Animal Kingdom - April 6th

I have to admit that Animal Kingdom is my favourite of all the parks. Although they all offer something different, I think that its the trees and beauty of Animal Kingdom that makes me love it the most. That and Expedition Everest.

This was an early morning as we had booked a character breakfast at Tusker House for 9am. Again, we took the Disney bus to the park. Very convenient.

The Tusker house breakfast is hosted by Donald Duck and attended by Mickey, Daisy and Goofy. When you arrive your party has their picture taken with Donald outside first.

Lovin the Donald

Then, you go inside where you are taken to your table and your waitress comes over and tells you about the buffet and pours you fresh fruit juice. The buffet has everything you can think of, plus a few African influenced dishes. As I have a fish allergy, (they take allergies very seriously) the chef came out and offered to take me through the buffet so as to point out anything that may contain fish. I was okay going up by myself though, so we went and piled our plates. 

As you eat, each of the characters comes to your table and has their picture taken with you and will sign your autograph books. It was swell! The food was delicious and plentiful too.

The Buffet Area

   Tusker House Restaurant

                                    

Mickey Waffle

Enjoying Breakfast! Yum!

After a very filling breakfast, we made our way over to Asia and Expedition Everest Roller Coaster. We took some photo ops along the way. 

                              The Tree of Life                       Our Favourite Ice Cream Bus

                                                                              Yak and Yeti Restaurant

Ok, on to Everest! This, in my opinion, is the best ride at Disney. It was Mack's first time on it as he was too little when we were here 4 years ago. I think that he is sold on this ride too. After we all went on together, we started to use the single rider line. Best thing ever! 5 minute waits when the main line is close to an hour or more. Fabulous as long as you don't care if you are all riding together. I think that we did this one about 4 times this day.                                                                                                             

            

We also managed to do the Kilimanjaro Safari. It is a bumpy ride in a big truck through the Savanna looking at lots of different animals of Africa. We saw every animal as the weather was just right, hot after a great rain the night before. Here are a few pics from that trek!

Termite Tower

 

Mack enjoys the ride. Lots to see!

Lion was being shy, but he was gorgeous!

We had an incredible day here. Perfect weather and saw lots of animals and did a few rides, ate a great meal and saw fabulous sights. Lets not forget the parade and ice cream! It is so beautiful in Animal Kingdom. As the day wore on, the park emptied out a bit and we were able to see things with more ease.

The Living Tree (its a real person look closely) and David Arquette

Walking thru the mist on one of the trails

Great rest area in Asia

  There are some great little tucked away places to sit and rest or have a snack and get out of the sun too. The Tree of Life is filled with many animals to find. We spent a bit of time there trying to find as many as we could.

Bug mask, you see things the way a bug does.

There are several different areas to see in Animal Kingdom. Asia, Africa, the Oasis, Dinoland USA, and more. We did the Dinosaur ride in Dinoland and took some goofy pictures at those cardboard type props. What is a trip without posing with a couple of those after all.

We also watched the Finding Nemo Stage show. It was really cute. Loved it! 

And... we met lots of characters like Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Flik, Lilo and Stitch, and Baloo and King Louie. Sweet!!

Fabulous day all round! I could put a bunch more pictures in, but I'll save some for a later blog.

Everest in the background!

Hollywood Studios - Tuesday, April 5th

Hollywood Studios. Home of the Tower of Terror and Aerosmith's Rockin Roller Coaster.

How many extra pairs of underwear do you need to bring to this park? Depends how many times you are brave enough to venture onto these rides.

We took a Disney bus to the park, arriving around 10am. Another beautiful day, if memory serves. We headed straight for the Rockin Roller Coaster. This one I loved. Fast, fun and furious! Mackenzie was up for it too. Tami, well, she is a Disney veteran so she was up for anything.

Pair #1

After we survived this ride, Tami said we should do the Tower of Terror. She told us that even granny did it. - A ride that lifts you up several stories and then - drops you. Does it do it once?  No, No. Repeatedly this happens. Now, this one I wasn't so keen to try. Mack was hesitant, but none the less a willing participant. So, I followed the crowd and we got in line. It was about 20-30 minutes long. That's a lot of time to think about why the heck am I doing this.

(Thinking) 'Seriously, this is fun? I hear people screaming bloody murder.'

Pair #2

Amazingly enough, I loved this ride!! It was so much fun. All that worry for nothing. We did it again! I laughed like crazy. Not because it was funny, but because I was still scared shitless the second time. Mack loved it too and Tami was all like, 'I told you you'd love it.'
Super fun stuff.

That night we also did the Toy Story Mania. This one was lined up forever and the fast passes were sold out by 10:30am. So, we waited in line. 1 hour almost exactly. Now here is where Disney is clever. They have all this interactive stuff to keep you occupied while you wait. Here is a taste of what we saw.

Thought this was fun, especially since our dollar was higher.

Monkeys!!!

Ha Ha Ha!

Mr. Potato Head sings, tells jokes and interacts with the crowd. How does he do that?

It was fun. Its like a big shooting gallery that you ride through, but in all seriousness, the couple minute ride wasn't worth the long wait.

We ate supper at Pizza Planet. It was tasty and they have a huge arcade there too. Then, we went to watch Fantasmic. The big laser light show for this park. It was really cool. Lots of action and effects. Worth staying for. They suggested that you get in line at least one hour prior to the show. We just walked up as people were filing in and got in no problem. Tonnes of seating and all very good spots too.

Characters

Fire and Water

We did a lot of walking around again this day. Looking through stores and in the back lots. The Studios are set up like old time Hollywood. Very nostalgic!

San Francisco

News Stand painted prop

Singing in the rain. If you put your foot in the right spot, it starts to rain. Just like Gene Kelly!

We also did the movie ride. That one is always fun and a great way to remember some of the old great movies. 

It was a great day! We headed back to the cabin after the Fantasmic show. Mack and I decided to check out one of the pools at the resort. Beautiful night! Hardly anyone in the pool. We had a ball!

We swam at the Meadow Swimmin' Pool for our first night in the water. It is the one with the water slide.

A swim was the perfect way to end our night.