On our 5th day in Disney World, the rain had past! And it was Zachary’s 6th birthday! We headed to the Animal Kingdom and the kids were in great moods – you can tell because they actually wanted me to take their picture! Catch up with our plans for the day in this post.
Our first stop was the safari. First thing is the best time to ride to minimize wait times and see the most animals!
After the ride, we continued on to the Pagani Forest Trail.
Near the gorillas, we discovered the program they have for the kids to become “Wilderness Explorers.” We didn’t feel like we had time to properly do the tasks needed to earn “badges,” so I told the kids maybe we’d return to the Animal Kingdom one day the following week to do it.
We headed over to Asia to get fast passes for the River Rapids, and on the way I took photos. We also walked the Maharajah Trail. Animal Kingdom is so pretty! I hadn’t realized it before, but I’d heard how amazing the theming there is. And it’s so true.
The kids and I went to Dinoland and road Triceratops Spin while Dave rode Expedition Everest. He went in the single rider line. We also got a Fast Pass for me to ride it later.
Next, Dave took Gabbie and Zachary to ride Kali River Rapids. I wasn’t planning to ride it, so I stayed with Simon. We got to watch the others pass us. Gabbie was crying – she hadn’t wanted to ride and was mad that Dave made her!
I believe after this we took a break for lunch. Then we walked around the Tree of Life. This is something I wanted to do the last time I was at the Animal Kingdom but couldn’t figure out how to get near it!
Next we headed over to watch the Finding Nemo show. We were sitting in the very back!
From there, we got in line to meet Mickey and Minnie in their new location.
Minnie tried to take Simon’s paci away!
After that, we headed to Camp Minnie Mickey for the Festival of the Lion King show. We were once again in the last row! This show is very colorful and fun.
Next, we got in line to meet Pocahontas, who was on our must meet list. We’d never met her before and she only meets at the Animal Kingdom! I was a little upset because I wanted to watch the parade and we were in line for awhile, but I got excited when I saw Meeko come join Pocahontas! He was so cute. He wanted to steal biscuits or something like that, so he was pointing at Zachary’s pins and acting silly.
Simon was sleeping – too bad, he would have liked Meeko!
We hurried over to catch the end of the parade. Then we turned back towards Asia so I could take my turn on Everest, but the parade goes in a circle so we were blocked by the parade coming back to where it started. Because of that, we got front row viewing of the parade! And the cast member who wouldn’t let us pass gave us Happily Ever After buttons, in case we were upset. I was happy, I took a ton of pictures!
Since I’d been caught by the parade, I was late for my Fast Pass return, but on time enough that they let me into the line. And then the ride broke down. I was so annoyed! I felt like this kept happening to me – Dave got to go on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and I didn’t because of the rain. He got to ride Rockin’ Roller Coaster and I didn’t because it would have taken too long. And now Everest too! They gave me a Fast Pass to come back any time that day, so I hoped I’d get on later! We then took the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. The entire mural there is covered with Hidden Mickeys, so Gabbie and I had fun finding some of them. We also like the petting zoo there. Zachary was brushing the goats like it was his job! And we met Rafiki. He’s one of my favorites! We left the autograph books under the stroller though – oops!
When we got back from Rafiki’s Planet Watch, I once again got into line for Expedition Everest. This time it didn’t break down and I rode it for my first time! My impressions were: for a roller coaster that doesn’t go upside down, you sure feel like you’re going upside down. What’s with the Yeti? I thought he was supposed to be animatronic, but instead he was projected onto a wall. I liked the ride, but I’m not sure I’d run to do it again! While I was riding, my kids were doing this:
And this:
Before we left the park, we decided to meet Tigger and Pooh. Simon loves them, but he missed them in Epcot because he was asleep.
Then we went home and had birthday cake!
Like I mentioned earlier, we decided to return to the Animal Kingdom for a bonus day. Once you have 6 day tickets, adding an extra day only costs $10 more per person. So the week after our Disney week, Dave was working, but the kids and I returned to the Animal Kingdom planning to become Wilderness Explorers. We completed about half of the booklet before they got too tired and scared because it was about to rain. So we did our souvenir shopping instead. That day I hardly took any pictures, we didn’t go on any rides, and we didn’t meet any characters, so I thought I’d just include those pictures as part of this day’s recap.
Animal Kingdom’s totals: 5 rides, 2 shows, a parade, 7 characters, and too many animals to count! The only thing on our plan that we didn’t do was find Divine, the lady that dresses up like a tree. I was very happy after our day in Animal Kingdom – happy enough to come back alone with the kids! Our bonus day wasn’t quite as good – and it was MUCH more crowded! – but I was happy we did it.
Only one more Disney recap to go, and then I’ll start telling you about the rest of the things we did in Florida!