In Love with Animal Kingdom (Part 1)
The day after Christmas was our day to explore Animal Kingdom. On our first trip we had not spent much time there. We had been on a mission to meet Pocahontas and once we did we were off to other parks (in fact that day we did all 4 in one day!!!)
This time we wanted to really enjoy the park and I can honestly say we fell in love. We got up and dressed for our trip over to Animal Kingdom. As we walked through the park on the way to Tusker House, the fog was still coming up over Everest and it was stunning.
We arrived right on schedule for our breakfast and were greeted by Donald outside love the safari outfits the characters wear at Tusker House and we loved the food we ate as well.
I think everything I tried was yummy especially the banana bread pudding and vanilla sauce!!! Our server was also amazing. She is the one who recommend my favorite of the day and even went and got me the vanilla sauce when she saw I did not grab some myself.
We had some wonderful meet & greets with Mickey, Daisy and Goofy. We were tucked away in a corner and it made taking photos very easy and I felt like there was a ton of space in the place. Going to and from the buffet was simple and the way you just come and go to the food instead of a line was really nice as well.
It was time to explore and by that I mean it was time for one of us to become a Wilderness Explorer. This was something my daughter had been looking forward to on this trip and we knew we wanted to get started right away so we could earn as many badges in the book as possible.
Troop leader Kimmy got us started and we were off and running to gather badges along the trail before it was time for our first ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris. This was top of our list for FastPass in Animal Kingdom because we had never done it and it totally did not disappoint.
I could not believe how close some of the animals were to the jeep and how free they roamed. It was very cool to sit back and listen as we drove around and got some great views of animals.
After finishing the Safari and getting all the badges in that area we headed over to Dinoland USA. We had booked Primeval Whirl as a FastPass just to round out our 3 at AK but we also wanted to explore the area a little bit especially important on our list was a visit with Sue the Dinosaur. The real Sue makes her home in Chicago and we really wanted to see the replica at Disney.
I enjoyed Dinoland Sophie and Erik went on Triceratops Spin (how many Dumbo type rides can one person go one right?) and we explored the Boneyard to earn more Wilderness Explore Badges. I also really liked Primeval Whirl it is a fun ride, working its way down as you spin all over.
For our next adventure in Animal Kingdom we headed over to where Russell and Dig do their meet and greet. Russell was out exploring for the day but we were happy to meet Dug. There was basically no line ahead of us. I think there were 2 groups of older teens and adults all talking about if they should do it or not .do what? Well what my daughter stepped up and did right away after getting a hug first.
She shouted, Squirrel and Dug immediately turned to look. It was so fun and was proud of her for speaking up to see what would happen.
With that we were off to visit Camp Minnie & Mickey (this was right before it closed for construction on Avatar land)
The day after Christmas was our day to explore Animal Kingdom. On our first trip we had not spent much time there. We had been on a mission to meet Pocahontas and once we did we were off to other parks (in fact that day we did all 4 in one day!!!)
This time we wanted to really enjoy the park and I can honestly say we fell in love. We got up and dressed for our trip over to Animal Kingdom. As we walked through the park on the way to Tusker House, the fog was still coming up over Everest and it was stunning.
We arrived right on schedule for our breakfast and were greeted by Donald outside love the safari outfits the characters wear at Tusker House and we loved the food we ate as well.
I think everything I tried was yummy especially the banana bread pudding and vanilla sauce!!! Our server was also amazing. She is the one who recommend my favorite of the day and even went and got me the vanilla sauce when she saw I did not grab some myself.
We had some wonderful meet & greets with Mickey, Daisy and Goofy. We were tucked away in a corner and it made taking photos very easy and I felt like there was a ton of space in the place. Going to and from the buffet was simple and the way you just come and go to the food instead of a line was really nice as well.
It was time to explore and by that I mean it was time for one of us to become a Wilderness Explorer. This was something my daughter had been looking forward to on this trip and we knew we wanted to get started right away so we could earn as many badges in the book as possible.
Troop leader Kimmy got us started and we were off and running to gather badges along the trail before it was time for our first ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris. This was top of our list for FastPass in Animal Kingdom because we had never done it and it totally did not disappoint.
I could not believe how close some of the animals were to the jeep and how free they roamed. It was very cool to sit back and listen as we drove around and got some great views of animals.
After finishing the Safari and getting all the badges in that area we headed over to Dinoland USA. We had booked Primeval Whirl as a FastPass just to round out our 3 at AK but we also wanted to explore the area a little bit especially important on our list was a visit with Sue the Dinosaur. The real Sue makes her home in Chicago and we really wanted to see the replica at Disney.
I enjoyed Dinoland Sophie and Erik went on Triceratops Spin (how many Dumbo type rides can one person go one right?) and we explored the Boneyard to earn more Wilderness Explore Badges. I also really liked Primeval Whirl it is a fun ride, working its way down as you spin all over.
For our next adventure in Animal Kingdom we headed over to where Russell and Dig do their meet and greet. Russell was out exploring for the day but we were happy to meet Dug. There was basically no line ahead of us. I think there were 2 groups of older teens and adults all talking about if they should do it or not .do what? Well what my daughter stepped up and did right away after getting a hug first.
She shouted, Squirrel and Dug immediately turned to look. It was so fun and was proud of her for speaking up to see what would happen.
With that we were off to visit Camp Minnie & Mickey (this was right before it closed for construction on Avatar land)