Day 3: A safari and a trip to space - all in one day?! (Gaspode and Family)

Gaspode

<font color=blue>Its threatening and romantic....
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May 12, 2003
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Tuesday 1st July 2003 - A safari and a trip to space - all in one day?!

Today we hit Animal Kingdom bright and early and head straight for Dinosaur knowing we should take advantage of beating the crowds. On our way we bump into Piglet and Winnie! After some lovely photos we continue on.

As this is only our second ever visit to the park (the first being in 2000) we all agree that although we can remember Dinosaur as being a great ride, we can't remember much of what happens. Anticipation is therefore high as we load into our 'Time Rovers' (not before I've pointed out the ketchup, mayo and mustard pipes I read about on the DIS though!)

This really is a very enjoyable ride, but my personal favourite part comes after you have finished and can see the Iguanodon wandering around on the 'security monitor'!

After Dinosaur we took a spin on the new Primeval Whirl - that ride is crazy!! But a lot of fun too. We then meet some real "characters" - a couple of giant dinosaurs who would unexpectedly bite down on the heads of people stood by them posing for photos!

We headed next to Camp Minnie-Mickey and were thrilled (me in particular!) to see Lilo and Stitch! They already had quite a crowd so we continued on our travels to take in the 'Festival of the Lion King' show.

I cannot believe that we missed this out three years ago! It's brilliant! We had a lot of fun being part of the 'lions' and were sure to take plenty of pictures and film of all the beautiful costumes and stunts.

On exiting we decided to meet Lilo and Stitch. They are so cute and funny! Whilst Lilo signed my book (I've had it since 1989 and I'm not about to stop collecting now!!) Stitch took off with my little purse and started playing. He then inspected all the contents but didn't seem to find anything of interest LOL! He did look funny holding a little bag!! (The pics are on my parents’ digital camera so I will put them up later)

We went and got FastPasses for 'Its a Bugs Life' next and I hoped to spy Flik and Princess Atta by the Tree but we were unlucky this time.

Next we had lunch and bought the 'meal certificate' - we found these to be pretty good value but never saw them in any other WDW parks - hopefully next time!

We rode Dinosaur again and marvelled at how the crowds hadn't really got to the level we had been expecting (we concluded that it would certainly get busier the day before July 4th and afterwards).

We then got wet, well, soaking on the Kali River Rapids - the waterproof cameras we had bought served us well!

A trek through the Maharajah Jungle brought us up close to some of my very favourite animals - Tigers and Komodo Dragons!

The heat had unfortunately forced the Dragons to hide in the bushes but we did catch glimpses. There were some beautiful birds around and helpful CMs along the trek to explain more about the exotic creatures we were seeing. The bats were extraordinary - just huge!!! The tigers were as majestic as always but uncannily like their domestic cousins at times. They made me miss our cat Mips

All too quickly it was time to say goodbye to the jungle, to Africa and Asia and to the past and head off to Epcot in anticipation of riding Mission:Space...

Did we get to ride? I will have to continue tomorrow I'm afraid, as it is pretty late here! Sorry!

In the meantime, here is a Pictures Link
 
I've read & enjoyed days 1, 2 & 3......I can't wait for the rest!!!!:D
 
Thanks for sharing ~ Wonderful reviews!!!!!
 
Very good report Melissa! I have yet to see the Asia section of AK, so your report just makes me want to even more.

Very nice pictures! The tiger shots are Grrrrreat! (A cheap ad for a certain American cereal made just down the rode from me!)

Thanks again for sharing your trip with us M!
 

Did you miss my favorite part of AK? I LOVE Kilamanjaro Safari. We often go on it 3-4 times a trip. We love the bird show too.
 
Again, very neat, GP. Loved the pictures, the one of you and Jon and Tree is great. That Dinosaur ride is pretty cool, isn't it, and FOTLK is about as good a show as there is in all of WDW, glad you guys saw it.
 
Great trip reports and pictures Melissa! Looking forward to reading the other days of your trip. Can you believe your trip is over already?:( Time to start planning your next one!
 
Fantastic photos and recaps! I didn't realize where to go for your recaps. I'm still new to this. I would click on your links on the RMC thread. I can't wait for my kids to see WDW!
 














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