"Daisy is a Duck!" -- Day Three
Today is a highly anticipated day. Not only are we going to Animal Kingdom today, but also we are going to the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party tonight. It should be a full, fun day.
Because we ended our day abruptly yesterday (rain,) as well as Animal Kingdom’s early opening, I wake us 30 minutes earlier than usual. I purchase Individual Lightning Lane passes for Flight of Passage for around 12:45 PM and get us a FastPass for Kilimanjaro Safaris at 9:30 AM. Morning routine complete, we head out early and the heat is already oppressive. We know we’re in for a battle today.
AJ at the Disney Food Blog had recommended a quick bite breakfast at Harambe Market so we decide that’s where we will eat upon arrival. Sophia snags our two favorite seats behind the bus driver again and we are on our way.
I’ve failed the metal detector each time, so this time I leave EVERYTHING in the backpack and as soon as I pass through, I walk over to bag inspection without being directed. Security laughs. Unlike yesterday’s undressing, this guard smiles, gives my bag a cursory glance, and sends me on our way. Perfect.
One of the three Oasis paths is closed so we take the far left route and walk up. We use the app for the location of the breakfast destination, but they are only serving lunch now. Looks like we will be heading to Creature Comforts (Starbuck’s.)
That first view of the Tree of Life after a long hiatus is breathtaking. Most of the crowd is rushing past us, making its way to Flight. Glad we aren’t doing that. Inside Creature Comforts, my daughter places her highly sophisticated, complicated, non-coffee related morning beverage and a healthy snack. “I’ll have an iced half Acai half carbonated Green Tea with goat’s milk and two pumps of liquid sugar with sarsaparilla…” I’m just having fun, but you get the idea. Her drink was weird. My breakfast was Pike’s Peak coffee and cheese Danish. That’s breakfast.
I join her outside and we eat. The heat is muggy today. Like you-can-cut-it-with-a-spoon muggy. As we approach the Safari, we see the FastPass lane is forever long. It turns out, they are having problems with some animals and the ride is temporarily closed. Apparently, the rhinos are having a standoff with the trucks. No problem. We will walk the Pangani Trail.
Petrified of birds, once inside the sanctuary, my daughter places a spotter card over her head and runs through to the next repose. I giggle and take my time. When we reach the meerkats, they’re all underground. When we reach Gorilla Falls, all the gorillas are still backstage. Shy, I guess. So basically we saw a hippo’s butt and not much else.
Safari still closed, we decide to Market shop and Sophia buys a Jungle Minnie plush. So cute. I get a safari hat. It’s going to be hot. We stall a lot in Africa, watching shows and shopping and stuff. Still no safari, but Festival of the Lion King is about to start so we get in line. (Air conditioning right now sounds great.) Every time we go inside ANYTHING, Sophia asks for her sweater out of my backpack. Then, upon re-entering sunshine, “Here, dado, please put this back in your backpack.” I’ve probably done that forty times so far. Sweater on, we sit in the Lion section last row. In the row in front of us are three teenage girls about her age.
“I love your shoes.”
“I love your necklace.”
“You’re so pretty.”
“No, you’re so pretty!”
“Here, you follow yourself, girl.”
My daughter hands her cell phone to the girl in front so she can find herself on my daughter’s Instagram account on her phone. They become fast friends. The girl’s dad and I have the same incredulous look on our faces. (They still communicate today.)
How good is Festival of the Lion King, especially after not seeing it for a while? So excellent. Great music. Great performances. I just love this show. Blown away.
It’s time for Flight. We use the back entrance to get into Pandora. During Covid, you could only exit from that side, so I’m thrilled they figured out Covid doesn’t read directions. Flight is good, but I’ve said before: it has the steepest drop off from Ride 1 to Ride 2! The first time I rode that, I was amazed. Subsequent rides have me saying, “It’s good, but I wouldn’t wait longer than 20 minutes for it.” Compare that with timeless rides like Splash Mountain. I’ve probably ridden that nearly 100 times and I’m still blown away. Same with Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Tower of Terror. Those rides don’t lose much re-ride value. They’re timeless.
Expedition: Everest is down for the day, so we decide to grab a FastPass for Dinosaur. (Our FastPass for Safari expired. Apparently, it opened briefly, then re-closed, so we didn’t get a make-up.) Dinosaur was great, but the chasing Carnotaurus was not chasing. It was already at the end position, which takes away some of the exhilaration. My daughter wants to eat and since Harambe Market didn’t have breakfast, she wants to eat there. That means, WE PASS FLAMETREE BARBEQUE!!!! Are you kidding me? We’re going to pass Flametree to eat elsewhere? Yep. Ribs were horrible. Inedible. I threw them away and only ate the rice and salad. RICE AND SALAD!!! Threw Ribs AWAY!!! You getting my point. Yuck!
We’re going to see the Nemo show next. That’s right, we’re criss-crossing back and forth across the hottest park on the hottest day. My daughter has no concept.
Nemo is sentimental for me. When Sophia was born, she was practically raised on Disney movies, “Finding Nemo” being one of them. At about seven months, we were in Toys ‘r Us and I was holding her when she began kicking and pointing and saying, “Mo. Mo. Mo.” At first, we didn’t know what she was trying to say, but we saw a “Finding Nemo” poster and that’s what she saw. Nemo was her First Birthday theme. She slept with here Nemo plushy for years. I’m clearly overprotective Marlin. So the show tugs at my heartstrings. And when It nears the end, and Nemo says, “Love you, dad” and Marlin says, “Love you, son. Now go have an adventure,” I’m gushing tears. (I am right now, too, as I type this.) My daughter, off to college upon return, sees me crying, tears up, and hugs me.
THIS IS WHY WE COME!!!!!
We exit into the heat (sweater back in the backpack) and head to “Tough to be a Bug.” We pass a band, playing opposite Flametree and NO ONE IS WATCHING THEM!!! NO ONE!
“C’mon, people. Put your hands in the air!”
“Who’s she taking to? No one is paying attention. There’s literally not one person watching this show! Hilarious.
Of all the 4Ds in Disney (Philharmagic, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Muppetvision 3D,) Tough to be a Bug is my favorite. So clever, putting it in the Tree’s base. Plus, “A Bug’s Life” is my favorite Pixar film. (I know, there are plenty of great Pixar films.) We exit and I walk past a kiosk that has pulled pork soft-shell tacos. Mmmm. Delicious. Tacos, some salad, and a half beer. Almost makes up for that mistake of a lunch. Almost.
I tried all day to get a FastPass for Na’vii, but to avail. I was able to grab another FastPass for the Safari and we will ride that after the Maharajah Trek. (No tigers visible.)
Safari was great. I think this is my favorite ride/attraction here. Our driver took such time to give us great views. We exit and realize there isn’t much more we can do today, so let’s head back and ready for the party. I’m excited. I have my “Mickenstein” T-shirt for tonight!
There’s just a different “feel” at the Magic Kingdom on event nights. We arrive later than we want and we’d like to ride Space Mountain before returning to Main Street for the parade. Halfway there, my daughter says, “Let’s go back and camp out. We won’t get a good spot if we don't.” It’s about an hour away from hitting Main Street.
She finds a spot in front of Casey’s. I grab us some chili dogs, drinks, and we sit. My hot dog was so freakin’ delicious!!! The pre-show music was playing, but it wasn’t the music I was used to. It was more geared to teenagers or something. I didn’t like it. But I LOVE the anticipation of the parade, seeing so many people In costume, children exuberant!!!
Heavy storms are on the radar and we can see lightning flashes in the distant. The parade is delayed. My daughter befriends a Cast Member who tells us the Headless Horseman will probably not ride today because of weather concerns. She then tells us the parade has been pushed back another 20 minutes. She’s fairly certain it will happen though.
All of the sudden, urgently they get everybody off the street.
The PA announcer says, “…The Headless Horseman Rides Again!”
The anticipation builds.
Camera lights flash, signaling his impending arrival.
“Clip, clop, clip, clop.” Holding reigns in his left hand and tormenting onlookers with his pumpkin head in his right, the Headless Horseman ominously passes. Such a visual!
The parade music begins. The gravediggers shovels spark in the night, as the corpse brides dance with their ghost grooms. “It’s good to be bad.”
Of the entire trip, that two-hour span was my favorite!!!! Being with my daughter. The atmosphere. The visuals. The parade. Just great.
Next were the fireworks, then we all en masse went to ride the Haunted Mansion. It just seems better on these nights. We got one of the last rides on Space Mountain and returned to see the tail end of the second parade, but we opted for choice location for Hocus Pocus show at Midnight. It was terrific. The actors were EXACTLY like the movie. This is my daughter’s favorite Halloween fun movie and she loved it.
We took our time, exiting, waited patiently for bus, and finally made it back to our room after 1 AM. It was an absolutely perfect day!!! This will be hard to top!
