[Park Hopper]

Mission accomplished!

The first goal of my week alone touring the parks (DW is out of town visiting relatives) was to find Lucky the Dinosaur. No problem. Just ask at Animal Kingdom guest relations and ye shall receive. It seems Lucky's hangout is -- where else -- DinoLand. His handlers march him down the street in front of Primeval Whirl anywhere from four to six times a day. They make a loop part way down the street and retrace their steps, disappearing into the backstage area at the end of the street.

Lucky is pretty neat, interacting with his handler and gawking guests as he slowly thunders down the street. While waiting for him to appear, I struck up a conversation with a street souvenir vendor who it turned out was a plant for Lucky. Lucky stops in front of her and demands a dinosaur souvenir. She said I'd be able to get some good pictures if I stayed close to her, and she was right. Although she wouldn't come right out and admit it, she hinted that Lucky is controlled from inside the large cart that he pulls.

After meeting Lucky and snapping a bunch of pictures (I'll post a few of them here), I decided to do something DW and I had never done. I strolled over to the train station, stopping en route to take a couple of photos of the Expedition Everest construction, and chugged on over to Rafiki's Planet Watch. The 5-minute or so train ride takes you past a backstage area and some of the buildings where the animals are housed at night. Planet Watch itself has lots of educational exhibits -- some of them interactive -- about conserving the planet's wildlife resources. There's also a petting zoo.

After the train ride back to Africa, it was time to leave AK and head for Epcot for Part II of the day's solo activities. More on that in another post.

Here are some photos of Mr. Lucky! The Expedition Everest pictures will be in another post.

[Park Hopper]

As promised, here are the photos of the ongoing construction of Expedition Everest. You'll note the track coming out of the bottom of the mountain is at a pretty wicked angle.

[BuzzLightyear]

I knew there was a good reson Lucky was pulling that cart.
Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

[MissDisney]

EE looks fantastic!!! Disney, Hurry up and get the finishing touches on that bad boy, and get the ride open!!!