We've heard good things about Animal Kingdom, so we are looking forward to our visit.
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| Great - not that long a line to get in |
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The giant (fake)
Boabab tree is hard to miss as we walk into the park. It can be seen from many vantage points and the many animals sculpted in its truck make it especially interesting. Nice touch for a fake tree.
Our first mission is find the
Kilimanjaro Safari ride. The couple dressed as Mickey and Minnie, who we met yesterday, said it was their favorite ride in all the Orlando Disney Parks. So we set out for Africa. Along the way we find ourselves behind a group of girls all dressed the same. They must all come from the same school or soccer team? It's not unusual to see groups, both large and small, all wearing matching clothes. Perhaps it's easier for the chaperons to spot wandering members of their group.
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| Girls soccer team? |
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| Here we are in Africa |
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| I love this character |
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Mickey and Minnie told us this ride is well worth getting to the park early and even standing in line for an hour to get on. So we follow their advice and after a relatively short wait (45 minutes) we scramble onto our Safari truck. Soon we start spotting animals along the route. Although some of animals have enclosures, many are allowed to roam free.
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| Curious crane |
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Gobs of
giraffes
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| Fake termite tower |
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A big (pun intended) favorite are the elephants.
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| Pregnant mom-to-be |
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| Mother keeps a close eye on junior |
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| Tusk filing area |
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| busy preening |
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Pride of
lions nap in the rocks.
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| Female |
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| Leo dreaming of a better contract with MGM |
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| another female |
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| Heading back |
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| Our very favorite animal - juniior |
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Mickey and Minnie were right - the Kilimanjaro Safari is well worth it. They mentioned that they loved going on this safari ride because they spot different animals are each time. After Africa, we wander over to Asia.
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| Cool old crumbling temple |
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| Great old door |
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| with bats - this one is huge! |
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Of course there are
water buffalos and lots of water features in Asia...
with trees filled with strange and unusual birds...
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| Dunno who this guy is |
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| but he sure does have fancy feathers. |
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As the heat climbs into the mid 90's with high humidity in the afternoon, we start looking for a good water ride.
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| This looks perfect |
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| Yess! |
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| Brooklyn's not too sure, but we are |
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| Ahhh - nice cooling waterfall |
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| with rapids and |
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| extra squirts in case we've not gotten wet enough. |
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That was fun. Let's go check out the
spider monkeys next.
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| Great climbers |
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| Mother and baby |
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| Grooming time on a lazy afternoon |
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As the heat is becomes more uncomfortable, the pool at our condo complex is calling us to cool off - much better than sweating it out on a hot afternoon making us all cranky.
That evening Christine and the kids return to Animal Kingdom. They first explore the Dinosaur exhibits.
That night they all are wowed by the light show in which images of animals are projected onto smoke screens.
Very cool!
ReplyDeleteEven with as much as I dislike Disney at this point, I've got to admit this was a really nice park.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed some of the park! Looks like fun.
ReplyDeleteOf all the Disney Orlando parks, we found this one is the best for both kids and adults to enjoy.
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