BouncingTigger
01-17-2008, 01:12 PM
Just a reminder: On this trip, there's me (age 21) and my boyfriend (age 29).
On Wednesday, Jan 9, we woke up again at 7 a.m. (my bf was getting sick of these early mornings!) to get to the Animal Kingdom. Neither me nor my bf had ever been to AK before, but we both love animals, so we were looking forward to this.
Honestly, I was expecting to be a little underwhelmed by AK because I live in San Diego and go to (totally awesome) San Diego Zoo a lot. I though the Zoo would kind of overshadow AK (in the animal exhibits - the Zoo has no real rides other than a bus tour and a sky cable thing). But I was pleasantly surprised! The animal exhibits were very well done - the animals had a lot of room and their living areas were very pretty and had great theming. I was worried that the animals would be in cages and I was very happy to see that the animals had very nice homes!
When the park opened, first we went to Primeval Whirl. We walked right on. A cute ride but I think the cars should have been spinning more to make the ride more thrilling. We were asked if we wanted to ride it again (there was no one waiting to get in) but said no because we wanted to hit some of the other rides before the lines got too long.
Next we went to DINOSAUR. Pretty much walked right on. I was looking forward to this ride because I had heard it was scary and exciting. However, both me and my bf were disappointed. The ride was not thrilling at all. I suppose the dinos looked kind of cool, but they weren't at all scary. I had heard that the ride was pretty rough and that riders get thrown around a lot, but I thought it was very tame. Overall not that good.
Next we headed over to EE, but the line was 30 minutes, so we got a FASTPASS.
We saw Flights of Wonder, which was pretty cool. The birds were neat and the show was humorous. I liked the conservation message at the end (which some families walked out of! :mad:). I think people need to learn more about conservation and take it to heart. Also, teaching their kids about it is really important!
We went on the Mahharajah Jungle Trek, which was cool. Very well done. We saw a lot of animals and the trail was well shaded and the theming and greenery made it feel like we were walking through a jungle!
We skipped Kali River Rapids because my bf didn't want to get wet. Oh well.
We headed back to EE and I loved it! Very cool! We rode it again later. The first time we were close to the back and the second time we were close to the front...I think the front was much better! You could see the Yeti stuff better and could see the first drop better, so it made it scarier! I thought it was the best ride at AK.
Next we hit the Kilimanjaro Safaris. About a ten minute wait mid- to late-morning. I liked the ride - even though it was hard to see some of the animals, I'm glad that they had room to roam and get away from our prying eyes! The anti-poaching message was good, too.
We went on the Pangani Trail after the Safaris. A little crowded, but still good. A lot like the Maharajah Trek - cool animals, cool areas that the animals lived in.
Our feet were tired by this time, so we hopped on the Wildlife Express Train for a quick break. Rafiki's Planet Watch was neat. At Conservation Station, we saw a vet operating on a little bird who had cracked his breast bone! The vet said the birdie would heal up and be fine, so that was good! The petting area was good...my bf took some pics of me petting the animals. I also liked that the animals had areas they could get away from humans if the animals were sick of being petted.
When we were heading back towards the train, there were two cast members handing out a special Year of A Million Dreams lanyard and two special Year of a Million Dreams pins (one with Minnie and Mickey with YoMD in the middle and one with Goofy and Pluto with YoMD in the middle). They said these pins were not available for sale...the only way to get them was to luck into it like we did! I was glad we got a YoMD encounter!
Next we waited for the Festival of the Lion King. We got there about 45 minutes early. We ate our sandwiches for lunch while we waited. I hated that they kept moving the line to different holding areas before we got into the auditorium. We'd stand for a few minutes, then sit down on the ground - and then they'd call us into the next area! They said no sitting, eating or drinking, but everyone ignored them! While waiting, we were all outside in the sun for a long time...of course we're going to sit down and drink something to keep cool! When we finally got inside, we got good seats near the front. The show was amazing! The monkey acrobats, the fire twirler, the song and dance - completely awesome! Definitely one of the best shows at WDW!
After the Lion King got out, there was a showing of Pocahontas and her Forest Friends that we went to. Pretty lame after seeing the Lion King! I really wanted to see more animals (especially raccoons - I loved Meeko in the movie!), but they all pretty much ran across the stage and that's it. The show itself was pretty cheesy...they were trying to make a conservation message, which I'm all for, but they need to make it more engaging.
It's Tough to be a Bug! was next. I should say that I'm terrified of bugs - especially spiders, bees and roaches. However, I had heard that this show was funny, not scary! Wrong! I was terrified the entire time! That big tarantula at the beginning was horrible! I hid my face in my boyfriend's shoulder and tried not to scream (although I screamed anyway - especially because of the sensory effects) and just prayed for it to be over. I was actually shaking afterwards! I will NEVER go on that again! I wanted to kill the cast member who said the show was funny, not scary.
Finally, we went to see the Nemo musical. My bf is not a fan of musicals, so I had to beg him to come on. I thought the show was cute, but some of the songs were just weird. I just didn't think that the songs were as charming as the dialogue in the movie. I definitely think the musical paled in comparison to the movie, but when considering the musical on its own, it was pretty nice.
There were evening EMH that day, but we didn't need to use them since we had already seen everything we wanted to and rode EE twice. So we headed out to Rainforest Cafe at about park closing time. It was pretty crowded. They said it would be a 35-45 minute wait for a table but we found two seats at the bar - no wait! I ordered a yummy drink (it seemed like a milkshake with alcohol!) and got a veggie sandwich and my bf got a veggie burger. Pretty yummy. Plus, we ate in a real restaurant for the first time on our trip! It was definitely good to eat some "real food!"
We got back to our hotel pretty early (probably about 7 p.m.). I actually had time to take a bubble bath - SO nice on my sore muscles (walking around so much is tiring!).
My bf and I thought AK was definitely a great park. I thought it needed a couple more exciting rides, though. Also, they need counter service vegetarian options - we didn't really find any, especially any that were low fat (since my bf is on a low fat diet for medical reasons).
Also, it was nice to get to bed early. A good night's sleep was long overdue!
Next park: Epcot. More later!
On Wednesday, Jan 9, we woke up again at 7 a.m. (my bf was getting sick of these early mornings!) to get to the Animal Kingdom. Neither me nor my bf had ever been to AK before, but we both love animals, so we were looking forward to this.
Honestly, I was expecting to be a little underwhelmed by AK because I live in San Diego and go to (totally awesome) San Diego Zoo a lot. I though the Zoo would kind of overshadow AK (in the animal exhibits - the Zoo has no real rides other than a bus tour and a sky cable thing). But I was pleasantly surprised! The animal exhibits were very well done - the animals had a lot of room and their living areas were very pretty and had great theming. I was worried that the animals would be in cages and I was very happy to see that the animals had very nice homes!
When the park opened, first we went to Primeval Whirl. We walked right on. A cute ride but I think the cars should have been spinning more to make the ride more thrilling. We were asked if we wanted to ride it again (there was no one waiting to get in) but said no because we wanted to hit some of the other rides before the lines got too long.
Next we went to DINOSAUR. Pretty much walked right on. I was looking forward to this ride because I had heard it was scary and exciting. However, both me and my bf were disappointed. The ride was not thrilling at all. I suppose the dinos looked kind of cool, but they weren't at all scary. I had heard that the ride was pretty rough and that riders get thrown around a lot, but I thought it was very tame. Overall not that good.
Next we headed over to EE, but the line was 30 minutes, so we got a FASTPASS.
We saw Flights of Wonder, which was pretty cool. The birds were neat and the show was humorous. I liked the conservation message at the end (which some families walked out of! :mad:). I think people need to learn more about conservation and take it to heart. Also, teaching their kids about it is really important!
We went on the Mahharajah Jungle Trek, which was cool. Very well done. We saw a lot of animals and the trail was well shaded and the theming and greenery made it feel like we were walking through a jungle!
We skipped Kali River Rapids because my bf didn't want to get wet. Oh well.
We headed back to EE and I loved it! Very cool! We rode it again later. The first time we were close to the back and the second time we were close to the front...I think the front was much better! You could see the Yeti stuff better and could see the first drop better, so it made it scarier! I thought it was the best ride at AK.
Next we hit the Kilimanjaro Safaris. About a ten minute wait mid- to late-morning. I liked the ride - even though it was hard to see some of the animals, I'm glad that they had room to roam and get away from our prying eyes! The anti-poaching message was good, too.
We went on the Pangani Trail after the Safaris. A little crowded, but still good. A lot like the Maharajah Trek - cool animals, cool areas that the animals lived in.
Our feet were tired by this time, so we hopped on the Wildlife Express Train for a quick break. Rafiki's Planet Watch was neat. At Conservation Station, we saw a vet operating on a little bird who had cracked his breast bone! The vet said the birdie would heal up and be fine, so that was good! The petting area was good...my bf took some pics of me petting the animals. I also liked that the animals had areas they could get away from humans if the animals were sick of being petted.
When we were heading back towards the train, there were two cast members handing out a special Year of A Million Dreams lanyard and two special Year of a Million Dreams pins (one with Minnie and Mickey with YoMD in the middle and one with Goofy and Pluto with YoMD in the middle). They said these pins were not available for sale...the only way to get them was to luck into it like we did! I was glad we got a YoMD encounter!
Next we waited for the Festival of the Lion King. We got there about 45 minutes early. We ate our sandwiches for lunch while we waited. I hated that they kept moving the line to different holding areas before we got into the auditorium. We'd stand for a few minutes, then sit down on the ground - and then they'd call us into the next area! They said no sitting, eating or drinking, but everyone ignored them! While waiting, we were all outside in the sun for a long time...of course we're going to sit down and drink something to keep cool! When we finally got inside, we got good seats near the front. The show was amazing! The monkey acrobats, the fire twirler, the song and dance - completely awesome! Definitely one of the best shows at WDW!
After the Lion King got out, there was a showing of Pocahontas and her Forest Friends that we went to. Pretty lame after seeing the Lion King! I really wanted to see more animals (especially raccoons - I loved Meeko in the movie!), but they all pretty much ran across the stage and that's it. The show itself was pretty cheesy...they were trying to make a conservation message, which I'm all for, but they need to make it more engaging.
It's Tough to be a Bug! was next. I should say that I'm terrified of bugs - especially spiders, bees and roaches. However, I had heard that this show was funny, not scary! Wrong! I was terrified the entire time! That big tarantula at the beginning was horrible! I hid my face in my boyfriend's shoulder and tried not to scream (although I screamed anyway - especially because of the sensory effects) and just prayed for it to be over. I was actually shaking afterwards! I will NEVER go on that again! I wanted to kill the cast member who said the show was funny, not scary.
Finally, we went to see the Nemo musical. My bf is not a fan of musicals, so I had to beg him to come on. I thought the show was cute, but some of the songs were just weird. I just didn't think that the songs were as charming as the dialogue in the movie. I definitely think the musical paled in comparison to the movie, but when considering the musical on its own, it was pretty nice.
There were evening EMH that day, but we didn't need to use them since we had already seen everything we wanted to and rode EE twice. So we headed out to Rainforest Cafe at about park closing time. It was pretty crowded. They said it would be a 35-45 minute wait for a table but we found two seats at the bar - no wait! I ordered a yummy drink (it seemed like a milkshake with alcohol!) and got a veggie sandwich and my bf got a veggie burger. Pretty yummy. Plus, we ate in a real restaurant for the first time on our trip! It was definitely good to eat some "real food!"
We got back to our hotel pretty early (probably about 7 p.m.). I actually had time to take a bubble bath - SO nice on my sore muscles (walking around so much is tiring!).
My bf and I thought AK was definitely a great park. I thought it needed a couple more exciting rides, though. Also, they need counter service vegetarian options - we didn't really find any, especially any that were low fat (since my bf is on a low fat diet for medical reasons).
Also, it was nice to get to bed early. A good night's sleep was long overdue!
Next park: Epcot. More later!