Wednesday afternoon began my vacation. And I woke up with a sore throat and chest. Determined not to let that stop me, I headed off to Animal Kingdom by 11:30am. I'd found out they had the "Extra Magic Hours" that evening, so instead of closing at 6pm, they'd be open until 9.
After a frustrating experience with the FastPass line (all the machines quit working!) I ended up just standing in the regular line for the Kilimnajaro Safaris, since that would still end before 6 due to the lack of daylight. Almost an hour in line, but the safari was fun. It was quite a challenge to try and take pictures and watch for animals all while moving along on a very bouncy vehicle!
I walked through the Pangani Forest Expedition Trail and saw gorillas carrying sticks, watched hippos underwater, saw lots of birds.
Then, for some brilliant reason, I skipped Rafiki's Planet Watch, where they have more animals and a petting area. I guess I was thinking I had until 9pm for that. Not the case. So I missed that whole area completely.
I walked over to "Asia" and went through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. That was a really pretty area with lots of "ancient" ruins providing the backdrop for Komodo dragons, tigers, bats, and more.
Then I headed over to Expedition Everest. I found a single riders line and stood in it. Within 20 minutes, I was on the ride and seated next to Really Cute Guy who was wearing, of all things, a SMITHS tshirt!! He was a youngin' though. Anyway, this ride cracked me up. It wasn't a big scary coaster, but it was entertaining! The giant yeti tearing up the track and then leaping out at us was just fun.
Let's see....then I went to DinoLand and wandered around a bit before going on the DINOSAUR ride. Again, not a big scary coaster, but very fun. It was indoors and the concept was that you were taking a time rover back to the time of dinosaurs. And one of the scientists has decided to send us to right before the asteroid/meteor thing that wiped them out so we could bring one back with us. So of course, we are being bombarded by asteroid (laser) lights and such and frightened by dinosaurs, the last of which appeared out of the darkness and ROOOAAARRED at us. Loudly! Fun stuff.
By the time that was over, it was dark and the normal park hours were ending. I assumed the extra hours applied to everything, but they don't. I walked over to Camp Minnie-Mickey and it was all shut down already. This is where the Festival of the Lion King show was, so I missed seeing that, too. I found out later that apparently they did run the shows again later. Wish they'd be clearer about that stuff.
I also missed the up-close walk around the Tree of Life, which I was obsessed with. All the way around the park, I kept taking pictures of it. By the way, this was not the best time to try and learn all about my new camera. I'm seriously bummed about some of the pictures I've taken and haven't had a chance to go back and read up on some of the settings. Trial by fire and stuff.
Anyway, it was dark out and chilly and I wasn't feeling so hot by this point, so I headed to the buses to catch my ride back to the hotel.
Today I had plans to get to Magic Kingdom early, but woke up feeling like utter crap. Horrible cough, head and chest congestion, and overall just bleh-feeling. So I've been taken all my meds and trying to force myself to feel better. The tickets have already been paid for, so laying in bed is not really an option at this point.
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