Hey, guys! Today, I’m posting the part 2 recap of my Disney trip. On this day, my friend Kat and I went to Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Disney Springs. I hope you enjoy.
Psst. Click Here to read my recap of Day 1
8:00 AM//Alarm Goes Off
I did not have a very good nights sleep the night before because I was FREEZING. I woke up in the middle of the night to put on another layer of clothing because I was so cold.
Kat and I got out of bed soon after the alarm rang and got ready. I quickly packed my bag and drank the protein shake she gave me, knowing we would grab breakfast at the park. We were out the door by 8:30.
8:45 AM//Go To Wal-Mart
If you read my first recap, you know that my memory card got corrupted, so I needed a new one for that day. Kat went off to buy an air mattress (which she didn’t end up finding), while I went to the technology section. After finding a memory card, I bought presents for my three little cousins because I wasn’t able to bring anything from Atlanta. I was only able to bring a personal item on the plane, so no carry on luggage for me.
(I’ll talk about how I got plane tickets for under $100 the weekend before Thanksgiving in my next post.)
9:30 AM//Arrive At Hollywood Studios
We arrived at Hollywood Studios at around 9:30. The parking situation isn’t as insane as it is at Magic Kingdom, so we only had to take a trolly to the actual park. In fact, at the end of the day, we just walked back to the car instead of waiting for a ride because the parking lot is so “small”. (Smaller than the others’ at least)
We arrived during the Star Wars March Of The First Order Parade, so we watched that before exploring the Park.
9:45 AM//Wander Around, Rides, & Mickey Pretzels
Hollywood Studios doesn’t have a lot going on right now because they’re in the process of building Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land. They’ve closed down a lot of other attractions, so we walked through most of the part that morning. We went over to Rock N’Roller Coaster, took a bunch of pictures on the way, and grabbed Mickey Pretzels for breakfast outside of Toy Story Mania.
Since both of us had seen all of the shows at Hollywood Studios, we decided not to schedule them for our day, since I wanted to go see Pandora at Animal Kingdom more. The only show we planned on seeing was the Frozen show because we had heard that Disney had added to it for the holidays.
11:00 AM//Frozen Sing-Along Show
The title of the show is cheesy, but it’s friggin hilarious. I remember the first time I saw this show two and a half years ago. I laughed so hard and it still makes me laugh after rewatching it three times since then. When I went last November, it was right before the release of Coco and the Olaf’s Frozen Adventure short was released. The holiday special of the show included performances of the four new songs, which weren’t out yet. I really enjoyed it and the scenes they added in between the songs were so funny (as expected). I got super excited for the (albeit way too long) short.
11:30 AM//Head To Animal Kingdom
Kat and I had planned for Frozen to be our last attraction before heading over to Animal Kingdom. There isn’t a monorail in between those parks, so we had to wait for a shuttle bus. The wait was a lot longer and it was really sunny, but the shuttle eventually came.
12:15 PM//Arrive At Animal Kingdom
We arrived at Animal Kingdom at around 12:15. Contrary to popular belief, this is actually the largest Disney Park. It’s totally underrated, but now that the World of Pandora has opened, it has gotten much more popular and way more crowded.
Once we got to the park, we walked through a lot of the jungle areas and I took a bunch of photos. I taught Kat how to use my DSLR and she got really good over the weekend. She took all the pictures I’m in alone (with some help setting up the shots). We also took a picture together in front of the Tree Of Life, fulfilling our goal of taking a picture in front of all four iconic Disney landmarks.
After walking around, taking pictures, and looking at the animals, we got in line to meet Pocahontas, who is my favorite Disney Princess if you couldn’t tell by the ears I was wearing.
1:00 PM//Meet Pocahontas
The line to meet Pocahontas wasn’t that bad, but it still took awhile. (At least 20 minutes). I’m not super into character meet and greets, but I decided to do this one for this trip because I knew that I would never wait in line for them if I were with my family. The cast member in the line gave me the idea to get the back of my ears signed by her. That was such a great idea!
The woman playing her was super nice and told me what the tattoo means in the movies.
1:15 PM//It’s Tough To Be A Bug + Dinoland
After meeting Pocahontas, Kat and I headed to It’s Tough To Be A Bug, which is the Bugs Life show inside of the tree of life. We were able to see the carvings on the tree up close. The details on the animal carvings were incredible.
After It’s Tough To Be A Bug, we went over to Dinoland to ride Primeval Whirl, which is a spinning roller coaster. After hanging out in Dinoland for awhile, we felt hungry, so we walked around in search of something to eat.
3:20 PM//Lunch
For lunch, I had baked mac-and-cheese and I don’t remember what Kat ate. We were hungry, so I didn’t bother to take a picture of our food. We just dug in. We found a really nice spot to sit by the lake across from Expedition Everest. There was a cool breeze and there were birds everywhere. I took a picture of our view below. (After eating of course. My priorities are straight!)
At the end of lunch, Kat snagged a last minute FastPass to Kilimanjaro Safaris. When she asked me if I wanted to switch one of our passes, I said, “Yes!!!” because what’s the point of going to Animal Kingdom if you’re not going to look at animals!
4:00 PM//Kilimanjaro Safari
We ran on over from lunch and sped through the Fastpass line. We were lucky because we saw a lot of animals on our safari. The animals roam free around the animal reserve, not kept in cages, so you’re not guaranteed to see a lot of animals.
I really wished I had packed my zoom lens for this because there were so many great photo opportunities. I didn’t guilt myself too much because I knew I didn’t have room in my luggage and wouldn’t want to carry an extra heavy lens inside my park bag.
A baby elephant was born a few months before and we were able to find it while sitting in the safari vehicle. It was so cute! (We also saw lions, some giraffe, and lots of other creatures.) The guide was very knowledgeable, so we were never bored.
5:40 PM//World Of Pandora
After the Safari, we headed to the famous Pandora: The World Of Avatar. We had a FastPass for Navii River Journey. We didn’t go on Flight of Passage which is the main ride there. There was a 3-hour line. I was not about to go on there without a FastPass. I’ll ride it next time. (Kat says it’s like Soarin’ on steroids)
Navii River Journey was beautiful, but I don’t recommend it unless you have a FastPass because the long lines aren’t worth it. I’m sure Flight of Passage is from what I have heard.
6:00 PM//The Lion King Show
This is my favorite live show at Animal Kingdom. The effects and acrobatics are great. It’s almost as good as the Broadway show. (I’ve seen both.) It’s just shorter and doesn’t retell the whole Lion King story.
6:30 PM//Expedition Everest
I think this is hands down the scariest roller coaster in Disney, simply because you can see how high above you are compared to other Disney roller coasters where you can actually see the ground or are in pitch darkness.
Kat and I got into the single rider line for this because there was only a 25 minute wait time and we didn’t mind being in different carts. It was almost pitch black already, so the ride didn’t feel as scary as it could’ve been, but I still loved it. (I enjoy roller coasters but refuse to go on the ones that flip upside down)
7:00 PM//Tree Of Life Projection Show
This was something that Animal Kingdom added recently. It’s a short projection show on the tree that starts at six and repeats every ten minutes until the park closes. Kat and I found a spot to sit on the ground to watch it. It was a nice way to rest before heading back to Hollywood Studios.
7:30 PM//Head Back To Hollywood Studios
The shuttle ride back to Hollywood Studios didn’t take long and we didn’t have to wait too long at the bus stop. I took off my shoes to massage my feet because they were hurting after two days of constant walking.
8:15 PM//Relax + Watch Toy Story Projection Show
I wanted to ride another ride before heading to Fantasmic, but Kat said that we didn’t have time to do that and get good seats for the show (It fills up pretty fast), so we strolled around and window shopped. Apparently, Disney is getting really into projection shows (not that I’m complaining) because they added a Toy Story themed one on the Tower of Terror. It was really cool.
After watching the show, we strolled around some of the shops and ended up playing a Disney Themed Heads Up Game on Kat’s phone. That was a lot of fun.
While we were hanging out we checked the My Disney Experience App to check out the wait times at Animal Kingdom. The line for Flight of Passage was almost four hours at that point, while the other attractions there had a 15-minute or less wait time. We calculated that you could go on every other ride at Animal Kingdom in less time than the Avatar line. That’s just insane.
9:00 PM//Fantasmic!!!
Kat and I started entering the stadium at 8:40. The stadium was packed, but we ended up getting really good seats.
Fantasmic is my all-time favorite Disney night show. There’s fireworks, projections, giant animatronics, live actors, pyrotechnics…..there’s a lot going on at once. It’s amazing! I love how different it is. We came back to Hollywood Studios specifically for this show. It was worth going back to watch it instead of driving and spending the night at Animal Kingdom.
9:30 PM//Show Finished & Head To Car
After the show, we headed back to the car deciding not to stay for the Star Wars fireworks. We didn’t feel like waiting for the trolly to take us to Kat’s car, so we just walked to it because the parking lot isn’t insanely huge like it is at Magic Kingdom.
Since the night was still young, we headed over to Downtown Disney for dinner.
10:00 PM//Downtown Disney + Christmas Tree Trail
I know that the one in Florida has been renamed Disney Springs, but it will always be Downtown Disney to me. Anyway, Disney Springs set up a long trail of Disney themed Christmas trees. They went completely all out for them. My favorites were the Lilo and Stitch tree and the Mulan tree.
10:30 PM//Dinner At Aristocrepes
I was attracted to this restaurant the moment I heard its name. I mean ARISTOCREPES! That’st the coolest name I’ve ever heard. And I am not ashamed to say that Kat and I got dessert crepes for dinner. We have no regrets.
We got a Nutella Banana Crepe and a Smores Crepe. We just handed them back and forth to each other while looking out at the lake at Disney Springs. It was a nice cool night and the food was delicious. (the company was great too).
11:00 PM//Meet Kat’s Coworkers & Windowshopping
Kat worked at Disney Springs for the Disney College Program last semester, so I was introduced to a lot of them while we walked around. They were all really nice.
Disney is the best place to window shop because they have the coolest merchandise. We walked around the big World Of Disney store to look at all the jewelry, clothing, stuffed animals, music boxes…everything. We didn’t buy anything. It was just fun to look around and talk.
11:30 PM//Trying On Pinup Style Dresses
Kat had gushed to me about a 50s style dress boutique the day before, so she took me there to look around. All the pinup dresses were subtly Disney themed and I loved it. I ended up trying on two of them in the dressing room. My favorite was the bluish-purple haunted mansion styled one pictured below. I didn’t buy anything because the dresses were rather expensive and I had no event to wear those dresses anyway, but it was still a lot of fun to dress up.
12:00 PM//Head Back Home
By midnight, my feet were killing me and I was exhausted. I was ready to get home.
12:15 PM//Arrive Back At My Aunt’s House
After arriving back at my aunt’s house, I said hi to everyone. They had been at Epcot that day, so they were exhausted, too. I watched the Casper movie with my cousins for a bit before heading upstairs to take a shower and go to sleep.
I slept till noon the next day.
Well, that’s my Walt Disney World Trip Recap. I hope you’ve enjoyed. There will be one final post about this trip on Wednesday, then I’ll start writing about my trip to Bangladesh. I’ll see you then!
Have you ever been to Disney World? What’s your favorite attraction?