-show was different than all of the other times! We were scanned for parasites and they discovered we were contaminated. Then there was some issue with the system and we were delayed, We assume this is the way they cover up for having to take time to clean up a vomit incident?? And once again, there were empty spots in our group. I don’t get it - why are they not filling every space? Anyway, moving on…
It was time to try the pongu lumpia pineapple cream cheese spring roll and the night blossom - O.M.G. these were both so good! They both lived up to the hype. They weren’t too sweet, the lumpia was warm and gooey, the drink was cold and not sickening sweet like a slushy which I was expecting. It did give me brain freeze though, lol
We ate and drank as we walked on the new back trail to Africa for our Safari FP. And again, the FP line was right out and into the walkway! Again, it moved pretty steady so it didn’t take too long to get to our safari jeep. We had the front row which is always great. The one stand out part of this safari trip was a rhino that started walking toward our vehicle so the driver stopped and the rhino walked right along side the jeep, within 6 inches of the truck! One my side! I could have reached out a touched it! One child did reach out to touch and startled the poor rhino who moved sideways to avoid the touch. We’ve never seen one that close before. The other 3 were laying on the side of the road and I guess he was going to join his friends.
The two female lions were awake and alert but the male was sleeping although he was in full view.
Our driver seemed in a bit of a hurry and wasn’t stopping for much but not a big deal - we’ve been lots of time and will be more but I felt bad for anyone who hasn’t experienced it as much as we have.
Oh, forgot to mention that I searched for another FP as soon as we tapped in and at first, there were none available except Its Tough to Be a Bug. But I refreshed a couple of times and grabbed an EE. When I modified it, a RoL FP for the first show popped up so we decided to grab dinner and take it to the show which we have never actually sat through.
One our way, I stopped at the Royal Anandapur Tea place and got a frozen chai latte and ordered a kahlua-tini for DH. He is always on the look out for a cold alcoholic drink with coffee in it since we discovered them in Las Vegas a few years ago and this was the first one we had seen this trip! An exciting little discovery for us
Except, the girl who took my order asked me for ID. Have I mentioned I am 47 years old? And while I don’t look old for my age, I certainly don’t look 20! We don’t carry our passports to the park with us so of course I didn’t have ID. She stood firm and said she could get in a lot of trouble for serving me without ID. I smiled and nicely assured her she could not get in any kind of trouble for serving me but no dice. I asked if she ID’d everyone, thinking I would just get DH to go get his own but she said she IDs everyone, even old grampas. So strange, we had ordered drinks all over WDW for the past two days and had no trouble so we know this is not park policy - it seems to be her own personal policy. Such a bummer since we had been looking for this specific drink. The chai latte was delish.
No matter, we forged on and stopped at the bar next to EE for a drink for DH - he got some signature blue margarita from there that he said was good. We had pre-ordered our supper from Flame Tree BBG and hit go on the app for them to start preparing it and quickly picked it up and found a table down by the river since it wasn’t quite time to go to RoL
Great view for dinner:
I had the pulled pork mac & cheese with corn bread. I wasn’t sure about ordering mac & cheese since I don’t usually like it in restaurants but ohmygosh this was so delicious and tasted like kind I make at home. It didn’t even need the pulled pork on top but it was good too. DH had the ribs with beans and coleslaw - also good but he wished they had a smaller portion size. We left feeling pretty stuffed
Time for RofL!! As we approached the FP entrance for RoL, we noticed the doors were closed and 4 CMs standing out front. As it turns out, the show was cancelled because of the high winds. So our FP was going to turn into a multi experience FP in about 20 mins! We had been planning to go on Dinosaur after the show so now we had a FP we could use very shortly. Score! And we can see the show another night, no biggie. See, more luck!
One concern I had though was if the FP system would know to take this newly acquired multiple experience FP ahead of the 3 we still had from the DVC tour. She had told us the replacement FP would expire at the end of the day and our other ones were good for 4 days. I asked the CM manning the FP posts and she said the system should know to take the new one but if not, I could go to GS. Sure enough, the FP system took the wrong one. Again. It left us with the one that expired in an hour, and took one of the ones that is good for 4 days. Whoops.
Knowing we could get it resolved, we continued on and went back through time. As DH said, as Disney introduces new and more amazing rides, this one seems to be getting old. I’ve never been a huge fan but DH likes it so we always do it so I was surprised (and not unhappy!) to hear this from him.
It was getting close to 7 so we decided to call it a day - one amazing wonderful day . One more stop before we could leave at GS where we were able to quickly get our FP situation straightened out.
Back to AKL, reflecting on our perfect AK day, and considering our options for a DVC purchase. Total steps today 17,700.
Looks like you got a lot done on your AK day, that's great!
I can see the female gorilla recognizing the CM, you captured it at the exact moment it happened, nice picture.
Good to know about the lumpia not being too sweet, I haven't tried it yet, but I hear it's quite popular. I've heard about some people being carded at WDW, it's never happened to me (I don't know if I should be happy about that... ). I always carry my driver's licence, just in case.
Day 3: HS
The bus arrived at AK Jambo at 6:50 and we were among the lucky ones to get on. AK busses go to Kidani first and it was almost full when it came to Jambo. We arrived by bus and were walking under the Skyliner at Hollywood Studios at 7:09am. The bag checks furthest to the right had no lines at all so we breezed right through and joined a line to the far right.
It's a bit blurry but you can see how empty it was:
The gates opened at 7:12 and we were in!
The crowds weren’t as bad as I was expecting but Starbucks had a very long line so we skipped that and found a seat on the patio in front of the Brown Derby to wait. At 8am we both tried for a BG - my boarding group button never did turn red but DH was able to get BG53. So funny because other than this one task, his phone has one problem after another with the MDE app all week! But it came through when it mattered!
With BG53 secured, we went about our day at HS. First stop was a FP for TSM but there was a line that snaked through the park and back and forth through the area in front of the Launch Bay with everyone who was rope dropping TSL. We had to wait in that line even though we had a FP but it moved quickly and we were on the ride by 8:15. As expected and as usual, DH kicked my butt.
TSL was kind of crazy so we headed back to Hollywood Blvd for breakfast at Starbucks. DH had a breakfast sandwich, I had an egg white wrap and we shared a refresher.
With no real plans while we waited for RotR, we decided to actually use that throw away FP we had for the Voyage of the Little Mermaid since we had never been. It was ok. The Little Mermaid is not my favourite but Ariel did a great job. We found out on our KTTK tour that she is actually singing in that show and if that’s true, she has a beautiful voice. The puppets were cute and I love all the little super fans at these shows - the kids get so excited when they see their favourite characters.
Here's the downside to having a FP for some shows - you get into the theatre first and are required to move aaaalllll the way down to the end of the row so we had terrible seats
From there we hit the Launch Bay, again killing time. The last time we were there was in 2017 with our DS5 and it was empty back then. But not today - it was super crowded and busy so we didn’t stay long. The best part was when we left the Launch Bay, R2D2 was right outside interacting with everyone!
His handler was standing discreetly back by the wall with the controller behind his back as R2D2 posed for pics with everyone and beep booped around. It was super cute to watch.
By 10:15 we really had nothing left to do and no FPs until later, our BG wasn’t close to being called, so we hopped on the Skyliner over to Epcot. Did I mention that I loved using the Skyliner! It was so easy and relaxing.
We had a good view of the construction in France and arrived at IG around 10:40. This is the back side of the France pavillion
Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy were all at IG with very small wait times to meet with them again! I love watching people meet the characters - it amazes me to watch the character interact and the wonder on the kids (and adult) faces puts a smile on my face every time.
World Showcase was opening soon so we made our first stop the Canada Pavillion to see the new movie (did I mention we are Canadian?). I think I liked the whimsy of the old one better but this was nice too. It started in Nova Scotia which is where we live
From Canada we walked to Japan to see Matsuriza (the Japanese drummers). We fell in love with this show on our trip in 2009 and I hope they keep them around. They had a reduced performance schedule this trip - fewer shows in a day and some days where they didn’t perform at all.
We grabbed some lunch at Katsura Grill to eat while watching - I had the kids meal with shrimp and chicken teriyaki and DH had sushi. Both of these were delicious and I was happy with our choice to eat smaller meals more often.
We had great seats for the show and really enjoyed it. There are a few places in WDW that I find very peaceful and the Japan Pavilion is one of them. I’m not sure what this structure is called but I have to take a picture every trip because I just love looking at it.
Once the drum show was over, we explored Morocco a bit. We stopped by the Race Against the Sun exhibit which is nothing to write home about but held our interest for a short time.
While the current exhibit is not much to see, the detail in this building was amazing, I have never been in this part of the pavillion before - the arch way carving was particularly beautiful.
After walking through and admiring the rest of Morocco, we finally got those Grand Marnier slushies! So so so good.
Our BG still hadn’t been called but it was after noon so we decided to go back to HS to wait it out. Again we took the Skyliner. My sister collects beach glass and we noticed that the “landing” area at CBR was made to look like beach glass and it continued on the walkway through the Skyliner station. Love the details.
It was quite a windy day (and cold!) - the balloon handler was struggling!
It was time for our Star Tours FP and when we were done, we walked through GE to TSL for AS2 with a FastPass I was able to get after ST. DH did not want to go on this ride but I talked him into trying it once. It’s a one and done for us. I’m not sure if everyone has the same experience or if it was just our car but it felt like our car was going over a washboard every time it swung around! The jittering movement while swinging around did a number on my neck. But we did it! And it was amusing for a couple of mins
Back to GE for us - I had an encounter with a Storm Trooper while waiting for DH to explore a shop - after arguing with his partner, he came right up and stood about 6 inches away from me and said something sassy that I don’t remember. DH missed it all :rotfl: I really enjoy the character interactions in SWGE - it reminds me of my trip to WDW in 1981 when the characters were just walking around and you could walk up and get your picture taken.
Exploring some more, killing time (I loved having this unplanned downtime!), we came across Chewie and Rey working on an X-wing. These little mini shows around GE are also fun to come across. We facetimed with DS while we watched a bit of this so he could see them working on the ship
Still no BG for us, we went to relax on a bench and have a cold beer then decided we better eat again and went to Dockside Diner to share a chilli cheese dog and chips, nothing special but it hit the spot.
Then, magic - our BG was called!
It was 3:45 and we went over and got right in the queue which was long. Very long - almost to where the CMs scan for your BG. We should have taken this as a sign but it was our first experience and didn’t realize the queue doesn’t usually snake through the entire outdoor area After an hour in the outdoor queue, we were finally inside but there was no end in sight.
At 5:27, we finally got to the first room and the start of the experience. Yes, those times are correct - we got in line at 3:45 and one hour and 45 mins later, we started the experience
I will interrupt this trip report and my love of Disney to say I was a little ticked by this . The BG system is supposed to control the flow of people and make it efficient. I have never waited 2 hours for an attraction and I think people who do are doing it all wrong. I could have done so much more with that time! And standing for 2 hours is not good for my hips, legs, feet, and back. I was in quite a bit of pain by the time we got in And no CMs came around with bananas or water or Chewie for us!
Back to the experience - it was amazing. I won’t give details because I don’t want to spoil it for those who are trying to avoid info about it but it was really really good. Would I ride it again if I knew I had to wait 2 hours to ride it again? NOPE. But not because it’s not awesome, just because I can’t stand wasting time like that when we’re at Disney. We finished RoTR at 6:00 (remember, we started at 3:45).
The long day had caught up to us by then and we headed back to AKL for supper at the Mara. The Mara is very good - lots of selection, lots of seating. I had the potje which is an african stew with beef, chicken, and veggies. It has a hint of curry and the meat was very tender - so good The whole thing was a wonderful combination of tastes and I really enjoyed it.
DH had the ribs. He enjoyed them even more than the ones at Flame Tree BBQ but said no more ribs for this trip.
And with 16,887 steps in, that ended Day 3 in the parks!
I have always wanted to do the Keys to the Kingdom tour but couldn’t afford it on other trips or had our son with us and it’s for ages 16+. I booked it months ago and decided to do it on a Saturday since that is such a busy day everywhere, a tour is a good way to see the park without worrying about the crowds.
Our tour was at 8:30am so we took a Lyft to the Contemporary and walked over
There is not much better on this Earth than this view on a beautiful Saturday morning in February:
We were a little early and had about 15 mins before we had to register for the tour so I dragged DH down Main St to get a couple pics of the partners statue - another one of my favourite places for a picture every trip
On a side note, like a lot of people, we buy a Christmas tree ornament to commemorate every trip we take and I really wanted a Partners statue ornament this year but when I asked about them on the boards before our trip, nobody could recall seeing them in the parks and suggested eBay. But the whole point is to buy the ornament on the trip so eBay wouldn't cut it for me so I was on the lookout for one And...I found one!!!
Honestly, its not a great replica of the real statue and if I'd bought it outside the parks, I would hate it thinking it was a poor knock off but since I bought it there, I will accept it for what it is. Oh, and Walt's finger broke off during transit - oh well.
Look at how beautifully empty the park was at 8:10am on a Saturday!
Ok, time for the tour and I will start off by saying I LOVED IT! I went into it with high expectations and was not disappointed. Our tour guide was Justin from Tennessee and he obviously loves WDW and his job.
We started at the Theatre on Main Street where we were given a bottle of water and ear pieces so we could hear everything. I love this idea for a tour - and it worked out perfectly for me since I occasionally lose hearing in one ear for a few hours and wouldn’t you know it, I woke up that morning with very little hearing in one ear! I was able to place the ear piece on that ear and turn it up full blast so I could hear him and still use my good ear to hear everything else.
Before we got started, we also pre-ordered lunch at Pecos Bills. We had about 15 people on the tour. Justin started by giving us a lot of history about Walt himself and how WDW came to be. We had just finished watching Imagineering on Disney+ before we came on our trip but he gave even more info than we learned on the show.
He went on to take us in front of the train station to explain the various elements of the “show” and then led us down Main Street pointing out some of the credits and interesting tidbits about Main St.
He told us how Roy Disney didn't want any of the glory and gave full credit to Walt but after Roy died, they added his "credit" to Main St right above the Confectionary:
We stopped on Centre St and heard the music lessons and he gave us even more info about operations and history.
From Main St, we went over to Adventureland and he explained the transition from one area to another. There were a couple of really cool elements to the transition that I hadn't paid much attention to before:
1. The building that houses Crystal Palace - from Main St and the Hub, this building is pristine but as you enter Adventureland and turn back to see the building from there, you can see that doesn't look like it's in the best shape, it looks like the jungle is taking it over.
2. As you cross the bridge to Adventureland, if you turn back to see the Hub and Castle, the view is completely blocked by a large tree - it was placed there to purposely block the view to preserve the jungle theme without seeing the Castle
BTW, he also said it’s the least busy area at park opening and agreed you should always “go left”.
We paused in front of the Tiki Tiki Room and he showed us what the thatch roof is made of - all those blades of grass are aluminum! And the whole thing is a lightening rod!
We made our way over to the Jungle Cruise while hearing the history of the ride and then he led us through the exit and straight onto a boat. He took over from the skipper on the loud speaker and continued giving us the history and facts about the attraction including that the skippers are not actually steering the boats
We continued through Adventureland to the road next to Splash Mountain where the parade floats come out and Justin gave us the spiel about cell phone use backstage. We couldn’t even have our phones out and visible - they needed to be away completely.
Then he led us through that gate and to the backstage area where we saw the trash facility and more importantly, the parade floats! We saw older ones that are not used and also the current ones getting ready for today’s parade.
When we came out of the backstage area, we were right beside Pecos Bills which is where we had preordered lunch. They had a private area blocked off for us and name tags on each seat. With the name tag was a little gift - a pin in the shape of a gold key.
Lunch was so good! It was awesome having our own little room and our own little buffet of toppings including guacamole! DH and I ordered fajitas and nachos and shared each. Plus more bottled water.
We had 30 mins for lunch which flew by and then back out into the park for a walk through Frontierland into Liberty Square with Justin giving us the background for the areas. He said many states are represented in the two lands and also there are clues to the time period being used.
For example, there are numbers on some of the buildings that look like street addresses but they’re actually the year that is represented. I didn’t get pics so you’ll have to take my word for it until you see it yourself
We stopped for a while in front of Liberty Tree tavern and learned all about the liberty tree (a Live Oak) that is there. I didn’t know any of this! The tree was hand picked by Walt and was about 8 miles away from where it now stands, it was moved once the park was built. While transporting the tree, it was dropped accidentally and part of it broke off which would have caused it to die but the horticulturists working on the park grafted a piece of another tree onto it and saved the tree Walt had handpicked.
When it does die from old age or a hurricane or something they already have backups picked out but the one there now is the original. There are 13 lanterns hanging in the tree - one for each of the colonies that existed in 1765.
From Liberty Tree tavern, we went over to the loading dock for the Liberty Belle which overlooks Haunted Mansion and Justin gave us some background on HM including info about a hidden Donald! He also explained how the ghosts appear to be dancing in the ballroom scene and a whole lot of other info including the ghost who sounds like Tony the Tiger.
Then we went to the exit of the ride, went in a CM only door and he brought us directly into a stretching room. He went over a few things about the attraction again and then we went on the ride itself. I’ve never been a huge fan of this attraction but knowing some of the history behind it and looking for that hidden Donald made it much more interesting to me.
From Haunted Mansion, we took a break in front of the Tangled washrooms then carried on over to the castle next to the carousel. Again, Justin gave us some trivia like where the carousel originated from, how Roy had the workers move it slightly after it was installed so it lined up perfectly with the doorway to the castle, etc. He also pointed out the Royal suite in Cinderella Castle. No, you cannot buy a night there but they still use it for giveaways at times.
We took a short walk from there to Storybook Treats / Friar's Nook to enter the Utilitdors We walked through a perfectly normal looking door and were backstage. Again, we were warned about taking pics and asked to put our phones away and out of sight.
We saw Merida with hair and makeup but no costume yet, the Fairy God Mother was eating her lunch, and many other cast members coming and going. We spent about an hour in the utilidors looking around, hearing history, seeing where CMs come and go, and getting all of our questions answered. We came out again at the front of the park, just behind the theatre.
He showed us where Tinkerbell lands after she flies during HEA and he told us a bit about how that happens (she gets pushed out of the window on top of the castle in order to have enough momentum to make it across). Then we were done!
I said it earlier and I'll say it again, I LOVED THIS TOUR! The reason I love WDW so much is all the detail that so many people rush past - the people who think it's "just an amusement park" and don't understand the love so many of us have for it. Hearing and seeing all those details and taking time to really look was wonderful. DH enjoyed it too and it helped grow his appreciation for WDW.
I would highly recommend this tour, I really loved every minute and even had a little tear in my eye at times (and I’m not an emotional person) - it was so amazing to be so immersed in the MK and have time to take it all in rather than rushing from one place to another like we usually do. We covered a lot in the tour and it was all so in depth and interesting.
Did you know that the park was originally called Disney World but Roy decided to add Walt to the beginning to ensure he got full credit for the park? Love that.
From Main St, we went over to Adventureland and he explained the transition from one area to another. There were a couple of really cool elements to the transition that I hadn't paid much attention to before:
1. The building that houses Crystal Palace - from Main St and the Hub, this building is pristine but as you enter Adventureland and turn back to see the building from there, you can see that doesn't look like it's in the best shape, it looks like the jungle is taking it over.
2. As you cross the bridge to Adventureland, if you turn back to see the Hub and Castle, the view is completely blocked by a large tree - it was placed there to purposely block the view to preserve the jungle theme without seeing the Castle
BTW, he also said it’s the least busy area at park opening and agreed you should always “go left”.
We paused in front of the Tiki Tiki Room and he showed us what the thatch roof is made of - all those blades of grass are aluminum! And the whole thing is a lightening rod!
We made our way over to the Jungle Cruise while hearing the history of the ride and then he led us through the exit and straight onto a boat. He took over from the skipper on the loud speaker and continued giving us the history and facts about the attraction including that the skippers are not actually steering the boats
We continued through Adventureland to the road next to Splash Mountain where the parade floats come out and Justin gave us the spiel about cell phone use backstage. We couldn’t even have our phones out and visible - they needed to be away completely.
Then he led us through that gate and to the backstage area where we saw the trash facility and more importantly, the parade floats! We saw older ones that are not used and also the current ones getting ready for today’s parade.
When we came out of the backstage area, we were right beside Pecos Bills which is where we had preordered lunch. They had a private area blocked off for us and name tags on each seat. With the name tag was a little gift - a pin in the shape of a gold key.
Lunch was so good! It was awesome having our own little room and our own little buffet of toppings including guacamole! DH and I ordered fajitas and nachos and shared each. Plus more bottled water.
We had 30 mins for lunch which flew by and then back out into the park for a walk through Frontierland into Liberty Square with Justin giving us the background for the areas. He said many states are represented in the two lands and also there are clues to the time period being used.
For example, there are numbers on some of the buildings that look like street addresses but they’re actually the year that is represented. I didn’t get pics so you’ll have to take my word for it until you see it yourself
We stopped for a while in front of Liberty Tree tavern and learned all about the liberty tree (a Live Oak) that is there. I didn’t know any of this! The tree was hand picked by Walt and was about 8 miles away from where it now stands, it was moved once the park was built. While transporting the tree, it was dropped accidentally and part of it broke off which would have caused it to die but the horticulturists working on the park grafted a piece of another tree onto it and saved the tree Walt had handpicked.
When it does die from old age or a hurricane or something they already have backups picked out but the one there now is the original. There are 13 lanterns hanging in the tree - one for each of the colonies that existed in 1765.
From Liberty Tree tavern, we went over to the loading dock for the Liberty Belle which overlooks Haunted Mansion and Justin gave us some background on HM including info about a hidden Donald! He also explained how the ghosts appear to be dancing in the ballroom scene and a whole lot of other info including the ghost who sounds like Tony the Tiger.
Then we went to the exit of the ride, went in a CM only door and he brought us directly into a stretching room. He went over a few things about the attraction again and then we went on the ride itself. I’ve never been a huge fan of this attraction but knowing some of the history behind it and looking for that hidden Donald made it much more interesting to me.
From Haunted Mansion, we took a break in front of the Tangled washrooms then carried on over to the castle next to the carousel. Again, Justin gave us some trivia like where the carousel originated from, how Roy had the workers move it slightly after it was installed so it lined up perfectly with the doorway to the castle, etc. He also pointed out the Royal suite in Cinderella Castle. No, you cannot buy a night there but they still use it for giveaways at times.
We took a short walk from there to Storybook Treats / Friar's Nook to enter the Utilitdors We walked through a perfectly normal looking door and were backstage. Again, we were warned about taking pics and asked to put our phones away and out of sight.
We saw Merida with hair and makeup but no costume yet, the Fairy God Mother was eating her lunch, and many other cast members coming and going. We spent about an hour in the utilidors looking around, hearing history, seeing where CMs come and go, and getting all of our questions answered. We came out again at the front of the park, just behind the theatre.
He showed us where Tinkerbell lands after she flies during HEA and he told us a bit about how that happens (she gets pushed out of the window on top of the castle in order to have enough momentum to make it across). Then we were done!
I said it earlier and I'll say it again, I LOVED THIS TOUR! The reason I love WDW so much is all the detail that so many people rush past - the people who think it's "just an amusement park" and don't understand the love so many of us have for it. Hearing and seeing all those details and taking time to really look was wonderful. DH enjoyed it too and it helped grow his appreciation for WDW.
I would highly recommend this tour, I really loved every minute and even had a little tear in my eye at times (and I’m not an emotional person) - it was so amazing to be so immersed in the MK and have time to take it all in rather than rushing from one place to another like we usually do. We covered a lot in the tour and it was all so in depth and interesting.
Did you know that the park was originally called Disney World but Roy decided to add Walt to the beginning to ensure he got full credit for the park? Love that.
Love Keys to the Kingdom! We did it on our summer trip in 2017 and it sounds like ours was slightly different, so it's nice to know that if we were to do it again we would probably learn something new!
Love Keys to the Kingdom! We did it on our summer trip in 2017 and it sounds like ours was slightly different, so it's nice to know that if we were to do it again we would probably learn something new!
We did a segway tour of Epcot in 2009 and now this one and we loved them both. I think we will make it a must-do on each trip to do a special tour. I would totally do the KTTK again after we have done some others.
We did a segway tour of Epcot in 2009 and now this one and we loved them both. I think we will make it a must-do on each trip to do a special tour. I would totally do the KTTK again after we have done some others.
We did the World Showcase DestiNations Discovered tour in 2018, no segways though. I was 7 months pregnant at the time so I don't think I could have segwayed anyway, lol. Definitely a great tour regardless!
After saying goodbye to our KTTK host, we headed to Fantasyland for our SDMT FP. The FP line was out into the walkway
but moved pretty quick so we were on and off quickly. I forget the standby time but I know it was over 100 mins. I enjoy SDMT but, like every other attraction at WDW, I would not wait in a long standby for it! We waited 45 mins when we were there in 2017 in order to have a chance to do it at night and for our son to experience it a second time since he loved it so much.
Oh, we had the back row! So much fun!
The castle was blocked off at the front so we couldn’t walk through but we did go in for a quick look at the mosaics.
From there, we headed to Main St for some ice cream - we shared a two scoop bowl - cookies and cream and mint chocolate chip. It came with a waffle thing in it which I didn’t try. The mint chocolate chip was the winner here.
We ate while walking toward Frontierland for my favourite ride - BTMRR. Again, we got the back row! I love this ride - the theming in the queue is amazing and you can’t help but laugh the whole ride. Love it.
On our way back through the crowd (it was just before the 3:00 parade), we cut through to Adventureland and a little boy, maybe 2 years old, climbed up under a railing by the stroller parking and was walking in front of us with no adult around. I tapped him gently on the shoulder and asked where his mom was and he bolted I walked up to 2 CMs who were caught up in a conversation and after saying excuse me twice, I pointed him out to them - he was hiding behind a trash can. As we walked away, they approached him and he bolted again, so they had to nicely tackle him. Hope his mom found him quickly.
We decided to skip our Space Mountain FP so I cancelled it and we went back to the resort for a break. I had a nap while DH went to the gym - I definitely made the better choice
Our plan for the evening was dinner at Tambu Lounge then MK for HEA. We really enjoyed Ohana in 2009 but it wasn’t so great in 2017 and it costs way too much to risk another bad experience so...Tambu Lounge it is! Our favourite dish at Ohana is the chicken wings - we like them so much that I found the recipe after our 2009 trip and make them at home. They taste pretty close to what they served in 2009 but they have changed since then.
Tambu Lounge wasn’t too busy and soon after we arrived, a party left so we were able to grab their table. We had a fantastic waitress. DH had the Lapu Lapu
and I had the Grapefruit Spritzer.
For supper, we had 2 orders of wings and shared an order of noodles. The wings were huge! Not as good as they were in 2009 or what I make at home (not enough sauce) but still really good. And the noodles were better than I remember.
DH ordered a second Lapu Lapu and the waitress scooped out the insides for him before she refilled it - then he nicely shared those rum soaked chunks of pineapple with me! Side note: the refill cost less and was a larger drink so much better value
She also asked if we wanted the bread pudding and I’m so glad she did because I had totally forgotten about it! Every time we’ve been to Ohana, we’re so full by the end that we only get a bit or two of dessert into us but this time, we had room to finish the whole thing. Deliciously awesome
As soon as we finished, we booted it to the Monorail to try to get a good spot for HEA - it was 7:30 by this time so I was getting a little concerned. No need though, even though it was Saturday night, we found a fantastic spot to watch - right in front of the Plaza restaurant next to the path they use to exit large crowds after the show. We were up against a railing so no issues with late comers standing in front of us.
I took but one picture of the show - they never turn out anyway and I just wanted to watch and enjoy
This was our first time seeing HEA and we loved it. I found it a lot to take in - the castle projections were so beautiful to watch then I realized I had missed some fireworks so I watched those and then realized I was missing projections, and so on. There was a little girl standing next to us who was 6 or 7 who sang every song at the top of her little lungs, it was fun to listen to her obviously love for Disney. She knew which song was coming up next almost every time!
Once HEA was over, we broke through the sea exiting the park to go into Tomorrowland. We had 4 goals: Buzz, PeopleMover, Monsters Inc, and Astro Orbiter.
First up, Monsters Inc. We have never seen this show before and went into it without any real expectations. But we loved it!
DH was shown on the screen before the show started and labeled as “needs a hug” so he got one . The audience interaction is fun and the show is very funny. We loved it and were so glad we did it. The theatre was not at all crowded so much of the audience ended up being part of it.
The line for Buzz was still pretty long so we joined the line for the PeopleMover. I enjoy this attraction, its a relaxing way to see part of the park for 10 mins. I’m not usually critical of cutbacks at Disney but I really noticed how dirty this ride was. The walkway up the ramp was full of garbage and dirt and the moving loading area was the same. I know it was the end of a day but it looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in ages. The escalator at the mall is cleaner than this!
From the Peoplemover, DH noticed the Tron cycles below and wanted to check them out before leaving Tomorrowland but first, the line for Buzz had gone down so we went over there next. I forgot how bad I am at Buzz and how much that annoys me. I didn’t even break 10,000 in my score, much to DH’s amusement. I forget his score but it was higher than mine!
We took a quick look at the Tron cycle which had a few people lined up to see but we didn’t wait to sit on it, just snapped a quick pic and left Tomorrowland.
Our next stop was to ride BTMRR in the dark - which is even better than the day time. We used our FP for this and when we got off the ride, it was a few minutes before park close so we got in line and rode it again! We came off the last ride, it was 15 mins past park closing and look at what we saw - completely and totally empty:
Splash Mountain is down for refurb and was empty of water
Once more stop for us at Casey’s because I wanted some fries. We ended up with chili cheese fries, corn dog nuggets, plus regular fries - way more than we needed but yummy.
We sat and watched the castle while eating, enjoying the low crowds after park close.
We walked down Main Street and out the gates to close our one and only day at MK this trip.
Up next: Disney Springs for The VOID and then more AK!
We had been planning to go on Dinosaur after the show so now we had a FP we could use very shortly. Score! And we can see the show another night, no biggie. See, more luck!
It left us with the one that expired in an hour, and took one of the ones that is good for 4 days. Whoops.
). I always carry my driver's licence, just in case.
And...I found one!!!
I walked up to 2 CMs who were caught up in a conversation and after saying excuse me twice, I pointed him out to them - he was hiding behind a trash can. As we walked away, they approached him and he bolted again, so they had to nicely tackle him. Hope his mom found him quickly.
. The audience interaction is fun and the show is very funny. We loved it and were so glad we did it. The theatre was not at all crowded so much of the audience ended up being part of it.