May 12, 2008 - Day 18: Animal Kingdom, Downtown Disney, Epcot

Woo, lots happening today. Well, we didn’t get a really early start to the day but we were up and packed and out of our room by 10ish. We went straight to Boardwalk, love it! Checked in but of course we didn’t get our room assignment yet so we left our baggage with bell services and headed off to Animal Kingdom. There we went straight to Flametree BBQ cause we were really hungry. We all had the beef sandwiches with beans and key lime pie. We dined at our favourite spot overlooking the water and Everest.

From there we went on Safari, long line so it was nice to have the pass. Even then we waited about 15 minutes but it was a nice journey. We saw lots of animals, even had a giraffe leading our vehicle, he just kept ambling down the road! The lions were sleeping though, as kitty cats tend to do mid-day in the heat. After, we went to Expedition Everest as Gary hadn’t ridden it yet. It was fun as usual and fortunately he didn’t get very nauseous, just a little (it goes backwards in the dark for a bit). It was hot and crowded so we abandoned the park at that point.

Off to DD, where we had a little bit of exchanging to do at World of Disney, then over to Goofy’s Candy Kitchen to use up 10 snack credits. Gary and Brynna got lots of fudge, I got rice krispie Mickey ears. We headed back to Boardwalk where we got our room, 5073, 5th floor, with a view of the front driveway, lobby area. Would have loved a water/pool view but those would have cost us more points (we “rented” points from a Disney Vacation Club member). Our room is quite lovely. There’s a queen-sized bed, sofabed, balcony with 2 chairs, separate toilet/sink areas, and a small kitchenette area with sink, fridge, cupboards and microwave. It’s all very light and airy, much different than Pop.

We hung around our room until 6 then walked over to Epcot for dinner. The Boardwalk is really neat with restaurants, ESPN Club, Spoodles, Flying Fish and some shops. Didn’t take long to walk over and we just poked in and out of shops until our reservation time at Tutto Italia. There we had a lovely dinner, the dining room is very nice. I had the canneloni as did Brynna and Gary had steak. For dessert Brynna and I both the profiteroles (cream puffs filled with vanilla gelato) smothered in warm chocolate sauce, sooooo good. Gary had some sort of gelato & fruit thingy ($14!!).

After dinner we found a bench, coincidentally near where Davy Jones was performing. I left Gary and Brynna there and hoofed it to Paris, to use the last of our snacks on pastries for tomorrow’s breakfast & lunch. Got back there, listened to the end of his performance then we watched Illuminations which I haven’t seen since 1999. It was still a wonderful fireworks show, left me with warm fuzzies.

We walked back to our resort, slowly, enjoying the night breeze and the entertainment on Boardwalk (sidewalk performers). Back to our room where we watched some TV and drifted off to sleep.