Trip Report: May 2012 – The Kingdoms

       We visited Animal Kingdom yesterday for the first time this trip.  I rode Expedition: Everest then Ken and I got more cupcakes at Kusifiri Bakery for breakfast.

Cupcake #5 – White Chocolate Elephant

Cupcake #6 – Cotton Top Tamarin

                                      
Next, we rode Kilimanjaro Safaris.  We were seated right up front and were able to see really well.  We got to see giraffes up close, and there were both elephants and hippos playing in the pools.  They were very cute.  After seeing It’s Tough to be a Bug, we grabbed lunch at Flametree BBQ, which is pretty good for a change from typical theme park food, but isn’t the best bbq I’ve ever had.  Then we saw Finding Nemo: The Musical, which was beautiful. 

The next showing of the Lion King wasn’t for another hour, so we decided to go on and leave.  Both of us are starting to get really worn out and the humidity is at 100%, making physical exertion harder and harder.

       For dinner, we had Paradiso 37 at Downtown Disney.  Neither of us were impressed.  The server was mediocre, at best.  I had the surf and turf; my shrimp wasn’t great, but the skirt steak was surprisingly moist. Ken didn’t care for his fish tacos. He said the fish was fried and overall the tacos were very “heavy” for something that’s supposed to be a light, fresh meal. 

      After dinner, Ken went back to the room and I met up with my college friend, Laura!  She’s working at Disney now and I was really excited for the opportunity to see her.  We shopped at Downtown Disney while waiting for the storm to pass, then headed to Magic Kingdom.  When we got there, I realized I had accidentally left my key/ticket in the room when I dropped Ken off.  Luckily, Guest Relations was able to print me another one.  Laura and I went to the new part of Fantasyland to see all the fun expansion stuff.  We rode the new Dumbo and Goofy’s Barnstormer.  We decided to go on and leave before the crowd and grabbed hot dogs from Casey’s on the way to the monorail.  We stopped by the Contemporary to get some cupcakes to take back to the room!  I can’t upload the pictures right now, but they were Red Velvet and Peanut Butter Chocolate.  When I got back to the hotel, I crashed.

New Dumbo

Laura!