At Rafiki's Planet Watch

Snakeskin hidden Mickey...

Do you like display boards? Then Rafiki's Planet Watch is the place for you!

The goats were cute, though.

Duffy and I didn't have much fun at Rafiki's Planet Watch, and my friend did not like it at all! The goats were cute though.

On to Rafiki's Planet Watch

I like the station when it looks more empty.

Looking out at the train!

Lousy luggage didn't want to be photographed.

"Rafiki is telling us the way to go!" Duffy said.

"Are you sure he is not just saying 'Way out' in monkey language?" I asked.

"Not funny."

Way out with Duffy

"Wow! I did not know there were hippies in Animal Kingdom," said Duffy.

"What do you mean?"

"They say 'Way out'!"

"I think that really means that is the way out," I said.

"Hmph. You're no fun."

Duffy is not luggage

"Why is this luggage behind a fence?" asked Duffy.

"Be careful, or you might get taken on board as luggage," I said.

"Well, that wouldn't be so bad," said Duffy.

Then we saw the train.

"What do you mean, they strap luggage to the top of the train?!"

I thought it looked cool. Fortunately, Duffy is not luggage.

Duffy the Station Master

"Wow! Look at all those keys! Can I be the station master?"

"I would have my own office and everything!"

"Hmmm...um...maybe," I said.

Duffy at the train station

I didn't care all that much about going to Rafiki's Planet Watch, but I WAS interested in seeing the train!

Duffy and the Tree of Life

"Looking good, Tree of Life!"

We (Duffy and I) wanted to get a closer look, but we thought we would have time later. So this will have to do!

Duffy considering Flights of Wonder

"About me getting eaten," said Duffy. "I know you were joking, but it would be terrible if a bird wanted to take me from you and pecked your eyes out or something so it could get me."

Well, there's a disquieting thought that had never crossed my mind.

"So I will hide out of sight during the show. For your sake. Okay?"

Aw. My Duffy is one generous bear!

Or maybe cowardly.

Or maybe just silly, since I don't think the birds would really mistake him for food.

After all, they never attacked the woman/Kermit the Frog in front of us!

Duffy waiting for Flights of Wonder

"I hope the birds do not carry you off and eat you," I said.

"That is not funny," said Duffy.

Duffy and the birds

Then we waited outside for the bird show, Flights of Wonder!

I think I liked the outside even better than the main show.  These birds were delightful!

Duffy with Lunch at Restaurantosaurus

OK, yeah, I got a burger. Why? Two words.

Topping.

Bar.

They even had ranch dressing if you wanted to dip your chicken nuggets (or your fries).

Thanks, discounted Disney Dining Plan! Normally I would have just gotten a meal (sometimes no fries!) and a glass of water. Here, I got a combo meal with a drink AND a chocolate mousse! The top of the mousse was so rich I couldn't even eat all of it. I ended up scraping it off and putting it on a napkin. (No photo. OK, there was one but I won't share it. :) )

Duffy in Restaurantosaurus

Am I the only person who thinks this is so ridiculous it is kind of funny?

Our plan was to go to Animal Kingdom Lodge for lunch and then come back to the park and have dinner at Restarauntosaurus, but we were hungry right then, so we changed things up and ate in the park for lunch. (Which was good because...well, you'll see later!)

"Hey, Duffy, I was trying to take a picture of the notice board! Get out of the way!"

"You are the one levitating me with your hand," said Duffy.

Accurate.

Duffy is going to ride

"Can we ride now?" asked Duffy.

"Very soon!"

Yeah, poor Duffy got tucked away for the ride and I didn't enjoy it much myself. Ah well; now I can say I rode it.

(Duffy can too!)

Duffy sitting in the queue

"Duffy! I don't think people are allowed to sit on the railings."

"What about bears?"

That is an excellent question.

Duffy looking at line for Primeval Whirl

The empty switchbacks made us feel like the line was shorter than it was.

Duffy is still waiting

No, I didn't turn out to be the biggest fan of Primeval Whirl. But Duffy...

...he actually LIKED the brightly-colored queue!

Duffy at Primeval Whirl

Afterwards we got in what may have been our longest line of the day (and we had a FastPass+!). Primeval Whirl.

It's a garish ride about how funny it is that a meteor is coming to kill all the dinosaurs. I don't think the dinosaurs thought it was funny, but OK.

Duffy is looking for Nemo

The Lion King musical wasn't playing when we went. Which in fairness could be just as well, because my travel companion had no interest.

So instead we saw....Finding Nemo the Musical!

"Bloop bloop bloop," said Duffy.

Silly bear, pretending he was underwater.

"But there are bubbles!" he said.

My poor friend was distracted throughout at what was certainly an intentional decision to have the puppets BEHIND the actors at most times. O_o

Duffy with a T-Rex

We were walking through the queue so quickly, it was hard to get photos!

If I recall correctly, we'd booked a FastPass+ for Dinosaur, but I'm not sure we actually used it because, you know, not really needed.

Duffy with a Dino mural

For a ride that's so silly, the queue for Dinosaur is really gorgeous and serious-looking.

Duffy around Dinoland USA

So guess who forgot that her BFF/travel partner does NOT like audio-animatronic dinosaurs?!

But I still wanted to go on the Dinosaur ride. (And I'd do it again! Maybe not with her though.)

Duffy with Dug and Russell

Um...OK, I'm not really a fan of the movie "Up."

But I'll wait exactly this long, and put exactly this much effort into getting a photo of Duffy with some of the characters.

Duffy with a giant stone cat

Well, I THINK it is a cat. Duffy saw it and just HAD to pose with it.

Duffy at Pizzafari

We had the Disney Dining Plan, so we had breakfast at Pizzafari. Soda for my friend, water for me, and food for the three of us!

Duffy stuck on Expedition Everest

So then we got on Expedition Everest and (spoiler alert!) there's a spot where the car is supposed to stop. And it kept being stopped...and stopped...and stopped...

I started to worry that we'd have to walk out of the ride. I mean, it's fun to be evacuated from a ride, but Everest is awfully tall. Though, most people don't get to say they walked down Everest......

Anyway. I tried to get a picture of Duffy. No flash....not helpful.

Flash....not helpful.

Then an announcement came on that they were starting the ride, like, immediately. Eek!

Duffy with a tent

I thought this tent was AWESOME!