My first stop at AK was Dinosaur! (formerly known as Countdown To Extinction). I have always liked this ride, but I have also always thought that it needs to be redesigned a little to smooth it out. Dinosaur! is a rough ride no matter how you look at it; it's not a roller-coaster, but it shakes you around so violently that I always leave the ride with a headache and neck pain. When I exited the ride, I took some time to take pictures of a nice little dinosaur skeleton exhibit that was set up in tents right outside.
After leaving Dinosaur!, I rode the Kilamanjaro Safari ride, somehow only taking ten or twelve pictures on this ride that usually burns away my film by the roll. Then I went through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail (formerly known as the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail), where I did take a bunch of pictures, and on to the Maharaja Jungle Trek, where I took a bunch of pictures of the Bengal tigers.
After all this walking, I wanted to do a sit-down attraction, so I made my way back to the center of the park, Discovery Island, to the Tree of Life, where I watched the always-entertaining (as well as air-conditioned) It's Tough To Be A Bug.
Once I was refreshed and recharged, I jumped into my rental car for the short trip back to MGM. I still had plenty of time before I needed to be at the arena for Fantasmic!, so I shopped around the park for a while, picking up some more souvenirs for myself and for all the folks at home. When the time got close, I put some stuff in a locker at the front of the park and went into the Fantasmic! arena. I was hungry by then, so I got a hot dog and chips at the snack bar inside the arena, and sat on those back-breaking benches to eat and wait for the show to start.
As I had last year, I videotaped Fantasmic!, and it had last year, the tape didn't come out looking very good. But unlike last year, I made certain to get up and walk to the exit a minute or two before the end of the show, saving me from the awful crush of people leaving the arena after the show was over. I did videotape a little of the mass exodus of people from the park on my way out, but I made sure to grab my stuff from the locker and get to my car as quickly as possible.
I wound up my day at about 11:30pm, after watching the local Orlando newscast on TV.
UNICORN 21/STAGE 42
Walk miles: 14.39
Drive miles: 265