LIVE - Animal Kingdom Lodge and winging it! Day 5 Animal Kingdom

[debidee]

Today was animal kingdom day and the plan was to get over to Na'vi River Journey and queue as we had a fast pass later for Avatar Flight of Passage. Official park opening was 9am but like every other day this week it seems that wasn't really being upheld and we were in the park at around 8.30am and rushing to our first ride!

Neither of us were super hungry but we grabbed a hot drink and pastry to keep us going until a bit later in the day, we were struggling to use up all of our meals so negotiated 2 pastries and a water in exchange for a quick service meal rather than 3 snacks

As mentioned the park started letting everyone in at about 8.30 and the majority of people were heading in 1 direction... the same as us!

The theming is amazing and we were over and onto the ride I would say within 15 mins... it is a boat ride and pretty good - but I couldn't believe that later in the day the queue for this was 120 and Flights of Passage was 115! Hands down I'll say it now Flights if Passage is the best ride I've ever experienced at Disney - more on that later!

We mooched around and took photos and watched as more and more people flooded in - I'd definitely recommend getting to the parks 30 mins before opening as this week each day has been open before the scheduled opening time (and not including extra magic)

I popped over to the store to get Becca a new pair of ears she had been looking at yesterday and of course treated myself to a new pair as well! They are ridiculously expensive at $27.99 but hey #itisaholiday

We didn't have our next fast pass until lasted in the day so decided to take a slow stroll over to expedition Everest, given most of the Park were exploring Pandora we expected it to be not so busy elsewhere in the park

On our walk over we noticed it was only a 5 minute wait to see Safari Mickey and Minnie - would be silly to miss that!

After a hug from Minnie time for a group shot! The great thing now on the app is all the photos are instantly available and our package has the photos included so they could be saved straight to phone

Another chance for a group silly shot can't be missed right!

Love the noisy monkeys playing on their island - they were very active and very loud today!

Everest was a walk on - I guess now it's a second best to the newer rides. Animal Kingdom has definitely upped its game in the recent years with the new attractions. They are closing Rafiki island in a few months so wonder what is next there...

We ride Everest twice in a row - that's enough for me, although Jez does it a third time with Elijah!

I manage to get a pretty decent shot of the park from up here!

Back now and heading over to bugs life, it's a classic and a chance again to escape the heat... I say it again how hot it has been this week - it feels like August with the humidity

A nice film and still makes me jump when the bugs tickle even though I know it's coming!

Our next fast pass was safari - without would have been 55 minutes if we had queued...
Staying at Animal Kingdom lodge made us realize how close to the animals we have been! But we did see a little baby giraffe that was only 2 months old and very cute!

You can't come to Disney and not have some kind of Mickey shaped food item! Pretzel had to be done, it was delicious and hot and yummy with cheese dip!

Jez had an ice cream sandwich which was melting by the minute!

Lion king is another must do - the show is awesome and had everyone tapping their feet and singing along!

It was now finally time for Avatar Flight of Passage. Official definition - is a 3D flying simulator attraction within Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Set in the Avatar universe, the attraction allows guests to take flight on a native mountain Banshee and soar across the landscape of Pandora.
It was beyond amazing and hands down we both agree the best ride we have experienced. You go through several rooms as part of preparing for the ride, then sit on a kind of motorcycle and are trapped in from behind with a restraint. The ride was just over 5 mins and I can't really do it justice by trying to describe it other than to say there is so much going on around you I'm sure you need a few rides to take it all in, just wish we had another FP - another excuse to come back again!

After this ride nothing will come close! But we had some time before dinner so booked a quick FP for dinosaur. Half way round my ears flew off! But luckily landed on the boot of the truck so I managed to grab them before the next twist and turn!

Today we had a reservation at Yak and yeti, another new one for us but I had read some good reviews and wanted to try something new, we have only done Tusker House here for the breakfast buffet a few years back

I went for the sweet and sour chicken - very nice and it came with a choice of jasmine or brown rice

Jez had the chicken Lo Mein and had a side of chicken rice

We shared the sorbet sampler for pudding
It was now coming up to 3.30pm so decided to call it a day. Originally we were thinking of going to Epcot for a few hours in the evening but decided in the end to just stay at the hotel and watch the animals for a bit

On route out I got the final Starbucks mug and my collection is complete... well for this trip at least!

We shared a quick service for tea and had a flatbread and cookie cake

We spent a little bit of time by the fire pit - ridiculous really as it was still 90 degrees outside!

A few final animal shots from the viewing areas
Tomorrow we are back to Magic Kingdom...see you then! Debs xxx