Day 4 – Orlando Trip Report, September 2018

Here was our basic itinerary for the day:

• Morning Park: Epcot with a breakfast reservation at Garden Grill
• Afternoon: Wild Florida with an airboat ride
• Evening Park: Animal Kingdom with a dinner reservation at Yak & Yeti
• Fastpasses: Flight of Passage (16:25-17:25), Expedition Everest (17:25-18:25) & Rivers of Light (20:05-20:30)

Day 4 – Friday 7th September 2018

We started off our morning by walking through a very empty Epcot on our way to an 8am reservation at Garden Grill. This was one of the experiences we were most excited about as a family – we were excited for the food, the characters and mum in particular was excited about dining in a restaurant that moved. The breakfast is family style and as much as you can eat. We were greeted by a lovely cast member who showed us to our lower level booth. Our server then came and explained how the dining worked and took our drinks orders – I picked the jungle juice I’d heard so much about and it did not disappoint. The meal itself was a decent breakfast with a good selection of food and the characters were so cute in their farm style outfits. The character interactions we had were great – I think because it was quiet, we even had some of the characters come by our table 2-3 times and each time they spent a good amount of time interacting with us, signing our autograph books and taking pictures. My holiday nails were a bit hit with Mickey and the cast members alike, sometimes it’s the little things that get the most attention.

We finished up our breakfast just before 9am and made our way downstairs to Soarin’ – this was an attraction we didn’t have a fast pass for so our early reservation was well worth it. We practically walked on to the middle row, centre section of Soarin’ which is one of the best views you can have. After riding Soarin’ we passed all the guests starting their days in Epcot as we headed for the exit. Today we decided to do something outside of the theme parks so we booked an airboat tour with Wild Florida. It took around 45 minutes to drive from Epcot to Wild Florida which is an animal park that also does airboat tours on Cypress Lake. We had booked a one hour airboat tour for 11:30am and arrived at Wild Florida just after 10am. We had just short of an hour to explore the park and get some photos taken before we were required to check in for the airboats at 11am. Unfortunately just as we were about to get on our boat a storm rolled in above us delaying our trip out by around an hour – we knew when we booked that inclement weather could delay/cancel our airboat so we didn’t mind too much. We sat in the covered area playing Disney Dobble and planning what we were going to eat at Yak & Yeti that evening. When we eventually got going the tour was definitely worth it – the guide we had was lovely and very informative. We got to see tonnes of birds (including a bald eagle) and two mother alligators and their babies. After our tour we finished off looking around the animal exhibits and we got to meet Fluffly the baby crocodile. We all really enjoyed Wild Florida – the exhibits were great and all of the staff were extremely knowledgeable and friendly, and as a family we were all recommend a visit here if you’re looking for a non-theme park activity.

We headed back to the hotel for a sit down and a refresh before heading out to Animal Kingdom to experience FOP for the first time. It’s true what they all say – the ride is amazing, like an advanced, upgraded version of Soarin’. As we ended up getting back from Wild Florida a little later than anticipated we ended up at AK a little later than we wanted so we ended up skipping of Everest Fastpass in order to make our reservation on time. On our last trip we had eaten lunch at the Yak & Yeti quick service and it was a firm favourite of ours, so to say we were excited is a bit of an understatement. Our reservation at Yak & Yeti was at 6pm and when we arrived the restaurant itself was not overly busy. The decor inside was lovely and very in keeping with the area’s theme. So full disclosure, the server we had at this restaurant was not the friendliest – she wasn’t rude but it just wasn’t the same friendly service we’d had so far on our holiday. However, Yak & Yeti was my favourite meal of our holiday. The food was gorgeous. My sister had the chicken tikki masala, my mum had the ribs & I had the honey chicken with chicken fried rice – although my mum and I split our meal between the two of us (both were to die for). We also had some lovely desserts – the chocolate pudding cake, the mango pie and the fried wantons – I personally wasn’t a fan of these although I don’t like cream cheese or pineapple so that’s not overly surprising, the mango pie however was a great dessert.

After our meal we took some time to explore Animal Kingdom, we went to see Chip & Dale’s Dino Bash and we rode dinosaur – potentially not the best after dinner but we all made it through unscathed (well just about 😉). After this it was time to go to our Rivers of Light Fastpass. I must admit I wasn’t too bothered about getting to see this as I hadn’t heard great things, however as much said we may as well see it since were here. The show itself was nice, it’s a good idea but some of the projections were difficult to make out and if I’m honest it just didn’t really feel like a Disney show. I’d recommend seeing it once but it’s not something I’d go out of my way to see again. After RoL we headed back to the hotel to chill out and get some rest before heading back to Animal Kingdom the next day.

Day 5 includes more Animal Kingdom, resort hopping and a much anticipated reservation at ‘ Ohana. What’s your favourite way to spend some time out of the theme parks? Let me know by commenting below, until next time…