After enjoying an entire day in Magic Kingdom, it was time to explore Animal Kingdom and its food offerings! You can also check out Eats in Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios too! The first stop we made at the Animal Kingdom Park in the early morning was Pandora – The World of Avatar, as we are fans of the movie. I must say, they have done a superb job creating this Avatar world! It was very impressive, I was completely awed and wonderstruck. So awesome! We made sure to get on the Avatar Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey, in which we enjoyed tremendously.
The first stop of the day was Pongu Pongu for some breakfast. They had a very tall, large Mechanical AMP Suit there, and they actually have a Pandora Conservation Initiative scientist come out in their robotic suit and give a talk and demonstration. Pretty cool!
Pongu Pongu didn’t have much food options, but we were hungry, and needed to get some fuel to energize us for the day. We got what looked tasty enough. The first item was Sausage and Egg Biscuit ($6.79). It was nothing special, but a great little pick-me-up. The biscuit was a bit dry and it fell apart with each bite…
A bit more interesting item was Pongu Lumpia ($3.29), which was a pineapple cream cheese spring roll. Oh yeah! It was a fun dessert, pineapple cream cheese filling was really tasty, with small pineapple bits in it! It was not an easy item to eat without getting messy though, as the wrapper tears with each bite, and the filling started or ooze out. The wrap itself was nice and thin, very crispy. I did enjoy this one!
But the main item we wanted to get from Pongu Pongu was actually a drink. It is called Night Blossom ($5.99), a frozen non-alcoholic beverage. It is made with layers of apple and desert pear limeade, topped with passion fruit boba balls. It was bright and vibrant, matches the Avatar world perfectly. It was really, REALLY sweet… if you need a sugar rush, this is the drink you need. Might want to share it with someone if you don’t want to get overloaded with sugar… The boba ball that pops in your mouth was fun. I had boba bubbles at Leaky Cauldron in Universal Studios before as “fish eggs” in a drink called Fishy Green Ale. It was fun to have it popping in my mouth as I had this drink. The straw was thick enough for the boba balls to get through, thank goodness.
After getting on another ride or two, we needed more substantial food to keep us going. We went to Satu’li Canteen, still in Pandora area of the park.
You first have to go to the ordering section of the eatery, left of the entrance door. This area looks more like the lab part of the human explorers, pretty cool. A staff will guide you to a specific queue line with a number. From here, you put in your order and go straight to the counter to pick up your food.
A fun items I saw while waiting for our food was their special beer named Mo’ara High Country Ale, which is an Amber Ale with a Spicy Hop Aroma. How cool is this beer handle? We didn’t want to get any alcoholic beverage since we wanted to get on so many rides (don’t think alcohol and roller coaster is a good mix), so we didn’t try it.
After you picked up your food and drink order, you get to enter the world of Na’vi. They have designed the dining area with Na’vi art and cultural items. Quite impressive. It had a good amount of seating, large space with very tall ceiling to hold Na’vi artworks.
Although they are most well known for their bowl offerings, we wanted something not too heavy. So, we ordered two items from the “Kids’ Meals” and one dessert. Hey, aren’t we all kids (at heart), especially when you are in the Walt Disney World???
The main item I wanted to get from this location was this particular dessert. It is Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousse ($5.29), made with Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousse with Passion Fruit Curd. It is just soooo pretty! Vibrant blue that makes you thinking of a night star filled with starts. The colors and shapes match the Na’vi world, something you might find while hiking Pandora land at night when nature around you starts to illuminate.
Another customer nearby who saw my dessert asked me what it was, and asked if she could take a photo of it!
And it tasted as good as it looked! It had a great blueberry and passion fruit flavor. It was velvety yet firm enough so that it doesn’t fall apart. It had a thin layer of sponge on the bottom, which helped the mousse to be scooped up easily without sticking to the plate. It was really nice dessert!
The kids’ Meal items we ordered were actually really cool. They are served with chips, small bag of grapes, and small bottled water or low-fat milk. We kept the small bottled water and grapes for later, which came in quite handy when we needed some snacks and hydration. Oh, you can ask for a complimentary cup of water at any eateries (unless they don’t have any water dispenser there). This really helps with hydration throughout the day without costing any money. That also means, more money for food and dessert!
I really wanted to try their Cheeseburger Steamed Pod ($7.99) from this spot before I knew it was a Kids’ Menu item. Kind of funny… Anyways, it is a Steamed Cheeseburger Pod stuffed with Ground Beef, Ketchup, Mustard, Pickle and Cheddar Cheese. Unfortunately, it was not as good was I wanted it to be. The beef chunks were hard and didn’t have much of “cheeseburger” flavor… The chips on the other hand, were really good! Made with three kinds of potatoes – regular chips, sweet potato chips, and taro chip. Super crunchy and tasty!
The other item we chose was “Teylu” All-Beef Hot Dog Wrapped in Dough ($7.29). It is made with All-Beef Hot Dog wrapped in a Parker House Dough. This was a nice comfort food, nothing special but a good quick snack! And who doesn’t like a hot dog wrapped in a fluffy dough?
We finally left Pandora, and explored other areas inside the Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We went on the Kilimanjaro Safaris which was pretty cool. Then, we stopped at one of the ice cream carts in Africa to get some Mickey Ice Cream Bar and Sandwich. It was simply a must.
Nestlé Mickey’s Ice Cream Bar ($5.75) was cute and tasty! It was actually tastier than I thought it would be. I heard a rumor that this item might become available at some supermarkets in the US… That will be awesome!
Nestlé Mickey’s Cookies ‘N Cream Ice Cream Sandwich ($5.75) was certainly more “Mickey” than the ice cream bar. It was soooo cute! It was nice and creamy, soft enough so that it was easy to eat without them falling apart or crumble. They are both a bit pricey for the size, but it is Disney World, and they really are quite tasty.
At this point, I can finally say I had all the special Mickey treats that I saw as adorable key chains after vising two parks!
It was time to burn some calories before we can eat more food or snacks… We walked around the Discovery Island, spotting some animals there too. They had some nice walking trails around the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life itself was something to look at. It is not just a big tree, but it is a massive artwork, grand masterpiece. It has over 300 animal carvings throughout its massive trunk, roots and branches. Everywhere you look, you will find some kind of animal there. Beautiful, detailed, impressive!
It was getting into the early evening, and it was time for some real food. We saw Yak & Yeti Restaurant in Asia had a pretty good review, so we decided to check them out. It is a Nepalese-style restaurant offering pan-Asian dishes.
It was a bit busy inside, and since we didn’t have reservation, there was a short wait. They had just a couple of chairs in the lobby/waiting area, so most of us were standing around…
The inside was kind of big, but not big enough. They had a bar to the right of the entrance, fully stacked. The rest of the space was separated into a few sections, with some interesting art pieces and decoration.
We were taking to the back, a bit more quite than the front dining area. They also had second floor, which I assume is more dining space. With this much space, they still do have people waiting to be seated, which was a good sign of its popularity.
We ordered House Fried Rice ($11.99) and Dim Sum Basket ($15.99) to start off with. We asked our server if just those two items would be enough, and she assured us that it will be. And guess what? She was right! Dim Sum Basket was under “Shareables (Meant for 2)” so we expected it to be a good size. But the portion of the fried rice was completely out and above what we expected it to be. It was HUGE!
House Fried Rice was great, again, enormous portion for us hungry bears, filled with all sorts of goodness. It had beansprouts that were crisp and juicy, shrimp that was plump and tasty. The rice was cooked just right, comforting and tasty! It was so addictive too… So, this dish went beyond our expectation not only in its portion but its flavor also. That is a win-win!
Dim Sum Basket had Pork pot stickers, shrimp siu mai, cha su bao and pork siu mai steamed on a banana leaf, served with soy lime dipping sauce. They had all the little filing “snack” items that we liked, so we were happy. And the price was so affordable too.
Each item was made well, packed with flavor and quite tasty. I liked them all… It was not the best dim sum items I’ve ever had, but they were still great considering “theme park food” offering. I wish if I could try so many other items off their menu!
Once the night was upon us, we headed over to see the Rivers of Light. I saw there were a few seats available near the front row, but my husband said no, we do not want to sit too close to the water. I was not happy but later, I would thank him for his research and advise… The Rivers of Light was very pretty and captivating. All the floats moved around on the water so that we could see most of them from any and all direction.
Once it really started to get going, with all the water flowing into the cold night air (and it was cold on this particular night), splashing water everywhere! The people sitting near the water, maybe up to five or six rows got soaked! Some people stood up and left (or went to find seats a bit further away). Some others were prepared with rain jackets. Smart. Still, it was cold with mist traveling in the wind… Other than that, it was gorgeous, creative, and captivating.
Before we left Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park, we ensured to stopped by the Tree of Life to see “Tree of Life Awakening.” The tree was illuminated with rainbows of colors, but with a little flicker of light magically appearing, the three has turned into a colorful screen for its visual display. It was quite magical, it showed many animated imagery of all kinds. Nice way to end the fun day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
It was another successful day, although exhausting, but filled with so much fun and excitement! And yes, we did get to have some tasty eats here as well. I am so happy I finally got to visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park! We will be back in a five years or so, and looking forward to tasting all sorts of great food and snacks again!
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park – 2901 Osceola Pkwy, Orlando, FL 32830