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WALT DISNEY: Day 5 ANIMAL KINGDOM

Day 5: Disney Animal Kingdom: Animals, awesome rides, a safari, a tree that don't light, and burr it's cold!

Up at the crack of dawn, well that's nothing new for Sakari, it was her normal time to get up for school. BUT, today she was playing hooky and no school for her because we were going to Animal Kingdom!

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We ate breakfast and headed out the door..layered in clothing because it was quite chilly today. I did not order this weather! We are in Florida. It's not supposed to be like this. If this is the kinda weather everyone migrates to for winter then I'm going to have to go further south next time!

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We put the location in the GPS and....once again it told me to get on the coin $1 freeway! Ugh! I.don't.have.any.coins! I'm on vacation. Do you accept a credit card? No? Well fine then...I flew on past the coin machine and never looked back this time. I didn't hear any sirens and I calculated in my head how many tickets that was for me so far.

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Once on the Mickey Mouse freeway, Animal Kingdom was easy to find.

Did I mention that it cost $25 to park at each of the Disney theme parks? That's just so crazy to me! The hubby had brought a few fifties and several hundreds with him and it was eating up that money!


 


We managed to park in the "I can't walk long distances" parking lot and grabbed a people mover to get the rest of the way in. Out at the entrance there was a lovely couple having their picture taken so I figured I'd take their picture too obviously. They were in shorts and short sleeves! Are they crazy? They must have been visiting from the north.


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We immediately headed to the people mover desk, turned in my manual stick shift model for an updated automatic with turbo boost and they gave me usage instructions: no piggyback riding, do NOT run over other people, share the road, give a nod when you encounter someone else on a people mover (it's the I can't walk code of ethics), "we are not responsible for your belongings left in the extra wide shopping cart in the front, and sign here that you promise to purchase your people mover should you decide to mod it.


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I was armed with my personal map I had designed prior to vacation, equipped with the "must do's" and people mover information. (I don't think I shared my Disney one, but it was just like this...only Disney World stuff of course.) Once again, I had studied this map and knew exactly where we wanted to go. I checked the wait times at each attraction and said "this way" to the fam.


Putt putt putt this people mover just had absolutely no speed to it, even on the turbo function. Geesh! My family was walking faster than me and sometimes they would get so far out of my sight that they thought they had lost me. No worries "beep beep" here I am. Sorry, didn't mean to draw attention to myself for those around me wondering why I am honking. Don't worry, it's not for you...it's for my hubby who has managed to gain 2 football fields ahead of me. 


 

So Animal Kingdom is divided up into these little "lands" with the middle section being the "tree of life" area. It's a beautiful large tree with many many carvings in them. It's like playing where's waldo trying to spot how many animals are in the tree. Just when you think you have it all figured out, there's more. It was my goal to head to the first ride, but we got caught up in this beautiful area a little longer than expected. 


 

The carvings were just so fun to look at!


They did have some animals situated around the Tree of Life as well. Like REAL animals. The kind that moved.


 

My goal was to head straight to the Avatar or Na'vi River ride. However, since we had spent quite a bit of time and the Tree, after checking my app, we decided to head over to the Safari instead. It said the wait was not long at all and I had read up on this place and most people suggested going on the safari early in the morning or late in the evening. They said most of the animals are more active during those times. 


So we started heading that way.


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Off to Africa we went where we would see our first giraffe. 



There was a lot of twisting and turning in line for my people mover and despite what others around me thought about my driving skills, I thought I did ok. The line moved along pretty quick and before long, they instructed me to "go this way" with a bunch of other people movers. We had our own loading dock. The safari trucks would pull over in areas to load people and then pull out to start the safari. We were the first one's on the truck and we ask if we could sit in the back seat. He told me "no, then the count would be off. Please go to the 3rd row from the front". Um...ok. I counted the rows of seats and no matter how you sat people, it would have turned out the same. THEN after we sat down, he loaded ALL THE ROWS! Wait, what? I wanted in the back because we had these plastic dividers in the front and back of us and I know if I wanted to take a picture on the opposite side of what I was sitting on, I was not going to be able to get it with plastic in my way. So aggravating. If I was sitting in the back, then I would have the entire back open to get pictures as we passed by turning around. 


​We had a good time on the safari. There were a lot of animals out. The driver told us about the animals and made jokes. He was very informative and did a great job to keep our attention. 


 These were termite hills. I thought they were pretty cool being on the ground like that. 


 

They were building condo's!

As we came up on the rhino area, the driver let us know that the reason they usually don't mess we people or charge is because they are very blind. They have to be extremely close to be able to see what is in front of them. They use their ears and nose to detect things around them. Sakari shouted out "I think I'm part rhino then" and it would become a joke the rest of the week. As the safari truck passed by, a rhino was walking our way. She got very close to the truck and the driver said she probably sensed that their was something in front of her but wasn't sure what it was until she got up close. 


She was headed our way as we were passing.



 

She was headed our way as we were passing.






 

It was such a pretty area and we love things like this

This lion was king of his palace and he had several females with him. They were all very active and playing. The driver said this doesn't happen too often during the tours so we were lucky.


 

Moving right along...it was such an enjoyable ride!

These are some big eggs ya'll!


 

A couple of young elephants were playing around. They were charging each other and it was hilarious to watch. The driver said that when you have youngens like this, it's a rule that a dad figure has to be in the area with them to keep them in check otherwise they will tear everything up and he has to calm them down. Hey, I know this feeling with my 2 huskies. I'm constantly having to keep the younger one in check. All he wants to do is play and if you let him get away with it, he will start running so fast and knocking stuff over. Maybe he's part elephant!

There were a couple of unruly zebra's as well. They were kicking at each other and playing around. It was definitely the day the animals were having some fun.




The safari ride was over and it was time to move on. I picked up my people mover and away we went walking around Africa and seeing more animals.

We headed over to the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail. We were told that this was a family of 7 I believe. All related. From older to teens to youngins.

 

As we went across the bridge, we had a character sighting. I had read that they were no longer doing character meet and greets, due to COVID, and that characters could be spotted in boats going along the river.

 

We just happen to be crossing over at the right time. Yes, you can thank me for having such a slow moving people mover for catching this moment for you. Otherwise, I would have been long gone.


 

It was now 11:03am and we had reached our goal: Pandora: The World of Avatar. We were pretty excited to get some action rides in at this point.


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I'm honestly not sure what the heck Pandora or Avatar has to do with animals or why it's here at Animal Kingdom. So, I looked it up after I got home. (I have to admit that I have never seen the Pandora or Avatar movie or whatever it is so I am clueless, but Sakari knows all about it).


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History:


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Discussions were held about creating an Avatar-themed attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios, but it was suggested incorporating the film into a newly designed "land" at Disney's Animal Kingdom to improve the park's attraction roster.



So, why did Pandora end up at Animal Kingdom? The movie goes on to show the destruction humans are causing the environment on Pandora by mining for valuable minerals. That message of protecting the environment goes hand in hand with the message Animal Kingdom has had since day one.


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A piece of 12-acre land, that was unused within AK to create this Avatar area, in addition to the other "islands" there.



Well, there you have it. I just knew that it looked pretty cool in that area once I arrived. I mean like REALLY REALLY REALLY COOL! The details that went into this place was crazy! Sakari explained some of the movie to me and said that the way the land was just hanging in the air is exactly what it was like in the movie. I didn't get the concept until she told about this.


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We headed to a line...any line...I didn't really care which line it was because we were doing them both! I felt like this was going to be a highlight for me. We found the end and jumped in it. It was a bit of a wait. It's a popular ride. But, it was well worth it. We were in line a total of around 45 minutes. Like any of the other rides we have experienced this trip...it moved along quickly. But there was so much to see and discover while in line that I would actually hold up the line to take pictures, run into something, a little beep beep beep backing up and make the turn just to stop again for more pictures. I'm sure the people behind me hated it. But, it's not like me stopping was keeping them from getting on the ride any sooner. We were still going to wait no matter what.


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After we had been in line about 25 minutes, I decided to ask someone "Hey, what are we in line for?" :D I found out it was the "Flight of Passage" line. Ok, don't know what it is, but at least I knew what the line was for.


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Let me show you around this area some. It has to be the most elaborate thing I have ever seen for OUTSIDE of the attraction. Just wow!


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I just hated that it was such a gloomy day out and made for bad pictures.


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I was still motorizing along, drifting the corners in line, taking out a few details in wall, and making my mark on this place.


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We finally made it inside where we would be mesmerized by the bioluminescent rocks and plants. But the line was still moving pretty fast, so not much time to stop and take pictures since everyone was already giving me the stank eye from how many times I stopped over the last half and hour plus. I'm sure they're thinking...just how many pictures does this chick need of a rock???


 

We made it into the cave and then inside the lab where this creature was floating in some type of space tube and every so often he would twitch and move as he floated. I don't know what type of experiments they are running in here, but get me outta here! I hit my turbo button on my people mover, set off the get outta my way button, and bolted out of there! I was not about to become a trial human specimen. 


 

From here, we entered our own chambers. We mounted this motorcycle looking thing and put our 3D glasses on. You had to move all the way up and then our legs and back had padded restraints that would inflate and deflate during the ride to enhance the experience.


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Now this room of "bikes" had 16 bikes in there. However, they are only allowing 1-2 families at a time to social distance them away from each other. So, there were a lot of bikes not used. There are several rooms though. But, this is probably what makes the wait so long.


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The doors were shut and yyyeeeeowwwwoooowwww offffffffffffffffff we went....woo hoo oh em gee! WE WERE RIDING ON A ..... BANSHEE!!! A Banshee! That's what that thing was that I bought Sakari at Disney Springs the night before! It wasn't some type of dino or monster. It was a flying banshee. Now I get it!!! Hahahaha...jokes on me.


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So, here a little HISTORY about this ride to help understand it:


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This is a 3D flying simulator. Set in the Avatar universe, the attraction allows guests to take flight on a native mountain Banshee's back and soar across the breathtaking landscapes of Pandora. The land is a representation of the planet of Pandora seen in the 2009 Avatar film. The ride officially opened to guests on May 27, 2017 and is the most popular ride at Animal Kingdom.


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In the attraction's storyline, the humans and Na'vi are attempting to restore the banshee population to natural levels, after the mining tactics caused by the Resources Development Administration generations prior. Alpha Centauri Expeditions (ACE) has reactivated the avatar program through the Pandora Conservation Initiative as a method of conducting research, and allows guests to link with an avatar to fly on an Ikran (known as a "Banshee" by humans) to partake in the Na'vi's tribal coming-of-age tradition.


Set within the remains of a former Resources Development Administration facility, the attraction invites guests into the ACE lab where guests are linked to an "avatar" and fly aboard a banshee across the Valley of Mo'ara.


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So what is a Banshee? They are large, dragon-like aerial predators that are native to Pandora. They are used by the Na'vi for hunting from the air and traveling larger distances.


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Now I really really have to watch this movie to understand it more. I'm really intrigued after riding this ride. Like I seriously rode a Banshee! Like for real. He was amazing dipping and turning throughout Pandora and a few near misses with these tree-like things that were held up by nothing in the air. I could feel his chest go in and out on my legs as he was breathing when he stopped to rest. Then we were off again. I was really there! I'm telling you! It was AMAZING! I can totally understand why everyone loves this ride. Looking at my pictures and time, we were in line for 38 minutes. Honestly, that's not bad at all considering just how long the line was.


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After the ride, we came out and the hubby was hungry...however, I was ready to head to the next ride, right next door, which was the Na'vi River Journey. I mean we are already here. We started trying to figure out where the end of the line was it was so hard to find. Winding in and out of everywhere and 6' apart made the line a lot longer than it would normally be. But, finally we were able to find it and quickly took our place.


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It had the same scene outside because it was in the same area and of course we were still in the Pandora Avatar movie so to say. The line for this ride, even though it was very very long outside, was about 25-30 minutes tops to make it on the ride according to my time stamps on my pictures.


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History:


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The Na’vi River Journey is a slow-moving boat ride, which look to have been handcrafted out of reeds or grasses, through Pandora’s bioluminescent rainforest. The Na’vi River Journey is a 4 1/2 minute cruise through the colorful, glowing jungle of Pandora. Guests float past Pandora’s exotic animals and glowing plants on their way to the Shaman of Songs. This ride officially opened to guests on May 27, 2017.



There is an exterior and interior queue for Na’vi River Journey. The exterior queue winds through the exotic landscape of Pandora before leading into a covered queue which looks to have been constructed by the Na’vi and filled with totems and other Na’vi handiwork. Even though it’s not enclosed or as extensive as the queue for Flight of Passage, it is impressively detailed and looks to have been crafted entirely out of natural materials from the light fixtures to even the switchback poles.


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I'm going to pick up after we get in our boat and we are on our way.


It was so beautiful inside!

Here is a very short clip during the ride. I wish I would have gotten more, but I'm just not much of a videographer.





 When we walked out of the ride, the skies had opened up and it was a beautiful blue with white cotton clouds. Now that's what I want to see when taking pictures facing up.

Ok, I gave in to letting the family get food and we headed off the Pandora island and back toward Discovery Island in the middle. We stopped at Flame Tree BBQ. I ordered a Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Pulled Pork topped with Onion Rings and Coleslaw. Hey, what can I say...it sounded "interesting" to say the least. The hubby ended up with the Ribs and Chicken Combo and said it was pretty darn good. I think Sakari ended up with the Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich topped with coleslaw and baked beans. Everything was delish!


We had a few visitors as we ate. Is this a stork bringing a baby? Hey now, I'm done with children...take your baby somewhere else. Wrong family.


 

Next up was heading over to Dinoland USA. It was mostly a kiddie area, but we did know that we wanted to ride Dinosaur.