Another early morning. I really love walking the pathways at our resort in the early morning mist and listening to the birds sing. It is so un-home-like!
We made it to Animal Kingdom early and are second in line for park opening, making it to the second rope (they stop you a second time about halfway into the park, before the ride sections) with the first wave of people. We have a fun time talking to a cast member from Jersey who’s son also works for Disney as a show consultant. He works with the actors and puppets in the Nemo show, and also with the shows they do on the Disney Cruise lines. It’s amazing how many different jobs there are in the “World”.
Our first stop is Safari, and we’ve got an amazing driver who gives us tons of information about the animals that we’ve never heard before. We’re also treated to a bit of giraffe shenanigans, with some “necking” and a few runners.
One of the white rhinos is almost close enough to touch:
Gotta love those big wrinkly dudes.
After safari we spend some time wandering the discovery trail, and discover this weird little creature:
It’s a swamp rabbit! One of the cast members was able to tell us about it and said they’re also skilled swimmers. Very cool! A little weird trivia for you folks that remember President Carter, had an incident with a swamp rabbit swimming towards a boat he was in, and the press dubbed it the “Killer Rabbit Incident”. Video of it was pretty funny at the time.
We spent a few more minutes hanging out with the birds:
…and then we’re ready to move on to Dinoland and a little trip back in time on Dinosaur:
On our way there, we run in to DeVine, who is eternally awesome (you can see video of her here)
After my jaunt on Dinosaur and Mike’s nap, we wander around Dinoland. We start with the Cretaceous trail and find their awesome ferns and other weird plants:
I started to tell Mike about the back story of the area and so we end up spending quite awhile exploring, including inside Restaurantosaurus. I’m always amazed at how much effort Disney puts into building up a detailed storyline for darned near everything they do, then many times, not having any easy way for the general public to figure out what that story is! How many people visit Dinoland and think to themselves “how tacky that Disney just dumped these rides in the middle of an old parking lot”? If you’re interested in the story, I’ve written it up on a separate page here.
I mean, here you have what looks like an old run-down building full of junk and selling Disney trinkets
And it looks like just a jumbled old mess until you look more closely and realize that some of these things are very rare, original collectibles.
Next time you’re eating at Restaurantosaurus, check out the jukebox, books, and other stuff on the shelves in the back section, they’re a hoot!
Also, if you continue down the “road” to the end, there’s these two huge billboards that I’ve never noticed before, very cool.
This one actually does a decent job of telling the Chester and Hester / Dino Institute story:
And this one cracks me up because it reminds me of Disney’s pricing structure (What, it’s more popular than we anticipated? Raise the price!)
After Dinoland, we wandered the trails a bit, hanging out with lizards, bats, and apes, oh my.
Our second safari netted us a good view of the cheetah and lions
And then it was time for dinner at Tusker House. We usually do one “special” dinner at Boma during our vacation, but I wanted to save more money this time, so we decided to give Tusker House a try. Mike enjoyed it and was happy with their vegetarian options, I thought it was okay, but the food just seemed to be lacking that special something that Boma has, and I was not just missing the Zebra Domes!
Leaving Tusker House around 6pm gave us the chance to see Animal Kingdom in twilight – something new to us. It was a very quiet and beautiful way to end the evening.
I’ve forgotten to mention that today was the day we were celebrating my birthday – it’s actually January 18, but I forgo a regular shindig on my actual birthday and we pick one day to celebrate it at the parks. I wore my Birthday Button all day, and then on the bus ride home, the driver was able to truly embarrass me by having the entire bus-load of about 25 people sing happy birthday to me. I’m blushing just thinking about it!
