Winging it with No Dinning Plan! A Feb. Trip Report

Another 5 minutes go by and my app alerts me that my food is ready! Mind you... NO NEW food has come out!!! I already know what is going to happen and I am thinking in my head, do I make a big deal out of this? Is it worth it? I go up, show the CM my number, they look in the system, yes your food is ready, they turn around and grab the tray that I had been staring at for at least 15 minutes at!!!!! I tell the CM that my tray has been sitting there for awhile. The CM very nicely offers to remake the food without hesitation. I say no but thank you for offering and just take the tray. It wasn't worth waiting. There was a handful of other people waiting and a LONG line of people in the regular lines. I just didn't have it in me.
Argh, that is so frustrating! But at least you got food!
 
I think mobile ordering is great, but Disney needs to refine their system. Picking up the food was always a problem for us! They need a better way, like maybe a now serving # board or something. Once, at Casey's, we could see our food (the app said it was ready) but there were so many people waiting for their food, we couldn't get up to the counter. I'm hoping over time, Disney will make this system run more smoothly!
 
Mobile order wasn't working for Flame Tree. Blah! So, we discussed what we wanted to do, in very hangry tones.
UGH, when all the plans fall apart...we haven't tried Mobile ordering yet, but hope to whenever our next trip may be!! I saw lots of people using it while we were waiting in line on our January trip. I kept thinking, why didn't I do that?!

I forgot that they served the kids meals in sand buckets. Cute idea but kind of a pain when your kid wants to take the crappy bucket home with them!
LOL. Seriously!!!!!!
 


Restaurantasaurus seems to be our fall back place on the last couple of trips. I agree with your assessment. It's just okay, not bad but not great. We were able to use the mobile app at Flame Tree when we were there in February. I know what you mean about hangry kids who do not want to wait. I hope their moods were better after their tummies were filled.
 
Yikes, that was definitely not Disney's A-game that they were bringing for your lunch. I'd have been very frustrated too, and would have done the same thing you did. At that point, I'm sure you all just wanted to eat as quickly as possible, too!

Hopefully that was the only low point of the day and it got better from there. :thumbsup2
 
I booked us World of Color Dessert Package.
I would do it this way too.

@ArielSRL is all about Georgia, so she knows!
True except we stink at basketball. Boo.

And of course we made it over there before our window opened up. So, we took a spin on the People Mover.

Love the ride, love the photo!

if they could sinc it up with your magic bands and have it saying things like Gwen is coming around the bend, Morgan is in the lead... that kind of stuff. I need to be an imagineer!
That would be awesome!

Morgan and I tried to make the Driver's License but I thought i could pay with my magic band, but apparently all that did was put it on our Photo Pass account that we didn't pay for or plan on doing. :( And I didn't realize it didn't work, so we didn't try to do Gwen. Oh well. Another time.
I didn't even know you could do this. Will have to look for it.

I wanted to try the Cheshire Cat's Tail. I knew Morgan would love it. I asked if the girls wanted one, and they said no. But I ordered one anyway. Along with a Strawberry Lemonade Frosty.

I have never had a Cat's Tail and hadn't heard of it until recently. I think AJ and I plan to hit up the Cafe when Chad and Will do 7D so I know what I am getting!

While we were waiting Morgan asked for a Soft Pretzel, luckily, I was able to text Andy before he got to the front to order. So, he was able to get Morgan a Soft Pretzel with Cheese.
Youguys are all about the yummy snacks today!

We watched a bunch of folks take pictures in the barracks, and the girls wanted to do the same. So, after we finished eating, we did just that.


This picture just highlights how tall Morgan has gotten! Sigh, have I mentioned she is going to be 10!!!!


Gwen wasn't tall enough, so I tried to proper her up.


That didn't work so well....


So, she was demoted to the baby one... She is actually happy to try both out. I actually told her to look sad for the photo. Pretty good, huh?
So funny!
 


We were headed towards Tom Sawyer Island. We hadn't gone over to explore the island since our first or second trip.
So I really need to take my guys over to this one day. But since this years trips are short, I'll keep it in mind for 2019.

The girls stopped to read the sign and asked why everything was spelled wrong.
HAHA. I bet AJ would do the same.

As we headed we found the barrel bridge!

So fun!

It was finally time for our Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Fast Passes!
Hoping one of these days I can get all my family on this with me!

I happened to notice a Photo Pass Photographer over by the geyser taking photos. Well, when we got off, he gave us a card and said he got our pictures...


Yup! yes he did! He captured me starring him down! Or least it looks that way!


This one, I look like I am thinking, is that really a photo pass photographer....


And then it's like my last glance at the guy!
Love it!
 
Hi Everyone! Happy Friday. I am going to try and post another installment today! But first some comments!

Great trip report!
Thanks!

I really want to do this, too! Can't beat the price and it's only an hour so you'd still really have the whole day. However Steve has no interest in doing anything extra animal-related and I think Chris would get bored even with it being just an hour, which leaves Ricky. And I think we're bringing his friend in Aug. so.....most likely no Caring for Giants for me in the near future lol.
Silly boys.... I have to see what the age is on that. My sisters boyfriend is really into animals, and I keep trying to get them to come down with us and stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge. He would love it. I was telling her about this as well. they could literally have a whole animal themed couple of days. I just have to convince them.

How was this? I've seen a few drinks with the odwalla lemonade it them that sound fairly good to me, but on it's own I don't like that lemonade. Can you really taste it? I find it extremely tart, does that come through in the drink?
I love it. But I don't have a problem with odwalla lemonade. I wouldn't say the drink was tart, def more sweet than tart. Give it a try.

We were hoping to get one on day 2 or 3 of our August trip, so thanks for giving me some hope that it will be available. Some friends of ours are going with us and only joining in for 3 days so I'd hate to miss FoP on AK day.
I was surprised too! Just do it first. (like you don't know that already...)

We haven't stayed at POFQ in a while but when we did, we never shared with Riverside in the morning. Have they changed this????
It was literally just this one time that we shared. Only Animal Kingdom, we shared going back as well. Weird but not terrible.

How did Gwen like pin trading? I've been on the fence about doing this with Casey.
So Gwen likes it more now that they have the pins from that I bought from amazon. Because they would buy a pin in the store and they wouldn't want to trade it, since they picked it out. But they usually do one or two trades a trip and they are over it.

Shout-out to my Zoo :-) Though funny last time we were there they elephants were so far from the observation area you couldn't get very close to them. We're contemplating doing caring for elephants on our August trip, but I'm a bit worried about the risk of bad weather.
Oh! Maybe we can meet up there one day. I keep saying I want to head to that zoo again. Just don't know when.

What does it say if there is bad weather, they just cancel it and you are out of luck?

Where is that bar? To the left when facing Everest. I always forgot to stop at those little bars. I need to change that next trip. LOL
So, it is to the left of Everest is facing Everest. Not too far over. I want to say before the bathrooms in the general Everest area. It's funny, I hadn't noticed it before but now, it is a must do stop! ;)

What a bummer about the safari driver. Like the Jungle Cruise, the CM working can really determine how good/bad the attraction is on that particular turn.
So true!

I like your thinking about volunteering to take Gwen to the potty! Your drink looked refreshing.
Got to always be thinking ahead!

It can be loud, but it's good the parents stayed calm throughout it.
You could def tell this wasn't the first time with the parents. They were very calm about it.

Argh, that is so frustrating! But at least you got food!
pretty much was our thoughts

But at least it satisfied everyone's hunger and resolved the hangriness!
It did it's job.

Picking up the food was always a problem for us! They need a better way, like maybe a now serving # board or something. Once, at Casey's, we could see our food (the app said it was ready) but there were so many people waiting for their food, we couldn't get up to the counter. I'm hoping over time, Disney will make this system run more smoothly!
I could see how Casey's Corner would be a mess! Seems like if too many people use it, it won't really be useful either.

I'd have been very frustrated too, and would have done the same thing you did. At that point, I'm sure you all just wanted to eat as quickly as possible, too!
And let's be real, how good was that food going to be even if they remade it... It's a standard burger..

True except we stink at basketball. Boo.
Ha! Well, we suck at football, so we are even.

I didn't even know you could do this. Will have to look for it.
The booths are just to the right after you walk down the stairs to exit.
 
Day Two: Fun Things Did Happen!

So, I realized my posts were a bit negative with the bad safari driver and the lunch saga. We were having a good time. Well, maybe not while waiting for our food. But still, it had been a good day so far! It was perfect weather! By far the coolest it has ever been while in Animal Kingdom!

While we were eating, Morgan devised a "plan" for getting the rest of her Wilderness Explorer Stickers. After we finished lunch we headed out. The girls wanted to play in the dinosaur dig play area. So, we took them over there next.


I found a place to sit on one of the crates by the water fountain but it was directly in the sun.

I just want to say, I hate these areas. When they were little I was so worried about loosing them. Now they are older and I know that they won't leave the area with out us. But it's still pandamoniam in there. there is no where for the adults to sit.... Maybe is they put a stand in there where you can buy adult drinks.... then maybe I would like it more. ;)

We got in there, and Gwen decided she needed to go to the Bathroom and Andy wanted a soda, so he took her. While they were out there, Andy took Gwen over to Primevil Whirl and measured Gwen to see if she was tall enough to ride this time. And they "thought" she was.

Morgan and Gwen played for a bit once they came back and then Gwen decided she had to go AGAIN! (this is a common occurrence for her) So, I took her the second time. But of course Morgan got annoyed by this because it left her "playing" by herself. Sigh.


After a little more running around, we called it quits in the dig area. (Also, these are the two best pictures I got in the area.... )

We saw a lady out for the Wilderness Explorers in front of the one store but we decided to wait and grab her after the ride.

We decided to give the height requirement for Primevil Whirl a try! Would she be tall enough?!? It had only been 4 months since our last trip. Could she really have grown that much!?!


Tall ENOUGH!!!! She was basically exactly 48" (with shoes on)

They let us in! We were so excitied we kind of didn't even pay attention to the wait sign.... 20 minutes... We got in line basically just as the one side had broken down. they were just finishing evacuating everyone. So, only one side was loading.. Which made for a long-is wait. But Gwen was tall enough!!!


I am pretty sure that is the same kitchen Aid Mixer whisk that I use at home!


We commented on how these guys look like they were drawn by the same people who make/made Phineas & Ferb.


The line was moving SUPER slow! And you could see the fastness line folks flying along. It was a bit painful of a wait


We said this lady was def Phineas & Ferb's mom turned evil scientist!

There was a CM kind of walking back and forth on the other side waiting for the important folks to clear the ride to be re-opened. He stopped and talked to us a bit. We asked him about the high height requirement. He said it had to do with the fact that the restraints come from above instead of over your lap. Makes sense.

While we waiting Gwen made up a song...

Click to listen to her song!

We probably waited 20 minutes exactly, and I do have to say, it was one of the longer waits of the trip. So, I can't complain too much!

Finally we were on the ride!

Me and Andy. Not the best pic of me, oh well.


And the girls!


Caught mid spin!


Gwen was totally taken by surprise by the whirl portion of this ride.



The verdict on the ride? Gwen LOVED it!!! She thought it was amazing! I personally was surprised at how fun it was. I did have super LOW expectations of it, so that helped.

When we got off we looked for the Wilderness Explorer person but they were gone. We said we would swing back around later to see if they were back out. And we headed off to do something new to us!

Any guesses what that would be?
 
In all the times I've been to WDW, I've only been on PW once (which was our last trip). I actually liked it too. I mean I wouldn't wait a long time, but it was fun. i was always afraid it would spin too much, but it was fine.

Love Gwen's cute song!! :cutie:
 
The girls wanted to play in the dinosaur dig play area. So, we took them over there next.

Every kid wants to play here. I put my time in when Danielle was little.

I just want to say, I hate these areas. When they were little I was so worried about loosing them. Now they are older and I know that they won't leave the area with out us. But it's still pandamoniam in there. there is no where for the adults to sit.... Maybe is they put a stand in there where you can buy adult drinks.... then maybe I would like it more. ;)

I have a love hate relationship. It's great that the kids get to release some energy but it sucks a lot of time and it's hard to keep up with little ones.

We decided to give the height requirement for Primevil Whirl a try! Would she be tall enough?!? It had only been 4 months since our last trip. Could she really have grown that much!?!

Fingers crossed.

Tall ENOUGH!!!! She was basically exactly 48" (with shoes on)

Yeah!

While we waiting Gwen made up a song...

Very cute.

Gwen was totally taken by surprise by the whirl portion of this ride.

You got some great action shots of the girls.

The verdict on the ride? Gwen LOVED it!!! She thought it was amazing! I personally was surprised at how fun it was. I did have super LOW expectations of it, so that helped.

So glad this was a winner especially after the wait. I've never ridden this. I don't do round and round, I'm worried this will make me dizzy. Michelle and Chelsea did it in 2012 and like it ok, not enough to repeat in 2015.
 
And let's be real, how good was that food going to be even if they remade it... It's a standard burger..
I see your point :laughing:

But Gwen was tall enough!!!
YAY!!!!!

The verdict on the ride? Gwen LOVED it!!! She thought it was amazing!
Awesome! I've never gone on this one and probably never will... darn motion sickness! :faint: I was, however, really excited to see your pictures of the queue since I've never been on it myself! :thumbsup2 They did a great job... and I agree about the Phineas and Ferb resemblance :thumbsup2
 
I'm sorry for not catching up sooner...but I am really loving your report!
Your girls are so cute - they are really enjoying the trip! I'm so happy Gwen is tall enough to ride PW! Although it's not my favorite I can see it's appeal to kids - it's like a roller coaster that is their size but more exciting than the Barnstormer!
I had the same issue with Mobile ordering once at Columbia Harbor House. It was so crowded and everyone was on a huge line to order so I mobile ordered. I got the notification that my order was ready but it wasn't! So annoyed and I waited a while. I also felt like someone else got my order that was meant for me. That was my only issue with mobile ordering though, the other times I've tried it it has been a good experience!
 
As we were walking, I noticed this sign.


I suggested giving it a try.
We will definitely have to give this a try in the future.

They were so well hidden, you would never know they were there. (At least see didn't....)
I've never noticed them!

Citrus Swirl!
May have to try this one day though I love the Dole Whip...so maybe not.

He said that the orange was too tart. I think he was hoping for more orangesicle taste.
Good to know.

We liked them but all agreed that we all liked the Dole Whips better.
Again, good to know!




Here is Morgan and Gwen's ride photo. I think they enjoyed it.
They were absolutely enjoying the heck out of this ride!

we developed a "policy" that the girls could pick one thing a day.
I may have to do this.

jumped onto the first open car.... That was NOT air conditioned. Blek! And I have to say it was very dirty!
Did you see the rumor that they are ordering a new fleet?

We made our way all the way around to the Poly! I just love this resort. When we came in September to go to Ohana, the girls wanted to stay here as they loved the water area and pool. One day, maybe...
I definitely plan on us staying here one trip. Since we are DVC it won't be too difficult, I hope. It costs more points than WL so we will do a shorter trip (yeh right) or just rent some extra points.

We were headed to Trader Sam's.
Need to do this.

At any rate, we had our first cheers to vacation!
It seems like it took a really long time for you to have your first cheers!

And went with a Pineapple Cider.
Need to try this too.

Then they discovered that they could shoot the umbrellas out of the straws. And asked me to video it in slow mo...
Don't show my boys!

Andy's sister was looking for a Hei Hei and he wanted to see if they had any.
AJ would love this!

I went over to the quick service and ordered Beignets!
Love Beignets. Chad is from Louisiana so I have actually had the real ones from Cafe Du Monde but we even make them at home with biscuits, a fryer, and powdered sugar. Yum!
 
The animals flipped inside out and turned into neck pillows!
Where did you get these? We drive but I bet the boys would love them!

Right after that...... Morgan cried
Oh no!

Thankfully, I had gotten the girls that guidebook. Morgan went up to her room and started readying the book and started to settle into the idea.
Good thinking, Mom!

The girls checked out the gifts from Tinkerbell for the day.
I need these templates also! LOL

I grabbed a picture of our newly decaled magic bands while on the bus.
Yay! You know I love the skins! I already have skins for June and October!

I snapped a picture of Everest. It is such a great view!
Great photo!

We can't seem to keep the pins on those lanyards.
We buy those locking backs.

The first building we came to had the Naked Mole Rats. My girls love them, some strange reason.
There is a Naked Mole rat book that we read at school. I wonder if they have heard it.
 
Soarn'...
I actually rode Soarin' first in Cali! It was 2002. Kinda cool.

I want to say Sleepy Hallow had a special dessert during the Halloween party.
Someone posted it was pumpkin waffles. Not a pumpkin fan but hopefully I can get the regular offerings as well.

Ok, so our driver, was the WORST driver we have ever had! She would floor it and then almost immediately slam on the breaks. And she would say things like, "Look at the super cute animal to your right." And then just floor it! Ugh it was the worst!!!!
Ugh, annoying!

I wanted a drink!!! It was 10:45... so what... we were on vacation!
My kind of gal!

She told us that the Matterhorn was NOTHING like this.
I love the Matterhorn!

Another 5 minutes go by and my app alerts me that my food is ready! Mind you... NO NEW food has come out!!! I already know what is going to happen and I am thinking in my head, do I make a big deal out of this? Is it worth it? I go up, show the CM my number, they look in the system, yes your food is ready, they turn around and grab the tray that I had been staring at for at least 15 minutes at!!!!! I tell the CM that my tray has been sitting there for awhile. The CM very nicely offers to remake the food without hesitation. I say no but thank you for offering and just take the tray. It wasn't worth waiting. There was a handful of other people waiting and a LONG line of people in the regular lines. I just didn't have it in me.
What a mess!
 

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