Walt Disney World Vacation: Day 5 (Animal Kingdom / Disney’s Hollywood Studios) – 10.3.19

Day 5 of my Walt Disney World vacation was at Animal Kingdom for the first half of the day, and then Disney’s Hollywood Studios the second half of the day.

We woke up early, mainly to take advantage of Early Magic Hours and so I could go on Flight of Passage. If you don’t get there for rope drop or right before the park closes, you’ll be waiting at least 2 hours for the ride. Since Connor wasn’t tall enough, Kristen brought Connor to Dino Land and saw some critters while I did that for an hour. It took an hour from waiting on line and doing the ride. Anything longer I don’t think it would be worth it but I feel that way for most rides. It was still a great ride though, like Soarin’ but ten times better. The queue for it was pretty cool too, and the Pandora world is something else to see.

After FOP, we walked to the safari and waited a few minutes for that because that can get crazy long too. I’ve been on the safari a few times but didn’t remember it being so bumpy. I didn’t eat breakfast and went on it, and felt like I was gonna barf because it felt like a boat. Just bumpy and rockin’ back and forth. Going in the morning is a good time to go since a lot of the animals are out. We had giraffes coming right up to your car. After the safari, we did the gorilla thing that’s right next to it and saw the baby gorilla for 2 seconds. I always feel weird looking at gorillas because it feels like I’m looking at humans and wouldn’t want to be annoyed with large groups of people either.

After that, we walked back down to Pandora since we had a Fast Pass for Navi Journey. The Fast Pass system sucks now and you have to pick things you don’t normally want because things are in tiers now. Navi Journey isn’t something to even wait on line for really, I can’t see myself wanting to wait on the line longer than 5 minutes for that. It’s short, not that great and waste of space honestly. After Navi Journey, we walked over to Dino Land and debated whether or not to put Connor on the Dinosaur ride. I always remember it being bumpy, dark and scary and even though he loves Dinosaurs, he was insisted on riding it. I said ah what the hell, let’s try it out. It was probably the ride he didn’t like the most for the entire trip. He didn’t cry or anything but he was just not happy afterwards. It was too dark for him I think. I was proud of him that he actually went on it though. I saw bigger kids leaving the ride crying their heads off so he managed it just fine.

Up next was character lunch at Tusker House, which was great but a bit expensive. It was awesome to see Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy and have an excellent buffet but still, expensive. I did a Fast Pass to meet Mickey and Minnie right after the meal too which was a bit silly but we did most of the things we wanted to do in Animal Kingdom. I still consider Animal Kingdom a half-day park and not a lot there still, even with the addition of Pandora. I also find the bugs there a lot worse than the other parks. The love bugs were out in force that day and driving me bonkers. The park also felt hotter at Animal Kingdom too, for some reason.

After AK, we rested up at the hotel and went swimming. It’s really important to do that each day on your trip, so you’re not ready to kill your family in the parks. I wanted to go to Galaxy’s Edge and Disney’s Hollywood Studios again, but this time not rush through things. Connor fell asleep at the hotel, then it was time to go so we put his clothes on, and got him ready while he was still sleeping. He slept on the bus, through 2 security check points, and then we walked to check out some Star Wars merch and get some pictures taken with Chewbacca, etc. He was still sleeping though and didn’t wake up for Chewie. Chewie was laughing and made for a funny experiences. I said, hey let’s take a picture with Darth Vader next. As soon as Connor heard the Empire music, saw the red lighting he began to wake up and just in time to meet Darth Vader. He didn’t say a word the entire time Vader spoke, so he was still out of it. I guess that makes us Parents of the Year for having their child woken up by Darth Vader right?

After that, we went to Galaxy’s Edge to explore some more. We got a cheaper lightsaber. I can’t see spending 200 bucks on one, it’s just too much money. We had a great experience with the stormtroopers who came over to us and wondering who was in charge. I pointed to Kristen, but they were like “we don’t think so, and pointed at Connor.” I think they tend to navigate to parents with strollers so something to take note next time you’re going to GE. We took a bunch of pictures with Disney PhotoPass people, we tried green milk this time which I liked, but liked blue milk better. It’s such a better experience to visit Galaxy’s Edge at night, and before the park is closing. It’s not as crowded, and can slowly walk around. I did some shopping, which they didn’t have the best tees but I got a Black Spire Outpost one that was the best. There needs to be a lot of additions to the land like have aliens and robots walking around the land. It’s Star Wars, it needs more of that interaction and just random characters walking around. The stormtroopers part is the best part of the land, so there needs more of them and more of that in land. I didn’t see Kylo Ren walking around once, and only saw Rey walking around once or twice from afar. I saw Chewie walking but there just isn’t enough characters walking around the land to make you feel like you’re somewhere else.

After GE, you have to exit into Toy Story Land so we went on Alien Saucers ride which wasn’t as sickening as I thought it might be, and Connor and I went on Slinky Dog Dash again! Definitely one of my favorite rides in the parks. Toy Story Mania is so much fun too. We didn’t stay for the fireworks and just watched the shows as we were leaving and waiting for the bus.

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Tags: animal kingdom, avatar, chewbacca, darth vader, disney's hollywood, galaxy's edge, pandora, slinky dog dash, star wars, toy story land, walt disney world