Day 9: A Day with the Animals

To those that read this blog, I apologize for my tardiness of the posts. I have had a busy fall and winter, which has prevented me from finishing of my trip reports. I hope to have them finished within the next couple of weeks.... Oh and this post is dedicated to @tedwardishere .

May 10, 2009
Animal Kingdom
EPCOT

We started our day with the usual bottle feed, breakfast and shower, before heading to the bus stop to make our way to Animal Kingdom. Since Animal Kingdom doesn't have as many attractions as the other parks (it is getting there though!) I figured we wouldn't be there too long.

We made it to the park in a short bus ride. Since today was Mothers' Day, Janice received a carnation at the front gate. I was surprised they didn't have a special button as it seems they have a special button for everything else!

We beelined to Kilimanjaro Safaris. The wait was only twenty minutes, but we took fast passes anyway. We had to kill about forty-five minutes, so we walked the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. I was able to take some awesome pictures of the gorillas.

After the trail, we killed a few more minutes before our fast pass time, in one of the stores.

Without a doubt, the safari ride was one of the best ever. A lot of the animals in the grasslands section were very active. Probably the best action came from the giraffes. One of the young ones was running all over the place, which was just amazing to see!

We made our way out of Africa and into Asia. Our plan was to get on Expedition Everest. For some reason, the ride was not working, and lines (standby, fast pass and single rider) were all long. We grabbed fast passes and got away from the area.

We walked over to Dinoland USA where Steve took Charlotte on the Triceratop Spin. When they were done, we all played one of the games (Janice won). Goofy and Pluto were out for pictures and autographs. We stood in line so Graydon and Charlotte (and me) could meet them.

It was soon time for Graydon's bottle. Janice settled down with Graydon and Charlotte in Restaurantosaurus, while Steve and I rode Dinosaur!

After all the excitement in the morning, we had built up an appetite. We headed to Flame Tree BBQ for lunch. We had a lovely view of Expedition Everest from our open air dining area. It was already into the early afternoon by the time were done lunch, so we skipped Everest (unfortunately) and made our way to Camp Mickey n' Minnie where we were hoping to finally get our picture with the Mouse himself. We were not disappointed! We had to wait a short while for him, but that is to be expected. We also got our pictures with Minnie again. Surprisingly, there was no wait for her. We also met one of the bear characters from the movie Brother Bear.

After our excitement with Mickey, it was time the head back to the resort for some rest. Animal Kingdom is a big park, so it tires you out quickly. Before we left I stopped in at the Art of Disney Store (fifth of five!), where I picked up another large Vinylmation.

We had our usual afternoon swim and rest, and once again headed back to EPCOT for dinner. This night we ate at Tutto Italia, the renamed Italian restaurant. I had heard good things about the restaurant since the name change, and I wasn't disappointed. The food was fantastic and the service equally good. The waitress even suggested a better bottle of wine from my initial selection.

We finished the night wondering around World Showcase, before calling it a day.