Day 1: Travel/Animal Kingdom/Hollywood Studios
In order to maximize our time in the parks Amy and I chose a rather insane flight schedule that had us leaving for the airport at 3:30am Friday for a 5:30am flight.
No trip to Disney begins without stopping at Bruger’s Bagels at the Pittsburgh International Airport. This trip we decided to share a breakfast sandwich with the knowledge that we would soon be eating tons of awesome Disney food.
Our flight departed on time and before we knew it we were stepping off the Magical Express at Coronado Springs and immediately boarded a bus to Animal Kingdom. We walked into the park at 9:20am, twenty minutes after opening and less than four hours since we had been in Pittsburgh, PA!
First stop - Say hello to Lyle the anteater (we named him) to the left of the park entrance. To our disappointment he must not have been awake and ready to start the day.
We headed to Dinosaur and enjoyed a short wait since it was still early. For the life of me I still can’t stop myself from closing my eyes when the dinosaur jumps out from above at the end of the ride. I think a ride photo would be great there just to see how crazy scared I actually look.
Walking back from Dinoland U.S.A. we stumbled upon Animal Encounters: Winged Encounters - The Kingdom Takes Flight in front of Tree of Life. I found the show amazing and highly recommend trying to catch it.
At this point our stomachs were beginning to growl and luckily it was nearing 10:30am when Satu’li Canteen at Pandora opens! Amy went with a Chili-Garlic Shrimp Bowl with noodles, while I went with the Combination Grilled Beef and Chicken bowl with the potato hash and creamy herb dressing. We washed it down with a Hawkes’ Grog Ale and finished the meal with the Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousse. Satu’li in my opinion is one of the best quick service restaurants in all of Walt Disney World.
While awaiting our first FastPass of the day we decided to check out UP! A Great Bird Adventure. We both enjoyed the show since it was our first time seeing it and I don’t recall seeing the previous version prior to the UP additions. I can see why some don’t enjoy it but we sat up in the back near where some of the birds land throughout the show and had the additional element of nervously avoiding being pooped on. All in all it is something you should check out if you’ve experienced Animal Kingdom several times and looking for something new.
Next up for our first FastPass we visited Disco Yeti on Expedition Everest. We love this ride, although I’m not a huge fan of the backwards portion and for years thought it went upside down (it does not).
We then walked to Africa and got in line for the 1pm showing of Festival of the Lion King. This is a must do on every trip!! Two things always stick out to me about this show: First, it is the love my wife has for it. She cried the first time she saw it and still stares in awe each time we have gone since. Second, is how much fun the cast members in this show always appear to be having. Doing the same show 6-8 times per day has to be extremely challenging and tiring but they make it seem effortless and are always smiling.
With time to kill before our next FastPass we walked around and just enjoyed being in the park for a while. For us Animal Kingdom is likely our second favorite park, and just being there is sometimes all we need to have an amazing time.
Kilimanjaro Safaris was next and we were thrilled we got to see the new baby giraffe born earlier that week. Your guide on the safari really makes or breaks the fun of the ride and I wish I remembered the name of ours because she did a wonderful job.
Finally - the time had come to jump on the back of a banshee and fly around Pandora in Avatar Flight of Passage. I can not explain how much we love this attraction. Each time we ride it we see or experience something new and it is equally fun to sit next to someone experiencing the ride for the first time and reliving what that experience was like.
As we left for our dinner reservation guess who showed up… HI LYLE!
When we planned our trip we had decided from the start not to stay in Animal Kingdom during our first evening. Although we originally were going to head to Disney Springs we changed our minds a few days before departing and booked dinner at The Hollywood Brown Derby before enjoying Fantasmic!
While we should have learned this on our last trip, we again experienced the joys of WDW Transportation in attempting to get to Hollywood Studios. With 45 minutes to get there we cut it close and walked in to dinner 3 minutes before our grace period for the reservation ended (12 minutes after the reservation). Lesson learned.
This was our first time dining at HBD after hearing some decent reviews. We of course had to try the cobb salad with Amy getting the dinner sized cobb with shrimp while I got a side cobb and the filet entree. All in all I will say this… I got a cobb salad and a decent steak. Nothing about the meal stood out and made me want to come running back to the restaurant. The food was good and the salad unique but at the end of the day it was not on my list of best Disney dining experiences. We also tried a trio of deserts with grapefruit cake, warm blueberry cobbler, and dark chocolate cremeux. This carried the same “meh” feel that the entrees had. The service and charm of the restaurant is wonderful though and if looking for someplace to go back to in Hollywood Studios it would be on the list and is likely one of the better options in that park.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love Steamboat Willie… so of course we had to see Fantasmic! We were lucky enough to find a last minute FastPass prior to dinner and settled into our seats. While the venue at HS is superior to
Disneyland, the show is pretty sad when compared to there version that we saw last Summer. It is almost a game of figuring out what element won’t work each time we see it. I love the show though and hope they take the time to give it some much needed TLC once the construction attention shifts away from Galaxy’s Edge.
After being awake now for going on 20 hours it was time to call it a night and head back to Coronado Springs. Amy and stayed here in January 2018 in a non-renovated room at the peak of construction for the new Gran Destino Tower. Fast-forward to now and the room renovations are complete and the tower preparing to open in a few short months. I think the updates to this resort make it the best moderate for the price now. Some will argue it is too big but the transportation system makes it easy to get around and it is beautiful and peaceful.
Hope you enjoyed my recap of Day 1… If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Up next: Magic Kingdom!