Our First Visit - A February 2019 Trip Report with Disney After Hours & Festival of the Arts

Our final highlight (and photo) of the day was Dinosaur, the ride. I knew about the Carnosaur popping out at the photo opp (and didn't warn the other two) but I did not know that it actually appears more than once. Or the storyline around it, including the race against time. DS found it all very exciting, if stressful. And the stress went away as soon as it was over.

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It was starting to get dark, which was good because we wanted to check out Pandora when it was bioluminescent. None of us have seen Avatar, so we had no interest in stressing over those rides. By the time we walked over and looked around a bit, however, we realized we were done for the day. (The adults, that is.) And we weren't even hungry, since we'd had that 1:30 lunch ADR and it was about 6:30 by now.

I'd originally been psyched to try Satuli Canteen but the new menu wasn't nearly as interesting. Nomad Lounge had sounded like an excellent substitute but we just weren't up to it in the end.

Other things that are on my spreadsheet that didn't get tried were the chocolate bourbon milkshakes at Trilobites, the pineapple lumpia at Pongu Pongu, and meeting Baloo at the Hankuna Matata Dance Party. (That last one got announced RIGHT before we arrived or it wouldn't have been worked into the schedule.) And the aforementioned Maharaja Jungle Trek.

Once back in the room, DH ended up going down to the resort's quick service, Mara, for a turkey sandwich for DS and some zebra domes for us. They were okay but really sweet. I'd rather just have the liqueur to sip on over ice or in coffee. Very similar to Bailey's, I thought.

Overall, another very successful, eventful day.
 
I love DH's face in this picture. He def looks like he was enjoying himself!

Other things that are on my spreadsheet that didn't get tried were the chocolate bourbon milkshakes at Trilobites, the pineapple lumpia at Pongu Pongu, and meeting Baloo at the Hankuna Matata Dance Party. (That last one got announced RIGHT before we arrived or it wouldn't have been worked into the schedule.) And the aforementioned Maharaja Jungle Trek.
There is just not enough time or energy to do everything. Seriously!
 
The Duck Tales photo ops look fun and that Dinosaur picture is definitely a keeper. Looks like a great day in AK even if you didn't fit in everything you wanted to.

FWIW, we did do the dance party but only Rafiki was there when we were. There's no way to know who will be out when you swing by.
 


Really enjoying your report. Considering what a short trip it was, you got a lot done!

The really sad part is that I ended up buying just under $100 in pins in Animal Kingdom the following day, including some limited editions, and lost the bag somewhere.

This is one of the saddest things I have ever read in a trip report! :sad1:

POG mimosas!

I am not usually a mimosa fan, but when made with POG, they are great!

Surprisingly, DS wasn't interested in the elephants one (Caring for Giants). He didn't think it sounded exciting enough.

Probably a good choice. The tour is cool and informative but is mostly standing and looking at elephants.

DS hollered "I regret this!!!" a few times

I love that his expression is "I regret this!"

I can call it my trip souvenir since I bought it soon after we got home

Love it. I had only seen the older IASW style with the purple squares design.
 
Okay, I need this too.

Although the belt makes much more sense in other photos I've seen.

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I love DH's face in this picture. He def looks like he was enjoying himself!

I don't see us ever buying APs, just because it costs us at least $500 apiece to fly to either coast, but he's definitely sold on returning more than once.


Looks like a great day in AK even if you didn't fit in everything you wanted to.

It really was, and I'm impressed by how short the list of things we didn't manage is.


Really enjoying your report. Considering what a short trip it was, you got a lot done!

Thanks! These boards really make a difference in how much I was able to fit into our days.
 
Our third and more or less final day was back to Epcot, this time for World Showcase. Where, by lucky coincidence, the Festival of the Arts was still taking place.

We started with a 10:00 reservation at Trattoria al Forno for the Bon Voyage character breakfast. Mostly because DH really liked the looks of that steak. And hey, Flynn Rider. Because of all the potential mess with the buses, and needing to leave 90 minutes early to hopefully make it, we decided to just take Lyft to the resort. We'd never done Lyft or Uber but it was painless. We had a little time to wander the boardwalk and talk about the cool pool visible at the Yacht Club and other resort across the way. I didn't know that the photobooths would work with our photopass so we skipped those.

The famous skillet of pastries. DS immediately snagged the tutti frutti looking muffin and I didn't ask for a bite, so I can't tell you anything about that. The chocolate chip twists were scrumptious and didn't need the icing you can get them with elsewhere. I also had the sun, which was like a palmier. Yum! The seashell pastries were jam-filled and tasted like supermarket turnovers. Not in a good way. So I let DH and DS eat those. The other muffin looks like grocery store quality as well and I didn't try it. Still, we were each happy with what we had. We didn't take photos of our mimosas but you can always assume they were there.
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Flounder's Flapjacks - with Bacon or Sausage and fresh Fruit
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DS was very happy with this until a woman was seated at the table next to us and ordered the Tower of Pancakes from the grown-up part of the menu. I mean, he didn't have a tantrum. But he was very jealous.

Royale Breakfast - Oak-grilled Steak, Asparagus, Cheesy-Egg Torte, Fonduta, Breakfast Potatoes, Crispy Onions
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The onions are on top of the potatoes. Fonduta = the cheese sauce on top of the asparagus. DH didn't care for the egg torte. It was really mushy. An over-processed effect rather than delicate. But the rest was a thumbs-up.

Swimmers Delight - Egg White Omelet, Smoked Salmon, Goat Cheese, Spinach, Mushroom, Tomato, Breakfast Potatoes
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There was nothing on the menu that particularly grabbed me but I like all the components of this one and it was one of the healthier options. The egg was overcooked but that's such a risk with omelets. Especially when they're otherwise seen as health hazards. And although I'll always pick breakfast potatoes over hashbrowns, these were mealy. Still, I had smoked salmon, pastries, and a mimosa. No problem.
 
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The characters were working their way around and a CM nearby asked us whether Flynn had stopped by our table yet. We replied that he hadn't but no problem. DS then asked us quietly whether he could skip meeting the characters this time around. He was feeling shy. Just as soon as we assure him that was fine, Rapunzel appears and taps him on the shoulder.

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He was fine about it. And then they just kept coming. He had earlier thought of things to say but of course forgot when faced with them. I would too. As has been previously mentioned, Ariel was the most in character and the chattiest. She offered him a job on Eric's ship.

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Ironically, Flynn was the only one to not stop by. But we did meet him at the Rapunzel-themed restaurant on our cruise on the Disney Magic last year.

It's not a complaint, but I still find it odd that they don't have the official photographers at most of the character meals.

DS IS dressed to meet a princess. Just not either of these...
 
We caught the ferry to the International Gateway at Epcot, but it looked like we would have arrived sooner if we had walked. I liked the boat, and we were going to get plenty of walking in later, but FYI for people in a hurry.

I knew from Kenny the Pirate to keep an eye out for rare characters in training at the Gateway. Eleanor of Avatar was there when we arrived. We ended up busy enough that I didn't check the live chat about characters throughout the day. Next time!

There was a photographer on the bridge.

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We continued over the bridge to start in France. And immediately encountered our first classic painting photo opp. There was no photographer around and no signs about hours, so we thought maybe it was a do-it-yourself thing. We decided to give DS the phone and take his best shots.

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We obviously weren't hungry yet, but we went into Les Halles for pastries for later. DH was really impressed by the selection of savory pastries and how many of them are just a snack credit.

There's nothing really around to give a good sense of scale, but these Le Creuset pots (the soups of the day) are HUGE. I've been collecting Le Creuset for years so these really impressed me. I doubt they'd fit in any of my cupboards though.
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DS's priorities were an eclair and some macarons, because of the baking shows he watches. I also picked up a chocolate dipped palmier. We ate all of them later in the day but I'll put the photos here. There isn't one of the palmier. It got a little messy anyway.
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Les Halles always makes me think of Tony Bourdain and then I get sad.

I just noticed DS has a Mickey sticker on his shirt and I have no idea where it came from.

We looked around a little at the gift shop. I like the 50s themed Cinderella design, and some of the other explicitly French stuff, but there wasn't anything I wanted to buy. We had grand intentions of returning later in the day for things like the Grand Marnier slush and the ice cream macaron sandwich but (spoiler) that didn't happen. That also means we didn't manage to catch the acrobats.
 
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Next is Morocco. I really love Islamic design. We built our honeymoon around visiting the Alhambra. (And eloped in order to afford it!) The city highest on my bucket list is Istanbul, and we even had a trip planned for 2017, but then it got too unstable. I recently saw that most of the cruise lines are just starting to return though.

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This one was DH's idea. I'm pretty sure it was because we'd recently watched Raiders of the Lost Ark.
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Fezzes are cool!
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Our original lunch plan was to return here later for Spice Road Table. I also really love Middle Eastern food (lamb! eggplant! cumin! saffron!) and it's something we don't have locally. But we ended up just snacking throughout the day instead. Looking at my spreadsheet, I also forgot to find Turkish Delight.
 
Hubby was unimpressed with the egg part of the steak meal at Bon Voyage as well. We were both so in love with the calzone that we weren't all that bothered by it, though.

I think snacking through World Showcase is the way to do it. Why pick one big meal to eat when you can graze in every country?
 
I knew from Kenny the Pirate to keep an eye out for rare characters in training at the Gateway. Eleanor of Avatar was there when we arrived

That is a good location to catch some characters that aren’t as common. However, I think you have found a brand new one! I’m guessing it was Elena of Avalor. She's a a Disney Channel princess.
 
I'll get back to Animal Kingdom soon, but this is a safe space to share something related. I can call it my trip souvenir since I bought it soon after we got home. I told DH that since I have unlocked the next level of Disney fandom, pricing out DVC is inevitable. He disagrees.
Love, love, love your bag! Great placement too! DVC is inevitable.....your DH may have to reconcile himself to that fact.......:)

Jungle Book is one of my favorites and one of the first we watched in heavy rotation.
My favourite too!

Sadly, I ended up losing this bag of pins. No idea where.
Oh no!! So sad! :(

Anyway, the queue for Festival of the Lion King was nice and shaded, if not at all themed. A lot of people were drinking that very photogenic Night Blossom from Pongu Pongu but it sounded way too sweet for me. We ended up in the giraffe section, at the far end of the row from where we entered and only about five rows up. So that was quite good for no FP. It was a really fun show. The acrobatic monkeys were really impressive. And the stilt dancers. I did not manage any great shots of what they were standing on but they jumped and spun around an impressive (and slightly scary) amount.
Such an awesome show!!

Launchpad gave DH grief for being the only one to not dress for the occasion.
Launchpad is a super fun meet. I was teasing him about whether Donald was a better pilot than he was and we had a hilarious interaction!

Okay, I need this too.
That dress is sheer perfection! On my list too.

DS IS dressed to meet a princess. Just not either of these...
He looks ready to meet Mulan!
 
Hubby was unimpressed with the egg part of the steak meal at Bon Voyage as well. We were both so in love with the calzone that we weren't all that bothered by it, though.

I have heard really good things about that calzone. But I can't do tomato sauce at breakfast because that plus coffee is too much acid for my system.


That is a good location to catch some characters that aren’t as common. However, I think you have found a brand new one! I’m guessing it was Elena of Avalor. She's a a Disney Channel princess.

Ha! Yes, you're right. I'll blame autocorrect.

He looks ready to meet Mulan!

:rolleyes1
 
Continuing around, Japan comes next.

We had to get the sushi doughnut even though I don't have Instagram. It's sushi! And so pretty!
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Spotted a real lizard while eating our sushi. We don't have them where we live so it's always exciting.
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I didn't try the cocktail here because peach schnapps and cranberry juice did not appeal.

Lovely landscaping.
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Matsuriza, the Taiko drummers, were starting up, so we watched them. We all really like Taiko drumming. They were really impressive. And threw in comic bits, which I wasn't expecting. It was cool that two of the three were women as well. The cardio required!

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We were going to check out the department store in Japan regardless, but as a bonus they were doing an exhibit on Kawaii culture. We watched all episodes of The Toys That Made Us on Netflix and the Hello Kitty episode included an extensive discussion of Kawaii in general. It's not something I've personally gotten into but DS still loves all things cute and I'm in no hurry for him to get over it.

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Hello Kitty barf bags!
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We would have bought the cat in the helmet against the wall there but nothing in the exhibit was for sale in the store, even the things that were brand new rather than vintgage. I was surprised.
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