Florida 2020: Diary – Day 14

The alarms went off early. We were trying to be at a Panera Bread when it opened at 6:00am so we could get to the Animal Kingdom as soon as possible. It was tough to get the boys up, but they pushed through the fog because they knew it would be worth it.

Animal Kingdom Experience

We managed to find the Panera Bread on the way just after it opened and went through the drive through to expedite the stop. When we got to the Animal Kingdom toll plaza it was already letting cars through as we expected. Traffic in the parking lot was thicker than expected and it took awhile to get to our parking spot.

We quickly gathered our things and headed to the park entrance. Once through the health check, security, and ticketing we headed directly for Pandora to get in line for Flight of Passage ride. While the ride had been open when Tomatico and I went, the lines were always too long and we could never get a FastPass for it so he hadn’t ridden it. When I went with my youngest we had managed to get a FastPass and really enjoyed the ride so we wanted Tomatico to experience it.

Even though it was 6:30, a full 30 minutes before official park opening time. The line was seemingly endless. It came outside the ride, threading through Pandora, winding OUT of Pandora and then back into Pandora. We were in line at the point where it was turning around to go back into Pandora.

It felt like a long 45 minutes to get onto the ride but we all really enjoyed it. When we exited, we noticed the line was MUCH longer. By that time, the line was backed up outside of Pandora for a SECOND time back almost to the Tree of Life. That was at least a 3 hour wait according to the sign. It’s a good ride, though I’m not sure it’s THAT good. Tomatico was quite impressed, though.

From there we went to where the safari’s are, but it hadn’t opened yet so we rushed over to the Expedition Everest ride. It’s a roller coaster that I’m not a huge fan of (probably because it goes backwards in part of the ride). Tomatico didn’t want to ride it during his trip, but his little brother convinced him to try it this time so we were going to do it. In the end, I’m still not a fan but the boys both loved it and wanted to go again.

They saw the line and then decided to go on the Kali River Rapids ride again. They LOVE it because I always seems to get the wettest. I’m NOT a fan for the exact same reason. When we got to the ride there was absolutely no line. It was relatively cold (and early) so no sane people wanted to get wet. It was definitely pants and sweatshirts weather, but the boys didn’t mind.

We all went on it the first time and I managed to only get a little wet rather than drenched. The boys wanted to go on it again so I asked if they could do it on their own. That wasn’t a problem, and better yet the operator said that if there wasn’t a line they could just stay on the boat and ride however many times they wanted or until there was a line. I waited on the bridge to watch them go by. I think they rode it 3 more times and would have done it more but we wanted to get to the safari ride since it had opened.

At the Safari there was a short wait to get on the trucks that take you around to see the animals and habitats. The boys took turns taking pictures of the animals. They really enjoy this type of thing because they read a lot of animal books when they were younger.

Next up was the Dinosaur ride. Tomatico LOVES this ride though my youngest and I are indifferent to it. When we got to it, the line was pretty long even though it only said 30 minutes. After about 20 minutes we heard some other people coming out saying they waited 50 minutes and the line had only grown longer. We decided to skip the ride and get a snack to hold us over until lunch.

We decided our last ride in the park would be It’s Tough to be a Bug show. The line wasn’t long and it’s a good show. We wouldn’t be coming back to the park later as there wasn’t much else we wanted to do there. For us this is a half-day park, especially because many of the shows, like the Lion King were closed due to COVID.

Afternoon Adventure

We had decided that our youngest was going to get Indian food from a place near the hotel. We’d also get something for my wife there and drop it off at the hotel. Tomatico and I were going to go on an adventure to the Golden Corral. All you can eat buffets are a guilty pleasure of mine and there aren’t any in the Boston area. I had taken Tomatico to one before and he’d wanted to do it again. There was a new one not far from the hotel.

I was wondering what the COVID restrictions would look like and they weren’t too restrictive. The server gave you plates and you had to wear plastic gloves when getting your food from the buffet. The food was fresh and tasty which makes for a great buffet. Those yummy desserts sure bumped up the calorie count but we were walking 10+ miles a day to help burn them off.

Back at the hotel the boys wanted to try out more of the resort amenities. In particular Tomatico wanted to try out the racketball court. We got the equipment at the activities desk as well as the basketball since they were both in the same location. The racketball courts were cement structures without a roof. Honestly, it was a bit creepy inside them.

We all took turns playing, but we eventually lost the ball when we hit it out the top. We found a few other balls that had previously been lost but we ended up losing those as well. We still had the basketball so we played some 2 on 1 and horse before tossing the Frisbee for a bit.

Test Time!

As a part of the requirement for going on this trip, we needed to get a COVID test before returning to Massachusetts. The test allowed us to avoid quarantine and the boys would be able to go to school when it started after vacation.

I had done my research and had found a few places we could do the saliva test via the mail, but with the holidays we didn’t know if the tests would come back quickly enough. Through some of the travel blogs I read, I found reference to COVID Testing, LLC which offered next day results for a small premium. They would do all the insurance paperwork and you only had to pay a small fee to ensure you got results the next day. That worked for us.

It didn’t hurt that the location was only a few minutes front he hotel. Google maps had the closing time as 5:30pm, but the company website said 5:00 so we decided to make sure we were there before 5:00 just in case.

The drive-in testing site was next to the highway and we had no trouble finding it. When we got there they were just about to close at 5:00 so it’s a good thing we got there in time. It took about 20 minutes before everything was set and we were free to leave. We would be emailed the results before 11pm the following day.

It was dinner time and we made our way to a nearby Venezuelan restaurant my wife had found online. Tomatico liked it but not as much as the one we had gone a few night before. He was a fan of the fried cheese balls here as well.

It had been a couple early mornings in a row and we needed to go to bed early. We could sleep in a little more the next time day but not much. We’d be doing Hollywood Studios again and only had two more days left in the trip.