Part I: A Morning in Animal Kingdom
So, that last post took a thousand years to write. By a thousand years, it means more than 1 hour because I am impatient and prone to wild exaggeration. It was more like 2-3 days (not the entire time, because that would be weird) but really, there was just SO. MUCH. STUFF. And Saturday isn't going to get any better because we had an even longer day. So I'm breaking up our day into a few parts (2-3, depending on how I feel) so it won't take me a thousand years to write and you ten thousand years to read.
We start the morning in Animal Kingdom, which didn't exist in 1989 when we last traveled to Florida in the back of a small station wagon with 9 people wedged into it (because that's how us Chinese people roll). Knowing that there are only a few rides in the park (it's mostly shows and nature walks) I only planned to spend about 5 hours here. The opening moved up from 9 am to 8 am, so I cancelled our breakfast reservation at Tusker House (I wasn't going to spend prime touring time eating an overpriced buffet breakfast, no matter how delicious) and woke my entire family up by 6:40. My plan was to get on the road by about 7:10 and out by the turnstiles by 7:30. I know, I'm crazy. Yeah...that didn't happen. We didn't get out of the house until after 7:20 and got to the turnstile around 7:40. HOWEVER, we somehow magically managed to get to the Tree of Life by rope drop and hauled ass to get to the Kilimanjaro Safari before they sent out their first vehicle. We were lucky that AK is actually the closest park to our condo and we took the back road that lead directly to it rather than through the main entrance.
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| hello AK! |
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| the AK tree - not as bling bling as the MK tree |
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| hello! |
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| Tree of Life - their version of a "castle" |
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| and we take another unwitting photo with Tinker Bell. Man, that bitch is just photobombing everyone |
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| apparently at different parks they want different looks. The photographer said, "let's see you roar" Clearly we don't know how to roar. We look like we're startled mimes. |
I picked the Kilimajaro Safaris first because the animals (supposedly) are the most active in the morning. Also, that's when the line is the shortest. Because we planned (by we I really mean I) to spend the afternoon in Hollywood Studios on a fairly crowded day, I saved all 3 of our FP's for HS and intended to rope drop on AK to get on all the big rides. All three of them.
We stood in line for about 5 minutes before they got the safari vehicles going - we were probably on the 3rd vehicle to leave the station.
We saw all sorts of animals - and they made it really look like we were in Africa. A cleaner, safer Africa. I know the animals were mostly contained (well, the lions and cheetah), but I couldn't for the life of me see the barrier. They really made it appear like we were in the wild.
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| hungry hungry hippo |
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| hungry underwater hippo |
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| alligator or crocodile. I can't tell the difference |
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| doesn't this look like some savannah you'd see in a magazine? |
Then we saw the African wild dogs. They have small feet. But are super fast!
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| my Bendi doesn't look like this at all! |
I forgot what these things were, but they had ginormous ass horns.
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| he looks sooooo bored. |
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| someone's butt |
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| I want to call him Jeffrey. And ask him how Toys R Us is doing |
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| This apparently, is the leader - the red gives it away. |
Lots and lots of flamingos
And randomly, an ostrich
Let's do a close up!
And a cheetah
And rhinos. And rhino butts
I feel like I should've called him Simba
And here's Pumbaa!
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| random ostrich eggs laying around |
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| and zebras |
It was fun. It was cute. It was well done. But it wasn't my favorite. It's a really, really fancy, well done, super detailed and exotic zoo. A Disney zoo, but a zoo nonetheless. The REALLY good ride, the amazing ride, that's next. But first, Africa! (or as close to Africa as I will ever get to).
The theming was amazing. Out of all four Disney parks, I thought AK was the most beautifully detailed and themed. It was gorgeous and I wished we had more time so I could just wander around and absorb it all. Next time I come back, I'm going to spend a whole day here just to explore all the nooks and crannies of the park. While there's a dearth in rides, this is a fantastic park to just wander around and take in all the details because the details are amazing.
On the way to fake Asia, we see an African Mickey. He's waving hello. And of course, we have to take a picture with fake African Mickey. Because it's awesome.
We also feel a need to pose like Mickey
But that's probably because we are retarded.
On the way to Asia we pass a photo pass photographer, and of course we had to take photos.
They tell us to make the "rawr" face again. So we do. And we suck. See my dad's jazz hands?
We get to Asia. It's not Taipei or Tokyo or Hong Kong Asia. It's like, Nepal Asia (is Nepal in Asia?) Tibet Asia. Boonies Asia.
I think this was Raymond's favorite land - he'd just watched the movie Everest and he took in all the details and told me this was like walking into the movie. Disney captured the feel and look of the Tibet/Nepal area and well, this was as close as we were going to get to being there.
The BEST DISNEY RIDE EVER? (Well, excluding the magic at Tokyo Disneyseas that I haven't experienced yet) Expedition Everest. Why? It's freaking fun. The detailing and ambiance and theming is amazing.
We basically walked onto the ride. Well...sort of. When we got to the loading area they were having technical difficulties. Raymond and I were like
Thankfully it was resolved after a 10 minute wait, and we were loaded on and we were happy. See?
It was so fantastic that we immediately got back in line to go on it again.
Alas, we can't go on it again because we have more steps in our touring plan for the morning! So we head to Dino Land USA, which honestly, sucks donkey balls and doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the park.
We went on Primeval Whirl, we waited about 10 minutes. It's just a fancy mouse coaster - fun, but not something worth a long wait, so my parents sat in the shade for a break while Raymond and I waited in line and got on the ride. It's similar to DCA's Goofy's Sky School, but better because it did spin.
Then we headed to Dinosaur, which is basically the Indiana Jones ride vehicle takes a tour through old cheapo dino land.
I can't say it wasn't fun, if my eyes were closed I'd feel like I was riding Indiana Jones. But the theming was off, the dinosaurs looked cheesy and old, and it just didn't fit in with the rest of the park. A sad use of a fun ride vehicle.
We see Everest again - and have to wave because it was so awesome.
And we have to pose for photos with it, to show our love.
why not an awkward family selfie as well??
We were ready for a break. A coffee break. In our bid to hit every Starbucks (by our I mean Raymond, because he lurves the Starbucks and is a coffee snob) we find Creature Comforts on the way to Africa. Raymond finds a shaded table for my parents to sit at outside of Pizzafari while we stand in a long ass line with other desperate people for our crack.
These really are some of the prettiest Starbucks.
Because animals live here, the straws aren't made of plastic - they're made of paper - and if you don't drink it quickly enough, the straw gets kinda soft.
I want to catch the Festival of the Lion King (more than the Nemo show, I don't think my parents would be into that) so we head towards Africa again.
Raymond thinks we should pretend we're actually drinking Starbucks in Africa. Disneyized Africa.
The theater is beautiful and so is the surrounding area.
We manage just to squeeze into the last stand. It's nice and cool, but it's bench seating with no backs. My mama is tired and wants to nap, and these seats are not conducive to napping.
It's cute...what we saw of it. We're separated in 4 different groups and lead by a different leader and we're suppose to make sounds. They also have animatronics for each section - we were in the lion section, so we got Simba.
The show was just getting started and Timon (who seemed like the ringleader) was singing and dancing and people were bouncing around when all of a sudden the music cut out. Timon stood there with his arms up and looked around. We thought this was part of the show...they announced that we all had to exit the premises. We thought this was a joke. Nope, it wasn't, because as we were slowly moving out, we saw paramedics enter the building. It seems like one of the audience members had a medical emergency and they had to stop the show. Donkey balls!
So we leave Africa (sob!)
So head towards the Tree of Life and we watch It's Tough to be a Bug instead. My mama wanted an air conditioned place to sit down and nap and my dad had never seen it before. Even though I've seen it about 3,827 times, I still enjoy it because it's charming and well done. My dad actually didn't sleep through it and enjoyed it.
At this point we had basically hit all the rides we wanted to (we were NOT going to Kali Rapids. None of us had the burning desire to be drenched and the reviews for the ride are pretty dismal since they turn off all the effects now. Also, we have Grizzly River Rapids here at DCA which is supposed to be a lot better) and my parents were tired of walking around, so we went to Flame Tree Barbeque for lunch. My parents don't like burgers (unless we're talking Arby's - for dad - or In-N-Out - for mom) so I picked Flame Tree since they have chicken and ribs. My mama likes ribs and my dad is okay with them.
We actually weren't that hungry (though I could always eat) but I knew the dining scene at Hollywood Studios was pretty dismal for their palates so I decided to buy food anyway. Since none of us were really hungry, we just bought two meals. Which ended up being more than enough. It's a lot of food!
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| The ribs platter - came with two slabs of ribs, jalapeno cornbread and BBQ beans |
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| chicken and ribs platter. We ended up with white meat. :( |
We end up eating just before the lunch rush, soon after we were seated all the tables around us filled up.
It was pretty good. I actually think the ribs are better than Taste Pilots - Taste Pilots relies too much on their sauce for flavor while Flame Tree's are pretty tasty even before you dip them into the BBQ sauce on the side (you get it yourself). But Taste Pilots still wins because of their awesome toppings bar - ginormous leave of romaine lettuce and tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, relish and sauces, which Flame Tree doesn't have. :(
We relax in the shade, eat our food, and then we give up our rock star parking and head over to Hollywood Studios.
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