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Happy Labor Day!

We got up early so we could check out of the hotel and drive over to the Animal Kingdom park to take advantage of the early morning Extra Magic Hours (it opened at 8:00am for Disney resort guests). We were in the parking lot at 7:40am but discovered that they were already letting people into the park to get in line for Avatar: Flight of Passage. So we walked immediately (with everyone else) to get in the line … which was really really long. Despite that, however, we were actually done with the ride by 9:15am! It’s pretty incredible … Soarin’ on steroids, and might compete with Expedition Everest for my favorite ride at the park.

Using the extremely helpful My Disney Experience mobile app, we changed our 11:00am FastPass for Festival of the Lion King to the safari and then used the standby line to get into the 10:00am performance of the Lion King instead. After the show (always great) we used that FastPass to ride the safari (our driver reminded me of a Melissa McCarthy character). Then it was back to Pandora for the Na’vi River Journey. Meh, I rode it once … probably wouldn’t bother again. It’s got some cool tech in it (Disney slow water rides have come a long way since It’s a Small World) but nothing overly exciting (unless you’re into black light and glowing plants).

We grabbed a light snack) at the Satu’li Canteen which has some really good (and healthy) food options. We’ll definitely be back to try that place again. Also, we noticed that some places (like this one) now have mobile ordering through the app: order your food on your phone and schedule the time you want to pick it up, skipping the line. We didn’t get a chance to do that this time but will definitely try it out the next time we come over. Our final FastPass was for Expedition Everest where we spotted one of the new “personalized” screens that use your MagicBand to insert your name (we had seen this yesterday after Mission Space as well).

Done at Animal Kingdom, we drove (where else?) back to Epcot for lunch at the Food & Wine Festival. We did another quick walk-around of the World Showcase, sampling the wonderful food. We had a FastPass for Spaceship Earth (made via the mobile app on the drive over) and also used the Super FastPasses we got yesterday to ride Soarin’. Unfortunately, after that, it was time for the afternoon Florida rain shower. We hadn’t brought our ponchos today (they were packed back in our luggage in the car) so we took shelter outside of the Light Lab until it tapered off. Then it was time for around round of foods around the (now very humid!) World Showcase.

After finishing our extended lunch, my daughter and I rode Mission Space Relaunched to check out the new green side (Earth) mission while my wife went over to the Festival Center. Like before the revamp, the green side is still the same small, enclosed simulator. Unlike before, when the ride was the same as the orange side (just without spinning), the green side is now a launch and orbit around Earth, landing at Cape Kennedy. So it’s a more “relaxed” trip around the globe with the voice-over pointing out land features and geographic areas. There is a little more excitement on landing (think Florida and the afternoon rainstorms I’ve already written about).

By now it was late afternoon and time to hit the road home. There were more gray clouds rolling in and we wanted to get driving before the next round of rain.

Last year our Disney vacation was threatened by Hurricane Hermine which passed through Tampa right before the holiday weekend. This year, it looks like we’re going to be dealing with a major hurricane next weekend as Hurricane Irma approaches Florida. 😮