Originally we intended for our day to include going to Animal Kingdom and then heading to Epcot for the evening. We also had a midday character meal planned as well.
We had purchased a "buy 4 days get a 5th day free" Disney park ticket from the discount outlet, Undercover Tourist. So burning 2nd park admission for just a few hours in Epcot wouldn't cost us anything extra.
But in the morning as I was double checking some information online, I remembered something about Disney's policy regarding the use of admission tickets.
A guest is not allowed to use more than one park admission in one day. That's what the Park Hopper add on feature is for. I had totally forgotten this ticket glitch during my planning. So even before we left the house that morning our plans for the day had changed.
As I've mentioned earlier in this series, Brandi was experiencing the ill effects of her early stages of pregnancy the whole week. But on this day she was really feeling it. But being the "trooper" that she is, she did her best to keep going.
Of course, her health was a top priority. So whatever she needed to do to deal with her condition, we made sure she did. In addition, by Tuesday afternoon fatigue had set in on the rest of us as well. We all needed a long break.
I explain these things at the start of this post as a way of showing that, despite preparation and planning, things happen that change the game while on vacation. No vacation goes perfectly. The important thing is, especially when you are in a multi-family group, to be flexible. There will inevitably be some disappointments, illnesses, and obstacles to deal with.
But they can be handled if you roll with them, look for alternatives, and most importantly, be considerate to the others in your group. Do this and some how it almost always seems to work out to be some of the best vacation memories.
Now on to the day as it was...
Day#3 of our Florida vacation started off with the Conner family putting on their second set of matching shirts.
About 8:30am the 5 of us headed for Disney's Animal Kingdom. Although we were all a bit tired there was an excitement about visiting James' favorite park. (He really was excited in this pic the sun was in his eyes)
Our first FP was for the Kilimanjaro Safari 40 minutes after the park opened at 9am. We entered the park about 9:20.
After Aria picked out her "souvenir du jur", a plush Simba, we headed to the Africa section of the park through the left side of the Oasis, past the park icon, The Tree of Life.
We reached the queue for Kilimanjaro Safari just as our Fast Pass time window started. We only waited a few minutes before we were on board our tour jeep and heading into the Harambe Animal Reserve area.
This attraction has changed quite a bit since the last time Paula and I were on it back in 2010. The story line that featured the guests playing a part in tracking down poachers trying to capture a baby elephant is gone.
The animals have become a bit more visible. Paths and rope bridges have been created to accommodate the Wild Africa Trek, a guided tour separate from the safari attraction.
Although the lions were a little far away during our time in their area we did get some good shots of other animals.
Afterward we would cross back over to Africa and use our Fast Pass for the Festival of the Lion King show.
(I wasn't purposely torturing my family by making them walk across Animal Kingdom twice. The 11AM performance of Finding Nemo was the only scheduled time that fit into our day's plan. Thus we had to cross the park twice).
It was at this point that I luckily discovered a mistake in my planning that could have really caused some problems for us in regard to our lunch at Chef Mickey's.
I had planned our day around our lunch reservation time being 1:50 that afternoon. But on the way Theater In The Wild venue I mentioned our plans for right after the show. It was then that Brandi pointed out the lunch time was 1:05, not 1:50.
Fortunately we discovered of my mistake was in time. If we'd have gone on to the Lion King show we would have missed our lunch with the Fab 5.
You can see what I mean in this shot (found on a Disney fan website) of the 3 main puppets, Dory, Marlin & Nemo.
Once father and son clown fish, and their forgetful new blue friend are reunited in the Big Blue World of The Theater In The Wild, we headed out of Animal Kingdom.
Although our reservation for lunch at Chef Mickey's was made mainly to spend time with the mainstays of the Disney character corps. As it turned out, it was probably the best "on property" meal we had our entire trip.
At about 12:30 we were back in Brandi's Tahoe heading to the Contemporary Resort.
Coming Up: Lunch with the Fab 5 and "ears" to the best dessert ever!! Come on back for Part 9.
