After picking up our magnet, we headed across the park to Pandora - The World of Avatar for lunch at Satu'li Canteen. Mom ordered the Chopped Wood-Grilled Chicken Bowl (a wood-grilled chicken thighs marinated with garlic and olive oil and topped with crunchy vegetable slaw and boba balls) while dad and I opted for a "Teylu" (an all-beef hot dog wrapped in a Parker House dough served with vegetable chips and a Cuties® mandarin).

Feeling better after eating, we decided to make our way over to Africa to take a ride on the Kilimanjaro Safaris. As always, we enjoyed the sights that we were greeting with during our ride, but I will say that our driver wasn't the best today, as she skipped a lot of topics that were usually mentioned by others. We didn't let that ruin our enjoyment of the safari, however, as the main reason to go is to get up close looks at the animals whenever possible, which was a success in most cases. I did learn one interesting tidbit during the ride - the safari covers 810 acres, and the vehicles cover over two miles on each trip!

When our ride on the safari was complete, we headed back to Discovery Island, with the intent of walking the trails. Being as we were at (or at least near) the hottest part of the day, we didn't get to see as many animals as we'd have liked, but that's the way it happens sometimes when you are dealing with nature! While we were on Discovery Island, we decided to catch the It's Tough to be a Bug! show before it came to an end, now that Disney has announced that a Zootopia showing would be moving into the Tree of Life in the future. We enjoyed the show as always, even though getting stung in the back totally made us jump, despite knowing it was coming! After the show, we hit some more trails on Discovery Island, getting to see a couple of tortoises on our way out.

We decided that we were done with the heat at Disney's Animal Kingdom at this point, so we headed through the Oasis and towards the exit. Once we left the park, we drove over to Disney Springs. Mom wanted to check out the Christmas ornaments, trying to get a head start on the season. After we finished our shopping, we made the long traffic filled drive home. We ended up meeting Tara at the Texas Roadhouse in Riverview for dinner - a great way to end a great day!

Disney's Animal Kingdom

On our way through the Oasis after entering the park we came across DiVine - our second sighting of her this year...

A look at the Tree of Life as we crossed onto Discovery Island.

Some of the sights of Pandora - The World of Avatar from the Satu'li Canteen as we waited for lunch...

We saw this sickly squirrel while waiting in line for the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride.

The sign at the entrance of the Harambe Wildlife Preserve, indicating the beginning of our trek on the Kilimanjaro Safaris.

A okapi finding something to eat.

One black rhinoceros off in the distance...

...while another rests in the shade.

A pair of kudu resting in the distance.

A saddle-billed stork standing near the roadway.

A pink-backed pelican hanging out near the water.

A pair of hippopotamuses swimming in the water.

The Nile crocodiles were hanging out in the sun today...

...including this "smiling" fellow who appears to be having his arm bitten.

The painted dogs were enjoying their spot in the shade today.

An eland surrounded by several springboks...

A few sable antelopes laying in the shade.

A springbok peeking out from between the trees.

An eland keeping an eye on us in the vehicle.

A giraffe trying to get a bite to eat...

One of two baby zebras that we saw on our safari today.

Another hungry giraffe.

The other baby zebra laying near its mother.

The two baby zebras in the same shot.

A wildebeest out in the open...

...while others hide in the bushes.

An African elephant cooling itself...

...by flapping its ears.

Another one of the African elephants.

I just missed a picture of this elephant using its trunk to spray water on itself in order to keep cool...

Today most of the flamingos were standing off of the hidden Mickey island.

The white rhinoceroses were hanging out together...

...around their food pile.

A waterbuck looking for food.

Something we haven't seen in quite a while was the amount of ostriches out and about, wandering around today...

This cheetah was definitely keeping an eye on the ostriches as they walked past.

The lion enclosure appeared empty...

...but we found them sleeping in the grass.

This Nigerian dwarf goat found an interesting spot to lie down!

A waterfall near the exit of our ride on the Kilimanjaro Safaris.

We spotted this paroon shark catfish swimming near a bridge on Discovery Island.

We also saw these red kangaroos along with a lappet-faced vulture while exploring Discovery Island.

A view of the Tree of Life from near its base on Discovery Island.

We saw this great green macaw hanging out as we came to the end of the trail on Discovery Island...

We had to make sure we saw It's Tough to be a Bug! before it came to an end!

A few shots from the It's Tough to be a Bug! show...

We saw these tortoises as we exited the It's Tough to be a Bug! show...