Winding Down

We started our day today at Disney's Animal Kingdom since we had only stayed a short time the other day when we went there for dinner. Friday, according to touringplans.com, is supposed to be the lightest attendance day at this park, but it sure didn't appear that way today.

This week's perfect weather continued today. We got into DAK a little before noon and since we hadn't had any breakfast (we've been getting up and out later every day) we went to the Flame Tree Barbecue first off. This is a counter service restaurant with better than average food, featuring smoked meats. The queue was chaotic, but once we had our food we found a table with a view of the Expedition Everest ride across the water. A neat thing about this restaurant is its many seating areas scattered throughout the "jungle" that make it possible to get far away from the crowds and noise. I had half a roasted chicken and Rick had a smoked turkey sandwich. We had sides of coleslaw, baked beans and a corn muffin. Everything was delicious.

After lunch we got a FastPass for the Kilimanjaro Safari, but ended up not using it because the return time was so late. We walked the two nature trails. The first, Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, features gorillas; the second, the Maharajah Jungle Trek, tigers. We spent quite a bit of time watching the antics of the white cheeked gibbons in Asia. After that we decided to leave because it was crowded and we needed a break.

We rested in our room for a while and then walked over to Epcot. It was a lovely night as we made our way slowly from country to country, starting in France where I got a Kir Royal to sip as we walked along. We found a bench just past Japan to sit and people-watch for a while until it was time for our dinner reservation at Tutto Italia, the new restaurant in Italy. We just had appetizers - a Caesar salad for me, Pasta e Fagioli for Rick, and then we shared the Grand Antipasto Misto. All really good. We had cappuccinos for dessert and split a mocha tiramisu. Service was excellent. We really enjoyed this meal and the new decor and less-crowded seating than previously in this restaurant.

Arlo Guthrie was performing in the Flower Power concert series tonight so after dinner we watched the end of his set and then resumed our stroll around World Showcase, browsing in the shops in Germany, China and Mexico. We went on the Grand Fiesta ride in Mexico, then found a place to watch IllumiNations near the middle of World Showcase Plaza. We squeezed into a nearly perfect spot just before it started and had a good front-and-center view.

Tomorrow we'll have time to return to Epcot briefly to have lunch there at Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco before we have to leave to the airport and our 6 pm flight back to Manchester, NH.

It has been a good trip with a little slower pace than usual. All photos are posted on Flickr.