We were really excited about Animal Kingdom today only because we were going to the Donald Duck Safari Breakfast at the Tusker House. We would meet Donald, Daisy, Mickey, and Goofy, get their autograph and take some pictures. Not too shabby!
It was the coolest day in Florida by far and Animal Kingdom has lots of shading. This may turn out to be one of the best days here!
It just so happens that Riley had the screams today. He would look at me or Alan and squeal and then laugh. We tried shhhhhh, gum, close lips, jellybeans.........nothing. So, we had the ipad and sat him down with it, headphones and all, and he was okay as we waited to get called for our breakfast.
When we got called back, Donald Duck greeted us and we had a family pic taken with him. One thing that Donald did not do at this meet and greet was sign autographs. BOOO!! That just meant that we would have to find him later.
I am already dreading the line for autographs at this point and as of now we only have about 8. We did have certain character spots in the book so one person that we had to find that was ONLY at Animal Kingdom was Pocahontas.
Tusker House was a great idea but the food was not as good as Ohana the day before. The workers weren't as friendly because Riley had grabbed Donald's beak and all they saw was "problem child", I'm sure. But I have to say that the pictures we got with the characters were EXCELLENT! Both kids were smiling and looking at the camera. They had on their cute matchy- shirts. Things were looking up!
Until we got to the Festival of the Lion King. We were really excited about seeing this show because we remembered how awesome it was the first time and I could see the kids really liking it. So, we got in the HUGE line and Riley started his squealing.
So, we moved to the disability line. The guy looked at us and said, "What do we got?" and I said, "We have a screamer and someone that can't handle loud speakers right above him. Oh, he also may not last the whole show." He looked at our pass and said, "I have the perfect place for y'all- don't worry- it's going to be fine!" And just like that we were normal members of society again. I am considering MOVING to Disney World if this is how they treat the poor and afflicted. How is this not happening at any other place in the world??
So, Riley squealed until showtime and then he and Kylie both were intrigued. That show is spectacular! The singers, the acrobats, the big Pumba and Lion King! ALL AMAZING!! And then when the lights turned back on, the screaming commenced. sigh.
So, Alan and I decided that Riles needed a little break. They sat on a park bench and Kylie and I went to stand in line for character signings. We didn't use the pass but could have if we had taken Riley to see them. We stood in line and saw Minnie and Donald since those were the ones that we needed. Right when we got to the front of the line for Minnie, she had to go take her cheesecake out of the oven but it only took a couple of minutes. She LOVED that Kylie's book cover was herself! Kylie got special attention and she loved telling everyone in line that she made it.
We met up with the boys and rode Kilimanjaro Safaris. It was fun and Alan took a million pictures of random animals out on the trail. Great. What am I going to do with those? Maybe if he had been the one downloading the pictures from the camera each night........I digress.
It was getting hot so we rode the Kali River Rapids. Yes, we used the pass because the line was over an hour long. This ride was a lot of fun and Kylie and I loved it that the boys got soaked! Our bottoms got wet but it sure cooled us off! Then we saw Baloo. Kylie was like, "Who?"? Ha!
Kylie was upset that the Primeval Whirl wasn't working- she really wanted to ride it since Stacy (the girl in the must do video on the Disney channel in our room) loved it. So, we skipped on over to the dinosaur ride. I didn't have time to really see what we were riding, I'm just glad that Riley was beside Alan so I didn't have to worry about him being scared because I WAS SCARED. I hated that ride! HATED. IT. Who needs dinosaurs screaming in your face and scaring you? It was loud, dark, things popped out, and a big gust of wind would hit you in the face. I couldn't wait until that ride was over! Of course Kylie acted scared in the ride but when she got out, she and Alan were talking about how they loved it. Poor little Riley, I have no idea if he liked it or not. :(
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| taken from Disney World website |
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| too cool for words |
It was a cute parade but it was also very hot and we were getting tired and cranky. We hadn't had much sleep since we stepped into Florida so we sat on a park bench and discussed our options while half the park left.
We still hadn't seen Pocahontas, or rode Expedition Everest, or watched Nemo and we knew we probably wouldn't come back. It was a hard choice to make but we decided to pacify Kylie with a baby Simba that she had wanted from the very beginning and we went to the bus line.
In hind sight, we should have gone back to the hotel for a swim and a rest but we decided to go to Epcot. When your mind is tired, there's no good decision making there. :(
We waited for the bus for a LONG time! Here's a tip:
If you stay at the POP Century, you will be the ONLY resort waiting for a bus. It's a great hotel, but, they seriously need some BUS-TLC. I'm not kidding at all!!
Riley had a minor meltdown while waiting for the bus, but looking back, it didn't last long and we lived through it. YEA!!
So, tired and cranky, hot and hungry, we literally RAN into the Mexican Cantina in Epcot to eat. We had no problem getting our food but did run into a snag looking for a table. Finally the two hippies sipping their beer while taking up a 4-top decided to leave and we snatched the table. This is the only night that we ate quick service instead of a sit down table meal and it wasn't that bad. We ate under a patio and really took our time. We had a good time talking about the day.
Then we took a boat ride from Mexico to Germany, just for the fun of it and once we got off, we were just tired! Now we were all the way across from the park exit and it wasn't a good feeling.
We saw Jazmin signing autographs and taking pictures and the line was really short! So, we ran to get into the line and a cast member shot us down. They had closed the line and Jazmin was going to leave when the last person was seen. We walked away and I'll be darned if a stroller family didn't come up behind us and get in line. The cast member failed to notice or tell them that the line was closed so Mama Bear came out and said some unkind things to said cast member about denying us yet letting another family in. I mean, c'mon! Pay attention, lady!!
NOTE:
More times than often if a character line is short, they have already closed it. Proceed with caution!!
We knew that it was time to go so we hung our heads and walked back to the bus where there were a million POP Century guests waiting to go back to the resort. A bus came and it was clear that we may not get a seat and then another HUGE, LUSH charter bus showed up behind it. The bus guy was clearly going to make sure his dinky bus was filled before they started on the charter bus when Mama Bear had enough of the bs today! So she marched over to the new bus driver, showed him the pass (ha!) and told him that at least one of us needed a seat. Lo and behold he let us on and we got a NICE, COOL, seat back to the hotel where we showered and crashed and looked forward to the new day that we would be given tomorrow.
I'm not saying that we didn't have any fun but today was more of a challenge for us. We definitely have funny stories about everything that happened, tho!
But you know what would have made the night end right? A pool-side view. Right, Alan?
Tomorrow- Hollywood Studios!!! Kylie's Favorite!
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