Day 17 - Animal Kingdom
(Still finding it surreal to be here)
Got up this morning feeling very comfortable. The bed here is much nicer than the one in Washington and if my alarm wasn't set, I would have slept in until midday!
As I was meeting my friends at 11am, there was no rush for me to get to the parks, so I went for breakfast, then I came back to my room to watch the Formula One race in Singapore.
After the race, I headed to the buses and headed off to Animal Kingdom. It was warm and humid but not really hot. I found Brian and Patti waiting for me just near the entrance and it was great to see them again. They both used to work at AK from the very beginning and they had great stories to share. They told me of how they used to go over to Joe Rhode's apartment (he was the lead Imagineer of Animal Kingdom) before Joe was famous, and how he'd tell them of his design ideas for the park - how cool!
The park was pretty quiet today and we leisurely made our way through to Kilimanjaro Safari, but found that was a 30 minute wait (everyone seemed to head there first) so we grabbed a Fastpass then did the Pangani Forest trail. After the trail, our Fastpasses were due, so we headed back to the safari and did the ride - it was great today, lots of big animals were out. Elephants, Hippos, Rhinos, Lions, Cheetahs, Zebras, Warthogs, Giraffes - they were all there.
After that, we had lunch at the Pizzafari and did some shopping. We then went to The Festival of the Lion King which I had never seen before - I'd only seen the Hong Kong one and was surprised to see how different it was.
After the show, we started to head out and discovered there was a big thunder storm overhead - it was pouring down, but that didn't stop us - we just headed out into the rain and it was actually cooling us. We headed on up to Expedition Everest and Brian and I went on it together and had a great time - riding a coaster in the rain was a new experience! And the Standby Line was only 5 minutes - so that gives you an idea of how quiet the park was! It was still raining, so we headed for more shops. Brian and I decided we'd do Kali River Rapids as I had never done that before, but when we got over there, it was shut because of the storm (boo!). The rain was getting heavier, and it was now 4pm, so at that point, we arranged to meet up again on Friday night and then Brian and Patti headed home. I stayed in the park a while longer (there was hardly anyone around now because of the rain). I did some shopping then decided to head over to Downtown Disney.
Boy - that place has changed since I was there in April! There are construction walls up everywhere as its conversion to Disney Springs gets underway. All the old nightclubs have been demolished and car parks are being dug up. The storm had passed and the sun came back out (steamy!!!). I checked out a bunch of shops and bought a few things in World of Disney. I also stopped at the Ghirardelli shop for my traditional Nob Hill Chill - even sitting down on the brick wall where Della and I always sit!
After shopping, I caught the bus back to Art of Animation, then walked across the bridge to Pop Century (I like that walk!). I was back in the room by 7:00pm. I dropped all my loot then headed to the food court for dinner. Now I am back and settling in for tonight.
Tomorrow, I am heading back in the morning to Downtown Disney - then I'll be going to Disney's Hollywood Studio.
Here are a handful of photos:
Della made me promise I wouldn't have too much fun - here is me not enjoying myself! haha
Our Disney-friends, Patti and Brian at the Tree of Life
Me enjoying my Ghirardelli at Downtown Disney
My first giant bag of loot!