Bryans Do Disney, Day 6: Animal Kingdom

First thing this morning, I peeked out our window to see if the animals were out, and they were!  Once the girls got up and moving, we spent some time on the balcony looking at the animals.  We saw three different kinds of antelope.  Two of them were bleating, which was really cool to hear.

We ate breakfast at our resort.  The girls had Mickey Mouse shaped waffles.

Then we hopped on the bus to Animal Kingdom!

First on our itinerary was the Festival of the Lion King, an interactive show and live action production of some of the Lion King songs.  It was great!

Stephen and I took turns riding the Expedition Everest roller coaster.  Disneyworld has a single rider option on a couple rides--single riders get in a separate line, and when there's an odd number in a group, you join the group to fill in the empty seats.  We both were able to walk right onto the ride.  It was one of the best roller coasters I've been on.  The theme of the coaster is that a yeti has destroyed the track, and you're trying to get away from him.  The roller coaster goes forward for a little ways, then it takes you backward through the dark for a large part, and then you go forward again.

Next we did the Kilimanjaro Safari.  Harper said this was her favorite part of the day.  You get in a safari jeep, and a driver drives you through a wildlife safari.  We saw kudu, Ankole cattle, giraffes, white rhinos, black rhinos, zebras, elephants, crocodiles, hippos, cheetahs, flamingos, mandrills, and wildebeests.  Part of the "road they usually take" was "closed," so we had to go on a "detour" over a rickety bridge that shook when we went over it.  It was really cute.

We rode the Wildlife Express Train that took us behind the scenes of the park.  We got to see all the animals' overnight living quarters.  Apparently all the animals except the crocodiles go to these enclosures each night.  They have different ways to call each type of animal--whistles, hitting sticks together, etc.  I would love to see this.  Animal Kingdom closes at 5:00 P.M. because it takes the animal keepers so long to move all the animals.

Then we watched the It's Tough to be a Bug 4D show, based off of the movie A Bug's Life.  It's a short 3D show that includes puffs of air, sprays of water, and moving seats to demonstrate bug survival techniques.  The blowing air scared Harper, but it was really entertaining.  I remember watching it when I went to Disneyworld when I was thirteen.

We ate lunch at the Yak & Yeti, an Asian and Indian food restaurant.  We have been really pleased so far with the food options included in our meal plan.

The last thing we did was the Finding Nemo musical.  It was a condensed version of the movie in a live action musical.  It was great, and the girls loved it.  The actors used puppets, and the costumes and setting were beautiful.  I was impressed with how so many of the actors sounded so much like the voices in the movie.  At the end, they blew bubbles from the ceiling, which the girls loved. 

By the time Nemo was over, it was time for the park to close. When we got back to our room, we saw a giraffe and Ankole cattle right outside. 

We ate dinner at our resort and then went to the pool. 

We were so cold!  We ended up getting out because Harper was shivering and her teeth were chattering.

Harper only threw two fits today!  One before we ever left our room over something so silly, I can't even remember what it was.

And the second was because she wanted to ride the roller coaster that she's fourteen inches too short for.

We go back to Magic Kingdom tomorrow!