Animal Kingdom

Tuesday, December 23
We went to Animal Kingdom with the Bresnahan's. My sister, Terri, works with a woman who has a sister that works at Gator Land and her husband works at Disney. Phweee... needless to say, they were able to get a little favor- and, voila!, free day at Animal Kingdom for their family! So we were excited to spend another day with family- Riley and Sydney went ahead with Terri and Brian since we decided to stop at good-ol' Walmart to purchase a stroller on the way. When we met up, they had already ridden the Dinosaur ride. Our first adventure included a walking tour of a jungle and a little hut filled with small animals in cages and tanks. It was also utterly humid, so the Jensen's made it a quick walk through.

We went enjoyed the Safari ride- but it could have been longer. We saw hippos, crocodiles, elephants, lions, tigers and other 4-legged mammals whose names evade me at the moment. Luckily there was a nice chart above each row that named them on the jeeps. No giraffes for us that day- but, man, I can't seem to shed the fear of the hippo pool!

We enjoyed "It's Tough to be a Bug" (the third time for us!) and loved seeing the carvings on the great tree! We had split up so Brian and Larry could get our fast passes for another ride. They made it at the last minute after an almost-rough-up with one of the cheery Disney employees at the front of the line. It's fine to hold places in line- right?

My favorite ride was Everest. We watched a show last year on the travel channel on how it was built and I have been waiting patiently since. It did not disappoint! Terri had taken Paxon and Abby to watch the parade while the rest of us split our fast passes for 2 trips. And, yes, Riley did catch us in the picture from way far below -that's Brian and Sydney!

We split up after lunch. On our way out of the eating area, I turned to the sound of gasps behind me. Larry and Riley had been side-swiped across the heads by a duck! Yes, a duck. There were strangers asking if they were alright who had witnessed the foul incident. I only wish I had been quicker on the trigger- that was extremely blog-worthy. But no pics after all. I had to make sure they were ok. Larry had a scratch across his cheek from either the foot or wing. Riley got hit the hardest. She actually thought that her dad backhanded her. She couldn't figure out what she did to deserve it- she was quite shocked. When the tears subsided, I was able to explain that it wasn't her dad, but a duck! We all laughed eventually. I wonder what Disney would have done if we reported it- hmmm....

Anyway- our family rode the little dinosaur ride (or at least everyone but Riley, who sat grumbling waiting for us) so Porter could have some fun. It was exactly like the Dumbo ride, but, you know, with little dinosaurs.

Payton and I hadn't eaten at the sandwich place like everyone else. So we made the fam wait while we backtracked 20 minutes to buy some pizza and salad. Again, where are the fast passes for the food joints!? Our first disaster! While we were trying to reorganize, my precariously placed pizza tipped right over the fence. Goodbye lunch, hello critters!

There was also this alligator in a small ravine/pond thing. The jury is still out on whether it was real or animatronics. I am a bit suspicious- too still!

These sweet pics are just a reminder of what a trooper little Porter was. He took a nap every day whether we were home or at the park. Just slide the blanket near his face and don't forget the pacifier- an entire hour of sublime quiet!

Before we said so long to the Bresnahan's, we met back up for one last fast pass ride. Brian and I kept the little boys while the rest of the crew dared the rapids! We caught them on their way to the finish- they got just a wee bit wet! Hee, hee!

The brave ones!

After they headed home, we rode the big dinosaur ride! Riley and Syd had gone on it in the morning and warned us it was very frightening. These are some of my favorite pictures! And, by the way, it wasn't as much scary as it was REALLY loud!

Larry and Maisyn got to ride together after us while we took turns outside with Porter. The big girls and I had fun, too.

So goodbye to park #2! Animal Kingdom was a good day. We weren't going to be coming back this trip and we were glad we got to share it with Terri, Brian, Abby and Paxon.