Animal Kingdom and Travel Day

Happy Friday the 13th!

There’s no bad luck in December, though, right?!

 

Today’s my last vacation recap post, I promise!

 

Day four was spent at Animal Kingdom, apparently with all the same people who were at Magic Kingdom because it was every bit as crowded!

The Tree of Life was pretty impressive as we walked in. 

 

We had a bit of a leisurely morning at the hotel after having such a late night, so we had to high tail it to Africa for our safari Fast Pass. 

 

We saw lots of cool animals on the safari. I joked that this was going to be Matty and me once we got back from vacation!

 

We had early lunch reservations at Tusker House where we got to meet a bunch of characters. 

 

We asked for kids cups of apple juice, and this is what they brought!

 

We did the Gorilla Trail after lunch and explored Africa for a bit longer before stopping for a Dole Whip treat!

 

Oma bought the girls personalized leather bracelets, and they also got a “1st Visit” pin. 

 

At this point we had Fast Passes for the Expedition Everest rollercoaster. The grandmas weren’t interested in this ride and Emmy was too short. Lucy REALLY wanted to ride it, so we told her we’d ride it first and if we thought she could handle it Matty would take her again with the grandmas’ passes. The ride was super fun, but it was pretty fast and there were some twists and turns that left us feeling like Lucy might fly out of her seat. Her disappointment was pretty extreme, and after three days it was pretty evident that the thrill rides for kids at Cedar Point were what Lucy was hoping to have at Disney. 

 

We eventually made it out of Africa and headed over to Dino Land for a bit. We found one ride that had a reasonable wait time so we rode that before heading over to Pandora. 

 

Our last Fast Pass of the day/trip was for the Flight of Passage ride based on the movie Avatar. The grandmas were kind enough to hang out in the massive crowds with the girls while Matty and I rode it. If I’m being honest, I wasn’t too excited for it. I fell asleep in the movie theatre years ago when we went to see Avatar, and there was like a ten minute intro to the ride that was a snooze fest in my opinion. But . . . the ride was AWESOME!! It was probably my favorite part of the whole trip!

 

And that concluded our day at Animal Kingdom. It was about 4:45, and we had tickets to a light show at 6:30, but everyone was DONE, so we decided to skip it. 

 

We went back to the hotel and showered the girls and sent them next door to the grandmas’ room so that Matty and I could go out for a drink and finally get a good night of rest without girls rolling around and kicking us. We considered taking the boat back to Disney Springs, but we were pretty exhausted so we just got a drink in the hotel bar and listened to a good lounge singer. Then Rita called to say that Lucy was crying for us and wouldn’t calm down . . . so she ended up coming back to our room again. The good news is that she slept in a bed by herself, so I finally got to share a bed with Matty and he didn’t kick me once!

 

The next morning we didn’t have to leave for the airport until 11:30, so we had a leisurely breakfast and used up some of our food credits to split some Mickey Beignets. They were messy and yummy!

 

The girls played at the playground for a bit to burn off some energy before the bus ride to the airport and the two hour airplane ride. 

 

We took one last selfie, featuring Sebastian the Crab, and hit the road!

 

Emmy had a pretty good tantrum at the airport, and we were sure she’d fall asleep on the plane, but she just snuggled and watched shows for most of the flight. 

 

When we got home, I left the girls in their carseats and ran in to write this note and spread out these chocolate coins I bought in the hotel gift shop. It was a hit!

 

 

And that was the Kissel Family Disney Trip!!

 

And now I shall share all my random thoughts.

 

1. I’m not sure if I mentioned this in my first post, but we stayed at the Port Orleans French Quarter. It’s considered a “moderate” Disney resort, and we thought it was great. The rooms were spacious and clean, and it’s on the water! There was a little playground and a great looking pool/splash pad area, though the weather wasn’t warm enough for that. The food was good, and our room location was perfect for the restaurants and bust stop. We really lucked out!

 

2. We did the dining plan, which worked out well because it’s so nice to know your meal is already paid for when you see the bill for $220 for our family of four to have lunch at Cinderella’s castle! I think we paid $170 a person for the dining plan (excluding Emily because two and under eat free). The meals are so huge that Matty and I ended up sharing a lot, so by the last day we were scrambling to use our remaining credits to buy snacks from the gift shop. 

 

3. There’s no way I could have done this trip without the help of our wonderful travel agent, Meredith, from Magic Without the Mayhem. She talked with me to see what we wanted out of the trip, and then booked everything! Hotel, dining reservations, character experiences, Fast Passes . . . she handled all of it and then just sent me an itinerary. It was awesome!

 

4. Finally, it seems the Kissels are a “one and done” Disney family. We are glad we went and experienced it, but we don’t feel the need to go back anytime soon. The crowds and wait times were a little out of control for us. For now, we’ll stick with Cedar Point!

 

5. That being said, we found everyone to be friendly and helpful, the facilities to be clean, and the food to be very good! I MIGHT consider going back when the girls are older to check out Hollywood Studios. We shall see!

 

Have a great weekend!

XOXO