[LLaffinPlace]

Day 3, Part 1 - February 8, 2002: Three Parks in One Day?

The day started around 7:15 AM with the usual preliminaries. We dressed on the warm side as it was in the forties, although the sixties were promised for the afternoon. Bright and sunny--beautiful! We caught a full bus to the Animal Kingdom (AK) and arrived at 8:55 AM, essentially at opening. We went directly to Dinosaur and were among the first to ride! There were so few people that we decided to ride it again. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] We headed to Harambe and picked up a 10:20 FastPass (FP) for Kilimanjaro Safaris (KS). This meant there was time for Breakfast--more importantly, it was time for coffee. Woohoo! The Tusker House was nearby, so we headed there. Now, I stated previously that while the cinnamon rolls at Starring Rolls at D/MGM were good, they weren't the best to be found. The ones at Tusker House are the best! We got in the "bakery/fancy coffee line" (my terminology--give me a second) and both got a roll; Bob got OJ and I got a double capaccino. [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] Tip: We discovered that if one is willing to make do with regular coffee [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] , the cinnamon rolls are available in the regular Tusker House food lines and the wait can be significantly shorter.

After we ate, we had a few minutes so we browsed the pins a bit and then it was our FP time for KS. Together with the beautiful weather, this was a very successful safari this time--we saw lots of wildlife, including elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, lions, wildebeasts, bongos, etc., and many birds besides the ostriches. We went on to the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail afterward, which was pretty crowded. We did see a number of the Silver-Backed Gorillas.

From the live to the simulated, we headed to It's Tough to Be a Bug (ITTBAB), a definite favorite of mine partly for the chance to examine the Tree of Life carvings. It's fun to see the kids find the animals when they can be persuaded to look. But the show--what a hoot! I did a bit of shopping afterwards, a Hawaiian shirt and a polo (since I couldn't win one the previous day [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ) and they were on sale. I had them sent to the WL, a really cool [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] service if you are staying at a Disney Resort for another couple of days.

Done with the AK for the day, we headed for Epcot on the direct bus, for which we did not have to wait long at all. First up was O, Canada (a sentimental favorite), followed by Impressions of France, which is just an extraordinarily beautiful marriage of music and visuals. We then strolled around World Showcase to China for a nosh--egg rolls for Bob and cold sesame noodles with veggies for me; Diet Cokes completed the menu. The weather had warmed nicely and we could shuck the jackets. We moved on to Future World and in the direction of Ellen's Universe of Energy (UoE), stopping first at Test Track and the Single Riders line. BTW , don't go telling everyone in sight about how single riders can easily beat people in the FP line (forget standby) and how often two people will end up in the same car, just one in front of the other in the right-hand seats rather than side by side. We wouldn't want everyone to use this shortcut! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Next: Yet Another Park and We Meet the Weakest Links!