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Friday 19th August

Had a brilliants night sleep and woke up at 7am. We did our usual of having a coffee and a chat out on the front while the kids slept longer. It also gives us a chance to look at our fast passes for day and our photo’s too from Memory maker. Had been really happy with the majority of the photos so far.


Soon the kids were awake and once we’d all washed, changed and sun creamed up we went for breakfast. I know it was hard to believe that we’d not yet sampled a breakfast at Riverside!

Another beautiful day we strolled over to the food court, my camera still hadn’t adjusted from coming out of the cool air conditioning into the Florida heat. Always takes a while


It was well after 9 and for some reason I thought it would be really quiet in the food court. I presumed a lot of people like to get to the parks early, I presumed wrong and it was so busy. We stood in separate lines as one of us wanted waffles whilst another of us wanted some pastries.

We took our cups so didn’t need any drinks, we swapped out the included drinks for some pastries and my favourite, the create your own yogurt parfait – excellent snack credit and so filling.

Fully satisfied with our breakfast we headed back over to the car and of course not forgetting to pick up our park bag from our room along the way.


As we walk along the paths we always comment on whether we’ll see any frogs, aka Tiana and Naveen. Well much to our surprise we did see a frog, it jumped out in front of us, just a little one.


The block we were in and the room looked out towards the roundabout, every day it just reminded me of our wedding day as this was where the limo collected Poppy and I to take us down to the Polynesian. Riverside will always have a special place in our hearts.


Memories aside, Scott had got the bag and we were soon on our way to the beautiful Animal Kingdom.

Today was probably the hottest day of the holiday so far and of course it was going to feel even hotter because it was Animal Kingdom. There would be even more water/drink stops needed today.

No walking to the entrance either as there’s no shade what so ever so we caught the tram there.

Once there we had some photos took before we entered as there was no line, well it would have been rude not too


As we walked over the bridge we saw the Wilderness Explorer guys, Poppy wanted to do this again so we picked up a handbook for her.



Poppy was sworn into the club - there was some kind of animal noise that she had to make, which was the Explorer’s call and a little motto which she then repeated




With book in hand we were now able to earn the various different badges with are located all round Animal Kingdom.

Firstly though we had an appointment with Expedition Everest as this was our first fast pass of the day and the time for it to be used was nearly up.


We made it just in time! The boys wanted me to ride with them so off we went, this gave Poppy and Scott the opportunity to start her collection of badges.

As we walked through a man told us that the queue for single riders was really short and that maybe we’d be better off in that line. We thanked him for his suggestion. Once at the front we then saw that there wasn’t a queue in the single line, such a handful of people waiting. Mind you we’d not waited a great deal of time in the fast pass line anyway.

The young lady who sat next to me on Everest started chatting and she told me her and her family had been on Everest 4 times at that point, they just kept going back in the single line. They were loving it, good for them!

The ride was as brilliant as ever, now because Hayden and Jamie had seen the short line they wanted to go back on. After explaining to Hayden it was for the single rider and not the general queue he got upset, so I said we’d see if we could get a return time for later.

Met back with Poppy and Scott then walked round the park collecting a few badges along the way.


Poppy wanted to go up to Rafiki’s Planet Watch as there are six different ones you can collect whilst up there. Plus it’s just a lovely place to see and you get to go on a train!


I think a train must have just departed as it was very quiet at the station. I love all the detailing that’s here.


Soon we could hear the toot toot of the train…



And we soon set off to enjoy this short train ride


Halfway there an announcement was made for everyone to be seated, a few moments later we stopped and the driver announced that the train had halted because not everyone was sat down in their seats.

Looking behind us we saw there was a young girl who was stood up, her family then eventually told her to sit down so we set off moving again. The little girl was really upset bless her for being told off by the train driver. I think they’d not understood the message as they weren’t speaking English to each other.

We’d arrived and walked down towards the Conservation station

Now earlier Jamie had said he wasn’t interested in the Wilderness Explorers which was fine, he was a little too old for it. Didn’t mean that he couldn’t help Poppy but he just wanted to take over it all! One of the explorers must have heard Poppy and Jamie arguing so they offered him a book lol.

Anyway they soon set about looking for the different animals that were living around here and before they knew it had gained their first badge, the habitat one. Only another five for them to get!


It was good to get inside as it was so cool in there. There are a few educational points in here and also a veterinary area, no operations were happening today but it’s always fun to look for the hidden Mickey’s.


Rafiki was also here Poppy wanted to go and meet with him


Then we went outside to the affection area to see the goats and the donkeys, and not forgetting to give them a little brush.

Scott and Hayden did the right thing by sitting in the shade in the little seating area. One of the rangers came out with an Aardvark on a lead, so cute. Once Jamie and Poppy had finished in the petting station we all listened to the talk. Having collected all the badges we caught the train back down to Harambe.


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Stopped off for a few more photos


Even though none of us were overly hungry we thought it best to get some lunch as if we left too late we’d not be hungry for our tea later at Raglan Road.

At the Flame Tree Grill the portions are fairly large so it was easy for us to split the meals between us all. Think I got the 3 meals and switched a dessert for a side of onions, I also asked for some water which they happily obliged us with.



The food was okay nothing special but it more than served the purpose. The onion rings were probably my favourite along with the beans whilst the kids favoured the chicken and the pulled pork. I didn’t entertain the ribs as they looked a bit too fatty for my liking but Scott and Hayden said they weren’t too bad.

All in all I think it is good value here and the portion sizes are big enough for sharing. There’s lots of shaded eating areas too so we didn’t struggle with finding an empty table.

Poppy and Scott had the desserts as they didn’t appeal to the boys and me so we had a good old favourite a Mickey ice cream that we picked up from a little food cart.


Afterwards we realised that we’d missed our fast pass for Primeval Whirl, we should’ve gone when we were at Rafiki’s planet watch. Oh well never mind we were too busy having fun, any way there was no chance of us missing the next one as it was for Kali River Rapids.

We stopped for a few pictures before our raft ride as we knew we’d probably be soaked through afterwards.



As I predicted we got very wet on the rapids but with it being such a hot day it didn’t take us long to dry off. One thing I did remember to do was to leave our bag and camera in the lockers, no worrying this time about getting those items soaked through.

Said that we’d leave the park very soon as the heat was getting a bit too much for us we were all starting to get a bit irritable with one another. Of course we had our fast pass for Everest to use first.



Scott took the boys on while Poppy and I watched on in the viewing area. We always wave at the train when it’s going up the hill in the hope that the boys will see us. I don’t think they ever do but we normally get somebody waving back to us


Just by luck while I was taking a few pictures of the mountain we saw the boys coming down the big drop. They were sat right at the front of the train and looked like they were enjoying it!



We all met up with one another in the shop and had a little look round before leaving Animal Kingdom. We’ve already got a yeti from one of our previous trips so there was no need for another!


Once back in the car we put the blowers n to full blast and the air conditioning to the coldest setting it was like an oven in the car! I caught myself with the buckle from the car seat and burnt myself with it was so hot.

The afternoon was still quite early so we thought we’d do another little shop at Walmart, we needed a few supplies. With the aid of our Satnav we managed to locate one, no idea where it was but it was different to the previous store.

Stocked up on more of the kids favourite American candy which they wanted to take back home to the UK and we got some beer and wine as we needed these for the cruise.

I know that between us all we had still got lots of snack credits left to use, but I really do begrudge using one for a banana or a few grapes, so we bought some more fresh fruit too.

Also picked up some toiletries for Poppy and me - they have lots of natural hair care products at very reasonable prices so it was hard for me not to resist buying a few.

I know I’d still got plenty of travel sickness tablets but I bought another box just in case, you never know. Believe me we are hoping for calm seas when we sail though.


Or meal tonight was at Raglan Road so it meant another trip for us over to Disney Springs. Thankfully no rain today so we shouldn’t have an issue with the boats not operating. In fact it was so hot today, probably the hottest day of the holiday so far. I think today we could’ve really done with an afternoon downpour to cool the day a bit.


As we were approaching the waiting area a boat came along, there was a bit of a queue and it looked like there’d not be enough room for us. The captain stopped us from going on and we thought oh never mind we’ll be first on the next boat. Anyway after he’d settled everyone onboard he came back and said they’d be enough room for us and we were sat right at the front.


Then we set off down the river. I know I’ve said it before but we love using the boat to Disney Springs, it's so relaxing


Arrived at Disney Springs with plenty of time to spare - we took a very leisurely stroll down to Raglan Road. We felt like we’d got our bearings here now.

Once we’d checked in we were given a buzzer and told to come back when it went off. Just started looking in the shop when our buzzer started flashing, thought we were doing well here. Went back to the podium where we were stood waiting another 20 minutes. I thought what was the point of that?

Scott took the kids back in the shop to have a look round as they were getting a restless with just waiting and standing there.


I could see families who had come in well after us being seated so I asked when we would be as we’d be waiting ages now. They started having a whispered conversation between each other, I think our ticket had been misplaced or lost and that’s why we’d not been called. I saw them faffing about and printing another ticket off.

After another 5 minutes of waiting so 45 minutes in total we were called over and shown to our table. Well I couldn’t believe where our table was, it right behind the stage and at the entrance where the dancers came through. Honestly it was a rubbish table, to have waited all that time when there was no need and then given the worst spot! My face must’ve been like thunder because the kids couldn’t stop laughing at me.

I know I sound petty and I shouldn’t matter too much where were seated I mean there’d be plenty of people who’d love to sit there but it does annoy me to have people constantly walking behind me. It’s just one of my little pet hates.

There wasn’t anything we could do, I did ask if there was any other tables to be told flatly by the woman no! Well that told me


Mini strop over with our server came over, he introduced himself and he was a very chatty young man. We all ordered our drinks and they were promptly brought out. Scott had a flight of beer or whatever they were called, as he wasn’t driving where as we all had various sodas.


After we’d ordered our mains Poppy and I went into the main area to watch the band. Although we could hear them perfectly fine where we were sat it was nice to see them performing too.


Continued below…

We waited quite some time for our food to come out so we passed the time for a while watching some more of the dancers. They had changed and a few more of them had joined the stage. It was really good to watch these, I was so tired just watching them the amount of energy they put into everything.


Eventually or food came out, all of us were really hungry by now so we soon tucked into our meals which were very tasty and filling.


We ordered our dessert but they took ages to come out, our chatty server started talking with the family on the table next to us after he’d took our order so that’s probably why they took so long. Anyhow the kid’s desserts came out first



I was just taking a photo of them when our server offered to take a photo of us. I thanked him for his offer and declined but he was very insistent!


I’d be so looking forward to my dessert and it certainly didn’t disappoint, it was the highlight of the meal.



I asked for the bill when these were brought out as I knew we’d be waiting forever. We’d been in here so long already.

Finally finished we took a walk round to see the Boathouse and the other new restaurants there that we’d not seen before. It was really busy round here but it had a real good buzz about the place.



Really excited to see one of those cars going into the water, how cool is that


Was intrigued to see what kind of merchandise the boathouse shop would be selling so we went in for a nosey around. Poppy spotted some really cute rubber ducks and ended up buying one, they were too hard to resist lol.


Hayden said he wanted to have another look in the Lego store so we went there next. Hayden bought himself another star wars set and so did Jamie. Poppy got a friends set, I used the gift voucher that we’d received from Disney for these.


Of course with us being so close to the Disney store it was inevitable that we’d visit. We just can’t resist a look at all those soft cuddly toys.


It gave me the chance to stock up on a view favourites, I always get the kids a little photo album, the one with the year on. They hold 100 pictures so are a nice size to have and then I get one of the big ones too.


Can’t remember how much they are but something around the $20 mark. I also purchased a couple of key rings and a few other bits and pieces, it was really busy in here too so made it hard to look round. I do find it a little overwhelming in here at times as the place is so big.

At some point I must have said to Jamie that he could choose a create your own snack from Goofy’s candy company and Jamie asked if he could get one now. I pointed it out that it had not been long since he’d eaten his big tea but then I thought, well he could get one, we could put it in the fridge and he could have it for his breakfast! I know it’s not healthy but then we are on holiday after all.


Of course Poppy wanted one too so they both made their selections (very similar to each other) and they waited for them to be prepared.
These are 1 snack credit each, great value.


After picking up a few more bags of candy – using more of our snack credit allowance up – we left Disney Springs as we all felt tired. Of course the boat was the nearest option to us but when we arrived and saw the length of the queue for the Port Orleans boat we decided to walk across to the bus station.

Surprisingly we had no problem finding our way there and as luck would have it a bus for Port Orleans Riverside was just pulling in.

The bus stopped at French Quarter first then on over to Riverside, before we knew it we were walking back to block 16 - we saw another frog on our little ramble.
We felt totally shattered tonight so as soon as we got in we changed and got ready for bed. I think the heat of the day had wiped us out a little, if we’d have not had an adr for Raglan Road we would’ve maybe chilled round the pool for the night. Our time there had been ok but we wouldn’t have missed it if we hadn’t had gone. Still our day had been a good one


Tomorrow I was taking Poppy to Cinderella’s Royal Table to see the princesses, a little girly time together for us two.

Thanks for reading

Lovely day with some fab photos.loving your report x

Really enjoying your trip report, you all seem to have had such a fab time.
I like those photos at the beginning where your camera was all steamed up, they look really atmospheric!

Those first few photos are lovely, and your resort looks so pretty! I really want to try staying onsite one day. How wonderful that you got married there too!
Not sure I fancy Raglan road, but, my husband does love pie and bit of gravy so we might have to go!
The boat trip looks really nice.

We found Raglan Road disappointing too but I was glad to tick it off the list! We were so underwhelmed with our mains I didn't even bother with the famous bread pudding!

I want to become a Wilderness Explorer this trip! It made me laugh Jamie not being interested and then suddenly taking over. Typical older sibling!

A lovely day, it really looks HOT!

Lovely day! And yes Animal Kingdom definitely feels like the hottest park!

When you said about getting soaked on Kali I noticed you had white shorts on

POR certainly looks a beautiful resort

Your meal looked very tasty I am in two minds about trying Raglan

I'm working my way through trip reports for inspiration and I can't wait for the next instalment 😀

Great photos! We can't wait to go now