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Trip Log:
No alarm but was still up before 7am. Stopped by the Chronos Club for breakfast and then was on my way to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Arrived just after 8am and made my way out to the Safari. After our adventure thought about visiting Gorilla Falls but the gorillas were not available this morning. Spent some time wandering around the park visiting Harambe, Pandora, and Discovery Island. Watched a Winged Encounter show too. Checked the wait times and decided to leave the park just before 11am. Took a bus to Disney’s Boardwalk Resort to take a look around. Walked over to the International Gateway and hopped on the Skyliner to Pop Century. Grabbed something to eat then took the Skyliner over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Still almost an hour until park hopping was allowed so decided to take a bus back to Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and walk around a bit. Waited out the thunderstorms in the room and got packed up for tomorrow and some posts completed.
Thoughts & Observations:
- This morning the Chronos Club alternating day schedule had a variation. There were no regular chocolate chip muffins as expected. It was the same chocolate chocolate chip as the day before.
- Arrived at Disney’s Animal Kingdom around 8am and found security lines were moving but the secondary bag check had a lot of guests and was moving extremely slow. I almost always have to go to the secondary check because of my camera bag. I have tried various ways of holding it and taking items out and out of the several dozen times I went through security during my stay only was waved through twice. Usually it is not a huge delay but at Animal Kingdom today it took a long time due to the number of guests.
- The Kilimanjaro Safari queue moved quickly this morning and was a minimal wait. The safari itself was average, nothing too interesting to report. As I exited I was exiting they had hedge barriers up blocking the view of the gorillas from the exit area. A cast member was there saying the gorillas were not out today and that was about it. At the entrance to Gorilla Falls more cast members were out warning guests that the gorillas were unavailable. A rope was up at the exit too. You could walk in and see the other animals if you choose but would have to come back out the entrance. I overheard one cast member say they were introducing something new and that was why it was closed.
- Spent some time roaming the park since it was still early and we had no where else to go. Strolled through Pandora and found long waits and nothing of interest. Inside some of the stores was a selection of 25th anniversary merchandise. Quite a few options were still available.
- It was only 11am and we had three hours until we could park hop so decided to go visit the Boardwalk. This was our slowest bus of the trip so far as we had to wait. Since we were in no hurry it was ok.
- I was curious to check out the changes to the lobby and ongoing work. The front desk has been altered slightly. They cut two walkways in it so cast members can come out to assist guests easier. The far side that used to be concierge desk is now a seating area for the new coffee shop. A coffee shop has replaced the gift ship. The coffee shop is about as plain as you can get and features some pictures of carousels and other attractions from the parks. It was rather disappointing that it did not match the turn of the century boardwalk theme of the hotel. Outside you could see crews working on renovating rooms on the Inn side of the hotel. Along the boardwalk the Cake Shop project seems to be moving extremely slowly. Very little has been rebuilt. No opening date has been announced but at this pace it may be quite a while.
- We still had several hours so decided to ride the Skyliner for a while. Ended up at Pop Century and decided to grab a bite to eat there. It was quiet with no lines so I decided not use mobile order and just pick up my food and pay as usual. Even with no line by the time I got to a table my french fries were cool. Also the cast member working the register was fairly slow and unfriendly.
- After lunch road the Skyliner over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to catch a bus back to Coronado Springs. The weather forecast called for storms this afternoon so decided to go back and pack vs getting soaked in the parks. The bus showed up but the driver said she was ahead of schedule. We could wait on the bus but she would not be going anywhere for about 10 minutes.
- As predicted several bands of rain rolled through the area. It was nice to be inside a dry hotel room watching it vs in the park. The weather forecast showed it clearing so ventured out in the evening for a couple hours at Epcot. As I approached World Showcase I learned the forecast was wrong as it started to drizzle. Took a boat across to Morocco and as we disembarked it was a light rain. Found some cover to let it pass. The rest of the group grabbed a snack and then left the park via the International Gateway -> Skyliner to DHS -> Bus back to Coronado Springs as they figured that was the least walking and most likely to stay dry. I opted to stay at Epcot.
- Stopped by Impressions de France for the first showing at 7:00pm. There was a good crowd with at least 2/3 the theater full. Not sure if it was because it was the first showing of the evening or to get out of the rain.
- Next up walked quickly to the American Adventure and just barely made it into the 7:30pm show. The main lobby was closed due to an event so you had to walk up the exit ramp to enter as is fairly common for evening performances.
- As I exited the show the rain had let up and the Garden Rocks concert was going on so stopped to watch Jo Dee Mesina again.
- The weather forecast showed no immediate rain so I walked around to the other side of World Showcase and found a spot for Epcot Forever. It started to drizzle again but radar showed no big bands so found a spot with a slight cover near Disney Traders.
- Interesting note after the show Disney Traders was closed and the doors were locked during the show. So no last minute shopping, hiding from the rain or cutting through the store after the show.
- As I was walking toward the park exit the drizzle started to pick up. By the time I reached the topiaries near Creations it had really started to rain so I picked up my pace and went under the overhand of Creations. By the time I reached the other side at Connections it was pouring. Radar showed a mild band passing overhead but moving quickly. So I opted to stay under cover vs getting soaked and watched the thousands of guests pass by and venture out into the downpour. The rain let up and I crowd thinned slightly so moved quickly to be under Spaceship Earth then used the covered walkways to exit the park. Waited for another break and moved quickly to the bus stop. In the end made it back to the hotel being only mildly wet. Not bad to make it to the end of day 7 before rain.
Pedometer Information for the day:
| Steps |
17,952 |
| Miles |
8.22 |
| Walking Time |
2:51 |
Addition Blog Picture Posts from today:
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