We had a wonderful trip, fabulous weather – except for me getting sick near the end of the trip.
I thought I would recap the parks. We had the park hopper option, which allows you to go from park to park at any time, so you can do more than one park in a day. This is nice for those parks that have extended hours at night and you want to pop over there for the evening after visiting a different one during the day. We stayed at the Pop Century resort, which is one of the value resorts.
When staying on the property, there are buses that pick you up for each of the parks that leave every 20 minutes. We decided to do Animal Kingdom on Monday. This was the only park that we did just one day at.
Animal Kingdom is sort of a zoo/theme park hybrid. There are lots of animal exhibits and then sections with ride attractions. 
The newest attraction is Expedition Everest. Scary!!! This was an intense coaster ride, which I dragged John on, much to his dismay.
This coaster goes forward and backwards. As you go along, the tracks stop and are broken (because the yeti got to them), then you start going backwards. It is very fast and goes in and out of the dark.
Poor John did not like that ride at all LOL! I would do it again, but it was pretty scary.
One of our favorite things at Animal Kingdom is the Safari ride. Disney does such a great job of giving the animals an natural environment with enclosures that you actually can’t see from the people side – so it looks like all the animals interact together. The Safari ride is a tram that takes you out into the animal enclosures.
They can come near the trucks if they want, but they are not like animals in other safari places that are used to people feeding them. That is not allowed at this park (thank goodness).
This park was not crowded at all. No lines for anything, which was great!
We had a character lunch at Harambe. 
We didn’t actually know it was going to be a character lunch, we thought the buffet food sounded interesting and then decided to go ahead and eat there.
Lots of seafood, samosas and plaintains!
Goofy stopped by to visit us.
John is not a character hugger. Me? I get right in there!
There are also walking trails that take you through other animal exhibits.
No bars, ever.
John and I had the most outrageous snack. You think when you get a cupcake at a them park that it won’t be big, right? Wrong!
That’s a chocolate lollipop stuck in each cupcake! I about died laughing at the size of these. We would have just ordered one if we had known. Could not finish them… probably a good thing.
Animal Kingdom also has a dinosaur section. A little odd, but there you go.
We went on the Dinosaur ride, which is really rocky and a bit hard on the back (ouch!). This big dinosaur pops out and they snap a picture of you when it happens. I laughed really hard at the lady in front of us (we are in the back row):
This is one park that you can actually get through in a single day without having to hurry.
This is the large tree of life in the center of the park. It is nice to just appreciate all of the work that went into the carving of it.
We were at Animal Kingdom about this time last year and loved it!! There weren’t any lines for us, either, and so we rode kept hopping back on Everest… and then our age caught up to us and we got a little bit sick 🙂
Nice pics:) good to know you had a nice time
Looks like you guys had a great time!! Love the pic’s
I loved Expedition Everest! It was so cool when you got to the top and sat for a moment before the ride went backward! The husband wouldn’t even get on it, so John would be in good company with us! lol!
Those cupcakes are hilarious! We sure are a “supersize” nation, aren’t we !
I would love to see the animals, but don’t think I would do the rides. I’ve only ever ridden a roller coaster twice (on the same occasion), and that was enough!
The animals are magnificent! Great pictures and the tree of life is really beautiful.
You are so brave to go on roller coasters…John too. I used to go on them when I was younger, but I wouldn’t do it now.
The pics of you and John are cute…love the Goofy pics!
Those cupcakes are monstrous!!!
What fun!!!!!!!!!! The roller coaster looks like fun! We have an animal park out here – not Disney – that is like your pics. So great that you got to go! Those cupcakes – yup, everything here at Disneyland is BIG food wise! 🙂 Can’t wait to see more! Did Pixie give you love when you returned home?
Pixie was a little annoyed with us for about an hour and then she got on my lap. I think we are forgiven now!
That looks like an amazing trip you had!
Wow — I never knew Disney could be so amazing! That’s incredible stuff. I’d love to go on that roller coaster. Looks like a fab trip, and you look great too (and so does your non-Goofy loving hubbie!).
Looks like you had an awesome time! I can’t believe how huge those cupcakes are!!!
Looks like a cool park – love that the animal exhibits were so natural, w/o bars.
Those cupcakes! DANG!!!
Thanks so much for sharing Lori!! Looks like you guys had a wonderful time! I hope hubby and i get to go there one time. It would be wonderful to do the Disney Half Marathon i think. That would be a cool medal. lol hugs! deb
Pop Century is our favorite place to stay! We stayed 21 days and loved every minute of if. Glad you had a great time.
21 days???? Om my goodness!
Huh? I didn’t realize Disney World has several theme parks. I thought it’s just one big park… The Everest ride looks really fun, I could’ve taken that.
LOL Funny frightened poses and faces on the Dinousaur ride.
I made the flourless cookies on Friday with the intention of gifting some of them to my friend, but somehow I ate them all myself!
Looks like you had a blast! That’s too funny that you didn’t like Expedition Everest…that’s my favorite ride at Disney. We rode it 3 times in a row! I’ll have to post our pictures on our blog because we were hamming it up for the camera 🙂
Looks like so much fun!
Welcome home! Wow, I didn’t even know they had an animal kingdom! Good shot of the rhinocerous. However you spell that… And that tree of life looks like a live tree? Wow!
Welcome back!!! Glad you had such a wonderful time. Looks great from what I can see so far. Can’t wait to hear the rest!!!!!
Welcome home Lori! These pictures are SOOOO fun!!! Love all the animal shots. And laughed out loud at the comment that John isn’t a goofy hugger. Sorry you got sick at the end of the holiday. Hope you are feeling better. And hope Pixie didn’t snub you for long when you got home! Have a great Sunday!
I love roller coasters! Backwards, forwards, high low, you name it, I’ll want to ride it. Um, the hubs and my daughter – no way! Sorry you got sick at the end of your trip. 🙁
So glad you both had a nice trip! Well, except for the getting sick part. 🙁 Missed you while you were gone!
First of all: welcome home Lori, I missed your regular blogging but am glad to see you had such a great time. Too bad you got sick at the end of the trip.
Love the Animal Kingdom park. And for that Everest rollercoaster: I think I would have let R. go with you while I could stay on the ground with John 🙂 I’m not a rollercoaster person at all.
My kids HATED the dinosaur ride. Screamed with their eyes closed the entire time! I laughed the whole way through because of the bumping and jolting of the car (and that my kids were scared of it).
Ohmygoodnessgracious, I want to go there just for the cupcakes! 😉