Is This a Ride? - Day 6 - It's not as good as Whipsnade!

[LLKJDisney]

Cast:
Me – Kerry, 32, Love everything about Disney, driver and assistant chief planner
DH – Lee, 32, Chief Organiser, Loves everything about Florida and co-driver
DS – Jacob, 2 ˝ , 2nd visit to Florida and the most important person on the trip!
DD – Dave (dad), old, First visit to Florida and not really sure what to expect
DD – Dick (lee’s dad), 57, Been to Florida a few times but looking forward to his first trip with his grandson
DM – Sue (lee’s mum), 55, All the same reasons as Dick, got to take it easy after her operation.

Saturday 18th September

I was up early today 6.30am mainly due to a tickly cough, probably caused by the air con. Jacob sleeps soundly till 7.30am.
We go through the now familiar procedures of breakfast, showers, suncream and bag packing and are ready to leave at 8.40am, 10 mins later than Lee wanted to leave, even though Animal Kingdom is the shortest journey of all the parks. In fact it was 7mins, Lee timed it - he is a geek sometimes, I am surprised he hasn’t put it into a spreadsheet.

The car park is fairly busy, as is the entrance. We stop and look at a few creatures in plastic boxes and Lee and my Dad complete a survey for people with scooters. The person completing the survey had lived in Kenilworth for a while which is about 5 miles away from where we live. - A small noted little piece of useless information there for you

We head towards the safari as we know it is more eventful early on. Looking back we should have got fastpasses for Expedition Everest as we were to regret it later on. The wait for Kilamanjaro Safari is 15mins. The safari was very good (most of us thought) I didn’t take any pictures on my camera as I already have 5 lots of the same photos but the others did. Here is a selection.





There were lots of good views of the giraffes and elephants. The Lions even proved they weren’t fake and moved around for about 2 seconds (they are normally sleeping).
Jacob enjoyed the safari despite it being quite bumpy. My dads review of it was ‘it’s not as good as Whipsnade zoo’. I paused for a while when he said this but then realised he was serious. :angry: Like I said previously he is a strange man.

We then went onto the Pangani Trial which was a little disappointing as we only spotted 2 gorillas and they were quite far away.

I really wanted to meet Jiminy Cricket as I missed him on my last visit. We parked the stroller and scooter up and caught the train over to Rafiki’s planet watch. Jacob was getting tired by this point. Animal Kingdom always seems to be hotter than other parks and the heat was taking its toll today . When we arrived over at Rafiki’s Planet Watch there was hardly anybody there and Jiminy was out. The interaction was excellent. We had photos and Jacob got another autograph in his book.


Jiminy also sat at the table and coloured with the children. We met a family from Texas who were in Orlando for a week. They told us they loved the English weather! They also said that London was very expensive but they still loved it.
Next up we met Rafiki


and Jacob stroked a lizard from Australia (but I can’t remember the type of lizard).


We decided not to bother with the petting zoo and catch the train back as it was already lunchtime. In hindsight going over to this part of the park took up quite a bit of time and meant we didn’t manage to catch other areas of the park, which looking back we are quite disappointed with.


Everyone needed a bit of a rest so we stopped for a coffee in Pizzafari. Lee grabbed some ice cream from one the carts on the way, the rest just had a drink. Jacob managed to invent an air hockey table out of the top of a coffee cup and two milk cups!

we are huge fans of ice hockey back home, and regularly watch our local team, the Coventry Blaze play, so Jacob likes to invent a game of ice hocky wherever he goes, as you can tell

While we were in there a cast member showed a piece of Disney magic and came over to talk t Jacob and then gave Jacob one of her pins.

Jacob loved it and pinned it to his Thomas the Tank engine hat. A nice touch and one that made his little day.

Continued...

[LLKJDisney]

We then made our way towards Camp Minnie Mickey for the 1.30pm Lion King show. This area was already quite busy. We decided to queue up and meet Goofy as he is one of Jacob’s favourites - he actually pronounces his name ‘Guti’, which makes me smile!



After Guti we met Donald who was extremely friendly especially towards Sue. Donald is Sue’s favourite character, so she was quite excited to meet him, as you can tell.


Afterwards we made our way to the arena for the Lion King show and after a 5minute wait we were let in. We were in the Wart Hogs section. Jacob enjoyed making the noises but obviously wasn’t so keen on the show as he fell asleep! Even though the show was very loud. I love this show and think it is amazing, I have to see it every visit. Sue, Dick and my Dad also enjoyed it. I am impressed that a show of this standard is included in the entrance price as I actually preferred it to the west end show!

After this, Dick and my Dad grabbed a hot dog, my Dad had been wanting an American hot dog since arriving, but surprise surprise he didn’t like it (still ate it all though)

The pace of the group had slowed considerably now and we were struggling to fit everything in. I think that today this had a lot to do with the searing heat!.


I wanted Jacob to see the parade at 3.45pm as he had missed the one at MK the other day. By the time we came out of the lion king, grabbed a hot dog and had a toilet stop it was getting on for 3pm. We decided on TTBAB before the parade. Dick and Sue stayed with Jacob as he was still asleep in his stroller. Unfortunately we got there just as a show had gone in so had to wait just over 10 mins for the next one. I still enjoy the show but there are a few better 3D shows in my opinion.

After TTBAB we grabbed a shady spot (if there is such a thing in AK) for the parade Jacob was still asleep, but he had not eaten all day so Lee went off to get him some food for when he woke up. Just some fruit, as I knew he would not eat any dinner if he ate this late into the day. The parade started a little after the scheduled start time of 3.45pm, I think mainly because people seemed intent on walking down the middle of the parade route pretending they couldn’t hear all the CM’s shouting at them.

The parade was ok but a bit frustrating as the characters kept getting close to Jacob then going away (I know it wasn’t deliberate). He still enjoyed though.




After the parade we decided to head for home and cool off a little in the pool at the villa.

I can almost hear all you dibbers shouting what about ‘Expedition Everest’. I think Lee was shouting the same thing. However I have been to Florida enough times to know that when people are tired, hot and sweaty the days can be come quite unpleasant very quickly. Since coming home Lee and I have chatted and feel we missed out on a fair bit at AK. Mainly due to lack of planning on our part. We definitely wanted to do EE. Lee wanted to do the Kali river rapids and see the Tigers (they are his favourite). I am sure Jacob would have enjoyed the Nemo show. So with all that missed my conclusion is AK probably needs two days, especially if you have children.

We arrived back at the Villa for around 4.45ish and these guys were hanging around outside our villa


The temperature was still hot on poolside.
(ignore the time)

Another comedy moment from my Dad who claimed to have lost his glasses (1 of his 3 pairs) but he said he couldn’t see anything without them. We searched around while he went back to the car and searched it high and low. The glasses were nowhere to be seen. Lee went out to the car and came back in with the glasses which were in the pouch in front of my Dad’s seat! Bless him I think the heat was taking his toll as he was getting worse by the day.

All the men go in the pool and I dip my feet to cool off and chill out for a while. This is why I love staying in Villas. I know you can go in hotel and resort pools but it isn’t the same. Lee then checks the Coventry score for his Dad and they beat Bristol City 2-1 so Dick is over the moon and has a singsong in the pool.

We keep dinner simple tonight and head out to Perkins down the 192 on Poinciana Bld. We know there is one nearer to where we are staying but we have never really found it as good as the other one.

We arrive around 6.30pm and restaurant is around ˝ full but there are only a couple of servers working. We still received decent service and the lady did explain that 2 servers had called in sick. The meal as usual for Perkins was good value without being anything special but everybody enjoyed their food.

Me – Creamy Chicken Pasta with Cherry Coke (as usual)


LEE – Roast Beef/Mash/carrots with cherry coke


Dad – Turkey/Beans/mash with Budweiser


Jacob – Pizza & Carrots (he loves carrots)


Dick – Captains Choice (fish dish) with Budweiser

Sue – Pork Chops & jacket Spud with Sprite (no ice)


We all had sweets as well
Lee & Sue had Caramel Apple pie with ice cream (Very NICE)
Dick & Dad – Lemon Meringue pie
I ordered a cinnamon roll but unfortunately they had sold out so I didn’t bother

On the way home we called in again to Walgreens and I am sure they were starting to recognise us as we seemed to visit there twice a day. Jacob seemed to have an energy burst after dinner and was very lively.
He soon settled down when we arrived home and after a nice cup of tea and a sit out by the pool in the nice evening air we were all in bed around 10pm, after a tiring but enjoyable day.

[macdonald88]

Brilliant pics with Jacob and the characters. Hope you were feeling better soon.

[Milner]

Brilliant day and photos.

[LLKJDisney]

Thank you

[Guest]

Great day and a win for Coventry too

[summersun]

fab day

[Strommie]

Lovely day but I always get too hot at Animal Kingdom too.

[liverbird]

Lovely day!

[thewatsons]

lovely day again