7 AM Extra Magic Hours? We're in!...NEW 12/27 p. 31

I'm finally caught up! Wow, I can't believe how much stuff you guys did on your trip so far. I never would have thought it was possible to get that much done in early April considering all the horror stories you hear about Easter crowds. Have fun on your trip and I can't wait to hear more about this trip! ;)
 
Haha, yeah, I remember you mentioning your trip on FB! You're going to have a great time! :cool1:

Aww, I love all of your animal pictures! Especially the giraffes, they are just too cute! :upsidedow
 
Hey Sarah! Sorry I'm so late getting over to your TR, I've been a terribly bad DISer the last, oh the last 10 months or so...... :sad2: I found and read your whole report this morning though! Sounds like you had another great trip. I'm staying at the BC in September and I can't wait to use the private entrance into Epcot and to be able to walk right over to DHS!
 
Can some one tell me why DIS listing of WDW EMH does not match that of the Disney website? Which one should i trust? In the process of laying out our schedule and first noticed the discrepency with October 29th Evening EMH. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks:worship:

I would go with the WDW website. The DIS tends to post from year to year and then make changes. I went once to Typhoon Lagoon and they opened at 9:00 that day and the DIS said 10:00.


Sarah-have a great time out East.

Once we got back, we rested for a bit and then went down to the quiet pool for a quick swim. It would have been fun to go to the main pool but since the weather was so nice you can probably guess it was pretty crowded down there.
Did you go to the quiet pool alongside the walk to DS or by the Garden View rooms at the BWV. Did you happen to see the Garden View rooms? They were beautiful and like townhouses. We met a husband and wife that stayed for 2 months Feb & March. I can't imagine how many points that took, or if they paid out of pocket or what. It had to cost a fortune.
 

Summer is flying by, isn't it?! Enjoy your vacation :)


Great pictures of the gorillas. We love watching Lily and it is amazing how similar it is to watching a toddler. So fun!

Your giraffe pics are really good too! The safari is always fun :)

It really is-can't believe it's already August. Crazy. Thank you! Our trip should be a lot of fun.

Thanks. Lilly is adorable. It still amazes me how small she is.

Yes, the safari is one of the best rides in WDW. I just love it.

Well clearly you MUST be coming to Virginia. :laughing: Hahha, no clue. I'm sure wherever it is will be fun though!

Hahah Lilly is precious. I've never been over to see the gorillas! I really want to take some time on this trip and go down a lot of the trails because animals are awesome.

I have to say, I'm glad the rabbit got away! Hahah that might have been quite horrifying to experience if she DID catch it! :lmao:

haha, no, sadly it's not Virginia. Maybe some day we'll go there. ;)

I hope you're having a good time on your trip...which from the couple tweets I saw you definitely are! And hopefully you got to explore the trails because they're always a lot of fun.

Yeah, I wonder what she would've done if she did actually catch it.

Beautiful pictures :)

I'm going to guess D.C. The east coast has been on the hot side this summer. Well I guess everywhere has been for that matter. Have fun whatever you do :)

Thank you!

No, it's not DC but we have talked about going there the past 2 years. But we still haven't made it out there.

Loved the pictures of the gorillas. I could stand there and watch them for hours!

Enjoy the last weeks of summer vacation, and your trip-whereever that may be! :)

Me too- I love watching the animals.

Thanks!

Wow, summer is really flying by fast now, isn't it? And you are going to be near my area in a few days... But you say East Coast and I know New England is no beautiful area so... hmmm... you've got me stumped! :confused3 Well, I hope you have a great time wherever you may be and enjoy the rest of your summer!

Love your gorilla pictures! Baby Lilly is just so adorable! I would've loved to have seen a video of her chasing a rabbit (D'awwwww....). The Safari pictures are great too, those giraffes were definitely out-and-about that day. Love the picture of the one where they are all eating from the trees LIKE A FAMILY! Awwww...

Can't wait to read about your next Disney adventure! :mickeyjum

haha, I'll reveal the big secret destination in my next update. You might be surprised.

Oh, I know,the one of the "family" just amazed me. SO cool to see them all standing there like that. I love it. :)

Wow! Great pictures of the gorillas!! LOVE all your pictures of the giraffes!! They are my absolute favorite! I was sad that I wasn't able to get any good close ups of them this trip. You got some really good ones!:thumbsup2

I was surprised that some of them turned out so well. But I'm glad because I love the giraffes.

Can some one tell me why DIS listing of WDW EMH does not match that of the Disney website? Which one should i trust? In the process of laying out our schedule and first noticed the discrepency with October 29th Evening EMH. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks:worship:

The thing about the park hours is that they're always subject to change but I guess I would go by the WDW website.

Hi! Saw you had a new trip report since I was here last and wanted to check it out. Looks like a fun trip. I enjoyed the photos from the Boardwalk and the Flower and Garden Festival. Looks like I was actually at EPCOT a few weeks after you were.

Hi Meeko! Welcome back. Glad you liked the pictures of the BW and F&GF.

I love your giraffe pictures! They're my favorite too :goodvibes
And my goodness, the horns on that last guy are huge! Great animal pictures!

I know, right? Crazy.

I'm finally caught up! Wow, I can't believe how much stuff you guys did on your trip so far. I never would have thought it was possible to get that much done in early April considering all the horror stories you hear about Easter crowds. Have fun on your trip and I can't wait to hear more about this trip! ;)

Yeah, it's funny how many people say they will never go during peak seasons like spring break or Christmas because the crowds are so bad. I think because we've done it so many times we know how to avoid the crowds and we love taking advantage of those morning EMH before the majority of people decide to come to the parks.

Haha, yeah, I remember you mentioning your trip on FB! You're going to have a great time! :cool1:

Aww, I love all of your animal pictures! Especially the giraffes, they are just too cute! :upsidedow

I think we will. I've always thought it would be cool to go there. I'm looking forward to it.

Glad you liked the animal pictures!

Hey Sarah! Sorry I'm so late getting over to your TR, I've been a terribly bad DISer the last, oh the last 10 months or so...... :sad2: I found and read your whole report this morning though! Sounds like you had another great trip. I'm staying at the BC in September and I can't wait to use the private entrance into Epcot and to be able to walk right over to DHS!

Hi Michelle! Don't be sorry...I'm glad you found my new TR! Oooh, the Beach Club will be great! We stayed there in 2008 and it was a lot of fun. Youwill love the International Gateway entrance and Stormalong Bay is amazing!

Sarah-have a great time out East.

Did you go to the quiet pool alongside the walk to DS or by the Garden View rooms at the BWV. Did you happen to see the Garden View rooms? They were beautiful and like townhouses. We met a husband and wife that stayed for 2 months Feb & March. I can't imagine how many points that took, or if they paid out of pocket or what. It had to cost a fortune.

Thank you!

We went to the pool along the walkway to DHS. OMG, two months?!?! That is crazy!
 
Happy August everyone! I really can’t believe how fast the summer is going by. Summer school ended yesterday, which means Dad, Emma, and I are getting closer to our trip. I figure I might as well say where the mystery location is. We are going to…

Boston! We’ll only be there for a couple of days to check out some of the touristy/historical sites. And of course we can’t go to Boston without going to a Red Sox game. Dad bought our tickets the other day. So that should be fun. :) I’ve always thought it would be cool to go to Boston so I’m looking forward to visiting some place new.

Now back to our Animal Kingdom day!


Wednesday, April 11, 2012 cont’d (part 3)…Backstage and Birds

After our great safari ride, we figured since it was right there we would take a trip on the Wildlife Express to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

If you’ve never been on the train before, one of the neat things about the ride is that you get a rare glimpse at some of the backstage locations and animal buildings. We saw the rhino building, and there was even a rhino standing outside.

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You can also see the elephant barn. If you read my trip report from April 2010, you might remember that Dad and I did the Backstage Safari Tour. This was actually one of the locations that we visited so it was cool to see that again.

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Before long we were pulling into the station at Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

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We spent some time exploring the exhibits in the main building. One of the more interesting things we saw was this little turtle.

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They were doing some sort of test with him, where they would put a little piece of food behind one of those 2 green paddles and the turtle had to crawl to the one with the food I guess. I really wonder what exactly they were testing.

Some interesting facts about the Nutrition Center.

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Because we wanted to get to the next Flights of Wonder show, we didn’t hang around too long. So we went back outside to the Affection Section (I think that’s what it’s called…).
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Then we hopped back on the train back to Harambe so we could make our way to Asia for the show.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again-I really am not all too crazy about birds, but I really enjoy Flights of Wonder. There are some amazing birds in the show and it’s both educational and humorous.

When we got to the theater one of the CMs was talking about this owl before the show officially started.
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One of the first birds they showcased was this little guy.
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I don’t remember what kind it is but would you believe he is so smart he can do math problems??? They asked for a kid in the audience to come up and challenge him.


Pretty amazing, huh? OK, so the real secret is that all they have to do is say a word that sounds like “three” and the bird says “four.” They gave a couple examples where the CM said “tree and of course the bird answers four.

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One of the other amusing things from this show happened when this guy came out. Basically they were going to have the bird fly to the back of the theater and then up to the stage, where 3 more volunteers were given the chance to get a rare photo opportunity when the bird flew back. Well, the bird (sorry I keep calling them all “birds”…apparently I have a terrible memory) flew to the back and then landed.

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But instead of flying back, it flew OUT of the theater! LOL! So the CMs had to go get him. They did say he was still a baby. ;) Still, it was too funny. Guess you never know what will happen in a live show with animals!

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Next up was this guy-I think it was some sort of hawk? They were also going to be showcasing his flying ability, particularly how low they can fly.

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One of the last birds was the East African crowned crane.

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And of course, since the show has a message about conservation, they end with the success story of the Bald Eagle and how it has been taken off the endangered species list.

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If you’ve never seen this show before, I would highly recommend it.
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up next: meeting some characters!
 
So... you are going to be up near me! Have fun at the Red Sox game, those are always fun! Also, I would recommend taking a Duck Tour since you are interested in doing some touring. Those are fun and they really hit all the main points of Boston. There is a lot to do so I'm sure you'll be kept busy and have a great time!

That's so cool you get to see a lot of the backstage aspects of DAK from the Rafiki's Planet Watch train. I really must go over there next time. And yeah, that is one interesting test with the trutle. I wonder if its something to go with color-blindness or navigation :confused3 I'll get back to my AP Biology work and see if I come up with something :laughing:

The Flights of Wonder show looks so cool! I love the bird answering the math problems. I did notice it was the answer 4 each time, but I didn't notice the whole "rhyming with three" thing going on. So funny the bird escaped though, I guess baby birds are a rascally bunch. I'll definitely have to make note of this show, it sounds very interesting and lots of fun.

Can't wait to read more! :mickeyjum
 
Have fun on your trip to Boston. Fenway Park is so historic, it will be fun that you get to see a game. There is so much to see and do in the city.

I was just on vacation Up North, and there is a huge eagle's nest on the lake that we were on. An eagle swept down to the lake right next to our fishing boat and caught a fish, he then took it back to the nest. A loon landed, with it's distinctive call, right before the eagle came down. My DH thought the loon may have been worried about being the prey! But the loon call definitely got our attention focused on the action! I have never seen the birds of prey show at AK. Everyone seems to love it, I guess I will need to try to fit it in on a trip sometime soon. Weird about the Dophin and bus crowds. How was the bus experience overall? Normally I love having a rental car, but I think you rely on Disney transportation when you go to WDW.

I am super excited about my new ticker!
 
That's one of my favorite shows, Iguana Joe is just a hoot and a half.

Very nice photos :)
 
I agree with you about Flights of Wonder, it's really a great show. I was surprised how much we enjoyed it!

Haven't been out to Rafiki's Planet Watch in forever! I want to go out first thing one morning because the vets usually see the animals in the morning, but it's hard for me to skip prime EE and Safari time for it.....
 
Yay Boston! :cool1: Boston is probably my favorite city, it just feels like home to me! You are going to love Fenway Park, it is so amazing! :cool1: Just be prepared, the seats are really tiny so it's uncomfortable! :rotfl: Ahhh I have to get to another Red Sox game this year! I've only been to one so far!

Aww, Flights of Wonder is so cute! I've been making Brandon skip it on our last couple of trips, because he wants to see it every time and I was getting sick of it, but I think I'd be ready to see it again in November! The birds are so amazing! :thumbsup2
 
Boston! Have a great time! I think I'd like to go there some day, please share your pictures!


I can't wait to see the Flights of Wonder show...for the first time ever! I love seeing birds, they are so colorful and smart, I hope I'm chosen to do the picture!
 
Great pictures at Flights of Wonder! Aww...we missed it this trip. It looks like a great show! We'll have to check it out next time.:thumbsup2

Hope you have a fun time in Boston!!:goodvibes
 
I love the darkness of your park pictures when you get there for morning EMH! I think DAK is a great park to hit early since it gets so hot there. I NEED to go back in FEBRUARY so that I don't have to feel the heat! I'd definitely enjoy the trails a lot more.

Watching Lily is the greatest! She's so cute! Any sort of baby animal makes me say, "I want one" while all the other kids say the same thing too.

HAHA, the bird flew out of the theater? I think it's interesting when the unpredictable stuff happens! During our last show, the CM was having a hard time trying to get the bird to cooperate, but he just kept moving right along and attempting it. They have to be great with the birds and great at improv too!
 
Boston! That sounds fun, never been there!

HAHAHA the little bird flew out of the theater. That's too cute! Sounds like such a fun show. :)
 
Ooh, that will be fun. I love AKL! And if Emma gets accepted into the CP again maybe you can look out for her since she'd be going in January. We'll see what happens with that!

Keep us posted if she gets accepted again! I will keep an eye out for her on our trip. :thumbsup2

I was a few updates behind, so I'll just say I have enjoyed them all-as usual! FANTASTIC giraffe pictures! I can never seem to quite get them the way I want-they are always too far away. Love the shot of Lily too.

And Boston!!!! :yay: Boston is a beautiful city, I have only been there once, but really enjoyed it. Seeing sites along the Freedom Trail was really amazing. Joe and I talk about moving there as much as we do about Florida! (but our heart is here, so we aren't budging for a while at least!). Have a fantastic time!
 
We always enjoy the FoW show when we see it. It's not something we watch every trip, but it's very interesting to see.

Enjoy your trip to Boston! :)
 
So... you are going to be up near me! Have fun at the Red Sox game, those are always fun! Also, I would recommend taking a Duck Tour since you are interested in doing some touring. Those are fun and they really hit all the main points of Boston. There is a lot to do so I'm sure you'll be kept busy and have a great time!

That's so cool you get to see a lot of the backstage aspects of DAK from the Rafiki's Planet Watch train. I really must go over there next time. And yeah, that is one interesting test with the trutle. I wonder if its something to go with color-blindness or navigation :confused3 I'll get back to my AP Biology work and see if I come up with something :laughing:

The Flights of Wonder show looks so cool! I love the bird answering the math problems. I did notice it was the answer 4 each time, but I didn't notice the whole "rhyming with three" thing going on. So funny the bird escaped though, I guess baby birds are a rascally bunch. I'll definitely have to make note of this show, it sounds very interesting and lots of fun.

Can't wait to read more! :mickeyjum

Dad mentioned something about the ducks, but we didn't get around to doing one. :( I saw a bunch of them driving around though! Even though we were only there for 2 days we certainly did a lot around the city.

haha, any luck with your biology book? :rotfl:

Oh, they actually explained the rhyming thing after they had the kid come up and "compete" against the bird. So they did the math problems and then said a couple of the other words like "tree".

Have fun on your trip to Boston. Fenway Park is so historic, it will be fun that you get to see a game. There is so much to see and do in the city.

I was just on vacation Up North, and there is a huge eagle's nest on the lake that we were on. An eagle swept down to the lake right next to our fishing boat and caught a fish, he then took it back to the nest. A loon landed, with it's distinctive call, right before the eagle came down. My DH thought the loon may have been worried about being the prey! But the loon call definitely got our attention focused on the action! I have never seen the birds of prey show at AK. Everyone seems to love it, I guess I will need to try to fit it in on a trip sometime soon. Weird about the Dophin and bus crowds. How was the bus experience overall? Normally I love having a rental car, but I think you rely on Disney transportation when you go to WDW.

I am super excited about my new ticker!

It was really cool doing the tour at Fenway and hearing some of the history. We all enjoyed it.

Oh wow, that must have been something to see with the eagle and the loon. Yes, you should go see FOW. It really is a great show. You're right, we always use the WDW transportation-we've really only used rental cars recently if we're planning on going somewhere off property (like a couple years ago when we went to Sea World). I know some people have no patience for the Disney transportation and every once in a while we'll end up waiting a while for a bus to come. But we usually have pretty good luck with the buses.

Yay for your new ticker! I wish I had one. :(

That's one of my favorite shows, Iguana Joe is just a hoot and a half.

Very nice photos :)

I know, he is hilarious.

Thank you!

I agree with you about Flights of Wonder, it's really a great show. I was surprised how much we enjoyed it!

Haven't been out to Rafiki's Planet Watch in forever! I want to go out first thing one morning because the vets usually see the animals in the morning, but it's hard for me to skip prime EE and Safari time for it.....

Me too! The first time I saw it we were a little late but from the part that I saw I really liked it. I knew I had to see the whole thing some other time.

Ooh, that would be interesting to go first thing to see the vets. But yeah, I'd probably be the same way, especially with the safari.

Yay Boston! :cool1: Boston is probably my favorite city, it just feels like home to me! You are going to love Fenway Park, it is so amazing! :cool1: Just be prepared, the seats are really tiny so it's uncomfortable! :rotfl: Ahhh I have to get to another Red Sox game this year! I've only been to one so far!

Aww, Flights of Wonder is so cute! I've been making Brandon skip it on our last couple of trips, because he wants to see it every time and I was getting sick of it, but I think I'd be ready to see it again in November! The birds are so amazing! :thumbsup2

Fenway Park was really cool. We did one of the tours in the morning and then went back to go to the game. I didn't think the seats were that bad...other than being old! haha

As much as I enjoy the show I don't blame you for skipping it your last couple of trips. I don't think you have to see it every single time. But hopefully you'll get to do it in November!

Boston! Have a great time! I think I'd like to go there some day, please share your pictures!


I can't wait to see the Flights of Wonder show...for the first time ever! I love seeing birds, they are so colorful and smart, I hope I'm chosen to do the picture!

I posted all my pictures on facebook but maybe I'll post a few on here too. We'll see. I should probably get back on track with this trip report...it's been 10 days since I updated last. :worried::rolleyes1

You will really enjoy the bird show. It's so much fun! Good luck on being chosen! :)

Great pictures at Flights of Wonder! Aww...we missed it this trip. It looks like a great show! We'll have to check it out next time.:thumbsup2

Hope you have a fun time in Boston!!:goodvibes

Yes, you should definitely see it next time!

Thanks...we did have fun on our trip.

I love the darkness of your park pictures when you get there for morning EMH! I think DAK is a great park to hit early since it gets so hot there. I NEED to go back in FEBRUARY so that I don't have to feel the heat! I'd definitely enjoy the trails a lot more.

Watching Lily is the greatest! She's so cute! Any sort of baby animal makes me say, "I want one" while all the other kids say the same thing too.

HAHA, the bird flew out of the theater? I think it's interesting when the unpredictable stuff happens! During our last show, the CM was having a hard time trying to get the bird to cooperate, but he just kept moving right along and attempting it. They have to be great with the birds and great at improv too!

Yeah, it's crazy how we'd get to the parks before it was light out. But we love it. When the parks open early you just feel like you have so much more time to do everything. Those 9:00 openings seem so late. LOL.

Aww, I know, the babies are so cute.

Yup, he just flew out of the theater. It was too funny. It does seem like there are a few of those moments but that's OK. Makes the show even more entertaining.

Boston! That sounds fun, never been there!

HAHAHA the little bird flew out of the theater. That's too cute! Sounds like such a fun show. :)

haha, I know, it was so funny when the CM had to go after him. Flights of Wonder is a great show-if you haven't seen it you should!

Keep us posted if she gets accepted again! I will keep an eye out for her on our trip. :thumbsup2

I was a few updates behind, so I'll just say I have enjoyed them all-as usual! FANTASTIC giraffe pictures! I can never seem to quite get them the way I want-they are always too far away. Love the shot of Lily too.

And Boston!!!! :yay: Boston is a beautiful city, I have only been there once, but really enjoyed it. Seeing sites along the Freedom Trail was really amazing. Joe and I talk about moving there as much as we do about Florida! (but our heart is here, so we aren't budging for a while at least!). Have a fantastic time!

I will. As of right now she's still impatiently waiting for them to post the applications. haha So hopefully soon they'll go up and she can apply. She is dying to go back.

Thank you! I always seem to take so many pictures of the giraffes. It just amazes me when they're so close to the truck. Love it!

We did a lot of the things on the Freedom Trail and it was really cool. Boston was a neat city and I'm glad I finally got to see it. :)

We always enjoy the FoW show when we see it. It's not something we watch every trip, but it's very interesting to see.

Enjoy your trip to Boston! :)

Same here. Though actually I've seen it on my last couple trips but normally we don't do it all the time.

Thanks...we had fun in Boston!
 
Hi everyone! Well, we are back from our mini vacation to Boston. I have to say we had a great time and got to see a lot of the city in just a couple of days. We explored the Freedom Trail (which if you've never been to Boston, has a lot of historical sites), did a Fenway Park tour in addition to going to the Red Sox-Rangers game, went to the New England Aquarium, JFK Museum, and visited the Harvard Campus. LOL! It was definitely a great city to visit-if you've never been there, you should go! Once I get my next TR update done I might share some pictures. But for now, let's get back to the end of our Animal Kingdom morning!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 cont'd (part 4)...Character Greetings and Animal Carvings

After the Flights of Wonder show, I think we might've stopped to get lunch. We ended up going to Restaurantosaurus in Dinoland where Dad and I both got hamburgers. We ate our lunch outside. I remember there were a couple CMs out there playing with hula hoops so of course I thought of Emma again because I know there were a few times when she got to do that at ABC Commissary when she was working. Such a rough life. haha Sometimes I seriously wonder why I don't work for Disney...

Anyway, when we were done eating we walked over to the character greeting stop near Discovery River, where you can meet the Winnie the Pooh characters.

We saw Pooh first!
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hehe, this picture is kind of amusing. Love that the CM got this one.
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Group shot!
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Next up was Eeyore.
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And finally, one of Dad's favorites, Tigger!
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From the character landing we decided to take some time to wander around the Tree of Life.
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We spotted some colorful parrots.
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We also saw some kangaroos. I think one of them might've been hopping around for a while but mostly they were just laying there.
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We enjoyed looking at all the different animal carvings. I just love the Tree of Life-it's so majestic and next to the castle is probably my favorite Disney park icon!
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When we were done exploring the Tree of Life gardens, we had one more character meet to do...and that was Dug and Russell from Up! I missed out on meeting the Up characters when they had them at DHS and I wasn't going to make that mistake again, especially since you never know how long certain characters will be around (like Flynn Rider...so glad my sister and I waited that hour last year to see him and Rapunzel!).

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On the way out we stopped in one of the stores to pick up a gift for Mom. Then it was time to say good-bye to the Animal Kingdom.

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up next: Dinner in Italy and a surprise run-in on the Boardwalk
 
I love that you saw Dug! He is one of my very favorite Disney characters since he reminds me so much of our Riley :) Cute pictures!
 















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