Disney at Christmas Day 5: Animal Kingdom

On our final day in Disney World, we definitely made the most of our park hopper passes! We began the morning at Animal Kingdom, took a short afternoon nap, had dinner at Fort Wilderness, took a bus to Hollywood Studios to say goodbye to the Osborne Lights one last time, then ended the evening in the Magic Kingdom for the Electric Light Parade and Wishes. All of that and I was in my second trimester of pregnancy! It was by far our highest mileage/step day of our trip walking wise....WHEW...I'm tired reading all of that!


If you're interested in the other aspects of our trip, here's previous recaps:

• Exploring Orlando Area/Grand Floridian Gingerbread House
• Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
• The Osborne Lights 
• Epcot  
• Animal Kingdom
• Hollywood Studios & Magic Kingdom at night
• Beignets at Port Orleans French Quarter

The morning spent at Animal Kingdom was a busy one! It took forever for us to get through bag check...insanity!

I loved seeing the Animal Kingdom tree all together! Last year during Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5K, this tree was located "behind the scenes" in several large pieces on big truck flats.

Our first stop was Everest for Jason to use his fast pass. I offered to let him use mine as well but he didn't want to go on a second ride. Oh well.

I might have enjoyed a pastry and some coffee while waiting! :)

I hadn't been to Animal Kingdom since the new Harambe area opened up! It was really nice and I loved the attention to detail. We did check out the menus in the Harambe Market but decided on our Yak and Yeti favorite instead.

With my being pregnant, we also happened to check out a few attractions we don't see on a regular basis...like Flights of Wonder!

It amazes me that the tour guide guy Cast Member is still there! Wonder how long he's been a CM? As long as I can remember, for sure...he's been at every Flights of Wonder I've ever seen dating back to 1999, I believe! (Edited to add...I found out that he's been a WDW CM for 26 years! Awesome!)

Our afternoon treat consisted of a Dole Whip! I was so excited to find that these were sold in Animal Kingdom!

Our last stop at Animal Kingdom was at the Festival of the Lion King!

This was my first time to see the Lion King in it's new theater in Africa and I loved the new location and setup!

After leaving Animal Kingdom, we returned to our resort for an afternoon rest. Our dinner reservations were at Trails End at Fort Wilderness, and we had plenty of time before we had to leave again! I am starting to love afternoon WDW naps! :)

We decided to take a bus to the MK, then a boat to Fort Wilderness which definitely turned out to be the best option! I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching the sunset over Bay Lake! So pretty!

I snagged a "first visit" button for Baby Seal from our resort lobby and wore it the rest of the evening! Corny, I know but it was fun!

Dinner was delicious as always and we will definitely be back! It's so worth the trip over to the campground if you haven't been in the past!

Well, that's enough for now. Since this day was rather long, I'm breaking this recap up into two parts.

Up next: Our evening at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom!

Have you ever eaten at Trails End? What are your thoughts?

Favorite Post-Race Meal Locations at Walt Disney World

Today’s Wordless Wednesday theme is:
4 Favorites
Host: Deb at Focused on the Magic

There are so many “favorites” in WDW, it’s hard to choose just one. Instead, I went with a theme – four favorite post-race meals at Walt Disney World.

After running a race through the happiest place on earth, I don’t know about you but I’m ready to eat!  Today I’m sharing four of our favorite post-race meal locations at Walt Disney World. This one was a little tricky because to be honest, we like to stick with our favorites (mainly Ohana)….especially after running a big event! (Side Note: Ohana is kind of a tradition. I ate there after running my very first half marathon in WDW in 2010. During the race, my friend Laura and I kept saying “Just a little more and we can have Ohana tonight!” Well, that tradition stuck and it’s become a staple for every runDisney trip!)

A few WDW restaurants on our favorites list include:

• Ohana (mainly dinner but breakfast too!)
• Crystal Palace (breakfast, lunch, or dinner!)
• Trails End (dinner)
• Whispering Canyon Café (mainly dinner but breakfast is good too!)

(The photos below are in order of the list above!)  :)

This last one is my favorite. I guess you have to understand my husband’s random sense of humor but I still think it’s hilarious…..as the waitress was taking our picture, she said “hold up your medals”. Well, Jason had a METAL fork in his hand, so he held it up. Whomp whomp.

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Do you have any post-race traditions or favorites?