Make A Wish {Friday at Animal Kingdom. And Hollywood Studios. And Epcot!}

**friday, february 21, 2020**

Well, we didn't see any snow in Florida, but the temperatures sure did drop overnight!

Our mid-80s blue skies traded for mid-50s with a stiff breeze and clouds.  And we found ourselves woefully unprepared.  Yes, I know it can be cold in Florida.  No we didn't pack winter coats.  Just don't ask questions and roll with it...we did.

Thankfully getting into line for Avatar took us inside the building where we were at least out of the breeze and much more comfortable.  

While on Pandora we decided to give the Na'vi River Journey another go despite not getting anything out of it when we rode on our previous trip. 

(If I'm being perfectly honest it was part that we had fast passes and part that it too is indoors and out of the wind).

 Turns out actually watching the movie before going makes all the difference as we all had a better appreciation for the recreation of the world of the Na'vi.

At that point we headed to Asia.

Because even the cold an our lack of preparedness couldn't keep us away from our favorite thrill ride in Animal Kingdom, Expedition Everest.

And even if the speed of escaping the Yeti put more of a breeze in our faces, we couldn't help ourselves and did the run back in line repeat...with new seating partners of course! 

Before we headed to Africa we stopped to grab a quick snack.  Because when you're cold you need more calories, right?  Plus we still had SO MUCH left on the Make A Wish debit card.

have i mentioned kylie is there for the theming and food?
she was so excited about her Simba pretzel that she bit his head off before we could fully capture the moment

Appetites sated, we continued on to a new continent. 

And when in Africa you take a safari. 

The animals were mostly out and active and we saw pretty much every species on our vehicle checklist.  Highlights of our ride included not only seeing a tower of giraffes, but getting to see the teenage giraffes run.  Let me tell you, you've never seen anything quite as awkwardly graceful as a running giraffe...makes you feel good about your own teen years.  

The other highlight was hearing one of my teens (who shall remain nameless) mumbling incredulous responses to the safari driver's decision to stop super close to the crash of white rhinos seconds after telling us that black rhinos were nervous animals that often respond to being startled with aggression.  (hence the term 'a crash of rhinos' I suppose).  Said child was having none of the two different types of rhinos with two different basic behavior patterns and was quite disturbed until we started moving again.

Following the safari we stopped briefly to observe the silver back gorilla and learn from the cast member giving a talk, but did I mention it was cold?  Some of our 'insulated challenged' kids were having none of standing still in the elements, so back to Pandora we went.  

After all, this fully immersive experience is easily the most excellent overall ride.  And it's inside!

Once again the Genie pass to the rescue shortening the 180+ minute wait to under 10 for us.  At that point it was lunch time.  Because the prepaid Make A Wish Visa card had plenty of money left, we enjoyed lunch at Satu'li Canteen popular in our family because of the customization possibilities for their noodle, rice, or salad bowls.  

And of course the blueberry cream cheese mousse.  Partially because it is beautiful, but mostly because it is delicious!  The cast member at the register saw we were a wish family and added a free cupcake for each of the kids to our order 'just to make sure everyone got a sweet ending' to lunch.  

At that point we had covered all everyone was interested in seeing on a cold day and decided to head back to another planet ~ Batuu.  

We were ushered directly into the adventure of Rise of the Resistance.  

So many details to take in everywhere you turn!

And then back one more time to try our hand piloting and smuggling coaxium on the Millennium Falcon one more time.

Okay.  Two more times.  But why not?  

Oh, and Darcy lost a hand to the sarrlacc.  But no worries, we were able to secure a fantastic animatronic hand before we left Galaxy's Edge.

At this point it was nearly 5 and we had to call a family meeting to decide what to do next.  Our hopper passes allowed us the opportunity to continue exploring parks or head back to the Village for a leisurely dinner (but obviously no time in the pool).  Because we had cut our time in Epcot short on Nicholas's birthday Monday and we had a few that love to walk around the World Showcase Lagoon to admire the different world pavilions and the vote was 5 to 1 from the kids on continuing on, off to Epcot we went.

What stop in Epcot is complete without taking a tour in the 'golf ball."

There is so much construction going on in Future World right now.  Many of the areas have screening fences to distract guests from the actual building.  The littles happily hopped from character image to character image, totally missing the fact that former shortcuts were blocked off, so I guess it worked. 

On the way toward the World Showcase we stopped for a quick photo opportunity (after realizing we had taken so few pictures on Monday during our brief time at Epcot) but didn't ride...we had covered that the other day and we were on another mission...a walk around the world.

But before we did that, a quick stop to find some long sleeved Disney merch was necessary.

And who can resist checking out the numerous types of 'ears' available?

apparently not my son...this kid keeps us in stitches!

Ears tried on, lovies squeezed (and purchased) and extra layers procured we began to make our way toward the Lagoon by way of Soarin'.

Did I mention that wind and the rapidly dipping temperature?  We all wanted to venture 'around the world.'  We really did.  

But we. were. COLD!

We made it as far as Disney Traders.  And when everyone wanted to go inside to 'look around,' even the ones that had complained about the length of time we shopped in Mouse Gear, we realized that while Ian and I could tough out the cold for the sake of the experience, perhaps it wasn't in our best interest to expect the kids to do the same.

So we stepped outside and took a glance at the World Showcase at its finest...with its lights twinkling in the nighttime.  

And then we double-timed it back toward the car, but not before passing to capture perhaps the best family selfie of the trip...

We came so close to the 'quadfecta' of Disney park hopping.  We approached the monorail station at 7:30 and the Magic Kingdom was open until 9 that night.  I came so close to talking everyone into hopping on the monorail and running into the Kingdom to the first ride we could find just to say that we hopped all four parks ~ and rode the best ride in each thanks to the Genie pass ~  in one day.  In the end though I looked at the happy (but tired) faces around me and decided to keep that crazy goal for someday in the future.

Finally it was time to bid adieu to Disney.  Always hard to leave the magic, but there's always 'next time' to look forward to.  Besides, even though we were flying home the next day, we still needed to make one last stop to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal before we left Florida!