Day 13 October 2017
We get dangerously close to a lie in this morning as we're not up until 8.00 am. We have breakfast in the room and then get an Uber to the Animal Kingdom at 9.15 am. Good old Uber allows us an extra half an hour in bed compared to if we had got the bus.
We wander past a few
of the animal enclosures and have great fun watching the otters
for a while. They seem to have taken umbrage with the pigeons.
The otter leader notices a pigeon at the far side of their
enclosure and calls to his mates. They all go charging off to
warn off the intruder. No sooner have they finished this task
than another pigeon lands on the opposite side. Well, my little
otter friends are not having any of that and dash off to chase
that interloper away as well. This goes on for quite a while as
we watch them running to and fro. Sometimes that's the best thing
about the Animal Kingdom, just being in the right place at the
right time to see something that warms your heart and makes you
chuckle.
We go to watch the 10.00 am showing of The Festival Of The Lion
King next. Having not seen this for a while I'd forgotten just
how good it is.
We meet up with Sharon and Evan and walk the Gorilla Trail. The meerkats make an attempt to 'out cute' the otters. Nice try boys, but you have to accept second best today.
'Ere, who let them flippin' zebras into our enclosure'.
The gorillas are also quite active today and we see a number of them strolling around.
We're off to Pandora next to use our Fastpasses for Flight of Passage.
The ride is every bit as enjoyable as the first time we rode it. I don't feel as queasy this time either. We all go for lunch at the Satu'li Canteen next. I can't remeber exactly what it is we had, but I do know it was all very nice. Even the desserts are lovely if not a little alarming as they're so brightly coloured.
Next is the Maharajah Trail where we see many creatures up close again. It seems like they all want to put on a show today including the tiger who comes right up to the glass wall.
We leave the park
now and catch the bus back to Old Key West. It takes at least 30
minutes and probably closer to 45 minutes to get the bus whereas
Uber takes around 15 minutes at the most. This isn't a problem if
you're taking your time, but it's nice to have the alternative if
you're in a hurry.
I have a snooze for 45 minutes then a quick shower before getting
an Uber back to the Animal Kingdom at 5.15 pm. In years gone by I
would have considered it a waste of time to leave a park during
the day, but these days I find it so much nicer to have a short
time unwinding in the resort before going back in relaxed and
looking forward to the evening.
We meet Sharon and Evan and use our Fastpasses to ride Kilimanjaro Safari. It's been overcast all day with the occassional very light sprinkle of rain and a little cooler than the past few days. Cooler is a relative term here, it's still very warm. Anyway, the conditions make for an excellent safari as many animals are out and about. We see giraffe running, cheetahs quite close up and even see and hear a lion roaring as we drive past.
We meet up with Susan and Lu Beth at Yak and Yeti at 6.45 pm and enjoy a really nice meal, mine being the Miso Salmon. The server is very good. We are running a little late for Rivers of Light so he boxes up our desserts to go - no mean feat when there are 9 of us.
We walk around to
the stadium to get ready for the 9.00 pm Rivers of Light
performance. Once seated Charlie and I wander off to look for a
beer. A CM sees us looking a little lost and asks us where we
want to get to. We tell him we are in the market for a beer.
'Hmm. I think the stall will have closed' he says. He's good
enough to ring up and find out. Sure enough, it's just shut for
the night. Damn and blast! Back to the theatre where we have to
satisfy ourselves eating the take out desserts - a poor
substitute if you ask me.
Rivers of Light is just as good second time. Sharon and Evan have
never seen it before and they are impressed as well.
We take a slow walk out the park and I use the time to chat with
Susan and Lu Beth. Very pleasant it is too as we stroll through a
darkened Animal Kingdom on a warm evening chatting with old
friends.
The bus gets us back to Old Key West by 10.30 pm and we sit on
the balcony and enjoy a Cuba Libre before bed.
Day 13 video
