After hibernating a bit the day before, I woke up to feel a tad bit better on our Animal Kingdom day. I managed to get down a few bites of breakfast and we were off to walk the wonderfully shaded trails of Animal Kingdom, certainly a great choice in my book for this day in particular. We moved a bit slower and found quite a few benches but we still managed to see all that we had hoped.
With fastpasses for some of the more popular rides, we headed straight back to Dinosaur where our riders barely had to wait. I was hoping to maybe get on this ride this trip as I hadn’t yet been, but instead, I happily sat out with my little non-rider and took advantage of a few more minutes of rest. Once all of the group was out of the Dinosaur ride, we made our way back to the safari for our fastpasses.
In route to Asia, we passed the Allergy Kiosk, you know the one I raved about last trip, that stands conveniently towards the front of the park by the Bug’s Life show. Since this time I was totally not my usual hungry self by mid-morning I wasn’t really in the mood for anything BabyCakes, but since we had some snack credits to use and I hadn’t eaten but two bites of toast that morning I decided to pick up a gluten free chocolate glazed donut like last time (check out my review here from before). Throughout the morning, I nibbled on the donut and managed to eat most of it, that’s how you know the donut was that good seeing as I had zero appetite but managed to convince myself to eat most of the sweet treat.
Soon enough we had arrived at our destination and hopped on board for the morning safari ride. Our little girl was so tuckered out already that she decided on an early nap for herself (little did she know that Mommy would’ve gladly joined her). The animals were all out and about, grazing along happily and giving us some great picture worthy moments. When the safari came to a close, in the transition from arms to stroller little one woke up after her cat nap and was ready to explore the Pangani Forest Trail, one of our favorite things to do in Animal Kingdom.
The trail let out near Camp Minnie and Mickey where we decided to stop in since the line was on the shorter side. After some hugs and pictures we were off to experience the Kali River Rapids. This was another ride that I hadn’t been on yet, so Dan and I were excited to maybe get to go on this one together while little one was out with her cousin, Aunt, and Nanny. It’s no surprise that we managed to get ourselves in the wet seats, Dan more so than me, but it was certainly a welcomed cool down since it was so hot. This really was a great ride and I can’t wait to take our little one on here someday.
Another trail walk later and we found ourselves in a rain shower under the awning at Flame Tree Barbecue for lunch. While Dan managed the ordering, I headed down to snag tons of dry seats for our group under some coverings along the river overseeing Expedition Everest, a view that the kids loved. I was kind of disappointed that one of my favorite lunch spots in Disney happened to fall on a day that my stomach was still not right but don’t worry I did manage to squeeze in a little bit of my favorite barbecue dish here. That day I decided to order the pulled pork, sans bun, with the usual accompaniments. The pork was deliciously tender and juicy, just how I remembered, and hit the tiny pang of hunger that I was starting to feel (Sorry no recent picture on this one either, I certainly didn’t want to even look at food let alone take pictures of it.). To give you a little reminder though, here’s a picture from our last trip that certainly portrays just how tasty the pulled pork is.
After eating some of the pulled pork, enjoying a nice cold drink, and waiting out the rain, we wandered around the park a little while more checking out wait times on other rides and shopping a bit too. After a busy morning I for one was ready to head out and rest a bit before our dinner that night in Epcot’s Mexico. It was a fantastic day in Animal Kingdom, and even though I wasn’t feeling the best, I’m so glad I decided to not stay in and miss out on some great memories. It was just the kind of day I needed to get going again without baking in the sun all day. And may I just say, seeing as the first real bites of food that I managed to squeeze down in my sicky state were at Animal Kingdom, I think it’s safe to say that the gluten free eats that I’m able to get here, from the BabyCakes treats at the Allergy Kiosk to the Flame Tree Barbecue pulled pork, are some of my favorites by far.
Have A Magical Day,
Lindsay