2017 Holiday - Day 7 - Lots of Different Activities!

Had a bit of hassle last night with some kids being noisy in the quiet pool that's right outside our window. They don't seem to ever shut it, so people wander in there at all sorts of times of day and night. The reception was helpful and sent 'the heavies' to sort it out. It is still an annoyance at other times, and I'd recommend a room overlooking this pool if you're a light sleeper or don't like noise.

We didn't have much of a plan today, apart from a dining reservation in the Beaches & Cream restaurant. So after breakfast we thought we'd catch a bus to Animal Kingdom and do the Maharajah Jungle Trek - or as we call - the Tiger Trail. When we got to the bus stop, the queue wasn't too bad but the more we waited the more people turned up. We thought the bus ride would be horrible, so opened up Lyft and ordered a Minnie Cab! We turned up in car 25 (same as Joe yesterday) and he was incredibly nice. He opened all the doors for us, shook us warmly by the hand and whisked us off to AK. We got chatting along the way and turns out Wes has worked in the parks for 40 years! He started in 1977 as a Jungle Cruise captain - the same year Clare came to Disney as a child! He clearly loved his job and was enjoying driving the cab.

Once we got to Animal Kingdom, there was a bit of a line to get in but it looked like they weren't doing the finger print check (usually you scan your Magic Band and have your finger print read, but they'd dropped the latter) in order to get through more people. We wandered through the park and spent a pleasant time on the trail, spotting the animals and - of course- the tiger. It was just the male as the female is with the two new tiger cubs that are now 16lb and growing at 2lb a week.

We bought a drink and then headed out of the park to go and play mini golf at Winter Summerland. It was very busy in the park, and the lines were huge outside of it to get in. Glad we weren't spending the day there!

We hopped on a bus that transferred us from Animal Kingdom to Blizzard Beach, where the mini golf is housed. The bus was rammed but we were there soon enough. We popped in to Blizzard Beach quickly as I was hungry, so went up to the Lottawatta Lodge as I couldn't see any 'Snacks With Character' in the shop. Disney magic went missing in action after I ordered a GF Brownie and then nobody went to actually get it for me seemingly. After 5 minutes of waiting, a cast member eventually noticed me standing there and went and got it in 10 seconds. I should probably be a bit more vocal in my complaining in these situations, but I'm British after all :-) Anyway, the brownie was delicious, and so we headed off to mini golf. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was a 50 minute wait to play as only the Winter course was open. We changed our minds, and decided to get a Minnie Cab to Fantasia Gardens mini golf (which was only a few miles away but would have involved two buses to get there). And - hey - I don't need much of an excuse to ride in a Minnie Cab!

The app told us that car 25 was heading out way. Could it be Wes again? It was! It was great to see him again and he pulled in behind another Minnie Cab with a driver being trained (Shaun). It turned out he was a Disney legend. He had a blue Cast Member badge - given to the top 1% of Cast Members - voted for by their peers - for keeping the spirit of Walt alive. An amazing honour. It was great chatting to them both, and the trainer as well. We then headed of for the mini golf and played the Fairways course, which had no waiting time (the course we played yesterday was a 30 minute wait). It was more like a miniature real gold course. It was OK - but not true 'crazy' golf.

We headed back to the hotel ready for our lunch in Beaches & Cream restaurant. This is a small, 50's style ice cream shop that serves malts, shakes, Coke floats, cherry Coke (with the cherry syrup, not the stuff from cans!) and burgers and hot dogs and the like. I ordered a strawberry shake and a GF burger; Clare had a patty melt (like a burger but in sandwich form) and vanilla malt and Matthew had a burger and Coke. For pud I had another GF brownie (warm with hot fudge sauce this time) and Clare went for a strawberry shortcake. Matthew got a shake to go. It was all really good, the service and atmosphere was terrific. It's difficult to get a reservation, as it's so small, but highly recommended.

The gluten free cheese burger with fries. Delicious!

Matthew went back to the room for a rest whilst Clare and I headed into EPCOT to carry on with Remy's Ratatouille Hide & Squeak - trying to spot more rats hidden around World Showcase. It was getting quite crowded, so we spent an hour wandering round and looking in some of the country's pavilions before coming out.

We had a lazy evening in the lounge followed by watching some TV before turning in