Christmas in July is here! I held back my Thanksgiving Walt Disney World trip report due to time constraints, and I’m so excited to finally share it with you. Click here for the setup, and read all the posts in this report here. Onward!
And now we come to it: we were officially spending our Thanksgiving Day in Walt Disney World! I had scheduled us for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, my logic being that it would be the least crowded of the options, and I was dutifully up at 7am to make corresponding Genie+ reservations. Lightning Lane slots did in fact not seem to be going at an unusually fast clip, at least not for DAK.
As a reward for my good work, I popped into a warm shower in my monorail-decorated Contemporary bathroom. When I was done, Pat had a gingerbread latte from Contemporary Grounds waiting for me. Why don’t all my mornings start like this?!
This was never once a rope-drop kinda group, but we got a comparatively early start on our day, piling into the van and heading to DAK without much preamble.
Once there, we were greeted by none other than the Kevin of Up fame! I LOVE Kevin (proof), and I also love how she free roams around the park. The Cast Members said she enjoyed looking at her reflection in our sunglasses, and I have no reason to doubt them.
Bolstered by this exciting encounter, we headed to Expedition Everest for our first Lightning Lane selection of the day. We escaped the yeti AGAIN! Sucka.
From there we backtracked to the Oasis, where Pat and Alice and Cindy and I watched the Winged Encounters macaw “show” while their parents shopped for new socks in the gift shop. I think we got the better end of that deal. There’s not a ton of meat to the macaw thing, but it’s certainly incredible watching their entrance and exit.
And now for the Disney holiday encounter I was, no joke, looking forward to more than any other part of the experience. I FINALLY got to witness DAK’s Merry Menagerie!!!!!
I have been dyyyyyingggggg to see these whimsical winter puppets for literal years, and lemme tell ya, they do NOT disappoint. The puppeteering is rudimentary, but the CMs do a fantastic job giving each animal personality. They really sell the fantasy. It doesn’t hurt that every single animal puppet is soooooo cute AND pretty. I think the reindeer might be my favorite? It’s so hard to choose! Anyway, bucket list complete. I’m ready to die now.
After forcibly removed myself from the menagerie, we all headed over to Pandora for our Flight of Passage Individual Lightning Lane reservation. We enjoyed another banshee ride before heading into Santu’li Canteen. One day I will order something other than the cheeseburger pods. It’s just hard knowing that if I try something new I don’t get any cheeseburger pods. 🙁
Next we had a Lightning Lane reservation for Dinosaur, after which I flipped us around and LL’d us straight onto Kilimanjaro Safaris. Alice and Cindy were unimpressed by this non-roller coaster ride, but we had an excellent safari. It was a little cooler and overcast, and we got some incredible views of almost all the animals!
Technically we had a Naavi River Journey Lightning Lane slot on the books next. Unfortunately it wasn’t for another hour or so, and Egon and Ariel felt the girls needed some rest. I made sure to cancel the slot so that someone else could pick it up. If it was you, what can I say except you’re welcome? One quick ice cream stop later and we were out of the park and back at The Contemporary.
We chilled in our respective rooms for a bit before regrouping in the early evening and driving over to Disney Springs. Found the holiday crowds! Everybody was spending their Thanksgiving at the Springs – which I guess makes sense when you consider you don’t need any kind of park reservation (this was back when you still needed a park reservation regardless of ticket type, you know).
I had initially planned to suggest poking into one or two shops in advance of our dinner reservation, but Disney Springs was such a zoo we just posted up in a random corner and waited for our turn to eat. Which is how I often spend my Thanksgiving anyway. We did brave the Ireland shop for a couple minutes but even that was packed.
We found ourselves seated in Raglan Road in short order, and I was soon sipping whiskey directly next to the main room stage and singing along to “Wild Rover.” Which is not how I often spend my Thanksgiving anyway. Hooray for novelty! Review of the Irish Thanksgiving experience to come.
Pat and I had hoped to take Alice and Cindy to Gideon’s Bakehouse after dinner, but Alice and Egon felt it was a little too late to keep the girls up. Oddly enough, Gideon’s was not running a virtual queue. I guess Thanksgiving is not cookie o’clock in Orlando.
Satisfied with our holiday, we skippity-hopped back to The Contemporary. Pat and I grabbed a celebratory drink at the Outer Rim before heading to bed. I could get used to that too.
One more day of Disney magic to go…
Don’t forget, you can follow FRoA on Twitter @fairestrunofall and on Instagram @fairestrunofall. If you have any questions or thoughts, leave a comment or email fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!