Disney World, Day Four (Bollywood is Cool but Africa Stinks)

Today was Animal Kingdom day and the fake Banyan tree above is the centerpiece of the park. We began our day fairly early, since our first Fast Pass option began around 10:30. It involved the ant, Flik, from "A Bug's Life" introducing us to various bugs we should not kill. The cool part of that was it was in 3D and included water spraying on you, a wasp stinging you in the back and later bugs crawling under your seat, which you felt, among other things. Very cool; very well-done.

Next we headed to Dinoland, which is obviously what you think of when you think "Animal Kingdom". Personally, I think of Mutual of Omaha, but I digress.

We went on a few rides in this area you see off to the right, including a spinning, twirling roller coaster that was a bit scary for Zac.  Then a dino-themed ride "back in time". Zac thought this was scary.  After this we had lunch in the area and it was a much better experience than our lunch at Epcot the other day. Better setup, better layout, lots of seating.

We then headed to Africa, or at least the section of the park that aims to be some area of Africa. I found it smelly and extremely packed, which is probably what some of the main cities are like, honestly. So, good job, Disney!  

We went on a safari ride in a very large vehicle. Aside from barely understanding our monotone driver thanks to her speaking so quickly, we did pick up a few words so we'd know which animals to look for. To the left are Black Rhinos, with Zac of course.

On the way out, we had some time and were trying to locate a Fast Pass station to add another activity. On the way there were drums set up so kids could play. Many different types and sounds which, if it hadn't been so hot and sunny right there (don't let the shade in the picture fool you), would've been a good spot to let the kids play a bit.

From here we found the FastPass place and added a roller coaster on Mt. Everest to our plans. This is where Bollywood comes in. In front of an Indian restaurant (for you politically correct types, that was "Indian") called Yak & Yeti was a DJ playing Bollywood dance music. Think club music with an Indian twist; very cool. In front of him were two Indian dancers in full garb (how they didn't melt is beyond me) dancing and doing moves that looked like a lot of fun.  A number of people joined in, including very small kids, and everyone enjoyed it quite a bit.  That was good entertainment for at least 20 minutes or so, before and after we went on a water ride.

Since we had some time before Everest, we went through the Kali Rapids, a water ride in a very large inner-tube. We could've done this one all day. At one point we hit a wave of water hard enough to where it rose up above the tube, a good 10 feet, and absolutely drenched Gary (Katy's dad). Incredibly fun and funny.  Of course, his phone didn't work for a few hours after that, but it came back.

After that we hit the roller coaster. Zac was with me and the initial part seemed fairly tame, right up until we got to the point where it stopped where it looked like the track was broken. When we began to drift backward, most of us had some thought similar to, "Are we really going back the same way we came? That was short."

Oh were we wrong. It shot us backward inside the mountain (which was cold, so that was great) at a high rate of speed with twists and turns and at one point it almost felt like we were close to going upside down. I know we didn't, but it was a sharp angle. No way to tell, because most of the time it was pitch black so you were just guessing at what was happening.  Zac did pretty well.  It was quite an adrenaline rush (plenty of speed) but he wasn't crazy about when the Abominable Snowman showed up inside the mountain in shadow form and attacked the track.  Overall, fun ride.

We had dinner plans elsewhere and needed to head back to Magic Kingdom to catch the monorail. By this point Katy was really struggling with the heat so she and I stayed in the train station near the entrance while everyone else headed off to find characters to take pics with.

A storm had rolled in and around and I snapped this one of the square inside the entrance, storm clouds above. A store visible in this shot is the Chapeau, which happened to be fairly empty, so we took the unexpected opportunity to get Zac's mouse ears embroidered with his name. It took maybe three or four minutes, which was a minor miracle, honestly.  Once everyone else was done, they met us back here and we headed to the monorail to the Contemporary Resort, which is where we had reservations, at this place:

Look how excited we were! I promise you we got better, but honestly, after walking probably three or four miles, at least, in heat and humidity from mid-morning until evening, we were a little worn out.  :)

These seats, though, were the best things we'd sat on all day. Super soft and comfortable and I wouldn't have minded waiting longer for our table if we'd had to, but I guess with dinner at 9 p.m., you really don't need to wait any longer. That is one late meal, I have to say.

We saw several characters roll through, but Mickey is the star attraction here and is also the one the kids were most excited to see, though I think they had the most fun with Pluto, to be honest.

Mandy was, I kid you not, almost drooling waiting for Mickey to get to our table once she saw him. I saw her wipe her mouth in anticipation so I know it to be true.  :)  

Whenever the characters drop by, they act very excited and encourage the kids to come hug them and let the parents take advantage of the obvious picture opportunities. We saw several characters twice on the night, but Mickey just the one time.

I had a hard time getting Zac in a shot because Jamie kept stepping in front of him (seems to be a habit) but Zac was smart enough to duck his head out toward me so I could see and as you can see, Mickey is looking right at us as well.  Best I can get? OK, I will take it!

The food at Chef Mickey's is pretty good. It's a buffet, which is great for the kids, and there is great variety throughout the salad bar and entree areas, including a carving station. Food was at least on par with The Crystal Palace, where we ate Monday night and the kids had an incredible time and thought it was great fun. I'm happy Zac and Ryan have had so much time to be together as well, because they seem to really enjoy each other, though I honestly have no idea what they are talking about most of the time.

I leave you with this picture of Katy and Zac exiting Chef Mickey's as we headed back to the monorail to Magic Kingdom so we could walk to the bus to head back the hotel. Long, long day everyone, so tomorrow, it looks like we'll go out much later and just hit Epcot again. We'll do supper at a German place and see if we can catch a ride or two for Zac to enjoy. Mostly I think we'll just relax and maybe hang out near the pool.  Now here's that pic: