Yes, it is EMH morning at AK which means it opens at 7am

Okay, family, LET'S ROLL!!! I get the wake up call at 5:30am

Isn't this suppose to be vacation??? Surprisingly, we are all ready by 6:30

We decide and do something we have never done before......we DRIVE to the park. We always park our vehicle when we arrive and don't move it until we leave WDW, but we didn't want to risk waiting for a bus and not to mention us having to fold up the stroller with it loaded down with stuff was probably not going to work. Driving was actually pretty quick and easy and I'm still not believing that my family is at AK by 7am in the morning. We go through the gate and the mission was to head for Expedition (of course!) to get FP's. Everyone is running past us, I tell DH to run, too, dang it! He gets them and then we head for the jeep tour (sorry, forgot the name) you know what I'm talking about, though

No wait, YES!!!

It was wonderful, lots of animals out that early and it was still quite foggy and breath taking! Afterwards, we were in our window for our FP so DS really wanted to ride the water rapids ride. We head to get FP's for that and the keeper of the tickets (DH) comes back and tells me that he doesn't have DS's ticket!!!!!!!!! OMG, THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!!!!!!! WHERE COULD IT BE!?

He was keeping them in the little zipper compartment on the strap of the baggalini. The only hopeful answer we could come up with is that he left it at EE when getting those FP's. So, he hikes down to EE while DS and I wait. All I could think is that buying another 2 day hopper for the rest of the trip is not in the budget.
It seems like he was gone FOREVER! Oh, wait...I see his head between 1,000 other heads walking towards us. He gives me a thumbs up

I was so happy I once again cried

Then we all had a group hug

The CM had DS's ticket and 3 others!!!!!! A couple didn't have names on the back....luckily he easily claimed our DS's just by telling the CM his name.
We get the FP's and then head to EE!!!! DH went first and was back in like 10 minutes!!! Absolutely no wait he said. I then went and I have to be honest here: I like roller coasters, but could not get that EE drop out of my head and I was sort of scared of the Yeti

It did go through my mind to do a fake out

Just stay in the EE store for 10 minutes. NO, I have to do this! I rode it and it was actually AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! And the Yeti was pretty cool. DS backed out of riding, but I'm not one to push. He'll be ready next trip.
It's 10:30am and I alert the crew that we need to go eat lunch. Yes, at 10:30 people! We are doing thing s the right way today (except for the lost ticket fright). We ate at the Tusker House and it was really good. Big tables to spread out and we even caught an African show right outside our window. We stayed at the park until 1pm and after 6 hours everyone was ready to go rest. It was quite hot at this point, too.
On the way to EE to get FP's, this is a stop we always make every trip
Waiting for the safari tour
Safari tour
Okay, he's a little too close!
The Tree of Life
Same pic we took when DS was 4
Back in the room
Only two more days left

Tomorrow we'll go finish up Epcot and then that leaves MGM for the last day. After this trip, MGM will always be our favorite next to MK

Stay tuned friends

Lots of pics of the castle suite.....REALLY!!
NOTE: We have really got a great routine going at this point in the trip with the twins! Morning nap in the stroller and afternoon nap in the room. They are never in the stroller for long periods of time since we are taking them out for the attractions. I think since we left the parks most days right after lunch this was the key to them not over doing! We still had them on their regular bed time, too.