Monday, May 19, 2008

Disney World Update II

On Sunday, May 4th we woke up as early as we would have on a normal work day and headed to the Food Court for a little breakfast. We bought only 3 trays of food and split the food between the 4 of us, as it was really enough for us. In fact it was just exactly the right amount. None left over and nobody was left feeling like they didn’t get enough.

We headed out to catch the bus to Animal Kingdom. Josh was very excited to head to this park, as this was the one park that we had not been to when we came for our land/cruise anniversary 9 years ago. Plus, they have the newest, coolest coaster in the park.

We head over and are really surprised to see SO many people. I knew that we would not be the only ones in the park, but at rope drop, I expected it to be far fewer people than it was. We walked in and immediately after you cross the turn styles they have cast members there holding “animals” in boxes. Spiders and giant crickets and other things I like to not think about. My children love stuff like this, so they stopped and chatted with the lovely ladies holding these large clear boxes about whatever insect they were holding.

Once I could drag them away from the bugs, we headed straight to Expedition Everest. We first got a fast pass and then stood in the stand by line. We were in, on the ride within 15 minutes. It took longer to get to the queue than we waited. We got into the “train” and took off. This is one of the few rides at the entire Walt Disney World that I have not ridden previously, since it is so new, and as we head into it I think, “wow, this is really kinda lame. They really hyped this up and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Anyways, it got really good. So good that we were very excited that we got to get right back onto the ride and ride it again. The ride picture they snap was SO good on the second go through that I begged that we would buy it. I don’t normally buy them, because, well, they aren’t cheep and I usually look like a goon. But the whole family looks great!



We find some drums to "play" and take a quick picture.

After this we head over to Kilamajaro Safaris and on the way stop and catch King Louie and Baloo. Emily is super excited, as we haven’t seen any characters up to this point. She grabs her autograph book and goes to it.


Jacob wants nothing to do with it. But as we continue on to the Safari he starts to break down and cry because he wanted the autographs. Not to have his picture taken with the characters, but the autographs from them. Josh and him and head back to see them and Emily and I start to stand in line for the Safari. Once we get to the loading we catch up with the boys and hop on our safari. It was really neat to see all the animals. It was still early enough in the day that many of them were out and we saw tons of animals. As with every Disney ride they dump you into a gift area of sorts. They vary in size from a large room that is nearly as large as the ride itself (Pirates of the Caribbean) to a small cart located at the exit of the ride (Nemo show). At the end of the Safari they have multiple carts set up with…drum roll please Webkins. Disney is one smart cookie. This is where the very first “souvenir” is purchased. Jacob had to have the Tiger Webkins. So he bought it and carried it around for the entire day, and has loved it just as much as the 10 other Webkins he owns.

After the safari, we kinda roam around, not sure where to head next. Animal Kingdom is set up in such a way that it is somewhat difficult to navigate at first. We stopped and picked up Fast Passes to the Kali River Rapids and continued checking things out. We went through some of the animal areas, seeing tigers, and a ton of birds, and other strange animals that I don’t remember. When it came time for our Fast Pass time at the Rapids, I become apprehensive. I don’t mind getting wet on a ride, but soaked is not my idea of fun. Plus, my hair never recovers from the water. There is a reason I blow dry my hair almost every day.

We get on the ride and as it takes off I immediately get soaked. top to bottom. Not missing one stitch of clothing or one strand of hair. The ride is fun, as it really is like rafting, so much more than other raft type rides, except that you get soaked.

After we are soaked to the bone we head over to the Rainforest Café for our lunch reservation. The food was good, the atmosphere was good, but the kids didn’t seem to enjoy it so much. I don’t know if we will be back there until they are much older. However, sitting in a dark, cold restaurant soaking wet was a bad idea. I ended up with a slight cold from it. Luckily, I had brought medication with us, and nobody else seemed to have been effected. Probably because they did have nearly the same amount of water dumped on their heads.

After lunch we headed over to Dinoland and rode Dinosaur.

We had picked up a Fast Passes on the way to lunch. By this point the kids have really figured the fast pass thing out and are loving the idea of not standing in line. Dinosaur was not nearly as good as I remembered and was a lot rougher than I like. Neither of the kids seemed taken with it, so while we could have ridden it again, with little wait, we ran (literally) over to try to catch the Finding Nemo show. This was one show that Josh was really interested in seeing and we missed it by minutes. After some time in the Boneyard we decided to head back to the hotel for a little down time. Some swimming and relaxation.


The kids had been begging to go swimming, so we headed off to the bus. On the way, Emily purchased her first souvenir. She found bride Minnie Mouse ears.

She loved them. Because they were like a headband, she wore them most of the days in the park to keep her hair back.


I will continue this day in a separate post, because our time at the Whispering Canyon Café deserves its own post, we enjoyed it so much!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to see you recording your thoughts about your vacations. It sort of reminds me of a blank book we bought you before going to Europe.

Dear Old Dad

Anonymous said...

I told you tha you did not have to go on the rapids!