Backstage Safari

Wednesday we got up early to do the Backstage Safari tour at Animal Kingdom. We had to meet at the park entrance at 8:15am. They gave us ear piece headsets so we could hear the tour guide which was pretty cool. Because you are backstage for most of the tour you are not allowed to take pictures. First we went to the housing barns for the rhinos and elephants. We got up close to a rhino and we talked with the keeper for a bit. This was my favorite part. Very interesting. The rhino was similar to this one:
Next we went to the animal hospital. Usually we go there early on weekdays to watch the procedures through the window. This time we were on the other side of the glass in the operating room. We saw a porcupine just waking up from anesthesia and we got to see the room where they examine the blood and do big surgeries. The whole building was pretty interesting. There were a lot of classrooms and hallways filled with information. Our next stop was the nutrition center. I liked this area too. We saw the warehouse where they keep the many bags of food and hay. Then we went into the prep area as cast members were preparing meals. They are preparing meals for the next day. One does vegetables, one does greens, and the other does frozen rabbit, frozen mice, fish, etc. It was gross but interesting. They each have a book with sheets they follow and they weigh everything and the food goes in labeled containers. Some are for animal groups and some are for individual animals. There is a nutritionist on property that decides what each animal is eating and provides these cast members with new sheets for their book if necessary. After this we went onstage and into a safari truck. That was good because we didn't have to wait for the ride. Our tour guide narrated the entire ride and told us about things we wouldn't know otherwise. She pointed out where the animals go for their night barns etc. This was also the best shot of the lions.

After the tour we watched the Birds of Flight show and then we went to lunch at Flametree BBQ. Chris had ribs and I had the chicken. Both were good but the sides and desserts were weak. I am still not loving the counter service portion of our dining plan.

After lunch we headed back to the resort. Chris has run out of clean clothes so he went to the pool and did wash in the nearby laundry area and I stayed in the room and read my book. Although it wasn't raining it was cloudy all day. At around 3:30 we took the bus to the Yacht club as we had dinner in France at Epcot.

By now it was raining just a little and we arrived about a half hour early so we went to watch the Impressions of France movie which we had never seen. It was good and it finished up at 5pm when our reservation for Chefs de France was for. The meal was good but the best part was meeting our chef, Remy:

After dinner we took the boat over to Hollywood Studios because the grand finale show of American Idol Experience was at 7pm. They told us on the boat that the park closes at 7pm and we would arrive too late. We went anyway and we arrived at the main gate at 6:53pm and asked if we could enter to go to American Idol. They said we could but they couldn't guarantee we would make it into the show. We entered and walked very fast and when we arrived they were counting empty seats and holding us outside. We had made it into the last group of 14 to enter. Thank God! It was great. There were seven singers instead of the three. These are the winners from each of the shows throughout the day. The girl I voted for won. She was 16 and from Rhode Island. She wins a ticket that gets her to the front of any real American Idol audtion in the country.

After the show we headed back to the resort. It was still raining just enough to be annoying but not really hard enough for a poncho. We went down to the main area and filled our mugs with iced tea and lemonade, searched for a snack which we passed on and then went to bed.