Disney 2012 - Day 5 Animal Kingdom

We set our alarms as usual and tried to get to the gates at park opening. We did pretty well and we headed straight to the Festival of the Lion King musical. As the rest of the group waited for the rope to drop I went to get a FASTPASS for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. In all the info I read the Safari ride is the most popular and longest wait. Just as I returned the rope dropped and we were swept in the crowd toward the theater. To our surprise Daisy Duck was just hanging out around the corner.

Here is Julie in line for the Lion King wearing the shirt I gave her and the birthday button provided by Disney. She got tons of birthday wishes and since the button had her name on it, they usually caught her off guard. I loved it!








After the Lion King it was time to head for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. Our FASTPASS was timed perfectly! We saw a ton of animals even as close as laying right next to the road!

This was the safari vehicle we rode in. There  weren't any visible barriers between us and the animals, amazing. This is definitely a ride we would all recommend. We saw elephants, lions, giraffes, alligators, hippos, and many more.








After the Safari we grabbed a bite to eat and saw Flights of Wonder, the bird show. Though Leo was a bit antsy from sitting we enjoyed as the birds flew over the audience and we saw birds of varying sizes and colors. Here is a photo of 2 audience members having a large bird fly right at them!

After the bird show we had a little while before Nemo the Musical was to start. We picked a shady bench to occupy while we had an ice crean treat. We got great seats for the 3pm show and would also highly recommend it. It is the movie in musical form, a very impressive production.

 

We caught the parade as we were leaving and saw the characters in their safari gear. It is definitely a different style parade than at Magic Kingdom. Even though we only accomplished 4 major attractions it was now late afternoon and the heat of the day had worn us out. We said goodbye to Disney World and headed back to have dinner and pack for our early morning flight.