Disney Days 2019 {Animal Kingdom}

It may have been nearing the end of our Disney week, but we still made it to breakfast at the End Zone Food Court, to the bus, and into the Animal Kingdom by just a few minutes after 9.

It wasn't the overcast skies that brought the first bit of disgust, but rather a "hands on" learning experience all about animal skat.  Who knew animal poop could be so diverse?

yep, that's my boy handling poop...sealed in a plasticized coating, but still, poop...

With FastPasses to Avatar Flight of Passage secured for midday, we began our Animal Kingdom adventure in Dinoland.  Primeval Whirl had a walk on line, so we took advantage of zero crowds.

While not the most exciting of adventure rides, it had us all giggling with its hairpin turns and fast spins and so we got off and rode again.

Because why not start your day getting so dizzy you can barely walk?

Not yet 10:00 and Dinoland was still relatively empty so we decided to get in touch with our inner Jurassic Park selves and ride DINOSAUR.

all smiles before we encountered the "terrible lizard"

This was a first for us as we had decided on previous trips that the kids would have been a bit intimidated.  Perhaps a few were still caught off guard at the most intense part of the adventure...

While it was a close call, we made it back to present time and decided to take a trek to the Himalayas.  There was a distinct change in the weather as we got closer to Everest...

okay, not really, but the magic photos sure are fun!

Despite the "chill in the air," my fruit monster filled his belly with his dream idea of a treat...a chocolate covered frozen banana!

Expedition Everest is a family favorite for the M8.  It appeals to the thrill seekers and the theme seekers alike.

We quickly paired off and boarded our favorite coaster of all time.

Bless my oldest child...she really doesn't like the experience of a big drop.

At all.

But she was all smiles at the end and willing to ride again...we ran to the single rider line, but there were some mechanical issues and it closed down for a little while.  So on we trekked...

It was almost lunch time, but we decided to quickly walk the Maharaja Jungle Trek to let our little laohu see the rarest of the laohu, the Sumatran Tiger.

The skies didn't clear, but the temperatures were warming up as we passed back by the tree of life on our way to Pandora.

The scenery was amazingly impressive (probably more so to anyone who has actually seen the movie) but we were also blown away by our lunch at Satu'li Canteen.  My salad bowl with chili spiced crispy tofu was delicious, and the blueberry cream cheese mousse had us pushing each other's spoons out of the way to secure one more bite!

We finished lunch and went to Flight of Passage.  It. was. AMAZING!  If only the standby line hadn't stretched to nearly three hours, we all wanted to ride again immediately!  After the thrill of flying on a banshee, the Na'vi River Journey was a bit of a let down.  We appreciated the advanced animatronics, but the long line we endured (again, thank goodness for HeadsUp or we would have been really in trouble) and the slower pace of the river ride left us wanting for more.

Everyone seemed to be crashing just a bit, so it was snack time!  We zig-zagged back across the park to get to the African market area.

There we enjoyed ice cream cookie sandwiches as big as your face while watching a lively dance featuring Timon.

We caught the afternoon performance of Festival of the Lion King...such an amazing show!  And then back to Pandora to catch the view as the sun began to set.  So many fun interactive things to do among the tree roots in the bioluminescent forest.   One member of our party may have been running out of steam, so we decided to grab dinner at the canteen.

nothing like a photobombing big sister when you're too tired to care

Yes, we had lunch there too, but it was light and refreshing for park fare and many of us got the exact same thing we had for lunch!  Now fully dark, we headed back over to Asia to experience Expedition Everest in the dark.  It was a totally different experience!

From there it was back to the Tree of Life for the Nighttime Awakenings show.  So fun to see the different animals highlighted!

Several had been asking for cake pops all day and closing the night down with them seemed like a great idea.  Besides Mommy and Daddy couldn't pass up decaf cappuccinos and we still had plenty of snack credits to burn...

On the way out, we stopped in Windtraders to do some shopping.  Ky and DQ carefully selected rings and necklaces.  We thought we were done.  But just then I made the mistake of checking the MyDisney app to discover Expedition Everest had a 5 minute wait.

What a dilemma.

We were all nearly dead on our feet, but a mere five minutes on our very favorite roller coaster?

Family democracy to the rescue.  Seven votes to throw the caution of an earlier bedtime to the wind and race to the mountain to one.

I'll let you guess the nay sayer...

I mean.  It was nearly 8pm after all...

(No tweens were harmed in this social experiment and attitudes improved greatly upon arrival back at our hotel when pajamas were donned).