Animal Kingdom - Pandora First Looks & River of Light in the Rain

Wednesday was our full day at Animal Kingdom park.  Since we were moving to a second resort for the next two nights, we packed up our bags and dropped them off with bell services to transfer.  We would usually rope drop at park opening but were tired from the late night before (and no sleep our last night at home due to packing and early flight) so just planned to show up by 10 to start our FastPasses and exploring.    We made it by 9:45 and based on the lines to get through security and have tickets scanned, thought I had misread the operating calendar and there must be a 10 a.m. opening.  Nope; that was just a sign of how many people were coming out to see the new Pandora: World of Avatar land.  An hour after park opening, the turnstiles were still packed.   

 

After grabbing our Starbucks, we ventured into the crowds for some photos and exploring since our FastPass for Na'vi River Journey didn't expire for 45 more minutes.   The detail throughout the land was amazing!  So beautiful and detailed.   My favorite was a water feature that sprayed with hand movements.  William did a lot of testing it out!  I was also glad to see that once we were into the park that it didn't feel crowded like it had at the entrance.   

 

After our ride, we got our treats.   I got my first Mo'ara margarita (strawberry and blood orange flavored with strawberry boba balls) - very refreshing in the swampy heat!  William got a Mickey ice cream bar and John got a cold beer (served in a chilled Solo cup, which we got a big kick out of).  We enjoyed our treats as we walked across the park to Expedition Everest.   

Our next pass was for the safari ride, and just as we loaded our vehicle it started to rain.   The rain mostly stayed out of the vehicle, since it has a top but a little sprayed in sideways and I wasn't willing to get my camera out.   However, the rain cooled off the animals and we were rewarded with a lot of activity.  The most amazing was six elephants all bathing together in a little pond.   I've never seen so many or so close!  Following the safari we grabbed cute caramel apples for snacks back at our hotel.  We needed to rest up since we had evening dinner and show plans. 

Disappointingly we didn't see a lot of animals from our savannah view studio at Animal Kingdom Lodge.  Not sure where they were all hiding from the heat and thunderstorms.   When we stayed in a similar room last June, they were always outside to see from our balcony.   After the pool for the boys and a little work for me, we cleaned up for dinner at Tiffins, a new signature restaurant inside of Animal Kingdom park.   I was worried the service and food wouldn't be up to snuff since it was in park dining.  But it was fantastic!  We really enjoyed ourselves.   I had a waygu strip steak and short ribs and John had venison medallions and sausage.  William even had a few bites of meat off of our plates.  

 

Crowds were low post-dinner, during rain, pre-show, so we took advantage and rode Expedition Everest two more times while wearing our ponchos.    We also rode Primeval Whirl, another 48 inch-plus ride, for William's first time.  John and I hate that ride so we can be one and done with it.  It's too jerky.   Of course William loved it!   Then we filed into the amphitheater to see Rivers of Light, the water/light show that was supposed to debut last summer but had months of technical difficulties.  The rain actually made the show very beautiful.   The guys said they really liked it, but I thought it was only ok. . . . .If you're into that sort of beautiful, artistic interpretation.  I mean, it's not like it's a castle fireworks show!  Haha.

On our way out around 10 p.m., we swung by Pandora to see if standby lines for the rides had decreased.  We rode Na'vi River Journey again and then William and I went home to bed.  John stayed back to wait in line for his first (two) ride(s) on Flight of Passage since the park stayed open until midnight.

Wilderness Lodge & Magic Kingdom

This year's trip to Disney World was a quick one - only three nights - but full of fun new experiences.   We stayed one night at Wilderness Lodge in a two-bedroom villa (after some itinerary rearranging due to my misread of the summer baseball calendar and a limited supply of available studio and one-bedroom villas on short notice).   Wilderness Lodge is opening a new "Copper Creek" section on Monday, so the pools and public spaces had many updates since our last stay here in 2013.   We especially enjoyed the new bar and grill area overlooking the water.

  

 

After settling in and grabbing lunch, we took the boat launch over to Magic Kingdom for our FastPass rides.  We were expecting the oppressive heat, but seriously it was no joke.  We stayed for about three hours and then took a pool break until dusk.  Before and after there were thunderstorms.  The weather was seriously crazy.  We remembered to pack our Disney Park water sprayer/misting fan and got a lot of use out of it trying to keep ourselves from melting.

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived in time for the new fireworks show: Happily Ever After.  It has a lot of castle projections, unlike its predecessor, Wishes.  We had a great view, and I absolutely loved it!   We also snuck in a ride on Splash Mountain, souvenir shopping (stuffed Pluto for William and Christmas ornaments for me) before the Kiss Goodnight and heading back to Wilderness Lodge for bed.  

 

  

 

 

 

Fourth of July Weekend

For the long 4th of July weekend we did a lot of fun stuff around the area.   After many years of considering a trip to our neighboring town of Lisle for their "Eyes to the Skies" hot air balloon festival/carnival, we finally made it to the EARLY morning balloon launch.  We learned, however, that they very rarely launch the balloons due to weather.  It was a beautiful morning but apparently the wind (which we could not detect) would have blown the balloons toward the O'Hare flight path.  I'm guessing that air traffic is just so heavy around us that it rarely makes sense.  We had fun watching them fill from outside the fence and then walking through/under them for a view.  William chose not to ride the tethered balloon so we left from there to hit up Starbucks and then the farmer's market.  We were home and unpacked and veggies washed by 8 a.m.!

Our annual subdivision parade on the 4th was fun as always.  William walked with the Cub Scout group and their water guns!  The boys got John pretty good!  Wish I had a picture of that!  Afterwards we played at the pool.  I made strawberry mojitos with fresh ingredients from my garden (and rum borrowed off a neighbor)!