DisneyWorld - Animal Kingdom

 DisneyWorld - Animal Kingdom (Day 2)

The Animal Kingdom opened up the earliest of any of the parks - with a 7:00am entry time.  We ate granola bars in the hotel and hit the bus at 7am to get to the park at 7:15. Once we got to the park it was still not very crowded and we headed to the back of the park to ride Expedition Everest which is a rollercoaster.  This is one of the most fun rides at Disney World, and when we got there, the line was only 15 minutes.  After our first ride Shellie wanted to ride again so we did. 

Afterwards, we headed to Dinoland and the only ride open was the triceratops saucers which is the kid's ride but we rode it anyway.  The big attraction at Dinoland is the ride Dinosaur and it was not yet open when we got there (before 9am), so we left.  Flame tree barbeque was making barbecue for the day and smelled SO GOOD, but it wasn't open yet so we ate at the Creature Comforts coffee shop which is basically a Starbucks.

Next on our agenda was Kilimanjaro Safari in which you ride through an open air zoo to see various wildlife from around the world. Advice was to go early in the morning but it seems like there were still plenty of animals out around 9:30am.  After the safari we went on the gorilla walk and saw other animals.

Not a Longhorn, Just long horns

Meerkat Manor

Two-bodied zebra

   

At this point we were making pretty good progress so we decided to try the Pandora ride even though the line was pretty long (like over 90 minutes). I won't give away the ride but it is one of the best rides at Disney World.  I will tell you it is a motion ride.

After Pandora, we went on the Navi River ride, which was also about a 75 minute ride wait and I have to say it probably was not worth it. We went back to Dinoland and were able to get on the Dinosaur ride which was a good ride and by then it was time for our lunch at Yak and Yeti - pretty good mid grade Chinese and Asian.  Afterwards we only had the last River raft ride. Shellie did not want to get wet so Bix, Brooke, and I went on the Kali River raft and got medium wet. Luckily the sun was out a little bit and we were not freezing. At this point we had seen most of the park and only had the Maharajah jungle trek to go so we did that quickly and left the park by 4 PM.  In retrospect, I think we missed the Pagani forest walk, which was also on my spreadsheet itinerary.

Bix and I went to the pool (hot tub only) while the girls took a nap. When we got home we ordered pizza and watched football.

And then there was a knock at our door...

Shellie's sister Kim and two of her boys were there to join us for our last three days in Orlando.