Two Days at Disney...Now Animal Kingdom!

Luckily we saved the Animal Kingdom for the last day, we were all winding down after two days at Magic Kingdom. This park opens late and closes early, I guess for the animal's well being. We didn't even make it until close, we were on our way back to the hotel for a dip in the pool!

Once again we got to meet some of our favorite friends, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore! Only one line, although it was long, and we got to meet all three and that was enough for the rest of the day!

Not as many rides, more shows, another 3-D adventure and not just a movie. This was the experience where they spit water in your face, breath down your neck, and actually prick you in the back along with the movie. Luckily our cousin Nichole warned us and we spared Ashlyn and Preston the sharp thing coming out of their seat into their backs, even I had to lean forward to avoid the "surprise".

There was also a live performance of "Nemo" which was just as good as any Broadway play I've ever seen. A huge Lion King spectacular that takes place right on the floor in front of you, lots of singing and acrobats. We enjoyed every performance we saw at both parks during our three day event, but the Animal Kingdom's were the best!

The must see for this park is definitely the African Safari! They load you up in actual jeeps and take you through an "African" experience. I find it amusing how they try to recreate Africa in the middle of Orlando, Florida and not make it look like you just at another zoo! Let me tell you it takes some creativity, the entire adventure your driver is corresponding via CB radio with a native African warning you about missing lions, ambushes and angry tribes. I really thought Ashlyn and Preston would be more excited about this ride. I think Ashlyn did enjoy it, but remember its the end of vacation and the third day at a park riding all kinds of rides, it was starting to show. Preston for some reason was more intrigued by the mesh bag to store your belongings hanging on the back of the seat in front of us. I think he spent most of his Safari playing with that:)

The big attraction at Animal Kingdom is their new Mount Everest ride. They actually reconstructed Mt. Everest right in the park, it was huge! Kendall was dying to ride it, since he was the only one, I ended up taking both kids to a show so he could go for a ride. Let's just say, its impossible to push two umbrella strollers across the park and just as painful for one adult to take two toddlers! Preston was asleep, so I had to carry him, then make sure Ashlyn held on to some part of me without getting lost. This would have all been fine if we didn't have to stand in line for our show for so long and then it started raining! What was I thinking letting Kendall leave us for even a second. Fortunately he really enjoyed the Mt. Everest ride, and even caught up with us just in time for the show to start.

We were so busy getting all the time we could at the parks that we hadn't really enjoyed any of the amenities at our resort, The Coronado! As soon as we got to see what we wanted at Animal Kingdom, we hopped a bus back to the resort for some pool time. Apparently we were having too much fun to stop and take pictures because I just realized we don't have any of our resort. There was a small water slide at the pool, Ashlyn decided she would try it; however, after watching a few kids her size wipe out at the bottom I was afraid she might be traumatized. Despite the signs that only one person on the slide at a time, I convinced Kendall to take her down the slide with him. They did great, she came out loving it; however, they were kindly reminded not to ride double again, so that was her last time on the slide. Ashlyn can be so brave, always willing to ride something at least once; however, when it comes to tasting something new at least once, not so brave!

Now another vacation has come to an end, luckily it was great and we enjoyed every minute! We woke up early the next morning to get packed up in time for the Magical Express back to the airport. Not without first cashing in every last meal or snack left on our dining plan, I couldn't live with myself leaving anything unfinished:) I loaded up on all the breakfast food they would give me and we made a mad dash for the bus, trying to shove breakfast down the kids along the way, just in case we couldn't eat on the bus. We made it in time for the bus, even with our breakfast and now its time to survive the airport and the plane ride home...

Better safe then sorry, we made it to the airport early so we had some time to play on the moving walk ways, buy last minute souvenirs at the gift shops and take more pictures! Like we didn't already have enough pictures from Disney with the actual Goofy and Mickey, we just can't leave without missing a photo opportunity!