Disney's Animal Kingdom * River City Belle

After the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom is my favorite park! I remember loving it as a little girl, and well, the magic is still there. Or, maybe it is my love of animals. I scored two awesome FastPasses for our day. The first was to the Kilimanjaro Safari, our second pass was to the Flight of Passage.

Kilimanjaro Safari

One day, I want to travel to South Africa and travel on a real African safari. In the meantime, the Kilimanjaro Safari fits the bill. It’s an African adventure inside the Animal Kingdom. I’ve never gotten as close to a giraffe as I did on the ride! Even if you can’t get a FastPass, the safari is worth the wait.

Seriously, we got within arms reach of a giraffe! Where else in the world could that happen? We were also able to spy a few zebras, rhinos, flamingos, some animals I can’t remember the name of, and a lion.

Pandora’s Flight of Passage

Just inside Pandora, we nabbed a colossal pretzel with cheese. It was fabulous, and the perfect afternoon snack and also the biggest pretzel we’d ever seen! We snacked and viewed the street performer who was walking around in a tactical robot. The streets were crowded so I wasn’t able to snap a clear photo.

One of Animal Kingdom’s newest attractions is Pandora’s Flight of Passage. This flight takes you through Pandora on the back of a Banshee. The warnings of the ride are pretty intense. The cast members will ask anyone scared of heights, or prone to motion sickness to not board the ride.

However, it’s one of the best rides I’ve ever experienced. I’m not even exaggerating. It is, however, intense!

I opted to skip the Festival of the Lion King. I’d just seen Lion King on Broadway, and we were running short on time. But, I’ve heard it’s an amazing show too!