December 19 (part 2)
After leaving modern society (Contemporary), passing through a tropical paradise (Polynesian) and a wonderland of water (Blizzard Beach) we
finally arrived at Animal Kingdom!
First stop after taking a gaze at the Tree of Life . . . .
. . . was the Safari.
The cast member asked if we wanted to be seated in one row or two. He said we might be more comfortable if the five of us were in two rows. Okay! When our jeep arrived Jeff and Kelsee got in the last row. Paul, Laura and I got in the row right in front of them. The family waiting behind us followed right into both our rows! Jeff & Kelsee had three more people with them and we had the rest of the family with us! I didn't know what to say and hoped the CM would intervene and thankfully he did at the very last minute! That would have been just strange to be crammed in with these other people. Its a lot more bumpy in the back of the jeep but lots of fun. We had a great driver.
From there we went to Flights of Wonder. I prefer sitting up front to see better but this time we were in one of the back rows of the main section. Little did I know my quick thinking, plan ahead, Disney savvy son had taken a dollar out of his wallet and put it in his pocket just waiting for the time in the show when the CM asked for a volunteer with a dollar bill. Jeff immediately raised his arm with the dollar and he was picked! This was the part of the show where the bird flies out, lands on his arm and takes the money back to the cast member on stage. Then the bird flies back and returns the money! Way cool that he got to do that!
After a pretzel pit stop . . .
. . . . we went in the Maharajah Jungle Trek.
It was interesting for awhile but we hurried through the last bit, ready to do something else.
Everyone went on Kali while I held purses, hoodies, etc., etc. I looked like a pack mule! And I couldn't find anywhere to sit! I knew our next stop was Expedition Everest so I hoofed it over there thinking all along the way "they could have put benches alllll along here" instead of there being NOTHING at all until I was almost to Everest. When I found a bench I plopped everything down. I wasn't moving! I called someone's phone, maybe Jeff's because he always has his on, and told them where to find me.
A few minutes later they showed up. I think Kelsee and Jeff got the worst of Kali's water!
While everyone went on Everest I was finally able to call my friend back home and see how things were going. They were taking care of our pets and her son had had his wisdom teeth removed the day before. Everybody was doing okay and it was so good to talk to her.
Paul and the kids came back from Everest! They loved it! Kelsee hadn't realized it went backwards but she likes roller coasters so she thought it was great!
I'd been seeing people walk past with soft serve ice cream and it looked so good. We got some at the stand by EE and ate it as we walked to Dinoland. Laura and I sat on a bench while we finished our ice cream. Jeff and Kelsee tried to stay in the sun to dry off. Paul wandered. As we sat there I wondered what Walt would think of Dinoland. Maybe its just that I don't care for it but I thought he wouldn't like it very much either.
Paul, Laura and I went Triceratops Spin. Its really rare when Paul will go on anything that spins! He doesn't like that at all so I was surprised when he got in line with us. Laura sat in the front of the dino with Paul and I sharing a seat behind her. While we were up in the air we spotted Jeff and Kelsee watching some performers "Smear, Splat & Dip". They had also been on Primevil Whirl.
We all rode Dinosaur and when we got out some cast members asked if we were staying for evening EMH. We were! So we got our wrist bands and carried on with our evening.
I had the Nemo musical as a "maybe" on our itinerary. We saw it in 2006 and I thought it was just okay. Actually had a hard time staying awake and kept looking at my watch to see how much longer and mentally going over the plot of the movie to see what material still had to be covered! Awful I know! I just didn't really care for it. At that time we were sitting in what was supposed to be really good seats, about half way back almost in the middle but a little to the right.
Well we were close to Nemo and the cast member who gave us our wrist bands said we should hurry over because it was almost time to start. I was thinking "oh great we are going to be waaaaayyyyyy in the back this time since we are arriving at the last minute." WRONG! We were taken to the very front row on the far right side. From what I've read that's supposedly not a very good place to sit because you have to turn around to see the puppetry behind you. I respectly disagree! I absolutely, positively, 100% LOVED Nemo this time!!! I loved being close enough to see the faces of the performers. Enthralled is what I was and when it was over, the last scene with Nemo and his dad had me in tears. I would love to see it again if I could guarantee to be up front. If I had to sit anywhere but there I'd just as soon skip it.
What's a trip to Animal Kingdom without encountering a grasshopper with an attitude, a smelly stink bug, and being stung by a bee. Yep, Its Tough to be a Bug was our next stop. After a trip several years ago when we first experienced ITTBAB, we came home and I told a family member what it was like. I remember he said "guess they ran out of ideas of fun things for people to do there." Hmmm.
It was dinner time and we ended up at Pizzafari. I remember eating there a when the kids were little because it was so colorful and I thought they would like that. Tonight I wasn't super hungry so I just used a snack credit instead of a counter service meal and got bread sticks and marinara sauce. An excellent use of a snack credit and it just hit the spot!
Next we went to my favorite, Festival of the Lion King. Since the sun had gone down we were starting to get cold and were glad it was indoors. Once we got our seats we were still freezing and hoped once the show started and they closed the doors it would be better. It wasn't. I froze through the whole thing but still enjoyed it.
We batted around the idea of going back to Everest so the kids could ride it once more in the dark. Now as I sit here and type this I think dang, we should have done that. But at the time it was getting late-ish and we had a super early morning the next day.
Before making our way to the exit we had a little spur of the moment, unplanned fun! We explored the trails around the Tree of Life! We walked past Pizzafari while we were deciding whether to go back to EE and we spotted a small trail on the right hand side so we took it! It wandered through and around and we ended up on the other side of the tree. It was then we decided to head back to the Lodge and started out but still had our eyes peeled for any fun trails to explore! When we got by the fast pass machines for Bug, we saw another one! I wasn't sure if it was open but there were some CM's standing there and they didn't say boo so we continued on. That trail was really fun and took us back to the area of Pizzafari again. I highly recommend taking time to explore these oft overlooked trails at Animal Kingdom!
Animal Kingdom's evening EMH was totally uncrowded and lots of fun but it truly was time to get back to the Lodge. When we got to the bus stop the Wilderness Lodge bus was right there waiting which made up for our horrendous wait to get to AK from the Contemporary.
All in all another beautiful Disney day.
Best part of the day: Being spontaneous and crazy exploring the AK trails at the end of our day!
Worst part of the day: The time it took to get to Animal Kingdom!
it coming
I don't know if that was their method of transportation throughout the whole park - this girl was waaaayyyy too big for an umbrella stroller - anyway, definitely unusual! 
That does sound pretty funny!
