August 28th – Animal Kingdom Day!
Waking up at 7 am gets easier as you keep doing it, I realized…
At least for me, it was.
Off we went to Animal Kingdom! We got positioned at the rope (actually, we were kind of far back…) to enjoy the show! I think this is one of my favorite park openings… second to Magic Kingdom. Hollywood Studios just doesn’t do it for me, and I don’t think Epcot really has one.
When the rope dropped (10 minutes early, no less!), we made our way over to Kilimanjaro Safaris, to help Wilson rescue the baby elephant! I knew that the safari was supposed to be better in the morning, but I didn’t think that meant there would be animals EVERYWHERE! We walked right on, which was great, and had giraffes walking right next to the car, which was also great! Unfortunately, I was in the middle of the car, so I didn’t get as good of shots as I think I could have, but that’s okay. I had other chances.
Yeah, yeah, there were other animals than just giraffes on the safari. But I do only have 25 photos per post, and the rest just weren’t that great…
Then it was off to Asia, land of mystery. The first thing we did was get Fastpasses for Kali River Rapids. That was… a big mistake. Oh well.
We wanted to go on Everest, so we kept walking, but then I saw it! My shirt! My “Tigger, is that you?” shirt, that I had bought 2 years ago, then it shrunk, but I still wore it, and then it got stained, and I finally got rid of it. Well, now I have it in grey, to not show stains like the white did, and a medium instead of a small. I’m so happy! That was one of the things I wanted to do on this trip, was to get a replacement for that shirt.
We continued on, to Mount Everest, but first stopping to take this picture – you know that little temple on the way to Everest? Did you ever notice… this?
It lines up perfectly (if I wasn’t off center, it would line up more), how neat is that?
So we went on Everest, had our run-in with Betty the Yeti, who unfortunately, was not moving, only had strobe lights on her. Apparently she scared Lou though, who wasn’t expecting her to be there. Hehehehe. (I have to admit, I get scared too, but only because I always think we’re going to hit her.)
Since we still had time before our Kali River Rapids Fastpasses, and we didn’t feel like heading to Dinoland, U.S.A for Dinosaur, we went to see Lou’s favorite show here, Flights of Wonder! I had never seen it before, and must say, it’s really cool, if no one has ever seen it. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I liked it!
We sat right in the front, so that I could get photos. Afterwards, they have a couple birds out that you can take photos of and ask questions about.
This bird is an African Grey, and Lou’s family has one. Her (?) name is Ruby… and she’s not as smart as this bird.
Now it’s time for Kali River Rapids, and we figured getting a little wet would be just the thing – it’s getting a little hot, and it would probably feel good. Right? Yeah. Well, you know those signs that say “You may get soaked?” Yeahhh. Should have listened to those.
Apparently, here’s how it goes: There are supposed to be 4 seats that get wet per raft. Two when it goes down the ramp (supposedly whoever is backwards at the top), and then two when it goes under this waterfall thing. Then the rest of the seats either get a little wet, sprayed, or dry. Now, this ride, those 4… were the same 2 seats.
Want to guess who was sitting in those seats?
Allow me to provide a pictorial hint.
Here is us before, in line:
Here is us before, in the raft:
Here is us after we got off the ride:
Yeah. Those 2 seats were us. Everyone else BARELY got wet. Everyone was laughing at us when we started going up backwards… and then were laughing harder when we got hit a second time.
I figured, hey, this is why I wore light clothes, so they’ll dry fast! HAH. We figured we’d walk the Maharajah Jungle Trek to dry off a bit before lunch…
This guy was snoozing:
This is Lou after he wrung his shorts out for about the 5th time:
My shorts could not be wrung out - they weren’t stretchy like his. So I continued to suffer while we went to the bird sanctuary. I figure you guys have already seen enough pictures of birds, so I won’t include more pictures, but there was this really funny bird that kept going “WOOO!!!!” At first we thought it was a person being a jerk, but then we realized it was this giant bird – it was hilarious!
He looked kind of like a mix between a pheasant and a quail – probably about the size of a pheasant though.
With this, we were done our tour of Asia – and I know where I won’t be heading back anytime soon!
At this point, I realized I was not going to be able to spend the rest of the day in these shorts, and I needed to get new ones. And at ANY other park, this should have been easy. But you know what? Island Mercantile? Nothing. Disney Outfitters? Pajamas. Seriously?!?! I need SHORTS! I found a whollleee bunch of tops.. but no shorts. Finally, I found some capris. Close enough. Only thing is.. they were 40 dollars! But you know what? I was desperate. After trying them and a skirt I found on – and having to put my wet shorts on in between, I knew I couldn’t last in those wet shorts. I broke down and spent 40$ on a pair of capris! I don’t know if I’ve ever spent that much on a pair of pants before – EVER.
And then we couldn’t find a bathroom for me to change – we walked all the way back to Africa before we found one. Worst 10 minutes of my life. Once we did find one, I happily changed, and put my wet shorts in the bag to carry with me. By the way – I set those out flat when we got home that night, and they didn’t dry until Sunday! Wow. We got SOAKED.
As for my shirt, I wanted to go get my Tigger shirt to change into, but they had already picked it up for resort delivery, so I couldn’t do that. At least my shirt only took a few more HOURS to dry.
At this point, all I wanted to do was sit down, so we headed over to the Flame Tree Barbeque to get some lunch by the water. We both had the pulled pork sandwiches, Lou got Key Lime Pie, and I got a Chocolate Cake. I was dying for some sweet tea, but they said they were out, so I had to get regular. Blech!
We also made a new friend – this is Mister Duck! He was very nice, and wanted to eat with us, but unfortunately, we were so hungry we didn’t feel inclined to share – I didn’t even take pictures, we scarfed our food down so fast.
I always love sitting at the Flame Tree Barbeque and eating – there’s this great pavilion that looks over the water, and it has a beautiful view of Everest and this set of steps with “laundry” on them. Maybe I should have put my shorts there to dry?
And I’m out of room and very tired, so now I am going to sleep. I promised you an update, and I wanted to deliver! I will hopefully finish this day up sometime this weekend, when I’m not doing homework.
Goodnight everyone!
I got a few nice shots too. All will come in time. You better get to editing those pics girly! 
I have to come back through and read but I love the pics so far and how cool to be one of the people in the show! 
It was a pleasure meeting you! I do wish we had taken a picture together. I took some with Colleen but nobody else. WTH was I thinking!? I always do this. You will see ME in pics this time though. Before that was rare!
I don't think I saw a single face, human or animal, in the entire 2 rolls. Obviously none of those are going online.
