disney day five :: animal kingdom

Last time we came, we ate an early morning character breakfast with Safari Donald at Tusker House.  We loved it so much, I knew I for sure wanted to repeat that meal.  I booked us an 8:00 am breakfast which sounded like a grand idea at the time.  I wish it would have been more like 9:00 because we were dragging slightly from our previous late nights.  But all 12 of us made it to Tusker House in time for our breakfast.  {We had a little pit stop in the gift shop for a sweatshirt or two because the temperatures were a little chilly that morning.}  We got seated and all the adults desperately ordered coffee!  We visited the amazing breakfast buffet line and anxiously awaited the characters. First up was Donald.

My camera was on some weird setting.  So all my pictures with Donald are a little blurry.  My biggest complaint with the Photo Pass is that the photographers are not in the character meals.

Then we saw...

Mickey!  Thank goodness I realized my camera needed some adjusting!  Then Goofy stopped by for a visit...

And finally Daisy!

The food was delicious and delightful!  American favorites mixed in with some traditional African cuisine.  But I think the good, strong coffee was my absolute favorite!

We were fueled up and ready for a fun day at Animal Kingdom.  The park opened at 8:00 that day so we were not ahead of the game like I thought when I booked out 8:00 am breakfast.  Our fast pass for Kilimanjaro Safari was an all day one {thanks to Barbara}.  Tusker House is right beside the entrance and the line was not very long so we opted not to use our fast pass incase we wanted to ride it again later in the day.

 

We walked down the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and looked at even more animals.  Then we finally got a picture with the Tree of Life...

We headed over to Kali River Rapids.  We did not have to use our fast pass because of the chilly weather.  Only Justin and I rode with all the boys... 

Thankfully we did not get wet!  Justin still had all their ponchos in their bag from the day before so that helped a little.

Then we headed over to Expedition Everest.  Last time we were here, only Jody rode.  Owen was the most excited about this ride.  We did use our fast pass for this one {again it was an all day one so we were not tied to a specific hour}...

We all escaped the Yeti and loved every minute...

Mary Reese and Sarah Kathryn were mad because they were shopping while we were riding the rapid ride.  So Justin, Julie and Kathryn braved the rapids with all the kids.  Jody, Wesley, Banks and I stood on the bridge and watched... 

This time they came of soaked! 

$100 worth of beach towels later {they conveniently sell them near the exit of the ride}, we were kind of dry.  We decided to head over to DinoLand.  The line for Dinosaur was almost 2 hours so we decided to skip.  Jody, Banks, Owen, William and I rode Primeval Whirl because the wait time was not that long... 

They loved it!  The rest of the crew hung out in Dinoland while we rode.  We decided it was time for It's Tough to be a Bug! in the Tree of Life.... 

While in line you can see how detailed all the animals are carved into the tree.  Everyone was still cold and we had done mostly what we wanted in Animal Kingdom, so we decided to head back for a little rest before hitting up Epcot for dinner.  I made my family stop in front of the Tree on the way our for one more picture...

They weren't thrilled but they did it for me!  We went back to the hotel.  Mary Reese and Banks napped while Jody, Owen and I sat in the sunshine by the pool.  After about a 3 hour rest, we loaded back up for Epcot.  We wanted Mexican for dinner.

My family got there first.  We ordered dinner at the counter service in Mexico and found us a table.  Julie, Wesley and William were on the bus behind us.  The Roberts clan decided to stay in for the night and hang around the hotel.


We ate a delicious meal and decided to walk around the World Showcase.  Mary Reese was dying for  a crepe and I was dying for an orange slush.  Both could be found in France. 

We ate and drank while watching Illuminations again.

Here we are closing down a park again.  Tomorrow is our last day in the parks.  We are headed back to Magic Kingdom one last time!