Fall Fun - Part 2

[faline]

September 27 (Tuesday)

We get up and on the road by 8:30 in the morning. After a stop at a Cracker Barrel for some breakfast, we head to the airport to turn in our rental car. We drag our bags across the street and are on Disney Magical Express before 10:30 am. Before leaving the airport, I receive a text saying our room is not yet ready. Once at Saratoga Springs, we turn our bags over to bell services for storage and board a boat to Disney Springs. Lunch is at Raglan Road where I have the scallops which are quite good. I seem to think my spouse had a burger but could be wrong about that. Before we exit the restaurant, I receive a text saying our room is ready. We will be in the Grandstand section of Saratoga Springs. We reboard the boat and walk to our section of the resort. After placing a call to Bell Services, our luggage is quickly delivered to us. We spend a little while unpacking. We left home almost a week ago and this is the first time we have unpacked. With that done, we locate our bus stop and wait a bit for a bus to Animal Kingdom.

As we arrive at Animal Kingdom, the sky is getting very dark and threatening. For some reason, I decide our first stop should be the Dawa bar so we head there. There are folks there but there are also empty tables. We no sooner get settled at a table with drinks, when the rains come and along with the rains come a fairly large number of people trying to find a refuge from the rains. We have a couple of extra chairs at our table so are able to invite a few nearby people to sit with us. While the storm continues to rage with thunder and lightening, we have a lovely conversation with our table mates who live in Florida though they are orginally from other places in the country.

With the rain just about stopped, we head to Expedition:Everest to use our fastpass. We walk the Maharajah Jungle Trek and, by time we exit, it is time to head to the Safari for our fastpass there. There seems to be a shortage of animals on this go through - oh well, sometimes it is just like that. As we exit, I make a fastpass for the last show of the day for Finding Nemo (or so I thought). We walk there and discover that I've actually made a fastpass for The Lion King. Oops!! Cast member asks which I want to attend and I say Finding Nemo. She allows us both through the line (This show is certainly not a "sell out"). By time we exit the show, it is time for our reservation at Tiffin's. We check in and are told our table is not ready so head to the new Nomad Lounge. We find a place to sit outside and order drinks. It is not long before we receive a text indicating our table is waiting for us. This is a pricey, intimate restaurant which is among the quietest I've experienced anywhere in Disney World. We start with a cheese plate which is good. I have the halibut which is excellent and my spouse has the pork tenderloin which also looks excellent and he confirms it is.

Tonight, we are booked for the Disney Vacation Club Animal Kingdom Safari party. After dinner, we locate a site to check in for the party (Dawa Bar) where we are provided with wrist bands and a ticket for a night time safari between 9:30 pm and 10:00 pm as well as a couple of tickets for games in Dinoland which we never use. We head to Tree of Life and watch one of the Awakening shows (We're told there are four versions). Now it is time for our safari so we make our way there. We don't have high hopes for a safari in the dark but, surprisingly, we see quite a number of animals including a cheetah walking around and three lions (two lionesses and one lion) being very active and moving around the rocks of their area of the park. Following that, we head over to Expedition:Everest for a ride in the dark. It is a total walkon. We could have walked around and had several rides in a row had we been so inclined. Heading to Pizzafari (one of the snack locations), my spouse has an ice cream sandwich and several cookies. I select a Mickey Bar. It's already getting late so we head to the bus stop, return to our resort and head directly to bed as it is already around midnight.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Wow, I knew AK was staying open later but not that late

[faline]

Wow, I knew AK was staying open later but not that late

It didn't actually stay open that late for guests. This was a special event for Disney Vacation Club members which started at 9:30 pm. I think the park closed at 9 that night for regular guests.

[Lindslou]

Great to hear you liked Tiffin's! I'm looking forward to trying it. Sounds like a cool DVC event!

[Jeff]

A good day. Thanks for sharing !

[Beach Club Babe]

Sounds like a wonderful day!