Today dawned bright and early (but mostly bright) with an early bus to the Animal Kingdom, one of the remaining 2 parks I hadn't yet visited. The bus stop was packed so we were worried we'd end up crammed in, but actually there were seats for everyone. That's more than could be said at the park - once through the security bag check, we discovered long queues at the entry gates for some reason - evidently most people had decided to turn up at the same time!
Having fought our way through the throng, we navigated to our first FastPass attraction: the Kilimanjaro Safari. Anyone who's visited Chessington's "Zufari" will be familiar with the idea: you're loaded onto large off-road vehicles to be driven round a wildlife reserve. Unlike the Chessington one, this is a) massive and b) quite nicely done. We got up close with some zebras, as well as getting a good view of giraffes, hippos, elephants and even crocodiles!
From there we walked through the Pangani trail, where we saw a selection of animals, including some gorillas. Half of it was closed for building work so it was a short trip! At this point, our queue time app suggested that Expedition Everest had a short wait, so we headed over. Of the Disney "mine train" type coasters, this was definitely my favourite - the indoor backwards section is fast and disorienting and the drop's pretty satisfying too. Getting the expression right for the on-ride photo, however, proved challenging! We liked the ride so much that we got off and went round again for a second go!
Having started fairly early, we realised it was a long time until our dining reservation, so started looking at what else we could do. Annoyingly we'd just missed the start time for several of the shows (or the next show was a long way ahead) so instead we walked the Maharajah Jungle Trek, where we saw enormous fruit bats, as well as some sleepy tigers.
Next up was the bizarrely-themed DinoLand USA, which was like some sort of cartoon funfair. Primeval Whirl was pretty tame, but Dinosaur was an interesting experience reminiscent of some of the simulator rides we tried at Universal. No fancy 3D effects here though!
Just before lunch we did "A Bug's Life - It's not easy being a bug!", an entertaining 4D show with an animatronic ant (it makes sense in context). With a great bit of timing (not helped by some stupid people blocking the queue line to take photos) we just made it into the showing as the doors were about to close!
On leaving, it was around this time that we realised we'd misread the FastPass time for our actual go on Expedition Everest, and had nearly missed it! Thankfully we were able to push it forwards until after lunch!
Lunch was at the Yak & Yeti, an Asian themed restaurant. Those who know my relationship with Asian food in general may raise an eyebrow at this, but I had a rather tasty tempura chicken in honey sauce, with brown rice, which was rather delicious, followed by a Mango pie. Tom went for Cream Cheese Wontons in honey, which were good but incredibly rich.
After lunch we popped over to Expedition Everest for our allotted FastPass time, hoping that it wouldn't bash us around too much with our full bellies!
Finally it was the ride I'd been waiting for all day (as the weather was boiling hot) - the Kali River Rapids. The queue for this had been ridiculously long all day, and even with a FastPass it wasn't quick. Part of the reason for this turned out to be a rather haphazard loading process, where boats were being sent out half empty, which jarred against the usually very organised and professional Disney staff we'd previously encountered. Given the length of the queues you'd have thought they'd not want to waste capacity, but the people batching guests didn't seem to care that there were empty boats running, and ones where only a few of the seats were filled. No wonder it was busy!
On the plus side, I got drenched, which in the heat was absolutely blissful. However, we decided to call it a day after that so I got to leave a bit of a puddle on the resort shuttle bus. We were on it for quite some time, as it made an unannounced pickup stop at Blizzard Beach waterpark, followed by an unscheduled U-turn at the Boardwalk resort, due to some sort of incident on the route we would have taken. Oh and an insect bit me on the arm in the bus queue, so I stomped on it. The stinging little bastard.
Back at the room I showered and changed - our plan for the evening was to go over to Downtown Disney, the entertainment/shopping area they built to compete with Universal's CityWalk. A ferry boat runs from our resort over to there, so we took that, which was a pleasant way to travel. The Downtown Disney area is a bit of a building site right now as they're revamping it into "Disney Springs", which meant a lot of hoardings and temporary footpaths!
Disney Quest was our initial call - a 5-storey building filled with arcade machines and bizarre indoor attractions. We played some retro dance games with Japanese songs nobody knew, plus a bit of Pacman, before exploring some of the other attractions. On one floor was a "Design your own rollercoaster" activity - you used a screen to put elements together to make your own rollercoaster, and then boarded a simulator to ride it. The rather dated technology may have promised more than it could deliver, as while the upside-down parts worked very well, hills and speed just weren't coming through.
Even more bizarre was the Jungle Cruise game downstairs, where you sat in a rubber dinghy on top of what looked like the base of a bouncy castle. As it bounced around, the idea was you rowed with oars through a simulated river. It didn't seem to matter what you did (though at one point we went in circles for a bit) but eventually we reached the end, or at least I think it was the end...
The whole building had the air of a mid-90s cinema multiplex arcade, including the staff uniforms.
We mingled with the crowds as we walked right across to the opposite end of the area, where our chosen dinner venue was Wolfgang Puck's. Tom had a meatloaf and I ordered a pizza. Tom's meatloaf arrived. My pizza didn't. Tom ate his meatloaf. My pizza was still not there. Tom began his dessert. My pizza remained imaginary. The waiter popped over to see how we were doing, at which point I hinted that I'd be doing a lot better if it'd turned up...
To be fair, when it did, it was perfectly nice and piping hot. The Creme Brulee was fine as well. Just a shame that it took so long to get it. By this time it was around 11pm and we knew we needed to start heading back as the boats cease operation after a certain time. Thankfully there was a water taxi dock nearby. Unthankfully it was swarming with flying things - thankfully not the bitey type this time! We were quite glad to get on the boat and across to the other dock where we caught the ferry back to our resort.
Tomorrow: Epcot again, but not until the afternoon!
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