Cool Cherry Cream

Okay, okay, so I’m behind on posting. Things get crazy in Florida. We went to Epcot on Monday the fourth and Animal Kingdom on Tuesday the fifth. And may now present to you, my adventures at Animal Kingdom.

Once again we arrived at about 9:30. They had trams that would bring you from the parking lot to the park entrance, but when the tram got there, we found we were standing right between the two trains, and so, no spots for us. We decided we might as well walk to the entrance, so we did. It was a pretty quick walk. Got in pretty quickly. By the way, they check all bags before going in (duh) and then you put your ticket in a slot and they take your fingerprint. Not sure exactly what that’s for but umm, okay.

First up, you’re in the Oasis area, where there are a few different animals you can look at. I don’t remember what all were where, since there were basically animals through the whole park. I have no idea what this animal is. A warthog? A rhino? Sorry, I suck at animals.

You cross over the bridge to Discovery Island for your first glimpse of Animal Kingdom’s symbol, the Tree of Life. And of course, more animals.

There were a lot of ducks there. Like, everywhere. Luckily, they stayed on the other side of the fence, unlike those crazy white birds. The crazy white birds were scary though, because they had really long pokey beaks. The beaks are the thing. I hate the beaks. Birds wouldn’t be so bad if not for those bloody beaks!

Flamingos are awesome. Even though they have beaks. I mean, seriously, how many pink animals are there? Pigs. Flamingos. That’s about it. Did you ever really say the word “flamingo”? It’s just a plain cool word. Flaaaam. Ingo. FlamINgo.

More ducks, but these ones are emo.

We decided our best bet would be to go straight for “Kilimanjaro Safari” because I’d heard that animals come out more in the morning, when it’s cooler. Not sure if that’s true or not, but we did see a lot of animals. We got a Fast Pass for 10:30, so we decided to go hang around for half an hour. We took the “Wildlife Express Train” on a round trip to “Rafiki’s Planet Watch” and back to Harambe.

Again, they were calling for thunderstorms today, but that didn’t happen, at least not while we were at the park. It was, however, extremely hot again. We each bought a personal “mister”, which is basically a spray bottle with a battery-powered fan. They were like eighteen dollars each, but they were a great thing to have. Especially since we brought them to all the parks after that.

After a little waiting around, we finally lined up for the safari. Can’t recall all the animals we saw, but there were giraffes, a lion and lioness, flamingos, impalas, tomis, rhinos, crocodiles (gators?), an ostrich and eggs, elephants, termite mounds, and hiding warthogs and other creatures. Don’t think we saw any cheetahs or gazelles or zebras or primates. Lots of different birds.

There were cute little storyline things during the safari, like the stereotypical rickety old bridge, which we safely made our way across after a few minor scares. There was also a story about some poachers that were in the park trying to get some elephants, but we were successfully able to help the park authorities catch them.

After the safari there was the “Pangani Forest Exploration Trail”. Most of the time, the animals would be hiding, and sometimes they weren’t there at all, so people would just pass by without looking. We did get to see a couple gorillas though — and this one gorilla totally looked right at me (and not those drunk girls beside me waving at him). There was also an area where you could see some hippos under and above water at the same time. His head just poked out above the water while the rest of him was underneath. Of course, he was way at the other end of the pond, so you couldn’t get a good picture. But, here’s a nice waterfall somewhere.

At some point, we saw the “It’s Tough to be a Bug” 3D movie about “A Bug’s Life”. It had better effects than “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience”, though I didn’t care for the storyline as much. Mainly because Eric Idle wasn’t in it. They had the old “audience gets wet” bit, but some new stuff as well. As soon as they started talking about a stinkbug, we-he-hell… it actually didn’t smell that bad, so it was cool. At the end, they told us to remain seated so that the maggots and cockroaches could leave… by crawling underneath or butts. There was also a bit where we were in the dark, and there were explosions, and spiders over our heads. At one point, we got stung in the back, but I didn’t feel it because I had been warned about it and was sitting forward. Kind of regretting that now because I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as I was told it was.

Around this time, we decided to stop in for a bird show called “Flights of Wonder”. It seemed like it would be a little kid show, but it was actually pretty cool. They had a cute story line about a slightly effeminate tour guide who was afraid of birds (which drew comparisons to myself among my family members), but who had warmed up to them by the time the show was over. Like the dolphins, it was pretty cool how the birds know what to do at what time and all. Some of the birds, like a hawk and some parrots, flew out over the audience. They all of course had clever names, but my favourite was a crane named Frasier. They also had a bald eagle, some roosters, some mice (what?), and an owl, as well as many other birds I don’t know the names of.

We decided to get a Fast Pass for “Dinosaur”, the only real ride we went on that day. “Kali River Rapids” apparently gets you soaked through to the underwear, and we weren’t up for that. And “Expedition Everest” was a roller coaster, so no go for my brother.

In my extensive Disney research I’d done in preparation for the trip, I’d read about a “secret” path that would let you get a close-up view of the Tree of Life, so we decided now would be a good time to look for it. After some searching and no luck, the rest of the family was starting to doubt me. My mom figured someone was pulling my leg and the path didn’t really exist, but we went on, all the way around the tree.

While trying to find the path, we happened upon the otters. Otters are really cute. Like, really cute. There were three of them, and they all swum together, like hanging onto each other. And then two of them even came up out of the water for us. A lot of animals seemed to do that. I think they just get me, even though I’m terribly afraid of them.

Well, I’ll have you know, the path does exist, and if you really want to find it, it’s not that difficult. Just follow the Tree of Life all the way around, following any path on the tree’s side, and eventually, you have to stumble upon it. I believe we found one way in by the entrance to the “It’s Tough to be a Bug” show, but don’t quote me on that. It was pretty cool, because you do get to go up close, all the way around the tree, to see all the different carvings on it that you wouldn’t see otherwise. Oh yeah, when we came out, there was the lemur area. Right.

Finally, we made our way back to “Dinosaur”. Again, didn’t know what to expect, except that Wikipedia said it was dark and rough. Okay, so that’s not too bad. Except, ’tis one of “those” rides that someone died on (or rather, as I kept reminding myself, after, and it wasn’t due to the ride, it was just their own health kind of thing). Either way, I was kind of nervous when we were boarding.

But of course, ’twas all fine, seeing as I don’t think zombies can type. “Dinosaur” was actually a really good ride. They had the pre-ride safety video, this time with the dude who played Don Kirshner in the Monkees biopic. Of course, I’m sure he does something else, like “CSI”, that everyone else would recognize him from. The ride takes us back in time to go fetch an Iguanasaurus or something to bring back to the present to study. We whiz past all kinds of creepy huge dinosaurs.

Now, at this point, you need a bit of background information on my family. You see, when I was very very little, we all went to a zoo. African Lion Safari, probably, where you’re in your car and the animals are around (behind, beside, on top of) you. Well, there just so happened to be a giraffe on this safari with a plastic grocery bag down its throat. So, my dad rolls down his window (well, actually, my mom’s window), sticks his arm down there, and takes it out, saving the giraffe’s life.

So, when we saw a big dinosaur munching on a little dinosaur, I asked my dad if he was going to try to grab the little one out. Ahahaha, I can be so clever sometimes, even in the face of danger and death.

Like I said, this ride was pretty awesome. I actually screamed at the very end when a dinosaur appears right in front of you and you go underneath it, back to the future. But yeah, pretty awesome ride.

Afterwards, we realized we’d done pretty much everything we wanted to do in the park. It was only about 2:00 or so, but it was pretty hot and we were all tired, so we decided to head on home. Apparently, Animal Kingdom is the least popular Disney World park, but I found quite a bit entertaining there. “Dinosaur” was probably the best ride of the first two parks, and the safari is excellent if you get to see the animals. Even the bird show, in all its cheesiness, was pretty cute. Plus, I got some really nice pictures out of the deal. Definitely worth it.