Fred, Wilma and Family do Disney - Day 3

[wilma-bride]

Fred, Wilma and Family Day 3 – Going wild!

Sunday 13th April

I’m going to caveat this day of the trippy by saying that Animal Kingdom is not our favourite park. I could go so far as to say it’s our least favourite – there is no reason I can put my finger on but, to me, it just doesn’t seem as ‘Disney’ as the other parks. For that reason we don’t always visit it on our Disney trips but, in order to allow Chuck, Reeny and Daniel to experience the full range of what Disney had to offer, there was no question of leaving it out this time.

Maybe one of the reasons we have such a downer on Animal Kingdom is that we never seem to get much done there and we always seem to have bad weather. Today was no exception. Not only was it decidedly chilly but, yet again, we didn’t achieve much.

We arrived shortly after 9 am, due to a longer-than-usual wait for a bus. Once into the park, instead of getting straight on with things, we made the mistake of getting caught up with the CMs who were displaying various creepy crawlies. Two huntsman spiders, a couple of cockroaches and a tarantula cast later, we headed off in search of the elusive Everest fast pass. It was almost 10 am by the time we got our fast passes, with return times of 11:55 to 12:55. The standby line was at 50 minutes so we didn’t bother to wait and decided to go and ride Kilimanjaro Safari, passing Yak and Yeti on the way.



We saw King Louie and Baloo and, of course, had to wait in line to see them.



Then Gary and the in-laws spent a few minutes gazing at the tree of life – another delay!



By this time, I had given up hope of ever getting anything done today but reminded myself this was for Daniel, Chuck and Reeny so, if they were happy, I would just go with the flow (very un-Joh like). Daniel had also developed a need to have his picture taken with every single bicycle we saw along the way and, for some reason, there are a lot of bikes at AK.





The standby line for the safari was 45 minutes but we couldn’t get any more fast passes so just had to wait. The safari was great, although Daniel was a bit perturbed about the idea of poachers (once I’d explained what poachers actually were). There was a lot of animal activity and we actually had to wait a couple of minutes for a deer-type thing (the latin name for it!) to move out of the road. I managed to get a few pictures but they weren’t very good – very hard to use a point and shoot when the truck doesn’t actually stop still long enough for you to either point or shoot





In the past, we had only ever seen the lions lying on a rock and I was convinced they weren’t real but, this time, the lioness actually stood up just as we passed. These animatronics are excellent, aren’t they



After a couple of churros (I prefer cinnabon sticks), it was time for the first showing of Festival of the Lion King.



We knew the in-laws would love this and hoped Daniel would too. He didn’t seem to like it much – I think he was a bit bored for the most part – but loved making the animal noises and insisted on doing all of them, not just the warthog noise for the section we were sat in. The rest of us really enjoyed it, though.

When it was over, we decided that Sian, Gary and I would head back to ride Everest and the others would see It’s Tough to be a Bug. I warned Daniel that there were parts that might seem scary but it wasn’t real and, if he was worried, he could take his glasses off or close his eyes. After a photo call with Lilo and Stitch, we parted ways, agreeing to meet up for lunch at Rainforest Café in an hour or so.



By this time it was starting to rain and had got quite cold. Typically, I had decided to wear shorts today and was feeling rather cold so I was looking forward to a couple of rides on Everest (we had 7 fast passes due to our group size) and then a sit down in the warm.

We were lucky enough to get on the front the first time but, now raining heavily, it was absolutely freezing – and quite painful too! I did the chav ‘take a photo of the ride photo’ thing but Disney have cleverly found a way to put a black line across the photo if you try that so it didn’t come out very well.



After the second ride, it was back to the front of the park to meet the others. We spotted them walking just ahead of us and ran to catch up. At Rainforest Café, we were informed there would be a 30 minute wait but, due to the cold and the driving rain, we decided to just wait it out. Sian, Rea and I bought fleeces that were on sale ($10 each) and Daniel bought a 5-foot cuddly rattlesnake – great!

We were seated fairly quickly, in the gorilla section, and I ordered a raspberry rainfall (Gary reminded me I should only have one after the August episode of consuming too many on an empty stomach). The others had various soft drinks and we ordered the food straight away.

Can’t remember exactly who had what but here are some of the pics anyway.

Kids’ hot dog



Pepperoni pizza



Chicken sandwich



After lunch we debated whether to brave the rain again or call it a day. I suspected Mother and Chuck were flagging by this point so suggested we head back to the room and warm up. We had a busy couple of days ahead so it wouldn’t hurt to chill out for a bit.

The wait for a bus was quite lengthy again but, finally, we were back home and whacked the heating up! The girls and I went down to the Mercantile for a couple of DVDs (free to DVC members) – we got Aladdin and some other film with Adam Sandler (Daddy something???)

It had warmed up a bit again so we decided to go down to the pool. The main pool was packed but the villas pool wasn’t bad so we settled for that instead. It was lovely when you were in but quite chilly when you got out and, after a couple of hours, we called it a day. Back in the room, we watched Aladdin. Daniel had some fruit and chips and got ready for bed while the girls and I went down to Roaring Fork for some dinner (Chuck, Reeny and Gary were still full from lunch – wimps!) We got a cheese flatbread and a chicken nugget meal to share, with a chocolate brownie and a Mickey rice crispy treat for dessert. We took it back to the room and ate the lot - it was yummy.







The girls were getting a bit restless so we decided we would go and ask at the front desk about the Hidden Mickey hunt. Gary came with us and the in-laws stayed behind with Daniel (who was fast asleep in bed by now).

The Hidden Mickey hunt was great fun, although some of them were a little obscure and extremely difficult to find. My favourite was the one on the fireplace in the lobby – not sure how well you can see it in this picture.



I took some more pictures of the lodge while we were walking around, from up on the 5th floor.

The wonderfully detailed lights



View from 5th floor over the pool



It was almost 9:30 so we decided to go down to the beach and watch the Electrical Water Pageant. I stopped in the lounge first to get a Skyy Berry Martini to go – my first of the trip!

The water pageant had just started when we got to the beach – the pictures aren’t very good but it really was pretty. Well worth seeing.





Wishes was due to start at 10 so, despite the cold, we stayed on the beach to watch. Again, the pictures aren’t very good but we had a great view of them over the top of the trees and the Contemporary.





After Wishes, we went back to the room. Chuck and Reeny were already in bed and we stayed up for a little while watching TV before heading off to bed ourselves. Tomorrow we brave Epcot!

[CHEK]

Another great day Joh , we really enjoy Animal Kindgom, I think it holds a really special place in our hearts as it's the 1st park we every took our DD's to, and remembering the look on our eldest DD's face watching the character's driving round in their jeep was priceless. I'd love to be able to stay at the Wilderness Lodge, our only ever visit there was last year when we ate at WCC and we amazed by the place. Looking forward to reading about Epcot, hope the weather improved for you?

[Snowy-girls]

Excellent Joh .I am really enjoying your trippie.Photo's look great-especially the 'view from the 5th floor' one.We feel the same about AK-not Disney enough,but we will still be doing it next year as dd3 has'nt been to WDW before-so like Daniel,we want her to see it all.
That pizza looks delicious!!!!!.Shame about the weather-hope it improved.x.
(p.s. Big Daddy-Adam Sandler film)

[natalielongstaff]

Great report....plenty of food porn

The photo of the lights in WL is great

[CustardTart]

WL is so beautiful... And I love the Water Pageant - esp that slightly wonky music...

I do know what you mean about Animal Kingdom, Joh. We felt exactly the same until Samuel and I made the effort and went there on the first day of our December trip. We had a great time with Dream fastpasses and the like...

[wickesy]

You did better with the safari photos than I did Joh. The lioness stood up as we went past too and I heard somebody say she had actually jumped off the rock.

[mandymouse]

Another great day Joh We're not AK lovers either, we tend to go for a couple of goes on EE and the safari too

I look forward to your next installment from my fave park

[Strommie]

Brilliant day Joh. AK is my 3rd fave park, after MK and Epcot. I do still enjoy it though Great food pics

[irongirlof12]

fab photo's joh.

[wideeyes]

sounds like a lovely day.
My DD has to have her pciture taken next to water fountains which are every where at WDW.

[KayleeUK]

Great

[jjk]

another great day

[diberry]

Another great report - thanks Joh! I'm really enjoying reading it. Loved the photos from WL & especially the teepee chandeliers - can't wait to see them in person!

[The Fetherstons]

Another great day Joh (shame about the weather), looking forward to reading more

[jockey]

Great day!