Trip Report: Leaving the Disney Bubble (Day 4, Part 1 | January 2021)

 Wednesday, January 27th

Today I woke up at 6:30. It was also Covid test day. If you want to get out of a two-week quarantine in NYS you have to be tested in Florida and then again a few days after returning to New York.

As has become standard, I ate my oatmeal on the balcony and took in the beautiful view. At 7:30 we went to the front of the hotel for our shuttle to the rental car location on Disney property. We got a Nissan Altima with Maryland plates. Just like the November trip dad and I took, we went to the Maingate testing site just off Disney property. The set up was a little different this time. The National Guard was helping run it this time. In November, we had no complaints and didn’t this time, but it was more structured now.

There was a “single riders” line. In retrospect maybe we should’ve done that one. There was one family that seemed to have a lot of issues which really slowed things down. I called my mom while waiting in line. Ultimately, it took about 90 minutes. And all of our tests were negative.

We went back to return our car. The same shuttle driver took us to Animal Kingdom. He was very nice just like our driver in November. We’ve had two great experiences with the car care center.

We arrived at the park around 11 AM. The Flight of Passage line was short so we headed to Pandora. The drummers were on the cavalcade boat as we walked by the water. I can’t wait for the entertainment in Animal Kingdom to return. It’s probably my favorite-especially in Africa. The wait ended up being about 10 minutes which is definitely great for Flight of Passage. We only stopped walking occasionally to stop at the social distancing markers.

I enjoyed Flight of Passage, but it does scare me. My dad always says you just have to throw yourself into it. I try. I also don’t think I could ride it two times in a row without getting nauseous. 

Up Next: Affection Section

6.3: Finishing Up at Animal Kingdom (December 2019)

If you missed the last post, you can read it here. 

The CM who walked us back out on stage was very nice. His name was Dan and when he asked where we were from and I said New York he said “City or State?” God bless you, sir! It’s so annoying that people think New York is only the city. I think he said his husband’s family is from Buffalo so that may have contributed to his understanding. 

There was a couple from Columbia, Missouri who were celebrating their 50th anniversary. Dan had been in boot camp with a guy from Missouri and he said there were two ways to say it: Missour-e or Missour-a. The wife said there’s a reason for the Missouri Compromise. SHe was very passionate! Who am I to judge.

Then, we slowly made our way to Flight of Passage. We wandered around for a little bit while we waited for our FastPass time. There were some drummers performing and we could hear the banshees...screaming? Do banshees scream? Wail? Yell? 

When we rode Flight of Passage I tried to be brave because there was a young girl in our group. She had a Nala plush who watched us from the cubbies. Nala also enjoyed the ride according to the girl. I was still scared! 

We were hungry so we did mobile order for Flame Tree Barbeque. I got the salad because I had heard good things. It was the longest wait I’d ever had for mobile order, but not too bad. The salad tasted good, but didn’t stick with me for very long. 

Next, we used our FastPass for Kilimanjaro Safaris. We got stuck at the beginning. Sometimes animals just create traffic jams. We did get to see our new buddy, Dugan. The giraffes were all staring in the same direction which was a little weird. I’m sure there is no giraffe conspiracy.

It would be a tight squeeze, but we decided to try and catch the 3 PM performance of Festival of the Lion King. We just missed it, but did have FastPasses for the 4 PM show. We just hung out in Africa while waiting.

We ended up in the Elephant section which is the best! It was fun and entertaining like usual.

After the show, we headed out. 

The menagerie/puppets for Christmas were out, but they were finishing up so we didn’t get to see a lot of them. I was a little sad about that.

Up Next: Surprising Construction

Trip Report: Flight of Passage

If you missed the last update you can check it out here.

I picked up a Mickey pretzel to try and pick me up before our Safari FastPasses.

Our safari driver was better than our last one. They really got in to the shaky bridge part which was good. 

Then, we met up with my cousins-Jorge, Amy, and their daughter Areana. We were lucky to get FastPasses for Flight of Passage at the same time. We hadn't even tried to do that.

I was sad about not seeing the queue. Everyone says the queue is amazing. I'm sure I'll see it in person someday, but there's no way I'm waiting for 2-3 hours to see it.

The ride was pretty spectacular. It reminds me of Soarin' but better. And i'm more comfortable in this one because you're strapped in real tight and have something to hold on to. I think it's best to go in with limited knowledge and just experience it so I won't say much about it. I definitely screamed but in excitement not terror. My dad said it is his new favorite ride and that's really saying something.

We hung out by WindTraders so I could call Disney Dining. Earlier in the week we had made Rivers of Light dinner package reservations at Tusker House. Now, we were trying to add my cousins. I was successful in making the change

So we stayed in Pandora for a little while to relax and take everything in before we were headed to dinner.

Up next: Dining with Character