Disney Day 5: Animal Kingdom

Our last day in the parks…sniff, sniff. I must say it was a little harder to drag out of bed that morning.  As a result we were a little later getting to the park than usual, but we were still there for opening. Just a little further back in the crowds.  Animal Kingdom seems to have fairly narrow walkways so being in that crowd with the double stroller was hard. This was the first day we had really run into crowds too….lots of school groups everywhere. I was very tired of tie-dyed shirts by the end of the day!!!  This was also by far the hottest day, with temps in the 80s. All I can say is thank goodness it wasn’t like that all week!!

We still had a great time though! Our first attraction of the day was the Kilimanjaro Safari.  That was a really neat ride and we saw lots of animals. There was a little storyline that the Jeep driver went along with, and trying to explain what a poacher was to Will and Avery and then further explain how it was all pretend because there weren’t real poachers in Disney was at least a week long conversation!! 

We saw lots of neat animals.

 

One of the funnier experiences on the safari is what a giraffe was blocking the road a few trucks in front of us. Will loudly announces to the trucks behind us that there was a giraffe blocking the road. Well, guess what. The giraffe moved. Ha!! Everyone got a good laugh out of it and the poor giraffe’s ears have probably never been the same since!

A few more shots of animals.

After the safari, we headed towards Expedition Everest. I ran ahead to get Fast Passes. Matthew and the kids stopped to pose for a pic with some of the Jungle Book characters.

Expedition Everest….

Will got to ride it 3 times!! Twice with Matt and once with me. This boy loves coasters!!!

While the boys road Everest the last time, Avery and I headed over to Dinoland, where we ran into Pluto and Goofy. Oh she was in love!!  When it was her turn, she walked right up, looked up and Goofy and sized him up, and then proceeded to walk right past him over to Pluto!! Goofy was crushed!! Pluto noticed and then pretended to walk away with Avery, upsetting Goofy even more!!!  I had to jump in and hug him to make him feel better!  She did eventually give him a hug though and Pluto and Goofy were nice enough to sign Will’s autograph books too!

After the character visit, we headed to the Boneyard playground. Oh my. This was by far Avery’s favorite attraction I think. And it was a playground!!! Albeit a fun playground!! Lots of slides and tunnels and such. There was even a dinosaur bone dig area.  This place was pretty nice because it was tucked in a back corner and had a nice breeze. The first time we played in it, it was nice at least. When we made it back a little while later with hot and sweaty kids, the little rocks posing as sand got stuck EVERYWHERE. Poor Avery had to be taken to the restroom and cleaned up b/c it had gotten all in her shorts!!

This tall, curvy yellow slide was the highlight of Avery’s trip I think. And let me tell you, it took a lot of effort for a 2 year old to get up there too! Rope ladders and bridges, etc….but she kept doing it over and over. The first time Matt went with her and came down the slide behind her. Poor guy….it is a pretty tight slide and one part of his body was in one curve while another was in another curve! But man, Avery loved it!! One time she came shooting out, head over heels…..that scared her for about 5 minutes, and then she was right back up there.

We found a nice shady bench back on a trail to have lunch.  After lunch the boys went to ride Kali River Rapids while Avery and I hung at the playground.  We were all hot and tired by this point and it was really crowded, so we decided to call it a day.  The kids cried and cried as we were leaving. 

We decided to do one more excursion and go on a monorail ride before going back to the hotel. That was fun but man, everyone was worn out.

That night, we had a big dinner at Mickey’s Backyard BBQ. More on that in a separate post!

Our last night in Disney was a late night getting to bed but everyone was beyond satisfied with the trip.  It was bitter sweet going to bed that night, but I know we’ll be back again soon.