Day 8: Resort Morning and Animal Kingdom (because you can never have too much of a good thing!!)

This morning we decided to have a much-needed rest, and a bit of a chill out around the resort. Animal Kingdom Lodge is so beautiful and has so much to do and see that we really didn’t want to miss out on spending a few unplanned hours here. There are also always lots of great activities going on such as cookie decorating, drumming, medallion rubbing and face painting, plus a whole host of cultural representatives who are always on hand to educate you. It really is an amazing place.

After lunch we headed back to Animal Kingdom. This is our 3^rd visit in a week, but it is such a big place that in this heat we decided to break it into sections and take a different area each time to make it more manageable/ enjoyable for us all (especially the small person with the little legs who likes to moan how tired they are. And no, I’m not talking about Steve although you could be forgiven for thinking that!!) We were the only people on the bus (which led Winnie to declare ‘this is the life!) and the temperature didn’t seem as bad as our last visit upon arrival. Now Polly decided that today was the day that she was going to bring out the birthday badge (last time we visited on her birthday she said she hated wearing it on any day other than her birthday as she said she felt like she was lying when people wished her happy birthday! Bless her heart!) but we couldn’t find it in the rush to leave, so I headed straight to Guest Services to pick a new one up. I think she quite liked the attention for a bit, but quite quickly asked me to put it in my pocket. She’s definitely her mother’s daughter! We collected a few Wilderness Explorer badges and bumped into Kevin from Up who was really fun for a bird that can’t speak!

The main reason for visiting Animal Kingdom today was to go to Rafiki’s Planet Watch for the animation experience, so we headed across there. It’s a short train ride from the station near the safari (which was incredibly crowded and hot) and somewhere we’ve never visited. There were a few more Wilderness Explorer activities to do before you reached the petting zoo area.

Now, I’m not big on animals, mainly because I’m incredibly allergic. I’d taken a multiple dose of antihistamines, but still wasn’t interested in getting too close. Luckily the girls aren’t that keen either (mainly because if anything moves in their direction they think it’s going to eat them…the fact that it’s a pygmy goat is irrelevant!!) so after a quick brush and a long hand wash we were out of there and into the animation experience. I’d got fast passes for this because I didn’t want to get all the way across only not to get in, but there was actually loads of space. It was really good, and I would recommend it to anyone. The character we drew was Simba, but it varies from session to session depending on the artist they have. The girls did brilliantly even though it was tricky trying to do my own drawing and help the girls keep up. Steve, on the other hand, suddenly turned into Bob Ross and was away in his own little world!

After the animation experience, we headed back for our 3^rdFlight of Passage ride this holiday. The girls love it, and whilst I have to close one eye so that it doesn’t appear blurry (really need to get myself a Gabrielle-style eye patch, after all ‘dreams can come true’ at Disney…see what I did there?!) and always suffer motion sickness, it really is an amazing experience.  This time the fast pass queue was slightly longer (around 15 minutes) and then, after we were seated there was some sort of problem which meant I got to view the scan of my triple chins from the incredibly unflattering camera angle multiple times, but once it got going the ride was as fantastic as ever. We then decided to try Satu’li Canteen for tea. We originally had a Yak and Yet reservation but decided to cancel it as we fancied a day where our plans weren’t dictated by dining reservations. It was lovely having the freedom. I love the dining plan and can’t recommend it enough, but it does tie you down a lot so the odd day of freedom (when I typed that I did say it in a Mel Gibson/ Braveheart style…possibly a little over dramatic for the situation!) is lovely. We got inside the beautiful, peaceful, air-conditioned restaurant only for Polly to declare there was a funny smell. Now you may be thinking that we should have told her to get over it and stuck it out, but this is the child whose sense of smell is so overly sensitive that she once almost threw up (proper gipping situation) when she walked into a newly painted toilet, and as we didn’t fancy covering the floor with her stomach contents we opted to sit outside instead. The food was lovely and a nice change, and we managed a sneaky beer/ wine!

It was only 5.30pm but everyone was shattered so we called it a day and headed back to the hotel. Traditional hot chocolate and Disney Junior in bed, and another fabulous day is over. I’m off to have a shower now. I thought I’d be fine without a bath in the room, but the one-legged flamingo stance leg shave is now getting a bit tiresome. I’m so busy trying not to fall over that I end up missing more hairs than I get rid of. My legs are so patchy that in one photo they could be both the before and after pictures for a Gillette advert! 

Have a great day everyone!