Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom is such a cool place. It's so cool to walk through the different areas, and to feel totally transported to another place. We started by heading over to "Asia." Our first ride was Everest Expedition. G, Ralph, and I all went on it, and it was INTENSE! I really thought I was going to pee my pants for a few seconds. The ride starts out tame enough... a nice slow roller coaster. And then you get to the top, and the tracks are "broken." The roller coaster goes backwards, really fast, in pitch darkness. I didn't know if I was right side up or upside down. Of course, they took a photo during this part, and I look like such a goof... and Ralph and G have the same very still expression on their faces. G was a little scared by the Yeti, but he sure had fun. Next we went on Kali River Rapids. L and Ralph got completely soaked... and Ralph wore my shirt until his dried (I had a tank top on underneath). We explored some wildlife exhibits, then had lunch in a very cool themed restaurant. G ordered a huge dish of noodles and shrimp, and ate most of it! After lunch we headed over to the Africa area. The highlight of this area was definitely the Safari. We saw a bunch of elephants, and a big rhino even ran at our truck. G had to make sure to tell a cast member about the poachers that we heard during the Safari. He took his job of watching out for poachers very seriously! We tried going to the Bugs Life attraction, but it was too intense, and the kids were not interested. So, we went to DinoLand and spent awhile in a huge, fun play structure (thank goodness there was only one exit, because there was no way to keep an eye on everyone in there!). It was a gorgeous, hot and sunny day, and it was definitely time for a cold drink after this playtime!

After a long day at the Magic Kingdom the day before, and a full day at Animal Kingdom, we decided to head home so that G and Grandpa could go for a game of mini-golf and so that everyone could swim. Ralph and I went back for a date at Epcot during the evening. It was nice for the kids to get some time alone with Grandma and Grandpa, and nice for us to have a date night. We went to the World Showcase and walked through all of the areas. We had a great Tepanyaki supper in the Japan area, stayed for the fireworks, and went home.