(no subject)

[lisamoe]

On Day 4, we went to the Animal Kingdom Park. This was the only one of the Disney parks I'd never been to. I had intended to take us straight to the Kilamanjaro Safaris because it develops lines pretty quick. But on the way into the park, the security guard told me that the Expedition Everest ride was open for a while as a test for the general public. It wasn't even supposed to open til April, so we jumped at that. It was a great ride and we went twice. Well, Dingo and Mom didn't go again but the rest of us went twice. From there we went to the Kilimanjaro Safaris, which was just awesome. You take a bus out through a bunch of wild animals and you can really feel like you're on Safari. All the barriers to the lions and elephants and such are so well hidden you feel like the animals are just right there. We walked around the forest area after that and saw a lot of birds and animals. Then we took a train out to Rafiki's Planet Watch and saw some of the conservation and veterinary facilities and walked through some animals on the way and let dingo go in the petting zoo. When we got back by train, we went in It's Tough to be a Bug, which I hated, but everyone else liked. We ate barbeque for lunch and then went into Dinoland where Jesse and I rode the Primevial Whirl (a roller coaster and mad tea cup all in one! the car you're in is free spinning while you go on the roller coaster. not for the weak-stomached, lol) Dingo and Jesse and Mom and I went on the flying dinosaurs and then we hit the Dinosaur! ride, which was pretty scary. For me anyway, the kids seemed fine. We let the kids play in the dino dig area for a while and then we went back to the hotel.

At the hotel, it was finally warm enough to swim. It was cool most of our days there, which was perfect for the theme parks, but kind of sucked for the pool. The hotel we were in had an enormous pool with slides and the kids had a really good time. R and I ordered drinks poolside, but we also spent some time in the water with the kids. We had ordered drinks the night before too. Lots of drinking on this trip, lol, probably to keep sane in the Disney Magic. After everyone had had a swim and a rest, we went back to the Magic Kingdom to ride a few things we hadn't gotten to before. R wanted to go on the Jungle Cruise and the Country Bears Jamboree cause they're classics and he missed them both last time we went. The boys and I went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad a few times more while there was no line and we could just keep getting on. We did some shopping too. R had been buying us souveniers like crazy anyway (we had to pack a whole 'nother suitcase and carry-on of them on the way home and have some shipped too) but he went in search of a Mickey shirt and watch for me anyway, which we found. We also had some snacks and candy and bad-for-you stuff. We were too full from all the days of overeating to have a real dinner this night. Dingo and I watched the fireworks together at the end of the night while R and Jesse went off to ride one more thing and then we shopped even more on the way out. The line for the bus back to our hotel was really long, but we met some nice Canadians and talked to them while we waited. When we got back to the hotel I put everyone else to bed and stayed up late packing for the next day.