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Disney World: Day 6 Recap

We're a little bit behind in posting, but today I'm sharing our day 6 recap to our Disney World trip! Today we went to...Animal Kingdom! 


I love an Animal Kingdom park day following a rest day. Animal Kingdom has lots of opportunities for animal viewing, and the animals are most active during the morning. It's a great idea to start your day at Animal Kingdom early to maximize your animal viewing opportunities. 

On this day we were up and on our way around 8:00. We had a lightning pass for the Nav'i River Journey beginning at 8:05. This ride is located in the Pandora section of the park and it is truly amazing. There are lots of floating mountains, water features, and fun details throughout. Although the boys had zero frame of reference about the movie, we enjoyed the ride and some breakfast before heading to...


Festival of the Lion King! Truly - this show is worth the cost of your park admission alone. We loved the songs and the dances, and Sammy was thrilled with the flame dancer. 

After this show, we went to the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. This ride takes you through the "savanna" where you see tons of animals. We had really close views of giraffes, rhinos, hippos, and crocodiles. The rumbling of the bus put Jack right to sleep for a mid-morning cat nap. 😉

The boys saw there was a short wait for Kali River Rapids, so they went off to get absolutely drenched while Jack continued his nap. 

We stopped for some lunch for the boys at Pizzafari, and then saw that there was a short wait time to meet Mickey and Minnie. We headed that direction next and waited a short bit in line before meeting our two favorite pals. 

Jack got more and more brave with the characters as the trip went on, so when it was finally our turn he toddled right up to Minnie (his favorite!) and was giving her hugs and kisses. 


Sammy got his autographs and hugs in, too. We loved meeting these characters! 

We finished our meet and greet and stepped outside into a torrential Florida rainstorm. Haha. Dustin ran to get us an umbrella and we went off to find some food for Dustin and I. Epcot is typically known as the park with the best food options, but we loved some of the choices here! Dustin and I shared some fries and dumplings before Sammy and Dustin went to go ride some rides in the "Dinoland" section of the park. 

They rode "Dinosaur" (which Sammy did not love) and "Tricera-tops-spin" and then went to meet Chip and Dale. At this point, Jack was napping in the front pack, so we found a quiet spot for us to sit down. Sammy LOVED this character meeting. He currently has no front teeth and Chip and Dale both offered to give him theirs. Haha. 


Next, we walked over to the "Finding Nemo" musical. We've never seen this show and were so excited! Jack was still asleep, but as soon as he heard the music he woke up, looked at the stage and said, "hi fishies!" This show was an abbreviated version of "Finding Nemo" with some fun songs and special effects. So cute! 

Animal Kingdom has a very intense roller coaster called "Expedition Everest." None of us have ever ridden it, but Sammy was determined to ride. This trip we learned that he is quite the thrill seeker! He and Dustin got in line while Jack and I found a quiet spot for him to walk around and enjoy a popsicle. 

Although he looks terrified - Sammy LOVED it. He told anyone who would listen about how he rode the "yeti" ride. 

At this point, it was about 4pm and we had 5:15 dinner reservations and 'Ohana at the Polynesian resort on property. We took a bus from Animal Kingdom to the Polynesian and had the best dinner ever. 😊 Dustin and I ate dinner here back in 2017, and we've been dreaming about the bread pudding ever since. We couldn't wait to come back! 

The allergy chef was fabulous with Jack again. The house rolls had an ingredient not safe for him, so the chef said, "I went to the restaurant downstairs and got him some of their rolls since they are safe for him." He also grilled him a chicken breast, and brought him a special plate of fruit, vegetables, and noodles. The best! 

This night was New Year's Eve, and Magic Kingdom (across the way from the Polynesian) had fireworks scheduled every two hours leading up until midnight. At 6PM, they turned off the lights, piped in the firework music, and we were able to watch fireworks from our table. It was the BEST way to ring in 2025 - just a little early. 😀

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