Animal Kingdom

Wednesday in Animal Kingdom- We drove to Animal Kingdom and arrived in good time. Just inside the front gates before you get to the Tree of Life, You find yourself in a rainforest with lush green everywhere and all kinds of orchids growing up the sides of the walls, every inch of this park was truly beautiful. We headed first thing to get fast passes for "Dinosaur" and had high expectations as it was modeled after the Indiana Jones ride in Disney Land that we loved, the line was only 15 min long so we just hoped on. Needless to say, we where disappointed, and found out why everyone was in line for Mt. Everest. Nikki took Mia to get in line for the Lion king Show and we met up with time to catch the Pocahontas Show before it started. Both shows where great! Pocahontas was fun with wild forest animals criss-crossing the stage, and the Lion king had lots of energy with Large floats and “cirque du solei” style acrobats and costumes, the kids were dancing in their seats to the "in the Jungle" song. Just outside the theater, we caught up with Donald Duck and Kenai from Brother Bear and got signatures and photos, Mia started to warm up to them by this time and had a high five and a kiss for Donald. After a fun lunch at Pizzafari it was off to Mount Everest and the "Yeti", would the boys be brave enough? As you can see by the picture, Brenner loved it and Cayden was holding on for dear life! In the end they seemed to like it and Cayden got a hoodie that said I conquered Everest, but when asked if they wanted to ride again the answer was "No" from both boys, so Cort and I rode again by ourselves. There were little lizards all over everywhere and Brenner was determined to catch one, but the only successful catch was with thecamera, quicker next time Brenner! After sitting in on an amazing Bird Show that Pa would have loved we decided to go on Safari! The Kilamanjaro Safari was a neat ride and the kids loved seeing all the African animals and also the splash through the river, driving over the rickety bridge and chasing the elephant poachers. We saw Mickey's Jumping Jungle Parade, and boy was it hot, no shade to be found but a very fun parade. After the parade we went to seek the shelter and air-conditioning of the Tuskers Restaurant, it was a Buffet with an African flair and really quite good. The kids had fun choosing their food and the deserts where the best of the trip, the baklava was Brenner and Daddy's favorite! One of Mommy and Daddy's favorite parts of the trip was next- the Finding Nemo Musical. This show is awesome! It is a puppet show like never before seen, with great music, beautiful staging and just amazing visuals! Go with the flow! Next the kids loved Dino Land, a dinosaur themed carnival area with child size rides and games. This is where we picked up the first bag of Sour Cherry Goofy Balls that we all became addicted to the rest of the trip (we even bought a supply to take home). We rode the Kali River Rapids over and over again until Cayden finally got wet the fourth time, Brenner and Daddy got drenched the first and second time, and Mommy got off after the first ride in fear of getting soaked. This was one of Brenner and Cayden's favorite rides, it was really fun! Our last stop in Animal Kingdom was to the Tree of life and the 4-D movie "It's tough to be a bug" from the movie A Bugs Life. It was a fun bug's in your face, under your seat, crawling on the walls and out of the ceiling sort of fun. On our way out of the park we still had "Snacks" to use up, so we stopped and had Mickey Popcorn and Drinks before leaving the park. This was one of Daddy's favorite days of the vacation. Disney's Animal Kingdom is truly a wild and fun place to spend a day!