Day 4: Disney's Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

I've often heard that Animal Kingdom is a half day park. Because of that, the group I went with in '07 chose Blizzard Beach over Animal Kingdom. With no plans of fitting in a water park this time, we planned on spending a full day at Animal Kingdom. Based on the title of this post, you can guess how successful we were. As we sorta promised to ourselves, we started the day bright and early, or as bright as the clouds allowed it to be. At a quarter past 8, we parked close enough to walk to the front gates. Unlike the other parks, the centerpiece of Animal Kingdom isn't quite visible until you've done a bit of walking into the park. Honestly, I can't even recall seeing the Tree of Life within the first few hours at the park.

I think they should do a land based on mythical creatures

Based on how often chirping birds tend to be my alarm clock, we thought it would be best to go on Kilimanjaro Safaris early in the morning since those same birds probably wake up all the other animals as well. With very few people in the queue, we had the front row to ourselves. Like any other couple who each had their own camera to play with, we sat at opposites sides of the bench.

Checking her settings before we go on an authentic safari

That's how I walk when I wake up in the morning

Somehow, these were the first crocadiles that I saw in Florida

For a rather dead looking tree, it's growing some leaves conveniently low enough for giraffes

Usually these guys sleep all day, or so I've heard

I think she was trying to point something out. I obviously looked in that direction

If I were an ostrich, I would totally lay my eggs right next to the path of the trucks

Although each exhibit was partitioned, Disney was able to do it in a seamless manner. Unfortunately, that meant keeping the "dangerous" animals away from the truck. I think the journey would be made more interesting if there was an element of danger. I guess it's too much to ask from a company like Disney.

Afterwards, next on the to do list was Expedition Everest. Due to the very short standby time, we didn't get to really experience the queue. From what we saw, there was a ton of detail planted all through the queue by the Imagineers. So if the wait time ends up being 30+ minutes, just use the time to soak everything in.

Next time, I'll try to get more shots. I'll try for the disco yeti

Out of the two attractions I've been on by this point, Expedition Everest takes the cake. The attraction was so exciting, it definitely warrants having a defibrillator nearby (as indicated on the park map). Lacking navigational skills, we found ourselves in DinoLand U.S.A. By the way, who decided to tack on U.S.A. at the end of this land? The headline attraction here is DINOSAUR. I think Disney felt that leaving the caps lock on would help with the name. The premise is that you are in a time traveling Delorean to explore the Cretaceous period. Unbeknownst to the lead scientist, the much cooler scientist decided to send us to the end of the Cretaceous period to rescue a soon to be extinct dinosaur (I know, that totally makes sense). Because of that, we nearly died from the impeding meteor. For those of you who are worried, fear not; there is a defibrillator on this attraction too.

There's at least one person on this ride that doesn't care about our impending doom

Sorry bud, but the scientist wanted to save the cute little dino instead of you

Our first picture with a castmember

With only two hours having passed, we checked out some of the smaller rides, one of which was Primeval Whirl. Although it was one of those rides you can find at other parks, this one had a twist to it. As you would ride along the tracks, the ride vehicle itself would spin somewhat uncontrollably. Although it looks more dilapidated than Goofy's Flight School at Disney's California Adventure, this version is a lot more exciting. On Goofy's Flight School though, you do get to squish up with your ride partner, which may be a good or bad thing.

With nothing else of interest for us, we exited DinoLand (unshamefully omitting U.S.A). Not knowing where the exits were, we happened to head back towards Expedition Everest. Along the way was Finding Nemo - The Musical. Like any Nemo attraction, it is out of place in the lands it was placed in (I'm looking at you submarines). We must have had perfect timing because we probably arrived for the first showing. Because of that, we were one of the first few to enter into the auditorium. Not knowing which were the best seats, we plopped down near the front and off to the left. I hear that the best seats in the aquarium are in the middle and right behind the castmembers in the center console.

After watching seafood save some other seafood for half an hour, we decided to get some seafood. Even with all the talks about animal conservation at this park, it wasn't enough to convert me to a vegetarian diet. Backtracking towards Asia, we settled on Yak and Yeti for lunch. For new travelers, the Yak and Yeti is a table service restaurant with a Nepalese theme. We had the chance to be seated upstairs, where it was less crowded and also less busy looking. We ordered the Dim Sum Basket for Two and the Malaysian Seafood Curry. For those of you who have an annual passport or on the verge of getting one, Yak and Yeti is one of those restaurants that offer an AP discount. We would find that later in the trip, this wasn't always the case. Getting an annual pass discount is like playing russian roullette. Your chance of getting one is pretty much dependent on the type of restaurant, the day of the week, the time of day, the age of your waiter, and the seat you are sitting in. To find the actual conditions, make sure to read the fine print for your annual pass. Given that Walt Disney World has a higher ratio of international visitors than Disneyland Resort, there isn't much benefit for Disney to promote annual passports to WDW guests.

These are like prequels to fortune cookies. Oh well, I'll take good news about future good news any day

As usual, we had to walk off our meal. So we explored the Asian jungles on Maharajah Jungle Trek where we were chased by tigers, bats, Komodo dragons safely behind metal bars.

In the parks, people are always getting into your shots. It's even harder when you add a fountain into the mix

Much better

After we've burned up about the 1000 or so calories from lunch, we went back to Africa since we overlooked most of the area. Even then, we overlooked most of the area again and went on Wildlife Express Train to get to Rafiki's Planet Watch. There, you can tour the Conservation Station if you haven't gotten the animal conservation message by now or you can pet some animals at the Affection Section. I wanted to meet a few of the animals at the Affection Section, but I didn't think it would have been a great idea since I was still a bit ill.

When we arrived back in Africa, we ran into a crowd of people waiting for a parade. We didn't stop to watch the parade, but we came across several "street sweepers" that were demonstrating their special skills. I hope they get raises by the end of the Disney's fiscal year.

Just trying to get away from the crowds, we found ourselves near the Tree of Life. At times, I felt lost exploring the area beneath the Tree of Life. It wasn't until I saw a fastpass sign that I realized we were in a queue of sorts. It also wasn't until I saw the entrance to an auditorium that I realized we were in the queue for It's Tough to be a Bug! Since we've experience the same show at Disney California Adventure, we just took pictures of the queue area and exited back through the entrance.

Over at Camp Minnie-Mickey, we checked out Festival of the Lion King, a dance party slash musical ripped from The Lion King. Inside, the audience was separated into four areas and each area had a designated animal with the appropriate animal call. We ended up in the lion section, so we had the best animal sound and out-roared the warthog, elephant, and giraffe sections. The 30-minute show featured dancers, acrobats, and a fire-wielding fire wielder (who dropped his magic fire stick once). If you are a Lion King fan, this is the place to be to sing along.

After the show, we felt that we've seen everything at Animal Kingdom. But before we headed out, we had to get one last picture.

Michelle wanted to see The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights one last time before it has its last show the following day. We've been meaning to grab some ice cream during this trip, so we grabbed a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich filled with mint chocolate ice cream. The joy of having this overcame the cold and somewhat windy weather that night.