We planned Animal Kingdom for our last day because we were planning to meet up with some friends who have three daughters; we thought this park would offer the most options for such a wide range of ages. It ended up being really good for that reason, but also because it is a smaller park so we didn't feel like we needed to kill ourselves trying to finish everything (a bonus, since we were starting to wear down by this point!).
I had Fast Passes for Expedition Everest for later in the day, but we were there early enough that we thought we'd head straight there to get in an early ride as well. On the way, we got distracted by the monkeys...
Expedition Everest in the background. Notice Rudy before the ride (left) and after (right). After his success on Fast Track and Rock-n-Roller Coaster, we strongly encouraged him to give this one a try. He was resistant but gave in. It was NOT a hit. He didn't like it AT ALL. From this experience, we figured out that Rudy does not like roller coasters that go backward or have long, steep drops. (At least we know now.)
We still had a little time before we had to meet Dave and Laura, so we picked up an animal spotting checklist for Rudy and headed into the jungle. We saw tigers, monkeys, and ginormous bats.
I guess we'd never seen a tiger in tall grasses before; we were all quite impressed to witness the camouflage.
A quick pass through the aviary:
Cool fountain. The boys probably could have been entertained here for a while!d
Finally, it was time to head for brunch and meet up with this crew! Laura and Dave moved into the townhouse next to us in State College. Not only did they replace the old irritating neighbors (who had a grand piano up against the wall that they played at all the wrong hours), but they became some of our best friends. Laura and I bonded over our transplant to (cold, gray) State College when we married our husband students. Unfortunately, they moved to Chicago and then Florida and we rarely get to see them, so this was a big treat.
Our first stop was brunch at Tusker House, where we got to see Daisy, Mickey, and Goofy. The kids wasted no time getting to know each other; after about 5 minutes, it was like they'd been friends for life.
Notice the second picture with Daisy and then the picture with Minnie...Sydney is a little shy and wasn't sure about hopping in the pictures. Rudy was having none of that and gave her a big old tug into the Mickey picture!
We took a stroll through Rafiki's planet watch, visited the petting zoo and conservation station, and then we were off to the safari:
Laura and I headed over to the Lion King show to try to snag Fast Passes for them. We found out that we didn't really need them, so we told the rest of the team to slow down and meet us halfway for a snack. Mickey bars for all!
The Nemo show was over in time for some to go to the Bug's Life movie and Laura and I to claim seats for the parade.
It was time for our Fast Passes at Everest. Rudy had NO interest in riding again, and I was ambivalent. We gave our Magic Bands to Dave and Sydney so they could ride with James and Brady. Syd was a little unsure, but ended up loving it so much that they rode it twice in a row (and apparently went back to the park the next day to ride some more!).
Everyone except Laura and Lily rode the Primeval Whirl; Laura and Lily took an extra turn on the Triceratops Spin. The kids spent a long time playing in the Boneyard. Dinosaur! was closed and everyone was getting hungry, so we decided to head to Downtown Disney for dinner before splitting up.
I can't believe that's all the pictures I took! I think I was so busy catching up with Dave and Laura that I was distracted from picture-taking!
No comments:
Post a Comment