Friday was daytime at Animal Kingdom, afternoon at Blizzard Beach, check in at Bay Lake, drinks at the Top of the World Lounge, then dinner at California Grill.
Since our Flight of Passage fast pass was for afternoon, we did rope drop to Everest to ride it walk on before our fast pass later in the morning. What a pretty sight first thing: both the mountain AND the empty sidewalk!
Then we diverted to Starbucks. Since the second half of our stay was on the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan, we had snack credits to burn up on big drinks! William was introduced to the Strawberry Creme Frappuccino. Actually it was new for all of us and it tasted like strawberry shortcake in a cup! After our breakfast pit stop, we hit the safari. It started out a little slow but then we had giraffes cross ahead of us and the lions were on their rock.
At the end of the safari is the start of the gorilla falls trail. We enjoyed watching the silver backs meander around before we left to spend our afternoon break at Blizzard Beach. We had never been before, but our annual passes include the water parks so we wanted to try it out before they expired. The day included the threat of rain (and rain it did!) so we had the place mostly to ourselves. In only about 2 hours we rode the big slides, did the wave pool and took a full lap around the lazy river. Well, we were only 2/3 around the river when the thunder started.....The big scare of the day was not the thunderstorm that drove us from the park.....it was that John lost his driver's license, credit card, annual pass and DVC card from the pocket of his swim trunks when he went down Summit Plummet. The lifeguard was able to fish out all but the annual pass from the slide drain. Luckily the AP is linked to his Magic Band so he rarely has to show the card (and it was expiring a few days later).
Our plan was to return to Animal Kingdom to ride flight of passage after the water park, but with the downpour we just went to check in at the Contemporary and get dried off and warmed up. John saved us a great seat at the Top of the World lounge for a before dinner drink to watch the sunset! Then we had a great "show" as out on the terrace there was a young girl (maybe 6 years old?) doing an amazing routine with her Rey light saber. At first I don't think she realized everyone inside could see her....and then she definitely knew and was putting on quite the show! It was fantastic, and at one point she even came inside and bowed for us! :-)
But, alas, we had to move across the building for our actual dinner at California Grill: our happy spot! William enjoyed that the dining plan included a beverage other than water! And mommy got wine and FIREWORKS! We were on the side of the building farther from Magic Kingdom, so I thought we would have to cross the restaurant to get to the viewing terrace. But, we learned there's a terrace on both sides and the view was probably better because of the angle with the castle. An amazing dinner and the nightcap of dessert and fireworks never disappoints!
Since our Flight of Passage fast pass was for afternoon, we did rope drop to Everest to ride it walk on before our fast pass later in the morning. What a pretty sight first thing: both the mountain AND the empty sidewalk!
Our plan was to return to Animal Kingdom to ride flight of passage after the water park, but with the downpour we just went to check in at the Contemporary and get dried off and warmed up. John saved us a great seat at the Top of the World lounge for a before dinner drink to watch the sunset! Then we had a great "show" as out on the terrace there was a young girl (maybe 6 years old?) doing an amazing routine with her Rey light saber. At first I don't think she realized everyone inside could see her....and then she definitely knew and was putting on quite the show! It was fantastic, and at one point she even came inside and bowed for us! :-)
