DISNEY NOVEMBER 2017 – DAY 2!!!

Ok so Day 2. Today was a day of a bunch of “firsts.” To start with, we slept in. Well sort of. We slept until about 7:15. Which is sleeping in at Disney. Obvs.

I woke up and went for a 30 minute run. I got to run all through Art of Animation and over to Pop Century as well. So I got to snap some cool pics.

And I saw the crane that I think is building the new SkyLiner stop. Apologies for the fog. I mean I don’t know why I’m apologizing. But still. Sorry.

After the run, we made a decision to do something we never do at Disney. Wait in line.

Before the trip we couldn’t get any Flight of Passage fastpasses. None. And honestly I came here resigned to the fact that eh I might just not ride it. But then we started talking about it and even if we had to wait five hours, this would be the morning to do it.

And Owen said he wanted to as well. So we grabbed a quick breakfast at the Landscape of Flavors food court and hopped on a bus to the Animal Kingdom. We were men on a mission. We were GOING to ride a banshee.

So we get there and make our way over to Flight of Passage. And then we keep walking. And walking. And walking some more. The line stretched like what seemed like forever.

When we got to the end, the cast member told us it was a five hour wait. So we turned around and went home .

Pfft no. We waited of course. WE are the true heroes. The good news was the wait was only 4 hours. Yeah that’s the GOOD news. But we passed the time playing Heads Up, talking to the people around us and doing this scavenger hunt thing they passed out to us.

And we took some cool pics as we made our way through the queue.

So the big question I’m sure on everyone’s mind is, “was it worth it?” I mean that’s a tough question to answer. Is any ride worth that wait? I will say though that I am glad we did it so I guess it WAS worth it. I got chills. The ride took my breath away at times. I loved it. Such a nerd am I.

And Owen and I really felt like we accomplished something. Waiting in a four hour line isn’t something I see myself doing anytime soon but it did make us feel like true Disney-ites. It felt like some sort of rite of passage. As we were walking in to board our banshee, Owen and I high-fived each other. And I don’t know. Moment.

And now you’re probably saying to yourself, “but where were Nickie and Myles, you terrible husband and father?”

Well I will have you know I had no idea.

Kidding. I kid. They were hanging back at the hotel, swimming in the Big Blue Pool.

They also handled the whole switching of hotels. We were now onto Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village. Sweet. But more on that later.

And after we got off Flight of Passage, they met us at Satu’li Canteen in Pandora for lunch. Nickie took advantage of the mobile ordering and said it was a life saver. The lines were super long but she ordered through her phone and her food was ready in minutes. Bomb.

I got the cheeseburger pods.  They were delightful.

After the ride, we got to meet up with Myles’ old soccer coach, Dean, who now works at Animal Kingdom so I mean he’s  the coolest guy we know. And he hooked us up with a couple extra fastpasses for Friday so he’s the best. Thanks Dean!

Then we all headed back to Kidani Village to get set up in our room. On the Savannah!

We saw these guys hanging out outside our balcony. Come to me jungle friends.

While we were hanging out, getting phones charged and watching some Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the Falzones showed up. Tony, Larissa and Mia!!!!! Yayyyy…..

Some quick hellos and we were back on the bus to Animal Kingdom for our five o’clock reservation at Tiffin’s (another first). Been so excited to try this place. Because I am fat.

Before dinner we stopped in the Nomad Lounge for a drink. Place is hella pretty.

Speaking of hella pretty.

I got a Tempting Tigress which was some sort of bourbon masterpiece.

Then we got the text and walked over to be seated.

We ordered a nice bottle of Bordeaux and started with ALL the apps. Black pea fritters. Charcuterie. Cheese board. Tomato and mozzarella. Bread service.

Id say as a singular dish, the charcuterie was my favorite. But the best thing to do was to grab a piece of bread from the bread service, a meat from the charcuterie, cheese from the cheese board and top with a bread service sauce. Everything awesome  all together. It’s the Kentucky Fried Chicken Bowl of fancy appetizers.

For an entree, I was between the Wagyu beef and the Duo of Venison. But since everyone else was getting the beef I went with the venison. And man, it was GOOD. The sausage was especially super duper.

And here was the Wagyu striploin and smoked brisket.

For dessert I got the chocolate ganache and we ordered a press pot of coffee. The ganache was good. The coffee though. Amazetown. They even steam the milk and warm the mugs. What?? No pics of the coffee because I couldn’t put it down. But here’s some dessert.

The dinner was tasty but I mean, it wasn’t like my FAVORITE EVER OF ALL-TIME meal at Disney. Just keeping it real.

We were all insanely stuffed but managed to get up and walk out of there without any assistance.

Which is good, since we had a fastpass for the Na’vi River Journey. Yup first time on this one. I actually really liked this one. The ride was relaxing and really pretty.

Plus this was probably the coolest animatronic I’ve ever seen. Yeah even better than disco Yeti over at Everest. He said snarkily.

We then had a fastpass for Rivers of Light (first alert!) so we made our way over to Asia to be seated. On the way though I grabbed this awesomeness.

I dunno. Some in the party were underwhelmed with the show but I really liked it. I get they can’t do any huge spectacular because of the animals so I thought they did a great job with it. Oh so now you hate animals? Pfft.

Mia seemed to like it…

After the show we had a fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safari at night. While we have ridden it during the day, we never have before at might. So yeah. I mean another first no.

While it was cool doing it at night, I def feel the daytime version is better. You can see more animals and it’s less murdery-feeling.

Then it was definitely time to call it a night. We were all beat and we have an early Thanksgoving morning tomorrow.

But what a great day.