Last Disney Day

8 March 2012

After picking up our purchases that had been delivered for us then more bus waiting, we got back to Animal Kingdom in time to Fast Pass the Kilimanjaro Safari, then headed for the Expedition Everest coaster again. We could hear the screams so at least it was running! Good ride, no loops but better drops than I was expecting from the restraints we had. Sure glad we had the Fast Passes since we definitely paid our dues in line yesterday.

There was still an hour before the end of our safari window, so we found the Yak & Yeti Restaurant for a sit down lunch and teal tropical cocktails. Finally some good protein and even some veggies to keep us going.

The safari was fun, like the Jungle Cruise but with real animals, including the corny jokes. We saw an okapi, hippos, alligators, gazelle, giraffe blocked the road for a while and came right up to our truck, rhinos were very close, and even the lion was striking majestic poses while the lioness was snoozing on a rock in the sun. So glad my camera can zoom on far and focus so well & quickly!

We had time to see the Festival of the Lion King show, then there was just barely enough time to walk over to the last live Finding Nemo the Musical at 6:15. Excellent shows! Lion King was more Cirque du Soleil inspired with acrobats and live singers and dancers, but Nemo had new songs and used puppets, flying on wires, bubbles and projection effects too! Definitely worth seeing!

After Animal Kingdom closed, we headed to Magic Kingdom to close out the parks, since there wasn’t anything left at either Epcot or Hollywood Studios I would miss. Soarin is exactly the same as California Adventure, Captain Eo is the same, the Nemo ride is like the new submarine ride, Tough to be a Bug is the same, and I’ve seen the full Beauty & the Beast musical on stage a few times now.

The monorail was closed so there was only the ferry boat to Magic Kingdom, but not even Jules had done that before. Too bad we could only see the castle when we launched and not when we were approaching. The fireworks were going as we scanned our tickets to get in but already over by the time we got down Main Street. What a crowd for swimming upstream! 😛

We finally ate some dinner, including Mickey sprinkles on our dessert, finally saw the Hall of Presidents, rode Pirates again since the Space Mountain line was reporting too long, and of course we closed our Disney days with the Haunted Mansion again, this time with new shirts showing the matching mansion behind us.

Goodbye Disney! Can’t believe we had a 5 day pass and still didn’t see everything! We might have been able to if we got up early every day, but this is vacation and neither of us are morning people. 😉