After a bit of a hiatus, the travel journal of the Sisters’
Trip II: Walt Disney World (that happened back in October...) will continue!
On our fifth day in Orlando (6 November 2013), Shannon and I
woke up in our lovely hotel room, got ready, and headed out to the nearby bus
stop to catch the 8:15 am bus to Animal Kingdom. We were one of the first
people in line and headed straight to Africa once we entered the park and
hopped in line for the Kilimanjaro Safari (we actually ended up riding in the
first vehicle of the day!). We saw lots of amazing animals on the savannah (the
morning is the best time to take a safari) and after that we stopped for some
breakfast. We enjoyed our first jalapeño
cheese pretzel and some bottled water. It really hit the spot!
After our little break, I dragged Shannon to the Dinosaur
ride (which she doesn’t like, but I love) where we were chased by a carnotaurus
and peppered with meteorites. We next rode Expedition Everest and saw the yeti
breaking apart the train tracks we were on. Sheesh, what a jerk!
By this time, we were hungry again and had second breakfast
at a soft serve (we had swirl in a waffle cone) ice cream cart in Asia. Feeling
renewed, we wandered around the Maharajah Jungle Trek (I really like seeing the
birds and bats in here). Next, we rode Dinosaur again (thanks Shannon,
hehehehe!) followed by a new ride for both of us: Primeval Whirl. That ride was
OK, but way too jerky for me.
By this time, it was the late afternoon and we decided to
have some lunch at the Flame Tree BBG (we both had ribs, coleslaw, and lime
parfait). The food was just OK here, but the real highlight was seeing all the
crazy birds trying to eat everyone’s unattended food. We even saw a huge ibis
eat someone’s salad and then step all over the rest of the food when it was
scared off. Some bystander told the food’s owner to get new food because she
would get bird flu from eating that food that the ibis had stepped on...
We followed our lunch up with some walks around the
Discovery Trails near the big tree in the center of the park. Next, we visited
some shops near the front of the park and decided that we were ready to go back
to the hotel for our mid-day break. We took a bus back to Coronado Springs
around 2 pm. Upon arrival, our room was being cleaned so we grabbed our
refillable mugs and visited El Centro for some snacks and drinks.
After relaxing for a little while in our newly-cleaned room,
Shannon and I took a bus to Magic Kingdom (~4:45 pm). From there, we hopped
onto monorail salmon (that’s the color of the stripe) and rode from the Magic
Kingdom to the Contemporary, Transportation and Ticket Center, until
disembarking at the Polynesian hotel. We walked around the Polynesian for a
while before taking monorail yellow to the Grand Floridian. We walked around
that hotel for a while (especially enjoying the newly-constructed gingerbread
house in the lobby) before taking monorail black back to the Contemporary where
we had dinner reservations at the Wave.
The food at the Wave was really tasty (I had tenderloin,
scallops, reisling, and the “creamy trio” for dessert), but the dining room was
really loud with rambunctious kids rolling all over the place.
After dinner, we walked over to the Magic Kingdom (via short
trail) just in time to buy some licorice and cotton candy before seeing the
Wishes fireworks from our bus stop. We made our way back to Coronado Springs
around 9:30 pm and got ready for bed. Our next day was another Magic Kingdom
day!
