Our 2014 Walt Disney World Vacation pt. 5

Day 5: Wednesday, June 18th, 2014

After a full day Universal we were excited to be back at Disney and eager to start the day! As always, before heading out to catch the bus we grabbed some breakfast from our resort. Ryan fueled up with a famous bounty platter and Ellen enjoyed an even more famous Mickey waffle! We enjoyed a quick but yummy breakfast and headed out to catch our bus to – Disney’s Animal Kingdom!

Animal Kingdom is one of the smaller parks in our opinion so it isn’t as full of a day as you may have in Magic Kingdom for example. We love going to Animal Kingdom for a relaxing but adventurous day. We find it’s best to get there before park opening as many sites suggest early morning is the best time to ride the safari. We take advantage of the early morning and get everything done by noon-ish and then spend the rest of the day at our resort or another park!

We began our day on the Kilimanjaro Safari and saw a lot of unique and exotic animals and creatures. In this attraction you ride in a safari truck through an African-like savannah.

Hippos

Elephant

Crocodiles

 Since we were in the area we decided to take a ride on the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. We hadn’t visited this area of the park before so we were excited to check it out. It’s a petting zoo/museum type area of the park where you can learn about many different animals and species and event pet them! It’s a great spot for children and animal loves alike.

Transportation 

Gift Shop

Path to Rafiki's Planet Watch

On the Train

Petting Zoo

We rode the train back to the main area of the park and rushed over to the Festival of the Lion King. We think this is definitely a must-do at Animal Kingdom. It’s a live theatre style show with acrobatics, dancing, singing, and of course – the Lion King characters! It’s a half hour show and the lines fill up quickly so a FastPass or early arrival is recommended.  It’s definitely worth the wait though! The photos do not do it justice.

Waiting Eagerly

Showtime!

Up-Close and Personal

After watching the show we made our way to Expedition Everest to ride the coaster with the Yetti! We love the fast-paced excitement this attraction provides and consider it a must-do as well.

Exterior to Expedition Everest

Hands Up!

By this time it was getting pretty hot outside so decided to stop for a cold snack – frozen orange juice & strawberry lemonade – so good!

Delicious!!!!!!

Next up we rode the Kali River Rapids and stayed somewhat dry with the help of our poncho’s which was nice! It was a good opportunity to cool down without walking around uncomfortably for the rest of the morning.

We visited It’s Tough to be a Bug which is a 3D film/live show inspired by the movie! It has some unexpected surprises that make it exciting but could be unnerving for little ones.At this point we were in the time period for our next FastPass so we headed back to Expedition Everest for a second ride!

Our third FastPass was for Dinosaur but the line was minimal so we decided to skip the FastPass and hop on immediately after Everest. Ellen loves the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom, It takes you through a non-stop race to rescue a dinosaur before the meteor strikes! It’s fast-paced, bumpy, and has a lot of fun twists and turns.

At this point we felt like we had gotten in everything we wanted to a Animal Kingdom. We enjoyed looking through the shops and visiting some areas of the park that we hadn’t seen before as well as partaking in our must-do attractions. We decided to head back to the resort to rest up and go for a swim before heading to Magic Kingdom for the night!

Smaller Pool at All-Star Sports

When we arrived at Magic Kingdom for the night we took the Steam Train to the other end of the park to hit up the Haunted Mansion – Ryan’s all time favourite attraction.  He loves Halloween so this is always a must-do (multiple times) when we visit MK!

Next up we visited Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin which is an interactive, laser shooting attraction where Ellen has been known to reach Galactic Hero status.

On our last trip we took in the Country Bear Jamboree and the Tikki Room which weren’t overly exciting for us. For some people they’re nostalgic & classic must-do’s but aren’t high on our must-do list. This time we decided to take in the Hall of President’s instead. This attraction features all US Presidents in audio-animatronic characters. It’s an informative and feel-good show (even for us Canadians!) narrated by the one and only Morgan Freeman. The fact that Walt Disney was so passionate about audio-animatronics and their technology makes it even more special.

At this point we had used up all of our original FastPasses but were able to book one more at a time at the Kiosks throughout the park. While most of the popular attractions like Space Mountain are booked solid, it’s a good opportunity to grab a couple of other passes for attractions such as the Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, or It’s a Small World if you want to skip the lines. We booked an additional FastPass and made our way back to the Haunted Mansion.

Inside It's a Small World

We then took a ride on the Mad Tea Party, Pirates of the Caribbean and Prince Charming’s Regal Carousel.  Afterwards we rode It’s a Small World and caught some of the Wishes fireworks from Fantasy Land. We finished the evening off with Peter Pan’s Flight and made our way back to the resort.

Ellen loves the Tea Cups

Entrance to Pirates

Right before the Fireworks

Our 2014 Walt Disney World Vacation pt. 4

Day 4: Tuesday, June 17th, 2014

Our fourth day in Orlando took us to Universal Studios – Islands of Adventure! We enjoyed the thrill rides and attractions so much on our 2012 trip that we knew we were definitely going to make time to go back again! Although we made out well last trip with doing BOTH parks in one day, we wanted to take our time this trip & decided to break up the park into two days.

Last trip we decided to take a taxi from our Disney resort to Universal. This year we felt more comfortable with the distance and booked transportation through Mears. Although it made numerous stops on the way to Universal, it was a comfy & affordable means of getting to the park!

Before heading out to catch the bus we grabbed some bagels & fruit from our resort. While we can handle the “intense” attractions quiet well, we wanted to be cautious about what we ate beforehand just to be on the safe side.

We decided to spend the day at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Park because we wanted to hit up The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attractions as early as possible. When the gates dropped we were off!

The first ride we went on was The Harry Potter themed Roller Coaster Dragon Challenge. This is a fast paced, must-do, roller coaster with twists, turns and loops. Of course we made sure that we sat in the front row.

Next we went on Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey, a quick moving simulator ride. This is another great ride, but for those of you who may be prone to motion sickness, this ride could leave you feeling a little bit queasy.

We couldn’t leave the Wizarding World before trying a frozen butter beer. If you like butterscotch, you'll definitely enjoy this cold treat!

Up next we headed over to the Jurrasic Park ride. This is one of our favorite rides and is comparable flume ride to Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom. If you sit in front, be prepared to get wet.

Now that we were a little wet, we thought we might as well keep that trend going with our next two rides, Dudley Do-Rights Rip Saw Falls and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barge. The Canadian Mountie themed flume ride is without a doubt the most wet you can get at the park, especially if you are in the front row. Bluto’s Barge ride is a wetter version of the Kali River Rapids ride at Disney’s Animal kingdom.

Rip Saw Falls

Bluto's Bilge Rat Barge

Soaked!

After sitting in the sun and drying off a bit, we hit up the Spiderman ride. This is one of the best simulator rides in the park, with lots of fast paced movements and fiery effects. Since there is only two of us, we normally split up for this ride and go in the single rider line to get on it quicker! 

At this point we decided to take a short break and grab a hod dog for lunch. Once we ate those it was off to Dr. Dooms Dead Fall Ride and the Hulk Roller Coaster! If the wait times are long for the Hulk we often opt for the single rider lines. Both are must do rides and we usually do them as many time as possible!

By this point it was supper time so we went out of the park and up city walk to Bubba Gump's Restaurant! We enjoyed a delicious shrimp dinner and a cool drink or two. It was delicious and we will definitely be heading there again on our next visit!

With some time still left before we needed to be back to get on our bus, we decided to go back to the park and try out Poseidon's Fury. This was a ride neither of us knew much about but we wanted to try it out. W came to find out that this is a walking tour style attraction where you are on your feet throughout it as you, along with a guide look for a missing professor in the ruins. The attraction was interesting and worth going to but you might want to do this attraction earlier in your day, rather than later when your legs are already tired.

It was a busy, memorable, and an exciting Day 4 of our vacation! After Poseidon's Fury it was time to head back out of the park to catch our bus and head back to our Disney resort to relax, go for a swim and rest up before we head back to Disney for Day 5 of our trip :)

Goodbye Islands of Adventure...For now