Day Two: Animal Kingdom

animals walking everywhere on the Safari can sometimes slow down an vehicle

this female Lion was sunning herself. we never saw the male on this trip

the Zebras are new to the safari

this daddy gorilla had a baby gorilla running around also.

Flame Tree Barbecue...consistently yummy

Ribs and Chicken for both of us...Christy substituted grapes for the coleslaw and I subbed in carrots. That is chocolate mousse in the back

The Nemo show

Polynesian Hotel...Captain Cooks for cupcakes

Christy's Chocolate Beer cupcake. Although the beer taste is subtle, it wasn't all that great of a cupcake.

Chocolate Macademia cupcake

The inside of the Chocolate Macademia cupcake

Expedition Everest in the background

The Safari Parade...my favorite

These puppets are my favorite part of the parade

 Dinner at Portobellos in Downtown Disney...Rolls and Focaccia with olive oil and roasted garlic

Christy's Rock Shrimp on Black Pasta

Bow Tie pasta with chicken, asparagus, and snow peas in a creamy cheese sauce

delicious and rich chocolate cake

Today is our second day and we spent it at Animal Kingdom. We had a lot of fun visiting with a couple and their two kids while at the bus stop. This was their first trip to Disney and they surprised their two little boys at Christmas with a trip announcement. They were just adorable to talk to. We arrived in Animal Kingdom and went straight to the back of the park for the Kilimanjaro Safari. We pulled a fast pass before we got on because we knew we would want to ride it again. The crowds were pretty light today and we didn't stand in line more than 10 minutes to get on. The ride took a lot longer than usual (about 45 minutes) because we ended up stopping and sitting still for awhile. We aren't exactly sure why, but we overheard someone later saying that an animal tried to go under a fence and injured itself. Who knows, but we were able to see a lot of animals anyway. We left the Safari to walk through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. We really spent the entire morning like we were at an open concept zoo! After seeing the gorillas, hippos and birds, we used our fast pass and rode the Safari again. We saw even more animals on this trip! The Zebras are here now and they weren't here when we came last May. We were hungry after our Safari and we ate our counter service meal at Flame Tree Barbecue. We ate here in May and it is consistently delicious! We ate lunch early so we could catch the 12:00 show of Nemo. This musical was a favorite of mine last May and I really looked forward to seeing it again. It did not disappoint. I recognized several of the puppeteers and really enjoyed the show. We decided after the show to leave the park and go to the Polynesian Hotel to visit Captain Cooks, a bakery with cupcakes we had not tried. Christy selected a Beer Chocolate cupcake as she is more adventurous than I am. I picked the Chocolate Macadamia. I think we both liked mine better. Christy said hers was okay but not great. I tasted the Beer in the frosting AND the cake, too much for me. We really enjoyed wandering around the Polynesian and doing some pin trading while we were there. We think we are going to have to go back there just to try the PB&J cupcake! We traveled back to the park to make sure that we didn't miss the Jungle Parade this year. Christy managed to sit on a sprinkler head while we were waiting and soaked the back of her pants. She had to stand during the parade with wet pants, but someone riding in the parade did say they liked her new scarf!!! She ended up handing me her pants while in the bathroom and I dried them under the hand dryer. There is way more to do in Animal Kingdom than we chose to do on this trip. We left the park after the parade and went to Downtown Disney because we had a dinner reservation there. We spent a couple of hours pin trading and shopping before we ate dinner at Portobello's. Our dinner was delicious! Christy ate a pasta dish made with black noodles. Not knowing what made them black, we googled it. I do believe that if it had been my dish, I would have lost my appetite when I discovered that the black color came from squid ink!! She said it was good and the squid ink didn't seem to affect the taste at all. We are back in our room and ready for bed. Tomorrow we go to Magic Kingdom. Until then....