Trip Report Running from the rain: A two Goofs TR.*COMPLETE*

Hello again my friends and fellow magicians. It’s me Loco, here with another TR from February 2020. Lets get you filled in on some trip details, shall we?

Who: Myself and my much better half, my wife A.

Bonus points to anyone who can tell me where this very old picture was taken.

Where: Old key west resort studio, located somewhere near Tampa I believe. More on that later.

When: February 19-22, princess half weekend. We were not participating in any of those events though!

Why: A was free for a few days, I was free for a few days, why not?

Just a bit of background.

Things at home have been very stressful for us for the last month or so. Things at my job are changing quickly, and not necessarily for the better(this seems to be an issue with many people recently). Needless to say I’ve been in dire need of a getaway.

The weather in our neck of the woods has also really been crummy lately. It hasn’t been overly cold, but it just won’t stop raining! It has rained nearly every day since about mid January, with the exception of one brilliant weekend of super bowl Sunday. We were ever hopeful we’d be able to catch some Florida sunshine!

We originally had pop century booked for this trip. However, after joining DVC last December, and after many attempts, I was able to get a relatively last minute reservation at OKW using our points instead. Neither of us had ever stayed here, and were interested to see how we’d like it.

 

[Darstarr]

Whaaat?! Could we finally have overlapping trip dates?!

We could. Room is booked. Flight...not so much.

 

[Loco_driver]

We could. Room is booked. Flight...not so much.

Yep, we’re in the same boat. Hopefully I can score a $90 deal like I did last fall.

 

[amjt660]

Cmon Dad - this ride is scary enough without you letting one rip !!

Max

 

[Ears to Disney]

Glad to have you here! Hope your work situation improves too! OKW in September? I may know a few people who will also be at OKW in September!

Oh really?!?! Would it happen to be some time around the 9 - 13?

During our ride, I was assigned pilot, while A was a gunner. I did way better piloting the falcon this time! Our group managed to grab two shipments of coaxium

Ugh! This happened to us too. It is weird they would not give the same party the same spots. I was sad for Dan since he was given the gunner position. Next ride I am going to ask if we can both wait to be Pilots.

That pizza looks amazing! I love Via Napoli. Sorry you had a nonexistent server though.

 

[Loco_driver]

Cmon Dad - this ride is scary enough without you letting one rip !!
View attachment 452309

Max

Glad to have you and your sense of humor here Max!

Oh really?!?! Would it happen to be some time around the 9 - 13?

Around? Yes. During? Sadly no. 14-18

Ugh! This happened to us too. It is weird they would not give the same party the same spots. I was sad for Dan since he was given the gunner position. Next ride I am going to ask if we can both wait to be Pilots.

That pizza looks amazing! I love Via Napoli. Sorry you had a nonexistent server though.

We were ok with it. A doesn’t like the pressure of being a pilot, so she would’ve probably traded with someone anyways. They will let you wait to be pilot if you like.

The pizza was great. We will return to Via Napoli despite our poor service. Hopefully we’ll get better service next time!

 

[Loco_driver]

February 20.

We had FPs at Animal Kingdom this morning. We debated trying to get a rise of the resistance boarding group, but we both decided it wasn’t worth the hassle since we’d experienced it on our last trip. This allowed us to get an extra hour of sleep, which was much needed. We’d both been battling illnesses in the week leading up to our trip, and were still trying to recover. We woke up around 0730 and enjoyed muffins for breakfast in our room.

We headed for the bust stop around 0815, AK had a 9 am opening this day. The walk to the bus stop didn’t seem nearly as bad in the early morning light. My only issue was that there was no sidewalk for a portion of our walk. What’s with that? Were buildings 21 and 22 added after the resort had opened? Anyone know?

Anyways we just missed an AK bus. Another came along at the advertised 20 minute mark. The good thing about the millers road bus stop was that it was the last pickup before hospitality house, so we didn’t have to ride all through the resort before departing. This also meant that we were usually standing for all of our park opening trips though.

We made it to AK in no time and were through the very short AP entrance line well before park open. We really didn’t plan on being there at RD, but we got ready quicker than planned. We headed towards Everest for our first ride(yes I’m the one person who just doesn’t care for FOP).

Hello beautiful!

We walked straight through the queue, and were among the first riders for the day. We were assigned to row 2.

Oops I blocked A’s face! Also, what’s going on behind us? Our early morning ride on Everest really helped wake us up for the day!

We headed toward dinosaur next, but we weren’t really feeling like getting jostled around in the dark, so we continued on toward discovery island. We decided on Tough to be A Bug.

A few carvings from the queue.

So our sweet niece(the one obsessed with toy story) gave A this tiny forky to take with her to WDW. A told her she’d send pictures of forky on his adventures, which our niece absolutely loved! So tiny forky will be making some appearances. I chose this particular picture spot.

After ITTBAB walked the discovery island trails for a little while, waiting for our first FP window.

This little guy was really putting on a show for us.

Another elephant.

I love that you can get so up close to the tree of life to check out its details.

Our FP for Navi River Journey was open. We made our way to pandora. As expect pandora was crazy busy. One of my issues with the land is how cramped it feels.

This is my favorite part of pandora. This animatronic is incredible. Too bad the rest of the attraction lacks much substance. I admittedly enjoy it more than most on these boards though.

 

[Tuvalu]

You aren't the only one who doesn't particularly care for FoP.
Come to think of it, I don't particularly care for Everest, ITTBAB, or Navi River Journey either.
No surprise AK ranks #4 for me.

 

[amjt660]

You aren't the only one who doesn't particularly care for FoP.
Come to think of it, I don't particularly care for Everest, ITTBAB, or Navi River Journey either.
No surprise AK ranks #4 for me.

Max

 

[Tuvalu]

View attachment 452443

Max

 

[Loco_driver]

You aren't the only one who doesn't particularly care for FoP.
Come to think of it, I don't particularly care for Everest, ITTBAB, or Navi River Journey either.
No surprise AK ranks #4 for me.

While I enjoy all 3 of those attractions plus the safari, and to a certain degree dinosaur, it’s still not enough to put AK any higher than 4 for me also. There’s simply not enough attractions, even including shows and walk throughs, to occupy me more than half a day.

 

[amjt660]

View attachment 452445

Taking shots at Ghandi is not cool !!!

Max

 

[Tuvalu]

Taking shots at Ghandi is not cool !!!

Max

What made you think the shot was at Ghandi?

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

February 20.

(yes I’m the one person who just doesn’t care for FOP).

You are not alone. If I never rode FoP another time in my life I would view it as a good thing.

 

[Loco_driver]

There are a handful of days here where the weather is what I call absolutely perfect. Not too warm, no humidity, lots of sunshine. They tend to happen in late February/Early March and October/November. Today was one of those days.

The lawns are nice and green from the monsoon season we’ve had. Warm humid spring, and tornado season, is quickly approaching. Sorry to those of you who are still in the midst of winter!

 

[Loco_driver]

You are not alone. If I never rode FoP another time in my life I would view it as a good thing.

Perhaps you, @Tuvalu, and I should start a club! There was a lady on the bus to AK that morning who was so excited to do FoP. She said any wait time would be well worth it. I think I disappointed her a bit when she asked if I enjoyed the attraction. My reply was simply that it wasn’t my favorite, and I certainly wouldn’t wait in a long line for it. You’d think I had just slapped her in the face!

 

[Loco_driver]

February 20 continued.

We finished our journey down the river and checked wait times on the app. As expected, they were sky high across the board. We took the connector from pandora to Africa. There were drummers out performing. We stopped for a moment to watch them. I asked A if she wanted to go pet goats, which was a stupid question. Of course she wanted to go pet goats!

We boarded the wildlife express bound for rafikis planet watch.

Fun fact: A asks me at least three times per day if we can get a goat. I have resisted so far.

We have a large amount of land, which we will soon be building a house on. There may be goats there.

This is Tiana. Tiana doesn’t have time for any of your nonsense. She will let you know by spitting on you. I did not get spat on, but the CM working in the area let us know of Tiana the Alpaca’s grumpy demeanor.

This guy was in no mood for selfies.

There was a new baby goat! We set out on a mission to coax them over so we could pet the baby.

Mom wasn’t so sure.

Getting closer.

Success!

We went inside rafikis after our successful mission. The vet was doing a procedure on a snake to check on some bumps on its skin. I couldn’t get a good picture of it, but it was cool to watch. The veterinarian also explained the procedure and did a Q&A afterwards.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Are you sure the alpaca’s name was Tiana and not Tina?

 

[Swissmiss]

Perhaps you, @Tuvalu, and I should start a club! There was a lady on the bus to AK that morning who was so excited to do FoP. She said any wait time would be well worth it. I think I disappointed her a bit when she asked if I enjoyed the attraction. My reply was simply that it wasn’t my favorite, and I certainly wouldn’t wait in a long line for it. You’d think I had just slapped her in the face!

I find reactions like that lady‘s silly ... when someone tells me they don’t like a ride I do, I immediately think « Score! One less person in the line »

 

[MinnieM123]

We went inside rafikis after our successful mission. The vet was doing a procedure on a snake to check on some bumps on its skin. I couldn’t get a good picture of it, but it was cool to watch. The veterinarian also explained the procedure and did a Q&A afterwards.

I love Rafiki's. One time I saw an ear operation on a huge lion (there were about 12 vetrinary staff members in that room, behind the glass). Apparently, two lions got in a fight, and this one had damage to the ear.

It was fascinating to watch the vet and the number of staff needed in there (anesthesiologist, others), and it was the closest most people (park guests) could ever get to seeing one of these magnificent creatures up close (through the glass viewing area).

 

[Loco_driver]

I find reactions like that lady‘s silly ... when someone tells me they don’t like a ride I do, I immediately think « Score! One less person in the line »

Exactly! That’s why I’m glad people are willing to stand in that line for FoP. Means less people in the rest of the park for me!