Hey everyone! Today I’ll be continuing on with my recap of our Disney World trip from earlier this month. If you missed my last post you can click HERE to catch up. Today I’ll be covering Day 3 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Day 4 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Here we go!
Day 3: Animal Kingdom
While planning our Disney World trip for this year, I was most excited for this day of our trip! I absolutely LOVE this park. It’s themed so beautifully- you truly feel transported as you walk through the Africa area and the Asia area. Throw in animals, and three of my favorite rides, and you have yourself a fun day!!
We arrived shortly after the park opened and stopped for some pictures in front of the Tree of Life. I love this tree! It’s my favorite park centerpiece- whoever came up with the idea for this tree is brilliant! Just look at how gorgeously detailed all the different carvings are:
We headed right to go towards Dinoland USA. We stopped on our way at Isle of Java for some coffee and apple cider donuts. I had read about the donuts on Disney Food blog and I was excited to try them. They did not disappoint. Those little suckers were so good!
*Side note: if you love Disney stuff, or if you love food, or both- check out the Disney Food Blog
We got in line for the Dinosaur ride first. It’s dark, fast, scary, and there’s dinosaurs! We really look forward to this one on every trip. It’s one of my favorite rides at Disney World.
After Dinosaur we headed to Primeval Whirl and rode that for the first time. Cooper wasn’t tall enough on our two previous trips, so he was excited to get to ride it. It was fun! It’s a coaster ride but your car also spins around as you go. Then we went back to ride Dinosaur for the second time. Lines were short so we couldn’t resist. Before we left Dinoland we let Cooper pick out a souvenir to add to his collection of dinosaurs back home. He is currently obsessed with dinosaurs!
Next we headed towards the Asia section of the park. We stopped to get a picture in front of Expedition Everest first. Then we headed for the Maharajah Jungle Trek. This is an animal enclosure area of Animal Kingdom and it’s amazing! We saw a komodo dragon- which was really cool! Then we continued along and saw other reptiles, some birds, and two tigers. We really enjoyed this trail. The enclosures are very large, and it’s all themed so beautifully! Especially the Tiger habitat– it looks like a temple. This is a must do!
We then walked on to the Africa section of the park because it was time for our fast pass for Kilamanjaro Safari. We boarded quickly and had a great safari ride- we saw lots of animals out enjoying the beautiful weather. We even saw a baby giraffe! 😍 Kilamanjaro Safari is always a highlight of the day for me. I could look at those animals all day.
Next up was lunch at Yak and Yeti. We’ve eaten here 3 times and it’s been good every time. The food is sort of Asian fusion. We had the dim sum basket and firecracker shrimp to start. It was all delicious- Cooper hogged all the pot stickers! Our entrees were also great- I had the fish special and Cody had the butter chicken. You can click HERE to take a peek at their menu. We enjoy this restaurant and love checking out the decor.
After lunch we saw the Tough to Be a Bug show(really cute), rode Expedition Everest(such a fun roller coaster) and then rode Dinosaur again.
Then it was time to head into Pandora!!
Pandora was brand new to us on our last trip. We were really impressed by this area of the park and couldn’t wait to see it again! It was just as amazing as we’d remembered- the floating mountains, the glowing walkways, the waterfalls, the foliage, everything! You do not have to be a fan of the Avatar movie to think Pandora is awesome. It’s just awesome on it’s own! But if you do like the movie you’ll love it here. The best part of Pandora is the ride Flight of Passage. It’s the BEST ride in Disney World, in my opinion…and basically everyone else’s! It’s a virtual reality ride where you ride a flying Banshee through Pandoran landscapes. Think Soarin but better. It’s so immersive you feel like your in a dream or something! Words can’t do enough to describe it- you just have to check it out for yourself. Go. Now. You won’t regret it!
After Flight of Passage we grabbed a snack from Satuli Canteen– we all 3 had the kids menu hotdogs that are wrapped in Parker House dough and they were so good. Cheap too when you get them without the sides(grapes and chips). You can check out their menu HERE. I also had my favorite drink ever- a Rum Blossom from Pongu Pongu. It’s drink that is apple and Desert Pear and limeaid slush, topped with Passion Fruit popping balls and rum. It’s so good!
After we ate we high tailed it to the other end of the park. We wanted to ride Expedition Everest one more time. Cooper wanted to see if it was different riding it at night. We decided it’s even scarier! But so fun!
After that it was closing time. We had such a fun day at Animal Kingdom! But we needed to get back to the hotel to rest up for the next day: we were headed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
Hollywood Studios
We got to the park early and headed straight for our first fastpass of the day: Tower of Terror! This is one of my favorite rides ever, even though it scares me so much! It’s just so fun. Cooper used to really like it, but the last two trip he says it “hurts his stomach”. I still make him go on it… at least once. You gotta face your fears, right? Besides, I don’t want to ride it by myself!
After that we headed to Star Tours. That’s always a fun one!
We had an 11am lunch reservation at 50’s Prime Time Cafe. We love this restaurant! The theming is great- it’s like stepping into a time capsule from the 1950’s. The decor is so cute. When you table is ready they call out your name just like your being called home for supper. Then you are seated at your table and your waiter/waitress is your “cousin”. They give you a hard time about setting the table, you have to keep your elbows off the table, and you better eat your veggies! If you break the rules you get a little lecture or, depending on how playful your waiter is, you may have to stand in the corner! The service here is great, and so us the atmosphere. But the real reason we love this restaurant is the fried chicken! It is SO good! Some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. Check out the menu HERE. If you come to Hollywood Studios eat here and have the chicken. You’re welcome.
We scored a TV table on this visit! We were happy about that 😊
After lunch we headed over to see the new Toy Story land! It’s as awesome as we’d expected! There are two new rides here: Slinky Dog Dash and Alien Swirling Saucers. There’s also Toy Story Mania, but that one isn’t new. The theming here is that you are a toy in Andy’s backyard. Everything is oversized and it all looks amazing!
We headed straight to Slinky Dog Dash to use our FastPasses. The ride was great! It’s a really fun, smooth, little coaster. I didn’t expect it to go as fast as it did- so that was a nice surprise!
Next we got in line for the Alien Swirling Saucers. The queue has some fun stuff to distract you while you wait. This one was a fun, swirly, whirly ride. Cooper really liked it. But if your picking FastPasses definitely grab one for Slinky Dog Dash- Alien Swirling Saucers has a much shorter wait.
Next up was Toy Story Mania which is always fun! We used our Disney Play app while we were in line and the game you get to play while in this queue is really fun!
We left Toy Story Land and hit the Indiana Jones Stunt Show– one of our favorites! There are great stunts, fight scenes, fire, and explosions! It’s really good. I mean, who doesn’t like Indiana Jones??
After that we went to the Frozen Sing Along Show. I know you’re probably thinking that a Frozen sing-along doesn’t sound like something my husband and my son would be excited about, and you’d be right. But last year I talked them into it because I love the movie(and the songs). So in going last year, we discovered that the show is hilarious!!! The actors who sort of summarize the movie are SO funny! Like hold-on-to-your stomach-because-you’re laughing-so-hard funny. So we definitely wanted to check it out this year and it was so funny! Plus I got to sing Frozen songs in public and not seem like a crazy person! 😆 Go see it. You’ll laugh I promise!
There isn’t a ton to do in Hollywood Studios. Until Star Wars Land opens later this year, the ride selection is pretty light. So we repeated a couple more rides and did some souvenir shopping before it was time for dinner.
We ate at Mama Melrose. We like this place too- plus they have pizza, so I know Cooper will eat well here. The calamari appetizer is so good and so is the bread. Cody always gets the chicken parmesan and he really likes it. Everything I’ve tried is good, but I’d say I like the spaghetti with meatballs the best. You can check out the menu HERE.
We were happy to see some Dodgers and Yankees pennants hanging on the wall! Nice to see both of our teams represented 😊 #goDodgers #imarriedaYankeefan
After dinner we rode Alien Swirling Saucers one more time and then we snagged a spot to watch the fireworks show! We had a really fun day at Hollywood Studios- we left with full bellies and tired feet.
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That’s all the time I have for today! I’ll finish our trip recap in another post. I have 2 days of our trip left to cover. Thank you for reading- hope you enjoyed it!
You can check out my other Disney World posts here:
Disney World Trip 2019- Part 1
caligirlonthemove.com 
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