Post Irma Trip Report Day 3 (The LONG day)
So...Friday we happened to wake up at 6am, this is pretty normal for us and we couldn't go back to sleep so we went ahead and got up, walked around outside the resort at sunrise, I had a muffin (and some bacon)-thank you snack credit-and we just took our time. We were headed to rope drop at AK and after last night's bus times I decided to drive (good call). We arrived about 30 mins before rope drop and headed to Pandora-with everyone else. The rope drop in that area was very congested and at 8:45 they actually went ahead and opened the area (FoP and Navi ride) for safety purposes. Apparently they have had some fire marshal feedback on this problem. Since we had a later FP for FoP we just went towards the Navi River ride (as everyone else went the other way.). We walked on. It was kind of boring? I mean I haven't seen the movie but it just really didn't do much for us. We could have gone back again with no wait and decided not to. Pandora as an area is pretty neat, the waterfalls etc. But as it is in all of AK it was VERY hot there and I can't imagine waiting 2 hours in that heat to ride. But back to our morning.
We walked towards Harambe and actually beat normal rope drop-lol. So at rope drop #2 we headed to the safari and walked on. A few more animals out than last night but still quite a mess to clean up over there. We had 9:15 FP for FoP so we headed back that way. I was pretty nervous as I have major issues with Star Tours (and usually am ok on Soarin.). A couple of notes for folks in general, the "pre show" process is quite long, allow enough time even with a FP. Also I'm a size 16/18 and had no issues with fit. Finally the glasses they gave us kept falling off. But...
The ride was insane, really neat we thought. Hubby isn't easily impressed and he was screaming out loud at it. I felt a little woozy after and probably couldn't ride it twice in a row but I can't wait to do it again. The wait was about 2 hours the rest of our trip so didn't get to but we loved it!
After all that we headed to FL for Dinosaur, had a 30 mins break for a work conf call and problem (we had a hard time finding anywhere quite and stood in the sun this whole time-mistake.). After dinosaur we headed to FP at Everest and then It's Tough to Be a Bug (oddly one of hubby's very favorites.). It was 11:15 but we decided to go ahead and have lunch in AK since we really needed some AC and we had been up so long. Burgers at Restrauntosaurus hit the spot (they were fair) and we headed back out to the truck.
By the time we got out there we were super super hot, but the lines at the Studios were super short and we had a vehicle so we drove over there and hit up just RnRC, ToT and Toy Story (walked on them all, we were getting so spoiled.). After that we were REALLY dead. So hot. We drove back to WL and spent a little time in the room just laying on the bed and trying to lower our temps. Finally we changed into our suits and headed back to the new pool with our cooler and some cocktails and managed to snag a cabana again (this was the last time for this as people were checking in like crazy.)
After about 90 mins of relaxing we headed back to the room to shower and change again, I tossed on a LLR Carly dress (for those that know, it's kind of like wearing a cute nightgown dress :) ) So we wanted to go to Epcot but after the bus problems so far we decided to go boat to Contemp and monorail to TTC and then Epcot, we do this a lot. Well we got to the dock and noticed there was a sign that the boat wasn't going to FW (which we already knew) but the boat was supposedly still running. Well 35 mins later one shows up-they were only running one boat total. So then we were a bit rushed getting to Epcot as we had an ADR at France. We got to the front gates of Epcot in the monorail at 7:30 for an 8pm ADR. So by the time we got to France we were hot and sweaty (again). We were on time though and waited about 15 mins to be seated. Dinner was ok. Hubby steak was like a hockey puck (even though we both ordered MR) so we sent his back, second one was better but we were kind of over it by then.
But...we had FP for Illuminations seating and I knew this would be our only chance to see it this trip (and no return trip planned for over a year) so when hubby asked if we really had to stay to see it I said yes. Well we walked back toward the front and into the FP area an sat down on the ground. I actually laid down about 9:45, in my dress, on the concrete, and fell totally asleep. Out cold. Hubby had to wake me for Illuminations. A new low level for Disney tiredness.
We slowly truged to the bus stop after and just missed one-of course right? We waited about 30 mins for another and thankfully went right to the WL. We honestly don't even remember going to bed but we didn't wake up til the alarm went off at 7 this next morning. We got a LOT done but maybe just overdid it a bit!!
