Well, after a late night on Wednesday (it was after 2:00 AM by the time I actually got to sleep), I was moving kind of slowly when the alarm went off at 7:00. But my excitement for the day ahead (and two cups of Starbucks) finally got me going. I DID miss the first SoG bus direct to the Animal Kingdom, so I took the SoG bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center and then a Disney bus from there to the AK. I made it to the park only 10 minutes after rope drop, and as it was a 1.1 crowd day, I wasn’t especially worried.
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| Entrance to Disney's Animal Kingdom |
Like most people, I pretty much blasted my way through the Oasis (I always stop to look on my way out), and went over the bridge to Discovery Island.
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| The Tree of Life on Discovery Island |
My first goal was Expedition Everest in the Asia section of the park.
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| Expedition Everest! |
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| Tibetan temple near Expedition Everest |
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| The "big drop" on Expedition Everest |
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| The Expedition Everest Sign |
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| The Entrance to Expedition Everest |
I literally walked onto the train, and into a back seat. Got off and went directly back into the line and waited less than 5 minutes for a front seat. In my opinion, the queue for EE is one of the most well designed and has the most detailed storytelling of any queue anywhere in WDW. On my third time through I took advantage of virtually no people to take some pictures.
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| Expedition Everest Queue |
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| Expedition Everest Queue |
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| Expedition Everest Queue |
And of course, there is a gift shop that you must pass through in order to exit.
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| Expedition Everest Gift Shop |
I probably could have kept riding for another 3 or 4 times with still virtually no line, but there were a lot of other things I wanted to do, so I moved on to Dinoland.
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| Welcome to Dinoland |
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| The visual centerpiece of Dinoland |
For a long time I had always been able to claim to have ridden every ride and to seen every (permanent) show in all 4 parks. There were, however several that had escaped me and Triceratops Spin was one of them. This ride is found in the "Dino-rama" area, designed to look like a tacky 50s era roadside attraction.
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| Entrance to Dino-rama |
I have to say that if you’re over the age of 10, this ride really has very little to offer.
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| Triceratops Spin |
Fortunately it was a walk-on, so it did not take a lot of time out of my day. While there, I also rode Primeval Whirl (which I had done before).
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| Primeval Whirl |
Certainly not worth a long wait (I walked on), but as a coaster fanatic, it’s a fun ride. I was seated in a car with a mother and young daughter; the total excitement that the daughter was experiencing made the whole ride even more enjoyable. Exiting the ride I heard the carnival barkers trying to lure guests into playing games. The guy at the “Pachycephalosaur” booth had some voice issues, and for the life of me I thought he was yelling “Tacky Syphilis Sores” at the top of his lungs.
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| The Dino-rama roadside atraction. |
From there I went to Dinosaur!, and rode it twice, basically walking right on to it both times (like EE, I took advantage of a no-crowd day to take some pictures).
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| Exterior of DINOSAUR! |
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| DINOSAUR! Sign |
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| The Carnatosaur skeleton inside DINOSAUR! |
After the second ride I spent a few minutes strolling along the “Cretaceous Trail”. It’s a pleasant walk, but other than some fun picture-taking spots with your kids, not really very engaging.
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| Along the Cretaceous Trail |
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| I wonder if dinosaurs were really this color... |
I then crossed over to Discovery Island to see It's Tough to be a Bug, which is one of my favorites. There were virtually no people around, so i took time to take detail pictures of the Tree of Life.
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| The Tree of Life |
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| Looking up at the Tree of Life from the base |
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| Detail of the animal carvings on the Tree of Life |
I walked right into the lobby, and had a 5 minute wait for the next show. After taking some more pictures of the Tree of Life on my way out, I crossed the bridge to Asia.
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| Entrance to It's Tough to be a Bug |
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| Waterfall on the exit path of It's Tough to be a Bug |
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| Detail of the bridge from Discovery Island to Asia |
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| View from the bridge to Asia |
Once in
Asia, I
was fortunate enough to see Devine perform.
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| The beautiful Devine |
I had never seen her before and probably have stood there for 10 or 20 minutes - but I had other things to do. Kilimanjaro Safari is an absolute must do, so i walked over to Africa to get a FP for later.
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| Now entering Africa |
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| Mombasa in Africa |
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| Tamu Tamu in Africa |
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| Approaching Kilimanjaro Safaries |
When I got there, the standby line was posted at 10 min, so I skipped the FP and got on line.
It was actually closer to a 5 min wait. It seemed as though every animal in the park knew I wanted to take their picture, so they ALL came out to say hello. I don't know if I've EVER seen as many of the animals on a single ride (in fact, I can't think of any that I DIDN'T see (the following pictures are not necessarily in the order in which the animals are actually seen while on the Safari).
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| Entrance to Kilimanjaro Safaries |
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| Antelope |
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| Bongo |
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| African Crane |
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| Giraffe |
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| Long-horned Cattle |
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| Mandrills |
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| Warthog |
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| Wildebeast |
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| Ostritch |
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| White Rhino |
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| Sleeping Cheetah |
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| Cheetah with Cubs |
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| Sleeping Lions |
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| African Elephant |
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| Baby Elephant protected by the Herd |
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| Rescued! |
Upon exiting the safari I took a quick stroll through the Pangani Hiking Trail, stopping only to capture a few pictures along the way (I spent close to an hour on it my last visit).
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| Meercat |
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| Lowland Gorilla |
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| Lowland Gorilla |
It was time for my ADR at Yak and Yeti, so back to Asia and lunch. Along the way I passed the "Flights of Fancy" bird show. I absolutely love free-flight bird shows, but I find the "script" for this one so annoying, I just can't do it. I did get to see a beautiful horned owl on display outside the theater on my way past.
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| Great Horned Owl |
Y&Y is a favorite of mine, and the only restaurant in AK that I will go to for a "meal".
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| Great window seats at Yak and Yeti - if you can get one! |
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| Entrance to Yak and Yeti |
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| Some of the amazing decor at the Yak and Yeti |
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| Upstairs at the Yak and Yeti |
I had the seared ahi salad with aisan vinegrette and wasabi drizzle (for the first time) and it was EXCELLENT; one of my favorite meals of the 12 I had on this trip. It was huge and must have had close to 8 oz. of very good ahi on it (there's just as much on the back side). The Safari Amber is one of my favorite beers at WDW.
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| Seared Ahi Salad and Safari Amber at the Yak and Yeti |
I would HIGHLY recommend this for a lunch; 2 could probably split it and be quite satisfied. Although I should have remembered, Y&Y is NOT part of Tables in Wonderland. When the CM saw how disappointed I was, she gave me an "anytime" FP for Everest! I finished lunch with just enough time to make it across Discovery Island to Camp Mickey/Minnie for "Festival of the Lion King" , which in my opinion, is hands-down the best live show in all of WDW (not counting "La Nouba", which is in a class of its own).
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| Welcome to Camp Minnie/Mickey |
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| Hikers at Camp Minnie/Mickey |
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| The Circle of Life |
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| Simba - the "Birthday Boy" of the Festival |
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| Acrobatic Monkies - Hakuna Matata |
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| Fire Dancer |
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| Aerialist - Can You Feel the Love Tonight |
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| The Circle of Life |
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| Finale Tableaux |
After the show I made my way through the crowds ("drafting" behind a maniacal stroller mom with a double-wide) and went back to Africa for an informal Liner's meet-up at the Dawa Bar, next to Tusker House.
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| Entering Africa from Discovery Island |
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| Dawa Bar at Tusker House |
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| Entrance to the Maharajah Jungle Trek |
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| Komodo Dragon |
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| Giant Fruit Bat |
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| Asian Deer |
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| Tiger! |
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| And another Tiger! |
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| Siamangs |
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| A rare blonde Siamang |
I believe this to be one of the most beautiful spots in all of the AK. The attention to detail is superb, and it would be easy to spend an hour on the trail just taking in all of the architectural elements.
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| Temple in the tiger enclosure |
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| Elephant Mural |
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| Tiger Mural |
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| Wall Carvings |
Once I got off of the trail I took a brief look at the closed-for-refurb Kali River Rapids. Although I find this to be one of the most disappointing rides in WDW (especially considering how awesome Grizzly River Run in Disney's California Adventure is), I was sad not to be able to ride it as it had been 12 years since my last time.
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| Entrance to Kali River Rapids |
I then went back to Expedition Everest for a final ride of the day. There was NO line and trains were running half empty. My "last" ride turned into 3 rides, bringing my total Everest ride count up to six - a new record for me. After my last ride I took a VERY leisurely stroll back through Africa, and across to Discovery Island where I poked around in the shops for a bit.
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| Outfitters |
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| Flick watching over shoppers |
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| Beautiful carvings decorate the shops |
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| Always one of the sadder sights after an excellent day of touring |
From there, it was back to the Oasis where I took some time to look at the animals on the way out (I love the spoonbills).
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| One of the many pools and grottos to be found in the Oasis |
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| The lights were just coming on as I was leaving |
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| Visiting the Spoonbills on my way out has become a tradition for me |
Upon exiting I made the long walk to the busses to head over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for some exploration and dinner (and after that, a trip to Downtown Disney) - but that will be the starting point for my next blog.
A "soap box moment". I hear so many people refer to AK as "a half-day park". I don't get it. I've spent four FULL days at AK over the years, and never once was I able to fit everything in in a single day. If your definition of "doing" AK is hitting the 7 rides and seeing one show, then I suppose you could do that in a half day - but if you do only that, you are missing SO MUCH of what AK is all about. Maybe this is an adult perspective, and if I had kids who only wanted to do rides I may have a different view. But if that's NOT the case, plan on spending the whole day there and checking out all of the details and out-of-the-way places; you will be rewarded if you do!
