Thursday August 1st 2024

I didn’t get the earliest start to the day, but I managed to get to Disney’s Animal Kingdom around 10:30AM. The temperature was still in the low nineties, but there was a heat warning for the area. Still, the animals had already retreated to the bushes and shady areas to hid from the heat.

My first stop was the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. The wait was only thirty five minutes and the line kept moving most of the time. The only down side of the wait was the heat in the queue area. The fans along the way were not turned on. Eventually we were all loaded into the ride trucks for the safari. There were a lot of slow downs along the way which would be great most of the time. Today it seemed like all the slow downs and stops were out in the sun and there weren’t many animals in view. It was a very hot ride in the sun. I needed a nice cold drink in the shade after the safari.

Most of the animals along the Gorilla trail were also hiding in the shade and in the corners of the attraction. Most of the gorilla family were all sleeping in the sun along the side of the enclosure, but the silver back was hiding somewhere else. In the bachelor gorilla area one great ape was sitting near the entrance to the back stage area. One of the cast members confirmed my opinion that the air conditioning from the inside area was influencing his choice of sitting areas.

The heat was starting to get to me after I wandered around more of the park. It wasn’t worth battling the heat to continue exploring the park. I made my way to the parking lot and returned to my RV home. The heat finally broke around 4PM when a very slow moving thunderstorm with very heavy rain hovered overhead for about an hour. Light rain continued after that. It is still raining as I write this blog entry.