Thursday, January 18, 2018

Disney World 2018


My wife, kids and I took a trip to Disney World (Orlando, FL) last week. We all had a grand time, especially the kids – so it was worth it.

We visited Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. Many highlights.

As a family, we all enjoyed the TOY STORY MANIA ride the most. You ride along in a car with 3-D glasses and fire a virtual pop gun at various toy targets.
TOY STORY Mania!
 We ate too well.

My personal highlights were the Kilimanjaro Safari ride and staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The lodge – Jambo House – has a faux-pseudo-African vibe and is designed like a safari lodge house on steroids.
Jambo House
 We lucked out – our room did not overlook the ‘savanna’ but it did overlook animal pens where the animals get fed and/or shelter for the night. In the mornings, we saw bearded wildebeests, giraffes, impalas (mid-sized antelopes,) zebras, and ostriches sharing a common open space. Off to the right in separate areas were roan antelope (elk-sized, I’d guess,) and a pair of red river hogs came trotting out for their breakfast.

Red river hog comes out for breakfast. Roan antelope in the background.
Fire pit to relax and put up your feet after a long day of standing and walking.

The Kilimanjaro Safari ride offered views of more animals, including an elephant, a hippo, lions, and a white rhino. Lots of other animals and birds, too.
White rhinoceros on the safari
The only downsides were spending lots of money and waiting in lines.

The staff and patrons are all courteous and friendly. The staff need to be. But all the visitors seem to be aware we were all there for the same reason – to relax and have fun. Maybe we can all take that back to our daily lives.

It was good to get away, to connect with family and to drop off social media for a week. I think we can all use that once in a while.