WDW Trip Report – 02/08/2010

February 8

We woke up to some Ankole Cattle outside of our window.

Our day at the Animal Kingdom began with a walk through the Oasis and some of the Tree of Life exhibits before making our way to the Pangani Forest exploration trail, followed by a trip on Kilimanjaro Safaris.

Oasis photos:

Tree of Life photos

Africa photos:

Pangani Forest photos:

Kilimanjaro Safaris photos:

Following our time in Africa, we made the walk over to Asia where we toured the Maharajah Jungle Trek.  Due to the weather (it was in the 60s), the Komodo Dragon and the different species of Bats were not outside.  The good news is, the Tigers were out, and I was able to get several photos of them, as well as a few other animals from the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

We continued along the path and watched the Gibbons for a few minutes:

We weren’t aware of the new baby Gibbon, but we didn’t see any of the Golden colored Gibbons anyways.  If you would like to read about the newest baby at the Animal Kingdom, click here.  Also along the path, I noticed two things that seemingly were references to the same un-built attraction.  As some of our readers may know, Asia was meant to have a Skytram type ride that would feature live animals, as well as mythical ones (presumably the Yeti or Abominable Snow man).  The first picture is of a sign that was part of a group of signs in Asia (below a large sign for Kali River Rapids).  The second sign is of a piece of paper on the bulletin board by the restrooms that are along the walk way from the village of Anandupur and the village of Serka Zong.

I had read a while back that there was a reference to the various animals that were meant to be on this skytram ride.  I never heard the official name for it, but perhaps it was “Flying Yak”, and the list of animals species was also part of what was planned.

After my random photo hunt, we went on Expedition Everest using the single rider line, followed by the 1:30 showing of Festival of the Lion King.  We dined at Pizzafari for lunch, before making our way over to Dinosaur where we experienced an evacuation after sitting in the vehicle for 15-20 minutes.  Before I get to the details of the evacuation I mentioned some details on Dinosaur in the 2/6 trip report that need updating.  The Styracosaurus was there, but not illuminated and sunk down out of view unless you were looking for him.  The 1st Carnotaurus was working again.

While riding Dinosaur, we were stopped right after the charging Carnotaurus in the pitch black hallway before the Carnotaurus where they take your picture.  The lights came on immediately, and I took some photos (seen below).  I apologize for the quality of some of them as I didn’t want to use a flash.  Also of note, at the portion where they take your photo, your supposed to be looking to the right at the large Carnotaurus.  However, on the left is the head of a Carnotaurus.  I think this is what they use when the charging Carnotaurus isn’t working.

After the impromptu tour of Dinosaur with the lights on, we left the Animal Kingdom, but not before stopping to see the Giant Anteater in the Oasis.

We made our way over to Epcot, first running into Soarin’ to grab Fastpasses, before leaving the park and riding a full Epcot monorail loop.  As we came back into the park we noticed that Spaceship Earth was down, and then Marie overheard a cast member amongst a group of cast members, “So I grabbed a fire extinguisher and used it.”  According to My Fox Orlando there was some smoke that triggered the evacuation.  The ride was operating again within an hour or so, so it wasn’t too major.

After the monorail loop we went over to Canada to watch Off Kilter perform, and we followed that up with some shopping in the Canadian pavilion.  Following this performance we walked over a few countries to China to see the Dragon Legend Acrobats.  If you haven’t seen Off Kilter perform, they’re a lot of fun, while the Dragon Legend Acrobats are absolutely amazing.

It was nearing closing time for Innoventions so we made our way to Sum of all Thrills.  Afterwards we went into The Land for dinner at Seasons and a ride on Soarin’ before we picked out a spot in Canada for Illuminations.

Another great day in the parks was capped by our return back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  After dropping our stuff of in the room, we walked down by the recently refilled pool to one of the Savannah overlooks to look at animals through night vision goggles.  It was a cool experience and we saw a couple of Patterson’s Elands.

February 9th will see us going to Sea World, so look for that trip report soon.

Wait times throughout the day:
10:58 Kilimanjaro Safaris: Standby 20 minutes, Fastpass 11:36-12:36
11:40 Kilimanjaro Safaris: Standby 30 minutes, Fastpass 12:27 – 1:27
12:17 Kali River Rapids: Standby 5 minutes, Fastpass Unavailable
12:47 Expedition Everest: Standby 35 minutes, Fastpass 3:15-4:15, Single Ride 10 minutes
1:10 It’s Tough to be a Bug: Standby 0 minutes
2:42 It’s Tough to be a Bug: Standby 0 minutes
2:48 Dinosaur: Standby 30 minutes, Fastpass 3:25-4:25, Actual Standby 15 minutes
3:39 Dinosaur: Down, Fastpass 5:10-6:00
4:25 Soarin’: Standby 55 minutes, Fastpass 7:54-8:54
4:25 Living with the Land: Standby 10 minutes
4:35 Test Track: Standby 80 minutes, Fastpass 6:45-7:45, Single Rider 30 minutes
6:45 Sum of all Thrills: Standby 15 minutes
7:29 Soarin’: Standby 55 minutes, Fastpass Unavailable
7:55 Soarin’: Standby 45 minutes
8:31 Soarin’: Standby 25 minutes

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes