Been There. Done That. Going Back. Day 1 - Animal Kingdom

OK, Monday September 2 was my first full day on property. The plan was to go to Animal Kingdom. We had lightning lane purchased for the individual plus for Flight of Passage. We arrived at Animal Kingdom around 11:30AM, with Everest being the first LL pass.

First attraction was Tough to Be A Bug. Show looked great. And the theater was full. Everyone laughing and screaming during the black widow attack. Glad I saw the show as it will probably be the last time I see it with the Zootopia take over coming soon. So, I said my goodbye and wandered off to the next attraction. 

Dinosaur was down, so my father and I went over to get our annual passholder magnets. We walked through Chester and Hester's, and I remember commenting I cannot wait till this eyesore is gone. I am not a fan of Chester and Hester so I cannot wait till Tropical America is a thing. But still, I said bye to the land, and off to Everest we go.

We arrived at Everest a few minutes before our LL time, so we sat around waiting. Our time arrived, so we headed to the LL line. I was amazed the standby line was not that long. We practically walked on with LL. I love this coaster. The backward movement is my favorite part of the ride. Also, this ride felt a little rougher than I recall. But still, great ride!

I still had LL for Navi River and Safari, along with Flight of Passage. And I had time between the end of Everest and my next ride. We started walking over toward Africa, when we saw storm clouds rolling in. We sat under cover at I believe Dawa Bar. And of course, the rain came. Poured for about 30 minutes. While waiting, I moved up my Safari LL to the time is currently was. We left the covered protection from the rain, and walked over to Safari. Rain had stopped thankfully. So we used our LL and took an awesome Safari. Majority of the animas were out, so we got to see plenty. Skies cleared in the meantime, but there was still a threat of rain later in the day. It is Florida in September after all.

We made our way to Avatar. We skipped Festival of the Lion King since our LL for River Journey was coming up, with Passage right after. The standby for Navi River was longer than Everest. With LL, we walked right to the ride vehicles, and onto the ride, no wait at all. 

Flight of Passage had a listed 80 minute standby line, but again, we had LL. So, we walked by everyone standing in line. We did have to wait right before they put us into Ace Lab to get our Avatar. Also, I believe the ride either went down, or some delay happened while we were in the motion room. Still, we were in line and off the ride in 10 minutes. 

Time was approaching 4:15pm. We had a pretty good day to this point. And we were starting to feel it. I had ADRs for Rainforest Cafe at 5:15pm. We were determining of we wanted to circle back to Festival, then out. But the decision was to see if Rainforest could accommodate us early. 

The walk from Pandora to the exit feels like it is miles away. And when tired, it feels even longer. But, anyway.... we arrived at Rainforest. And they were able to take us early. I believe we were seated around 4:45ish. My father had a burger and I had Korean Stir Fry. I know people give Rainforest a bad rap, but I rather like it. Plus, with $25 off from Landry's for my birthday, Rainforest was very worth it. We ate, then left the park.

Let me say, I always feel like my resort bus is the only bus to never show up. However, this week was different, minus one night. I think we waited 5 minutes, and our Old Key West bus arrived. With no one waiting, we were the only ones on the bus. The driver was nice enough to take us right to the Hospitality House stop instead of having to ride around the entire resort. 

Back in the room, we made a pot of coffee and watched TV the rest of the night. 

Tuesday September 3, Day 2: Disney's Hollywood Studios and a major bus fiasco.