Day 4 – Animal Kingdom – 31/10/17
I first set foot in Animal Kingdom in 2005 and I fell in love with the place. Since then, it has been my favourite Disney park and I couldn’t wait to get back!
As it was Halloween and there were huge events on in Magic Kingdom and Universal, we scheduled Animal Kingdom thinking that it would be quiet! WRONG!
We got to the park at 9:05 and the car park was already rammed!
As we walked in, there were loads of photo pass photographers waiting to take photographs in front of the Tree of Life and we had quite a few done before we headed to our first planned attraction – The Lion King.
This is a show and I wouldn’t waste a fast pass on this as it shows almost every hour and holds a huge amount of people. As long as you are there 15 minutes before the next showing, it’s very unlikely that you won’t get in.
The Lion King is one of my favourite films and I love the show that they put on in AK. It is bright, full of vibrant colours, music and acrobatics. It puts you in such a good mood and it’s impossible to leave without a smile on your face.
After the show, we posed for a picture with Timon before heading to our first fast pass of the day – Kilimanjaro Safari.
This is extremely popular and the queues are 60 minutes + within an hour of the park opening. With our FP we only queued for 10 minutes before we were loaded on to our truck.
As well as seeing lots of animals, the ride itself is made even more entertaining by the guide and the totally uneven paths throwing you around the jeep.
Next, we made our way to “It’s a Bug’s Life” which is a 4D show inside the Tree of Life and I won’t give away any spoilers but it is really good fun with a few surprises thrown in!
We then decided to make our way to Pandora, stopping for lunch on the way at Pizzafari.
The chef made us gluten free pepperoni pizzas and brought them to our table despite it being a self service restaurant which I was really impressed with.
After lunch, when we walked into Pandora, all I could say was WOW! Even though we had seen pictures, they do not do it justice. The attention to detail and workmanship is out of this world and you literally feel as though you are in another land.
We then entered the queue for the long awaited Flight of Passage. Despite being in the fast pass queue, we still waited approximately 25 minutes but it was totally worth it!
It is without a doubt THE best ride I have ever experienced. You feel as though you are actually riding on a banshee through Pandora. The colours and the smells are amazing and I really can’t put it into words, you need to ride it to understand! If you are unable to get a fast pass I would definitely wait in the standby queue. You won’t regret it!
Next, we went straight over to the Na’vi River Journey which was nice enough but nowhere near worth the waiting times in the standby queue.
Throughout the rest of the afternoon, we managed to ride Expedition Everest 3 times, Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl by constantly booking one fast pass after another.
We also had photographs with Russell from up and the one and only Donald Duck!
We then made our way back over to Pandora for the Na’vi Drum Ceremony!
Finally, as we had utilised all our fast passes, we booked the last one of the day for the Rivers Of Light show on the lake.
The whole stadium was packed and the atmosphere was really peaceful with lanterns blowing and music playing.
Whilst I enjoyed the show, it wasn’t up to the normal Disney standard and I much prefer Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios.
Our last stop of the day was at the Rainforest Café which is located at the front of the park. Again, I hadn’t made a reservation but I presented my Landrys card and we were seated within 10 minutes.
The chef came to see us straight away to discuss gluten free options and we both ordered Bacon Cheese Burgers with fries which were delicious.
Then after a very long but enjoyable day, we headed back to the villa for a well needed rest. We got in at 10pm after leaving at 8:30am that morning.
Luckily we had a lazy day planned at Aquatica the next day.
Beth xx
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