That Really Big Graduation Trip: May 2011

[MadEye]

You sure that's not meant to be Diagon Alley? Olivander's Wand Shop is on Diagon Alley (in the books and films), not in Hogsmead. I think HP world mixes it all together...

There are signs above both entrances into WW that say Hogsmead. Like I said, it is weird that they have some from Diagon Alley in Hogsmead.

[momeja]

You sure that's not meant to be Diagon Alley? Olivander's Wand Shop is on Diagon Alley (in the books and films), not in Hogsmead. I think HP world mixes it all together...

There are signs above both entrances into WW that say Hogsmead. Like I said, it is weird that they have some from Diagon Alley in Hogsmead.

Maybe they're franchise stores?

[NaCler]

Very nice trip report of US and IOA. It's definitely given me some pointers when I ever get back there... If...
I'm glad triple A was able to take care of you guys. Maybe H can finally enjoy the trip without being on the phone constantly, but I'll just have to wait and see what the rest of the report will bring.

What did you guys order at Sanaa room service? I've never done Sanaa, so I'm living vicariously through you.

[momeja]

5/18 Blizzard Beach, Hoop Dee Doo and Ft. Wilderness

I’d requested a villa near the lobby, but that had somehow been translated to “near an elevator” on the reservation, so we were at the very, very, very end of the resort. When I saw where we were, I asked to change and was told we could move the next day. H. looked at me a bit cross-eyed for suggesting that we move again – it would be our fourth room in four nights, but it turned out to be a good idea. Our new room was near the pool and the lobby and had an excellent viewing location for animals. Sometimes, you have to be willing to suffer a little in the short term for the long term gain, and this was definitely one of those moments.

Everyone slept in after our long day at WWHP, and Vicki and the decision to make this day a waterpark day turned out to be great. No one was in the mood to go to a park, but the kids didn’t want to hang out at the resort either. I’ve learned over time that that’s just not my family. They don’t mind a slow day, but they don’t want that day to be at the resort, so Blizzard Beach it was.

I needed to buy groceries for us, so the plan was for me to drop them off at BB, go get groceries, then meet them for lunch at Lottawatta Lodge. The plan worked fine. I got the groceries at a super Walmart nearby, brought them back to the villa then went to join the crew. I got stuck briefly at the gate because it wouldn’t read my card. The CM issued me a new card, though, and I was good to go. Judah met me at the turnstiles and took me over to the Lodge. In the afternoon, we rode slides and went around on the lazy river.

I like BB, but I don’t love BB. It’s a very active park with a lot of concrete instead of sand. It fits the theme and the theme is very fun, but I love the laidback “hang ten” feel of Typhoon Lagoon more. I guess I’m more of a sand and surf girl than a slide after slide girl. Still, the slides at BB are very good, and we always have fun with the racer slides, the lazy river, and Teamboat Springs, which we rode twice before it was time to leave.

One weird thing happened while we were there. Towards the end of our afternoon, we were at the top of the triple slide, when we watched a little, little boy ahead of us cry to his father that he didn’t want to go down the dark slide. So, what did the father do? Why push him down the slide, of course. You could hear the howl and cry of the boy as he went down. That was bad enough, but then it got worse. Because the boy was so little and light and because his father had pushed him, he fell off his tube and the tube got stuck in the slide. The CM didn’t notice at first, and the father, who was next, rather than go on down when signaled to, thereby dislodging the slide and reuniting with his son, instead told the CM that the tube was stuck without his son. This shut entire slide down. Really, all we could think was: way to pile bad judgment onto bad parenting. We gave up and walked back down. The entire kerfuffle had taken a lot of time, so there was only time to ride the lazy river back to our towels and head out.

We had approximately 45 min. to change and get to Hoop. It was tight, and it was one of those moments when having a car made a huge difference in our experience. We arrived at Hoop about 5 min. late. Everyone had just sat down, but the show hadn’t started.

I’d forgotten how much I’d missed going to Hoop. We hadn’t been the last few trips. It’s such a great show and great time. We had a fantastic table, right down front by the stage. It always pays to book your Hoop tickets early. It was one of the first things I did once we decided to go. The table next to us got a bit rowdy after a few too many rounds, and the actors got a little mad at them (which was funny, too [:D]), but all in all, we had a great time. Best fried chicken in WDW, jmho (50s Primetime comes in a close second).


The view from our table



After the show, we started walking back to our car, with a stop at the Campfire along the way. We always try to go to the campfire after Hoop. Nothing like a s’more and songs with Chip n Dale to end the evening.

Greeting an old friend


Judah giving a hug hello to his favourite character


At the Singalong


Roasting "hot shmoes" over the fire

The movie was one we hadn’t seen – Return to Witch Mountain – but since tomorrow was a park day, we decided not to stay. We continued our walk back, but it was dark now and harder to find our way. We stopped a CM in a golf cart for directions, and he offered to take us the rest of the way. Such a nice guy. He told us to come back on Saturday for a special treat at the campfire, but I’m sorry to say we weren’t able to make it back, so we’ll never know what that treat was. Home again, we tumbled into bed. It had been a great rest day.

Coming up: How many times can you ride Expedition Everest in a row?

[momeja]

What did you guys order at Sanaa room service? I've never done Sanaa, so I'm living vicariously through you.

We ordered the salad sampler, the bread sampler, the shrimp with curry sauce and the chai cream dessert. It was all so good, especially the dessert, which is amazing. I can't quite describe it. It's kiind of like espresso-flavoured pudding with a heavy dose of whipped cream on top, but it's not quite that either. No matter what, nothing beats being able to eat while watching giraffes and zebras from your balcony.

[Amy]

Blizzard Beach sounds like a fun place if you like slides then huh? We've never been to any of the water parks even though we had passes to them at least a few times. We aren't ones to take a "rest" day. The lazy river does sound nice though.
You had really great seats at the Hoop! Judah is taller than I thought from seeing his earlier photos. He is almost as big as Dale!
Your dinner at Sanaa sounds very good. Was the salad sampler leafy salads or more like potato/fruit salads?

[momeja]

Blizzard Beach sounds like a fun place if you like slides then huh? We've never been to any of the water parks even though we had passes to them at least a few times. We aren't ones to take a "rest" day. The lazy river does sound nice though.
You had really great seats at the Hoop! Judah is taller than I thought from seeing his earlier photos. He is almost as big as Dale!
Your dinner at Sanaa sounds very good. Was the salad sampler leafy salads or more like potato/fruit salads?

Dale is Judah's favourite character. I don't know what will happen when he's taller than him! It will be a sad day for me for sure.

The Sanaa salad sampler has 3 salads: Roasted Beets, Chickpeas with cucumber and tomato, and Watermelon Radish and lime. I love the salad sampler (and I'll be ordering it again later this trip... ).

This was a major dining trip for us. Part of my graduation wish was to eat well at Disney and to eat at all the restaurants we either always wanted to try (which sometimes worked out and sometimes didn't... ) and at all the restaurants we'd loved in the past and wanted to try again. The kids loved Sanaa, so we ate there 3 times and 3 ways while we were at AKV: once in room, once in their dining room, and once poolside. They actually serve Sanaa poolside at AKV, and it is the best poolside dining I've ever eaten. Hands down, no contest!

[Amy]

Well....when Judah gets taller than Dale it will still be ok. Remember chipmunks are pretty tiny
Hmmm, the salads sound interesting to say the least. That is pretty cool that you can eat from a restaurant while you're by the pool!

[momeja]

5/19 – The secrets of an alternative tour plan of AK revealed + Yak & Yeti and Sanaa

Today was Animal Kingdom day, and we had a secret mission: to try to beat last year’s record for number of times on EE in a day. Our previous record was 6.

We didn’t start on Everest, though. We started our day on Kilimanjaro Safaris. Last year, I was was thinking about how we always FP Kilimanjaro Safaris and start the day with Expedition Everest.

As I saw it, there are three problems with FPing KS first and returning to it later:

1. Africa is far away from most of the attractions at AK. To FP it and return later means that you’re going out of your way twice for an attraction, so you’re adding in extra walking time.

2. the animals tend to be more numerous and active in the morning rather than midday.

3. The basic rule of thumb for a FP is always grab the FP that will back up the fastest first. That’s not KS. Although we haven’t gone in the peak of summer, we’ve never seen KS’s FP wait be than an hour and a half, so you’re wasting a FP window on a ride that doesn’t need such an early FP pull.

Last August, I came up with a new plan for AK. Rather than FP KS and return to it later, why not ride KS first thing, then you can spend the rest of your day where all the other attractions are? We tried it and discovered the following:

1. After the initial EE rush, EE is still fairly quiet for the first half hour. That means that you can still FP and ride EE after riding KS.

2. Because you’re now over near EE/Kali/Dinosaur, you can continue to grab FPs and ride without having to reinsert KS into your day.

3. Because you’ve eliminated a major back and forth, you can easily catch the first show of Nemo or Festival of the Lion King, which are by far the best shows to catch, particularly the first show of Nemo, which is often half empty so you can arrive just a few minutes before and still have a great seat.

Here was our new and improved AK plan:
1. Ride KS first thing at Rope Drop
2. FP and ride EE
3. ride Kali if we want to. Otherwise head over to Dinoland.
4. FP and possibly ride Dinosaur. Can also FP Dinosaur and ride Primeval Whirl, which should still be pretty quiet.
5. Go to the first Nemo show. Arrive 5 minutes before the show starts for optimal seats.
6. Continue to grab FPs for EE. Use single rider line as well.

This plan worked, and it worked very, very well. We were on one of the first trucks for KS. Then we headed over to EE, where there was no line. We fastpassed, then rode it (#1). Still no line, so we rode it again. (#2) Then we rode Kali. Our FP window for EE had opened again, so we grabbed another set and rode in the single rider lane (#3).

Here’s where we got a bit off: As we were heading to Kali, we saw Flik walking through the park. Okay, I don’t know about all of you, but since we’ve met all the major characters at least once, if not many, many times, seeing a rare character like Flik is candy we can’t refuse. We decided to find Flik and get a picture and autograph, rather than go on to Dinosaur. It was about 10 am, and I thought I’d read that the first Nemo was at 11:30, so we had plenty of time. We just missed him, though, and had to wait until he came out again.



After we saw him, we stopped with a Photopass photographer for a few pictures in front of the Tree of Life, then headed towards Dinosaur to grab our next FPs. As we passed Nemo, I glanced at the showtimes – the first show was at 10:30, not 11:30, and we’d just missed it.

Memo to self: even when you think you know the showtimes, always double check.

So we grabbed our FPs for Dinosaur and rode Dinosaur, which still had almost no line at 10:50 am. Then we headed back to Nemo, where the 11:30 show was just entering. The show to start in about 20 min. Not knowing whether the second show was more popular than the first, we went in and were able to get our favourite seats down front on the right. We had a lot of time left, so we told the kids they could go grab FPs for Expedition Everest and ride it single rider, then come back (#4). They did so with still about 7 mins. to spare.



Nemo is so good. The sets, the costumes, and the music are all so good. A bit of trivia for you: Robert Lopez, who wrote the music, just won a Tony award for The Book of Mormon. He’s also the composer for the music and songs for the upcoming Pooh movie. In the words of my husband, Robert Lopez was hit with the talent stick very, very hard. And I’m just glad Disney recognizes his talent.



After Nemo, our FP window had opened again, and we still had a bit of time before our lunch ressie. What to do? Do we pull FP #3 for EE? Another FP for Dinosaur? As you know by now, H. can’t ride coasters too many times in the day, so he said he wouldn’t mind riding KS again, since we hadn’t seen the Mandrils at Monkey Island our last 3 visits, so H. went to get FPs for KS while we checked into Yak & Yeti for lunch.

Last trip, we didn’t have the best experience at Y&Y, but we went back because vegetarian/pescatarian options at Animal Kingdom are limited at CS, and Emilie is vegetarian. In fact, I think AK has the worst vegie/pescatarian CS options of any of the parks. Since we were going back to Y&Y, I thought about how to change the experience to make it better. The key thing that needed to change was how we ordered. Y&Y’s portions are huge, and we overordered last trip. This time, we agreed to split entrees, which worked much better for us. It also gave us room for a tasty fun-coloured drink each, the fried green bean appetizer and their excellent cream cheese wonton dessert. Our waiter was also very helpful and didn’t push us into ordering more. All in all, our visit this time was a success, and until AK does better with its vegetarian options, we’ll be back.


Blue is the Glacier Water (Blue Curacao, coconut syrup and Sprite).
Red is the Berry Cherry Lemonade (cherry juice, lime juice and Sprite).
Both are so tasty!

After lunch we had a few minutes before our FP window opened for KS, but because KS is so far away from everything else, we walked over and shopped for a few minutes while we waited for our FP window to open. Judah collects wooden animals and found a wooden elephant at the market to buy with some of his souvenir money.

It was fun to ride KS again. The animals in general were more sleepy in the heat, but the black rhinos were now out, and we finally saw a mandril. Hurray!


White Rhinos in the morning


Black Rhinos in the afternoon (the shadow at the bottom of the picture is our truck. That's how close we were.)


Finally seeing a mandril at Monkey Island!

Back to EE, which we rode twice for #5 & #6 (for the kids; #4 & #5 for me and #3 for H.), using our FPs. Emilie and H. were now getting a bit hot and tired, while Adi and Judah wanted to use our Dinosaur FP and ride EE another time. We agreed to split up, with Emilie and H. returning to the resort to swim, while Adi, Judah and I went on Dinosaur and then EE again (#7 for J & A, #6 for me). And again (#8/#7). And again (#9/#8). I was actually getting a bit woozy, so I told the kids I’d wait for them if they wanted to ride it one more time to make it to #10. They did. Then we went back to the resort and caught up with Emilie and H. in the pool.



The pool at AK is excellent, with a main pool, a good slide, and a fun spray area. In the afternoon, they also often have games, but we missed them. H. and I ordered fun pool drinks and enjoyed the warmth, the sunshine, and the slide.

It was Sanaa experience #2 tonight. Dinner at the restaurant. We ordered a variety so that H. could experience a range of flavours, since it was his first visit to Sanaa. H. had the tandoori lamb. Judah had the meat sampler. I had the sampler salad and pulled duck appetizer. Emilie had the vegie sampler. We also shared a bread service and split a Chai Cream for dessert. Everything was excellent.

We had a bit of difficulty ordering with my son this trip, who’s now 11 and truly in between. He’s too big for the kids entrees, but many of the Disney entrees are too big for him. Sanaa was no different. He enjoyed his food at Sanaa, but there was way too much of it for him.

After dinner, we made it an early evening. We were all still adjusting to the time zone change, and I had secret plans for the next morning, which you’ll discover in my next installment.

[Amy]

Oh my goodness - that is a lot of EE!
That's a little funny that Judah ordered the meat sampler while Emilie ordered the vege sampler. Guess you've got a little carnosauraus along with your vegetarian . Too bad AK doesn't have more vegetarian options for her.
Great rhino photos! I was on the wrong side for most of the animal activity on our first go 'round on the safari so hopefully we can go again.
Love the bright drinks, they look fun - were they tasty?!

[mindflipper]

Dale is Judah's favourite character.

Poor Chip! Guess he doesn't "feel the love" here...

[Len90]

Wow that is an intense AK plan. I do like how you limit yourself to the amount of running around. I'm definitely enjoying your trip report!

[momeja]

Wow that is an intense AK plan. I do like how you limit yourself to the amount of running around. I'm definitely enjoying your trip report!

It was an intense AK plan, Len. The most intense I've ever experienced (including the time I went solo and rode Dinosaur 5 times). I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's great to relive it.

[momeja]

Dale is Judah's favourite character.

Poor Chip! Guess he doesn't "feel the love" here...

You know, I always thought it was really funny that Judah loves Dale but not Chip because Judah sees himself as "the smart kid" in the family, so I thought he'd identify with Chip, the smart chipmunk of the two. But it's always been Dale all the way. Must be the tooth.

[momeja]

Love the bright drinks, they look fun - were they tasty?!

Really tasty! In fact, there are two restaurants the kids want to go back to next trip because they love the drinks there - Yak & Yeti and Liberty Tree Tavern. (can't remember what the drink was that they loved at LTT, but we'll get there.)