Hayes Family at WDW: Day 3 - Animal Kingdom
Tuesday, December 12th
My parents drove up from Delray Beach to spend today and Wednesday with us. They met us at the hotel at 7:00 and we took a bus to the Animal Kingdom. We were early and the park did not open until 8:00. The kids were entertained by the talking garbage can until opening - this was really cute. As soon as we entered, there were lots of characters. The kids took pictures with Mickey and Minnie and we headed back to the Safari as I had heard there is quickly a line for this. As we were heading back, we were stopped by some Disney cast members and asked to come with them. They explained that this was the first day of Fat Pass for It's Tough to be a Bug and we had been selected to be the first people to use it. Very cool! I think they were a little disappointed when Sam exclaimed "I hate bugs", but they took us over anyway. They presented stuffed animals to the kids, a special certificate, and took pictures for the Disney newsletter. We got our fast passes and were feeling very special. (We never used the Fast Passes as I thought this might be too intense for the kids, but I kept them for my scrapbook.)
We went on the safari and all the animals were out. Everyone really enjoyed this except my husband who thought it was overrated. We saw the Tree of Life (incredible), and made our way to Donald's Breakfastsourus. This breakfast was a lot of fun. Our server, Mike, was great, as were the characters. The food was so-so, but none of us really cared. Again, I felt it was a little crazy with the autographs and pictures.
After breakfast, we saw Tarzan Rocks which was good. It was starting to rain. We did have ponchos, but we had brought our own stroller which was cloth. The Disney strollers have a plastic covering - with one exception, we would use their strollers for the rest of the trip. My parents took the kids to the Boneyard so Pat and I could go on Dinosaur. We both loved this ride, and there were no waits. We went back to the Boneyard so my parents could go on Dinosaur. Sam loved the Boneyard so he stayed there with Pat while the rest of us went on Dinosaur. I had not planned on taking Sarah on this ride, but after I went on, I knew she would like it. I did not think it was very scary - just fun. Sarah like it too though she put her head down at some parts. Sam did not want to leave the Boneyard, and things went downhill when we insisted upon it. He started getting cranky and was screaming by the time we made it to the Festival of the Lion King. I thought he would calm down while we waited. We did a few pictures at the Character Greeting area, but he was crying and screaming. Pat decided to stroll him around while the rest of us went to the show. We all loved the show - this was one of the best shows we saw the entire trip. Meanwhile, Pat and Sam went on one of the trails; Pat really liked it and Sam was in much better spirits after. However, I didn't want a repeat of his bad mood so we decided to leave. I would have liked to go on Kali River Rapids, but maybe next time.
We had planned on going to the Yacht Club Galley for lunch, but we were all still full. I should have made the kids take nap, but I gave in to them and let them go swimming at Stormalong Bay instead. They just loved this pool and had fun showing off for Grandma and Grandpa (they just finished two sessions of swim classes at the YMCA the week before).
We went to Spoodles for dinner and it was great. This was the best dinner we had all week. The service and food were exceptional. We played in the room for a while, and then went on our Illuminations Cruise. This was fun, but the kids passed out almost as soon as we got on the boat - I knew I should of made them take a nap! Oh well. The rest of use enjoyed this very much. We parted ways with my parents and made plans to meet in the morning.
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Yacht Club, December 2000
Tuesday, December 12th
My parents drove up from Delray Beach to spend today and Wednesday with us. They met us at the hotel at 7:00 and we took a bus to the Animal Kingdom. We were early and the park did not open until 8:00. The kids were entertained by the talking garbage can until opening - this was really cute. As soon as we entered, there were lots of characters. The kids took pictures with Mickey and Minnie and we headed back to the Safari as I had heard there is quickly a line for this. As we were heading back, we were stopped by some Disney cast members and asked to come with them. They explained that this was the first day of Fat Pass for It's Tough to be a Bug and we had been selected to be the first people to use it. Very cool! I think they were a little disappointed when Sam exclaimed "I hate bugs", but they took us over anyway. They presented stuffed animals to the kids, a special certificate, and took pictures for the Disney newsletter. We got our fast passes and were feeling very special. (We never used the Fast Passes as I thought this might be too intense for the kids, but I kept them for my scrapbook.)
We went on the safari and all the animals were out. Everyone really enjoyed this except my husband who thought it was overrated. We saw the Tree of Life (incredible), and made our way to Donald's Breakfastsourus. This breakfast was a lot of fun. Our server, Mike, was great, as were the characters. The food was so-so, but none of us really cared. Again, I felt it was a little crazy with the autographs and pictures.
After breakfast, we saw Tarzan Rocks which was good. It was starting to rain. We did have ponchos, but we had brought our own stroller which was cloth. The Disney strollers have a plastic covering - with one exception, we would use their strollers for the rest of the trip. My parents took the kids to the Boneyard so Pat and I could go on Dinosaur. We both loved this ride, and there were no waits. We went back to the Boneyard so my parents could go on Dinosaur. Sam loved the Boneyard so he stayed there with Pat while the rest of us went on Dinosaur. I had not planned on taking Sarah on this ride, but after I went on, I knew she would like it. I did not think it was very scary - just fun. Sarah like it too though she put her head down at some parts. Sam did not want to leave the Boneyard, and things went downhill when we insisted upon it. He started getting cranky and was screaming by the time we made it to the Festival of the Lion King. I thought he would calm down while we waited. We did a few pictures at the Character Greeting area, but he was crying and screaming. Pat decided to stroll him around while the rest of us went to the show. We all loved the show - this was one of the best shows we saw the entire trip. Meanwhile, Pat and Sam went on one of the trails; Pat really liked it and Sam was in much better spirits after. However, I didn't want a repeat of his bad mood so we decided to leave. I would have liked to go on Kali River Rapids, but maybe next time.
We had planned on going to the Yacht Club Galley for lunch, but we were all still full. I should have made the kids take nap, but I gave in to them and let them go swimming at Stormalong Bay instead. They just loved this pool and had fun showing off for Grandma and Grandpa (they just finished two sessions of swim classes at the YMCA the week before).
We went to Spoodles for dinner and it was great. This was the best dinner we had all week. The service and food were exceptional. We played in the room for a while, and then went on our Illuminations Cruise. This was fun, but the kids passed out almost as soon as we got on the boat - I knew I should of made them take a nap! Oh well. The rest of use enjoyed this very much. We parted ways with my parents and made plans to meet in the morning.
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Yacht Club, December 2000
