A Life Filled With Love & Joy: Day 3 ~ Animal Kingdom!

Monday morning we woke up early and took the bus to Animal Kingdom. We had to wake up early to beat the crowds since everyone was going to be there early to try and grab one of the first rides in the new Pandora Land. There were extra morning hours for resort guests which meant we had to get an early jump. Again, my game plan was to break right, away from the crowds, and hit the other lands before people were even finished with Pandora. It worked out well again!

We headed for Dinosaur land and were the first ones on Dinosaur. I was a little concerned how George would do, but we showed him a video of it before we left and he thought it was funny. When he got off he said it was fun. Then we headed for another dinosaur ride, similar to Dumbo. After that it was off to A Bugs Life. A little show with some 3D glasses and different antics to make you feel like the bugs were right there with you, or under you. It was a cute show but George and Alan had to exit just before the sweet, happy part I knew he'd like. As we learned on this vacation, George is NOT into 3D! After that the park was about to open for the rest of the guests. Since meeting Pocahontas was a priority for Caroline (since the last trip!) we headed in line for her meet and greet versus trying to get on a few rides before the masses came in. Caroline adored Pocahontas and had such a good time. George had no interest in meeting her. Afterwards, we headed to Everest which is another headliner ride. There was about a 15 minute wait, our longest the entire time at Disney. Alan and Caroline went on it first as George was too short and it was a forward and backwards roller-coaster. Then they came off with a rider switch ticket. Caroline wanted to go back on it again and she and I could have since we had the ticket which would let us skip the line, but I thought it best to continue on with our plans and save that ticket when lines got longer. Plus, I wanted her head to take a break. Big mistake, Alan lost the ticket :/ The rest of the day the lines were about 45 minutes and I just didn't want to wait in line for that, but Caroline got to ride it which was most important.

After that we went on the Kilimanjaro Safari and had a great time looking at all the animals and taking a bit of a break from walking and being in the sun. It was a cool morning, but it was still a nice break. After the safari we headed to the Conservation Station and had a great time there. Then, it was time for some lunch!

For lunch we went to The Tusker House in Africa. Since we were originally supposed to go to WDW in November during George's bday we still grabbed a birthday button for him for this trip and one for Caroline since she had recently celebrated hers. Today was George's "birthday" and I have to say, this trip the cast members really went out of their way to wish the kids "Happy Birthday."So, today's lunch was George's bday lunch. It was a great fit since the characters here were Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy. George was BEYOND excited to meet Mickey. I had heard this lunch would take a lot of time, but we hit the characters just right and it was smooth sailing. Before we went to the buffet they had a little parade throughout the dining room. The food was great, some kid classics along with some traditional fare from Africa. Caroline and I had fun trying some new things like curry shrimp and I enjoyed some great collard greens. After lunch we hit a snafu that wasted about twenty minutes because when they changed our rooms they never reactivated our bands so we couldn't charge lunch. Luckily, Alan always carries his credit card around and could do it the old fashion way versus using the bands just in case! But, the time on the phone to get things corrected was a pain since it cost us a ride or a show that we wanted to tack on at the end of the day.

Once we got that settled we were off to see "The Lion King Festival." This was such a wonderful show and another nice break from walking. It was mid-afternoon when the show was finished so we headed to Pandora to check it out. It wasn't as crowded at this point since most of the masses were in the rest of the park. We still opted to skip the "new amazing ride" Flight of Passage since George was too little (We'll just have to make another trip to WDW!) and I had a fast pass to Na'vi River Journey, another new ride. It was nice, nothing spectacular but still beautiful scenery. The kids came out and played drums with some of the Pandora cast members. Afterwards, we headed to the Maharajah Trek to see some tigers and then "one more ride." Everyone chose Dinosaur again, but when it was time to board George got scared so he and I sat it out. The kids had fun in an impromptu conga line and then we decided to call it a day. Caroline wanted to go on the safari again to see it at dusk since the cheetahs were more apt to be seen and I wanted to stay for the Tree of Life lighting and the River of Lights show but we had had enough. George DEFINITELY had had enough. Although it's funny because once home he saw a commercial of the Tree of Life and I remind him of how he was with the picture below :P

We headed to the buses and waited to go back to the hotel. Thankfully, this was our last bus while at Disney. They work for some, but we are spoiled with the monorail. Quick, easy and you don't have to fold the stroller up!

Once back at the hotel Alan went and brought dinner up to the room. Grabbed some dessert and then decided to go and get jammies on and try to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the resorts beach. We had a late, lazy morning planned for the following day so we figured it was worth a try. It was so nice, you couldn't see the new projections they've added to the show but they had the music piped in to the beach. George fell asleep by the time we made the walk, but Caroline, Alan and I enjoyed it and made it our mission to keep the kids up late on Wednesday night to see it in person. We missed them the last time we had come b/c it was so late and had every intention of missing them this time, but it was SO worth it!