Florida Trip- Animal Kingdom at Disney World

Day 5...
We were up and ready to go out the door at 8:00 AM to catch a bus to Epcot then on to the
Animal Kingdom.

 Opened in 1998, Disney's Animal Kingdom is newest of Walt Disney World's theme parks -

 and also by far the largest. 

The sprawling park, of course, doubles as world-class zoo, 

as well as packing in Disney's usual array of family-friendly rides and shows.

Sixty dump trucks filled with dirt were delivered to Animal Kingdom’s construction site every day for two years straight, equaling 4.4 million cubic yards of dirt. 

Fun facts about Animal Kingdom are taken from:
http://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20140321/17017/20-fun-facts-about-disneys-nimal-kingdom

 The iconic Tree of Life 

is topped with more than 103,000 leaves, 

each of which was individually placed on 8,692 branches. 

It took 10 artists and three Imagineers around 18 months

to create the 325 animals carved into

 The Tree of Life. 

The sculptors had around 6-10 hours to produce the final image before the plaster hardened.

The base of the Tree of Life had to be very strong

 in order to withstand the hurricanes that regularly hit Florida. 

To provide the necessary strength,

 an old oil rig was installed as the base skeleton for the tree's trunk.

 More than 4 million trees, plants, shrubs, vines, grasses and more from every contintent on Earth (except Antarctica) were planted during the construction of Disney's Animal Kingdom.

 At 199 feet tall Expedition Everest is the tallest of Walt Disney World's faux mountains. 

It is just below the Federal Aviation Authority's 200-foot limit, which would require it to have a flashing red light on its peak.

With a cost of more than $100,000,000, 

Expedition Everest is the most expensive roller coaster ever made.

To recreate the lowlands surrounding Mount Everest, more than 900 bamboo plants, 

10 species of trees and 110 species of shrubs were planted.

 Gross!

The most popular live show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is 

“Festival of the Lion King,”

 an explosion of colors, music and amazing talent. 

The spectacular finale includes a rendition of the

 “Circle of Life."

 An African Safari is on my bucket list.

This is probably as close to that as I will get.

So, I am crossing that off my list.

Yes!

 Planting Kilimanjaro Safaris was a challenge. With a ride-through attraction and live animals roaming about, planting patterns were based on what designers thought the animals would do, and what the guests will experience. Paul Comstock, principal landscape architect, laid out the plant bed lines on a motorcycle (using spray paint) riding at the same speed as the ride vehicle, “because guests will experience the landscape at that speed,” he said. 

 The savannah that hosts Kilimanjaro Safaris spans around 110 acres. 

That makes it larger than the entire Magic Kingdom theme park.

Like a snapshot from an African safari, towering acacia trees and tall grasses paint a familiar picture of the Serengeti on a vast stretch of rolling landscape, 

but this is Central Florida, not east Africa, and the acacias are really 30-foot-tall Southern live oaks with a close-cropped crew cut. 

http://allears.net/tp/ak/ak_fact.htm

 Feeding the 1,000+ animals that are hosted at the park requires around 4 tons of food per day.

Papa..

watching the kids play.

Doug with tiger.

We had an amazing day at Animal Kingdom with the park closing at 5:00 PM.
Our bus was not due to pick us up until 9:00 PM, so we had some time to explore.

We took the bus to Epcot and then decided to take the Monorail to the ferry to cross over to
The Magic Kingdom.

We arrived at The Magic Kingdom!

As "Magical" as the Kingdom is,
we did not get in.
It turned out that we just had passes for entry to one kingdom per day.
So, it was back to the resort via taxi cab.
Ouch!
It makes for a good story, though, to tell people
they wouldn't let us into the Magic Kingdom!
(And in all fairness to them, we could have gotten in for a mere $50 each.)

Florida Trip- Epcot Center at Disney World- Warm Salad of White Beans and Arugla

Day 3...
We boarded our bus to Epcot from our resort at 8:00 AM.
We found the giant "golf ball" that our pilot referred to from the air when we were just about to land in Orlando.
It looks larger from the ground than the air.

Walt Disney's original vision for an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow - a real, working futuristic city - died with him in 1966. Still, the Epcot that did eventually emerge was still something pretty special - a combination of a theme park and a permanent World's Fair that has entertained tens of millions of guests since its debut in 1982.

The Giant Golf Ball

The iconic Spaceship Earth weighs some 16 million pounds,

 with its outer skin being made up of 11,324 aluminum and plastic-alloy triangles.

Stand under Spaceship Earth when it is raining, and you won't get wet. 

The structure boasts a special drainage system designed to collect rainwater, funnel it through the support structure and let it eventually run off into the park's lagoon.

Epcot sprawls across a massive 300 acres, making it almost three times as large as the Magic Kingdom. Despite this, it's still not the largest theme park at Walt Disney World - that crown is taken by Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The fountains in the Innoventions Plaza are based in a 180x120 foot oval.

 The fountains themselves are controlled by computers, 

which send 30,000 gallons of water down its walls every single minute. 

A total of 108,000 gallons of water circulate through the fountain system.

The fountains were refurbished in 1993, and are able to shoot water up to 150 feet into the air.

 If all of the shooters were fired at once, 

some 2,000 gallons of water would be propelled into the air.

Journey into Imagination.

The mosaic surrounding the entrance to The Land Pavilion spans 3,000 square feet.
It features 150,000 tiles made in 131 colors, and took 3 months to install.

The plants in the Land Pavilion are not just for show. 

More than 30 tons of fruits and vegetables grown in the pavilion are served at Walt Disney World restaurants every year

A tomato tree in the Land Pavilion, which is visible from the Living with the Land boat ride, 

holds a Guiness World Record for a one-year yield of an amazing 32,000 tomatoes, with a total weight of 1,151 pounds.

The aquarium in the Seas with Nemo and Friends is filled with 5.7 million gallons of saltwater. Guests look into via 56 giant windows. 

The recipe for the artificial saltwater called for 27 truckloads of common table salt.

Great restaurant at Epcot.

My lunch was delicious...
Seared Rainbow Trout
with Warm Salad of
White Beans, Arugula, Tomatoes, Crispy Bacon,
 and Aged Balsamic Vinegar.

The closest recipe I could find to the Warm Salad is this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

I modified it to incorporate the ingredients in the salad I ordered for lunch.

My version of 

Warm Salad of White Beans and Arugula

• 4 ounces arugula
• 8 ounces of thick-cut bacon
• 1 can of white beans
• Handful of grape tomatoes, halved or quartered 
• Aged balsamic vinegar
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Arugula is grown in dark, sandy soil and almost always arrives gritty. Don’t skimp on washing it.

Spread out on towels to dry it.

Tear your arugula into bite-sized pieces.

Lay out all of your bacon slices and grill them. Drain the bacon on a paper towel.

Crumble the bacon.

Pour off most of the bacon grease and warm a can of white beans, mashing them slightly while stirring. 

Start to plate the salad.  Start with a mash of warm white beans on the plate.

Then layer the arugula, bacon pieces, and scatter with grape tomatoes.

Drizzle very thinly with olive oil and sprinkle with a few, spare droplets of balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and black pepper. Serve immediately. 

Views of the aquarium at lunch.

Our future looks bright, Doug!

Mission: SPACE

 is a motion simulator ride that uses centripetal force to simulate

 the G-forces of a rocket blast-off followed by a trip to Mars. 

It took more than 650 Walt Disney Imagineers more than 350,000 hours 

(the equivalent of 40 years of time)

 to develop Mission: SPACE. The Imagineers' efforts took place over a five-year period.

 The annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival
 sees more than 33,000 bottles of wine and champagne being uncorked,
 1.2 million hors d'oeuvre plates being served and 100,000 miniature desserts being devoured.

The Eiffel Tower is in the middle of the photo.

The Eiffel Tower that stands over the France Pavilion was built at approximately 1/10 scale of the original, stretching 103 feet into the air. The tower is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, to make it look taller than it actually is. A bird landing on top of it would ruin the illusion, so Disney uses natural bird deterrents to scare them away.

The Hotel du Canada in the Canada Pavilion is only 3 stories tall. 

To make it look larger, Imagineers added 5 stories of windows.

The sprawling World Showcase lagoon spans some 40 acres.

Every 60 days, the Biergarten restaurant in the Germany pavilion
serves up 26.2 miles (a marathon's worth) of bratwurst.

 If you walk around the entire World Showcase lagoon,
 from Mexico to Canada, you've covered a distance of some 1.25 miles.

The Earth Globe that acts as the centerpiece of Illuminations: 

Reflections of Earth has a diameter of 28 feet and weight 350,000 pounds. 

The Inferno Barge used by the show can send balls of fire soaring 40 to 60 feet into the air from 37 nozzles, and uses 400 gallons of propane every night. 

Some 2,8000 fireworks shells are fired during each show.

The Fun Facts referenced in this blog are found here:
Fun Facts of Epcot Disney World

We  boarded our bus to return to our resort at 9:00 PM.
It was a long day, but worth it.

Good Night!