Animal Kingdom day was an early day, as the park officially opened at 8am, but we wanted to be there by 7am, since they had been opening early.  Since there was no way that we could use Disney transportation and get there that early, and so I arranged a Lyft car to pick us up, which got us there at 7:05am, and the gates were open!  We were so excited, as it was looking to be a fabulous day, and the weather was wonderfully in the 70’s.

The first place we went was to Pandora so that we could ride “Flight of Passage,” which is seriously the best ride I have ever been on anywhere.  Everyone else had the same idea as us, but we managed to walk through the entire line without stopping until we got almost to the ride, and so only had to wait ten minutes.  It was amazing, and then when we came out of the ride, it was already over an hour long wait.  Go us!

Since everyone in the park seemed to now be in the line for Flight of Passage, we headed over to Expedition Everest, which is a favorite of both of ours, and was actually the first real rollercoaster Lily ever rode – she was only six.  We were able to ride it three times back to back with no wait, and twice we were in the very front car.  It was so awesome!

The first time we rode it though, a super crazy thing happened. As we were speeding down one of the hills, I felt a sharp pain in my chest, just below my neck.  It felt like I had been hit by a tiny shard of glass, and wow, it hurt!! When the ride stopped and we were waiting to unload, I noticed a striped bug on me, which at first looked like a spider, and then I realized it was a bee!!! I had hit a bee while zooming along on the rollercoaster!! Crazy! And it really, really hurt. Luckily the pain eventually subsided, and I kept going.  Like I said, I rode the ride two more times – ha ha!

After the fun on Everest, we rode on the Kali River Rapids.  We had come prepared with our raincoats and flip-flops, so that we could put our shoes in a locker and stay totally dry. It was so fun, but our phones were also in the locker, so we didn’t get any pictures.  Because it was just the two of us, we decided to try something we hadn’t ever done before, and we took the train to the Conservation Station. 

Because of all the time it takes to get there, we had never been before, and I am glad we finally tried it.  When we first arrived, there was a fun little petting zoo, as well as an area to see how they take of the animals. They also had a fun little animation class, where Lily and I learned how to draw the hound from “Fox and the Hound.” It was nice at the Conservation Station, but I am not sure I would ever take the time to do it again.

When we got back, we got lunch and headed back to Pandora to ride “Flight of Passage” again.  It was so worth the hour wait to ride it again, and we made friends with a mom and her teenage daughter that are at Disney for a cheerleading competition. Afterward, we picked up snacks – the amazing Night Blossom drink and a pineapple cream cheese spring roll – so good!

Our next order of business was to finally ride the Kilimanjaro Safari, which is always one of our favorite things. When we went to get in line, the two people in front of us were totally the same mom and daughter we had spent an hour talking to in the last line – so funny!  In fact, we had so much fun talking, that when we got on the ride, we rode it as a group :).  Good times!

The safari was awesome, and because the weather was so mild, the animals were totally out and active, even though it was pretty late in the day.  We saw so many animals, and even saw a baby rhino, which was super cute.  It was the perfect way to end our time at Animal Kingdom. (One thing that we really missed this time were the shows “Festival of the Lion King and “Finding Nemo the Musical,” which were closed due to Covid.  Such a bummer!!)

Because we got back from the park earlier, we decided to check out the other two pools at our resort, but ended up discovering so many cool details to all the buildings.  The Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Little Mermaid wings all had fabulous stuff, just like ours.

The Finding Nemo pool was probably the coolest, but it was also very busy, so we decided just to go back to our cute Cozy Cone pool and take it easy.  It was so nice to just lounge by the pool and read a book.

And then, when we went back to our room, we finished off the day by eating some of the pastries we had bought the night before at France in Epcot.  Yum!!  Definitely the perfect way to finish off a wonderful day.

*On a side note, after talking to Kevin, I decided to go outside and try and find a place where I got good cell reception on my phone for joining the virtual cue the next morning.  I found a great place down by the lake, and as I was texting with Kevin, I looked out at the beautiful scene before me and the thought came into my head, “Oh my goodness, an alligator could totally come up out of the lake here and eat me!  I need to get out of here!” I know, it sounds crazy, but it is not at all an unfounded fear, as that has actually happened there before and they have big signs all over warning about alligators and snakes.  It freaked me out so bad, I was hustling back to the stairs, when I almost stepped on a baby snake!!  Craziness.