My Life in Toddlertown: Wrapping up Disney

Okay, enough procrastinating. Time to wrap up the Disney review. We met John and Emily Holmes and their twin boys, Sam and Turner. (they left their baby, Bennett, at home as well) on Saturday morning for Animal Kingdom. The boys are in Ann Park's grade but just turned 4, so they are really right between Ward and Ann Park. Turner is our godson. They both really love Ward, especially Sam. The weather was kinda cold and rainy but it definitely didn't damper the spirits. Here is the group waiting to get into the park:

As advised, we headed straight to Africa, for the safari. There was a tiny wait (5 minutes at the most) and the kids couldn't wait. I had heard mixed reviews about the safari but it definitely didn't disappoint. We saw every animal they had out there and some very close up. It was a great experience and Ward, my animal-lover, really enjoyed it. Ted took some pretty good shots of the animals as well, but I won't post those since there are a ton.

daddy and Ann Park waiting for the safari

After the safari, we walked through a zoo-type area and then headed to Camp Mickey and Minnie where they have a live Lion King show. It is very similar to the Broadway show and pretty impressive. I loved it, although Ann Park started screaming towards the end because it was too loud and I had to leave with her. For some reason she has very sensitive ears. Not sure why that is. But we saw Pochahontis on our way out (didn't get a picture, unfortunately) which made it worth her while.

We then headed to the Dinosaur area of the park. Here, they have lots of fun rides as well as a massive playground and a place to dig for dinosaur bones. I think that we probably spent about 3 hours playing around here and the kids loved it. It was also nice not to have to stroll the kids around the park all day like we did in Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

After lunch John, Emily and Ted decided they wanted to ride Everest, the big rollercoaster in Animal Kingdom. They had to get a fastpass since the line was so long and we had about an hour to kill. The kids decided that was a good time to get their goodies and we had fun seeing all the strange creatures about Animal Kingdom. I took the kids to a really cool live bird show while the not-so-scarypants adults rode the rollercoaster. I had a great time with the kids, but it was getting colder and starting to rain.

goodies

tree lady - she was kinda scary!

The day was far from over when we left, however, as the kids decided they wanted to swim in the cold (65 degrees probably) rain. Thank goodness the pool was heated and John got in with them. Ward had a great time and with a little peer pressure, he did the big slide about 10 times. We broke from the Holmes clan at that point and went back to our room to bathe and dress. We then headed back to the Magic Kingdom for dinner and to hit our favorite rides one more time. Home on Sunday never looked better!