Day 3

ANIMAL KINGDOM

I don’t know why, but this park has ALWAYS confused me. I know nothing about it, and I always get lost. I was determined to change that on this trip. I know there are things there for kids, I just never seem to be able to find them. Well, nothing changed on this visit. I feel like we didn’t see a third of what this park has to offer.

The park opened at 8:00 this morning for resort guests (extra magic hours), and we were there by 8:30. We walked through the gates, and I knew I was in trouble. I HATE not knowing where I am, where I’m going, or not having any sort of plans for the day. Not that I want to be “crazy schedule lady” in the parks, but it just makes things so much easier if you have some sort of loose plan. I picked up a map, and still had no clue. I STINK at maps. So, we wandered aimlessly for awhile, wasting precious (expensive) Disney minutes, and finally made it to the Safari ride. This is where we had the longest wait. Not that 15-20 minutes is bad.

The animals were great. So active! The kids loved it!

See that baby doll that Lilah’s dangling over the edge? It’s a miracle that she returned home with that baby! We picked it up off the ground about 50 times, had it returned to us many times, and even thought it was gone for good once. Thankfully, we found it on top of a post at the hotel that time!

We then headed to Rafiki’s Planet Watch on the train. For the boys, the transportation there was the biggest hit.

We’re working on letters a lot with Makgill right now. He spells everything he sees and is learning to “sound it out”. Clara Beth is also “spelling”. Anytime she sees letters she points to them and says “e, i, e, a, i”. Kind of a mix between spelling and singing “Old MacDonald”. That’s what she’s doing here.

A rhino hooked Clara Beth. It was kind of nice to have her stuck in one place for a few minutes! 🙂

They loved looking at the different types of poop!

There was a petting zoo area outside. Notice Mak’s “farm animals stink” face. Yet he still says he wants to be a farmer.

After the Planet Watch we decided to try to find some food. So we walked. And walked. And walked. And found NOTHING. Except Baloo and King Louie, who just happen to be Makgill’s favorite characters right now! So he, Collin, and I waited in a short line to meet them while Brandon and Jessica stayed with the other kids. He had fun meeting them, and we had fun watching him.

After that, while still looking for lunch, we ran into DeVine. I know most people love her, but I think she’s kind of creepy.

We finally found a decent spot for lunch (BBQ, I think) and sat and ate. Then Jessica left to take Parson to the bathroom, and took Brandon’s cell phone with her so we could find each other when she was finished. Brandon, Collin, and I cleaned up from lunch, and started wandering. We looked around a store for awhile, and started wondering where Jess and Parson were. So Collin called Brandon’s cell phone and got no answer. Then I decided to check the bathrooms, and we found Jessica running to us holding Parson. But they didn’t have the cell phone. Jess had gone in a stall, set it down, and realized there was no tp. She changed stalls, realized she had left the phone, went back for it, and it was gone! So she was scared because she lost Brandon’s phone with all of his business contacts, but even more scared that she had no way to find us and she had no clue where she was. So we found each other, and Collin kept calling B’s cell. Finally a woman answered, but she didn’t speak English! She gave it to a Disney worker, and we eventually got it back. I was amazed at the things we lost that week that people took the time to pick up and return to us or lost and found.

After that, we headed to the Lion King show, which was a lot of fun. Lots of dancing and singing, and cool costumes. Again, the kids loved it! By this time, we were all exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel for naps. We didn’t make it back to the AK the rest of the trip. I know we wasted more time wondering where we were than actually doing stuff. I’ll definitely have to study up on this park before we go back!

Our 4 little monkeys waiting for the bus

and playing on the bus

After naps, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for a late night. Our latest, I think. Poor Parson was feeling bad, so this was a tough night for him. And Lilah lost a shoe, but it was turned into lost and found so they got it back! Other than that it was a lot of fun.

We let Mak and the girls run around Pooh’s Playful area, which they loved. That’s my wild little man’s feet hanging out of the window!

And we rode a few more rides. Even when Collin doesn’t have the camera he can’t help but find some way to take a picture!

We ended the night by watching Wishes from Fantasyland.

That night, Clara Beth was not so happy to be going to bed and was screaming when we put her down. The lights were out and we couldn’t see anything, but Collin and I suddenly felt like the sounds of her crying were coming from the opposite side of the room. We turned the lights back on, and there she was, standing across the room from her pack-n-play! All we could do was laugh. We put her back in and told her to show us how she did it, and she climbed out again. She ended up sleeping with us that night!

Tomorrow…Epcot and my Baby Boy’s heart gets broken. 🙁