A Disney Parks Around the World Journey: Day 2 – The Calm Before the Storm

“Certainty is the calm before the storm.” – Stewart Stafford

I am a chronically early riser, and today was no different, and I woke up at 5:00AM. I originally had no intention of even having these articles up while we were traveling but I had nothing else to do that early so I figured I might as well start writing. Today was going to be a pretty calm and slow paced day by our standards as our goal was to rest up for our 4 parks in 1 day gauntlet tomorrow.

I have previously been given feedback regarding my trip planning in that I plan things at a thousand miles a minute, so I decided to try and slow things down as best as I could for our current trip. In an attempt to at least incorporate some rest we only had two things on our agenda today, ‘Ohana for breakfast at 9:45 AM with my parents and a 4:00 PM reservation at the Hoop Dee Doo Revue, which is a dinner show. We had never done the Hoop Dee Doo Revue before and so we were gonna check that off our list.

Eventually, I got out of bed and started my day off with a run. I always love running around Disney resorts, especially in the morning while the resort is quiet and most people are still starting their day. It’s definitely a nice change of pace from the treadmill or the scenery at home. They even had a running trail map which was handy and I used it to run to the Grand Floridian and back.

I return from my run and Lucy was already up and taking a bath. One of the beauties of having a room with a shower and bathtub in separate rooms was being able to shower even though Lucy was still bathing. We got dressed and headed to ‘Ohana at about 9:40 AM and met my parents. There was no line at check in and not even two minutes later we were called to sit down. The waitress brought us to our table and dropped off our Pineapple-Coconut Breakfast bread. The bread was pretty yummy and between the five of us we ate all of it.

The menu at ‘Ohana was about what you’d expect for breakfast, but most importantly, they had Mickey Waffles. From a beverage side they also served unlimited POG juice, which is their famous mix of passion fruit, orange and guava juices.

We’ve been to a fair amount of character meals over the years, but without a doubt this was the most hectic. Within less than 60 seconds of sitting down we were approached by Pluto, and then Mickey and then Lilo all in rapid succession. There were a total of 3 characters that stopped by within the first 10 minutes. Typically, in our previous character meals, we have all the characters stop by over a 30-60 minute time span. This allows you to eat, talk, and let the kids (and adults) have some anticipation of meeting the characters.

They were coming so fast that Stitch was trying to stop by, but Mickey was still at our table which created a traffic jam, and to Lucy’s dismay he skipped our table temporarily. The characters then did their little parade to “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride” from the movie.

This was definitely different than the last time we did ‘Ohana for breakfast. I’m not sure when they changed it, but my guess is like many things at Disney, the kid parade was killed during Covid and they never bothered to bring it back. Previously, they lent the kids instruments like maracas, and they were part of the parade with the characters. This really added a lot more energy to the parade than just having 4 characters parade around the room. It was still fun with Stitch, Lilo, Mickey, and Pluto, but it just lacked the same level of energy and chaos that can only be created by having a bunch of kids playing instruments in a completely random pattern.

A couple minutes after the parade Stitch came back around, and Lucy finally got to meet Stitch.

The food was more than adequate, and in particular we really enjoyed the bread and the ham. It was served family style, but we didn’t need any seconds as we couldn’t even come close to finishing the first round of food.

Afterwards we hopped on the monorail and took a short ride to the Grand Floridian to see the Gingerbread House Store. This is actually a life size gingerbread house that sells some sweets.

Lucy really wanted to buy something and ended up buying picking the chocolate chip cookie as it was one of the cheapest items on the menu.

We then proceeded to ride the monorail back to the Polynesian.

One of benefits of having parents living in Orlando is they are your own personal uber. So we went off property for a short bit as Lucy out of nowhere had a sudden urge to get into pin trading. The pins at the stores at the Polynesian run from $12.99-16.99 for a single pin. Lucy will go broke real fast if she’s buying a couple pins to trade at minimum $12.99 a pop. So instead of paying those painful prices, we drove 12 minutes to the Mermaid Gift Shop in Kissimmee.

They had a pretty good collection of official Disney pins for significantly lower price.

Lucy debated what pins to get for way longer than it should have taken, but thankfully she ultimately settled on a set, and the total for it was just $24.99 for 10 pins or $2.49 a pin. To get 10 pins at the Polynesian would have been a minimum $129.99, so that was a savings of $104.99. Kendall then decided to hop onboard the pin trading train, and bought a set to trade herself as well. I resisted this newfound obsession that was brewing in my family. Overall, the costs savings was definitely well worth the short drive.

We then drove back to the Polynesian. Despite passing by this sign more times than I can count it never gets old.

This was also my first chance to see the Island Tower in all its glory in daylight. I must say, it truly just sticks out like a sore thumb.

We said good bye to my parents, and Kendall and Lucy started trading pins with the various pinboards around the resort. Given we were going to have a long night, or at least I was given Notre Dame plays at 8:00 PM, we headed back to to the room to rest for a bit.

The Hoop Dee Doo revue was at 4:00 PM, and the most efficient way to get from the Polynesian to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness was to take the monorail to Magic Kingdom and then take the boat to Fort Wilderness. In theory, it should take about maximum of an hour to do that, but we left the room a little early at 2:05PM to give ourselves ample time. We also wanted some extra time so Kendall and Lucy could continue their newfound pin trading hobby at Fort Wilderness. An interesting observation, the sign at the dock for the boat that took us to Fort Wilderness still had Mickey’s Backyard BBQ.

While Disney is typically pretty slow to change out signs, this closed in 2018, so about 6 years ago. I find it mind boggling they still haven’t changed this sign out.

On the way to Fort Wilderness you can’t miss the cranes lining the sky.

We haven’t been to Fort Wilderness since we did Mickey’s Backyard BBQ in 2017. Sadly they destroyed that area where they used to host it in favor of yet ANOTHER DVC tower. It was previously going to be called Reflections: A Disney Lakeside Lodge, and then due to Covid they halted construction but have now restarted construction and it is now renamed Disney Lakeshore Lodge.

It is quite obvious at this point that Disney is becoming a timeshare company that runs theme parks rather than a theme park company that has time shares. The speed which they can put up whole towers compared to the time it takes for them to get rid of the EPCOT dirt pit truly shows the priorities of Disney, but that soapbox is for another time.

We arrived at 2:58PM and had an hour to burn, so we walked to the Settlement Trading Post. Kendall and Lucy traded some pins and played checker’s on the porch while I walked around taking some quick pictures of the area.

We checked in for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue, and let Lucy play on the playground near the theater until it was time to go see the show.

We had a Category 2 table, which meant we were seated on the sides of the theater. This was a dinner show, so our seats were just a typical table and chairs you’d find at any restaurant. The total price for 3 people was $185 which for Disney really isn’t bad for a meal and some entertainment.

We happened to have table 31, which was actually the first table on the edges from the stage, so our table was actually pretty good for being a 2nd tier seat and we had a very close view of the table.

When we sat down the salad, cole slaw, and corn bread were already at the table.

No one in my family eats coleslaw or cornbread, and Kendall is really the only one that eats salad, and so the 1st course was a bit of a bust to be honest, we knew the menu before hand so this was not a surprise.

The show started just prior to the second course being served and was composed of some fried chicken, ribs, beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. We all definitely enjoyed the main course. The ribs aren’t exactly fall off the bone, but they weren’t bad and I enjoyed them and even asked for seconds. Lucy and Kendall ate ample fried chicken.

Our third course was dessert which was composed of Strawberry Shortcake. Yet another item that neither me nor Lucy eat. Thankfully, Kendall likes strawberry shortcake so at least someone had a bite and it wasn’t a total waste of food.

The show was pretty enjoyable but nothing spectacular. It was filled with lots of dad jokes and was pretty hokey. It was pretty high energy and it had the crowd into it for the vast majority of time. Kendall and I both felt it coulda just been a little shorter.

Overall, it was exactly what we expected in that it was a decent deal for price. We really liked Mickey’s Backyard BBQ better and really wish they’d bring it back. I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed sadly.

We then left the show and waited about 10 minutes for a boat to get us back to Magic Kingdom. On the way back, we passed the cranes again. The lighting definitely did them some favors, as I actually found them less obtrusive on the way back.

Afterwards, we took the monorail to get back to the Polynesian. There were lots of people leaving due to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party starting soon, so once we got to Magic Kingdom there was a small line at for the resort monorail.

Eventually we got back to room and it was 7:00PM. This was just in time for me to get to Tambu, the hotel bar, to watch the ND game. I would be content to just watch it in our room, but I don’t think I could stay calm enough to let Kendall and Lucy sleep, and given our goal is to get to Animal Kingdom tomorrow by 8:30 AM at the latest we need everyone to get a decent night’s sleep. Sadly, win or lose, I was not likely to sleep well, as I’ll either be too traumatized or too hyped to sleep. I am sincerely hoping for the latter.

So I left the room to go watch the game and went to Tambu which is a small bar beside ‘Ohana. I have been traumatized by Notre Dame football for many years, and I thought for sure this year would be no different, but being a fan hope springs eternal.

There was no sound, and I was the only person who cared about the game so not exactly the most ideal watching environment. Through some miracle of God, Notre Dame actually beat Indiana 27-17 in a relatively drama free game. I was still too hyped to sleep well though, but I did eventually fall asleep in the wee hours of the morning.

Tomorrow is the first of many park days this trip and out of all the park days it is the most intense as we will be doing all four parks in one day along with a VIP tour. Let’s do this! Go Irish!

Day 2, December 20th, 2024 Step Count – 15,544

Total Step Count – 30,171

Continue to the next day here.

You can read about the previous day here.