Spectrolee's Three Week Disney Trip - Day 15 Animal Kingdom and Coral Reef at Epcot

[spectrolee]

It took us ages to get ready this morning. We finally made it out of the house for 10:20 and hoofed it to the bus stop
We had a Flight of Passage between 11:05 and 12:05 so we were hoping a bus would come soon.
It didn't
We waited and waited while multiple buses for everywhere else came and went. Our estimated bus time on the board just got moved later and later every few minutes.

It finally came at almost 11:15
In fairness this is the only bus delay we've had this trip. We were making a strategy for making FoP when I got an email

FoP had technical difficulties, so there was no longer any need to rush.
(It never came back on while we were in the park, so we used our fastpass for Everest later)
We have a final FoP fastpass for tomorrow so fingers crossed!

This wasn't a planned AK day originally (I had managed to snag a FoP at 60 days out, but hadn't got anything else arranged)
Ed wanted to go on the safari to see an Okapi.
We got a little bit of pixie dust at the bus stop - a girl had an any ride/time fastpass for AK today that she wasn't using and gave it to us (good for 5 people- just what we needed because the kids don't have to get fastpasses as they are under 3)

Only took a few pics on the Safari today, just sat back and enjoyed it instead.

We did see the mandrils chasing an armadillo away from their young which was quite exciting.

We sauntered through the Gorilla Falls trail to pick up some more Wilderness Explorer 'badges'
Meerkats are my favourite- I could watch the 'lookout' for ages. He always looks like he's taking his job very seriously

The wilderness explorer handbooks have been really great fun.
I wasn't sure how much the kids would get out of the books, but they have loved them.
Joni just really likes looking at the animal pictures in it and getting the stickers, although she has enjoyed some of the activities (she's 17 months old)
Ed (who'll be three in November) has got a lot more involved in completing the activities. He especially enjoyed the habitat badge, where you have to find different backyard animals and tick them off to earn a badge.
There is definitely something here for kids of all ages (and I've enjoyed interacting with the cast members too)
There are 31 badges to collect, and a great variety of tasks to complete to earn them.

I love this Mickey drawing in Africa

We all had a ride on Expedition Everest (but for some reason our photopass hasn't shown up in the account yet)
We took ages dilly dallying out the park, so jumped in a taxi to make our 4pm reservation at Coral Reef Restaurant.

Hanging with Uncle Matt

Nemo!

Eva made us all go on 'Living With The Land'

Joni looks riveted lol!

Some of the produce grown here is used it the restaurants.
Some is used in Food and Wine items, and was marked along the way.

Hidden Mickey

and a Hidden Minnie

Just thought I'd add these in for a laugh
Ed didn't want his photo taken - in the ones with him Eva and Matt he's 'roaring' at the photopass lady

He then decided he'd have a photo with Joni, but promptly changed his mind haha!
Joni also looks like she's been on the sherry here.

The fish tank in Coral Reef restaurant kept the kids quiet - result haha!

Some menu photos

Prix Fixe menu - Eva ate from this one.

Eva's Seafood salad

Davie, Isabel and I had the Seafood Scampi.
The scallops and prawns came on a skewer and the server plated them.

Eva's braised short rib - she absolutely loved this

Matt's steak

The food here was not fancy, but we all really enjoyed it.
The pasta was very plain, so if you like a lot of sauce this wouldn't be the dish for you.

Chocolate wave for Eva

Cheesecake for Matt and I

Isabel opted for the Citrus Bread Pudding

Davie had the Baileys one.

The tank had sharks, huge stingrays, a turtle.
Then later some divers appeared.

Joni copying the swimmers haha

Everyone headed home at 7pm except Davie and I
We wanted to locate the remaining 3 Remy's that we had yet to find.
Stopped at Club Cool for some samples.

Our last one was at 'The Art of Pairing' area
As a reward we treated ourselves to some Cheese & Wine

Three cheeses and three (very small) wines for $11.25

It was all really good.
I don't normally like white wine, but it was nice in these portion sizes.

Then the heavens opened.
We took shelter under an umbrella at one of the food booth tables, and had a nice chat with some people from Tampa.
We called it a night after that.

Back seat of the bus to get a blast of warm air to dry off. Coos lick coming out with the rain haha!

While at Epcot earlier we witnessed a sight to behold (hope it's not a dibber reading this haha)
A man with a Scotland top on and a very red face (too much sun) weaving around the path (too much alcohol lol)
He also looked completely lost. He had a wee seat to compose himself so hopefully he's ok and has found his party.
Maybe the downpour will have sobered him up!

[mick]

Sounds like a nice day

Joan

[app]

New Photo Added by spectrolee - 1 Oct 17 4:37 PM.

[Mental Minnie]

Another good day.

[Jake71]

Your cheese n wine looks nice. A good day with some pixie dust thrown in for the fastpass.