This day, I did something very unlike me: I let everyone sleep in. That's so not my bag. But the day before had been somewhat stressful, we had a mid-morning breakfast ADR, and - most importantly - we planned to be up VERY LATE. So: we slept to a whopping 8:30am. Decadent!
We were out the door by 9:30am, though, as we needed to make it to the Wilderness Lodge by 10:30am. We made good time - bus to Magic Kingdom, resort launch boat to the Lodge - and arrived about 15 minutes early. After a quick bathroom stop (the Artist Pointe bathroom is surprisingly low on fancy details) I got in line at the Whispering Canyon Cafe desk, only to be informed that I would not be given so much as a pager until my entire group had assembled. Harrumph.
So we hung around the lobby until our Blogger Summit arrived, unfortunately waylaid by a dawdling bus, and finally managed to snag a pager around 10:50am. Then it was another 20 minute or so of perusing the gift shop and generally killing time until our pager went off. Was the ordeal worth it? Full review of the restaurant to come, but SPOILER ALERT: oh yes.
Post breakfast Elizabeth and I snagged a bus to the Animal Kingdom and picked up our first FP+ for the day, Kilimanjaro Safaris. The animals weren't out much, no doubt feeling lazy due to the heat, but we got some great views of the white rhinos wallowing in their mud bath.
ELIZABETH: And baby giraffes!!
ELIZABETH: Yeah...I like to think that I am fairly tolerant of the heat, but MAN was it unpleasantly hot.
While there, I checked the Festival of the Lion King show times and determined we would make the 4pm show just fine.
BUT NOT WITHOUT A FASTPASS. Our next act was to march over to the FP+ kiosks in the Oasis and pick up an FP+ for the show - no problem. We got into the FP+ line about 20 minutes early, only to be let into the show at the exact same time as the regular line. I ask you: WHAT IS THIS FASTPASS FOR?
BUT NOT WITHOUT A FASTPASS. Our next act was to march over to the FP+ kiosks in the Oasis and pick up an FP+ for the show - no problem. We got into the FP+ line about 20 minutes early, only to be let into the show at the exact same time as the regular line. I ask you: WHAT IS THIS FASTPASS FOR?
Luckily we still got my favorite seating position (Lion section, far end next to Simba), and being that The Festival of the Lion King is the greatest show ever, I soon forgot my FP+ gripe. The bass singer (is his name Mufume? Am I making that up?) did the squeakiest "COUP" ever during "Be Prepared" which was hilarious and awesome. And high-fiving tumble monkeys FTW!
ELIZABETH: Anything that involves gymnastics and giant trampolines is a win in my book.
Then it was a waiting game - I killed a couple hours updating photos, typing up notes, and prepping for the race. Around 7:30pm I met Kellie and Nicole in the bus line and it was time for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon to begin!
OR SO WE THOUGHT. Tune in next time...
Don't forget, you can follow us on Twitter @fairestrunofall. To see how our training is going, check out Jenn's dailymile here and Moon's dailymile here. If you have any questions for us, leave a comment or email us at fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!
Tumble Monkeys are my JAM.
ReplyDeleteThey're so interactive! I love it!
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