Hi hi hi! It's been a hot minute and I'm now in my Disney era. Trip 1 was in Aug for my birthday, staying at Art of Animation. Trip 2 was in Oct for Mickey's Halloween Party, staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. Trip 3 was for Mickey's Christmas Party, staying at Caribbean Beach. And now I'm an annual passholder and could not be more excited. So here we go...
Flight was 5:30 am and that was rough. But, I love leaving out of our regional airport because it is so close and SO easy. I got to fly through Chicago, which I know people hate, but there's something about it, I just absolutely love. Probably nastalia from my Nashville days and flying home - was always through Chicago. Oh how I miss it. But now I get to go to Disney so that's just way more exciting. I love the updates in terminal C that United made with their screens out by the walkways and having them tell what boarding group they're on, instead of having to strain to hear what they heck they're saying. Or if you missed the beginning, now you don't have to walk up and wonder what they're currently doing. Fabulous.
FLights were all on time and I got into MCO about 1pm. Bag pick up, load up the bus, then get to the hotel. I think we were the 3rd stop if I remember right - Art of Animation, Pop, then Caribbean. My room was ready but I wanted to ask about my magicband and annual pass so I stopped at the front desk. Then made the long walk over to Aruba. I decided not to request a specific location, just marked that I wanted to be close to the skyliner. I think I lucked out though. Aruba is the BEST. It's a long hike to the main pool though, so I guess if that is high on your list, then maybe Aruba wouldn't be so great. I actually didn't even eat at the Caribbean beach restort and got food at Riviera which was closer and I liked their menu better. But I digress. The rooms in all but Trinidad are the older rooms. Coming from the newly remodelled French Quarter rooms felt like a major bummer on the room (which is one of the reasons I decided not to specifically select Aruba and see which area they put me in). But the rooms aren't bad either - they're clean, spacious, and were really just fine. Not my favorite decor either, but I did know all that going into it. Trinidad has the new Little Mermaid rooms which look great, but I walked the whole resort and wouldn't like being down in the Trindad area. It's SO far from everything else. Hard pass. So I would always stay in Aruba - closest to skyliner and Rivieria for eating.
I dropped my stuff an RAN to Animal Kingdom. JK. Sort of. I was hoping to get to the resort by 2 and the park by 3. I think I was heading to the bus by 3, so I felt behind. It all worked out fine, but did feel like I dropped everything, changed quick and was out. I planned time to explore Caribbean Beach the next day, so it was fine to just run. The walk over to Aruba is quite annoying. Like a 10min walk. If you had a lot of luggage, you might want to have it delivered. One thing I found weird was I was either out and about at odd times or the resort wasn't anywhere near full - there was hardly anyone around. Aruba felt a little ghost town like. Closer to French Quarter, but French Quarter is because of the size and the construction that was going on with a couple of the buildings. As always though, I felt safe. Even at midnight after getting back from the party. But more on that later.
First thing I had to do was get my annual pass. I was a little anxious about this part because the instructions were a little off. It said I needed to take my certificate, which sounded like would be mailed to me, and exchange it for the actual pass. I never got anything mailed and they had plenty of time to mail it. All they needed was the "pass" that appeared in my app. No big deal. I was also a little worried about the ticket window being opened when I got there so late. Thankfully Animal Kingdom got extended hours that day though so I wasn't too worried about that. Once I got that taken care of and had my official annual pass (EEK!) I headed inside.
I didn't have a ton on my agenda and because I was getting there so late, I knew that the animal routes probably weren't going to be open. (And they weren't - too close to dark.) I took my time stopping at the animals on the way in and winding through a different path (there are lots!) to get into the main area. I got to see the Merry Menagerie and regret that I really didn't get pictures of them. And also didn't stick around long enough. I got that uncomfortable/being seen feeling and needed to move on, which really sucks because they are really fun, but it is what it is. Sometimes that happens. I started heading towards Africa but ended up deciding to wind through the tree of life pathways and grab food instead. I'm forever a Flame Tree Barbecue girl (pulled pork and baked mac & cheese!) but might have to take a break next trip. I LITERALLY had a bird steal food off of my plate - like stick its beak in my full plate of food. (This is why they say don't feed the birds kids!) I had to order a second plate. I was not chancing any bird diseases. Ick. So I'll take that as my cue to find a new place next time....
I then headed to Africa and the animal paths were ineed closed. I walked through the area and shops, then headed over to Asia and did the same over there. I had on my agenda to ride Everest around that time but the wait time was an hour (it had been down earlier) so I decided to wait/skip. I walked by the Finding Nemo show and there were SO many people in line. No way would the theater hold that many. I actually didn't realize there were extra show times due to the extended hours. Someday I'll do that and the Lion King show. Instead I walked through dinosaur land...one last time. Sad. I had a little time to kill before the tree of life awakening show, so I went and watched A Bug's Life...also one last time. I like this show, but EVERY time there's always a kid crying. (I would have been that kid. Well, maybe not. I would have been silently terrified.) And then finally went and saw the tree of life awakening show. Not my fav unfortunately. It was themed to Mufasa for the movie's premiere. I wished it would have just been pure Christmas. But still fun to see. Then I headed to Avatar land....... =) =)
AVATAR LAND AT NIGHT!!! Okay, hot take. This is one of the things that they cut cost on. Anything painted to glow in black light needed to be amped up x2. Same as the poor Na'vi river ride. But. It was still way cool. I walked around a lot and took a ton of pics that show how, kind of eh it is. Galaxy's Edge still kicks Avatar land's butt. Big time. But. Again. Still really cool. I'd still put it on my list to see again. So I planned time to walk around. But I also put in a mobile order for a dessert at Satu'li Canteen and got the Metkayina Mousse. This was on my list because I hadn't yet been in there and was hoping for something incredible (not the food, the interior). It was good. I'll go back sometime in the day time. The mousse was good, but I really am starting to not be a chocolate fan. It was WAY too much. But I did know that I wouldn't eat it all anyways. I went for it because it's pretty =)
Next I had a lightning lane for Flight of Passage. I'm completely on the fence of whether lightning lane is good or not for FoP. I LOVE the FoP queue. Like, really love it. I think it's my favorite queue....by far. You can tell they put all their budget in flight of passage. (Also, fun fact, I stood in line for almost 2 hours for FoP and didn't regret a second of it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Yes I'm weird.) So I did FoP. It was better than last time. That ride totally depends on where you're riding and how your glasses work with that position. But it's always so unique and might be one I always ride. TBD. I walked through the land again and then headed over to Everest. It said a 30min wait. Ended up being like 15min maybe. We cruised through the line. I didn't do single rider. I like Everest's queue too. There's just so much to look at. I could spend a lot of time looking if it wasn't such a narrow queue to have people pass me. Oh well. I was thinking Everest would be cool to ride at night, but I much prefer it during the day. And that was it! Back to the hotel.
Lastly I headed back and got to use my MagicBand for the first time to open my door. Super nice to not have to find the open door in the app. And not worry about it not being available in the app. I had that happen last trip. I had picked up my food mobile order, walked all the way back to my room, only to find that that service wasn't showing in the app. I had to walk all the way back to a physical key card. Thankfully that was at French Quarter which is super small (like 2min walk). Can you imagine that at Caribbean Beach. Omg, I would have missed my bus home - yikes. Anyways. I then took outfit photos because I hadn't before and unpacked. Showered and crawled into bed. I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be. I did start to feel like I was getting sick for a couple hours but felt better before leaving AK.
I think I like heading to a park the day I get there. And now with my annual pass, I can go for even an hour and not worry about it being a whole ticket price. It just kicks things off well. I also found out how close to Epcot Caribbean Beach is. I could easily hear the fireworks inside my room. I knew it was close, but not quite THAT close. Oh! And one other thing I didn't like was they didn't have very good Dinsey TV channels. It was weird. French Quarter I had a great movie channel on a lot, but Caribbean Beach only had like 2 Disney channels. It was kind of weird. Maybe I just couldn't figure out the system there. I don't know. Certainly not a deal breaker, but I do like to have noise some times. Silence can be very loud when you're alone at times. Anyways, that's it for Day 1. Early bed because I was up at 3:30am lol. But great day! Smooth travel and a good time at Animal Kingdom.
Next up is a pool/resort day, Magic Kingdom, and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!