Half Way

We've had a fun-filled, busy couple of days!

Tuesday, we took it easy in the morning, went to play in the activity center, and then headed over to Kidani Village, which is another part of the Animal Kingdom Lodge (we're staying in Jambo House). Kidani Village is all Disney Vacation Club rooms, so was built specifically as a DVC property. There are some DVC rooms in our part of the resort, too. In fact, we're staying in one of them, so we have a microwave, which has come in handy a few times already!

First, James and Mal swum while I looked at wildlife. I would have gone swimming, but Mal had insisted earlier in the day that he didn't want to, I think because the first time we went over there, they had to close the pool down due to lightning. Anyway, after they had about an hour out there, we went in for our lunch reservations at Sanaa, a widely-recognized fabulous restaurants. I got an appetizer for my entree, because it's something I've been looking forward to for months: The bread service.

This is Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kucha, and Paneer Paratha. with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chuntey, Garlic Pickle, Red Chile Sambal, or Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle. I think the hummus was my favorite. Or the garlic pickle. But all SO good. Actually, James got to eat the spiced naan and paneer paratha because they were too hot for me.

Our desserts were amazing, but Mal had the most fun with his: a brownie with ice cream, and a paint-your-own-shield cookie.

When we got the bill, I was once again so happy we'd gotten the free dining plan! HOLY COW, the food was amazing... and it was expensive.

We went to check out the community hall at Kidani Village, which is similar to Simba's Cubhouse here, but actually a bit more homey because that's what it was designed for (whereas ours used to be drop-off childcare). They have a pool table, foosball, games, and lots of crafts. Oh! We learned the other morning that we can actually check out board games to play in the room, so that's cool.

After playing, we hopped a bus to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

We got there a bit after 4, and the park was officially opened until 6. We got our wristbands and our first trick-or-treats, then did all of the stuff in Tomorrowland that we hadn't done on our first visit: Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Tomorrowland People Mover (AKA Tomorrowland Transit Authority, AKA Wedway PeopleMover), and Carousel of Progress.

In trying to explain Carousel of Progress to Mal, I'd said it was a stage program that showcased some of the ways technology has improved our lives, but instead of actors, there are Audio-Animatronics, which was basically robots. All he heard was "robot show" and he did NOT want to do it. He ended up enjoying it, and sang the song the rest of the night.

We decided to try our luck with Pirates of the Caribbean and work up to Splash Mountain, as Mal was getting more confident. Both of those rides were closed for technical issues (also, I think Pirates had to make some changes, including adding a live human, for the Halloween party). So, we went over to Haunted Mansion and rode it with a 10 minute wait. That part was fun, because we'd done the FastPass line before, and had missed some of the interactive elements in the main queue.

When we'd gotten to Haunted Mansion, it was 6 o'clock. There was a cast member at the entrance, checking for wristbands. A group of 3 guys came up, and she said, "I'm sorry; if you're not staying for the party, the park is officially closed." They were said, "We have to leave?" She said, "You can go to the shops or restaurants, but the rides are closed." Ha! At first, though, they kind of stepped forward, like, "This is stupid," but they turned around.

Within about 20 minutes, the wait time for Haunted Mansion, necessarily popular for the Halloween Party, was up to 40 minutes! Whew!

After the ride, it rained for about 20 minutes, so we hid out in the Storybook Circus gift shop, which resulted in our spending $25 on an Under the Sea playset Mal "needed." After that, we made a few trick-or-treat stops, and went back to check on the rides. Splash Mountain was running empty logs, but still not open. Pirates of the Caribbean was closed. We decided to do the People Mover in the dark and look around at the lights.

Then we meandered through the Monsters Inc. dance party and marveled at the costumed characters really getting down in the heat! After that, Mal was pretty much done. James wanted to stay for fireworks, but that was still an hour away. I was a little disappointed. There were SO MANY people there, and it was fun to see the costumes and novelty t-shirts, but so many rides were not running, and I'd expected it to be a little less crowded, as this is allegedly the least-busy night of the party this year.

We had gotten to see some pretty stuff, like the darkened castle in the rain.

And the Halloween soundtrack was pretty fun. And we got a LOT of candy.

As we made our way toward the exit, people were lined up a dozen people deep for the parade. We walked through the roped-off area on Main Street until we got to the end, where Mal wanted to go into the candy store, where he picked out a sucker bouquet. He didn't seem to understand our very strong assertion that we were, under no circumstances, paying for candy when we had a backpack full of it.

There are some REALLY cute ear hats. I wish I could buy a pair of them all. James and I need these.

The inside ears make a heart!

We were about to cross to the exit when we heard the announcement of the Headless Horseman. We waited to see him ride through, as there were very few people around the hub at the far end of Main Street, so we were able to get right up to the rope. We decided to hang out for the parade, which had already started at the far end of the park, but took about 20 minutes to get to us. Mal's dream came true when a Cast Member was handing out Mickey-shaped SUCKERS to kids!

The parade was a lot of fun, and after that, Mal and I headed for the bus while James stayed 20 more minutes to watch the fireworks. It ended up being a nice evening, so I'm glad Mal wanted to stop at the candy shop.

Yesterday, we went to Future World at Epcot, and it was GREAT. First, we lounged in the morning. Mal and I went swimming. Then we hopped the bus to Epcot and went to the festival center to see the chocolate sculptures. Here's one:

Yeah. That bored-looking creature is chocolate. We got a drinking chocolate at the Ghirardelli booth, and... have mercy. It was amazing.

Then we went to Club Cool to sample international sodas. As expected, James was not a fan of Beverly. Mal wouldn't try anything, even the really good fruity one from Brazil. Next we rode Living with the Land, then went upstairs for lunch at The Garden Grill, a rotating restaurant that looks into some of the scenes from Living with the Land. Oh, it also has characters! Farmer Mickey, Pluto, and Chip and Dale all visited us while we enjoyed family-style food, some of which was grown downstairs in the greenhouses!

We did Soarin' next, and Mal was ready to ride something by that point. Unfortunately, the initial swooping action freaked him out. I showed him how to look down to see the sides of the screen, and that helped. But when we got off, he said, "I'm not going to look that way. It makes me think I'm flying!"

Fortunately, The Seas with Nemo and Friends is a slow-mover, so after that and Journey into Imagination, he was okay with rides again. We explored both of those pavilions, and got a couple of drink flights from The Light Lab, then went to the playground, which Mal remembered from our first day at Epcot and had been asking to do all day.

Oh, a kind of cool thing: We'd made a couple of FastPasses for the time in Magic Kingdom before the Halloween party. One of them was Buzz Lightyear, and the other was for Goofy's Barnstormer, a ride I thought maybe Mal would be ready for, but we didn't even try because he just isn't. The following morning, I realized that something had happened and they'd had to cancel the FastPass, so they'd issued us a blanket one from 5:30 - 9:00 PM that night or the next (which was last night).

The way FastPasses work at Epcot is that you can only make one "Tier 1" FastPass per day, and both Soarin' and Test Track are among the Tier 1 FastPasses. I'd chosen the one we could all ride, as I knew Test Track would be too much for Mal. And although you CAN make any FastPass you want once you've used your first 3, the ones for the Tier 1 rides are typically gone by then.

SO, we were able to use that throw-away pass I'd made to ride Test Track! James did it while Mal played on the playground, but then Mal was just ready to go home. We were going to let James and Mal leave early, but it started raining and they shut down the ride. Test Track had been closed for refurbishment the last time I was here, so I'd never ridden it. Oh well. We decided to hit Spaceship Earth and call it a day.

Mal was put off by the "spaceship" part, but then realized it was a slow ride and... fell asleep. It's a long ride, like 12 minutes, and Mal snoozed the whole time. When we got off of that, it wasn't raining anymore. James took Mal home, which was fun because Mal got to ride the scooter with Daddy! I got to ride Test Track, finally! And I got to see the park lit up after dark.

We have 2 more park days. Today is Animal Kingdom, and tomorrow Hollywood Studios. I changed today's plans so much. We were supposed to be in the park... right now. At 9 AM, when it opens. But seeing how well things have gone playing it slow in the mornings, and seeing how freaking exhausting the heat was the one day we got up early and went in at rope-drop, I was skeptical that we could make it through to dark, which we definitely want to do at Animal Kingdom.

So I changed our FastPasses around and we're having lunch at 2:30 instead of 11, and will probably stay here at the resort until noon or so, then meander over. Now I'm getting dressed and going to the lobby to see what's up today. Have a good one!