Saturday, May 9, 2009

Walt Disney World -- Animal Kingdom

It was a hot day at the Animal Kingdom Park today...I wish that snow in the background was real!We are staying in Kissimmee, Florida for a few days before heading to the Gulf Coast town of Hudson. While we're here we purchased Annual Passes for Walt Disney World. We're coming back to Kissimmee on June 1 thru June 8 and then we're going to check into Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground on June 8. So, the Annual Pass is the way to go (cheapest, too) for extended stays. Of course, right now the Orlando area is supposed to be having the hottest May in a long while. Makes sense....Bruce and I got here and we always seem to bring the abnormal weather with us when we travel. In the photo above, you can see me at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. I've come prepared for the hot weather....I have on my giant sun visor, sunglasses, loose clothing, and I'm carrying my bottle of water for hydration plus my spray bottle with fan attached. I resisted buying one of those stupid spray bottle/fan things the first 4 days we were here, but yesterday was just too much! It must have been 100 degrees at Epcot with all of the concrete everywhere you go. At least here at the Animal Kingdom there is a bit more shade.

One of our favorite attractions at this theme park is the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. You are driven in an open-air safari vehicle on an exciting expedition through an African style savannah where giraffes, gazelles, elephants, rhinos and lions roam freely. It is a great place to see animals freely moving about within this large savannah. Many of the animals come close to your vehicle and you can get a great photo from a safe place.

Here is a Mom and baby giraffe on the savannah.

Wow, Mr. Giraffe...what big eyes you have !!
This was one of several large elephants we saw on our safari ride.



This was the best shot we could get of the many hippos in the hippo pool. They stay in the water most of the day. This allows them to float and support their huge body weight that way.


We ate lunch at Pizzafari Restaurant today. It was one of the few counter-service eateries that had indoor, air conditioned seating. After lunch, we wandered through DinoLand but it was just too hot. We decided to call it a day and went back to the RV. Our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters will be joining us on this vacation on June 16th and we can do DinoLand with the girls at that time.




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