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Old 21 Jan 18, 10:39 PM  
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lumosq102
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Tuck your elbows in - a September / October trip report - day 3


Saturday 23 September


Day 2 is here

Thanks to yesterdays busy day and general exhaustion I woke up at a much more civilized 5:40, just 20 minutes before the alarm was due to go off & R was up not too much later. We enjoyed a sprinkles cupcake for breakfast (holiday breakfasts – always sensible, healthy choices!) before heading out to the bus stop, running like the London commuters we are when we see a bus to our destination pulling into the stop.

The bus stopped at Jambo House after Kidani. Grumbles. The bus was rammed, but the second stop didn’t add too much time to our journey & we were pulling into Animal Kingdom 20 minutes later. It was 7:40, Extra Magic Hours started at 8am, and were being joined by pretty much everyone else staying on Disney property. Eek!



Helpfully it seemed that everyone was heading to Pandora. We would not be taking the path more travelled; we were heading out on a 2 week safari. We were on the second truck out, but on the wrong (right) side. Bah. As a 2 you always hope that you will be the first allocated to a row so you’re on the left side of the vehicle. Getting the right (wrong) side is always a little disappointing. I know, what a grump. Still, we put that to one side and off we went on our adventure. The first part of the safari was a photographic wash out, but things did improve:

I adore the black Rhino, gorgeous baby


The upside down tree, our ancient (giggle) Baobab tree.



Sable antelope – with their heart shaped rears. So cute.


Giraffe hiding in the tree – the baby was having a good old breakfast with Mummy giraffe.







Mandrill monkey – these chaps are always hiding, so typical that the only time I have managed to take a photo of one I’ve only managed to get their rear!



Our solitary male elephant…



…and the obligatory rear shot! It’s a bit of a theme this morning.



Love the Zebra



And a crash of White Rhino. There is something so endearing about the rhino, getting to see three of them out together was a bit of a highlight for me. They got a little overshadowed though by their neighbour, the male lion was out and showing off for his audience.





Look at those paddy paws!



We also got a good look at one of the ladies. Look at that gorgeous face. If only a chin scratch wouldn’t leave me missing a limb or two.






When I was a young warthog! Bless them, such odd looking creatures. Last year we got to see a whole little of baby warthogs which was just adorable. The grownups lose a little of the cute factor, but still lovely to see.



The ghost of the forest, the scimitar horned oryx, living up to his ghostly moniker as my camera did not want to focus on him at all. They’re so graceful.



And with that it was time to trek back into Harambe village and find our next adventure. It was a lovely Safari, but sobering. It was here that we could really see the impact of hurricane Irma. The little forest was spartan, the alligators were missing from their enclosure, along with the water in that area including, of course, the waterfall. The cheetahs were missing too. It was a little sad. Still, we adore Kilimanjaro Safari & we would be back on later in the day.

Edited at 02:56 PM.
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Old 21 Jan 18, 10:41 PM  
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By this time it was 8.30am and it looked like we had the park to ourselves – the rest of the crowds must have still been enjoying their time on Pandora.











We enjoyed our stroll around to Asian and headed straight to Everest. The morning was still early enough that the sky was still hazy & so bright as it peaked over the mountain.



There was a 5 minute wait (i.e. walk on) so we went round 3 times before heading over to twirl & hurl for a quick visit.















The park was now open but we still walked straight in to dinosaur. We travelled through a toaster, saw a few dinos, almost got hit by an asteroid – good times.



Next up - breakfast! Same as yesterday but today I remembered a photo. Sausage, egg and cheese with no sausage for me, sausage, egg and bacon for R. We were both still on the cold brew with vanilla cream, but mine was a grande as I clearly needed the extra caffeine.

Taken from about 5 feet away as I didn't want to change my lens… I was still using my zoom I use on safari. We ate our Starbucks in the peaceful surroundings of Pizzafari whose ac was on even though the restaurant was closed. Lovely.



We headed back to Expedition Everest to use our first FP of the day where the line was now up to 40 minutes.
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Old 21 Jan 18, 10:43 PM  
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Then back to safari where my prayers were answered and we are allocated to the good (left) side. In fact we ended up with a row to ourselves so I could take pictures on both sides. Hurrah.

The Okapi – they look so sweet and gentle. Much more petite than their Giraffe cousins!





Napping Black Rhino



A bloat of Hippopotamus (anyone else excited to see the new baby hippo? So so cute).



Napping Painted Dogs – I don’t blame them. It was already feeling super hot this morning.



Spying on a Giraffe gathering



Back with our male Elephant pal.



Like Narcissus finding his reflection



And then the herd was out – including the baby. Awww!







A flamboyance of flamingos



The White Rhinos were hanging out with their Zebra pals.





And the gorgeous kitty was out again and posing for his fans.






Then for a stroll around gorilla falls where the gorillas were sassier than I had ever seen them. Even super impressive side eye going on.





My new lens was put to the test with my little birdy friends too. So lovely very lovely.











Look at him making his nest



The birds are not so secretly my favourite part of Animal Kingdom, which is why I am still kicking myself that we didn’t make time for Flights of Wonder this trip, and now it has gone away for good. Sob. Lets hope the new character-fied version is as good as the original.

Edited at 10:47 PM.
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Old 21 Jan 18, 10:53 PM  
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Our last pre booked fast pass was for Lion King. Whilst we were in line we had a spot of luck & managed to get fast passes for Flight of Passage for a little after 2pm. Eek!



Festival of the Lion King is always a joy, the music, the performers – it is all so beautifully put together.











I’m a little obsessed with the fire dancer. How does he do that?!















Tired tumble monkey





After a great show we walked along the back route into Pandora for a little looksie in the daylight. It's just gorgeous. We then melted into puddles in the shade whilst waiting for our FP time to come up.






Tree down – Irma?









Flight of Passage remained amazing, even without the exhaustion. The whole experience is amazing, but something we noticed this time was the difference in breathing patterns depending on which banshee you are riding. The smells, the music…it’s a surprisingly emotional experience.
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Old 21 Jan 18, 10:58 PM  
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By the time we left the show building it was time to check in at Tiffins for our Rivers of Light dining package. No pictures of the restaurant unfortunately - you can probably see how insensible I was by this time by the food photos! The a/c was so very welcomed, but the restaurant was gorgeous – Joe Rhodie’s (the imagineer responsible) work is never anything less than magic.

After guzzling lots of water we agreed cocktails were in order. I ordered the Annapurna Zing, R went with the Lamu Libation. Mine was a miss for me – too much ginger. If I can order a bad cocktail, I will. My adventurous nature does bite me on the backside sometimes… R loved hers though.





The food was fantastic. I ordered the heirloom tomato & mozzarella, R went with the marinated grilled octopus, apparently this was a triumph. Mine was less exciting but no less delicious. The cucumber strips were especially good. This isn’t something I would have thought to add to a caprese salad but I will now!





For mains R went with the duo of venison, cooked to a medium rare R raved about how good this was; it was certainly beautifully presented. I went with roasted vegetable curry, I have to say this was much better than the one I had at Jiko. It was a smaller portion & the vegetables were all beautifully roasted.





We split the key lime cheesecake and the cheese board for pudding which was a great idea - both were so fantastic and satisfied both sweet and savoury tooth.





Next up we nipped over to Its Tough To Be A Bug. Always great, but we ended up a little too close to the front so the 3D wasn't at it's best. There were a particularly high number of screamers / mid show departures today.

Time now for our fifth fast pass - a third run on Safari. It was drizzling a little now so the animals were quite active. Apart from that sleepy lion...still napping.

The Black Rhino was up and about





The Painted Dogs had headed out for the evening and had been replaced by the Hyenas – this one hiding from the rain.



Snacking Giraffe



The Elephant herd was up and about - including the baby!







One lone White Rhino remained on the rainy track.



Sleepy kitty



The rain eased off so upon exiting the safari we took a twilight walk through the Maharajah Jungle Trek where we saw a rather playful tiger and more of those lovely birds.

















It was now almost time for Rivers of Light, but we had time first to run though Expedition Everest in standby. It took about 30 minutes in line. A very noisy line, I think our fellow queue-ers were all hopped up on sugar. But the ride is worth it. One of our favourites.





The view from the top at sunset was just glorious.



Whilst napping on Expedition Everest its important to ensure you support your camera lens.



When we got out cast member had started to let people into the seating area for Rivers of Light. It's a beautiful spot to watch the sun go down, and the show itself is just gorgeous and the music was gorgeous. Unfortunately it's also really dull. A story would be wonderful! It was a one and done for us.



Just look at all the lights in the trees – love






















Speaking of done – it had been a long old day and we were feeling it so back to the hotel we went. Watching dateline (a WDW tradition) and eating our last 2 cupcakes from yesterday's run to Sprinkles was a lovely end to the day. It was lovely to enjoy a little more time in our fantastic room on our last night here. Waah. It's been a fantastic room & place to stay. We'll definitely stay here again and would recommend Kidani Village to anyone.

Day 4 is here

Edited at 11:44 PM.
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Old 22 Jan 18, 12:21 AM  
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Clonlea
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Wow your pics are great! I love the napping on Everest it's hilarious! Enjoying your trip report!
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Old 22 Jan 18, 12:38 AM  
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Great trip report and your pictures are amazing! Sounds like you had a great day at AK.
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Old 22 Jan 18, 02:32 PM  
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Your photos are fabulous, really beautiful. Great report
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Old 22 Jan 18, 09:26 PM  
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Wow, lots of photos of the animals. Tiffins looks good. Another fab day.
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2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
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Old 22 Jan 18, 10:09 PM  
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Wow, your photos are awesome. Great report. The food in Tiffins looks so good.
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