Even though I feel a little silly about doing a wrap-up for a day trip, I thought I’d so some reflections for the sake of having all the basic information together in one place. Hope that you enjoy this look back on our day at Disney.
Weather:
The weather for the day was absolutely gorgeous- pleasant temperatures, plenty of blue skies and not a drop of rain the entire day. It was a little cool in the early morning and in the evening, but only enough to break out a sweater or light jacket. On top of the weather being great for us, it also was great for all the animals, and we found them to be much more active in November than in previous trips during the warmer months.
Crowds and Wait Times:
Crowds weren’t too much of a problem at all. The park still felt busy, I never seem to remember seeing any of the wait times getting above 30 minutes. The longest waits of the da turned out to be 20 minutes for
Primeval Whirl. We only used Fastpass once for
DINOSAUR, but the wait time was pretty manageable and we could have done without it. Everything else was around 10 minutes or less- including virtually walking right on
Expedition Everest after the parade!
Attraction Highlights:
There weren’t any new attractions to try here since our last visit, but this would be our first time seeing both the
Adventure Begins opening ceremony before rope drop and the
Adventures’ Celebration Gathering closing ceremony at the Oasis. I thought the former was really a charming little show and was a great way to start a day in the park. The later was a nice too and had the added bonus of a little street party (almost like a mini-Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It!) for those who wanted to get involved. Plus, it was nice to have something sort of entertainment to end the day at the park since Animal Kingdom doesn’t do any fireworks and night parades. As far as the rest of the attractions, some of the highlights for me included a fantastic ride on
Kilimanjaro Safaris- complete with sightings of a number of animals we usually seem to miss (most notably the cheetahs and warthogs) and a bunch of baby animals, a great performance of
Finding Nemo the Musical, and a ride on one of my favorite Disney thrills,
Expedition Everest.
Dining:
We only managed to have one meal at Disney on this trip and ate at
Restaurantosaurus in Dinoland. The food was good, perhaps just a little above average from your normal Disney fast food, but the real selling points for this place have to be the fun and funky dino-themed décor and plenty of air-conditioned dining rooms. It was a great midday break after spending most of the morning outside on the safari and animal trails.
Characters:
This was another trip of some great character meet-and-greets. Over the course of day, I ended up meeting and getting photos of 10 different characters in the Animal Kingdom. Not bad for really only visiting three meet-and-greet locations! Out of the ten, two of them-
Thumper and Miss Bunny from
Bambi- were new for me. These bunnies really were adorable and a lot of fun to get photograph. Other character highlights of the day included my first time seeing
Goofy and Pluto at their nicely themed new location in Dinoland USA and seeing a number of classic characters that I don’t normally seem out in many other places, specifically
Jimininy Cricket, who was in Rafiki’s Planet Watch, and
Meeko (with Pocahontas) and
Brer Bear, both of which were with Thumper and Miss Bunny in Camp Minnie-Mickey.
Holiday Events:
Even though it wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet, Christmas time was almost in full swing at the Animal Kingdom. Many of the Christmas decorations were up around the park- most notably the giant Christmas tree at the park entrance, the numerous Character Christmas trees throughout Camp Minnie-Mickey and the some fun retro decorations (including one large Santa hat for one of the dinos) at Dinoland. Downtown Disney (especially the Marketplace) had a number of decorations up as well, but wasn’t completely decorated yet.
Along with the decorations,
Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade was already running as well. This was our first time seeing this Holiday version of the parade and enjoyed it, but I think that I would have been disappointed if I was expecting it to be drastically different from the normal parade. It’s really the same parade with a few Christmas songs added to the soundtrack occasionally, some new costumes for the characters and decorated floats. Still, all the decorations were a lot of fun to see, and we enjoyed the parade.
Universal Studios:
Since I started trip report with a look at my and Buzz’s first trip to Universal Studios, it seems fitting to end the report with a little something about it here. We really enjoyed the park. The theming really surpassed my expectations and the attractions were (with a few exceptions) fantastic.
Jaws,
The Simpsons Ride,
Revenge of the Mummy and
Men in Black Alien Attack turned out to be some of my favorites of the day, along with
Lucy- A Tribute (a must-see if you’re a fan of Lucille Ball or
I Love Lucy). The many character meet-and-greets there were also highlights of the day for me.
Lucy and Ricky Ricardo had to be my favorites, but the characters from
The Simpsons,
Madagascar and
Scooby-Doo were a lot of fun too. All in all, it was a fantastic day, and I can’t wait to be able to go back to Universal and finally visit Islands of Adventure.
Well, that does it for November. If anyone has any questions about the trip let me know and I’ll try to help. If not, I hope you’ll stick around because I should be starting our December “Christmas Vacation” trip report pretty soon.
Mom- My and Buzzs mother. Mom is interested in learning about history and different cultures, so World Showcase at EPCOT is one of her favorite places in Disney World. She also loves to go to the restaurants around the World and also enjoys visiting all the resorts, especially at Christmastime to see all the decorations. 
Dad- My and Buzzs father. Dad likes to relax while in the World, and can often be found sitting on a bench and soaking in the atmosphere. He also likes gardening and checking out the gardens and landscaping in the World, and he is also a fan of Tim Burton and especially The Nightmare Before Christmas. 
