Day 4- Let's Get A Little Wild!
*I seem to have a severe lack of photos from this part of the day, so this will be a short update. That being said it would have been a shorter day anyways after the race and then not wanting to be out too late before the half.
After freshening up we were off to Animal Kingdom! Our FP+'s for the day included Kilimanjaro Safaris, Meet & Greet at Adventurers Outpost and Na'vi River Journey.
First was Kilimanjaro Safaris, I thought it would be neat to ride at two different times of the day and see how that changed the experience and who would be out. We ended up in the front row of the vehicle again, our first ride I sat on the outside so this time Sam and I swapped.
Highlight of this safari was seeing a lion out sunning himself.
Next we wandered around, eventually making our way to It's Tough To Be A Bug. I did not tell Sam exactly what would happen but told him there would be some surprises. We had a good laugh, even though there are some "pointy" parts to the show.
By this point we were starting to get hungry and decided to get food from Flame Tree Barbecue. Mobile ordering definitely saved us a lot of time here! We found seats down near a little pond behind the Quick Service stand. It was a really well themed, quiet, calm area- perfect for a mid day break!
Once lunch was finished it was time for our next FP+, Adventurers Outpost! So I had made all our FP+'s for both of us but I left it open to Bear whether he wanted to use his each time. In this instance he decided to pass, so while I saw some old friends, he found some coffee. (the thought had crossed my mind that booking a m&g here and there with a FP+ was the way to go because Bear was not going to be interested and this would make things move along a bit faster and let us get back to doing fun things together)
I hopped into line and soon enough was face to face with the two explores!
These outfits!!
We chatted for a few minutes about the race, how it was a lot of work and of course the fact I had travelled so far to come down and see them did come up, as seen here with us all being airplanes and Minnie cheering us on
I found Bear and then we headed towards Dinoland USA. We did not end up going on any rides here. I remembered Primeval Whirl being a lot and I wasn't interested in it, so I knew it would be a no for Sam. I think for similar reasons I didn't think he'd be interested in checking out Dinosaur. We more went to Dinoland to check out the decor. Also there were a few friends having a party that I was hoping to find and get a chance to visit with.
First I found the bestest boy, he was very excited that we both had "medals".
I ended up asking a CM where the next party guests on my list where hiding. So enough I was standing in line, so pumped to see their costumes in person.
I now present you all the chins of excitement (don't say I didn't warn you! hahaha)
(One of our family cat's is named Dale! When we first got her as a kitten her meow sounded more like something a chipmunk would make than a cat.
I told the boys this while we were visiting and Chip got a little sad about the new, but Dale loved it!)
When I left the boys we continued to wander around and see who was attending the Bash. I couldn't pass up some one on one time with Mr. Moneybags himself.
Uncle Scrooge was very curious about the monetary value of my medal.
(Love the fact the spectacles got involved in the examination process)
We did end up agreeing that its not all about money, but true happiness came from those you hold in your heart, like in his case his nephew and great-nephews.
From the Dino Bash we worked our way over to our Na'vi River Journey FP+, the colours and details are beautiful. Soon after this we left the park and took a break at our resort room.
When I had been making dinning reservations I decided on Maria & Enzo's Ristorante, thinking- Italian, pasta, carbs, pre half marathon. Unfortunately things did not end up working out and dinner ended up coming from the Pop Century Food Court. We arrived at M&E's to a giant line outside the restaurant, we waited in the line for what felt like forever outside getting more and more hungry, eventually the line moved inside and we were finally able to check in. After some more waiting, our names where called to be taken to a table. It seems they were doing a Mardi Gras themed celebration in the restaurant and it was very loud and crowded. We were led to a table in a side room off the main space and put into a dark corner. At this point, as you can imagine, we were not in great moods. Then we saw a waitress talking to the host that brought us to the table. She was very upset and we could hear her tell him she already had too many tables, that they were understaffed and she couldn't take on more guests. After seeing this interaction plus everything else already, Bear and I looked at each other and quickly decided we did not want to stay. When the waitress came over to us we shared that we wanted to leave, but did not want to be charged the reservation cancellation fee. She told us we were already checked in on the system and she wasn't going to tell anyone that we had left. So we wished her good luck and made our way out the door. She seems relived to have one less table and we were over all the whole thing.
We ended up walking around Disney Springs to see if we could find somewhere else but by this point we were fully in the dinner rush and everything was very crowded. We decided to go back to pop, got food from the food court and shortly after I was in bed, dreaming about tomorrow.