Tuesday, May 13th, 2025
Grandma Terry, Uncle Steven, Aunt Erica, and I all made the trip
to Walt Disney World this morning, with our first stop being at
Disney's Animal Kingdom. After arriving at the park, Erica decided
that she wanted a drink from Starbucks. We headed over to Creature
Comforts, the Starbucks store on Discovery Island. While Grandma and
Erica went inside to order, Steve and I opted to wait outside. While
we were outside enjoying the people watching, a young lady with Down
Syndrome rolled up next to Steve and I. She tried to strike up a
conversation with Steve, but he wasn't overly talkative. She was a
nice young lady who was a fan of my University of Michigan gear!
Also while we were waiting, we saw Pocahontas walk past us, giving
us a big wave!
After the ladies returned with their beverages (and breakfast
snacks), we decided to head to the Africa section of the park to get
in line for the Kilimanjaro Safaris, only to find out the
line was far too long when we got there. While we were in Africa, we
headed over to Zuri's Sweets Shop so that I could buy myself a
Mickey dark chocolate with chili pepper, one of my favorite treats.
We decided to head over to Dinoland U.S.A. to try to catch the
Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... and Beyond! stage show. This is
actually one of the shows that I have never seen before! It was
certainly an enjoyable show, with some nice special effects, but it
is definitely not one I would watch on repeat like the Festival
of the Lion King here at Animal Kingdom or the For the First
Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration at Disney's
Hollywood Studios.
With the wait times as long as they were today for the safari and
Avatar rides, we decided that we would head off to Epcot to spend
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Disney's Animal Kingdom
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An Animal King mural on a gate...
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...near the Creature Comforts Starbucks on Discovery Island.
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Pocohontas waving as she walks past on Discovery Island.
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A look at the Discovery River near the Africa entrance.
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As spotted this Florida soft-shelled turtle swimming in the
river below us.
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A look at Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden
Mountain from the entrance to the Africa section of the park.
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"It does not matter who you are, or where you are from, we are
all children of the world."
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A view of Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain... |
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...with the building replica in the foreground.
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Some photos from my first ever viewing of Finding Nemo: The
Big Blue... and Beyond!
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When we arrived at Epcot, we were getting pretty hungry.
Although I don't recall what Aunt Erica ate, the rest of us headed
over to the Yorkshire County Fish Shop in the United Kingdom
pavilion to order fish. We found a covered table behind the Rose &
Crown restaurant to enjoy our meal. We continued our stroll around
the World Showcase, browsing along the way. Our next real stop was
at the Karamell-Küche shop in the Germany pavilion so that I could
pick up another of my favorite treats, a salted caramel, as well as
some caramel corn to take to Drew.
We made our way to the Mexico pavilion next to check out the
recently refurbished Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three
Caballeros ride, which I had seen but everyone else had not been
on yet. This is not a ride I would wait a long time for, but it is
worth it if the wait is short. I think its too bad it can't be a
Coco ride, but I realize that there is no place for the queue to
be...
Our next stop led us back to the France pavilion in the World
Showcase, this time to check out the Beauty and the Beast
Sing-Along show. After the show wrapped up, and we were let out
near the entrance to Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie, where we
picked up some dessert! We had to get the framboise, which is a
raspberry mousse, chocolate cake, and raspberry jam treat that both
Grandma Terry and I have grown quite fond of.
We were starting to feel like we were ready to go, so we made our
way to Creations Shop, the gift shop in the World Celebration
section of the park, to do some shopping. After heading out, we made
a trip to Walmart to see if there were any good "souvenirs"
available.
All in all, another great day at Walt Disney World! |
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Epcot
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The topiaries of the movie Moana 2, including Maui, Hei Hei, Pua, and of course, Moana!
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The Figment topiary located in the World Celebration area.
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Uncle Steven double fisting drinks at the Yorkshire County Fish
Shop in the United Kingdom pavilion.
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Rodney taking a selfie outside of the Morocco restrooms while
waiting for everyone else.
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A janitor had just finished sweeping leaves into a Mickey Mouse
shape as we made our way through the Italy pavilion.
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We headed over to the Mexico pavilion to take a ride on the
recently refurbished Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three
Caballeros...
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Another Rodney selfie, this time in the France pavilion.
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A rare character spotting - Bolt! We spotted him in the World
Showcase.
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