I woke up on Saturday, excited about touring Disney. We decided to focus our energy on the Animal Kingdom and Epcot Center. There was so much to see, even in these two parks, I didn’t know if we could do it justice.
Dennis & I started out by having a light breakfast. I had the beignets (I liked the ones in New Orleans better) and Dennis had a muffin & coffee.
We met Bret & Ruth & kids over at Animal Kingdom. We walked right through security, with our day passes (THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH RUTH!!!!), and headed to the safari.
Along the way we stopped to see a few interesting animals from around the world…
The Safari Pictures:
We boarded the Safari, and I was really excited. It had been a long time since I had seen some of these animals (I believe it was the zoo in Seattle, a few years back). In any event, the animals are in as close an environment to their natural one as Disney could make them.
To an untrained eye, it looks as if you are riding through Africa…I’m sure there are differences, but for me it was pretty realistic! Now, I just need to go back to Africa to find out!
After the safari, we decided to wander over to the Tree of Life, so we could watch an add on movie to It’s a Bugs Life. The movie was 3D and also had smells, which I found quite interesting and neat. Dennis liked the movie the most out of our days experiences, it was fun!
Next up, we meandered over to the Everest Express, a rollercoaster ride, with a Yeti sub-plot, built up around a plastic Mt. Everest. I was expecting this to be the highlight, but I ended up getting a little sick after the ride. I think it was the combination of not enough food, dehydration, and the heat (by now it was around 90 with humidity.
We decided it was a good time to leave Animal Kingdom and head over to Epcot Center.
We had lunch at a Fish N Chips joint in Epcot. The fish was tasty, but the mashed potatos were insanely salty. I drank nearly 2 liters of coke while eating lunch…in fact, a lot of the food we ate at WDW was really salty. There are healthy eating options, like raw fruit, but all the prepared food we had was salty. I think it’s because the water there is 6 bucks…
After lunch, we meandered around the lake at Epcot, stopping off to see the international areas along the way. There are 20 nations represented, so we saw quite a bit!
We stopped in Germany for a pretzel, Japan for some souveniers, and Mexico to check out the new Tequila Bar. We didn’t sample the Tequila because we decided desert over in France sounded better!
Next, we snagged tickets for the Soaring show, and while we were waiting for the next start time, we stopped off to see the turtle from Finding Nemo, give a comedy skit. The turtle is animated, and a comedian peaks at the audience and the animation interacts with the audience. So, it appears as if you are in a direct conversation with this floating turtle. It’s really cool. The kids just loved it!
As the sun started sinking low, we went into the Soaring experience. It was Bret, Andrew, Dennis & I. We waited about 45 minutes (the longest we had to wait all day), and finally, we were in the show. It’s a wonderful huge movie screen, and the seats dangle in front of it. You feel as if you are hang gliding over parts of California. The sound is all around you, and even the smells! This was my favorite ride at Disney. I just loved the feeling.
Exiting the Soaring ride, we were all happy and Andrew was beside himself. I have a feeling Bret’s going to be taking him on this one again & again! We went over to France for desert & coffee. Walking around the lake, we enjoyed the balmy Florida night.
We hurried to get a spot near the water, to see the fireworks. They were dazzling. We very much appreciated the international feeling of unity and humanity which Disney is striving towards, in this fireworks show. There is a globe which floats over the water, and as it floats, it turns. The world has pictures of all manners of ethnicities of people (of course they’re all smily happy faces!). It’s a little cheesy, but I think the message is a good one!
Over the course of the day, we walked between 8-10 miles, so we were all fatigued. We headed home for the day, and said goodbye around 10pm. I was sad when we got in the car, but I know it won’t be another 8 years before we see them again. We were invited to come out next year, to celebrate the Food & Wine Festival in October…wouldn’t that be fun!
Tags: Animal Kingdom, Epcot Center, FL, Orlando, Walt Disney World