Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Animal Kingdom: Rain, Friends, A Yeti, and More Rain!

Yay! We finally made it to the 1st "official" day of Disney! I am so excited to tell you all about it, but before I get started I am going to do a "thoughts before park" and "thoughts after the park" on each park. I always go into things with something in mind, so I am anxious to share what things were completely different than what I was thinking or planned. 
Ok, lets get started! Day 1 was Animal Kingdom (que the Lion King music: "oh I just can't wait to be king" As soon as I stepped foot inside the park, my head was full of Lion King music. Guess it was the atmosphere!_ and I had it planned this way, thinking it would be our least favorite park. I figured it was just a big zoo, and we would be done by lunch. We could head back to the hotel and enjoy the pool. WRONG! 
 
Tuesday 5am- This Mama's eyes are wide open! I am so excited to get the day started. The park opened at 9, and everything I had read up on said to be at the park entrance 30 minutes before opening, if not more. I also knew transportation would take some time, so I knew my family that is very hard to wake up, would need extra time to wake up! With this being our 1st trip, I did not plan on doing any of the breakfast dining. I figured with two small children, the parks would be plenty and I did not want to over-do us. We are not huge breakfast eaters anyway, so in our checked luggage I packed pop-tarts, granola bars, and muffins. This was plenty to get this family ready for the park! To my happy surprise, everyone woke up easily! I think it is the Disney "magic" they place in all the rooms. 
We finally made it to the park, right at 9 am. This "OCD Mama" was a little nervous at first because we were off schedule by about 30 minutes, but once I saw Jagger's face see the entrance to the park, all that went away. It is absolutely beautiful!
Before we left the hotel that morning, I had kind of made a small plan. I knew what rides we would for sure want to do. I had read where the Safari was best to hit first thing in the morning. So what does this Mom do? As soon as my feet are in the park, I am making a b-line to the Safari. First let me remind you, these are not little parks that you can just walk to each attraction. No, these parks are huge and it is a lot of walking. It takes a good 5 minutes or more to get to the back of the park depending on the crowds. Another big thing I learned while we are there, it is very hard to make a 5 year old focus on getting to the back of the park when he is seeing a million things he wants to do on the way!! The whole way trying to get to the Safari, Jagger is yelling at things he wants to do RIGHT then. Thankfully he was in a stroller, and this girl wasn't slowing down! ;)  We finally get to the Safari and we got to walk right on. I was really thankful for this because I had heard sometimes you have to get Fast Passes for this ride! We loved every minute of this ride. The weather was not too hot. We actually got to see some beautiful animals. Even Hudson enjoyed the ride! Once we got off the Safari, we met up with our really good friends, The Hatch Family!! What was so awesome about this is we did not even plan on being at Disney the same time. It just happened! I was literally jumping up and down when I found out they were there! It made the trip even better! They have been to Disney many times, so I was happy to have them to show us the ropes! I can't remember what all rides we rode after we met up with them. All I know is that right as we were finishing up lunch, the torrential down pour started! It was insane!!! Thankfully, I did have ponchos! We really thought it would clear up...No...this went on for awhile then it decided to clear up! About every 30 minutes, torrential down pour would happen and all we could was stand there in our ponchos. All I could was laugh! Thankfully getting wet was ok because we had rode the River Rapids so many times we were already drenched. 
In between all the downpours, sweet Stephne talked me into Mount Everest! See it in the background...Beautiful huh? but you can't hear all the scream from people riding it..

 First let me explain, I am not a huge "rider". Dumbo, is about my level of excitement.  "Megan, come on" "Its no big deal" "It's not scary at all" "You will love it". Matthew even chimed in, "We came 900 miles, you should do it once"....the next thing I know I am getting strapped in a little train! 5 seconds later we zoom off. I am pretty sure I broke Stephne's hand from gripping it the hold ride! She laughed the entire ride, I screamed and thought I was going to die! I really wish you could zoom in on my face! It is priceless! I am screaming like a baby!! Waylon and Steph are haivng a blast!
After I survived the roller coaster, oh I forgot to tell you, It has an 80 FOOT drop and a Big Yeti that doesn't want you to escape his mountain!  Yes 80 ft! 1 time was enough for me! Sorry Yeti, you can catch someone else! ;) When I got off, it was time to make Daddy get on! Again, Steph is having a blast. Matthew, at least more fun that me! He did get off and say it was intense! Maybe, I am not crazy! (what really bothers me, is the little guy behind Steph that is not even bothered at all)

In between the excitement of the roller coasters and other rides, we decided we needed to see Festival of the Lion King! It's basically a "broad-way" show of the Lion King! We had Fast Passes for this so we didn't have to wait to long and our seats were excellent! This was one of my favorite things while we were there. The music was awesome and the costumes. WOW!!! gorgeous! Totally worth going and I am not really sure who enjoyed it the most, the parents or the kids! Jagger even got picked to go out and dance with the performers. We were so shocked that he did it. Normally he would be too shy, but after a few seconds he got right out there! Such a fun time!



 We ended up closing the park down by riding the River Rapids over and over! It was great! We could walk off and right back on. I have been told this does not happen many times at Disney parks! If you noticed I havent' said anything about food! This will have to be a whole post by itself.

Thoughts after the park:
This park is so much more than a Zoo. We loved it! There was a lot we didn't get to do. I can't wait to go back and see the rest!

Lion King is a must! Great for everyone in the family! If you get a Fast Pass, then the seats are awesome. We were right on the front!

Kali River Rapids was Jagger's favorite ride. It is a lot of fun. Warning: you will get soaked! I started out wearing a poncho and then with all the rain figured, what the heck! We ended up trying to see who could get the wettest on the ride! ;)

The Safari ride was beautiful! 

Yak and Yeti is a great place to eat! We all loved our food!





We had such a great day! Like I said, we ended up closing the park down at 5. After we left the park, Jagger fell asleep on the bus back to the hotel. He was exhausted. We ordered pizza for supper that night and all were asleep by 8!
Tomorrow: Hollywood Studios
Hope everyone has a blessed day!
Lots of love

1 comment:

  1. How fun!! For starters I love your shirt, adorable!! It sounds like this park is a blast!! I love that they made you go on the ride...your facial expression is priceless. At least you can say you did it once!

    ReplyDelete