Terra Nova Guy and the Raiders of the Lost Park - an August 2018 TR *COMPLETE* 4/28

[declansdad]

Driving would be a nice option. For me it's 3 or 4 days depending how crazy you want to go with the miles each day. I do envision myself in retirement behind the wheel of an RV heading to Florida. Who knows...
I still would like to try a DVC resort one day. I need to look into renting points, I can't swing the rack rate $$$$


Nothing wrong with having fun!

Just adding input here where nobody asked my opinion: I highly recommend trying the drive someday down the road! We can usually do it in 3 days from Halifax, but sometimes still stretch it out to 4. It's a major undertaking, but also a lot of fun to see the whole coast of a country pass you by. Nathan usually does most of the driving (bless him!) but other than a few tricky areas (NY, DC, etc) it's not a bad drive at all.

I've made the drive back to NB a couple of times, we took 3 days of driving to do it. We avoided all those tricky areas but heading west just below DC through Virginia and Pennsylvania before coming east again and joining the I95 just south of Boston.

 

[declansdad]

All caught up.


Where's the rest?

 

[Terra Nova guy]

I"m here, and just spent the morning catching up!

Thanks for joining in. Glad you are enjoying it so far. I wasn't sure how it would go, being my first report and all.

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Late to the party but here to read it all. Just finished the travel day and I, like you, have never had issues with Air Canada.

Hey Darcy, nice to have you along! You are definitely one of the few people I have talked to that say they haven't had issues with Air Canada. To be honest, I have never flown Westjet, but I would like to one day to see what the fuss is about.

I've made the drive back to NB a couple of times, we took 3 days of driving to do it.

Yeah, and I am really two days away from you. It's a day just getting off this silly island, then North Sydney on wards.

Where's the rest?

Coming. Good things take time
I might try another update this weekend, but not sure since I'm out of town for Thanksgiving.

 

[khertz]

I'm pretty excited to eventually get to see TSL, but hopefully the weather will be nice whenever we get to go back. I keep hearing how HOT it is there with no shade anywhere! I'm also excited they added the Saucers since the kids are big fans of the similar style Mater ride at Disneyland. I definitely can't handle tea cups either, but this is a "spinning" ride that doesn't get me too discombobulated either and it's a lot of fun!

I'm sure it was exhausting, but worth it to stick it out for Fantasmic. I have a new appreciation for that show now after having seen it with kids who absolutely love it!

 

[docsoliday1]

I'm pretty excited to eventually get to see TSL, but hopefully the weather will be nice whenever we get to go back. I keep hearing how HOT it is there with no shade anywhere! I'm also excited they added the Saucers since the kids are big fans of the similar style Mater ride at Disneyland. I definitely can't handle tea cups either, but this is a "spinning" ride that doesn't get me too discombobulated either and it's a lot of fun!

That is true...it's a wide open area and very little shade. Wait! There was shade?

We didn't do the Butt (synonym) ride, but did SDD and TSMM. I was pleased the line for TSMM isn't crazy like it used to be because so many folks we clamoring for SDD.

 

[Zmack]

I'm late joining, all caught up on the reading and ready for more.

 

[Terra Nova guy]

I keep hearing how HOT it is there with no shade anywhere!

It was pretty hot. What's worse is the angle it was built is pretty much directly in line with the setting sun, so as you walk in during the afternoon/evening, you are staring the sun straight in the face.

I'm late joining, all caught up on the reading and ready for more.

Better late than never! Good to have you on board. My next update is coming soon, I didn't get around to it over the weekend since I was out of town for (Canadian) Thanksgiving.

 

[chunkymonkey]

We arrived at Hollywood Studios and I realized this is the first time I had ever driven a car to a park when I was staying on site. I wasn’t quite sure what I had to do or say, but I was pretty sure I didn’t need to pay for parking. Getting mildly flustered, I rolled up to the parking booth and told the attendant “I’m staying at Hollywood Studios”. Without batting an eyelash the guy said “Wow, you got a really good deal”. Of course what I meant to say was “I’m staying at All-Star Music”, hoping that would be the magic words to let me park for free. As I discovered, all they need to do is scan your Magicband with their little thingamabob and you’re good to go.

Haha this is funny. I can imagine the parking guy hears this at least 10 times a day.

Walking to the main entrance, I was reminded that fellow trip report writer @MeghanEmily would also be in DHS tonight. No meet up was planned. I just remembered a comment from her trip report, so I thought it would be funny if somehow I bumped into her. No sooner than the thought ran through my mind, a sudden flash of pink in the bag check line caught my eye. Nah, it couldn’t be. But it was! There she is! Proof that DISers are actually real people! (My wife may have been wondering about that) Although Meghan was near the front, I picked what I was certain would be the fastest line. Yeah…you know how that goes. Being stuck in the back of the now slowest line, I saw Meghan move on through. With that, disappointment set in. I missed a chance at my first DISmeet.

Aww how cute, glad you guys had a chance to meet!

Now, on to Toy Story Land! We were all pretty excited to see this place that had just opened a few weeks before. We found a Photopass photographer along the way and had our first picture taken with Star Wars Launch Bay in the background. I'll get more into this later in the report, but I do miss the Animation building, especially the drawing class.

Me too. I wonder when GE opens, what will happen to Launch Bay. Would it convert back to Animation Academy? I hope something along the lines of that!

Nice morning in TSL, and a nice line up of shows to end the evening. You're lucky you were able to watch the SW fireworks and Fantasmic on the same night. When we went in Sept they did not have the 2nd fantasmic show so we had to choose. We ended up not watching either during the week, a first for us as we usually catch one of those things.

 

[Terra Nova guy]

I wonder when GE opens, what will happen to Launch Bay. Would it convert back to Animation Academy? I hope something along the lines of that!

I hope so! I think Launch Bay would seem so out of place once GE is open.

 

[pkondz]

we stopped into Intermission food court for lunch. The options here are somewhat limited.

Yup. Values....

I don’t eat green things at home, it’s certainly not happening on vacation.

High fives all around.

a foot long chili cheese dog looked interesting to me.

Well... yeah!

My hot dog was fine, but it was huge.

Wow! I'm gonna guess it was about 12" long!

One thing I did appreciate was the fact that QS meals come with alcoholic drinks now,

Really! I had no idea. Nor that there were any in the food court.

I am not one to turn down a girly mixed cocktail.

Actually, that's about all I will drink.

Here. Take my man card... again.

the whisky cocktail was very strong.

That surprises me for Disney.

The girls had started eating their pizza before I took a picture,

Fail!

Actually, I only take my own food now. Well.... usually.

So after scarfing down a massive foot long chill cheese dog, the next logical thing was to go swimming, right?

Right!

<drowns shortly after>

The pool has the Three Caballeros in the middle, which has a water spray feature that was inexplicably and sadly turned off during the day and only active early in the morning or late evening.

That's.... weird. And I don't remember if it was that way when I've stayed there since I'm never there during the day.

It was actually the only interesting feature of the pool.

The Values pools leave much to be desired. You can dress it up, but in the end, it's still a pool with no slides.

I noted that the temperature on the dash said 114°F.

Was this shortly before your dash melted? Or you?

I realized this is the first time I had ever driven a car to a park when I was staying on site.

I don't think I've ever done that. Huh. I would've not known what to do either.

I rolled up to the parking booth and told the attendant “I’m staying at Hollywood Studios”. Without batting an eyelash the guy said “Wow, you got a really good deal”. Of course what I meant to say was “I’m staying at All-Star Music”,

As I discovered, all they need to do is scan your Magicband with their little thingamabob and you’re good to go.

Now I know.

No meet up was planned. I just remembered a comment from her trip report, so I thought it would be funny if somehow I bumped into her. No sooner than the thought ran through my mind, a sudden flash of pink in the bag check line caught my eye.

No. Way. No meet planned and it happens just like that? Nice! Lucky too!

There she is! Proof that DISers are actually real people! (My wife may have been wondering about that)

perhaps you are as confused as A) my family was, wondering why I took off running and left them in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard

I can just see that.
"Girls? Where is your father going? I don't understand his obsession with Disney..."

poor Meghan was, wondering who this lunatic was running up behind and yelling at her.

She's probably used to it.

I'll get more into this later in the report, but I do miss the Animation building, especially the drawing class.

Me too. I wonder if there's any chance it will come back? I mean, surely they'll move that stuff over to SWL?

it was not a bad idea to have it later in our trip to let Katie settle into the idea of riding roller coasters again.

She's nervous about them?

We rode AS2 (I know why it’s been abbreviated this way, but the 13 year old boy in me could have a lot more fun writing it the other way ),

Didn't know that was settled on. I suppose it's easier than putting periods in between the letters or something.

Nice shot!

we decided to try Midway Mania. It was posted at 60 minutes, but the Touring Plans app said 33 minutes, so logically it ended up being 40 minutes.

Not bad

Not too bad for TSMM (if you think how long the wait was 4 years ago with only two tracks).

The girls wanted to stop for a picture at the Pixar ball. A large metal sphere reflecting the sun back at us. Just a little HOT!!!

"Go ahead. Just lean against it."

I should say that I wasn’t a fan of the tiers in TSL (I understand it, I just don’t like it).

Not a fan of the tiers in general. I guess I understand them... but I don't have to like them.

The upside was my evil plan to get my family on Star Tours multiple times.

I was happy to get the Jakku and Crait scenes – both added since my last trip – plus a little teaser scene of the Black Spire Outpost (the town in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, if you didn’t know).

Actually didn't know any of that.

nobody was all that hungry after our big lunch. This is where I started to see our dining plan was not working for us.

Yep... get this...

It’s just too much food for us, especially the girls.

... for that reason. Last time we did free dining, I was full for a week after we got home. I was sick of food.

First up was the frozen Sing Along. I hadn’t really planned to do this, but Brianna was interested (since she’s a “friend” of Elsa at home and all),

Pretty much have to, then.

One thing was the “snow” at the end, there was tons of it and we got covered. I don’t know if they were trying to get rid of it all since it was the last show of the night, or if that’s the way it is now. We had a good laugh at that anyway.

Nope. I get enough snow already, thanks.

We left the theatre and got in place for Disney Movie Magic. I wasn’t sure where a good viewing spot was, but we chose to lean against the railing on the right side of the courtyard in front of the Chinese Theater. It seemed as good a spot as any, and it turned out to be fine. The projection show itself was OK, but maybe a bit forgettable because I really don’t remember a lot about it now.

Huh. I wasn't even aware of this.

Fantasmic! We decided we might as well just go anyway in case we didn’t get another chance later. I had never actually been to a second show, but heard it was much less crowded. FYI – it is.

Fantasmic isn't my favourite night-time show... but if I'm going to see it, that would be my option to.

Looks like Ariel needed a nap part way through the show

Wait... Eric is looking pretty happy there... ohmygosh! Dude! Family board!!!!

2. We visit Toy Story Land for the first time. We have a fast pass for one ride – which one?
Alien Swirling Saucers

No one could have predicted that!

1. Next day is Photopass Day so there are rare characters at each park. We start our day at Animal Kingdom. Who is the special character you can meet at AK? Do we meet that character?

Rafiki?

2. We have lunch in the park before taking our afternoon break at the resort. Between the four of us, we get lunch at two places - at a QS restaurant and a food truck. What are they?

Yak & Yeti and the Andapur food truck?

3. We visit Pandora and have a FP. For what ride? (I’m giving you a 50/50 chance here folks)

I'll go with N'avi.

 

[MeghanEmily]

She's probably used to it.

Oh yeah, happens on the daily!

 

[pkondz]

Oh yeah, happens on the daily!

Knew it!!!!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Yup. Values....

The food court at Art of Animation was pretty good. But I guess that resort is more "moderate light" as opposed to value.

Really! I had no idea. Nor that there were any in the food court.

I don't recall seeing cocktails on tap in the food court at POR. I assumed it was something added since they brought in the alcoholic drinks with QS meals.

Me too. I wonder if there's any chance it will come back? I mean, surely they'll move that stuff over to SWL?

I think they have to move all the Star Wars stuff over. Makes me hopeful the Animation Courtyard will truly be that again.

She's nervous about them?

She likes roller coasters, and is getting more used ot them all the time. But she has to build herself up. Like me, she doesn't like it when her stomach "drops".

Actually didn't know any of that.

And the planet for SW:GE is Battu (or Batuu?). Rumors and News forum, if you can keep up to the page count, it's where you learn all that stuff.

... for that reason. Last time we did free dining, I was full for a week after we got home. I was sick of food.

Ditto. And I usually don't put on weight at Disney, because of all the walking. Yeah, I gained 6 pounds that trip. Stupid free dining.

 

[pkondz]

The food court at Art of Animation was pretty good. But I guess that resort is more "moderate light" as opposed to value.

moderate light... I like that. makes sense.

I don't recall seeing cocktails on tap in the food court at POR. I assumed it was something added since they brought in the alcoholic drinks with QS meals.

I wouldn't even look for it, so....

I think they have to move all the Star Wars stuff over. Makes me hopeful the Animation Courtyard will truly be that again.

That would be great, but.... not sure how popular it was outside us fanatics... Still.... it'd be nice.

She likes roller coasters, and is getting more used ot them all the time. But she has to build herself up. Like me, she doesn't like it when her stomach "drops".

ah

And the planet for SW:GE is Battu (or Batuu?). Rumors and News forum, if you can keep up to the page count, it's where you learn all that stuff.

I can't even keep up here! (or my own TR... or anywhere else. )

Ditto. And I usually don't put on weight at Disney, because of all the walking. Yeah, I gained 6 pounds that trip. Stupid free dining.

You'd think with all that walking and sweating in the heat, weight gain would be impossible.

Apparently not.

 

[Steppesister]

It's been a brutal week trying to settle back into real life and catch up around here. But I have done so at least here and a few other threads. Go me!! I haven't seen Fantasmic in years and I'm glad you guys enjoyed it! And it's good to know about the 2nd show being more manageable in terms of crowds.

1. Next day is Photopass Day so there are rare characters at each park. We start our day at Animal Kingdom. Who is the special character you can meet at AK? Do we meet that character?

2. We have lunch in the park before taking our afternoon break at the resort. Between the four of us, we get lunch at two places - at a QS restaurant and a food truck. What are they?

3. We visit Pandora and have a FP. For what ride? (I’m giving you a 50/50 chance here folks)

In the spirit of catching up I'll keep my comments brief and try to do better from here on out.

1. No clue. I don't really follow the characters much, but will say... yes.

2. Flame and ... Mr. Kamals

3. Navi

 

[Terra Nova guy]

August 19th – Day 2, Part 1 – This cooling towel is broken

This morning I was looking forward to two things.

It would be my first visit to Animal Kingdom since the opening of Pandora – The World of Avatar (not to be confused with Pandora – The World of overpriced collectible bracelet trinkets that my wife likes to ask for every anniversary/birthday because she knows I am hopeless at picking out a good gift). Ahem.

The other thing I was looking forward to was PhotoPass Day. This came as an unexpected surprise during our trip. I vaguely remember something about this day the year before, but I certainly didn’t plan the trip around it. But when I saw the announcement about a month prior, I was intrigued. I didn’t change plans and move parks, but we would try to partake in whatever was happening at our park that day.

We weren’t in a huge hurry to get on the move this morning, although I did hint that I would prefer to arrive somewhere near park opening. One thing that needed to change was the food situation. I alluded to it before, but my plan of having a light breakfast in the room and two larger meals for lunch and supper had not worked the day before. We had also been in WDW two days and had not eaten a single Mickey waffle. That’s a travesty that needed correcting. We headed over to the food court and the girls all enjoyed Mickey waffles, while I opted for a ham & cheese omelette. The waffles were good (when aren’t they?) as was my omelette, although I did not like the breakfast potatoes at all – too spicy and a strong onion flavour. In a(nother) trip reporting fail, I have no photographic evidence of the meal – we all must have been too sleepy or too tired to bother. But it’s Mickey waffles and an omelette – use your imagination.

After breakfast we hopped in our rental car and a short drive later we were at Animal Kingdom, not too far after park opening. Our FP were all for later, so we didn’t have any specific plan. We stopped at the Tree of Life to get pictures and asked for any PhotoPass Day extras. The photographer was happy because nobody had mentioned it yet. Maybe not that popular? We got pictures with a PhotoPass Day sign, and a Bambi Magicshot which, I think, was unique to the day.





We also wanted to try meeting the special character – Bolt – who was out for PhotoPass Day. By chance, we happened to watch the movie a couple months before, so we were all hoping to meet him. His start time was a bit later, so we moseyed (not sashayed or sauntered mind you, because those are just silly walks) over to the Adventurer’s Outpost to meet Mickey & Minnie. It’s actually the first time we met them here. The line was non-existent and we got through quickly.



Bolt was meeting at the Discovery Island Trails over near Creature Comforts, so we doubled back to check out the line. At that point, Bolt had not started meeting, but a sizable line was forming, already extending from the Trails into the main walkway and down past Creature Comforts. The girls decided to go into $tarbucks for iced coffees or something like that (I have limited knowledge of the Sixbucks menu since I don’t drink coffee and refuse to pay that much for a cup of tea). I stood in the Bolt M&G line to see if there might be any movement or an indication how long it would take. After a short time, Bolt emerged from the gate next to Creature Comforts, and I snapped a poor picture of him.



That would be the only picture we got of Bolt. Once the girls had their coffee, the line hadn’t budged and I heard whispers that people expected it to be a 2 hour wait. It was also, unsurprisingly, getting hot (in Florida…in August…in Animal Kingdom...who would have known?). We decided that meeting Bolt wasn’t in the cards for us. We did walk by later, around midday, and the line was shorter, but I still wasn’t sure of the wait time, so we passed on it.

Anyway, by now it was time for our Kilimanjaro Safaris FP. It was a good safari. It was still fairly early in the morning, around 10:00am. Some people say the animals are more active early. I have no idea if that’s true. But we saw animals, as one would hope on safari.

I shall now regale you with a multitude of safari animal pictures. And the peasants rejoice.



This is a bloat of hippos. And they said you wouldn’t learn nothin’ in no trip report.





Fun Fact: There are two giraffes in this picture.







CONTINUED NEXT POST...

 

[Steppesister]

Dang it!!! I was all caught up, Jeff!!!! Staaaaaaaaaaaaawp! LOL!!!!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Day 2, Part 1 - SAFARI PICTURES - CONTINUED...









Oh, I am also required to point out, as per Trip Reporting Guidelines Section 4 Subsection 2.3, that the above pictured flamingo island is a Hidden Mickey. If you did not know this, you’re welcome.

We heard there were some PhotoPass things happening at the exit of the safari. I seem to believe that the Kilimanjaro Safaris sign we’re holding is the special PhotoPass thing (?).

(Question: this was the only safari we did this trip, and I don’t remember a photographer stationed there four years ago, so is there normally a photographer stationed at the safari exit?)



The photographer was OK, but we were sure we did several other poses than what showed up in our MDE. We never did bother to check on that, but the photos were only so-so.

We took a few minutes to look at the gorilla. I tried to convince the girls to walk the Gorilla Falls trail to see the other animals, but the heat was already hitting us and they just weren’t interested.

Walking into Harambe did not help the heat situation. We (and this is the royal ‘we’ because I was lugging around the back pack all day) had brought Frogg Togg cooling towels. We had never used them before, but wanted to try them in the Florida summer sun. I went into the bathroom to wet them down and see if they helped. Long story short, they didn’t do much for us (and we did try them a few other days). I wouldn’t waste my time (or back pack space) with them on another trip.

We were about 40 minutes away from our Festival of the Lion King FP, but didn’t really have anything else in mind, so we just went down to the theatre. We really didn’t need a FP since we were there so early, but used it anyway. The show was enjoyable, as always.



Side note: I do enjoy this little area along the river.



While in the FP queue, I tried to take a page from @Steppesister Liesa’s book and take a more creative photo. It was a reasonable attempt, I think.







CONTINUED NEXT POST...

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Day 2, Part 1...CONTINUED...

It was now getting on lunch time. I had known weeks ago where I wanted to eat – Flame Tree Barbecue. I had never had the opportunity to eat here on previous trips, and I wanted to correct that. The problem – the girls do not like barbecue (hence my never having eaten here before). However, I had read (I think on Disney Food Blog) about some decent mac & cheese options at Eight Spoon Cafe, a food truck/kiosk conveniently close to Flame Tree. So we picked up a plain mac & cheese each for the girls, then walked down to Flame Tree and grabbed a table so the girls could eat while Tish and I got in line. It was a bit slow, but eventually she got the ribs, while I went for the sample platter with pulled pork, chicken, and ribs.





The girls enjoyed the mac & cheese and FYI it’s a pretty good value for a snack credit (no picture since they ate while we were getting BBQ and they still weren't quite trip report trained). My pulled pork was fantastic. We both enjoyed the chicken and I didn’t find it dry, which is a complaint I’ve heard before. The ribs were the disappointment. Too fatty for our liking. The real star of my meal was the Mandarin Orange Vodka Lemonade. It was the best QS cocktail I had the entire trip.

We had one last FP for the day – Navi River Journey. This was my first time seeing Pandora. It’s nothing short of breathtaking. The attention to detail is incredible. Whether you’re a fan of Avatar or not, and whether you think it belongs in AK, I don’t think anyone can argue what an amazing job was done with this area.





We didn’t linger too long though, since the midday heat was in full force. We stopped for a quick PhotoPass shot, but then headed straight for some shade and AC at the River Journey.



So what do I think about it’s a small pandora…err, I mean Navi River Journey? I don’t remember a lot about it. I guess that says it all. It’s fine, certainly impressive in the moment. And there’s a massive blue woman playing the drums. You don’t get that on it’s a small world. Was it worth a FastPass? Sure. Would I wait an hour in stand by for it? Nope.

By now it was definitely time to get out of the heat, so back to ASMu. The girls were feeling a bit peckish so got snacks in the food court – edible cookie dough and ice cream. Ice cream was good (is ice cream ever bad?) but they found the cookie dough a bit too sugary.

I was being smart today and took some time to check for FP at MK, our evening park. There wasn’t a whole lot left, but I settled on Buzz.

We just rested in our room this afternoon. It was so hot we didn’t even feel like leaving the AC to swim. We also wanted to make sure we would make it to MK on time for a couple things. One was our ADR at 5:30, the other was meeting Stitch, which was important to Katie, (you notice from our pictures that she even dressed in her Stitch outfit today). The problem is that Stitch finished meeting at 6:00pm, so if we didn’t get to MK in time to meet before our ADR, we would have to try another day. So all this brings me to…..

Next Update Questions for Fun:

1. As mentioned, we have an ADR. Which restaurant?

2. Do we get to MK in time to meet Stitch before our ADR?

3. I mentioned that we got a FP for Buzz. Why would this end up being a good choice?

4. It is still PhotoPass day. Do we get any special picture?


Answers to last questions:

1. Next day is Photopass Day so there are rare characters at each park. We start our day at Animal Kingdom. Who is the special character you can meet at AK? Do we meet that character?
The special character is Bolt. We did not meet him due to the long line.

2. We have lunch in the park before taking our afternoon break at the resort. Between the four of us, we get lunch at two places - at a QS restaurant and a food truck. What are they?
Flame Tree Barbeque and Eight Spoon Cafe

3. We visit Pandora and have a FP. For what ride? (I’m giving you a 50/50 chance here folks)
Navi River Journey