Our Disney Trip: Animal Kingdom

Growling and ready to go!

We spent our third day at Disney in Animal Kingdom. Wow! Although it is not one of the "main" parks, I think it might have been my favorite one.

Carvings on the Tree of Life.

We started our morning adventure off with a fast, crowded walk to Kilimanjaro Safaris. Where else, other than in Africa, can you go on a safari and have a giraffe and other animals cross right in front of you?

I'd like to eventually make it to Africa, but this was an excellent substitute for now. We saw a variety of animals, including two ostriches (along with their huge eggs) sitting right next to the jeep path.

Are we in Africa?

We wandered into Camp Minnie-Mickey right when all the characters were coming out. We were the first people to greet the Jungle Book animals. This was wonderful for Ally (no line!) but extremely traumatic for Cora. She did quite well at most Disney greeting spots, but seemed to have a lot of trouble with the non-clothed characters. Since Daddy was parking the stroller and I was trying to take this picture, poor Cora had nowhere to run. I wish I had a video of her trying her hardest to climb up my body and into my arms for safety. Instead, I have a cute picture of Ally with Cora's tormenters.

Ally with King Louie and Baloo

Ten seconds later, Cora was fully recovered and hugging Donald Duck with enthusiasm. What can I say? The girl is a real fan of wearing clothes.

Duck Scout Donald

Cora wanted to be near Chip and Dale, but she didn't want them to touch her. Maybe it's because hats and scarves are technically articles of clothing, but they don't cover quite enough fur to make her feel 100% comfortable?

Chip and Dale

Christmas Mickey with the family.

Christmas Minnie and the girls.

We saw Pocahontas, but didn't stand in line to meet her. Ally said she wasn't a top priority, and there were about a dozen kids already waiting for her. (We were lucky. On our trip, 12 kids was considered a long line.)

Pocahontas and a friend.

Ally and Cora in the village.

We attended two amazing live shows, "Festival of the Lion King" and "Finding Nemo-- The Musical". Neither one of these presentations was conducive to picture-taking, so you'll have to enjoy this picture of the girls instead.

"Lion King" seemed like a hybrid Cirque-du-Soleil meets Broadway spectacular (I've never seen a Cirque production, but I can imagine). Singing. Dancing. Acrobatics. People-birds flying through the air. A fire dancer. Colorful costumes. Huge animatronic jungle animals. Amazing!

"Finding Nemo" was a hybrid puppet show and live-action performance. In my opinion, it was even more amazing then the Lion King. Here's a low-quality video to ineffectively demonstrate the amazing-ness of it all.

Just because. . .

I went on Expedition Everest by myself. This was my coaster of choice for our Disney trip. Cora wanted to go with me, but she's a little too short still. (That girl is fearless-- except for the above-mentioned character encounters). I wished I had a riding buddy, but being a "single rider" has its own perks. I got on the second time with virtually no wait once I discovered a red umbrella that marked the quick line for solo persons. I was seated next to a nice man who had a thick accent and reminded me of a sherpa. How fitting!

Torn tracks.

Forward, backward, then forward again. It was a great ride! And the Yeti didn't eat me, so that was a plus.

While I was conquering the Himalayan mountain, Chris and the girls were busy meeting Pooh Bear and his friends. Cora had no fear, probably because she's known about Pooh Bear for forever.

Belly full of honey.

Flashback:


Ally's first Christmas gift to Cora was a baby Pooh we had picked up in Disneyland.

And here's a flashback photo of me comparing bellies with Pooh (a.k.a. unborn Cora meeting Pooh for the first time) back in 2009.

We watched Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade. Again, the parade was great and Cora loved everything except Baloo, King Louie, Pluto, and the other naked characters. She jumped out of the stroller and into my arms, whimpering, when the animals came close to greet the crowds.

Ally and Cora very much enjoyed DinoLand USA, which is ironic since dinosaurs always had-- until a few weeks ago (well after this trip) -- freaked Ally out. This section of Animal Kingdom was reminiscent of a dinosaur-themed parking lot carnival-- complete with tar-filled cracks in the pavement, cheesy games, and spinning rides. We avoided the fossil-filled Boneyard (no budding paleontologists here since skeletons also tend to freak Ally out). We stayed away from the Primeval Whirl coaster that looks like the old Mousetrap game.

Greetings from DinoLand!

So, what did we do in DinoLand if we liked it so much? The only ride the girls went on was Triceratops Spin, but we rode it multiple times. Ally says it's one of her favorites of the entire trip. It is pretty much a prehistoric version of Dumbo, without any wait.

Our friendly dinosaur.

Chris and I took turns going on DINOSAUR, which was a time-warp adventure into the Cretaceous Period. I was happily surprised to see Phylicia Rashad (Clair Huxtable) portraying one of the scientists. I've always wondered what happened to her; apparently she went on to earn a science PhD. Since I missed out on Indiana Jones 3 years ago (on account of being pregnant), I was really looking forward to this bumpy, jolting, high-energy jeep ride. It did not disappoint. My experience was made all the more enjoyable by my jeepmates-- a group of screaming, petrified, over-dramatic teenage girls and their laughing guy friends.

Because we only had a day, we skipped a lot of the zoo-like parts of the park. And we skipped the Kali River Rapids 'cause we didn't want to get wet and risk being too cold. We did, however, go underneath the Tree of Life to watch another 3D+ show: "It's Tough to be a Bug!". We had Ally sit forward in her seat so she wouldn't experience all the extra effects, and Cora sat on my lap. Ally says that was her favorite part-- not getting stung in the back by the bee, or feeling the termites exiting the theater under her bottom. For some reason, Cora says the smell was her favorite part; the "smell" came from a stink bug. Yuck!

Our little pillbug and the tree.

We left Animal Kingdom around 5pm. Although this was our shortest day in any of the parks, it really wore us out.

Sleeping Beauty?

I'm glad Cora fell asleep in the stroller and then stayed asleep in her carseat. She needed a nap, because our day was far from over. Next up: Dinner with a princess.