 | disneygeek.com - Walt Disney World Resort Pictures |
- Started my morning by leaving the room around 8:30am.
- The bus queue for Animal Kingdom was full of course.
- As we waited bus after bus showed up for t he others and all those queues were empty.
- Finally two Animal Kingdom buses showed up and we made it onto the 2nd one and were on our way. Arriving at the park at 9:16am, about 35 minutes.
- Lion King photo op near the entrance to the park, where the 20th Anniversary one was last year, just to the right before the ticket booths.
- The Tree of Life this morning.
- A closer look while I waited for Winged Encounters to start at 9:30am
- A couple of Lemur in the Tree of Life Garden to the right.
- Show time, a couple of birds flew in to start off the program
- More of the flock arriving.
- Preparing to take flight.
- A couple images as they came toward me.
- A slow motion video clip of the Winged Encounter finale
- One parrot stayed behind for a few moments with the Tree of Life as a backdrop.
- Another Lion King photo op on Discovery Island.
- Made my way into Pandora.
- Used a FastPass+ to experience Flight of Passage.
- Even with a FastPass+ it is a hike and a slow process. It took me almost 30 minutes from leaving part of my group until we rejoined them. There were no real delays due to a crowd, it was just a long walk, wait for the theater, preshow, then experience and exit walk.
- We made it into the first theater that opened.
- Why build a seating area without cover in Orlando? Between rain and sun this seems shortsighted.
- The end of the standby line for Flight of Passage was just starting up the trail toward Africa.
- As you walk by the restrooms there is construction on the left. It has been reported on several sites that this will be where the Club 33 facility is being constructed for Animal Kingdom.
- Making my way through Harambe
- Alcohol sales seem to be present at almost every location and time of day.
- Time for a Safari, we used FastPass+, Standby was at 35 minutes.
- Nile crocodiles were out today.
- They had been marked during a recent vet checkup.
- Out on the savanna spotted a young giraffe in the distance.
- And some others closer to the truck.
- Notice how the young one is just barely over the plants.
- A couple of trucks out watching the animals.
- White rhino laying around.
- A female lion on the move.
- More white rhinos laying around.
- Next up Gorilla Falls.
- Some meerkats running around.
- Mom and baby Grace sleeping up on a hill, far from the window.
- Not sure what this large male was up to on the bachelor side.
- One of the others had a blanket too.
- Stopped by Pizzafari.
- The the Otter Grotto
- No Otters but fish.
- Walking on the Tree of Life Garden Trail. The new night house building.
- Great to be able to walk this trail again and enjoy the views.
- Russell and Dug greeting guests.
- Crossed paths with Kevin on Discovery Island near the Asia bridge.
- Went for a walk through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. The Komodo Dragon was on the move.
- The Komodo Dragon was moving around and digging this afternoon. Here is a brief video.
- The Lion-Tailed Macaques were not out.
- A couple of birds walking around the tiger area.
- To get a better feel for where they were.
- There was a tiger in the area, but showing no signs of movement.
- Spotted another tiger on the other side, just as asleep.
- Bollywood Beats performs several times throughout the day on a small stage in Asia across from the bird show.
- Making my way back to Discovery Island.
- Kevin from Up! was out roaming around and blocking this cast members path.
- A brief video clip of Kevin from Up!
- There is still signage up for the 20th anniversary even though the park turned 21 a few weeks ago.
- A small area to the right near the Rain Forest entrance has been set up as a smoking section.
- Time to head to the bus to Coronado Springs. Those pictures will be in Part II.