Icatar Family Blog

On Day 2 of our Florida vacation, we went to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  Tuesday was a little warmer than Monday.  It was still only in the 60s so we brought some long sleeve shirts with us to the park.  Since the Nickelodeon Suites hotel is only a couple miles from the park, it was a quick ride.  We weren’t quite sure what the parks would be like during this holiday week, but we soon found out that a lot of people like to go to Florida during this time of the year.  Once we got to the park, we got a bunch of maps and immediately tried to map out what we wanted to see and in what order.  Check out the slideshow below, or click the Read More button to read about our Animal Kingdom adventure!

Pangani Forest Exploration Trail

One of the first things that we did once we got to the park was to grab a FastPass to the Jungle Safari.  Our start time  wasn’t for over an hour so we thought we’d start off on something nice and calm like the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail.  This attraction is a self-guided tour through a forest where we were able to see all sorts of wildlife including fish, birds, gorillas, meer cats, hippos and okapi. 

Jungle Safari

Once we were done with our walk through the forest, it was time to jump onto a  truck for a safari through an African  jungle.  We all really enjoyed this as well as well saw many animals in a natural habitat setting including crocodiles, lions, a white rhinoceros, elephants, and giraffe.
On a side note, the FastPass system is really cool since we were able to bypass the hour plus long line.
Check out the slide show above for more pictures from the safari.

The Tree of Life

Right in the middle of the park is a giant artificial tree called the Tree of Life.  Some 300+ animals are carved into its bark.  At the base of the tree, there is a theater where they play the 3D movie “It’s Tough to be a Bug”.  At first, the kids really enjoyed the special effects with Flik and the other bugs, but then Hopper comes along and steals the show.  I don’t want to ruin it for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, but the kids got real scared! 

Finding Nemo the Musical

Somehow, Disney was able to reproduce Finding Nemo the movie into Finding Nemo the Musical.  The musical version was chopped down to about 30 minutes, but was very enjoyable for the whole family.  The sets and costumes rivaled anything available on Broadway.  The jellyfish scene was particularly visually appealing as were the scenes of the aquarium.

The Lion King Festival

At the end of a long day, we finally got to see the last showing of the Lion King Festival.  This indoor musical show was full of lights, song, dance, and acrobatics. 
By the end of the day, we were pretty tired and we considered whether we should take a day off at the pool or do  another day at the theme park the next day.  Come back soon and you can read about our Magic Kingdom adventure.