We headed out towards Lake Buena Vista today to visit the Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom park. We went there on our previous trip and as Rosemary is very keen on animals we thought she would get a lot out of a day there. The queue for tickets (we hadn’t prepurchased our tickets for Disney as there was no saving in doing so) was pretty long and we had to queue for quite some time. As we were going to Magic Kingdom later in the trip we got a 2 day pass which saved a grand total of about $4).
Unfortunately a lot of the things we might have wanted to go on (the Kilimanjaro Safari Expedition for example) were really busy with long waits even on the Fast Pass ( a 6 hour return time I noticed at one point). Plus we weren’t really clear if she was too small or not. Sure it would have been fine but didn’t want to queue for ages and then find out. So we really concentrated on the animal exhibits.
The park was very busy (it was Spring Break in the US) and the walkways weren’t really wide enough for the amount of people in the place. So we were constantly dodging and trying to get through tight spaces. Not much fun with a buggy (sorry stroller!). We decided to head off the “Conservation Station” on the “Wildlife Express Train”.
They have an “Affection Section” there which is basically an animal petting area. There were some pigs, goats and (behind fences) donkeys and llamas.
Inside the “Conservation Station” they have a number of smaller animals, mainly behind glass such as frogs, reptiles and insects.
While out at this area (which was reasonably quiet because the only way in or out was by train) we sat down and Rosemary had a lolly.
We headed back to the main area on the train and then went for a walk around the “Pangani Forest Exploration Trail” which is a pathway leading you through an African animals exhibit. There was a large tank of cichlids which Rosemary liked.
There were more cichlids in the large pool with the hippos.
And there is a large gorilla enclosure.
After this we headed to the “Maharajah Jungle Trek” which is an equivalent walk-through for Asian animals. The settings had all been very well done and there was lots of interesting details. The tigers had disappeared though (it was a hot day and they must have been on their siesta), so no pictures I’m afraid.
In one viewpoint there was a colony of fruit bats. I hadn’t realised that the windows had no glass in them and nearly dropped Rosemary through. Guess the narrow bars (although big enough for a child to fit) are enough to stop the bats flying through!
The theme is maintained in each area. This one was in the Asia area as well.
Next stop was the Dinosaur area. We popped into the Boneyard briefly but it was full of much older children and I think Rosemary felt a little bit intimidated by them running around.
We stopped to try on some Mouse Ears as well. Rosemary does a great mouse impression.
As it was time for the parade by then we headed to a relatively non-busy area (by chance just by on of the shops on the main island) and watched that. No good pictures as I was holding Rosemary at the time.
It was getting to late afternoon by this point so we decided to call it a day, as Rosemary was pretty tired by then and we were getting fed up with the crowds, and head back to the car via a quick photo opportunity in front of the “Tree of Life”.
We couldn’t leave without some animal print ears and a Minnie Mouse though. Although not sure Rosie was that bothered at the time.
Rosemarys Travels 