Splash N Dash Racecation at Walt Disney World -Day 1 (Animal Kingdom)

Let me start by saying I have total race envy right now of everyone who got to complete the Dopey Challenge at WDW Marathon Weekend (or any of the races really) or the Rebel Challenge at Disneyland.  Both of those challenges are on my runDisney bucket list.  Seriously though, congratulations to all those who completed them.

In order to make me feel less FOMO about not being at the events these past two weekends, it's finally time for some more Splash N Dash Recap.  I left off after the expo.

After the Expo, Andrew and I returned to our room at Saratoga Springs and dropped off our race stuff.  I also had to grab my Donald Mickey ears for our afternoon in Disney's Animal Kingdom.  I definitely wish I had more pictures for this one.

Since we had to wait forever for a bus back to Saratoga (seriously, every other hotel had 2 buses show up before ours did), I had to push back our Fastpass+ for Kilamanjaro Safaris.  Fortunately, I was able to do so and before long we were off on our first attraction in Disney World.

Confession: I have never been a huge fan of the safari.  I love animals, but I don't often get to spot them.  This time however, one of the giraffes must have known it was half marathon weekend because he was running all over the place!  This picture is him stopping for a snack:

We were starving after our safari ended, but our Expedition Everest window was about to open.  We headed over to Asia and rode Everest.  Disco Yeti was actually working!  I don't think I've ever been on the ride when the audio anamatronic was working but it is truly wonderful.  The stand by wait was only 10 minutes at that time, so we obviously rode again.

We finally had time to stop to eat before our next Fastpass+ at Dinosaur (but really, Countdown to Extinction).  Andrew got his lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, however they don't have any vegetarian options on the menu, so I was out of luck.  Luckily, I was able to get a quick-service veggie burger not too far away.  It was spicy, but pretty tasty.

After lunch, we still had about fifteen minutes before our Fastpass+ window opened.  Who do we see walking by, but Safari Donald.  Donald is both mine and Andrew's favorite character so we obviously had to stop for a picture:

Donald Duck is #1! (He was also a big fan of my ears)

After riding Dinosaur, which is actually one of my favorite attractions, we had one final stop to make... I had to meet Dug!

I absolutely LOVE Up. And I wore my "Adventure is out there shirt for this occasion!

I really enjoy Animal Kingdom...but it was time to park hop to Epcot!