Before I get started on this day-that-did-not-go-as-planned, I want to mention that I’ve been getting a lot of feedback from various places about how much detail goes into our trips. I only bring it up because I’m not quite sure what people are responding to because 1.) this is just how I know to do it so I’m not sure which part seems so detailed 2.) I haven’t even mentioned some of the most OCD/detailed planning I did and 3.) if you think I’m detailed, you’d be amazed at my sister-in-law Nicki who did the scavenger hunt books (she’s not a trip report writer but if she was, you’d see what I mean). Anyway, thanks for the great feedback (even if I don’t know what it’s about). Trip planning is my fave thing on the planet to do and I’m just going to assume that’s what’s coming through when you read about it.
Anyway, on to this day that I didn’t really like at first.
So Sunday, May 29, we were headed out for our day at Animal Kingdom. The plan was to be at the bus stop at 8 a.m. to get to the parks before they opened and begin our day. We didn’t end up getting on the bus until 8:20ish and by the time we got to the gates, the park had opened. This was hugely problematic because we were behind a lot of people who’d gotten there before us and already headed to 1 of 2 main places: the safari ride or the Expedition Everest coaster. Our plan was to head to the safari but by the time we got there, the line had built up so long already.
We waited about 40 minutes to ride Kilimanjaro Safari (a LONG time in Shannonland and something I was trying to avoid) and we waited alongside a family with 3 young ones who screamed the whole. time. This was the first time we’d ever ridden this ride in the morning even though I’d always heard that was the best time to see the animals. That ended up being true and we saw more animals than ever.
<-- Place where I'd love to insert pics if only we had them. I can't believe we don't have any. My perfectionist nature will dwell on the missing pics throughout our trip rather than focusing on the good stuff. Maybe our Disney trip money should become therapy money? -->
After getting off of the safari ride, I had hoped to head to the 10:00 Lion King show but it was already after 10 now. Instead, Katrina and I walked to get FASTPASSes for Expedition Everest while everybody else headed for Dinoland. When we got there, the group had taken turns riding Dinosaur while somebody stayed with 2-year-old William doing 2-year-old things (like The Boneyard and Triceratop Spin). Katrina and I decided that we’d ride Dinosaur together and then afterward, a few people decided they’d repeat it once again but Andy and I weren’t in that group. He asked me if I wanted to ride Triceratop Spin with him which was adorable because it’s just like Dumbo and we were riding it without any kids.
It was finally time to use some FASTPASSes so we all headed to Expedition Everest (except Payton and William who went to get another set of FASTPASSes on Kali River Rapids for us all). This was my first time riding this ride and OMG. LOVED IT. I super appreciate rides that do things differently and the way this one moved forward and then back was pretty awesome (I knew ahead of time that it went forward and back but until I rode it, I didn’t know how the two paths varied).
We all then headed for lunch, always good news for Dan who woke up craving food most days so we tried to do early lunches when we could. We ate at Flame Tree Barbecue which has awesomely delicious food (the people who had beans as a side said they might be the best they’d ever had) and I thought the seating was interesting as it meandered along the paths and had various shelters to choose from.
After lunch, we were ready to use our Kali River Rapids FASTPASSes and Katrina decided to head back to the hotel with William. We got in the FASTPASS line and….it didn’t move. The ride had stopped and we were all stuck waiting for quite a while (25 minutes or so?). Once we got on the ride, I warned everybody that they could get really wet and, of course, I ended up being one of the ones who got the most soaked.
Remember that Lion King show we missed earlier in the day? I was determined to see it this afternoon since it’s one of the best in all of Disney World. We walked allll the way to the other side of the park to get there before the next show started. Being soaked was really working for me here because Animal Kingdom is a HOT park and this was a long walk. We got seated and as always, this show was great.
Another must-do on my list? The Finding Nemo Musical show. My family loves shows but Andy and Payton hadn’t seen this one and I wanted to make sure they saw it. I didn’t know if Dan and his 2 oldest would want to see it but they came with us. We had a bit of time to kill before the show started so we decided to make use of those handy dandy snack credits and get a frozen lemonade (some of the kiosks called these Lemonade Smoothies but they were way better than the frozen lemonades that come in the cardboard cups. More slushy in texture and much tastier.). These were a huge hit with us all and got us cooled off for a bit.
I thought it was wayyy too early to head to the theater for the show but Andy wanted us to get going. I was surprised they were already allowing people inside and we got super lucky to be seated at the top in the middle which allows you to see everything for this show. This show lasts over 30 minutes and with the air conditioning, I think many of us closed our eyes even though it’s a good show (3 times I said show in the last 2 sentences. Thesaurus.com recommends burlesque, carnival or pageant. Until Nemo starts doing this show in drag, none of those apply.).
Afterward, we had another set of Expedition Everest FASTPASSes to use (I don’t know when we got them – must have been some magical Disney thing?) but Andy and Payton were ready to head out. Dan, Isaac, Joey, Blake and I decided to use our FASTPASSes and then we’d head back too. We showed up in the FASTPASS line and BAM! We were on the ride and done riding it within 5 minutes. Now that’s how a FASTPASS line is supposed to work!
We waited forever for the bus to go back to the hotel (this happened every f***ing day – beware of this if you stay at POR) and finally made it back.
Time to rest after a hot, hot, long day at Animal Kingdom? Nope! Swimsuits on and we were headed to the pool.
It felt good to go swimming that evening after being in amusement parks for a couple of days and spending a lot of that time in super hot temps. I ordered a couple of drinks for Andy and me at the pool bar which were delicious.
Payton and I headed back a little before the boys and I ordered a pizza from our hotel restaurant to be delivered to our room. The boys had come back around the time the pizza was delivered and it was really nice to be able to just spend dinner in our room having a casual dinner.
After showers and some TV, we all fell asleep early after this long day. Our next day was planned to be spent at EPCOT and Payton and I were going so early we had to arrange for a taxi to come pick us up the next morning. This would end up being one of my favorite days of the whole trip.
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