Tuesday January 23rd 2024

My plan for the day was a visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park today. The hiccup in the plan was getting up late. You either have to get to the park early to beat the crowds or wait until the wait times stabilize. I started to monitor the wait times on the My Disney Experience App. When the Safari ride got under fifty minutes around 1PM, I headed for the park.

I entered the park around 2:30PM. The parking lot had more cars in it than I usually see and the crowds inside the park were extensive. I walked the trails around the Tree of Life checking out the animals. Some of the more tropical animals were not in their enclosures. This is not uncommon during the cold periods in the winter. Other animals were taking advantage of today’s warm sunshine. The kangaroos, for example, were all lying in the sun.

When I got back to the Africa area of the park, the wait for the Safari ride was only listed at thirty five minutes. It turned out to be even less. I had a pretty good safari. My front row seat gave me a good view of the animals on both sides and out the windshield. The driver was better than some at stopping long enough to get a picture of the animals. Most of the different species were out and about.

After the safari, I visited the gorillas on the Gorilla Falls Trail. The young gorilla’s were very active while the adults slept or sat stoically. The smallest gorilla was chasing a rabbit around the compound. I think it is a common occurrence. The rabbit didn’t seem particularly frightened. It would run away from the gorilla then come back a minute or so later. The little gorilla would engage in a staring contest with the rabbit through a bush until the rabbit would run around the bush toward and by the gorilla. It looked like a fun game.

Most of the animal viewing opportunities were done by 5PM even though the park was open until 7PM. Basically, there were four rides and one show still open after 5PM. The rides all had long wait times and I’ve seen “It’s Tough to be a Bug” enough.