Orlando Riviera Extravaganza - Nov 2022 - Day Two
In this week's report, we go to EPCOT for early opening and ride Guardians, make a teeny tiny trip to Animal Kingdom, then have dinner at Sanaa, and some evening drama with the ECV.
EPCOT Morning
Woke around 6:20 AM to shower and have coffee, and got into MyDisneyExperience to grab a virtual boarding group for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and a Lightning Lane for Soarin'. The skyliner from the Riviera to EPCOT is the easiest Disney transportation I've ever experienced and we were at the International Gateway before early opening at 8:00. Very easy walk to Remy and walked right onto the ride. It's very cute. 5/5.
By the time we got done with Remy, our Boarding Group had opened for Guardians: Cosmic Rewind, right at park opening, which was about 8:30, so we made our way over there and rode. You can hear any one of 6 "awesome mix" songs, and we got "Conga" that time. Loved the ride! 6/5 - blew our minds - wanted to ride again and started trying to figure out how, but the only other way to ride again in the same day was to buy an Individual Lightning Lane and we weren't quite sure we wanted to spring for that yet.
Our Lightning Lane for Soarin' was immediately open, so we rode that. Mother asked for B1 because it is the least distorted view, and it is a very nice ride there. I wouldn't wait for it everytime, but that morning things had been going so smoothly, we had time to wait out one show so we could have our preferred seat in the next one.
My legs were getting pretty tired and I was getting hangry, so we headed to what I think is the best Joffrey's on property on the World Showcase plaza. They were able to make me a breve (Latte but with heavy cream instead of milk) and mom had her mocha. Then we browsed the gift shops at the World Showcase Plaza and then backtracked to Creations to browse that.
Had an ADR at La Creperie de Paris at 11:15,so we headed to that. I have to say, although there is a quick service window here as well, I really liked the sit down experience. We both got the prixe fix menu which included a salad or soup, a savory galette, and a sweet crepe. This was a cheat meal for me as you can't avoid flour or buckwheat flour in crepes and galettes, but it was a cheat that was worth it. Actually one of my favorite meals. I had the salad, the chevre galette, and the gourmand (hazelnut) crepe. I would rate my meal 5/5. Mom did not have the same sentiments and found it just average. She had the soup, savoyarde galette (which was gruyere, onion, and prosciutto), and the poire (pear) crepe and would rate it 3/5.
After brunch, we did a little photo taking walk around the United Kingdom and Canada pavilions. These pavilions tend to be quiet this time of day and have lovely gardens. We saw Mary Poppins in the UK pavilion too! Then, it was back to our room around 12:30.
Gorgeous gardens in the United Kingdom pavilion at World Showcase in EPCOT
Animal Kingdom Afternoon
Our little rest was short because we wanted to get to Animal Kingdom with enough time to enjoy it before our dinner ADR at Sanaa at 5:45. We arrived there shortly after park hopping began at 2:00.
I started stacking Lightning Lanes for the evening and managed to stack Kilimanjaro Safari and Everest one after the other, so we did those, then explored Maharajah Jungle Trek. We also did a little shopping and saw Kevin in Safari Village. Decided to get to Animal Kingdom Lodge a little early to have a look around and headed to the buses about an hour before our ADR. But we had just missed a bus and it took forever for another to come, so by the time we got to Animal Kingdom Lodge (literally next door to Animal Kingdom - a 5 minute drive), it was nearly time to check in for our reservation. Dear Disney, please build a skyliner route between those two over the safari. It would be amazing.
Kevin walking around Animal Kingdom
Sanaa was great. I had eaten there before and did not care for it, and this time I liked it quite a lot, so I'm glad Mom wanted to go again so that I gave it a second chance. It is one of her very favorites. She got the full bread service as her meal, and a painted lemur as her drink. The painted lemur was one of the few things I was jealous that I couldn't have, being on keto, because I know how good it is. I had the butter chicken, some spiced collared greens, and I asked for broccoli instead of rice, and got this lovely broiled tri-color broccoli, so that was great. And I had a pinot noir.
The ECV Died!
Last picture at Animal Kingdom Lodge in the Kidani Village area before I forgot all about pictures for a while
After dinner, we decided to do what we often do and head from the Kidani lobby where Sanaa is over to the Jambo House lobby at Animal Kingdom Lodge and have a look. We stayed there once and it was blissful, and as I've said, if it were closer to other parks or had some form of transportation other than bus, I would place it near the top of my list because the atmosphere is fantastic. We decided to take the walking path, me walking, mom scooting. And then her scooter went from about 3/4 battery to two lines away from empty quite suddenly. Those last two lines ticked away in minutes and her scooter started beeping. We got it into the lobby and Mom went to ask if anyone had a charging cable. She hadn't brought the one that comes with it because she was afraid it would get stolen.
Long story short, no one did because it was a third party ECV (not a Disney ECV). So here we are, at Animal Kingdom Lodge, about as far from Riviera as we can possibly be in terms of Disney transportation, and the ECV died on the way to the bus stop at Animal Kingdom Lodge. To make it even worse, once we realized we had to push it and put it into neutral, it kept slipping out of neutral. In retrospect, which I didn't figure out until most of the way back home, it probably had a safety feature that if it rolled in neutral too fast, it would put the brakes on. We were pushing as fast as we normally walked at first, and it didn't like that.
Whatever it was... it was a bus ride to Disney Hollywood Studios, the skyliner to Caribbean Beach Resort, and then transfer to the skyliner to Riviera, and then the long walk back to our room ahead of us. It was not pleasant. But about two hours after the ordeal began, we got it back to the room, learned to charge it whenever it was in the room (not just once a day) and brought the cable with us from there on out (and it was never stolen).
Needless to say, we were beat, and though it was only about 8 PM at that point, we went directly to bed.
Next time, we rope drop at the Magic Kingdom, visit Port Orleans, take the boat down the Sassagoula River to Disney Springs, lunch at Chef Art's Homecomin', and close out our day at EPCOT's food and wine festival.
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