After coming into Orlando the day before, the next morning we woke up early to go to Animal Kingdom. Because we were staying at a Disney Resort, we could enter the park 30 minutes earlier than the “official” time the gates opened.

One of my friends didn’t feel good and said it would take her awhile to wake up. She told us to go on without her and she’d meet us there.  

We went down and headed to the bus terminals outside the resort. The Magic Kingdom line was twice as long as the Animal Kingdom line. Needless to say, we were glad we wouldn’t have to wait in that.

When I originally mapped out taking the bus to Animal Kingdom, it said it would take about 37 minutes to get to the park but it didn’t take nearly that long. We’d gotten there in probably 15-20 minutes.

Morning at Animal Kingdom

The original plan was to go left where Pandora, the Avatar world (for once I am talking about the blue people, not the last Airbender) was. Since we didn’t want to get caught in a long line and my friend not be able to join us, we did the It’s Tough to be a Bug! experience. We found that it had a short wait on the Disney app and was close to where we were. Afterwards, we got the Kali River Rapids water rafter ride out of the way. Again, it had a short line. A father and son came prepared with ponchos. As soon as I saw them I regretted not pulling out my poncho.

Luckily, we weren’t soaked. Even luckier for the father and son who were soaked but at least they had their ponchos on.

We probably should’ve done the water ride later in the day when it got hot. Even though it was March, it was in the high 80s! I live in Georgia so I thought Florida temperatures wouldn’t be that different from ours but I was wrong.

After we got off the water ride, our friend met up with us. We all talked through our next ride then we ultimately decided to go to Pandora. We walked a different path over to Pandora instead cutting across the front.

On our walk we saw Pocahontas, Meeko (the racoon in Pocahontas), Daisy Duck, and Donald Duck along the river in Animal Kingdom.

We stopped to take pictures in front of the Tree of Life on the way now that everyone was here. Animal Kingdom is so picturesque. I love all the greenery (artificial or not).

Pandora

The greenery still being a feature, we crossed into Pandora. In the daylight, the floating boulders were the main feature to look at. It was a marvel walking underneath them, seeing how sturdy and well-built the sculpture was.

This wonderment was short lived as we saw the long line to the Avatar Flight of Passage. We were intimidated by how long the line was so we got in line for Na’vi River Journey instead. It still took about an hour and a half but it was a nice calm boat ride.

Finally, we were ready to brave the line for Avatar Flight of Passage.  It took a second for us to find the end of line since it shot out past the walk way. We saw the person with a sign that read, “This is the end of the line.”

We each took shifts going to the restroom before we couldn’t easily hop in and out of line. It was a good thing we did, because that line ended up being a three-hour wait. We struggled finding shade in the beating sun before finally getting to the covered portion of the line.

Even though the wait was three hours, we all agreed it was worth the wait. Even though you’re technically in one place, it really did feel like you were flying. If the wait wasn’t so long I probably would’ve rode it again.

Lunch and Dinosaurs

We walked back across Animal Kingdom to get lunch from Yak & Yeti (the café not the restaurant). We found a table in the shade to get some relief from the heat. If memory serves, I got the honey sesame chicken. For vegetarians, they also had vegetable tikka masala. The food was okay but I think the sit-down restaurant would have better quality food.

After lunch, we thought we’d do another calm ride. We were closer to the Dino Land USA area so we started looking for a ride there. I said, “The ‘DINOSAUR’ ride seems calm. I think it’s a boat ride like the Na’vi Journey.” I was completely wrong.

Just looking at Disney’s website, it says it’s a thrill ride with small drops and it’s“scary”. My friends and I were caught of guard when the ride started plundering through.

The Safari

After that hilarious awakening, we made our way over to Kilimanjaro Safari to take the safari drive. Something that would actually be calm. We started playing games in line, like Heads Up, after seeing people do it the DINOSAUR line.

We all wanted to sit on a row together because this would be one of the few rides we could do so. The cast member split us up with what we found out was a family. Three of us were with the grandmother and son. Two of us were with the parents and the daughter. Naturally, we were confused as to why our groups were split. Both groups could’ve had their own row. Sky asked the father if they wanted to sit together.

Sighing, he said, “…do ya’ll want to sit together?” We all looked at each other wondering why it seemed like he didn’t want sit as a family.

“We can do whatever you guys want to do,” Sky tried to say, sensing the awkward tension. 

“Ya’ll can sit together. It’s okay,” he responded begrudgingly. So, we switched.

However, as the safari began, we started to realize why they wanted to separate. The mother and grandmother kept arguing. The son was being loud and kind of disrespectful to all adults in their party. The father looked like he just didn’t want to get involved. The daughter was just sitting as sweet as can be. I might be biased because she complimented my hair but she was the only one who seemed fine.

My friends and I agreed as a group that we felt bad for the daughter when we exited.

Winding Down

As the day went on, we slowed down. Skye and I wanted to walk around the Gorilla Trails which was thankfully shaded and we caught sight of a few gorillas.

When we were done, we all figured out what to eat for dinner. We ended up eating dinner separately, some going back to Pandora for food, others either eating at a barbecue spot or waited to eat their leftovers (which is what I did).

We eventually came back together in Pandora. Those who got food their finished their food and we got to experience Pandora at night. There were black lights and glowing plants all over. As we enjoyed it we walked back to the Tree of Life to see the light show.

Animal Kingdom didn’t have fireworks but I think that’s for the well-being of the animals within the park.

The first day was long and everyone was dirt tired but once we were back at the resort, we took our showers, ate our left overs and got ready for the next day in EPCOT.

Do I have regrets? Yes. I regret not getting to ride Expedition Everest because it was closed for refurbishing when we went. I also regret not getting a drink or cocktail especially from Pandora. Maybe if I go back, I’ll do that.

What would you want to do in Animal Kingdom?