Last Animal Kingdom

We saw the Lion King play which I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting much after we all got treated to the broadway version by Ryan's mom.  But I think there were just enough differences to make it unique (not to mention, it was only 30 min) but enought similarities to keep it exciting.  The singers were fabulous!

 

I got goose bumps when they began rolling out the huge moving animal scenes

 

We happened to walk by a parade we didn't intend to stop and watch, but we got a decent place to watch and rest, so we caught the last bit of it.

 

There is a video of Isabelle meeting these two, which she says is her favorite part, because they began to dance with her and then goofy licked her head.  She giggles every time she talks about it!

Animal Kingdom safari

We took the safari ride in an open stretch jeep (best way I could describe it).    It was amazing how many animals there were.  You rode for probably about 40 min, over all mud and dirt roads through what felt like a very real safari.  Most of the animals were right out walking around and you could have touched a few if momentary craziness took over you.

This is a termite mound that there were several of

We had to stop several times because animals were in the road and we had to wait for them to cross, as you can see from this ostrich.  The red headed lady is our driver and she was AMAZING at how much she had memorized.  She would rattle off names of any animals we saw, facts about their food and habitats, and people asked her a few questions that she knew all of the answers to.  It was really neat.

This ostrich was extremely close, and this is taken across Ryan's lap, as it was right outside of his open door.  She was guarding her nest which I tried to get a picture of, but at that moment, she ruffled her feathers and the driver took off so we didn't get attacked (wise choice as Ryan was the nearest one!)

random tree that I thought was cool =)  it was called an upside down tree.  She of course had a story about that and an explaination with scientific stuff, but I'm pretty sure it's because the branches look like roots

Animal Kingdom

The giant mountain that we all got to ride, except for Sydney which she was fine with.  It had a Yeti in it (thus the hat) and it was FAST and turned you backwards and dropped you and Isabelle loved it.  Gideon liked it but wasn't interested in going twiceThe fast pass machine is brilliant, whoever thought that up.  You put in your tickets and it gives you a special pass so you can go in a shorter line and you don't have to wait as long.  The trick is you can only get one fast pass per ticket every 2 hours, and you have to return to the ride within the one hour window printed on each ticket or else it's expired.   But that sure made our life easier and less cranky time waiting in a hot line.

I'm not sure what Isabelle's face looks so sad for, but it was a very hot day

any water fountains we found must be played in

This tree is HUGE and it's on an island in the middle of the park, where every path leads out like spokes from this center position.  If you look  closely there are all different kinds of animals carved into the bark.  The tunnels underneath the tree lead us to a theater to watch a show

We found Rafiki there which the kids were excited about.

Ryan was excited to take this shot

 

Park #2 Animal Kingdom

 

Beautiful sunshiny day

Lots of people ready to have a good time, and then our plans didn't go....as planned

Not even into the park yet, Gideon got stung 3 times!  Twice on his stomache and once on his finger because the bee was under his shirt and he was pulling at his shirt to get it out.  We couldn't remember if he'd been stung so we decided to split up.  The Disney officials walked us into the park so I could take him to the first aid station, and Ryan took the girls to get our fast passes.  I took the map and he took the backpack.  Well it only took a few minutes so we went to meet up with Ryan and the girls at Dinoland.

We sat on a bench at the entrance and waited.  waited some more.  and more.  It was hot, we didn't have any snacks or money, because that was all in the backpack.  So of course when I tried to call there was NO SIGNAL!  We couldn't even text.  Poor Gideon was watching all of the rides and wanted to go on them but I wouldn't let us leave the bench.  We tried to look for them after a while, but didn't want to go far.  Of course, I was getting nervous because I didn't know how we were going to find them since the phone didn't work and I had nothing with me.  Finally I told Gideon I had to use the restroom so we went to find one and that's where we saw the others.  Ryan said when they couldn't find us he knew eventually I would end up at the bathroom.  Smart man!  Of course HE took the girls on a ride two times while Gideon and I sat waiting!  he claims it was because he was hoping to get a signal if he got up higher.  hmmmm

But we had a great day after that, though I was NOT willing to separate without a VERY spacific meeting spot after that.  Lesson learned!  This was a dinosaur ride like the dumbo ride, that Sydney litterally rode I think 6 times.  She loved it, there wasn't ever a wait, and the other kid rides around she was too small for so she just kept riding that while the other two went on another ride.

We went on a dinosaur ride that had paintings and fossils up on the wall while you were walking in line.  That ride ended up being scary though because it was in the dark a lot and pitched you around.  Sydney was not a fan of that one.

Day off of Disney

This was our big activity for Memorial Day

Obiously there was a TV to look at =)

Syd got comfortable in the sham pillow cover =)  We went down the road to go shopping for souveniers, and went back to the condo some more.  We went swimming and played in the whirlpool tubs in the room (though all 3 of the kids being together didn't last long).  I soaked up some HGTV that I've missed, and we cooked, swam some more, and watched more TV =) 

 

 

pretty relaxed day!