December 2022 Day 4: Animal Kingdom
Another full day already at the Animal Kingdom, and we’re headed out in the evening for Mickey’s Christmas Party! 😂🥰🤩
There’s a starfish on the tree!! 😍
We went straight to Pandora, the land of Avatar. Even though they’ve never seen those movies I knew Sera would love the aesthetic. The Na’vi River Journey was soooo beautiful, and we passed the time in line playing a hilarious Guess Who game on the phone that it looked like every other group waiting was playing. Donovan found a really cool spear and bow in the gift shop, and after debating for a long while, finally decided on a spear. Cross your fingers we can get it in the luggage. It’s foam, but still 😂
I got a Christmas ornament of this Banshee, so excited to see it in our Memory Makers Photos!
These are giant organic looking drums! We didn’t see them the first time through Pandora but had to stop and try them out.
DZ’s favorite Riverboat Parade boat! The drums and other percussion instruments were so beautiful! He was so excited to see it again on the way out! You can also see his spear and popcorn bucket here.
The very first time my Dad took me to Disney, we saw signs that the Animal Kingdom was coming soon, and now I’ve finally gotten to see some of it! And the Christmas Decorations!!! 🤩. Lots of wood and feathers, so pretty and Christmas carols with fun drums and international twists. We walked around the Gorilla Falls trail, enjoyed some popcorn and a Dole Whip float, got barbecue in a pangolin pavilion, and so much more!
Okapi!!! This is the one animal I wanted to see today! Donovan loves Okapis so much, he even has a plush one dating back to our Go Diego Go days. It had been so long since we’d seen a real one though, and we got there right at snack time 😁 He also loved the gorilla and he called him The One and Only Ivan!
Pangolin! Sera loved all the jewel toned birds, although today she’s calling them “birbs” 😜
Mickey ice cream bar and refillable popcorn. DZ was tempted by popcorn during our dash back to the hotel yesterday, so we went for a refillable bucket today when we needed some carbs. He’s used the bucket for every bowl of microwave popcorn at home since! =)
They had an awesome parrot show! I caught bits of it twice, but DZ, Sera and Eric watched it all while waiting on Maia and me to grab the last souvenir.
Maia saw a stuffed penguin, and even though it was soooo cute I hesitated because she bought so many plushies yesterday. But she never wavered, and right after exiting the store we were treated to the entire Merry Menagerie! They all greeted Maia’s new friend Winkle (periwinkle+Winky+Twinkle) and she got to pet all the animals! I wanted to see this show so much, but the times weren’t posted, it’s just happening on and off all day. We caught the arctic fox as we walked in, and the Polar Bear passed us as we went to pick up our food order. But this was a huge Menagerie! Three penguins, (The babies named Pip and Squeak), a baby Seal, two Jingle Goats and a deer named Sugarplum! Soooo cute! And the music was so festive too!!! So I was extra glad I caved on the penguin, it’s the perfect souvenir of the day 😜
Pip and Squeak and Winkle
Arctic fox 🥰🥰🥰
Sera got her first pair of Mickey Ears of her own! Leopard ears 🤩
My kids are in REALLY good moods, they keep suggesting pictures for me 😂🥰🤩 Like the one on the ground with the Thanks for the Adventure written in petals.
