Wet Roulette

Another early start today to get the most of our extra hour, this time at the Animal Kingdom.  This park, like all of the Disney parks, is split into different areas Africa, Asia and Dinoland USA being the major ones at Animal Kingdom.  The plan had been formulated the night before to hit the big thrills of Asia, Expedition Everest, Kali River Raids and Dinoland USA, Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur and then tone it down a notch in Africa with some cuddly animal watching/touching.

After entering the park it seemed as though we had the whole place to ourselves, we definately came at the right time of year, so we headed straight for Dinoland.  This Dinoland was a lot better than our previous Dinoland experience (the one near Front Royal for our regular reader) the Dinosaurs here actually looked like what a Dinosaur might have looked like.  Here the first port of call was a ride called Dinosaur, on this ride we went back in time (not first the last time today) to minutes before the meteorite that caused the mass extinction hit.  The ride wasn't all that scary, but it was very well done. Next up was another step back in time on the Primeval Whirl.

This ride had a bit more of the thrill factor and was a little more of the traditional roller coaster, it was so thrilling in fact, and because there was literally no line, we did it again immediately.  The second time was even more thrilling, and that they put a couple extra whirls in for us.  Next up was a trip to Asia and an Expedition up Everest.

We had heard this was one of the scariest rides in all of Disney world and judging by the screams coming from the vicinity we thought this must have been correct.   The general premise of the ride is that you are taking a train up Mount Everest, and there have been numerous Yeti sightings. So we board the train (actually a roller coaster) and up the mountain we chug, but oh no, some of the track has been broken away, and there is nowhere to go except the way we have just come, backwards very quickly.  There are a few twists and turns as we make our way back down narrowly avoiding the Yeti, and it was very thrilling, not the scariest coaster I have ever been on, but probably the best thought out.  The plan next was to ride some rapids however on the way there we saw some people coming of the ride and it looked as though they had actually jumped in the water, so it was decided that it might be best to leave this to a little later in the day.  So off to Africa we went.

The highlight here was an African Safari, and like everything Disney they actually want you to believe that you are in Africa, down to the fake 3,000 year old trees and concrete dirt tracks. We boarded our truck and away we went on an African journey, and now I feel that I don't need to go to Africa to do an actual Safari (although I probably still will) as we saw all the animals we would need to see.

While still in Africa the girls though it would be a good idea to head over to the parks petting zoo, the girls were super excited, they thought they were going to touch a baby lion. However this was not the case, in fact you would be able to cuddle with more exciting animals at your local AMP show.  Things needed to charged up again after this let down, so back to Asia we went to ride the rapids.  On the way there we stumbled across a bird show, like most things here it was pretty cheesy, but they certainly had some great looking birds including a bald eagle.

The signs in the rapids line said you will get wet, and judging by the people coming off the ride for some people this is the case, however not everyone, it looked liked a 50/50 chance of getting absolutely soaked to your knickers.  I was a bit worried so was on the look out for a poncho. Luckily there was a rubbish bin near the entrance  which was full to the brim with cling film like ponchos.  I took one, but the others were too proud to take something out of the rubbish.  In hindsight they probably wish they had, because it was our side of the boat that got absolutely drenched, even with my coverage I still got a pretty wet bum, and Amy was not happy.  Some very strong words were said, and I had to agree with her that the ride was not worth the drowning.

To enable us to dry off we thought lunch would be a good idea, so off to the local bbq to get some ribs and chicken.  Not the best ribs I have ever had, but good for theme park food.   After lunch came the unexpected thrill of the day, that being a 4D Bugs Life show.

In the line we were warned that our children might be scared, but none of us thought much of this, but man were we wrong.  If I had been a child I would have crap in my nappy, in fact a few people had to take their kids out.  This show was the best 4D experience I have ever seen, water in the face, things poking you in the back, stink bug smells wafting at us and massive spiders coming out of the mist at you from above.   We were nearly done with Animal Kingdom but before we left we went to the Lion King show,  probably wasn't worth the 30 min wait in line but I am glad we went.  So that was Animal Kingdom done, tonight we had booked in for dinner at Wolfgang Puck.  This was costing us two table service meals each so we were expected big things.

The restaurant was located in downtown Disney which we hadn't seen so we set off early to have a couple drinks and check out a couple shops.  The beers we had were good but expensive (no tip was left) American craft beer however they sold it as an import.  When we arrived at the restaurant we had a pretty long wait for our table even though we had booked, the food was good but it probably wasn't worth two table service meals.

A mixed bag of a day really, tomorrow was scheduled as a rest day and after some hectic days at Disney I was looking forward to it.

Beer of the Day:
Redhook Long Hammer IPA - Citrus nose, clean easy drinking. More of a slightly hoppy ale than an IPA.