Trip Report Two goofs and an orange bird conquer the world.

Hello all!

I’ve finally found a little time to patch together a trip report from our trip in mid June. It was just the wife(A), and I(Dave)on this trip. We started out at Yacht Club, then went down the road to that other place in Orlando for a few days, before finishing up with a stay at the poly. Along the way we laughed, we cried, we survived many storms, and endured some brutal heat! Let the shenanigans begin!

Sunday June 16

We took two days to drive down from Texas, arriving on the 16th. I won’t bore you with the details of our long, mostly boring trip.

We made it on property by mid morning. Our room wasn’t ready, so we headed into Epcot in search of something to eat. We had an early lunch at Les Halles. I had the jambon beurre, and A had a B.L.T. We were super hungry from our morning drive, and didn’t take any pictures. My sandwich was fine, A really liked hers.

We split this thing for dessert. It was delicious!

After lunch we strolled around a very empty world showcase just taking in the sights and sounds of each pavilion. We also came across a few PP photographers along the way

Notice the increasing amount of sweat on my shirt as we progressed. It was only around 11:45 and it was already sweltering! Also you may notice A is wearing an orange bird backpack in a few photos. The orange bird will be making several appearances later in the report. Some friends of ours bought it for her as a thank you for coming down to photograph their engagement in March, because it was so inconvenient for us to come to Disney! . Anyways we sent our friends pictures of orange bird doing various activities with us throughout the trip, which will be appearing here later

 

[Loco_driver]

Monday June 24 continued.

After our nap we freshened up and headed over to Ohana for dinner. It was a wonderful meal. Our last visit we had a few issues with service, but our waitress this trip was very attentive. Our drinks from the bar were a bit slow, but that seemed to be happening with every table.

A had this concoction. She said it was very good. I had an island sunset. It was pretty good as well.

After our meal we headed back to the room to relax for a bit. We originally planned to go watch fireworks at MK, but neither one of us were feeling up to fighting the crowds. We decided to watch the fireworks from the beach instead.

When the fireworks ended, the family in front of us got up and went into the bungalow right beside us! I found it a bit odd that they didn’t watch from their deck. To each their own though I suppose! We headed back to our room for the night. It was nice to have a more relaxing day and evening.

 

[riverside]

Our drinks from the bar were a bit slow, but that seemed to be happening with every table.

I concur!!

 

[Loco_driver]

Tuesday June 25

I woke up feeling refreshed and headed down to captain cooks for breakfast. Once again A was almost ready when I returned to the room, and we split an order of Tonga toast. We headed next door, and walked right into a monorail for MK. We actually had really good luck using Disney transportation this trip, for the most part anyways!

This was the hottest day of the trip, so we took it very slow, and tried to do as many indoor things as possible. My favorite dark ride was up first.

One of us was ready for the new photo. I’d get a chance to redeem myself later.

When we exited HM it was unbelievably hot, and the sun was beating down hard. We headed to Adventureland.

It was time to go pay a visit to some of orange birds friends!

After tiki room we headed over to country bear jamboree. I prefer the bears to the birds, but love them both.

After CBJ we went over to HoP.

We had to wait a while for a show to start, but we didn’t mind a bit! I’ve always loved Hall of Presidents, no matter who the current president is or what I think of them. I think it’s a beautiful tribute to the office, and the men who have held it. I also love seeing the presidents subtle movements and gestures.

As we exited the show, great moments in history was about to begin.

I really hope they keep this show. It adds a great energy to the area, and is highly entertaining!

I placed an order at Columbia Harbour House after the show, so we headed there. It took us a while to find a table, but we did just as our order was ready. We split a trio platter. It was tasty as usual.

After lunch we had a FP for splash.

My entire left side got absolutely drenched. Our boat dipped into the water when we landed in the “laughing place” scene. They didn’t do a very good job of balancing the raft! Look at the poor boy in the front. He’s soaked!

We had a FP for BTMRR next. After our ride through the wilderness we headed over to Tom Sawyer island to kill some time. I had never been to TSI so it was a new experience. It was nice to escape the crowds for a bit!

Goofing off in the fort. I was quite sweaty!

We headed over to the seating area for aunt Polly’s, and grabbed a rocking chair in the shade. We were actually able to see the floats in the festival of fantasy parade across the river!

It was hot hot hot! Although apparently the weather was pleasant back home(since we were gone of course). We eventually headed back to liberty square. We had a FP to do haunted mansion again.

I still wasn’t ready for the photo!

 

[Laurenciaa]

Tuesday June 25

I woke up feeling refreshed and headed down to captain cooks for breakfast. Once again A was almost ready when I returned to the room, and we split an order of Tonga toast. We headed next door, and walked right into a monorail for MK. We actually had really good luck using Disney transportation this trip, for the most part anyways!

This was the hottest day of the trip, so we took it very slow, and tried to do as many indoor things as possible. My favorite dark ride was up first.

View attachment 397447

View attachment 397451
One of us was ready for the new photo. I’d get a chance to redeem myself later.

When we exited HM it was unbelievably hot, and the sun was beating down hard. We headed to Adventureland.

View attachment 397452
It was time to go pay a visit to some of orange birds friends!

After tiki room we headed over to country bear jamboree. I prefer the bears to the birds, but love them both.

After CBJ we went over to HoP.

View attachment 397477
We had to wait a while for a show to start, but we didn’t mind a bit! I’ve always loved Hall of Presidents, no matter who the current president is or what I think of them. I think it’s a beautiful tribute to the office, and the men who have held it. I also love seeing the presidents subtle movements and gestures.

As we exited the show, great moments in history was about to begin.

View attachment 397487

View attachment 397488
I really hope they keep this show. It adds a great energy to the area, and is highly entertaining!

I placed an order at Columbia Harbour House after the show, so we headed there. It took us a while to find a table, but we did just as our order was ready. We split a trio platter. It was tasty as usual.

After lunch we had a FP for splash.

View attachment 397492
My entire left side got absolutely drenched. Our boat dipped into the water when we landed in the “laughing place” scene. They didn’t do a very good job of balancing the raft! Look at the poor boy in the front. He’s soaked!

We had a FP for BTMRR next. After our ride through the wilderness we headed over to Tom Sawyer island to kill some time. I had never been to TSI so it was a new experience. It was nice to escape the crowds for a bit!
View attachment 397501
Goofing off in the fort. I was quite sweaty!

We headed over to the seating area for aunt Polly’s, and grabbed a rocking chair in the shade. We were actually able to see the floats in the festival of fantasy parade across the river!

View attachment 397498
It was hot hot hot! Although apparently the weather was pleasant back home(since we were gone of course). We eventually headed back to liberty square. We had a FP to do haunted mansion again.

View attachment 397510
I still wasn’t ready for the photo!

No matching shirts today? DANG!Really loving the TR so far!! Wished Disneyland Paris would add this Photo location in the HM..!

 

[Loco_driver]

No matching shirts today? DANG!Really loving the TR so far!! Wished Disneyland Paris would add this Photo location in the HM..!

Haha, A showed some mercy on me and only made a few sets of matching shirts. She did make the big thunder shirt for me! Thanks for following along. Glad you’re enjoying!

 

[Loco_driver]

Tuesday June 25 continued.

After haunted mansion we picked up a FP for pirates.

After pirates we decided to start heading back to our room, the heat we just too much.

We stopped by plaza to grab some ice cream first.

A had an apple blossom sundae. My peanut butter loving heart just had to have an All-American! We had to eat it fast to keep it from melting completely!

After our ice cream we went back to our room for a much needed nap.

After napping a few hours it was time to head to dinner. We had reservations at 1900 park fare. I wasn’t thrilled about it(face characters), but A wanted to try it, and the buffet didn’t sound too bad so I agreed. We checked in a bit early, and had about a 20 minute wait.

We wandered around the lobby listening to the orchestra while we waited.

A refers to this as the “Uncle Jesse” piano!

Eventually we were seated for dinner. I actually ended up enjoying the food here. The butternut squash ravioli and strawberry soup were the standouts to me.

Strange name, tasty dish!

After our first trip to the buffet, the characters started coming by in rapid succession.

A loves Cinderella. I simply try not to be awkward.

The step sisters were a blast! They really had a lot of leeway in how they interact with people. I feel like they let loose a little more with us since we had no children with us.

Anastasia really was having a good time with us, she even made jokes with us as she was visiting the tables around us!

 

[Loco_driver]

Tuesday June 25 continued.

Lady Tremaine was convinced we were up to no good, and wanted in on the action! Anastasia ran back over to tell her to stop messing with her “boyfriend”! She wasn’t convinced A and I were really married because A wasn’t wearing her diamonds, so she declared me her new boyfriend!

After our surprisingly good meal, we decided to head back to the poly for the evening. Our plans were to watch the fireworks from the beach again. We were greeted with a Florida evening thunderstorm. Unfortunately they had shut down the monorail and boats, so were kind of stuck in the Grand Floridian for a bit. We browsed the gift shop for about 45 minutes waiting for the storm to pass. Eventually we walked back to the Polynesian.

The storm had provided some much needed relief from the heat, and we had a pleasant walk.

We grabbed some chairs on the beach and enjoyed the sunset.

They didn’t run the electrical water pageant this evening, but did get the fireworks off on schedule.

We headed back to our room for the night. We ended up having a very pleasant evening!

 

[Mainahman]

The poly beach!! someday ill find a way to stay there!

 

[Loco_driver]

Wednesday June 26.

We woke up a bit later than usual and commenced our new morning routine before heading to the bus stop. We were braving the heat at animal kingdom this day.

We were running a bit late and had a FP for Everest that was close to expiring. Unfortunately we arrived to discover it was currently down. I did not receive my usual notification, but did get the multiple experience FP. We decided to catch a Nemo show that was starting soon instead.

I can’t remember the photographer’s name who took this. But she was just randomly scanning bands out of order, so I was lucky this one showed up in my account. I also have about ten strangers pictures from this spot as well.

The show was packed thanks to the heat(and lack of actual attractions at AK). It had been about 3 years since we’d seen this one. It’s one of my 2 favorite shows on property, the other being FoTLK.

We had about 10 minutes until or FP for safari, so we slowly made our way over. We started playing a game along the way called “how many hakuna matata shirts”. The object of the game is to find as many as you can. We kept a running tally all day. We ended up seeing over 130, although some of those may have been the same person multiple times!

Our safari was during the heat of the day, so here’s a collection of animals in the shade trying not to die.

It was still a fun experience, but definitely not the best time to do the safari. We’d have a much better one later in the day.

Dinosaur was only showing a 15 minute wait on the app, so we decided to go that way and maybe use our FP for Everest afterward. We arrived to find dinosaur was also down, and Everest was still down as well. So at the busiest time of day, with only two attractions having problems, the park had all of 8 attractions/shows available. They gotta get more help for that place.

We ended up just going inside restaurantosaurus to cool off and drink some water.

We also split this little fella. Orange bird didn’t approve.

We sat inside for quite awhile before deciding to brave the heat again. We had a FoP FP coming up, so off to Pandora it was.

I am not a huge fan of FoP. It’s mostly due to me pretty much being too tall for those silly seats they use. I can’t get my long legs underneath the little ledge comfortably, so when the restraints come up the one on my legs can be quite painful. It’s really a shame I can’t enjoy it comfortably, but that’s life I guess. This was my second time experiencing the attraction, and probably my last. A enjoys it, but doesn’t think it lives up to the hype it receives.

After our flights through pandora we saw Everest was finally up and running. We made our way back into Asia hoping the FP line wasn’t too long. It was. The FP line stretched down to the Nemo theater! We decided to brave it anyways, and managed to make it on in about 20 minutes.

Definitely my favorite thing at AK, even with disco yeti!

After our ride, our FP was still showing available like it had not been scanned. We asked to FP cast member about it, she Scanned our bands and told us to go through and ride again if we wanted!

We wouldn’t want to turn down such a kind gesture!

 

[Mainahman]

Wednesday June 26.

We woke up a bit later than usual and commenced our new morning routine before heading to the bus stop. We were braving the heat at animal kingdom this day.

We were running a bit late and had a FP for Everest that was close to expiring. Unfortunately we arrived to discover it was currently down. I did not receive my usual notification, but did get the multiple experience FP. We decided to catch a Nemo show that was starting soon instead.

View attachment 398250
I can’t remember the photographer’s name who took this. But she was just randomly scanning bands out of order, so I was lucky this one showed up in my account. I also have about ten strangers pictures from this spot as well.

View attachment 398252
The show was packed thanks to the heat(and lack of actual attractions at AK). It had been about 3 years since we’d seen this one. It’s one of my 2 favorite shows on property, the other being FoTLK.

We had about 10 minutes until or FP for safari, so we slowly made our way over. We started playing a game along the way called “how many hakuna matata shirts”. The object of the game is to find as many as you can. We kept a running tally all day. We ended up seeing over 130, although some of those may have been the same person multiple times!

Our safari was during the heat of the day, so here’s a collection of animals in the shade trying not to die.

View attachment 398257

View attachment 398256

View attachment 398254

View attachment 398255

It was still a fun experience, but definitely not the best time to do the safari. We’d have a much better one later in the day.

Dinosaur was only showing a 15 minute wait on the app, so we decided to go that way and maybe use our FP for Everest afterward. We arrived to find dinosaur was also down, and Everest was still down as well. So at the busiest time of day, with only two attractions having problems, the park had all of 8 attractions/shows available. They gotta get more help for that place.

We ended up just going inside restaurantosaurus to cool off and drink some water.
View attachment 398258
We also split this little fella. Orange bird didn’t approve.

We sat inside for quite awhile before deciding to brave the heat again. We had a FoP FP coming up, so off to Pandora it was.

I am not a huge fan of FoP. It’s mostly due to me pretty much being too tall for those silly seats they use. I can’t get my long legs underneath the little ledge comfortably, so when the restraints come up the one on my legs can be quite painful. It’s really a shame I can’t enjoy it comfortably, but that’s life I guess. This was my second time experiencing the attraction, and probably my last. A enjoys it, but doesn’t think it lives up to the hype it receives.

After our flights through pandora we saw Everest was finally up and running. We made our way back into Asia hoping the FP line wasn’t too long. It was. The FP line stretched down to the Nemo theater! We decided to brave it anyways, and managed to make it on in about 20 minutes.

View attachment 398262
Definitely my favorite thing at AK, even with disco yeti!

After our ride, our FP was still showing available like it had not been scanned. We asked to FP cast member about it, she Scanned our bands and told us to go through and ride again if we wanted!

View attachment 398263
We wouldn’t want to turn down such a kind gesture!

Oh Everest!!! one of my favorites. I did 7 rides in a row back in march during morning extra magic hours. Cant get enough of Everest!! well actually at 7 times my head was in a bit of pain, and i was wide awake haha! Who needs coffee when you got Everest!

 

[Loco_driver]

Oh Everest!!! one of my favorites. I did 7 rides in a row back in march during morning extra magic hours. Cant get enough of Everest!! well actually at 7 times my head was in a bit of pain, and i was wide awake haha! Who needs coffee when you got Everest!

I did something like that one night shortly after Everest opened(AK actually had evening EMH at the time!). I’m not sure I could handle that many spins on it these days, but I would be willing to try! Lol

 

[Loco_driver]

Wednesday June26 Continued.

After our surprise bonus ride on Everest I made us another safari FP for a little later. We decided to try to see festival of the lion king while we waited. We walked up to the theater about 15 minutes before show time, but the CM told us the next show was already full!

We grabbed a snack at tamu tamu and watched the harambe village acrobats.

Extra icing on my ice cream sandwich? Sure!

A decided she really wanted to see FOTKL, so we changed our safari FP to the next showing. We sat and people watched for a bit before heading back to the theater.

The show was fantastic as usual! We were glad we got to see it.

We hadn’t had a real meal since breakfast, and the hanger was starting to set in. Luckily we had an ADR for tusker house about 20 minutes after the lion king! I really love this buffet. It has so much more than the usual food you see everywhere. The characters are a nice bonus, but I’d eat here without them anytime. The only reason we don’t eat here more is the close proximity to boma, which is the best buffet on property.

We were seated quickly, and our waiter said we had plenty of time to grab some food before any characters came around.

Donald showed up as soon as we sat down with our plates. He insisted we take our pictures sitting down, we were happy to oblige!

Daisy admired my shirt, and let us know that she had ventured to Everest and encountered the yeti too!

The main mouse himself eventually paid us a visit. He was very fond of A!

 

[Loco_driver]

Wednesday June 26 continued.

We had time to go get seconds on our favorite dishes as well as dessert before my Disney spirit animal came by!

A calls goofy my spirit animal because of my easy going, good natured attitude(and just general goofiness I’m sure!).

We made anoth FP for the safari that was ready when we finished dinner. The animals were much more active during the slightly cooler evening.

We had a great safari guide this time, which can make a huge difference!

We decided to go see the gorillas after our safari.

This little guy was really hamming it up for us. The CM on hand said he was a bit of a trouble maker sometimes, but could also be very sweet.

The sun was starting to set as we left the gorilla falls trail. We had planned on seeing rivers of light for the first time that evening, but neither of us really were feeling up to it, opting to head back to the poly for fireworks on the beach instead.

We had a bus waiting for us at the bus stop. As soon as we boarded he shut the doors, and off we went!

Does this qualify as Shirley status @Tuvalu?

We ran up to our room to freshen up just a bit. We decided after the fireworks that we’d take a dip in the pool before bed, so we changed into our swimsuits.

Our good luck continued at the beach, and there were two chairs sitting there waiting for us.

Another beautiful sunset!

They finally ran the electric water pageant this evening! I love the water pageant. It makes me miss the more “old school” days of Disney.

After the fireworks ended A decided to go back to the room to talk to her mother on the phone, as they hadn’t spoken in a few days. I went and soaked in the hot tub for a bit before calling it a night.

 

[Tuvalu]

Indeed it does.

 

[Darstarr]

Our safari was during the heat of the day, so here’s a collection of animals in the shade trying not to die.

Cereal and milk came out my nose at this one!

Luckily we had an ADR for tusker house about 20 minutes after the lion king! I really love this buffet. It has so much more than the usual food you see everywhere. The characters are a nice bonus, but I’d eat here without them anytime.

I would eat there everytime if there were no characters. Food is amazing Kids get grumpy with characters

 

[Mainahman]

I did something like that one night shortly after Everest opened(AK actually had evening EMH at the time!). I’m not sure I could handle that many spins on it these days, but I would be willing to try! Lol

it was still walk on after 7, but i thought...ive got the rest of the day ahead of me, as it wasnt even maybe 7 am, so i didnt want to ruin the rest of the day.

 

[Loco_driver]

Cereal and milk came out my nose at this one!


I would eat there everytime if there were no characters. Food is amazing Kids get grumpy with characters

We have been lucky, as we had nothing but well behaved children around us. I could see that being an issue for sure though! Sorry about your cereal and milk!

 

[Darstarr]

We have been lucky, as we had nothing but well behaved children around us. I could see that being an issue for sure though! Sorry about your cereal and milk!

My kids are on college and high school. They BETTER be well behaved!!!

 

[Loco_driver]

My kids are on college and high school. They BETTER be well behaved!!!

Your kids get grumpy with characters?! I guess they’re too cool for such foolishness!

 

[Darstarr]

Your kids get grumpy with characters?! I guess they’re too cool for such foolishness!

Grumpy! I see what you did there. And yes, way too cool! Unlike their “try hard” mother. I am so uncool I am hahahaha