Taking a Walk on the Wild Side: A Day in Animal Kingdom

Wow are we exhausted.  After an insanely late night last night, we had an equally early morning this morning.  Our first day at Disney World involved going to Animal Kingdom, which has Extra Magic Hours on Saturdays, which means those staying on property (like us) can get in an hour early.  Since we have FastPasses for Flight of Passage for Monday afternoon but weren't able to get one for Na'vi River Journey, we saw this as our opportunity to ride Na'vi River Journey.  Most people, however, opted to head for Flight of Passage, and when I say "head", I mean run.  I had heard about this happening, but I didn't think it was actually true.  Unfortunately, it was.  By the time the park opened, there was already a 2 hour wait for the ride.

I have to say, I understand why people are a little bit on the fence about Na'vi River Journey.  It was a beautiful ride, and the technology was impressive, especially when it came to the Shaman, but it was little more than a boat ride.  My favorite parts (other than the Shaman) were the tree spirits floating all around you, and the bioluminescent plants under the water.  It's the little touches like that that really makes Disney stand out about the rest.  Bryan and I both agreed that we wouldn't spend more than 20, maybe 30 minutes waiting for that ride, so we were glad we were pretty much able to walk right on.  Towards the end of the day, there was over an hour and a half wait.  If it were the end of the day, or we needed a break, it would have also been a wonderful opportunity for us to just sit down and take a break.  Since it was our first ride, we were wide awake, well rested, and our feet didn't hurt at all.  I still liked it, but it's not something either or us are beating down the door to ride again.

After Na'vi River Journey, we decided to trek all the way across the park to Kilimanjaro Safaris.  The line was super short, and I'd heard the animals were much more awake in the mornings.  It didn't matter to us that we had a FastPass for it for Monday.  So, we walked all the way across the park, and we're both so glad we did!  I've been on that ride three times now, and that was probably the best safari I've done.  The amount of animals we saw was absolutely amazing.  I'm also incredibly glad I had my actual camera with me, as I was able to take some stunning pictures.

All of the giraffes seemed to be out and eating, which I, of course, absolutely loved.  They were all over the place, and, at one point, some of them were just wandering around in the road, so we got to stop (our driver said that we weren't going to be able to stop on this part of the ride, but she would drive as slowly as possible so we could see as much as we could).  I, of course, was absolutely beside myself, as I wanted to see as many giraffes as humanly possible.  There were probably eight or nine out, all gathered together.  Not only that, the painted dogs were up and playing with each other, which was awesome.  Even though they're wild dogs, they reminded me of Molly and Baxter.  It was hard for me to reconcile with the fact that these wild dogs are related to my spoiled, lazy dogs.  We always tease Baxter when we see the commercial for Blue Buffalo dog food, because it says inside every dog is the heart of a wolf, and we ask Baxter if that's the same for him, because that's super hard to believe.  What was really exciting was the fact that the lions were still awake and still somewhat active.  I ended up getting some great shots of the male as he wandered around, just hanging out a little bit before bed.  Usually when I see them on the safari (or even at the zoo), they're fast asleep, and the only movement I see is from one sleeping position to another.

After our wildly successful safari (no pun intended), we were supposed to have FastPasses for Dinosaur.  But, oh darn, the ride was closed.  There were absolutely no complaints on my part about that, as that's the ride I'd been looking forward to the least.  Instead, we wandered around and opted for some character meet and greets instead.  We started with Dug and Russell from Up! Even though I'm not a big fan of the movie, it was a blast seeing them.  Russell showed off the Wilderness Explorer badges he's the proudest of, and Dug showed me his favorite spot to be scratched (for future reference, it's his nose).  It was a lot of fun, even though Bryan's not that big into meeting characters.

After meeting Dug and Russell, we discovered Dinosaur was back up and running, and since they'd had to cancel our FastPass for it before, they gave us a generic FastPass to be used on select rides, including Dinosaur, so we decided to use it for that.

On our way over to Dinosaur, we ran into the Rafiki and Timon meet and greet, so we stopped there.  It was definitely a longer wait that Dug and Russell, but Rafiki and Timon were a lot of fun.  This is one of my favorite pictures from yesterday,  Timon took Bryan's hat and decided to give it a try himself.  They were a blast, and they really took their time with us.  They talked about the dinosaurs on our shirts, we asked about Pumbaa, and we overall had a wonderful time with them.

Once we were done, I knew we couldn't delay it any longer, and we had to head over to Dinosaur.  This was the ride Bryan really wanted to ride, so we were going to ride it because he agreed to this trip in the first place.

As you can see, I'm plugging my ears.  I hate loud noises, and I bought earplugs just for this ride, but I couldn't find them.  This caused me to panic, but I was going to power through it, and we were going to do it.  The ride was super bumpy and a little weird.  Some of the dinosaurs looked pretty realistic, while others looked a little hokey (such as the one eating another dinosaur).  The part that made me scream is really funny and absolutely pathetic.  It wasn't the giant dinosaur trying to attack us, it was the flashing light from the camera.  I know, that's so pathetic, but it's true.  Oh well, I survived, so it doesn't matter.

On our way out of Dinosaur, we ran into Pluto, so we stopped to say hi to him.  Bryan pointed out that an overwhelming majority of the characters in Animal Kingdom are collected in Dinoland, USA.  There are some scattered other places throughout the park, but most of them are all over.  After meeting Pluto, we headed over to meet Chip and Dale.  I was looking forward to meeting them, as they're so adorable and  fun, especially in their little dinosaur costumes.  I mean, how can you not love those outfits!?  As expected, they were extremely goofy and silly.  We talked about how Bryan loves dinosaurs and even has a stegosaurus onesie, just like Chip.  Of course Chip loved this, and he had to show off his onesie to us.  I was surprised, though, because they weren't as flirty as I remember them being, but there are going to be plenty of other opportunities to meet them throughout the parks.

After some time in Dinoland, USA, we went to Flametree BBQ for something to eat.  I'd really been looking forward to the french fries with BBQ pork and cheese on top, and they were well worth it.  I'm even thinking of getting them again when we go back on Monday.

Afterwards, we went and met Pocahontas, but there was a wonderful surprise there.  As we got in line, we turned around, and Meeko was standing in line behind us.  This was a fantastic treat, as Meeko doesn't usually come out.  He's not a super rare character, but he's not around very often either.  Of course, he wanted to know what was in our backpack, wondering if there were any treats (we might have lied and told him there weren't any even though we did have some).  I also talked to Pocahontas, telling her I use her lesson to John Smith about how the Powhatans are fully capable of using the land on their own without the English help in my classroom (which is true).  She was incredibly happy and proud to hear that, and said it's important that we remember to respect the land.  This wasn't a PhotoPass location, so a cast member used my phone to take the photos, but they're gorgeous.  Some of them have this awesome rainbow going across them, almost like the colors of the wind.

From there, we headed over to Expedition Everest for our second FastPass of the day, and it was a blast!  It's definitely one of our favorite things we did yesterday.  The rollercoaster was thrilling and exciting, and the yeti was absolutely terrifying.  Unfortunately, Bryan wasn't wearing his glasses, so he couldn't see the yeti, but he still loved the ride. 

Then, we headed down to Pandora to explore a little bit more.  We took some wonderful photos, saw a banshee fly above us (okay, it was a magic shot), and headed to Pongu Pongu for a night blossom.  We opted for the rum version of course.  Unfortunately, Bryan spilled his, so we split mine.  Even though it wasn't very hot, it was still a delicious, refreshing drink.

Once we finished eating, it was time for our next FastPass where we got to meet the man, or rather mouse, in charge himself.  Right now, this spot in Animal Kingdom is the only place you can meet Mickey and Minnie together.  They were delightful hosts, and Minnie absolutely loved my polka dot nails and little Mickey decals.  We suggested she go get her nails done to match, and she was excited about that.  It was perfect having a FastPass for them, as there was an hour wait otherwise, which would have been insane.  We waited about fifteen minutes, if that.

After meeting Mickey and Minnie, it was about three o'clock, so we decided to get Bryan some coffee.  When we stopped at Creature Comforts that morning, I saw this cupcake, but I knew it was too early to get it, so I got it this time around.  This was the best cupcake I've ever had in my life.  It's the Valentine's Day one, so it's only there for a little while longer.  It's a chocolate cupcake with strawberry icing, little strawberry and chocolate crunchies on top and a chocolate covered strawberry.  Since I felt bad, I gave Bryan the smallest bite, but only a little one.  I could eat that cupcake every day for the rest of my life, which is saying a lot, because, honestly, I don't actually like chocolate cake.  This, however, was rich, and didn't have that weird chocolate cake taste that I usually don't like.

At this point, we wandered around a little, and Bryan bought a new hat.  I love that the first non-food related purchase of this trip came from him.  As much as he loves that fedora he wears, it's also made of wool and acrylic, so he was dying.  We found him a nice, lightweight hat that he'll probably end up wearing for the rest of our trip.

From there, we went to Yak and Yeti for our Valentine's Day dinner.  The food was delicious.  We got the dim sum basket, and then I just got pot stickers for dinner since they were so amazing in the dim sum basket.  Bryan got some sort of chicken wok, which he said was amazing too.  We then wandered around Pandora at night.  I discovered night mode on my camera, which, along with a little bit of editing once the pictures were taken, allowed for some stunning pictures like this one.  It really helped to capture the stunning lights all around Pandora.  I know it's just black lights, but still, it was gorgeous.

We ended our night with seeing Rivers of Light, the Animal Kingdom night show.  This was completely new to me, as there was no night show when we were here last time.  Since there are animals in the park, they don't use fireworks.  Instead, they use fountains of light, but it was easy to imagine what it would have looked like with fireworks. The show focused on the animals from Disney movies, along with animals in the wild, and how we should all work together as one global community.  We greatly enjoyed it, and it was one of our favorite things that day, along with Expedition Everest.  This is even though a few minutes into the show, they had to stop and restart due to technical issues, but everything was back up and running within five minutes, so it wasn't that bad.

Back at the hotel, we got a bottle of wine and some more cupcakes.  I saw this one on a Facebook group, and I desperately wanted to try it.  It's a vanilla cupcake with orange filling and strawberry icing on top.  Unlike the cupcake from earlier that day, this icing was super sweet.  It was a good cupcake, but it was easily overshadowed by the cupcake from Creature Comforts.  Bryan got a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter filling.  He said it was pretty good.  We split a bottle of wine, then we decided to call it a night around 11.  Overall, it was a wonderful first day in Disney World, and we have 7 more days to go!

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A Closer Look at Animal Kingdom

It's hard to believe I'm doing my last write up on a specific Disney park.  It's also hard to believe it's only 30 days until our trip (but who's counting?).  The irony of this post is that while I'm writing about Animal Kingdom last, it's actually the first park we're going to on our trip.  A lot of that came down to where we wanted to eat our first day of vacation (more about that later), along with when Disney has Extra Magic Hours.

First, a tiny bit of history about Animal Kingdom.  The idea for an animal-themed park originally came up in the late 1980s after Disney opened MGM Studios (now Hollywood Studios).  Since this park involves large amounts of living, breathing animals, there was extensive research necessary.  Additionally, Imagineers traveled all over the world observing animals and collecting artifacts that could be used throughout the park to create as immersive an experience as humanly possible.  The majority of this planning, research and travel was spearheaded by Joe Rohde.  If you've ever seen a documentary about Disney World, he's the one with the huge earring (you'll know who I'm talking about as soon as you see him).  It took a little over ten years, but the park finally opened in 1998.

So much about Animal Kingdom has changed since the last time we went fourteen years ago (moreso than Epcot and Magic Kingdom but definitely not as much as Hollywood Studios).  I also feel like there's a lot that there was there when we went fourteen years ago that we didn't do because we just did the rides.  A lot of that comes from the fact that Animal Kingdom is so much more than a park, and in order to get the full experience, it's important to not only know that but also take advantage of it.  Like I said before, we just did the rides last time we went to Animal Kingdom, and it sounds bad to say this, but that caused us to miss huge parts of the park that are absolutely amazing.  On top of that, there are plenty of new rides and attractions that have opened in Animal Kingdom, including a whole new part of the park.

Animal Kingdom is broken into seven distinct areas: Discovery Island, Africa (including the fictional port city of Harambe), Asia, DinoLand USA, Oasis, Rafiki's Planet Watch and Pandora.  Just like the lands in Magic Kingdom, each of these areas is unique and provides visitors with a different experience.  Originally, Imagineers also wanted to include a part of the park that focused on fantasy animals, but this was eventually discarded, although Pandora can be considered an area that focuses on fictional creatures.

First, I want to talk about the few things I've done previously in Animal Kingdom that I can't wait to do again.  First and foremost is Kilamanjaro Safari.  This is what Walt Disney originally wanted for the Jungle Cruise in Magic Kingdom; a place for guests to real animals in their natural habitat.  When Disneyland first opened in 1955, it was deemed an impossible task, which is why the Jungle Cruise has animatronic animals.  Kilamanjaro Safari is one of the main reasons Animal Kingdom is so huge, it covers approximately 110 acres, or about 19% of the entire Animal Kingdom.  The safari is set up judiciously where animals appear to be wandering around at their leisure, but they're actually separated by natural barriers (so you don't have lions attacking and eating zebras in front of small children) and are lured out closer to the path with things such as food and air conditioning.  Guests catch a ride on safari truck where a cast member serves as your guide.  Unlike the Jungle Cruise where the cast member (aka the "Skipper") feeds you cheesy jokes, this time you're told factual information about the animals as you cross them.  The one risk with this ride is you never know what you're going to get, you might see a lot of animals, you might not.  Disney does work hard to ensure you see as much as possible.

Another attraction I'm excited to see is housed in the main focus of Animal Kingdom: the Tree of Life.  Pictured above, the Tree of Life looks like a solid structure.  Up close, however, guests realize that all sorts of animals are carved in intricate detail into the trunk and branches, 325 carvings in all.  It's absolutely gorgeous, and it's easy to spend ages just looking at all the detail.

While the tree looks like a large, solid structure, underneath the roots is actually a 428 seat theatre where guests can watch the 3D production It's Tough To Be A Bug! based on Pixar's 1998 movie A Bug's Life.  At first, Imagineers struggled with how to build a large tree with a theatre underneath that could not only support the weight of the tree on an average day but also withstand the potential winds and rain from hurricanes.  Eventually, they decided to use an oil rig, which was perfect to withstand the weight and stress.

Like I said before, It's Tough To Be A Bug! is a 3D show where the characters from A Bug's Life explain the hardships and struggles they endure being bugs.  The point is driven home with special effects such as smells for the stinkbugs, air that feels like bugs crawling up your legs and even something that comes out of your seat and pokes you in the back to feel like a stinger.  It absolutely terrifies children, and there's always children screaming who have to be taken to the back of the theatre of comforted.  I remember the first time we went to Animal Kingdom in 2000, and I had heard that the show can be a little intense.  I was a bit of a wimp at the time and didn't want to sit down.  Disney is always wonderful and accommodating, however, and a cast member kindly stood in the back of the theatre with me.  When we went in 2005, I did sit in a seat and enjoyed the show.

The last thing we did last time we went to Animal Kingdom I want to do again is Festival of the Lion King.  I've heard this show compared to seeing Lion King on Broadway, but since I've seen Lion King on Broadway, I'm having a little bit of a hard time swallowing that.  I remember it being a lot of fun and there being a lot of color and beautiful dancing.  Unlike the Broadway show, however, Festival of the Lion King uses fur characters similar to the costumes used for characters around the park, not puppet-like costumes you see on Broadway.  It's an abbreviated version of the movie that focuses mainly on the music, with four story tellers filling in the rest of the story as you listen to the music.

Like I said before, there's plenty that's either been added to Animal Kingdom since we last went or that we didn't do last time that I would like to do this time around.  Perhaps the biggest change to Animal Kingdom is Pandora, based on the movie Avatar.  Now, it's important to note that at this point, I haven't actually seen Avatar, but it's on our list of movies to watch before we go on our trip (more about that in a few weeks).  This Pandora includes the floating mountains, exotic plants and sounds.  At night, everything lights up to look like bioluminescent plants.

There are two main rides in Pandora: Flight of Passage and Na'vi River Journey.  Flight of Passage is similar to Soarin' in Epcot where it feels like you're flying through Pandora while in front of a giant screen.  When you ride Soarin', however, you're simply sitting in a seat.  On Flight of Passage, however, you ride one of the banshees from the movie.  The banshees even feel like they're breathing as you sit on them!  The detail is supposed to be amazing, and I've only heard great things about this ride.  FastPasses for this ride are difficult to come across, but we're fortunate enough to have gotten one for our second day at Animal Kingdom.

The other ride in Pandora is Na'vi River Journey.  I've heard this ride isn't as good as Flight of Passage, but I still want to ride it.  As the name implies, this is simply a slow, leisurely ride through Pandora where you can even meet a Na'vi shaman.  When I watched Imagineering Story on Disney+ (which I can't recommend enough), they talked about creating this shaman.  When Disney parks first opened, the motors used in the animatronics were significantly larger, which is why you don't see a lot of changes in emotions on rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean.  Now, however, the motors are incredibly small, meaning animatronics are capable of changing their emotions and having many more fine motor movements.  In Imagineering Story, they demonstrate this by showing the shaman from Na'vi River Journey.

The realism in the shaman is beyond amazing.  When I showed this clip to Bryan, he immediately got excited and started asking if we were going to be able to see the shaman up close.  It also reminds me of the conversations we have about "Uncanny Valley", which is the concept that if something looks far too realistic, the brain pretty much short circuits as it tries to comprehend the fact that what you're seeing isn't real even though it's comprehending it as something that is in fact real.

In addition to Pandora, Asia has expanded in Animal Kingdom to include a new roller coaster: Expedition Everest.  On this ride, you are traveling through the Himalayas in search of the elusive Yeti.  Things go wrong, however, when they track you're riding on has been ripped up by the very Yeti you're looking for.  As you zoom through the mountains, you even briefly encounter the Yeti.  The building of this ride is absolutely fascinating.  The Yeti, track and mountain are all so large they had to built in tandem instead of building one, then another, then the last one.  This was, understandably, a logistical nightmare.  The video below goes into more detail about this, including the research done to make the ride look as culturally accurate as possible.

I'm also looking forward to seeing Rivers of Light, which is the night show at Animal Kingdom.  Unlike the other shows in Disney World, there are no fireworks in this show so as to not to scare the animals.  Instead, gorgeous boats with colorful lights and scenes from Disney movies projected on them float along the water, along with fountains, all to music.  It looks absolutely gorgeous and like a wonderful way to end a day in the park.

There are a few things that were available when we went to Animal Kingdom last time, but we skipped them.  First and foremost is the ride Bryan's probably looking forward to the most: Dinosaur.  I, however, have some much different thoughts about this ride.  On this ride, you're sent back in time to retrieve a specific dinosaur egg.  As always, however, things go wrong when you're there, and the meteor shower that killed the dinosaurs starts.  It's a loud, intense ride that includes dinosaurs roaring at you while you scream in terror.  I'm convinced I'm going to die on this ride.  To make matters worse, this is the very first ride we're going on in Disney World, so I keep saying that anything we plan after that is useless, as I'll be dead.  Bryan thinks this is hilarious (isn't he the best?).  I did buy earplugs for this ride, so let's hope they work.  The good news is you get a photo from this ride, so that should be amusing.  I did watch a few videos of this ride ahead of time so I would know what to expect, and it's pretty much just darkness and screaming, which doesn't bode well for me at all.  We'll have to see how this goes, although Bryan seems excited.

Recently, as in the past week or two, Bryan and I have decided to add Rafiki's Planet Watch to our trip.  In order to get to this part of Animal Kingdom, you have to ride a train.  This area includes a petting zoo, conservation efforts and drawing classes (which is the main reason we want to go).  While it sounded interesting, it wasn't really a top priority for us, it seemed like something more geared towards small children.  I recently saw a TimTracker video, however, that showed his visit to Rafiki's Planet Watch and the drawing classes they have up there.  Just like Art of Animation, these are free, and they provide all the supplies.  With the help of a Disney animator, you learn to draw an animal from a Disney movie.  Now, I'm an absolutely terrible artist, but it seems like fun and a cool, free souvenir to take home with us.

Like I said before, Animal Kingdom is so much more than a theme park, it's also a way to appreciate animals in as close to their natural habitat as possible.  There was a lot of controversy when this park first opened with accusations that live animals were being used simply to amuse people.  That definitely isn't the case, however, these animals are probably treated better than if they're in a zoo, and extensive research went into creating the park.  Even Jane Goodall gave her stamp of approval, which is good enough for me.  In order to be more than just a theme park, Animal Kingdom has Gorilla Falls Exploration and Maharajah Jungle Trek.  As the name implies, Gorilla Falls Exploration is an opportunity to see gorillas up close on a trail of sorts that winds through the park.  Maharajah Jungle Trek is similar, although its main focus is tigers, along with other creatures from Asia (such as komodo dragons).  Both of these seem like a great way to spend some time and to get some fantastic photos of some animals.

Compared to the other Disney parks, there aren't as many characters that I'm looking forward to meeting in Animal Kingdom.  Even though Chip and Dale are available in other parks, I really want to make sure we see them in Animal Kingdom since they wear adorable dinosaur outfits.  I think they're so cute, and Chip and Dale are always fun to interact with (although my mom would tell a different story).  They're such flirts.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of the movie Up! (please don't hate me, I know most of the people out there absolutely love that movie), I do want to see Russell and Dug.  Russell is quite a piece of work, and Dug reminds me of my dogs, especially his love for squirrels.  Baxter's always chasing squirrels, even though he has yet to catch one.  I also want to meet Pocahontas.  We have photos of us seeing her and Meeko somewhere around our area over twenty years ago when the movie first came out, but that's the only time I've met her.  I know they've updated her costume to make it more culturally accurate, but I still like her old one, as it was simpler and just like the movie.  I'd also like to meet Tarzan.  I've never met him, so I can't really speak to what he's like as a character, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Finally, I really want to meet Mickey and Minnie.  While Mickey and Minnie are available to meet in many places throughout all four parks, this is actually the only place you can meet them together.  I love their safari outfits, and I really want a nice picture of Bryan and I with Mickey and Minnie together.  I don't want to talk a lot about what photographs I want, however, as that's going to be our topic for next week's Walt Disney Wednesday, our photo package that I insisted on getting.

Like I said at the very beginning of this post, this is the first park we're visiting.  This decision came from the fact that we're celebrating Valentine's Day a day late and wanted somewhere nice to go for dinner.  After doing some research and asking around, we decided on Yak and Yeti, which is an Asian restaurant.  It's one of the two table service restaurants we're visiting (the other being Sci-Fi Dine-In in Hollywood Studios).  From what I've seen and heard, the food is delicious, and the atmosphere is amazing.  I did want to do a few more table service restaurants, but they're expensive and take up a lot of time, and I'd rather be on rides and experiencing the parks than sitting in a restaurant.  I'll be sure to let you know how the food is and take lots of pictures inside the restaurant.

As always, I did ask Bryan what he's most excited to see and do at this park.  He did say that out of the four parks, this is the one he's most excited to visit.  Of course, he's extremely excited to ride Dinosaur, and we keep joking about how this ride is going to kill me (which he seems weirdly excited about as well).  This shouldn't surprise me at all, that man is obsessed with dinosaurs, to the point that he wore a dinosaur t-shirt on our first date (it's his favorite shirt apparently).  Bryan's also excited to do the drawing class up at Rafiki's Planet Watch.  When I told him about it, he said he used to doodle all the time when he had to take notes in school, which I didn't know.  Because of that, he's probably going to do leaps and bounds better than me doing this, not that that's very hard.  Finally, Bryan's looking forward to Kilimanjaro Safaris.  We've been to the zoo together here in DC, but that was about two years ago and for something for school, so we were on a mission (not to mention it was pouring that day, and we got stranded in the gorilla house for about half an hour, and if you know me, you know that was torture).  I keep saying we need to go up to the zoo in Baltimore, but I feel like Kilimanjaro is going to be even better.

So, that's it, I've talked about all four parks, what we want to do and what we plan on doing.  Next week, I'll talk about the memory maker photo package that I insisted on purchasing and what I hope to get from it, along with some fun ideas I have that I can't wait to share with the rest of you.  Until next week!

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