We were up early the next day, ate breakfast in the room and grabbed our luggage to take down to the lobby. I went to the Airline check in and was happy to see there was no line. We checked in for our flight and I then left our carry on bags with Bell services.
We headed for a pretty crowded bus stop and I soon discovered after we arrived that they were all waiting for the Magic Kingdom bus. Apparently several Animal Kingdom buses had come by and the Magic Kingdom bus was no where to be seen. Well, what do you think happened next? Yep, another Animal kingdom bus. Good for me, not so good for everyone else. I was afraid the poor bus driver was going to get attacked. We left the angry crowd behind and enjoyed a relatively empty bus ride to the Animal Kingdom.
It was close to 8 when we arrived and there was maybe 50 people standing waiting to get in. I was very surprised at the low crowd but it was pretty cold so I guess that was keeping everyone away. I was also surprised that they did the opening show right by the gates. I had never seen it done there and was always used to it being done up by the Tree of Life. After it was over, we began the walk behind the cast members with the rope.
This was one rope drop that didnt bother me, probably due to the fact that there was barely anyone there. As we reached the split it the road, I was surprised that 75% of the people headed for the Safari instead of where we were heading, Expedition Everest. As we were walking behind the rope, I thought to myself, we have a shot at being first on this ride. It turned out that we werent in the first car but were in the second and on the first train of the day.
The plan after that was to go do the Pagani trail. We walked up and saw basically no ride for the Safari so decided to do that first. It was a pretty disappointing safari as most of the animals were not out. I did catch the lion with is head up though and managed to get a shot of him.
After the safari, we headed down the pretty much deserted walking trails. I quickly started to see why they were deserted as anything that was interesting was not out. My big reason for wanting to hit the trail was to get photos of the gorilla and as we approached the area, I asked the cast member if they were out and much to my disappointment , they were not.
I thought maybe we might have better luck at the Maharajah jungle trek and we tried that next. We did have better luck but the tigers were mostly asleep so didnt provide good photo opportunities. The cold weather was keeping the crowds away but was also screwing with my photo plans.
We headed to Everest next and did it two more times with absolutely no wait. I even managed to get a few photos while on the ride.
We still had some time to kill and despite my repeated attempts to convince DD to do Dinosaur, I realized that wasnt in the cards. We walked through Dinoland and there was only a small lineup for Primeval Whirl so we decided that would be our last ride before we did a bit of last minute shopping and left.
I must say that I dont get what the fascination is with that attraction. It is always lined up and is pretty lame in my opinion. We did a bit of shopping and I had to run back to Africa to get a shirt for my son that I had seen up there and the Outfitters did not have. We then said goodbye to Animal Kingdom and headed for the bus stop.
We met another group of enraged guests who had been waiting for the Boardwalk bus for ½ an hour before we arrived. One lady proceeded to voice her displeasure to every bus driver that pulled up at a nearby stop, like they had something to do with it
Our bus finally arrived and the order of stops was the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club and then the Boardwalk. Really???? We quickly decided we would get off at the Swan and walk to the Boardwalk.
We arrived at the Boardwalk, bought a few snacks for the plane, grabbed our bags and headed outside to wait for the Magical Express. As we were waiting, I saw the lady who was complaining walking up from the bus stop. Getting out at the Swan definitely was a time saver.
The bus arrived and we started our trip to the airport. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, one of the passengers notices that the driver left the luggage compartment open. Whoops
our bus driver was quite embarrassed. We made a few stops to pick up more passengers and were on our way. I was a little disappointed that they Magical Express film did not show on the way back. Our bus was showing Pixar shorts instead.
I wont bore you with our trip home and will just leave you with the fact that we had a great time despite the weather and all of the other annoyances that go with a Walt Disney World trip. I am going to do one more post to wrap up the things I liked and disliked about this trip.
I enjoyed this trip with DD alone as I can slowly see her starting to become a teenager and entering the phase where she wont talk to me for several years. I know she thinks Im a Disney dork but I think she realized this trip that she has a little bit of that in her too. Im looking forward to our next trip as a family in August 2011 and my solo trip/trip with my nephews in Feb 2011.
My dad took me on a short trip once - just he and I. It wasn't to WDW, but it was still special. And trust me - once she gets older and past the "dad is a dork" stage, she'll go back to thinking you're awesome. 
Amazing picture, Colin 
