Day 1 - Animal Kingdom
This day has been causing the most aggravation. Especially because I keep forgetting we're not starting out the day there. I haven't tried Express Walk-Off on a cruise before, but we'll probably do it this time. If we skip breakfast, we supposedly can get off the ship at 7:15 or so. Then take private transportation to the park. If we wait for Disney transportation, it won't leave before 9:00. And Disney transportation from their cruise ship to their park is not complementary, so that's not an incentive. Two hours difference is a lot.
I've also cut our time short at the other end with the Pirates & Pals Fireworks Cruise. We'll have to leave by 5:30. Which means not seeing Pandora at night. So I may try to figure out a way to move the cruise to a different evening. It has to happen regardless. DS has never seen fireworks. Except for on the cruise ship and it was cloudy. It was barely 5 minutes so that doesn't really count. Every 4th of July, he's fallen asleep before they start. Ditto at
Disneyland. And yes, the cruise means that we don't see the Happily Ever After projections, but we won't know what we're missing. And we're not going to that park regardless, so we can't do the dessert parties as an alternatives. (I'd be all over the Star Wars one.) Peter Pan was in heavy rotation at our house from an early age, so I know he'll enjoy that angle.
Animal Kingdom is a priority because it's not something they have at Anaheim, it's educational (we're pulling him out of second grade for a week), DS loves animals, and I'm not into rides so I need something else going on. (More motion sickness than disinterest.)
Unconventional moment: We're not doing Pandora rides. We haven't seen the movies and it doesn't seem worth all the waiting in line. Not with such little time.
I disagreed a lot with Touring Plans on the order we should do things, so this is what I ultimately ended up with with an 11:00 arrival. Hopefully we'll get there sooner.
Expedition Everest (FP)
Tam Tam Drummers of Harambe
-- We really like street musicians. Especially drummers.
Yak & Yeti table service -- 11:45 ADR obtained
Harambe Village Acrobats
-- DS is in gymnastics and loves acrobats of all kinds.
Kilimanjaro Safaris
--There are recommended times of day for this but I don't know how feasible they are with everything else we're trying to fit in.
Festival of the Lion King
-- I gave DS a choice between this and Finding Nemo and this was his pick.
Kali River Rapids
-- Depending on the weather. We'll have ponchos regardless.
Dinosaur.
Donald's Dino Bash
-- The goal is to end up here around 3:00 so we can do the character meets right before the dance party starts at 4:00. DS loves dance parties.
The plan before I booked the fireworks cruise was to follow the dance party with dinner at Satu'li Canteen then dessert (lumpia) at Pongu Pongu and wander around Pandora after dark. And maybe see Rivers of Light. But now we'll probably have to fit in food some other way. Or just make all the provided snacks before the cruise count as dinner.
Originally, there was also Wilderness Explorers and the Maharajah Jungle Trek and Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail, but we lost so much time. And DH is not willing to go ride-free. Even I really want to do Everest. Although I'm concerned that with a Fast Pass we'll miss all the interesting queue details. We spent over an hour in line to do Jungle Cruise last year but there was so much theming that it was pretty bearable.
We'll probably drop Kali River Rapids in favor of some general nature hiking. We do regularly visit our local zoo, so it's not that much of a novelty. Rafiki's Planet Watch is way too much travel time of course. And I worry about whether DS would enjoy Wilderness Explorers if he can't finish it. Or would that just be frustrating. This is the sort of area where other people's experiences are really helpful to hear.
It's Tough to Be a Bug was never under consideration. If they even still have it. DS hates bugs, although we keep explaining how beneficial (and harmless) most of them are. And even harmless 4D rides have given him the heebie jeebies, so nope. The other Dinoland rides could be worth checking out if we get through the character lines more quickly than anticipated.