Trip Report Let in snoap, let it snoap, let in snoap *Completed*

Soooooo we landed back in a grey, cold London a week ago. It’s hardly stopped raining since and I miss Disney! Time to start my trip report
It’s my first attempt so go easy on me
I now realise what detailed notes some must make to share such fabulous reports with us all..... I did not make fab notes so let’s see how this goes!

My pre-trip is here: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/the-trip-reports-made-me-do-it.961639/#post-8956121


But the key bits summarised are:
Who: Me and M
Why: I wanted to do a Disney Christmas, but not Christmas week! We also celebrated 15 years together during the holiday.
When: 29th November- 9th December
Where: Animal Kingdom Lodge

A preview pic to break up the text lol

 

[Oh bother!]

The last posts photos don’t seem to have loaded correctly so trying again....

 

[Oh bother!]

You might notice all the balloons are very low, this was thanks to the wind.

I was a little to excited to see Dronkey balloons.... but the naughty bit of me sort of wanted to see the Dronkey break free

 

[Oh bother!]

I’ve not been a massive fan of the Universal day time parades but I enjoyed this far more than I expected!

However I was now freezing from standing still so long. We headed back towards Starbucks and quickly realised I couldn’t get across the road as the parade was still going

We stopped at the Pastry company instead. The Hot Chocolate was super sweet but it was warm so perfect at the time!

The plan now was to head over and see the projection show on Hogwarts Castle.

This is where my evening didn’t go so well....

 

[Nunu]

You might notice all the balloons are very low, this was thanks to the wind.

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I was a little to excited to see Dronkey balloons.... but the naughty bit of me sort of wanted to see the Dronkey break free
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My favorite balloon is Gingy, of course!

 

[Oh bother!]

My favorite balloon is Gingy, of course!

He did make for a good balloon! It’s a shame they weren’t a little higher as it was tricky to get a good picture of the gum drop buttons!

 

[Oh bother!]

December 2nd continued... “excuse me I lost my adult”

This sections titles come from my very supportive friends when I recounted the following to them! Apologises in advance for it being wordy.

We hit the timing pretty well to have a short wait for the Hogwarts Express

I think the prior show much have been finishing as they held everyone just past the moaning Myrtle bathrooms. There was a crowd forming but it wasn’t too bad.

I thought I would quickly pop to the bathrooms and thought I told M I would meet him outside.

When I came out a few minutes later there was a huge sea of people.

I couldn’t see M anywhere. No problem I thought, perhaps he popped to the bathroom as well.
So I stood and waited. Now more and more time passed, the crowd moved up to the castle. Still no M.

I was starting to be a bit concerned, where could he have gone? Now in hindsight this was stupid but I didn’t have a bag this day so M had my phone in his backpack. He also had all the money, credit cards etc.

About 10 minutes passed, still nothing. I walked the close by area and couldn’t see him. I could hear the show but couldn’t see anyone from where I was standing. The show finished.... still no M. By now I was frozen from standing still, my legs were hurting, I was tired and starting to panic. If I was at a Disney I would have had my magic band to charge, I would have been able to get back to the hotel on Disney buses... but I wasn’t!

I approached a staff member and asked if I could perhaps borrow a phone to find M, I explained what had happened. They took me to the nearest store only for me to be told they could only call US numbers. Erm ok! So no help.
Eventually I thought I had no choice but to walk around a bit more and see if I could find M. In the back of my mind I imagined him telling me I was stupid for moving as how would he find me.

As I walked towards the castle I found him right by the stage and did the most unlike me thing ever.... I burst into tears! I am not a crier.... I don’t cry at films, books, I had a broken ankle reset without painkillers without a single tear but for some reason here I am sobbing in the middle of Hogsmead village.
Turned out M thought he was securing me a good spot! He thought I had seen the show from just behind me. When I asked how he thought I would find him he realised it was silly.

The plan had been to go to Hulk for M to ride in the dark but following my outburst he insisted we watched the show “again”.

So here’s the pictures he thoughtfully took for me on my phone whilst I was having a huge panic

Show over we had missed the chance to do anything else as the park was now closed.

We headed out towards City Walk to get some dinner.

 

[Nunu]

After reading about you and M loosing each other, I remembered something that happened to us many, many years ago. This was so long ago, that there were no cellphones or Magic Bands. We "lost" each other inside World of Disney at the then named, Downtown Disney. I wasn't very familiar with WDW, or the store back then, it was late at night and it was very crowded. To make matters worse, my English was even choppier than today! .

After 30mins looking for Frank, I started to feel worried and overwhelmed. I was about to walk out of the store and (somehow) ask a CM where to get a taxi back to our hotel. Frank has always insisted on me always carrying some cash just in case, and I did. Luckily, he found me just when I was about to leave the store. He was starting to worry about me too!

We sometimes remember the incident when we are at World of Disney and jokingly say to each other, "don't get lost!" and laugh about it. Maybe you felt overwhelmed at the time, on top of not feeling well. I'm pretty sure you'll laugh about it too, or maybe you already do!

Lastly, M's pictures:

 

[Oh bother!]

After reading about you and M loosing each other, I remembered something that happened to us many, many years ago. This was so long ago, that there were no cellphones or Magic Bands. We "lost" each other inside World of Disney at the then named, Downtown Disney. I wasn't very familiar with WDW, or the store back then, it was late at night and it was very crowded. To make matters worse, my English was even choppier than today! .

After 30mins looking for Frank, I started to feel worried and overwhelmed. I was about to walk out of the store and (somehow) ask a CM where to get a taxi back to our hotel. Frank has always insisted on me always carrying some cash just in case, and I did. Luckily, he found me just when I was about to leave the store. He was starting to worry about me too!

We sometimes remember the incident when we are at World of Disney and jokingly say to each other, "don't get lost!" and laugh about it. Maybe you felt overwhelmed at the time, on top of not feeling well. I'm pretty sure you'll laugh about it too, or maybe you already do!

Lastly, M's pictures:

Oh goodness that must have been scary for you at the time! I can completely see how you’d lose each other in World of Disney, particularly before the refurb.

Overwhelmed is completely the right word. Once I warmed up and had some sleep I saw the funny side or perhaps the ridiculousness of it all. In the moment it was far worse than it actually was but I did make sure I had my phone when we separated on our second Universal day!

The silly thing was I didn’t have a bag because I had some what overpacked. One of my packing “sacrifices” was my Danielle Nicole Knightbus bag

 

[Oh bother!]

December 2nd City Walk

I wanted to try Toothsome for dinner and more importantly dessert. I was pretty ready to just go back but M rightly said I’d wanted to do this since our March 2018 trip and we weren’t going back until 2021 so I shouldn’t miss the chance. Turned out a lot of people also had this on their list, the wait was about an hour! We could have gone and had a walk around the stores in City Walk but I didn’t want to do more walking or go back out in the cold so we just waited it out there.

When we were called to be seated we got a good look at the shake options and dessert prep.

We were sat upstairs looking down on the lower floor.

Our server came by and talked us through the restaurant concept a little and took our drinks order.

M ordered a beer. If you need further proof I wasn’t having the best day it’s my drinks order... Diet Coke.

We had a good look through the menu and I decided to try the chicken gnocchi, whilst M went with a burger.

My gnocchi was good, plenty of flavour.
I think M enjoyed his burger lol

We decided to share a shake for dessert I think this was chocolate x5

The shake was good but probably a little more style than substance. I’d happily try others if we get to go back.

During dinner I got notification our plans for tomorrow weren’t going to go ahead. We had booked a balloon flight. We also had this booked last year but despite rebooking a few times never made it. This time the wind was causing the problem, it didn’t surprise me given how strong and cold the wind felt that day.

We discussed what we wanted to do. I knew we would be offered a chance to rebook but looking at our plans for the rest of the week wasn’t sure where to do so. We also talked about the fact I could change everything around and it not go again. Ultimately we decided this was 3rd-4th attempt so perhaps this was something we aren’t meant to do and decided just to go for the “no-fly” refund.

Decision made we settled the bill at Toothsome and headed back to get an Uber. At first the app was showing no cars, which seemed unlikely. I refreshed a few time’s and we soon found our lift. Interestingly the driver told me he had been waiting ages and asked how busy City Walk was so he could decide if to head back that way after dropping us off.
We had a non-eventful journey back to AKL.

We talked about what to do with our now free morning and decided we would go to AK for a few hours as that would keep us close to our lunch ADR.

Alarms set it was time for some much needed rest!

 

[annienevells]

Oh I so felt your pain in losing M for a bit there. I lost my husband for two hours on a cruise ship once, no cell phones or WiFi. I searched the whole boat probably three times. And when I finally found him happy as a clam drinking a beer by the pool I burst into tears just like you!! I'm glad you were able to have a nice meal after a little breakdown!

 

[Oh bother!]

Oh I so felt your pain in losing M for a bit there. I lost my husband for two hours on a cruise ship once, no cell phones or WiFi. I searched the whole boat probably three times. And when I finally found him happy as a clam drinking a beer by the pool I burst into tears just like you!! I'm glad you were able to have a nice meal after a little breakdown!

Oh no! That cannot have been fun. I honestly think M would have worn the beer if I’d found him having a relaxing drink

 

[ELeigh]

“Losing your adult” is apparently common. A few years ago at Disney California Adventure my son was 2 and decided he was “afraid” of the Ariel ride when we were about to get in line so we split up and DH was supposed to wait for my daughter and I to ride with him. We got off and they were nowhere to be found and I freaked out. Like you I hadn’t brought my phone and I tried asking CM for help but all I got were shrugs. I went into a nearby store to see if they had a phone I could use and they weren’t able to help. I decided to just wait back by the ride and after a while DH and my son strolled up with a giant chocolate chip cookie not phased by the fact that I had been freaking out. Apparently DH didn’t realize the lime would move so quickly and thought they had time to kill. Never again leaving my phone behind!

Also-I am also a Danielle Nicole fan but too many of the ones I like/have purchased aren’t big enough to fit my phone and therefore essentially useless for practical purposes.

 

[Oh bother!]

December 3rd - Our unplanned Animal Kingdom Morning

This morning we didn’t have FP or plans as we were meant to be on our balloon flight.

It was still a bit windy and chilly so we had chosen last night to do AK rather than a pool morning.

We rope dropped the SafarI.

We had a small stop whilst these guys crossed

The rhinos posed for a snap before turning and heading towards the back of its area

The giraffe also got pretty close

I tried to only take a few pictures where they were different and largely sit back and enjoy this Safari.

As we exited there was a photopass photographer by the exit, we hadn’t had these pictures before on this or prior trips so stopped

Time for breakfast!

We decided to use a snack credit for something sweet.

Lots of options at Zuri’s (I think?!)

We chose a HUGE chocolate chip cookie to share

 

[Oh bother!]

“Losing your adult” is apparently common. A few years ago at Disney California Adventure my son was 2 and decided he was “afraid” of the Ariel ride when we were about to get in line so we split up and DH was supposed to wait for my daughter and I to ride with him. We got off and they were nowhere to be found and I freaked out. Like you I hadn’t brought my phone and I tried asking CM for help but all I got were shrugs. I went into a nearby store to see if they had a phone I could use and they weren’t able to help. I decided to just wait back by the ride and after a while DH and my son strolled up with a giant chocolate chip cookie not phased by the fact that I had been freaking out. Apparently DH didn’t realize the lime would move so quickly and thought they had time to kill. Never again leaving my phone behind!

Also-I am also a Danielle Nicole fan but too many of the ones I like/have purchased aren’t big enough to fit my phone and therefore essentially useless for practical purposes.

It’s making me feel a lot less silly hearing this happens a lot!

I just don’t think the OHs always consider how your mind races in those few minutes!

The Knight bus would basically have fit my phone, one credit card and a lipstick so not much use but would have saved a whole lot of fuss that day

 

[Oh bother!]

I ran out of photo space again!
So said giant cookie....

M got fed up with my Instagram pics and threatened to eat the whole thing

I stopped by the lion king wall since I had my lion king sweatshirt on

Next up was UP!

Highlights of the show for me was M getting whacked in the head by an owls wing, me getting to be a “tree” and staying behind after the show whilst some birds in training were brought out for a training session.

I did overall find the show a little awkward and if this is the improved version I’m pretty glad I missed the first attempt!

We enjoyed the actual bird element and would probably watch again if we wanted to have a break and sit for a bit.

Next up we did some shopping.
M bought a Mickey Christmas long sleeve t-shirt. I did a bad thing and got another loungefly. I’m blaming the Up show as I bought Dug.
We shipped the parcels back the hotel and continued round the park.

We weren’t quick enough to snap a picture but we caught the birds taking off as part of winged encounter which was fab!

I always like to take a walk around and enjoy the details on the tree of life

We stopped for some photopass pictures ... I won’t bore you with all of them!

 

[Oh bother!]

Animal Kingdom continued....
Since this was “extra” park time we really just took time to enjoy the atmosphere and entertainment.

These guys were out again

The puppets (?) were a great add. We saw lots of people interact with them and just enjoy how beautifully put together they were. I also liked the decorations around the roof tops

We took some more lion king pictures

apparently that’s how we “roar like a lion”.

Next I finally bought my Minnie ears for the trip and we headed out for lunch.

 

[Oh bother!]

3rd December .... Lunchtime!

We headed back to AKL but this time got off at Kidani Village.

I’d book is Sanaa at 12.40 thinking we wouldn’t have eaten much with the balloon trip in the morning and being in resort would give us as a chance to have a nap at some point.

We hadn’t eaten at Sanaa since 2015 and were keen to try it again so kept the reservation.

We were seated promptly at a lovely table by the windows.

The only issue was that on booking, checking in and being seated no one mentioned this....

We wouldn’t be doing much animal viewing during lunch! We caught glances of movement and some giraffe ears.

oh well, at least we were staying at the resort so plenty of other opportunities. I imagine if this lunch was your only time there it could be a little disappointing though.

We knew we had a yummy meal to come which also helped limit any disappointment.

I chose a glass of white wine, but don’t seem to have a note on what it was, whilst M picked a cocktail which I think might have been a painted lemur.

We both decided to have the Potjie, M with the seafood curry and I had butter chicken.

When our server took the order she said we got an additional side each as we were on dining plan. We both added the coconut vegetables.

We both enjoyed our choices but the coconut vegetables turned out to be a favourite for us so we were very pleased we got those added on!

 

[Oh bother!]

This is a big lunch! We still had dessert to go so asked for a little break before ordering. I decided I was happy taking our time here and getting a bit of time out of the parks so would also order some more drinks.... which somehow turned into a wine flight each.

Red for M and white for me.

Once dinner has gone a little we ordered our dessert.

M went for caramel d’nizi

I had the candy bar...

This was an amazing dessert! I think probably my favourite dessert of the trip , I wish I had one right now!

Completely stuffed we took our time finishing our wines before paying and heading out. We walked back to Jambo house for some rest time back in the room.

I had my nap as I was finding all the walking pretty exhausting. This tends to be one of the biggest effects when I’m in pain, it’s tiring.

Our plan for the evening was to head to Epcot for some festival of the holiday snacks and to make use of the evening EMH.

 

[Oh bother!]

December 3rd.... Finally time for Epcot!

It seemed unusual we hadn’t visited Epcot yet but I was concerned that there wasn’t much new outside of the new fireworks and festival entertainment and was expecting the park in state of chaos!

Any how tonight was EMH and we thought it would be a good time to see Epcot Forever.

We headed back out and about half way down one of AKLs long hallways I realised I didn’t have my magic band on

back the room to get it!
We headed straight to Spaceship earth on arrival

I wanted to make sure I’d done the current version as it’s likely to look very different next time I ride.

From there I think we walked to the seas but sound that the manatees had gone to bed for the night. They are the main reason I visit the pavilion.... I’m a little obsessed!
On the way to our next FP we found these fun photopass opportunities

The CMs literally run behind waving a light so the pattern you get depends on how they move it and what colour they pick!

 

[Oh bother!]

We headed to our FP for test track

The design was all M!

We tested out his design and then decided to hit the world showcase for a snack before the booths started to close.

First up were these egg rolls. We used snack credits for all the food so I didn’t note the oop costs

They were pretty good, not the best nor the worst I’ve had!

M was brought up in Germany so he wanted to head over there next.

As I thought he would M picked the schnitzel and Gluhwein.

I went for the fondue bowl and pomegranate beer

I was very happy with my snack choice! But the bread was huge and filling so M did help my finish it. Also how am I meant to eat this out of a cardboard tray with rubbish plastic cutlery without wearing it? Any tips gratefully received

My only compliant on the beer was I needed a bigger one!

We decided we had a nice spot here so maybe we would hang out here until Epcot Forever started.

M wanted to get some dessert but was literally a minute past nine so wasn’t allowed to join the queue.

It was soon time for Epcot Forever

I didn’t take too many pictures. I knew there was a good chance it would be the only time we saw the display so I wanted to pay attention.

Overall I liked the fireworks but what is with that kid? Annoying is probably the best description! It’s no illumiNations, but I was happy to see it the once.

Once the show was over we made our way to Frozen Ever After. I’m pretty sure we were now in EMH.

I’d love to share a ride photo... but this is one of the ones that has never shown up!

We checked out the Epcot Experience.

I thought this was neat way of showing some of ideas for the park. M was very obviously bored! He is more of a “i’ll care when I can ride it” kinda person

I’ve run out of photo space again!