Hello everyone! Welcome to my February 2017 Trip Report! This trip was a reunion for myself, and two of my roomates who all used to work at Animal Kingdom. We also signed up to run the princess 5K and 10K! This trip was full of fun times, struggles, and of course, running. Lets begin!
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Trip Report We ran a thing?!?! A 2017 Alumni Reunion Trip Report
- Thread starter WDW_Emily
- Start date
Day 1- Travel Day
My alarm was set for 4am. However, my body really wanted an extra couple minutes of sleep.I managed to get myself out of bed around 4:30am. I quickly got myself ready and headed over to the airport!
My flight was scheduled to begin boarding at 6:05. I arrived at the airport around 5:15, checked my bags in with Southwest and then headed to security. By the time I got through security, I had 5 minutes before boarding! It was perfect timing.
The flight down was quick and relaxing. I actually fell back asleep for a solid hour on the plane (a rare occurrence for me). My plane ended up landing about a half hour early as well! Once I landed, I had a couple of hours free before roomie number 1 arrived. I decided to have brunch with my grandparents before heading over to Disney. Around 2:30pm, I arrived on Disney Property!
The first two nights Rachel and I were staying at All-Star Movies. Our room was located in the Mighty Ducks section. After hugs and plopping my stuff down, it was time to head off to Magic Kingdom, we had fastpasses that were waiting for us!
As I am walking into Magic Kingdom I realize my camera had died
. Worse part? I left my charger at home. The rest of today will be mostly photopass pictures because of this but I promise, the rest of the trip is loaded with pictures.
We had fastpasses for Pirates, Mine Train, and Space Mountain for that night and they were all back to back. Pictures from Mine Train and Space Mountain:
HELLO FLORIDA SUN.
Weirdest place for a photo....
After using our fastpasses we decided to grab a bite to eat at Pinocchios. I had the flatbread pizza which I didn't really care for. I thought the cheese didn't taste right but it was alright. After dinner we checked to see if there was any other fastpasses we could get and we were in luck! we got a fastpass for Dumbo for 8:30!
Once we rode Dumbo we started to head over to Main Street to watch Wishes. Knowing this would be one of the last times I got to experience Wishes, I decided to live stream the fireworks which resulted in no pictures. If I can figure out how to upload it on here, it will be inserted
EDIT: I THINK I FIGURED IT OUT!
Getting on the bus back to the resort was super quick and easy props to you All Star Movies
Coming up next: Lets go on an artistic scavenger hunt!
My alarm was set for 4am. However, my body really wanted an extra couple minutes of sleep.I managed to get myself out of bed around 4:30am. I quickly got myself ready and headed over to the airport!
My flight was scheduled to begin boarding at 6:05. I arrived at the airport around 5:15, checked my bags in with Southwest and then headed to security. By the time I got through security, I had 5 minutes before boarding! It was perfect timing.
The flight down was quick and relaxing. I actually fell back asleep for a solid hour on the plane (a rare occurrence for me). My plane ended up landing about a half hour early as well! Once I landed, I had a couple of hours free before roomie number 1 arrived. I decided to have brunch with my grandparents before heading over to Disney. Around 2:30pm, I arrived on Disney Property!
The first two nights Rachel and I were staying at All-Star Movies. Our room was located in the Mighty Ducks section. After hugs and plopping my stuff down, it was time to head off to Magic Kingdom, we had fastpasses that were waiting for us!
As I am walking into Magic Kingdom I realize my camera had died
. Worse part? I left my charger at home. The rest of today will be mostly photopass pictures because of this but I promise, the rest of the trip is loaded with pictures.We had fastpasses for Pirates, Mine Train, and Space Mountain for that night and they were all back to back. Pictures from Mine Train and Space Mountain:
HELLO FLORIDA SUN.
Weirdest place for a photo....
After using our fastpasses we decided to grab a bite to eat at Pinocchios. I had the flatbread pizza which I didn't really care for. I thought the cheese didn't taste right but it was alright. After dinner we checked to see if there was any other fastpasses we could get and we were in luck! we got a fastpass for Dumbo for 8:30!
Once we rode Dumbo we started to head over to Main Street to watch Wishes. Knowing this would be one of the last times I got to experience Wishes, I decided to live stream the fireworks which resulted in no pictures. If I can figure out how to upload it on here, it will be inserted
EDIT: I THINK I FIGURED IT OUT!
Getting on the bus back to the resort was super quick and easy props to you All Star Movies
Coming up next: Lets go on an artistic scavenger hunt!
Last edited:
kaitertot5249
Well-Known Member
I was there over princess marathon weekend too, I didn't run though. I wonder if we crossed paths.
I'm following along!
I'm following along!
Day 2- February 20th, Magic Kingdom & EPCOT
Rachel and I woke up well rested around 8am. We had a fastpass for Haunted Mansion that started at 9:45 so we knew we had to leave our hotel pretty quickly. We decided to hold off on breakfast until after our Haunted Mansion Fastpass. Before leaving, we stopped by the front desk at All Star. We wanted to try out the new express bus for park hopping. It was super easy to set up and for only $25 for the week it seemed like a no-brainer. Onto the bus we went!
Security at Magic Kingdom had a trend of taking an extra long time throughout the week we were there. Some days everyone was going through metal detectors, other days it was random. Nevertheless, it took us about 15 minutes on this particular day to get through security (better safe than sorry though).
Haunted Mansion only had a 20 minute standby wait early in the morning but we still got in the fastpass line!
After Haunted Mansion, we went over to Sleepy Hallows for breakfast and coffee! Rachel had the Nutella waffle, I had the strawberries and whipped cream waffle which was always one of my favorites when working in the parks! However, this time I had a hard time eating more than half my waffle. I passed it off as not being hungry and continued on with our day.
This next series of this trip report should be titled- If we got in the line, its going to break down.
We went over to Tomorrowland to ride the people mover as our food digested. As soon as we got on the moving sidewalk, the ride breaks down and we are told to turn around. No problem, though, it was time for our Splash Mountain fastpass anyways. As we are walking over to Splash, Rachel and I get the email that Splash Mountain in down. We thought for a moment and decided to go on Big Thunder Mountain and then head over to EPCOT for the last day of the international arts festival.
After riding Big Thunder Mountain. Rachel decided that she wanted to take the monorail over to EPCOT instead of the bus. We had some extra time so I agreed to taking the monorail.
Worst. Decision. Ever.
The monorail we were on continuously was stopping. At one point between Magic kingdom and the contemporary, the AC was turned off. The ride from Magic Kingdom to TTC took 45 minutes. Finally we got off the monorail though and our second monorail to EPCOT only took a couple of minutes.
Time for the International Arts Festival!
As we were walking towards World Showcase, we stopped at the Pin Trading shop. I saw a sign for the Figment Painting Scavenger hunt and was instantly hooked! $7 for an adventure around world showcase and a magnet at the end? Sign me up!
Rachel and I woke up well rested around 8am. We had a fastpass for Haunted Mansion that started at 9:45 so we knew we had to leave our hotel pretty quickly. We decided to hold off on breakfast until after our Haunted Mansion Fastpass. Before leaving, we stopped by the front desk at All Star. We wanted to try out the new express bus for park hopping. It was super easy to set up and for only $25 for the week it seemed like a no-brainer. Onto the bus we went!
Security at Magic Kingdom had a trend of taking an extra long time throughout the week we were there. Some days everyone was going through metal detectors, other days it was random. Nevertheless, it took us about 15 minutes on this particular day to get through security (better safe than sorry though).
Haunted Mansion only had a 20 minute standby wait early in the morning but we still got in the fastpass line!
After Haunted Mansion, we went over to Sleepy Hallows for breakfast and coffee! Rachel had the Nutella waffle, I had the strawberries and whipped cream waffle which was always one of my favorites when working in the parks! However, this time I had a hard time eating more than half my waffle. I passed it off as not being hungry and continued on with our day.
This next series of this trip report should be titled- If we got in the line, its going to break down.
We went over to Tomorrowland to ride the people mover as our food digested. As soon as we got on the moving sidewalk, the ride breaks down and we are told to turn around. No problem, though, it was time for our Splash Mountain fastpass anyways. As we are walking over to Splash, Rachel and I get the email that Splash Mountain in down. We thought for a moment and decided to go on Big Thunder Mountain and then head over to EPCOT for the last day of the international arts festival.
After riding Big Thunder Mountain. Rachel decided that she wanted to take the monorail over to EPCOT instead of the bus. We had some extra time so I agreed to taking the monorail.
Worst. Decision. Ever.
The monorail we were on continuously was stopping. At one point between Magic kingdom and the contemporary, the AC was turned off. The ride from Magic Kingdom to TTC took 45 minutes
. Finally we got off the monorail though and our second monorail to EPCOT only took a couple of minutes.Time for the International Arts Festival!
As we were walking towards World Showcase, we stopped at the Pin Trading shop. I saw a sign for the Figment Painting Scavenger hunt and was instantly hooked! $7 for an adventure around world showcase and a magnet at the end? Sign me up!
We started World Showcase by going towards Mexico. It was packed inside! So much that Grand Fiesta had a wait . We waited about 15 minutes for the Grand Fiesta and then we were on a hunt for our first picture in Mexico. We had no idea what we were looking for and actually walked right past the picture multiple times. Finally, we saw the picture in the lobby area of Mexico! One painted done! onto Norway.
When we went to Norway we noticed the line to meet Anna and Elsa was only 20 minutes long. We decided to hop right in line! Photo pass takes some great conversation shots.
Elsa, Do you wanna build a snowman or no?
Second picture was in the Norway gift shop! Onto China!
It was now around 3pm and since I had only had half a waffle for breakfast, I knew I needed to eat something, even though I wasn't very hungry. We stopped in China for some pot stickers (one of my favorites!). They are delicious! If you haven't tried them I suggest you do!
We had a fastpass for Living with the Land at 4pm. Normally we wouldn't mind skipping that fastpass but the lines were wicked long on that particular day and Rachel loved Living with the Land. We quickly found the paintings in Germany and Italy and then made our way over to the Land! While on this walk we started talking about running the 5k and the 10k. We came up with the idea of running a country, then walking a country...I'll tell you how that went a little later in this trip report.
We made it to Living with the Land around 4:30pm and the line was 40 minutes long! Good thing we had a fastpass!
I told you, she really likes the land....
We knew we wanted to see Illuminations that night and we needed to get the painting scavenger hunt done because it was the last day of the Arts Festival. We decided our plan of attack was to finish the countries, eat dinner at Sunshine Seasons, and then watch Illuminations. We had about 3 hours to get it all done- Challenge Accepted
We were able to finish the last couple countries in World Showcase pretty quickly. After Canada, we noticed the Paint by number wall. Unfortunately, we missed painting on the wall by about an hour but it was still cool to see.
Around 6:30 pm the Cast Members were already taking away the Arts festival stuff. Maybe because Flower and Garden was right around the corner? But we were both surprised when we saw Cast Members clearly rolling all the arts stuff backstage. Rachel wanted to buy a shirt and I needed to get my magnet from the scavenger hunt and we didn't want them to start cleaning that stuff up too. We quickly went into the shops at the beginning of World Showcase and got our arts merchandise.
It was now around 7pm. Dinner was on our minds. Back over to The Land we went. I got the turkey sandwich they I normally love but could only eat about a quarter of it and the side of potato salad. After dinner, we went over to World Showcase to watch Illuminations. Again, no pictures because I live streamed so if you would like to see the video of Illuminations, click below (I promise its better quality than Wishes).
We made our way through the crowd and we were on the second All Star Movies bus! Once again, All Star, your busses were on point!
Coming up...A Third friend joins us! We switch resorts! and I left Animal Kingdom early?!?!
. We waited about 15 minutes for the Grand Fiesta and then we were on a hunt for our first picture in Mexico. We had no idea what we were looking for and actually walked right past the picture multiple times. Finally, we saw the picture in the lobby area of Mexico! One painted done! onto Norway.When we went to Norway we noticed the line to meet Anna and Elsa was only 20 minutes long. We decided to hop right in line! Photo pass takes some great conversation shots
.
Elsa, Do you wanna build a snowman or no?
Second picture was in the Norway gift shop! Onto China!
It was now around 3pm and since I had only had half a waffle for breakfast, I knew I needed to eat something, even though I wasn't very hungry. We stopped in China for some pot stickers (one of my favorites!). They are delicious! If you haven't tried them I suggest you do!
We had a fastpass for Living with the Land at 4pm. Normally we wouldn't mind skipping that fastpass but the lines were wicked long on that particular day and Rachel loved Living with the Land. We quickly found the paintings in Germany and Italy and then made our way over to the Land! While on this walk we started talking about running the 5k and the 10k. We came up with the idea of running a country, then walking a country...I'll tell you how that went a little later in this trip report
.We made it to Living with the Land around 4:30pm and the line was 40 minutes long! Good thing we had a fastpass!
I told you, she really likes the land....
We knew we wanted to see Illuminations that night and we needed to get the painting scavenger hunt done because it was the last day of the Arts Festival. We decided our plan of attack was to finish the countries, eat dinner at Sunshine Seasons, and then watch Illuminations. We had about 3 hours to get it all done- Challenge Accepted
We were able to finish the last couple countries in World Showcase pretty quickly. After Canada, we noticed the Paint by number wall. Unfortunately, we missed painting on the wall by about an hour
but it was still cool to see.
Around 6:30 pm the Cast Members were already taking away the Arts festival stuff. Maybe because Flower and Garden was right around the corner? But we were both surprised when we saw Cast Members clearly rolling all the arts stuff backstage. Rachel wanted to buy a shirt and I needed to get my magnet from the scavenger hunt and we didn't want them to start cleaning that stuff up too. We quickly went into the shops at the beginning of World Showcase and got our arts merchandise.
It was now around 7pm. Dinner was on our minds. Back over to The Land we went. I got the turkey sandwich they I normally love but could only eat about a quarter of it and the side of potato salad. After dinner, we went over to World Showcase to watch Illuminations. Again, no pictures because I live streamed so if you would like to see the video of Illuminations, click below (I promise its better quality than Wishes).
We made our way through the crowd and we were on the second All Star Movies bus! Once again, All Star, your busses were on point!
Coming up...A Third friend joins us! We switch resorts! and I left Animal Kingdom early?!?!
Last edited:
amjt660
Well-Known Member
Day 2- February 20th, Magic Kingdom & EPCOT
Rachel and I woke up well rested around 8am. We had a fastpass for Haunted Mansion that started at 9:45 so we knew we had to leave our hotel pretty quickly. We decided to hold off on breakfast until after our Haunted Mansion Fastpass. Before leaving, we stopped by the front desk at All Star. We wanted to try out the new express bus for park hopping. It was super easy to set up and for only $25 for the week it seemed like a no-brainer. Onto the bus we went!
Security at Magic Kingdom had a trend of taking an extra long time throughout the week we were there. Some days everyone was going through metal detectors, other days it was random. Nevertheless, it took us about 15 minutes on this particular day to get through security (better safe than sorry though).
Haunted Mansion only had a 20 minute standby wait early in the morning but we still got in the fastpass line!
After Haunted Mansion, we went over to Sleepy Hallows for breakfast and coffee! Rachel had the Nutella waffle, I had the strawberries and whipped cream waffle which was always one of my favorites when working in the parks! However, this time I had a hard time eating more than half my waffle. I passed it off as not being hungry and continued on with our day.
This next series of this trip report should be titled- If we got in the line, its going to break down.
We went over to Tomorrowland to ride the people mover as our food digested. As soon as we got on the moving sidewalk, the ride breaks down and we are told to turn around. No problem, though, it was time for our Splash Mountain fastpass anyways. As we are walking over to Splash, Rachel and I get the email that Splash Mountain in down. We thought for a moment and decided to go on Big Thunder Mountain and then head over to EPCOT for the last day of the international arts festival.
After riding Big Thunder Mountain. Rachel decided that she wanted to take the monorail over to EPCOT instead of the bus. We had some extra time so I agreed to taking the monorail.
Worst. Decision. Ever.
The monorail we were on continuously was stopping. At one point between Magic kingdom and the contemporary, the AC was turned off. The ride from Magic Kingdom to TTC took 45 minutes
Time for the International Arts Festival!
As we were walking towards World Showcase, we stopped at the Pin Trading shop. I saw a sign for the Figment Painting Scavenger hunt and was instantly hooked! $7 for an adventure around world showcase and a magnet at the end? Sign me up!
The monorail ride sounds awesome!! - is that the new E ticket ride???
The pose in front of the Fesitval sign is great - a combo artistic and athletic yoga type !!!
Looks like you were having fun in spite of the breakdowns
Max
Zipadeelady
Well-Known Member
I'm in!
gdisneyfans
Well-Known Member
Great start! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!
Tuesday 2.21.17
Today was the day we switch resorts! Our whole stay was going to be at Art of Animation but then we added two extra days to the beginning of our trip so we were moving to art today! We woke up around 8:30 to pack our room up. As soon as I woke up, I wasn't feeling well. I took it as I needed to eat breakfast. We checked our bags in at the front and told to CMs we were switching resorts. Super easy getting our bags from All Star to Art. Then we made our way to the food court. The only thing that somewhat appealed to me was banana bread. I ate about two bites and felt even worse. But I was determined to make it to Animal Kingdom! It's where I used to work and holds a special place in my heart so on the bus we went with water in hand.
We arrived at Animal Kingdom around 10:30. Friend Number 3 texted us that her plane had landed as soon as we got into the park! We decided to hit up the Animal Trails first since I still wasn't feeling good and Danielle would want to go on all the rides with us. On our way over we met Flick! I may be smiling in this picture but my stomach as attacking me.
After meeting Flick we made our way over to the trails. We saw Kangaroo (something that was not out while we worked there). Then we made our way over to Komodo, which I needed to take pictures of since my students are reading a book about Komodo Dragons in school.
While in Asia, I saw somebody walking around with edamame, which surprisingly sounded appealing to me. Now instead of doing the logical thing and asking the person where they got edamame, I decided to go on a crazy hunt asking every cart if they had edamame. This literally took about 30 minutes visiting every cart from Asia to Dinoland. We finally found it (for those of you wondering, its at a cart between Asia and Africa, across from where you can get a falafel). I spent about 3 hours nibbling on the edamame while walking around. It was the only thing that was agreeing with my stomach and I could only eat about 5 at a time without feeling horribly sick.
As I was eating we got the text that Danielle was in Animal Kingdom! We ran over and met her in front of the Tree of Life! As I get older, it always amazes me how I might not see my friends all the time because we live in different states and are doing different things but when we get back together, its like no time has passed.
By now it was around 1:30 and Rachel and Danielle were starting to get hungry. We decided to go to Yak and Yeti to eat lunch. Apparently the entire park had the same idea. HUGE LINE
! We waited about 30 minutes in line and then were finally able to order. I didn't eat anything at Yak and Yeti...I had my edamame and water and that was all I was trusting today.
After lunch, we made it over to Dinosaur for our first fast pass of the day. I thought long and hard about if I should risk going on. I decided to ride Dinosaur because it's not that intense of a ride right?
Once I got off I was feeling dizy. We choose to go watch the 3pm show of Festival of the Lion King so I could relax. On the way we met Russel from up! Rachel was wearing her Wilderness Explorers hat and made her shirt with the wilderness hands so Russel had a great time with us!
We were on our way to Festival of the Lion King and thats when I really started to feel crummy. I didn't want to leave for two reasons 1. We needed to ride the safari and our fast pass was for 5:30pm and 2. I wanted to see Rivers of Light and it was the only day the whole trip that we could see it. I decided to see how I felt after Festival of the Lion King. About half way through I looked at Rachel and said I need to go back to the resort. So after Festival of the Lion King, I started making my way to the Art of Animation bus. I was so upset. I have been sick before in Disney but never enough to leave a park.
When I got back to the resort I got grilled chicken from the food court (which they do not sell, I had to talk to a chef). I ate it in my room and decided to call my doctor back home. He said it might be a bug or it might be a side effect to new medication that I was on. So if it didn't go away in 24 hours, I was to call back.
And then I ate chicken and took a nap, hoping to magically be better when I woke up.
Coming up...Did I get to see Rivers of Light?
Today was the day we switch resorts! Our whole stay was going to be at Art of Animation but then we added two extra days to the beginning of our trip so we were moving to art today! We woke up around 8:30 to pack our room up. As soon as I woke up, I wasn't feeling well. I took it as I needed to eat breakfast. We checked our bags in at the front and told to CMs we were switching resorts. Super easy getting our bags from All Star to Art. Then we made our way to the food court. The only thing that somewhat appealed to me was banana bread. I ate about two bites and felt even worse. But I was determined to make it to Animal Kingdom! It's where I used to work and holds a special place in my heart so on the bus we went with water in hand.
We arrived at Animal Kingdom around 10:30. Friend Number 3 texted us that her plane had landed as soon as we got into the park! We decided to hit up the Animal Trails first since I still wasn't feeling good and Danielle would want to go on all the rides with us. On our way over we met Flick! I may be smiling in this picture but my stomach as attacking me.
After meeting Flick we made our way over to the trails. We saw Kangaroo (something that was not out while we worked there). Then we made our way over to Komodo, which I needed to take pictures of since my students are reading a book about Komodo Dragons in school.
While in Asia, I saw somebody walking around with edamame, which surprisingly sounded appealing to me. Now instead of doing the logical thing and asking the person where they got edamame, I decided to go on a crazy hunt asking every cart if they had edamame. This literally took about 30 minutes visiting every cart from Asia to Dinoland. We finally found it (for those of you wondering, its at a cart between Asia and Africa, across from where you can get a falafel). I spent about 3 hours nibbling on the edamame while walking around. It was the only thing that was agreeing with my stomach and I could only eat about 5 at a time without feeling horribly sick.
As I was eating we got the text that Danielle was in Animal Kingdom! We ran over and met her in front of the Tree of Life! As I get older, it always amazes me how I might not see my friends all the time because we live in different states and are doing different things but when we get back together, its like no time has passed.
By now it was around 1:30 and Rachel and Danielle were starting to get hungry. We decided to go to Yak and Yeti to eat lunch. Apparently the entire park had the same idea. HUGE LINE
! We waited about 30 minutes in line and then were finally able to order. I didn't eat anything at Yak and Yeti...I had my edamame and water and that was all I was trusting today. After lunch, we made it over to Dinosaur for our first fast pass of the day. I thought long and hard about if I should risk going on. I decided to ride Dinosaur because it's not that intense of a ride right
?
Once I got off I was feeling dizy. We choose to go watch the 3pm show of Festival of the Lion King so I could relax. On the way we met Russel from up! Rachel was wearing her Wilderness Explorers hat and made her shirt with the wilderness hands so Russel had a great time with us!
We were on our way to Festival of the Lion King and thats when I really started to feel crummy. I didn't want to leave for two reasons 1. We needed to ride the safari and our fast pass was for 5:30pm and 2. I wanted to see Rivers of Light and it was the only day the whole trip that we could see it. I decided to see how I felt after Festival of the Lion King. About half way through I looked at Rachel and said I need to go back to the resort. So after Festival of the Lion King, I started making my way to the Art of Animation bus. I was so upset. I have been sick before in Disney but never enough to leave a park.
When I got back to the resort I got grilled chicken from the food court (which they do not sell, I had to talk to a chef). I ate it in my room and decided to call my doctor back home. He said it might be a bug or it might be a side effect to new medication that I was on. So if it didn't go away in 24 hours, I was to call back.
And then I ate chicken and took a nap, hoping to magically be better when I woke up.
Coming up...Did I get to see Rivers of Light?
Oh no! Bummer that you weren't feeling well
Nope no Doug!
We were surprised not to see him there
February 21-Continued
I apologize for the huge lack of pictures in this second half of the day ahead of time.
At 6:15 I had a decision to make, do I go back to the parks or do I spend a night in? My wonderful friends already promised me that we could go to Animal Kingdom and ride the safari again another day (their safari ride wasn't great) so the only thing I would really be missing was Rivers of Light. But I was able to eat some grilled chicken and keep it down. My stomach was still turning but I was less shaky after eating so I felt I could last another hour or two in the parks to see Rivers of Light. I started to make my way towards the bus and it was there as soon as I got in line! I was back at Animal Kingdom by 6:35! I texted my friends and they were about to get off the Safari so I made my way over to Africa.
We then booked it over to Asia in hopes to get into the 7:15 showing of Rivers of Light. OH MY GOSH THAT LINE WAS HUGE!!!! It wrapped back to Dinoland, near the Boneyard. Once we finally saw the end of the line they said this line was for the 8:30 showing now. We didn't want to wait in line an hour and a half for a 15 minute show. Also I would like to add that Danielle and I had previously saw the Jungle Book nighttime show so our expectations were extremely low for Rivers of Light and we couldn't imagine waiting that long for a show that could potentially be like Jungle Book. We turned around to collect our thoughts and come up with a plan.
We started to see guest gather outside the theater area to watch the show. Hmmm maybe we could just do that? We met some great people in that line and an adorable little boy who entertained us with a song about a Yeti named Betty while we waited. After about 15 minutes Rivers of Light Began.
I will say this. Its a big upgrade from Jungle Book but its no Wishes. Maybe its because we had a side view? We left saying that was cool but there is room for improvement. Also side note: when I worked at Animal Kingdom, the reason we couldn't have fireworks was because of the animals. I would like to point out that you could see and hear the fireworks from DHS at Animal Kingdom. If we can safely launch fireworks that far away from the animals, why couldn't we add fireworks to Rivers of Light and launch them farther away? Maybe there isn't a place to launch them? I don't know it was just something that was interesting to me.
I was feeling pretty good after Rivers of Light. Definitely not hungry, but I had some energy left in me. We checked park hours and EPCOT had extra magic hours!! We knew we were going to have to get to EPCOT early one day because we didn't have a fast pass for Soarin or Test Track. We thought we could do at least one of them tonight! Express Bus here we come!
We checking into the express bus in Africa near the Wild Africa Trek check in. They said it would be about 10 minutes before a bus came for EPCOT. We didn't mind we sat on the floor in Africa with our waters, singing Disney songs and waited. One of the guest relations Cast Members came over to us and asked if we were Cast Members to which we replied that we used to be. He said he could tell because we are completely comfortable in the parks. Once a Cast Member, Always a Cast Member. Finally our bus came!
Our bus driver, Ross, was wonderful! He talked to us the whole time since we were the only ones on the bus. We got in EPCOT in no time. I highly recommend the Express Bus. We used it a ton throughout our trip and it was very helpful not having to leave to the front of the park and go through security again.
We got to EPCOT at 8:55, right before Illuminations was going to start. We went straight over to Soarin to check the time. 30 minute wait! We went right in line and it ended up being only about 15 minutes!! we were off the ride by 9:30, and the line was about an hour after we left. Since it was still early, we went over to Test Track which had a 50 minute wait. Again the line was much shorter and we only waited about a half hour. Unfortunately, our photo didn't link to our photopass, so we have another families Test Track picture. Our car was beautiful though...it lost almost every test.
And we were back on the bus to Art of Animation by 10:30. Success!
Get ready for all the pictures tomorrow because we are heading to Magic Kingdom and Rachel made us the best ears for our favorite Magic Kingdom attractions!
Coming up...WHY DOESN'T GASTONS SELL EGGS?!? HE NEEDS THEM TO GET LARGE! When it rains, it pours and its also very cold, and We saw mickey!!!
I apologize for the huge lack of pictures in this second half of the day ahead of time.
At 6:15 I had a decision to make, do I go back to the parks or do I spend a night in? My wonderful friends already promised me that we could go to Animal Kingdom and ride the safari again another day (their safari ride wasn't great) so the only thing I would really be missing was Rivers of Light. But I was able to eat some grilled chicken and keep it down. My stomach was still turning but I was less shaky after eating so I felt I could last another hour or two in the parks to see Rivers of Light. I started to make my way towards the bus and it was there as soon as I got in line! I was back at Animal Kingdom by 6:35! I texted my friends and they were about to get off the Safari so I made my way over to Africa.
We then booked it over to Asia in hopes to get into the 7:15 showing of Rivers of Light. OH MY GOSH THAT LINE WAS HUGE!!!! It wrapped back to Dinoland, near the Boneyard. Once we finally saw the end of the line they said this line was for the 8:30 showing now. We didn't want to wait in line an hour and a half for a 15 minute show. Also I would like to add that Danielle and I had previously saw the Jungle Book nighttime show so our expectations were extremely low for Rivers of Light and we couldn't imagine waiting that long for a show that could potentially be like Jungle Book. We turned around to collect our thoughts and come up with a plan.
We started to see guest gather outside the theater area to watch the show. Hmmm maybe we could just do that? We met some great people in that line and an adorable little boy who entertained us with a song about a Yeti named Betty while we waited. After about 15 minutes Rivers of Light Began.
I will say this. Its a big upgrade from Jungle Book but its no Wishes. Maybe its because we had a side view? We left saying that was cool but there is room for improvement. Also side note: when I worked at Animal Kingdom, the reason we couldn't have fireworks was because of the animals. I would like to point out that you could see and hear the fireworks from DHS at Animal Kingdom. If we can safely launch fireworks that far away from the animals, why couldn't we add fireworks to Rivers of Light and launch them farther away? Maybe there isn't a place to launch them? I don't know it was just something that was interesting to me.
I was feeling pretty good after Rivers of Light. Definitely not hungry, but I had some energy left in me. We checked park hours and EPCOT had extra magic hours!! We knew we were going to have to get to EPCOT early one day because we didn't have a fast pass for Soarin or Test Track. We thought we could do at least one of them tonight! Express Bus here we come!
We checking into the express bus in Africa near the Wild Africa Trek check in. They said it would be about 10 minutes before a bus came for EPCOT. We didn't mind we sat on the floor in Africa with our waters, singing Disney songs and waited. One of the guest relations Cast Members came over to us and asked if we were Cast Members to which we replied that we used to be. He said he could tell because we are completely comfortable in the parks. Once a Cast Member, Always a Cast Member
. Finally our bus came!Our bus driver, Ross, was wonderful! He talked to us the whole time since we were the only ones on the bus. We got in EPCOT in no time. I highly recommend the Express Bus. We used it a ton throughout our trip and it was very helpful not having to leave to the front of the park and go through security again.
We got to EPCOT at 8:55, right before Illuminations was going to start. We went straight over to Soarin to check the time. 30 minute wait! We went right in line and it ended up being only about 15 minutes!! we were off the ride by 9:30, and the line was about an hour after we left. Since it was still early, we went over to Test Track which had a 50 minute wait. Again the line was much shorter and we only waited about a half hour. Unfortunately, our photo didn't link to our photopass, so we have another families Test Track picture
. Our car was beautiful though...it lost almost every test. And we were back on the bus to Art of Animation by 10:30. Success!
Get ready for all the pictures tomorrow because we are heading to Magic Kingdom and Rachel made us the best ears for our favorite Magic Kingdom attractions!
Coming up...WHY DOESN'T GASTONS SELL EGGS?!? HE NEEDS THEM TO GET LARGE! When it rains, it pours and its also very cold, and We saw mickey!!!
Day 4- February 22, 2017
We woke up bright and early today because we had fastpasses early in the day at Magic Kingdom! The weather was calling for showers on and off throughout the day so our goal was to get there early to take pictures while we were still dry. We packed our sweatshirts and were on the bus to Magic Kingdom by 9:00am!
Security at Magic Kingdom in the morning looked horrible as we approached bag check but every security cast member was moving quickly while they checked our bags. We were in the park by 9:40 and our first fast pass was for Space Mountain at 9:45. Time for pictures in front of the castle! Can you figure out our favorite attractions from our ears?
Our plan of attack this morning was Space Mountain fastpass, breakfast, Mine train fastpass, ride other things, Peter Pan fastpass, Festival of Fantasy, Jungle Cruise, Then go to Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic. Onward to Space Mountain! on our way over, we met a wonderful photopass cast member (who I unfortunately cannot remember his name) and he took multiple shots of us near Tomorrowland. This one I call, we run this park.
Oh Look! Olaf is here too!
Space Mountain we are coming for you!
We got in the fastpass line for Space Mountain which already had a 60 minute wait at 10am. the fastpass line was really quick and we were riding alpha side in about 5 minutes. Space Mountain is Danielle's favorite ride at Magic Kingdom so of course we needed to take an ears and attraction picture.
Since the People Mover was down the last time we were at Magic Kingdom, and we love the people mover, we decided before breakfast, to hop on. The wait for about 10 minutes long, apparently the people mover has gotten popular.
Time for breakfast! Now I still wasn't feeling 100% so I really needed to make good choices about the foods I put in my body today. All I was craving was hard boiled eggs but where do I get those in the Magic Kingdom? We thought Gaston's needs to have eggs! He eats them every day to get large! We decided to go check Gastons, being on a Disney high, I was debating singing the song to the cast members when asking for my eggs because which cast member doesn't want to hear a guest singing at them at 10:30am?!? We made our way to Gaston's and the line was out the door and there were no eggs. Instead of busting into song about my eggs I ordered a fruit cup and we went to redeem our Mine Train fast pass. The fast pass line was still about 20 minutes long so we ate our breakfast in line. It could have been that I was sick, but the apples didn't taste right in my fruit cup. Rachel thought it was appropriate to snap this picture because I got a bad apple outside of Snow White's cottage.
Mine Train was great as per usual. The seats weren't as snug as they used to be on me so thank you rundisney for making me train and now I can fit on the Mine Train better. Also shout out to the lovely woman from Georgia who sat next to me on Mine Train and sang with you. You were the real winner during this ride.
Notice the ponchos of the people behind us? It was starting to drizzle. No big deal we can survive a little drizzle. As I was leaving the Mine Train I ran into two of my old co-workers from when I worked at the Disney Store! I chatted it up with them until the rain became a downpour and we had to go inside somewhere. We went into Phillarmagic, hoping the rain would stop by the time we got out of the show.
It didn't. And no one wanted to move from the exit because of the rain. We went into the store outside Phillarmagic and thought up a game plan. We still had about 30 minutes until our Peter Pan fastpass so we didn't want to leave the area. It's a Small World only had a 20 minute wait and it was out of the rain. We quickly ran over to It's a Small World which ended up being a longer line, I assume because most people probably had the same logic as us to just get out of the rain.
By the time we got out of It's a Small World, it was time for our Peter Pan Fastpass. I am very impressed we got this picture because Fantasyland was packed with everyone now moving because the rain had stopped.
Coming up...Can I max out on Buzz for the second year in a row?!?
We woke up bright and early today because we had fastpasses early in the day at Magic Kingdom! The weather was calling for showers on and off throughout the day so our goal was to get there early to take pictures while we were still dry. We packed our sweatshirts and were on the bus to Magic Kingdom by 9:00am!
Security at Magic Kingdom in the morning looked horrible as we approached bag check but every security cast member was moving quickly while they checked our bags. We were in the park by 9:40 and our first fast pass was for Space Mountain at 9:45. Time for pictures in front of the castle! Can you figure out our favorite attractions from our ears?
Our plan of attack this morning was Space Mountain fastpass, breakfast, Mine train fastpass, ride other things, Peter Pan fastpass, Festival of Fantasy, Jungle Cruise, Then go to Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic. Onward to Space Mountain! on our way over, we met a wonderful photopass cast member (who I unfortunately cannot remember his name) and he took multiple shots of us near Tomorrowland. This one I call, we run this park.
Oh Look! Olaf is here too!
Space Mountain we are coming for you!
We got in the fastpass line for Space Mountain which already had a 60 minute wait at 10am. the fastpass line was really quick and we were riding alpha side in about 5 minutes. Space Mountain is Danielle's favorite ride at Magic Kingdom so of course we needed to take an ears and attraction picture.
Since the People Mover was down the last time we were at Magic Kingdom, and we love the people mover, we decided before breakfast, to hop on. The wait for about 10 minutes long, apparently the people mover has gotten popular.
Time for breakfast! Now I still wasn't feeling 100% so I really needed to make good choices about the foods I put in my body today. All I was craving was hard boiled eggs but where do I get those in the Magic Kingdom? We thought Gaston's needs to have eggs! He eats them every day to get large! We decided to go check Gastons, being on a Disney high, I was debating singing the song to the cast members when asking for my eggs because which cast member doesn't want to hear a guest singing at them at 10:30am?!? We made our way to Gaston's and the line was out the door and there were no eggs
. Instead of busting into song about my eggs I ordered a fruit cup and we went to redeem our Mine Train fast pass. The fast pass line was still about 20 minutes long so we ate our breakfast in line. It could have been that I was sick, but the apples didn't taste right in my fruit cup. Rachel thought it was appropriate to snap this picture because I got a bad apple outside of Snow White's cottage.
Mine Train was great as per usual. The seats weren't as snug as they used to be on me so thank you rundisney for making me train and now I can fit on the Mine Train better. Also shout out to the lovely woman from Georgia who sat next to me on Mine Train and sang with you. You were the real winner during this ride.
Notice the ponchos of the people behind us? It was starting to drizzle. No big deal we can survive a little drizzle. As I was leaving the Mine Train I ran into two of my old co-workers from when I worked at the Disney Store! I chatted it up with them until the rain became a downpour and we had to go inside somewhere. We went into Phillarmagic, hoping the rain would stop by the time we got out of the show.
It didn't. And no one wanted to move from the exit because of the rain. We went into the store outside Phillarmagic and thought up a game plan. We still had about 30 minutes until our Peter Pan fastpass so we didn't want to leave the area. It's a Small World only had a 20 minute wait and it was out of the rain. We quickly ran over to It's a Small World which ended up being a longer line, I assume because most people probably had the same logic as us to just get out of the rain.
By the time we got out of It's a Small World, it was time for our Peter Pan Fastpass. I am very impressed we got this picture because Fantasyland was packed with everyone now moving because the rain had stopped.
Coming up...Can I max out on Buzz for the second year in a row?!?
Last edited:
Mickey2422
Member
Enjoying your trip report so far!
MotherofaPrincessLover
Well-Known Member
This same thing happened to me during a downpour. My daughter and I were getting off IASW and the wait to PPF said 15! I was like yes!!! So we dashed over there and apparently everyone else did the same thing because we probably waited 45 minutes
amjt660
Well-Known Member
Your pictures from MK were great
Having a hard time deciding which was best
Back to the camera looking at the castle?
The attitude shot in front of the castle?
The close up of the ears?
Eating the apple in front of the cottage?
Nope
Got it give it up for the mine train shot
The three of you look great but I love the look on the kid in the car in front of you
Priceless !!!
Max
Having a hard time deciding which was best
Back to the camera looking at the castle?
The attitude shot in front of the castle?
The close up of the ears?
Eating the apple in front of the cottage?
Nope
Got it give it up for the mine train shot
The three of you look great but I love the look on the kid in the car in front of you
Priceless !!!
Max