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Saturday, December 20th
Today was our Animal Kingdom day. We were here in September but
stayed for only a couple of hours. Then we just never got back
to the park. So today we had a full day planned and wanted to
see and experience much more.
We
got to the Animal Kingdom by 8:30-ish and went through via the
Rainforest Café entrance into AK at about 8:50. We waited for
rope drop with the rest of the mob - holiday crowds were really
picking up and this was supposed to be a green
Tour Guide Mike
day! Then we headed straight back to Safari for fast passes to
be used later. Afterwards we backtracked to Discovery Island for It’s
Tough to be a Bug (ITTBAB). We weren’t sure how the kids would
react to this one since there are a lot of scary parts in it,
but for the most part Ernie nursed through it and Amelia really
enjoyed it. She’s a trooper and wasn’t afraid at all. Afterwards
she described them as funny. Phew! This girl is not
scared of much!
After ITTBAB we headed to Dinoland and rode Triceritop Spin. The
kids really enjoyed it and we got quite a few pictures before,
during and after the ride.
It
was starting to get really warm so at this time we lathered them
up in sunscreen and then headed to see the first Nemo show at
10am. We loved it. It was fantastic! EB and I agreed that this
show is worth the admission alone to the AK.
Amelia was asking to ride Triceritop Spin again so we did that
and then checked out some more of Dinoland. Most of this is new
to us as we’ve never really spent much time in AK. Dinoland was
cute – tacky, but cute. I guess that’s the point?
By
this time it was getting close to our Tusker House lunch
reservation so we walked back to Africa to check in for 11:30am
ADR lunch. We had about 10 minutes before we were taken in when
the restaurant officially opened. This was an amazing meal and worth going into AKL for. Everything was so tasty and there were so many dishes
for vegetarians. Even the kids ate well. Ernie made a huge mess
of himself and surroundings. Yikes! We are definitely adding
this lunch to our “must do” reservations listing.
After lunch we used our Fastpasses for the Safari. So many
animals were out and it was a fun ride this time. Ernie fell
asleep within minutes of the safari. Too cute how he just plops
his head and passes out. I’m sure the full belly didn’t help!
After the Safari, we walked across the park to Camp Minnie and
Mickey so Amelia could see some characters while Ernie slept. We
had originally thought we’d do Rafiki’s Planet Watch right after
the Safari since it is right there, but with
Ernie sleeping we didn’t want to risk waking him up. In addition
he
loves trains and we wouldn’t want him to miss out on the train
ride. Amelia ended up getting her picture taken with Donald and
then Mickey. She kept kissing Mickey. It was funny.
While Amelia was waiting for her second character photo Ernie
awoke so we walked back across the park again to Rafiki’s Planet
Watch. This is a first for us. The kids were on their last ounce
of energy, though, so this was a short lived visit. We enjoyed
the train and seeing some of the backstage stuff. At the Planet
Watch we didn’t particularly enjoy too much but perhaps it was
just because the kids were getting cranky. Ernie liked the goats
(they are goats, right?) but his eyes kept watering when he was
petting them. We had them pet just for a few minutes, then we
washed our hands and got out of there. Not sure if we’d do the
petting portion again, but the train ride was fun. Plus, once we
did get over there it was a mob. We’re really starting to doubt
our “right before Christmas” holidays in WDW. Perhaps a week
earlier than this would be best. Enough of that and back to our
touring…
We
hopped back on the train and headed out of the park. When we got
back to our villa, we finally decorated our tree! Wish we had
done this days ago, but oh well. The tree looked very pretty and
it was nice having it here in our room…except for Ernie getting
at it constantly. That’s why we didn’t have a tree up at home
this year. Little bugger.
From
here we rested for about an hour. During this time we finally
tracked down my bag with Airtran San Juan – EB spoke with a
manager who had my bag and was Fed Ex-ing it back to us. Thank
goodness! I was in such a panic and seriously doubting that I’d
ever see my computer again.
Shortly before 5pm, we packed it up and drove to the Boardwalk.
Had dinner at Spoodles…it was touch and go with Ernie, though.
He was very tired and just not acting himself. We quickly ate a
really great meal and then did a little walk on the Boardwalk.
We didn’t push it too much with the walk, though, because the
kids were spent and definitely ready for bed.
We got
back from Boardwalk, bathed the kids and got them down to bed.
Ernie was asleep by 7:45, Amelia by 8:45. They needed the rest
for sure. We had a very busy and very exhausting day.
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