For lunch, we went to Vulcania and it was delish – my top 3 food experiences at TDR.
DH and I both had the set, which was 1700 yen and comes with noodle or fried rice, small portion of entrée, choice of soup/salad/dessert/or dim sum, and a drink. I thought it was a good deal for the variety, amount, and quality of food. Here’s the choice for one of us:
The Goofy bun is really cute:
Kids’ meal, I love the variety (920 yen):
It’s located in Mysterious Island, along with Journey to the Center of the Earth.
After lunch, we headed to Mermaid Lagoon. Triton’s Kingdom is the big indoor building there. Prince Eric was at the entrance for photos with a crowd around him. Only DD is into characters and only princesses, so we didn’t join the crowd. I went to get Fastpasses for Mermaid Lagoon Theater and the kids played in Ariel’s Playground, but weren’t interested for long.
It was pretty crowded in the afternoon; we would come back in the evening for the kiddie rides with no wait
We then went in search of Ariel, who has her own meet and greet area. I thought it would be inside, but turns out it was outside the building. The posted wait time was 30 minutes, but it ended up being more like 45. This was the only time we encountered that the actual wait time was longer than the posted time. At one point I showed a CM our Mermaid Lagoon Theater Fastpass and asked her if we’ll be late. She said it’ll be okay and we did just make it in time. The show FP has a narrow return window so I was worried!
The Mermaid Lagoon show is in a round theater with animatronics and projection screens all around the sides above the seats. Triton is very big! Ariel is on a fly system (I think that’s what it’s called?) above and “swims” around and does flips. There’s a lot of singing, so the language barrier wasn’t really an issue. DD really enjoyed the show. Halfway through, I looked over at her and she gave me a big thumbs up. 
After the show, we went to Sebastian Calypso Kitchen. We only got drinks, but for some reason we still got a picture of the food display. 
We went to get a FP for The Magic Lamp Theater, and then it was time to use our FP for Journey to the Center of the Earth. DD is too short for it, so DS and I went, and then DH went by himself. Too bad DS didn’t like it or he could have gone twice. 
I think he psyched himself out, hung on too tight and pulled a muscle. He was crying when we got off. He said he liked it before it got fast though. Funny thing is – he loves Radiator Springs Racers, which is essentially the same track! 
Then it was time to use our FP for The Magic Lamp Theater, so we headed back to the Arabian Coast. There’s a translation device for this show, but we didn’t bother getting it. I figured it would be hard to read the translation AND tell the kids what was going on during the show. There’s quite a bit of talking though, so the language barrier mattered, but there’s enough physical humor to still enjoy the show. We then went on Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage – it’s such a cute ride with great music, and best of all – never a line.
We also went on Jasmine’s Flying Carpets, which is a kiddie ride with a long wait, but DD liked it. There are 2 games in Abu’s Bazaar and the line is always long! Don’t be fooled by the gap the CM allows for traffic to pass through. If your back is to the carousel, the one on the right seems to have a shorter line – I’m not sure why, maybe it’s harder? But since it was shorter, that’s the one we tried. You have to roll a ball and have it land in one of the containers. DS made it in, but it bounced back out. DD didn’t even get close.
It was 4 balls (tries) for 500 yen. The prize was cute Mickey and Friends plush toys with big heads. The consolation prize was a pin, so not a bad deal. The kids got to pick and they picked these. I was impressed even the pin back is Mickey shaped.
Dinner was at Casbah Food Court. I forgot to ask for not spicy, so the kids only ate the naan and rice. Well, even if I had gotten not spicy I’m not sure they would have eaten it. It was good, but I would have enjoyed it more with some naan or rice.
I meant to get the kids something else later, but then they got full on popcorn – bad mommy!
Yup – there’s that second souvenir cup. The Donald’s butt dessert was very good.
After dinner, we went on the carousel with little wait and back to Mermaid Lagoon for the kiddie rides, with no wait.
Virtually empty gift shop:
We saw the fireworks as we were heading out. I had zero expectations because I kept reading that the fireworks were “nothing special”. But I thought they were good with cute touches like a star, happy face, and even a Mickey shape. Some pictures as we headed out:
Travels with 2 Kids 