It's Day 3 time!
Today was Animal Kingdom day for us and we were both very excited to ride Expedition Everest. Julian hasn't stopped talking about the Yeti since we saw it briefly on the Travel Channel special.
We awoke again for EMH at 7am. Our breakfast included coffee, nutrigrain bars and cereal bars. Boring, but it got the job done.
This beauty was outside our window when we awoke:
Off to the buses! We met a very nice couple from Canada on our bus. We shared advice about getting onto EE. Since we knew it can get crowded fast we told them to make EE their first ride stop of the day. We actually ended up bumping into them again on our bus ride back to AKL later in the day, funny how that happens.
We arrived at the park in short time since it's right next door to AKL.
I quickly finished my coffee and into the park we went. Julian and I jogged to EE and there was already quite a line. This baffles me, where do these people come from and what time do they get up?! We got there right at 8am, I do not understand, lol.
Anyhow Julian stood in line while I quickly got us fastpasses for later on. Yay team effort. I love the queue for this ride! The Yeti shrines and statues were a nice touch, so detailed. Oh Disney Imagineering how I love thee.
We waited about 20 minutes (not bad!) and got our chance on EE. It was so much fun! I loved it! The Yeti totally freaked me out, I was on the right side and squished into Julian to avoid it, haha. Mandie=wimp.
After EE we made our way over to Kilimanjaro Safari. We grabbed a pretzel, pear, and frosty lemonade from Harambe Fruit Market. You can tell how filling our breakfast was...Julian and I both agreed that WDW hot pretzels are the best ones out there.
This was probably our longest line of the day, about 30 minutes. I think hitting up Kilimanjaro in the morning is a good idea. The animals for the most part are awake and walking around. We caught some pretty good pics:
Elephant and white rhino:
We also saw some bongos, alligators, lions, and gazelles; however it was hard to get photos with the vehicle moving.
We also checked out the Gorilla exhibit. Julian's never seen one in person before!
After the safari our second time on EE was up! I think I liked it the second time better, I knew when the Yeti was coming so I wasn't as freaked out.
We grabbed a fastpass for Kali River Rapids and then decided to check out the Lion King Show. I've been looking forward to this since I started planning this vacation. I've seen it once before but barely remember it. The one difference I took note of was that the center portion looks different. I don't remember the tumble monkeys. I remember more birds and more flying. Maybe I'm going crazy, haha.
Regardless of what I remember it was an amazing show! Julian and I loved it, we were on the lion side and made sure to growl as loud as we could. Where better to be dorky than at Disney?
As we excited Lion King we noticed Mickey and friends were out for character Meet n' Greets. Mickey was the only one without a line
so we hustled over. He was so cute! He kept looking at me all doe eyed and turning his back to Julian. It must have been my Minnie ears.
It was getting toasty at this point so we were glad it was time for Kali. I warned Julian we may get drenched, he wanted to
, but thankfully we only got a few damp spots.
We hopped aboard the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. When we got there the talking trash can (forget it's name) was entertaining a young girl. It was adorable, I wish I had caught a picture. We caught the vet clinic doing some work on a mandrill. She had a tooth infection and some sinus problems. I was fascinated with this, I think we stood there for 20 minutes watching. I watch Animal Planet all the time at home so this was a treat to see it in person.
We checked out the sounds of the rainforest room which was very interesting. Jiminy and Rafiki made an appearance but not Pocohantas. That's ok, I've never met Jiminy before so I was excited.
Watch out! Wooden rhino on the loose!
It started to drizzle on our way back to the train, we caught look of a baby armadillo on our way out, and we decided it was about lunch time.
We made our way over to Tusker House. I've been hearing nothing but great things about this CS so I was super excited to try it for myself. I ordered the fried chicken sandwhich and Julian had the salmon plate. Both were fantastic! That was the best fried chicken sandwhich I've ever had, it was so crispy and warm, I enjoyed it very much. Julian's salmon was good too, he was kind enough to share a bite.
By this time it had really started to rain. I pulled out the ponchos I had brought from home and when we put them on they had no sleeves...Sleeveless ponchos? Yah, we didn't get it either. At least they kept our bags dry.
We then checked out the Maharaj Jungle Trek. I hoped the tigers were visible and they were!
We decided to call it a day at AK at this point. It was getting pretty chilly in our sleeveless ponchos and we wanted to get rested up for Fourth of July fireworks. On our way out a castmember handed us each a plastic flag pin, very festive!
After getting cleaned up and rested we checked out the resort shop and the lobby. The AKL is so beautiful, I could sit in front of the firepit above Victoria Falls for hours.
Julian had a surprise planned for us tonight so I was very anxious and excited to find out what it was. He told me we needed to go to Port Orleans Riverside and getting there was quite the ordeal. We got off at the wrong stop initially, but after about an hour of transportation we finally made it. We had some time to kill before the surprise so we checked out the gift shop and then grabbed a snack and sat outside.
Lovely rainbow we spotted from POR.
Finally Julian revealed our surprise! We were going a carriage ride through Port Orleans resort.
This was so romantic and everyone was waving to us as we rode by. Julian then presented me with a very lovely diamond heart bracelet that I adore.
Here's us with Ned our horse:
Julian wasn't sure how I'd react to missing the fireworks but honestly how could I complain when he went through the trouble of researching something special to surprise me with and then keeping it a secret? Plus, we still had time to get to Epcot for Illuminations!
We had already caught the MK fireworks the previous night thanks to the preview and I wanted to avoid MK like the plague anyhow. There was no way we were going to try to smoosh in with the crowds there.
Yes, Epcot was packed but there's A LOT more standing room there than at MK. We settled on a spot in Germany I think? I can't even remember, it was impossible to see what pavillion we were in, lol. Illuminations was really neat, we'd both never seen it before. We walked through World Showcase briefly and then decided it best to call it a night.
We got back to the room and were both starving. Unfortunately Mara had closed at 11 and it was now 11:30. Thankfully room service was still open and we ordered the hummus sampler plate and angus cheeseburger. Julian's burger was excellent. My hummus sampler was ok, I would have preferred pita bread, not chips. One hummus was an olive flavor and the other I wasn't familiar with but it was tasty. The potato chips that came with the burger were excellent; very crunchy and greasy.
After our meal we crashed. We were absolutely exhausted but it was another great day! Thanks everyone for reading.
Epcot day is up next!
(thats me!) and Julian 
(thats my DBF). Im a silly, outgoing Disney nut whose (who's? winnie the who? who knows?) idea it was to plan this trip. Im 21, and am a college student studying Game Art and Design AKA video games. Julian is 26 who is easygoing and funny and always puts a smile on my face. Hes also a college student and studying graphic design. 
Now he understands the magic. Though we both now agree that we should have started planning earlier (airline ticket prices were atrocious) we were eager to actually take a vacation together and enjoy our very much needed summer breaks off. 
I was relieved when we landed. 
After Pirates was the Jungle Cruise and it was a bit dissapointing. The skippers really make or break that ride for me. I'm not sure if it was because she wasn't warmed up but our skipper just wasn't pumped or into the spiel at all. It sounded like she was reciting from a script and there was barely any emotion behind her voice. Oh well.
It was 40minutes for the princesses and 30 for the others. I wasn't too upset I knew we could find the characters in Epcot and that the lines would certainly be shorter. We checked out Mickey and Minnie's house and decided we'd had enough of Toon Town. 
Great pictures of the animals at your resort! I have heard great things about AKL. I'm so glad you two are enjoying your trip!
He must have been in an area that we have never been to. I am enjoying this because I want to see how it REALLY is when people go to the parks over the 4th of July Holiday. Keep up the report !!! 
