Going Beyond The Castle
Going Beyond The Castle is your ultimate travel podcast that takes you beyond the magical gates of Disney. Join hosts Fred and Lori as they explore a world of vacation possibilities, diving into the best experiences from Universal Studios, Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Virgin Cruise Line, Sandals Resorts, and so much more. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just dreaming of your next getaway, tune in for expert tips, in-depth reviews, and insider secrets to make your vacation truly unforgettable.
Going Beyond The Castle
Earth Day Magic: Happy Birthday, Animal Kingdom
Step into the lush world of Disney's Animal Kingdom as we celebrate its 27th birthday and explore what makes this park a true conservation and cultural masterpiece. From the humble beginnings under Michael Eisner's vision to Joe Rohde's extraordinary dedication to authenticity, we unpack the rich history of a park that forever changed how themed entertainment approaches cultural representation.
The majestic Tree of Life stands as both literal and figurative centerpiece of our discussion—a 145-foot tall engineering marvel built on an oil rig foundation, adorned with 300 meticulously carved animal designs that reward those who take time to look closely. We share our awe at this iconic structure and the technological wonder of the Tree of Life Awakenings projection show.
Our journey takes us through each distinctive land, from the vibrant streets of Harambe in Africa to the mystical realm of Pandora with its bioluminescent wonders. We debate our favorite attractions—with Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest earning high praise—while acknowledging the simple joy of watching majestic animals on Kilimanjaro Safaris. Food lovers will appreciate our passionate endorsements of Flame Tree Barbecue's legendary offerings, Yak & Yeti's Asian-inspired delights, and those can't-miss snacks like street corn and pineapple lumpia.
Beyond the attractions and dining, we explore what truly sets Animal Kingdom apart: its commitment to conservation, cultural authenticity, and the rewards it offers to guests willing to slow down and appreciate the details. As we look toward exciting changes with DinoLand transforming into Tropical Americas, we reflect on why this park deserves recognition as Disney's most underrated treasure—a place where education and entertainment blend seamlessly in a celebration of our natural world.
Stay up to date with all things Going Beyond the Castle at beacons.ai/GoingBeyondTheCastle
Did y'all see when they had the gosh? What was it called? The kite show on the water?
Speaker 2:Kite tails yeah that garbage.
Speaker 1:I thought it was cute.
Speaker 2:It may have been cute, but like they.
Speaker 1:Especially when the balloons would like.
Speaker 2:Fly into people.
Speaker 3:It was cute Take out the audience yeah, and then it was very problematic.
Speaker 2:Oh hey, look, there's a little Johnny Bam.
Speaker 1:Taken out by a kite.
Speaker 2:We only watched it one time, it was so hot sitting there. What is up? And welcome back to going beyond the Castle. I am your host, brad Riley, and with me, as always, is my fabulous co-host, the podcast princess Lori Talamo. Hi, lori.
Speaker 1:Hello.
Speaker 2:And with us this week we also have a special guest, Miss Ashley, who's going to be joining us as we talk all things Animal Kingdom. So, yeah, super excited to have you with us. This week we talk Animal Kingdom. We are on episode 28. For those of you that tuned in last week, you know that this week we are diving into the birthday of Animal Kingdom and Earth Day. So, yeah, we've got some fun stuff to talk about Before we do dive in, as always. Just want to give a shout out to all of our followers and listeners who join us each and every week as we go beyond the castle. You know, again I say and every week as we go beyond the castle. You know, again I say it every week, Lori and I love you guys. We're thankful that we get to do this with you guys each week. So, yeah, we're super excited to be here. But, with that being said, I will turn it over to Lori and see if she has anything to say.
Speaker 1:No, I don't.
Speaker 2:I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1:It's been a long day. We are committed though.
Speaker 1:We are committed, though. We are committed, we are here because we love chatting all things Disney with you guys. So, yeah, today we're targeting Earth Day, but I think it's a little more focused on Animal Kingdom, which, of course those of you who have listened to any of the episodes I'm sure I've said it a hundred times my absolute favorite park. So we're going to break down some history of Animal Kingdom, One of my favorite things the Tree of Life, the parks, the layouts, the entertainment. We'll pick our favorite food and attractions and just really dig into Animal Kingdom. So I'm super excited for today and, with that said, we're going to let our guest host, Ashley, kick off on the history of Animal Kingdom, which I'm super excited that you wanted to take this one, because I was like, really, that's like the one, the least one I would have wanted to pick. So shout out to Ashley for picking the history.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, and thank you guys for having me this week. I really appreciate it, kicking off the history of Animal Kingdom. As we all know, animal Kingdom opened on Earth Day, april 22nd in 1998. So happy 27th birthday to Animal Kingdom this week.
Speaker 3:Back in the good old Michael Eisner days of Walt Disney World and his presidency of the parks, back then he was competing with a lot.
Speaker 3:He had Universal kind of laying their claim back in the day and he was trying to make a name for himself.
Speaker 3:He had Magic Kingdom and he had just built Hollywood Studios a few years ago. So you day, and he was trying to make a name for himself, he had magic kingdom and he had just built hollywood studios a few years ago. So you know, he was still trying to kind of make a name for himself and if you think about it, when, when he built animal kingdom, it kind of set a stake of cultural inclusion, because before this we had hollywood studios, which was all back, lots, theaters and attractions, and they didn't really have to mask the backlots in the theaters because that was the theming. And then you had Universal Studios that also did the same thing. They just had backlots and theaters and they used all of them, so they didn't really have to theme them to anything. So Animal Kingdom really made a name for itself when it comes to cultural, cultural inclusion and just theming. Above all else, it opened with uh, let's see what lands did they have when it opened? It was africa discovery island.
Speaker 2:Um, they, they were kicking around dinosaur and what I wanted to left it off, they would have totally no, they left off.
Speaker 3:Stop dinosaurs, no no, no, you'll love where this is going. So they opened with uh discovery island, the oasis, africa, asia, and they were kicking around the lost continent area where they had the dragons, the fairies, the dinosaurs not the dinosaurs the um, unicorns and things like that, or they were going to build dinosaurs. So what were they going to do? They decided that they were going to go with dinosaur which to fred's enjoyment.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he really wanted dinosaurs, so they really listened to him. Back in the day they went with dinosaur and because they had the movie dinosaur that's just critically acclaimed and everyone loves, and they put camp mini mickey, where pandora is now as a placeholder, they're like, yeah, it'll just be here until we decide to build what to do with it yeah, what do we do with this area?
Speaker 3:well, let's put mini and mickey there. So they put candy camp mini mickey there and never built the lost continent area and islands of adventure stole it. So they just left camp mini mickey there until pandora opened. In what 2017?
Speaker 2:which was a fabulous idea, so glad they went to pandora like that. I just I need the park to be open later so you can actually experience the bioluminescence.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I never got to experience the bioluminescence and I'm really sad about that well, I had never heard of camp mickey until we started doing this research, but then, um, it says that it closed in January of 2014. And our first trip was like in March of 2014. So that's that's why. But yeah, I was like what does camp mean?
Speaker 2:I just heard about it five seconds ago, so I never knew about it before then. That was pretty neat, disney.
Speaker 3:Had some of the best background music you can find for the Disney parks, besides the tree of life.
Speaker 1:In my opinion, oh my gosh, so I listen to um the Pandora station I can't remember what it's called now is it. Sorcerer Radio. No, it's well, I do listen to Sorcerer Radio sometime, but there's a station on Pandora. It's like Disney Parks or something, and when the Tree of Life comes on, I'm like like, okay, everybody show up. This is like my jam, be quiet, go away. It just makes me, just go there.
Speaker 3:I listen to the music all day at work and sometimes my headphones will die and then the music will start playing loudly and I have to hurry up and mute it.
Speaker 1:Everyone's like. Why are you listening to?
Speaker 3:elevator music. I'm like it keeps me calm. Leave me alone.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I know I share an office with three other girls and so sometimes I'm like just let me know if my Disney music gets too loud and annoying. I try to keep it low to where only I can hear it. But Tree Life comes on and I'm like sorry, it's gotta go. Yeah, sorry, this is a jam. Yes, it is, I get that. People don't get it.
Speaker 3:Yeah obviously we would not be where we are without the one, the only Joe Rohde. Joe Rohde was the creative behind the conception of Animal Kingdom and has really just carried it on his back until he retired a couple of years ago. He was really involved in the creation of the park, not only but Expedition Everest, he played a big role and he was literally climbing Everest and climbing the Forbidden Mountain.
Speaker 2:When it came to Pandora, he immersed himself in that experience and just really immersed himself in all of it, which is like super cool, like a lot of people don't really understand, like it's easy to think that Disney just builds parks and is good at it, but like the amount of work that Disney actually puts behind and the research yeah good at it, but like the amount of work that disney actually puts behind and the research yeah, there was a, there was a tick tock the other day, uh, of them repaving adventure land.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and like the thought process that they go through when they do the animal footprints like, and just like staying with the animal kingdom vibe, like the amount of research that they did, like actually traveling the world and experiencing these things and not just throwing it together based off of wikipedia, like that's what makes disney good at what they do is like they put in so much work to these parts I have a really funny joe rody story, if you guys are ready always go my other half, my wife, took her own solo trip to disney back in february and she goes to animal kingdom for the morning.
Speaker 3:She texts me like right before the park's opening she's like security won't let us in, like we are stuck and nothing's happening. Not five minutes later she's mad they just let this big group of people in but they still won't let us in. This is really annoying. Didn't think anything of it. She goes about her morning and then she's like I'm trying to write Everest, they won't open Everest. It's really thrown off my groove. Later in the day I see well, joe Rhodey's there. So Joe Rhodey walked by you this morning and you couldn't write Everest because Joe Rhodey was there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So get over it. Yeah, that's awesome, so get over it. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, but it was really cool when I saw that I was like you, little turd, joe rooney was right there and you didn't say hi to him. For me, uh. Animal kingdom biggest theme park at walt disney world, at 500 acres um, 150 of those acres are kilimanjaro safari fun fact yeah, I just.
Speaker 2:I had a client come back last week. She was born and bred, born and raised california, so she's a diehard disneyland fan and it was. It was a blessing because the whole time leading up to her trip I was like you're gonna come back and say that you like disney world more than disneyland. She's like, no, no way she said it, but that's not the point of my story. No, she, she didn't do any research. Like I tried to help her out like and you know, do my travel agent stuff, but it just didn't work out. And so, uh, she told me about her date, animal kingdom, and she was like when I heard safari, I did not think that it was going to be this massive safari. Like she thought it was going to be animatronics and like the jungle cruise and she was like no, it was a full-fledged zoo.
Speaker 1:And I was like, yes, I can't wait to go see the new baby giraffe oh my goodness, yes a couple weeks and there's a baby tiger too we tried last time but gosh, the line. Like they said, the line was so long we didn't even bother to try. But maybe when we go this time we'll get to see him, because it won't be as new yeah, the only thing I really have left on history is that.
Speaker 3:So they didn't build Dinosaur Lost Continent at all, because they didn't realize how much money it took to truly care for these wild animals. They had to feed them, they had to care for them, they had to, you know, make this environment for them and they truly didn't know how expensive it was going to be. So when they they you know, they got there and it happened, that's when they made the cut of okay, is it going to be dynaland or is it going to be lost continent?
Speaker 1:and they made for his stay and did dinosaur is there anything in that area that you liked, or you just think the whole thing was terrible really?
Speaker 3:garbage I the chipmunks in the dinosaur costumes. I just love them so much.
Speaker 2:I mean, okay, I'll give you that, but the rest of it's garbage and it needs to go away, which most of it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my daughter's favorite ride, I think, was probably maybe not all of the parks, but she loved the Promeval Whirl. I did not like it, I thought I was going to die and I wouldn't ride. Like after I rode it maybe twice I was like, okay, I'm not doing this ever again. Yeah, so like they would go and ride it. So she was like destroyed when they took it away. Like that ruined her Poor Liv.
Speaker 1:I know, I know, but now she's getting something better but I said live, you get to ride dinosaur one more time. She hates dinosaur, I'm with.
Speaker 2:She's not a fan oh yeah, I'm gonna ride it solely because I need jamel to ride it, but that's the only reason I'm not gonna like it the whole time I think you may excited because my husband's like a huge indiana jones fan so I'm interested in seeing how that's gonna play out.
Speaker 1:So and what it's gonna be like so it'll be fun I like so and we've talked about it before, I guess because I'm not like 20, 30 years ago disney, you know, like we started 2014, so I'm I don't get upset when they change things, like I'm not tied to anything. That makes me frustrated when it's gone.
Speaker 2:I like that for happy labor after.
Speaker 1:Like when they got rid of that I was where.
Speaker 2:That was a worse decision the building dinosaur uh, yeah.
Speaker 3:The last time I saw it before it was going away, I cried, yeah, like a baby it was fred cries every time every time it's so good I get goosebumps all the time see y'all, my family doesn't do nighttime stuff, so we'll see.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have to do it when I go on my agency trip in December. Yes, you have to, anyway, all right, so we want to move on to the Tree of Life Tree of Life. This thing is so I legit want to get a Tree of Life tattoo.
Speaker 3:Oh, there you go.
Speaker 1:So my last tattoo that I had, I got cover up until like I have a big mini mouse but I really wanted the tree of life. But then when I started looking at it and all the details you know, talking to the guy, the details I'm like, okay, maybe we'll do that another day and get it somewhere else.
Speaker 2:But for the non-disney people. They're gonna ask why you have a tree tattooed on you exactly they were like why? Do you have a tree like?
Speaker 1:no, I know, maybe I'll put it behind mini some kind of way there you go, just take them all away yeah anyway. So one thing you'll learn actually is we maybe maybe I'll say me, I won't pull right into it go off on a tangent a lot, which is why we take so long we take a long we to get from one point a, which is why we take so long To get from point A to point B.
Speaker 2:we take a long time to get there, but we get there eventually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we get there eventually. Okay, so the Tree of Life is 145 feet tall and spans 165 feet wide. It's massive and I don't care how many times you have to take a picture with the Tree of Life. It's massive and I don't care how many times you have to take a picture with a tree of life. It's like amazing.
Speaker 1:Lori's like oh, hold on, I need another one, right, well, and it's funny because now when we go in, especially because it seems lately, my husband and I do more, just he and I, especially when we go on high school cheer trips because Olivia's with the team. But he's like you want your picture? I'm like yes, unless it's too hot, then we move on. I like taking it in the back too when they have that back little section, because it's not as crowded there. The carvings there's 300 carved animals in the tree.
Speaker 2:You forgot to mention. Possibly one of the coolest parts of the Tree of Life is that it's made out of an oil rig like the whole yeah, that's look, that's like four points down back back to carvings, to carvings that should be further up.
Speaker 3:What are the fit? What are you guys's favorite carvings? Do we have a favorite? Ow, well, that's a good one and ow, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:I do like the turtles owl is like right there and it like stands out.
Speaker 3:I think I like all the. Is it the dinosaurs that are there when you like? Walk into the. It's tough to be a bug. I like those little dinos.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, yeah, it's amazing. I mean like you could. That's why I feel like so many people like Animal Kingdom is such an underrated park because people think it's a zoo. Is such an underrated park because people think it's a zoo, but if you take in all the details and you really go and spend time um, and our very first adult trip, my husband and I spent nine hours in animal kingdom and he doesn't do ever so and he doesn't do cali rapids, so we didn't do all of those things, but we took the time to spend and look at all the details and you have to be that kind of person, though.
Speaker 2:If you're the kind of person that's like let's go, let's go do a ride, let's go do this, don't go do that, yeah it's not it's not that kind of part.
Speaker 2:Like you have to be willing to enjoy a zoo aspect of it and really look at like the details of animal kingdom aside from the animals, like the tree of life and like the footprints on the ground and like the different cultures. Like it really is a different kind of epcot but like a different, like it's a good way of putting it, yeah yeah, like, and not a lot of people like epcot because it's a lot of countries like you.
Speaker 2:Either go to epcot because you like countries or you like to drink around the world yeah, yeah, I think it's just a way to digest, digest, the parks it is absolutely yeah
Speaker 1:I have two reasons why I like to go to epcot. None of what you've said you're a normal guardians and soaring.
Speaker 1:That's my, that's my thanks. It's, I mean, it's cool. It just depends on the trip. You know what kind of trip we're taking. One of the things which I don't think it's in the notes because I'm looking at two sets of notes, notes is that it took 18 months to design and construct this tree. It's massive. It is so massive. There's a bunch of designers which we won't go through all the names, um, and then there's apparently a bunch of scattered, hidden mickeys throughout the tree of life I've never looked for them, but i've've heard it.
Speaker 1:Me either, but now I'm going to have to go try to find some when we go.
Speaker 2:I'm just going to Google it.
Speaker 1:It says a tree of life. It says a hidden Mickey can be found facing upside down right above the hippopotamus's eye. So we'll have to check that out.
Speaker 3:I think also the tree of life awakenings really gave it an upgrade when it got to be nighttime yes, yeah, that was so cool.
Speaker 1:I mean, back in the day, they used to stay open later. I mean I don't know if they do that, do they do it still, even when it closes? I don't see it I don't think they do the hours events there anymore.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they have something maybe, yeah, maybe not yeah I'm not sure I.
Speaker 2:I think they do.
Speaker 1:Do they?
Speaker 2:Because I feel like I was looking at park hours for the next couple weeks and I'm pretty sure I saw one night Animal Kingdom was open late.
Speaker 1:Interesting. Yeah, I'm going to see if I'm.
Speaker 2:I'm not seeing this hidden Mickey, but you know.
Speaker 1:I know, oh, yeah, you found it.
Speaker 2:Found a.
Speaker 3:Hidden.
Speaker 2:Mickey.
Speaker 3:Is it the hippopotamus one though.
Speaker 2:No, that one I'm still trying to figure out.
Speaker 3:So now we're at two Hidden Mickeys.
Speaker 1:Sweet, All right. So it does say well, no, because today it said no performance, so I don't know. It says it's a nighttime show. I mean it's like on the site.
Speaker 2:I could say when we went back in October they didn't do it. Sorry, September, Maybe because it's not open at night. Yeah, because I mean it was 6 o'clock. We got out of dinner at like 6.15, so the park was already closed and it was still daylight out, so there was no way they were doing projections on the yeah.
Speaker 3:Looks like on the weekends it might be open until 8, but that's still not enough time for it to get truly dark Super dark To take in the awakenings.
Speaker 1:It is cool. So in case you haven't heard, the Tree of Life is built on an oil rig.
Speaker 2:This is what happens when you don't read the notes ahead of time. And I'm not ashamed.
Speaker 1:It's okay. Hey, look, it's been. You have a pass, because for one, when the podcast ends on Sunday, your day is not over. You do all the editing and do all of that extra stuff and then on top of it. Easter week all of the production stuff at church, so you get a pass.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so cool that it's made of an oil rig. No, I do. That was one of the coolest things, I think. When Disney dropped that Disney Plus series I can't think of the name of it, but where they went behind the creation of Disneyland and then Disney World and all the different parks and then I saw that it was made out of an oil rig. I was like that's crazy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's how massive people like first found out about it too like no one knew, absolutely no, that series came out yeah, and I've watched that series over and over again.
Speaker 2:Love that series me too. It's that's just like, just to think, like and especially like let me look and make sure it's not on the notes going forward I don't think so, you're good like, just like all the intricate detail between, like the concrete and the leaves and the oil, like it's just. It really is just like a masterpiece yeah it.
Speaker 1:Um, this one, the note, the notes I have on this side don't really give a whole lot. It's very short but I wouldn't imagine it's a lot of, uh, different materials and stuff yeah, because weren't the? Concrete oil oil rig is the skeleton of the tree, so cool I feel like the leaves were individually made.
Speaker 3:I think, oh, yeah too. Yeah, that's awesome crazy.
Speaker 1:It's also the spot for the soon to be no more which it's already no more it's already no more, huh already no more tough to be a bug, but soon to be Zootopia.
Speaker 2:So excited for that.
Speaker 1:Yeah we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 2:Although I heard that they're keeping a lot of the same features, like the poke and the butt and stuff. Yeah, so I may not be a fan of it.
Speaker 3:Hopefully it's less scary. I mean it makes sense.
Speaker 2:It's like why would you redo a whole theater, like when you could keep as much as possible, save the money and make it more updated?
Speaker 3:Yeah, Maybe they'll like upgrade the tech, though, Because I hope so. Yeah, the tech's pretty outdated. What's the ant's name? Flick.
Speaker 2:Flick yeah, that was impressive that she remembered that, because I was not going to gonna, but it never got that I wouldn't have either.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you, yeah, um, so we've already kind of talked about the photo spot. It's a super cool photo spot. You know there's different, different angles that you can take the picture, although we don't have any nighttime magic now. But when they do, they have the tree of life awakening, which is super cool.
Speaker 2:It's like the, I don't know like iridescent colors on the on the tree, the projection kind of like similar what they do on a castle I really wish I've said it many times or animal kingdom needs to go back to being a nighttime part like, yeah, bring back the rivers of life, bring back back the nighttime hours. You've literally got a whole portion of the park that thrives off of nighttime and nobody gets to see it.
Speaker 3:I feel like they might do that when they open up Tropical Americas and stuff. I hope so. They've got to.
Speaker 2:It's also the only park that doesn't have a nighttime show, which I get it for the animal's purpose. But Rivers of America was a really fabulous show that was pretty quiet. A nighttime show, which I mean I get it for that, for the animals purpose, but like rivers of america was a really fabulous show. That was pretty quiet, like didn't need fireworks, didn't need pyrotechnics, anything like that. It was a really great show. It was one of my few favorite water projection shows did y'all see when they had the?
Speaker 1:uh gosh, what was it called? The kite show on the? Water, yeah, that garbage well, I thought it was cute it may may have been cute, but like they. Especially when the balloons would like.
Speaker 2:Fly into people.
Speaker 3:It was cute Take out the audience. Yeah, and then it was very problematic.
Speaker 2:Oh, hey, look there's a little Johnny Bam, take it out by a kite.
Speaker 1:We only watched it one time. It was so hot sitting there. Yeah, that was super hot.
Speaker 2:They also had that whole theater that just gone to waste right now I know, because there's nothing in there.
Speaker 1:No, so it's just, it's just there. And then what else we got? Uh, the discovery trails, I think leads from there, um, where you can walk up or like in, I guess around inside the tree, where you can go in and see different, uh carvings like kangaroos and lemurs is what it says.
Speaker 3:So is it that? Don't they have like all the flamingos back there too? Yeah, like if you walk up to the front of the tree of life, they have flamingos back there as well. I've never taken those trails. I don't think we might have.
Speaker 1:I can't remember yeah, I think we've done it maybe once or twice, josh and I definitely when we went that April, the year of COVID we still had to wear a mask and everything when we went, because we were there for nine hours. So we did a lot of that stuff, just kind of walking through, checking it out. Anyway, we can move on over to the fun stuff Tree of Life.
Speaker 1:The land. Yes, tree of Life is awesome. Definitely need to see it at least once. It's like the icon, you know like the castle is and Spaceship Earth. You know the tree. It's crazy because every time I walk into Animal Kingdom like I have to video as I'm walking in.
Speaker 2:Sorry, what? Every time I walk into animal kingdom like I have to video as I'm walking in. Sorry, I accidentally clicked. I accidentally clicked on the excel sheet and did all sorts of crazy things on my computer I was like did I freeze up? No, not yet not yet disneyfandomcom slash wiki opened on my computer.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, because I was one of the ones, just in case, if we wanted to see, if you all wanted to see, any of the stuff that I was looking at. Uh, some of those, I don't know. I did fact check a whole lot of this stuff, but I usually try to.
Speaker 2:I have faith in you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, so I didn't realize that the Oasis was actually a land, but I guess that's when you first kind of walk in and they say it's the equivalent to like Main Street. So that's where all of those first little shops are, I guess, leading up to Well, don't they have the penguins there too?
Speaker 2:They have, yeah, when you first walk in A whole bunch of stuff right in that area. Yeah, do you guys have penguins from?
Speaker 3:Like, when you go in, do you go left or right, because don't you have to pick away?
Speaker 4:I feel like we always go left.
Speaker 1:I feel like we always go left. I feel like we go left too, yeah same same, because we're always probably heading towards pandora yeah, or safari, or safari.
Speaker 3:I feel like we're always just pushed that way for some reason. I don't think we've ever had like a a reason, yeah I might try differently when we go.
Speaker 2:That's what I was thinking. Yeah, I might go to the right, don't change it up.
Speaker 1:and see, don't change it up, don't change it. Well, mainly, don't change it up. Well, mainly to the right too, is Dinosaur that area. If we go that way, if for some reason we would get a lightning lane for Dinosaur, knock it out first and spend more time in the back.
Speaker 2:There's a lot to do in that area, though it's such a super cool area that's like before you even get to like the actual park. Yeah, it's kind of a shame.
Speaker 3:everyone just like blows by it nowadays too, yeah.
Speaker 1:Right. Well, we talked about that one time before about Main Street, how people just roll through it. It's like you're so ready to get to a specific thing that you miss all of those things kind of walking in. Yeah, now I know it's by the tree, though, so I don't know if this is considered in this area and I think it's later down, so I don't think it is where they do the um. Is it the feathered friends in flight? Yeah, where they have the parrots yes, and where they actually fly around.
Speaker 2:But that's a tree, the macaws, yeah yeah, that's right in front of the tree okay, so I think that's a different area on the notes maybe.
Speaker 1:Well, let's see that should be yeah yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's uh discovery island yes there's not much to the oasis other than no, it's yeah, just as just a couple little shops and then a whole bunch of smaller animals that you can take a look at.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I should have pulled up the map too. When I'm doing this, I have a map saved on my computer, so I don't know if you do this. I like, when I'm doing my lightning lanes, even though I know the park, I still pull up the maps.
Speaker 3:Nah, you just get what you get Boop boop, boop, boop, boop Done. Yeah, really, you get what you get Boop boop boop, boop, boop Done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Really no, I'm like, I'm mapping it out.
Speaker 2:No, at this point I have priority. I know that I need to get this first and then I can do the other stuff.
Speaker 3:Like that's just I go off of what sells out fastest, and if I don't get that thing I know exactly what I'm picking, if I don't like to zigzag around the park.
Speaker 1:So I'm like I'll skip one just to get, like you know, like I'll, I'll skip it if it's not going to line up, but that's my brain. Like I have to have everything in a in order, in a plan. Okay, so let's see where we're going to go. Next we'll go, I guess, go to discovery island, because it's right there.
Speaker 2:That's where the tree is we didn't talk about rainforest cafe and it's like the best restaurant in animal kingdom oh no, we never wait.
Speaker 1:What are you talking about? The best in animal kingdom, it's okay, yeah, no, it's.
Speaker 1:It's no, it's fun, it's an experience it is now I can tell you, the very first time we went in 2014, that was back when they gave free dining and our trip was only like three thousand dollars for the four of us for a week. It's amazing. Um, we upgraded so well. Braden was old enough? I think no, because they were both. They were six and nine so we paid to upgrade to the adult plan and I was so glad that we did. Yeah, because when we went to uh rainforest cafe, we did surf and turf and so we each got a steak and a lobster. They would have been furious if Josh and I would have been able to get that, not them, right? But I mean, every time we go there, the food, the food's decent. You know, a couple of summers ago it was raining.
Speaker 2:It's your typical American cuisine. Yeah, when I mean especially in a park that's full of different cultures and food that's very heavy on curry yeah, like if your family's not down for that, a rainforest cafe is where it's at for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's fun. We've done it a few times now that we've discovered Yak and Yeti, like we can't do anything else, but we used to do it a lot just because I thought it was fun too. Do anything else, but we used to do it a lot just because I thought it was fun too, you know, for the kids to go in with the animals and the monkeys making noise and all that fun stuff, or when you get the big lava cake, whatever the volcano thing and then, yes, that's super fun.
Speaker 1:All right, now we can go discover allen.
Speaker 2:I'll say now okay now we can't skip the food laurie I'm sorry what I thought?
Speaker 1:oh, because I added it into these sections before. Originally I had it separated. Then I'm like you know what, we're not going to go back and talk about them. So my bad um. All right. So discovery island is where the tree of life is. And then another fun fact is you can that's where your kids can get the wilderness explorer badge thingy. I don't know what it's called, but they'll give you wilderness explorers badge yes, but you get a card right.
Speaker 1:It's been a hundred years since my kids did this. I mean then you go around to the different things and they, they either sign it or stamp it and that's when you complete it, or stickers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when you complete it then you get your wilderness badge. We did do that once when we first went. This is where you can also meet your mickey and pal friends at the outpost whoever's there at the time. This is super cool. The little stage I'm guessing it's a stage that's right across from flame tree barbecue kind of where they have the little street band. We've stopped there so many times and just watched because they get the crowd in and people get to. You know, get up and dance with them. Super fun. Little time to take a break and then I don't know what I have here. Winged Encounters the Kingdom Takes Flight. I'm assuming that's yeah. Last time we went we missed it. They were already flying over when we got there, but they'll do like a little introduction. They talk about the macaws and give the history and I think they might feed them a little bit and then they they do like a show where they're flying over you. Yeah, that's cool, which is super cool.
Speaker 2:Especially, you get it in slow-mo as the birds fly over.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah you get it in slow-mo as the birds fly over.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that was cool are you guys familiar with the uh discovery island in bay lake and the history there.
Speaker 3:Yes, sorry it took me a second. Yeah, so animal kingdom originally opened with safari village and then they had discovery island off of uh fort wilderness. If you take the boat inerness, you'll literally boat right by what used to be Discovery Island and there they held all of those birds and monkeys and everything else and they just kind of abandoned it. And so now they renamed Safari Village to Discovery Island.
Speaker 2:And people still try to break into it, get arrested all the time.
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, people are crazy. Some of the stuff they do, Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:The food. Why would people are crazy some of the stuff they do um the food we want.
Speaker 3:I have not had pizza fari, I haven't had pizza far either. Flame tree barbecue is my go-to.
Speaker 2:Yes for lunch, like it will always be my go-to for lunch, like I've had a couple other spots and animal kingdom and I just the barbecue mac and cheese is just every time you can't.
Speaker 3:It's the best.
Speaker 1:My kids didn't even like it the first time.
Speaker 3:Really yeah. And then I was like, but you have to try it. And now they were onto it the minute we did it. They love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we did it the first time. Josh and I almost did it when we were there in february, but I don't remember why we didn't. We ended up going somewhere else. I think we just went back to yak and yeti, yeah, and then tiffins.
Speaker 3:I've never eaten at tiffins either tiffins is like a tribute to joe rody again. I mean, it's got pictures that he literally took documents from his explorations. I want to eat there because I think that the lore of it is super cool. Is it like fancy schmantz? Yeah, yeah. And then right off of that you have Nomad Lounge too, which is the lounge area of Tiffin's, and I think I could probably spend hours at Nomad.
Speaker 1:Lounge. Yeah, I actually went in there once, very briefly, but some other friends that I have that have a podcast. They were doing a meetup and so and I had never met them in person but I was on their show a few times and so I actually went there. They were doing a meetup there, so I just kind of went in and met them in person and chat with them for a little bit. They look like they were having a good time.
Speaker 2:So are you looking at Tiffin's? I'm looking at the menu, having a good time. So are you looking at tiffins?
Speaker 3:I'm looking at the menu, some of this sounds really good lobster, mac and cheese, oh yeah, oh, they used to have like a package where it was like you eat at tiffins and you get prime seating for rivers of light sign me up for this menu.
Speaker 2:I'm all for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the lobster mac and cheese. That sounds really good. Let's see. We want to move on from discovery island. Do it all send. What was that full send? Is that what you said? All right, I don't know Mac and cheese. That sounds really good. Let's see. We want to move on from Discovery Island. Do it Full send. What was that Full send? Is that what you said? All right.
Speaker 2:I don't know why I put this one here.
Speaker 1:So we'll save it till we go to Africa. Let's go Asia, oh you're skipping down there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Because I'm looking of the food, but it's so. This is where the feather friends in flight, it says so that must be something different.
Speaker 2:Feathered friends in flight. Is that show that?
Speaker 1:Oh, that's the show that's right there.
Speaker 2:Show yeah, the up show, thank you when the birds fly over your head and get really close and try to take your head off.
Speaker 1:Yes, lie over your head and get really close and try to take your head off.
Speaker 2:Yes, we haven't done that either. Like we have. It's a pretty good. It's a good show. We've done it the the original version and the up version. It's it's a pretty cool show, so it's it's funny, it's uh educational. It's a really good show. Yeah, I would do it. I think we did it with raylan harper. I can't remember. I'm pretty sure we did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to have to try it this time. We're not going to have a whole lot of time, so there we'll see. But of course it has one of my favorite rides, expedition Everest.
Speaker 2:Such a good ride.
Speaker 1:So good it's amazing.
Speaker 1:The first time we went on it I thought my child was never going to ride another ride again, because I was telling Fred, like I don't research stuff, and even back then, before I didn't really know anything about Disney, I didn't really research. So we just get on these rides kind of blindly and seeing. And she was six and she was horrified. She loves it now though, like her and I. That's our ride, because my husband won't ride it, so we'll do it. My son will do it too. Nice, it was my favorite ride, along with flight of passage. Those two were my top two until guardians came along. So super fun, although I cannot ride it more than once in a row. We tried one time. We rode it three times in a row I was like I'm gonna die no way, our boys
Speaker 3:are just tall enough to ride it and they're super stoked, but I think they'm going to die. No way. Our boys are just tall enough to ride it and they're super stoked, but I think they are going to be absolutely terrified. Really, how old are they again? They are six and seven and they'll be seven and eight by the time we go. But our oldest is an adrenaline junkie, so I'm sure he'll love it. But our youngest is like I want to ride that. I don't think he's going to ride it more than once, Do you? I don't think so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's fun. It was like that time we took.
Speaker 2:Braylon Harper on the Barnstormer. They were so excited until it started going and then they were like no, Poor babies. It was great, I had the best time ever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we still do the Barnstormer. I mean, my kids are 20 and 17, but we still ride it when we go. And then also Cali River Rapids, which we talked about last week when we were ranking the Disney versus Universal rides. I do like that one. I'm not a fan of getting wet.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 1:And so I don't like having to walk around wet, but it is a fun ride. It depends on how I'm feeling, especially now. Before, I used to wear flip flops to parks, but now that I'm older I can't wear flip flops anymore.
Speaker 2:Got to wear that Mickey mouse. $160 Mickey mouse running shoes.
Speaker 1:I cannot wait, I am wearing those, I cannot wait. I got a pair, so I'm excited, nice. But I don't want to get my shoes and my socks wet because I think that would be miserable. But it is fun. I was thinking maybe I could just, if I do it, I'll just take my socks and shoes off and stick them underneath my poncho and then just throw them back on when I get off.
Speaker 3:I think they're rockers. Yeah, yeah just throw him in a locker.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then just walk over there. I like the poncho idea.
Speaker 2:Save you some time Can't go wrong.
Speaker 3:We'll see, we'll see. Nothing can stop us now, right.
Speaker 1:There's the Maharaja jungle trek.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I did it.
Speaker 1:Good job. That's it. Sweet, we have fun trying to say words on here. This is, that is actually so. When we first went, we didn't realize that that's where the little baby tiger was at, and so we had missed it. But then the lady I think we were over in Africa after the safari and she told us where he was at and she's like but the line's going to be like two hours and we're like we'll catch him next time. I didn't realize the line was that long. Yeah, I guess, because it was new.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I'm like I'm not waiting two hours to go see the baby for a minute. No, you'll just see him on TikTok later, right, right. And then my favorite, yak and Yeti. Like, literally, olivia yesterday was like, are we going to go back to Yak and Yeti? I'm like always like, doesn't matter what lunch, dinner, we'll do yak and yeti.
Speaker 3:It's so good I've never eaten there, guys. I'm so sorry I haven't either. It's fine oh okay, I thought you already had yeah no, but I've heard fabulous things about it yeah, I talk about it every chance.
Speaker 2:If we didn't have dinner at homecoming on this next trip. I probably would try to get a reservation for it, but I took homecoming over well, homecoming is my other favorite, yeah it is great.
Speaker 3:So I went to homecoming one time. I've wanted to go there for so long and when I went I was on a business trip. So I was like, well, I better get like a dainty salad or something, because I'm with my boss right now and I regret everything, because I want the mac and cheese, I want the fried chicken and I want all the drinks, but I had to be good.
Speaker 1:All the drinks are so good, and so my husband and I don't. We don't really drink much. He doesn't drink hardly any, but like we'll go there, and even if he doesn't I do. But there's a drink it's called the local and it's like a pineapple and coconut.
Speaker 2:It's so good or that conversation we had earlier about getting sidetracked really easily.
Speaker 1:See, this is. It's for the benefit of everyone else Right, because now we're talking about homecoming, which is nowhere near the animal kingdom. You started it, you said you would go home. I did, I was just saying you did yes, I do yeah, so we'll reel it back in. But I do yeah, so we'll reel it back in. But I do love the drinks at Homecoming and, if you go thigh-high, chicken biscuits and the deviled eggs.
Speaker 3:The deviled eggs are good. I got the deviled eggs. Those are good.
Speaker 1:Okay, Yak and Yeti, I can tell you all lots of food. The ahi tuna nachos, the ribeye tacos are really good. They have a walk-up window, don't they? They do, and so the walk-up window is. It's pretty good too.
Speaker 3:It's not the same, but we got a burger from the walk-up window and it was really good um I feel like fred you can probably relate to this but like my family's, not adventurous, because we have the two little ones and I have a feeling your little ones are the same way. So it's really hard to peg those like yeah, yeah really adventurous places to eat when you've got kids that are so young and literally just want to eat mac and cheese and chicken nuggets.
Speaker 1:Facts yeah, my daughter was that way, but as she's getting older she's trying a little bit more stuff, but she loves it. Anyway, I see what time it is and I'm like I'll stop.
Speaker 3:Don't mention other things, that's going to get me sidetracked.
Speaker 1:Don't make promises you can't keep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, things that's gonna get me sidetracked, don't make promises you can't keep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, all right, so we'll skip, skip on over from asia and we'll go. Uh, we could do rafiki's planet watch. Really not much there you have the wildlife train.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is fun for kids, kids love the petting zoo especially.
Speaker 1:Yes, harper loves the petting piece of advice If you ever go during Mardi Gras oh yeah, and you bring Mardi Gras beads do not go into the petting zoo and tell your child that the animals will not touch the beads.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, they will.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, they will. Olivia was one of the I think it was a goat was like trying to eat the beads off of her neck and she was like freaking out.
Speaker 2:I was like sorry on purpose yeah they.
Speaker 1:I was like they aren't gonna touch your beads. Oh yeah they were like they were going after her. What else do they have?
Speaker 2:in that area. If you like to do the um, if you like to draw or have somebody teach you how to draw, they've got the art classes back there where they draw different disney characters yes, and you can actually um, I don't know if he's out all the time, but you can also meet rafiki in that area he's usually out. He's not out all the time, he usually takes breaks and but he is out throughout the day.
Speaker 2:And then you've also got a lot of the um, smaller animal like they have some like reptile treatment rooms like stuff like that, where they actively are, like treating some of the animals that are back there and stuff like that. So it's pretty cool to see them like they were repairing a turtle shell one time when we were back there Aw.
Speaker 1:That is my dream to work at Animal Kingdom.
Speaker 2:Use the super glue on a turtle. That's all they were doing. That's all they were doing, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just want to go work there. That would be great. That's about it for Rafiki's Planet. We can move on over to Africa, which is probably, I was going to say, my favorite area. But I don't know. I think they're all my favorite because I like something in each one of them, so I can't really say the safari hands down, best ride. I will ride it every time.
Speaker 1:Last trip we went. I rode it twice, yep. Nice, it's just because you never know what experience you're going to get. The tour guide that we had on the last safari was amazing. Like we I put in a cast compliment. Like I haven't experienced it like that with him. He was just really great and fun. Nice they have Gorilla Falls back there, which is super cool. Actually, there was a couple of babies there when we went in February At least one, I think, maybe two. So that whole little section. Take the time to walk back there. You walk through the little bird sanctuary or whatever it it's called.
Speaker 2:we have the festival of the lion king in that area, which is super fun, one of fred's favorite I love it, it's so good air conditioning, two acrobatic monkeys yeah that show was not what it used to be without those acrobatic monkeys when they brought them bad boys back if someone doesn't like the tumble monkeys, it's a red flag yeah, absolutely it's so fun.
Speaker 1:I think I might have only done it once. My only complaint is the seats like the hard metal benches not my favorite, yeah not my favorite, but it is what it is yeah, yeah, super cool and what else. And then another we talked about the band in the front. You have the Tam Tam drummers out around the Harambee market, which is about frozen again.
Speaker 2:That's cool, no, yeah, no, that's cool too, especially because they're really good at pulling the audience in and making people dance in weird ways they've never danced before, so it's quite funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is great. Yeah, it was so cute they last time they, um, they pulled a little girl up and it was so fun. She was just going to town dancing. Super cute one day. I don't know the dawa bar, I think I've heard of it.
Speaker 3:Can't tell you where it's at it's like right as you pass the harambe market, you pass the dawa bar and walk, walk to Festival of the Lion King. It's on the way.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, I don't know, I just don't know why I can't place it.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I haven't eaten at a lot of these food places. I think I ate at Harambee Market.
Speaker 3:I've eaten there. It's not bad. My youngest. We went when they were five and six and he was taking a nap, and so the older kid and my wife went to ride safari and we talked away in Harambee Market and it was great.
Speaker 2:Tusker House. I can speak to, though Love Tusker House.
Speaker 1:The buffet Just because of the characters. The characters are great.
Speaker 2:I mean the characters get the kids dancing throughout the restaurant and like the food's good, the interactions are really good. It's a solid character buffet Yep.
Speaker 1:There's the coffee shop and bakery over in that area, and then harambe market we talked about, and then the tamu tamu refreshments. Yeah, I don't know which one it is, but that's where they have the street corn which is so good that sounds one of those little markets.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's like right in the middle, I don't know, it's like almost looks like a cart Kind of. They have the and you can get it with some kind of seasoning and without it's super good. Nice little snack, all right, anything else. On Africa, we're moving on, moving on, moving on over to Pandora, which we've already said is amazing.
Speaker 2:For many reasons Flight of Passage.
Speaker 1:Yes, Flight of Passage is probably in, not probably. It is in my top five.
Speaker 3:Definitely.
Speaker 1:It's. So, yeah, it's hard to explain it too, like for people who have not rode on it, because it's I mean, it's a simulated ride, but it's just, and it's long too. It's like four minutes, so it's.
Speaker 2:It's a top tier like simulated ride, like yeah, I mean I think we talked about it last week on the disney versus universal. Just like flight of passage is a whole nother level of simulator between really bringing in like the smells and the sounds and the feelings of being in pandora, like it's just such a great ride I think that first like jump, when it's like weightlessness yeah we were talking about taking my kids next time and I was like that's when they're gonna like they're gonna freak out and then they're gonna realize how great it is and they're gonna chill yeah it's a good thing.
Speaker 1:You're already locked in, so it's not like you're going anywhere right, yeah, yeah, yeah, the first time we wrote because I'm afraid of heights. So the first time when we wrote it I didn't look at everything, I kept closing my eyes, and so then the next time we wrote it. Yeah, the next time we wrote it I was like, okay, I'm just gonna watch, because I'm like I'm not really flying in the air, and I was so glad it's, it's just awesome. Yeah, it's my favorite.
Speaker 1:Then we have navi river, which I mean it's cute, it's, you know, like I wouldn't probably wait an hour for it. No, no, but it is cute. It's air conditioned. The theming is so cool.
Speaker 3:That's one of the most advanced audio animatronics in the parks.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now did they the big animatronic I don't avatar, Did they? Is that really a screen now, or was that just while they were pairing or doing like refurbishments? Do you know?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's just a B-mode thing, Like if it goes down they throw a screen on it, or if they're refurbishing it, I gotcha yeah. I don't think it's completely a screen.
Speaker 1:I gotcha. I saw that recently or a while back, and I was like that would be wild. If they took it out, I'd be mad, yeah, and over here we have Sotoli Canteen, which I have not eaten there, but I've heard so much. We almost ate there too, cheeseburger Pazzer Amazing Sounds good. Yeah, we went. I can't remember why we ended up not doing it, but I know that's like top tier A lot of people pick that one.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And then the little Pongu Pongu station where they have that pineapple lumpia so good. I don't know if y'all have had that. I have not.
Speaker 2:Great thing.
Speaker 1:It's almost like an egg roll. It's like kind of like fried looks like an egg roll, but on the inside it has cream cheese and pineapple.
Speaker 2:So good.
Speaker 1:Fred likes food. I do Last but not least, we'll, just for good measure, soon to be Dinoland, I mean soon to be gone.
Speaker 2:Soon to be gone, Dinoland.
Speaker 1:It's dinosaurs there until the end of the year. I don't think they really gave a date yet, it just says for 2025. So and then I don't know if the bone yard is still open. Last time we went, I feel like it was yeah, it's still open.
Speaker 3:I don't think they've announced a closing date for it yet either, because I want to hit that with our kids because I love it yeah so more to come on tropical america, so that I need nemo is a great show, though I could say it's.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that was part of dino land. Great show first time I went. I was traumatized by it. Second time, much better why were you traumatized? I don't know, it was just weirded out by the whole thing. But there's a lot it is. But like the second time I really enjoyed it. Like sat like pretty close to the front. Kids liked it. It was a that wasn't bad.
Speaker 1:I'd do it again I didn't, we didn't do it. Josh and I had we were gonna go in, but it was like an hour before it started again, yeah, and so we were kind of like over waiting around. So we left and, I think, went to hollywood studios so we't catch it.
Speaker 2:So we haven't done that one yet I like it yeah.
Speaker 1:So we can hit the, because it's technically we're going to do Earth Day. We can just briefly talk about we can do that at the end.
Speaker 2:Okay, we kind of wrap up with like Earth Day and how.
Speaker 1:Animal.
Speaker 2:Kingdom. I feel like that's a good way to wrap up. We can talk all the rides and the food and we could finish like conservation and stuff.
Speaker 1:So we could do a quick round table on top rides and must-do attractions. I'll go first.
Speaker 2:There's only like one of each in the entire park. And they're all dinosaurs. We're all going to pick dinosaur Duh, I mean all going to pick dinosaur?
Speaker 1:Duh, I mean, somebody could pick dinosaur as their thrill ride or pick Cali Rapids. I don't think I've ever ridden Cali.
Speaker 2:I don't think I have either, to be honest.
Speaker 1:It is fun, and it also depends on where you sit. You might get soaked and you might not. It's a gamble, but of course thrill ride. Expedition Everest best immersive experience. Flight of Passage underrated, favorite Dinosaur.
Speaker 2:Overrated.
Speaker 1:And the most relaxing is the Safari, although the truck is a little bumpy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're definitely not going to take a nap on the Safari right.
Speaker 1:Definitely not going to take a nap, but it's just cool to sit back and If you can put up with the whole chanting in the background, it's fine. Yeah, put some earplugs in. Alright, what you got, fred.
Speaker 2:Yeah, minus dinosaur, because that is straight garbage. I'm going to put I'm going to put Nemo as the underrated favorite, because it really is underrated and it's a decent show, ashley.
Speaker 3:I think I'd go underrated Safari, because everyone does Flight of Passage and Everest for everything. So I feel like Safari doesn't get enough love and I think most relaxing would be Navi, because it's just smooth, yeah, fun alright foodie finds Fred's favorites and I think most relaxing would be Navi, because it's just smooth, yeah, fun, all right.
Speaker 1:Foodie finds Fred's favorites Best quick service, best table service, snack. And then, if you have a dining tip, you want me to go first again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll take that as a yes, so I did.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll do best table service first. Yak and Yeti Hands down. We'll do best table service first Yak and Yeti Hands down. We'll do it every time For best quick service. I also picked the Yak and Yeti window because that's basically where we eat every time we go. This is actually a paid ad for Yak and Yeti.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Right, they should be. Yeah, we should have to reach out to Landry's.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And get us some sponsorship. The savory snack is the street corn and the sweet is the pineapple lumpia. And then a dining tip that I have is if you're interested in dining at Yak and Yeti and you can't get a reservation if you have a Landry's card, you can walk up and you're treated like royalty and say I have a Landry's card and you can get seated without a reservation. I have a Landry's card and you can get seated without a reservation. If you don't have a Landry's card, it's $25 to sign up for one, but then they automatically put $25 on the card, so you basically it pays for itself and then every year on your birthday you get $25.
Speaker 2:This is also a Landry's ad.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, you need to do a little clip and then we can send it to them. And then the more you spend money, you get points, and so you get rewards at different times. So there's times when Josh and I go and we'll have like 25 to 50 bucks in rewards. So it makes it worth it to go.
Speaker 3:I didn't know about the $25 that they just give all the time.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:We're going to T-Rex in September so maybe there you go.
Speaker 2:So maybe there you go, get the latest part to.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, same thing. Landers card will work at Rainforest Cafe, and also T-Rex, so yeah, all right. Who's next?
Speaker 2:Fred All right, best quick service.
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 2:Best table service, I'm going to say Tusker House, because I mean, yeah, I can get it. So I'm going to go Tusker House. And then best snack, I'm going to say Pineapple Dole Whip.
Speaker 3:Where do you get it? Pineapple Dole Whip there.
Speaker 2:Tamu, they also have that new Sangria one, so we'll see when I get there and try Sangria that could overdo the Pineapple.
Speaker 1:I wanted to get it last time we went and then I just I don't know why I didn't, but I'm done Because I love sangria, love it. So yeah, all right, what's your choices, ashley?
Speaker 3:A best quick service. Agree with Fred Flame tree. I've never even I've never eaten at like an actual table service, so I'm going to call it Nomad Lounge. Nomad Lounge is probably my favorite. Love a good drink and an appetizer there. Snack I don't really have a favorite snack there. I'm just gonna go with cheeseburger pods as a snack, because I don't really ever snack there I don't either like I gotta go.
Speaker 2:It's not a snack place, yeah that's why I just want to go with, because I was like I don't really have snacks at animal kingdom for some reason, I don't know why.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then it depends on when we go, like, if I don't eat breakfast, and at. Animal Kingdom. For some reason, I don't know why, yeah, and then it depends on when we go. Like, if I don't eat breakfast and it's not really like lunch, then I'll eat one or the two snacks that I have.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, while we're waiting, have you guys tried Mr Kamal's fries? I haven't either, but I want to no but I see it, yes, I.
Speaker 1:And it's crazy because, especially like my husband doesn't. He's very healthy with his choices, but he loves French fries and so I'm like we never. We need to go try it. I'm like we never get the fries there, Are you?
Speaker 3:looking at them. Yes, yeah, they look amazing, but we just never stop, I think. To wrap it up, my dining tip is have an adventurous family when it comes to eating. I love my family with my whole heart, but they don't ever want to venture out. So that's my tip. What you looking at there, buddy?
Speaker 2:French fries topped with tzatziki salad and sriracha ketchup. Sign me up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we need to try it.
Speaker 1:I know I didn't have dinner so I'm kind of hungry. It's too late now you didn't eat at. Evelyn's house. No, because we went to lunch before we went there.
Speaker 2:And you didn't take food home.
Speaker 1:I did eat some carrot cake at our house, but that's not really food.
Speaker 2:This is your fault for not taking food home. It was like an entire ham. Oh gosh, it's sweet potato casserole and mac and cheese. Oh yum. There was plenty of food there for you to take home.
Speaker 1:I missed that memo.
Speaker 3:Just go back. Hey, I forgot to take home leftovers.
Speaker 1:Can I have some food? Yeah, no, I will be going to take a nap as soon as I get off of here, because we have to wake up at 4.45 am to go to the gym.
Speaker 3:I was thinking about doing the same thing in the morning, but the later it gets, the later I'm convincing myself not to Well, that's right, because it's late for you. 6 am sounds like a great time to wake up tomorrow. Yeah, that's what it's looking like for me too.
Speaker 1:all right, earth day conservation, um, and I didn't do a whole lot of research, but I know that disney I mean that animal kingdom is um has a lot of efforts that they put into for conservation. It says they have I'm not going to say that because I don't know Is that Animal Kingdom that has 5,000 animals?
Speaker 1:I would believe that yeah, 300 species, and I know that they do. You know what I'm thinking. I don't know if they still do that little spiel I think they do at the end of the safari where they ask you know, like, if you're interested, there's ways that you can get involved and donate. I know they do a lot to get grants and things like that. So I'm curious how many people actually get off of there and be like, hey, I want to go donate to the elephants.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be late for my lightning lane but I need to make a phone call Right. Yeah, so I think that was one of the basis of, you know, starting Animal Kingdom was, you know, to take care of the earth and the animals, and so I think they did a good job at that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think they have great opportunities for just donating to the conservation fund. Like if you get a flat white at starbucks, they donate to the, the white condors or something outside of starbucks, they donate to that fund. If you I have a one of those follow bracelets where you can follow an animal. I think if you buy one of those there, they donate to a specific one, like it's very they're getting away with it by saying you're not necessarily donating, but if you buy this thing they'll donate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, gotcha sweet is that everything I think that's, I think so yeah, I mean you know we've said it many times like animal kingdom really is an underrated park. Like it, you gotta be the right person for the park. But I mean, if you truly like dive into animal kingdom and spend the whole day there and just take your time, like Like there's so much you're still not going to see, like there's so much to that part, yeah it, it doesn't come with all the bells and whistles that you're going to get at Magic Kingdom or, you know, studios, but it really is more of a chance to kind of step back, you know, take in what's going on around you, enjoy some different cultures, take in some good shows and just, you know, have a good kind of chilled down family day. So you know we're always going to be a full day in our kingdom family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:So fun.
Speaker 2:All right, so next week? Next week is our last episode before we take a month long break.
Speaker 1:Yes, we're taking a break.
Speaker 2:We are.
Speaker 1:We have lots of trips and things coming up that was going to interfere on the weekend, so we decided to just take the month off. Plus, we both have a lot going on. So give us a nice little break and then come back strong.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So next week we're diving into which hopefully Disney will be following suit is halfway to Halloween. As we approach the halfway to Halloween point, we should start seeing a lot more announcements for Halloween activities at Disney World. Disneyland's already announced a lot of this stuff with it being their 7th anniversary, but hopefully we'll start seeing some more details on Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween park dates, prices, things like that. So next week we'll dive into all things Halloween at Disney World and Disneyland. So if you're a Halloween buff, like the rest of us are, definitely tune in and check out that episode. Anything before I wrap us up.
Speaker 1:I was going to say, and maybe we can even throw in some Halloween horror information too, if we want.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. That sounds like a fun time to me, not to you, but Not to me. I'll do it. Um, okay, cool, cool. That sounds like a fun time to me, not to you, but not to me, I'll do it, um, okay, cool.
Speaker 2:Well, before I wrap this up, ashley, thank you for joining us. Uh, it was super fun to have you on. You know it's. It's always great to have somebody else who just has a true passion for disney on and just kind of hang out with us and talk that. So, uh, definitely, thank you for coming out and join us tonight yeah, yeah, thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 3:I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Alright. So, with that being said, as we wrap up, thank you again for joining us each and every week as we go beyond the castle. If you're ever looking to get more information about going beyond the castle, we do have a fabulous website. It has everything from video, audio, podcast. It has ways to contact both Gloria and I. If you're interested in booking trips, we even have merchandise on the website. So if you're looking to rock some fabulous Going Beyond the Castle merchandise, we do have that on our website. That can be found at wwwgoingbeyondthecastlecom.
Speaker 2:If you're looking for a quick way to find us on social media, if you're looking for a quick way to find this week's newest episode, you can always head over to our beacons channel beaconsai forward slash going beyond the castle. And then, of course, if you're interested, just reaching out to us directly. We do have an email that you can reach out to request a trip. You can, uh, give a recommendation for the podcast or even, you know, request to join us on the podcast. We're always looking for guests to join us, so if that is you, you can send us an email at info at goingbeyondthecastlecom. And so, with that being said, again, thanks for joining us and we will talk to you guys next week. Bye, bye-bye.
Speaker 4:Thank you for joining us on this magical journey. We hope today's episode brought a little extra spark to your day and inspired your next adventure, Whether it's a thrilling escape to Universal, a dream cruise getaway or unforgettable memories at Disney. Have questions, A topic you'd like us to cover? Your own magical story to share, or looking for travel assistance? We'd love to hear from you. Drop us a line at info at goingbeyondthecastlecom. We'd love to hear from you. Drop us a line at info at goingbeyondthecastlecom. Be sure to check out all our social media links and podcast platforms at beaconsai forward slash goingbeyondthecastlepodcast and don't miss the fun in our Facebook group Going Beyond the Castle Podcast Lounge, where we share tips, updates and beyond-the-scenes the scenes moments until next time. See you real soon.
