#Rafikisplanetwatch

[lifeofacutegirl-blog]

Have you really lived life if you haven’t met Rafiki ? I mean everyone needs a little bit of his wisdom to make it through life !! #lifeofacutegirl #meetingallmyfaves #rafikisplanetwatch #rafiki #lionking #baboon #asantesanasquashbanana #travel #blog #instablog #wanderlust #disneyworld #orlando #animalkingdom #love #disneygram 🤗🤗 (at Rafiki's Planet Watch)

[disneygalgayle]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by TheGayleT (@disneygalgayle)

The #DisneyAnimalKingdom20 Celebration continues with special adventures for the entire family ! From the all new #UPAGreatBirdAdventure to special behind the scenes tours for all ages at #RafikisPlanetWatch to special commemorative merchandise created just for the 20th Anniversary Celebration of #AnimalKingdom it’s a #PartyForThePlanet and it’s waiting just for you at #WaltDisneyWorldResort #DisneyPartner . . . . . #WaltDisneyWorld #Disneygram #DisneyIG #DisneysAnimalKingdom #AnimalKingdom #WDWToday #DisneyNature #MVPTravel #ThingsToDoAtDisney #travel #instatravel #travelgram #travelblogger #TravelingWithKids #SoloTraveler #MultigenerationalTravel #NorCalMoms #DisneySMMS #WDWToday #DisneySMMoms #DisneyMom #NorCalMomsTravel #TripAdvisor #TripAdvisorAmbassador (at Disney's Animal Kingdom)

[r00kiedreamer]

I’m just going to leave this here. #rafiki #rafikisplanetwatch #disney #dak #disneysanimalkingdom #beyourownhero #throwbackthursday https://www.instagram.com/p/B_DoKofDxrv/?igshid=18cplrq0iqlmr

[frenchshark]

Wildlife Express/Rafiki's Planet Watch #vacation #disneyworld #animalkingdom #wildlifeexpress #rafikisplanetwatch (at Rafiki's Planet Watch) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2mLnEBAXrs/?igshid=12lfn52i1visl

[theoptimalpessimist]

Trying out the new Animation Experience at Conservation Station! #animators #animalkingdom #conservationstation #animationexperience #animationexperienceatconservationstation #waltdisneyworld #thelionking #thelionking2019 #rafikisplanetwatch (at Disney's Animal Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz6O9V-hbzc/?igshid=l6urn4xbcp9z

[thekimmiandjackieshow]

Members of the Lion Guard.

At my work location, we frequently did something called “Basics Walks”. It was essentially this time in which we went with a leader or coordinator somewhere and talked about a certain aspect of the park so that we were more educated about our park offerings. Sometimes it would be centered around learning about an area’s theming, other times it would be participating in free guest experiences so that we could tell guests about it. During afternoons where we were overstaffed, leaders would sometimes plan these walks in the schedule with the hope that over the course of the next week or two, everybody had gone on that particular walk.

In February, the focus was on this Lion Guard thing. I didn’t know much about it. We didn’t receive any training on it before it was released. All I really knew was that we handed out Lion Guard maps at our location. Then, the Basics Walks started and we learned all about them.

Our Basics Walk was for something like 30-45 minutes. All we had to do was take a map and use it to find one of the Lion Guard characters in the park. Once we found one of them, we were to return back to our work location. My leader told me to pick a person to go on this Lion Guard quest with. I chose Julie, a CP who had also extended, but was reassigned to our location from her original placement at Emporium. Julie, our leader, and I grabbed maps and headed out.

It only took us 5 minutes or so to walk to Discovery Island and find the first character. I knew we’d have all this leftover time on our Basics Walk assignment, and that we’d likely just be standing outside as extras until we received a new assignment 25-40 minutes later. So, I convinced my leader that we should try to find all of them. She asked if we could find them all by the time it was time to get a new assignment. I thought it’d be easy enough.

We weaved through crowds in our awful costumes, earning stares from guests who wondered what we were doing. Our leader took pictures of us with each Lion Guard character on her outdated company iPhone.

Days like these were super fun. I honestly think our location was the best about taking time to show us around and learn new things. I didn’t love my location but I’ll give them that at least. Being able to walk around Animal Kingdom and learn more about my home park gave me more to talk about with guests. It broke up the mundane day-to-day that made work a mindless chore.

Our assignment was nearing the end of its course, but we had one more mission to complete: Find Rafiki and earn a Lion Guard button. The only way to get to Rafiki’s Planet Watch was to ride the Wildlife Express Train, not the fastest mode of transportation. We considered, for a second, walking back up to the main entrance and driving our van backstage to get there, but came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be any faster. We could’ve just not gone. She could’ve told us that we’d have to go get the buttons during our own free time if we really wanted them. But I think she felt bad. I think she knew how I was feeling about my program and wanted to make my day, so she did. We got in line for the Wildlife Express Train, and much to the confusion of the attractions Cast Members, boarded in full costume.

The line to actually meet Rafiki was long and we deemed it unnecessary, but we learned that we could still get our Lion Guard buttons and become official members of the Lion Guard. The Cast Member directed us to stand in front of a makeshift backdrop where a Photopass Photographer was taking pictures. They handed us a button and asked us to recite the pledge after them. We pledged to detect right from wrong, be brave, fast, and strong, and to protect our animal friends. We were officially members of the Lion Guard.

We got back on the Wildlife Express time, far after our Basics Walk was supposed to be over. Our leader kept checking her phone for the time, each minute making us later and later. As soon as the train stopped back in Africa, we raced back to the front of the park. After they learned that the entire experience couldn’t be completed in 45 minutes, they never made that mistake again. But it certainly made my entire day. Little spontaneous experiences like that reminded me that having a job with Disney was unique, even if it was just selling merchandise. In no other world would you get paid to roam around Animal Kingdom and become members of the Lion Guard. In those aspects, I was grateful for the job experience. I could’ve done without the treacherous blue shorts and ill-fitting dinosaur shirts though.

[gio-ventures]

Rafiki's Planet Watch Conservation Station and Animation Experience at D...Hey GioVentures Fam, What Up? Check out my latest video, Rafiki's Planet Watch Conservation Station and Animation Experience at Disney's Animal Kingdom. As always, Thanks for Watching, Hit that Subscribe Button... See Ya!.... Peace!

[imaginerding]

One last visit to #rafikisplanetwatch before it closes forever! #disney https://www.instagram.com/p/BoFHf_ngs5i/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=gdpby0xqvlup

[johnykoh5]

catching up…searching for the small mailman at #rafikisplanetwatch…#animalkingdom #up #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #seniortrip #orlando #florida

[charactercentral]

Doc McStuffins is ready for another day in the pet hospital! #disney #disneyfan #instadisney #disneygram #disneygramers #disneyside #disneyphoto #disneyparks #waltdisneyworld #wdw #disneyworld #disneycharacter #disneycharacters #disneyjr #disneyjunior #docmcstuffins #disneysanimalkingdom #dak #animalkingdom #rafikisplanetwatch (at Rafiki's Conservation Station)

[fatgirlproblems321]

#fatgirlproblems #fatgirladventures #imeetthemostinterestingcharacters #rafikisplanetwatch #rafiki #sweetestcraziestbaboon #donttellhim #hesamandrill #disneyside #minnieears #disneyinadress @gwynniebee #greatplacetotry #greatplacetoshop #dressesforalloccasions #dressforallsizes #ontomynextadventure (at Rafiki's Planet Watch)

[tanmaqflo]

Happy Earth Day from Jiminy Cricket and me!! 🌿🌎 we're having a party celebrating Animal Kingdom's 19th birthday too 🎉🎊🌳🍂🌺 #earthday #happybirthday #unforgettablehappenshere #animalkingdom #disneyanimals #disneysanimalkingdom #dak #jiminycricket #disneyconservationfund #rafikisplanetwatch #disneyside #disneysidecast #unforgettablecast (at Rafiki's Conservation Station)

[r00kiedreamer]

It’s not goodbye, it’s “see ya real soon”! I’m so happy I spent the day with Rafiki and Doc for the last time at Rafiki’s Planet Watch today👌🏻👌🏻 #redheadsaremutants #rafikisplanetwatch #docmcstffins #rafiki #asantesana #docishelpyoufeelbetter https://www.instagram.com/p/BoSpTfZAhkX/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=xeb0jsur72gk

[crosswised]

Animal Kingdom is a great park for adults, but it turned out that it was also a great experience for out toddler grandson!(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO_QLH7ABms)

[dreamscometruewdw]

This is a face of pure happiness! #disneysanimalkingdom #dak #disney #rafiki #rafikisplanetwatch #charactermeetandgreet (at Disney's Animal Kingdom)

[thekimmiandjackieshow]

Spring Break: DAK Day and a visit in Hollywood Studios

Jackie had come down to Florida for her spring break, and of course our very first stop had to be Animal Kingdom. That was our home park and we were looking forward to finally being there together again. We had two goals.

1. Complete the Lion Guard Adventure

2. Become Senior Wilderness Explorers

Our very first stop was to walk by Strollers to see if there was anybody Jackie knew and could say hello to. I had mentioned to anybody who would listen some people that Jackie was coming in to town and wanted to say hi to those who were there. Probably the most excited to see Jackie was Ola, who pretty much cried upon seeing the two of us back together. 

We got our Lion Guard maps and were ready for the adventure. It was going to be disappearing in just a few days but I knew it was a quick experience to get through. The two of us explored the corners of Animal Kingdom, finding the characters of the Lion Guard in order to become official members.

Our first stop of the day was Asia. I think that Asia is one of the most detailed lands in any Disney resort. From the bicycle tracks on the ground to the cracking paint on the walls, the attention to detail was definitely not passed over in Asia. All of Animal Kingdom really shines in this regard, but Asia is one of my favorite lands to just look at and admire. It is also home to one of the best restaurants on any Disney property, my absolute favorite attraction, and the best trail in Animal Kingdom. It’s safe to say that I love Asia.

In the back of Asia is Maharajah Jungle Trek, my favorite Animal Kingdom trail. Personally, the reasoning isn’t because of the animals available. It’s more because of the design throughout the trail. Prayer flags hang above large open-ceiling buildings. The story of the Maharajah Jungle Trek is also pretty neat. Ask a Cast Member or look for clues and details hidden in the signs for the story sometime. It’ll help you appreciate the detailing even more.

The way the trek is set up adds great character to the trail, and the fact that it tells a story is even better. It’s proof that Animal Kingdom is far more than just a “zoo”, but a story telling of Earth through displays of animal and culture. (Can you tell I absolutely love my home park?)

Maharajah Jungle Trek is also Jackie’s favorite. While she appreciates the detailing as well, this is mostly her favorite because of the tigers. Despite her extensive studies in Marine Biology, her favorite animal is actually the tiger. She talked about how she’d sometimes spend extra time in the trail just sitting and watching the tigers, and I was glad we finally got to do it all together again.

As we walked through Asia, we tried to check things off in our Wilderness Explorer handbooks. Funny story... Jackie and I started these books several times as Cast Members. It was usually part of some basics walk or additional trainings our leadership wanted us to take in order to get excited about park offerings. We actually started one together one time on a basics walk, completing most of Africa. Somehow during our program, we never finished it. I know people who have completed this in ONE day, but nope, not us. We’d both forget our books or find something else to do that day instead of becoming Senior Wilderness Explorers. We talked extensively about how we should complete this mission during her spring break visit. Except, I forgot my book. Yup, left it in my apartment. After all that. So we started over, this time completing most of Asia. We still didn’t become Senior Wilderness Explorers. It would have to be a memory for another time.

I wanted our trip to the parks to feel more like a vacation than just another day off for me. I decided that I would go ahead and make reservations for the two of us to eat at Yak & Yeti in Asia. We had never eaten at the table service version of the restaurant and had been wanting to try it. Typically, even during my program, I didn’t take the time to do a lot of the table service restaurants. In the beginning I did, but it started to eat up a lot of my paycheck each week so I started doing other things on my days off. The reservation was a nice change of pace and the food was amazing. 100% recommend. If you don’t want to waste time at a table service restaurant (completely understandable), you can check out their quick service option. Just as good and even cheaper!

We had completed Asia (don’t worry, we of course didn’t skip Expedition Everest) and were moving on to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. We kinda cheated on the whole Lion Guard thing. The point of the game was to find all the characters and then go to Rafiki’s to become an official member of the Lion Guard. I happened to know though, that you didn’t HAVE to find everybody to become a member. Time was passing us quickly and based on when show times for Festival of the Lion King was, we had to go then or pass it up. We voted to go early.

As we were standing in the main entrance of the conservation station, we heard familiar voices. Jackie and I turned around to find Tori, Sarah, Ricky, and Susan. Sarah, Ricky, and Susan were all in town for their spring breaks too, but we hadn’t really planned our vacations together. Jackie and I wanted to make sure we had some time just the two of us and we weren’t 100% positive our goals aligned with their���s. Obviously some of them lined up or we both wouldn’t be at the conservation station at the same exact time. It was a happy accident, one that again made us feel like nobody had ever left. 

See, this was one of the greatest things about the program. You could be wandering around the park and randomly bump into people that you know. Whether they were working or also playing in the park, it was nice to just know people to stop and say hi to. It was as casual as running into an old friend at the grocery store, and it made the place feel more like home.

All of us got in line to become members of the Lion Guard together, happy to be receiving giant Lion Guard buttons.

We rode the train back together before heading our separate ways again. Jackie and I were headed to Africa to catch Festival of the Lion King and hop on Kilimanjaro Safaris.

Africa is one of my favorite lands purely from an environment standpoint. They aren’t lacking in the attention to detail category either, in fact some of the best “Instagram worthy walls” (yes, this is a fad now) are found in Africa. Between the brightly colored walls and the loud live entertainment, Africa is just a fun spot to be in. It’s not that Asia doesn’t have live entertainment, it’s just that I enjoy Africa’s entertainment way more. The sound of drums and whistles fills the air as everybody is invited to dance along, and it’s almost impossible not to get into it. 

Africa is also home to Festival of the Lion King, which is my favorite show on either coast. We spent our afternoon watching FOLK and hopping on Kilimanjaro Safaris. Most people would recommend doing the safaris in the morning. It’s when the animals are known to be most active and the lines can move quicker since the first few cars won’t have to do any unloading. For me, I’ve had fantastic experiences in both the mornings and afternoons. I actually can’t recall a safari ride where the morning ride was significantly better than the afternoon. 

Shortly after, our day at Animal Kingdom was done. We had decided to make Animal Kingdom a partial day and spend the rest of the evening at Hollywood Studios so we could catch Fantasmic! and the Star Wars fireworks. This was back before Animal Kingdom added all kinds of nighttime stuff. That being said, DAK really can be an all day park. I will NEVER agree with people when they say it’s only a half day park. There were so many things Jackie and I decided to skip because she really wanted to see Streets of America one last time and see the Star Wars fireworks for the first time ever. In any other case, we would’ve stayed at Animal Kingdom for far longer. The time we had there was a blast though, and I’m so glad that we got to hang around our home park together again.

We made it to Hollywood Studios right around sunset. Hollywood Studios, quite honestly, just doesn’t have as much to do as the other parks, so it’s very easy to do a quick loop around and be done. We spent most of our day at Animal Kingdom and then headed over to Hollywood Studios. The two parks are fairly close together so park hopping didn’t take us too long.

We caught the few rides that we wanted to and headed over to the Streets of America. Unlike the few days before, I didn’t have my DSLR with me and wasn’t planning on spending significant amounts of time taking pictures of everything. The whole point of going was to walk down the streets one more time, hand in hand with my girlfriend, laughing about old memories and saying one last goodbye together. I guess I just had this dream that we’d go back to Walt Disney World when we had kids and show them the place we spent most of our time. We’d take them to see the Osborne Lights and tell them the stories of our college program. We wouldn’t be able to take them to places like Vista Way or Patterson Court or the break room at Animal Kingdom. That would all have to be up to their imagination. But I did hope that we’d be able to take them to the parts of the parks that had significant meaning to us. With the closing of the Osborne Lights, I guess we all knew that the streets were disappearing but the final announcement was still very sad. 

There was still some time to kill before Fantasmic! started. At least, so we thought. The park didn’t seem all that busy but I guess it was busier than we realized. As we sat on the corner of Sunset Boulevard eating some of the best ice cream, we saw people head into the theater. It still felt far too early to be lining up for the show so we took our time finishing up dessert. 

Not much later we wandered into the theater. We still had a good 45 minutes before the show was going to start. As we walked up the long ramp we were stopped short. An announcement over the loudspeaker informed us that all seating was already filled, and that there was standing room only for the show. I had never even heard of this happening, although I’m sure it happened all the time. I had somehow always managed to grab a seat 30 minutes before the show started, even during the summer. We were told that there was a possibility we wouldn’t even be permitted into the theater as there is a maximum capacity. Guests around us started to talk about how their vacation would be ruined if they didn’t get to see Fantasmic! that night. Classic. 

30 minutes had passed and I was getting tired of standing in one place. Not only would we have to wait a bit longer to get into the theater (if we were even let in) but we’d have to stand throughout the entire show. Then we’d somehow have to fight through the crowds as soon as Fantasmic! was over to try to get good seats for the Star Wars fireworks. It wasn’t a tough decision. We ducked under the ropes and headed back towards Hollywood Boulevard. People were already sitting inside the taped off lines in preparation for the show. I was glad we had decided to go for the Star Wars fireworks instead because we may have missed them had we chosen to stay for Fantasmic!. I’m not a huge Star Wars fan (I know, I’m losing followers now) but Jackie is, so she was dying to see them. I hadn’t seen them at all but had heard amazing things. Even as someone who wasn’t familiar with the stories, I thought the fireworks were amazing. They shot off closer to where we were sitting, which made them seem so much larger than the Magic Kingdom fireworks. Overall the show was far more impressive than the fireworks at other parks. I had heard they had changed a few times throughout my program, but whatever we saw was fantastic and worth skipping our favorite nighttime spectacular for, at least just this once. 

As always, Hollywood Studios brought us so many amazing memories. It was the perfect first day in Walt Disney World. From catching up with old friends to still having new experiences in the parks, I couldn’t have asked for a better start to our spring break vacation.