Disney World Part 2: Epcot and Animal Kingdom

 December 29, Friday

I'm having a wonderful time with my family and I don't regret it for a minute, but I never want to come to Disney World during the holidays again. They've raised all their Genie Plus prices just because they could. They didn't actually make accommodations for the massive crowds of people so those of us who paid for Genie Plus don't get our money’s worth. It's been very frustrating. Dad took Nathaniel and Audrey to Universal this morning at 7 AM then he went to Epcot and waited for us there. We left at about 8:15 AM and made it to the line right at 9 AM. I got flagged at security again. The first bummer was that I wasn't able to get a virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy today. At 8 AM, Emily helped me get individual lightning lanes for Tron and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We were able to get them for later tonight so we could go there after Epcot. Dad wanted to ride Tron and we never got a chance to ride Seven Dwarfs. The second bummer is that when I tried to get the individual lightning lane, the system wouldn't let us because we already had the ones for Tron and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We were trying to do that right before we got into Epcot. They didn't let us in until 9 AM. Michael, Jonny, and Andrew all went to Mission Space and the rest of us went to guest services to see if they could help us with the Guardians individual lightning lane. When I tried to get it, there was one available at 4 PM but by the time we got through the line at guest services there were no more available for the day otherwise he could've exchanged it from the Seven Dwarfs ones. We were pretty defeated after that. The only thing he did was give us advice for how to get into a virtual queue which is just to keep tapping refresh until we join it. Thankfully, we had a lightning lane for Test Track but we couldn't get our next one until 11 AM. So, we went to Living with the Land and rode that. 

The Soarin’ wait was too long so we decided we would get a lightning line for that once it was time which we did and it worked out fine. We later got one for Spaceship Earth so that worked out great. We even got one for Nemo but never ended up using it because we just wanted to finish our Spaceship Earth lightning lane and go take a break. After Living with the Land, we had some extra time so we went to Moana: Journey of Water. 

Then we headed over to the world showcase. The kids had fun getting pictures at the phone booth in the UK section.

We had to stop at France and get some treats. Emily and Jonny got ice cream and Michael, Daniel, Andrew and I all got some treats at the Boulangerie Patisserie. Andrew and I were pretty excited about the raspberry macarons; they look similar to the ones at Disneyland but Andrew said the Disneyland ones are better. 

Emily had done a mobile order for the German pretzels so we got those next and also German pretzel bread pudding. It was pretty close to lunchtime but I figured those were our appetizers. By then, it was getting close to 1 PM and we wanted to try for the virtual queue again. I had been concerned about getting notifications for the dining reservation from Disney so I turned those notifications off but I wish I had thought of turning off my calendar notifications because a notification came through and I swiped it instead of clicking on “join virtual queue” and I missed it. Jonny pointed it out to me and he was pretty disappointed. I was upset with myself because I had just swiped it away automatically and I should've just been focused on getting the virtual queue. We were pretty bummed. However, as we were going to the restaurant for lunch and waiting to check in, Jonny made the comment that it's probably for the best that we didn't do Guardians today because then we can do it with Nathaniel and Audrey tomorrow since they're at Universal today. He's such a smart kid and I'm glad he said that because that made me feel a lot better. I hugged him and apologized and he said it was OK. We enjoyed our lunch at the Italian restaurant, Tutto Italia. I got lasagna again, of course. However, once again, we were seated next to a very loud table. There were some ladies who were talking and laughing so loudly it was giving me a headache and it was very distracting. Other tables were clearly annoyed, as well. We were all relieved when they left. We sat and talked about our plans and enjoyed our meal. 

After that, we headed over to Soarin’ and that was fun. Then we went over to Test Track. I was pretty annoyed that the wait was 35 minutes even though I had a lightning line. That was pretty fun, though. 

We could've used our lightning lane for Nemo but nobody seemed to care and it was cold and everybody was tired so we just went to Spaceship Earth instead. I had suggested earlier in the day that since we were park hopping we might want to just go back to the condo and take a break for a couple hours and everyone seemed to like that idea. We were pretty bummed that we didn't get to do the Frozen ride or Ratatouille but those lightning lines were gone before we even had a chance. The waits were at least two hours most of the day. Spaceship Earth got stuck for a little bit. I'm pretty sure it did that the last time we were there. I dozed off a couple of times, which I’m pretty sure I also did last time. Once we got off that ride, we took a few pictures by the Epcot ball. We got a tiny world picture and another one in front of the ball. We had done one earlier in the day but everybody was squinting because the sun was too bright. 

Then we headed out. We stopped at a mailbox on the way so I could mail my letter. We all had a little something to eat and rested. I got a nap so that was nice. We wanted to leave the condo at 8:45 PM but it was more like 9 PM but it worked out fine. It only took us 45 minutes to get from the condo to inside Magic Kingdom. 

We stopped for a couple of photo ops and then went to Tron and rode that. It was super fun. 

After that, we headed over to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train but Andrew saw that there was almost no wait for Tomorrowland Speedway so he went on that with Michael and Emily and Jonny. Dad, Daniel, and I sat at the Starlight Café since there were tons of empty tables. 

Then we headed over to Snow White. I was worried about Dad riding it but it turned out to be OK. 

There was no wait at Haunted Mansion and Michael really wanted to do that so we did. Then we also went to Pirates. 

It wasn't midnight yet and Andrew wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain so he went over there with Michael and Emily and Jonny and they all got to ride it. Dad, Daniel, and I headed toward Main Street. I went to the Photo Pass counter and they helped me add some photos I was missing to my account (which didn’t even work, I later found out when I got home) and by the time I was done everybody else was ready to meet up with us and we stopped at the bathrooms one last time and took the Monorail back to the parking lot. 

When we came into Magic Kingdom, we had upgraded to the preferred parking pass and found a fantastic parking space so it was super easy to get back to the car at the end of the day which was fantastic.

 

December 30, Saturday

Last night, we decided not to try and do rope drop because it hasn't done very well for us. By the time we get in, all the resort guests have filled up the lines. Like yesterday when we got into Epcot, Remi was already at 140 minutes even though we got in just a few minutes after 9 AM. Anyway, that was nice because it was almost 2 AM by the time I got to bed. We planned to leave at 8:30 AM and that worked out fine. However, it was a rough morning trying to get us into Guardians of the Galaxy and we were not successful. It wouldn't let us do a virtual queue because we weren't in Epcot today. At 8 AM, I miraculously got us a time for a Flight of Passage individual lightning lane. It was at 7:25 PM and the park is only open until 8 PM so we got pretty lucky on that. Then at 9 AM as we were still driving into Animal Kingdom, I tried to get an individual lightning lane for Guardians but I kept getting that Disney gremlin error screen. I got the screen twice and then I tried changing the number of people, like I didn't have it include me or Dad, and the next time it just said that there were no more available. That was pretty heartbreaking and I know Jonny was very disappointed. I decided that I would go to guest services when I got to the park. Thankfully, I was able to get our first Genie plus lightning lane for the Safari so we were relieved about that because that was the most important one to us today. I went to guest services before the gate and asked what I could do to try and get a virtual queue for 1 PM today. She said the only way to get a virtual queue is to switch the reservation to Epcot before we enter the park and just have Epcot be out starting park for today. I was kind of surprised she said that because all the parks are sold out today. You can only do a virtual queue for somebody who actually reserved for that park that day. I told Jonny the situation and he just decided that he didn't want to do that and he wanted to stay in Animal Kingdom today, but I at least wanted him to have the choice. We moved on and focused on having fun here at Animal Kingdom today and it's been great. We got through the gate and went straight to Dinosaur. I told Dad he shouldn't ride it because it's really jerky and after riding it I knew I was correct. 

It was so crowded! I had to take a few pictures and video of the crazy crowds.

We barely had enough time to race over to the Safari after that. The posted wait for Dinosaur was an hour but I think it was more like an hour and 15 minutes. The Safari was cool but I was disappointed that we didn't get to see any lions. We did get to see a rhinoceros and some hippos and giraffes so that was really cool. They kind of squished us together and had five of us in the same row but it was OK. 

After the safari, everyone walked through Gorilla Flats. I went over to Yak and Yeti to see if they would adjust our reservation. That was the toughest one because I had basically four different reservations for two each, two in Michael's account and two in mine and then another one in mine for one person. That's all I could do. When I did the dining reservations, I had to get up at 2 AM so I couldn't just give up. They seemed slightly annoyed but they were the first restaurant that actually helped me. They said they could get us two different tables in the next half hour or we could come back at 2:30 PM and they could get us all together at one table. I talked to everyone about that and we decided to just have a snack now and do that. The bummer was that it was already 1 PM so the timing was off but it worked out fine. Nathaniel and Audrey got tacos and chips and salsa and everybody else got fries and rice and eggrolls and we sat outside the Yak and Yeti at their quick service restaurant to have all that. Dad and I didn't want to go on Expedition Everest but everybody else did so we sat and waited while they did that. 

Once they were done, we checked in at Yak and Yeti and they got us right in at a table for nine. It was such a nice restaurant and the food was delicious but it was too loud and we could barely hear each other. Everybody loved what they ordered, though. Emily, Jonny, and Daniel all got the shrimp lo mein, Andrew got sweet-and-sour chicken, Audrey got chicken marsala, Nathaniel got salmon, Dad got Korean barbecue beef, Michael got lamb and I got teriyaki chicken. We also got a side of green beans and coconut shrimp. It was delicious and we were stuffed. 

After that, most of us went to It's Tough to Be a Bug. That was pretty funny but we all decided it was probably pretty terrifying for little kids. At the end, it felt like bugs were crawling under the seats and bees were stinging us in the back. Nathaniel and Audrey went to explore Pandora. 

We met up at the Lion King but we didn't get to sit near each other. They got there later than we did and we couldn't save them a seat. It was a pretty cool show!

By the time that was done, it was 5:30 PM and we still had two more hours left to wait for our Flight of Passage lightning line. I wish I had been able to get that a little sooner but I didn't have any control over it and we were lucky to get what we got. We went to get a picture by the big tree in Pandora. 

Dad said he wanted to go get his coat and he didn't plan to come back so I was pretty bummed about that. I knew how much he wanted to ride that and I was so glad that we got the passes for him this morning but he didn't want to stay. He wanted to get back home and get some rest because he's taking the Sheriff’s Youth Ranch kids to the football game tomorrow. After the pictures, he said his goodbyes to us and left. The rest of us went to Satu'li Canteen in Pandora and everybody got either a drink or a treat or a kids meal. We hung out there until it was time to go to the ride. 

We were so relieved when we finally got on the Flight of Passage ride because we've been waiting forever and I knew it was gonna be such a cool ride. We were so bummed that Michael couldn't fit on it because of his calves. He had to get off and the rest of us enjoyed the ride. When I got off, I started asking the lady what we could do since he couldn't ride it. She was asking if we were going to be at the parks tomorrow because they could give us a free lightning lane for tomorrow. We told her no, this was our last night. Then it popped into my head that maybe we could get a Guardians one instead. She said she couldn't do that but she had a supervisor who we could talk to. His name was Justin and he wasn't very helpful. He said he didn't have the power to do that but we could go to guest relations so that's what we did. 

On the way there, I couldn't resist a picture of Nathaniel and Daniel in front of the Lion King backdrop. 

We got in line at guest services. Nathaniel and Audrey stood back but everyone else stood in line with me. There were three cast members at guest services and I was really hoping we would get to talk to the guy on the left because he seemed like the most friendly. His name was Nicholas and he was from Beverly Hills, Florida. I explained that Dad and Michael couldn't use the lightning lane for Flight of Passage and I wondered if there was any way we could exchange it for Guardians. He immediately started shaking his head to tell me that they couldn't do it and he had no authority to do that because that's at Epcot and we will need to talk to somebody at Epcot. I literally folded my hands together and pleaded with him if he could please try and make it work. I explained that I've been trying for two days to try to get Guardians for Jonny and we've had problems with the app and it's been sold out. He said he would go back and see what he could do. I told him even if we could only get one pass and not two we would be very grateful. I told Jonny to start praying, and he told me later that he did. Nicholas was gone for quite a while. After a while, I mentioned to both Michael and Emily that if the answer was no he would've come right back so I was hopeful that he was getting it figured out for us. He came back in and smiled and nodded his head and we were so thrilled. I thought that meant that he got us one so that Jonny could go on it. He even told me he would refund the money from Dad's pass. Then Emily showed me that it was already in our account. I tried to verify with him that it was for Jonny and he said, “Oh no, it's for all eight of you.” Michael says he had to repeat it about three times because we didn't believe him and we were in such shock. He said, “I'm not gonna give it to just one of you, that's no fun, and you need to be together as a family.” Then he verified that Dad didn't need the pass and we assured him that no, he was already back home. We thanked him profusely! We told him Merry Christmas and as we left he said Happy New Year to us and we said it back and I don't remember everything that was said but we were so thrilled. Jonny smiled so big! I could tell by the look on his face how excited he was. It's funny how boys always have to act so cool. I remember Emily saying, “I'm so happy I think I'm going to cry.” I thought I might, as well. We said thank you about five more times and we left. We rushed out to the car and drove over to Epcot. 

We were so grateful we had done preferred parking in the morning because the ticket window at the parking was already closed so it was nice to go straight to preferred parking and we found a really good spot. I think we got to Epcot by 9 PM and it closed at 9:30 PM. I remember that it was about 9:15 PM as we were standing in line. The ride was amazing! It turned us around and had us go backwards and forwards and it was kind of like Crush’s Coaster at Disneyland Paris mixed with Space Mountain. It played the song, “Disco Inferno.” 

As we walked off, we heard, “Never Gonna Give You Up.” We had a good laugh about that. 

Once we got off, we got a picture in front of the ride. A nice lady offered to take it as she walked by. 

Then we watched some of the fireworks. Once the fireworks were over, we got a photo guy to take our picture. 

We headed out of the park and to the car and back to the condo. We went straight there. We had a prayer and everybody had a little something to eat and then we got ready for bed. Nathaniel came down and told us there was an earlier flight that they could get on for the same price so he did that so that was great. 

 

December 31, Sunday

Our trip home was mostly uneventful. We left the condo at 7 AM and got to the airport by 8 AM, which is what I had hoped for. The kids had to hold suitcases on their laps but we all fit. We were more concerned about Nathaniel and Audrey than for us because we had pre-check.

I asked everyone on the drive to the airport what was their favorite thing about the trip.  Here are their answers:

Jonny: Nicholas getting us on Guardians
Daniel: Nicholas getting us on Guardians
Andrew: Tron
Emily: Nicholas getting us on Guardians
Nathaniel: Tron
Audrey: Teacups
Christine: Tron
Michael: being with the family and Haunted Mansion, the real one

Our top three rides:
Guardians
Tron
Flight of Passage

It turned out we didn't need to worry so much about getting there early. There was not much of a line, even for regular security. We got there in plenty of time to drop off our bags and get through security and we had a couple hours to wait before we could even board. It's too bad Nathaniel and Audrey were in a different part of the airport or we could've hung out some more. We got some food and chilled and got on the plane. I can't say that our flight was uneventful because a girl was walking down the aisle right next to Michael and she started having a seizure. Michael had to yell for the flight attendants to come help her. There was a paramedic on the plane and he helped her and she ended up being OK. We got our bags and got to the car and drove home. We brought everything in and had something to eat and took naps and just hung out the rest of the day. I went to bed early and I think only Daniel and Michael stayed up until midnight.

It was a fantastic trip and one that we will always remember! I'm so grateful we had all of that time together and it was so much fun!