 Hey friends, tonight we are hanging out at Disney's Animal Kingdom. I wanted to come out and make a little update video for the new year 2023 and then later on we have dining reservations at Jicco, which is one of the highest rated restaurants in Walt Disney World and fun fact I've never eaten there before so I figured we come on out, ride some rides, eat some food and have a beautiful Animal Kingdom kind of day. Any hoos, let's go do this It is a beautiful day to be hanging out at Disney's Animal Kingdom 81 degrees out the skies are crystal clear blue. I don't think we're expecting any rain and I'm excited to have some fun Like I mentioned earlier, we had dinner reservations at Jicco over at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge And I have never eaten there before all of my foodie friends tell me this is their favorite restaurant So I'm very excited to try it and after I eat there tonight I'm only two restaurants away from being able to say I've eaten at every single restaurant in Walt Disney World I have Victoria and Elberts and Montserrat Paul and I'm gonna be able to have that title Looks like we're just in time for wing it encounters and it's gonna be really pretty to see all the Macaws flying in the sky I Jeannie plus is $15 today, but I really don't think I'm gonna need to buy it Animal Kingdom I feel like it's one of the parks where I don't think it's worth it to buy Jeannie plus I mean unless you want to do avatar flight of passage, but I did notice that that's not even available So no point in buying the Jeannie plus if I can't ride that ride when all the other attractions have like a 20 minute wait Before we make our way into the park I wanted to stop at the island mercantile because they just released a whole entire line of awesome like vault collectible merchandise and Sometimes when you come to Animal Kingdom, it's more in stock here because people wouldn't think they come here and they do They have some great items. Oh, I am so excited right now Take a look at this lots of 25th anniversary Merchandise and I am obsessed with it. Look at the Kate Castle hoodie right here This is beautiful. Look at the backside of it. It's time to remember the magic. This is amazing. I love this so much I definitely think I should get it. They also have a 25th anniversary like bomber jacket. Look at this This stuff is so cool. Look at Simba on there. I love it and then the hat I think I'm gonna get this hoodie. This hoodie is $69.99. I think it's coming home with me. I Ended up buying the Kate Castle hoodie. I had to I was in love with it I'm sure it's gonna sell out pretty fast and because we're gonna be going into the park I don't want to carry it around with me So I'm actually leaving in here and I could pick it up when I leave They give you a little yellow slip and you return and you can pick it up before you leave So you don't have to carry it around the park Like I mentioned before it's not that busy in the park today Expedition Everest has a 20-minute wait Navi River Journey has a 20-minute wait I think we're gonna head down there first to ride that and then a flight of passage is 95 minutes It's tough to be above 10 minutes. This is like a really nice day dinosaurs a 10-minute wait. We're gonna have some fun today I'm excited Navi River Journey being a 20-minute wait is Excellently exceptional. So we're gonna head over there ride that first then probably a little Everest and just kind of enjoy the park And see if there's any new snacks new snacks. I know we're going to dinner later But I wouldn't mind trying a little lunch, you know Seriously with wait times like that It's absolutely pointless to buy the genie plus I feel like especially at Animal Kingdom and now we have made it to the Valley of Moira. You can hear all the different animals. I love coming in here. I Really wish we can ride flight of passage. I mean, that's a fun ride But I don't think I'm gonna wait 95 minutes if they had a lightning lane that I can purchase I would probably buy it right away, but they're just not available But Navi River's still a fun ride and I wouldn't wait more than 30 minutes for that ride. So 20 minutes is perfect It's also gonna be interesting to see if that's a true wait time 20 minutes and it's 148 So we're gonna head on in The reason I say I wouldn't wait longer than 30 minutes I feel like this ride is a fun ride, but it's very short and I can come all the time I mean, obviously if you're on vacation You're gonna want to wait as long as possible because when are you gonna come back on vacation? But the only thing I really love about this ride is the animatronic at the end. I Do have to give a credit for having an amazingly themed queue. Look at this. I Love all of Pandora. I think it's just really breathtaking and it's fun to just explore all the different like designs and Reasons why they do certain things. It's beautiful in here That was incredible. It was only a 12 minute wait. It said 20 and then the being 12 Our lucky mode of transportation right here. Look at that That was a fun little boat ride and I just loved the music in the animatronic at the end like the shaman She is so like majestic looking the way she just swirls around her arms it's hard to believe that that's like not real like it looks so lifelike and It's definitely probably my favorite animatronic out of out everywhere Now that we got to ride Navi River journey I kind of want to make my way over near expedition Everest as you guys know It's probably one of my favorite rides here in the park and it's got a super low wait time and even lower because we can do the single rider line As I start making my way over to expedition Everest I do want to stop at some of the little eateries or the food stands because they always have rotating specials Flametree barbecue always has a new cupcake that they have the smiling crocodile has new tacos And yes, there is a little food stand called the smiling crocodile and I think it's so awesome Right here is the smiling crocodile look it's got a smiling crocodile on top it always reminds me of Bobby Boucher and they always have like little tacos here pulled pork street tacos street corn tacos chicken street Tacos and then also an island sunrise, but this usually closes at like 3 p.m. So you have to be early to actually come here. I Hope some of you got the Bobby Boucher and the smiling crocodile Well, technically an alligator in the movie reference because I think that is so funny And then over at the flametree barbecue They actually have a sunrise cupcake and I had to get it I had to see if it was any good normally I try all the cupcakes here They might have had this on the menu before but it is pretty it's a chocolate cupcake But with vanilla buttercream on the inside and it has like a sunrise Kind of look to it's got sunrise sprinkles. Look at you can see Timon and Pumba and Simba actually walking across the Sunrise. This is a very pretty cupcake and Of course, I had to come to my favorite little dining area To try the cupcake and it's fun because whenever you come and eat by the flametree barbecue Tons of birds will try to eat your food Guys sneaking up on me. I honestly feel like he's gonna come and try to grab this cupcake. Look at them Do you like cupcakes? Now we don't feed the wildlife. Oh, he said no. He said no. Thank you And then we're gonna cut down the center here and we'll see the little vanilla cream on the inside. I Did not do that gracefully. Oh boy, look at that It kind of just tumbled it fell apart big time. That's the cupcake All right, let's grab a little bit of the icing a little bit of the filling All in one bite Yeah Not the best cupcake I'm attracting more birds here. Oh There they come you got the big daddy over there Big daddy over there. Sorry. You can't have chocolate. It's not allowed Gracie can't have chocolate. You can't have chocolate Honestly, I just always feel like the icing to cupcake ratio is over Proportionized like there's way too much icing on top of this cupcake I need a little thin layer of icing and then a nice little cakey moist cake Enough for the cupcake business though, let's cut through dino land as we make our way over to expedition Everest I mean if dinosaur has a short wait time over to mind riding that it's one of my favorite rides But also I just want to check out the whole dino land at USA area Obviously something big is coming over here, but we just don't know yet what it is As you guys are aware, they demolished the primeval world and there's speculation of a new land coming in the animal kingdom Some people say Zootopia some say incanto or cocoa. I mean, I Like dino land, I feel like it can stay I think they can get rid of the Chester and Hester area and keep dinosaur the ride and still have a new land And that's what I hope that they do Like if they just keep this area right here as the entrance to go into dino land and then you make a right to go to dinosaur They have all of this to play with over here to actually have a new themed area Honestly I am all for a new themed land here and as much as I love dino land USA I can care less if dino Rama actually disappears. I'll be honest I mean, I think it's a fun little area, but right now it's just empty This is the area that I'm talking about Primeval world used to be on the other side of that big blue fence But they just demolished it all and now it just looks like an empty parking lot It literally looks like we these are parking lot spots right here. Look at this. It's like, yeah, we are in a parking lot I think it's always been that way though. It's a part of the theming of the area over here I'll be honest. I think that's really cool that they have the parking spots actually Inside the dino Rama area. It kind of fits as like, you know a hometown like Carnival or fair where it's usually in a parking lot and since we're over here I think maybe we will play a game or two. You have to buy a little game ticket There's six dollars a piece and then you can go play a game to win a prize or possibly win a prize. Oh Let's do a fossil fun the water gun game I'm doing it We are currently at three players We are playing for a little bit you little mini or baby triceratops Oh, that's what I was looking for one of the iguana Don That one is a single player game comment crashers and all prize options are available there However, it is a game of chance. I'm gonna do it. I'm going for the iguana Don Thank you Alright, well scratch the water gun game You need eight players to try to get the iguana Don and that's what I want from the ride of the dinosaur So instead they do have the iguana Don over at the ball game We have to throw the ball in the colored circle. So I think we're gonna try that one All right, we're gonna try for the iguana Don. We need a yellow or a white to get the iguana Don That did not I thought it was gonna bounce a little bit. I really thought it was gonna bounce around a little bit Oh Nope, no luck here. Oh, no, yeah, they're not bouncing much Oh Access denied man Okay, that was just the first try six dollars I decided to get another ticket and I'm gonna try to bank it now I'm gonna try to bank it because my first one I just kind of like threw it right into a hole. It didn't even bounce I Came back for more. I Feel good about this time. I have a new strategy Yep, I'm gonna try to bank it All right, here we go. We're gonna try to bank it off the wall. That did not work That did not work at all. Oh, I thought it was flying down there. Hold on Yep, we got to formulate a new plan. It's not working Oh come on get in there. Oh, it almost went to the blue one. I get one extra. Here we go. Here we go Now I Tried Access denied I failed the mission and I did not get the dinosaur. I lost $12 and I think I'm walking away. I'm walking away Technically if I really wanted to get that dyno I can go back and buy eight tickets for six dollars a piece and then kind of buy out the water gun game and Then just have mine as actually the only one that wins that way. I can assure a victory But now we have made it over to expedition Everest and we're gonna ride the single rider line see how long it takes Hey friend and Enjoy a nice little ride. Let's go get that yeti Look at that single rider. It's at a 20 minute wait, but I might as well just ride it as soon as possible honestly, I think on The only one that's gonna be waiting Yeah, look at that fancy That was a solid one minute wait here comes our train I Would like to walk up them steps one day every time We made it back with us not that dyno expedition Everest always just puts me in a happy mood and look at that It's still a 20 minute wait after we got off and honestly I feel like that 20 minute wait was probably like a 10 minute wait and Yeah, now we're gonna keep moving along. It's been a great day so far. I'm really having the best time ever at Animal Kingdom I Thought about going to ride Cali River Rapids But I don't think I want to be a soggy bottom boy when I end up going to Gecko You know what I mean? It's kind of a high-class restaurant there and wet shorts probably doesn't fit the dress attire or the dress code Since Cali River Rapids isn't in our agenda today I wanted to come over and at least check out Kilimanjaro safaris See how long the line is we might be able to ride that if we have time and Then kind of complete our full lap around Animal Kingdom Kilimanjaro safari says 30 minutes, but I have a sneaky suspicion. It's not a 30 minute wait Honestly, if all of these rides have a 20 minute wait, I feel like Kilimanjaro safaris is gonna be like Less than 30 minutes. I mean it has to be honestly, I could say probably 15 minutes 15 minutes tops It's also important to point out the safari Closes at five o'clock the last safari goes out at 5 p.m. Because all the animals got to go to sleep They got to go to bed at five o'clock. They're like me Up here comes our safari vehicle Simba one Alright guys on the right side of the truck watch your hands arms. They speak the doors gonna be slide and closed And guys look above you up there. There's a game spotting out to help you identify the animals We might find out on the reserve. Hope we get a chance to see for those. That's not a sauna All right guys. Let's say a Harambe twin day, which means let's go. Let's go Wonderful Everybody welcome to Kilimanjaro safaris My name is Travis and I'm gonna be your game driver for your safari through the Harambe wildlife reserve A few rules before we get started get rolling boy. I know these are massage around because they have an irregular shape pattern As opposed to like a reticulated Rothschild or even newbie and giraffes which have all blocky square or rectangular pattern Many people view there were different types of giraffe. I didn't know there was different types of giraffe My Oh, yeah, got a couple up there Don't never let a giraffe lick you Nasty this can stick your foot in the mouth, which is there because they have some mean I'll give you an example see the bushes on your left here. These are acacia giraffe love occasion But look at the branches closely. They're covered thorns But a giraffe will actually wrap its tongue around one of those 40 branches now the discus foot in his mouth will help protect his tongue Wow, look at all the large animals you see back there those are Patterson's elan Patterson's elan are the largest animal I miss when the bridge used to make noises like a squeaky noise Yeah Communicate using a low rumble that's actually below the ability of humans to hear it called infrasound An elephant can hear it at the 10 miles away through its feet actually feel the vibration of the rumble in the ground And then let me introduce you to those driving animals They don't like me You run 45 miles an hour and all they do have we exactly what they're doing on there You know just kind of hang out lay around and sleep 20 plus hours a day. What do you write white rhinos? Why right? Let's get their name from the African word fight meaning I think in charge of speeds, but the 35 miles an hour I've really bad eyesight, too. Don't ever sneak up on when I always don't know you're coming make a trip There's a body bar in front of us in there. But you're not very extinct in the wild. Montabac There's a bonzabac Unfortunately 150 years ago, they're only like 20 boxes from the planet That was a great Safari Travis was amazing. He was one of the best safari guys I think I've ever had his voice just fit perfectly in the role too and I got to see lots of cool animals It's probably the most I seen of the lion and it was also really exciting to see the bonzabac It's kind of funny because you guys caught me in action of getting excited to see the bonzabac Well, that was great success and now I think it's time. We start making our way to dinner We had a fun day today. I had so much fun low-weight times everywhere. We went It was just a chilled day and now it's time for a very nice dinner I Just walked all the way out of the park and realized I forgot to grab my cake hoodie my 25th anniversary cake hoodie So now we're gonna walk all the way back I'm so glad I got it when I did because when we came back, they're all gone. Look at that They are absolutely all gone. Wow There we go. We have secured the package. I love this hoodie. I'm so excited I think that is such a cool added benefit to be able to pick up your packages So you don't carry them around but I almost left the park without it I did put my name and phone number so I'm sure they would have called me if I did forget it Here we go We have made it over to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge and if you guys ever want to come visit the Lodge from the park You can just take a bus. They have bus Pickup locations right outside the park and it's literally only two minutes. I Have to say this is probably one of my all-time favorite Disney resorts. Look at this Animal Kingdom Lodge is just so beautiful We're gonna head down to the restaurant and scope out the situation a little bit I wanted to try to see look at the menu and then go over some more details and facts about it I'm sure lots of people just walk past Giko because Boma is right here and everyone knows Boma because of its you know Famous buffet, but Giko is literally right over right over here This restaurant is classified as a hard-to-get reservation. It's only open five to nine thirty five days a week I think it's closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and like I said, it's right next to Boma So like I mean I love Boma. I love the stews in there. It's a buffet serving This is a little bit different to table service and a little bit upscale, you know Here is a look at the menu and it's got some pretty interesting entrees. It's got the oak grilled filet I heard that the mac and cheese was really amazing with this. That's around fifty four dollars They've got a nice short rib dish. They've got some cool stews It's a statable fish a lamb shake It looks like the most expensive thing on this menu was fifty four dollars and then they've got the Giko salad some seared scallops Oh, there's the boar tenderloin. I was talking about this the other day I don't know if I'm gonna get that though and then a sweet potato grundit soup that actually sounds good All of this looks so amazing. So I'm I'm here for it. I am all here for it It is time to actually head on in it's our reservation time and I'm excited I'll show you a little bit of the restaurant. Also, if you didn't know Giko actually means the cooking place and they have the largest collection of African wines outside Africa and I'm kind of interested in getting that but they do have a Old-fashioned here that I kind of like looked at and I was like I got to get this it comes with a matted gas car Bourbon like a vanilla bourbon. So I'm all about the old-fashioned Here is the restaurant itself and it also has the largest hidden Mickey in doors And I'm kind of excited. They said it's over here by the stove or by the ovens. Oh, I see you already look at that Hi friends. How are you? I'm looking for the hidden Mickey and I think I caught it now You don't notice it until you see it. Look at that. That is a huge hidden Mickey Yeah, what are you guys cooking for back here? Yeah, how are you? Oh very fancy. Oh, thank you Yeah, are you guys making some of the appetizers here? Right now? We're doing Wow Tonight I'm actually gonna be dining with my friends Tim and Marianne and we're gonna be chit chatting a little bit So I'm not gonna go too in-depth with all the dining review But I'm gonna show you guys what I liked and talk about it a little bit and have fun. That's the most important thing A hot towel with rose water very fancy It's rose water that they put in this. Oh greet it with the hot towel with rose water. I I Decided I'm going with the filet because it has a bone marrow crust on it And I was told instead of getting the mac and cheese I can get lemon mashed potatoes And I've never had lemon mashed potatoes So I'm kind of excited to try those and I maybe have high expectations for this filet It also comes with a chocolate red wine glaze on it So this might be a winner a winning a winning filet Cheers The old-fashioned is phenomenal, I love it It's like the perfect thing for me and now we're gonna dive into some apps We ended up getting the wild boar tenderloin which looks really good, and then I think we got some scallops too Here is the wild boar tenderloin This looks actually way better than the wild boar sausage I tried a festival of the arts and it's got a polenta on the bottom there. It looks really good And then we got a bread service Look at that very fancy-looking bread service All right, here we go trying the wild boar That's so good, wow I don't know what that is on this boar, but it is so good I really do love it a lot totally tastes different than the boar that I had at the festival of the arts Like I said that was more like a ground-up sausage This is more like a filet and it is divine That's a fancy word divine A little giraffe bread and I like the texture already on it I That might be my new favorite bread Thank you, you're welcome. I'm gonna be honest. I never had a palate cleanser before So the fancy word is intermezzo Intermezzo? Intermezzo Mango sorbet with a tiny spoon Can you the castle I have a chair I have a chair Oh, it is very mango. It feels like dessert. Yes. I like this. I'm cleansing my palate Enough of the cleansing the palate business the food has arrived here is the steak and then we've got is this the fish It's grouper. Oh grouper very fancy. And then you got the short rib. I love that dish Look at that. It's a bone-in short rib too. I feel like I should have got the short rib Yeah, it looks good, but I'm excited for this. This actually looks amazing a little out of blur Oh, wait, there we go. And I will focus in yeah, this looks amazing. Look at that Very excited and that's the lemon mashed potatoes. Yes Speaking of lemon potatoes We're gonna dive in and they said that there was no dairy made with these no dairy That's kind of crazy olive oil. They said and I guess lemon some lemon Not often you get to try lemon mashed potatoes Very lemony very good. Those are honestly, I'm obsessed with these lemon potatoes We're gonna cut into the steak here. Look at that nice char Bone marrow crust in there. Look at that chocolate red wine demi-glace. This is actually I'm impressed Can this be a high-ranking filet for me? I mean It might be Here we go first bite Normally I'm not a filet fan, but I got to say I can't beat that crust the bone marrow It's just cooked perfectly and it's also cooked on an open fire too. I noticed all of their like Flatbreads are cooked on an open fire and then the grill is an open fire too So the char is amazing and the demi-glace here much too good. I think this might rank actually high for me That steak is phenomenal. I have to say I absolutely love the bone marrow crust on there I would rank the filet maybe in my top 10 like I know that's that's shocking But yeah, I mean it was exceptional and then the wild boar was good The whole experience was absolutely amazing now. It's time for dessert For dessert they for dessert For dessert they have a lot of cool kind of unique items. They have African drum beats They've got candied beats. I'm sure Dwight Schroet would love that. Honestly, I might want to get the beats But I'm too drawn to this Malva pudding they said it tastes like cinnamon toast crunch and it looks really cool When I seen it at another table there. So I think I might go with that. It's their signature item too. Oh Wow, look at that It's like a little bird's nest No, it's like a little egg Got a little bit of everything on one bite here and I'm excited It definitely tastes like cinnamon toast crunch cereal so good though And I like the little bread puddings A pineapple they just keep on giving us different types of fruit. Yes. Yeah, it's a mango Look at this Complementary put them in your purse And with that I think we are done here today Jico was amazing I absolutely loved it. The service was exceptional all of the little things that they add in there I thought were great like the palate cleansing and a little pineapple fruit tart at the end and My steak was phenomenal. The bore was good. The dessert was out of this world. The dessert was so good I was obsessed with it and even the bread service the whole meal was exceptional And it wasn't like that high-tier price either like it like $50 range But it wasn't like the $90 a person or you know monster of Paul's like $189 a person But I really enjoyed that it was great to hang out with Tim and Mary Ann and her family and They actually gave me this buffalo bills hat. They're from Buffalo. Even though I'm a Niners fan. I'm gonna root for Buffalo They're my AFC Companions there. I'm not the biggest Pittsburgh fan. I know I'm from Pennsylvania or stuff like that I'm always a Niners fan through to my upbringing there and Yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed the video. I enjoyed making it. We'll see you next time. Bye Just casually sitting here watching fireworks on my way home Look at that. Love it. Oh Wow red light Green light go I always like bringing my doorbell and Gracie freaks out. Let's hide over here What