Review: Learn About the Giants of Animal Kingdom with the Caring for Giants Tour

Two weeks ago thanks to my amazing girlfriend, my mother and I got to experience the Caring for Giants Tour at Disney's Animal Kingdom while on our quick trip. I was just going to add this into my trip report, but I knew just a few short sentences wouldn't do this tour justice to explain how awesome it truly was and the amazing learning experience it was in just one hour.

If you listen the podcast I am on, the MouseLife, you already know this review is going to be gushing with my love for not only just elephants but baby elephants. Being able to see Baby Stella interact with her new world being just born just over 6 months ago was truly jaw-dropping getting that close to all the elephants.

Before the tour gets started you check in for the tour just outside of Kilimanjaro Safaris about 15 minutes before your scheduled tour. There was about 12 of us on the tour that morning at 11. As the tour begins the tour guide lets guests know that no photography can be taken while backstage until you get to the area where the elephants are. Guests are taken backstage and are lead to a parking area where a bus is waiting to take you to the Elephant watch area.

The ride to the Elephant overlook is about 5 minute ride where you will pass multiple animal barns on the way. Once you get off the bus you walk up to the overlook and here is where you will have free reign on pictures and video of the amazing African Elephants. This is also where the main learning experience begins.

Animal Kingdom currently has 10 elephants or 3.7 as the animal care specialists will tell you. 3.7 meaning 3 males and 7 female elephants including their newest addition to the family in Baby Stella. You also learn about day-to-day care of the elephants along with some amazing facts you would never dream about learning about elephants. Probably the most fascinating part of the whole experience was when Phil our African culture representative who taught us Disney's conservation efforts to save the elephants and also how we can help save the elephants. 

The experience was absolutely amazing overall I would recommend it to anyone who loves animals and anyone going to Animal Kingdom and wants to experience one of these tours. It only takes 60 minutes and every one of those minutes is worth the $30 per person you pay to take the tour. It's $30 and every single cent of that money goes to the Disney Conservation fund. I would like to thank our guides Ashley, Amber, and Phil they were absolutely amazing. I just want to close out with some more photos from the tour. Seriously, if you have the chance take the Caring for Giants tour, you won't be disappointed.

The Caring for Giants Tour happens daily at the Magic Kingdom with tours from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. I took the 11 a.m. tour on June 9. 

Florida Resident Discover Disney Discount Tickets Return, New Elephant Calf Born, & More

Florida Resident 3 & 4-Day 'Discover Disney' Discount Tickets Return:

Is Pandora Opening Memorial Day Weekend?

The Florida Resident 'Discover Disney' Discount tickets are returning beginning today (January 4) and running through June 9, 2017. Tickets come in 3 or 4-day tickets with 3-day tickets will cost $139 for ages 3 and up and $159 for 4-day tickets for ages 3 and up. Guests wanting to add the Water Parks Fun & More Option will be able to add it as a discounted price as well.

There are some blackout dates for Animal Kingdom as well which has been causing fans to wonder if this has to do with Pandora: The World of Avatar opening at the park. The blackout dates are from May 27 through the end of the ticket use dates of June 9, 2017. May 27 is the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, the official beginning of U.S Summer Season at theme parks. Disney recently announced that Pandora: The World of Avatar would open Summer 2017 so these dates make sense.

Source: WDW News Today

New Elephant Calf Born at Disney's Animal Kingdom:

Today, Disney's Animals Environment & Sciences Team announced the birth of a new elephant calf at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The calf named Stella, was born recently and is now roaming the savannas along with her mother Donna on Kilimanjaro Safari's. Donna, is 28-years old gave birth to Stella, who is the seventh elephant born at the park. 

Donna and Stella spent a short time backstage where Stella began nursing, bonding with mom, and getting to know some of the other elephants in her family. This is the third calf for Donna, who has given birth to two other female calves, Nadirah in 2005, and Luna in 2010. Stella raises the number of elephants in the Disney’s Animal Kingdom herd to 10, including three males and six females.

Check out this video of Stella taking her first steps on the savanna that the Disney Parks Blog released:

Source: Disney Parks Blog

Mid-Season Trailer for "Star Wars Rebels" Reveals Return of Familiar Face:

We already knew that when "Star Wars Rebels" returns this Saturday, one familiar face in Saw Gerrera would be appearing in Season 3 of the series. Today, the mid-season trailer was released and man are we excited for the return of another favorite character. Watch below to find out who:

Yes, after the mid-season finale we knew it was possible that Obi-Wan Kenobi would be returning sometime this season. Now, it has been confirmed with the mid-season trailer release. "Star Wars Rebels" returns this Saturday, January 7 at 8:30 PM ET/PT on Disney XD. I can't wait to see Obi-Wan battle with Maul.

"Hakuna Matata, It means No Worries." Trip Report Part 2

I left you last week finishing up the first two days of my trip. Despite some struggles and some rain, they were quite amazing. After beginning my trip in Epcot and our first full day in the parks at Hollywood Studios, it was time to head to Magic Kingdom on Tuesday and Animal Kingdom on Wednesday. Oh yeah, also the amazing fireworks in, Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular, at Hollywood on Tuesday night. The adventures continue now. 

Tuesday: 

Is there anything like walking into the Magic Kingdom and walking down Main Street, USA? I finally got to do that on Tuesday morning of my trip. While Hollywood Studios and Epcot are up there as my favorite parks, Magic Kingdom just has the nostalgic feeling. I mean it is the park that started it all for Disney World. 

Although the famous WDW Crane was in the background, Cinderella Castle was as beautiful as ever. It was time to head over to Fantasyland for our first FastPass in Peter Pan's Flight. The park wasn't all to busy but it seemed everyone had a FastPass the same time as ours. It was our longest wait of the day literally. After Peter Pan's Flight we headed straight over to 'it's a small world' and walked right on. It had been down for refurbishment up until the day before so it was nice to enjoy the classic attraction. Although I was disappointed that the personal message screens weren't working, so no goodbye message for me. 

I noticed that Haunted Mansion didn't have much of a wait so we headed over there for one of my favorite rides in the park.  The interactive queue was down and blocked off so both the FastPass lines and the Stand-by lines were combined. Disney World needs more rides like Haunted Mansion, Imagineering did an amazing job creating this 45 years ago.

After riding three rides in a matter of an hour, it was time for lunch already as we arrived to the park later in the morning. We headed over to Columbia Harbor House for some lunch. This is easily one of the best quick service restaurants in the Magic Kingdom. I'm not a fish person, but I did enjoy my chicken breast nuggets. We finished lunch and it was time for our next FastPass over at the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. 

I am still amazed how amazing this ride is with the advancement of the animatronics. Although it is a short ride, it is still quite the amazing attraction. Generally everything we rode we walked on but we decided to take a break and head over to Mickey's Philharmagic. While I miss The Lion King show that was housed here years ago, I love singing along with all the classic Disney songs in this show. It is one of those attractions that I enjoy every trip.

We got out of the show and the clouds had begun rolling in. I was hoping the rain that was coming wouldn't last long like the previous two days. We headed over to Tomorrowland for our next FastPass in Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, my favorite ride. As we were heading over it did begin raining and it was early so I actually rode it twice once without our FastPass and another with our FastPass. Luckily between riding it twice the rain had stopped. Here are my scores the first ride was horrible and the second ride through was much better.

While the rain had stopped it was still cloudy but it was as hot as ever. We headed into Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor for a break from the sun. Interesting enough it was one of the shows where the jokes were new and of course I love Mike Wazowski and Roz. We decided to head back to Liberty Square and check out Hall of Presidents. Before Hall of Presidents though we caught with my favorite parades in the Festival of Fantasy parade. 

After cooling down in Hall of Presidents, the sun made it feel like it was over 100 that day. I ran to try my very first churro. I know weird that all the times I've been at the parks I've never had one. It was good but they won't top my favorite snack at Disney in the Mickey Rice Krispie Treat. We didn't have any table service reservations so before we headed to Hollywood Studios for the fireworks we headed to our resort for dinner.

Dinner like I said in my resort review wasn't actually pretty good and it was almost like eating a big meal for dinner. After resting in the room for a while after dinner my mother and I headed over to Hollywood Studios for Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular. Bus service was spectacular on this trip and we made it to the Studios by 7:30. I ran over to Star Wars Launch Bay to buy a pin (I have quite the collection of pins) while my mother sat waiting for the fireworks to the show. I got back with 15 minutes to spare. Here are some of the shots I captured:

I have said this plenty of times over the last two weeks since I've returned, "Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular" is hands down the best nighttime fireworks show in Disney World. It lived up to my expectations and then some. The day was complete and we headed back to our resort after another amazing day to our trip.

Wednesday: 

Today, was our late day as we had lunch reservations at the Kona Cafe at noon and then we would head over to Animal Kingdom. It was also the day where remember when I said my story on my father's motorized wheelchair wasn't over, well this was the day the nightmare would finally end. After breakfast and getting ready we decided to head over the Poly early to enjoy our favorite resort. On our way over though after the wheelchair was charging all night, it was already down to a low battery. Be in mind this is the second chair that was giving us issues.

Sure enough my mother got on the phone with the rental place and they said they would bring a new one to the Polynesian. I am glad to say that this was a completely different chair from the other two and worked wonders the rest of the trip. Lunch at the Kona was absolutely delicious, I had the Pan-Asian Noodles with chicken. Again it was amazing and I just love the Polynesian and even though they took away my water fountain, the beauty of the resort is still amazing.

Visiting the Polynesian is always amazing, but it was time to head over to Animal Kingdom for the rest of the day. We got there later than I thought we would but we did it make it with plenty of time before our FastPass for Festival of the Lion King. It had been quite a few years since we had seen the show, also the first time we had seen it since it had moved. The show was amazing and we were in the Lion section of the theater.

The Festival of the Lion King was great, but after that it was time for my favorite ride in Animal Kingdom in Expedition Everest. The thrills that this ride gives me is like no other and the best part is mother loves it too. Before heading back towards the front of the park I got the chance to take some pictures of the Rivers of Light area and the Tree of Life. While Rivers of Light isn't yet ready to debut the stadium where it will be held is ready. A note of significance none of the lotus floats or animal floats were out when I was there.

Before dinner, we decided to go into the Tree of Life for the Bug's Life show. Let me tell you I don't remember the show very well, but seeing my mother's reaction to the bugs crawling her or coming at her was quite priceless. We then headed over to Flame Tree Barbecue for dinner. My mother and I shared the Chicken and Ribs combo and my father had the half rack of ribs. For a quick service, the meal was quite exceptional and this was my first time there. I would definitely return for a meal there.

After dinner, we headed over to Africa as my FastPass for my nighttime safari on Kilimanjaro Safari was coming up. I couldn't be more excited to see some of the nighttime experiences at Animal Kingdom. Now the safari was absolutely amazing but unfortunately taking pictures in a moving vehicle is not easy. Here are some of the pictures from my safari. 

As I was saying the safari was amazing, and the lions were out and roaring. It was a crazy experience that I can't wait to do again. We then headed to the front of the park to see the Tree of Life lit up at night before we headed back to the resort for the night.

Animal Kingdom at night is absolutely breathtaking and will get even better with Rivers of Light and once Pandora - The World of Avatar opens. I could say this what Disney has done to this park is great and once the new stuff is complete it will no longer be a half day park and will finally be a full-day park. 

This ends part 2 of my trip report, next week I will finish up this amazing trip. I hope you enjoyed this part of my trip as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.