Eat, Park, Shop, Repeat - October 2014 Day 2 Animal Kingdom & Applebys

[debidee]

I'm in Orlando! I was awake on and off since about 2.30 :-( I guess by the time it was 5.30 I gave up on any more sleep for today and decided to have a soak in the tub! I love this bath it's huge :-)

Jez got up soon after and showered whilst I flicked through the TV and took some pictures of the house. I love the whole American style of decor and I could easily just move in! The table looks like a show home... and we don't intend to eat in so it will surely stay that way!

Minnie Mouse bag packed and today was Animal kingdom - it's been a first day tradition for all 17 trips. We find it a nice easy start to the holiday, it's definitely not a full day (if you plan and have been lots of times) so we knew we would be finished by lunchtime to then come back to the house and chill for a few hours before going out in the evening.

This is our car for the next couple of weeks, I think it looks like a piece of Lego - everything is so square!

We set the alarm and Jez stands by the door just to check we don't set it off on the process!
All set and we are on the road by about 7.20, radio tuned to 104.1 for monsters in the morning and we are ready for the day!

Our choice for breakfast today was Golden Corral, I know there are really mixed reviews on this place but personally we enjoy it and have a bit of a game plan where this is concerned...we only go to the one next to Crossroads, only for breakfast and try and arrive just after opening! This was an easy one for us given how long we had been awake! It opens at 7.30 and we arrived at 7.35! This way everything is fresh and piping hot!
There is literally something for all tastes! It seems to not really reflect the fact it's breakfast with chocolate foundations, ice-cream and chilli all on show along with make your own salad!
It's normally a plate of savoury followed by a selection for pudding ;-)
It's great value at $8.60 each for adults including drinks... you could literally eat for hours!

We arrive at animal kingdom just before 9 and had already pre- selected our fast passes for the day.

It didn't seem super busy but generally I think this park is always the quietest of the 4. Our first FP was dinosaur at 9.20 so we headed in that direction...

Bugs life was on route and a walk-on, even once we were in the tree the doors opened in a minute or so! It's a good film (one of Jez favourites) and still makes me jump even though I must have seen it 20+ times!

We were done and on dinosaur as our FP window opened.

Lion king has now moved to it's new location and was showing on the hour until closing time, we raced over and just made the 10am show. It's probably my favourite show of all the parks. It is so professional and I love the songs so spent the whole time tapping my foot and singing along!

We wanted to see the bird show - flights of wonder which was starting at 10.45, I'm sure they do the timings to ease crowd control but we managed to hotfoot it across again to catch the start!
I tried to take photos but the sun was so strong nothing came out very well so you will have to just imagine this part... They had the most gorgeous owl called a 'spectacle owl' as he literally looked like he was wearing glasses! At the end you can go down to the front to get a closer view - so beautiful! I think this show is a bit overlooked but I would recommend it to you if you haven't been.

Fastpass window now open it was time for Everest, as usual it didn't disappoint! Very fast and very fun!

It was now time for a snack - we had gotten around a lot of the park and it had been at least 2 hours since breakfast ;-)
Now by the time I got back with my healthy snack Jez had finished his! It takes him a few days to remember - no food until the dibb photo had been taken! So you only get to see mine today :-)

I had read that there were baby gorillas recently born so I was really keen to do the gorilla trail. We saw a couple of the male gorillas who were on good form but no sign of mum and baby :-( no luck this trip!

It was now time for safari, when we booked our FP selection 12.20 was the earliest we could get (you can try and shuffle your times once you have made your initial selections on the app). I really recommend if you can get an early slot for safari take it! We didn't really see many animals as by now it was really getting hot and most were sleeping or hiding in the shade! Still a great ride and we enjoyed it none the less.

There is a lot of construction going on in Animal kingdom with big areas behind fencing, I'm not really sure how long it's going to take to finish, but Disney make it as good as they can with lots of inspirational Walt quotes. I love reading these and think I'm going to get the whole book of quotes at some stage.

It was now just approaching 1pm and we had done everything we wanted for today. It was back to the villa for a few hours rest!
I have to say since they introduced the FP for characters we saw none around the park apart from those 'on-route' - I do think it slightly spoils the magic and wish there were more out and about...

I chilled by the pool in the sun reading my magazines for a few hours whilst Jez managed to find a TV station showing the England game!

So much for my new toy - no pool for me today... but thanks to Jez for nearly turning blue blowing it up #whatdoyouexpectfor$4 ;-)

We were going to head to downtown tonight but in the end decided to take it easy as we were both feeling pretty tired.
We went to Applebys which is somewhere we always like to go. We both started with French onion soup and it was yummy! For main Jez had the BLT and fries and I went for the chicken, strawberry and avocado salad - it was off the 550 menu where all mains are below 550 calories, there was lots to pick from and all looked really nice! We were too full for pudding so the bill came in at just under $40 including drinks.

It's not even 9pm but we are home and ready for a good nights sleep!
Tomorrow is Universal / IOA - for all my fellow shopaholics fear not Saturday is non-stop all day shopping... just trying to pace myself this time over the 2 weeks ;-)
Until tomorrow... Debs xxx

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New Photo Added by debidee - 10 Oct 14 1:56 AM.

[Jake71]

What a great day. AK is fab and looks as good as always. I too love the Lion King show and can't wait to see it next year. Hope you had a good nights sleep ready for your next exciting day.

[Megandllsmum]

Another great report, AK looked fantastic. . . Looking forward to reading more especially Saturdays shop fest . . . Enjoy xx

[Dogwalker]

Never tried Applebee's but see lots of good reviews so we must check it out sometime

[KittyBlackDog]

Lots seen for a relaxing first day

[gtyrel10]

fantastic day and good tips with Golden Corral!

Your dinner looks amazing as well x

[sungiggs]

we love treating our holiday with Animal Kingdom as well

[LOU68]

Loving your Minnie bag

[debidee]

Originally Posted by LOU68

Loving your Minnie bag

See more...

Thanks! It was good old eBay ;-) xxx