It's another bright and early morning here on vacation. The dirty water is flowing freely and today is the last of our theme park adventures. We have the four-park passes, but since we have six months to use them up, we are holding off on Hollywood Studios until later in the year when the heat is more bearable. Today was Animal Kingdom and we were joined by my older sister in law and her husband, parents to my niece and nephew who were with us yesterday. The kids stayed overnight with us, much to the enjoyment of our kids.
After a dash to CVS to pick up more sunblock and chap stick, we headed out to conquer the jungle. Since I had been in a hurry to hit up CVS before we could leave, I managed to forget all about changing into my sneakers and arrived wearing a pair of sandals that may or may not have chewed up my feet after a full day of walking in them. But Rich came to my rescue and went back to the hotel to grab them for me. My husband is awesome, have I told you that before? Granted, he wanted to save himself from hearing me bitch about my feet all day, but the gesture was very much appreciated by both me and my feet.
We walked around the Oasis and looked at the various animals they have there. For someone reason our daughter thinks she can speak duck, and every time she see one, she quacks at it relentlessly until we have to pull her away. No matter how much she quacks, the ducks are not going to talk back to her, but that doesn't seem stop her. It's not by far the weirdest thing she does, either.
Our first stop once inside the rest of the park was Festival of the Lion King in Camp Minnie-Mickey. I have to say, it is one of the best damn live shows that I've seen in all of Disney. So much time and energy was put into it, and it shows. And the performers were enjoying themselves as much as we were. If you ever go to Animal Kingdom, I highly recommend you catch it. The kids loved it, and T was picked to join them at one point, dancing and shaking the maraca they gave her with high enthusiasm.
Once the show was over, we headed into Africa to catch the Jungle Safari. It was neat, seeing the animals in their pseudo-natural habitat. There were giraffes, rhinos, sleeping lions, etc. What you'd expect to see on a safari. From there we took the train over to the petting zoo (sheep, goats, a couple of loud-ass donkeys) and an exhibit with bugs and reptiles. The kids got a picture with Rafiki and we took the train back to Africa for lunch.
One thing about Animal Kingdom, it's humid as hell in that place. It was hot to begin with, but with the tree cover blocking the wind, it doesn't take long to feel sticky. Blegh. Seriously, do not forget to hydrate while in the jungle.
Filled up on burgers (bun-less for me), we hit up Kali River Rapids. It's a more intense version of Congo River Rapids in Busch Gardens. My brother in law and RN were completely soaked afterwards, and it was nice to cool off. After that we decided to dry off on Mount Everest, which was an awesome roller coaster as far as Disney was concerned. I had my 13 year old niece sitting next to me, clutching my shoulder and screaming in my ear, but I still enjoyed it.
A couple of us rode the Primeval Whirl after that - a cross between Mad Tea Party and a kiddie coaster. It was alright, and I could hear my older sister in law screaming in the car behind us (she'll kill me for telling you that), but after Everest it was meh.
Last, but not least, we caught Finding Nemo: The Musical. It was a good show, and well done, but the wood benches were hell on my ass. I think everyone was exhausted by that point, I know I was. I would of been happy to catch some zzzs during the 45 minute it took for Marlin to find his son (spoiler alert!), but they make those benches so damn uncomfortable. When we finally emerged, it was threatening to rain so we missed out on it's Tough to be a Bug in the 14-story Tree of Life, but I made no complaints.
That is all you get for right now. If you'd like to hear about our dinner at Smokey Bones, and our trip to to visit the SomaCow Media Network studio, keep reading. I hope you all are having a good one.
