Welcome to part three of my 2017 Disney World trip report!  If you haven’t checked out parts one and two yet, please do so. Click here for part one.         Click here for part two.

 

June 11, 2017

Today was Animal Kingdom!  Typically we have a pretty relaxed approach to Animal Kingdom, but at the last minute we found ourselves awake super early and decided to go to the park before rope drop to explore Pandora in the morning (in addition to our regularly planned evening).  We drove and were in our parking spot in under ten minutes.  With a 8am park opening, we arrived at 7:45 and were immediately let in.  We headed straight to Pandora and found ourselves in line for Flight of Passage which started at the very beginning of Pandora.  I waited in line with the kids so that my husband could not only ride, but get a rider switch pass as well.  The line moved fast and we got the rider switch pass within 5 minutes.  While Noah was enjoying this top notch ride, I parked the second stroller and brought the kids to the Navi River Journey.

After our relaxing river ride, we found our stroller and headed to Pongu Pongo where we got a Night Blossom.

Then, we spent some time just soaking in how gorgeous Pandora is during the morning.

We knew we’d be back in Pandora tonight so we didn’t want to spend too much time here.  Next up was Adventurer’s Outpost to see Mickey and Minnie.

Noah rode Everest TWICE while I took the kids through the jungle trek.

We headed toward Africa….

…. and saw Festival of the Lion King.

Then we hopped on the train to Conservation Station where we checked out some animals and met Doc McStuffins.

Then we took the train back to Africa and had some fun while we waited for our fastpass at Kali River Rapids.

Our fastpass window finally opened up and then we were told that the ride was down for the time being.  So, we had waited around for no reason.  We packed up and headed out of Animal Kingdom, knowing that we’d be back later in the evening.  While the girls napped, I did laundry with Braiden.  We passed time by walking around the entire resort checking out the fun facts along the paths.  We spent some time in the kids area of the lobby before switching the wash into the dryer.  Then, we made our way to Art of Animation and grabbed a light lunch.  It looked like it was going to start raining so we quickly left and didn’t even make it out of Art of Animation before the skies opened up.  We sprinted back to our laundry room and just hung out in there until everything was dried.

After our break, we made our way back to Animal Kingdom where, to no surprise, it was raining.  I’m super stubborn about wearing ponchos so although we had rain covers and ponchos, I refused to use them.

I saw that Pocahontas was meeting [I even double checked with the greeter at the front of the line because I was shocked] and dragged my family in line.  I had only ever met her one time [ever] so I couldn’t pass this up.  Plus, the girls are actually big fans.

We headed to Dinoland and I rode Triceratop Spin with the girls while Noah hung out with Braiden who was sleeping.  Crowds were so low that when we finished riding, they asked us to stay on.  Unfortunately, we had lots more to do so we headed to Dinosaur.  While Madeline rode with Noah, I took Catherine to get a ‘bug sundae’ which she has since declared her favorite treat on this vacation.  Braiden continued to nap.

 

After Dinoland, we headed over to Kali River Rapids and used our fast passes from earlier in the day.  I was THRILLED that Catherine was tall enough to ride!  This was both of the girls’ first time riding it and they had a blast.  I didn’t take any pictures because we were having so much fun.  Noah stayed behind with Braiden and they played in the fountain.

Next, we headed over to Pandora.

We saw it in the morning and were excited to see it at night too!  First up was dinner at Satu’li Canteen.  

The atmosphere here is great.  It’s themed like a canteen that the Americans would have eaten at while working on Pandora.  One thing I really liked here was that you could only sit here if you were eating here and they enforced this effectively.  There was plenty of seating.  We shared a chicken bowl (fully customizable) and a cheeseburger steamed pod kids meal.  This was plenty for the five of us to eat and everything was yummy.

Then we headed to the Navi River Journey to use our fast passes.  After that, Noah rode Flight of Passage for the second time this day using the second part of the rider switch pass.  While Noah was flying on a banshie, we explored Pandora at night.  This next picture isn’t the greatest quality, but the kids had an absolute blast discovering the hidden interactive elements that were built into the landscape.  I absolutely loved being able to visit Pandora both during the day and night.  Having the morning experience definitely helped me to appreciate at night.  [Morning is my preference.]

We said good-bye to Pandora and checked out Tree of Life Awakens for a few minutes before leaving for our resort

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June 12, 2017

Today was Hollywood Studios day!  We were out the door at 8am and were in the park by 8:45.  We waited for the park to open at 9am by checking out some of the shops.  We’re pretty relaxed when we visit this park and once they opened it, we headed toward Rock n Roller Coaster.  We made it halfway down Sunset BLVD and said good-bye to Noah.  He’d be meeting us at breakfast at 9:30.  I took the kids into a shop and let them pick out their one souvenir of the trip.  They both picked out a baby; Madeline got the Simba baby and Catherine got a Minnie Baby.  I arranged for package pick up at our resort so we wouldn’t have to lug them around.  Then, we headed to meet Olaf but his line was longer than I wanted to wait so we headed to meet Mickey and Minnie.

First up was Minnie in her Hollywood glam outfit.

Next was Sorcerer Mickey!

Now it was time for our breakfast reservation at Hollywood and Vine.  This is our second, and probably last, time eating here.  It’s okay, but really isn’t anything special.  It’s Disney Junior characters and I knew our time with this characters being popular in our home is limited so I wanted to eat here one last time.

We met back up with Noah at the restaurant and waited for our name to be called.  

We got seated, grabbed some food from the buffet, and soon Captain Jake was stopping by followed by Sophia the First.

Then came Handy Manny and Doc McStuffins.

Up next was our fastpass for Toy Story Midway Mania.  The girls were super excited about this ride!

After Toy Story, we watched Voyage of the Little Mermaid and then went and saw Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage.

 

Noah and the girls took the bus back to Pop Century and Braiden and I headed to Crescent Lake to check out the Epcot area resorts.  This is one of my favorite areas at Disney.  I love how close these resorts are to each other.  Being able to walk this whole area and. being right in between Epcot and Hollywood Studios really makes you feel like you’re in the middle of Disney.  Braiden fell asleep in the stroller right away in the stroller as we made the 5 minute walk to the Boardwalk.  First we passed Community Hall at the Boardwalk Villas.  We stayed at the Boardwalk Villas two years ago and spent a lot of time at the Community Hall just hanging out and playing games during our down time.

Next, we passed the Swan and Dolphin.  These resorts are ‘special’ because they’re not really Disney resorts, yet they are on Disney property and have some Disney benefits.  There’s definitely pros and cons for staying there.

Then, we got to the actual Boardwalk.  The Boardwalk is fun at night, but I absolutely love it during the day because it’s so peaceful.  Here we were in June and it was anything but crowded.

Earlier this morning, Noah casually asked me about the Disney Vacation Club.  DVC what???  DVC hasn’t been on my radar in a very long time and I’ve never ever brought up joining with him.  EVER.  He knew that we stayed DVC at the Boardwalk Villas and at Kidani Village.  He absolutely loved those resorts  and comparing them to the current resort of the vacation really opened his eyes to the different types of resorts at Disney.

So anyway, DVC was on my mind and I walked past the DVC open house at the Boardwalk.  Originally, I wanted to pop in to see the renovated DVC villas.  When we stayed at the Boardwalk Villas, the rooms were currently under refurb, but we had an older room.  The new rooms were GORGEOUS!!  The best part is that the studios sleep FIVE!!  I struck up a conversation with the sales person (spoiler:  I ran into the same salesperson TWO other times on this trip) and knew that if you met with them you got five bonus fast passes, so I asked if I could sit down for the presentation.  He walked me over to the manager back at the Community Hall.  This was the first timeshare presentation I went to.  It was just the two of us and I was very upfront with him about my background as a Disney Cast Member, current employment as a travel agent, and background renting DVC points.  He didn’t need to explain how DVC works or why it’s a great investment; I already knew all of that.  My questions were about the money.  He answered those all for me and then I received my 5 fast passes straight onto my magic band.

After the DVC presentation, we continue walking around Crescent Lake toward the Beach Club.  B was still sleeping.  We walked through the lobby and headed over to the villas building.

We walked through the Yacht Club and back around Crescent Lake toward the Swan and Dolphin to head back to the van at Hollywood Studios.  Braiden woke up sometime here.

Braiden and I headed back to Pop Century.  Once there, we had a little time to kill before the girls woke from their nap so we headed to the food court and grabbed some tie dyed cheese cake.

We headed back to Hollywood Studios for the night.  Side note:  This park will always remind me of my grandma and even though it’s my least favorite park, it’s still special to me.  We headed to Disney Junior to watch the last show of the day with some paper fast passes we had.  We parked the strollerS, walked up, and were told it was down for the day for technical difficulties.  (the next day I passed on the paper fast passes to a family). We were actually really disappointed because the kids love this show, but we rolled with it.  We headed over to One Man’s Dream where we checked out some memorabilia, opted out of the Guardians of the Galaxy Meet and Greet, and snagged seats for a top secret Cars 3 preview.  Then we headed to Sunset BLVD where Noah went to ride Tower of Terror and I took the kids to grab some food at Fairfax Faire.  Honestly, this was not a good experience for me.  They over charged me, it was raining, the kids were cranky, and covered seating was limited.  We found a spot, but the kids were so cranky that I quickly packed up and started walking around with them.

Here’s M in the rain.  

Next, we split up and Noah and M headed to ride Star Tours  with fast passes, and I took B and C to the Frozen show.  This was a first for EVERYONE except Noah did Star Tours in 2016.  I loved the Frozen show!  There was a lot of adult humor incorporated into it.  We met up at the Tune in Lounge afterwards.

We ordered a PB&J milkshake and headed to meet Olaf (another first for us).

Next, we went to see Muppet Vision 3D.  The milkshake started to hit me the wrong way so I ended up option out of this.  Catherine and I checked out the Christmas store while the rest enjoyed the movie.

I want to note that at this point in our day, Hollywood Studios was deserted.  We seriously couldn’t see ANYONE else in this part of the park.  We wanted to stay for fireworks, but were running out of things to do since half the park was under construction.  We made our way to the Great Movie Ride and rode it with minimal wait time.  I’m so glad that we rode this since it’s closing.  After the ride, we found a spot and watched the Star Wars fireworks.  B slept through it all.

This was my first time seeing this nighttime spectacular and was really impressed.  We watched the show and then headed back to the resort for the evening.