Day 23 - Wednesday 1 March - Animal Kingdom and Epcot

We decided not to go for early entry at Animal Kingdom and sleep in instead. Til 7:00! Got ready and got the 8:00 bus.

We also found out that like twenty people had been taken off the ship with covid, and other people we knew were testing positive in the days afterwards. hmmmm.

Bambi statue

We went and did the Pandora flight again first thing. It said a 75 minute wait but it was probably a bit less than that. Still good the second time.

Pandora

The attention to detail in Disney parks is amazing. This is a panel in the Pandora Flight of Passage queue

Of course size matters, no one wants a small beer

Next we went on the Kilimanjaro Safari, which you get taken around the animals in a big truck thing. It said 65 minute wait but it was well over that. I think not helped by a huge gap in progress due to animals on the road holding things up. The wait was utter torture and my ankles were aching by the end of it. Did see lots of animals though. And they have actual African elephants which is pretty cool (normally you only ever see Asian elephants in zoos).

Okapi

Nile crocodiles

Watusi cattle

Sable antelope

Savannah animals

Wildebeest

African elephant

Greater flamingos

Pretty purple bird

Yellow and purple bird

Bird

We left Hayley and wandered around the other animal walks. The gorillas were cool, there were some young ones playing right by the window. But there were also hordes of humans right by the window making it impossible to see them, and when I could get close I then felt guilty about blocking anyone else. Sigh.

Little kid looking at the fish in the hippo tank

Bird weaving a hanging nest

Meerkat

Western lowland gorillas

Baby western lowland gorilla

Tree monitor

Gibbons

We waited for the macaws at the tree of life, supposedly they let them out every hour, but none came. Oh well.

Animal Kingdom entrance (in better light)

At 13:30 we took a bus to Epcot. As soon as we arrived (the gates let us in just before 14:00) we joined the virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy. It was still going to be a four hour wait but that was ok.

Monorail at Epcot

While waiting we did the other stuff in Epcot that we'd missed the last time.

This included Journey into Imagination with Figment, hosted by Eric Idle, which was a bit silly.

Took the boat from "Canada" to "Morocco" to save a ten minute walk. They really should make the boat go all the way around the lake.

United Kingdom section from the boat

Went on Remy's Ratatouille Adventure. I think they said about an hours wait but it was probably shorter than this. This is a "roomba" style ride, but it's one of the better ones - you wear 3D glasses and some of the scenes are really immersive. It was quite fun.

Fountain outside Remy's Ratatouille Adventure

The Eiffel Tower

Wallpaper in Remy's Ratatouille Adventure

Themed queuing area in Remy's Ratatouille Adventure

Remy-decorated manhole cover in the France section

Had some linner at Regal Eagle Smokehouse. I had kids bbq ribs, which was ribs, coleslaw and garlic toast, actually quite a decent meal for park food.

Chinese dragon topiary in front of the Japanese tori

Bonsai in the Japanese section. These were put out since we were here two days ago.

Then we did the Beauty and the Beast Singalong, which was a bit of fun but I actually don't really know the songs that well.

Took the boat back from Morocco to Canada.

Epcot and the monorail

Yeah if only Disney would take their own advice and use less plastics

And then we went on Guardians of the Galaxy. As noted previously there must have been a problem the other day for David to have a long wait, because this time we only waited about fifteen minutes. This was an awesome roller coaster. It's in the dark, but it's not as dark as Space Mountain, and it's just really well designed in terms of comfort and smoothness. It's Disney so there's no big dips or upside down stuff, but it was a great roller coaster.

Spacecraft outside the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind ride

Model in the Guardians of the Galaxy queuing area

Had another go on Test Track, but the queue felt really really slow this time. Oof.

The car we designed in Test Track

Building in the Mexico section by night

Finally we did Frozen Ever After. It 60 minute wait, which it probably was, but the queue just didn't move at all for long stretches. Meanwhile everyone with lightning passes were just getting straight on.. thousands of them (it felt like). Hence why we didn't move much. It was long and tortuous. The ride itself is quite fun though, a logjammer style ride, even with a small slide/splashdown.

Elsa and Anna topiary by night

When David was here the other night he missed the start of the 21:00 fireworks/light show because he had to wait so long on Guardians of the Galaxy, so he really wanted to stay and see them again. So we found a spot right in the middle, unfortunately with lots of people in front of us. He camped out to mind the spot, while I went off the photograph the ball by night.