Christmas 2017 Trip – Part 6 WDW – Animal Kingdom

Tree of Life
Tree of Life

Our main goal when visiting Animal Kingdom this trip was to ride Flights of Passage at least once.  We couldn’t get any FastPasses for it, so we made sure to rope drop Animal Kingdom twice on this trip.  We got to ride it on both days.  We made sure to pick days that didn’t have Extra Magic Hours in the morning, and we arrived at the park about an hour before opening.  On both days, we got into the park about 45 minutes early and everyone headed towards Pandora.

Floating Islands
Floating Islands
Flora of Pandora
Flora of Pandora

Here are some pictures of the pre-show.

Sampling DNA
Sampling DNA
Contamination Detected
Contamination Detected
Avatars
Avatars

After riding Flights of Passage, we headed towards Starbucks to grab some coffee.  The line for Flights of Passage was past the Starbucks.  The Cast Members were telling people the line was close to four hours long.

We also got in a ride on the Na’vi River Journey, but things were not working quite like they should.  The Shaman died!!!  There was no face projection and the animatronic was hanging lifeless.  We told the Cast Member about it (and showed her a picture of it).  She was horrified (and laughing) and offered us another ride, but we declined.  We’ve been on it multiple times and we wanted to give others a chance.

Dead Shaman
Dead Shaman

We made sure to get in our favorite rides as well, including Dinosaur, Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris. 

Dinosaur Entrance
Dinosaur Entrance
Lazy Hippo
Lazy Hippo

We also went on the Jungle Trek and took these tiger pictures:

From the Jungle Trek
From the Jungle Trek
Scratch Post
Scratch Post

We also made sure to head over to the Conservation Station to see what was going on. 

Wildlife Express Train
Wildlife Express Train
Conservation Station
Conservation Station

We also went back to Tiffins for dinner.

Here are some pictures of the new menu items we tried.  Everything was really good.  I even went with the Autumn Vegetable Harvest for my entree and it was great. 

Black-Eye Pea Fritters
Black-Eye Pea Fritters
Autumn Vegetable Harvest
Autumn Vegetable Harvest
Braised Berkshire Pork Belly Ramen
Braised Berkshire Pork Belly Ramen

On a different night, we went to Animal Kingdom Lodge, followed by Kidani Village.  We wanted to check out the decorations and have dinner at Sanaa.  Both locations were beautifully decorated and we encountered special activities.  Animal Kingdom Lodge had bell ringers playing Christmas songs and Kidani Village had Donald Duck greeting people in the lobby!

Christmas Tree at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Christmas Tree at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Christmas Tree at Kidani Village
Christmas Tree at Kidani Village

We followed up the visit with dinner at Sanaa.  Of course, we had to order the Indian-Style Bread Service with all nine accompaniments.  This might be my favorite dish at any Disney restaurant. 

Indian-Style Bread Service with all Nice Accompaniments
Indian-Style Bread Service with all Nice Accompaniments

This was the soup of the day, but I don’t remember what it was. 

For our entrees, we ordered the Fish of the Day, the Grilled Strip, and the Potjie Inspired entree (where you can pick from different times).  Everything was delicious!

Fish of the Day
Fish of the Day
Grilled New York Strip
Grilled New York Strip
Potjie Inspired - Vegetarian Options
Potjie Inspired – Vegetarian Options
Potjie Inspired - Braised Beef & Chickpea Wat
Potjie Inspired – Braised Beef & Chickpea Wat

With the addition of Pandora, we could spend all day in Animal Kingdom.  There are so many great places to explore that it would hard to get bored at this park. 

Here are the other parts of the trip:

Planning | Travel | Hollywood Studios | Magic Kingdom | Epcot | Animal Kingdom | WDW Part 2

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