We decided to fly out early on Saturday morning so we’d arrive in Orlando with enough time to visit one of the parks. Apparently we weren’t the only ones with that genius intent. When we arrived at the Disney Magical Express (their motorcoach service) we were greeted with an obscenely long line. But true to Disney fashion, the line moved quickly (for a line) and we were at our hotel within an hour.
We decided, since this was our anniversary celebration trip, to splurge and reserve a safari-view room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I was skeptical. I wanted a hotel closer to Epcot (one of my favorite parks), but Nathan convinced me (he makes great woeful puppy dog eyes). And, OMG, was it worth it! As soon as we got to our room, we went to our balcony. Our first step outside was greeted with zebras, several types of deer, giraffes, ostriches, and more.
So after demanding a nap and sleeping for two hours, I was ready to head out to Animal Kingdom park. If you’ve never been to Disney, you don’t have any concept of how much walking is involved. The resorts are huge. The parks are huge. Everything is huge! So it necessarily follows that you do a LOT of walking. (Side note: we meant to take our pedometers, but totally forgot, darnit!) So anyhoo, this was the first of many hiking excursions. 
Of course, we didn’t anticipate that the park would close early, what with early sunsets. So we got there just as the park was closing. But oh well!
That night we went to the fancy restaurant at AKL. Jiko, another selection I was a little worried about, turned out to be my favorite restaurant of the whole trip. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good picture of the inside. But there’s one wall that constantly changes colors to imitate an African sunset and sunrise. And there are light fixtures that look like flocks of birds soaring in the air. Totally awesome. And the food! Heavenly.
One of the first animals we spotted on the AKL safari was the adorable Red River Hog. When we first spotted them, I asked Nathan, “Hey! What are those vaguely pig-like creatures?” Sometime later, we spotted an AKL cast member and asked about the animal, learning that they are called Red River Hogs. No matter–whenever we stepped onto our balcony, we looked for the Vaguely Pigs.
The first morning, I stepped out onto our balcony reveling in the crisp autumn air and scenic view before me. Soon a utility vehicle drove up and the driver waved at me. I thought, “Wow, everyone here at Disney World is so friendly!” Sure, the fellow said hello, but he also suggested I look below my balcony to the left. “You can see Clifford, our bongo, munching on the grass.” Apparently the bongos, and two of them in particular, like to jump the barriers and get at those tasty grass morsels that the other animals can’t get to. Sure enough, I looked down and the bongo was slowly heading away from me munching on the grass. Clifford was a mere 10 feet away! It was really cool! It wasn’t until after the workers left that I wondered how, based on an ass-end view, they could identify the bongo as Clifford. Then I decided I didn’t want to know.
Oh! And we met the Florida Bert!
But you can 
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