Disney’s Animal Kingdom is easily one of my favourite Disney theme parks. The atmosphere is just so electric and the surroundings really are beautiful. We ended up visiting Disney’s Animal Kingdom twice as our first visit was cut short, thanks to a heavy downpour of rain. I’m going to break this blog up into two parts so I can share both visits with you.
Day Five: First Visit
As soon as we stepped into Animal Kingdom, we were instantly won over. The sun was shining, there were performers playing African themed music and we all had a boogie. It’s quite liberating to dance freely in the street. We then had a stroll around the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trails where saw a couple of Gorillas chilling in the sun, carrying their blankets on their backs.
It made such a nice change to not have to dash from ride to ride. We then made our way to see The Lion King show. It was so amazing! I loved every second of it! The show was high energy, fun, there was so much happening, that you couldn’t take your eyes off the stage.
The level of talented is unbelievable. The show was fast paced and was around 45 minutes long. The show includes favourite songs from The Lion King, plus lots of impressive acrobatics, singing and dancing. If you’re planning on visiting Animal Kingdom don’t forget to book the Lion King show as one of your fast passes.
After the show we checked out Dinoland U.S.A and both girls loved it! Bella was in Dino heaven, there were Dinosaur themed rides including Triceratop Spin and Dinosaur, Chester and Hester’s Dino-Rama, The Boneyard and lots more. The girls had lots of fun climbing, exploring and sliding down the many slides in The Boneyard; a Dinosaur themed playground.
You can also meet a lot of characters in Dinoland U.S.A. We then headed to the Rainforest Cafe, which was absolutely amazing! I’m so glad we pre-booked using the My Disney Experience app, as it was very popular and busy. As soon as you enter into the restaurant you literally feel like you’ve stepped into a Rainforest; there’s tropical trees everywhere, large fish tanks full of tropical fish, interactive animals that come alive every 15 minutes, it rains inside too, but obviously you don’t get wet.
The food was delicious and there’s a lot of choice for meat eaters, but restaurants generally are lacking for Vegetarians. The kids menu was good but you do find that restaurants generally don’t offer much variety when it comes to kids meals. Both of the girls are starting to look like a chicken nugget. The atmosphere in Rainforest Cafe is brilliant and the service is excellent.
Our bubbles were burst when we stepped out of the restaurant to discover that it was pouring down with rain. This not so clever Mummy forgot to pack the girls and our ponchos, so we had to brave the rain and run back to the car. It’s a ten minute walk back to the car but you can ride a bus back to the car park, if you’re legs are too tired.
Day 11: Second visit
We were up and out of the villa before 8am and our mission was to ride the very popular Avatar themed rides in Pandora. We walked as fast as our legs could carry us, only to be met with a massive crowd of people. The waiting time for Avatar Flight of Passage was around 195 minutes during whole day, we aren’t bonkers enough to queue for over 3 hours for a ride, so we made a dash for the Kilimanjaro Safari.
We managed to jump straight on the Safari truck and the experience was amazing. There are so many animals to spot from Hippos to Rhinos, to Lions, Leopards and Giraffes. The girls both really enjoyed it and they had so much fun pointing out the animals. You really do get up close to them.
The Safari is around 25 minutes long and I highly recommend that you check it out. If you head straight there when the park opens, you shouldn’t need to use a Fast Pass. We then headed to Dinoland U.S.A and we jumped on the Triceratops Spin and then Bella & I queued for 40 minutes to get onto the Dinosaur ride, which is pretty awesome. Bella was really brave on this ride, it’s really fast, jerky, dark and there are giant Dinosaurs jumping out on you.
We then joined my Hubby and Flo in The Boneyard. Whilst Bella climbed up the high nets and whizzed down the super fast slides, Flo had fun digging for Dino bones in the Dinosaur Dig Site. She was completely engrossed and she loved filling up her bucket with stones and tipping them out.
We won the girls a couple of teddies in Chester & Hesters Dino-Rama. There are a few traditional, fun fair type stalls and you buy tokens to play. Each stall charges one token to play. The girls had a quick play in The Boneyard before we had to head for the 12:30pm Finding Nemo The Musical.
Our first Fast Pass for the day was the Finding Nemo The Musical. It is such a brilliant show and very well done. Puppets and songs were used to tell the story of Finding Nemo. The Puppets were flying in the audience, it was funny, fast-paced, colourful and very entertaining. The girls were glued to the stage and they really loved it when bubbles filled the whole theatre.
I definitely recommend that you use a Fast Pass to see this show. It’s very popular and you’re guaranteed a seat at the front. After the show we headed to Asia for lunch and the food is amazing! My Hubby & I had ribs and they were delicious, I also had a cheeky sangria. After our lunch went down, we headed to Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, to use our second Fast Pass.
We absolutely loved this ride! It’s so much fun and unpredictable. We loved it so much that my Hubby and I rode it twice. It’s a very popular ride so I would recommend that you use a Fast Pass.
We then headed to Pandora to chance our luck at getting on one of the rides. We had absolutely no chance at getting on Avatar Flight of Passage, but we reluctantly queued for 45 minutes to ride on the Na’vi River Journey and it was well worth it. It’s a really pretty and relaxing ride. Both of the girls were mesmerised.
Our last Fast Pass was for the River of Lights. I would definitely recommend that you use a Fast Pass as it’s extremely busy. You also get first dibs at picking your seats. If you have little ones try and get there early and get as close to the front as possible, so that they can get a good view.
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The River of Light show is simply stunning. You are taken on a journey through the most iconic Disney songs and movies. There are water fountains and water jets and lights that all move and correspond to the music. It was so magical and the perfect way to finish our day.
