I always prefer this location for the tree of life picture rather than the front of the park. I like the lush greenery...and the lack of people in the background.
We started off our day with the safari. It was the perfect way to begin the day. Not only was there no line, but the animals were all out and active in the early morning hours.
The giraffes were very active and kept walking through the road or stopping in the road, causing us to stop several times to allow them to pass. We saw a giraffe baby galloping, two elephant brothers sparring, wildebeests running, and lots of baby animals.
Since we had watched the Animal Kingdom series on Disney + about a year ago and rewatched several of the episodes on our vacation, it was fun to get to see some of the animals that were featured on the series. We had just rewatched the episode when the rhino was expecting this baby.
One of the fun things we did this time was the Wilderness Explorer program. Each kid got a Wilderness Explorer book and went to various stations throughout the park to do an activity, learn something, and then get a Wilderness Explorer sticker. Briggs especially was all about this and loved trying to find the next station. The kids got 18 of the 24 badges throughout the day.
We also took the Wildlife Express train to Rafiki's Planet Watch, which we've also never done before. We saw the petting zoo, got a few Wilderness Explorer badges, and then took part in the Animation Experience, where one of Disney's animators taught us how to draw a character. It was a lot of fun...and everyone did a great job drawing Heimlich from 'A Bug's Life.'
We rode a few rides throughout the day. Kali River Rapids was one of Adelie's favorites so she, Staley, and Zach did it twice.
Briggs didn't want to do it again, but we found this spot on the bridge overlooking the ride where you could press a button and spray water on people on the ride. Briggs thought this was great fun and spent the entire time waiting for Zach and the girls spraying unsuspecting riders.
We did the Dinosaur ride. Obviously it was a little too scary and intense for Briggs and Adelie, since they both kept their eyes closed through most of the ride. But they did enjoy Triceratops spin.
Unfortunately, Expedition Everest was closed for refurbishment, so that was one less ride we got to do on our Animal Kingdom day. But we filled in the rest of our day with walking on the trails to see the animals and watching shows. We REALLY enjoyed the Birds of Flight show and the KiteTails show. We watched KiteTails twice since they had both a Lion King show and a Jungle Book show. KiteTails was a water show with these huge kites being pulled by individuals on jet skis. It was lots of fun!
We again packed a lunch, had a mid-afternoon ice cream treat, and then had dinner at a quick service station outside of Yak and Yeti. It was SO good! Another favorite of the trip with Asian inspired dishes. (Well, Briggs and Adelie had a cheeseburger and PB & J, so not quite so Asian inspired for them.)
We were all getting tired towards the end of the day, but wanted to stick it out so we could enjoy Pandora in the evening with lower waits for the two most popular rides in the park. So we rested in the shade, played a little at the Boneyard playground, drank some ice water, waved at some Disney characters floating by,...
and met Kevin from 'Up'.
This was one of my favorite characters that we happened upon during our trip this time. So fun and novel!!
We ended our evening in Pandora land. We all road the Navi River Journey boat ride together and then the girls and I got in line for Flight of Passage. We still ended up waiting over an hour for my favorite ride at Disney, but we visited with the nice people in line around us and the girls spent most of the time again doing their clapping/singing game. And I love this ride, so the wait was totally worth it! This was the first time either girl had done the ride and they both really liked it too. While we were doing our last ride, Zach and Briggs did the Navi River Journey another time, looked in a gift shop, and then just rested on an outside bench until we were done.
We finished off our last park day by closing down the park again. After our full week of Universal and Disney parks, we had one more rest day before heading home. We were ready for a day of rest, but we weren't ready to leave the warmth, sunshine, and vacation fun that we had been experiencing.
