Florida - Day 13 - Animal Kingdom

In the morning, we took advantage of the Extra Magic Hours to get to Animal Kingdom early and hop on the Harambe Wildlife Preserve tour. We got to see some of the animals eating breakfast.

gazelles


silverback gorillas

The Animal Kingdom had some animals that we didn't see at the Busch Gardens.

warthogs


bats

At a behind-the-scenes tour, we got to see the exam room where vets take care of the sick animals at the park. We also got to see a sample of the food the keepers prepare for the animals each day. Imagine the amount of manpower needed to keep a big place like Animal Kingdom running smoothly!


And of course, Animal Kingdom wouldn't be complete without Disney shows. We went to the Festival of the Lion King. It was a pretty lively show involving singers, dancers on stilts, acrobats, animatronics, and audience participation. We were sitting in the giraffe section. When it was our turn, our section lifted our arms in the formation of a giraffe's head and neck and shouted "Moo!" Yup, giraffes moo.


The next show we went to was the Finding Nemo musical. I think this was the newest show in the Animal Kingdom. They re-enacted the movie Finding Nemo with singers and giant puppets. The great voices of the singers and the fluid movement of the puppets made this a fun theatrical production.


The tour books recommended that we catch Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade, the best parade in all of Disney World. The parade was made up of giant animal puppets (animated by the people beneath them), dancers on stilts, and the familiar Disney characters.


That evening, we took a shuttle to the Animal Kingdom Lodge (a Disney hotel) for dinner. We ate at BOMA, a restaurant that serves African-inspired food buffet-style. We both got to try a variety of new food and flavors.