This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
An Early Rope Drop and a Quick Safari
Our last full day started with an actual rope drop, straight into Starbucks first. We met up with friends and rode Safari right at 8am when Animal Kingdom opened, only about a 10 minute wait. From there we decided to take the Wildlife Express Train out to check out the Bluey experience.
Scouting Bluey’s Backyard Bash for a Three-Year-Old
I have a nephew who is three, and my sister has been trying to decide if it’s worth taking him to see it, so we went to check it out ourselves. The train ride itself was really cute, if hot, and it’s fun because the benches face outward instead of forward, so you ride the whole way sideways. You get to see part of the safari area along the way too, some of the animal holding spaces and where they keep things behind the scenes.
The whole Bluey area was adorable, the walkway leading in and the building itself were both painted so cute. We waited maybe 10 minutes for the actual experience, then just sat in the back and let the little kids do all the dancing and singing. We probably stayed for about 10 minutes to get a feel for what it would be like for my nephew. They played games and sang and danced, and it was genuinely cute. Ultimately, though, we decided it probably is not worth building a whole entire trip around just this one attraction. If you’re already going for other reasons and your kid loves Bluey, it would be a fun little excursion, but the whole detour took us at least an hour, maybe an hour and a half.
Snacks, a Familiar Face, and Mom’s Favorite Show
After that we stopped at Zuri’s Sweets Shop and tried the Mickey Mango Coconut Bark, which honestly tasted more like banana coconut than mango, kind of a weird one. We also grabbed a Werther’s caramel crumble bar, which was genuinely delicious.
We hit a few shops on our way to Festival of the Lion King and stood in line for a while, and while we waited we actually ran into the same family we had been on the art tour with the day before. It is kind of crazy how often that happens to us, seeing the same people over and over at completely different spots. My mom fell asleep in line too, somehow, which at this point just felt like the running theme of this whole trip.
We loved Festival of the Lion King. It was probably my mom’s favorite show of the entire trip, and it was actually the first time I had ever seen it myself. I was so excited to do this trip with my mom because I knew she would sit and watch every single show I wanted to see, the ones I had never gotten around to before. Usually when we go as a bigger group there are kids who just want to ride rides, and nobody wants to sit still and watch a show. We probably caught the noon showing, so we were done around 12:30.
Back to the Hotel Before It Got Too Hot
By that point it was starting to get really warm outside, and we had been up early, so we decided to head back for our midday break. We grabbed lunch at the hotel first. My mom got a pre-made Greek salad with chicken, and I grabbed a little kids’ turkey pack, a turkey and cheese sandwich on wheat bread with really good dehydrated apples and tomatoes. It was the perfect light lunch. We took a nap, then headed back to Animal Kingdom for the rest of the day.
Part 2 covers Zootopia, Nemo, dinner at Satuli Canteen, and a ride we ended up doing twice in a row right before the park closed.
never miss the magic
Get the next trip report by email. One email per report, nothing else.
