On our second (and already last day) of the trip, we decided to spend some time at the park that currently holds the least amount of affection from us – Animal Kingdom. We aren’t anti-Animal Kingdom. In fact, we think it’s fantastically themed, and that they’ve done a great job of staying true to that theming throughout the park. We are huge fans of the detail in the new areas of the Harambe Market, and love the depth it adds to the park. Our problem with Animal Kingdom is this – the park is SO attraction light, that for us, it’s impossible to spend a full day there. This is why we’re so excited for nighttime entertainment to be opening at the park, to help round it out, and give it more to do.
We got to Animal Kingdom right after it opened, for early morning safari rides, coffee and pastries from Creature Comforts, and Expedition Everest. These three things are always on the slate for our typical day at The Animal Kingdom. The only other things we really enjoy at the park is the tiger trail, and Flights of Wonder.
After our Animal Kingdom morning, we went back to the lodge for lunch at Sanaa. If you haven’t been to Sanaa, you need to make it a priority to do so on your next trip. We will have a full review soon, but Sanaa might be our favorite restaurant at the AKL. It combines great food, great ambiance, great price points, and savannah views – which makes it a really hard combination to beat.
When we finished with lunch, we headed back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to hang out at the pool (we are excellent at hanging out at the pool!). We needed a relaxing afternoon after the long month we’ve had. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, we were genuinely blown away by how much we loved The Animal Kingdom Lodge. Once everything opens at The Animal Kingdom, and that becomes a park that people want to be close to, I expect the Animal Kingdom Lodge’s prices to go way up. Right now, it’s usually the lowest priced out of all the Deluxe Resorts, but we don’t think it will stay that way.
After a relaxing afternoon, we had dinner at our FAVORITE buffet at Walt Disney World. Seriously – if you haven’t eaten at Boma, you need to reevaluate your Disney trips. They have some of the most creative food offered at Disney World, and UNLIMITED ZEBRA DOMES. That phrase alone should make someone want to pass the collection plate.
We had an Epcot evening planned – when we got to the park, we were walking around, talking golden hour pictures, and one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen happened around World Showcase. World Showcase is incredible, and one of the reasons we go back to Disney as much as we do. Sometimes when we’re walking around, we daydream out loud about what countries we would add, if we were the powers that be. (My vote is Greece, with a small replica of Santorini, all whitewashed and blue tile roofed, if you’re wondering.)
We stayed until the park closed, but didn’t close it down this night – we had a 6 am flight the next morning to take us back to reality, and to work!
