Day 1 (Part 3): Our First Park & Resort!
And just like that... we were on our way to our first park! We left Polynesian Village and made our way to our first park for the trip, Animal Kingdom! We waited a good half hour for a bus to Animal Kingdom. At this point, the lack of sleep started to hit us hard. A few of us had our eyes closing on us during the trip to Animal Kingdom, and people began to stare... but we pushed through it!
Once we pulled up to the park, everyone suddenly felt energized and we had about two hours before our first Fastpass. The first impulse decisions was to head over to Rafiki's Planet Watch. Sure, most of the cousins had no clue what it was, but they just went along with it.
My cousin Randy had been to Animal Kingdom with his wife, Abbey, before. He remembered bits of it and what stood out most to him were the goats. So we had to stop by and see his old friends.
The whole family was there!
We looked around, but what everyone appreciated the most, was the air conditioning. The walk from the park's entrance to Africa had us winded, and we realized that we were very overdressed for the humidity. In appreciation, we had to stop and thank the guy who owned the joint:
We also learned the secret to the perfect squashed bananas...
We still had another hour, and started heading toward the direction of our first Fastpass's location. We made another impulse decision on our way there because we did have the time... we went to check out:
The show was great, and the air-conditioning was a welcomed bonus. Lucky for us, because it apparently was pouring while we were watching the show. It stopped about two minutes after we got out of the theater and cast members said we just missed out on "the fun".
So, so far we had: checked into the hotel, a great breakfast, two attractions done, dodged some rain, a few photos taken, a lack of sleep, and more humidity than anyone could have asked for. With all that said...
Yeah, our heads were held up high and the group fought through it all. Our heads were held so high, that we might as well go for a flight. That's right! ...our first Fastpass was for Flight of Passage! I was lucky enough to find Fastpass availability for FoP about two weeks before the trip for our giant group of 9. There were posts both here on the DIS, as well as the TouringPlans chat. So we snatched it up!
For 7 of us, including myself, it was our first time to Pandora and all of us were blown away by Pandora and all it's beauty. Knowing that the wait time was over two hours, and us having Fastpass, really felt like we were doing Walt Disney World right. There was a slight hiccup that involved us going from one pre-show area of the attraction, to another because of technical issues with our banshees, but once we took off it was like we had no worry in the world. The immersion of this attraction is beyond words and is definitely a must-do for any Animal Kingdom visitor.
Of course we had to stop by the little shop after Flight of Passage. One thing lead to another, and then this happened:
My brother decided to take home a Banshee with him...
My bro had mentioned that he wanted to take one home from the rookery before the trip. He decided to go all out and get the special one-year anniversary banshee(I'm pretty sure that it was the same one as the one on the cast member's shoulder) that came with a perch. He was a proud new father.
Shortly after that, we were feeling a bit parched. we decided to get nine Night Blossoms from Pongu Pongu, a short little walk from the banshee rookery. This was also our first opportunity to use the
Disney Dining Plan snack credits. (I forgot to mention that we were on the plan in the 'Ohana post!) With 9 people, staying for a week, we had 108 snack credits!!!
There was something beautiful about seeing nine of these lined up next to each other:
There's only 3 7/8 Night Blossoms shown, because 5 of us couldn't wait...
After our little break we made it to our next Fastpass, Kilimanjaro Safaris.
A random photo from our safari, taken by my cousin. I promise the photos get better as this trip goes on, we were EXHAUSTED.
We were so exhausted, if you actually saw us on the safari you would see the only the 9 of us rocking side to side with every bump the vehicle hit. It was very difficult to stay upright.
The next Fastpass, and last attraction for the day, was Kali River Rapids. I decided to sit this one out so that I could babysit the banshee and didn't want it to get wet. I found a nice spot closer to the UP! A Great Bird Adventure arena to make base camp while everyone got drenched.
By about 5pm, we were on our way back to our resort via bus. A nice nap was had by all on the bus. We almost lost a few of the cousins because they almost stepped off the bus at the Wilderness Lodge (none of us knew that it shared the bus with the Contemporary, fun fact). Also, it was pouring rain while we were on the bus. The amount of water on the windows obstructed what was outside.
Before we knew it, we were "home"! It was still raining when we got to the Contemporary. We decided to walk through the atrium building, and cross the connecting bridge to Bay Lake Tower. The wind accompanying the rain was so strong when we crossed the bridge, it was hitting us sideways. When we got to the elevator, we met a nice Mousekeeper and her cart. She was so nice and said "You all look wet, here are some towels. I hope they can get you a little drier."
Well, we were in the lobby. Since we checked in early at 7am, we had not received any news about our 2-bedroom villa being ready. So we checked with the front desk at Bay Lake Tower. Apparently we were told our room was ready at 3pm, and we could have come back sooner if we wanted. At this point, we were too tired to let that fact bother us. We were just glad to know that it was ready when we arrived drenched.
We had a "Bay Lake View" room booked, but had made a room request via Touring Plans. Our request was met! Our villa was technically an accessible space, but you wouldn't know if you weren't told. I think this helped in getting the room request accommodated. We were in Room 8112, on the 11th floor. It may have been a Bay Lake View room, but it actually had a more-than-partial view of this...
With all that rain on our way in, it cleared up for this photo to be taken when we arrived!
The view was amazing, and it was nice to know that we could wake up with it being the first thing we wake up to, and the last thing we see before heading to bed at night. We'll have some pictures of the villa scattered throughout the trip report, but it was plenty of room for the 9 of us.
We were in the room, but our bags were still with bell services, and we needed to have our Magical Express bags delivered as well. Luckily, bell services had all of the previously-checked bags, PLUS the Magical Express bags and they sent them up. We had roughly 25 pieces brought up for the nine of us on two bell services carts, but they made it. It came up quickly in less than 15 minutes.
We definitely used as much of the room's features as we could. Having a laundry machine and full-size fridge was a life saver. Leftover snacks and drinks were kept in the fridge, and we were the freshest after a long day in the parks. A living room and dining area was great for a communal meeting space.
Once we got situated and slightly unpacked, we all took showers and power napped. Even though we were in our villa, I had a surprise to reveal to the cousins for something we were doing that night!
What was the surprise? Hang tight... you'll find out in the next post!
