Day 16–A quiet day.

We start with a very quiet morning,  most of us sleep till about 10,  then we just relax,  have some breakfast,    hang out on our phones.  We don’t really get going until after 12.     We have nothing planned,  but I want to do a few bits of last minute shopping.    We start down at Lane Bryant, where I buy some very boring but important work trousers.  I’ve never found any I like as much in the UK so always buy a few pairs.  Apparantly, they don’t stock Short in the stores anymore, but I manage to find 2 pairs which must have been returned,  so I was quite pleased.

We have a quick stop in Joann’s where I get a few bits and pieces,  but I can’t really see what I wanted,  and then we decide to have lunch in Applebees.   I say lunch, it was nearly 3pm.   We went to the one up the 535 near Premium outlets,   but it took us ages to get there,  the traffic was really heave.   We did eventually get there, and the restaurant was very quiet,  not really surprising considering it was 3pm.    We shared some starters and each had a meal.  To be honest, we’ve been eating quite small meals,  and I couldn’t really finish my meal,   it was too big after the starters (which were lovely).,  

After our meal,  we just popped into Premium Outlets.  Phil and I had seen some backpacks we thought Molly would like,  so we wanted her to choose one for school.  Good job we didn’t just guess, as she didn’t choose the one I would have chosen.  Not surprising really –  She is very happy with her choice though.   She had a little look in Michael Kors, but even at discount they were still very expensive.

After our shopping trip,  we headed home,    and we just relaxed in the room.   About 7:00,  I suggested my little plan…. I’d made a fast pass for Rivers of Light for the late show that evening,   so we got changed and headed to the bus stop.   We caught a bus to Animal Kingdom,  arriving at the park about 8pm.  I don’t think we’ve ever actually gone out to a park that late before.

We had a wander around Pandora,  which looks very cool at night as everything glows,  however,  it’s very dark  So dark it was actually hard to see where family members were.  You could hear people calling out to their kids all the time.

We had probably the worst photopass picture we’ve ever had taken.  I accept it’s a pretty difficult setup,   as it was very dark there are things that glow, and you want to see the people,  but we aren’t even in the middle and completely over exposed.

After we’d had a little walk around, Molly suggested one of the glowing drinks in Pandora,  and like a mean mum I said no, they would be too expensive.  I’ve actually no idea how much they are, but I just assume glowing drinks are expensive.

We then went for a walk through the park towards Africa. There was a band playing,  so we thought we would grab a drink and listen to the music but just as we got there they band stopped playing which was a shame, as they were good.

As we were walking, we could see different animals come to life on the Tree of Life –  this is the owl.  A video would be better, as it just appeared to fly away.

We were all thirsty now,  and wanted to sit a while before the show started,   so we went to a booth that had frozen drinks,  and this is where I have to apologise to Molly,   as we all got normal frozen drinks,  and they weren’t particularly cheap,  so I’m guessing the special Pandora ones’ probably weren’t much more anyway.

We had a little sit and a drink before it was time to line up for the show.

The show was on twice, and the earlier show was finishing and 100s of people were pouring out of the park,    we then went in to the 2nd show.  We had a fastpass, but you definitely didn’t need it for the 2nd showing.  The fastpass area was quite empty, and the other side of the stadium, which is for standby was very empty.

It’s a lovely show,   I can’t say I really followed the story but the music was good and the lights and fountains were pretty,   there were some clever effects at the start with shadows of animals running across the forest.

Molly took the photos of the show

Just before the show was ending,   the entire row in front of us stood up and left.   We have seen this everywhere,  it’s like the need to avoid the crowds is more important than watching the show you’ve stood in line and waited to see.   I don’t understand it myself.

We left after the show had finished,  walked up out of the stadium.  I popped into the loo and when I came out the crowds had gone.  We had a quiet walk out of the park and back to the bus, which was waiting for us.  Much more serene and calm than trying to leave Magic Kingdom at the end of the night!

We didn’t do much in Animal Kingdom, but it was nice to visit at night without the pressure to do any rides.