A safari, a preferred fireworks viewing and spending time at the MK until the early morning hours

Finally we were able to get up early enough to make it to a park earlier in the morning. We got ready, had some Coke, leftover cake and cookies for breakfast and headed out to the Animal Kingdom. We arrived there shortly after the park opened and headed for Everest. We picked up Fastpasses, then headed for the regular line, which was pretty short, about 10 minutes. It was actually a walk through. So we asked if we could ride front row and needless to say we got on the next train front row.

Since the line was still short we rode a second time, this time towards the middle of the train. After that we walked over to Kilimanjaro Safari. There was about half an hours wait, but we got in line anyway. The line moved very slowly for the first part, but then picked up some “speed” and in 20 minutes we were on our safari jeep. We had the whole front row to ourselves and got some really nice photos. After the safari we picked up a Fastpass for the safari lateron in the day before we went and saw “It’s tough to be a bug”.

Thankfully there were lots of newbies, so watching them doubled the fun. By then it was past 11 and we were getting hungry. We had decided on trying Flame Tree Barbeque, since I had read so many good reviews about it. They had just started serving and had only one cash register open. There was a family of five on one side and us on the other. Well, the family ordered, changed, dumped items, ordered again, changed again for about 5 minutes!

It took ages for them to make their minds up. When they finally were done ordering they told the Castmember they were on the Dining Plan. Now they had to redo the whole thing, since they had ordered too many items and alcoholic drinks. I really admired the Castmember for never loosing her cool.

When it was our turn to order we had had enough time to make our minds up and our order was in in a few seconds. We wanted to share the two orders and had decided on trying the 1/2 Slab of St. Louis Ribs served with baked beans and corn muffin and the Pulled Beef Sandwich served with baked beans. We had two diet cokes to wash it all down with and a Key Lime Pie and a Frozen Lemonade for dessert. After we had picked up food, we followed a path behind the restaurant.

It led to a covered area where you had a perfect view of Expedition Everest. We chose a table right by the water’s edge and tasted our lunch. The ribs were very good. They were spicy and tender, the corn muffin was freshly baked and delicious, the baked beans were a bit sweet, but the more you ate, the better they got. The Pulled Beef Sandwich was tender and juicy and very nice too. We enjoyed our lunch there were much, staying longer than we had intended to.

When we finally left we discovered that there were lots of tables all around the restaurant and they all were in very scenic settings. We then went back to Expedition Everest to use our Fastpass. This time we got to ride at the very back of the train. It was a terrific and fun ride as always. By then it was already time to go on safari again. When we got there, there was a long line at the Fastpass entrance. A Castmember came over to explain, that some of the animals had chosen to stop on the track and caused the safari to stop. But they should be running again shortly. Just when we were wondering if we should stay the line started moving. It moved fast, since they held the regular line to get the Fastpassers through. We got exactly the same row as the first time around and enjoyed the safari again.

When we got off we walked towards the exit and went back to our resort. We relaxed for a while and watched some TV before we got ready to go out again. We drove over to Epcot, parked the car and walked over to World Showcase. Today’s dinner was at the Tokyo Dining Restaurant. We were too early, so went and had a look at things in the shop before we went up to the Dining Room.

There we found out that our reservation was actually for the Teppan Edo even though I had told the reservationist several times which one I wanted. We asked if there was any chance they could change it for us and yes, they could. After about 15 minutes we were seated. Our server was very nice and spoke very softly, so we had trouble understanding. We both had diet cokes again and ordered our main courses.

I had the Ginza Gozen a Tempura and sushi combination, while Tom had the Shinjuku Gozen, a Tempura and sashimi combination. I have not had many Japanese dining experiences, so I had to get used to it, but really liked my platter. Tom was in awe with his, his fish was very fresh and tasty and he loved his food.

Tom chose the Green Tea Pudding as his dessert and we were pleasantly surprised it didn’t taste bitter, like green tea sometimes does. I had the Chocolate Ginger Cake. What a surprise! A light sponge cake with chocolate cream and a light ginger finish. Very nice. After dinner we went through World Showcase, exploring the different countries again.

A little later we went back to Morocco for our Preferred Fireworks Viewing. The spot to view the fireworks is the boat landing dock in Morocco.

We were the first people there, handed in our vouchers and looked for the perfect spot. We took a lot of photos of OUR spot before a few other people came, shortly before the fireworks started. This was a perfect spot to watch Illuminations and we were lucky enough to see it before the Inferno barge went into refurbishment. After the fireworks we took our time to leave the park, since we didn’t want to get into the rush over to the Magic Kingdom.

Instead we went back to the resort, relaxed for some time and headed over to the Magic Kingdom at 11.30pm. There were Extra Magic Hours from midnight until 3am. We arrived shortly before midnight, picked up our wristbands and headed towards the rides. The peoplemover was our first choice since there were still a lot of people in the park. They were giving out Fastpasses for Space Mountain, so we picked one up before we went over to do Philharmagic.

Winnie the Pooh was next, followed by Snow White and It’s a small world. Our next stop was the Haunted Mansion.

By then the park had emptied out a lot and the lines had gotten rather short. We then checked out a few more shops along Liberty Square before we went over to Big Thunder Mountain. They still had Fastpasses, so we picked some up there as well. But there was just a short line, so we got in line right away as well. Next stop Pirates! Another fun filled ride. After that we slowly walked over to Space Mountain again to use our Fastpasses.

They were nice to have, but there was just a very short line anyway. So we got in line again and rode again. Then we had to make our way back to Big Thunder Mountain again, so across the park we went. First we rode with our Fastpasses, then we got in line again, since the wait time was about the same. Next ride was Splash Mountain. Luckily we were seated towards the back of the log, so we didn’t get too wet. By then it was past 2am and we decided it was time to leave the park.

We slowly strolled towards the exit, got on the Monorail back to the Ticket and Transportation Center and onto the tram to the parking lot. We were back at the resort by 3am and fell into bed. No problems falling asleep at that day!