Lights, Animals and Margaritas

Daisy Duck, along with Huey, Louie and Dewey are off to explore.  I was also exploring when I found them at Animal Kingdom.  That is where we started our seventh day at Disney World.

My son has always loved animals.  Ever since our first trip to Disney MANY years ago, the Kilimanjaro Safari Ride has been his favorite one at the Animal Kingdom.  You ride around in the “jeep” looking thing and see LOTS of animals such as the crocs and rhino above.  (lots more animals in the video below)   My favorite picture of the animals is the Hippos.  It needs a caption..what do you think it should be?

I feel like the bird is saying, “I’ve called you all here today to tell you….”  Not sure what a bird would say to a bloat of hippos.  😉

I know I say this a lot, but I love the details that Disney puts into their parks.  It’s what makes it special compared to other amusement parks.  This part above is the Himalayas, where Mt. Everest (the ride) is located.  We love that roller coaster!

One year, when it was raining, there was no line so we hopped on.  The rain pelted our faces HARD as we went up this part above.  It hurt, but we couldn’t stop laughing.  Great memory!

AFTER riding the roller coaster we had lunch.  Always good to do it in that order. 😉   My favorite quick service food at the Animal Kingdom is Flame Tree Bar-b-que.  Not just for good food, but for the most beautiful relaxing place to sit and eat.  Complete with water features, statues and wild birds.  AND it overlooks the lake.  AND it has covered seating in case it rains.

With our bellies full, we headed off to see The Festival of the Lion King show.  I really enjoy the beautiful color of the costumes and all the music in this show.  One year they asked my kids to go out at the end and dance, but they refused.  They are not big attention seekers.  😉

This should be my official “Happy Travel Bug” photo!  I have my 3-D bug glasses on, ready to watch It’s a Bug’s Life.  I like all the special effects, except when you get stung in the back.  I think it actually hurts.  🙁

After we finished exploring Animal Kingdom, we headed over to Epcot for our dinner reservations at the San Angel Inn.  I love the atmosphere inside the Mexico pavilion.  As you dine, you overlook this area above.  It’s very dark, so I didn’t get good shots of the delicious food, but I did get some of my drinks.

San Angel Inn has the best margaritas I have ever had!  The first one is a Jalapeno margarita with muddled jalapenos, tequila, fresh lime juice, cucumbers and agave nectar.  Served with a hibiscus Himalayan salt rim.  Freakin awesome!  I also tried the Horchata margarita because I had just discovered horchata back home at my favorite Mexican restaurant.  It is Horchata cream rum, tequila, Fireball cinnamon whiskey and aqua de Horchata.  Topped with cinnamon, it tastes like dessert!  Another winner!

We put our park hopper passes to good use on this day as we headed to the Magic Kingdom after dinner (our 3rd park of the day!).  It was the last day for my in-laws and nieces, so watching this parade was a great ending to the trip.

I just love this parade!  So magical!  I think one of the things I like most about Disney is how young it makes me feel.  This parade does that for sure.

What an awesome day!  I captured a lot of it on video that I posted below and on my YouTube channel.  Hope you have enjoyed reading about it.  Take care and Happy Travels! 🙂