Disney, here we come! There were no issues rousing me from sleep on this morning. I just couldn’t wait to get on the road to Orlando, or more correctly Lake Buena Vista. We got up around 7am and were finally out the door by about 8:30 am. The drive itself took about an hour and half and was fairly uneventful. However, you can tell that I-4 between Tampa and Orlando generally always has an extremely high volume of traffic.
We arrived at our hotel called Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa and were able to do a pre-check-in since our rooms were not ready that early. We also checked our bags with the bell-man so that when we returned, we could go directly up to the room. Then, we got down to the shuttle area at just a few minutes before 11am. The shuttle typically comes to the hotel every 30 minutes on the hour and half hour to take guests to the theme parks or Downtown Disney. The bus to the Magic Kingdom/Animal Kingdom arrived within about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, it was standing-room only because the buses hit up a couple of other resorts before it got to ours.
We stood for quite some time as well because the bus went to the Magic Kingdom first…not our stop.
Eventually, around 11:30, we made it to the Animal Kingdom. We went to Will Call to pick up the tickets and a few minutes later, we were in the park. Usually the first thing you want to do when you arrive at a Disney park is to go get your Fast Pass for the most popular ride. At Animal Kingdom, that happens to be Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris or Kali River Rapids. We had no plans of getting soaked on Kali River Rapids (as we got plenty wet enough for the day as you read on), so we planned on going for Expedition Everest. Upon our arrival at the Fast Pass station, we found out from a staffer nearby that the typical “one fast pass at a time” rule had been deactivated that day, so we went ahead and got them for both Everest and the Safari. Lucky us!
Following our Fast Pass thievery, we went to DINOSAUR. As we were waiting for the ride, it started to rain, but luckily we were under cover. After about 20 – 25 minutes, we made it to the “prep room” where they describe the back-story to the ride and tell you the safety features. In a nutshell, it was our job to go back in time to the late Cretaceous period to rescue an Iguanodon from extinction because they are closely-related to reptiles of today. The ride was entertaining, as always, tossing us to and fro and creating multiple moments of surprise. Even after having ridden it 3-4 times previously, it’s still always a great time.
It was still spitting rain when we left the ride, and shortly thereafter began to pour. So, we looked for the closest restaurant and ducked inside to eat some lunch. I had a hot dog and fries, my old standard. The interesting thing about lunch was that the prices were close to ½ of what you’d pay at a ball park. That was incredible to me that Disney was so much less, and it kinda makes you pissed that you have to fork out so much money for a losing ball club like the Reds, if and when you actually attend a game.
From lunch, we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris to use our first Fast Pass. It was great because the normal wait was at least an hour, and we walked right on. During the “safari,” we saw many animals including gazelles, antelopes, wildebeest, elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, ostriches and cheetahs. The multitude and variety of animals was way improved from my last visit in March 2008, most likely due to the warmer weather. Did I also mention that we were tracking poachers during the ride? There always has to be an element of danger present.
When we exited the ride, it had started to rain again. So, this time we decided to grab the ponchos that Jerry and Linda had bought the previous week at Disney. It rained fairly steadily as we made our way through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, where we were able to view more animals – some of which we had seen during the safari. We also got to see some very large gorillas, and Justin took some pretty amazing pictures of them. I was surprised that they turned out so well through the glass of the cage.
From there, we made our way back into Asia to catch the Flights of Wonder show. They brought out large birds of prey, owls, ravens, macaws, etc. and had them perform little acts while the trainer told factual information about their habitat and abilities. When they would fly from one trainer to the other, the birds were literally within inches of the audiences’ heads. It was both funny and entertaining. Plus, it was incredible to see how large and beautiful they were up close. I think I almost started crying when the bald eagle came out.
We still had a little time to kill after the show before our Expedition Everest Fast Pass was good. So, we went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek in Asia. Here we saw vampire bats (the big ones), komodo dragons, tigers and several Eastern species of colorful birds. Again, Justin went to work with his camera and got some fantastic close-ups of a tiger. When you look at them, you think, “that’s just like my little domesticated cat at home!” It’s very deceiving how docile they look.
Finally, once we got through this area, it was time to conquer Expedition Everest. The fast passes got us onto the ride within about 5 minutes. Everest lived up to everything I was hoping for, and it was pretty clear everyone else enjoyed it too. I should see if I can post a You Tube link to a videotaping of the ride. There’s just so much variety going on, it’s difficult to explain. The people in the car right in front of us tried to tape it, but there are definitely some parts in which you probably wouldn’t see anything on the screen because everything goes completely dark. This continues to be my favorite ride of all the Disney theme parks.
After exiting the ride, Jerry and Linda got some ice cream while Justin and I split a root beer float. This was just enough of a push to get us to the last attraction we planned on seeing for the day: It’s Tough To Be A Bug. ITTBAB (much easier to abbreviate) is basically a 3-D movie with other added features to make it unpredictable. Flik appears on-screen and wants to introduce people to all of the unique bug abilities in a stage-show setting. Danger arrives when the villain from the original movie (a grasshopper or locust figure) arrives and decides that the entire audience should be exterminated. They bring out hornets and the audience gets poked in the back by “stingers,” then black widows come down suspended from the ceiling, and finally they spray everyone with bug killer. The spider part was freaking hilarious! I was looking around during the scene and all of the kids in the room were screaming and carrying on. I was cracking up! Finally at the end, I jumped in my seat a little bit while we were waiting for the cockroaches to exit the building so we wouldn’t step on them. Disney did it again…no element left out.
Upon leaving the park, we went to catch our shuttle to take us back to the hotel. As we got closer, it was evident that more rain was moving in. But luckily, we made it back to the hotel just in time, so we didn’t get caught up in it again. It was easily 5:30 by the time we got back to our room, and we only had about 45 minutes to get ready before meeting in the lobby for dinner and La Nouba. The fact that we had a fairly short time to freshen up was a blessing though. It didn’t give us a chance to get tired after spending most of the day in the theme park.
Once we had all convened in the lobby, we hopped in the Lexus and made the 2-3 minute drive to Downtown Disney. It was nice to forego the shuttle on this one and have our own personal space. After we had parked, I picked up our tickets from Will Call. Then, we went to Bongos Cuban Café for dinner. I got some sort of fish, maybe grouper, but it was a little weird. Plus, the plates were so huge, that it was quite intimidating, and I lost my appetite. Who knows, I could have been so excited about La Nouba that I may have not had an appetite either.
So, dinner came and went with little fanfare. Afterwards, we had a few minutes to kill before seating opened, so we went to a store called Magnetron. I ended up getting a dolphin mosaic magnet (I already have a couple of Disney magnets at home). Then, it was finally time to go claim our La Nouba seats for the 9pm showing.
I enjoyed every second of the show, probably as much, if not more than the first time I saw it 10 years ago. The talent of the performers is incredible, the accompanying music is great, the transition of the set is seamless, and the overall presentation is mesmerizing. So far, La Nouba has been my favorite experience on this trip – nothing else compares. I don’t anticipate that changing either.
When we returned to the hotel, we had just enough remaining energy to grab a drink in the bar. I had a glass of red wine, of which I can’t recall. In fact, I was tired enough that I had to finish the glass back in the comforts of our room. Just a short few minutes later, we were both asleep in preparation for Disney Day Two.
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