August Trip Report: Disney Day 7

Cast:
Us
Jen
Joe
H - Just turned 2 in June

My parents
John
Mary

Sunday morning we woke to our Magical Express paperwork on the door. It’s always so sad to see that. Joe went to Mara and picked up some pastry for us to start our day with and we met my parents at the bus for Magical Kingdom...we were late….Getting ready with a 2 year old apparently takes even longer at Disney.

The crowd levels were very slightly lower today and we stopped to get a family picture in front of the castle and then were off to Dumbo for our fastpass. Kelly was trying to meet up with us again for this trip, but H was a little impatient to ride, so we took him around. Kelly met us as we were getting off the ride and brought him up again using her fastpass. Then, with a 5 minute standby line posted, we went through again. When we got to the play area they told us we could bypass it entirely and just ride, but H was excited to see the play area so we spent 10-15 minutes playing first. After riding Dumbo we were off to the Big Top store to find a Dumbo pin for H for the collection that Joe and I have at home. Believe it or not, the one Dumbo pin a cast member was able to find in the system for us, was not available across from Dumbo (I later found it at the Emporium on our way out of the park) H did find a plastic Minnie doll that he latched on to and “need”ed to have (I also found the matching Mickey at the Emporium to add to his set).

We rode Buzz, with Joe again thoroughly beating H and I (however Kelly thoroughly beat everyone with 999,999 on one side and then moving over to the other side to get an additional 200,000+! She’s a pro. We rode the People Mover (no line this time), which H termed a train, and then decided to catch a little comedy at Monsters’ Inc. Unfortunately, the audio track for Mike was not working, so we had a slightly strange show...it definitely lacks a little something without him.

We head over to Adventureland to get something we couldn’t believe we had forgotten to get during our first MK visit: A Dole Whip float. Delicious. We shared some with H and he enjoyed it, too. I actually hadn’t been sure what he’d think because he doesn’t love ice cream or sweets, so sometimes he doesn’t have any interest, so I was glad that I could share this Disney love with him. We rode some Magic Carpets, which H loved. They were fun, but definitely a little bit of a bumpy ride. I think I was expecting it to be exactly like Dumbo, just with carpets, and the ups and downs were different.

We attempted to get lunch at Pecos Bills, but it was super crowded and the lines were long and my parents last experience there hadn’t been stellar anyways, so we ended up heading to Columbia Harbor House instead. We sat upstairs in the relatively less crowded seating area. I love the upstairs, even when there are good deal of people there, the tables are spread out in such a way that you never feel crowded and it just seems quieter somehow. After lunch we were off for another trip around the Small World.

Our last fastpass of the day was for Splash Mountain (a favorite of my mother’s who is not into thrill rides). We obviously split up to ride since someone would need to stay with H. I remembered the play area as you exit Splash, so we brought H there so he could run off some energy while the rest of us rode our ride. He absolutely *loved* it. He stayed there with my parents while Joe, Kelly and I rode and they said he did not stop moving the whole time. While we stayed with him, he continued to run and slide and climb without much of a pause. Except when he was playing with another little girl and they were chasing each other and stopping to roar at each other like lions. Definitely a trip highlight for him.

We picked up a second round of Dole Whips (no judging ;-) ) for our walk to the monorail. We had to say goodbye to Kelly at the TTC when we switched monorails, which was sad, and then we were off to Epcot for the evening. H was getting sleepy and he fell asleep just as we were exiting the monorail. Since he was sleeping, my parents took him into a store to stay cool and Joe and I rode Spaceship Earth since the wait was short.

Afterwards we took a walk through MouseGears (one of my favorite stores) and head to Coral Reef for dinner. I haven’t eaten at Coral Reef since I was a kid at home with my parents, but I thought that H would enjoy getting a view of the aquarium while we ate and it would keep him entertained. We were seated in a great semi-circle booth facing the tank (with a high chair seat that attached to the table so that H could watch the fish, too. Our waiter was a little frazzled and busy, he had to have someone help him out for a portion of the beginning of our service. Something had happened earlier in the night and you could tell that it just threw him off, but he was kind and well meaning. Our food was absolutely delicious.

We were headed back to the hotel after dinner because my parents had gotten Joe and I the Night Safari as an anniversary present. They took H back to our room while Joe and I head straight to Kidani Village and Sanaa (which is where you check in for your night safari). We had a little bit of time to spare, so we got a couple of glasses of wine at the lounge and then went out to meet up with our safari guide and the rest of our tour party. It ended up being the two of us and a family of four along with our guide and driver. You ride in an open air (but covered, which would be important on this trip) safari trailer on the back of the truck, with seating along the sides (although we did not spend a whole lot of time actually sitting).

We were given night vision scopes to use, although honestly, even though it was rainy, there was enough ambient light from the lodges that although dim we could see the animals pretty well. We were driven out and around on an access road into the savannahs. The tour takes you through the Sunset Savannah. If you are at all interested in animals, I highly recommend this tour. Our guide, Tom, was knowledgeable and friendly and the animal viewing is amazing. We were SO close to the animals, I literally could have reached out and touched one particularly curious giraffe. Tom mentioned that she was their resident trouble maker and she liked to come over to the vehicles, noting that if she attempted to stick her head in the truck or lick anyone not to pet her because we didn’t want to encourage bad behavior! We also learned about the different animals and how they make the savannah work at AKL.

Back to the hotel to relieve Grammie and Granpa of H sitting...and time for us to start packing since we’d be leaving the next day. It was a bittersweet evening.

Next Up: A few last things and then goodbye.