A very Star Wars-esque sunrise over Central Florida around 6:30am.
Our condo pool, not getting a lot of heavy traffic this early in the day.
We got around pretty quickly this morning, as we were eager to get our day started at the parks. We had a lot on our plate for today - Animal Kingdom first, followed by Magic Kingdom - so we wanted to be out of the condo by 7:30am in order to get to the parks as early as humanly possible to get in line early for the high-demand rides.
Not surprisingly, a shit-load of people had the same idea as us, which was to be expected - everyone wants to get a jump start on their day down here.
Always remember where you park, folks.
It was going to be warm today (you know, 'cause Florida), but fortunately not nearly as hot as it had been earlier in the week.
The front entrance to Animal Kingdom. We neglected to get a pic in front of this sign with the girls, like we always do, as neither one was really feeling it this morning, so we didn't push it. God knows we'd be taking plenty of pictures throughout the day.
Lines to get it in weren't terrible, we breezed through in about five minutes.
8:00am - heading towards the Pandora section of the park.
The Tree of Life (. . . but not really, it's fake.)
Once reaching Pandora, we immediately jumped in line for the park's most popular ride, Flight of Passage, which had a Stand-By wait time of 90 minutes (not crazy at all, considering the wait time for this ride can usually run a few hours.) After standing in line for a couple of minutes, I checked the Disney World park app and saw that the Stand-By wait time for Expedition Everest - a ride that both girls really wanted to do - was only 5 minutes (it usually is like 110 minutes, thereabouts.) I told Kris that I'd take the girls across the park and knock that one out of the way real quick while she saved our spot in line. She wasn't happy about it, but reluctantly went along with our plan.
The girls and I left a not-that-pleased Kris in Pandora and set off through Africa, which was the shortest route back over to Asia, where Expedition Everest is.
We checked this out with the Voigts back in 2019. It was pretty lame.
East Africa (According to Disney.)
Mount Everest rising in the distance.
Entering Asia.
I don't think folks actually use these boats.
Kris started texting me about five minutes after we left, saying how she was starting to get second thoughts about us knocking out a ride while she saved us a spot in line. Apparently that's something people frown upon in Disney parks, and she said she'd feel guilty allowing us to cut back into line while folks all around her were waiting in line patiently where their own whiny children. I didn't see the logic in people not doing what I was doing, it didn't make any sense to me.
I tried convincing her that it was fine, that we'd be back in time to catch up with her before the queue entered indoors where we couldn't rendezvous with her, but she was far from convinced.
What is the purpose of this overly-decorated truck - is it a food truck?
Approaching the ride, finally. It only took us ten minutes to make our way across the entirety of the park at a brisk pace with two kids in tow. We made awesome time.
Entering the queue at Expedition Everest. . .
There was practically no one in line for this ride, we really lucked out.
Disney does such a good job with making the queue space for these lines so immersive - a crazy amount of detail they put into even the smallest things. . .
Ready to roll. I broke out the GoPro for this one, check it out. . .
Not my favorite ride, but the kids sure loved it. This was the ride Abby wanted to do the most, so I'm glad we were able to get it taken care of so frickin' quickly. . .
About a half hour later. When we got off the ride, I checked my phone and saw that Kris had exited the line, much to my dismay, due to a her conscious getting the better of her. We met her outside of Pandora land (for lack of better term) as she was walking over to find us, and jumped back into the line for Flight of Passage, now two hours long. You can imagine how happy I was.
Had we stuck to my plan, we would've been half-way through the line already. Not that I Hough'd out over it at all. . .
The kids didn't mind waiting, at least - the Wi-Fi was good, so they both just streamed episodes of Stranger Things off Netflix while they stood around waiting.
The decor around this Pandora section of the park is pretty incredible. . .
Surprisingly, the line moved faster than anticipated, so the wait wasn't too bad.
In their own little world, not appreciating the other-worldly scenery around them.
They do a good job of making the place look like an alien planet, that's for sure.
Kris and the girls, waiting in line (still.)
The ride itself is deep within this mountain structure here, but the line snakes back and forth for miles throughout Pandora (underneath those floating mountain-thingies.)
Abby, on Netflix.
(I really wanted to climb this.)
About an hour into the line at this point.
Not sure what this is, but it looked like an overturned cornucopia.
Heading into the mountain caverns, and out of the Florida sun.
The majority of our wait was outside, so we were excited to be getting (closer) to the end of our wait in line.
Graffiti on the cave walls.
Kris at one point pulled a few protein bars out of her bag for the girls, and I noticed Alayna starting to sway a bit. She was fumbling with the bar wrapper, but her fingers weren't working. She began mumbling something and then started to drop, but fortunately I was standing right next to her and was able to grab her before she brained herself against one of the rock walls. Kris started panicking, and a lot of other moms - hearing the universal 'bat signal' of another mom in distress, came forward and began offering snacks and waters (both of which we already had.)
Alayna had like grey skin at this point and her lips were blue, and some nice lady behind us let Alayna borrow her pop-up chair/stool to sit up in for a bit. Not sure if she passed out from heat exhaustion or lack of water, but it was pretty crazy (and also a little funny.) Kris made a lot of mom friends in this line, that's for sure.
Thanks to those theatrics, we lost about ten minutes in line (we let a lot of people cut in front of us while we waited off to the side in order to let Alayna recuperate.)
Footage from inside the mountain. . .
Inside the science lab of the fictional mining company - Avatar's principle bad guys - where humans are paired up to Na'vi 'avatars.'
Stuff to check out while you continue to wait in line. . .
A kush ball.
A Na'vi Avatar.
Life-size mural to show you how big these frickin' Na'vi aliens are (they're like 10 feet tall.)
Boarding the simulator.
Video footage of the ride, courtesy of the good people over at YouTube. Like last time, I'm just going to insert video footage of the rides taken by other folks, as their videos are usually pro-level, 4K affairs and therefore turn out better. Not to mention I would rather enjoy the rides while I'm there without having to worry about documenting them with a 1080 phone cam.
Our wait time at Flight of Passage was just under two hours, so - even with Alayna passing out in the queue - we were still under the estimated wait time. This would ultimately be our longest wait of the vacation, by a lot, but at least we knocked that ride off our Bucket List (it was the one Kris wanted to do the most, so she was glad to have it out of the way.)
While we had been standing in line for Flight of Passage, another window opened up for us to reserve another ride via Genie+, so we we decided to lock in Kali River Rapids - a super popular water ride, made all the more popular during Florida's hot(ter) months. Getting off Flight of Passage, we realized we had about a half an hour to get over to Asia.
Checking the park ride wait times on the Disney World app, we saw that the nearby Na'vi River Journey - another Pandora ride, which is more along the lines of Pirates of the Caribbean (a laid back, float-in-a-boat-down-a-river and check out attractions all around you affair) than a thrilling simulator experience, only had a twenty minute wait time. We decided to check this one of our list as well in order to recoup some of our time lost while waiting in line for Flight of Passage. . .
Making a bee-line for the Na'vi River. . .
Entering the queue for Na'Vi River Journey.
It was as if God Himself felt bad for making us wait so long in line for Flight of Passage: even though it said the line was only 20 minutes long, it took us only five minutes to get ride up to the ride (which, for being a new Pandora ride and everything, is practically unheard of.) Being able to squeeze three rides in before noon - and all of them insanely popular rides at Animal Kingdom is beyond impressive, let alone factoring in a two-hour long wait in line. We were on fire.
The Na'vi River Journey (courtesy of YouTube, again.)
Back outside, Abby was getting hangry and the girls were definitely exhausted. . .
Kris rallies the troops, promising them lunch once we do our reserved water ride (which they were excited about, seeing how it was getting pretty warm out by this point in time.)
A seemingly pleasant picture of a dad posing with his two girls in front of a giant, fake-ass tree. What this picture doesn't tell you is that I had to chew out Abby literally seconds before this picture was taken because she was acting like spoiled frickin' toddler diva. I love family vacations.
Back into Asia. Again.
No monkeys, once again (you can usually spot them all over the place here, but maybe it was too hot in the day for them at this point.)
A lot busier now then when the girls and I passed through here three hours prior. . .
Due to the watery nature of the ride, we stowed all of our gear inside complimentary storage lockers (you hear that, Aquatica? COMPLIMENTARY) in order to keep them safe and dry.
Entering the FastPass Lane (or whatever they're calling it these days) at Kali River Rapids. . .
The only thing I brought with me into this queue and ride was my GoPro (didn't want to ruin my SLR or phone), so all the pics and video are from that (hence the audio, which is muffled due to the waterproof case.)
Crazy-ass Bollywood movie posters from the '70s (I assume.)
Getting situated in the Ring of Death. . .
I apologize for the low res of this one - I recorded like a 3-minute video while we were on the ride (which turned out pretty good), and the only way Blogger would allow it was if I compressed it all to Hell.
Exiting the much-shorter-than-expected - but very, very refreshing - Kali River Rapids.
Filling up water bottles and loading back up our gear from the storage lockers.
While we did so, Kris placed a pick-up order for us at the Pandora restaurant (her favorite place to eat at Animal Kingdom.) This walking all the way back from Asia to Pandora (my fourth or fifth time traversing the entirety of the park by this point in the day), but I enjoy the food there as well (plus you can order a beer there, too, which never hurts.)
Entering Discovery Island - the central hub of the park.
Kids were running on fumes at this point, but morale was still pretty high - we were riding on the success of our morning's Plan of Attack.
Gaaaaaaay. . .
We had to stand outside and wait for a table to open up, which took about ten minutes, but having our order ready for pick up expedited us to the front of the line waiting outside (it was now 12:30 - peak lunch time rush hour.)
Abby's food - noodles, chicken, and boba nonsense. Everything on the menu is like a mix-and-match of options (choose a meat, choose a carb, choose a topping, etc.)
Alayna's option - the same as Abby's, but with rice and beans.
I went with a shrimp salad, and a strong dark ale (that, of course, was Pandora themed.)
Enjoying some food, some cold drinks (mine especially), and a lengthy rest in air conditioning. . .
My roommates in front of a mech battle suit.
More Pandora waterfalls. . .
The Houghs
We didn't feel like devoting too much more time at Animal Kingdom at this point - there weren't any other major attractions the kids wanted to check out, but we all agreed that we should at least pop into Africa for a bit, if only to take some pictures and duck into a few shops.
Along the way, Yours Truly discovered some giant-ass drums that needed some beating. . .
Still got it, folks.
Kris and her damn selfies.
Abby and Alayna
I certainly do take a lot of pictures of these floating mountains from Avatar. . .
Heading from Pandora into Africa. . .
The girls made an impulse stop off at this African souvenir kiosk in order to get some henna done (which, you know, is NOT a complete waste of money by any means. . .)
Shitty ol' East Africa.
While Kris hung back with the girls to get some henna done, I made my way into Africa's main drag in order to duck into a few souvenir stores. . .
(I could do this too, I just don't wanna.)
Inside the main Africa souvenir store, which used to be a lot cooler, but now - like so many stores around the different Disney stores - it has become a way to tie-in merchandise from Disney films (this store, being in Africa and everything, had Lion King shit everywhere.) Really disappointing, as I always liked shopping at these parks a decade or so ago - now I barely buy any souvenirs when we go on these vacations. I would have purchased these decorative iron swords on the wall if they weren't just items used for decor. . .
Meanwhile, back at the henna joint, Alayna is getting all quasi-tatted up. . .
Then Abby's turn. Henna is a great idea for a souvenir if you feel like over-paying for something not 100% waterproof that will fade entirely in 5 - 7 days.
Back out on them hot African streets. Surprisingly not covered in black, plastic bags and reeking of urine.
This fat kid posed for a picture with this definitely-under-paid musician. So here you go, America.
The Cannonball shows off her street art.
Abby's monkey tat.
We always have to get one of these pics of Alayna whenever we pass by these gates. . . as you can see.
Making our way towards the front entrance of the park. . .
Back in the Animal Kingdom parking lot - hot urban sprawl in a nutshell. Concrete baking in 110 degree weather, cars as far as the eye can see. I do not miss Central Florida.
I know they're just people movers, but I appreciate the holy hell out of these things. Sure beats walking your ass the five miles from your car to the park entrance.
Rolling into the Magic Kingdom parking lot, around 2:20pm - not too bad, if I say so myself.
HOUGHS - ASSEMBLE
Setting off towards the Monorail Station. . .
I do enjoy me a good people mover, and the pinnacle of people-moving technology is without a doubt the almighty Monorail.
Look at all the fun the Cannonball is having. . .
Fortunately for us, lines were next to nothing - seeing how it was the middle of the day and everything - so we were able to board a monorail train almost immediately.
Departure for Magic Kingdom. . .
Tired, sweaty kids. Still in high spirits, but definitely exhausted (we had criss-crossed the entirety of Animal Kingdom quite a few times, and were each in the tens of thousands of steps.)
Space Mountain. Abby's top pick for the day was Expedition Everest. Kris' was Flight of Passage. Mine was (obviously) Haunted Mansion. And the Cannonball's, hers was Space Mountain. . .
Exiting into the Monorail Station.
Thanks, sign.
Again, there was practically no line walking in to the park, and we were able to scan our Park-Hopper Passes that the Voigts gifted us without issue (I know there wouldn't be, but I always get nervous anyway.)
Kris wanted a pic of us in front of the park entrance. She needs to work on framing these shots of hers.
In her defense there was a professional Disney photographer who was also taking our picture in front of the stuff, and she stood off to the side trying to be inconspicuous.
Entering Main Street U.S.A. (or whatever you call that square that Main Street empties out into.)
A bunch of under-paid cast members perform in the 90-degree weather wearing 60-lb character suits. Pray for the souls of these poor people.
Couple a chicks on their phones, waiting for Abby to finish using the restroom before we head further into the park.
Fancy bathrooms around these parts. . .
Finally ready to hit the road.
The traffic on Main Street certainly bottlenecks, but that's why God invented elbows and swear words, folks.
Cinderella's Castle, painted all pink and weird for Disney World's50th Birthday (er, Anniversary. . . whatever you wanna call it.)
This vacation's obligatory Picture in Front of the Castle. You're welcome.
Around 3:00pm, heading into Adventureland under perilous-looking clouds. . .
A bad storm had followed us into Magic Kingdom, and although nearby areas were getting a downpour, the rain hadn't hit us quite yet, but it was looking like it would at any time.
Throughout the course of the late morning and early afternoon, after we had locked in our Animal Kingdom rides on Genie+ but were still at Animal Kingdom, whenever the opportunity arose to book more rides, we started booking our desired rides at Magic Kingdom. This ended up being an incredibly smart move on our part, because the incoming storm was about to severely mess with all the park's Wait Times. . .
The Jungle Cruise, which, being an outdoor ride and everything, was closed due to far off thunder in the distance. Any time they hear thunder at a Disney Park they automatically lock down all the outdoor rides. And at Magic Kingdom, this is quite a lot of them.
Fool me once, Enchanted Tiki Room, shame on you. . .
We had decided to hit up Pirates of the Caribbean first, as we had already booked Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion for later on in the late evening and had those locked in. Unfortunately, with all the outdoor rides closed due to the inclement weather, all the indoor rides - like Pirates of the Caribbean - had insanely long wait times. We were kinda like, 'well, we want to do this anyway and can't ride anything else until 4:45, we might as well wait indoors for this one since the wait times are gonna be like this everywhere right now. . .'
I've never, in my life, waited longer than 30 minutes for this ride, and usually it's more like 15 minutes. It was surreal seeing the line for this one backed up all the way to the building entrance.
The Stand By Wait Time for Pirates was about an hour, but the line seemed to be moving a lot faster than that. . .
Getting deeper inside the old Spanish fort. . .
The girls were pros at waiting in line by now, so they didn't grumble in the slightest.
A canon, defensively positioned facing a wall.
Still waiting, but getting closer (now in the armory.)
At the end of the super long (but eerily fast-moving) line, we ended up waiting a total of 39 minutes. Which, in hindsight, isn't too bad at all considering the storm had closed half the park and forced all of its patrons into a handful of indoor-only rides.
Behold - my second favorite ride at Magic Kingdom: Pirates of the Caribbean.
Exit through the Gift Shop.
(I think is supposed to be plunder.)
Kris waits patiently for her roommates to finish perusing the souvenir store (which, sadly, didn't have much, like most of the other Disney park shops we frequented over the last few days.)
Kids love phones.
Back outside in Adventureland. . .
Seems kinda dangerous to leave out munitions like this, just lying around for anyone to mess with. But that's none of my business. . .
I was think this is complete bullshit that this 'tavern,' situated right across the thoroughfare from Pirates doesn't serve any alcohol. You can't call a place a 'tavern' unless you serve booze, Disney.
Perilous skies still hung over the park, but the rain had moved north of us and most of the outdoor rides were opening back up.
Some more cloud-heavy shots of Adventureland. . .
We still had a half hour before we had to be at Space Mountain, and it would only take us maybe ten minutes to cross the park to get there, so Kris jumped in line to grab the girls a couple of Dole Whips - a Disney World staple - and the girls and I ducked into this store where they have some seating off to the side.
Waiting for Dole Whips, checking back in with their phones.
The Plan of Attack for the rest of the day. We'd hit these ones up and then plan on squeezing as many short rides in between our reserved times as possible.
Mom returns with the frozen sugar.
After the Dole Whips, we left Adventureland and passed in front of the Castle, where Abby requested a picture of her taken in front of this classic statue of Walt and Mickey.
Entering Tomorrowland.
Time to check Alayna's most desired ride off the list. . .
This walk in was probably the most awkward of the trip. The Stand By Wait Time for this ride was pushing two hours, and, thanks to our Genie+ reservation, we walked past hundreds of sweaty tourists on our walk right up to the ride. You could feel their jealous and angry stares burning into your back as you breezed through the queue. I pitied them not.
We walked right aboard the ride, no wait at all. The Houghs know how to Disney.
Space Mountain
What's odd about this ride is that it only allows three riders at a time - most other Disney rides hold even numbers (two, four, etc.), so I let Kris and the girls take the first one. . .
. . . and that's how I ended up riding Space Mountain with two high school girls. Who were probably not-at-all weirded out to be riding this ride with some creepy, old man.
Exiting through the gift shop. Again.
Back in Tomorrowland.
We opted not to do Speedway this time around - it's a 'meh' attraction at best, and I honestly don't see it being around for very much longer.
The Mad Hatter (we didn't do his ride, either.)
Entering the congestion of Fantasyland. . .
We had little over an hour to kill before our Genie+ reservations at Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and Haunted Mansion (both around 6pm), so we used the Disney World app to track small Wait Times for nearby rides that we could squeeze in. Kris' favorite, PhilharMagic, never has a long wait time, so we made a bee line for that one.
The crowded Carousel.
Kris gets a selfie with Abby in front of this one to send to her friend Courtney, who's a huge Disney park enthusiast who has strangely never been on this one.
A short five-minute wait, nothing too crazy at all.
Prime seats for the show.
A bunch of dorky-looking tourists.
Disney's PhilharMagic
After the show, we saw that It's a Small World only had a Stand-By wait time of 15 minutes, so we convinced the girls to hit that one up.
I will never, ever, understand why this ride always has a 90-120 minute wait time. It is easily one of the worst rides in any Disney World park.
Not that 15 minutes is a long time to wait for a ride, we were pleasantly surprised when our wait was more like 3 minutes. We were definitely lucking out with our wait times today.
It's a Small World. The most annoying song in Disney history.
Rapunzel's neck of the woods.
Time for my all-time favorite Disney ride: The Haunted Mansion.
Always have to get a pic in front of this one. . .
(I wish my house looked like this.)
It'd be cool to get resin reproductions of these headstones to use as outdoor decor during Halloween.
Creepy chandoleers inside, waiting to board the Doom Buggies. . .
The Haunted Mansion
We recreated this one from the last time we were here.
After Haunted Mansion, we had to cut back across Fantasyland in order to hurry back over to Tomorrowland in order to nab our reservation at Buzz Lighyear's Space Ranger Spin - we had about 20 minutes left to take advantage of it.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
This is one of Kris and the girls' favorites - I could skip this one and be fine.
After my shocking loss to Kris at the other Toy Story shooting ride at Hollywood Studios, I was happy that the Universe was once again brought back into balance with my resounding victory on this one.
You're not supposed to take pictures of these, buuuuut. . . screw you, Disney.
Just check out my focus here. Pure talent, captured on camera. Kris didn't stand a chance.
We had, by this point in time, done all the attractions at Magic Kingdom that we had set out to do, and we were all pretty satisfied with our day at this point. It was 7pm, and, while there were other rides that we hadn't done yet, none of us felt like waiting in line for over an hour for them. Right next door in Tomorrowland, however, was this ride, which only had a 5-minute wait time.
It took convincing, but eventually I wore Kris down.
The legendary Carousel of Progress. And yes, it's just as bad as you remember.
The sun begins to go down over Tomorrowland.
The Foot Rub Express. This one oddly had a 30-minute wait time, so we decided to skip it this year. Had it been a short wait, we would've pounced on it. Maybe next time.
We all wanted to hit up the Haunted Mansion gift shop before we made our way towards the park entrance, as we hadn't had time before due to our pressing need to get over to Buzz' ride.
In my opinion, the absolute worst part of the park. Such a bottleneck.
We always drop some money at this one. Alayna bought a $35 fedora that I'm sure she'll never wear, and we picked up some house decor for our Halloween collection.
Took this one for our Lodge to use - 'Memento Mori' is a common phrase used in Freemasonry, so I had to represent.
Exiting by way of Liberty Square. . .
As the sun began to set, the lamps started lighting up.
In the distance, the soon-to-be-redesigned Splash Mountain (you know, 'cause #woke.)
The paddleboat ferry that circumnavigates the waterways around Tom Sawyer's Island (I've only been on it a handful of times.) I honestly can't fathom how Tom Sawyer's Island is still a thing, it's not like kids today know who the hell that is anymore.
Hough girls in stocks.
Main Street USA, starting to fill up for the evening's big fireworks show (that we were not sticking around for - we know how to do this park.)
Attempted to get a night shot of the castle but I was walking, it didn't turn out.
Because the street and sidewalks outside are always crowded at this point, we usually shop our way down Main Street (since all the souvenir stores are all connected and it's easier to navigate through the stores than the outside crowds.)
Thanks, Carousel of Progress. . .
The Train Station, on our way out of the park.
One last shot of the 'downtown' area, all lit up, before we made our way out of the park and up to the Monorail Station. We barely had to wait for one - most folks are dumb and wait until after the firework show before leaving, so the crowds at the station were next to nothing. We easily got aboard the first one and made it back to the rental car in no time at all.
Spotted this one in the parking lot as we got off the Monorail and headed back to the car. Probably the coolest sun protector in existence.
Heading back into the condo, after a long but fun-packed day of Disney parks.
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