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Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Destination Disney: Animal Kingdom



Yesterday I recapped the first day of our Disney trip, and shared a peek at where we stayed. Today I'm recapping our second day. For day two we planned to spend the day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. We loved visiting the Animal Kingdom last year and couldn't wait to check it all out again. Last minute we scheduled a breakfast at the Tusker House located in Africa.


It was a later breakfast, which was perfect after our late night adventures the day before. We entered the park and went straight for the restaurant.


We arrived on time, but learned something was wrong with the booking and they only had us down for two people instead five. From there things went a little down hill and we had a few more hiccups before we even sat down. Luckily, it's Disney and we were able to turn it (and our hangry kids) around fast.


The breakfast buffet was yummy, and featured tons of kid friendly breakfast items as well as few unique items for adults to enjoy. There were a ton of classic Disney characters walking around to visit, sign, and take photos.


My kids loved the one on one interaction and the fact that all the characters were dressed and ready to go on a safari. The characters happily signed their autograph books, posed for photos, and gave tons of hugs. Even though we were off to a rough start, in the end we felt like the experience was worth it. And I was glad to have a real meal after a few days of fast food/park food.


After our breakfast was finished it was already almost noon, so we decided to head out for some rides. Since our fast passes weren't scheduled until later in the day, we checked the times on the Disney app and made our way to Dinoland, which seemed to have the lowest wait times.

My kids love this area, and remembered their favorite rides from last year.


We were able to get on a few pretty quickly, but then times jumped up.

The entire park was super crowded, and the new Pandora section was almost untouchable. The line was roughly four hours long and held strong almost the entire time we were there. There is no ride in the world I was willing to wait for longer than 30 minutes with three small children let alone four hours.

(Side Note: Anyone who rode Pandora said it was amazing and totally worth the wait. It is apparently pretty impressive. Still too long for this mommy.)


When lines got long we decided to play a few of the games and the kids had a blast. Mr. Cute did too, and won each of the kids a small prize. That held us over for a little bit, but then everyone was getting restless.


We made our way to walk around to see some of the animals on site. I mean, we are at the Animal Kingdom, right?


The kids love the zoo, and anything to do with animals so they had a blast checking out the monkeys, the baby tigers that were playing together, and the different species of birds that were literally walking right among us.








They were so excited to take the animal safari at the end of the day. It was one of their favorite parts from last year's visit, and the more animals they saw the more hyped up about it they got.


We managed to snag a fast pass for the Kali River Rapids, and I am so glad we did! It ended up being the kids favorite ride of the whole trip! They loved getting splashed, and on such a hot day it was the perfect way to cool off and have some fun. They wanted to ride it again, but the standby line was crazy long.


We grabbed some treats and then made our way to another ride, but by this time everyone was starting to melt. Literally.



The boys went to ride Dinosaur, and the girls played in the fountain outside. Our friends bailed to go swimming back at the resort and the whole time I was waiting for the boys to finish I couldn't help think, "That sounds so much more fun!" than waiting another 3 1/2 hours in the heat to snag a seat on the safari.


Mr. Cute and Cute came out of the ride, and I asked the kids what they would rather do. They instantly yelled and enthusiastic, "Pool!".


So we headed back to the resort, parked ourselves poolside until way past dinner time and enjoyed the fact we weren't surrounded by 30,000 other hot and sweaty bodies waiting in long lines. I hate we missed the animals, but I know it won't be our last time ever visiting the Animal Kingdom so I didn't dwell on it too long.


The kids loved being able to swim with their friends, and the resort had so many fun little activities to do to keep them entertained late into the evening. The kids had a blast watching a poolside movie complete with popcorn and special drinks.

It was such a nice way to wrap up day number two.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our third day to Disney's Epcot!



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