Day 2 - Animal Kingdom

Disney Trip Day 2

The next day (and final Disney day) was at Animal Kingdom.  We were up at 6:30 and left the resort by 8:00.  We were hoping to get to Animal Kingdom before the gates opened, but we got about 10 minutes down the road and realized that we had forgotten the Goofy hat.  You know, that lovely hat H bought the night before at Magic Kingdom. We asked her if she would be alright without it.  She said yes, but you could tell that she was visibly disappointed.  So, back to the resort we go to pick up the Goofy hat!

We arrived at the Animal Kingdom at 9:00, right after they opening ceremony.  Oh well, we'd seen it before.  The plan was that D would fly to Mt. Everest and get a few fast passes and then he'd meet up with us at The Triceratops Spin.  Off he went and the kids and I leisurely made our way to the ride.  D must have been hauling butt b/c by the time we got to Triceratops Spin and I had unpacked E from the stroller, he was there.  We all four rode this at the same time.  E is enamored by these rides...  there's no smile, no laugh, no cry...  just a stern look like he's trying to figure it all out.  H enjoyed it though.  D tried to take pictures of us all in the ride.  (see below)


Next on the agenda was the ride Dinosaur.  Now, it more like a movie adventure than a ride.  H had never ridden it before b/c I had heard it was scary.  However, she wanted to ride it this time.  BIG MISTAKE!  She came off the ride all huffy and puffy b/c it was scary.  There were a few tears shed, but mostly she was mad at her dad for letting her get on the ride since it was scary.  He said he didn't remember the ride being scary.  (That'll teach her to rely on his memory...  or lack of memory!)  :)


Next was Kali River Rapids.  If you've never ridden this ride, it's one of those large white water rides where about 8 people sit in one really large inter tube.  D and H rode it once and when they got off, they were just a little bit wet.  Nothing would do except H had to ride it AGAIN.  I knew, good and well, that if she rode it again, she wouldn't be so lucky.  Sure enough, she came off and was DRENCHED!!  Like, water was literally pouring off her hair. 


D was drenched too.  Of course, it didn't bother him.  He wanted to go use his fastpasses for Mt. Everest.  For some reason, H didn't want to ride it this year.  So, he went by himself and the kids and I were going to walk through this nature preserve in hopes that H would dry out somehow.  Meanwhile, I told D to meet us right back where we were when he was finished.  (Can you see where this is going?)  :)

We walked through the nature preserve and saw some interesting animals.  When we were done, H was still as wet as she was when we started.  AND, she was starting to complain.  Lucky for us (haha) there was a little stand set up outside Kali River Rapids with little sundresses.  I bought H a sundress and took her to the bathroom to change.  Unfortunately, they didn't sell panties!!  So, I stood in the bathroom for 20 minutes drying her panties with the hand dryer.  Ahhh, the things we do for our children!!  :)  I wasn't alone though!  There were other women in their drying their own clothes with the hand dryer!!  E was a trooper during all this.  He just sat in his stroller, chillin'.

After the change of clothes, H felt a lot better.  So, we went back outside to wait for D.  We waited and waited and waited and waited... and I got more and more pissed...  where the heck was he?  Eventually, I had to go to the bathroom.  As we were leaving the bathroom, I spotted him.  He said he'd been waiting on us for 30 minutes.  Where had we been?  Um... right where we said we'd be!!

Lesson learned, we didn't split up much more after that!!


We ate lunck at Yak and Yeti.  The Asian cuisine sounded good and at least it wasn't a hamburger.  BUT, it was horrible Asian food.  Absolutely the worst I'd ever eaten.  Plus, I had E on my lap.  He was fidgety and the velcro on his shoes kept rubbing against my leg and it was killin me.  H, of course, didn't eat her chicken fingers.


Finally, lunch was over...  and we were on a mission.  A mission to find a face painter!!  Finally we found one and H got her face painted just like she did the last time we are Disney.  It was a different design, but she liked it just the same.  We grabbed a few fastpasses to the Safari ride and hopped on the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch.  We had never done Rafiki's before.  It was very interesting.  It was kind like a veterinarian clinic with a lot of animal education there.  In addition, there were a few meet and greets.  (see below)  This was indoors and air conditioned so it was a great place to let little E out of his stroller and run around.  And run around, he did!!  I chased him, then I switched off with D and he chased him, and then I chased him and the cycle continued...  :)

We took the train back and it was time for D and H to go on the Safari ride.  In the meantime, E was getting quite grumpy.  It was either nap time or snack time.  I opted for the former.  We found an umbrella and snacked away while we waited for the other two.

Since he was grumpy, it was mid afternoon, and he had refused to fall asleep, we decided to head on out of the park.  We had seen almost all that we wanted to see and we felt like E would take a nap if we went back to the resort.  So, we head out.  Right as we get to the gate, we look down and he is out like a light!!

Now, what to do?!?  I decided that H should do some shopping so that I wouldn't have to wake E.  (he needed a nap by that point)  H bought an autograph book and a canteen and we headed to the Mickey and Minnie Campground to see if we could snag some autographs!  Sure enough, she got a few.  She even got Pluto sign her Pluto hat.  (I think I've been calling it a Goofy had up until this point...  I did that the entire time at Disney too!!  It's a PLUTO hat!!)


E slept for about an hour and a half.  (thank goodness)  He woke up right as we strolled up to the car.  We were done for the day and we were ALL pooped and grumpy.  When we got back to the resort, D and I caught a catnap or two on the couch while the kids played.  (by catnap, I mean like 10 min... don't worry, I wasn't sawing logs while the kids were unsupervised!)

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