It was getting pretty close to time for our Flight of Passage FastPass (which is like *the* pass to have, as wait times are always more than an hour, and often more than two). We'd promised Mal he could play at the dino dig, so we headed in that direction. We'd actually had FastPasses for Expedition Everest, as I mentioned in the last post, but guess what? It was down, for some reason. They gave us blanket FastPasses for the rest of the day, but we were so busy, we didn't get to take advantage of them. We really didn't have time to do them, anyway, after I'd pushed back our lunch time.
We ended up not seeing a lot of stuff, including the trail in Asia, but it was better to do a shorter day, because by the end of the day, Mal was falling apart and I got my first "old lady" ankle rashes from walking in the heat! Huzzah!
Mal liked the playground and dig, and we got into Pandora in plenty of time to find out where stuff was (there are no signs; it's supposed to look like a natural planet, and signs would muck it up).
I rode Flight of Passage while James and Mal rode Na'vi River Journey. Everyone talks about how awesome Flight of Passage is, and they're not kidding. It was fantastic. The closest thing I can compare it to is Soarin', but on steroids. It's 3D, and you're astride a banshee. You can even feel the banshee breathing. The scenery is bonkers. So beautiful. I was crying a lot of the time on the ride, and for a bit after.
Mal and I explored Pandora while James did rider swap to experience Flight of Passage, then we headed over to Lion King. It wasn't seating yet, so we went back through the Gorilla Falls Trail to see the hippo, which we'd missed before. It was totally worth it! We'd noticed the fish in the pool the first time, but not the hippo. He was right there!
We ended up getting back RIGHT as the Lion King started, but they let us go in. We made it through 2/3 of the show before Mal had to go to the bathroom. He really liked the tumble-monkeys, though!
The last thing we did was to go on the safari. We got to see two female lions in a kerfuffle, which the driver said he'd never seen before, and the sun was just going down, so it was beautiful. On our way out, we walked through Pandora, which was getting lit up for the night. Even the sidewalks glow. I took the opportunity to get a Pandora sunset beverage, too.
The we boarded the bus for the ride back to the resort.
Over the past few days, I've pondered a few things:
1) HOW DO INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBERS WHO COVER DISNEY LOOK SO GOOD?! We step out the door for three minutes and I'm melting. Now, granted, I haven't properly fixed my hair since Mal was born, but here, I'm just getting it up off of my neck because it's so dang hot! Forget full makeup (another thing I don't really do, anyway) and a sleek long hairstyle. Not happening. Also, there have been plenty of people I've seen in heels and ornate outfits. IT'S 400 DEGREES! HOW?!
2) So is Disney just this busy now?? One of my favorite things about being at Disney has always been meandering around, enjoying the view. We've found a few pockets of places to do that, but overall, we have to keep on the move because there are SO MANY PEOPLE. This is the slowest time of the year now, which is why I tried a summer trip at all (every other time I've been to Florida as an adult, it's been in January, but they have the marathon now and it's apparently busy in January, too). I have memories of getting right on a bus and going, and now almost every bus is packed, and we've almost had to wait for a second bus, before a last-minute sardine situation. It's a lot of people to handle. I'm glad we picked a quiet resort.
3) Thank God we're on Free Dining. We would probably have eaten at all of the same places (except maybe Jiko) and it would have been VERY expensive. Most of our table-service meals have been about $145 before tip. And we're doing one of those every day. If we weren't on the dining plan, we probably wouldn't be getting dessert and fancy drinks, but it would still be in the $100 range. Then $4-8 here and there for snacks throughout the day, $12ish for adult fast-service meals, etc. $$$$$$
4) I'm old. In the past, I've LOVED seeing me in my Disney pics. "Oh, look how cute I am in France!" Now, I'm having to just say, "Welp, there I am. Someday I'll cherish these pictures." Plus, the ankle thing. My mom used to get that, and, you know, your parents are old people. I had a child when I was ancient, and although I've never gotten the "are you the grandma?" question yet, I feel like it's right around the corner. Sigh.
5) Bonus observation: Why do people like Havianas? I got a really cheap pair from the Disney website, and they're cute, but they're heavy and slippery and super uncomfortable to wear. That said, I'm wearing them today because my feet need a break from my other shoes, but they are HORRIBLE. Are all Havianas like that?
6) Disney PhotoPass is cool, and I love Memory Maker and all... but you either have to download ALL of your pictures or do one at a time, which involves clicking on the picture, clicking "download" clicking "okay" then at some point going to the download area and actually downloading it So the latter is cumbersome, but the former results in the generation of multiple large zipped files that you then have to download and extract, and you can't tell in advance which pictures are the ones you already have until you've downloaded them. And the wifi in the resort is, well, typical public wifi. Why can't they give you the option to "download new" or "download pictures from this date"?
7) The cast members are so great with kids. It becomes contagious and a lot of guests are, too. Also, the Mousekeepers in our area have been so good juggling our coming and going. There have been times, on cruises and other hotels, where I felt pressured to get out to accommodate housekeeping, or just to tell them "don't worry about it." Here, if you're in your room, they move on and come back. It's great for families who aren't the "out the door at sunrise, back after dinner" kind of people. Which I used to be. But not anymore. We've just had extremely positive interactions with pretty much everyone we've encountered.
8) Parents can get pretty tightly-wound when they've spent a lot of money on vacation and their kids are not following the program. Some of these moments have hurt James's an my hearts. Yesterday, he overheard a lady tearing into her little kid in the lobby of our hotel. When we were going into Enchanted Tales with Belle and a probably 8-year-old girl was sobbing because of the magic mirror scene, her mom leaned over and said, "You are TOO OLD FOR THIS." I wanted to hug that little girl so bad. Now, I have definitely "gotten onto" Mal a couple of times, but that's when he was acting crazy and at risk of hurting someone else, or when he was being a jerk in the kids' club and saying, "I don't want anyone else to be here." And then, I mostly just offered to take him back to the room where he could be alone.
I get it. It's hard. Like yesterday morning, we were taking it easy, and Mal suddenly put on his shoes and said, "Let's go somewhere!" We were not ready to leave for the day, so I asked him if he wanted to come with me to get breakfast. He said, "No, I want to go somewhere. I'll get my stroller." I told him I was going to get us breakfast, and that I needed some tape for my blisters, and he could go with me. He said, "I'm just going to get my stroller, and we can go." I reminded him we weren't leaving yet, and asked him if he wanted to stay and play with James while I got some stuff done. But he didn't. He didn't want to stay, and he didn't want to do what I was doing. He wanted to get his stroller and GO. I finally just left, and could hear him crying in the hallway.
So I turned around. I offered to take him with me in the stroller, and that seemed to make him happy. I pushed him down to the lobby, we went into the gift shop where I let him pick out some candy (I KNOW; we have lots!), and then we went to get breakfast. That was all it took to make him feel better, and when we got back up to the room, he was ready to hang out for a few before we left for the day's adventure. We keep telling ourselves "It's his vacation, too." And D's. That's why D isn't here. By choice. Not my preference. But it's not just a vacation for the grown-ups. I wish we were all better about remembering that.
And as tired and overstimulated as we are, the kids are more so! That's one reason we're trying to build in down time every day. Once again, I changed our plans for today. We were supposed to get into Hollywood Studios around 2:30 for lunch, but I pushed it back to 4:30. We'll end up doing way less, but we have tickets for the dessert party before the fireworks, so we need to make it until 9!
I guess that's it for now! Reminder that the pictures are here. Yesterday's photos should be up soon; they stopped uploading last night, so I'm having to babysit them this morning.
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