Day Three: WDW Trip January 2008

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: We spent our last day at Walt Disney World at Animal Kingdom. I am not a big fan of Animal Kingdom, but our son loves the animals. Like always, we arrived at the park first thing. We watched the opening ceremony with Mickey, Minnie and the gang. Once the ceremony concluded we began our journey through the park.

Our first stop was the popular Kilimanjaro Safari. One of the most popular attractions in the park, we hit it first thing to avoid the crowds. Because the animals are so unpredictable, no two rides are the same. This time we managed to see the Cheetah, the other times we rode the safari, he was not visible.

When we concluded the safari, we headed over to the Harambi train station to board the Wildlife Express train to take us to Conservation Station. While at Conservation Station, we briefly watched them perform surgery on an animal, met with Jiminy Cricket and Rafiki and then visited the animals of the petting zoo. We then hopped back on the train and returned to the village.

We had lunch at the Tusker House Restaurant. They have a really good chicken sandwich and has become a part of our Animal Kingdom touring routine.

After lunch, we traveled around the park to see some of the animals and stopped to watch the 4-D show It’s Tough to Be a Bug before leaving early for the day.

We headed to Downtown Disney for a stroll and to pick up a few things before going to Fort Wilderness to pick up the pup and head back home.

The trip was great. Like always, still not enough time to do everything, but each trip crosses more things off the list. I loved the Port Orleans Riverside Resort. We will definitely add it to the list of stay again hotels. The rooms were great, the grounds were spread out enough so it did not feel crammed and the bus system was laid our perfectly. While we were in the building furthest way from the main building, the bus system made getting around the resort easy. Plus the walk, while it was long, was very enjoyable.

The only thing I wish that the folks over at Disney would come up with is an improvement to the Fast Pass system. Universal Orlando’s Express Pass system is a great perk, instant front of the line access to guests of the resorts and the select few who buy the pass. While Disney has far more hotels then Universal, they would tie it into the room key and only allow you Fast Pass access once a day for each attraction. Or split the hotels up in groups; for example on Monday, all Magic Kingdom resort guests will have fast pass access to all rides at the Magic Kingdom, on Tuesday that perk will move to Epcot, Wednesday to Hollywood Studios and so on. My biggest gripe with Disney World is the length of the ride lines and the fact that the Fast Pass system does not seem to help alleviate the problem since you are only allowed one fast pass at a time.

This is our final visit to Walt Disney World for a while. Our passes expire in February and we will not renew them. I like to rotate the passes between WDW, Universal and Busch Gardens/Sea World to avoid becoming burned out on any one theme park. Also since our son is about to turn three, he will no longer get into the parks free and he still is not tall enough to ride many of the attractions, so we will get passes again once he is tall enough to ride most of the attractions.