50 During 60 – (pseudo) Live Trip Report Day 2
Okay…NOW it is starting to feel like a WDW trip!
Had my alarm set for 6am so that I could be ready to hop a bus to DHS by 7:30am to get that early 30 minutes in. Actually woke up at 5:30am, and was awake and alive. LOL Got my in-room coffee started (They are using the pods of the Joffrey’s 50th Celebration Blend in All Star Movies!), jumped in the shower and was able to ‘relax’ for a few minutes before heading for the buses.
Quick trip to DHS and I was in the park by 8:00, even though the extra time starts at 8:30, and was able to make my way to Batuu and get in line for Rise of the Resistance. The line started moving, at my position in it, around 8:35 and by 9:00 I was on the ride. It IS everything people have been saying. I was blown away by the twists and turns it took and the fact that there are multiple ‘stages’ (acts?) to the story.
Once off the ride, I made my way over to Smugglers Run. It has a Single Rider line, which is perfect for me, and I was slotted as an Engineer for our flight. Our pilots were not all that good, but we picked up two containers before making it to the resistance base. After that, I backtracked a little to get a Breakfast Ronto Wrap over at Ronto Roasters. I was pleasantly surprised. Wrap is more of a biscuit consistency and the ‘sausage,’ egg and cheese really worked well with the peppercorn dressing.
Spent a couple hours just wandering around the area and hitting all the PhotoPass photographers I could find! LOL Got some nice regular shots and MagicShots.
By the time I decided to move into Toy Story Land the crowds were building and all 3 rides in that area had queues of over 60 minutes. If I haven’t said it before, I don’t tend to queue up for more than 30 minutes. So, I moved on to the ‘old’ parts of the park. Maybe on my next ‘morning’ in DHS I will hit Toy Story Land and try for Runaway Railway first. We shall see.
Found a few more PhotoPass photographers to add to my collection of photos, then started back toward the entrance to take my midday break. This was just about noon. On my way toward the entrance, I was pleasantly surprised to come upon the Incredibles cavalcade. I had a decent spot to watch and ended up filming it. (Already posted on my facebook page….)
After taking a couple hours to get my legs (mainly feet) back under me (I am way too out of shape for going so hard for too long! Sciatica and dual-curve scoliosis are taking their toll on this old, fat man!) I headed out for AK for the evening hours. Had a great safari, even though the elephant are was being worked on, so no pachyderms out and about. Got my shots of my Ocapi and a whole lot of ‘close ups’ with many of the other animals. They were quite active for a 5pm safari. I never notice a PhotoPass photographer at the ‘ranger station’ on the exit path from the safari before, but I saw him this time and got a few good pics there.
Worked my way around the park and got to the Asia area just in time for a show of KiteTails. Okay, it’s kind of silly, but still enjoyable. I had to watch to see how they crashed the ‘balloon’ style kites. Yes, they HAVE to do it that way, but it is quite comical to watch. After that, it was time for a bite, so I hit Flame Tree Barbecue and had a decent meal. Kind of disappointed that it seemed a bit dry, but that late in the day, I was not really surprised.
Made my way over to Pandora to see Na’vi River ride had a 45 minute queue and Flight of Passage was at 65 minutes. Decided to break my own rule and wait for my flight anyway. After that I made my way back to the exit and got ready to go back to the resort.
All in all, this was a pretty good day. Weather was cool in the morning, but warmed into the mid 70’s thru the day. Hope it keeps up!!
Going to go back to AK tomorrow morning for a few hours. Maybe hit Pandora again and the Na’vi River Journey and Flight of Passage again, hit Dinosaur, then hopefully get in to a Festival of the Lion King show. Anything else there is a bonus. In the afternoon/evening, I am off to EPCOT for dinner at Le Cellier and a showing of HarmoniUS.
Stay tuned…..
