April 19th Post

A bit late posting…we didn’t get back to the hotel until 10:30pm last night so here goes:

Another Busy Day!

We got up around 7:30am. Slept in…we’re such slackers today.  We went to Boatwrights, sit-down restaurant because we were kind of lazy to wait in line for the café.

We had a funny little waiter-guy waiting on us and he kept tapping our shoulders to make us look the wrong way. He got Kevin and myself, but couldn’t get the girls. He reminded me of Peter Pan. He also kept putting straws in my purse, so I ended up with three extra to go!

Kevin had to call for rental insurance and confirm our car rental for tomorrow, so we waited while he did that. We ended up leaving a bit later than usual and got to the Animal Kingdom about 10:30. The shuttles were also a lot busier at this time of day, with a lot of teenagers hitting the water parks, which are also on the Disney bus routes.

At Animal Kingdom, we walked around the Tree of Life, which is a really neat humongous tree, albeit a fake one (what is actually real at Disney is the question?). Carved into the tree are animals of every kind. It took quite a few pictures as you can’t believe them until you see them.

Also, at this park are animals along the paths, which we all loved because we are such animal-lovers. We then went to a 3D movie inside the Tree called It’s a Bug’s Life with Flick from the Bug’s Life Movie. It was pretty cool, because of the special effects, fog, water spraying etc. etc.

Kevin and Brooke got their pictures taken with Flick as well as Pocahontas (Keturah too!). Kevin got his picture taken with Rafiki, they looked like twins! Brooke also got her picture taken with Pooh, Tigger and Eyeore. I got my picture taken with Eyeore. He’s my fave!

We got fast passes for Expedition Everest and the Kilamanjaro Safari. It is so cool to be able to get these, as it means no waiting in line to get on the ride. The only downside is watching the clock so that you make it back at the right time for your ride time.

We went on the Kali River Rapids ride, which is a white-water rafting adventure. We waited in line for this one for about 20 minutes and it was well worth it. A sign said “You will get wet on this ride, you MAY get soaked on this ride. Well, guess who got soaked and who stayed dry? I got soaked, right through to my underwear! Keturah and Brooke got wet and Kevin the dog got a few spots of water on his shirt…Disgusting! Actually, it was so hot, that I didn’t mind getting wet. It didn’t take long for my outside clothes to dry, but my unders were wet until about supper time!

We had a late lunch at a place called Tusker House Restaurant. I shared a rotisserie chicken dinner with Kevin, which came with potatoes/gravy and green beans. It was pretty yummy for a cafeteria style restaurant. The girls had a turkey wrap (Keturah) and chicken salad (Brooke). They complained that there was couscous in both, but ate most of it. It was in the African section of the park, so we’re lucky we found something as tame as chicken and couscous! At least it wasn’t zebra or giraffe. 

We spent time going through the Maharaji Jungle Trek and viewed various animals, the tigers were awesome..they are my favourite! We also saw humongous fruit bats with wingspans of up to 6 ft.

There was also a bird house, which we traveled through trying to identify the approx 20 species of birds (they give you a guide to follow).

We also spent time watching the gibbons, who were playing way up high in their habitat…they are always so entertaining to watch!

We went back to the safari ride when it was our turn with the fastpass. It was a big jeep driven by an employee that held about 24 people. They took us through the safari and pointed out various animals along the way. It was okay, except, they didn’t stop long enough (or at all) to take any good pictures. Luckily, Kevin videotaped the whole thing.

We took a train ride over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch where they talk about conservation and how you can help with animal habitats. We didn’t get to see the petting zoo there as we had to be back in time for another ride with the fast pass.


Then it was off to Expedition Everest, the big roller coaster. Brooke was so excited. Kevin said it was pretty tame, but rather smooth riding.

We got the shuttle back to the hotel, changed shoes as my feet were killing me and then we took a river cruise down the Sassgoula River (Disney man-made river, created when they drained the swamp) and went to the re-nowned downtown Disney.

We tried to get dinner reservations earlier that day and I guess we should have taken the one for 9pm, because by the time we got down there, they were all full or seating in 1 hour or more. We ended up walking around and ate at Cooke’s Restaurant which specialized in fish and chips. The only downside, we had to eat outside on the sidewalk where there was a cement barrier. The meal was very good, but of course, by 830pm, we were all starving and would have ate anything!

We went to a few stores, all Disney stuff of course. We didn’t buy anything because the lineups were crazy. So that is where everyone goes at night!

We caught the shuttle boat back to the hotel and got in about 10:30 and fell into bed exhausted!