Fly home day was fairly uneventful- we had prepaid for a Super Shuttle to take us to/from the airport, so it showed up on time to drive us the hour or so to LAX. We breezed through security, and then had quite a bit of time before our flight left. I had packed a slice of cheesecake from the night before so we found some seats and enjoyed that.
Our flight was direct from LAX to Edmonton, so a little over 3 hours.
After meeting Olaf, we were getting close to our lunch reservation, so we headed out of DCA and over to Disneyland. We stopped for a few Photopass pictures
We headed over to Cafe Orleans (for the second time on this trip!).
We decided to head over to Fantasyland, and got into line for something we’d never done before – Storybook Canal Boats. As soon as you enter a queue line you can tell which rides are from the 50’s – the queue lines are very narrow and tend to zig-zag in a small space.
This ride was ok, definitely worth going on at least once to see all the little models based on Disney films.
We walked over to Tomorrowland and grabbed a Fastpass for Star Tours for a bit later.
Then we headed to the front of the park – a meet and greet had caught our eye on the app. We had to wait a bit, and we weren’t exactly sure where the line would be (we just knew the door characters came out of to begin their shift, so we hung out close to there).
We waved goodbye to Goofy as he walked past us, then watched as Mickey ran into the villain we were waiting to meet – Cruella de Vil! We followed her over by the train station, where we had a hilarious meet and greet – redemption for earlier that day!
We decided to check out the Main Street Cinema, and we hung out in there for awhile.
Eventually, we headed out and decided to go watch the Storytelling at the Royal Theatre. The show we saw was Tangled, but they were alternating between that and Beauty and the Beast that day. We both really enjoy Tangled, so no complaints from us!
I grabbed a snack from Maurice’s Treats, the snack cart beside the theater. Cheddar Garlic Bagel Twist, $4.79
Delicious! I love bread way too much haha.
The show was really cute, a condensed version of the story with more humour added in. We both agreed we would go back to see another show here at some point!
We decided to go for a walk through Toontown, but we didn’t feel like actually going on any of the rides there or waiting in line for any of the meet and greets, so we headed back to Tomorrowland.
We grabbed a Fastpass for Buzz Lightyear, and then jumped into the standby line for it. Once Luke beat me again and helped defeat Evil Emperor Zurg, we were in the window for the Star Tours Fastpass we had grabbed earlier. As soon as we returned from our flight with C-3PO, we were in the window for the Buzz Lightyear Fastpass we had just grabbed.
We decided to head back over to California Adventure, but we took our time exiting Disneyland, walking slowly down Main Street, checking out some of the shops.
Once we entered DCA, we realized we were hungry and could go for a drink, so we went to the Cove Bar
While we were sitting there, we could see the roller coaster going and we realized we’d never been on it in the dark. Once we finished up our snack and drinks, we went and jumped into the standby line and rode California Screamin’.
By this point it was finally time to use the Radiator Springs Fastpass we had grabbed that morning, so off we went. I love Cars Land at night, it’s so beautiful!
The standby line had a posted wait time of 120 minutes, but the park was only a few minutes from closing. The Fastpass line was actually really long, and it took us about 20-25 minutes before we were boarding a car. By the time our ride through Radiator Springs was over, the entire standby line was gone – so that posted 120 minutes was actually about 30 minutes. This was really the first time we’d noticed how much they inflate the wait times at the end of the night.
So, I had Photopass included with my Annual Pass, but somehow I forgot to download our on-ride photo from our last ride on Radiator Springs. They also only sent three people total in our car, which is a sign of how inflated the wait time was.
DCA was closed by this point, so we headed out and got to Garden Walk as quickly as possible. I wanted to buy my mom a birthday present from the Harley Davidson store there since January 30th is her actual birthday. We arrived there at 8:40, and the store was completely locked up, lights turned off and no one in sight – despite the large sign on the door saying they were open until 9pm. I was so upset, I really wanted to get Mom something from there, but we were flying out the next morning so there wasn’t much I could do at that point.
We ended our trip with a meal at the Cheesecake Factory. Cheesecake makes everything better!
For our last full day in California, we again decided to skip rope-drop and start our day in DCA a little later. We immediately headed over and joined the stand-by queue for California Screamin’, where we stood and waited. And waited. And waited some more. The sign had said 20 minutes, but after standing there for almost thirty they announced that the ride was broken. Sigh. As we walked around the pier, we could actually see one of the trains stuck on the track – so I’m glad we weren’t on it!
We thought about stopping for Toy Story Midway Mania, but the queue was over an hour, and this was shortly before they introduced Fastpass for it. So, we skipped that with plans to come back later – it didn’t happen. Luke was pretty sad we didn’t get on TSMM on either one of our Disney trips in January, but we made up for it on the two trips that followed 🙂
We decided to go check out the special character meet and greets for the Chinese New Year. We entered the queue which didn’t move for over 15 minutes. Finally, Chip and Dale came out looking adorable.
They met with guests for about 25 minutes, then when there were only 4 families in front of us, a cast member let us know that Chip and Dale were leaving, but Mulan and Mushu would be right out. This was exciting! Rare characters!
They came out, and in their 25 minute set they met three of the families in front of us. Three. And then they left. I understand wanting to spend time with each person, but the parents of one family in particular were ridiculous. Seriously, your children do not need to spend 15 minutes getting pictures from every angle/pose/showing Mulan every toy you have with you/etc. You could see the cast members trying to hurry them along, but nope. I know that Luke and I are two adults without children, but we would have taken about 90 seconds – say hello, give a hug, smile for a few pictures, done. Needless to say, Luke was fuming. We had spent over an hour in the line by this point, and we were being told it would be 20-30 minutes before the next character would be out (Minnie Mouse). We were not the only people in line a little upset by this point, and we were not the only ones who decided to leave the line. In a lot of ways, I prefer Disneyland but I have to give WDW the edge in character meets on this day (this comes up again later on this day).
We were both tired and cranky by this point – we had been in the park for almost two hours and had done nothing but stand in lines – for nothing. We decided we needed to go on a ride to get this day back on track , and since we were right there we grabbed a Fastpass for Goofy’s Sky School.
We didn’t have too long of a wait before we were in the window for the fastpass, but we bought a churro and found a spot to sit down and regroup. Once our FP window opened, we rode Goofy’s Sky School – which is just a crazy Mouse style coaster.
We checked the app and noticed there were still Fastpasses available for Radiator Springs for that evening, so we ran over and grabbed one of those.
Also while on the app, a character meet caught our attention- Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps! They were in Hollywood Land by Stage 17, so off we went! There was barely any line when we got over there, and before long we were meeting Zootopia’s finest!
After pictures with Nick and Judy, we realized Olaf was about to start meeting people just around the corner, so we joined that line. There were only two groups in front of us – a young couple and a mother with her son (who I’d guess was 3-4). Olaf came out, and the young couple had their picture taken, gave him a warm hug and moved along. Then, the mother and her son moved up to meet Olaf – and cue another meet-and-greet reminiscent of that morning. The little boy had zero interest in actually meeting Olaf and taking a picture with him. It was cute at first, but after over 10 minutes of him trying to pull down the backdrop behind Olaf, throwing his teddy bear at Olaf, running in circles around Olaf screaming all while the mother smiled at her sweet little offspring – it was a bit much. Even the Photopass photographer was getting annoyed, he would audilbly sigh, then repeat “ok, let’s smile for a picture so the other people in line can give Olaf a hug”. Huge shoutout to that photographer, he was very polite and kept his cool while still giving the mother very obvious hints that she should reign in her child. I don’t mind waiting my turn, but this was painful to watch. Yes, I understand I am at a theme park created for children, but come on.
We finally got to go up and give Olaf a warm hug and get a few pictures.
Next: Part Two
We had went to Trader Sams on our last trip to Disneyland on our first night there, it was Luke’s request for his birthday after enjoying our first experience at the Trader Sam’s in Florida a few weeks earlier. We knew we wanted to go at some point during this trip, so once we were both starting to feel hungry and a little cranky, we decided it was time for a drink.
Trader Sam’s is a small, heavily themed bar located by the Disneyland Hotel.
It is based off the Jungle Cruise ride, and has no shortage of things to look at on the walls.
I wasn’t feeling great by the time we got there, so I decided alcohol was not a good idea, so I tried one of the non-alcoholic drinks on the menu, the Schweitzer Falls – the AMAZING… the COLOSSAL… the STUPENDOUS…the eighth wonder of the world… Dr. Albert Falls’ favourite (over the rocks). Tropical juices and Sam’s Gorilla Grog topped with Sprite – $5.25
I enjoyed this (and not just because it had a glow cube – although that didn’t hurt haha). It was sweet, which I’m a fan of.
Luke wanted alcohol, and he wanted to try something he hadn’t tried before, so his choice was the Krakatoa Punch – there’s no escaping falling in lava with this exotic eruption of flavor! Reserve and Spiced rums, orgeat (almond) syrup, Sam’s Gorilla Grog and hibiscus grenadine. Served in a souvenir Tiki mug. $23.50 with a souvenir mug
I did try his drink – it was good, but very strong (like all drinks at Trader Sam’s). They also were not serving the drinks in souvenir mugs, but hey did have these ones in stock for us to bring home.
We also decided to split some food, and once again ordered the Pu-Pu Platter – sweet and spicy Asian wings, fried spring rolls, panko-crusted Chinese long beans, lettuce mix and sriracha aioli, $17
I always think I like spring rolls, but after my first bite I remember I’m not a huge fan haha. No worries though, Luke really liked these so he ate them both. The Asian wings were a little too spicy for my liking, so again, Luke had those. The beans though – yum! I loved these in January when we had them, and, despite me not feeling the greatest at this point, I was able to assist in putting a decent dent in that pile of beans. The Sriracha aioli was really good with the beans, I didn’t find it too spicy at all.
Luke had enjoyed it so much last time that he also decided to order the Angus 1/3 LB Hawaiian Cheeseburger – ground angus burger with teriyaki sauce, fresh caramelized pineapple, havarti cheese, bacon, lettuce and tomato on a brioche bun. Includes your choice of one of the following sides: sweet potato fries, classic french fries or island fruit – $13
I wasn’t interested in the burger, but Luke liked it a lot. I was excited when I saw shoestring fries, and I might have claimed quite a few of those for myself…
Basically, my entire meal here consisted of french fries and beans haha, but it was delicious and I wouldn’t change it – vacation mode!
We happened to overhear a server talking about the limited edition Haunted Mansion mugs that had been released a few weeks earlier – we had just assumed they were sold out, but turns out they weren’t! We excitedly asked for one of those to take home, and didn’t even care about the cost haha (it was $25 for the mug alone). It’s so amazing though!
Our total bill was $84.54 after saving 15% using my Annual Pass.
December 30th, 2017
December 31st, 2017
January 1st, 2018
January 2nd, 2018
January 3rd, 2018
January 4th, 2018
January 5th, 2018
January 6th, 2018
January 7th, 2018
January 8th, 2018
January 9th, 2018
January 10th, 2018 – Wedding Day!
January 11th, 2018
January 12th, 2018
January 13th, 2018
Every great trip report starts in the days leading up to actually going on a trip! Feel free to skip to the next post, we don’t get to Disney until then… I knew that the week leading up to this trip would be really busy, so we had decided to skip Christmas this year – which broke my heart a little bit since I love decorating so much (I’m typically that person who has multiple trees…). We spent Christmas Day at my mom’s house (where she once again spoiled us by buying us a red KitchenAid stand mixer – something I’ve been eyeing up for years despite the fact I don’t cook), and had a wonderful turkey dinner. On Boxing Day, we did a bit of shopping, although it was mainly last minute things we needed for the trip or pet supplies to last while we were away. We then went to the Olive Garden for unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks haha. December 27th, we both had to work. Since we had been trying to eat through the food in our fridge, and hadn’t bought any new groceries we again went out to eat that night – this time at Famoso. It’s a fantastic Neapolitan style pizza place and on Wednesday nights their prosciutto-wrapped mozza balls are on special – so delicious. We also had a coupon that expired December 31st, so we basically had to go eat there that day haha.
December 28th, we both worked again all day. We had started setting what we needed to take in our spare bedroom a few weeks earlier, but I started seriously packing on this day. December 29th, I was up early to check us into our flight. I was hoping to score an upgrade to first class for a small fee, but no such luck. Luke had to work again that day, but only a half day. It was my scheduled day off, so I took advantage of that and packed like a crazy person! We had so much stuff to take due to this being a two week long trip and lugging all our wedding stuff, so I had to be very creative in how I packed to make sure nothing would get broken and our suitcases stayed underweight. The pets were all really helpful while I packed…
Eventually, I was satisfied that everything was packed and I wasn’t forgetting anything, so we drove our dogs out to my best friend’s house. She was going to be watching them for the first few days (and my mom would be checking in on our cats and degus) before my co-worker Scott moved into our house on January 2nd to act as our pet/house sitter. The worst part of any trip for me is saying goodbye to my puppies
Luke went to sleep at a decent time, while I stayed awake because I decided I needed to clean our house. I think I was just excited/nervous for the next two weeks haha. It was pretty late by the time I finally went to bed. My mom was going to drive us to the airport the next morning, so we had told her our plan of leaving our house at 5:45am. At 5:52am, she called my phone and woke us up – Luke’s alarm didn’t go off. So, it was a pretty frantic few minutes of pulling on clothes, grabbing our last minute items to be packed (cell phone chargers, etc), and then trying to load all our luggage into my SUV as quickly as possible. To make everything even better, this was the weather…
yep, it felt like -47oC with the windchill – which meant we couldn’t load up my Rav4 the night before because we had things which could freeze.
Luckily, we had built in a bit of a buffer so we knew we would be fine, but Luke and I like to be at the airport very early for any flight – it’s the one thing in my life I’m always early for haha. About halfway to the airport Luke realized he had forgot his Brita water bottle in the garage, he had set it down to lift a suitcase into the SUV, and he was pretty sad about it. Florida water tastes disgusting, but those Brita bottles really work well to mask the taste! It was too late to turn around, but luckily we had actually bought a bunch of those bottles to put into our welcome bags for our wedding guests, so I told him he could steal one from there so he wouldn’t be without on this trip.
We arrived at the airport, hugged my mom goodbye and headed inside. Typically when we fly, we book the cheapest flight, but for this trip we decided to spend the extra money and fly direct. There’s actually only one flight per week that goes from Edmonton to Orlando direct, and it’s only on Saturdays. Initially, our trip was going to be from January 2nd – 13th, but once we decided we wanted the direct flight, we extended our trip backwards to December 30th.
We checked in and dropped off our four giant suitcases. I was a little nervous watching them disappear on the conveyor belt as my wedding dress and Luke’s suit were inside one… We were going to take our wedding day outfits as carry-on, but we already had so much to carry, and we decided to take the chance that it would all work out – after all, we were flying direct and our wedding wasn’t until the end of our vacation.
The security line for the US departures was the longest we’ve ever seen it. We had our boarding passes scanned, and then everyone was being directed to the left to join the snaking line. However, I was randomly selected, and asked to step to the right. Luke was told to stay with me, since we were travelling together. I had to place my carry-on suitcase on top of a table, and a security lady opened it up and looked inside. I had nothing to hide, so these additional screenings never bother me. Once she was finished, she told us to follow her and she escorted us to the front of the line. We easily saved 20-30 minutes in line just by being randomly selected! Go us! The rest of security and customs was a breeze, “Where are you going?” Walt Disney World. “What is the purpose of your trip?” To get married!
One of our repeat meals from our previous trip to Disneyland was at the Plaza Inn for breakfast. We again had a reservation for first thing in the morning on the Saturday we were there, and were able to enter a fairly empty park. We checked in to the restaurant, paid up front for our meal (a requirement here – also, hurray for AP discounts!), were handed our Plaza Inn pins and were led to our table. Along the way, we ran into my favourite, Eeyore, so naturally we had to stop for hugs.
We also found some chipmunks before I even had a chance to take off my sunglasses, so we took some selfies 🙂
Chip, Dale and Eeyore loved Luke’s shirt, and made a big deal out of it haha.
Of all the character meals we’ve done at Disneyland and Walt Disney World (and it’s actually quite a few), none of them compare to this one for number of characters. Most character meals have four, sometimes five characters – this one typically has nine or ten. We had already seen three before even sitting down.
The food here is pretty basic breakfast fare. It’s a buffet, but the cast members tend to serve you, you just let them know what you’d like.
I had a made to order omelet with bacon, ham and cheese to start. I tend to stay away from eggs, they don’t always agree with me, but I just can’t help myself when I see an omelet station! I also had a glass of apple juice.
The omelet was obviously fresh, as I watched it being made. It was more eggs than I wanted to eat, so I didn’t finish it all, but I did enjoy it. There was a lot of bacon and ham, and a generous serving of cheese on top.
I grabbed a second plate with some bacon, ham and a piece of chicken-fried steak with country gravy.
This stuff was all ok. Nothing was spectacular, but I don’t eat come to Plaza Inn at breakfast for the food.
Luke’s first plate contained hash browns, sausage, scrambled eggs and bacon, along with a yogurt/granola/berry parfait and a small plate with a chocolate pastry and some fruit.
Again, this was all ok. Disney bacon is always good. The hashbrowns weren’t great, but everything else was fine.
Our first visitor to our table was T-I-double-Gah-er, who was his usual bouncy self!
Next up was a villain, Mr. Captain Hook.
Max was next (Luke’s faces are hilarious in these pictures)
One of my favourites, Winnie the Pooh stopped by to see us next.
Eeyore then stopped by, and even though we had already taken pictures with him when we first entered the restaurant, we had to get some more 🙂
The 8th character we saw was the Fairy Godmother
We noticed we had time before the next character stopped by, so we headed over to grab more food. I grabbed a slice of french toast and a Mickey waffle, and a small plate of fruit (strawberries, watermelon, orange slices, grapes and honeydew melon), along with a little jello cup. Luke grabbed a second plate as well, but I have no idea what he had since I forgot to take a picture.
I like the french toast here, I had it last time we ate at Plaza as well. It’s nothing special, but the warm syrup is a nice touch. Mickey waffles are a classic staple when eating breakfast at Disney, and they all taste the same. I’ve realized over time that I might be allergic to honeydew, it always makes my mouth feel funny so I only had a small bite of that. I enjoyed the rest of it though.
I decided to run to the bathroom, thinking I had enough time before Piglet made his way over to our table. However, the bathroom is outside of the restaurant, so I just missed him by the time I got back. I saw Piglet about to head outside to visit with the people out there, so I ran over and managed to get a few selfies with him.
Minnie Mouse is technically the host of this meal, but she was not making her way around the restaurant and instead was standing outside by the main entrance. They were having guests get their picture with her before entering the restaurant, and then coming around trying to sell those pictures. Don’t even get me started on how much this bothers me – I paid $1500 for my Premier Annual Pass, over $30/person to eat breakfast, and now you want me to pay another $30 for a picture with Minnie Mouse. No, just no. This is taking the greed to a whole other level. I did insist on stopping to get a picture with Minnie before we left, and I asked the photographer how to get our picture. He kept telling me I would need to pay for it but I kept resisting, but eventually he let me know that I could go to the Photopass store on Main Street and they would be able to load my pictures on to my account for free since I had photopass included with my annual pass. So – anytime a Disney restaurant wants you to purchase photos, mention this and see if the cast member will confirm that this is an option.
The total cost of this meal was $62.28 after tax. This included a 15% discount thanks to my annual pass.
Enough time had passed by the time we re-entered the park that we were able to go grab another Fastpass, this time for Buzz Lightyear (and for a time frame that we were almost in already!).
We used the Star Tours fastpass we had grabbed earlier in the day, and by then we were already in our window for Buzz, where Luke beat me as per usual.
The sun had set by this point, so we went to check out the castle all lit up.
We decided to grab another Fastpass, this time for one of my favourites, Big Thunder Mountain
We still had some time to go before our next fastpass, so we went to Fantasyland to go on some of the classic rides – Snow White’s Scary Adventure, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
It was our first time going on Mr. Toad – that ride is ridiculous, one scene literally depicts Hell. We had just made it out of Hell when the ride broke, we could hear the people behind us laughing and yelling out that they were stuck in Hell.
Of course, I had to stop for a picture on the ride vehicle located outside the entrance. I also have no idea how to pose for pictures…
Another ride we had never been on at Disneyland was Alice in Wonderland, so that’s where we headed next. It was much better (and longer) than I was expecting- I thought it would be similar to the rides we had just come from, but apparently it has actually undergone a few refurbishments. It’s by no means what I would consider an E-ticket ride, it was just better than I thought it would be.
As we exited the ride, the Main Street Electrical Parade was going by. We had watched this parade on our first trip to WDW, and weren’t really overwhelmed by it, so we made no effort to see it on this trip.
We were finally in our window for Indiana Jones, so we walked across the park to go on that. It’s such a great ride, the attention to detail is spectacular.
Luke decided he could use a snack, and bought himself a Dole Whip float. He ate it while we walked over to Pirates of the Caribbean, and by the time we were getting ready to board our boat he had finished it.
Once we exited Pirates, we were in our window for our Big Thunder Fastpass. I love the California version of this ride so much!
By the time we got off the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness, the park was getting close to closing time, so we headed out and caught an Uber back to our hotel.
We were a little slow moving this morning, and slept in a bit. When we arrived at the park, we entered California Adventure first. The first thing we did was grab a Fastpass for Soarin’ for later that day.
We didn’t have a ton of time before our dining reservation, so we checked wait times and went to the Mickey Fun Wheel (stationary, of course- none of that moving car for me!). I used the zoom on my real camera and got some pretty cool pictures of the mountains in the distance, and a fake mountain much closer (almost all of my pictures are just taken with my phone, which was an iPhone 6 at the time of this trip)
After our short stay in the park, we headed out and walked over to the Disneyland hotel for a reservation at Goofy’s Kitchen
We once again entered DCA, and went to use our Soarin’ Fastpass.
After our trip around the world, we entered a short stand-by line and rode California Screamin’
hopped over to Disneyland and grabbed a Fastpass for Star Tours a few hours later.
From there, we headed to the Star Wars Launch Bay to meet Chewbacca and Darth Vader. I get the biggest, cheesiest grin on my face every time I meet Chewie haha…
We were hanging around afterwards, checking out the Star Wars stuff when a cast member came over, commented on our tshirts and then handed us a card with a picture of Bobba Fett and let us know he had seen him hanging around back by the cantina.
We headed back there, where there was a cast member standing by a nondescript door. We just hung out for a bit, waiting for Bobba Fett to appear but after standing around for about 10 minutes we went over and asked the cast member what time he would be showing up. The cast member smiled at us and pushed a button we hadn’t noticed, and within a minute Bobba Fett had emerged. Apparently we had to ask about him.
It was really cool to meet a rare character like that!
We finally headed back outside after spending well over an hour in the Launch Bay, where we ran into some Stormtroopers.
We decided we wanted to meet another character, so we checked the app and decided on Belle.
We were getting close to our dinner reservation in Downtown Disney, but we ran over to grab a Fastpass for Indiana Jones first.
Our supper that evening was at Naples, which I really enjoyed.
Next: January 29, 2017 Part Two
We decided we still wanted to do a few more things in the park, so we put our phones away and headed over to catch the train out to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. We’d never been out there before, and wanted to check it out. There isn’t a lot out there, but I loved the goats and the sheep haha
Rafiki was also out there doing character meets, so of course we had to jump into that line!
After saying goodbye to the goats, we headed back to the main park on the train. As we were walking by, we realized a Birds of Wonder show was just about to start, so we headed in and watched. I didn’t take many pictures, and instead just enjoyed the show (although I did get this one)
We decided to head over to Dinoland.
We jumped in the stand-by line for Primeval Whirl, which was only about a 20 minute wait.
I don’t love this ride, but I don’t hate it either. Crazy Mouse coasters are kind of all the same…
Tri-Ceratop Spin was practically a walk-on, and it was something we’d never been on before, so we headed there next. It’s basically just the Dumbo ride with dinosaurs.
I have no idea what is going on in this picture, but it makes me laugh….
We were getting a little hungry by this point, so we went to check out Flame Tree BBQ.
Also, this sitting area is so pretty!
We stopped for more Tree of Life pictures since there were no lines…
Our third Fastpass was to meet Mickey and Minnie. We had originally planned on doing the Wild Africa Trek today, which is why this Fastpass was so late in the day – we didn’t want to be rushed. After cancelling the tour, we decided to just leave our fastpasses as they were.
Minnie was so excited when she saw our Just Engaged buttons. She started gesturing to ask when we got engaged, and started jumping up and down when we told her it had happened only a few hours earlier. We ended up with cute pictures from this meet and greet 🙂
We checked the MDE app for wait times in the park, and headed over to Expedition Everest and hopped in the stand-by line.
A wait time under 20 minutes for Everest is a huge yes from me every single time!
We also grabbed a Fastpass for the Safaris a little later, so that we could go on it at Twilight.
This was pre-Pandora and pre-Rivers of Light, so most people were still treating Animal Kingdom as a half day park. By this point, it was after 5pm and the crowds were thinning out. We checked wait times again, and headed back to DinoLand to get into the stand-by line for Dinosaur – I believe it was under 10 minutes until we were loading the ride.
We then noticed a 10 minute posted wait time for Expedition Everest, and since it’s my favourite ride, we headed back over to Asia (we were putting some kilometres on today!)
We got off, and immediately decided to get back in line haha.
Luke didn’t think his stomach could handle three rides on it back to back to back, and that was our fourth time on it that day, so we said goodbye to my favourite ride and walked back to Africa to use our Twilight Safari Fastpass.
My review of that – meh. Most animals are already in their enclosures, it’s hard to see the ones that are still out and it was pretty underwhelming. I wouldn’t go out of my way to ride the Safari at that time of day.
While we were walking back through Africa, Luke’s dad called him (Luke had tried calling earlier to tell him we were engaged but his dad was working). Luke sat down on a bench to talk to his dad, and I went to check out Zuri’s Sweets Shop and picked out some treats for us.
We caught a bit of the Tree of Life Awakening, before heading out of the park and catching a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge for our late supper reservation at Saana
After our meal, we called an Uber to take us back to Saratoga Springs.