Thursday, July 8, 2010

Animal Kingdom

We spent the last full day of our Disney vacation at the Animal Kingdom.




Love that Tree of Life and all the beautiful animal sculptures.



In visits past, we have always gone straight over to the Safari Ride, but we decided to mix things up a little this year and head over to Asia for Expedition Everest and the Kali River Rapids.



The mere five minute wait for Everest made us want to do it twice!



We loved watching these crazy monkeys swinging and playing.

We busted out the rain ponchos before going on the Kali River Rapids water ride. We may have looked silly but it sure beats walking around wet the rest of the day.

Dinoland was the next stop on our tour.

Micah was pumped but Savanna was a bit more nervous about riding Dinosaur. She remembers it from a few years ago and it is a ferocious, bumpy ride. She was a good sport and went along for the ride....with her eyes shut the entire time.



Unfortunately, I didn't remember the Primeval Whirl or I would have sat it out. That is one crazy, spinning ride. I DO NOT like the crazy spinning!

Some close up shots of the tree on our way to the 3-D show It's Tough To Be a Bug.








Isn't it just breathtaking?!
How many animals can you count?

We got our fastpassses for the Safari and took the train over to Conservation Station to meet the characters and see a few animals at the hospital.

Everyone loves Jiminy Cricket and Rafiki.




Love that cute little porcupine!

When the kids were little, we could hardly pry them away from the petting zoo area.

Then on to the Kilamonjaro Safari for some close ups of the animals.









This was the first time we have ever watched the Flights of Wonder Bird Show and, boy was it a treat!
We also were able to see the Nemo Musical before our late lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.





We always love eating at Rainforest, but this was the first time we endulged and ordered the chocolate brownie volcano. The kids couldn't wait to hear our waiter yell "VOL-CAN-OOOOO" and head our way!
Let's just say it was sinfully delicious!




After lunch we headed out toward Camp Minnie / Mickey and found a few fun photo boards along the way.



While the boys went to ride Everest YET AGAIN, Savanna and I went exploring and found some beautiful tigers.
For some reason, we have never really watched the parade at Animal Kingdom until this visit. It is much different than the parades at the other parks, but it was super entertaining.


Love Thumper and his girlfriend ~ aren't they just the cutest?


We spent the rest of the afternoon hugging characters and watching animals.
We ended the day with our favorite show at Animal Kingdom, The Lion King.
I remember taking Micah to see this show when he was only 9 months old on his first trip to Disney. He loved it so much that he learned to clap for the first time during the show.

The theme at all of the parks for the week we were there was "Celebrate Today."
It really makes you think...what have you celebrated today.
Maybe you can celebrate your family or your salvation or your blessings.
Sometimes in all our busy schedules, a day just seems to blur into a measure of time to try to accomplish my never ending 'to do' list.
Celebrate Today.
Enjoy the journey.
Count your blessings.
Occasionally, I stop to catch my breath and realize these are the best days of our lives and we're too busy to even notice.


No comments:

Post a Comment