Real Time Trip Report. Day 3: Animal Kingdom

[gokatgo]

My eyes blinked open right at 5 am just like they do at home! Once I was ready, I woke DH u to get in the shower. I headed down to get coffee in our mugs. It was so beautiful outside,warm with the light just coming up. I stood by the water for a moment to soak it in. When I got back the kids were up and the music was on. I had made a playlist on my iPad on each day of the trip- todays had lots of animal songs. I had set everything aside last night. Each kid has a small backpack to carry their own stuff. Last night DH and I had a drink in the lobby after the kids were asleep and picked up autograph books for the kids in the gift shop. They can carry their autograph boo, water, snack and lip balm with them. The bar at POR was busy and had a great piano player. I got a flight of Abita(?) beer from Louisiana and loved them all. I was pleasantly surprises when the bill came - only$6. I highly recommend this if you are at the lobby bar at POR!

Anyway the kids got ready quickly and we had a breakfast in the room of fruit and cereal bars. We headed out to fill up our mugs. It has been great to be so close to everything in building 15. We went out to the bus station at 7:15 and a bus pulled right up. We met a really nice family from Houston on the bus. We arrived in time for the rope drop and headed to the safari. More to come soon!

[gokatgo]

The safari was perfect. We had giraffes right by us and got a great view of the male lion. Sammy was really sleepy this morning but seeing all of the animals perked him up. We grabbed fast passes on our way out in case we have time to come back later. Next we hopped over to Expedition Everest. We had to baby switch so I rode with Mimi and Ben. I like this ride but Mimi wasso scared that I was worried about her the whole time. After DH went back on with Ben, we grabbed fast passes. I hope to head over with Ben to ride when it's dark. Mimi says she won't go on it again. She loves roller coasters but does not like things popping out. Space mountain is her favorite but she won't go on the Matterhorn. We are about to get on primeval whirl. 10 min wait, our longest of the day!

[Dopey's Girl]

Fun! Glad to hear that you all are having so much fun!

[faline]

Things are going along quite smoothly!

[MinnieMommie]

nice day so far. Thanks for taking us along. :mickey:

[gokatgo]

I am writing this at 3:30am, DS Sam just woke up with a nightmare. I will venture a guess that there were some large dinosaurs in it! I got some misquito bites last night and they are keeping me awake.

Here are the other details from our Animal Kingdom adventure yesterday. After everest, we walked through the maharajah Jungle Trek. We are all fascinated by the bats, we spent about 15 minutes oohing over them but then the kids were ready to go. There was a tiger right by the glass asleep. We also enjoyed the aviary, they provide laminated cards so you can identify all the birds and all three kids really got into this. Another. Magical moment. From here we walked right onto Kali River Rapids. I changed into flip flops before we got on. I enjoy these type of rides but this one is really short. None of us got too soaked, just wet enough to laugh and tease each other about. It was 10:00 now and we had done 4 major attractions, always a good sign!

We headed back to Africa to take the train to Rafiki's Planet watch. We hadn't done this before so I really wanted to check it out. I loved the detail of the train, in fact I really love the detail of this whole park. The look of the Tusker House makes me feel like I am in a 3rd world country, very well done. On our way to the conservation station we came upon a bug habitat area that was also a Kids Club spot. These spots ended up being a highlight of our trip - the kids loved getting the little stamps in their book and the learned a lot. On the way Ro this train ride, we had discovered our first character, Terk from Tarzan, so the kids had broken in their autograph books. DH had also run over to get dinosaur fast passes before we boarded the train. Since it was still pretty slow all the fast pass times were only about 30-45 minutes past the current time so it was easy to stock up. We also got our first Mickey ice creams of the trip and you are allowed to eat on the train which is nice!

Once we got to the Conservation Station, we had a visit with Pocahontas, Jiminy Cricket and Rafiki, short lines for all. We went into a rain forest sound booth and DH and I joked about just staying in there for awhile to take a nap. Seriously, those of you who can power nap, this is a spot! We lolled at the displays of bugs and saw that a goose who had a cyst on its foot was going to have an exam in about 15 minutes. We headed out to pet and brush the animals and after awhile I couldn't find Ben. Well, DH informed me that he was front and center waiting for the medical exam on the goose!! Sammy, Mimi and I sat down for the animal encounter and got to see a hedgehog- so adorable! Next they brought out an opossum. This animal creates a lot of debate between Steve and I. He can't stand them and I find them fascinating, in part because they are our only North American marsupial. Ben had reappeared and both of our big kids knew lots of answers to the questions the keeper was asking. All day the impressed me with what they knew and what they were learning, helps to lessen the guilt about having them put of school for two weeks!! I asked Ben how the presentation was and he said it never started. Steve said he was REALLY sad about it so I took him back in. The goose was in a back room getting x-rays and it was all right on the screen. Shortly, they brought it in and started the exam. We stayed for most of it and then headed back to the train. As we walked I realized that Mimi, who had come in to watch the exam thought the goose was dead since I had said it had been "put to sleep". She was relieved to find out it was just under anasthesia! All in all we pea ably spent 90 minutes here and later in the day I wondered if we took much time but looking back now, I'm glad we took our time and enjoyed it, there were some great moments. I am going back to Allen while I can and will write more in the morning

[gokatgo]

That was supposed to say "back to sleep" not "back to Allen". There is no Allen with us tonight!

[gokatgo]

We headed down to Dinoland. The kids traded pins all day and are really enjoying it. At first I was a little skeptical about them spending a bunch of money to get started but it's really fun and makes them feel like they are getting something new each time they trade. It has kept us out of the shops where it's way too easy for me to break our budget. It has been hard though, there have been quite a few things I have really wanted to get

We hopped on Dinosaur with our fast passes. I sat in between the boys. I have to admit I was too scared to sit on the edge but Ben was willing. This was our first time on this and it was scary! We all made it through and grabbed fast passes for later. We were more than ready for lunch but restauratosaurus was closed so we grabbed some hotdogs and the kids played for a bit in the boneyard. Santa goofy and Pluto were at Dinoland but the line was a little long so we didn't wait. I took the big kids on Primeval Whirl, the Castmember gave us some more Dinosaur fast passes and I headed back over there for another ride with Mimi and Ben. Steve took Sammy on triceratops spin. Mimi kept her eyes open this time and it was more enjoyable, knowing what to expect. Next we walked the crustaceous trail and then met up with Steve and Sammy for the Nemo show.

[MinnieMommie]

Animal Kingdom has so much to offer and you have really taken advantage of this and enjoyed so much here. :mickey:

[gokatgo]

The next hour was our toughest point of the day. We were all dragging during the Nemo show it was spectacular though, very cleverly done! I would see it again for sure. The kids all liked it but they were dragging as we headed to the parade. Mimi had to the bathroom so we stopped and did the kids club activity is Asia. I got a pomegranate ice tea and we headed back to the parade. By then Ben had to go to the bathroom so Steve headed off with both boys and they did the kids club too the missed most of the parade but having seen dozens of Disneyland daytime parades, I didn't feel it was anything special. We got caught in the parade traffic as we headed to the Pangani Trail in Africa. This refreshed us a bit and the kids found another kids stop. We had fast passes for the safari and it was closing in 15 minutes so we headed into the line but right as we were headed to the second fast pass check point, the cast member opened it to everyone so we ended up in a big line. After 15 minutes of waiting with at least 10 to go we headed out of line. We went to camp Minnie Mickey were the kids completed their kids club with a fun pledge. We visited with Goofy, Thumper, Baloo and Brer Bear. This area was adorably decorated with cute trees and lights all around. I was glad we spent some time there. We didn't go to Festival of the Lion King since we saw it last time at have seen the Broadway show

Oh and by this time little Sammy had also gotten into the pin collecting so we made some stops for that. On the way over the bridge to Discovery Island, there were tons of big white birds in the trees. A bunch would take off and fly around every so often. It was a really peaceful spot. I had promised the kids I would go on its tough to be a bug even though I don't enjoy it. On the way we kept running into distractions like LIlo and Stitch!

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Sounds fun, we love AK. Thanks for the report:mickey:

[gokatgo]

I checked out some of the little trails but finally, I couldn't prolong it anymore and we headed into Its Tough to be a Bug. It wasn't as bad as I remembered and of course the kids loved it. I played up how scared I was and we all had a great time. I got some awesome nighttime shots of the Tree of Life. It was really special there at night and I appreciated it for the treat that it was. We headed to EE for a ride in the dark. Surprisingly, Mimi wanted to go and it was intense!!! Wow! We headed to the exit and waited for a bus to Animal Kingdom LOdge.

[gokatgo]

The AK lodge is so beautiful. I think it's the grandest of all. We checked in at Boma and got seated quickly. Mimi and Sammy were good about trying new things, Ben not so much. I loved the ribs, salmon and all of the soups - yum. We also tried lots of desserts. My favorite was the passion fruit panama cotta. Service was excellent! After ward we walked down to the animal viewing areas then caught the bus to downtown Disney and then bus to POR. Boat would have been faster. What a day!!

[faline]

Nice day at Animal Kingdom!

Glad you were able to sort out the misunderstanding about the goose!!

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

What a great day at AK. We LOVE AK at night. Its like being in a whole different place. There's nothing like EE at night.

Love the live reports. Can't wait to read more

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Nice end:mickey:

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report! :smickey: