Day two meant waking up at 6 in the morning so we could arrive at Animal Kingdom by 7:30 or so, to wait on the coldest morning yet to rope drop Flight of Passage.
If you've yet to ride this ride, trust me...it is inexpressibly worth whatever it takes to get on and experience. It's notoriously hard to get as a fast pass, even if you try right away on the first morning you can get them. But we had to ride it anyway, and that meant joining the throngs of people first thing in the morning. Thankfully we were sixth in line in our line at the park entrance, so that translated to (after other people pushing, shoving, etc) about 30-40th in line to get on the ride.
Here was the view ahead of me looking toward the bridge to Pandora that morning:
And this was the line behind me:
The ride was as amazing as always, and I teared up a bit. I've decided I like to try to ride it with my hands off the handlebars, as it seems even more like you're riding a real banshee that way.
After the ride, I had to stop by for a delicious Night Blossom (tastes like a Sweet Tart slushy), hold the boba. I had gloves on, but it's never too cold for a Night Blossom.
These wood ornaments were beautiful, and I was tempted to get one, but refrained.
The line for Navi River Journey was still pretty short, so we rode it. We were relieved to see the Shaman has returned...for a while, she was down for repair, and they just had a projection of her on the wall there.
We had a breakfast reservation at Tusker House, but it was for almost 11 that morning, and we had plenty of time. So we stopped by to meet Minnie and Mickey.
I adore this photo. Minnie is like "oooh, girrrll, I like those dots!"
Incidentally, I discovered at Disneyland when I took a photo with Minnie in her classic dress wearing this skirt...the dots on my skirt are the exact same size as Minnie's, so it's perfect!
While the ladies talked style, the men chatted away too.
Love this group photo.
Hugs goodbye!
And since there was still a bit more time, we decided to go ride Dinosaur. But we walked by Daisy, and she only had one family in line, so of course meeting characters takes priority.
I asked her about her board that showed all the fashion designs she had created, and I love this shot. She's like "oh girl, let me show you."
Yay Daisy!
Finally it was time to eat! We sat outside to wait for our table at Tusker House, and I basked in the sunlight and the slightly warmer temperatures.
Tusker House was a pretty nice character meet and greet. There was a nice variety of food in the buffet, and a good number of characters to meet. We are spoiled though by the Cape May Cafe breakfast, which is so absolutely our favorite breakfast character buffet.
First we met Mickey:
And I sang him a song:
Next was the Goof. I complimented his hat:
Then we had Daisy:
The character meets were fine, but nothing memorable. But the one takeaway I discovered from this breakfast is...
I am never ever ever ever ever drinking Jungle Juice again.
I'd heard great things about this orange, guava, and passion fruit juice, and asked for a cup of it toward the end of our breakfast. But all I had was a single sip, and I convulsed into an unceasing coughing fit that lasted for the longest time. I almost regurgitated my entire breakfast. So...no.
Next of course was Finding Nemo, which is Tom's favorite thing at all of Disney World. This particular showing had the best rendition of "Go With the Flow" I've ever heard. The puppeteer/singer for Crush is CRUSHING it.
And then our Expedition Everest fast pass! I had never noticed this sign before. Very awesome.
Then it was time to vamoose out of Animal Kingdom and do a mid-day rest at the resort, as well as get changed for the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that night.
When we arrived at Magic Kingdom, we rode the Peoplemover, and Carousel of Progress. Took Purple Wall (tm) photos in my new Christmas sweater.
Then we got in line at 5:30 to meet the Seven Dwarfs. We ended up in line for about two hours to meet them.
In front of us in line was a Japanese couple, and I noticed their Stella Lou keychain on their backpack, so I tried to say I also loved Duffy and Friends. I didn't realize they didn't speak English, but they nodded and smiled.
Then ten minutes later, he turned to me and handed me Stella Lou! "Gift," he said, and I tried to refuse, but he was insistent. SO sweet!!
Finally, it was our turn to meet the Dwarfs! In fairness though, it was so entertaining while we were in line to watch their antics as they stood there. Despite having to stand there/sit there, they all found subtle ways to express their characters while just being there.
From here, well...what can I say about the Christmas party? It was the most extremely oversold ticketed event we've been to at Disney, and was far busier than even a normal park day. Everything had terribly long lines. I think my breaking point was when we walked from the Storybook Circus area all the way over to the far end of Adventureland at Tortuga Tavern to get our free soft pretzels (there are free cookies and hot drinks at stations throughout the park at the party) and we got there, after two hours in line for the dwarfs, and there was a line all the way around the restaurant just to go in and pick up the free pretzels. That was my breaking point. I was so disappointed in Disney.
Tom sat down with me, and talked me down from the ledge of frustration. Mostly. But I was really disappointed in Disney that night. I still am.
We decided to go ahead and watch the first parade, which was charming and wonderful as always. We were amused to see one of the reindeer in the parade "making fun" of Santa in his sleigh, very cutely.
Everywhere was cold, and everything had extremely long lines. We stood in line for about a half hour to ride Small World. Small World!!
We stopped by Pinocchio's Village House to get some free cookies, and had just enough time to hop across to the Princess Fairytale Hall before the fireworks started. We left the restaurant and hopped across...not realizing that when the fireworks start, they block off that area near the Hall. So that didn't work out either.
At this point, we were fed up. We walked over to Cosmic Ray's in Tomorrowland, ate some food, sat and looked out the window at the projections on the castle during the fireworks, and then walked to the front of the park to meet Mickey. It was another long wait, but everything had long waits, and we were cold and exhausted and frustrated at how Disney had so utterly oversold this event to the point of not being able to get anything done.
Mickey was sweet, the day overall was wonderful, but I'm not going to lie: I see more and more instances of Disney World prioritizing profit over guest experience, and I am really disappointed by it.
The experiences of the rest of the trip made me love Disney again, but there were indeed moments this evening that I wondered what we had done buying annual passes, and if we should ever come back again.
The next day, see how Epcot talked me into loving Disney World again.
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