Today we went to Animal Kingdom. We had never been before, but I had heard a lot of
great things about it and was excited to visit. We decided to have breakfast in our hotel at
Captain Cook's. We wanted to do something quick, plus I had been wanting to try the
Tonga Toast (sadly it wasn't as amazing as I'd imagined). The goal was to get to Animal
Kingdom before it opened so we could get on the safari right away without a fast pass.
There is so much strategy involved in planning these trips if you want to make sure you get
on all the rides. Most of those strategies involve being at the park at rope drop.
Lucky for us we got to the park in plenty of time and were some of the first people behind
the rope. Similar to Magic Kingdom, there were 2 stages of rope drops. The first one let
you into the main park and the second one into the individual lands. When they opened the
first rope people went running off down a path to the left towards Pandora. We were some
of the few that went straight towards the safari. I totally understand the urgency to get to
the Pandora rides and was thankful I was not in that rush. Those rides have CRAZY waits
right now since they just opened a few months ago. You are only allowed a fast pass for
one of them, so if you want to ride both you need to get on one early before the lines start.
We got to our second rope and had about a 10-15 minute wait. There was a small path off
to the right of the rope that had tons of foliage like a mini rainforest. Ryan walked the boys
down it to keep them busy until we were allowed in. Once they opened the rope, we hurried
to the safari and managed to be some of the first ones on it.
We hopped aboard an open-air safari vehicle and were on our way. Before I give a little
review of the safari, I have to preface that I've come to the conclusion I am severely spoiled
having two amazing zoos so close to our house. We frequent the zoo in the summer so
we're always able to see a plethora of animals. Because of that, I wasn't in as much awe as I thought I might be. That being said, it was really cool to be in the animals environment
and be able to get so close to some of them.
When we got off the safari there was a jungle trek right at the exit. We had some time to kill
so we decided to walk around and explore. The coolest part was the monkeys by far. Look
at this guy! I could watch monkeys all day. Wait a second...I do! Hahahaha!!
After exploring we walked over to Pandora to check it out.
(Apparently I didn't get the memo I was supposed to look up into the sky. Even Miles got it!)
It is so cool! Disney did a great job. The boys especially loved the gigantic robot. We
couldn't stay too long though because we wanted to head over to the Lion King show. This
was another thing I was really excited about. Sarah has raved about it to me and I was
looking forward to finally seeing what all the hype was about.
Let me tell you, she was not lying. It was amazing!! I LOVED it!! I was a little nervous
because we didn't have a fast pass and it looked really packed when we were waiting.
When we walked into the theater it was no surprise that the first 10 rows in every section
were full. But Miles happened to be sleeping in my arms and an usher saw us and sat us in
the very front row. There was a lady in a wheelchair that had no one else sitting in her row
with her, so the usher let us sit there. What a view! Thanks Miles!
The whole thing was incredibly entertaining! So colorful and so many different things to
watch and look at. The monkeys were by far my favorite, but one of the funnier things was
watching Joe when the fire dancer came out. He is really sensitive to smells and could not
stand the smell of the fog they were pumping into the room.
He sat through the whole thing like this...🤣
After Lion King we had a fast pass for Navi River Journey, one of the Pandora rides. Even
with a fast pass we still had to wait in line for a little bit. Thankfully there was lots to explore.
The ride itself was pretty short, but it was cool. You board a boat and ride through a dark
jungle lit up with lots of fluorescent plants, bugs, animals, etc. There are a lot of fun little
details that I feel like we will notice more and more each time we go on it. A favorite this time
were the bugs running across the leaves overhead. You see the silhouettes of the bugs through the gigantic lit up leaves. It's a difficult environment to get good pictures in,
but this gives you a little bit of an idea of the inside of the ride.
Once we were done in Pandora, it was time for lunch at Tusker House. It's a safari themed
character restaurant. They sat us in the darkest part of the restaurant,
so the pictures aren't the greatest, but you get the idea.
Miles is getting much more comfortable with the characters. He was especially fond of
Mickey, and more specifically, his nose. One of the things people joke about is how germ
infested the characters' noses are from everyone touching and kissing them. Sure enough,
Miles go straight in and tries to suck on it. It's funny because you actually hear Ryan yell,
"no, no, no, no..." in the video because he sees it coming. Then if you keep watching it's
hilarious to watch how excited Miles gets. You'll see his signature excited face at the end.
After lunch we made our way over towards Dinoland, stopping to take a photo on the way.
I was really excited to take the kids to Dinoland because they are so in love with dinosaurs.
Our first stop was the ride Dinosaur.
I was a little nervous about this one because I had never been on it before and I didn't know
what to expect. I watched a few videos online and wondered if it would be too scary for the
boys. This picture gives you a clear view of my answer.
Most definitely too scary. Really dark, ridiculously loud, and the car we were in was jerked
around all over the place...they were not happy. There was no chance they were going
back on it with Ryan. Instead we walked around and got a few more pictures in Dinoland,
before heading to Kali River Rapids so Ryan could go on a ride with them.
I was so happy it was his turn to go on a ride with them. You float down a river in one of
those big tube like rafts. It's super fun, but there is always a chance you're going
to get soaking wet. Thankfully they managed to stay mostly dry
and enjoyed this it way more than the previous ride.
After that there was really nothing else we wanted to see so we decided to head to another
park. Miles and Joe were both asleep in the stroller, so Ryan Miles and I
took a few pictures on the way out.
(For the record, someone should tell the photographer not to instruct people to point with
two fingers. It looks like I'm trying to shoot this raccoon!)
My overall impression of Animal Kingdom was mixed. I was so excited and wanted to love
it. I thought there would be so much for us to do there, but we got bored and ended up
leaving to go to another park mid afternoon. Part of me feels like perhaps I was in a hard to
impress mood today and didn't give it a fair chance. But the other part of me believes the
other parks simply appeal to me more. I'm hoping the more we visit Animal Kingdom and
the older the boys get, the more we will grow to love it. I'll come back every trip for Lion
King alone because that truly was an amazing show.
great things about it and was excited to visit. We decided to have breakfast in our hotel at
Captain Cook's. We wanted to do something quick, plus I had been wanting to try the
Tonga Toast (sadly it wasn't as amazing as I'd imagined). The goal was to get to Animal
Kingdom before it opened so we could get on the safari right away without a fast pass.
There is so much strategy involved in planning these trips if you want to make sure you get
on all the rides. Most of those strategies involve being at the park at rope drop.
Lucky for us we got to the park in plenty of time and were some of the first people behind
the rope. Similar to Magic Kingdom, there were 2 stages of rope drops. The first one let
you into the main park and the second one into the individual lands. When they opened the
first rope people went running off down a path to the left towards Pandora. We were some
of the few that went straight towards the safari. I totally understand the urgency to get to
the Pandora rides and was thankful I was not in that rush. Those rides have CRAZY waits
right now since they just opened a few months ago. You are only allowed a fast pass for
one of them, so if you want to ride both you need to get on one early before the lines start.
We got to our second rope and had about a 10-15 minute wait. There was a small path off
to the right of the rope that had tons of foliage like a mini rainforest. Ryan walked the boys
down it to keep them busy until we were allowed in. Once they opened the rope, we hurried
to the safari and managed to be some of the first ones on it.
We hopped aboard an open-air safari vehicle and were on our way. Before I give a little
review of the safari, I have to preface that I've come to the conclusion I am severely spoiled
having two amazing zoos so close to our house. We frequent the zoo in the summer so
we're always able to see a plethora of animals. Because of that, I wasn't in as much awe as I thought I might be. That being said, it was really cool to be in the animals environment
and be able to get so close to some of them.
When we got off the safari there was a jungle trek right at the exit. We had some time to kill
so we decided to walk around and explore. The coolest part was the monkeys by far. Look
at this guy! I could watch monkeys all day. Wait a second...I do! Hahahaha!!
After exploring we walked over to Pandora to check it out.
It is so cool! Disney did a great job. The boys especially loved the gigantic robot. We
couldn't stay too long though because we wanted to head over to the Lion King show. This
was another thing I was really excited about. Sarah has raved about it to me and I was
looking forward to finally seeing what all the hype was about.
Let me tell you, she was not lying. It was amazing!! I LOVED it!! I was a little nervous
because we didn't have a fast pass and it looked really packed when we were waiting.
When we walked into the theater it was no surprise that the first 10 rows in every section
were full. But Miles happened to be sleeping in my arms and an usher saw us and sat us in
the very front row. There was a lady in a wheelchair that had no one else sitting in her row
with her, so the usher let us sit there. What a view! Thanks Miles!
The whole thing was incredibly entertaining! So colorful and so many different things to
watch and look at. The monkeys were by far my favorite, but one of the funnier things was
watching Joe when the fire dancer came out. He is really sensitive to smells and could not
stand the smell of the fog they were pumping into the room.
He sat through the whole thing like this...🤣
After Lion King we had a fast pass for Navi River Journey, one of the Pandora rides. Even
with a fast pass we still had to wait in line for a little bit. Thankfully there was lots to explore.
The ride itself was pretty short, but it was cool. You board a boat and ride through a dark
jungle lit up with lots of fluorescent plants, bugs, animals, etc. There are a lot of fun little
details that I feel like we will notice more and more each time we go on it. A favorite this time
were the bugs running across the leaves overhead. You see the silhouettes of the bugs through the gigantic lit up leaves. It's a difficult environment to get good pictures in,
but this gives you a little bit of an idea of the inside of the ride.
Once we were done in Pandora, it was time for lunch at Tusker House. It's a safari themed
character restaurant. They sat us in the darkest part of the restaurant,
so the pictures aren't the greatest, but you get the idea.
Miles is getting much more comfortable with the characters. He was especially fond of
Mickey, and more specifically, his nose. One of the things people joke about is how germ
infested the characters' noses are from everyone touching and kissing them. Sure enough,
Miles go straight in and tries to suck on it. It's funny because you actually hear Ryan yell,
"no, no, no, no..." in the video because he sees it coming. Then if you keep watching it's
hilarious to watch how excited Miles gets. You'll see his signature excited face at the end.
After lunch we made our way over towards Dinoland, stopping to take a photo on the way.
I was really excited to take the kids to Dinoland because they are so in love with dinosaurs.
Our first stop was the ride Dinosaur.
I was a little nervous about this one because I had never been on it before and I didn't know
what to expect. I watched a few videos online and wondered if it would be too scary for the
boys. This picture gives you a clear view of my answer.
Most definitely too scary. Really dark, ridiculously loud, and the car we were in was jerked
around all over the place...they were not happy. There was no chance they were going
back on it with Ryan. Instead we walked around and got a few more pictures in Dinoland,
before heading to Kali River Rapids so Ryan could go on a ride with them.
I was so happy it was his turn to go on a ride with them. You float down a river in one of
those big tube like rafts. It's super fun, but there is always a chance you're going
to get soaking wet. Thankfully they managed to stay mostly dry
and enjoyed this it way more than the previous ride.
After that there was really nothing else we wanted to see so we decided to head to another
park. Miles and Joe were both asleep in the stroller, so Ryan Miles and I
took a few pictures on the way out.
two fingers. It looks like I'm trying to shoot this raccoon!)
My overall impression of Animal Kingdom was mixed. I was so excited and wanted to love
it. I thought there would be so much for us to do there, but we got bored and ended up
leaving to go to another park mid afternoon. Part of me feels like perhaps I was in a hard to
impress mood today and didn't give it a fair chance. But the other part of me believes the
other parks simply appeal to me more. I'm hoping the more we visit Animal Kingdom and
the older the boys get, the more we will grow to love it. I'll come back every trip for Lion
King alone because that truly was an amazing show.
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