🦙Live from Utopia 🦙- Sailing with Daryl 🦙8/2-8/5 🏰with bonus feature of a week at Disney Parks post cruise🏰

[h20skibum]

54 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

Also they have a water boat dock at the Grand Floridian where you can catch the nightly fireworks from there (free) so you don't even need to go inside the park to see it

The boat to Poly stopped at the Grand Floridian.  We took the monorail back to MK and then the water taxi back to our hotel. 
 

We watched fireworks from our hotel balcony. 
 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

1 hour ago, Nickles_1 said:

Dumb question here ... but are those paper straws? I have a thing against paper straws and I'm now wondering if I need to bring my own.

No paper straws. Only plastic and edible 

[Nickles_1]

I leave next week, so this is helpful. Thank you!

[harryfat1]

16 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

No paper straws. Only plastic and edible 

In the past, I believe they do not have plastic straws over at Animal Kingdom in all of the food places in that park in the name of "not good for the animals". 

.

They confiscated all of the plastic straws from my backpack during the bag check

[h20skibum]

26 minutes ago, Nickles_1 said:

I leave next week, so this is helpful. Thank you!

Oops, my bad.  I thought you were talking about the cruise portion. We have just encountered paper straws here. 

[h20skibum]

Today was our day to do Animal Kingdom.  It is open the least number of hours, and I assumed it would not be as busy.  I took a screenshot of the map that shows our booked ride times. 

 

Yeah, I know it is crazy, but it says I took the shot at 3:30am. 

 

 

We had Kilimanjaro Safaris at 9:00, Expedition Everest at 10:05, Navi River Journey at 11:10, and our individual lightning lane pick of Avatar at 12:10. 

 

The idea behind the lightning lane multi passes is you can only select three rides. Then, after you check in to the first, you can select another ride at that time. 

[h20skibum]

So a little about the Disney Dining Plan.  I think I mentioned before that they included it with our package, because we have Disney + streaming service. That service is part of my cell phone plan. 

 

I know, we are paying for it one way or another thru hidden fees, but I am glad we have it.  

 

In the screenshot I shared earlier, it includes a snack, a quick service meal, and a table service for each of us, each day of our stay.  Online, there are several suggestions on what to get, to maximize your value.  You can order more expensive snacks, quick meals, and substitute alcohol for adults. 

 

So far, park food purchases have averaged $400 for the first day, for the three of us. Because we get it for each day of our stay, it will save us $2,400 in food costs if we keep up our average. 

[#55worktoplay]

5 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

So a little about the Disney Dining Plan.  I think I mentioned before that they included it with our package, because we have Disney + streaming service. That service is part of my cell phone plan. 

 

I know, we are paying for it one way or another thru hidden fees, but I am glad we have it.  

 

In the screenshot I shared earlier, it includes a snack, a quick service meal, and a table service for each of us, each day of our stay.  Online, there are several suggestions on what to get, to maximize your value.  You can order more expensive snacks, quick meals, and substitute alcohol for adults. 

 

So far, park food purchases have averaged $400 for the first day, for the three of us. Because we get it for each day of our stay, it will save us $2,400 in food costs if we keep up our average. 

That’s quite a deal. I really like getting the dining plan even if it costs of course free would be better. I think the food is pretty decent on most accounts. 

[Ozark_Kid]

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

Today was our day to do Animal Kingdom.  It is open the least number of hours, and I assumed it would not be as busy.  I took a screenshot of the map that shows our booked ride times. 

 

Yeah, I know it is crazy, but it says I took the shot at 3:30am. 

 

 

We had Kilimanjaro Safaris at 9:00, Expedition Everest at 10:05, Navi River Journey at 11:10, and our individual lightning lane pick of Avatar at 12:10. 

 

The idea behind the lightning lane multi passes is you can only select three rides. Then, after you check in to the first, you can select another ride at that time. 

Selecting Avatar is good.   One of my favorite. The line can get long when crowded.  During the restart, we experienced no line.  We walked all the way and got on without stopping!  It still took 15 minutes.  Afterwards, we went again, and it took almost 20 with no stopping. 

[h20skibum]

20 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Selecting Avatar is good. 

I think Avatar was one of our favorites today.   Our grandson liked that one and Dinosaur the best.  He probably liked Dinosaur because he has been watching a Jurassic Park Series.

 

So it will not be a surprise that Dinosaurs will be the theme of his birthday party next week when we get home. 

[helen haywood]

Wonder how Daryl will feel about dinosaurs…

[h20skibum]

1 hour ago, #55worktoplay said:

That’s quite a deal. I really like getting the dining plan even if it costs of course free would be better. I think the food is pretty decent on most accounts. 

The food has not been bad, but it has not been fantastic.  Maybe I was spoiled by that great meal at Hooked the other night.

 

The grandkids thought all that “free” food on the ship was great.  Plus, you never had to wait around for a bill. 

Edited August 6 by h20skibum

[harryfat1]

3 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Today was our day to do Animal Kingdom.  It is open the least number of hours, and I assumed it would not be as busy.  I took a screenshot of the map that shows our booked ride times. 

 

Yeah, I know it is crazy, but it says I took the shot at 3:30am. 

 

 

We had Kilimanjaro Safaris at 9:00, Expedition Everest at 10:05, Navi River Journey at 11:10, and our individual lightning lane pick of Avatar at 12:10. 

 

The idea behind the lightning lane multi passes is you can only select three rides. Then, after you check in to the first, you can select another ride at that time. 

What did you think of the Expedition Everest ride? 

 

It’s got a really cool theming.  Supposedly, the Disney design team traveled to the Himalayas to have a feel of the area to recreate the village at the pre-ride area when they were designing the ride.

 

We went to AK twice during our trip and we rode the Expedition Everest on each visit.  Well, my wife did it once and that was enough for her.  I went with the boys the second time and I will say that’s it for me going forward as well.

 

Next time we go back to AK, I will be sitting outside with my wife. Too old for these upside-down fast rollercoasters. 

 

Especially this one goes backward and upside down.  My back wasn’t feeling the best afterward as I probably pulled a muscle I didn’t know I possessed…🤪

[h20skibum]

8 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

Next time we go back to AK, I will be sitting outside with my wife. Too old for these upside-down fast rollercoasters. 

Did it really go upside down?  I must have missed that unless it happened in the dark. 
 

My grandson was a little apprehensive, because he is not a fan of going backwards.  I tried to keep him more focused on seeing things than worrying about what the ride would do next. 
 

I would probably do some of the rides again, just to notice the things you may miss the first time around. 

[harryfat1]

4 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Did it really go upside down?  I must have missed that unless it happened in the dark. 
 

My grandson was a little apprehensive, because he is not a fan of going backwards.  I tried to keep him more focused on seeing things than worrying about what the ride would do next. 
 

I would probably do some of the rides again, just to notice the things you may miss the first time around. 

Huh.  You are right and it didn't go upside down.  Just backwards as I just checked the YouTube video.

 

Fuzzy old man memory isn't what it used to be.

 

Either way, it's an easy pass for me going forward on this one.

 

If you ride it again, ask the Cast Member to put you at the very front of the coaster on the next train to get a special perspective

 

 

[h20skibum]

We caught an early bus from our hotel to Animal Kingdom. With our stay at the resort, we get early entry to the parks.  We were thru security and in the park by 7:45.  Our first stop was at Starbucks, which is known as Creature Comforts in this park.  There is a Starbucks in each park.  This is where we used our snack credits. 

 

Since our first ride wasn’t until 9, we walked through the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trails. 

 

It was an interesting walk, with some wildlife to see.  

 

 

 

I don’t recall what this bird was, but it had a beak like tongs. 
 

 

For the most part, it wasn’t crowded here. 
 

 

[Ocean Boy]

9 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

 

I don’t recall what this bird was, but it had a beak like tongs. 
 

 

 

African Spoonbill.

[A&L_Ont]

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

We caught an early bus from our hotel to Animal Kingdom. With our stay at the resort, we get early entry to the parks.  

Little known fact, Animal Kingdom is the only park location where the bathrooms have doors at Disney World. Think Jurassic Park, the reason to why. 

Edited August 7 by A&L_Ont

[Luckynana]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

 

If you ride it again, ask the Cast Member to put you at the very front of the coaster on the next train to get a special perspective

 

 

Wow!  Cool ride!  Thanks for taking us along, Harry!😉

[h20skibum]

45 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

Little known fact, Animal Kingdom is the only park location where the bathrooms have doors at Disney World. Think Jurassic Park, the reason to why. 

I will have to check that out when we go to the other parks. 

[h20skibum]

Probably the longest line we had was at Kilimanjaro Safaris. They had an issue that caused the rides to stop for about 20 minutes.  We did eventually get moving. 
 

 

finally in the transport

 

 

One big gator

 

 

 

Zebras

 

one of the elephants who were not being cooperative today

 

 

Flamingos 

 

and lions

[George C]

I know we are in the total minority, but I hate Disney , way to much walking, way to many children and way to few bars . My last trip we had a very nice Disney hotel but trip was for a family wedding and groom didn’t show. Luckily they did get married a later date and are very happy . 

[h20skibum]

11 minutes ago, George C said:

 

I know we are in the total minority, but I hate Disney , way to much walking, way to many children and way to few bars

 

Actually, I didn’t think the walking was too bad today.  It was a pretty average day for us, because we were in lines or on rides. 

Today’s steps, compared to the last five. 
 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

I will take a moment to talk about Disney magic bands. We had one shipped to us for our grandson.  You don’t really need them, but it will probably be one of many souvenirs for him.  
 

The tickets, lightning lane passes, and dining passes are loaded on it to tap into the parks and at the lightning lanes. 
 

Susan and I both have Apple Watches, so we loaded everything on them.  They function just like the magic bands, except they can’t open our room door. 

[h20skibum]

We did get to see and ride most things we wanted today, and we were ready to leave the park shortly after 4.  
 

Dinner tonight was at Artist Point at our hotel.  It was another bonus of the dining plan, but this one they charge two credits because the characters are there.  
 

First, the drinks. 
 

I had a brew of peaches. 
 

 

 

Susan had the Enchanted Apple

 

 

and our grandson had a transformation potion