Kurt & I were the only ones that wanted to ride Expedition Everest, and...I don't really know how much he wanted to ride it. I think that he just wanted to tell his friends that he rode it. I determined it wasn't worth the trade-off's for the combined itinerary. I knew that it would be a long day and I wanted us to pace ourselves nicely.Safari was practically a walk on, we had very little wait with the groups who walked faster than us already boarding at arrival. I still think that it was really close to 8:00 at this point. This African expeditition was tremendously better than our mid-day one in November 2007. The animals were seen everywhere up close and active.
There were a few babies, as well....so cute! We split, after departing Safari, as Jeff did not want to ride Dinosaur. Jeff got a cup of coffee and our fast passes for Kali River Rapids. The rest of us proceeded to Dinoland. Since Primeval Whirl was down for refurbishment, our only draw here was Dinosaur. It was fun, but bumpy. Definitely, not a must-do for a future trip. I think I enjoyed it more the first time when everything was new.
After departure from our Dinosaur expedition, we head to the Nemo show which is a first for us all. Marie, my step-mother, & I loved it, especially! From there, we set for It's A Bug's Life. Disney makes their 3D shows so fun!! Jason didn't like getting wet, but we warned him. Jeff sat on something because he remembered feeling bugs on his backside last time. :) We departed the less traveled path to the left, directly headed for Tusker House for lunch.
Tusker House has a fabulous buffet. I, rarely, will eat from a buffet mostly because of my own little phobias. But, this is one that I would love to go to again. The variety of unique dishes, salads and desserts made everyone in our group quite satiated. Since the desserts were so little, the boys were allowed five each. That made them very happy!!
As my parents did not want to stay later than our planned early dinner at the Yak and Yeti, I adjusted our plans from the last Festival of the Lion King show of the day to now. We hurried from Africa to Camp Minnie-Mickey, and were there in plenty of time to wait. But, it wasn't too long, our seats were very good and I noticed that people were brought in for some standing room only spots. This show is awesome and tops the charts as Jeff's favorite attraction.
It is pretty hot as we make our way to Asia for our final destination for the day. We stop for water and conclude that it would be a good time for Kali River Rapids. It is a fun ride but short for the wait, even with a fast pass. Meme skipped this ride, took pictures and met us at the end.
We proceeded to the Maharajah Jungle Trek. This is wonderful little walking tour; and, I struggled with the wish to push us along so that we could see the next attraction, Flights of Wonder. I'm not sure how the timing was all working out, but we skipped Flights of Wonder. I think the clincher to the change was the mass of people already claiming spots for the upcoming parade. Although it was still early, we found ourselves a couple spots and waited. Meme and Grandpop were across the path from Jeff and I, and the boys stayed with them. We waited, in the heat, and were rewarded with a wonderful parade...
Did I mention how hot we were? We headed directly for the air conditioning at the Yak and Yeti after the parade. My parents weren't very hungry yet so they had a couple appetizers. The rest of us had meals from our plans even though we weren't super hungry either. The Asian flair food was pretty good.
Kurt wanted to return to Africa for a stuffed animal that he had seen. We agreed to add this to our plans and stopped, a little, along the way for some fun and photos:
