Deep In The Heart Of The Disney Jungle
After a huge Disney-filled day yesterday we were all eager to get back out there and see another park today and the one on the agenda was Animal Kingdom.
We set the alarm a little bit earlier to allow for slow-risers this morning. This worked well and after downing our “delicious” breakfast we were actually on-time to catch the hotel shuttle bus at 8:40!
Sam and Ross had made a visit to the local supermarket last night to pick up a few snacks for the bag and were amazed anew at all the American delights to be found on the shelves. Absolutely everything comes in a packet. Some of the cereals they saw should really have been in the lolly aisle and there was one made of tiny little chocolate chip cookies! Just add milk! Sam also noticed a one litre can of alcohol, selling for $3.40! He did, however, like the 2 litre bottles of Gatorade!
So with our bags packed with snacks and our comfy walking shoes on (4 out of 6 of us anyway!) we shuffled through the giant giraffe spotted gates of the Animal Kingdom, feeling like we were entering a real jungle! There’s an app that’s advertised all around Disney World and it was well worth downloading. You can type in the name of an attraction and it tells you in real time what the waiting time for that ride is and gives you a map, guiding you through GPS, to where you need to go next. It was sensational! It told us there was only a short wait on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride so we trekked on over into “Africa” to board the very authentic looking safari truck. As we did, we passed African drummers and a brilliant African band, singing and grooving to the beat in their brightly coloured African get-up. It really set the mood and we seriously felt like we were in Africa. There were stalls on the side of the road selling African necklaces and wooden animals and we saw the guy who carved all the animals out of wood, carving away right before our eyes. He was so skillful! The sun was beating down and we were sweating up a storm. We were sure hoping our Rexona didn’t let us down.
The Safari was absolutely amazing! The open sided truck, laden with water tins, swags and supplies on the roof for effect, bumped us down the dusty dirt track alongside the most realistic grassy plains and savanna you could possibly imagine existing this side of Africa. As we were instructed by our safari leader we obediently looked left and right and were totally astounded by the number of wild animals we saw! There were hippos basking in the river, giraffes grazing on the trees, elephants congregating in a big group and as Molly described them: “some sort of horned things” roaming through the grass. We were even lucky enough to see a cheetah nestled up under a tree on the top of a hill. There were flamingos, rhinos and zebras too! It was really awesome.
Next on our travels, who should we run into but Pocahontas herself! She asked Maisy where she came from and when she said “Australia”, Pocahontas, never once going out of character, said “wow that was a long canoe ride!” She also asked Maisy if she were to come to her “village” what would she like her to see? Maisy told her she’d take her for a walk over the Harbour Bridge and Pocahontas said she may just take her up on that offer! If Maisy ever visited Pocahontas’s village she’d get to hang out in a field of sunflowers! They got a cute photo together and parted ways.
So with the dust of Africa still on our shoes and the tribal drums still beating in our heads we were surprised to round a corner and find ourselves in the heart of the Himalayas, at the foot of Mount Everest! All the trees and vegetation and the sign posts and buildings, food stalls and market stalls were completely Asian! There were colourful Nepalese flags hung across the roadways and an Indian duo were belting out some funky tunes on the sitar. The atmosphere was incredible and the weather matched as well. It started to rain while we were in “Asia” but it was a welcome relief from the stifling humidity. The sun stayed out the whole time the rain came down! Our resident thrill-seekers and their equally dare-devilish dad ascended the great mountain for a thrill of a lifetime on the Expedition Everest rollercoaster. They had a blast and loved it so much they backed up and went on again! Maisy and I went on a pretty tame dinosaur ride, which actually turned out to be fraught with danger when her leg got completely stuck in between the wooden bars of the ride’s fence! It went in alright but it was wedged so tightly in I thought we’d never get it out! I started to panic but the nice lady in the queue behind me suggested we rub her leg with suncream to grease it up and make it slippery. Why didn’t I think of that? She also poured water on her leg and it eventually squeezed out. Phew! Right after that, Maisy was coerced into going on a rollercoaster, not dissimilar to the Wild Mouse, by her brothers and sister. She was very brave but when she returned to us, her face said it all. She was petrified!
The fact that it isn’t easy to get a good coffee in the USA has been well documented by now and Ross is dearly missing his daily macchiato (a first world problem I know, but nevertheless a real one!). He could sniff out an espresso machine a mile away and managed to spot a shining specimen up the back of a little café in “Asia”. He excitedly ordered his beloved macchiato only to find it came in a huge, oversized cup, full of froth and resembling more of a cappuccino than anything. Not surprisingly it wasn’t much chop but in his great tenacity he eventually sniffed out another place that seemed to be offering the real deal. To his great relief, he was handed a teeny tiny cup with his prescribed shot of espresso – liquid gold – and he was once again a happy man.
The Kali River Rapids had sounded fun and worth going on so we decided to endure the 40 minute wait time (which went pretty fast really) and went on as a family. We had seen everyone coming off absolutely drenched so we suited up in our rain ponchos and managed to avoid the deluge almost entirely. The others in our raft got soaked! We loved this ride and if not for the wait time would have made a return visit. It was great!
We had wanted to return to the area right near the Kilimanjaro Safari where you could do a self-guided tour through the “jungle” and be privileged enough to see large numbers of gorillas hanging out together. Unfortunately we’d left it too late in the day and all the gorillas had gone to bed for the night. What a shame! They were pumping out water spray all along the ground to give the impression it was all misty. I said to Ross “well there may be mist but we didn’t see any gorillas in it” and Toby piped up to say “no mum, we mist them!” That’s my boy!
Animal Kingdom boasted some excellent shows too! The Lion King show was so full of colour and singing and dancing and audience participation and was definitely worth seeing. The usher who was chatting to us before we went in had asked Maisy what her favourite Disney princess was. When she answered it was Elsa, from Frozen, he launched into a faultless rendition of “Let It Go” at the top of his voice, just for our benefit! He was such a great singer! He had us all singing along!
To finish the day at Animal Kingdom we got to see the fabulous Finding Nemo Musical and got all patriotic when they were heading to Wallaby Way in SYDNEY! Because the theatre was heavily air conditioned (glorious!) and dark and we had done so much walking, traversing vast continents from Asia to Africa and back to Asia again…. Sam, Ross and I all fell asleep! I was fighting it for so long but in the end woke up to find I’d been dribbling! Sam and Ross were totally crashed out too! Oh well, at least it was dark in there and we did see snippets of the show. Molly, Toby and Maisy filled us in on what we’d missed!
After a farewell high-five from one of the Disney cast members on our way out through the exit, we caught the free Disney transportation to Downtown Disney and our bus was almost entirely full of a group of young Aussie baseballers from Brisbane, on tour in Florida. I pride myself in being able to spot an Aussie and I’m usually right and I thought these fellas may have been fellow-Australians. One of them called out to us in a loud voice “hey, are you guys Australian?” and when we answered in the affirmative, all the guys in the bus raised their arms into the air and fist pumped, yelling “YEAH!!” Once we found out they were from Brisvegas, Sam delighted in asking them who it was again who won the State of Origin? There was a collective groan (except for their mate Trent who went for the Blues) and Sam was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. He said he’d waited 8 years for that one!
Tonight we had a scrumptious meal at Downtown Disney in an Irish Pub, complete with Irish dancers and an Irish band singing Van Morrison and Tom Petty covers. It was such a great atmosphere. There’s no doubt we should sleep well though!
