A park centred around its animal inhabitants, rather than the white-knuckle rollercoasters it boasts.  Before I recount our activities, I need to acknowledge our fantastic navigators. Tim and I have shared the driving but neither of us would have successfully located our destination without the help of our guide. You’d be forgiven for assuming the navigation was provided by Charlotte and Lizzie, but you’d be wrong. Dan partnered with Tim (and kept him in line with a barrage of useful but slightly tongue-in-cheek comments) and Sophie partnered with me.  After a mini familiarisation session to sync her to my preferred way of receiving directions, she’s been a total legend and we’ve literally seen her confidence and ability go from zero to hero which was a beautiful thing. #RockstarSophie. The dream team (Sophie and I) have guided our party almost faultlessly from the villa to the park, out for evening meals and via Walmart back to the villa. Dan has been equally awesome, but I can’t comment on the capability of each team’s driver for fear of my account seeming biased! And if I say anymore one of our group will say “shots fired” – lol.  

The park is centred around the Tree of Life from Lion King, which is on an island in the middle of the park and all paths lead away into different areas of the park. If you think of a snowflake (or starfish) with distinct branches leading out from the centre with a circular path on each end of the branch linking the attractions in that area of the park you won’t be far wrong.

Kilimanjaro Jungle Safari is justifiably one of the major attractions at Animal Kingdom. And Disney spares no expense with theming the decor in the queue line and safari trucks. Once aboard our truck, our driver and guide talked us through each zone in the safari park. The safari begins with the line “welcome to your two-week safari, which for most of you will feel more like 20 minutes”.  The driver’s script was well rehearsed and was delivered at a useful cadence as each animal came into view. We saw a wide range of animals including lion, cheetah, rhino, giraffe, ostrich, crocodile and zebra. And one of the facts we learnt was a mother crocodile keeps her young safe in her mouth, which is so sensitive she can tell the difference between one of them moving around and something which could be a tasty snack. 

There are so many things not to miss, such as the safari tour, but a highlight for many will be the Festival of the lion king show. Lasting 40 minutes, it’s an abridged version of the stage show with Disney floats and giant animated puppets for Simba, Pemba and an elephant and giraffe. Many of the songs have been remixed to make them shorter or facilitate the acrobatic displays which are part of this version. 

Flight of Passage is a fast-paced Avatar-themed VR ride which allows you to swoop and soar on a banshee. None of us had seen the film so the cleverly themed ride queue was meaningless but by the reactions from other people, it was up to Disney’s usual high standard. Whereas Na’vi River Journey was a slower experience, and well suited to riders of all abilities, unlike Flight of Passage which was tough going for those who are prone to motion sickness or wish to avoid being tipped forward and backwards in quick succession. 

Our safari took us to the Himalayas where we rode Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, a mine train-style coaster where you’re escaping from a Yeti. Due to the ride queue moving pretty quickly and everyone enjoying it so much we walked from the exit back into the ride entrance and rode it again. 

Armed with an ice cream to offset the hot afternoon sun we began a walking safari where we saw monkeys, bats, wildebeest, tigers and various birds. Having scanned the park map we’d exhausted all the attractions in this section of the park so we crossed the bridge into Dino Land, the younger children’s area of the park. Our target was the Finding Nemo show. Once seated we didn’t have to wait very long for the show to begin which was fortunate as the seats were the most uncomfortable thing ever. Since the auditorium was a permanent show venue I’m pretty perplexed as to why Disney chose to use benches made from varnished 1” square wood with an inch gap between each strut.  And the bench back was a harsh rectangle of back-busting wood. The only thing I can think of is they wanted a bench which wouldn’t remain wet from sweaty bodies or drinks that were spilt on it. 

As the show started we wondered if we’d made a mistake and stumbled into a primary school age show. But it was very cleverly put together along similar lines to the lion king show with dancers using giant character fish head props to play the part of each fish character in the storyline. My favourites are Bruce the shark and the turtles. 

After the show concluded we exited the park to try and get back to the minibus before the rain began and risked drenching us again. Thankfully we sheltered in the van before the heavens opened.

From Animal Kingdom we headed out of Disney’s park estates, to “Sickies Burger Garage” for some food before returning to Magic Kingdom to watch the firework and light show at 9pm. Neither Sophie nor Dan had seen the show before and didn’t know what to expect. To save lots of explanations I’ve included a video of tonight’s performance. Once we’d ambled back to the car park along with the ten thousand people who watched the fireworks show, we dashed back to the minibus as another heavy shower was about to deluge everything in its path.

Due to the sheer volume of traffic leaving the park and the poor driving conditions created by the incoming storm (did you know they have a storm watch program on local TV?), we didn’t get back here until 10:45pm and retired to bed as we have another early start tomorrow.

Goodnight everyone!