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.