Tuesday May 3rd 2022

The morning clouds were a little thicker and hung around a little longer than the forecast anticipated. The end result was a slightly cooler and drier day. The sun made an appearance during the afternoon allowing the temperature to climb into the upper eighties, but the forecast thunderstorms never arrived.

I got an early start to the day. Shortly after 8AM, I was walking into Disney’s Animal Kingdom park to visit the animals. It was just as crowded as it was a week ago. I don’t know what happened to the concept of slow times at the theme parks. Today seemed to be a day for huge family groups all dressed similarly. One group of about twenty people all in green Mickey T-shirts seemed to be blocking my path most of the way from the front of the park to the Safari Ride. The group complete with several strollers and an Electric Convenience Vehicle (ECV) got in line in front of me. They took up at least one whole safari vehicle.

Another group of similarly dressed people put a little thought into their T-shirts. The majority said “Baxter Family” on the back, but a few said “Baxter Family Friend” and I say one that said “Baxter Family Enemy”. I wonder what that was all about.

The wait for the safari was listed as thirty minutes. I think it was a little longer. It was worth it. I would have taken a second safari if the wait time wasn’t over an hour the next time I checked. Different animals were active this morning. Last week the Giraffes were out in force, but today I only saw a couple. The female Elephants were also missing from their area. On the other hand the African Painted Dogs were out and the White Rhinos were very active.

Following the safari I walked the Gorilla trail. They were very active this morning. Some were eating and some were playing. The little ones were getting into it as well. According to one of the cast members today was the first time they have seen the youngest Gorilla climbing on its own.

I walked around the entire park looking at all the animal exhibits. Today was the first time I got a good view of the kangaroos that are in the area near the tree of life. I only recently learned there was a kangaroo exhibit in the park. There is a real eclectic mix of animals in the tree of life area.

As the noon hour approached the crowds were still huge and the wait times for everything were getting longer. The two attractions in Pandora I really wanted to see were particularly long. The Avatar Flight of Passage flagship ride was over 120 minutes and the Na’vi River journey was over an hour. I decide to end my day at Animal Kingdom early. Shortly after noon I was back at my RV home having lunch.