Once I’d taken enough tiger pictures, I headed for Everest, with a quick stop at the monkeys. When I was here 10 ½ years ago (I can’t believe it’s been that long either) with Mercedes, it was made quite clear that she LOVES monkeys. So I stopped and watched them for a few minutes, reminiscing a bit. That’s still my favorite Disney trip ever.
Monkeys observed, I was pretty sure I had just enough time to ride Everest, before heading for Festival of the Lion King. And I was right. The single rider line was so short, I barely had time to stuff my hat, sunglasses, and cell phone in my backpack before I was being directed to follow a group of 3. As luck would have it, 2 members of that group of 3 didn’t want the very front row, so the opening for me was in the front row. SWEET!
Everest conquered, it was time to head back to Africa, to see about getting into the Festival of the Lion King show. I got there about 10:35 for the 11:00 show. I managed to find a spot in the queue in the shade, near a fan (wicked bonus points!), and spent my wait texting. During this texting spree, I found out that it was definite that I would get to hang out with Eric this afternoon. Considering schedules haven’t aligned since my last solo Disney trip 3 years ago, this was very exciting.
The wait passed quickly, and pretty soon, I was being directed to a row in the giraffe section. Proving once again that Animal Kingdom is winning at crowd control, the CMs were managing seating, directing people to rows based on party size. If anyone had told me in advance that that was happening, I would have groaned, thinking it would take everyone forever to get seated. But they had a small army of CMs doing this, and they all meant business. The CMs in my section were so skilled that we didn’t even have to play the “slide to the right” game!
Festival of the Lion King was awesome, even though some of the big 4 that do the singing and start the show were definitely not the a-listers. I love this show. The performers always look like they’re having a blast, every show I notice new details, and as a special educator, I’m not going to lie, I love seeing the performers not even think twice about including kiddos in wheelchairs in the parade like thing right before the finale. This show is just totally Disney.
When the show ended, I headed for the park exit, with “Just Can’t Wait to be King” playing through my head. Time to switch parks because, most importantly, it was time for food, and neither pizza or barbecue sounded good today.
As I worked my way to the bus stop, I was pleasantly surprised to see that, while still swollen, my ankle was not nearly as swollen as previous days. As an added bonus, it didn’t really hurt. Huge progress!
I don’t think I had to wait very long for a bus to the Magic Kingdom. It was time to conquer the attractions I didn’t get to Friday when my ankle cut the morning short. Only one day left, and, over the years, I’ve learned my lesson and refuse to set foot in the Magic Kingdom on Mondays.
While the wait for the bus was relatively short, the bus ride itself was not. That road construction was REALLY a nuisance!
Upon arrival at the Magic Kingdom, I got a text from Eric that he was on his way, but not to wait for him to eat. So, once I made it through security, I stopped in the Main Street Confectionary for a bottle of water, because I was NOT going to make it to a lunch spot without more water, and then worked my way into the park, debating on where to eat.
In the end, I went with Columbia Harbour House, because it was the closest place with food I will eat, and I was STARVING and overheating.
The line at Columbia Harbour House was good sized, but it was moving, and it was contained within the building. I got the chicken nuggets meal, and then started searching for a place to eat. Upstairs had no empty tables, and 90% of them were occupied by one or two family members with no food. This is where being solo really stinks.
So I headed back downstairs, and found a group vacating a table tucked in a corner. Phew! Not going to have to eat standing up!
I took lunch slowly. Desperately needed to cool off, and this was the first completely fried meal of the trip. I knew I was doing myself no favors if I rushed that and then headed out into the heat. I even took the time to replace my bandaid that I had managed to shred by walking. Yup, I’m talented!
About the same time I was really done and could find no more excuses to occupy my table at lunch, Eric texted that he was getting on a monorail. So, I cleaned up, threw my stuff away, told him where to meet me, and headed outside. Made a quick detour to the Tangled bathrooms, and then headed for Philharmagic.
I didn’t have to wait very long outside Philharmagic before Eric appeared. We greeted each other, and headed inside, where we more or less (with about a 3 minute pause directly outside the theater) walked directly into the theater. I always enjoy this show, although, it’s showing its age a little bit. But, compared to the Bugs Life one in Animal Kingdom, the picture quality is top notch!
After Philharmagic ended, with me silently wondering why they can’t play Under the Sea in the Little Mermaid scene, we made our way to the Peoplemover. Crossing another thing missed on Friday off the list!
The line was shorter than it appeared, and pretty soon we were chatting our way through Tomorrowland. And I was enjoying the opportunity to put my foot up for a few minutes! No shame…
Once we returned to ground level, I took a look at the wait times on the park app. They were pretty bad universally, but Little Mermaid was only showing a 10 minute wait. What the heck, let’s go enjoy some hard core AC. I’m pretty sure that queue has the best air conditioning in the Magic Kingdom.
We worked our way to the back of Fantasyland, where we found a wait that was definitely longer than 10 minutes, but not horrifically bad. Less than 20, I think. It was a good opportunity to catch up.
After Little Mermaid, some decisions had to be made. And since the wait times looked horrible, I wanted a frozen treat more than I wanted to wait in long lines, it was looking like rain, the parade was about to start, and Eric was working with a short timeframe, the decision was made to leave the park. He’d head for the parking lot, and I’d head for the Polynesian for a pineapple float with vanilla, since, sadly, they still haven’t returned that option to the Magic Kingdom.
We worked our way down Main Street through chaos. As we got close to the end of Main Street, Eric commented on how bad crowd control is. Guess I’m not imagining things!
We made it onto a loading monorail. With delays at the Contemporary, I knew there would be delays everywhere, so both of us exited at the TTC. We said goodbye, and I walked over to the Polynesian for a frozen treat.
When I got to the Pineapple Lanai, I found a bit of a line, but it moved reasonably quickly, and pretty soon I was digging into my pineapple float with vanilla! Yes, I did tease multiple people with this picture, why do you ask?
Once I’d enjoyed my pineapple float, I headed inside. Knowing that the parade was happening across the lagoon, I was in no hurry, so I very leisurely strolled through the stores in the lobby before eventually making my way to the monorail.
This monorail ride wasn’t plagued with delays, which was a relief, because one lady in my monorail car with a little one was telling another mother that the whole rest of her family was back in the hotel room sick. No, no no!
I didn’t touch anything and tried to breathe as little as possible, while watching the clouds build and hoping I’d make it to the bus stop before the impending afternoon storm, and booked it off the monorail when I got to the Magic Kingdom. It was late enough that the post-parade mass exodus had cleared, so I had an easy walk over to the bus stop, stopping only long enough to say Happy Halloween in August...
I hopped in line for All Star Music, where I quickly agreed with the lady in front of me that it was “fixin’ to pour”, because it was a shorter walk to my room, and that was a plus, both for the ankle, and to shorten my time in the rain.
A bus showed up eventually, and we got rolling about the same time the sky opened up. By the time the bus got to Music, the rain had slowed to a drizzle. I headed for my room by way of the Music food court for a Powerade refill (hey...those mugs work everywhere now…), and pretty soon I was icing that ankle and figuring out how to spend my final evening in Disney.
The weather forecast was pretty uncooperative, and I was pretty done with crowds, so I ended up deciding to make it a night of reading, packing, and relaxing.
But first, dinner! There was an evident lull in the storms, so I headed for the food court, where I took advantage of the Asian Night entree special. Orange chicken, lo mein, and rice. I got it to go and brought it back to the room to eat. It was pretty good, and a ton of food for the price. Really good value. Admittedly the “orange chicken” was really just slightly flavored chicken nuggets, but the meal tasted good, and I couldn’t finish all of it.
A bus showed up eventually, and we got rolling about the same time the sky opened up. By the time the bus got to Music, the rain had slowed to a drizzle. I headed for my room by way of the Music food court for a Powerade refill (hey...those mugs work everywhere now…), and pretty soon I was icing that ankle and figuring out how to spend my final evening in Disney.
The weather forecast was pretty uncooperative, and I was pretty done with crowds, so I ended up deciding to make it a night of reading, packing, and relaxing.
But first, dinner! There was an evident lull in the storms, so I headed for the food court, where I took advantage of the Asian Night entree special. Orange chicken, lo mein, and rice. I got it to go and brought it back to the room to eat. It was pretty good, and a ton of food for the price. Really good value. Admittedly the “orange chicken” was really just slightly flavored chicken nuggets, but the meal tasted good, and I couldn’t finish all of it.
While I was getting dinner, I remembered that I still hadn’t picked up the purchases I’d had sent over from Animal Kingdom on Friday night. Since the rain had once again slowed to a drizzle by the time I finished dinner, I headed for the store to pick that up, and refill my mug. All of that was quick, and pretty soon I was in my room to pack for real.
The packing got done in good time, I watched the Disney must-dos on repeat, and I marveled at just how many toiletries I’d acquired during my stay (not pictured...the partially used initial bottle of shampoo from check in), despite Disney’s recently announced initiative to reduce consumption of single use plastics.
Once the packing was done, I read for quite awhile, and got ready for bed, setting the alarm for semi-early the next morning. I was ready but not ready for the end of the vacation.
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