Saturday, December 4, 2010

Disney: Animal Kingdom

For Thanksgiving we decided to go to Animal Kingdom after hearing rumors of Thanksgiving being the busiest day of the year at most of the parks. The hotel staff predicted Magic Kingdom would close by 11am due to hitting maximum capacity. Thankfully we had made dinner reservations at Animal Kingdom's Tusker House a few months in advance for when we inquired about changing our dinner reservation, there was a not a reservation in all of Disney available!!

This was the first time I had ever been to Animal Kingdom and I must admit my expectations were a little low after hearing from some friends but it ended up being a highlight of the trip! We arrived shortly after the park opened (8am) and one of our family members rushed to the Safari to get a FastPass (a great addition to Disney parks that tells you a time to come back that cuts your wait time). The girls spotted some characters near the entrance so that was our first stop: Meeko (Pocahontas), Thumper (Bambi) and Flik (Bug's Life)

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Then we went over to theKilimanjaro Safari which was so good we rode it twice. Big jeeps take people through a path where you get an upfront view of African animals including elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhinos, lions, and much much more.

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A few other highlights of Animal Kingdom included

TriceratopSpin: A newer version of Dumbo at Magic Kingdom and a much smaller line :).

Festival of the Lion King: A indoor musical number which was fantastic. I'm partial to the music of the Lion King anyway, but it was colorful and well done.

Greeting Trail: At last we got to see Mickey and Goofy!! Minnie and Donald were there as well but the girls were done waiting in line.

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Rafiki Planet Watch : We took a train ride out to Rafiki Planet Watch which was well worth it. They had an 'Affection Section' where the girls got to brush goats and sheep. There were other conservation related things to do but the girls were distracted by the characters of course. Rafiki (Lion King), Pocahontas, and Jimitny Cricket (Pinocchio)

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Parade: Disney sure knows how to organize people for a parade with the use of tape. We found a nice spot behind the tape to sit and watch the Christmas Parade, he girls loved it!!

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We probably could have spent another whole day at Animal Kingdom for there was much more to see.

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