DisneyWorld 2023 continued

Our trip continued….

Day 4: Animal Kingdom

This morning was also a little chilly. We got to animal kingdom a little before 10. We decided this was going to be another full park day without breaks since it closed earlier than the rest (7 PM). I think the high was only like 72° anyway, so swimming wasn’t necessary. It was one of those overcast days with bouts of sunshine every so often. Not a bad day. 

We walked in and I saw the wait for flight of passage was already pretty long. I ended up booking the Kilimanjaro safari first because it’s always good to do the safari earlier in the day. I think we had something like 40 minutes until our appointment. We took some pics in front of the big tree, got Thea some fairy-like Minnie ears that she was admiring. Then Adam and I got coffees, and let the girls pick something - Thea chose a Mickey shaped pretzel and Mira chose this rainbow Fanta frozen drink. Thea is not a big sweets girl so it’s just funny to see the contrast in their choices. 

We walked over to this stadium seating area around the water that was empty and drank and ate our things. Mira wore a skirt with a sweatshirt and since we were in the shade she was cold. The rest of us were fine but still hoping it would warm up soon so we could take off sweatshirts. 

Then we decided to start heading over to our safari appointment. On the way, we stopped at some street performers playing encanto and other Disney songs and Thea danced. Mira didn’t want to dance so she just watched, so I was recruited instead. Went over to the safari and got to see lots of animals. The girls had fun pointing them all out from the chart the ride showed. 

After that we took turns going to the bathroom for whatever reason and then watched some other street performers do tricks (animal kingdom rivals Epcot with the streetosphere). We ended up booking flight of passage and had something like 2 hours before our appointment. We walked around Africa, then since it was lunch time we grabbed some food at eight spoon cafe. I got pulled pork Mac and cheese (tiny portion - really a snack, but very good), Mira got a Mickey pretzel, and Adam got a pulled pork sandwich on a jelly doughnut instead of a bun. I never tried it but he said it was awesome. Thea wasn’t hungry but wanted a strawberry popsicle from the stand next to the tables we sat at, so got her that. The sun was finally out and it was warming up enough for us to take our sweatshirts off. 

After this we walked over to Dino land. (It’s hilarious, I wore flip flops today to give my feet a break from my tennis shoes thinking animal kingdom is the smallest park, but we were walking all over the place constantly back tracking this day and I probably put in more steps than the other days). My feet were actually fine though, my sandals were very cushy. We went into the boneyard play area first. It’s pretty cool. The girls were having a lot of fun in here. Then we all went on the triceratop spin, that only had a 10 minute wait. We also looked in the gift shops here quite a while. At this point our flight of passage time was ready soon so we started to walk over to pandora.

Thea was also too short for this ride, so we setup rider swap and Adam and Mira went on first. I decided it’s tradition that I get something from Satu’li canteen while they ride. I got a beef and potato hash bowl with the blueberry bonbon. I let Thea eat most of the bonbon but it’s very good. 

After they came out, then I rode with Mira. Adam also got some food from Satu’li. 

I remember this ride being a lot more realistic but I was kind of seeing double vision and even took my glasses off several times to check. Still a great ride but I felt something was off with the visuals. Are my eyes getting worse?

Then I made an appointment to go meet Mickey and Minnie. So off to a different part of the park we went. It was good though because this was possibly the best Mickey and Minnie character interaction we’ve had yet.

 

Then we went to our It’s tough to be a bug ride appointment. We’ve all done this before on our last trip but Thea got really scared on it this time and didn’t like it. The mean grasshopper from a bugs life makes an appearance. This poor girl is so sensitive. She loves coasters but anything with scary elements she doesn’t like. 

After this ride I made an expedition Everest appointment, so we headed over to Asia. The sun was setting and it was getting cool again. Thea was also too short for this so we had to setup rider swap. Thea and I walked around a little, I took her to the bathroom, and then the stadium seating area where she could run up and down stairs. Mira and Adam were off the ride pretty quickly, I wasn’t expecting them to be done that fast. Apparently Mira didn’t like this ride any better than our last trip she went on it. She didn’t like the drop this time. Last time she didn’t like going backwards in the dark. So I did my rider swap alone. Literally deja vu of 4 years ago haha. I do really like that ride though!

After I got off we walked around Asia a little more and took in all the scenery. I made an appointment for na’vi river journey. We didn’t do that ride last trip. So back over to Pandora we went, lol. Before our time was available Adam suggested we order the other dessert from Satu’li that we hadn’t tried yet. It was so pretty to look at. So we mobile ordered that and all went inside and shared it four ways. A really good little treat! Then we rode Navi river journey and it was really really cool. Glad we did that. 

The park closed at 7 this night but we felt we did it all and could head out a little early. It was like 6:50. We didn’t feel the need to watch the awakening night show either. 

We got back to our resort in time to get a little food and watch the outdoor movie. Mira and Adam didn’t want to and just wanted to stay in the room and chill, so just Thea and I went out to. They were playing monsters inc and I got jambalaya with corn bread from the food court and Thea had pizza again. She was really enjoying this whole experience of sitting in the grass, eating, and watching a movie. She got up to play around and do cartwheels a few times. 

After the movie was done I brought Thea back to the room and got the girls ready for bed. Adam and I decided to go down to the bar while the girls were in bed and asked Mira if she was okay with that, if it were just for one drink, and she said yes. 

Thea fell fast asleep and we waited a little longer and went down to the bar at around 10 PM. This was a New Orleans themed bar so they had a live jazz band playing. I probably wouldn’t have cared to go down here if there wasn’t live music 😉 I got a really cool hurricane drink that had a light up ice cube and Adam got an old fashioned. The music was really good and the people in this bar were all having a good time. I was glad we went! GREAT end to our night!

Paid for our drinks with our magic bands and went back up to the room. We were in bed by probably 11 PM. 

Day 5: Magic Kingdom again! 

It’s really hard to say but I think this was my favorite day of all! But truly all the days were great.

Thea loved riding seven dwarves mine train so much she couldn’t stop talking about it and was SO excited to get back to magic kingdom. It’s pretty easy to get them going each morning but was especially easy to get Thea going this morning, knowing we were going back 😆

We got up at 8, ate our breakfast, and were on the bus by 9/9:30. Bag check was easy every single day and didn’t take more than 5 minutes. I really remember last trip being much longer, so this was a nice change. It was another sunny day and going to be HOT today. We made plans to go back to our resort and swim this day because of the heat.

We booked seven dwarves mine train first thing and walked over to Tomorrowland while we waited for our ride appointment. Mira got to see Stitch! Her favorite character. She was so happy she cried, it was the most adorable thing. After hanging out in Tomorrowland, we walked over (Thea ran) to the friendship fare show in front of the castle. We already saw this show our other magic kingdom day but the girls must’ve loved it that much and wanted to see it again. After that we went to our seven dwarves ride. Always a highlight, especially for Thea. Grabbed some ice cream from storybook treats because we are at Disney and ice cream before lunch is totally acceptable apparently. Adam and I also made the conscious decision that we weren’t going to be stingy with treats on this trip. It’s Disney after all, and they enjoy treats the same way we enjoy fun foods and alcohol. It adds to the experience. Thennn we had our lunch at Pinocchio village house (flatbread pizzas), which only Adam and I ate. Since the girls didn’t have any I ended up eating too much. I was full for a while. We explored around fantasyland a bit more, met Ariel, which was adorable. The princesses in magic kingdom interact with kids so well. The girls were enamored with her. 

After this it was about 1 PM and we were hot and the girls were wanting to swim. We walked back to the bus stop and got a ride to our resort. It was a beautiful day to swim! Super sunny and they were playing some great tunes by the pool and the cast members were playing games with the kids while all the parents had drinks, sitting in their loungers 😍 I had a mai tai and Adam had a raspberry beer. I was VIBING. In my element. We went down the water slide a couple times and just swam around. Then it was craft time. They were designing Mardi gras masks today. They loved doing this! A cool souvenir to take home. 

After pool and craft time we went back to our room at around 4 to get changed and ready to go back to the park. We packed the girls light up things this time since we wanted to be festive for nighttime and a later night (light up Mickey ears, light up scrunchies). We got back to the bus stop and were on our way back to magic kingdom by 4:45. Thea fell asleep on the bus sitting up. I forgot to take a picture. It was cute but totally expected after our hot busy day. When we arrived to the park we put her in the stroller and let her sleep through gate check and all that. Mira got to meet Cinderella right away and had the sweetest interaction. Mira is growing up and acts like such a teenager but I love seeing the giddiness and childlike wonder in her eyes when she meets a character. Then we had an appointment for jungle cruise. We walked over to Casey’s corner to grab a Chicago dog and chili dog and corn dog nuggets for the girls. Then we caught a small parade which was cool. It had a ton of characters in it that we hadn’t seen in any of the parks yet, so Mira was stoked. 

The sun was starting to set now. We headed over to Adventureland to ride jungle cruise and ended up waking Thea up to go on. She liked this ride but got a little scared in the cave. I think the rest of us enjoy this ride because it’s just a classic Disney ride. It’s cheesy and funny with pretty scenery. After this we walked around Adventureland some more then walked through liberty square to get to Peter Pan’s Flight. I’ve been to magic kingdom 4 different times, now 5, and actually have never ridden this. The wait has always been crazy long and it’s not a thrill ride so I’ve always skipped it. Well I wasn’t that impressed 😆 the rest of the fam loved it but I don’t get the hype. It was officially dark now so everything was lit up. We then did seven dwarves AGAIN, then big thunder mountain. Riding both of these at night is SWEET. You can’t really see exactly what’s coming so it’s more fun. I also swear I heard somewhere that they speed these up at night which felt like it was true. Also being under the stars on big thunder made me feel like I was out in the Wild West. This is the elite time of day to ride it. 

The girls also rode the carousel with Adam and I walked around the shops and took some pics of the castle. The carousel is one ride where we really don’t both need to go on 😆. Then we had to start finding a place for the fireworks. We found a decent spot and just had to stand there for about 20-30 minutes. I actually mobile ordered some mini corn dogs again for the girls to snack on. So they at least had something to eat during this time. 

The fireworks started and were amazing as always. I prefer the Happily Ever After show from last time vs Enchantment that they’ve been playing the last 18 months but Disney fireworks are always incredible. After fireworks we went over to Tomorrowland to ride space. The park was actually open until 11 PM but we planned to stay until maybe 10. While Adam and Mira did Space first I took Thea on the tea cups ride since it was only a 5 minute wait. Then when they were done Mira and I took a turn riding Space. After that we all rode buzz light year and then Astro orbiter. These were Thea’s choices but I’m happy to tag along 😆. Then we had to do people mover because it’s also a ride I’ve never been on! This was a walk on, no wait. I mostly just wanted to get a closer look at Tron which was cool.

We decided we did everything and the girls were getting tired, so time to head out. We got to walk down the pretty lit up Main Street and say goodbye to magic kingdom one last time (until next trip 😉). It was actually 10:30 by the time we left. Late night but we were planning to let them sleep in our next morning anyway. 

After two days at magic kingdom I can confidentially say we did everything we wanted to. There is always a ride or two or character or two we missed but for the most part are happy with what we accomplished! 

To be continued for part 3….

Leave a Comment | LABELS: Disney