Pandora

We were up early again this morning ready for a day at Animal Kingdom.  In May a new area of the park had opened called Pandora.  It was several years in the making and was based on the movie Avatar.  Since its opening it had received a lot of praise from those who have visited it, especially the ride called Flight of Avatar.  We had tried as soon as we were allowed (sixty days from our hotel reservation) to get fast passes for it, but there were none available for the week.  We knew the only chance we had of riding it was to get there when the park opened for Extra Magic hours.  We decided to ensure that we beat most of the other Disney resort guests there by renting a Minnie van for our early morning trip.  The van arrived at the Boardwalk within three minutes of our request.  Our driver was pleasant and we arrived at the park in no time without all of the extra stops that a normal trip to Animal Kingdom takes.  

We definitely beat the majority of the crowd to the park entrance.  They walked us all to the land of Pandora at 7:30 and by 7:45 a.m. they had started letting guests onto the ride.  We waited only 15 minutes in line before we were strapped onto the Banshee.  The ride was different from any other that I had ever been on.  We flew through the land of Pandora over the trees and mountains enjoying all of the beautiful sights.  As much as we loved the ride and were thrilled to get through the queue so quickly, there was one drawback.  The ride made Doug extremely sick.  He made a beeline for the bathroom as soon as we got off the ride.  It was a good thing he did as Meg never would have let him forget it if he didn't "make it to a trash can or a toilet," especially after all of the lectures he had given her over the years about the correct way to vomit.  Even with Doug's motion sickness kicking in, we all really enjoyed the ride.  We were flabbergasted that the line was already 185 minutes long by the time we were done.  From there we headed to several other of our favorites - Dinosaur, Na'vi River Ride, The Lion King Show, Kilimanjaro Safari and It's Tough to Be a Bug.  Cam and I really enjoyed the safari after our time with the elephants on Wednesday.  

After our time at Animal Kingdom we decided to eat lunch on the Boardwalk at The Big River Brewing Company.  The food was delicious and the view was beautiful.  From lunch we walked to Fantasia Mini-golf.  It was a lot of fun even though Doug won once again.  We decided to try the new ice cream parlor on the Boardwalk when we got back.  We tried last night, but it was packed.  We got in with no problem today and really enjoyed the treat.  

We ate dinner in the lounge before heading to Magic Kingdom for the night.  It was crowded as usual, but we were all able to ride some of our favorites once again.  We even did some shopping on Mainstreet USA before heading back to our hotel.  The bus ride took longer than usual, but we still made it to the hotel just before midnight.  Everyone was starving, so Doug ran down there when he got off the bus to order before the pizza window closed.  The three of us headed to the room to wait.  Meg stretched out on her bed was sound asleep fully dressed immediately.  Cam and I waited for Doug.  He had a story to tell once he got in as there was a fight outside the pizza window and security had to be called.  Luckily, he stayed out of the mix and arrived unharmed with pizza for everyone.  Meg never woke up so we put hers in the fridge for breakfast.  It was a late night, but a fun filled day.