Disney World Day Five

 Our last park was Animal Kingdom. Like Epcot, Animal Kingdom has a much different feel to it. Think Disney theme park and zoo all rolled into one. The FitBit says we walked the most but it was the most relaxing (and easy on the feet) of all the parks. And unlike Hollywood Studios, we took a TON of pictures!

We didn't want to wait in another parking lot line in our Uber, so we got dropped off quite early at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and rode the bus into the park.

We knew the most popular ride in the park is Avatar Flight of Passage, so went speed walked straight to Pandora. We only waited in line about 15 minutes but that was actually just how long it took to walk through the queue line. But I did manage to snap this shot...

By the time we got off the most innovative and amazing ride I've ever been on, the line for the other Pandora ride (Na'vi River Journey) was already an hour long. So instead of waiting, we headed to the other side of the park to wait in the very short line for Expedition Everest...

In fact, the line was so short we rode twice in a row! It was a very fun and unique rollercoaster! 

Then it was time for a quick breakfast sandwich and an iced tea. While we were waiting for the tea, we got to see one of the character cavalcades on the river...

On our way to the Kilimanjaro Safari we snapped a selfie with the Tree of Life. A very nice lady at the tucked away spot, even took a couple of pictures of us... :) 

I'm glad we decided to go on the safari fairly early in the day because we got to see a ton of animals! 

Even the exit queue for the safari has a ton of animals on the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail... 

It seems like there are animals everywhere you go... 

We really liked the gorillas!

We especially liked this guy just relaxin' with his feet up

I was glad we chose to go to Animal Kingdom on the hottest day of the week (it got to 84) because it was so nice and shady and had lots of places and rides to sit... including the train ride out to the Conservation Station and at the Animation Experience. :) 

This very nice animator did her best to teach a group of guests how to draw... If our drawings were awful, it wasn't her fault. 

Then we walked back to Pandora for lunch. This time we got some better pictures...

And since we forgot our water bottles, we both got a kid's meal so we could get a free water to refill. :) 

After lunch we made our way back through the park again to DinoLand USA...

This time at the Tree of Life, another guest volunteered to take our picture. It was very nice of him... :) 

They were hyping their new movie pretty hard, including this very impressive sand sculpture!

Another  cavalcade...

Heading into DinoLand USA...

The queue for Dinosaur...

This part of DinoLand has a fun amusement park/carnival feel to it...

The entrance to Asia...

Maharajah Jungle Trek...

the tigers have a very pretty enclosure 

We liked the Feathered Friends in Flight show...

When a park offers a Dole whip float with coconut rum, you get one. And when it's your birthday, you get a free cup of Dole whip, too. :) 

It was probably a good thing we had a bit of rum because for our last ride in the park we had to wait 75 minutes to ride the Na'vi River Journey...

I like how Pandora mixes real tropical plants with fake ones...

And if we hadn't had dinner reservations for Disney Springs, we would have waited to ride Flight of Passage again. 

But we left the park at close and snapped a few pics on the way out...

We got to Disney Springs early enough to do the last of our souvenir shopping before dinner. But the line to check out was so long that I had to nagivate my way to Enzo's Hideaway all on my own with only my lame Disney app map to guide me. Thankfully, this time I didn't get lost and Chris wasn't too far behind. 

We didn't take any pictures at Enzo's. It just seemed too nice of a place for selfies. 

Then it was off to Olivia's Cafe at the Old Key West resort for drinks and dessert for our last hurrah. I will also be attempting to recreate this warm banana bread pudding with bananas foster sauce and vanilla ice cream...  

Oh, and another free birthday cupcake to go...

We got a late check-out on Saturday, ate our cupcakes and a breakfast sandwich from the hotel for breakfast and then hit the pools before we flew home. 

The pool by the lobby had a waterfall and a water slide, which was a good thing because the water was so cold! Also a good thing that the weather was gorgeous and the pool by our room was hot tub warm for a nice soak before leaving... 

While we still like Disneyland more, we are already looking forward to our next trip to Disney World and we will be going back to Florida! :)