Today was the day we were moving from Animal Kingdom Lodge to the Yacht Club. We had originally booked Animal Kingdom Lodge for the whole stay but decided to move so that we could watch Steve run the 10k from the Boardwalk rather than having to get up at 2.30am to go with him on the bus for the second day running. However, yesterday we’d all decided that we weren’t really comfortable running the races with the girls due to the large number of people (they haven’t got the best people avoiding skills when walking in the middle of the day, let alone running at 5am!). We considered wearing masks for the race but decided this wouldn’t work either, so had found peace in the fact that although we would be out of pocket, we wouldn’t be anxious for the rest of the trip.
I really hadn’t planned my park days well as we had an Animal Kingdom morning planned which is the park which opens earliest. Still, we managed to be up and out of the door by 6.30am with our luggage, which wasn’t bad going at all. We had a car with us, so decided to put some of the luggage in the boot now to take straight to Yacht Club and leave the bits we couldn’t fit in (it was a small car!) with bell services to pick up later. The hotels will transfer your luggage for you, but it can take a while and we thought it would be easier just to do it ourselves.
We got to Animal Kingdom plenty early enough for rope drop and noticed a big dip in the crowd level. We’d also noticed this at the hotel, so it seemed that although the parks were busy later once local/ offsite guests were allowed in, the onsite guest numbers had finally decreased from Christmas. We decided to head to Flight of Passage first as Polly was keen to ride again without the anxiety she had about motion sickness last time, before riding the safari which isn’t open for early entry. Flight of Passage was as wonderful as always (although I did feel very sick this time) and we managed Navi River too before park opening, which is good as I’d never actually stand in a big queue for it!
Steve grabbed a coffee as he passed Starbucks and we got in the queue for the safari. It always looks big first thing before they open the ride, but it actually goes really quickly. We had a really good driver this morning who shared loads of extra facts which the girls loved. We even saw two elephant brothers having a bit of a tussle, which was cool.
The rest of the morning was spent completing the girls’ Wilderness Explorer Books. They loved doing these when were last at the parks, but the August heat made walking the trails a bit of a chore, so doing them in the cooler (albeit lovely) weather made the job a whole lot more enjoyable. We did discover that they had old booklets though, and that some of the stickers no longer exist, but we were able to get these from the outpost near the entrance. They then got to make their Wilderness Explorer promise to become official Wilderness Explorers which was fun.
We decided that we were hungry and debated leaving the park as we’d had a message at 10am telling us our room was ready after doing mobile check in, but the girls fancied Tough to be a Bug (Polly only ever did it as a baby and Winnie’s never fancied it as she thought it might be scary) so we decided to grab something on the go. We love the Yak and Yeti quick service, but it was only 11am so we briefly considered something else before realising that honey chicken and rice is a perfectly acceptable meal at any time of the day. We sat on the tables around the back and somehow all decided at the same time that we did in fact want to do the Disney races. I had a minor panic realising I’d emailed RunDisney to explain we weren’t going to be taking part due to safety, but as I hadn’t received a reply, we figured we were still ok. This did throw a slight spanner in the works of our relaxing day as we now had to fit a trip to the Expo which is at the Wide World of Sports in. We did consider cancelling the 2pm Beaches & Cream reservation we’d made to fill time if our room wasn’t ready, but the girls really fancied it (again, something we’d only done with them once before when they were little, and despite it only being 5pm because it was so early in the trip, they were too tired to eat!!) In the end we decided to just go after Beaches and Cream and cut our Hollywood Studios evening down to just visiting to see the Beacon of Magic as we’d done everything we really wanted to do anyway, plus we were planning on heading back there on our final morning. We did the Bug’s Life movie which we all enjoyed, before heading out of the park. I never did get to see the floats, but there’s always next time!
Steve dropped us off at Yacht Club and the girls and I headed straight to the room with the cases we had while he went back to Animal Kingdom Lodge to collect the rest. It worked well as we had everything, we needed to unpack in the cases I had (aside from the RunDisney outfits which I’d packed firmly away expecting not to use!) so by the time he got back we were all set up. The rooms at the Yacht Club are pretty recently refurbished, with wood floors and high beds to put cases under. We really love it there as it’s the perfect location for Epcot and Hollywood Studios (we like to walk if we can as it means you’re not ever waiting around for transport). However, contrary to popular opinion, the pool isn’t our favourite. Although the sand base feels nice, it isn’t that practical and gets all over the room no matter how careful you are. There are so many different sections, and with the slide entrance being across the Boardwalk, if you’re even marginally paranoid about keeping an eye on your children you have to be up watching them/ following them all the time. I think for little tinies who spend all their time in the shallow pool, or older children, it’s fabulous, but with children of our girls’ age I find it very hard work (and they are excellent swimmers). I’d put in a room request for a partial Boardwalk view even though we officially had a garden view room, and we ended up with a ground floor room that looked out onto both the pavilion and the Boardwalk, meaning even if I just rolled the girls out of bed onto the patio for the 10k they’d still be able to see Steve. Winner!
We were just sorted in time for our Beaches and Cream reservation so headed across. The girls really enjoyed their food (Winnie had tater tots with plastic cheese and bacon and Polly had a cheeseburger) but the sugary, sweet ice-cream-based drinks was again too much for them. They managed to polish off their actual ice creams with no problem though.
We decided to go to the Expo in the car as last time we waited ages for the bus to get back. It’s really easy to find and well signposted, and as it was a bit later in the day all the merch buyers had left (with all the merch!) meaning it was relatively quiet. We picked up our bibs and t shirts, took a few pictures and set off back to the hotel.
Now we suddenly had a 2.30am get up that we’d discounted, we knew we needed to be in bed at a reasonable time so headed out on the short walk to Hollywood Studios pretty much straight away. As we were walking in, we passed a Han Solo wannabe in full leather get up (trousers and jacket). Now, the sun was just going down, and we were still rather toasty. You’ve got to wonder at what point he began to question that particular life choice. And also, how sweaty his nether regions must be!
We arrived just as the Beacon of Magic was lighting and watched the short show on the Tower of Terror. The people moving around is my favourite part of the projection.
We decided to head straight back but as we’d actually remembered the refillable popcorn bucket, we thought we’d get some first. We needn’t have bothered. It tasted like beef crisps, and although I’m partial to a beef crisp (I spent every day during 6th form eating a cheese and beef crisp cob from the Handy Shop across the road!) it’s not a taste I can imagine anybody wants in their butter popcorn. It didn’t matter as the girls were too busy singing Encanto songs to care, and the walk back passed in no time. We grabbed a couple of muffins from the quick service (which seemed to be better than last trip) and settled in for an early night.
Except we didn’t factor in the Epcot fireworks. Obviously, having the sleepiest kids (husband) in the world meant we hadn’t managed to actually stay up to watch Harmonious, and as we are all about sticking together as a family, I didn’t want to watch it alone. However, I can tell you that it is long. Very long. Or at least it seems it when booms louder than thunder rattle your room constantly throughout the 20-minute show. Winnie managed to somehow sleep through it, but as Polly had tummy ache again, she was awake. It was at this point that I realised that maybe my room request wasn’t such a good idea after all.
After a bath, Polly felt a bit better and was asleep before 10. Since being back we’ve managed to get her a referral to a specialist, so hopefully they’ll shed some light on it.
Alarms set for 2.30am and costumes ready to go for the 5km run tomorrow. Who needs sleep on holiday anyway?
Doodle & Peg Do Disney 
The poor Hans Solo and nether regions comment has set me up for the day! 🙂
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