We started today by getting up relatively early and heading over to Animal Kingdom, a newish theme park that neither Anna nor I had been to before. I don't think it was even here when I've been in the past! Our first stop of the day was for breakfast with Donald Duck at "Donald's Breakfastosaurus". That was a buffet-style breakfast with all kinds of good stuff, and before long, Pluto, then Goofy, then Donald(!), and then Mickey came around to our tables to play with us! We met another nice couple from Jacksonville, FL, so we took pictures for them as well (that's who those folks are if you see them in the photo stream).
Photos: today only, all days
In that park, I rode a smallish roller-coaster named Primeval Whirl, which was OK because it didn't have a lot of drops. I don't like drops. We also went on the "Kilomanjaro Safaris" where you actually get in a truck driven by a guide through some beautiful animal sanctuaries. This one was awesome! Anna wanted to go on Expedition Everest, but that one closed down because it was having "technical issues". I'm sorry she didn't get to ride it, because there was no way I was going to get on it myself (reference earlier commentary regarding "drops"). Aside from Kilomanjaro Safaris, another of our favorites was "Dinosaur!", which was a bumpy, scary ride through the dark; it was great! š
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I took lots of pictures while we were there, but it definitely wasn't Anna's favorite park–it was warm, and there was lots of walking, and bugs were noticeable. About 3:30, then, we hopped aboard a bus and headed over to Epcot.
We decided to spend our time in the World Showcase portion of Epcot, where there are a bunch of small areas for many different countries arrayed around a largish lake. However, we swung by Test Drive, a very popular ride in the Future World part of Epcot, to see what the line was like. It was empty, so we went ahead and got aboard. It was great! We got in a little car that zipped all around a test track, sometimes going 60+ miles per hour around the outside of the building. It was fantastic!
The rest of the day we spent in the various countries of World Showcase, seeing what all they had to offer. The highlight of the day, in my opinion, was the "Illuminations" show at 9pm. This is a fireworks and light show that takes place every night in the lake at Epcot. It was really, really good. It started to rain on us a bit before the show started, so Anna ran and got ponchos ($7) for us while I held our coveted spot on a bridge overlooking the lake. That's not the first time she ran off, though; she also ran back to Japan and picked up some tasty items for us to eat, since it was nearing 9pm and the last time we had eaten anything significant was at Animal Kingdom at 10:30am.
I should mention that we got a "Disney Dining Plan" for free with our tickets, since I booked them within a certain time. That means Anna and I each get one counter-service meal, one table-service meal, and a snack for free, every day we are here. We just swipe our room cards and go! What a deal!
Anyway, tomorrow holds more Epcot in store for us, this time in the Future World section. It should be a blast!
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