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View Full Version : The Good, the Bad and the Magical Trip Report - Phase 4


Mackflava99
07-13-2011, 03:42 PM
Day 4 – Animal Kingdom
Today was a family day- nobody was in charge, so we all agreed upon our plan of action.
In the morning we rented 2 water mice from Sammy Duval’s and zoomed around the lake. That was a lot of fun.
We left for Animal Kingdom at 11am…yes, kind of late, BUT I think it worked in our favor.

We got to AK and of course I had to run to Everest to get a Fast pass. – We then went on Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl. Next off to “Its tough to be a Bug” which is still hilarious.
We then went to Flame Tree for lunch, and that is a great counter service. So much good food. Totally the best CS in WDW..
We saw De-Vine, and I am still amazed whenever I see her.
After that we did the Kali River rapids, and the majaraji trek. Next off to the Kilimanjaro Safari, which was pretty empty. BUT since it was an overcast day, it seemed that a lot of the animals were active. And then we used our Everest Fast Pass. Which is my favorite ride.

It was very humid and I remembered that the Rafiki Planet watch was air-conditioned, so we took the train over. While we were there, we spent a lot of time visiting the different areas and had a very good time. The people working there were very nice and spent quality time with my kids. Then Jiminy Cricket, Pocahontas and Rafiki were there to take pictures with. They also had great interaction time with our kids.
Additionally, we had the unique opportunity to take a picture with Giraffe and Elephant poop… (is this a trend?) What a different in size !!!
We stayed as long as we could, definitely the most time ever there. And it was worth it.
Next was dinner at Yak & Yeti.
This was another first time dinner for us. We really liked it, Excellent service, and great food. We would definitely go again. We didn't leave alot of room in between dnner an lunch, so we did not finish all our meal.
After dinner we then went to Everest for a last ride. (the kids and I not my wife) But we were able to go on it 8 (eight) times in a row, there was no line. My kids are nuts and we could have gone on more, but I said “ Hey we are keeping Mom waiting. “ she was sitting in the shade enjoying an ice tea, but 9 times on Everest for one day was enough for me….even though it was fun as heck!!

We then proceeded to go over to the Contemporary because my kids wanted to get a Club Penguin figurine that they has spotted there.
The past few years we have given the kids a gift card with a certain amount of money based on their grades. That was all they would get for souveniers, nothing else. I must say this has worked well, they really try to think out what they want to buy. Sadly for me ( actually I am joking when I say I was sad) they got almost all A’s, so I had to give out some max amounts to them.
We had an ice cream, they did some pin trading and we watched the monorail.
I also got about 15 punches courtesy of my twins. They are girls, but i must say they are beginning to punch hard.. lol
They had created a new game based on the old Volkswagon commercial, whenever a monorail would come by, they would punch me in the arm… “ blue one, green one, TRON etc…”
:)
Then we walked back to the hotel and went back up to the lounge and got to see the fireworks (which i do not get bored doing, ever) and then went to sleep…

Recap :At times I think the AK gets a bad rap. It’s got a lot to offer and some very unique experiences.
I can truly say that AK empties out much earlier than other parks. By 5pm its basically cleared out, maybe 25% of Capacity. I was amazed how easy it was to go on Everest so many times.

floridamom
07-13-2011, 04:24 PM
Great post, thanks for sharing. While we enjoy Animal Kingdom, it usually doesn't make the cut when we only visit for a weekend and are limited to two or three parks. But it is fascinating to know that the crowds were so light in the evening (even at a busy time of year). This may just inspire us to hop over some afternoon/evening after hitting another park earlier in the day ...

mouseketeer mom
07-13-2011, 04:43 PM
Agreed about AK. We left our Vero trip 2 days early and headed to Poly 2 days earlier then expected. (I'll explain in my report!)..and we had no reservations. Anywhere for those two days! So...we headed to Boma for an early dinner (scored that ADR easily) then to AK afterwards for extra evening magic hours that first night. We were able to do/ride anything we wanted that night. It was wonderful. And a plus..isn't AK so very beautiful at night?

lighteningqueen
07-13-2011, 07:04 PM
It is the best park for atmoshere and less rudness. Its a calming park. Beautiful as well.. If you are close to closing about 45 minutes I think>> The trail you do at the entrance to the park, has a spot where the gorillas are at. The cm's come out and feed them somthing and show and talk about them. This is how they put them up for the night. The watch intently the cms then when the first one is put up she does a signal he goes running off where they know there is food waiting for them. She said they fight so they do this one at a time. there were 3 there that day and it was great watching them and fnding out how they put them up for the night then watching the great silver back go trotting off.. I loved it and will spend an entire day there again.. Plus did you walk the path on the left side of the Tree of Life?? It is the one that goes all around the tree and has carvings along the way and then you get very close to the tree and can stand for hours looking at ll the animals you just keep finding more and more. So much fun and Yak and Yetis steak and shrimp is sooooo good This restaurant needs more attention. Its a great dinner place which we have ressies already there for Dec plus love Tusker breafast that morning. We are spending Dec 10 there a Sat because it is less crowded during that time because everyone wants to be at AK we will be riding over and over in AK Doing that park 2 times during our trip.

Joannelet
07-13-2011, 07:45 PM
I mentioned in my May trip reports how I too believe AK is soooo unappreciated! It is one of my favs! I may be biased because thats where I interned but there are sooo many hidden things that every trip is an adventure. In May there was a really crazy packed day at MK so we knew ak was closing in 2 hours so we headed there even though it was brutally hot out....but my little one LOVEd the dino park and got soaked. We rode triceratop spin over and over again, did the trails in Africa and it was wonderful because the park was empty. It was soooo worth going in those last 2 hours.
Great report!

faline
07-13-2011, 07:55 PM
This was a day that had a perfect balance between relaxation and activity! Eight times on Everest! Wow! I'm impressed!

Congrats to your girls on their good grades! I'm sure they worked very hard and despite how much you had to pay out, I can still hear the pride you have in their accomplishment!

princessgirls
07-13-2011, 09:24 PM
We love Animal Kingdom. It's a good unique park. LOVE the African flair...on a side note, two kids from our church went on a missions trip to Africa over spring break this year, and they did a powerpoint at church after. The last two days were a Safari, crossing the Nile river and all and as I was looking at the Safari pictures, I'm saying...That looks just like Kilimanjaro Safari in Disney. Seriously....Disney did an amazing job in this park!!!!
Glad you had an awesome day!!!

Julie:mickey:

brian2000boston
07-13-2011, 10:51 PM
Well thats the poop, the whole poop and nothing but the poop! thanks for sharing!!

pdrlkr
07-15-2011, 08:18 PM
Thanks for the Report! :smickey:

Jennifer_and_Chris
07-18-2011, 04:47 PM
I love AK at night! Especially during EMH in the darkness. It's like a really secluded trail. I loved it! It felt like we were the only ones in the park... and very romantic too!

It sounds like you are an EXCELLENT dad and your girls adore you.... after all - a punch on the arm from a tween girl = I LOVE YOU! :D

I love the motivation of getting good grades = disney gift card. Great idea! Thanks!

MississippiDisneyFreak
07-19-2011, 09:43 AM
We too really love Animal Kingdom...I think a lot of people who don't like it go in the summer and it is a very hot park, so they don't take the time to appreciate the little details that make it special.....

yjgirl32
07-19-2011, 12:03 PM
I love AK. Devine amazes me. Thanks for sharing.

January-2007
07-19-2011, 01:20 PM
Thanks for the trip report.

SBETigg
07-19-2011, 01:23 PM
I also love AK. Sounds like a great day- except for the punching. :mickey: