12 Days at Disney Feb 2018 Trip Report - Day Six
We got up extra early at 6:30 to head over to Ohana for breakfast. It was so nice just to walk over there. Of course, our server called us cousin and we saw Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto. It was a great character line-up given my daughter's favorites are Stitch and Pluto. She was able to get autographs and was very happy. Family was in a jovial mood, ready to vacation. The day was looking gorgeous outside the window. Interestingly enough, I don't remember a lot about the food for breakfast at Ohana aside from the pog juice, which was awesome.
Then we headed over to Disney's Animal Kingdom. My daughter is like me in that this is her favorite park. My daughter signed up for Wilderness Explorers on the bridge, and of course, we all took the pledge because it's so fun. This was another one of those things, like Sorcerers, that we kept coming back to to knock off a few activities whenever we felt like it. I would dare say that while this one doesn't involve the beautiful cards or technology Sorcerers does, it was really great. It allowed for lots of interaction with cast members and served the park's purpose of educating people about conservation and animals.
Elephant seen on safari
We got really into this and played for a while, going around Pandora and then Africa. Then we went to see It's Tough To Be a Bug, Na'Vi River Journey, another safari, and Festival of the Lion King. We stopped at one of our favorite quick service places for a late-ish lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue. I can't believe I used to bad-talk them when I worked in the Pizzafari unit. Flame Tree has always actually been one of my favorites. We shared two combo platters while my daughter had a hot dog of which she strongly approved. I agree with her. There is just something about Disney hot dogs that make them delish.
We headed out of the park later than usual for the day around 3:00 to take a nice little swim in the Oasis pool. It was a bit on the cool side for me to swim, but the kid had a blast. I spent a lot of time in the hot tub.
We headed out again around 5:00 to EPCOT. We rode Spaceship Earth and then headed over to Club Cool to trick my husband and daughter into trying the Beverly. It was Festival of the Arts and there were food and drink kiosks all over, so our main goal this evening was to walk around and see what was up while trying some things. I had a deconstructed breakfast, which was a drink, and a deconstructed BLT and got my kiddo a slushy. Then, we headed to Mexico in search of margaritas but Cava del Tequila was packed, so we chickened out and continued to China, which turned out to be a good choice, because the husband found one of his favorite drinks there called Two Ducks In Love, though he kept calling it "Two Filthy Ducks", and yes, this was to be his first drink.
Husband pretending to be Frida Kahlo at one of the Festival of the Arts photo ops
My daughter was excited about Germany since she's taking German in school, and she had a bread-zel which pleased her a lot. We stayed a little and watched the Glockenspiel before heading to Japan. Japan was also a hit because the husband got himself a sake in a personalized wooden box. This strong drink right after the "2 Filthy Ducks" put him into "Latin mode" a la Buzz Lightyear.
I managed to snag a FastPass for Soarin'. My notes say it was for 11:30 pm and I'm having trouble believing we were still going strong at that hour, but maybe so? It's a family favorite, so we rode that and then got out in time to catch the viewing of Illuminations from the promenade, which is considered front of the house. This was a great experience because there was a group behind us that had clearly never seen the show before and was just blown away. I kept hearing the guy behind me going "Wow! Wow!" and then at my very favorite, most satisfying part of the show, this guy just yells "Yes!" and I was thinking "I'm right there with you, man." I've seen that show countless times, so something I love as a Disney veteran, not just with this but with anything, is to experience someone new to Disney experiencing it. I'm a long way removed from my first experience of Illuminations, but I do remember my first experience, and before that, hearing my fellow Cast Members talk about the Cast Member preview in awe. To hear another guest love it like I love it just makes my day.
Illuminations, best show ever, rest in peace
After the show we took the easy way out again via monorail. Buses from EPCOT after shows are a nightmare, and I think possibly my favorite thing about staying at the Polynesian was the convenience of the monorail to the TTC and then a nice serene walk back to the resort rather than jostling about in a bus for 20 minutes.
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