barnaby's Unplanned 2010 Trip, Day 3

[barnaby]

Trip members:
Me, barnaby, 35 YO husband
Wife, age 35
Daughter, age 15
Son, age 9

Day 3 - Tues, Aug 23 – Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios

Having got good rest the night before, we woke up early enough to get to Animal Kingdom about 15 minutes after rope drop so we strolled back to Everest and again had a short wait. My wife and daughter jumped back on to ride again. We knew the forecast for today was rain, so we kept the ponchos on. Following their second ride on Everest, we headed over to the other side of the park to catch the Festival of the Lion King. This is one of our favorite shows in all of WDW and it did not disappoint. It was neat to see that most of the cast was the same from our previous trip in 2008.

After seeing the Lion King, my son spotted Goofy and wanted to get his picture with his favorite character. Goofy was with Donald Duck and my son had his Goofy hat on. Donald refused to get his pic with my son and playfully kept pushing hat down. My son got good laugh, and Donald finally relented and took a pic with him.

We rode our favorites, Dinosaur and Everest, a few more times and decided to head back to our resort for a late lunch before heading over to Hollywood Studios. Animal Kingdom seems to be the least favorite for most, but we enjoyed it again this trip. It was probably my kid’s favorite place. The only problem is its relatively small size and lack of attractions.
Lunch at the All-Star Sports Food Court was pretty good again. I got the quesadilla along with some Spanish rice this time and quite enjoyed it. My son tried the Cesear salad, and didn’t like as much there as he did at Sunshine Seasons.

We finished up lunch and headed back to the room for a quick respite before heading off to HS. Fantasmic was taking place twice and we hoped to catch one of the shows. We entered the park and headed straight back to Rock’n Roller Coaster. It was a 35 minutes wait. I sat this attraction out while my wife and kids went on. While waiting, I headed over to the Tower of Terror for FPs. RNRC is a favorite of my daughter’s, she is a teen and is into the real thrill rides.

With the RNRC down, we headed over to The Great Movie Ride. We missed this our last trip. I enjoyed the ride through movie history. We exited and tried to catch the finale for American Idol but it was filled up so we headed over to Star Tours. I had to sit this one again, I just can’t do the simulators and movies anymore due to my tendency to get motion sick.

We took a stroll up the Streets of America in hopes to catch the Studio Backlot Tour before it closed for the night. The wait said 20 minutes, but the wait looked more than that so decided to skip and head over to the TOT to use our FPs.

The TOT is another family fav. Even though it makes me a little woozy (it stinks getting old), I still enjoy this attraction. Great theme, great queue and an always fun drop!! After the TOT, the troops were getting hungry. We hadn’t had a counter service meal there, so we had to figure out where we wanted to eat. We picked the Backlot Express and weren’t impressed. Just so-so menu and food. Highlight of the dinner was chatting with a cast member who was a fellow New Jerseyian. She had retired to Florida and she and her husband worked together at HS. We had a nice chat about our home state and we told her we had the same plan to retire to Fla and work at WDW too.

After our late dinner, we headed over towards Fantasmic to find a super long line and we decided to pass. We have yet to see the show, but I just didn’t want to wait in line for that long. We decided to try our hand at drawing and went to the Animation Academy. This was one of my wife and I’s favorite last trip when we got to draw Dopey. This time around we got to draw Donald Duck. I think the Animation Academy is one of those hidden gems in WDW.

With our Donald Duck drawings in hand, we headed to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid to catch the last show, then strolled out of the park a few minutes before closing. It was good day even with the rain most of the day. We headed back to our hotel, stopped for some ice cream at the ASS Food Court, and grabbed some rest before heading back to HS tomorrow.

[faline]

Sorry you didn't get into Fantasmic! The new schedule makes it so dificult for folks to see it!

Glad you enjoyed your day despite the weather!

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

sorry you didn't get to see Fantasmic...thanks for the report

[yjgirl32]

Great report- thanks for sharing.

[DisneyorBust]

Enjoyed your day in the parks! Hopefully, you'll get to see Fantasmic soon.

[RedSoxFan]

Nice day. Glad to hear Donald got his picture taken with your son.

[WDWdriver]

A busy day. Thanks for the nice report. Glad you didn't let the weather slow you down.

[Suz36]

We experienced a wet day at DHS as well - our only rainy day in 5 week-long trips, so I can't complain. Sounds like it didn't slow you down. Thanks for the report!

[Joannelet]

Love the character interaction your son had with Donald and Goofy
Very cute!!!
Another great day!