Trip Report The Cold Never Bothered Us Anyway - December 2024

Happy New Year, WDW Magic Friends!

We have been back from our latest WDW for nearly a month, so it's high time I get started on our trip report, before I forget everything that happened.

The cast of characters:

Me, Katie - thirty-something mom, wife, and Disney trip planner extraordinaire

Jason - My husband of 11 years, fellow Disney adult, happy to be along for the ride

Lincoln - Our precocious three-year-old son, Jason's twin, lover of characters and roller coasters

Sunday, December 1st - Travel Day

I was up and at 'em shortly after 4:00 am, after a fitful nights' sleep. Between the excitement (we're going to Disney!) and the anxiety (what if all of our reservations randomly get canceled?), I can never sleep the night before a trip. I got J up around 4:30, and he and I quickly got ourselves ready to go and packed up last-minute items in our "go bag." We always get Lincoln out of bed last, hoping that he'll stay asleep while we transfer him to the car seat, but it never works out that way. The three of us were wide awake and pulling out of the driveway just after 5:00 am.

We made our first stop of the trip at Buc-ee's, where we all had a potty break and grabbed some breakfast.

I sat in the back with Lincoln for the next leg of the trip to try to keep the breakfast mess under control, and get him set up with a movie on his tablet.

Don't mind my disgusting car window - Lincoln has these little suction cup car toys that constantly fall off and get re-attached, thus the million little circle marks on the window.

We stopped again for gas and another potty break shortly after crossing over into Florida. And once we hit Gainesville, this was our view for the next hour and a half.

This was the second trip in a row that we ended up stuck in traffic for over an hour on the way down, and both times the traffic was not in Atlanta! This time around, I had considered booking a hotel room in Lake City for the night before our check-in day, so that we could drive most of the way down the night before and be on property before Noon. Plus, that would keep us from having to wake up so early to drive down. For our next trip, I'm definitely booking that hotel room for the night before.

Thankfully, Lincoln was a good sport, and kept himself entertained.

Finally, shortly after 1:30 pm, we passed through the magical gates, and all of our troubles disappeared.

Up next: Disney Springs

 

[erstwo]

Sunday, December 1st - Arrival Day - Continued

Around 5:15, we headed back to Disney Springs for our 5:50 dinner reservation at Homecomin'. We checked in right at 5:50, and were seated at an outdoor table less than 5 minutes later.

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J and I both got one of the moonshines on tap to drink - Sweet Tea Shine for J, and Strawberry Lemonade Shine for me. We also got the Bunch of Puppies appetizer - hush puppies served with a side of pepper jelly and pimento cheese. We had hoped Lincoln would enjoy the appetizer, since he normally loves hushpuppies, but he said that these were too spicy.

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For our meals, L got the kid's cheeseburger with mac and cheese and peas and carrots, J got the Fried Chicken Sandwich, and I got the Harvest Salad with fried chicken.

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We all really enjoyed our meals, and I managed to get Lincoln to eat two whole bites of veggies on a Disney vacation, so I'd say it was a success. We were on the dining plan this trip, which meant we all get dessert. We were all stuffed, so we ordered our dessert to go - L got the kids' donuts (glazed donuts from Everglazed), J got the Shine Cake, and I got the Hummingbird Cake. Lincoln ate one of his donuts when we got back to the room - I tried a bite, it was a basic glazed donut. I had a few bites of my hummingbird cake that night after L went to bed - it was very good, but veeeerrryyy sweet. I could not have finished it.

After dinner, we decided to walk through World of Disney...

I think this particular day was the most crowded we had ever seen Disney Springs - it was absolute wall-to-wall people, everywhere you looked. World of Disney is already the busiest store in Disney Springs, and can be overstimulating on a normal day, but on a day this crowded, it can be downright unpleasant. We decided to stick with and and push (not literally) through the crowds to look around.

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On this trip, Lincoln deployed a new tactic for getting us to buy him something - he would point something out and say "I don't have one of those!"

He managed to talk us into a Grogu Cuddleez plush and a Mickey baseball cap that came with sunglasses, that he has not worn one single time since then. I also snagged a t-shirt that I had been wanting for over a year. Since the checkout lines were crazy, we opted to use the Mobile Checkout feature on the MDE app, which was a huge timesaver throughout the trip. It was getting close to bedtime when we left World of Disney, so we decided we'd come back to DS another day, and headed back to Pop.

When we got back to Pop, we cruised by the main building to get our refillable mugs, and I grabbed some pics of the Christmas tree in the lobby.

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If you read our trip report from 2023, you may remember that I had bought an inflatable toddler bed and a blackout sleep tent for Lincoln to sleep in, since he had outgrown the pack-n-play, and was not used to sleeping in a full-size bed. It was a disaster in 2023, but we let Lincoln sleep with the blackout tent over his bed at home a few times over the course of the year, hoping that we would have better luck with this setup in 2024. We brought this sleep setup with us again on this trip, and set it up before heading out to dinner - L was very excited to sleep in his tent. A few hours later, now that it was bedtime, he was not having it. He said that the inflatable bed was not comfortable and it "hurt his butt."

Finally, well past 9pm, I gave up the fight and pulled down the Murphy bed for Lincoln to sleep on. I didn't want to have to wait up for someone from the front desk to bring up bedrails, so we stacked some pillows on the edges of the bed and prayed that L wouldn't roll off (he didn't, thankfully, but I was so anxious about it that I barely slept that night). Around 10:00 pm, L finally drifted off to sleep, and J and I were asleep not long after that.

Up next: Animal Kingdom Day

‘The I don’t have one of those’ and ‘hurts my butt’ are cracking me up!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Our safari in June that we did right at park opening didn't have a lot of animals either and I think part of the problem is they don't feed them out on on the savanna until a little later, so some just stay in their indoor enclosures until they start the outdoor feedings. The cold definitely could have had something with them staying inside longer too!!

 

[k8einwdw]

‘The I don’t have one of those’ and ‘hurts my butt’ are cracking me up!

Kids say the darndest things

Our safari in June that we did right at park opening didn't have a lot of animals either and I think part of the problem is they don't feed them out on on the savanna until a little later, so some just stay in their indoor enclosures until they start the outdoor feedings. The cold definitely could have had something with them staying inside longer too!!

Maybe we’ll try for a later start next time!

 

[k8einwdw]

Monday, December 2nd - Animal Kingdom Day - Continued

After our safari, J and I were both in need of some coffee. I had seen several people on TikTok rave about the coconut iced coffee from Kusafiri Bakery, so we decided to give it a try. I'm pleased to say we were not disappointed! While we enjoyed our coffees, L chowed on some Cheez-Its and fruit leather.

Lincoln was getting a little cranky at this point, saying he didn't want to go to Animal Kingdom anymore, and he wanted to go play in the hotel room. We decided he could use some time to run around and burn some energy, so we took him over to the Boneyard playground in Dinoland. We're really hoping they retheme/repurpose this playground, rather than getting rid of it. We've already lost our beloved Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure playground, don't take this one from us too!

Lincoln enjoyed climbing on everything and going down all of the big slides, but his favorite part of this area was the dig site. We ended up staying here for an hour, letting him run around and play, but he could have easily stayed all day!

I finally convinced him to leave the playground with the promise of another ride - TriceraTop Spin! We knew that this would be our last chance to ride, and this is one of Lincoln's favorites in AK, so it was a must-do for us. We waited about 10 minutes to ride.

After our ride, Lincoln wanted to play a couple of the carnival games (not going to miss forking out the extra money for these). He lost the water shooter game, but, with Dad's help, won the whack-a-dino game. His prize was a tiny plush Moana, who came in handy throughout the trip when L got antsy waiting for shows. Lincoln was hungry again at this point, so we grabbed refill # 1 for our popcorn bucket.

Up next: Farewell, Dinoland

 

[k8einwdw]

Monday, December 2nd - Animal Kingdom Day - Continued

While L was chowing on his popcorn, J stayed with him while I walked around to take some farewell pics of Dinoland. I'm definitely excited for the new Tropical Americas area, but there are a few things I'm going to miss from Dinoland. One of those things is Chester and Hester's Dinosaur Treasures. This has always been one of the most fun and unique shops in WDW, and in a world where World of Disney and MouseGears have both received the bland warehouse theme makeover, the theming in here was much appreciated.

I can't say I'll miss Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama - I know the little ones (including Lincoln) love TriceraTop Spin, but this area could be so much more. Hopefully the new area will have more shade - it has always felt like walking on the surface of the sun during the hot months in this spot.

RIP Donald's Dino Bash - the celebration that was supposed to take place over the summer of 2018, but has lasted for six and a half years.

Farewell, Santasaurus.

Up next: Our first character encounters of the trip

 

[k8einwdw]

Monday, December 2nd - Animal Kingdom Day - Continued

While we were over by Chester & Hester's Kevin happened to stop by - Lincoln was very excited, yelling out to her. I have shown him "Up," but I think he mostly associates Kevin with Animal Kingdom.

We also decided to try our luck with a character meet while we were in the area. L had been iffy about the characters in 2023, and he had wanted nothing to do with Santa a couple weeks prior to the trip, so we were nervous about how he would do with the characters on this trip. Turns out, we had nothing to worry about.

We are for SURE going to miss the Chipmunk-asauruses.

Up next: Wrapping up our time at Animal Kingdom

 

[k8einwdw]

It’s a snow day! A rare treat for us in Georgia.

 

[k8einwdw]

Monday, December 2nd - Animal Kingdom Day - Continued

After wrapping up our time in Dinoland, we made the journey over to Asia. We had heard people rave about Mr. Kamal's seasoned fries for years, and by dern, we were finally going to try them this year. I can report that they are worth the hype! Lincoln partook in a few of the fries, but said that the sriracha mayo was too spicy (fair enough).

We were sitting in a covered pavilion with a great view of Tree of Life- I believe this is where Baloo and King Louie used to meet, but don't quote me on that. I headed down the ramp to get some pics of the Tree of Life, and someone just had to be included.

While we were in the area, we decided to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek. One of the tigers was out walking around!

After our trek, J and I had planned to take turns riding Expedition Everest via the single rider line, but the ride was down at that point in time. We were all still hungry, so we mobile-ordered some lunch from Satu'Li Canteen, and headed that direction. The park wasn't particularly crowded on this day, but it seems like everyone in the park was at Satu'Li Canteen. We ended up having to sit at an outside table - thankfully, it had warmed up a bit at this point. For lunch, I got my usual grilled chicken bowl, J got the combination beef and chicken bowl, and L got the cheeseburger pod kids meal.

Everyone enjoyed their lunch, and we had done just about everything we wanted to do at Animal Kingdom, so we decided to start slowly making our way out of the park. First, we popped back into Dinoland to get Lincoln a pressed penny, since it would likely be our last chance for a Dinoland penny. It was at this point that we learned that all of the pressed penny machines, which had accepted only quarters or credit card in 2023, had been converted to accept only dollar bills or credit card. We had brought $20 in quarters, graciously provided by the grandparents. Thankfully, I had exactly (1) $1 bill on me, but we would have to figure something out for the rest of the trip.

After getting our Dinoland penny, we walked back through the main shops on Discovery Island. Lincoln conned us into getting him a tiny Simba plush - "I don't have one of these!" On our way out, we saw the Merry Menagerie, which L LOVED!

We exited the park shortly after 2:30 pm, stopping to take some pics of the Christmas tree on our way out - this is my favorite tree in the parks!

Up next: A Magic Kingdom evening

 

[erstwo]

Where do we Venmo you for ‘all the things Lincoln doesn’t have yet’ fund?
It’s just too cute!

 

[belledream]

I was up and at 'em shortly after 4:00 am, after a fitful nights' sleep. Between the excitement (we're going to Disney!) and the anxiety (what if all of our reservations randomly get canceled?), I can never sleep the night before a trip.

I felt this in my soul.

One of those things is Chester and Hester's Dinosaur Treasures. This has always been one of the most fun and unique shops in WDW, and in a world where World of Disney and MouseGears have both received the bland warehouse theme makeover, the theming in here was much appreciated.

And this. Thank you for taking these pictures! I feel the exact same way about this shop and the ship has sailed.

Can’t wait to read more!

 

[k8einwdw]

And this. Thank you for taking these pictures! I feel the exact same way about this shop and the ship has sailed.

We’ll miss it! Hopefully whatever replaces Chester and Hester’s won’t get the warehouse treatment.

 

[k8einwdw]

Monday, December 2nd - Animal/Magic Kingdom Day - Continued

We left Animal Kingdom shortly after 2:30, and headed back to Pop. Lincoln is in the process of dropping his afternoon nap, but we knew he'd still need one during the looong days at Disney. He had not taken one yet this day, and honestly we were all in need of a nap, so we all did just that. I set an alarm for 4:30 so that we wouldn't accidently sleep for four hours. When I woke up, I felt something weird in the sheets...it was those tiny rocks from the Dig Site in Dinoland. We had gotten them out of all of our shoes/socks earlier, but Lincoln must have had some lingering in his clothes - y'all, it was a comical amount of rocks in our sheets.

We all quickly changed out of our AK clothes and into our MK clothes (obviously not going to wear a Tree of Life shirt to Magic Kingdom), and we headed out of the room around 5:00. At 5:45, we were here. Hello, Beautiful.

Hello, Beautiful.

Hello, Beautiful.

I just love this time of the day at Magic Kingdom - it's not quite dark outside, but all of the lights on Main Street have turned on - it's just magical. We wanted to try to get in one or two rides before dinner and fireworks, so we headed back to Fantasyland. We did not purchase LL this day, so we had to wait in the standby lines with the rest of the riff-raff. Lincoln was really excited to ride Barnstormer again, so we headed there first. It was posted at a 35-minute wait, but I think it was closer to a 20-minute wait. Longer than I'd care to wait for a 30-second ride, but it made Lincoln happy.

After we got off, we knew we only had about 45 minutes until we'd need to find a spot for Happily Ever After, so we decided to go ahead and mobile order dinner. We decided on Casey's, since we hadn't eaten there since I believe 2019. Upon placing our mobile order, I was shocked to find out hat Casey's doesn't have kids' meals...so strange at Disney. So, we ordered 3 adult meals, and since we were on the dining plan, that messed up the number of kids/adults TS credits. In hindsight, L and I probably could have/should have split a meal. ANYWAY, we all got corn dog nuggies, and of course paid the $1 extra to each get a cup 'o cheese. The seating at Casey's was, unsurprisingly, completely packed, so we ended up sitting on the cub on Main Street USA. Not super comfortable, but at least we had spots secured for HEA.

After we finished eating, we still had a good bit of time to kill before the fireworks started. Thankfully, I had prepared for this very moment, and had stashed lollipops and some small toys for Lincoln in my bag. And of course, the bubble wands are always a hit.

I don't think I'll ever be over the loss of the Dream Lights.

Before I get to the fireworks pictures, a short soapbox moment. We got to our spot over an hour before showtime. We knew other people would fill in the empty space on Main Street USA, no problem. But if the fireworks have already started, it's rude to squeeze your way in to the middle of the crowd, making everyone move to let you in and interrupting the show for everyone around you. And it's even ruder if you do it again because you don't stay for the whole show. If you want to leave before the fireworks are over, stand closer to the front of the park. Soapbox moment number two - for the love, can we stop putting kids on shoulders? No one can see around your kid. Hold them at eye level. I promise they can still see if they're not towering seven feet in the air. Soapbox moment over.

Now, let's get on with the show! Lincoln was enthralled with the fireworks, and perhaps even more so with his Magic Band's interaction with the fireworks. Note how Jason is holding him at eye level.

We had not watched the show from inside Magic Kingdom since sometime in 2019. We were passholders from 2017-2021, so we always had the mentality of "we'll just do it next trip" if we missed out on experiencing something on a trip. Little did we know, a pandemic would take fireworks from us for a long time, and then HEA would be retired shortly after returning. We had missed this show, and seeing it again with our son made it all the more special.

Is my face red because of the cold, or because I'd been crying? I'll never tell.

It was so special seeing this show again with Lincoln. Well worth paying the extra $ for park hoppers. After the show, we headed out of the park - we had picked a spot just outside an Emporium entrance so we could cut through and avoid some of the crowds on Main Street USA. We managed to get back to the room around 9:15, which is not bag for a Magic Kingdom night. I bathed L and got him down to bed around 10:00, and then J and I followed not to long after.

Step count for the day - 23,976 - 8.95 miles

Up next: Magic Kingdom on a chilly party day

 

[k8einwdw]

Tuesday, December 3rd - Magic Kingdom Day

I was up at 5:30 am again, and Lincoln woke up with my alarm. Our goal was to be out of the room at 6:30 - the whole process of getting to MK takes longer than the other parks, so we knew there was not much wiggle room if we wanted to make it in time for Early Entry. Thankfully, we were out of the room around 6:35. Upon our arrival at TTC, the monorail was not yet running, so we took a chilly ferry ride over to MK. At least one of us was warm and cozy.

We were walking into MK at 7:25 am, and headed straight for the mass of people rope-dropping Fantasyland. We parked the stroller by the carousel and rope-dropped Peter Pan - this ended up being about a 30-minute wait, so Early Entry was over by the time we made it out.

After Peter Pan, we headed across the way to It's a Small World, which was a walk-on.

Nightmare fuel.

The real nightmare fuel - these animatronics were turned off, so the dolls were all silently staring at passersby.

After Small World, we headed to one of Lincoln's favorites - the carousel. I know it doesn't look like it, but he was having a great time.

After our ride on the carousel, L and I were ready for breakfast. We always have breakfast foods to eat in the room/on the way to the parks, but we had been in a rush that morning and had not had time to eat. It was so cold outside, so J suggested sitting inside of Pinocchio Village Haus. They are only open for lunch and dinner, so we were pleasantly surprised that the door was unlocked - maybe they figured that guests would be seeking respite from the cold. L enjoyed his muffins and fruit and I my protein shake while we watched people float by on It's a Small World.

Our first LL of the day was Seven Dwarfs for 8:30-9:30, but it was down during our return time, so it was converted to an Anytime pass. To pass the time, we decided to head back to Storybook Circus. We walked right on to Dumbo, followed by another walk-on at Barnstormer.

It was around 9:30 at this point, and J and I were both in desperate need of coffee. We headed over to the Joffrey's Revive kiosk in Tomorrowland, but the line was looooong and it very quickly became evident that there was no way we'd be able to make our 9:00am-10:00am Haunted Mansion LL if we stayed in line. There are three Joffrey's kiosks in Epcot (in addition to the one outside the entrance), two at Hollywood Studios, and two at Animal Kingdom - we'd love to see them open another location in Magic Kingdom. The line at Revive is always crazy long in the mornings, I think having another kiosk in Adventureland/Frontierland would cut down on the crowds, and no doubt it'd be successful.

Up next: More Magic Kingdom fun

 

[Tuvalu]

Wanna know how close we were? We arrived at HM at 9:45 am!

 

[Minnie1986]

Happy New Year, WDW Magic Friends!

We have been back from our latest WDW for nearly a month, so it's high time I get started on our trip report, before I forget everything that happened.

The cast of characters:

Me, Katie - thirty-something mom, wife, and Disney trip planner extraordinaire

Jason - My husband of 11 years, fellow Disney adult, happy to be along for the ride

Lincoln - Our precocious three-year-old son, Jason's twin, lover of characters and roller coasters

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Sunday, December 1st - Travel Day

I was up and at 'em shortly after 4:00 am, after a fitful nights' sleep. Between the excitement (we're going to Disney!) and the anxiety (what if all of our reservations randomly get canceled?), I can never sleep the night before a trip. I got J up around 4:30, and he and I quickly got ourselves ready to go and packed up last-minute items in our "go bag." We always get Lincoln out of bed last, hoping that he'll stay asleep while we transfer him to the car seat, but it never works out that way. The three of us were wide awake and pulling out of the driveway just after 5:00 am.

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We made our first stop of the trip at Buc-ee's, where we all had a potty break and grabbed some breakfast.

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I sat in the back with Lincoln for the next leg of the trip to try to keep the breakfast mess under control, and get him set up with a movie on his tablet.

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Don't mind my disgusting car window - Lincoln has these little suction cup car toys that constantly fall off and get re-attached, thus the million little circle marks on the window.

We stopped again for gas and another potty break shortly after crossing over into Florida. And once we hit Gainesville, this was our view for the next hour and a half.

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This was the second trip in a row that we ended up stuck in traffic for over an hour on the way down, and both times the traffic was not in Atlanta! This time around, I had considered booking a hotel room in Lake City for the night before our check-in day, so that we could drive most of the way down the night before and be on property before Noon. Plus, that would keep us from having to wake up so early to drive down. For our next trip, I'm definitely booking that hotel room for the night before.

Thankfully, Lincoln was a good sport, and kept himself entertained.

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Finally, shortly after 1:30 pm, we passed through the magical gates, and all of our troubles disappeared.

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Up next: Disney Springs

So happy to find your newest trip report! Can't wait to keep reading! The look on Lincoln's face like "Hey! What are you doing back here?" was adorably hilarious

 

[Minnie1986]

Sunday, December 1st - Arrival Day - Continued

Around 5:15, we headed back to Disney Springs for our 5:50 dinner reservation at Homecomin'. We checked in right at 5:50, and were seated at an outdoor table less than 5 minutes later.

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J and I both got one of the moonshines on tap to drink - Sweet Tea Shine for J, and Strawberry Lemonade Shine for me. We also got the Bunch of Puppies appetizer - hush puppies served with a side of pepper jelly and pimento cheese. We had hoped Lincoln would enjoy the appetizer, since he normally loves hushpuppies, but he said that these were too spicy.

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For our meals, L got the kid's cheeseburger with mac and cheese and peas and carrots, J got the Fried Chicken Sandwich, and I got the Harvest Salad with fried chicken.

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We all really enjoyed our meals, and I managed to get Lincoln to eat two whole bites of veggies on a Disney vacation, so I'd say it was a success. We were on the dining plan this trip, which meant we all get dessert. We were all stuffed, so we ordered our dessert to go - L got the kids' donuts (glazed donuts from Everglazed), J got the Shine Cake, and I got the Hummingbird Cake. Lincoln ate one of his donuts when we got back to the room - I tried a bite, it was a basic glazed donut. I had a few bites of my hummingbird cake that night after L went to bed - it was very good, but veeeerrryyy sweet. I could not have finished it.

After dinner, we decided to walk through World of Disney...

I think this particular day was the most crowded we had ever seen Disney Springs - it was absolute wall-to-wall people, everywhere you looked. World of Disney is already the busiest store in Disney Springs, and can be overstimulating on a normal day, but on a day this crowded, it can be downright unpleasant. We decided to stick with and and push (not literally) through the crowds to look around.

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On this trip, Lincoln deployed a new tactic for getting us to buy him something - he would point something out and say "I don't have one of those!"

He managed to talk us into a Grogu Cuddleez plush and a Mickey baseball cap that came with sunglasses, that he has not worn one single time since then. I also snagged a t-shirt that I had been wanting for over a year. Since the checkout lines were crazy, we opted to use the Mobile Checkout feature on the MDE app, which was a huge timesaver throughout the trip. It was getting close to bedtime when we left World of Disney, so we decided we'd come back to DS another day, and headed back to Pop.

When we got back to Pop, we cruised by the main building to get our refillable mugs, and I grabbed some pics of the Christmas tree in the lobby.

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If you read our trip report from 2023, you may remember that I had bought an inflatable toddler bed and a blackout sleep tent for Lincoln to sleep in, since he had outgrown the pack-n-play, and was not used to sleeping in a full-size bed. It was a disaster in 2023, but we let Lincoln sleep with the blackout tent over his bed at home a few times over the course of the year, hoping that we would have better luck with this setup in 2024. We brought this sleep setup with us again on this trip, and set it up before heading out to dinner - L was very excited to sleep in his tent. A few hours later, now that it was bedtime, he was not having it. He said that the inflatable bed was not comfortable and it "hurt his butt."

Finally, well past 9pm, I gave up the fight and pulled down the Murphy bed for Lincoln to sleep on. I didn't want to have to wait up for someone from the front desk to bring up bedrails, so we stacked some pillows on the edges of the bed and prayed that L wouldn't roll off (he didn't, thankfully, but I was so anxious about it that I barely slept that night). Around 10:00 pm, L finally drifted off to sleep, and J and I were asleep not long after that.

Up next: Animal Kingdom Day

World of Disney is already the busiest store in Disney Springs, and can be overstimulating on a normal day

It sure can be! S and I both have anxiety, and had to step outside the store at one point during; SO many people on the day we went. Thank goodness for mobile order, because by the time we left, we were both DONE.

 

[Minnie1986]

Monday, December 2nd - Animal Kingdom Day

If you read our trip report from 2023, you may remember that Lincoln, who normally sleeps great at home, was up at least once a night every single night of the trip. I'm happy to report that he slept like a champ on this trip! I woke up at 5:30 this morning and got myself mostly ready before waking the boys up around 6:00. Since Animal Kingdom was opening for resort guests at 7:30 (WHY), our goal was to be out of the room around 6:30. Unfortunately, certain members of our family had a hard time getting going this morning, so we did not leave the room until around 6:55. Thankfully, the drive from Pop to AK is not bad, and we were parked, through security, and walking in to the park at 7:23.

We rope-dropped one of Lincoln's favorites, Na'Vi River Journey. We waited less than 10 minutes. Lincoln loves looking around at all of the different creatures you see on your journey, and he loves the shaman's song.

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After Na'Vi, we headed back to Africa to Kilimanjaro Safaris, which was opening right as we got in line. This was the only park day that we did not purchase Lightning Lanes for, so we were nervous about how long we would end up waiting for the safari - thankfully, it only ended up being about 15 minutes.

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As the TR title suggests, it was cold on this trip, especially early in the morning and late at night. We did not see as many animals as usual on our safari - I'm guessing many of them weren't keen on being out in the cold weather.

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Sadly, the lions had been retired to their new home shortly before our trip, and we missed the arrival of the new pride by a few days. The lions have always been a highlight of the safari for us, so it felt strange to see their area empty. It will be something to look forward to for the next trip.

Up next: Diggin' in Dinoland

Na'Vi is such a peaceful way to start an AK day!

 

[Minnie1986]

Tuesday, December 3rd - Magic Kingdom Day

I was up at 5:30 am again, and Lincoln woke up with my alarm. Our goal was to be out of the room at 6:30 - the whole process of getting to MK takes longer than the other parks, so we knew there was not much wiggle room if we wanted to make it in time for Early Entry. Thankfully, we were out of the room around 6:35. Upon our arrival at TTC, the monorail was not yet running, so we took a chilly ferry ride over to MK. At least one of us was warm and cozy.

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We were walking into MK at 7:25 am, and headed straight for the mass of people rope-dropping Fantasyland. We parked the stroller by the carousel and rope-dropped Peter Pan - this ended up being about a 30-minute wait, so Early Entry was over by the time we made it out.

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After Peter Pan, we headed across the way to It's a Small World, which was a walk-on.

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Nightmare fuel.

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The real nightmare fuel - these animatronics were turned off, so the dolls were all silently staring at passersby.

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After Small World, we headed to one of Lincoln's favorites - the carousel. I know it doesn't look like it, but he was having a great time.

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After our ride on the carousel, L and I were ready for breakfast. We always have breakfast foods to eat in the room/on the way to the parks, but we had been in a rush that morning and had not had time to eat. It was so cold outside, so J suggested sitting inside of Pinocchio Village Haus. They are only open for lunch and dinner, so we were pleasantly surprised that the door was unlocked - maybe they figured that guests would be seeking respite from the cold. L enjoyed his muffins and fruit and I my protein shake while we watched people float by on It's a Small World.

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Our first LL of the day was Seven Dwarfs for 8:30-9:30, but it was down during our return time, so it was converted to an Anytime pass. To pass the time, we decided to head back to Storybook Circus. We walked right on to Dumbo, followed by another walk-on at Barnstormer.

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It was around 9:30 at this point, and J and I were both in desperate need of coffee. We headed over to the Joffrey's Revive kiosk in Tomorrowland, but the line was looooong and it very quickly became evident that there was no way we'd be able to make our 9:00am-10:00am Haunted Mansion LL if we stayed in line. There are three Joffrey's kiosks in Epcot (in addition to the one outside the entrance), two at Hollywood Studios, and two at Animal Kingdom - we'd love to see them open another location in Magic Kingdom. The line at Revive is always crazy long in the mornings, I think having another kiosk in Adventureland/Frontierland would cut down on the crowds, and no doubt it'd be successful.

Up next: More Magic Kingdom fun

I feel like having only one Joffrey's kiosk in all of MK could be potentially dangerous lol

 

[Minnie1986]

Monday, December 2nd - Animal Kingdom Day - Continued

While L was chowing on his popcorn, J stayed with him while I walked around to take some farewell pics of Dinoland. I'm definitely excited for the new Tropical Americas area, but there are a few things I'm going to miss from Dinoland. One of those things is Chester and Hester's Dinosaur Treasures. This has always been one of the most fun and unique shops in WDW, and in a world where World of Disney and MouseGears have both received the bland warehouse theme makeover, the theming in here was much appreciated.

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I can't say I'll miss Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama - I know the little ones (including Lincoln) love TriceraTop Spin, but this area could be so much more. Hopefully the new area will have more shade - it has always felt like walking on the surface of the sun during the hot months in this spot.

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RIP Donald's Dino Bash - the celebration that was supposed to take place over the summer of 2018, but has lasted for six and a half years.

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Farewell, Santasaurus.

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Up next: Our first character encounters of the trip

 

[k8einwdw]

Wanna know how close we were? We arrived at HM at 9:45 am!