Today we visited Animal Kingdom. It was already packed when we got there at 9am, so upon arriving at the park, we proceeded to the Kilimanjaro Safaris, which was near the back of the park. One of the Photopass photographers took this photo of us later in the day of the big tree that to me is symbolic of Animal Kingdom. On the way in, we didn't want to stop to wait in line for one of the photographers to take our picture.
The Kilimanjaro Safari ride is also a ride that to me is just part of being at Animal Kingdom. The rides takes you through the different habitat areas in Africa and you can see lots of real animals in their native setting. I knew that even Natalie and Eric would enjoy this one. It's also a popular ride, and we weren't able to get Fast Passes, plus many of the animals were usually sleeping by around lunch time, so that's why we headed there first.
The posted wait time for the ride was only 10 minutes when we got there, and really, we probably didn't have to wait that long. They had lots of vehicles that held lots of people, so the line went fast. We were lucky to not only get to see some animals in action, but also to see them fairly close up.
These were apparently "baby" elephants playing. We thought it was kind of cool not only to see them, but to see them interact this way.
I still had to crop both of these photos, but the fact that I still got decent pictures (that weren't blurry) meant that they were close enough for my camera to get them in good focus. This lion was perched perfectly on top of a rock, easily seen by us and by my camera. In the past when we've gone on this ride, the lions were usually hiding or sleeping, so it was cool to see one just showing off on top of a rock.
After the safari ride, we went on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. There were more animals to see, and I was eager to do some walking after all the standing still in lines we did yesterday. At one point, Eric noticed a guide talking to some other kids about one of the animals, and it peaked his interest. They have something called a Wildlife Explorer program now. Kids (and some adults that we saw along the way) go to different stations throughout the park, learning little facts and getting "badges" (which were actually stickers) in these little books that they were given. We started visiting some of those stations.
We interrupted our Wildlife Exploration to go on the Dinosaur ride, because we had Fast Passes for 11:05am. It's a very mild rollercoaster/simulator type ride, and Eric enjoyed it a lot. The premise for the ride is that the vehicle you are in supposedly travels back in time to when dinosaurs roamed the earth, but you encounter some unexpected dangers along the way. I took this picture before we got on the ride because Eric wanted me to take a picture. He made that face all on his own. There was another statue of a dinosaur later, an iguanodon from the movie Dinosaur, and I took a picture of him in front of that one too.
Eric actually complained of being hungry even before we went on the Dinosaur ride, which is unusual for him. I held him off until after the ride, and we had some barbecue--Natalie and I shared some ribs, and Eric had a chicken drumstick. Eric also had some apple juice and that was it. He said he was too full to eat the grapes included in the meal, so I told him I wasn't going to get him any dessert until he ate his grapes. I felt funny saying that because it's not like grapes aren't already dessert-like with all the sugar they have in them.
Natalie took this to heart and when she wanted a Mickey-shaped ice cream bar a short time later, she barely let him have any. I had a chocolate covered frozen banana, which unfortunately also had nuts on it. I say unfortunately because I was willing to share, but both Natalie and Eric refuse to eat nuts. I still figure that we're on vacation, so I was letting Eric have some dessert even without eating a large lunch. He ended up eating some of my frozen banana, eating around some of the nuts.
One of the badges for Eric's Wildlife Explorer book was a "music badge". We searched for a while until we found it. It involved this man on stilts playing a "balafon", which is one of the activities in the book, to write down what instrument that is. He also had the kids at his station play some of the musical instruments. As you can see from the first photo, Eric was really enjoying himself!
This station and another station involving info about the Hindi alphabet and Indian culture were the most interesting ones, even Natalie agreed. The guide at that station wrote our names using the Hindi alphabet, and we learned a little about the Taj Mahal, which Eric had not heard of until today. She was very nice and we actually saw her at a different station an hour or so later.
It's been like pulling teeth to get the kids to do a lot of rides and other attractions this week. I wanted to stop at Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) to look around. Today, Natalie finally allowed it, but she wanted to leave early from Animal Kingdom to get to Disney Springs so she could get back and pack. I'm not sure why she thought she needed so much time to pack since she didn't need that long to pack to come here. Whatever her reason, at least we got to go somewhere else and not just stay in our room.
We mostly walked around Disney Springs. We had to stop at the Lego store, of course. I took a couple of photos--this one of the two of them with Woody and Buzz, and another one of Eric outside with a display where Buzz is strapped on a rocket with Woody down below. Natalie ended up buying some Lego Mixels because she loves those and because they were on sale. We thought about eating there, but it was only 4pm, and we weren't hungry yet, so we went back to the hotel.
After a very long bus ride (I love the monorail so much and really hate the buses), we got back to the hotel. After trying to figure out what the kids want to eat for three meals a day, I was tired of doing it. I am ready to eat at home! I knew Natalie would want to just stay at the hotel, which made me a little angry, but luckily, Eric was up for going to the Magic Kingdom one last time to have dinner and dessert. We really didn't spend much time at the Magic Kingdom at all during this trip, not even a handful of hours on the day we arrived, Tuesday. The lines for rides were all really long anyway, but I still wish Eric had some interest in some of the rides. At least he let me take this picture.
We shared a "Pot Roast Mac and Cheese" which is basically pot roast with mac and cheese. I ate the pot roast and Eric ate the mac and cheese. Sharing entrees has saved me during this trip. Usually, entree portions are so huge, and it would have killed me to throw food away because I didn't have a way to heat it up again later.
For dessert, he only wanted one of those Frozen Strawberry Lemonade cups. We also bought some foam swords. Eric and Natalie have been playing with foam swords this week whenever they see them in the gift shops, and this was our last chance to buy them. Eric chose a blue one for himself, and he chose a pink one to give to Natalie. I'm not sure if he was doing this so he would have someone to fight with, or because he was trying to be sweet to his sister. He said to a family we met on the elevator that he was trying to be nice to his sister. What a sweetie.
I didn't want to leave Disney without having one of the Mickey Ears Kids' Ice Cream Cones, so we got in this long line and I purchased one last item before heading home tomorrow. I had to take a picture of it because I didn't get a picture of it when Eric had one earlier this week. I put him behind the ice cream in this picture just for fun.
What did Natalie eat for dinner while we were gone--mini-muffins. Sigh. I was so mad at her, but I was too busy packing everything tonight. We're out of here early tomorrow, and we'll hopefully be back in San Antonio by 9:30am.
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