Normally I would say the most financially dangerous phrase you could say to me would be, “Do you want anything from Tokyo?” I actually got one of these recently from my friend Gary, who is heading to Japan this fall. I told him I’d have to make a list. The good news about that phrase is it is only dangerous to me. However a little while ago, I found one that’s dangerous for someone else’s wallet: “Well, it’s the last day of our honeymoon so let’s make it as special and expensive as possible.”
I literally went running for my laptop.
Let’s rewind.
Before Jay moved to Florida, he lived in Colorado for four years. His room mate and best friend, Michael, proposed to his girlfriend, Abby, last year at the Magic Kingdom, so of course their honeymoon brought them back to Disney World. They had a concierge level stateroom booked on a Disney Cruise sandwiched between two nights at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. We spent Sunday with them at Magic Kingdom, and we thought that was going to be our only day together until Michael learned they would likely be back in Orlando by midday Friday. Jay asked them to keep us posted since we’re almost always off on Fridays.
Sure enough, around noon the text came in that they were on the bus and would be back around two. Over the course of our Magic Kingdom adventures, we learned Michael had only been to Disney’s Animal Kingdom once, about ten years ago, and Abby had never been. I made Jay plan ahead and we already had Fastpasses, but then the question of food came up. I pulled up what was available online on my phone and started listing places with availability; I knew my annual pass had discounts, but wasn’t sure what they wanted to spend or how nice we were talking. Enter the text from Michael: “Well, it’s the last day of our honeymoon so let’s make it as special and expensive as possible.”
An idea immediately sprang into my head and I tore across the house to find my laptop. For once, Disney’s site didn’t take forever to load and I had the Rivers of Light Dining Packages up in no time. By this point Jay and Michael were on the phone, and I could hear Jay saying, “I don’t know, she’s up to something.”
I ran over to him and took the phone out of his hand, “How serious were you about what you said?”
“Oh, completely! Whatever you can come up with.”
I handed Jay back the phone and went back to make Jay read the details. Then as soon as I had approval, I set us up for 4:40 at Tiffins, the new signature restaurant at Animal Kingdom. For $67 per person you get a three course meal, unlimited non-alcoholic beverages and reserved, VIP seating for Rivers of Light. I couldn’t find the dining package menu specifically online, but I looked at the regular menu and figured it had to be something close.
We met at the park around three, which gave us enough time for one Fastpass ride on Expedition Everest and to walk around the animal trails. I love taking people who have never been on it, it’s always so funny when it goes backwards and they’re not expecting it.
We were slightly early for our reservation because we were hungry and there wasn’t really much else we could do in the time frame we had. Unlike other Disney restaurants I’ve been to, rather than issuing you a pager at check in, they took my phone number and said they would text me. It took all of a minute and a half. I hadn’t even had time to take pictures yet.
We were seated in the “Trek Gallery”, which is the Asia themed dining area. We walked through the Nomad Lounge on our way in, which is the upscale full service bar. Since we had gotten off Expedition Everest not an hour before, this seemed fitting. They have the prayer flags in the corner just like the Maharajah Jungle Trek and Yeti artifacts similar to the Everest queue.
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Our server was a wonderful gentleman named Allen. I have not had such great service at Disney in a long, LONG time. He explained the dining package to us, turns out the reason I couldn’t find the specific menu is there is no specific menu for the Rivers of Light dining package. You can literally order anything off the menu! When you consider some of the entrees are $53 on their own, the $67 for the dining package doesn’t seem so bad when you add in the appetizer, dessert and drink.
The first item brought out was bread. He told us what type of bread it was, but I missed that and had to look it up. Now I understand why I didn’t care for it, it is Pomegranate Foccacia Bread and I hate pomegranates. There was also an olive oil you could put on it. I think I only had one piece, which was fine because the guys finished the whole plate in about two minutes.
[lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”false”]Alcohol was not included in the Rivers of Light package, but of course that didn’t stop us. Abby and I both ordered “Jenn’s Tattoo”, named for one the Imagineers with a lot of tattoos. I find that strange seeing as usually to work for Disney you cannot have any visible tattoos. It’s Ketel one vodka, with watermelon, hibiscus, and lime juice. Abby liked it a lot, I did not care for it though and chose to stick to my soda. Jay happily finished it off for me in addition to his Lamu Libation which has Starr African Rum, Cruzan Banana Rum, Guava Puree, Tropical Juices, and a Gosling’s 151 Rum Float.[/lgc_column][lgc_column grid=”50″ tablet_grid=”50″ mobile_grid=”100″ last=”true”]
Jenn’s Tattoo.
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There are ten appetizers to choose from, and ten entrees. I liked the sound of the bread service, but I was afraid of getting full too fast, and I’m a sucker for a good salad so I ordered the Apple-Walnut Salad. Boring, I know. Jay ordered the Lobster-Popcorn Thai Curry Soup, which he couldn’t even get me to try. Abby had the Watermelon and Barrel-Aged Feta and Michael got the Selection of Artisanal Cheeses. I think Allen was slightly disappointed no one took his recommendation for the octopus. No one had a single complaint.
Watermelon and Barrel-Aged Feta
For the entrée, Jay and I both naturally picked the most expensive thing we could, but for different reasons. Jay just saw “beef” and went with it, where I always try to maximize the value of what I’m spending. If was going to be the same price no matter what, you might as well go big. So we both ordered the Wagyu Striploin and Braised Shortrib, which came with “rainbow carrots and roasted Peruvian purple potatoes”. I was extremely surprised when my plate arrived and the potatoes were actually purple, but it was awesome. Michael ordered the Grilled Swordfish after a lengthy discussion with Allen about how it was cooked that I didn’t follow very well, I don’t really eat seafood.
Wagyu Striploin and Braised Shortrib, with actual rainbow carrots and actual purple potatoes!
We spent a long time eating in almost silence because the food was so good. Discussion resumed after a bit, but everyone was happy with their mouth-watering choice. I was the last to finish because I eat slow but I was determined to eat every single bite.
Allen brought out a separate dessert menu with five options, and it was the only place I had any disappointment. I got extremely excited to see “cheesecake” before I realized it was a lime cheesecake, and I don’t know why you would want to ruin a perfectly good cheesecake like that. Abby and I were both torn between the Calamansi Mousse and the South American Chocolate Ganache, so she decided to get the mousse and I would get the ganache so we could try both. In hindsight, I am so glad I went with the ganache, I didn’t know what a Calamansi was and I did not like it once I found out. Jay ordered the Passion Fruit Tapioca Crème and Michael the Lime Cheesecake so I got bites of those too. Pity about the lime. I liked the ganache, but it wasn’t my favorite dessert I’ve ever had at Disney.
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Allen brought us the check along with two tiny souvenir prints, one for each couple since we told him they were visiting and we were local. Apparently they come with every meal, not just the Rivers of Light package, and there are a total of twelve prints to collect. They’re done by Joe Rohde who is one of Disney’s top Imagineers. (To quote my conversation with Allen: “He’s the one with the weird earring, right?” “Yes, that’s him.”) I don’t suspect I’ll manage to get them all, but I’m certainly going to try. Each one is about five inches square.
We practically waddled out of the room, our stomachs full to bursting. I popped into the other two Galleries to take a look around, each are uniquely beautiful then we headed back into the park. Too full to use our Dinosaur Fastpass any time soon, we opted to go wait for Kilimanjaro Safaris. Thankfully it was a rainy day and the line wasn’t very long. We saw pretty much everything except the elephants, and I showed them my favorite fun fact about the safaris: it is home to the largest Hidden Mickey in Walt Disney World. (At least it was, I don’t know if the solar farm counts.) Just past the elephants area there is an island that is home to Greater Flamingos and the island itself is a giant hidden Mickey!
From the Safaris we made our way to Dinosaur, our food finally settled enough to handle it, and we made a quick stop at Primeval Whirl since it had no line on our way towards the seating area. I always think that going on Primeval Whirl is a good idea until I’m actually on it, and all the bumps quickly remind me how bad it is.
With half an hour to go, we had our seats. We were probably a little over half way towards the back, which was fine with me. Disney did a really good job on the Rivers of Light seating area and made the incline extremely steep so you’re less likely to have your view obscured by the person in front of you.
Waiting for showtime.
Then I had a silly idea. Since it was our first time seeing Rivers of Light, I wanted a souvenir cup I had seen earlier in the day. Plus it was hot and we’d been outdoors all day, something to drink wouldn’t be bad. So we left the boys to guard our seats and Abby and I went to get drinks. At the entrance we were given a Rivers of Light reentry pass on a lanyard so we could get back in. We went to the closest drink stand by Everest, and while they had souvenir cups, they did not have the one I wanted. Of course. They also had no idea what I was talking about. No problem. Abby went to see if the bar section had it while I ventured on looking for another drink stand. I reached the turn in front of the orangutans when I realized I knew exactly where the drink was: in Harambe Village in Africa. I went to get Abby and offered to let her wait for me instead of traipsing all over the park on my wild goose chase, but she came with me. We power walked a good part of the way, and moved into a run as the crowds started thinning out. We only had about seventeen minutes until show time. Jay was texting for updates and warned us they had moved more towards the center, but I was too busy trying to move quickly to text back. I finally found the right stand and they were in the process of closing up, and the slushie machine was down, but I walked away with two cups and a thing of water.
The cup in question is carved to look like the tree of life, and its handle is an ocarina, or wind flute. It plays both “it’s a small world” and “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”, and even comes with instructions!
Then began the mad dash back to the Rivers of Light seating area. I still hadn’t updated Jay on our progress but we made it with eight minutes to spare. Getting to the guys was a little tricky, they were almost at the very end of the bench which actually put them almost dead center. We had to bob and weave around a bunch of families, “Excuse me, the two guys with the teddy bears belong to us.” I hadn’t wanted to risk spilling drinks on Duffy so I left him with Jay, and he had Tuffy as well.
Rivers of Light is incredibly beautiful and the music is wonderful. It is solely focused on the natural animal world and conservation. There are no Disney characters and no songs you will recognize, but it is so visually dynamic. They project onto the tree line, onto water and the spinning floats. I happened to rewatch Brother Bear the other day and it reminded me of the scenes with the animals coming out of the fires and into the lights. The floats were incredible, but I’m still not sure what the purpose of the two actors on the main float were. The actual Rivers of Light story was a little fuzzy.
Rather than join the hoards stampeding through Dinoland, USA, we opted to take the long way to bring us closer to the Tree of Life. Probably didn’t save us that much time, but it was a much more pleasant walk. We stopped in the gift shop on our way out to get Abby a shirt she’d been eyeing and drove them back to the Polynesian. At least newlyweds don’t mind having to sit crammed together in the back of a Fiat.
I really can’t wait for them to come back and visit again.
Cost: Park admission to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The Rivers of Light dining package is $67 per person plus tax and tip.
Duration: 4+ hours. I would call it a solid half day.
Value: 10/10, would do again.
Add Ons: Alcohol is not included. Tiffins cocktails range from $11-$14. The cups were about $13.
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