Today we are planning some more 1st time experiences at Animal Kingdom. Yesterday we had many new experiences at Hollywood Studios including using MagicBand+ for the first time. To read more about yesterday’s adventure, see: 1st Time Using MagicBand+ at Hollywood Studios. And today we are looking forward to using our MagicBand+ again, and experiencing more 1st time experiences at Animal Kingdom!
Planning 1st Time Experiences at Animal Kingdom
We’re a little tired from our long day yesterday, but we planned to start off a little different today. Instead of getting to the park early for rope drop, we planned breakfast first. We reserved breakfast at 9:40AM at Boma – Flavors of Africa at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. This will be our first time at this restaurant and it’s very close to the entrance of Animal Kingdom. When we do get to the park, we will continue our Fab 50 Quest using MagicBand+. And after that we plan to take our daughter on Expedition Everest for the first time.
Another thing we plan to do for the first time is the new Finding Nemo show. This show closed down during Covid and just reopened last summer. Not only is it reopening, but this stage show has been fully updated. And afterwards we’ll head to DinoLand U.S.A. to explore the park further. We only plan to spend a few hours in the park before we drive home. But first is breakfast.
Boma – Flavors of Africa Breakfast
We love trying new restaurants for the first time and Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge has good reviews. And since it’s so close to the Animal Kingdom entrance, it’s easy to start here then head to the park. On the way to Animal Kingdom, we stay left for the resort. At the security gate, we show them our dining reservation and they direct us where to park. Once in the Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby, we find stairs to take us down to Boma. You can read more about this restaurant at: Boma Flavors of Africa | Walt Disney World Resort.
There are a lot of people here but we get seated quickly in the large restaurant. Boma is a buffet restaurant with many options. Though the line to get a plate and get food is a little long. But there’s a lot of good options on the bar. There are some African inspired dishes like turkey bobotie. But they have plenty of traditional dishes including pre-made omelets, bacon and Mickey waffles. They also have plenty of bakery items, but the must have is their sticky buns. These cinnamon swirled buns are topped with pecan praline goodness and you can even add more of the sauce. The food here is really good with plenty of options at a reasonable “Disney” price. Now that we’re full, we’re ready for the park.
Disney Fab 50 Quest using MagicBand+
The park is only a few minutes from the Animal Kingdom Lodge. And once we get to Discovery Island we stop for some pictures in front of the Tree of Life. In this area is also the 4 Fab 50 golden sculptures. And like yesterday, we use our MagicBand+ and Play Disney Parks app to locate each one. Though there are only 4 statues, there are actually 7 characters.
There are actually only 36 sculptures but a total of 50 characters celebrating their 50th anniversary. And we find Bambi and Thumper right away. We wave our hands and our MagicBands light up and vibrate as well as unlock the sounds from the statues. We also collect them on the Play Disney Parks app to keep track of them.
Simba is close by and right next to Pumbaa and Timon also from the Lion King. And lastly we find Nemo and Dory to collect them all and get our achievement on the app. You also unlock AR features on the Play app as well. We’ve now found all the golden sculptures at 2 parks, and look forward to finding the rest on our next trip.
More 1st Time Experiences at Animal Kingdom
Expedition Everest is the only roller coaster in Animal Kingdom, but it’s a good one. And our daughter is tall enough to ride it for the first time. On the way to the land of Asia, we spot Kevin, the large bird from the movie Up. The posted wait time on the app is 35 minutes but when we get there the line looks longer. But unlike yesterday, we get on the ride in less than 30 minutes. Our little daredevil loves it and wants to go again, but we get her a popsicle instead. And then we head to the new Finding Nemo show.
This show runs multiple times a day but if we don’t do the 1:00PM show, it doesn’t run again to 2:30PM. So we head to the theatre about 15 minutes early to park our stroller. By the time we do, the doors have opened and we enter the theater. The theatre is very large with plenty of seating. And the show starts promptly at 1:00.
The show starts with the fish from the dentist’s office aquarium. And they retell the story of how Nemo got lost and saved them along the way. Each fish is a puppet controlled by live performers with elaborate screen sets and a large LED screen. And they go through all the major points of the first move. Marlin, Nemo’s father and Dory travel the ocean to find him. They meet Bruce the shark and ride the EAC with Crush the sea turtle before they’re reunited. The performances are wonderful and if you like the movie, you’ll love the show.
Dinosaur and It’s Tough to Be a Bug
After the 25 minute show, we continue to loop around going through DinoLand U.S.A. Our daughter normally likes to ride the kiddie TriceraTop Spin ride, but we cruise past if for DINOSAUR. The first time she rode this ride a few years ago, she was really scared. This ride actually asks “Is it too scary?” on the Disney website. But she rode it about a year and half ago with no problems. And when we enter the line, it’s a posted 25 minute wait and that’s exactly how long it takes.
After the ride, we ask if it was scary and she says no. But she also doesn’t say she immediately wants to ride it again. But what she does want to do is the It’s Tough to Be a Bug show. This Bug’s Life show is a classic here and she says she really enjoyed it last time. And it’s always a 10 minute wait though it takes about that long to walk through the winding line. We get into the theater in the Tree of Life and grab our 3-D bug glasses. This interactive show is still fun, but afterwards we’re ready to leave for the day. We stop at some shops on the way out. We have to stop and say hi to one of the newest cast members, Grace, our friend Christine’s daughter.
Summary of 1st Time Experiences at Animal Kingdom
Today was a short day after yesterday, but we still got to do more first times experiences at Animal Kingdom. We got to eat at Boma for the first time and really enjoyed it. And it filled us up enough we didn’t need lunch. At the park, we continued our Fab 50 quest with MagicBand+. We had fun with our new MagicBands before our daughter got to ride Expedition Everest for the first time. She has now done almost every roller coaster in the parks and she’s only 6!
We also got to experience the new Finding Nemo show for the first time. This is a nice break from rides and is an entertaining 25 minute show. Spending less than 4 hours in the park was ideal today. We feel Animal Kingdom is the best park to spend half a day. It’s easy to get in and out of and if you stay away from the Avatar rides, the wait times aren’t bad. But we’re already planning to come back in 2 weeks to go to EPCOT and Magic Kingdom!