Animal Kingdom (Day 5)

Synopsis

Animal Kingdom today and another early start - I’m actually quite looking forward to tomorrow to get a bit of a rest :) Had some breakfast in the hotel as our schedule was quite packed for the morning at the park. Hit the safari first and then onto an exploration trail. The kids had a animal spotting checklist so they found it really exciting to track them down (as well as giving them a little knowledge, so all good). The Lion King show was top priority on our to-do list for the day and it really didn’t disappoint - best attraction in the park! Only other ride we had to get to was Everest having missed it last time - I didn’t actually know what the ride was about so was quite surprising & better than expected. Few more rides throughout the day and headed straight for food as we were wanting to have an early night, just as well as we walked into the restaurant right before it started pouring down. Early home and finished this before 12am too which is the first time since I started, see ya tomorrow for Typhoon Lagoon. :)

The wilderness must be explored!

Breakfast at the hotel consisted of scrambled egg, fruit (not on the same plate, though some weird people were doing that) and copious amounts of coffee. Starting to feel the amount of food consumed over the last few days taking its toll. Served by someone who looked a little like Morgan Freeman (though more than a little disappointed that he sounded nothing like him). Andy
And so on to Animal Kingdom. We were enlisted into The Wilderness Explorers for today, not long after we stepped through the gates, where the kids got to earn badges for different things ranging from Gorilla spotting to scaling Everest (it’s a ride not the actual mountain). They found really it interesting and it gave us the drive to explore all of the little out-of-way corners of the park. Ca-caw! RAAR!

The Kilimanjaro Safari, our first ride this morning. It was a 90 minute wait so good that we had it as a FP+ :) To be honest haven’t really queued for anything longer than 20 minutes so far (but we still have Universal & Islands to go so I wont count my chickens just yet). Great safari trek on Simba 1, our vehicle for the expedition. Lots to learn today and the kids checked off loads of animals for their Wilderness Explorer Guide Book. There was this one animal the Okapi, which looked like a zebra but was actually in the giraffe family - I can just imagine how that conversation goes down at the water cooler…

> “Hey man, nice zebra stripes!”
>
> “Ohhh I’m a giraffe actually.”
>
> “Oh emm, sorry I didn’t know, I’m new here, just started today.”
>
> “Don’t worry I get that all the time.”
>
> “Right, ummm aren’t they meant to have long necks?”
>
> “I’m a freakin’ giraffe, alright?”

Right after the Safari we walked right into the Pangani Exploration Trail with the promise of four more wilderness badges. Sold. We learned all about the HAM radio, Animal Tracking, Gorillas & Bird Watching (in the aviary!). It was getting quite exciting! Yes the children too! :) There was also a little reptile house which was home to a Spider tortoise among other things - Grace was fascinated by this wee guy, even though we have a tortoise at house (about four times the size I may add). I didn’t show Ann though just in case she got ideas :P

We didn’t want to switch over to another area of the park without first doing The Lion King! The live performance of singing, dancing, aerial acrobatics, fire throwing and a huge big cuddly Simba is the best attraction in the park by far, and you’re even encouraged to sing along to all The Lion King songs, which I kinda did. Ok sentimental moment here, but Disney really is a magical thing and really not just for kids and Id have words with anyone who says otherwise! (I just love this place! ;) Anyway… Robert was selected AGAIN to take part along with Grace and some other children in a procession around the stage - I need to get that boy picking my lottery numbers, I tell ya!

You will get wet. You MAY get soaked!

We then had a bit of a quick hike to get to the Kali River Rapids in Asia (one of the parks sections), as we had a FP+ about to run out. Everyone went on it, including my mum who seemed a bit apprehensive and wasn’t at all helped by Patrick telling her how fast and steep the drops were. In reality it was nothing like what he had said, but we did get wet, some of us more that others, but no one like the soaking that Ann got. Even in the warm temperatures it took about 30 minutes to get back to a reason level of comfortableness and her new hat is unrecoverable. Just as well it wasn’t me as I forgot to put my iPhone in the locker before the ride started - I did get a video using the GoPro of the entire experience (once I’m able to process 1080p 60fps video properly Ill get it posted).

A quick fuel stop before Expedition Everest - a roller coaster twisted around a huge mountain (which is where the Everest part comes from ;). The breakfast we had in the morning turned out to be a good idea, so think well stick to doing that from now on, as opposed to waiting to get something in the parks which is a whole lot more expensive and a whole lot less satisfying. We rounded up the boys to go on it but Gracie had been really tired all day so thought it best to leave her out of this one. Patrick has really progressed from his steadfast ways of being reluctant to try anything fast or with any heights, now he was practically skipping down the FP+ queue line and didn’t flinch when he seen the huge drop before we boarded. Started off relatively OK a long , slow ascend followed by a few twists turns and drops. Then we reached the end of the track at the peak, where it twisted away into thin air and we stopped dead. Uh-oh, so maybe we going into some sort of free fall or sharp descent, no we started rolling backwards and fast. in. the. dark! Now it was getting interesting! Silhouette of a Yeti (the big scary kind, not the Monsters Inc fluffy kind), and we done some more frantic twist turns and a big drop to finish it off. Not bad at all and the kids really liked it too. Recommended.

Fish are friends, not food.

Tell that to the wee snow crab who rolling around with no legs after my dinner last night though! Hashtag nom. Sooooo, ushered into to a full hall of Nemo: The Musical in the dying few seconds. This seems to have changed from what I remember from last time. They sing a load of their own songs as the movie wasn’t really exposed to the proper Disney style song treatment, which was good and the show itself was excellent but I prefer The Lion King show over this, being honest. Dory’s antics really made me laugh though, can wait till the new movie next year, its gonna be a hoot!

Final stretch into the last section of the park, Dinoland, USA, which is full of all things dinosaur. Ann, Mum & Dad and little GG (who was out for the count at this point) had a rest while I took the boys of Primeval Whirl, a little thrill ride that sends to spinning 65 million years into the past (ok the spinning part - yes, the time travel, not so much). It was a nice little ride but Robert, who was too small last time was raving about it and explained in great detail what the ride did to the rest of the party when we caught up with them. Also apparently I have to tell you that it hypnotized him (oookkk)… Booked a FP+ for Dinosaur which no one save me can really remember from the previous time. How can they not, it was great! Robert again thought this was amazing and he even said it was the best attraction in the park (ok son, calm down, we don’t condone lies… or disagreeing with me).

Restaurant Of Cards!

Headed straight from the park after than to Uno, a restaurant five minutes away from our Hotel. Just stepped in the door and the heavens opened, which was pretty excellent timing. Great, friendly service in this Italian/American style restaurant, but probably not so hot on the cost front, even with the kids eat free cards. I decided to opt for the Spinach and Broccoli… which were encased inside a Chicago Style Deep Dish :P It was pretty great. The kids made their own cheese pizzas too which was a nice touch. No food pic tonight as even though it was pretty huge it would have looked really sad on its own or even with the side salad (see side salad, I’m at least trying to be a little good! :). Night! x